Month: November 2019

Someone has defined Thanksgiving as “our annual time for saying grace at the table of eternal goodness.” Just as some people neglect to say grace before their meals, so some have forgotten the meaning of Thanksgiving.

It is good to remember that “think” and “thank” come from the same root. We need only to think in order to be thankful. Yet ingratitude is one of the most common sins of our time. The inability to feel and express gratitude shuts off blessings God would otherwise freely give. Dwight H. Small writes, “How can God lavish His blessing and power upon the heart that is so dominated by self as to be incapable of reciprocating with proper gratitude? Grave indeed is the sin of ingratitude which withholds the blessing of God from oneself and from others.”

When George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving Proclamation, he said, “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection.” This is a good summary of the duty of all nations today.

We can all be thankful for what we acquire, and what we avoid. We can be thankful for what we experience, and for what we escape. We can be thankful for what we have, and for the blows which do not come. But let us not make the mistake of tying our thanksgiving to material blessings alone.

The basis of a true spirit of thanksgiving is not material at all, but spiritual. It is based on the love and mercy of God, on the joy of the Lord, on the forgiveness of sins, and the cleanness of heart. It grows out of freedom from corroding care, and the peace of God which” … shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).

No portion of our Bible is more full of expressions of praise and thanksgiving than the Psalms. Yet these sparkling anthems of praise were written by men who suffered bitter persecution, who risked and, at times, lost all they had, who lived in a little kingdom constantly skirting the edge of disaster, and whose standard of living

would make the poorest of our day seem almost like millionaires in comparison. Still they offered ” … the sacrifice of thanksgiving … ” (Psalm 116: 17) from full hearts.

What a shame it is then to us if we do less! To us has been given God’s unspeakable gift, and He who has not withheld His own Son,” … but delivered him up for us all … “, will certainly with” … him also freely give us all things” (Romans 8:32). Let us then be thankful, and make sure that in appropriate ways we say “grace at the table of eternal goodness.”

Choose your weapons! How shall we live? Each one of us has already made a choice. Perhaps we do not even realize we have made the choice, but we have. We are either living by force or by faith.

The Bible says in 1 Samuel17:45, “Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of lsrael, whom thou has defied.”

David summarized the battle that was about to take place. It was not really a battle between a shepherd by and a giant. It was not even a battle between the army of lsrael and the army of the Philistines, though it may have appeared at first glance to be a national conflict represented by two champions, one representing each nation. David declared, ” … Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts … ”

Notice how carefully God states this for us. Again we read, “Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me … ” This is the way the giant was coming, ” … with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield … ” Then David said, ” … but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts … ”

” … Thou comest to me … ” and ” … I come to thee … “; it is always one way or the other, but it is never both. We must decide whether we are going to face our problems with a spear, and with a sword, and with a shield; or if we are going to face them in the name of the Lord. We are all going to live either by force for by faith.

It goes without saying that the world’s way is the force way. “I can overpower you. I can out-run you. I can out-scheme you. I can outtalk you. I can out-anger you. I can out-scream you. I can out-fight you. I can out-spend you. I can out-force you.” That is the world’s way. That is the only way those who do not know Christ operate, whether it is in business, at home, or in personal conflict. It may manifest itself in many different forms, but it is always the same. lt is not the Lord’s way.

The Lord’s way is to trust in Him. That is the faith way. There is one open secret that reveals whether we are living by force or by faith -our secret, private prayer life. No matter what we say about how we are living, we are not living the faith way if we do not have a prayer life.

Do you know that once you come to the place where you trust God, everything else is settled? The fact that Goliath was a soldier, a giant, and a Philistine champion did not have anything to do with whether David would go down into the valley or not. It was all dependent on whether or not David would trust God. Once David placed his faith in God, everything else was settled. I think we fight many battles we do not need to fight, and get involved in many skirmishes we do not need to be involved in. The truth is that we have one great thing to decide; it is whether or not we are going to trust God.

How are you going to live? In your personal life, family life, and business life, are you going to live by faith or by force?

There is only one way to know Jesus Christ. Do you know Him? You may have grown up in a Christian home and have a Christian mom and dad, but this does not make you a Christian. There is only one way to God. That is to know Him by personally trusting Him by faith as your Saviour. Have you trusted Him?

This decision to live by faith cannot be made by anyone else. By faith, take every need in your life to the Lord. Many people are crushed under a weight God never intended for them to carry. 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” Cast all your care upon the Lord Jesus.

“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God … ” (Psalm 14:1).

There are some people who say they are atheists but hardly know what the word means! We have in mind the person who has reached that position as a result of careful thought and deliberation. In our view, he is a person to be greatly pitied.

Think of the tremendous leap of faith he must have taken when he concluded that all that goes to make up this incredible universe just happened by blind chance. Design everywhere, but no Designer. Inflexible laws, but no Law-maker!

Or think of the agonizing mental struggle he must have had concerning the beginning of this universe. Have the elements which compose it always been, or did they have a beginning? If they had a beginning, where did they come from? If they have always been, we give to senseless matter the attribute which Christians give to God He is eternal and forever lasting.

And for the courage it must have taken to discredit the Bible. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1 ). If that statement is false, and there is no God, then the whole of the Bible becomes a tragic hoax. The Book which has been the inspiration and comfort of untold millions is just a collection of myths and pious superstitions. Why read at funerals the sweet 23rd Psalm if there is no Lord to be your Shepherd, and no heavenly home to which we can aspire?

And then the confidence in one’s own judgment that he is right, and that the millions of others who believe in God are hopelessly wrong. Some of the noblest and keenest minds have been humble believers, but if there be no God, then with the rest of us, they were poor deluded fools.

And then, finally, the atheist deliberately condemns himself to a life with no invisible means of support! He must face the trials and challenges of life alone, even the greatest of all challenges we call death.

Yes, the atheist takes a tremendous gamble. If he is right, and he will die like a dog, all will be well. But say he is wrong, and there is a God with whom he must reckon- what then? Pity the poor atheist, better still, pray for him!

Here is a question to think on: In the long run, is there much difference between the out and out atheist and the man who says he believes in God and yet spends his life ignoring Him? Atheist or not, we all need not only to believe in God, but in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.

There are many true believers who are not enjoying the fulness of the Spirit as they should. They need a crisis, a step of surrender and faith, yielding to the control of the Holy Spirit who dwells within.

There is one great crisis taught in Scripture – the crisis at regeneration, passing from death to life, from darkness to light. The normal life for a Christian is to go on in the power of the Spirit, abiding in Christ, and growing in grace. But what of the Christian who is not doing this? The Christian who is defeated and dissatisfied? The Christian who perhaps has not had a clear-cut experience of conversion? He needs a crisis. Not a second work of grace, but getting back to what he had, or entering into the realization of what salvation means.

Let us not limit God in his working, and let us not fail to be ready for new and great outpourings of the Holy Spirit in the closing days of this age. For the days are upon us when nothing will avail to break through the overwhelming power of the enemy except supernatural power beyond what most Christians have known anything about.

There is a great and mighty power awaiting any Christian who will truly believe any word of God. For no word of God is void of mighty power.

Here is a missionary who has had miracles of answered prayer and marvels of God’s grace at home and abroad. The great flood-tide of new power came into this missionary’s life through accepting our Lord’s prayer promise in John 14:12-13, ” … He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do … And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do … ”

Here is another missionary whose testimony for Christ is beginning to shake a whole continent; his transformation came, and his whole being was shaken with joy and power when he realized the meaning of the words that ” … Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates” (2 Corinthians 13:5). This young missionary’s hunger for God was stirred by Hudson Taylor’s testimony of the transformation of his own life through learning the meaning of faith; then it was that Hudson Taylor entered into the meaning of John 4:14, ” … whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. .. ”

And so we might go on and tell of the miracles that followed when some word of God was believed, ” … Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22); ” … My grace is sufficient for thee … ” (2 Corinthians 12:9); ” … yield yourselves unto God … ” (Romans 6: 13 ); “For to me to live is Christ … ” (Philippians 1 :21 ); ” … God is faithful … ” ( 1 Corinthians 10: 13). I am thinking of miracles wrought through Christians who believed one or another of these mighty “words.”

All the most mighty promises of supernatural power are conditional upon that which is simplest in the Christian life, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to those who believe that the rivers of living water are promised (John 7:37-38). It is those who believe on Him who shall do greater works than those Christ did in the days of His flesh (John 14: 12). Faith is the key that unlocks the reservoirs of power laid up for us in Christ, which the blessed Holy Spirit is eager to make available in our lives (Mark 11:22; John 16:14-15). Whatever the mystery of His working, ours is to yield and to believe. This is all we can do (Romans 6: 13).

A Man and His Soul “I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir” (Isaiah 13: 12).

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).

The Redeeming Blood of Christ “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1: 18-19).

The Inspired Word of God ” … the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:9-1 0).

Wisdom and Understanding “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold” (Proverbs 3:13-14).

The Knowledge of God “Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold” (Proverbs 8:1 0).

A Good Name “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold” (Proverbs 22:1).

The Trial of Your Faith ” … ye greatly rejoice … That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1 :6-7)

“That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were scaled with that holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians I: 12-13 ).

‘”Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus,” was written by a most remarkable woman, Louisa M. R. Stead, out or one or her darkest hours-the tragic drowning of her husband.

Louisa Stead was born about 1850, at Dover, England. As a youngster she felt the call of God upon her life for missionary service. She arrived in America in 1871, and she lived for a time in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1875, Louisa married a Mr. Stead, and to this union was born a daughter, Lily. When the child was four years of age, the family decided one day to enjoy the sunny beach at Long Island Sound, New York. While eating their picnic lunch, they suddenly heard cries of help and spotted a drowning boy in the sea. Mr. Stead charged into the water. As often happens, however, the struggling boy pulled his rescuer under the water with him, and both drowned before the terrified eyes of wife and daughter. Out of her “why?” struggle with God during the ensuing days flowed these meaningful words from the soul of Louisa Stead:

‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His Word; Just to rest upon His promise; just to know, “Thus saith the Lord. ”

A short time later, Mrs. Stead and her daughter left for South Africa, where Louisa worked diligently as a missionary in the Cape Colony for the next fifteen years. Here she married Robert Wodehouse, a native of South Africa. In 1895, Louisa’s failing health made it necessary for the family to return to America for her recuperation, during which time Mr. Wodehouse pastored a local Methodist church. By 1900, Louisa’s health had improved sufficiently for the family to return once more to the missionary station at Umtali, in Southern Rhodesia. Something of her same life-long trust in God can be learned from a communique Louisa sent back shortly after her arrival:

“In connection with this whole mission there are glorious possibilities, but one cannot, in the face of the peculiar difficulties, help say, ‘Who is sufficient for these things!’ But with simple confidence and trust, we may and do say, ‘Our sufficiency is of God.'”

After ten years of further service, ill health again forced Louisa to retire. Her daughter, Lily, who had become Mrs. D. A. Carson, continued to serve for many additional years in the mission field of Southern Rhodesia. After several years of prolonged illness, Louisa Stead Wodehouse died on January 18, 1917, at her home in Penkridge, near the Mutambara Mission, about fifty miles from Umtali. After her death, a fellow missionary wrote concerning the continued use of “Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus”:

“We miss her very much, but her influence goes on as our five thousand native Christians continually sing this hymn in their native language.”