Nov 22
17
Because of Who God is, and His precious Gospel, we can pray for those we love, knowing that He is able to bind up the brokenhearted, open the eyes of the blind, and that He delighteth to show mercy.
We pray for those who are sad, to Him Who keeps the tears of His loved ones, in His bottle (Psalm 56:8).
We pray for those who are sick, to Him Who, when Simon’s wife’s mother was sick of a fever, “took her by the hand and lifted her up (Mark 1:31).”
We pray for those who are lost, to Him Who is rich in mercy, and Who loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins.
~Chris Cunningham
Carry your troubled heart to Jesus
(James Smith, “Daily Bible Readings for the Lord’s Household”) Play Audio! Download
“I am troubled!” Psalm 38:6
This is very often the case with the believer; he is seldom long without something to trouble him. He has . . .
so much sin within him,
so many foes without him, and
such unexpected and difficult things in his path
–that he is often agitated and distressed.
Where he looked for comfort, he finds sorrow;
where he expected help, he finds hindrance;
where he promised himself pleasure, he experiences pain.
He is wearied:
weary of himself,
weary of sin,
weary of the world,
weary of the carnal state of the church.
But what a mercy it is for the troubled Christian, that his Lord has experienced trouble as well as himself; so that He can sympathise with him. Jesus once said, “Now My soul is deeply troubled!” He has a fellow-feeling with us in all our troubles; and will first sanctify them, and then safely bring us out of them.
Beloved, are you troubled today?
Carry your troubled heart to Jesus, pour it out before Him.
He can calm it, soothe it, and give it cheering repose.
Take it to Jesus, to sanctify it for you.
“For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty.” Isaiah 44:3
J.C.Philpot
Thirst, as a feeling of the soul, in a spiritual sense, is certainly indicative of divine life. It is as impossible, spiritually viewed, for a man dead in sin to thirst after a living God, as for a corpse in the graveyard to thirst after a draught of cold water from the well. I know for myself that such a feeling as thirsting after God had no place in my bosom until the Lord was pleased to quicken my soul into spiritual life. I had heard of God by the hearing of the ear. I had seen him in creation, in the starry sky, in the roaring sea, in the teeming earth; I had read of him in the Bible; I had learned his existence by education and tradition; and I had some apprehensions of his holiness in my natural conscience; but as to any spiritual thirsting after him, any earnest desire to fear him, know him, believe in him, or love him–no such experience or feeling, I can say for myself, ever dwelt in my bosom. I loved the world too dearly to look to him who made it, and my SELF too warmly and affectionately to seek him who would bid me crucify and mortify it.
A man, therefore, I am well convinced, must be made alive unto God by spiritual regeneration before he can experience any such sensation as is here conveyed by the figure “thirst,” or know anything of the Psalmist’s feelings when he cried, “As the deer pants after the water-brooks, so pants my soul after you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:1, 2). Now wherever God has raised up in the soul this spiritual thirst after himself, he certainly will answer that desire, “the desire of the righteous shall be granted” (Prov. 10:24). His own invitation is, “Ho! every one that thirsts, come to the waters” (Isaiah 55:1); and Jesus himself says with his own blessed lips, “If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink” (John 7:37). No, he opened his ministry by pronouncing a blessing on such, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.”
His heart is a fountain of mercy, and its streams are
perpetually flowing!
(“Heavenly Aspirations!” John MacDuff,
1818-1895)
Luke 7:12 Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.
Luke 7:13 And when the
Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.
Oh, how was His tender heart touched by the scene He witnessed on this
occasion! The sight excited the liveliest emotions in His sinless bosom;
and with a look beaming with pity, and in the most tender tones, He said to
her, “Do not weep!”
In the Person of our adorable Redeemer, we behold mercy incarnate.
This was the garb in which the whole of His other virtues were arrayed; the
soft lustre with which they were all surrounded and adorned.
Such was the character of Jesus in the days of His flesh, and such is it still.
He with whom we have to do, whose favour we implore, and whose blessings we
supplicate — far from being a harsh, unfeeling Master — is a loving Savior and
compassionate Friend. His heart is a
fountain of mercy, and its streams are perpetually flowing!
It quenches the thirst of
the soul
(Horatius Bonar,
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ”)
“My blood is drink indeed!” John 6:55
The blood of the Lamb contains the true drink for the
soul. It
quenches the thirst of the soul–the thirst
of parching produced by an evil conscience and a sense
of wrath. It removes the wrath and the sense of wrath,
by showing us that wrath transferred to the Substitute.
It relieves the conscience when first we come into
contact with it; and it keeps it relieved from day
to day, as we drink it by faith.
It is ‘the true drink.’
It calms!
It revives!
It refreshes!
It soothes!
It is like cold water to the thirsty lips under a
scorching sun. Nothing but the blood can allay
this thirst; nothing else can be . . .
drink for the soul,
drink for the intellect,
drink for the conscience,
drink for the heart!
“Come unto Me.” Matthew 11:28
C.H.Spurgeon
The cry of the Christian Religion is the gentle word, “Come.” The Jewish LAW harshly said, “Go, take heed unto your steps as to the path in which you shall walk. Break the commandments, and you shall perish; keep them, and you shall live.” The LAW was a dispensation of terror, which drove men before it as with a scourge; the GOSPEL draws with bands of love. Jesus is the good Shepherd going before His sheep, bidding them follow Him, and ever leading them onwards with the sweet word, “Come.” The LAW repels—the GOSPEL attracts. The law shows the distance which there is between God and man; the gospel bridges that awful chasm, and brings the sinner across it. From the first moment of your spiritual life, until you are ushered into glory—the language of Christ to you will be, “Come, come unto Me!”
As a mother puts out her finger to her little child and woos it to walk by saying, “Come,” even so does Jesus. He will always be ahead of you, bidding you follow Him as the soldier follows his captain. He will always go before you to pave your way, and clear your path, and you shall hear His animating voice calling you after Him all through life. In the solemn hour of death, His sweet words with which He shall usher you into the heavenly world shall be, “Come, you who are blessed of my Father.”
Nay, further, this is not only Christ’s cry to you—but, if you be a believer, this is your cry to Christ, “Come! Come!” You will be longing for His second advent; you will be saying, “Come quickly—even so come Lord Jesus.” You will be panting for nearer and closer communion with Him. As His voice to you is “Come,” your response to Him will be, “Come, Lord, and abide with me! Come, and occupy alone the throne of my heart! Reign there without a rival, and consecrate me entirely to Your service!”
“Any Man”
John 7:35
Nowhere in Holy Scripture do we read that Christ is the Saviour of every man. To say that he is is to say that the Son of God is a failure as a Saviour, for there are many who are not saved. But the Bible does declare that Christ is the Saviour of any man. Grace is offered to any man. The door of life is opened to any man. The gospel promises salvation to any man. And any man who trusts Christ not only may, but assuredly will be saved.
Don Fortner
“He Leadeth Me Beside The Still Waters”
Psalm 23:2
What a gentle word – “leadeth”! Gently, thoughtfully, tenderly, but effectually, the Lord Jesus leads his sheep, like Jacob of old, to the soft, deep, quiet, still waters, as they are able to bear it (Gen. 33:14). He leads me not to the noisy waters of strife, the babbling waters of emotionalism, or the cold waters of intellectualism, but to the still waters of his Word. The EVERLASTING LOVE of God is like a river, the streams whereof make glad the hearts of his people. CHRIST himself is a pure river of the water of life, from which all his sheep drink freely and constantly. The Lord, our Shepherd leads us into the pleasant waters of HEAVENLY COMMUNION with the eternal God. Even in heaven’s glory, he will lead us by the fountains of living waters, for our everlasting consolation and joy (Rev. 7:15-17).
Don Fortner
Poor, naked, penniless, worthless?
(Octavius Winslow, “Morning Thoughts”)
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, a time is coming and
now is when the dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of God and those that hear will live.”
John 5:25
There is the special, direct, and effectual call of
the Spirit, in the elect of God, without which all
other calling is in vain. The Spirit effectually
works in the soul with an inward, supernatural,
secret power. There is an energy put forth with
the call, which . . .
awakens the conscience,
breaks the heart,
convinces the judgment,
opens the eye of the soul, and
pours a new and an alarming sound
upon the hitherto deaf ear.
Mark the blessed effects . . .
the scales fell from the eyes,
the veil is torn from the mind,
the deep fountains of evil in the heart are
broken up.
The sinner sees himself as . . .
lost and undone
without pardon,
without a righteousness,
without acceptance,
without a God,
without a Savior,
without a hope!
Awful condition!
“What shall I do to be saved?” is his cry! “I am
a wretch undone! I look within me, all is dark
and vile; I look around me, everything seems
but the image of my woe; I look above me, I
see only an angry God. Whichever way I look,
is hell! And were God now to send me
there,
just and right would He be.”
But, blessed be God, no poor soul that ever
uttered such language, prompted by such
feelings, ever died in despair! That faithful
Spirit who begins the good work, effectually
carries it on, and completes it.
Presently He leads him to the cross of Jesus
and unveils to his glimmering eye of faith a . . .
suffering,
wounded,
bleeding,
dying Saviour;
and yet a Saviour with outstretched arms!
That Saviour speaks; oh, did ever music sound
so melodious? “All this I do for you . . .
this cross for you,
these sufferings for you,
this blood for you,
these stretched out arms for you.
Come unto Me, all you that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Look
unto Me, and be saved!
Are you lost? I can save you!
Are you guilty? I can cleanse you!
Are you poor? I can enrich you!
Are you sunk low? I can raise you!
Are you naked? I can clothe you!
Have you nothing to bring with you?
No price?
No money?
No goodness?
No merit?
I can and will take you to Me, just as you are . . .
poor,
naked,
penniless,
worthless;
for such I came to seek,
for such I came to die.”
“Lord, I believe,” exclaims the poor convinced soul!
You are just the Savior that I need. I needed one
that could and would save me . . .
with all my vileness,
with all my rags,
with all my poverty.
I needed one that would . . .
save me fully,
save me freely,
save me as an act of mere unmerited, undeserved
grace! I have found Him whom my soul loves! and
will be His through time, and His through eternity!”
Thus effectually does the blessed Spirit call a
sinner,
by His especial, invincible, and supernatural power,
out of darkness into marvelous light!
“I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has
now come when the dead will hear the voice of
the Son of God and those who hear will live.”
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The cry of weary, care
worn humanity (John MacDuff, “Hospice of the Pilgrim” 1891) “Oh, where can rest be found?” This isthe cry of weary, care worn humanity. This is the cry embracing every nation and every climate, from the yearnings of heathendom to the longings and aspirations of the present hour. From the tumultuous sea of the world’s unrest, this cry has gone up like a dirge of baffled souls, “Oh, where can rest be found?” “Come unto me,” is the address of many siren voices, titillating tones of questionable or forbidden pleasure, leading only to . . . unrest, disquiet, heart weariness, life failure; tinted soap bubbles with a momentary iridescence, then collapsing. The existence of many is a pursuit after spurious and counterfeit rest, misnamed happiness; an aimless, vapid life of pleasure; engrossed with objects which bring with them no sense of satisfaction; a dull, weary round on the world’s monotonous treadmill. Some strive to find rest through the gateway of ethical systems and philosophic tenets. Others, through the gateway of human merit. Others through . . . ceremonial observances, fasts and vigils, penances and pilgrimages, rites and ceremonies, creeds and dogmas. These, and such as these, are alike spurious and unavailing. “Oh, where can rest be found?” “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 |