“Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.” Psalm 119:117 We are surrounded with snares; temptations lie spread every moment in our path. These snares and temptations are so suitable to the lusts of our flesh, that we shall infallibly fall into them, and be overcome by them but for the restraining providence or … Read more
“Man’s goings are of the Lord; how can a man then understand his own way?” Proverbs 20:24 Does not your heart sometimes quake with fear lest you have nothing but a nominal profession, lest the god of this world be blinding you, and lest your conscience be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin? It is … Read more
“I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.” Isaiah 27:3 The Lord Jesus Christ, who lives at God’s right hand, has to send down supplies of his grace continually to keep your soul alive unto himself. Without this life being … Read more
“Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.”—James 5:11 The words translated “endure” and “patience” are the same in the original; and in fact, the example of Job is given … Read more
“Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord.”—Hosea 6:3 “To know the Lord” is to know experimentally and spiritually the power of Jesus’ blood and righteousness; to know our eternal union with him; to know him so as to be led by the Spirit into soul communion with him, that we … Read more
“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.”—Romans 8:5 None but those who are partakers of a heavenly birth feel heavenly realities to be their choice element, holy things their sweetest meditation, and the solemn worship of … Read more
“For we are his workmanship.”—Ephesians 2:10 Consider what is here declared of those who are saved by grace through faith—that they are God’s “workmanship”—the fruit and product of his creative hand. All, then, that we are and all that we have that is spiritual, and as such acceptable to God, we owe to the special … Read more
“Love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”—1 John 4:7, 8 If ever you have loved Jesus with a pure affection; if ever you have felt him near, dear, and precious to your soul, that love … Read more
“Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.”—Ephesians 2:20, 21 Christ is the Head of every member individually, as he is the Head of the whole body collectively. Growth of the body, from babyhood to manhood, is the growth … Read more
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”—2 Corinthians 4:7 Be not surprised if you feel that in yourself you are but an earthen vessel; if you are made deeply and daily sensible unto what a frail body God has communicated … Read more
“Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”—2 Corinthians 6:17 If we are entangled in the love of the world, or fast bound and fettered with worldly anxieties, and the spirit of the world is rife in our bosom, all … Read more
“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.”—1 Peter 4:12 The “fiery trial,” then, is not a strange thing which happens only to a few of the Lord’s family, but is more or less the appointed lot of all. Do we … Read more