Verse of the day — Matthew 5:16
"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:16(NASB)
Open Windows by T. Austin-Sparks
The Dispensation of Jesus Christ
The time is coming, yes, and has already come, when true worshippers will worship in spirit and in reality. Indeed, the Father looks for men who will worship Him like that. (John 4:23 Phillips)
Jesus said to the woman, "the hour cometh, and now is." Then He dismissed the whole system that had existed up to that time. It was the whole system of Judaism according to the Old Testament. In one sentence, He dismissed the whole dispensation. And He introduced an altogether new order of things.
What did He mean? Because when He said the hour cometh, and now is, He did not mean literally just an hour and so many minutes. He meant that it was the first hour of the new day. With this hour an altogether new day has come. What is the new day? If you would have asked Jesus to put it into a short sentence, He would have said, "Well, I am here." The hour is not just a matter of time but a matter of PERSON. The new dispensation is the dispensation of Jesus Christ. Christ is the new dispensation. "I am here," He said. You go through that Gospel of John. He is centering everything in Himself. "I am the Way; I am the Truth; I am the Life; I am the Shepherd; I am the Vine; I am the Resurrection." It is a Person. It is that which lies behind everything. Christianity is Christ. Christ is Christianity. That is where it all begins and it never departs from HIM. The development of the Christian life is only the development of Jesus Christ in the life.
Morning Daily Light by Samuel Bagster
Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away.
He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.
We also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has given to us. § If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons… Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees.
John 15:2; Mal. 3:2,3; Rom. 5:3,5; Heb. 12:7,8, Heb. 12:11,12
Evening Daily Light by Samuel Bagster
Now we call the proud blessed.
Thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”
Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud. § Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: a proud look. § Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord.
Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. § Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Mal. 3:15; Isa. 57:15; Prov. 16:19; Matt. 5:3; Prov. 6:16,17; Prov. 16:5; Ps. 139:23,24; Phil. 1:2–3; Matt. 5:5
None but the Hungry Heart by Miles Stanford
Prearranged
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him" (Col. 2:6).
How readily and eagerly we take His Word when He says, "I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2), yet how slow of heart we are to believe that He has prepared a walk for us, here and now! For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us, (taking paths which He prepared ahead of time) that we should walk in them - living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live" (Eph. 2:10, Amp.).
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3, ASV). If you can run over in your mind and find one single blessing with which God might bless us today, with which He has not already blessed us, then what He told Paul is not true at all, because He said, God hath....' It is all done, It is finished.' God hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies! The great pity of it all is that we are saying O God bless us - bless us in this, bless us in that! and it is all done; He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ in the heavenlies. It is our place to believe and receive." -L.L.L.
"According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness" (2 Pet. 1:3).
Devotional Studies by Elizabeth Haworth
Have you Considered? (JOB-study 1)
A Full Study Of JOB
Question of Suffering
Why do I have to suffer, I am upright in all God’s ways? This was Job’s argument. Now, remember, Job’s creed was that God only prospered the upright. You have sinned against God… repent of the wicked deeds you must have committed. This was the retort of Job’s friends – they also believed God only punished the wicked.
All Good Things
Both had elements of the truth – but both had elements of the untruth. God does indeed bless the righteous.. but He also blesses sinful man as well. Evil does fall upon the wicked.. but God also permits evil in the life of saints as well. But ALL good that comes to man comes from a good and faithful God. And ALL the evil that befalls both sinners and saved alike is perpetrated by Satan. But good and evil alike.. God uses it all to forward His eternal plans and purposes.
Distorting Truth
God’s Word proclaims that He does indeed bless the righteous, and He does punish the wicked. Satan the current ruler of this domain is God’s bitterest adversary. The prince of the power of the air seeks to counterfeit the Spirit’s workings in man. The enemy seeks to distort the goodness of God, by distorting God’s truth.
A Closer Walk
What is your belief? What is the creed to which you hold fast? Are there elements in your faith, that on closer scrutiny don’t hold fast with Scripture? Have you considered my servant Job? Oh, Job was indeed perfect, upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. No external fault could be found with him. But there were elements in Job’s pure, virtuous life, needing the Spirit’s refining touch. Elements the moral, upright, proud, self-governed heart of Job, needed to learn, and God used the circumstances in Job’s life to bring him into a closer walk with God – just as God uses happenings in our lives, to draw us closer to Himself. Chambers once wrote, One of the most cunning travesties, is to represent Satan –
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Knowing Jesus Devotional by Elizabeth Haworth
Trust Me Alone
Without faith it is impossible to please God.
Hebrews 11:6Wherefore did you doubt ?
Matthew 14:31
The Need for Faith
The great issue of the book of Hebrews is faith. God has spoken. We are to believe what God has revealed through His Word... His living Word and His written Word - The Lord Jesus Christ and the Scriptures. Faith comes by hearing….. so hear Him.
Hear Him
In times past God spoke through His prophets, but in these last days, God has spoken – through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Hear Him. By faith Able… By faith Enoch…. By faith Abraham…. By faith also David and the prophets. Yes, God speaks and man is called to believe what God has revealed. Hear Him. God has spoken - "You must trust me completely.. You will be helped, led, guided – Do you fully trust Me?"
Need to Listen
The children of Israel would long have entered the promised land, only doubts and fears drove them back to the wilderness. Remember always that disbelief delays – and hesitation hinders. God has spoken. "I have told you how to live. Trust My tender love. Look to Me alone. I will never fail you but you must learn not to doubt. Doubts arrest My work."
Need to Trust
Nor try to find answers in other places, for we live by faith and not by sight. God has spoken… through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look away from all other empty sources of assistance in this world. The flesh and the devil pretend to have the answers. Look away from the clamours of life that drowns out the still small voice. Look away from the visual signs that nourish the ego. Reject the things which give empty comfort, but for a moment.
Look to Jesus
Look to Jesus the Author and the Finisher of faith, for faith comes by hearing and hearing from the Word of God. HEAR HIM.