Spurgeon's Evening Reading

 Why go I mourning?

— Psalm 42:9

"Canst thou answer this, believer? Canst thou find any reason why thou art so often mourning instead of rejoicing? Why yield to gloomy anticipations? Who told thee that the night would never end in day? Who told thee that the sea of circumstances would ebb out till there should be nothing left but long leagues of the mud of horrible poverty? Who told thee that the winter of thy discontent would proceed from frost to frost, from snow, and ice, and hail, to deeper snow, and yet more heavy tempest of despair? Knowest thou not that day follows night, that flood comes after ebb, that spring and summer succeed winter? Hope thou then! Hope thou ever! For God fails thee not. Dost thou not know that thy God loves thee in the midst of all this? Mountains, when in darkness hidden, are as real as in day, and God's love is as true to thee now as it was in thy brightest moments. No father chastens always: thy Lord hates the rod as much as thou dost; He only cares to use it for that reason which should make thee willing to receive it, namely, that it works thy lasting good. Thou shalt yet climb Jacob's ladder with the angels, and behold Him who sits at the top of it--thy covenant God. Thou shalt yet, amidst the splendours of eternity, forget the trials of time, or only remember them to bless the God who led thee through them, and wrought thy lasting good by them. Come, sing in the midst of tribulation. Rejoice even while passing through the furnace. Make the wilderness to blossom like the rose! Cause the desert to ring with thine exulting joys, for these light afflictions will soon be over, and then "for ever with the Lord," thy bliss shall never wane.

"Faint not nor fear, His arms are near, He changeth not, and thou art dear; Only believe and thou shalt see, That Christ is all in all to thee."

Matthew 12

 

Seeking

When thou saidst, Seek ye my face;
my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.  

Psalm 27:8

Journaling

September 15, 2021

 

CH Spurgeon Quote

"The other day I was reading the Sept. 3 morning reading from CH Spurgeon, the whole thing really spoke to me, here is a portion: "Get positive knowledge of your love of Jesus, and be not satisfied till you can speak of your interest in Him as a reality, which you have made sure by having received the witness of the Holy Spirit, and His seal upon your soul by faith."

A New Year

JANUARY 2021 Friday, Jan. 15 -- We have come to a new year, a time that seems to be shaking everything. I am hoping to start up again with more frequent posting. I have been thinking about three hymns, Great is Thy Faithfulness, In the Name of Jesus, and Holy, Holy, Holy. I heard someone singing them and had a great sense of being lifted up. It says in Isaiah ch. 30 that in the day of judgment we (his people) shall have a song. This is really something to think about.

Wonderful Devotional

I have been following the Charles Spurgeon Morning and Daily Readings for a good while now and they are excellent and deeply profound. The readings for the week of April 15 - 21 are particularly edifying (although they all are), this week speaks about the deep thirst for Him alone and also the power of the Blood of Christ, so wonderful on the topic of the scarlet cord and other things. They are widely available online since they are public domain, and also available in audio recordings.

This Morning, reading Psalm 25

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New Creation

A new one today.

Poetry

Recently, my mind has turned to poetry.  The Lord is wanting to speak to me in a different way these days. Its funny though, this goes back decades.

The End of the Search-

There is no finding of Him in books

Written in vain, though they vastly cover

Realms of thought; but as my heart looks

And accepts Him unknown, it shall discover

Peace unsurpassed, because the Only Lover

Of my soul, becomes known in the myriad nooks

Of inner writings imprinted in His image;

Though I never knew when, or how He did manage

To unite our hearts and intentions so near,

That the division between becomes unclear.

And not in thoughts does my heart end its care,

But in purposeful union of will, so dear. 

        -SJS, 1983

     

Contentment

Was reading in the wonderful old book "Daily Strength for Daily Needs".  I wanted to share this days devotion on contentment:
MAY 23
Be content with such things as ye have.—HEB. xiii. 5.

I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content.—PHIL. iv. 11 ( R. V.).

  No longer forward nor behind
    I look in hope or fear;
  But, grateful, take the good I find,
    The best of now and here.  -J. G. WHITTIER.

If we wished to gain contentment, we might try such rules as these:—

1. Allow thyself to complain of nothing, not even of the weather.

2. Never picture thyself to thyself under any circumstances in which thou art not.

3. Never compare thine own lot with that of another.

4. Never allow thyself to dwell on the wish that this or that had been, or were, otherwise than it was, or is. God Almighty loves thee better and more wisely than thou dost thyself.

5. Never dwell on the morrow. Remember that it is God's, not thine. The heaviest part of sorrow often is to look forward to it. "The Lord will provide."    -E. B. PUSEY.

Simple Inspiration

I came across this simple and uplifting quote today.

"Be simple, hidden, quiet and small."
    -Thomas Hopko

End of the Year Thoughts

It has been in my thoughts to get back to doing some posting and I hope to do this in the fast approaching (tomorrow) new year.  Please pray for me that the Lord will give me that grace....in the meantime, I hope anyone who visits here will go back through and read my older posts.  I think they still speak of some things that might edify.

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Gift of Simplicity

Thinking of the old Shaker hymn "Simple Gifts".
Tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free, tis the gift to come down where we ought to be........

Thirst

Spiritual Thirst

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matt.  5: 6.

In this verse, our Lord is giving a blessing on those that hunger and thirst.  I would like to share a little from God’s word about thirst,… and being thirsty.  Only those who experience this thirst will be aware of the blessing that comes from it, and it is those who thirst and are aware of their great need that will be filled.

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying,   If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.  John 7: 37.

Jesus said that for anyone to come to Him and be able to drink of Him,    there is the pre-condition of thirst,     If any man thirst………...the thirst must come before the drinking.

We must be aware of our own thirst, and also of the dry condition that exists in the world around us.  David has described this in Psalm 63:   He cries out to the Lord that his own soul thirsts, and not only that, but that he is indeed living in a land where there is no water.  

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.  Psalm 63:1.

If we realize the dryness and emptiness of the things of the world,…. but ….it has the effect of making us understand our own spiritual thirst, then we are truly blessed to have that understanding, ……as our Lord has said in the beautitude…..And we can flee to Him-- and He will fill us with His living water.

The prophet Isaiah gives us a wonderful word concerning those who are thirsty:

For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.  Isaiah 44:3.

And again Isaiah speaks,   Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.  Isaiah 55:1.

We see again in this passage that it is the awareness of our need that is required to be able to drink.  It is he that has no money, no way of his own to obtain the drink.  But it is freely given to the one who knows his own poverty of spirit, that is, his thirst.

We are all very thankful for the rain we had the other night, but during this time of drought, it caused me to experience a greater sense,   not only my own inner thirst,   but of the thirst of the creation itself.     I found myself thirsting along with the trees, the birds, and the very ground. 

But when the rain came, the sense of joy and thankfulness was a great blessing to me, and I realized how much I had taken rain for granted.  Paul and I sat in prayer and thanksgiving and watched the rain come down.  So, although it has been stressful, I am thankful for the experience of a greater thankfulness for rain itself being a great blessing from God.

I believe spiritual thirst causes a greater praise to come forth from us, as David reflects in our reading from Ps. 42, …..that when he thought upon his thirst,   then he went to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holy day. 

Brothers and sisters, I believe it is because of a spiritual thirst that we gather together  to lift our voices in praise to Him.  I believe that we thirst for it-- and because of this desire-- we come together.  Often in life there is a drought, so to speak, of being able to assemble together with other believers, ….but then--- we experience a thirst for it, and the coming together to sing and pray in His name becomes an even greater blessing.

You know, the woman at the well was not really aware of her spiritual thirst, until our Lord spoke to her of the true water.

Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.  (That is, from a mere natural water).  Actually, without a second thought, she left her waterpot after a face to face meeting with the true living water.

Let us be thankful for that spiritual thirst that brings us to this true living water.  And let us ask the Lord to keep us ever mindful of our need for that water, that we might worship in spirit and in truth and drink from the water which He only can give.

And  (they) did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 1 Cor. 10:4.

In the Name of our Precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, …Amen.

Written during a time of drought in North GA.

Solemn Assembly

I have been gone once again much too long.  Today I was impressed to re-post a video message on the Solemn Assembly which I have posted in the past.
I have been thinking and pondering on a couple of verses lately that I believe relate to the message in this video.  One is from Romans 12:1,
" ....that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice...."   and also from 1 Thessalonians 5:23,
".....and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
There is a deep connection between these two verses and the concept of what worship really comes down to, fully presenting ourselves before Him, and it has to go to the level of including our bodies.  It seems to me that what He is doing in these days is calling a solemn assembly, and there is a deepening sense of the urgency to enter into the fulness of standing before Him.  I pray you will be blessing in watching the video.

A Place Apart

 

We went to a hymn singing at this wonderful place, it was a glorious experience of escaping the technology bound world.  No electricity and just the hymbooks and voices.  Scripture verses are written all around the interior of the chapel.  It is located in a place in the woods that gives a sence of seclusion and removal, on the Berry College campus in North GA.  Just being there has resonated deeply in my spirit and was a great refreshment.

 

Inner Simplicity

Matthew 6:22  The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Give up all things that scatter or multiply, or that hinder having a single eye.  If the right hand offends, cut it off.  Only do things that can be reduced to one thing.  Multiples are of the world.  The development of civilization (the world system) began with multiplying.
We are called to inner unity and the unity of the Body of Christ.  If people stay in their personalities, they are in the realm of multiplicities.  We must lose our life to find it.