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Spurgeon's Morning & Evening Devotions
Morning, April 13
"Thou art my hope in the day of evil." - Jeremiah 17:17
The path of the Christian is not always bright with sunshine; he has his
seasons of darkness and of storm. True, it is written in God's Word, "Her ways
are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace;" and it is a great
truth, that religion is calculated to give a man happiness below as well as
bliss above; but experience tells us that if the course of the just be "As the
shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day," yet sometimes
that light is eclipsed. At certain periods clouds cover the believer's sun, and
he walks in darkness and sees no light.
There are many who have rejoiced in the presence of God for a season; they have
basked in the sunshine in the earlier stages of their Christian career; they
have walked along the "green
pastures" by the side of the "still waters," but suddenly they find the
glorious sky is clouded; instead of the Land of Goshen they have to tread the
sandy desert; in the place of sweet
waters, they find troubled streams, bitter to their taste, and they say,
"Surely, if I were a child of God, this would not happen." Oh! say not so, thou
who art walking in darkness. The best of God's saints must drink the wormwood;
the dearest of his children must bear the cross.
No Christian has enjoyed perpetual prosperity; no believer can always keep his
harp from the willows. Perhaps the Lord allotted you at first a smooth and
unclouded path, because you were weak and timid. He tempered the wind to the
shorn lamb, but now that you are stronger in the spiritual life, you must enter
upon the riper and rougher experience of God's full-grown children.
We need winds and tempests to exercise our faith, to tear off the rotten bough
of self-dependence, and to root us more firmly in Christ. The day of evil
reveals to us the value of our glorious hope.
Evening, April 13
"The Lord taketh pleasure in his people." - Psalm 149:4
How comprehensive is the love of Jesus! There is no part of his people's
interests which he does not consider, and there is nothing which concerns their
welfare which is not important to
him. Not merely does he think of you, believer, as an immortal being, but as a
mortal being too. Do not deny it or doubt it: "The very hairs of your head are
all numbered."
"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his
way." It were a sad thing for us if this mantle of love did not cover all our
concerns, for what mischief might
be wrought to us in that part of our business which did not come under our
gracious Lord's inspection! Believer, rest assured that the heart of Jesus
cares about your meaner affairs. The breadth of his tender love is such that
you may resort to him in all matters; for in all your afflictions he is
afflicted, and like as a father pitieth his children, so doth he pity you.
The meanest interests of all his saints are all borne upon the broad bosom of
the Son of God. Oh, what a heart is his, that doth not merely comprehend the
persons of his people, but comprehends also the diverse and innumerable
concerns of all those persons!
Dost thou think, O Christian, that thou canst measure the love of Christ? Think
of what his love has brought thee-justification, adoption, sanctification,
eternal life! The riches of his
goodness are unsearchable; thou shalt never be able to tell them out or even
conceive them. Oh, the breadth of the love of Christ!
Shall such a love as this have half our hearts? Shall it have a cold love in
return? Shall Jesus' marvellous lovingkindness and tender care meet with but
faint response and tardy
acknowledgment? O my soul, tune thy harp to a glad song of thanksgiving! Go to
thy rest rejoicing, for thou art no desolate wanderer, but a beloved child,
watched over, cared for, supplied, and defended by thy Lord.
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Daily devotions for 04-07-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: Outside the World
Evening Title: He Purchased All of You
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Morning: Outside the World
"Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp." --Hebrews 13:13
Jesus, bearing His cross, went forth to suffer without the gate. The
Christian's reason for
leaving the camp of the world's sin and religion is not because he loves to be
singular, but
because Jesus did so; and the disciple must follow his Master. Christ was "not
of the world:"
His life and His testimony were a constant protest against conformity with the
world. Never
was such overflowing affection for men as you find in Him; but still He was
separate from
sinners. In like manner Christ's people must "go forth unto Him." They must
take their position
"without the camp," as witness-bearers for the truth. They must be prepared to
tread the
straight and narrow path. They must have bold, unflinching, lion-like hearts,
loving Christ
first, and His truth next, and Christ and His truth beyond all the world. Jesus
would have His
people "go forth without the camp" for their own sanctification. You cannot
grow in grace to any high degree while you are conformed to the world.
The life of separation may be a path of sorrow, but it is the highway of
safety; and though the
separated life may cost you many pangs, and make every day a battle, yet it is
a happy life after all.
No joy can excel that of the soldier of Christ:
Jesus reveals Himself so graciously, and gives such sweet refreshment, that the
warrior feels
more calm and peace in his daily strife than others in their hours of rest. The
highway of
holiness is the highway of communion. It is thus we shall hope to win the crown
if we are enabled by divine grace faithfully to follow Christ "without the
camp." The crown of glory will
follow the cross of separation. A moment's shame will be well recompensed by
eternal honour; a little while of witness-bearing will seem nothing when we are
"for ever with the Lord."
Evening: He Purchased All of You
"In the name of the Lord I will destroy them." --Psalm 118:12
Our Lord Jesus, by His death, did not purchase a right to a part of us only,
but to the entire
man. He contemplated in His passion the sanctification of us wholly, spirit,
soul, and
body; that in this triple kingdom He Himself might reign supreme without a
rival. It is the
business of the newborn nature which God has given to the regenerate to assert
the rights of
the Lord Jesus Christ. My soul, so far as thou art a child of God, thou must
conquer all the
rest of thyself which yet remains unblest; thou must subdue all thy powers and
passions to the silver sceptre of Jesus' gracious reign, and thou must never be
satisfied till He who is King by purchase becomes also King by gracious
coronation, and reigns in thee supreme. Seeing, then, that sin has no right to
any part of us, we go about a good and lawful warfare when we seek, in the name
of God, to drive it out. O my body, thou art a member of Christ: shall I
tolerate thy subjection to the prince of darkness? O my soul, Christ has
suffered for thy sins, and redeemed thee with His most precious blood: shall I
suffer thy memory to become a storehouse of evil, or thy passions to be
firebrands of iniquity? Shall I surrender my judgment to be perverted by error,
or my will to be led in fetters of iniquity? No, my soul, thou art Christ's,
and sin hath no right to thee.
Be courageous concerning this, O Christian! be not dispirited, as though your
spiritual enemies could never be destroyed. You are able to overcome them--not
in your own strength--the weakest of them would be too much for you in that;
but you can and shall overcome them through the blood of the Lamb. Do not ask,
"How shall I dispossess them, for they are greater and mightier than I?" but go
to the strong for strength, wait humbly upon God, and the mighty
God of Jacob will surely come to the rescue, and you shall sing of victory
through His grace.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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