But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
Who gives songs in the night,
Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth,
And makes us wiser than the birds of heaven?’ Job 35:10-11
Night is the season of terror and alarm to most men. Yet even night hath its songs. Have you never stood by the seaside at night, and heard the pebbles sing, and the waves chant God’s glories?… We need not much poetry in our spirit, to catch the song of night, and hear the spheres as they chant praises which are loud to the heart, tho they be silent to the ear—the praises of the mighty God, who bears up the unpillared arch of heaven, and moves the stars in their courses.…
When thou thyself art low, it is well to sing of the fountain-head of mercy; of that blest decree wherein thou wast ordained to eternal life, and of that glorious man who undertook thy redemption.… What!… canst thou not sing of that raptuous moment when he snapt thy fetters… and said: “I am the Breaker; I came to break thy chains, and set thee free”?… Go back, man; sing of that moment, and then thou wilt have a song in the night.…
Beloved, there is another thing of which we can sing more sweetly; and that is, we can sing of the day that is to come.… Christian! if thou art in a night, think of the morrow; cheer up thy heart with the thought of thy Lord. (C. H. Spurgeon, World's Greatest Sermons)
Spirit Filled Life Daily Devotional Bible, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1993.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
God’s Whisper and Thunder
Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?
Job 26:14 [NKJV]
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?
Job 26:14 [NKJV]
Job in thought passes through the universe [Job 26:7–13].... He passes to the confines of light and darkness, rides on the wings of the wind, discourses of the clouds, skims the mighty surface of the sea. All this, however, he deems as the outskirts of God’s ways. It is but a whisper compared to the mighty thunder of his glory and power. If this is a whisper, what must the thunder be!
Perhaps we know something more of the thunder of his power than Job could, because we have stood beneath Calvary and seen Jesus die, and He is the wisdom and power of God; yea, we have witnessed the exceeding greatness of his power, according to the working of the strength of his might, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead.
Who of us can fathom or understand the power of God? But what a comfort to know that it is an attribute of his heart. God is not power, but He is love, and his love throbs through and commands his power. Be reverent when you kneel before the great and mighty God; but believe that all his power is engaged on the side of the weakest, neediest child. And more: cease not to wait upon God until He endue you with his mighty power, for service and for daily living. (F. B. Meyer, Our Daily Homily)
Spirit Filled Life Daily Devotional Bible, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1993.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Kingdom Joy
...for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 14:17 [NKJV]
No human system can generate the dimensions of fullness and fulfillment God’s kingdom life bring us. The present passion so many of us feel, to drink of “all the fullness of God,” is a quest for the way the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus as King in our daily life and living. There are no religious substitutes for the reality of this order of life.
As Paul wrote here, he was laboring with a problem, for everywhere he turned he found opponents to the message of Christ’s kingdom joys. His most ardent enemies weren’t Roman soldiers or Roman government, but a strange breed of religious diehards. They knew the true God but hated the refreshing liberty of Holy Spirit-filled living Paul was preaching. They kept imposing ritual requirements related to the Mosaic code—issues concerning certain “eating and drinking” stipulations. Paul wasn’t arguing for undisciplined living but simply for unsaddled souls! In effect, he says, “God’s kingdom isn’t in the trappings of tradition, but His rule brings His right ways (righteousness), His mighty ways (peace) and His bright ways (joy).” Let’s all open full to such fullness—and to His kingdom’s expansion in our souls.
Spirit Filled Life Daily Devotional Bible, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1993.
No human system can generate the dimensions of fullness and fulfillment God’s kingdom life bring us. The present passion so many of us feel, to drink of “all the fullness of God,” is a quest for the way the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus as King in our daily life and living. There are no religious substitutes for the reality of this order of life.
As Paul wrote here, he was laboring with a problem, for everywhere he turned he found opponents to the message of Christ’s kingdom joys. His most ardent enemies weren’t Roman soldiers or Roman government, but a strange breed of religious diehards. They knew the true God but hated the refreshing liberty of Holy Spirit-filled living Paul was preaching. They kept imposing ritual requirements related to the Mosaic code—issues concerning certain “eating and drinking” stipulations. Paul wasn’t arguing for undisciplined living but simply for unsaddled souls! In effect, he says, “God’s kingdom isn’t in the trappings of tradition, but His rule brings His right ways (righteousness), His mighty ways (peace) and His bright ways (joy).” Let’s all open full to such fullness—and to His kingdom’s expansion in our souls.
Spirit Filled Life Daily Devotional Bible, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1993.
Purpose - Part 2
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you. Jeremiah 1:5 [NKJV]
God knew us before we were born. He has prenatal perspective on the life He created to serve Him and to bless the world. The Father set us apart with the intent that we would fulfill a distinct purpose in His great plan. Later in this same chapter, the Lord says, “I have put My words in your mouth… I am ready to perform My word” (vv. 9, 12). God does not just call us to serve Him; He also fills us with His Spirit so that the outcome is guaranteed before we even start!
God has created us for Himself, and His plan transcends our lifetime. Revelation 20:6 promises that after Christ’s return, we “shall reign with Him a thousand years.” We are a precious treasure uniquely created to be an instrument of blessing in the Father’s service.
As we go through the day, rest in the knowledge that from before our conception, God’s love for us is assured, our purpose has been established, and the power to attain the goal is promised.
Hayford, Jack; and Middlebrook, Sam, Living the Spirit Filled Life, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1992.
God knew us before we were born. He has prenatal perspective on the life He created to serve Him and to bless the world. The Father set us apart with the intent that we would fulfill a distinct purpose in His great plan. Later in this same chapter, the Lord says, “I have put My words in your mouth… I am ready to perform My word” (vv. 9, 12). God does not just call us to serve Him; He also fills us with His Spirit so that the outcome is guaranteed before we even start!
God has created us for Himself, and His plan transcends our lifetime. Revelation 20:6 promises that after Christ’s return, we “shall reign with Him a thousand years.” We are a precious treasure uniquely created to be an instrument of blessing in the Father’s service.
As we go through the day, rest in the knowledge that from before our conception, God’s love for us is assured, our purpose has been established, and the power to attain the goal is promised.
Hayford, Jack; and Middlebrook, Sam, Living the Spirit Filled Life, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1992.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Purpose - Part 1
I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Philippians 3:12 [NKJV]
We have not chosen Him but He has chosen us (John 15:16). The Lord has personally selected you. Wrapped up in the very word for church is the idea of our being called out. He has called us out of our own plans for our lives, and out of the confusion of our past. Then once He calls us out, He calls us in, into the excellency of His Kingdom, into communion with Him, and into His plan for our lives.
It may sometimes seem that the plan lies just around the next bend in the road of our spiritual walk with Christ, just beyond our reach or not very well defined. But we “press on” so that we may grasp God’s plan for us—the plan that God had in mind when He “grasped” us!
Keep moving on! His plan is there for you! And it is in His plan that you will find your firmest purpose, deepest fulfillment, and highest joy.
Hayford, Jack; and Middlebrook, Sam, Living the Spirit Filled Life, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1992.
We have not chosen Him but He has chosen us (John 15:16). The Lord has personally selected you. Wrapped up in the very word for church is the idea of our being called out. He has called us out of our own plans for our lives, and out of the confusion of our past. Then once He calls us out, He calls us in, into the excellency of His Kingdom, into communion with Him, and into His plan for our lives.
It may sometimes seem that the plan lies just around the next bend in the road of our spiritual walk with Christ, just beyond our reach or not very well defined. But we “press on” so that we may grasp God’s plan for us—the plan that God had in mind when He “grasped” us!
Keep moving on! His plan is there for you! And it is in His plan that you will find your firmest purpose, deepest fulfillment, and highest joy.
Hayford, Jack; and Middlebrook, Sam, Living the Spirit Filled Life, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1992.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
A Glorious Contrast
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 [NKJV]
In the first part of the text we have three terms: wages, sin, death. In the second part we have three terms: a gift, God, eternal life. They stand over against each other in each case. Wages—a gift; sin—God; death—eternal life.
What are wages? Wages are earnings. A man has a right to wages. Wages are the equivalent to work.… What is a gift?… Something that cannot be earned. That which no man can claim as a right.
Sin is considered here as an individual act. It is the act of a free agent. It is not merely missing the mark, it is willful missing of the mark.… If wages be the payment for work, sin is the work that earns the payment. God puts Himself over against sin.… The man who is in the thought of God is a man who is incapable of reformation and whose religious observances would in themselves be sinful. Therefore, God put Himself over against sin. Sin—God.
What is death?… Death is that which every man chooses in the moment when he yields himself to sin. By that yielding, he chooses death, disintegration, corruption, ruin.… Over against death, our text places eternal life. Paul climbed to a great height one day and he … wrote of “The generation of the age of the ages.” In the light of that suggestion we see them coming, age after age, out of the fathomless being of God, profound in mystery, glorious in strength, new ages of which we can but dream in the highest moments of our spiritual illumination. That is the gift which God gives a man without asking him for a certificate or any pledge for tomorrow. (G. Campbell Morgan, The Westminster Pulpit)
Spirit Filled Life Daily Devotional Bible, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1993.
In the first part of the text we have three terms: wages, sin, death. In the second part we have three terms: a gift, God, eternal life. They stand over against each other in each case. Wages—a gift; sin—God; death—eternal life.
What are wages? Wages are earnings. A man has a right to wages. Wages are the equivalent to work.… What is a gift?… Something that cannot be earned. That which no man can claim as a right.
Sin is considered here as an individual act. It is the act of a free agent. It is not merely missing the mark, it is willful missing of the mark.… If wages be the payment for work, sin is the work that earns the payment. God puts Himself over against sin.… The man who is in the thought of God is a man who is incapable of reformation and whose religious observances would in themselves be sinful. Therefore, God put Himself over against sin. Sin—God.
What is death?… Death is that which every man chooses in the moment when he yields himself to sin. By that yielding, he chooses death, disintegration, corruption, ruin.… Over against death, our text places eternal life. Paul climbed to a great height one day and he … wrote of “The generation of the age of the ages.” In the light of that suggestion we see them coming, age after age, out of the fathomless being of God, profound in mystery, glorious in strength, new ages of which we can but dream in the highest moments of our spiritual illumination. That is the gift which God gives a man without asking him for a certificate or any pledge for tomorrow. (G. Campbell Morgan, The Westminster Pulpit)
Spirit Filled Life Daily Devotional Bible, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1993.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Christ Is Our Redeemer
...being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,... Romans 3:24 (NKJV)
The figure of redemption is very simple, and has been very frequently used in Scripture. When a prisoner has been taken captive, and has been made a slave by some barbarous power, it has been usual, before he could be set free, that a ransom price should be paid down. Now, we being, by the fall of Adam, prone to guiltiness, and indeed, virtually guilty, we were by the irreproachable judgment of God given up to the vengeance of the law; we were given to the hands of justice; justice claimed us to be his bond-slaves for ever, unless we could pay a ransom, whereby our souls could be redeemed. We were, indeed, poor as owlets, we had not wherewith to bless ourselves. We were as our hymn hath worded it, “bankrupt debtors”; an execution was put into our house; all we had was sold; we were left naked, and poor, and miserable, and we could by no means find a ransom; it was just then that Christ stepped in, stood sponsor for us, and, in the room and stead of all believers, did pay the ransom price, that we might in that hour be delivered from the curse of the law and the vengeance of God...
When Christ redeemed his people, he did it thoroughly; he did not leave a single debt unpaid, nor yet one farthing for them to settle afterwards. God demanded of Christ the payment for the sins of all his people; Christ stood forward, and to the utmost farthing paid whatever [sic] his people owed. (Sermons Of C. H. Spurgeon)
Spirit Filled Life Daily Devotional Bible, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1993.
The figure of redemption is very simple, and has been very frequently used in Scripture. When a prisoner has been taken captive, and has been made a slave by some barbarous power, it has been usual, before he could be set free, that a ransom price should be paid down. Now, we being, by the fall of Adam, prone to guiltiness, and indeed, virtually guilty, we were by the irreproachable judgment of God given up to the vengeance of the law; we were given to the hands of justice; justice claimed us to be his bond-slaves for ever, unless we could pay a ransom, whereby our souls could be redeemed. We were, indeed, poor as owlets, we had not wherewith to bless ourselves. We were as our hymn hath worded it, “bankrupt debtors”; an execution was put into our house; all we had was sold; we were left naked, and poor, and miserable, and we could by no means find a ransom; it was just then that Christ stepped in, stood sponsor for us, and, in the room and stead of all believers, did pay the ransom price, that we might in that hour be delivered from the curse of the law and the vengeance of God...
When Christ redeemed his people, he did it thoroughly; he did not leave a single debt unpaid, nor yet one farthing for them to settle afterwards. God demanded of Christ the payment for the sins of all his people; Christ stood forward, and to the utmost farthing paid whatever [sic] his people owed. (Sermons Of C. H. Spurgeon)
Spirit Filled Life Daily Devotional Bible, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1993.
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