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06/11/AM

"We love Him because He first loved us."

—1 John 4:16-19 (KJV) "16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 19 We love him, because he first loved us."

There is no light in the planet but that which proceedeth from the sun; and there is no true love to Jesus in the heart but that which cometh from the Lord Jesus himself. From this overflowing fountain of the infinite love of God, all our love to God must spring. This must ever be a great and certain truth, that we love Him for no other reason than because He first loved us. Our love to Him is the fair offspring of His love to us. Cold admiration, when studying the works of God, anyone may have, but the warmth of love can only be kindled in the heart by God's Spirit. How great the wonder that such as we should ever have been brought to love Jesus at all! How marvellous that when we had rebelled against Him, He should, by a display of such amazing love, seek to draw us back. No! never should we have had a grain of love towards God unless it had been sown in us by the sweet seed of His love to us. Love, then, has for its parent the love of God shed abroad in the heart: but after it is thus divinely born, it must be divinely nourished. Love is an exotic; it is not a plant which will flourish naturally in human soil, it must be watered from above. Love to Jesus is a flower of a delicate nature, and if it received no nourishment but that which could be drawn from the rock of our hearts it would soon wither. As love comes from heaven, so it must feed on heavenly bread. It cannot exist in the wilderness unless it be fed by manna from on high. Love must feed on love. The very soul and life of our love to God is His love to us.


"I love thee, Lord, but with no love of mine,
For I have none to give;
I love thee, Lord; but all the love is thine,
For by thy love I live.
I am as nothing, and rejoice to be
Emptied, and lost, and swallowed up in thee."

- Charles H. Spurgeon

For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
(Hebrews 12: 6,11.)

Had the Bible presented no other than this negative view of affliction, it would still have cleared the character of God from the unworthy suspicion, that he takes a cruel or capricious delight in the infliction of suffering, and would have served so far to compose our minds under trial, by giving us the assurance, that no suffering would be inflicted without some reason which was satisfactory to infinite benevolence and wisdom. But the Bible is far from confining its consoling discoveries to this negative view of the subject: it not only denies that affliction is the result of caprice or cruelty, but affirms that, under the scheme of grace, it is the result of pure and comprehensive benevolence, and the means of positive good. ‘Comfort in Affliction’

~ James Buchanan.

06/10/AM

"We live unto the Lord."

—Romans 14:8 (KJV) "8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's."

If God had willed it, each of us might have entered heaven at the moment of conversion. It was not absolutely necessary for our preparation for immortality that we should tarry here. It is possible for a man to be taken to heaven, and to be found meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light, though he has but just believed in Jesus. It is true that our sanctification is a long and continued process, and we shall not be perfected till we lay aside our bodies and enter within the veil; but nevertheless, had the Lord so willed it, He might have changed us from imperfection to perfection, and have taken us to heaven at once. Why then are we here? Would God keep His children out of paradise a single moment longer than was necessary? Why is the army of the living God still on the battle-field when one charge might give them the victory? Why are His children still wandering hither and thither through a maze, when a solitary word from His lips would bring them into the centre of their hopes in heaven? The answer is--they are here that they may "live unto the Lord," and may bring others to know His love. We remain on earth as sowers to scatter good seed; as ploughmen to break up the fallow ground; as heralds publishing salvation. We are here as the "salt of the earth," to be a blessing to the world. We are here to glorify Christ in our daily life. We are here as workers for Him, and as "workers together with Him." Let us see that our life answereth its end. Let us live earnest, useful, holy lives, to "the praise of the glory of His grace." Meanwhile we long to be with Him, and daily sing--


"My heart is with Him on His throne,
And ill can brook delay;
Each moment listening for the voice,
'Rise up, and come away.'

- Charles H. Spurgeon

06/09/AM

"The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad."

—Psalms 126:1-3 (KJV) "1 <<A Song of degrees.>> When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. 2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them. 3 The LORD hath done great things for us; [whereof] we are glad."

Some Christians are sadly prone to look on the dark side of everything, and to dwell more upon what they have gone through than upon what God has done for them. Ask for their impression of the Christian life, and they will describe their continual conflicts, their deep afflictions, their sad adversities, and the sinfulness of their hearts, yet with scarcely any allusion to the mercy and help which God has vouchsafed them. But a Christian whose soul is in a healthy state, will come forward joyously, and say, "I will speak, not about myself, but to the honour of my God. He hath brought me up out of an horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings: and He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. The Lord hath done great things for me, whereof I am glad." Such an abstract of experience as this is the very best that any child of God can present. It is true that we endure trials, but it is just as true that we are delivered out of them. It is true that we have our corruptions, and mournfully do we know this, but it is quite as true that we have an all-sufficient Saviour, who overcomes these corruptions, and delivers us from their dominion. In looking back, it would be wrong to deny that we have been in the Slough of Despond, and have crept along the Valley of Humiliation, but it would be equally wicked to forget that we have been through them safely and profitably; we have not remained in them, thanks to our Almighty Helper and Leader, who has brought us "out into a wealthy place." The deeper our troubles, the louder our thanks to God, who has led us through all, and preserved us until now. Our griefs cannot mar the melody of our praise, we reckon them to be the bass part of our life's song, "He hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad."

- Charles H. Spurgeon

The true children of God are, according to Scripture, eternally safe because:

1. They are born not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed (1Pe 1:23).
2. His sheep shall never perish (Jn 10:28).
3. Their lives are hid with Christ in God (Col 2:3).
4. They are chosen in Him before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4).
5. They are already “seated” in the heavenlies in Christ (Eph 1:3; 2:6).
6. They are sealed by the Spirit “until the day of redemption” (Eph 4:30).
7. The Lord knoweth them that are His (2Tim 2:19).
8. Having begun a work in you, He will complete it (Phl 1:6).
9. They are already living-stones in the spiritual building of God of which Christ Himself is the Chief Cornerstone (1Pet 2:5; Eph 2:20-22).
10. They are members of the Body and Church of Christ, each with a peculiar function. Without the least member, the Body would not be complete (1Cor 12:12-27 – the time will come when the final and last Gentile is saved, then Israel restored to fellowship, but not in the sonship capacity like Christians being children of God; they will continue as a “people of God”—NC Rom 11:25, 26).
11. They “are kept by the power of God” (1Pe 1:5).
12. An inheritance is reserved for them (God knows every name in the Book of Life—NC - 1Pet 1:4).
13. God’s people are a gift to His Beloved Son (Jn 17:6, 7 – the Father covenanted with the Son that if He would die for those who would believe in Him, the Father would raise Him from the dead – “Covenant of Redemption”—NC).
14. “He is able to save them to the uttermost” (Heb 7:25).
15. They are already accepted in the Beloved Son (Eph 1:6).
16. Nothing can separate them from the love of Christ (Rom 8:38, 39).
17. He loves them “to the end” (Jn 13:1).
18. By one offering He hath perfected forever them that are “sanctified” (Heb 10:10-14 – sanctification is a single, one time work that separates the heart from the “old man” (Ro 8:9); it’s not what some might think, that it’s a continued work of separating the heart from the sin nature. This answers to why the word “sanctified” is always given in a text that expresses a complete one-time work—NC).
19. They are nevermore reckoned in the first man Adam, but have passed through in the Last Adam (1Co 15:45, 47).
20. They cannot be unborn (John 3:6-8).
21. Christ dwells in them (permanently 2Jn 1:2).
22. He gives His sheep eternal life (Jn 10:28).
23. Whom He foreknew, He also predestined, called, justified and glorified (Ro 8:28-30).
24. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance (irrevocable – Ro 11:29).

-MJS

06/08/AM

"There fell down many slain, because the war was of God."

—1 Chronicles 5:18-22 (KJV) "18 The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, of valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skilful in war, [were] four and forty thousand seven hundred and threescore, that went out to the war. 19 And they made war with the Hagarites, with Jetur, and Nephish, and Nodab. 20 And they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that [were] with them: for they cried to God in the battle, and he was intreated of them; because they put their trust in him. 21 And they took away their cattle; of their camels fifty thousand, and of sheep two hundred and fifty thousand, and of asses two thousand, and of men an hundred thousand. 22 For there fell down many slain, because the war [was] of God. And they dwelt in their steads until the captivity."

Warrior, fighting under the banner of the Lord Jesus, observe this verse with holy joy, for as it was in the days of old so is it now, if the war be of God the victory is sure. The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh could barely muster five and forty thousand fighting men, and yet in their war with the Hagarites, they slew "men, an hundred thousand," "for they cried to God in the battle, and He was entreated of them, because they put their trust in Him." The Lord saveth not by many nor by few; it is ours to go forth in Jehovah's name if we be but a handful of men, for the Lord of Hosts is with us for our Captain. They did not neglect buckler, and sword, and bow, neither did they place their trust in these weapons; we must use all fitting means, but our confidence must rest in the Lord alone, for He is the sword and the shield of His people. The great reason of their extraordinary success lay in the fact that "the war was of God." Beloved, in fighting with sin without and within, with error doctrinal or practical, with spiritual wickedness in high places or low places, with devils and the devil's allies, you are waging Jehovah's war, and unless He himself can be worsted, you need not fear defeat. Quail not before superior numbers, shrink not from difficulties or impossibilities, flinch not at wounds or death, smite with the two-edged sword of the Spirit, and the slain shall lie in heaps. The battle is the Lord's and He will deliver His enemies into our hands. With steadfast foot, strong hand, dauntless heart, and flaming zeal, rush to the conflict, and the hosts of evil shall fly like chaff before the gale.

Stand up! stand up for Jesus! To him that overcometh, The strife will not be long; A crown of life shall be; This day the noise of battle, He with the King of glory The next the victor's song: Shall reign eternally.

-Charles H. Spurgeon

06/07/AM

"Ye that love the Lord hate evil."

—Psalm 97:10 "Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked."

Thou hast good reason to "hate evil," for only consider what harm it has already wrought thee. Oh, what a world of mischief sin has brought into thy heart! Sin blinded thee so that thou couldst not see the beauty of the Saviour; it made thee deaf so that thou couldst not hear the Redeemer's tender invitations. Sin turned thy feet into the way of death, and poured poison into the very fountain of thy being; it tainted thy heart, and made it "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." Oh, what a creature thou wast when evil had done its utmost with thee, before divine grace interposed! Thou wast an heir of wrath even as others; thou didst "run with the multitude to do evil." Such were all of us; but Paul reminds us, "but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." We have good reason, indeed, for hating evil when we look back and trace its deadly workings. Such mischief did evil do us, that our souls would have been lost had not omnipotent love interfered to redeem us. Even now it is an active enemy, ever watching to do us hurt, and to drag us to perdition. Therefore "hate evil," O Christians, unless you desire trouble. If you would strew your path with thorns, and plant nettles in your death-pillow, then neglect to "hate evil"; but if you would live a happy life, and die a peaceful death, then walk in all the ways of holiness, hating evil, even unto the end. If you truly love your Saviour, and would honour Him, then "hate evil." We know of no cure for the love of evil in a Christian like abundant intercourse with the Lord Jesus. Dwell much with Him, and it is impossible for you to be at peace with sin.

"Order my footsteps by Thy Word,
And make my heart sincere;
Let sin have no dominion, Lord,
But keep my conscience clear."

- Charles H. Spurgeon

Just think, even before we take our initial steps of faith, all waits us. God has already “given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness;” none of which is any of our doing, and it’s all completed for us at the outset and inception of our walk of faith. We will just continue to grow unto all this which we already have, by the Father’s “work in“ (Phl 2:13). —NC




It is the power of God Himself, as it wrought in the Lord Jesus, which works in us to give us the new standing in life. Viewed in connection with our resurrection with Him it implies—by the very fact of our receiving—that hat we are forgiven perfectly and forever. We were under the burden of our sins, and died in them. This burden the Savior took upon Himself, and died for us, accomplishing what put away our sins in going down into death. Raised up with Him, inasmuch as partaking of that life which He possesses as risen from the dead, we have—like Him—left all that burden of sin and condemnation behind us with the death from which we have been delivered. Therefore He says “Having forgiven you all your trespasses” (Col 2:13).

The Lord Jesus, when he arose, left death and the weight of condemnation under which we were lying, behind Him—we also being raised up with Him. Naturally God, in thus raising us up from the standing in which we were, has not raised us up to condemn us, or with condemnation attached to this new life, which is the Lord Jesus Himself. For He had only already borne the condemnation, and satisfied the justice of the Father, and died for the putting away of sin, before He communicated this life to us. The Father brought us out of death and condemnation with His Son who had borne it for us.

Risen with the Lord Jesus, we are to set our affections on things above, where He sits at the right hand of the Father, and not on things on the earth. The two cannot go together. To look, to have one’s motives, above and below at the same time, is not possible. Be tempted by things, have to resist them, we may; but this is not to have them as our object. The reason for this is however found in our position; we have died, and our life is hid with Christ and God.

It does not say, “We must die.” Man cannot do this by will: we cannot deny will by will. Nor would the will of the flesh ever do it (Rom 8:7). If it acts, it does not abdicate. We have died: this is the precious comforting truth with regard to the believer by virtue of the Lord Jesus having died for him and he in Him. He has received his life, and all that he did for him on the Cross. He is no longer in the life with which the power of temptation, guilt, the attacks of sin, are connected. Death has cut this connection.

Now that which was connected with the life of the old man with sin, condemnation, weakness, fear, powerlessness against the assaults of the enemy—all this is past. We have a life, but it is in the risen Lord Jesus; it is hidden with Him in the Father. We are not yet manifest in its glory, as we shall be before the eyes of all in heaven and earth. Our life is hidden, but safe in its eternal Source. He is hid in God, so also are we. When the Lord Jesus shall appear we shall also appear with Him in glory.

—J N Darby (father of dispensationalism - 1800-1882. During the winter of 1827–1828 following a riding accident, Darby spent months recuperating and intensively studying the Bible. During this time, he began to separate from the established Church of Ireland and conclude that the church and the kingdom of God were distinct. - Liberty University)



MJS daily devotional excerpt for June 5

“Free Born”

“If God be for us, who can be against us”? (Rom. 8:31)

Faith in the facts alone gives the rest of reliance. “Is there an accuser, a judge, or an executioner, still after us (Rev 12:10)? The accuser may go away rebuked by this, that God has justified us; the judge may go away rebuked by this, that the Lord Jesus has died—has already suffered the judgment, and His work has been accepted to the full in heaven itself; the executioner may go away rebuked by this, that all the malice of earth and hell together shall never drag us away from the firm embrace of our God. And if there be now neither accuser to charge, nor judge to condemn, nor executioner to slay, the court is cleared!” -J.G.B.

“It is a blessed thing to be shown our enemies and told with Gideon, that Jehovah has delivered them into our hands (Josh. 8:7). Our old man has been crucified (but only restrained and still on the Cross—NC - Rom. 6:6), the world ‘overcome,’ and its prince ‘judged’ (John 16:33, 11). If we are walking by faith, as risen with the Lord Jesus Christ, Satan, the world, and the flesh (old man; the unholy trinity—NC) are under our feet.” -J.N.D.

“Not a hair of the child of God can fall without God’s permission. Satan is but the unintentional instrument to accomplish God’s will; he can do no more than he is allowed to do. If trials come as a host against us, we know that the Almighty is between us and them. They will but work out for us His own purpose of His love.” -MJS
http://www.abideabove.com/hungry-heart/day/2026/06/05/

06/05/AM

"The Lord shut him in."

—Genesis 7:13-16 (ASV) "13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; 14 they, and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. 15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh wherein is the breath of life. 16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him: and Jehovah shut him in."

Noah was shut in away from all the world by the hand of divine love. The door of electing purpose interposes between us and the world which lieth in the wicked one. We are not of the world even as our Lord Jesus was not of the world. Into the sin, the gaiety, the pursuits of the multitude we cannot enter; we cannot play in the streets of Vanity Fair with the children of darkness, for our heavenly Father has shut us in. Noah was shut in with his God. "Come thou into the ark," was the Lord's invitation, by which He clearly showed that He Himself intended to dwell in the ark with His servant and his family. Thus all the chosen dwell in God and God in them. Happy people to be enclosed in the same circle which contains God in the Trinity of His persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. Let us never be inattentive to that gracious call, "Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee, and hide thyself as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpast." Noah was so shut in that no evil could reach him. Floods did but lift him heavenward, and winds did but waft him on his way. Outside of the ark all was ruin, but inside all was rest and peace. Without Christ we perish, but in Christ Jesus there is perfect safety. Noah was so shut in that he could not even desire to come out, and those who are in Christ Jesus are in Him for ever. They shall go no more out for ever, for eternal faithfulness has shut them in, and infernal malice cannot drag them out. The Prince of the house of David shutteth and no man openeth; and when once in the last days as Master of the house He shall rise up and shut the door, it will be in vain for mere professors to knock, and cry Lord, Lord open unto us, for that same door which shuts in the wise virgins will shut out the foolish for ever. Lord, shut me in by Thy grace.

- Charles H. Spurgeon