And again I say, Rejoice
It is a good thing to rejoice in the Lord. Perhaps you found the first dose ineffectual. Keep on with your medicine, and when you cannot feel any joy, when there is no wellspring and no seeming comfort and encouragement, still rejoice, and count it all joy. Even when you fall into temptations, reckon the circumstance joy and delight, and God will m ...read
Devotional
And hath raised us up together
Ascension is more than resurrection. Much is said of it in the New Testament. Christ rises above all things. We see Him in the very act of ascending, as we do not in the actual resurrection. With hands and lips engaged in blessing, He gently parts from His disciples. So simply, so unostentatiously, He has brought heaven near to our common life. We, ...read
Devotional
And he that sat upon the throne said, . . . It is done
Great is the difference between action and transaction. We may be constantly acting without accomplishing anything, but a transaction is action that passes beyond the point of return and becomes a permanent committal. Salvation is a transaction between the soul and Christ in which the matter passes beyond recall. Sanctification is a great transacti ...read
Devotional
And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit
The Holy Spirit becomes to the consecrated heart the Spirit of intercession. We have two Advocates. We have an Advocate with the Father, who prays for us at God's right hand. We also have the Holy Spirit, the Advocate within who prays in us, inspiring our petitions and presenting them, through Christ, to God. We need this Advocate. We know not wha ...read
Devotional
And I will put my spirit within you
This state spoken of by Ezekiel is much more than a new heart. It is a heart filled with the Holy Spirit, the Divine Spirit, the power that causes us to walk in God's commandments. This is the greatest crisis that comes to a Christian: when into the spirit that was renewed in conversion, God Himself comes to dwell, to make it His abiding place, an ...read
Devotional
And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle
In the last chapter of Exodus we read of all the Lord commanded Moses to do. As he fulfilled these commands the glory of the Lord descended and filled the tabernacle until there was no room for Moses. From that time the pillar of cloud overshadowed the tabernacle as Israel's guide and their protection. Even so we have been building as the Lord Him ...read
Devotional
And when the people complained,
There is a very remarkable phrase in the book of Numbers, in the account of the murmuring of the children of Israel in the wilderness. It reads like this: "When the people, as it were, murmured." Like most marginal readings, it is better than the text, and a great world of suggestive truth lies back of that little sentence. Many a vivid picture r ...read
Devotional
As many as are led by the Spirit of God
The blessed Holy Spirit is our Guide, our Leader and our Resting-place. There are times when He presses us forward into prayer, into service, into suffering, into new experiences, new duties, new claims of faith and hope and love. Then there are times when He arrests us in our activity and rests us in the secret place of the Most High. He teaches ...read
Devotional
As much as in me is, I am ready
Be earnest. Intense earnestness, a whole heart for Christ, the passion sign of the cross, the enthusiasm of our whole being for our Master and humanity-this is what the Lord expects. This is what His cross deserves, this what the world needs and this is what the age has a right to look for. Everything around us is intensely alive. Life is earnest, ...read
Devotional
As the hart panteth after the water brooks
In order to enter into a life of consecration, there must be a sense of need-the need of purity, of power and of a greater nearness to the Lord. Christians often experience a second conviction. It is not now a sense of guilt and God's wrath so much as of the power and evil of inward sin, and the dissatisfaction with the life the person is living. ...read
Devotional
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus
Here is the very core of spiritual life. it is not a subjective state so much as a life in the heart. Christ for us is the ground of our salvation and the source of our justification; Christ in us is the source of sanctification. When this becomes real, [We] are dead. Our own condition, state and resources are no longer counted upon any more than ...read
Devotional
Ask, and it shall be given you
We must receive, as well as ask. We must take the place of believing and recognize ourselves as in it. A friend once said to me, "I want to get into the will of God." I answered: "Will you then step into the will of God? And now, are you in the will of God? My question aroused in the man a thought he had not considered. He saw that he had been s ...read
Devotional
Be careful for nothing
Commit means to hand over, to trust wholly to another. So, if we give our trials to Him, He will carry them. If we walk in righteousness He will carry us through. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time (I Peter 5:6). There are two hands there-God's hand pressing us down, humbling us, and then Go ...read
Devotional
Be filled with the Spirit
Some of the effects of being filled with the Spirit are: 1. Holiness of heart and life. This is not the perfection of the human nature, but the holiness of the divine nature dwelling within. 2. Fullness of joy so that the heart is constantly radiant. This does not depend on circumstances, but fills the spirit with holy laughter in the midst of the ...read
Devotional
Be not dismayed; for I am thy God
How tenderly God soothes our fears! How sweetly He says in the introductory verse, Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: . . . I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. And yet again, still with tender thoughtfulness, I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will he ...read
Devotional
Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus
How may we enjoy this day? This enjoyment will never come by trying to be happy, and yet there are conditions which, if met, will produce real joy. 1. Be right with God, for gladness [is sown] for the upright in heart (Psalm 97:11). It is His joy that remains in us that makes our joy full. 2. Forget yourself and live for others, for It is more bles ...read
Devotional
Because I live, ye shall live also
A fter having become adjusted to our Living Head and the source of our life, our business now is to abide, absorb and grow. We do this by leaning on Christ's strength, drinking in His life, feeding on Him as the Living Bread and drawing all of our resources from Him in continual dependence and communion. The Holy Spirit will be the great Teacher a ...read
Devotional
Behold, I am the Lord, the god of all flesh
Cyrus the king was compelled to fulfill the vision of Jeremiah by making a decree declaring that Jehovah had bidden him rebuild Jerusalem and invite her captives to return to their native home. In this way Jeremiah's faith was vindicated and Jehovah's prophecy gloriously fulfilled, as faith ever will be honored. Oh, for the faith that in the dark ...read
Devotional
Bless the Lord, 0 my soul
Bless the Lord, 0 my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; who satisfeth thy mouth with good things; so that ...read
Devotional
Blessed is the man
Three things are notable about this blessed man: 1. His company. He walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2. His reading and thinking. His delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3. His fruitfulness. And he shall be like a tre ...read
A.B. Simpson