Gems from June 11- 20, 2018

June 11

"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come.  And let him that heareth say, Come.

And let him that is athirst come.   And whosoever will, 

let him take the water of life freely.”

"Surely I come quickly.  Amen.  Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

(Revelation 22:17,20)

As soon as we are in connection with the Lord Jesus Christ we have got God; 

God has introduced Himself as a living person to the soul,

and all our associations are connected with God.

When He separates any one to Himself,

He plants the blood of Christ right behind them. 

(Gleanings - G. V. Wigram)

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June 12

"Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith. . . .”

(Hebrews 12:2)

UNTO JESUS and it is from Him and  in Him that we learn 

to know, not only without danger, but for the wellbeing of our 

souls, what it is good for us to know about the world and about 

ourselves, our sorrows and our dangers, our resources and our victories: 

seeing everything in its true light, because it is He Who shows them to us, 

and that only at the time and in the proportion in which this knowledge will produce 

in us the fruits of humility and wisdom, gratitude and courage, watchfulness and prayer.

All that it is desirable for us to know, the Lord Jesus will 

teach us; all that we do not learn from Him,

it is better for us not to know. 

(Theodore Monod)

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June 13

“I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat;

neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more

than meat, and the body is more than raiment.”

(Luke 12:22,23) 

“Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: How much more are ye better than the fowls?”

(Luke 12:24) 

He was not advocating thriftlessness, nor was He inculcating idleness, nor

unconcern as to one’s future responsibilities.  The admonition 

was that His disciples should avoid anxious thought.

It is not becoming for a child of God to worry about food and clothing, 

and how to meet the various needs that arise from day to day.

“If you worry, you do not trust; if you trust, you do not worry.” 

It was just this that the Lord sought to 

impress upon His disciples.

Faith can count upon God to meet each need as it arises,

provided one is walking in obedience to the Word.

Jesus directed attention to the ravens, which were generally in evidence in 

Palestine.  Unable to either sow or reap they were provided for by their benevolent Creator.

It is unthinkable that He should have more concern for the fowls of the air than for His own children. 

Besides, what is accomplished by worrying?  Can one by anxious thought add to his stature?

We grow in height from childhood to maturity as ordered of God.

Why not trust Him for the rest.

(H. A. Ironside)

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June 14

"Salvation is of the Lord.”

(Jonah 2:9)

What followed this grand and joyful exclamation?

What followed when the lesson was learned, and the 

eye was off self, off man, and turned to Jehovah alone?

“And Jehovah commanded the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.”

As soon as Jonah really learned that salvation is of Jehovah, then Jehovah, 

brought salvation.  And how did he accomplish this salvation?

By a word.  He spoke and the fish obeyed.

We have already seen the stormy wind obeying His Word (Jonah 1:15), both in rising, and in being still.  Now we find the great fish equally obedient. The only disobedient one in this book was Jonah, a man, God’s highest creation, a man who was God’s servant and His prophet; and yet he ventured to disobey.

Now Jehovah commanded the fish, and it obeyed.  It all reminds us of when Jehovah, 

as a Man upon earth, could say to the storm, “Peace, be still,” 

or could bring an abundance of fish into Peter’s 

net or one fish with a piece of money in

its mouth, onto Peter’s hook.

His glories shine forth in the Old Testament and New, alike.  

He is the same—wondrous grace that HE whose glories are 

 so bright and so great, should stoop so low for us!

(G. Christopher Willis)

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June 15

“The Lord shall open unto thee His good treasure.”

(Deuteronomy 28:12)

The Opened Treasure

When the wise men “opened their treasures,” they brought out gold and frankincense and myrrh. When the Lord opens unto us His good treasure, we shall see greater things than these.

The context of this rich promise seems to make the heaven the treasure-house; and in its primary and literal sense, the fertilizing rain is the first outpouring of the opened treasure, soon after expanded into beautiful details of the "precious things of heaven  and . . . the precious things of the earth.” (Deuteronomy 33:13-16)

But the spiritual blessings are closely interwoven with the temporal in the whole passage, and the faithful Israelites who did not look only for transitory promises may well have claimed the opening of heavenly treasures through this promise.

What shall He open unto you? 

 In a word, “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8)

In Him, "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3) but the Lord shall open them unto you. “all are yours” (1 Corinthians 3:22)

(Royal Bounty - F. R. Havergal)

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June 16

GOD’S ECOLOGY

“The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.”

(Romans 8:22)

MAN HAS BECOME alarmed over the pollution and the deterioration of our environment 

and ecology became a familiar word.

God spelled it out long ago when He called it “The bondage of corruption” (Romans 8:21) 

wrought by sin and Satan.

He has told us furthermore that all creation will one day be redeemed from the curse

when our Lord reigns here with His people.

He will send His angels to clean up the mess as no modern experts can ever do it.

"The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and cast them into a furnace of fire: 

there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

(Matthew 13:41,42)  

As with everything else, God has the true ecology.

(All the Days - Vance Havner - 1901- 1986)

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June 17

“For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground:

He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him,

there is no beauty that we should desire Him.”

(Isaiah 53:2) 

He was a tender plant growing up before the Lord, an exotic, a plant from another land.

He was native to another climate.  He had been always admired and worshiped 

in heaven.  Here He was unknown and unnoticed. “The world knew Him not.” 

There was a renown all His own in those tender years because He was content to be lowly and

silent without renown in the world His hands had fashioned.  It was a matter of new

renown to Him that He who had been so honoured and renowned in heaven

should be altogether without renown in this cold, barren world.

Lovely lowliness was never so altogether lovely as when the King of kings was a carpenter 

in Nazareth.  He whose glory had flooded the heavens walked unknown

along the lanes of a despised village in Galilee.

He who had been on the throne of God sat now on a rude bench in a cottage of the 

poorest of the people.  He whose hand had arranged the stars in the firmament 

worked hard with saw and hammer to provide that coarse and scanty

 livelihood that fed the hungry mouths of the labouring poor.  

He in whom God found all His delight was never once recognized or known by 

those nearest to Him, His kinsman according to the flesh.

He is altogether lovely to the anointed eyes of His people and

raptures the heart of God till He opens heaven to exclaim, 

“This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” 

(Leonard Sheldrake - The Plant of Renown)

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June 18

“And He led them forth by the right way . . .”

(Psalm 107:7)

Is this the right way home, O Lord?  The clouds are dark and still,

The stony path is hard to tread.  Each step brings some fresh ill.

I thought the way would brighter grow, and that the sun with warmth would glow,

And joyous songs from free hearts flow.  Is this the right road home?

Yes, child, this very path I trod, the clouds were dark for me,

The stony path was sharp and hard.  No sight, but faith could see

That at the end, the sun shines bright, forever where there is no night,

And glad hearts rest from earth’s fierce fight.  It is the right road home! 

(A. B. Simpson)  

The Way of the Cross Leads Home   .

I must needs go home by the way of the cross, there’s no other way but this;

I shall ne’er get sight of the gates of light, if the way of the cross I miss.

Chorus

The way of the cross leads home, the way of the cross leads home;

It is sweet to know as I onward go, the way of the cross leads home.

I must needs go on in the blood sprinkled way, the path that the Saviour trod,

If I ever climb to the heights sublime, where the soul is at home with God.

Then I bid farewell to the way of the world, to walk in it nevermore,

For the Lord says, “Come”, and I seek my home where He waits at the open door.

(Jessie Brown Pounds  1861-1921)

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June 19

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,

That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,

but have everlasting life.”

(John 3:16)

This is the joyful message which the Evangelist carries to the sons and daughters of men everywhere. God’s messenger can assure them that by His redemptive sacrifice, the Saviour and the Friend of man has secured 

for them a full and free salvation.

1 Timothy 1:15; that repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, bring them into possession of this wondrous gift of God—Acts 20:21, Ephesians 2:8-9; and he can definitely affirm that none that come to our Saviour will be turned away—John 6:37.

(In Pastures Green - George Henderson)

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June 20

STUCK IN DISCOURAGEMENT?

“I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what He 

will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.”

(Habakuk 2:1)

Do you feel stuck in discouragement?  If so, you are not alone.  Even the prophet Habakkuk was deeply 

discouraged over the state of God’s people, and had many complaints.  

At some point everyone experiences dashed hopes.

Disappointment—an emotional response to a failed expectation—is the normal initial reaction.

But allowed to linger, it can turn into discouragement, which hovers like a dense cloud. 

When that’s the case, there is no sense of joy or contentment, no matter what you do.

The circumstances that trigger these emotions may be unavoidable, but the way we respond is a choice.

We can either let sadness overwhelm our souls, or face the situation with 

courage and bring it before the One who can help us.

Living in discouragement will divide the mind, making it hard to focus on anything besides our pain.

Then as anger becomes habitual we will look for someone to blame—whether God, people around us, or ourselves.

Frustration that is not handled well may develop into depression, which in turn can estrange us from others—

people do not enjoy the company of someone who is bitter and defeated.  This isolation leads to a low self-esteem. Finally, in a fog of discouragement, we can make poor decisions based on crushed emotions instead 

of truth.  Obviously, choosing this self-destructive path is not God’s best for our lives.

Habakkuk eventually took his questions to God and waited for His answer.

Though we will all face disappointment from time to time, believers are not to wallow in it.  Instead, 

God wants us to trust Him with everything—even our unmet expectations and our deepest sorrows.  

There is divine purpose for everything He allows to touch our lives. (Romans 8:28)

(Tim Hadley, Sr.)

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June 21

ACTIONS SPEAK LOUD

"Neither yield ye your members as instruments of

unrighteousness unto sin.”

(Romans 6:13)

Quick, angry motions of the heart will sometimes force themselves into expression by the hand,

though the tongue may be restrained.

The very way in which we close a door or lay down a book may be a victory or a defeat,

a witness to Christ’s keeping or a witness that we are not truly being kept.

How can we expect that God will use our hand as an instrument 

of righteousness unto Him, if we yield it thus as an 

instrument of unrighteousness unto sin?

Therefore, let us see to it, that it is at once yielded to Him whose right it is; and let our sorrow that it should have ever been for an instant desecrated to Satan’s use, lead us to entrust it henceforth to our Lord, to be kept by the power of God through faith “for the Master’s use.” For when the gentleness of Christ dwells in us, He can use the merest touch of a finger. 

Have we not heard of one gentle touch on a wayward shoulder being the turning-point of a life?

I have known a case in which the Master made use of less than that—only the quiver of a

little finger being made the means of touching a wayward heart.

(Opened Treasures - Francis Ridley Havergal)

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June 22

“We hanged our harps upon the willows . . . 

How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”

(Psalm 137:2,4)

A thousand full-stringed harp is man, and each cord gives a jarring sound,

Till God, the mighty harmonist, the proper note for each has found. 

By no small work can all be tuned how skilled and patient He must be

To bring the thousand jangling notes in sweetest heavenly harmony.

Count not our Father’s chastening sore, but yield thine all to His kind hand;

The strains and tests and pulls and turns in heaven’s song we’ll understand.

No human power can master all the compass vast of harp so fine;

The pierced hand of Christ and God alone can make its praise divine.  

(C. H. P.)

I lived in an old house in the country once, where the wind would sometimes whistle around so

that I thought I would have some music if it must blow like that.

So I made a rude Aeolian harp of mere sewing-silk strung acros a board, and placed it under the slightly lifted sash of a north window, and the music was so sweet through all the house when the wild storms came!

Is there any north window in your life?  Could you not so arrange the three wires of faith, hope, 

and love that the storms of life should only bring more music into this sad world?

Many are doing it, and perhaps more music that we dream of comes this way.

God has many an Aeolian harp.

(Crumbs)

If you hung your harp upon the willow, take it down and let the Lord blow blessings

across its strings — even though you be in a strange land.

(Streams in the Desert - Volume 2)

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