From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Daily devotions for 07-04-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: Leanness of Spirit
Evening Title: Suffering With Christ
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Morning: Leanness of Spirit
"The illfavoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven wellfavoured and fat
kine."
--Genesis 41:4
Pharaoh's dream has too often been my waking experience. My days of sloth have
ruinously destroyed all that I had achieved in times of zealous industry; my
seasons of coldness have frozen all the genial glow of my periods of fervency
and enthusiasm; and my fits of worldliness have thrown me back from my advances
in the divine life. I had need to beware of lean prayers, lean praises, lean
duties, and lean experiences, for these will eat up the fat of my comfort and
peace.
If I neglect prayer for never so short a time, I lose all the spirituality to
which I had
attained; if I draw no fresh supplies from heaven, the old corn in my granary
is soon
consumed by the famine which rages in my soul.
When the caterpillars of indifference, the cankerworms of worldliness, and the
palmerworms of self-indulgence, lay my heart completely desolate, and make my
soul to languish, all my former fruitfulness and growth in grace avails me
nothing whatever.
How anxious should I be to have no lean-fleshed days, no ill-favoured hours! If
every day I journeyed towards the goal of my desires I should soon reach it,
but backsliding leaves me still far off from the prize of my high calling, and
robs me of the advances which I had so laboriously made. The only way in which
all my days can be as the "fat kine," is to feed them in the right meadow, to
spend them with the Lord, in His service, in His company, in His fear, and in
His way.
Why should not every year be richer than the past, in love, and usefulness, and
joy?--I am nearer the celestial hills, I have had more experience of my Lord,
and should be more like Him. O Lord, keep far from me the curse of leanness of
soul; let me not have to cry, "My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me!" but may
I be well-fed and nourished in Thy house, that I may praise Thy name.
Evening: Suffering With Christ
"If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him." --2 Timothy 2:12
We must not imagine that we are suffering for Christ, and with Christ, if we
are not in Christ. Beloved friend, are you trusting to Jesus only?
If not, whatever you may have to mourn over on earth, you are not "suffering
with Christ," and have no hope of reigning with Him in heaven.
Neither are we to conclude that all a Christian's sufferings are sufferings
with Christ, for it is essential that he be called by God to suffer.
If we are rash and imprudent, and run into positions for which neither
providence nor grace
has fitted us, we ought to question whether we are not rather sinning than
communing with Jesus.
If we let passion take the place of judgment, and self-will reign instead of
Scriptural authority, we shall fight the Lord's battles with the devil's
weapons, and if we cut our own fingers we must not be surprised. Again, in
troubles which come upon us as the result of sin, we must not dream that we are
suffering with Christ.
When Miriam spoke evil of Moses, and the leprosy polluted her, she was not
suffering for God.
Moreover, suffering which God accepts must have God's glory as its end. If I
suffer that I may earn a name, or win applause, I shall get no other reward
than that of the Pharisee. It is requisite also that love to Jesus, and love to
His elect, be ever the mainspring of all our patience. We must manifest the
Spirit of Christ in meekness, gentleness, and forgiveness. Let us search and
see if we truly suffer with Jesus. And if we do thus suffer, what is our "light
affliction" compared with reigning with Him?
Oh it is so blessed to be in the furnace with Christ, and such an honour to
stand in the pillory with Him, that if there were no future reward, we might
count ourselves happy in present honour; but when the recompense is so eternal,
so infinitely more than we had any right to expect, shall we not take up the
cross with alacrity, and go on our way rejoicing?
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Daily devotions for 07-02-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: Unchanging Grace
Evening Title: The Lord Tends His Garden
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Morning: Unchanging Grace
"In summer and in winter shall it be." --Zechariah 14:8
The streams of living water which flow from Jerusalem are not dried up by the
parching heats of sultry midsummer any more than they were frozen by the cold
winds of blustering winter.
Rejoice, O my soul, that thou art spared to testify of the faithfulness of the
Lord. The
seasons change and thou changest, but thy Lord abides evermore the same, and
the streams of His love are as deep, as broad and as full as ever.
The heats of business cares and scorching trials make me need the cooling
influences of the river of His grace; I may go at once and drink to the full
from the inexhaustible fountain, for in summer and in winter it pours forth its
flood.
The upper springs are never scanty, and blessed be the name of the Lord, the
nether springs cannot fail either. Elijah found Cherith dry up, but Jehovah was
still the same God of providence.
Job said his brethren were like deceitful brooks, but he found his God an
overflowing river of consolation. The Nile is the great confidence of Egypt,
but its floods are variable; our Lord is evermore the same.
By turning the course of the Euphrates, Cyrus took the city of Babylon, but no
power, human or infernal, can divert the current of divine grace.
The tracks of ancient rivers have been found all dry and desolate, but the
streams which take their rise on the mountains of divine sovereignty and
infinite love shall ever be full to the brim.
Generations melt away, but the course of grace is unaltered. The river of God
may sing with greater truth than the brook in the poem---
"Men may come, and men may go, But I go on for ever."
How happy art thou, my soul, to be led beside such still waters! never wander
to other streams, lest thou hear the Lord's rebuke, "What hast thou to do in
the way of Egypt to drink of the muddy river?"
Evening: The Lord Tends His Garden
"The voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day."
--Genesis 3:8
My soul, now that the cool of the day has come, retire awhile and hearken to
the voice of thy God. He is always ready to speak with thee when thou art
prepared to hear. If there be any slowness to commune it is not on His part,
but altogether on thine own, for He stands at the door and knocks, and if His
people will but open He rejoices to enter.
But in what state is my heart, which is my Lord's garden? May I venture to hope
that it is well trimmed and watered, and is bringing forth fruit fit for Him?
If not, He will have much to reprove, but still I pray Him to come unto me, for
nothing can so certainly bring my heart into a right condition as the presence
of the Sun of Righteousness, who brings healing in His wings.
Come, therefore, O Lord, my God, my soul invites Thee earnestly, and waits for
Thee eagerly. Come to me, O Jesus, my well-beloved, and plant fresh flowers in
my garden, such as I see blooming in such perfection in Thy matchless
character! Come, O my Father, who art the Husbandman, and deal with me in Thy
tenderness and prudence! Come, O Holy Spirit, and bedew my whole nature, as the
herbs are now moistened with the evening dews. O that God would speak to me.
Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth! O that He would walk with me; I am ready
to give up my whole heart and mind to Him, and every other thought is hushed. I
am only asking what He delights to give. I am sure that He will condescend to
have fellowship with me, for He has given me His Holy Spirit to abide with me
for ever.
Sweet is the cool twilight, when every star seems like the eye of heaven, and
the cool wind is as the breath of celestial love. My Father, my elder Brother,
my sweet Comforter, speak now in lovingkindness, for Thou hast opened mine ear
and I am not rebellious.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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