From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Daily devotions for 04-19-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: The Scarlet Line
Evening Title: God is Faithful
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Morning: The Scarlet Line
"She bound the scarlet line in the window." --Joshua 2:21
Rahab depended for her preservation upon the promise of the spies, whom she
looked upon as the representatives of the God of Israel. Her faith was simple
and firm, but it was very obedient. To tie the scarlet line in the window was a
very trivial act in itself, but she dared not run the risk of omitting it.
Come, my soul, is there not here a lesson for thee? Hast thou been attentive to
all thy Lord's will, even though some of His commands should seem
non-essential? Hast thou observed in his own way the two ordinances of
believers' baptism and the Lord's Supper? These neglected, argue much unloving
disobedience in thy heart. Be henceforth in all things blameless, even to the
tying of a thread, if that be matter of command.
This act of Rahab sets forth a yet more solemn lesson. Have I implicitly
trusted in the precious blood of Jesus? Have I tied the scarlet cord, as with a
Gordian knot in my window, so that my trust can never be removed? Or can I look
out towards the Dead Sea of my sins, or the Jerusalem of my hopes, without
seeing the blood, and seeing all things in connection with its blessed power?
The passer-by can see a cord of so conspicuous a colour, if it hangs from the
window: it will be well for me if my life makes the efficacy of the atonement
conspicuous to all onlookers. What is there to be ashamed of? Let men or devils
gaze if they will, the blood is my boast and my song. My soul, there is One who
will see that scarlet line, even when from weakness of faith thou canst not see
it thyself; Jehovah, the Avenger, will see it and pass over thee. Jericho's
walls fell flat: Rahab's house was on the wall, and yet it stood unmoved; my
nature is built into the wall of humanity, and yet when destruction smites the
race, I shall be secure. My soul, tie the scarlet thread in the window afresh,
and rest in peace.
Evening: God is Faithful
"And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good." --Genesis 32:12
When Jacob was on the other side of the brook Jabbok, and Esau was coming with
armed men, he earnestly sought God's protection, and as a master reason he
pleaded, "And Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good." Oh, the force of that
plea! He was holding God to His word--"Thou saidst." The attribute of God's
faithfulness is a splendid horn of the altar to lay hold upon; but the promise,
which has in it the attribute and something more, is a yet mightier
holdfast--"Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good." And has He said, and shall
He not do it? "Let God be true, and every man a liar." Shall not He be true?
Shall He not keep His word? Shall not every word that cometh out of His lips
stand fast and be fulfilled? Solomon, at the opening of the temple, used this
same mighty plea. He pleaded with God to remember the word which He had spoken
to his father David, and to bless that place. When a man gives a promissory
note, his honour is engaged; he signs his hand, and he must discharge it when
the due time comes, or else he loses credit.
It shall never be said that God dishonours His bills. The credit of the Most
High never was
impeached, and never shall be. He is punctual to the moment: He never is before
His time, but He never is behind it. Search God's word through, and compare it
with the experience of God's
people, and you shall find the two tally from the first to the last. Many a
hoary patriarch has
said with Joshua, "Not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the
Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass." If you have a divine
promise, you need not plead it with an "if," you may urge it with certainty.
The Lord meant to fulfil the promise, or He would not have given it. God does
not give His words merely to quiet us, and to keep us hopeful for awhile with
the intention of putting us off at last; but when He speaks, it is because He
means to do as He has said.
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Daily devotions for 04-17-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: Precious Blood
Evening Title: Strength is Needed
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Morning: Precious Blood
"The precious blood of Christ." --1 Peter 1:19
Standing at the foot of the cross, we see hands, and feet, and side, all
distilling crimson
streams of precious blood. It is "precious" because of its redeeming and
atoning efficacy. By
it the sins of Christ's people are atoned for; they are redeemed from under the
law; they are
reconciled to God, made one with Him. Christ's blood is also "precious" in its
cleansing power; it "cleanseth from all sin." "Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow."
Through Jesus' blood there is not a spot left upon any believer, no wrinkle nor
any such thing remains. O precious blood, which makes us clean, removing the
stains of abundant iniquity, and permitting us to stand accepted in the
Beloved, notwithstanding the many ways in which we have rebelled against our
God. The blood of Christ is likewise "precious" in its preserving power. We are
safe from the destroying angel under the sprinkled blood. Remember it is God's
seeing the blood which is the true reason for our being spared. Here is comfort
for us when the eye of faith is dim, for God's eye is still the same.
The blood of Christ is "precious" also in its sanctifying influence. The same
blood which
justifies by taking away sin, does in its after-action, quicken the new nature
and lead it
onward to subdue sin and to follow out the commands of God. There is no motive
for holiness
so great as that which streams from the veins of Jesus. And "precious,"
unspeakably precious, is this blood, because it has an overcoming power.
It is written, "They overcame through the blood of the Lamb." How could they do
otherwise? He who fights with the precious blood of Jesus, fights with a weapon
which cannot know defeat. The blood of Jesus! sin dies at its presence, death
ceases to be death: heaven's gates are opened. The blood of Jesus! we shall
march on, conquering and to conquer, so long as we can trust its power!
Evening: Strength is Needed
"And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun." --Exodus 17:12
So mighty was the prayer of Moses, that all depended upon it. The petitions of
Moses
discomfited the enemy more than the fighting of Joshua. Yet both were needed.
No, in the soul's conflict, force and fervour, decision and devotion, valour
and vehemence, must join their
forces, and all will be well. You must wrestle with your sin, but the major
part of the wrestling must be done alone in private with God.
Prayer, like Moses', holds up the token of the covenant before the Lord. The
rod was the emblem of God's working with Moses, the symbol of God's government
in Israel. Learn, O pleading saint, to hold up the promise and the oath of God
before Him. The Lord cannot deny His own declarations.
Hold up the rod of promise, and have what you will.
Moses grew weary, and then his friends assisted him. When at any time your
prayer flags, let
faith support one hand, and let holy hope uplift the other, and prayer seating
itself upon the
stone of Israel, the rock of our salvation, will persevere and prevail. Beware
of faintness in devotion; if Moses felt it, who can escape? It is far easier to
fight with sin in public, than to
pray against it in private. It is remarked that Joshua never grew weary in the
fighting, but
Moses did grow weary in the praying; the more spiritual an exercise, the more
difficult it is
for flesh and blood to maintain it. Let us cry, then, for special strength, and
may the Spirit of
God, who helpeth our infirmities, as He allowed help to Moses, enable us like
him to continue
with our hands steady "until the going down of the sun;" till the evening of
life is over; till
we shall come to the rising of a better sun in the land where prayer is
swallowed up in praise.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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