nChrist

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One essential element of all true prayer

(J.R. Miller, "According to His Will")

"Going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed: My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will." Matthew 26:39

One essential element of all true prayer, is its final reference of all requests to the will of God. Yet this quality of prayer is often forgotten or overlooked in our pleading. We often pray earnestly--but it is for the doing of our own will that we ask, not for the doing of our Father's will. Yet nothing is clearer than that no prayer is acceptable to God which, after all its intensity and importunity--is not referred to God and left to His superior wisdom.

How can we know what is best for us?
How can we tell whether or not the thing we desire would prove a real blessing if we had it?
How do we know that it will be best for us to have the bitter cup which is held out toward our quivering lips, pass away?

Then there is another way of looking at it. Is it the true child spirit for us to insist on having our own way with God, to press our will without regard to His? Are we not God's creatures, His redeemed children? Is it not ours, then, in all things to learn obedience and submission to Him?

The beloved disciple has given us this word: "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." This, then, is the test of all praying--it must be according to God's will.

But how can we know what His will is?

There are certain classes of blessings which we know it is God's will to give us. This is true in general of spiritual blessings. But in things which concern this present life, we cannot be sure. Yet no prayer which is not according to God's will can be heard or answered. The least shade of self-will vitiates any prayer. Things that we know to be according to His revealed will in Scripture, we may press with all boldness. In such cases, our will is God's will. We never can want to receive spiritual blessings, half so earnestly as He wants to give them to us.

But there are other things concerning which we cannot be certain--which we cannot know what the will of God may be. If you are very sick--you cannot be sure whether it may be the Father's purpose that you should recover, or that you should die. If your child, or your mother, or some other loved one is in the shadow of death--you cannot be sure what the will of the Lord is, whether longer life or death. If you have some bodily affliction or infirmity, some burden of trial or pain, or something in your circumstances that it seems to you that you cannot bear, you may earnestly pray God to take it away--but you cannot be sure that it is your Father's will to remove it.

How, then, can you ask "according to His will"--when you cannot know what His will is? There is but one way: ask what you want, ask in a childlike, trustful, loving spirit--and then leave it all to your Father, ending your supplication with the refrain of our Lord's garden prayer, "Yet not as I will, but as You will."

It follows, then, that the answers to many prayers do not come in the granting of the thing asked for--but in grace to do without it. We have a striking illustration of this in our Lord's pleadings in Gethsemane. The cup did not pass from Him, but the struggle died away in His heart and at the close He was at peace. He had not received what He had sought--but He had gained the victory. He had been victorious, not by prevailing with God--but by prevailing over Himself and bringing His own spirit into perfect acquiescence to His Father's will. Was not that better by far, than if the bitter cup had passed away?

So we learn that sometimes God answers our prayers, not by bringing His will down to ours--but by lifting our will up to His. Far oftener than we think, in matters which belong to this present earthly life, are prayers answered in this way. The things we seek are not given--but as we plead in the spirit of submission, divine grace is poured into our souls, and we grow strong so as to need no longer to cry for relief. We can now bear the heavy load, without asking to have it lightened. We can now endure the sorrow, without beseeching God to spare us from it. We can now go on in quiet peace, without the new blessing which a little while ago we thought was so essential to our happiness. We have not been saved from the battle we so shrank from entering--but we have fought it through, and have gained the victory.

We sometimes talk thoughtlessly and shallowly about answers to prayer. We tell people that if they go to God in trouble, that He will deliver them. But that is not the promise. Take this one word from the Psalms for example: "Cast your burden upon the Lord and He shall sustain you." We quote this, however, for ourselves and for others as if it read, "Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will remove it, or bear it for you."

But the promise is, "and He shall sustain you." It is not an assurance . . .
that the bitter cup shall pass from us,
that your sick child shall recover,
that your property shall not be lost,
that your broken health shall be restored.
It is a pledge only that you shall be sustained, that you shall not faint under the burden, that if it is not lifted away, as most likely it will not be--you shall be helped to carry it.

God's ways may not bend to yours, but you will be enabled to walk with Him. Your prayer may not bring God down to you--but instead it may lift you up to God. And is not that the better, the larger blessing?

The final result of all such prayers of submission, is peace.
Lying at our Father's feet, in our strong cryings and tears . . .
we learn obedience,
our sobbings end in praises,
our struggles end in acquiescence,
our tears are dried,
and we rise victorious.
We may not get our own way--but we are glad, happy and peaceful in God's way.
 
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His Heaven mine--my Hell His!

(Octavius Winslow)

It is astonishing that I should so be one with Christ, that all that He is becomes mine, and all that I am becomes His!

His glory mine--my humiliation His.

His righteousness mine--my guilt His.

His joy mine--my sorrow His.

His riches mine--my poverty His.

His life mine--my death His.

His Heaven mine--my Hell His!

The daily walk of faith, is a continuous development of the wonders of this wondrous truth.
That in traveling to Him empty--I should return from Him full.
That in going to Him weak--I should come away from Him strong.
That in bending my steps to Him in all darkness, perplexity, and grief--I should retrace them all light, and joy, and gladness.
 
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They sing best in their cages!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name!" Psalm 33:21

Christians can rejoice even in the deepest distress. Although trouble may surround them, they still sing. Like many birds--they sing best in their cages!

The waves may roll over them, but their souls soon rise to the surface and see the light of God's countenance.

In times of trouble, the presence of the Son of God in the fiery furnace with him fills his heart with joy.

He is sick and suffering, but Jesus visits him and makes his bed for him.

He is dying, but Jesus puts His arms around him and cries, "Fear not, beloved, to die is to be blessed--the waters of death have their fountainhead in Heaven. They are not bitter--they are as sweet as nectar, for they flow from the throne of God."

As the departing saint wades through the stream and the billows gather around him, the same voice sounds in his ears, "Fear not, I am with you! Be not dismayed, I am your God."

As he nears the borders of the infinite unknown, Jesus says, "Fear not, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom!"

Thus strengthened and consoled, the believer is not afraid to die. No, he is even willing to depart, for since he has seen Jesus as the morning star, he longs to gaze upon Him as the sun in its strength. "I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far!" Philippians 1:23

Truly the presence of Jesus is all the Heaven we desire!
 
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Their constant pleasure-ground!

(Henry Law)

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers." Psalm 1:1-3

Blessed are those who find their constant pleasure-ground in the luxuries of the Bible!
They commune with the mind of God.
They listen to a heavenly voice.
They bask in rays of purest light.
They feed in wholesome pastures of refreshment.
They fear no poison from the weeds of error.
No devious path can lead their steps astray.
Wisdom from above guides sweetly them.
The Spirit, as great Teacher of the Church, instructs the students.
They advance safely, happily, from grace to grace.

The lessons are as vast as the mine from which they spring.
They are as pure as the realms to which they call.
They warn of sin--its filth--its misery--its end.
They unfold Jesus in all the glories of redeeming love.
They exhibit holiness, as the only road to holy Heaven.

Reader! heed a beneficial admonition:
Study the Bible, as holding treasure for your soul.
Study in the earnestness of prayer.
Study with eternity outspread before you.
Study with the lowliness of a poor sinner before a speaking God.
Study with faith devoutly grasping every word.

Do not close not the volume without inquiring,
"Is sin more hateful--is the world more worthless--is the flesh more treacherous in my sight?
Is Jesus brought nearer to my adoring soul?
Is my heart won to more entire devotedness?
Am I more resolute to live for Him, who died for me?"
 
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We do not know which to wonder the most at

(Charles Spurgeon)

Isaiah 49:14. "Zion said: The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me!"

How amazed the divine mind seems to be at this wicked unbelief! What can be more astounding, than the unfounded doubts and fears of God's favored people?

Isaiah 49:15-16. "Can a mother forget the baby at her bosom and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! Behold! I have engraved you on the palms of My hands!"

The Lord's loving word of rebuke should make us blush. He cries, "How can I have forgotten you--when I have engraved you on the palms of My hands?"

We do not know which to wonder the most at: the faithfulness of God--or the unbelief of His people. He keeps His promise a thousand times--and yet our next trial makes us doubt Him. He never fails--and yet we are as continually vexed with anxieties, molested with suspicions, and disturbed with fears.

"Behold!" is a word intended to excite admiration. Here, indeed, we have a theme for marveling. Heaven and earth may well be astonished that sinful rebels should obtain so great a nearness to the heart of infinite love, as to be written upon the palms of His hands.

The name is there, but that is not all: "I have engraved you--your image, your case, your circumstances, your sins, your temptations, your weaknesses, your wants, your works--I have engraved you, everything about you, all that concerns you--I have engraved you altogether on the palms of My hands!"

Will you ever say again that God has forsaken you--when He has engraved you upon His own palms?
 
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An easy Hell!

(Thomas Watson, "The Art of Divine Contentment")

"I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content--whether well-fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need." Philippians 4:11-12

Whatever affliction or trouble a child of God meets with--it is all the Hell he shall ever have! Whatever eclipse may be upon his name or estate--it is but a little cloud which will soon be blown over, and then his Hell is past!

Death begins a wicked man's Hell.
Death ends a godly man's Hell.

Think with yourself, "What is my affliction? It is but a temporary Hell. Indeed, if all my Hell is here on earth--it is but an easy Hell. What is the cup of affliction--compared to the cup of damnation!"

Lazarus could not get a crumb; he was so diseased that the dogs took pity on him--and as if they had been his physicians, licked his sores. But this was an easy Hell--the angels quickly fetched him out of it!

If all our Hell is in this life--and in the midst of this Hell, we have the love of God--then it is no more Hell, but paradise! If all our Hell is here on earth, we may see to the end of it; it is but skin-deep, it cannot touch the soul. It is a short-lived Hell. After a dreary night of affliction, comes the bright morning of glory!

Since our lives are short--our trials cannot be long!

As our riches take wings and fly away--so do our sufferings!

Let us learn then, to be content whatever our circumstances.
 
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nChrist

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Sin is shut out--and they are shut in!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"The sound of weeping and crying will be heard no more!" Isaiah 65:19

The glorified weep no more, because all causes of grief are gone!
There are no broken friendships, nor blighted prospects in Heaven.
Poverty, famine, peril, persecution and slander--are unknown there.
No pain distresses, and no thought of death or bereavement saddens.

They weep no more, because they all are perfectly sanctified!
No "evil heart of unbelief" prompts them to depart from the living God.
They are without fault before His throne, and are fully conformed to His image!
Well may they cease to mourn--who have ceased to sin!

They weep no more, because all fear of change is past!
They know that they are eternally secure!
Sin is shut out--and they are shut in!
They dwell within a city which shall never be stormed!
They bask in a sun which shall never set!
They drink of a river which shall never run dry!
They pluck fruit from a tree which shall never wither!

Countless cycles may revolve--but eternity shall not be exhausted; and while eternity endures, their immortality and blessedness shall co-exist with it. They are forever with the Lord!

They weep no more, because every desire is fulfilled!
They cannot wish for anything--which they don't already have in full possession.
Eye and ear,
heart and hand,
mind and imagination,
desire and affection,
all the faculties--
are completely satisfied!

As imperfect as our present ideas are of the things which God has prepared for those who love Him--yet we know enough by Scriptural revelation, that the glorified saints are supremely blessed.

The joy of Christ, which is an infinite fullness of delight, is in them.

They bathe forever in the bottomless, shoreless sea of infinite blessedness!

That same joyful rest remains for us! It may not be far distant.
Before long, sorrow's dewdrops will be transformed into the pearls of everlasting bliss!

"The sound of weeping and crying will be heard no more!" Isaiah 65:19

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain!" Revelation 21:4

"Therefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thessalonians 4:18
 
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The devil's chessboard!

(Charles Spurgeon, "Flowers from a Puritan's Garden" 1883)

"So that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes!" 2 Corinthians 2:11

"Be watchful; the world is the devil's chessboard! You can hardly move backward or forward, but he is ready to attack you with some temptation!"

Those who play at the game of chess know that great caution is needed. Your opponent is working toward a design of which you know nothing; and while you imagine that you are doing exceedingly well, he is entrapping you!

The game of life, as against Satan, is one in which . . .
his maneuvers and artifice,
his long practice and stratagems,
his superior skill and deceptiveness,
and his unscrupulous schemes--
give him an immense advantage over our poor self-conceited folly!

Lord, help us! You know our adversary; be pleased to deliver us out of his hand.

"Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes!" Ephesians 6:11
 
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Marvelous Mercy by James Smith
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December 31, 1855

(James Smith, "Marvelous Mercy!" 1862)

The following is an excerpt from the diary of James Smith:

December 31, 1855.
The last day of the year 1855--a year characterized by . . .
many severe trials,
many sore temptations,
and innumerable mercies.

In some things, it closes differently to what I expected--but how differently it may have closed!

I might have been in Hell! O terrible thought!

I might have been on a sick bed, tormented with excruciating pain, or reduced to a state of infantile weakness.

I might have been in great and sore troubles, tossed with tempests, and not comforted.

I might have been without a pastorate--and without a loving people.

Or I might have been guilty of some heinous sin, lost my character, and been a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth!

Blessed, forever blessed be the Lord--that such is not my case!
My health is good,
my hope in Christ is steady,
my congregation good, and
I trust the Lord will yet work a great work by me.

And now, Lord, I desire to confess before you the sins of this past year:
I have sinned with my tongue--and with my temper.
I have sinned in my heart--and in my life.
I have omitted duties.
I have committed sins.
My motives have often been impure.
My aims have not been sufficiently high and holy.
I have been impatient, fretful, irritable, rash, jealous, envious, discontented and ungrateful.

O may the blood of Jesus wash out every stain!

I renounce all hope--but what centers in Jesus!

I have no refuge, no hiding-place, no strong tower, no place of safety--but Jesus.

Christ in His person,
Christ in His finished work,
Christ in His glorious intercession--
is all my hope, all my confidence, all my joy!

I am His servant--and wish to serve Him alone.
I am His subject--and wish to be ruled by Him alone.
I am His purchased property--and wish to be consecrated entirely, eternally, and altogether to Him!
 
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A New Year's Resolution

(Matthew Henry)

"My times are in Your hand!" Psalm 31:15

Firmly believing that my times are in God's hand, I here submit myself and all my affairs for the ensuing year, to the wise and gracious disposal of God's divine providence. Whether God appoints for me . . . .
health or sickness,
peace or trouble,
comforts or crosses,
life or death--
may His holy will be done!
All my time, strength, and service, I devote to the honor of the Lord Jesus--and even my common actions. It is my earnest expectation, hope, and desire, my constant aim and endeavor--that Jesus Christ may be magnified in me.

In everything I have to do--my entire dependence is upon Jesus Christ for strength. And whatever I do in word or deed, I desire to do all in His name, to make Him my Alpha and Omega. I have all from Him--and I would use all for Him.

If this should prove a year of affliction, a sorrowful year to me--I will fetch all my supports and comforts from the Lord Jesus and stay myself upon Him, His everlasting consolations, and the good hope I have in Him through grace.

And if it should be my dying year--then my times are in the hand of the Lord Jesus. And with a humble reliance upon His mediation, I would venture into the eternal world looking for the blessed hope. Dying as well as living--Jesus Christ will, I trust, be gain and advantage to me.

Oh, that the grace of God may be sufficient for me, to keep me always a humble sense of my own unworthiness, weakness, folly, and infirmity--together with a humble dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ for both righteousness and strength.

~ ~ ~ ~

"Remember that your life is short, your duties are many, your assistance is great, and your reward is sure. Therefore faint not, persevere in ways of holiness--and Heaven shall make amends for all!" Thomas Brooks
 
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nChrist

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Atheistic beliefs

("Theology Explained" Timothy Dwight, 1752-1817)

"The fool says in his heart: There is no God!" Psalm 14:1

Atheism has its seat in the heart, and not in the understanding. "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." John 3:19-20

Nothing can be more evident, than that atheistic beliefs can never be embraced from reason, or conviction, or by an unbiased understanding. They are certainly adopted under the influence of the heart. They are believed only because they are loved--or because God is dreaded and hated. Thus the heart is the true source of the belief that there is no God; and he is a fool, who, governed by his desires, thus believes against all reason and evidence.

The great danger lies in the heart--and in its hostility to God and His character. What we desire--we easily believe; and what we dread or hate--we easily disbelieve. As we dread the anger of God against sin, and against ourselves particularly as sinners, and all His designs to punish sin; and as we hate to renounce sin and its pleasures--we easily and naturally contrive to disbelieve God's designs, character, and existence. Especially is this the case, when God, provoked by our rebellion and opposition, gives us up to a reprobate mind.

"Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity!" Romans 1:28-29

"They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness." 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12

"So also these men oppose the truth--men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are reprobate." 2 Timothy 3:8

How greatly ought we then to fear this mass of atheistic guilt, danger, and ruin! How earnestly ought we to watch, and strive, and pray that we fall not into this train of temptations and miseries! Let us resolve to receive and love the truths of Scripture at all events, however humbling or painful.
 
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If you saw Christ standing beside you all the time

(J.R. Miller, "Intimate Letters on Personal Problems")

Scripture says of Moses, that "he endured as seeing Him who is invisible!" Hebrews 11:27. That is, Moses always remembered that God was right beside him, his friend to help him--and this made him strong. He did not actually see God--but it was as if he saw Him. That is, he realized the divine presence in all of his life.

If you saw Christ standing beside you all the time--it would not be hard for you to keep sweet, or to keep control of your temper and speech.

Well, Christ IS beside you--just as really as He was beside Mary when she sat at His feet in Bethany, or beside Peter and the other disciples as they walked together over the hills of Judea and Galilee. What you need, is to realize this fact.

We know that Jesus is present with us all the time, at every moment, by day or by night. He is closer than any human friend can be to us. Indeed, we are to practice His presence--that is, we are to live all the time, as if we actually saw Him!

You must remember that Christ is always besides you, not only to see you--but to help you, as your truest and best Friend!
 
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God is everywhere!

(Don Fortner)

"The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." Proverbs 15:3

God is everywhere by His power--upholding, maintaining, sustaining all things, and performing with His own hands the works of His eternal purpose in all places.

God is everywhere by his providence--taking care of and governing all His creatures, executing in all places at the same time His everlasting decrees.

God is everywhere by His omniscience--beholding all things, all places, all events, all people, even the secrets of the hearts of all men at one time.

"His eyes are on the ways of men; He sees their every step. There is no dark place, no deep shadow, where evildoers can hide." Job 34:21-22

"For a man's ways are in full view of the LORD, and He examines all his paths." Proverbs 5:21

"My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from Me, nor is their sin concealed from My eyes." Jeremiah 16:17

"Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him? Do not I fill Heaven and earth?" Jeremiah 23:24

"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." Hebrews 4:13

"O LORD, You have searched me and You know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in--behind and before; You have laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain!" Psalm 139:1-6
 
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Oh, you killers of time!

(Octavius Winslow) Ephesians 5:16

Time is the preface to eternity. And as the preface indicates the character of the volume, so our present use of time is the foreshadowing of our future eternal history.

We may rob God by a misuse of time. Time is a solemn and priceless gift, and involves a responsibility and an account of a most tremendous character.

What sin, what madness, then, to abuse a privilege so solemn--to misuse a blessing so precious. To employ time in vain pleasures and frivolous pursuits; to use it in senseless levities and sinful engagements; to devote it too absorbingly even to literary and noble pursuits: the studies of the antiquarian, the researches of the historian, the fascinations of art, the discoveries of science; may verge upon the crime of robbing God of one of His most costly loans! All these absorbing engagements are limited to the present, and have no essential relation to the soul's certain and solemn future.

Oh, you killers of time! How will the ghost of your murdered hours haunt and upbraid you through the interminable centuries of eternity! Oh, what would you not then give for one hour of that precious period of your existence which now you waste and fritter and destroy--in vain, useless, and sinful trifles, dreams, and shadows.

Remember, you rob God when your time is not consecrated to His glory. Ponder well the inspired precept, "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." Ephesians 5:16. Consider the apostolic exhortation, "Brethren, the time is short!" 1 Corinthians 7:29

"So teach us to number our days--that we may present to You a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12
 
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nChrist

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Home, sweet home! There is no place like home!

(James Smith, "Rills from the Rock of Ages", 1860)

"These all died in faith . . . they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth" Hebrews 11:13

The day of life with them is ended. Its duties are ended. Its responsibilities are past. Its hours are fled away.

What a trying day some of them had! How stormy. How sultry. How often overcast. How gloomy. But it is now past--and past forever! The toils of the wilderness are over! They had much to afflict and pain them . . .
a difficult and dangerous journey,
a long wearisome march,
many a heavy cross to carry,
many a stubborn foe to face,
many a painful doubt,
numerous gloomy fears.

But now the wilderness is all behind them! The afflictions of the pilgrimage are terminated. Those sufferings were sharp, and some of them continued long. Many of them were endured in secret, without sympathy and without relief. They were soul sorrows, agony of mind--as well as sharp pains of body. But however multiplied, however severe, however protracted those sorrows--they are past and gone, never, never to return!

The sweetest repose is now enjoyed. The poor tabernacle has been taken down, and is laid in a quiet resting-place until the resurrection morning. The soul is gone to be with Jesus. It has traveled through the rough path of life--and is now in God's presence, where there is fullness of joy, and pleasures for evermore!

As Christians, we are going to the same place. The graves will soon be ready for our bodies--and the mansions of glory for our souls. We are going home! Home to our Father's house! Home where our hearts have long been. Home where all our prayers will be answered, and all our best desires will be gratified. "Home, sweet home! There is no place like home!" Especially our home! A paradise without a tempting serpent! A paradise where all are holy, all are safe, all are happy. Those pure and perpetual joys, which are at God's right hand, await us! We taste them now and are delighted with a sip--but there we shall soon drink full draughts of eternal glory, eternal joy, and eternal blessedness!

Amidst present toils and trials, dangers and distresses--when wearied, way-worn, and tempted to fret--remember that you will soon be HOME! Think, think, O my soul, of an eternity of enjoyment--when the sufferings of time are ended!

"Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away!" Revelation 21:3-4

(Please forward this uplifting post to all of your Christian friends who are going through times of affliction.)
 
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What are you doing with your time?

(J.R. Miller)

"Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of the time" Ephesians 5:15-16

Our days, as God gives them to us--are like beautiful summer fields.
The hours are like trees with their rich fruit, or vines with their blossoms of purple clusters.
The minutes are like blooming flowers, or stalks of wheat with their golden grains.

Oh the endless, blessed possibilities of our days and hours and minutes--as they come to us from God's hands!

But what did you do with yesterday? How does the little acre of that one day look to you now?

What are you doing with your time? Every moment God gives you, has in it a possibility of beauty or usefulness--as well as something to be accounted for.

Are you using your time for God?

"Show me, O Lord, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life!" Psalm 39:4

Jeremy Taylor: "God has given to man a short time here upon earth, and yet upon this short time eternity depends!"

Ryle: "No time is so well spent in every day--as that which we spend upon our knees."

Spurgeon: "Time is short. Eternity is long. It is only reasonable that this short life be lived in the light of eternity!"

"So teach us to number our days--that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12
 
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nChrist

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Better to rot in prison!

(J.R. Miller, "Practical Lessons from the Story of Joseph")

"How can I do this great wickedness--and sin against God!" Genesis 39:9

"After hearing his wife's story, Potiphar was furious! He took Joseph and threw him into the prison!" Genesis 39:19-20

Sometimes it costs very dearly to be true to God. Joseph lay now in a dungeon. But his loss through doing right, was nothing in comparison with what he would have lost--had he done the wickedness to which he was tempted. His prison gloom, deep as it was--was as noonday, compared with what would have been the darkness of his soul under the blight of evil, and the bitterness of remorse. The chains that hung upon him in his dungeon, were but like feathers--in comparison with the heavy chains which would have bound his soul, had he yielded to the temptation. Though in a prison, his feet hurt by the fetters--he was a free man because his conscience was free and his heart was pure!

No fear of consequences should ever drive us to do a wrong thing.

It is better to suffer any loss, any cost, any sacrifice--than be eaten up by remorse!

Better be hurled down from a high place for doing right--than win worldly honor by doing wrong.

Better lose our right hand--than lose our purity of soul.

Better to rot in prison--than to sin against God!

It was the prayer of a young queen, which she wrote with a diamond point on her castle window, "Keep me pure--make others great." That is the lesson of Joseph's victory over temptation: dishonor, loss, dungeon, death--anything before sin!
 
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nChrist

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Prepare to meet the monster!

(David Harsha)

This young lady had been confined to a bed of severe suffering for one year. At last her soul was ripened for glory. The time came that she must die, and her death-bed was a scene of triumph. Christ was very precious to her, and His love was wonderfully manifested to her soul. She often exclaimed, "My Beloved is mine, and I am His."

The following are among her last words:

To her distant brother she thus dictated a letter: "Dear brother, I know not whether I shall meet you again on earth; but I hope to meet you in Heaven, where we shall be forever singing the praises of God; where the Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, shall feed us, and lead us unto living fountains of waters, and where God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes."

To her father, who said to her, "I fear I must lose you." She replied, "Your loss will be my gain! I have a building from God, a house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." And again when he said, "I think you will fall asleep in Jesus;" she responded, "It will be a happy change!"

She exclaimed in a transport of joy, "Oh! I would not give up Christ for all the world!"

Her earthly course being nearly finished, she opened her eyes, which were soon to be closed in death, and in the language of strong, unshaken faith, exclaimed with Job, "But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!"

Her faith remained firm unto the end, and her hope and confidence unshaken to the last. Her sky was clear and serene, her mind calm and composed--and thus she fell asleep in Jesus and entered into the joy of her Lord.

A few days before this young lady died, she requested the following lines to be read at her funeral.

To my young companions:

"My youthful mates, both small and great,
Stand here, and you shall see,
An awful sight, which is a type
Of what you soon will be!

"I used to appear once fresh and fair
Among the youthful crowd;
But now behold me dead and cold,
Wrapped in a sable shroud!

"My cheeks once red, like roses spread,
My sparkling eyes so gay;
But now you see how 'tis with me,
A lifeless lump of clay!

"When you are dressed in all your best,
In 'fashion' so complete,
You soon must be, as you see me,
Wrapped in a shrouding sheet!

"Ah, youth beware, and do prepare
To meet the monster, death!
For he may come when you are young,
And steal away your breath!

"When you unto your frolics go,
Remember what I say;
In short time, though in your prime,
You may be called away!

"Now I am gone, I can't return;
No more of me you'll see;
But it is true that all of you,
Must shortly follow me!

"When you unto my grave do go,
That gloomy place to see,
I say to you who stand and view,
Prepare to follow me!"

What an awful thing it is to die without salvation by Christ, without a saving interest in him; and yet millions live without God, and without hope in the world. And millions more die in the same awful condition, and plunge into a dark and miserable eternity!

"Let me die like the righteous--let my life end like theirs!" Numbers 23:10
 
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He who trifles with it is a fool!

(J.A. James, "The Practical Believer Delineated")

"Show me, O LORD, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life!" Psalm 39:4

If the man who trembles at death is a coward--then he who trifles with it is a fool!
There is a thousand times more rationality in the trembler--than in the trifler!

There is a phenomenon in the rational world well worthy of consideration, inquiry and solution--the strange and fatal insensibility of men to the grand fact that they are mortal! Since it is infallibly certain that they must and will die, and since death is so solemn an event--how does it happen that so few ever seriously think of it or really prepare for it?

One would think that so grand and solemn a fact as death, especially viewed in connection with the events which are to immediately follow it--Heaven, Hell and eternity--along with the uncertainty how soon it may be realized--might operate with an unlimited and altogether overpowering influence upon men's minds and hearts!

But men wish to forget death--and alas, too often succeed in accomplishing this fatal oblivion! Yet we can scarcely wonder at this, when we consider what their spiritual condition is--and what death is!

It is the commonness of death, which deprives it of its extreme dreadfulness. If death happened in our world only once in a century, it would be felt like the shock of an earthquake--and would hush the inhabitants of earth into a breathless silence, while the echoes of the knell of the departed soul were reverberating around the globe!

Death is . . .
the moment of destiny;
the seal of eternity;
the cessation of probation;
the commencement of retribution and judgment!

The accompaniments of death are solemn, and so are the consequences!

To every sense--death is revolting!

To every social affection--death is harrowing!

To reason--death is perplexing!

To everything but saving faith--death is overwhelming!

"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom!" Psalm 90:12
 
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Who knows the power of God's anger?

(Ralph Venning, "The Plague of Plagues!" 1669)

God always acts like Himself--like a God. When He shows mercy--it is like the God of all grace who is rich in mercy and loves with a great love.

In the same way, when He executes wrath and vengeance--He makes bare His arm and strikes like a God!

"Who knows the power of God's anger?" Psalm 90:11

None but the damned!

"If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left--but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God!" Hebrews 10:26-27.

It is a terrifying a thing to fall into the hands of the living God, when He acts like a God of vengeance! How dreadful a thing then would it be to be in Hell itself--under the tortures of His executed wrath forever?

A stone thrown from a weak arm will not hit very hard--but when the hand and arm of God shall throw down that wrath from Heaven which is now only threatened against ungodly men, and turn them into Hell--how will it sink them deep into Hell!

I cannot go any further without pleading with you. Do you need anything more to dissuade you from going on in sin, which is the way to damnation--than the thought of damnation, and such a damnation, which is the wages of sin? For your soul's sake, hear and fear!

What! Will you be damned?
Can you think calmly of going to Hell?
Have you no pity on your precious soul?

If you were to go from reading of Hell--into Hell--you would surely say, "I would not believe it--but now I feel it!"

"It is Mine to avenge--I will repay! It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!" Hebrews 10:30-31
 
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