The Price of Freedom "And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him" (Mark 9:26).
Evil never surrenders its hold without a sore fight. We never pass into any spiritual inheritance through the delightful exercises of a picnic, but always through the grim contentions of the battle field. It is so in the secret realm of the soul. Every faculty which wi ...read
The Risen Lord "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore" (Rev. 1:18).
Flower! Easter lilies! speak to me this morning the same dear old lesson of immortality which you have been speaking to so many sorrowing souls.
Wise old Book! let me read again in your pages of firm assurance that to die is gain.
Poets! recite to me y ...read
The Road Uphill "Walking in the midst of the fire" (Daniel 3:25).
The fire did not arrest their motion; they walked in the midst of it. It was one of the streets through which they moved to their destiny. The comfort of Christ's revelation is not that it teaches emancipation from sorrow, but emancipation through sorrow.
O my God, teach me, when the shadow ...read
The Second Coming "Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown" (Rev. 3:11).
George Mueller bears this testimony, "When it pleased God in July, 1829, to reveal to my heart the truth of the personal return of the Lord Jesus, and to show me that I had made a great mistake in looking for the conversion of the world, the effe ...read
The Secrets of Providence "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him" (Ps. 25:14).
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."
S ...read
The Summer Will Come "Therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you" (Isa. 30:18).
Where showers fall most, there the grass is greenest. I suppose the fogs and mists of Ireland make it "the Emerald Isle"; and whenever you find great fogs of trouble, and mists of sorrow, you always find emerald green hearts; full of the beautiful verdure of the c ...read
There We Saw the Giants "There we saw the giants" (Num. 13:33).
Yes, they saw the giants, but Caleb and Joshua saw God! Those who doubt say, "We be not able to go up." Those who believe say, "Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able."
Giants stand for great difficulties; and giants are stalking everywhere. They are in our families, in our chur ...read
This Thing is From Me "This thing is from me" (1 Kings 12:24).
"Life's disappointments are veiled love's appointments." --Rev. C. A. Fox
My child, I have a message for you today; let me whisper it in your ear, that it may gild with glory any storm clouds which may arise, and smooth the rough places upon which you may have to tread. It is short, only five wor ...read
Thou Wilt Revive Me "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me" (Ps. 138:7).
The Hebrew rendering of the above is "go on in the center of trouble." What descriptive words! We have called on God in the day of trouble; we have pleaded His promise of deliverance but no deliverance has been given; the enemy has continued oppressing until we were in ...read
Thresh the Mountains "Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt" (Matt. 15:28).
By faith the walls of Jericho fell down--yet what more unlikely! We walk by faith. Do we? What record is there on high of things that by faith we have obtained? Is each step each day an act of faith? Do we, as children of God, ...read
Through Faith "Pressed out of measure" (2 Cor. 1:8).
"That the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Cor. 12:9).
God allowed the crisis to close around Jacob on the night when he bowed at Peniel in supplication, to bring him to the place where he could take hold of God as he never would have done; and from that narrow pass of peril, Jacob became enlarge ...read
Through the Fire "So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning" (Job 42:12).
Through his griefs Job came to his heritage. He was tried that his godliness might be confirmed. Are not my troubles intended to deepen my character and to robe me in graces I had little of before? I come to my glory through eclipses, tears, death. My ripest frui ...read
Thy Rod and Thy Staff "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me" (Ps. 23:4).
At my father's house in the country there is a little closet in the chimney corner where are kept the canes and walking-sticks of several generations of our family. In my visits to the old house, when my father and I are going out for a walk, we often go to the cane closet, and pick out our ...read
Trained to Comfort "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God" (Isa. 40:1).
Store up comfort. This was the prophet's mission. The world is full of comfortless hearts, and ere thou art sufficient for this lofty ministry, thou must be trained. And thy training is costly in the extreme; for, to render it perfect, thou too must pass through the same afflicti ...read
Treasures in the Darkness "Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was" (Exod. 20:21).
God has still His hidden secrets, hidden from the wise and prudent. Do not fear them; be content to accept things that you cannot understand; wait patiently. Presently He will reveal to you the treasures of darkness, the riches of the glory of the mystery. Mystery is only t ...read
Trouble is a Messenger "My Father is the husbandman" (John 15:1).
It is comforting to think of trouble, in whatever form it may come to, us, as a heavenly messenger, bringing us something from God. In its earthly aspect it may seem hurtful, even destructive; but in its spiritual out-working it yields blessing. Many of the richest blessings which have come down to u ...read
Trouble Teaches "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Ps. 46:1).
The question often comes, "Why didn't He help me sooner?" It is not His order. He must first adjust you to the trouble and cause you to learn your lesson from it. His promise is, "I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him." He must be with ...read
Trust Amid the Silence "He answered her not a word" (Matt. 15:23).
"He will be silent in his love" (Zeph. 3:17).
It may be a child of God is reading these words who has had some great crushing sorrow, some bitter disappointment, some heart-breaking blow from a totally unexpected quarter. You are longing for your Master's voice bidding you "Be of good cheer," ...read
Trust and Rest "Trust also in him" (Ps. 37:3).
The word trust is the heart word of faith. It is the Old Testament word, the word given to the early and infant stage of faith. The word faith expresses more the act of the will, the word belief the act of the mind or intellect, but trust is the language of the heart. The other has reference more to a truth beli ...read
Trust in His Promises "God...calleth those things which be not as though they were" (Rom. 4:17).
What does that mean? Why Abraham did this thing: he dared to believe God. It seemed an impossibility at his age that Abraham should become the father of a child; it looked incredible; and yet God called him a "father of many nations" before there was a sign of a child ...read
Mrs. Charles E. Cowman