From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
daily devotional
Evening...
Matthew 15:23 But He answered her not a word.
Genuine seekers who as yet have not obtained the blessing, may take comfort
from the story before us. The Saviour did not at once bestow the blessing, even
though the woman had great faith in Him. He intended to give it, but He waited
awhile. "He answered her not a word." Were not her prayers good? Never better
in the world. Was not her case needy? Sorrowfully needy. Did she not feel her
need sufficiently? She felt it overwhelmingly. Was she not earnest enough? She
was intensely so. Had she no faith? She had such a high degree of it that even
Jesus wondered, and said, "O woman, great is thy faith." See then, although it
is true that faith brings peace, yet it does not always bring it
instantaneously. There may be certain reasons calling for the trial of faith,
rather than the reward of faith. Genuine faith may be in the soul like a hidden
seed, but as yet it may not have budded and blossomed into joy and peace. A
painful silence from the Saviour is the grievous trial of many a seeking soul,
but heavier still is the affliction of a harsh cutting reply such as this, "It
is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs." Many in
waiting upon the Lord find immediate delight, but this is not the case with
all. Some, like the jailer, are in a moment turned from darkness to light, but
others are plants of slower growth. A deeper sense of sin may be given to you
instead of a sense of pardon, and in such a case you will have need of patience
to bear the heavy blow. Ah! poor heart, though Christ beat and bruise thee, or
even slay thee, trust Him; though He should give thee an angry word, believe in
the love of His heart. Do not, I beseech thee, give up seeking or trusting my
Master, because thou hast not yet obtained the conscious joy which thou longest
for. Cast thyself on Him, and perseveringly depend even where thou canst not
rejoicingly hope.
Morning...
Jude 24: Faultless before the presence of His glory.
Revolve in your mind that wondrous word, faultless!" We are far off from it
now; but as our Lord never stops short of perfection in His work of love, we
shall reach it one day. The Saviour who will keep His people to the Lend, will
also present them at last to Himself, as "a glorious church, not having spot,
or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and without blemish." All the jewels in
the Saviour's crown are of the first water and without a single flaw. All the
maids of honour who attend the Lamb's wife are pure virgins without spot or
stain. But how will Jesus make us faultless? He will wash us from our sins in
His own blood until we are white and fair as God's purest angel; and we shall
be clothed in His righteousness, that righteousness which makes the saint who
wears it positively faultless; yea, perfect in the sight of God. We shall be
unblameable and unreproveable even in His eyes. His law will not only have no
charge against us, but it will be magnified in us. Moreover, the work of the
Holy Spirit within us will be altogether complete. He will make us so perfectly
holy, that we shall have no lingering tendency to sin. Judgment, memory,
will-every power and passion shall be emancipated from the thraldom of evil. We
shall be holy even as God is holy, and in His presence we shall dwell for ever.
Saints will not be out of place in heaven, their beauty will be as great as
that of the place prepared for them. Oh the rapture of that hour when the
everlasting doors shall be lifted up, and we, being made meet for the
inheritance, shall dwell with the saints in light. Sin gone, Satan shut out,
temptation past for ever, and ourselves "faultless" before God, this will be
heaven indeed! Let us be joyful now as we rehearse the song of eternal praise
so soon to roll forth in full chorus from all the blood-washed host; let us
copy David's exultings before the ark as a prelude to our ecstasies before the
throne.
1 Peter 1:18
(18) Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with
corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by
tradition from your fathers;
Before repentance, our "love" for God was like what the uncalled in
the world have for Him to this day. We loved a concept of God given us by
tradition. We even had some part in devising it because we really did not know
Him. If we acknowledge this reality, we will discover it was an idol! In
principle, it was tantamount to bowing before a statue as the ancient pagans
did. Those in the world cannot enter His Kingdom until they worship the true
God, which is why the second resurrection is necessary. It is also why God says
in such verses as Ezekiel 37:6, "I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon
you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you
shall know that I am the Lord."
The God of the Bible says in His Word that not a single person has
ever known Him until He chose to reveal himself because before this happens no
one knows what to look for in God. Both testaments say, "There is none
righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks
after God" (Romans 3:10-11; Psalm 14:1-3).
Human nature likes to think of itself as possessing certain
virtues—that we were generous, kind, good-tempered, sincere, etc.—and that God
saw these in us and chose us for His side. How can this be in light of these
scriptures? Who is telling the truth? Though some do have virtuous qualities,
God does not call such people because of them. Besides, these qualities fall
far short of the image into which God is shaping us.
Some people like to say they have always believed God, yet what
they believed was an idol, a syncretistic god devised by combining biblical
truth and paganism. If what they say were true, Acts 18:27 could not also be
true. We believe because faith is God's gift. We have what we have only because
we are the objects of His choice. He chose the ones He did simply because He
chose them. We can go no further. We have no claim to any praise in this
regard. Instead, it should humble us, stun us, into overflowing praise,
gratitude, obedience, and zeal that He has given so much to those so
undeserving to receive it.
Humility begins when we properly recognize who and what we are in
relation to the sovereign Creator and to fellow man, called and uncalled alike.
We show humility by the choices we make, and these will largely be determined
by our willing recognition of the immense value of God's loving revelation of
Himself to us.
John W. Ritenbaugh
From The Sovereignty of God: Part Seven
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
daily devotional
Evening...
1 Kings 18:43 Go again seven times.
Success is certain when the Lord has promised it. Although you may have
pleaded month after month without evidence of answer, it is not possible that
the Lord should be deaf when His people are earnest in a matter which concerns
His glory. The prophet on the top of Carmel continued to wrestle with God, and
never for a moment gave way to a fear that he should be non-suited in Jehovah's
courts. Six times the servant returned, but on each occasion no word was spoken
but "Go again." We must not dream of unbelief, but hold to our faith even to
seventy times seven. Faith sends expectant hope to look from Carmel's brow, and
if nothing is beheld, she sends again and again. So far from being crushed by
repeated disappointment, faith is animated to plead more fervently with her
God. She is humbled, but not abashed: her groans are deeper, and her sighings
more vehement, but she never relaxes her hold or stays her hand. It would be
more agreeable to flesh and blood to have a speedy answer, but believing souls
have learned to be submissive, and to find it good to wait for as well as upon
the Lord. Delayed answers often set the heart searching itself, and so lead to
contrition and spiritual reformation: deadly blows are thus struck at our
corruption, and the chambers of imagery are cleansed. The great danger is lest
men should faint, and miss the blessing. Reader, do not fall into that sin, but
continue in prayer and watching. At last the little cloud was seen, the sure
forerunner of torrents of rain, and even so with you, the token for good shall
surely be given, and you shall rise as a prevailing prince to enjoy the mercy
you have sought. Elijah was a man of like passions with us: his power with God
did not lie in his own merits. If his believing prayer availed so much, why not
yours? Plead the precious blood with unceasing importunity, and it shall be
with you according to your desire.
Morning...
Leviticus 13:13 Behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall
pronounce him clean that hath the plague.
Strange enough this regulation appears, yet there was wisdom in it, for the
throwing out of the disease proved that the constitution was sound. This
morning it may be well for us to see the typical teaching of so singular a
rule. We, too, are lepers, and may read the law of leper as applicable to
ourselves. When a man sees himself to be altogether lost and ruined, covered
all over with the defilement of sin, and no part free from pollution; when he
disclaims all righteousness of his own, and pleads guilty before the Lord, then
is he clean through the blood of Jesus, and the grace of God. Hidden, unfelt,
unconfessed iniquity is the true leprosy, but when sin is seen and felt it has
received its death blow, and the Lord looks with eyes of mercy upon the soul
afflicted with it. Nothing is more deadly than self-righteousness, or more
hopeful than contrition. We must confess that we are "nothing else but sin,"
for no confession short of this will be the whole truth, and if the Holy Spirit
be at work with us, convi ncing us of sin, there will be no difficulty about
making such an acknowledgment-it will spring spontaneously from our lips. What
comfort does the text afford to those under a deep sense of sin! Sin mourned
and confessed, however black and foul, shall never shut a man out from the Lord
Jesus. Whosoever cometh unto Him, He will in no wise cast out. Though dishonest
as the thief, though unchaste as the woman who was a sinner, though fierce as
Saul of Tarsus, though cruel as Manasseh, though rebellious as the prodigal,
the great heart of love will look upon the man who feels himself to have no
soundness in him, and will pronounce him clean, when he trusts in Jesus
crucified. Come to Him, then, poor heavy-laden sinner,
Come needy, come guilty, come loathsome and bare;
You can't come too filthy-come just as you are.
Malachi 3:8-10
(8) Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say,
Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. (9) Ye are cursed with a
curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. (10) Bring ye all the
tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me
now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of
heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to
receive it.
The people of Malachi's day had let down; their attitude was
ho-hum, and they did not realize it.
We belong to God, yet we can, and do, let Him down in many ways.
The ministry, like the priesthood, can let down in doctrine and cause great
shipwreck to the faith of God's people. We, too, can let down in our offerings:
the offering of our lives. We can let down in our marriages by not loving our
spouses, or we can let down in not correctly raising our children. God wants a
pure heart within us, and He wants us to obey Him in every facet of our lives,
not just in tithing. We can let down in study and prayer. We can let down in
putting God first. This is short-changing God.
Consider what God did for us. He gave His Son, the finest offering
that He could possibly give. Jesus Christ gave Himself—not under constraint,
but willingly—for us and for everyone in this world! What should we be giving
back? We should be doing our very best to overcome and thus not rob God in the
giving of a complete and living sacrifice.
Because of the people letting down, God says, "You are cursed with
a curse—even this whole nation!" The response might as well have been, "Well,
times are tough!" God could just as easily query, "Well, why do you think times
are tough?" He tells them, "It is because you have been cheating Me! Do you not
understand that? You have been robbing Me! That is why times are tough! Do not
shove me out of your lives. You are letting down spiritually and physically.
That is why you are having tough times. You are cursed with a curse for
stealing—the whole nation—cursed!"
How do we turn this around?
Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be
meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith," says the LORD of hosts, "if I
will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that
there shall not be room enough to receive it. (Malachi 3:10)
Why does God want food in His house? We must go back to the purpose
for tithing. What kind of food does He want? He wants spiritual food. He wants
spiritual teaching. He wants right teaching in order to perfect the people of
God. This is why He wants food in His house.
The operation of God's house must run as He intends to perfect the
heart and to change the people. "Prove me, test me, try me," God says, "and I
will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing. I will empty it upon
you. I will open the sluices of heaven!" This is a figure of speech showing
that a great supply of blessings will come.
God is saying, "Bring your tithes with a right heart and attitude
and I will open the sluice, or the floodgates, of blessings and pour them out
upon you until you cannot receive it all!" The conditions are a right heart and
a right attitude. We do not know if these blessings will be spiritual or
physical, but you can bet your bottom dollar that the blessings are going to be
there!
John O. Reid
From Tithing
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