I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
(Rev 3:18-20 KJV)
Holy unto the Lord!
the whole Word4thewholeworld
Ev'ry available means
the furtherance of God's Kingdom Mandate
Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing unless He reveals His secret unto His servants the prophets. The lion has roared—who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken—who can but prophesy?
(Amo 3:7-8 AFV)
Charles H Spurgeon
God Have Mercy
2022 August 29
Morning
“Have mercy upon me, O God.” — Psa_51:1
When Dr Carey was suffering from a dangerous illness, the enquiry was made, “If this sickness should prove fatal, what passage would you select as the text for your funeral sermon?” He replied, “Oh, I feel that such a poor sinful creature is unworthy to have anything said about him; but if a funeral sermon must be preached, let it be from the words, ‘Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness; according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.'” In the same spirit of humility, he directed in his will that the following inscription and nothing more should be cut on his gravestone:
WILLIAM CAREY, BORN AUGUST 17th, 1761: DIED – –
“A wretched, poor, and helpless worm
On thy kind arms, I fall.”
Only on the footing of free grace can the most experienced and most honoured of the saints approach their God. The best of men is conscious above all others that they are men at their best. Empty boats float high, but heavily laden vessels are low in the water; mere professors can boast, but true children of God cry for mercy upon their unprofitableness. We need that the Lord should understand our good works, our prayers, our preaching, our almsgiving, and our holiest things. The blood was not only sprinkled upon the doorposts of Israel’s dwelling houses, but upon the sanctuary, the mercy seat, and the altar, because as sin intrudes into our holiest things, the blood of Jesus is needed to purify them from defilement. If mercy is needed to be exercised towards our duties, what shall be said of our sins? How sweet the remembrance of that inexhaustible mercy is waiting to be gracious to us, to restore our backslidings, and make our broken bones rejoice!
“All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.” — Num_6:4
The Nazarites had taken, among other vows, one which debarred them from the use of wine. So that they might not violate the obligation, they were forbidden to drink the vinegar of wine or strong liquors, and to make the rule still more precise, they were not to touch the unfermented juice of grapes, nor even to eat the fruit either fresh or dried. In order, altogether, to secure the integrity of the vow, they were not even allowed anything that had to do with the vine; they were, in fact, to avoid the appearance of evil. Surely this is a lesson to the Lord’s separated ones, teaching them to come away from sin in every form, to avoid not merely its grosser shapes, but even its spirit and similitude. Strict walking is much despised these days, but rest assured dear reader, it is both the safest and the happiest. He who yields a point or two to the world is in fearful peril; he who eats the grapes of Sodom will soon drink the wine of Gomorrah. A little crevice in the sea bank in Holland lets in the sea, and the gap speedily swells till a province is drowned. Worldly conformity, to any degree, is a snare to the soul and makes it increasingly liable to presumptuous sins. Moreover, as the Nazarite who drank grape juice could not be quite sure whether it might not have endured a degree of fermentation, and consequently could not be clear in the heart that his vow was intact, so the yielding, temporizing Christian cannot wear a conscience void of offence, but must feel that the inward monitor is in doubt of him. Things are doubtful we need not doubt about; they are wrong to us. Things tempting, we must not dally with but flee from them with speed. Better be sneered at as a Puritan than be despised as a hypocrite. Careful walking may involve much self-denial, but it has pleasures of its own which are more than a sufficient recompense.
Holy unto the Lord!
the whole Word4thewholeworld
Ev'ry available means
the furtherance of God's Kingdom Mandate
Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing unless He reveals His secret unto His servants the prophets. The lion has roared—who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken—who can but prophesy?
(Amo 3:7-8 AFV)
Holy unto the Lord!
the whole Word4thewholeworld
Ev'ry available means
the furtherance of God's Kingdom Mandate
Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing unless He reveals His secret unto His servants the prophets. The lion has roared—who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken—who can but prophesy?
(Amo 3:7-8 AFV)
Save draft
http://www.age&maturity.devotions@fertiileground.com/restinme
https://devotions.age&maturity@fertiileground.com/restinme
2021 May 31
"Like a shock of corn fully ripe" (Job_5:26).
A gentleman, writing about the breaking up of old ships, recently said that it is not the age alone which improves the quality of the fiber in the wood of an old vessel, but the straining and wrenching of the vessel by the sea, the chemical action of the bilge water, and of many kinds of cargoes.
Some planks and veneers made from an oak beam which had been part of a ship eighty years old were exhibited a few years ago at a fashionable furniture store on Broadway, New York, and attracted general notice for the exquisite coloring and beautiful grain.
Equally striking were some beams of mahogany taken from a bark which sailed the seas sixty years ago. The years and the traffic had contracted the pores and deepened the color, until it looked as superb in its chromatic intensity as an antique Chinese vase. It was made into a cabinet, and has today a place of honor in the drawing-room of a wealthy New York family.
So there is a vast difference between the quality of old people who have lived flabby, self-indulgent, useless lives, and the fiber of those who have sailed all seas and carried all cargoes as the servants of God and the helpers of their fellow men.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Whom we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we ourselves boast in the hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also boast in tribulations, realizing that tribulation brings forth endurance, And endurance brings forth character, and character brings forth hope. And the hope of God never makes us ashamed because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, which has been given to us. For even when we were without strength, at the appointed time Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, although perhaps someone might have the courage even to die for a good man.Not only the wrenching and straining of life, but also something of the sweetness of the cargoes carried get into the very pores and fiber of character. -- Louis Albert Banks
(Rom 5:1-7 AFV)
The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good; and the wicked man out of the wicked treasure of his heart brings forth that which is wicked; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.When the sun goes below the horizon he is not set; the heavens glow for a full hour after his departure. And when a great and good man sets, the sky of this world is luminous long after he is out of sight. Such a man cannot die out of this world. When he goes he leaves behind him much of himself. Being dead, he speaks.
-- Beecher
(Luk 6:45 AFV)
When Victor Hugo was past eighty years of age he gave expression to his religious faith in these sublime sentences: "I feel in myself the future life. I am like a forest which has been more than once cut down. The new shoots are livelier than ever. I am rising toward the sky. The sunshine is on my head. The earth gives me its generous sap, but Heaven lights me with its unknown worlds.
Winter
"You say the soul is nothing but the resultant of the bodily powers. Why, then, is my soul more luminous when my bodily powers begin to fail? Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart. I breathe at this hour the fragrance of the lilacs, the violets, and the roses as at twenty years. The nearer I approach the end the plainer I hear around me the immortal symphonies of the worlds which invite me. It is marvelous, yet simple."
You will increase my greatness and surround and comfort me on every side. I will also praise You with the harp for Your truth, O my God; I will sing praises unto you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel. My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You, and my life, which You have redeemed. My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long, for those who seek my hurt are confounded; they are brought to shame.
(Psa 71:21-24 AFV)
I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will speak of Your righteousness, even of Yours alone. O God, You have taught me from my youth; and until now I have declared Your wonderful works. But now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me until I have declared Your strength to this generation, and Your power to everyone who is to come.
(Psa 71:16-18 AFV)
Holy unto the Lord!
the whole Word4thewholeworld
Ev'ry available means
the furtherance of God's Kingdom Mandate
Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing unless He reveals His secret unto His servants the prophets. The lion has roared—who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken—who can but prophesy?
(Amo 3:7-8 AFV)
