The Discipline of Faith
"All things are possible to him that believeth" (Mark 9:23).
The "all things" do not always come simply for the asking, for the reason that God is ever seeking to teach us the way of faith, and in our training in the faith life there must be room f ... read more
The Eagle That Soars
"Feed on his faithfulness" (Ps. 37:3, RV).
I once met a poor colored woman, who earned a precarious living by hard daily labor; but who was a joyous triumphant Christian. "Ah, Nancy," said a gloomy Christian lady to her one day, "it is well enough ... read more
The End Of Our Strength
"Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" (John 20:29).
How strong is the snare of the things that are seen, and how necessary for God to keep us in the things that axe unseen! If Peter is to walk on the water he must walk; if he ... read more
The Father's Hand
"Your heavenly Father knoweth" (Matt. 6:32).
A visitor at a school for the deaf and dumb was writing questions on the blackboard for the children. By and by he wrote this sentence: "Why has God made me to hear and speak, and made you deaf and dumb? ... read more
The Fiery Furnace
"Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ" (2 Cor. 2:14).
God gets His greatest victories out of apparent defeats. Very often the enemy seems to triumph for a little, and God lets it be so; but then He comes in and upsets ... read more
The Friend of God
"Abraham stood yet before the Lord" (Gen. 18:22).
The friend of God can plead with Him for others. Perhaps Abraham's height of faith and friendship seems beyond our little possibilities. Do not be discouraged, Abraham grew; so may we. He went step b ... read more
The Fruit Comes Afterward
"The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and storm" (Nahum 1:3).
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 val ... read more
The Greatest Pains
"As many as I love I rebuke and chasten" (Rev. 3:19).
God takes the most eminent and choicest of His servants for the choicest and most eminent afflictions. They who have received most grace from God are able to bear most afflictions from God. Afflic ... read more
The Harp
"I am jealous over you with God's own jealousy" (2 Cor. 11:2) Weymouth
How an old harper dotes on his harp! How he fondles and caresses it, as a child resting on his bosom! His life is bound up in it. But, see him tuning it. He grasps it firmly, str ... read more
The Just Shall Live by Faith
"The just shall live by faith." (Heb. 10:38).
Seemings and feelings are often substituted for faith. Pleasurable emotions and deep satisfying experiences are part of the Christian life, but they are not all of it. Trials, conflicts, battles and testi ... read more
The Key to the Wind
"The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all" (Ps. 103:19).
Some time since, in the early spring, I was going out at my door when round the corner came a blast of east wind--defiant and pitiless, fierce and withe ... read more
The Lightest Cross
"And he went out carrying his own cross" (John 19:17).
There is a poem called "The Changed Cross." It represents a weary one who thought that her cross was surely heavier than those of others whom she saw about her, and she wished that she might c ... read more
The Living God
"O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee" (Dan. 6:20).
How many times we find this expression in the Scriptures, and yet it is just this very thing that we are so prone to lose sight of. We ... read more
The Lord is My Strength
"The Lord hath sent strength for thee" (Ps. 68.28, PBV).
The Lord imparts unto us that primary strength of character which makes everything in life work with intensity and decision. We are "strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man." A ... read more
The Lord's Times
"Thou makest the outgoing of the morning and evening to rejoice" (Ps. 65:8).
Get up early and go to the mountain and watch God make a morning. The dull gray will give way as God pushes the sun towards the horizon, and there will be tints and hues of ... read more
The Mountain After the Quake
"He maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth and his hands make whole" (Job 5:18).
The ministry of a great sorrow.
As we pass beneath the hills which have been shaken by the earthquake and torn by convulsion, we find that periods of perfect repose ... read more
The Old Refiner
"He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver" (Mal. 3:3).
Our Father, who seeks to perfect His saints in holiness, knows the value of the refiner's fire. It is with the most precious metals that the assayer takes the most pains, and subjec ... read more
The Path to Blessing
"To him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon because he hath wholly followed the Lord" (Deut. 1:36).
Every hard duty that lies in your path, that you would rather not do, that it will cost you pain and struggle or sore effort to do, has a b ... read more
The Power of Silence
"Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps. 46:10).
Is there any note of music in all the chorus as mighty as the emphatic pause? Is there any word in all the Psalter more eloquent than that one word, Selah (Pause)? Is there anything more thrilling and a ... read more
The Prayer of Faith
"God that cannot lie promised" (Titus 1:2).
Faith is not working up by will power a sort of certainty that something is coming to pass, but it is seeing as an actual fact that God has said that this thing shall come to pass, and that it is true, and ... read more
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 co ... read more
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! ... read more
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 em ... read more
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 ... read more
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 Go ... read more
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, an ... read more
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 fo ... read more
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 ... read more
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 del ... read more
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 th ... read more
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 ho ... read more
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 g ... read more
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, w ... read more
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 ... read more
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 rev ... read more
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 sp ... read more
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 pr ... read more
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 ... read more
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 ... read more
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 inc ... read more
Trust in Spite of How it Looks
"This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (1 John 5:4).
It is easy to love Him when the blue is in the sky,
When summer winds are blowing, and we smell the roses nigh;
There is little effort needed to obey His precious will ... read more
Unadorned Life
"These were the potters, and those that dwelt among plants and hedges: there they dwelt with the king for his work" (1 Chron. 4:23).
Anywhere and everywhere we may dwell "with the king for his work." We may be in a very unlikely and unfavorable pla ... read more
Unanswered?
"Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily" (Luke 18:6, 7).
God's seasons are not at your beck. If the first ... read more
Unshaken in Christ
"God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early"
(Ps. 46:2, 3, 5)
"Shall not be moved"--what an inspiring declaration! Can it be possible that we, who are so easily moved by the things of earth, can a ... read more
Upper Springs
"And Caleb said unto her, What wouldest thou? Who answered, give me a blessing; for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs, and the nether springs" (Joshua 15:18, 19).
There are both upper an ... read more
Victorious Living is Possible
"Nothing shall be impossible unto you" (Matt. 17:20).
It is possible, for those who really are willing to reckon on the power of the Lord for keeping and victory, to lead a life in which His promises are taken as they stand and are found to be true. ... read more
Victorious Suffering
"Out of the spoils won in battle did they dedicate to maintain the house of the Lord" (1 Chron. 26:27).
Physical force is stored in the bowels of the earth, in the coal mines, which came from the fiery heat that burned up great forests in ancient age ... read more
Vineyards in the Wilderness
"I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness
And I will give her her vineyards from thence" (Hosea 2:14-15).
A strange place to find vineyards--in the wilderness! And can it be that the riches which a soul needs can be obtained in the wilder ... read more
Wait on God's Time
"Sarah bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him" (Gen. 21:2).
The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations" (Psalm 33:11). But we must be prepared to wait God's time ... read more
Wait Quietly
"And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise" (Heb. 6:15).
Abraham was long tried, but he was richly rewarded. The Lord tried him by delaying to fulfill His promise. Satan tried him by temptation; men tried him by jealousy, distr ... read more
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