Spurgeon's Daily Devotional: Have you lot your best friend?

Spurgeon's Daily Devotional.

January 19th AM

"I sought him, but I found him not."
Song of Solomon 3:1

Tell me where you lost the company of Christ, and I will tell you the most likely place to find Him. Have you lost Christ in the closet by restraining prayer? Then it is there you must seek and find Him. Did you lose Christ by sin? You will find Christ in no other way but by the giving up of the sin, and seeking by the Holy Spirit to mortify the member in which the lust doth dwell. Did you lose Christ by neglecting the Scriptures? You must find Christ in the Scriptures. It is a true proverb, "Look for a thing where you dropped it, it is there." So look for Christ where you lost Him, for He has not gone away. But it is hard work to go back for Christ. Bunyan tells us, the pilgrim found the piece of the road back to the Arbour of Ease, where he lost his roll, the hardest he had ever travelled. Twenty miles onward is easier than to go one mile back for the lost evidence.

Take care, then, when you find your Master, to cling close to Him. But how is it you have lost Him? One would have thought you would never have parted with such a precious friend, whose presence is so sweet, whose words are so comforting, and whose company is so dear to you! How is it that you did not watch Him every moment for fear of losing sight of Him? Yet, since you have let Him go, what a mercy that you are seeking Him, even though you mournfully groan, "O that I knew where I might find Him!" Go on seeking, for it is dangerous to be without thy Lord. Without Christ you are like a sheep without its shepherd; like a tree without water at its roots; like a sere leaf in the tempest--not bound to the tree of life. With thine whole heart seek Him, and He will be found of thee: only give thyself thoroughly up to the search, and verily, thou shalt yet discover Him to thy joy and gladness.

Spurgeon's Daily Devotional Rev. 14:1

Spurgeon's Daily Devotional

January 17th AM

"And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion."
Revelation 14:1

The apostle John was privileged to look within the gates of heaven, and in describing what he saw, he begins by saying, "I looked, and, lo, a Lamb!" This teaches us that the chief object of contemplation in the heavenly state is "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world." Nothing else attracted the apostle's attention so much as the person of that Divine Being, who hath redeemed us by His blood. He is the theme of the songs of all glorified spirits and holy angels. Christian, here is joy for thee; thou hast looked, and thou hast seen the Lamb. Through thy tears thine eyes have seen the Lamb of God taking away thy sins. Rejoice, then. In a little while, when thine eyes shall have been wiped from tears, thou wilt see the same Lamb exalted on His throne. It is the joy of thy heart to hold daily fellowship with Jesus; thou shalt have the same joy to a higher degree in heaven; thou shalt enjoy the constant vision of His presence; thou shalt dwell with Him for ever. "I looked, and, lo, a Lamb!" Why, that Lamb is heaven itself; for as good Rutherford says, "Heaven and Christ are the same thing;" to be with Christ is to be in heaven, and to be in heaven is to be with Christ. That prisoner of the Lord very sweetly writes in one of his glowing letters--"O my Lord Jesus Christ, if I could be in heaven without thee, it would be a hell; and if I could be in hell, and have thee still, it would be a heaven to me, for thou art all the heaven I want." It is true, is it not, Christian? Does not thy soul say so?

"Not all the harps above
Can make a heavenly place,
If God His residence remove,
Or but conceal His face."

All thou needest to make thee blessed, supremely blessed, is "to be with Christ."

Sputgeon's Daily Devotional Jan. 13, 2013 1 Kings 22:48

Spurgeon's Daily Devotional: Jan. 13, 2013

"Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber."
1 Kings 22:48

Solomon's ships had returned in safety, but Jehoshaphat's vessels never reached the land of gold. Providence prospers one, and frustrates the desires of another, in the same business and at the same spot, yet the Great Ruler is as good and wise at one time as another. May we have grace to-day, in the remembrance of this text, to bless the Lord for ships broken at Ezion-geber, as well as for vessels freighted with temporal blessings; let us not envy the more successful, nor murmur at our losses as though we were singularly and specially tried. Like Jehoshaphat, we may be precious in the Lord's sight, although our schemes end in disappointment.

The secret cause of Jehoshaphat's loss is well worthy of notice, for it is the root of very much of the suffering of the Lord's people; it was his alliance with a sinful family, his fellowship with sinners. In 2 Chron. 20:37, we are told that the Lord sent a prophet to declare, "Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken thy works." This was a fatherly chastisement, which appears to have been blest to him; for in the verse which succeeds our morning's text we find him refusing to allow his servants to sail in the same vessels with those of the wicked king. Would to God that Jehoshaphat's experience might be a warning to the rest of the Lord's people, to avoid being unequally yoked together with unbelievers! A life of misery is usually the lot of those who are united in marriage, or in any other way of their own choosing, with the men of the world. O for such love to Jesus that, like Him, we may be holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners; for if it be not so with us, we may expect to hear it often said, "The Lord hath broken thy works."

Spurgeon’s Daily Devotional  January 12, 2013

"Ye are Christ's."
1 Corinthians 3:23

Ye are Christ's." You are His by donation, for the Father gave you to the Son; His by His bloody purchase, for He counted down the price for your redemption; His by dedication, for you have consecrated yourself to Him; His by relation, for you are named by his name, and made one of His brethren and joint-heirs. Labour practically to show the world that you are the servant, the friend, the bride of Jesus. When tempted to sin, reply, "I cannot do this great wickedness, for I am Christ's." Immortal principles forbid the friend of Christ to sin. When wealth is before you to be won by sin, say that you are Christ's, and touch it not. Are you exposed to difficulties and dangers? Stand fast in the evil day, remembering that you are Christ's. Are you placed where others are sitting down idly, doing nothing? Rise to the work with all your powers; and when the sweat stands upon your brow, and you are tempted to loiter, cry, "No, I cannot stop, for I am Christ's. If I were not purchased by blood, I might be like Issachar, crouching between two burdens; but I am Christ's, and cannot loiter." When the siren song of pleasure would tempt you from the path of right, reply, "Thy music cannot charm me; I am Christ's." When the cause of God invites thee, give thy goods and thyself away, for thou art Christ's. Never belie thy profession. Be thou ever one of those whose manners are Christian, whose speech is like the Nazarene, whose conduct and conversation are so redolent of heaven, that all who see you may know that you are the Saviour's, recognizing in you His features of love and His countenance of holiness. "I am a Roman!" was of old a reason for integrity; far more, then, let it be your argument for holiness, "I am Christ's!"

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 Wake up Church!

(3)All praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of every mercy and the God who comforts us. (4) He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. (5)You can be sure that the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with His comfort through Christ. (6)So when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your benefit and salvation!  For when God comforts us, it is so that we, in turn, can be an encouragement to you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. (7)We are confident that as you share in suffering, you will also share God's comfort.
For better understanding let us go to 2 Corinthians 4:10, 15
It states: (10) Through suffering, these bodies of ours constantly share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. Verse 11-12 states; Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be obvious in our dying bodies. (12) So we live in the face of death, but it has resulted in eternal life for you. (13) but we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, " I believe in God, and so I speak." (14) We know the same God who raised our Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself along with you. (15) All these things are for your benefit. And as God's grace brings more and more people to Christ, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.
The verses above are from the New Living Translation bible.
Yes, we live in troubling times, their are those out their who want to give up, or feel that life is not worth living, that this great country has seen better times and now because of the leader we have that is now in his second term and looking for a third term is destroying this great nation of ours. 

It is highly possible and probable that the reason this great nation is under such great turmoil is because we bought this upon ourselves and are now under God's judgment. We as a people have turned away from God, His word, and Israel. God up in Heaven is grieving for this nation.

It is not too late! The people of this nation and the church must come back to God, we must turn our faces upward, get on our knees and plead for mercy and forgiveness, turn from our wicked ways (all you have to do is look at the games our children are playing with, the blood and guts movies, the blatant sex shows, and so on), look at what we do to our children, we give them electronic games were they are killing and killing all the time, we are training our children to be killers, looters, and rapists, we are aborting unborn children, and God only knows what else we are doing to destroy our children and this nation. This nation was not founded on the above actions. This nation was founded on the Gospel (God's word) our government was founded on biblical principles. Look at how far we have spiraled downward and away from God and His word!! I am telling you, right now at this time, this nation is Sodom and Gomorra, we all, or the church should know what happened to them!!  This nation is divided as it has never been before. How could the church have let this happened? Yes, I am putting the blame squarely upon the church! You the church have been asleep at the wheel, you have been complacent, you have been content to let this happen, don't you know that Satan is alive and well in the church? The church is so afraid to get up and voice its opinions, we let the world beat us down into submission, most of the church in this last election did not vote, many of you did not vote because a Mormon was running, do you in your infinite wisdom know who God will use to change things around, no you do not, but many in their own wisdom (not God's wisdom) decided that they would not vote because their was a Mormon running. You are not truly reading and understanding God's word, nor did many of you go into prayer and seek what the Lord wanted you to do. Wake up church! And I do mean wake up, we are so busy with denominations, infighting, fighting each other, and bickering that we cannot hear the word of God even if he shouted it from the rooftops! Again, wake up church! Listen for that still small voice of the Lord, get down on your knees and pray, pray, pray, and listen, listen, and listen for His word and also remember that Satan can masquerade as an angle of light and twist the words to his own benefit, you should test the words that you think you hear with the true word of God.

And, yes we do suffer for God but He will not give you a burden that you cannot carry, but you must be willing to carry that burden so please wake up church! We do live under constant danger of death because we are serve our Lord Jesus Christ and Him glorified. That is why we never should give up. Through our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day, we can save this country if we wake up and serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So don't look at the troubles that you can see, look forward to what you have not seen. Do not be a procrastinator be a doer, make your voice know, stand up for God and what's right, cry our to God, ask Him for his wisdom, do not use your own wisdom (which many of us and churches are doing) use His wisdom, and pray that the Lord will have mercy on this nation, God has pronounced judgments before, but if a nation and people repent God will forgive them.  

John Dahlhauser Ministries Touching The World With His Word: Spurgeon's Daily Devotional Titus 3:9

John Dahlhauser Ministries Touching The World With His Word: Spurgeon's Daily Devotional Titus 3:9

Spurgeon's Daily Devotional Titus 3:9

"Avoid foolish questions."
Titus 3:9

Titus 3:9
Our days are few, and are far better spent in doing good, than in disputing over matters which are, at best, of minor importance. The old schoolmen did a world of mischief by their incessant discussion of subjects of no practical importance; and our Churches suffer much from petty wars over abstruse points and unimportant questions. After everything has been said that can be said, neither party is any the wiser, and therefore the discussion no more promotes knowledge than love, and it is foolish to sow in so barren a field. Questions upon points wherein Scripture is silent; upon mysteries which belong to God alone; upon prophecies of doubtful interpretation; and upon mere modes of observing human ceremonials, are all foolish, and wise men avoid them. Our business is neither to ask nor answer foolish questions, but to avoid them altogether; and if we observe the apostle's precept (Titus 3:8) to be careful to maintain good works, we shall find ourselves far too much occupied with profitable business to take much interest in unworthy, contentious, and needless strivings.

There are, however, some questions which are the reverse of foolish, which we must not avoid, but fairly and honestly meet, such as these: Do I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Am I renewed in the spirit of my mind? Am I walking not after the flesh, but after the Spirit? Am I growing in grace? Does my conversation adorn the doctrine of God my Saviour? Am I looking for the coming of the Lord, and watching as a servant should do who expects his master? What more can I do for Jesus? Such enquiries as these urgently demand our attention; and if we have been at all given to cavilling, let us now turn our critical abilities to a service so much more profitable. Let us be peace-makers, and endeavour to lead others both by our precept and example, to "avoid foolish questions."