He Careth For Us - W.L.G. (Triumphs of Faith 1.4)

HE CARETH FOR US.

BY W. L. G.

In reading of God’s loving care of His people of old, we are struck with the many promises of temporal good to those who obey Him.

In Exodus xxiii:22,25, we read: “If thou shalt indeed obey His voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall bless thy bread and thy water, and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.” Again, in Psalm xci:9, 10, we see these gracious words: “Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.”

Can it be that our Heavenly Father has changed His thoughts and purposes toward His trusting children, or are these promises for us to-day?

In the introduction of the new dispensation our Saviour’s works of mercy embraced temporal and physical blessing, and in His commission to the twelve apostles we see that the preaching of the Gospel was enjoined in connection with the casting out of evil spirits and the healing of the sick. “And they went out and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.”-(St. Mark vi:12, 13.) Again, in Christ’s commission to the seventy, He bids them to “heal the sick,” and “say unto them, the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.”-(St. Luke x:9.)

In His last charge to His disciples when He was about to leave the world, Jesus gave them unbound assurance of His continued power on earth. “All power is given unto Me in Heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations… teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”-(St. Matt. xxxviii:18-20.)

Again, in St. Mark xvi: 15-18, the promises of spiritual and physical healing stand side by side: “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved… and these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name… they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Is the promise of salvation to him “that believeth” any stronger here than the promise of the gift of healing to “them to that believe?”

In our Lord’s establishing of the Christian Church, what minute and ample provision is made for our temporal as well as spiritual needs! His language to His children is: “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.”

When we read of Christ that “His own self bare our sin in His own body on the tree,” and again that “Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses,” we see that the spiritual and physical healing were united in the great plan of redemption.

O, what a mine of wealth has been hidden from our eyes through unbelief! How we have failed to appropriate these wonderful blessings to ourselves! Although “He bare our sins in His own body,” yet this can not avail for us unless we appropriate this spiritual healing by faith, and, in like manner, His “bearing our sickness” cannot avail for our physical healing were united in the great plan of redemption.

O, what a mine of wealth has been hidden from our eyes through unbelief! How we have failed to appropriate these wonderful blessings to ourselves! Although “He bare our sins in His own body,” yet this can not avail for us unless we appropriate this spiritual healing by faith, and, in like manner, His “bearing our sicknesses” cannot avail for our physical healing unless we believe that the work is done, and that the benefit of that work is ours.

Christ is represented as the stone cut out of the mountain and filling the whole earth, and when by faith we seize this great truth, sickness will vanish away. We read much in the Bible about our Lord’s compassion. Is He less compassionate today? Surely not; and would that we might rust him for a manifestation of His tender love in relieving our physical suffering!

God required of His ancient people that their offerings should be without blemish, and let us, today, who would offer ourselves as a “living sacrifice” unto God, render our bodies as well as our souls to be made “holy, acceptable” unto Him.

And may our “whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Light Shineth! - C.A.J. (Triumphs of Faith 1.4)

LIGHT SHINETH!

BY C. A. J.

The winter has been long. For many months the show has covered the ground; the black branches of the trees have tossed in wintry breezes and the cold, still earth has imprisoned the germs of plant and insect life.

But a change is at hand! Already warm-colored sunrises fortell nature’s yearly resurrection. Remembered joys of past spring and summer seasons lead us to expect this change even before there are any signs of it.

How wonderful is the resurrection of nature! How strange that the cold and frozen earth should awake with the spring-time, and be again clothed in beauty and teeming with life.

But many who welcomed the happy spring-times of other years, and who, in the bloom of health, once marked with joyous thoughts the march of the seasons, now suffer pains and ills which they little dreamed would fall to their lot, and to them this gladsome spring-tide is darkened by a cloud. Many who are yet young have felt the terrible blight of sin and disease, and their lives are overshadowed by the gloom and chill of a seemingly endless winter.

Dear reader, how is it with you? Are you happy in the summer of life, or has part of your light gone out and bitter storms overtaken you? Oh, how well we know that throughout this land are many aching hearts, and many bodies racked with pain, while days and nights of suffering are slowly extinguishing many feebly-burning lights of hope.

Dear reader, have you sought long and in vain for deliverance from some yoke of bondage? It is the approach of the summer sun that breaks the bonds of winter, and has not God allowed some sun to shine which will melt away the snows of life’s winter, and make all things glad and new?

Yes, blessed be God! There has arisen “The Sun of Righteousness…with healing in His wings.”-(Mal. iv:2.) To the sinner it is the light of forgiveness; to the sick it is the light of healing. Infinitely greater and more reviling is the sun of Righteousness to the heart of man, than is nature’s sun to the frozen earth. Let us open our hearts that He may shine therein.

“To them which was sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up.”-(Mal. iv:16.)

Jesus said, I am the light of the world; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.”-(St. John viii:12.)

“Come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord.”-Isa. ii:5.

Newness of Life - Carrie F. Judd (Triumphs of Faith 1.3)

NEWNESS OF LIFE

BY CARRIE F. JUDD

“Why seek ye the living among the dead?”-St. Luke xxiv;5.

To those of us who have been seeking our blessed Lord, and yet with strange faithlessness have persisted in seeking Him in the sepulcher from which He has triumphantly arisen, this gentle rebuke of the heavenly messengers comes as a clear revelation of the cause of our failure to find “Him Whom our soul loveth.”

It may be that we have sought Him with unswerving diligence, that we have gone very early in the morning to “the place where the Lord lay,” and because we see the stone rolled away, and the sepulcher empty, we are “much perplexed thereabout,” not being able to realize in the weakness of our faith that our Lord is a risen Lord, and that we cannot find Him by looking into the cavern of death. Not until Mary Magdalene had “turned herself back” from the gloom and emptiness of the sepulcher did she see “Jesus standing,” and we read further that when our Lord made Himself known to her in that one tender call by name, “she turned herself and saith unto Him, Rabboni.”-(St. John xx:14, 16.)

And likewise, beloved friends, must we turn ourselves from gazing at the grave and grave-clothes of our mortal nature, and seek the resurrection life which is “hid with Christ in God.” We can know nothing of this wondrous life of victory by continuing to gaze in grieving despair at the scene of death which our own heart presents; we must reckon ourselves as “crucified with Christ,” and then by His conquering grace turn our faces away from the sepulcher of our carnal nature, and exclaim triumphantly, “Nevertheless I live; et not I, but Christ liveth in me!”-(Gal. ii:20.)

Our Saviour has said, “because I live ye shall live also” (St. John siv:19), and unless we realize that He has completely vanquished the enemy who would forever keep us spiritually entombed, how shall we “sit together in heavenly places” in Him?

How often do we err and “seek the living among the dead;” how often do we peer into the gloom of the rocky sepulcher and marvel and weep that we find not Him Whom our anxious love is seeking, and how often are hearts sorely perplexed because we known not where they have laid Him; and why this continued error? Because we remember not with faith the word which He spake unto us.

We look at Christ’s power form the standpoint of our own finite endeavor, not remembering that He has said, “I am the Resurrection and the Life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” We fix our attention on the dead works of mortality instead of seeking “those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.” Alas, how is it possible for us to see the “light of life” while we look for it in the tomb? Again and again in the midst of our vain seeking, do the tender rebuking words penetrate the darkness of our mourning souls. “Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen.”

In the apostle’s beautiful and practical description of that marvelous and abounding love without which we are nothing worth, we read these words, “Charity… seeketh not her own.” How full of blessed suggestion is this brief sentence; she seeks not the things of her own mortal nature, but rising above all thoughts of that self which she counts forever crucified, she seeks “the things which are Jesus Christ’s;” “being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”-(1 Peter iii:18.)

Dear friends, are there not among us some hungering hearts, who have long “stood without at the sepulcher weeping,” because of our lack of faith we have continued to believe that our enemies were strong enough to rob us of our beloved Master?

“They have taken away my Lord” (St. John xx:13), is the agonized cry of our souls as we think of the power of sin which crucified Him and sealed His tomb, instead of realizing by faith that greater Power which has so gloriously triumphed over death and the grave, and vanquished all of His foes.

Beloved, “He is risen, as He said.” What avails the strength of the armed men who watched the door of the sepulcher, for a stronger has come upon them and overcome them (St. Luke xi:22), and why need we fear the power of the enemy over our hearts, when, in the might of our risen Lord, we may break the seal of sin and escape forever from its guilt and power.

“Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”-(Rom. vi:9.10.)

What a “likewise” is this! But, alas, how few of us are realizing the fullness of our precious privilege and our “bounded duty,” and are consenting practically to the blessed truth, that “like as Christ was raised up from the dead, by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”-(Rom vi:4.)

God grant that those of us who are gazing with perplexity and yearning into the emptiness of the sepulcher, may turn away forever from its unsatisfying void and hear the tender call of Jesus which shall cause us to acknowledge Him our “Master” in a spirit of renewed love and consecration.

“She (Mary) turned herself and saith unto Him, Rabboni”; and we marvel at the eloquence of joy and love which could only find expression in this brief rapturous acknowledgment of His supreme control over her consecrated life.

“O Lord, our God, other lords beside Thee have had dominion over us; but by Thee only will we make mention of Thy name.”-(Isa. xxvi:13.)

Let us praise “the tender mercy of our God; whereby the Dayspring from on High hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”-(St. Luke i:78,79.)

The Presence of God - Carrie F. Judd (Triumphs of Faith 1.3)

THE PRESENCE OF GOD

BY CARRIE F. JUDD

In Exodus xxxiii:15,16, we read of Moses, that he said unto the Lord, “If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and Thy people have found grace in Thy sight? Is it not that Thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.”

This is ever the language of God’s trusting children. Realizing their own utter weakness, they are not willing to take one step without the presence of Him who alone is able to direct their paths and save them from confusion. Rather would they come to a dead halt in their Christian life than attempt to go onward and upward without the “Lord, their banner.”

Most necessary is it that our enemies should know that we have “found grace” in the sight of the Lord, for “if God be for us, who can be against us?” The most gracious sign of His loving favor is, that His presence is with His people, and if His presence is with us, it will be manifest in victory over our adversaries. We are told that those who put their trust in the Lord shall be hid in the secret of His presence (Psa. xxx:20), and it is a blessed thought that the very presence which is the security of His children, is the destruction of His enemies. We read, “as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.”-(Psa. lxviii: 2.)

Dear reader, if God is with us wherever we god, we shall have no need of waging our own battles, the very “presence of His glory” will be sufficient to fill our adversaries with dismay, for He has trampled on all the power of the enemy, and well we know that “He has triumphed gloriously.”

Temptations never cease in this life of faith, but what matters it to us how formidable they may appear, if only our Lord has gone up with us, and we are “hid in the secret ofHis presence.” No evil can touch us there. The more numerous the adversaries who come out against us, the more we shall see the Lords’ glory manifested in destroying them, and we shall be able to rejoice in the warfare which shows the prowess of our God. “Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil.”-(Psa. lxviii:12.)

Dear fellow-Christians, let us cease our own vain endeavors to overcome the enemies who have defeated us times without number, and let us trust wholly in Him who “strentheneth the spoiled against the strong.”-(Amos v:9.)

It cannot be known that the Lord is our God and that we are His people, unless He goeth with us, and if His presence is with us we shall inevitably be a separate and perculiar people, “Holy unto the Land.” The very fact of our living continually in the light of God’s presence would keep us separate from the subtle and insidious pleasures of this word, and make it impossible for us to have “fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.”

Moses speaks of this very separation as consequent upon the presence of Godin their midst; he says, “so shall we be separated, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.” Separated from the vanity of the world, not by our own ineffectual attempts to live apart form it, but by the presence of God in our hearts, which will keep the world apart form us. Our Saviour says, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” As Israel of old was called to be, separate from the idolatrous nations surrounding them, so the children of God are “chosen out of the world,” that they may serve Him with undivided hearts and be made “partakers of the heavenly calling.” The world will hate us for the very reason of our obeying Christ’s call to be separate from it, but blessed is it to have the hatred of that, the friendship of which is “enmity with God.” Let us ponder solemnly the words, “whosever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”-(Jas. iv:4.)

Many dear souls are longing for a greater spirit of consecration, but this of necessity involves a practical separation from “the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh.” The prospect of such a separation may seem hard to one who knows nothing of God’s love, but to the heart which has seen ever so faintly the ineffable “glory of His grace,” the world has lost its charms, and to be wholly set apart fro the Lord seems a life of unspeakable blessedness and beauty. The sanctified heart can say with the Psalmist, “In Thy presence is fullness of joy.”

The subtle assaults of the prince of this world are soon conquered if the presence of God surrounds us continually, for het battle is then His, not ours. “Through God we shall do valiantly, for He it is that shall tread down our enemies.”-(Psa. lx:12.) It is only when we are no abiding in our Saviour that we are vanquished.

Let us plead for His presence in our hearts; let us be willing to stand still rather than to make one move without Him, and to us as to Joshua will be given the assuring word, “as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”-(Josh. i:5.)

“Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed. for the Lord thy God is with theee withersoever thou goest.”-(Josh. i:9.)

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It is at the throne of Grace that we bear fruit to Christ,-made fruit-bearers in being made, through the Spirit, suppliants.

The name of Christ presented in faith at the throne is the victory that overcometh. Only to think of the grace that has elected us to bear that Name to the Father, to receive in Christ’s name the magnificent awards which belong to that Name.

Let us make more of the name of Jesus, have it more in our hearts, utter it with our lips, so that the world will be resounded with the Name that is “above every name.”

-Dr. J. M. Ward

Soul Language - W.L.G. (Triumphs of Faith 1.3)

SOUL LANGUAGE

BY W. L. G.

There is a language which is neither written nor spoken, and yet, which is positive in its tone, clear in its accents, convincing to the soul, and far more abiding than the words of the most eloquent orator that the word has known.

In the Bible we find words like these, “Thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto Thee;” and again, “Verily God hath heard me; He hath attended to the voice of my prayer.” As we lift our hearts to God our prayers are heard by Him, and how soon the answer comes; while we are “yet speaking” a responsive Voice is heard. Is it but the echo of our own voices, hollow and unsatisfying? Nay, it is the Voice direct from on High; the Spirit’s response to our souls.

How sweet to feel that our faintest prayer is heard even though it is merely a soul-whisper; it is heard by God as distinctly as though it were a shout. And He has said, “Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.”-(Isa. lxv:24.)

The unregenerate soul cannot comprehend God’s language as does the Christian. In I Cor. ii:14, we read, “The natural man recieveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

A person is very apt to feel that what he does not see and hear, others do not see and hear, but it is impossible for the natural heart to perceive the wisdom of God. The unregenerate man cannot understand the language which God speaks to a converted soul; and, again, the merely justified believer cannot comprehend the more exalted communion which God holds with those who are sanctified by His Spirit.

What in inestimable privilege is that of talking with the great “I Am,” and what beautiful answers He vouchsafes to the queries and requests of those who fully trust Him. Many, many times have I undertaken to translate this heavenly language into the language of earth, but have never found words adequate to express the deep meaning of God’s communications to the sanctified soul. Until I learned practically the meaning of this higher Christian life I knew very little of the marvelous beauties of this soul language.

If you, dear reader, have not already learned it, let me entreat you to come up out of the mists of unbelief into the purer air which is ever found on the mountain-heights, where indescribable beauty, joy and sunshine will surround you. You will find this higher life to be one of wondrous joy and perfect rest, and by “the exceeding grace of God” you will “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

A Consecrated Tongue - Edward M. Mix (Triumphs of Faith 1.3)

A CONSECRATED TONGUE

BY EDWARD M. MIX

But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.-1 Peter, i:15.

If all who profess to love our Lord Jesus Christ would obey this injunction of the apostle, how the cause of our dear Redeemer would be advanced. The world would realize that the religion we profess is indeed a blessed reality. Our words would then “minister grace unto the hearers,” and carry conviction to the ungodly that God was in us of a truth; “for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”

God’s command to all of us is, “Be ye holy; for I am holy,” and the inspired apostle speaks of purifying our souls “in obeying the truth through the Spirit.” We can only know and obey the truth through the Spirit of Truth, and if God’s spirit dwell in us we shall assuredly obey the command not to nod indulge in “filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient.”-(Eph. v:4.)

But it is too true that there is a great deal of “foolish talking” at the present day, even among professing Christians, and too few are aware how this practice of jesing eats out the life of godliness, and proves the means by which many are shorn of their spiritual strength. A word once paces the bounds of our lips and it is past recall. Cannot all of us remember with sorrow some time when we have spoken “unadvisedly with our lips”? It was for this reason that Moses was debarred the privilege of entering the promised land after he had wandered for forty years in the wilderness.

How careful then ought we to be about our words, that our speech may be “always with grace, seasoned with salt, that we may know how we ought to answer every man.”-(Col. iv:6.)

May the Lord help all of us who profess to love our dear Redeemer, to realize that by our words we shall be justified, and by our words we shall be condemned. Let us ever bear in mind His solemn warning, “I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement.”

“O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise.”

CONSECRATION AND FAITH PLEDGE

CONSECRATION PLEDGE.

         Dear Lord; I present myself unreservedly to Thee.

         My time.

         My talents.

         My tongue.

         My will.

         My property.

         My reputation.

         My entire being.

         To be, and to do, anything that Thou requires of me.

PLEDGE OF FAITH.

         Now as I have given myself away, I am no longer my own, but all the Lord’s.

         I believe Thou dost accept the offering I bring.

         I trust Thee to work in me all the good pleasure of Thy will.

         “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and I will receive you.”

                  As I do give myself to Thee, I believe Thou dost receive me now.