It Is Easy to Love When the Sky is Blue

This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith (1 John 5:4).

It is easy to love Him when the blue is in the sky,
When summer winds are blowing, and we smell the roses nigh;
There is little effort needed to obey His precious will
When it leads through flower-decked valley, or over sun-kissed hill.
It is when the rain is falling, or the mist hangs in the air,
When the road is dark and rugged, and the wind no longer fair,
When the rosy dawn has settled in a shadowland of gray,
That we find it hard to trust Him, and are slower to obey.
It is easy to trust Him when the singing birds have come,
And their canticles are echoed in our heart and in our home;
But 'tis when we miss the music, and the days are dull and drear,
That we need a faith triumphant over every doubt and fear.
And our blessed Lord will give it; what we lack He will supply;
Let us ask in faith believing--on His promises rely;
He will ever be our Leader, whether smooth or rough the way,
And will prove Himself sufficient for the needs of every day.

To trust in spite of the look of being forsaken; to keep crying out into the vast, whence comes no returning voice, and where seems no hearing; to see the machinery of the world pauselessly grinding on as if self-moved, caring for no life, nor shifting a hair-breadth for all entreaty, and yet believe that God is awake and utterly loving; to desire nothing but what comes meant for us from His hand; to wait patiently, ready to die of hunger, fearing only lest faith should fail--such is the victory that overcometh the world, such is faith indeed.

~L. B. Cowman~

The Spirit's Call

"For ... we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office" (Romans 12:4)

While there is only one way to become a preacher, unfortunately there are many doors into the pulpit. One is to be endowed with what is sometimes called a "good pulpit presence." Many a tall Absalom whose commanding presence and sonorous voice mark him as a natural leader of men is attempting to speak for God when he has not been sent by God. His call is from the people instead of from the Spirit and the results cannot but be disastrous.

Others have become ministers from a genuine but altogether human love for mankind. These have a strong sense of social obligation which they feel they can best discharge by entering the ministry.

Of all wrong reasons for becoming a preacher this would seem to be the most laudatory, but it is nevertheless not a spiritually valid reason, for it overlooks the sovereign right of the Holy Spirit to call whom He will.

The church that is man-managed instead of God-governed is doomed to failure. A ministry that is college-trained but not Spirit-filled works no miracles. Things will get no better until we get back to the realized presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

~A. W. Tozer~

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Called to Be A Voice

"Then flew one of the serphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand ... and he laid it upon my mouth" (Isaiah 6:6-7)

Most surely the Church has a service of compassion to render to the world, but her motives are not humanitarian. They are higher than this by as much as the new creation is higher than the old. It is inherent in the Christian spirit that the followers of Christ should wish to minister to the bodies as well as the souls of men. But the call to give God's prophetic message to the world is something apart.

The call to witness and serve comes to every Christian; the call to be a  Voice to mankind comes only to the man who has the Spirit's gift and special enabling. We need not fewer men to show mercy, but we need more men who can hear the words of God and translate them into human speech.

It is not enough that we are willing and eager to work for God, but the work itself must be of God. This is one of the deepest deaths that Christians are often called to die. Indeed, our work is unacceptable to God and useless to ourselves and others until it first have been bathed in the blood of Calvary and touched with the sign of crucifixion. It must cease to be OUR work and thus BECOME HIS and His alone.

~A. W. Tozer~

Whom, When, How To Deliver (and other Spurgeon devotionals)

Whom, When, How to Deliver

"The LORD knoweth how to deliver the Godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished"   (2 Peter 2:9).

The godly are tempted and tried. That is not true faith which is never put to the test. But the godly are delivered out of their trials, and that not by chance, nor by secondary agencies, but by the LORD Himself. He personally undertakes the office of delivering those who trust Him. God loves the godly or godlike, and He makes a point of knowing where they are and how they fare.

Sometimes their way seems to be a labyrinth, and they cannot imagine how they are to escape from threatening danger. What they do not know, their LORD knows. He knows whom to deliver, and when to deliver, and how to deliver. He delivers in the way which is most beneficial to the godly, most crushing to the tempter, and most glorifying to Himself. We may leave the "how" with the LORD and be content to rejoice in the fact that He will, in some way or other, bring His own people through all the dangers, trials, and temptations for this mortal life to His own right hand in glory.

This day it is not for me to pry into my LORD's secrets but patiently to wait His time, knowing this, that though I know nothing, my heavenly Father knows.

~Charles Spurgeon~

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2 Timothy 4:18

His heavenly kingdom.

Yonder city of the great King is a place of active service. Ransomed spirits serve Him day and night in His temple. They never cease to fulfill the good pleasure of their King. They always "rest," so far as ease and freedom from care is concerned; and never "rest," in the sense of indolence or inactivity. Jerusalem the golden is the place of communion with all the people of God. We shall sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in eternal fellowship. We shall hold high converse with the noble host of the elect, all reigning with Him who by His love and His potent arm has brought them safely home. We shall not sing solos, but in chorus shall we praise our King. Heaven is a place of victory realized. Whenever, Christian, thou hast achieved a victory over thy lusts-whenever after hard struggling, thou hast laid a temptation dead at thy feet-thou hast in that hour a foretaste of the joy that awaits thee when the Lord shall shortly tread Satan under thy feet, and thou shalt find thyself more than conqueror through Him who hath loved thee. Paradise is a place of security. When you enjoy the full assurance of faith, you have the pledge of that glorious security which shall be yours when you are a perfect citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem. O my sweet home, Jerusalem, thou happy harbor of my soul! Thanks, even now, to Him whose love hath taught me to long for Thee; but louder thanks in eternity, when I shall possess thee.

"My soul has tasted of the grapes,

And now it longs to go

Where my dear Lord His vineyard keeps

And all the clusters grow.

"Upon the true and living vine,

My famish'd soul would feast,

And banquet on the fruit divine,

An everlasting guest."

~Charles Spurgeon~

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Jonah 4:9

God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry?

Anger is not always or necessarily sinful, but it has such a tendency to run wild that whenever it displays itself, we should be quick to question its character, with this enquiry, "Doest thou well to be angry?" It may be that we can answer, "YES." Very frequently anger is the madman's firebrand, but sometimes it is Elijah's fire from heaven. We do well when we are angry with sin, because of the wrong which it commits against our good and gracious God; or with ourselves because we remain so foolish after so much divine instruction; or with others when the sole cause of anger is the evil which they do. He who is not angry at transgression becomes a partaker in it. Sin is a loathsome and hateful thing, and no renewed heart can patiently endure it. God himself is angry with the wicked every day, and it is written in His Word, "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." Far more frequently it is to be feared that our anger in not commendable or even justifiable, and then we must answer, "NO." Why should we be fretful with children, passionate with servants, and wrathful with companions? Is such anger honorable to our Christian profession, or glorifying to God? Is it not the old evil heart seeking to gain dominion, and should we not resist it with all the might of our newborn nature. Many professors give way to temper as though it were useless to attempt resistance; but let the believer remember that he must be a conqueror in every point, or else he cannot be crowned. If we cannot control our tempers, what has grace done for us? Some one told Mr. Jay that grace was often grafted on a crab-stump. "Yes," said he, "but the fruit will not be crabs." We must not make natural infirmity an excuse for sin, but we must fly to the cross and pray the Lord to crucify our tempers, and renew us in gentleness and meekness after His own image.

~Charles Spurgeon~

A Religion Like No Other

"Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12)

There are in the Christian religion three elements: spiritual life, moral practice and community organization, and these all spring out of and follow New Testament doctrine; or more correctly, the first must and the others should.

Life comes mysteriously to the soul that believes the truth. "He that hearth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). And again, "He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive)" (7:38-39).

The message of the Cross offers eternal life and the blessedness of the Holy Spirit indwelling the soul. These distinguish Christianity from every other religion; and it i significant that these distinguishing marks are of such a nature as to be wholly above and beyond the reach of man.

Christianity tells humanity, "You have destroyed yourself, but in Me is your help." It is a supernatural religion ... the indwelling of the living God in human life.

~A. W. Tozer~

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The Instant Obligation

"Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered" (Hebrews 5:8)

The life of God in the soul of man is wholly independent of the social status of that man. In the early church the Spirit leaped across all artificial lines that separate men from each other and made of all believers a spiritual brotherhood. Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, Greek and barbarian were all baptized into one body, of which Christ was and is the Head.

Along with the gift of eternal life, the entrance of the Holy Spirit into the believer's heart and the indication of the newborn soul into the Body of Christ comes instant obligation to obey the teachings of the New Testament.

These teachings are so plain and so detailed that it is difficult to understand how they could appear different to persons living under different political systems or on different cultural levels. That they have so appeared cannot be denied; but always the reasons lie in the imperfect state of the believers composing the different groups.

Since I am God's temple, I am not to serve my own ends with my body, but the cause of Jesus Christ as His devoted disciple. Do I regard His temple, my body, as more mine than His?

~A. W. Tozer~

Both Near and Far

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

We read this prophecy written thousands of years ago and understand that the fulfillment was Jesus, as it is quoted again in Matthew 1:22, testifying to the virgin birth of Jesus as prophesied by the prophet Isaiah.

However, there was also a closer fulfillment of that prophecy as we read in Isaiah 8:3, “So I approached the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the Lord said to me, ‘Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz’.” The prophecy for us is about the virgin birth of Jesus, but it was also immediately about this prophetess having a son as a sign to the people during Isaiah’s time. This verse is an example of near and far prophecy. “Near” to Isaiah but also predicted “far” for us.

Prophecy still works like that in our lives today. There are prophecies that have near and far fulfillments. As we read the Scriptures, we know that those verses were placed in the Bible for a set time and place. But, those same verses pop out to us as verses that we can claim for our own lives. How does that work?

God’s Word is alive and His Word has the ability to reach through all places, settings, times and events. His Word is as applicable and real to us and for us today as it was when written. I have seen near and far fulfillments in verses for myself. Many times, I receive a verse (or promise) from the Lord for the circumstance I am currently facing, and then years later in my life, I see the Lord further fulfill that verse in a new way.

God wants to speak to you and He does that by prophesying through His Word. Claim those verses but then relax. If God said it to you, He will fulfill it….again and again…both near and far.

~Daily Disciples Devotional~

Silence - An Unutterable Beatitude

"While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them ...And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him" (Luke 9:34-35)

Not all silence is spiritual. Some Christians are silent because they have nothing to say; others are silent because what they have to say cannot be uttered by mortal tongues. We will confine our remarks to the latter.

Where the Holy Spirit is permitted to exercise His full sway in a redeemed heart, the progression is likely to be as follows: First, voluble praise, in speech or prayer or witness. Then, when the crescendo rises beyond the ability of studied speech to express, comes song. When song breaks down under the weight of glory, then comes silence where the soul, held in deep fascination, feels itself blessed with an unutterable beatitude.

At the risk of being written off as an extremist or a borderline fanatic, we offer it as our mature opinion that more spiritual progress can be made in one short moment of speechless silence in the awesome Presence of God than in years of mere study. The exposure may be brief, but the results are permanent.

Very few of us know the secret of bathing our souls in silence. It was a secret our Lord Jesus Christ knew very well. We never really come to know ourselves because we cannot keep quiet long enough.

~A. W. Tozer~

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The Christ Question

"What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?" (Matthew 27:22)

"Where is Jesus now?" asks the world, and the Christian answers, "At the right hand of God." He died but He is not dead. He rose again as He said He would. Better than all, His Spirit now reveals to the Christian heart not a dead Christ but a living one. This we are sent to declare with all the bold dogmatism of those who know, who have been there and experienced it beyond the possibility of a doubt.

The gospel is the official proclamation that Christ died for us and is risen again, with the added announcement that everyone who will believe, and as a result of that belief will cast in his lot with Christ in full and final committal, shall be saved eternally.

He will not be popular and he will be called to stand where Jesus stood before the world: to be admired by many, loved by a few and rejected at last by the majority of men. He must be willing to pay this price; or let him go his way; Christ has nothing more to say to him now.

The question for every man is the Christ question. The turning point of every life is its direct relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ.

~A. W. Tozer~

Wait Patiently!

It came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land (1 Kings 17:7).

Week after week, with unfaltering and steadfast spirit, Elijah watched that dwindling brook; often tempted to stagger through unbelief, but refusing to allow his circumstances to come between himself and God. Unbelief sees God through circumstances, as we sometimes see the sun shorn of his rays through smoky air; but faith puts God between itself and circumstances, and looks at them through Him.

And so the dwindling brook became a silver thread; and the silver thread stood presently in pools at the foot of the largest boulders; and the pools shrank. The birds fled; the wild creatures of field and forest came no more to drink; the brook was dry. Only then to his patient and unwavering spirit, "the word of the Lord came, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath."

Most of us would have gotten anxious and worn with planning long before that. We should have ceased our songs as soon as the streamlet caroled less musically over its rocky bed; and with harps swinging on the willows, we should have paced to and fro upon the withering grass, lost in pensive thought. And probably, long ere the brook was dry, we should have devised some plan, and asking God's blessing on it, would have started off elsewhere.

God often does extricate us, because His mercy endureth forever; but if we had only waited first to see the unfolding of His plans, we should never have found ourselves landed in such an inextricable labyrinth; and we should never have been compelled to retrace our steps with so many tears of shame.

Wait, patiently wait!

~L. B. Cowman~