Sunday, November 20, 2022
Thursday, November 17, 2022
Spurgeon's Devotional
Spurgeon's Daily Devotional
"He that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby."
Ecclesiastes 10:9
Oppressors may get their will of poor and needy men as easily as they can split logs of wood, but they had better mind, for it is a dangerous business, and a splinter from a tree has often killed the woodman. Jesus is persecuted in every injured saint, and He is mighty to avenge His beloved ones. Success in treading down the poor and needy is a thing to be trembled at: if there be no danger to persecutors here there will be great danger hereafter.
To cleave wood is a common every-day business, and yet it has its dangers; so then, reader, there are dangers connected with your calling and daily life which it will be well for you to be aware of. We refer not to hazards by flood and field, or by disease and sudden death, but to perils of a spiritual sort. Your occupation may be as humble as log splitting, and yet the devil can tempt you in it. You may be a domestic servant, a farm labourer, or a mechanic, and you may be greatly screened from temptations to the grosser vices, and yet some secret sin may do you damage. Those who dwell at home, and mingle not with the rough world, may yet be endangered by their very seclusion. Nowhere is he safe who thinks himself so. Pride may enter a poor man's heart; avarice may reign in a cottager's bosom; uncleanness may venture into the quietest home; and anger, and envy, and malice may insinuate themselves into the most rural abode. Even in speaking a few words to a servant we may sin; a little purchase at a shop may be the first link in a chain of temptations; the mere looking out of a window may be the beginning of evil. O Lord, how exposed we are! How shall we be secured! To keep ourselves is work too hard for us: only Thou Thyself art able to preserve us in such a world of evils. Spread Thy wings over us, and we, like little chickens, will cower down beneath Thee, and feel ourselves safe!
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
Spurgeon's Daily Devotional
"Strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for
us."
Psalm 68:28
It is our wisdom, as well as our necessity, to beseech God continually to strengthen that which He has wrought in us. It is because of their neglect in this, that many Christians may blame themselves for those trials and afflictions of spirit which arise from unbelief. It is true that Satan seeks to flood the fair garden of the heart and make it a scene of desolation, but it is also true that many Christians leave open the sluice-gates themselves, and let in the dreadful deluge through carelessness and want of prayer to their strong Helper. We often forget that the Author of our faith must be the Preserver of it also. The lamp which was burning in the temple was never allowed to go out, but it had to be daily replenished with fresh oil; in like manner, our faith can only live by being sustained with the oil of grace, and we can only obtain this from God Himself. Foolish virgins we shall prove, if we do not secure the needed sustenance for our lamps. He who built the world upholds it, or it would fall in one tremendous crash; He who made us Christians must maintain us by His Spirit, or our ruin will be speedy and final. Let us, then, evening by evening, go to our Lord for the grace and strength we need. We have a strong argument to plead, for it is His own work of grace which we ask Him to strengthen--"that which Thou hast wrought for us." Think you He will fail to protect and sustain that? Only let your faith take hold of His strength, and all the powers of darkness, led on by the master fiend of hell, cannot cast a cloud or shadow over your joy and peace. Why faint when you may be strong? Why suffer defeat when you may conquer? Oh! take your wavering faith and drooping graces to Him who can revive and replenish them, and earnestly pray, "Strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us."
Sunday, November 13, 2022
Men ought always to pray."
Spurgeon's Daily Devotional
Luke 18:1 If men ought always to pray and not to faint, much more Christian men. Jesus has sent His church into the world on the same errand upon which He Himself came, and this mission includes intercession. What if I say that the church is the world's priest? Creation is dumb, but the church is to find a mouth for it. It is the church's high privilege to pray with acceptance. The door of grace is always open for her petitions, and they never return empty-handed. The veil was rent for her, the blood was sprinkled upon the altar for her, God constantly invites her to ask what she wills. Will she refuse the privilege which angels might envy her? Is she not the bride of Christ? May she not go in unto her King at every hour? Shall she allow the precious privilege to be unused? The church always has need for prayer. There are always some in her midst who are declining, or falling into open sin. There are lambs to be prayed for, that they may be carried in Christ's bosom? the strong, lest they grow presumptuous; and the weak, lest they become despairing. If we kept up prayer-meetings four-and-twenty hours in the day, all the days in the year, we might never be without a special subject for supplication. Are we ever without the sick and the poor, the afflicted and the wavering? Are we ever without those who seek the conversion of relatives, the reclaiming of back-sliders, or the salvation of the depraved? Nay, with congregations constantly gathering, with ministers always preaching, with millions of sinners lying dead in trespasses and sins; in a country over which the darkness of Romanism is certainly descending; in a world full of idols, cruelties, devilries, if the church doth not pray, how shall she excuse her base neglect of the commission of her loving Lord? Let the church be constant in supplication, let every private believer cast his mite of prayer into the treasury.
Thursday, January 6, 2022
The Whole Armor of God Eph. 6: 10-20 NKJV
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For
we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[fn] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
¶
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful
to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—
and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Verses to live by.
“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”
Luke 6:38
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1-2, 14 NKJV
He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
John 7:38 NKJV
Psalm 19:7 (NKJV) “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple."
“The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, But the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness.” Proverbs 15:14
10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
Psalm, 46:10 KJV
But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
II Corinthians 9:6 NKJV
Sunday, August 1, 2021
This is a very good article, Why has Israel not gotten all the land that the Lord promised them. God made a covenant with the people and it will be fullfilled in time.
Why Has Israel Never Possessed All of the Promised Land?
Though God promised the Jewish people a great inheritance of land in Scripture, Israel has never fully controlled all of that land completely. Why is this?
While this question has persisted for some time, it seems it is also a central focus in the argument for those who believe God is finished with Israel and there is no future for His Chosen People. But it’s also a very good question to ask and demands a thoughtful and biblical answer. In consideration of the question, other questions also arise: Did God change His mind about His covenant with Israel? Does Scripture contradict itself regarding Israel possessing the land? Will Israel ever possess the whole land?
The answers to these questions will never be satisfied in people’s arguments—either pro or con—but God’s Word is to be our first and most relevant source for discovering the answers.
Where It All Began
Genesis 12:1–3. This is, of course, the seminal passage that describes God’s call of Abram and the basis for the Abrahamic Covenant. In this text we find three essential elements: land (v. 1: “…to the land that I will show you”), offspring (v. 2 “I will make you a great nation”), and blessing (vv. 2–3 “I will bless you… and you shall be a blessing”). As noted, the first element of this covenant is the land. Literal land. This is verified in the next text.
The Abrahamic Covenant is unconditional and absolutely dependent upon God. He is taking full responsibility for its fulfillment.
Genesis 15:28. In the previous verses of chapter 15 we observe God making a covenant with Himself to fulfill the covenant He made with Abram. Because of this distinction, we understand the Abrahamic Covenant is unconditional and absolutely dependent upon God. He is taking full responsibility for its fulfillment. Note verse 28 in which He tells Abram, “To your descendants I have given this land from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.” Without a doubt, the land is a literal land—a piece of real estate and not to be allegorized or spiritualized in any manner. As we fast forward hundreds of years (following Israel’s 400 years in Egypt and the ensuing Exodus), we observe Joshua as the leader of the Israelites and God’s very specific words to him as they are about to enter the Promised Land.
Joshua 1:3, 6–7. “Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses… Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous…” (NASB; Note: Numbers 33:50-34:34 describes the extent of the land and how it was to be apportioned).
The above texts give us our starting point and verify that God intended His Chosen People to have a land of their own to possess. While this is indisputable biblical truth, the question and controversy lies in their actual possessing (or not) of all the land God had indeed promised.
Israel’s Possession of the Land
Joshua 11:23; 21:43–45. “So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lᴏʀᴅ had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Thus the land had rest from war… So the Lᴏʀᴅ gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it. And the Lᴏʀᴅ gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the Lᴏʀᴅ gave all their enemies into their hand. Not one of the good promises which the Lᴏʀᴅ had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.”
By all indications, a literal reading of the text would lead us to believe and understand that Israel had taken full possession of the land that God had promised in the Abrahamic Covenant. However, there are other texts which tell us otherwise in order to answer our opening questions.
The following references are important to this discussion and need to be understood:
Joshua 13:1: “The Lᴏʀᴅ said to [Joshua], ‘You are old and advanced in years, and very much of the land remains to be possessed.’”
v. 13 “But the sons of Israel did not dispossess the Geshurites or the Maacathites.”
15:63; 16:10: “Now as for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the sons of Judah could not drive them out. . . but they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer.”
17:12 “But the sons of Manasseh could not take possession of these cities, because the Canannites persisted in living in that land.”
Throughout these texts, it is also to be noted that on several occasions, it also reads that those Israel could not drive out “live among Israel until this day.”
God’s Promise Never Fails
Did they really possess ALL the land? The simple answer is: No. But does not Scripture then contradict itself, and did God not really fulfill His promise to Israel?
While they took the land and lived in it, they never fully “dispossessed” the enemies from the land.
1. It is important to point out that the Israelites did indeed take the land God had promised and that God gave them the land (Josh. 11:23; 21:43–45). To take the land and have it given to them is to be differentiated from fully possessing the land. So while they took the land and lived in it, they never fully “dispossessed” the enemies from the land. To the writing of the book of Joshua, the enemies persisted until that time at least.
2. The fact that Israel “possessed and lived in the land” does not negate the fact that they might possess still more of it.
3. At the very time Scripture records Israel’s possession of the land (Josh. 21), their enemies (living among them) posed no threat. They had been subdued by Israel even though they were not completely driven out.
4. It wasn’t until the time of Solomon (not even David) that Israel’s borders came close to the parameters that God described in His Word. Israel’s borders extended to the border of Egypt (1 Kings 4:21) but not the river of Egypt mentioned in Genesis 15:18.
There are other distinctions that must be considered that help us understand the dilemma and controversy of Israel’s possession of the land.
First, there is an additional text relating to the Abrahamic Covenant where God is once again speaking to Abraham. Genesis 17:7–8 reads, “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” “Everlasting” is the emphasis here, and without a doubt, Israel has NOT been in possession of the land in perpetuity. Throughout history, the Israelites have been exiled, taken captive, booted out (the Diaspora), and even to this day, the full extent of the land is NOT theirs. They have never been in full possession of all the land.
So, what gives? What could God possibly have meant in His covenant with Abraham? Amos 9:11–15 gives us insight that helps unravel the controversy and lingering questions:
“In that day [the future Millennial Kingdom]… Behold, days are coming… I will restore the captivity of My people Israel… I will also plant them on their land, and they will not again be rooted out from their land which I have given them,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ your God.”
One day, at the end of the Tribulation, all of surviving Israel will “look on Me whom they have pierced.”
Israel’s history of rebellion, idolatry, unfaithfulness, and rejection of Jesus Christ as their true Messiah has kept them from fully realizing the Abrahamic Covenant and fully possessing the land. One day, at the end of the Tribulation, all of surviving Israel will “look on Me whom they have pierced” (Zech. 12:10). Israel’s repentance will be complete, and they will inhabit the future kingdom over which Christ will reign as their Messiah. Then and only then will Israel fully possess the land promised to them. God is faithful to His Word—to Israel and to us!
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