Tried With Fire

Do not look back — as Lot's wife did. Do not look within — as too many do. Do not look around — as David did. But "look up!" Look up to God — He is your Father, your Friend, your Savior. He can help you. He will help you. He says, "Look unto Me, and be delivered — for I am God!" Look up for light to guide you — and He will direct your path. Look up for grace to sanctify you — and the grace of Jesus will be found sufficient for you. Look up for strength to enable you to do and suffer God's will — and His strength will be made perfect in your weakness. Look up for comfort to cheer you — and as one whom his mother comforts, so will the Lord comfort you. Look up for courage to embolden you — and the Lord will give courage to the faint; and to those who have no might — He will increase strength. Look up for endurance to keep you — and the God who preserves you will enable you quietly to bear the heaviest burden, and silently to endure the most painful afflictio...

Beloved friends, as the Lord has graciously spared us to enter upon another portion of time, it befits us to ask: How shall we begin it? Much often depends on the beginning. It is important to begin well. Let us reflect. Let us inquire. Let us decide. Shall we not begin it in FAITH? This is the stay, the staff, the stimulus of the soul. Let us afresh exercise faith in God as our Father — in Jesus as our Savior — in the Holy Spirit as our Comforter. Let us believe the love which God has to us — that "God is love." Let us take up the promises as the pledges and proofs of his love. He made them to inform us, to cheer us, to draw out our love to him, and our confidence in him. He will fulfill them. He never violated a promise yet. He never will. It is impossible for God to lie, or to prove unfaithful. His throne is not more stable than his promise . Let us therefore believe the word, seek the blessings, and expect the favors. He has promised us . . . wisdom — to understand...

What do you want to experience, to have, to do, to enjoy, and be preserved from in the New Year? James Smith, Spurgeon's predecessor at the New Park Street Chapel, has a few suggestions, and I couldn't ask for anything better for my loved ones or myself. Read more  here .

Need a way to catalog your books? Check this out.  I'm investigating the software for our church library, thanks to a recommendation from Dr. Sills.  An added plus - it's available for Mac as well as PC. Although I am not a man and don't have a beard, those of you who are and do might find this amusing: Bearded Gospel Men . (ht: Craig via FB.) My friend, Christina , is giving away Brother Jon Cardwell 's book, Christ and Him Crucified . You don't want to miss out on this gem of a book which I highly recommend. Finally a quote from James Smith, C.H. Spurgeon's predecessor at New Park Street, on the gospel: The gospel is an everlasting monument of God's wisdom, grace, and love. O may I feel more of the power, receive more of the light, and manifest more of the spirit of the gospel! O may I find it as sweet as honey, yes sweeter than the honeycomb to my taste! May I be taught to despise everything in compare with it, and say —  Should all the forms ...

How great has been the mercy of my God to me—a poor, worthless, ill-deserving worm! I trace his goodness from my birth to the present moment. I was spared, notwithstanding my hardness, rebellion and backslidings, until I am more than forty years of age. I appear before God this morning—willing, heartily willing, to be, to do, to suffer whatever he sees proper, so that I may but be kept from sin, and dishonoring his dear name and gospel. When I reflect upon WHAT I WAS, how circumstanced, and situated, and view the way the Lord has led me, what he has done for me, and what he has done by me—I am astonished! O, that I did but feel humbled, grateful and thankful—as I would I desire to be filled with love to God, zeal for God, and concern to glorify God. I want to be entirely devoted to him, body, soul, and spirit, that my all may be for him and not for another. When I consider my coldness, carelessness, and ingratitude, I cannot but wonder that the Lord has not long ago disowned me! But bl...