Fall upon your knees, and grow there

They repay my love with accusations, but I continue to pray. — Psalm 109:4 NET

We are often in a religious hurry in our devotions. How much time do we spend in them daily? Can it not be easily reckoned in minutes? Who ever knew an eminently holy person who did not spend much time in prayer? Did ever a person exhibit much of the spirit of prayer, who did not devote much time in the closet of prayer?

Whitefield says, “Whole days and weeks have I spent prostrate on the ground, in silent or vocal prayer.” “Fall upon your knees and grow there,” is the language of another, who knew whereof he affirmed.

It has been said that no great work in literature or science was ever wrought by a person who did not love solitude. We may lay it down as an elemental principle of religion, that no large growth in holiness was ever gained by one who did not take time to be often, and long, alone with God.

— The Still Hour

God creates priceless things from our tears

Someone recently told me that they avoid coming to church, because invariably the worship service moves them to tears, and they don't want others to see them cry.

There is grief and pain beneath those words, and a world of hurt -- but the sentiment is misguided. Tears are not the enemy, even tears shed in the worst trial, the worst pain and brokenness of heart. God creates beautiful things from our tears. He uses tears to reshape, to remake and heal us. He uses tears to reveal the heights of divine love and holy will. He uses tears to clear our eyes to see Him in the midst of our pain. He uses tears to wash the soul of His loved children. Never yet has a tear fallen from the eyes of God's dear child, but that He did not see, and appoint the tear as a balm of healing: every place the tear dripped on face or skin, there brushed the liquid love of Abba God, and the sacred tears of the Holy Spirit, and eternal, sacrificial tears of Jesus, still poured out upon those He loves.

Flee not your tears, friends. Let them flow in full accord, as your eyes are turned upon the holy God of the universe. Priceless gifts will spring up where the tears fall. And the tears will simply drop from time to eternity, bottled up in love by God himself, stored up as future diamonds in a forever of love.

Alleluia!

Selah.

In a similar line, Venus Bardanouve writes a meditation entitled, "He Gave Us Tears." Listen to her apt thoughts:

Lord, I don't want to cry in front of my children and grandchildren. Help me to be brave and show them how a Christian faces death."

This was my friend's prayer when she lost her husband. And she sat dry-eyed through his funeral.

Weeks went by and she was still tearless, but her weight of sorrow grew heavier every day. Finally she called out in desperation, "Lord, give me back my tears." He did, and as the tears flowed, her pent-up burden lightened and her broken heart began to heal. She realized that tears are one of God's gracious gifts to us. The all-knowing and compassionate God, who fully understands us, knew we needed them for many reasons.

My friend found that she needed her tears to help relieve the burden of loss. Abraham wept when he buried Sarah, Jacob cried when he thought his son Joseph was dead, David poured out his sorrow with tears over his slain son Absalom, and Mary Magdalene wept at Jesus' tomb.

Sometimes it is not loss, but God's blessing that brings tears. When Jesus enters a heart, old walls are often washed away by tears. As tears poured down the cheeks of a big, burly man who had just found God, he said, "Twenty-five years ago when I was twelve years old, my father almost beat me to death. I vowed then that no one would ever make me cry again, and I have never shed a tear since that day. Now I can hardly stop crying."

Four-year-old Kyle had a touch of that same experience. He was having lunch with Grandma. As she held his small hand, she thanked God for the food and for her little grandson. As she finished praying, he wiped his hand across his eyes and said, "Grandma, when you pray it makes my eyes water." The Holy Spirit often brings tears to the eyes of those with tender hearts.

The Bible tells us to "... weep with those who weep" (Romans 12:15). Jesus wept in compassion when He saw Mary and Martha's grief at the loss of their brother, Lazarus. Tears of others may move us to compassion and action as we sense the hurt that caused them.

Selah.

You can read the rest here: HE GAVE US TEARS.

The money quote, for me: "Grandma, when you pray it makes my eyes water."

Oh the riches of God's appointed tears for His loved children!

Let your love leak out today, friends, and splash redemptively around your world in acts of kindness, servanthood and prayer... and yea, even through your tears!

We grow under the load into kings and priests of God's design

Then Jesus called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." — Mark 8:34 NET

by Alexander Smellie

The cross which my Lord bids me take up and carry may assume different shapes. I may have to content myself with a lowly and narrow sphere, when I feel that I have capacities for much higher work. I may have to go on cultivating year after year, a field which seems to yield me no harvests whatsoever. I may be bidden to cherish kind and loving thoughts about someone who has wronged me—be bidden speak to him tenderly, and take his part against all who oppose him, and crown him with sympathy and succor. I may have to confess my Master amongst those who do not wish to be reminded of Him and His claims. I may be called to “move among my race, and show a glorious morning face,” when my heart is breaking.

There are many crosses, and every one of them is sore and heavy. None of them is likely to be sought out by me of my own accord. But never is Jesus so near me as when I lift my cross, and lay it submissively on my shoulder, and give it the welcome of a patient and unmurmuring spirit.

He draws close, to ripen my wisdom, to deepen my peace, to increase my courage, to augment my power to be of use to others, through the very experience which is so grievous and distressing. And then — as I read on the seal of one of those Scottish Covenanters whom Claverhouse imprisoned on the lonely Bass, with the sea surging and sobbing round — I grow under the load.

Selah.

Wisdom: Use your cross as a crutch to help you on, and not as a stumblingblock to cast you down.

The cross creates in us a weight of glory that will far exceed the worst burdens of this earth — so weighty, in fact, that in comparison, the worst frenzies of earth will be but light and momentary things. In faith, we grow under the load — inner light, inner glory that can only match eternal life, and only fully be expressed in glory. Champions of faith, living into forever...

Note: The story behind the intro picture can be found here: http://www.laetificatmadison.com/2012/06/two-thumbs-up-for-carrying-the-cross-with-jesus/

Blessings coming and going

You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. — Deut. 28:6 NET

by C.H. Spurgeon

The blessings of the law are not canceled. Jesus confirmed the promise when He bore the penalty. If I keep the commands of my Lord, I may appropriate this promise without question.

This day I will come in to my house without fear of evil tidings, and I will come in to my closet expecting to hear good news from my Lord. I will not be afraid to come in unto myself by self-examination, nor to come in to my affairs by a diligent inspection of my business. I have a good deal of work to do indoors, within my own soul; oh, for a blessing upon it all, the blessing of the Lord Jesus, who has promised to abide with me.

I must also go out. Timidity makes me wish that I could stay within doors and never go into the sinful world again. But I must go out in my calling, and I must go out that I may be helpful to my brethren and useful to the ungodly. I must be a defender of the faith and an assailant of evil. Oh, for a blessing upon my going out this day! Lord, let me go where Thou leadest, on Thy errands, under Thy command, and in the power of Thy Spirit.

Lord Jesus, turn in with me and be my guest; and then walk out with me and cause my heart to burn while You speak with me by the way.

Selah.

Not overwork, but overflow

He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn He went out to them, walking on the lake. — Mk. 6:48

Straining, driving effort does not accomplish the work God gives man to do. Only God Himself, who always works without strain, and who never overworks, can do the work that He assigns to His children. When they restfully trust Him to do it, it will be well done and completely done. The way to let Him do His work through us is to partake of Christ so fully, by faith, that He more than fills our life.

A man who had learned this secret once said: “I came to Jesus and I drank, and I do not think that I shall ever be thirsty again. I have taken for my motto, 'Not overwork, but overflow’; and already it has made all the difference in my life.”

There is no effort in overflow. It is quietly irresistible. It is the normal life of omnipotent and ceaseless accomplishment into which Christ invites us today and always.

From: Sunday School Times

Selah.

Thou shalt conquer

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb. — Rev. 12:11

So that we may not be exploited by Satan (for we are not ignorant of his schemes). — 2 Cor 2:11

Fear not Satan’s strong temptations
Though they tease thee day by day,
And thy evil inclinations
Overwhelm thee with dismay!
Thou shalt conquer,
Through the Lamb’s redeeming blood.

Selah.

Such Amazing Grace!

If one can grasp the meaning of these three hymns... then one will understand the saving gospel of Christ. And, be encouraged when feeling the weight of sin, or overwhelmed in the pain and weakness of self-condition.

It's not about us. Salvation belongs not to the strong. But to the infinitely weak, who are loved by God into divine strength.

When we are truly weak (weak enough to give up on trusting self, and fully surrender to God), then we are strong. Rest in His strength. Give up even weakness, in utter confession of it...

Sing through these towering songs of faith. Trust. Commit. Rest. Surrender to Grace.

Alleluia!

Hymns:

What Tho' I Cannot Break My Chain
I Am Not Skilled to Understand
Amazing Grace

Selah.

Missionary serendipity: "A little country overrun by the English!"

Reading the life of James O. Fraser, missionary to the Lisu people in the early part of the 20th century, and this vignette caused a smile -- serendipitous sovereignty and divine humor!

One day Dan was escorting Anna when a young Chinese officer arrogantly accosted them. Were they English?

“I’m from Denmark,” Anna replied. “Where’s that?” “It’s a little country over-run by the Nazis.” “And you?” turning to Dan, “where are you from?” “My family came from Scotland,” said Dan. “Where’s that?” “It’s a little country over-run by the English.”

“So! We are all oppressed peoples,” the man said. “Come and eat with me.”

Big smile.

Amazing to trace the hand of God in little things, including humorous (and often unnoticed) twists and turns!

Selah.

Note: As told by Eileen Crossman, daughter of James and Roxie Fraser, in the book Mountain Rain.

God builds fair things from our tears

The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will certainly not allow the wicked to go unpunished. He marches out in the whirlwind and the raging storm; dark storm clouds billow like dust under his feet. — Nah. 1:3 NET

by Henry Ward Beecher

I recollect, when a lad, and while attending a classical institute in the vicinity of Mount Pleasant, sitting on an elevation of that mountain, and watching a storm as it came up the valley. The heavens were filled with blackness, and the earth was shaken by the voice of thunder. It seemed as though that fair landscape was utterly changed, and its beauty gone never to return.

But the storm swept on, and passed out of the valley; and if I had sat in the same place on the following day, and said, “Where is that terrible storm, with all its terrible blackness?” the grass would have said, “Part of it is in me,” and the daisy would have said, “Part of it is in me,” and the fruits and flowers and everything that grows out of the ground would have said, “Part of the storm is incandescent in me.”

Have you asked to be made like your Lord? Have you longed for the fruit of the Spirit, and have you prayed for sweetness and gentleness and love? Then fear not the stormy tempest that is at this moment sweeping through your life. A blessing is in the storm, and there will be the rich fruitage in the “afterward.”

Selah.

The flowers live by the tears that fall
From the sad face of the skies;
And life would have no joys at all,
Were there no watery eyes.
Love thou thy sorrow: grief shall bring
Its own excuse in after years;
The rainbow!—see how fair a thing
God hath built up from tears.

— Henry S. Sutton

The Son of Man has power to forgive sins. And He takes seriously the faith of friends in forgiving specific persons

That Sweet Roll Ain't So Sweet (and Omega-6 oils, Highly Processed Carbs, Sugars and Margarines Are Killing Us)

Dr. Dwight Lundell is the author of The Cure for Heart Disease and The Great Cholesterol Lie. He admits that the common knowledge regarding heart disease is based on flawed assumptions, and may just be making the matters. Must read for anyone concerned with health:

We physicians with all our training, knowledge and authority often acquire a rather large ego that tends to make it difficult to admit we are wrong. So, here it is. I freely admit to being wrong.. As a heart surgeon with 25 years experience, having performed over 5,000 open-heart surgeries,today is my day to right the wrong with medical and scientific fact.

I trained for many years with other prominent physicians labelled “opinion makers.”  Bombarded with scientific literature, continually attending education seminars, we opinion makers insisted heart disease resulted from the simple fact of elevated blood cholesterol.

The only accepted therapy was prescribing medications to lower cholesterol and a diet that severely restricted fat intake. The latter of course we insisted would lower cholesterol and heart disease. Deviations from these recommendations were considered heresy and could quite possibly result in malpractice.

It Is Not Working!

These recommendations are no longer scientifically or morally defensible. The discovery a few years ago that inflammation in the artery wall is the real cause of heart disease is slowly leading to a paradigm shift in how heart disease and other chronic ailments will be treated.

The long-established dietary recommendations have created epidemics of obesity and diabetes, the consequences of which dwarf any historical plague in terms of mortality, human suffering and dire economic consequences.

Despite the fact that 25% of the population takes expensive statin medications and despite the fact we have reduced the fat content of our diets, more Americans will die this year of heart disease than ever before.

Statistics from the American Heart Association show that 75 million Americans currently suffer from heart disease, 20 million have diabetes and 57 million have pre-diabetes. These disorders are affecting younger and younger people in greater numbers every year.

Simply stated, without inflammation being present in the body, there is no way that cholesterol would accumulate in the wall of the blood vessel and cause heart disease and strokes. Without inflammation, cholesterol would move freely throughout the body as nature intended. It is inflammation that causes cholesterol to become trapped.

Inflammation is not complicated — it is quite simply your body’s natural defense to a foreign invader such as a bacteria, toxin or virus. The cycle of inflammation is perfect in how it protects your body from these bacterial and viral invaders. However, if we chronically expose the body to injury by toxins or foods the human body was never designed to process,a condition occurs called chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is just as harmful as acute inflammation is beneficial.

What thoughtful person would willfully expose himself repeatedly to foods or other substances that are known to cause injury to the body?  Well,smokers perhaps, but at least they made that choice willfully.

The rest of us have simply followed the recommended mainstream diet that is low in fat and high in polyunsaturated fats and carbohydrates, not knowing we were causing repeated injury to our blood vessels. This repeated injury creates chronic inflammation leading to heart disease, stroke, diabetes and obesity.

Let me repeat that: The injury and inflammation in our blood vessels is caused by the low fat diet recommended for years by mainstream medicine.

What are the biggest culprits of chronic inflammation? Quite simply, they are the overload of simple, highly processed carbohydrates (sugar, flour and all the products made from them) and the excess consumption of omega-6 vegetable oils like soybean, corn and sunflower that are found in many processed foods.

Take a moment to visualize rubbing a stiff brush repeatedly over soft skin until it becomes quite red and nearly bleeding. you kept this up several times a day, every day for five years. If you could tolerate this painful brushing, you would have a bleeding, swollen infected area that became worse with each repeated injury. This is a good way to visualize the inflammatory process that could be going on in your body right now.

Regardless of where the inflammatory process occurs, externally or internally, it is the same. I have peered inside thousands upon thousands of arteries. A diseased artery looks as if someone took a brush and scrubbed repeatedly against its wall. Several times a day, every day, the foods we eat create small injuries compounding into more injuries, causing the body to respond continuously and appropriately with inflammation.

While we savor the tantalizing taste of a sweet roll, our bodies respond alarmingly as if a foreign invader arrived declaring war. Foods loaded with sugars and simple carbohydrates, or processed withomega-6 oils for long shelf life have been the mainstay of the American diet for six decades. These foods have been slowly poisoning everyone.

How does eating a simple sweet roll create a cascade of inflammation to make you sick?

Imagine spilling syrup on your keyboard and you have a visual of what occurs inside the cell. When we consume simple carbohydrates such as sugar, blood sugar rises rapidly. In response, your pancreas secretes insulin whose primary purpose is to drive sugar into each cell where it is stored for energy. If the cell is full and does not need glucose, it is rejected to avoid extra sugar gumming up the works.

When your full cells reject the extra glucose, blood sugar rises producing more insulin and the glucose converts to stored fat.

What does all this have to do with inflammation? Blood sugar is controlled in a very narrow range. Extra sugar molecules attach to a variety of proteins that in turn injure the blood vessel wall. This repeated injury to the blood vessel wall sets off inflammation. When you spike your blood sugar level several times a day, every day, it is exactly like taking sandpaper to the inside of your delicate blood vessels.

While you may not be able to see it, rest assured it is there. I saw it in over 5,000 surgical patients spanning 25 years who all shared one common denominator — inflammation in their arteries.

Let’s get back to the sweet roll. That innocent looking goody not only contains sugars, it is baked in one of many omega-6 oils such as soybean. Chips and fries are soaked in soybean oil; processed foods are manufactured with omega-6 oils for longer shelf life. While omega-6’s are essential -they are part of every cell membrane controlling what goes in and out of the cell — they must be in the correct balance with omega-3’s.

If the balance shifts by consuming excessive omega-6, the cell membrane produces chemicals called cytokines that directly cause inflammation.

Today’s mainstream American diet has produced an extreme imbalance of these two fats. The ratio of imbalance ranges from 15:1 to as high as 30:1 in favor of omega-6. That’s a tremendous amount of cytokines causing inflammation. In today’s food environment, a 3:1 ratio would be optimal and healthy.

To make matters worse, the excess weight you are carrying from eating these foods creates overloaded fat cells that pour out large quantities of pro-inflammatory chemicals that add to the injury caused by having high blood sugar. The process that began with a sweet roll turns into a vicious cycle over time that creates heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetesand finally, Alzheimer’s disease, as the inflammatory process continues unabated.

There is no escaping the fact that the more we consume prepared and processed foods, the more we trip the inflammation switch little by little each day. The human body cannot process, nor was it designed to consume, foods packed with sugars and soaked in omega-6 oils.

There is but one answer to quieting inflammation, and that is returning to foods closer to their natural state. To build muscle, eat more protein. Choose carbohydrates that are very complex such as colorful fruits and vegetables. Cut down on or eliminate inflammation- causing omega-6 fats like corn and soybean oil and the processed foods that are made from them.

One tablespoon of corn oil contains 7,280 mg of omega-6; soybean contains 6,940 mg. Instead, use olive oil or butter from grass-fed beef.

Animal fats contain less than 20% omega-6 and are much less likely to cause inflammation than the supposedly healthy oils labelled polyunsaturated. Forget the “science” that has been drummed into your head for decades. The science that saturated fat alone causes heart disease is non-existent. The science that saturated fat raises blood cholesterol is also very weak. Since we now know that cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease, the concern about saturated fat is even more absurd today.

The cholesterol theory led to the no-fat, low-fat recommendations that in turn created the very foods now causing an epidemic of inflammation. Mainstream medicine made a terrible mistake when it advised people to avoid saturated fat in favor of foods high in omega-6 fats. We now have an epidemic of arterial inflammation leading to heart disease and other silent killers.

What you can do is choose whole foods your grandmother served and not those your mom turned to as grocery store aisles filled with manufactured foods. By eliminating inflammatory foods and adding essential nutrients from fresh unprocessed food, you will reverse years of damage in your arteries and throughout your body from consuming the typical American diet.

Wow, right?

This isn't new information. But from his background, it's very interesting.

You can see the videos and read more here:

http://m.disclose.tv/news/World_Renowned_Heart_Surgeon_Speaks_Out_On_What_Really_Causes_Heart_Disease/113103

He rides on the wings of the wind, and every storm must fulfill His word

Today I saw pictures of a powerful storm sweeping over open land. The pictures evoked in me the songs of praise of Israel, who saw the great deliverance of God in nature, and understood God as the God of the Storm, the One who "rides on the wings of the wind" (Psalm 104:3), the One before whom every storm must bow, fulfilling His holy word (Psalm 148:8).

First, the song of deliverance in Exodus 15:6-8, where God shatters the enemy in a storm:

Your right hand, LORD, was majestic in power. Your right hand, LORD, shattered the enemy.

In the greatness of your majesty you threw down those who opposed you. You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble.

By the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up. The surging waters stood up like a wall; the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.

Selah.

And Psalm 29, a song of God's holiness and majestic power:

Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name;
    worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness.

The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
    the God of glory thunders,
    the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.

The voice of the Lord is powerful;
    the voice of the Lord is majestic.

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
    the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

He makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
    Sirion like a young wild ox.

The voice of the Lord strikes
    with flashes of lightning.

The voice of the Lord shakes the desert;
    the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.

The voice of the Lord twists the oaks
    and strips the forests bare.
And in His temple all cry, “Glory!”

The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
    the Lord is enthroned as King forever.

The Lord gives strength to His people;
    the Lord blesses His people with peace.

Alleluia!

Selah.

Secrets of Sovereignty: Providential diamonds often come in rough packages

The Lord’s loyal followers receive His guidance, and He reveals His covenantal demands to them. — Psalm 25:14

by A. B. Simpson

There are secrets of Providence which God’s dear children may learn. His dealings with them often seem, to the outward eye, dark and terrible. Faith looks deeper and says, “This is God’s secret. You look only on the outside; I can look deeper and see the hidden meaning.”

Sometimes diamonds are done up in rough packages, so that their value cannot be seen. When the Tabernacle was built in the wilderness there was nothing rich in its outside appearance. The costly things were all within, and its outward covering of rough badger skin gave no hint of the valuable things which it contained.

God may send you, dear friends, some costly packages. Do not worry if they are done up in rough wrappings. You may be sure there are treasures of love, and kindness, and wisdom hidden within. If we take what He sends, and trust Him for the goodness in it, even in the dark, we shall learn the meaning of the secrets of Providence.

Selah.

Our Lord can give a New Heart

These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind. — Deut. 6:6 NET

by J.R. Miller

There is a story in one of the sacred books of the Hindus of a devotee who had served a certain goddess with such faithfulness that she offered to give him whatever he might ask.

She offered him lands and wealth beyond price, but the man said, “Alas! I have no need of such things. I already have great estates, abundance of silver and gold, and all the good things of this life. But I am a miser. I cannot enjoy the things I possess. I die of famine, with plenty all around me, and I know nothing of the pleasures that that are common to generous minds. Give me, then, a new heart.”

The goddess looked at him in amazement, and said, “Thou hast asked a thing too difficult,” and she vanished.

But this is the very thing God does for those who ask it. He is able to change the miser’s heart, so that he may find pleasure in blessing others with his gifts. He does this by putting His words into the heart. Then the heart is changed, and the life that was all wrong is made all right.

Selah.

May the fruit of the Spirit grow in me richly, today

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness... Gal. 5:22

A.B. Simpson

Nature's harshness has melted away and she is now beaming with the smile of spring, and everything around us whispers of the gentleness of God. This beautiful fruit is in lovely harmony with the gentle month of which it is the keynote. May the Holy Spirit lead us, beloved, these days, into His sweetness, quietness, and gentleness, subduing every coarse, rude, harsh, and unholy habit, and making us like Him, of whom it is said, He shall not strive, nor cry, nor cause His voice to be heard in the streets.

The man who is truly filled with Jesus will always be a gentleman. The woman who is baptized of the Holy Spirit, will have the instincts of a perfect lady, although low born and little bred in the schools of earthly refinement. Beloved, let us receive and reflect the gentleness of Christ, the spirit of the holy babe, until the world will say of us, as the polished and infidel Chesterfield once said of the saintly Fenelon, If I had remained in his house another day, I should have had to become a Christian. Lord, help us today, to so yield to the gentle Dove–Spirit, that our lives shall be as His life.

Selah.

This reading by A.B. Simpson convicted me. It called to mind the story told of John Welsh of Ayr, the son-in-law of the great John Knox. A visiting friar needed lodging, and so was welcomed to the home of Welsh, the Presbyterian Covenanter. The friar heard talking during the night, and thought it was the devil, living in the house of the famous Protestant pastor. He fully intended to move on before the next night, but when he mentioned the night whispers to a villager, the villager laughed. "That's just Welsh praying. He prays more than another other pastor in France."

The friar agreed to stay one more night, resolving to listen to the words more closely. So he did. And when he turned his ear toward discerning the words, he began to weep -- for he had never heard prayer like this in his life. The next day he confessed his need of grace to John Welsh, who prayed for him. And he became a pastor in the Covenant.

Selah.

Lord, grant that in me the fruit of your Spirit would grow so richly that others might be drawn to the harvest-beauty, the holy music.

Amen.

A May Day song of praise

Indeed you will go out with joy; you will be led along in peace; the mountains and hills will give a joyful shout before you, and all the trees in the field will clap their hands. — Isa 55:12

by C.H. Spurgeon

When sin is pardoned, our greatest sorrow is ended, and our truest pleasure begins. Such is the joy which the Lord bestows upon His reconciled ones, that it overflows and fills all nature with delight. The material world has latent music in it, and a renewed heart knows how to bring it out and make it vocal. Creation is the organ, and a gracious man finds out its keys, lays his hand thereon, and wakes the whole system of the universe to the harmony of praise. Mountains and hills, and other great objects, are, as it were, the bass of the chorus; while the trees of the wood, and all things that have life, take up the air of the melodious song.

When God’s Word is made to prosper among us and souls are saved, then everything seems full of song. When we hear the confessions of young believers and the testimonies of well-instructed saints, we are made so happy that we must praise the Lord, and then it seems as if rocks and hills and woods and fields echo our joy-notes and turn the world into an orchestra. Lord, on this happy May Day, lead me out into thy tuneful world as rich in praise as a lark in full song.

Alleluia!

He will perfect that which concerns me

The Lord avenges me. O Lord, your loyal love endures. Do not abandon those whom you have made! — Psalm 138:8

by C.H. Spurgeon

A song of faith

He who has begun will carry on the work which is being wrought within my soul. The Lord is concerned about everything that concerns me. All that is now good, but not perfect, the Lord will watch over, preserve, and carry out to completion.

This is a great comfort! I could not perfect the work of grace myself. Of that I am quite sure, for I fail every day and have only held on so long as I have because the Lord has helped me. If the Lord were to leave me, all my past experience would go for nothing, and I should perish from the way. But the Lord will continue to bless me. He will perfect my faith, my love, my character, my lifework. He will do this because He has begun a work in me.

He gave me the concern I feel, and, in a measure, He has fulfilled my gracious aspirations. He never leaves a work unfinished; this would not be for His glory, nor would it be like Him. He knows how to accomplish His gracious design, and though my own evil nature and the world and the devil all conspire to hinder Him, I do not doubt His promise. He will perfect that which concerneth me, and I will praise Him forever. Lord, let Thy gracious work make some advance this day!

Alleluia!

Selah.