Fear not! Flee to Christ!

To know that there is corruption left in our hearts and that our feeble affections dishonor the God who loved us does not mean we lie still, wallowing in the mud of guilt. It means we flee to Christ and cling to the cross and take refuge like little chicks under the wings of divine mercy. And there we gain courage to love, not because we regard ourselves highly, but because we regard grace as our all-sufficient supply. The word to worms who will admit their corruption, humble themselves, and take refuge in Jesus is, "Fear not, you worm Jacob."

John Piper, Fear Not, You Worm Jacob!

The Glory of Jesus Christ!

 Isaiah 9:6 

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called 

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

John Piper, talking about the glory of Jesus Christ in Isaiah 9:6 (Three Meditations on "The Messiah")-

". . . Isaiah 9:6 describes the glory of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. What we find here is a combination of excellencies that correspond perfectly to needs of our souls.
Consider these four things:

1. The Lord is a counselor. And that corresponds to my need for wisdom and guidance.
2. The Lord is mighty. And that corresponds to my need for strength and power to live my life pleasing to the Lord.
3. The Lord is Father. And that corresponds to my need for firm and gentle care and provision. Especially if I've never known it here.
4. The Lord is peaceful. And that corresponds to my need for quietness and rest and freedom from trouble and agitation.

But that's not all. What makes the Lord exceedingly glorious is that

1. His counsel is wonderful. The Lord has better advice for your life than anyone. It is amazingly and wonderfully different from the advice of the world.
2. His might is divine. (Mighty God!) There is no greater power in all the universe than his. It will prevail over all his enemies. It is full of hope.
3. His Fatherhood is everlasting. You will never attend this Father's funeral. He will never get old and senile and leave you like an orphan on your own.
4. His peace is maintained by his princely authority. (Prince of Peace!) The government shall be upon his shoulders as a great prince, and his kingdom will be everlasting peace.

The glory of the Lord has risen upon us. The noonday is not yet. But given what we know now, it will come. And we can live and wait in hope."

Come soon, Lord Jesus. . . come soon!!! 

Thou Art Enough

There is joy, joy found nowhere else, when we look up into Christ's face when He says to us, "Am I not enough for thee, Mine own?" with a true, "Yes, Lord, Thou art enough." 
~Amy Carmichael

Please, Lord, please, enable your children to declare "Yes, Lord, Thou art enough." 

Jesus, thank you. . . .

Yearning for Christ

"I am a faint, dead-hearted, cowardly man, oft borne down, and hungry in waiting for the marriage supper of the Lamb. Nevertheless I think it the Lord's wise love that feeds us with hunger, and makes us fat with wants and desertions."..."Hunger in me runneth to fair and sweet promises; but when I come, I am like a hungry man that wanteth teeth, or a weak stomach having a sharp appetite that is filled with the very sight of meat, or like one stupefied with cold under the water, that would fain come to land but cannot grip anything casten to him. I can let Christ grip me, but I cannot grip him. I love to be kissed, and to sit on Christ's knee, but I cannot set my feet to the ground, for afflictions bring the cramp upon my faith. All that I can do is to hold out a lame faith to Christ like a beggar holding out a stump, instead of an arm or leg, and cry, "Lord Jesus, work a miracle!' O what would I give to have hands and arms to grip strongly and fold handsomely about Christ's neck, and to have my claim made good with real possession!"

~Samuel Rutherford

Christ. . . Peace, Life, True Blessedness

These things saith thy Beloved, "I am thy Salvation, I am thy peace and thy life. Keep thee unto Me, and thou shalt find peace." Put away thee all transitory things, seek those things that are eternal. For what are all temporal things but deceits, and what shall all created things help thee if thou be forsaken by the Creator? Therefore put all things else away, and give thyself to the Creator, to be well pleasing and faithful to Him, that thou mayest be able to attain true blessedness.
~Thomas a Kempis 

O My Soul, Nestle Once More Within the Very Heart of Jesus!

My soul, rest not until you rest in Jesus. Let nothing come between your returning heart and your advancing, loving, forgiving Father. There is no true return of a backsliding believer but that which takes him past his repentance, past his tears, past his confessions, past his amendments, past his minister, and brings him at once close to Christ. There is no healing of the hurt, no binding up of the wound, no cleansing, no peace, no comfort, no joy, but as the soul comes to the blood, and nestles once more within the very heart of Jesus.

Octavius Winslow, The Backslider

Oh, Rest in Christ!

Rest in Christ’s atoning Sacrifice! Trust Him only! Come to your God and be His servant from this day and forever, and you shall see how He will break your bonds, open your eyes, cheer your spirit, indulge you with His love and preserve you even to the end! ~Spurgeon

Give me Christ. . . . or else I die.

Gracious Lord, incline thy ear;
My requests vouchsafe to hear;
Hear my never-ceasing cry;
Give me Christ, or else I die.

Wealth and honor I disdain,
Earthly comforts, Lord are vain;
These can never satisfy:
Give me Christ, or else I die.

Thou dost freely save the lost;
In thy grace alone I trust.
With my earnest suit comply;
Give me Christ, or else I die.

Thou dost promise to forgive
All who in thy Son believe;
Lord, I know thou canst not lie;
Give me Christ, or else I die.

All unholy and unclean,
I am nothing but sin;
On thy mercy I rely;
Give me Christ, or else I die.

-William Hammond  (1719-1783)

What a Dear Savior to Come to!

The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." Let anyone who hears this say, "Come." Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life. 

Revelation 22:17

Lo! Glad I come; and Thou, blest Lamb,
Shalt take me to Thee, as I am;
Nothing but sin have I to give;
Nothing but love shall I receive.
Then will I tell to sinners round,
What a dear Savior I have found;
I’ll point to Thy redeeming blood,
And say, “Behold the way to God.”

~John Cennick 

Christ Jesus

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return;

when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

By his wounds you have been healed.

(1 Peter 2:22-24 ESV)

Jesus. . . The Most Everything That Is Altogether Lovely

What were Jesus' strong points? He did not have any--not a one! To have a strong point, you must have a weak point and Jesus did not have any weak points. Other men are noted for some one faculty or talent. Moses was the meekest of all men. Job was the patient one, but Jesus was altogether lovely in every way-- the meekest, most humble, most patient, most loving, most gracious, most courageous, firmest, wisest, everything--the incomparable symmetry of the perfections of Jesus Christ.

D. James Kennedy, "Truths That Transform"

No Matter What. . . Jesus Can More Than Meet Your Need!

What, can Jesus meet my need? Yes, and more than meet it. No matter how intricate my path, how difficult my service no matter how sad my bereavement, how far away my loved ones, no matter how helpless I am, how hopeless I am, how deep are my soul-yearnings-JESUS can meet all, all, and more than meet.

Hudson Taylor, "The Growth of a Work of God"

Tender, Great, Undeserved, Rich, Manifold, Abounding, Unfailing. . .

From Charles Spurgeon's Morning Devotional for August 17: 

"The mercy of God."
Psalm 52:8

Meditate a little on this mercy of the Lord.

It is tender mercy. With gentle, loving touch, he healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He is as gracious in the manner of his mercy as in the matter of it.

It is great mercy. There is nothing little in God; his mercy is like himself--it is infinite. You cannot measure it. His mercy is so great that it forgives great sins to great sinners, after great lengths of time, and then gives great favours and great privileges, and raises us up to great enjoyments in the great heaven of the great God.

It is undeserved mercy, as indeed all true mercy must be, for deserved mercy is only a misnomer for justice. There was no right on the sinner's part to the kind consideration of the Most High; had the rebel been doomed at once to eternal fire he would have richly merited the doom, and if delivered from wrath, sovereign love alone has found a cause, for there was none in the sinner himself.

It is rich mercy. Some things are great, but have little efficacy in them, but this mercy is a cordial to your drooping spirits; a golden ointment to your bleeding wounds; a heavenly bandage to your broken bones; a royal chariot for your weary feet; a bosom of love for your trembling heart.

It is manifold mercy. As Bunyan says, "All the flowers in God's garden are double." There is no single mercy. You may think you have but one mercy, but you shall find it to be a whole cluster of mercies.

It is abounding mercy. Millions have received it, yet far from its being exhausted; it is as fresh, as full, and as free as ever.

It is unfailing mercy. It will never leave thee. If mercy be thy friend, mercy will be with thee in temptation to keep thee from yielding; with thee in trouble to prevent thee from sinking; with thee living to be the light and life of thy countenance; and with thee dying to be the joy of thy soul when earthly comfort is ebbing fast.

Jesus, the Most Excellent Object for My Love

Can you find a more excellent object for your love than Jesus? If you search through the whole creation, could you find any like him? Are riches, honors, pleasures, or other relationships comparable to Jesus, whom you ought to love supremely? Should not the highest good be the best object of your love? Can you love lesser things, and not the greatest good? Is not all the goodness in the creature but as a drop to the sea, as a candle to the sun, as a speck of sand to a mountain—when compared to the goodness that is in Jesus? If David were worth ten thousand other men, is not Jesus, David's Lord, better than all the world. . . .
 
What shall I say to advance Jesus in your esteem, that you might love him? Is he not a 'comprehensive' good? Eminently all? There is no goodness in the creature, but it is formally, or virtually, in Jesus. Is there wisdom in the creature? There is more in Jesus. Is there beauty or power in the creature? There is much more in Jesus. "For it pleased the Father, that in him should all fullness dwell" (Col. 5:19). Jesus is "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). This is the One whom I beg you to love. This is he who is altogether lovely and desirable. Consider now, I plead with you—can you ever imagine a better offer than Jesus? Can you find a better match for your soul? Can you say all this, the one half of this, any one of all these things, concerning the objects you have loved previous to Jesus? Oh then say, 'I never understood the loveliness of Christ before this!' How has sin fooled me! How has the world bewitched me! And how has my foolish wicked heart deceived me, that I have lavished my love upon the creature, and sin, when there was a Christ to love! Such a Christ to love! Such a good as is not to be found in all the world! Now he alone shall have my love, my heart—my all!

Thomas Doolittle, Motives to Love Jesus

His Lovely Pleasure

"It is a precious thing beyond all words--especially in the hour of death--that we have a God whose nature is such that what pleases him is not our work for him but our need of him."
~John Piper

Christ. . . More Lovely, More Precious Than a Daughter

North Korea: The Villages of GokSan

The young, brown-eyed girl looked up at her mother. What would her mom decide?

Earlier that morning, the young girl's mother, their pastor, and twenty-six others in her North Korean village of GokSan were bound and taken before a screaming crowd of Communists. One of the guards ordered Pastor Kim and the other Christians, "Deny Christ, or you will die."

The words chilled her.

How could they ask her to deny Jesus? She knew in her heart he was real.

They all quietly refused. Then the Communist guard shouted directly at the adult Christians, "Deny Christ, or we will hang your children."

The young girl looked up at her mother. She gripped her hand knowing how much her mom loved her.

Her mother then leaned down. With confidence and peace she whispered, "Today, my love, I will see you in heaven."

All of the children were hanged.

The remaining believers were then brought out onto the pavement and forced to lie down in front of a large steamroller. The communists gave them one last chance. "Deny this Jesus or you will be crushed."

The Christians had already given up their children; there was no turning back. As the driver started the heavy piece of equipment, the singing from the villagers started softly. "More love, O Christ, to thee, more love to thee."

from Extreme Devotion

Dear Jesus, is it even possible for anybody to read this story with dry eyes? I'm not even a mommy -- I know I don't understand the extent of this. . . Deny Christ, or we will hang your children? The pain of watching any child die would far surpass the pain of being crushed by a steamroller. . . and to have it be your own child? Crush me first so I don't have to watch! But such mercy and such grace You showed this woman in this hour, for You caused her to see that You are far worthier than anything! Oh, to have such confidence and peace in You, Jesus, and in Your promises. . . how far I have to go!  Thank you for this woman's example. . .  and thank you, Father,  for helping me understand more and more through it the sacrifice of Your precious Child -- the Perfect One whom You sent to die.  The Altogether Lovely One who endured far more pain in his death than I could ever comprehend so that a mother could even say "Today, my love, I will see you in heaven." Give me a heart that loves you like this, Jesus. . . More Love, O Christ, to thee, more love to thee! It's for Your precious, precious Name that I ask this. Amen.

Christ. . . Satisfying. . . Unutterably Sufficient

 How precious is your steadfast love, O God! 

The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. 

They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light. 

Psalm 36:7-9

Helen Roseveare, a medical missionary in Africa, describing how God worked in her heart in a special way when she was taken captive and abused by rebel soldiers:

It was an unforgettable experience. God was so vitally real, so totally understanding. His comfort was so complete, so entirely without condemnation. I really knew that His love was unutterably sufficient. His love was wholly able to meet my deepest need: He was not even judging me for my unwillingness to believe and accept His love through the previous years. A great peace took possession of my whole being, not just a peace in my feelings, but a tangible fact of peace even apart from feelings, even in the midst of physical fear and suffering.

As He began to take control of my emotions, I began to realize the truth of Philippians 4:19: "And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." It was true on all levels, not just for financial issues, nor yet only for spiritual mysteries on an exalted plane, but also for everyday, down-to-earth emotional needs of soul and body. As I began to move out of "feelings" and onto "facts," I realized that He was satisfying me, not only with an inner assurance of salvation and forgiveness, but also with a reality of love and depth of companionship that actually took from me, at that time, any sense of need or loneliness. Christ was truly becoming my "sufficiency". . .

Helen Roseveare, Living Sacrifice

Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you. . . . (v. 10)

Pull Me Hard, Lord, to Yourself

The world and the gifts it prizes can be bought with money. Christ and His gifts are priceless. Everything that happens is meant, in the loving purpose of Him who paid for us with blood, to wean us away from the world and to Himself, to disenchant us with temporal things and enchant us with heavenly, to feed us with Living Bread, not with stones. As soon as we attach our ambitions to things that will let us down He calls us in some specific way to let go of such handholds and take hold of Him. He and He alone is able to keep us from falling, able to fill the empty places the world is always clamoring to fill.

Lord, by all Your dealings with me today, may I be drawn a little father from the love of things which are seen and a little nearer to the love of things which are not seen, things which can never be corrupted. Pull me hard, Lord, to Yourself.

Elisabeth Elliot, The Music of His Promises

Jesus, the Object of Love-Sickness

The soul may be as sick as it will, without rebuke, when it is sick to be with Jesus. You may indulge this carry it to its utmost extent without either sin or folly. What am I sick with love for? For the pearly gates?—No; but for the pearls that are in his wounds. What am I sick for? For the streets of gold?—No; but for his head which is as much fine gold. For the melody of the harps and angelic songs?—No, but for the melodious notes that come from his dear mouth. What am I sick for? For the nectar that angels drink?—No; but for the kisses of his lips. For the manna on which heavenly souls do feed?—No; but for himself, who is the meat and drink of his saints himself, himself—my soul pines to see him. Oh, what a heaven to gaze upon! What bliss to talk with the man, the God, crucified for me; to weep my heart out before him; to tell him how I love him, for he loved me and gave himself for me; to read my name written on his hands and on his side—yea, and to let him see that his name is written on my heart in indelible lines; to embrace him, oh! what an embrace when the creature shall embrace his God—to be for ever so close to him, that not a doubt, nor a fear, nor a wandering thought can come between my soul and him for ever—

"For ever to behold him shine,
For evermore to call him mine,
And see him still before me;
For ever on his face to gaze,
And meet his full assembled rays,
While all the Father he displays
To all the saints in glory."

What else can there be that our spirit longeth for? This seems an empty thing to worldlings, but to the Christian this is heaven summed up in a word—"To be with Christ, which is far better" than all the joys of earth. This is the object, then, of this love-sickness.

Charles Spurgeon, Heavenly Love-Sickness 

God Himself, The Loveliest Part and Inheritance

The son feared for some who had not any part or inheritance in the natural joys of life. He feared loneliness for them.

But his Father said, Fear not to trust them to Me. I am their Part and their Inheritance. Would I be a wilderness unto them, a land of darkness? Have I ever been a liar to the heart that trusted Me? Have I ever been as waters that fail? Thou hast heard their unspoken word, "My flesh and my heart faileth," and thy flesh and thy heart faileth too as thou thinkest of them. Fear not, grieve not. They will not end on that minor note. They shall not wear the spirit of heaviness; they shall wear the garment of praise. As the flowers of roses in the spring of the year, as lilies by the rivers of waters, so shall their gladness be. "But God is the Strength of my heart and my Portion for ever"-that will be their abiding word and their ever­lasting song.

And the son knew that not one would be disappointed who had chosen loss for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven. And he was comforted as he thought of those lovers of his Lord caught up into Paradise, and hearing words which, could they be heard now, would not be lawful for a man to utter.

by Amy Carmichael, from "His Thoughts Said... His Father Said..."   

Coming to Jesus Because of Jesus!

"Is it not enough to come to Jesus because of Jesus?  That even if you lose everything in this world because of Christ, Christ is enough?  I don’t need to be wealthy, I don’t need to be healed, I don’t need anything!  I’d rather have Christ!”
-Paul Washer

Transcendent Glory. . . Ineffable Sweetness. . . the Substance. . . Sufficient. . . Christ Jesus

But Christ Jesus has true excellency, and so great excellency, that when they come to see it they look no further, but the mind rests there. It sees a transcendent glory and an ineffable sweetness in him; it sees that till now it has been pursuing shadows, but that now it has found the substance; that before it had been seeking happiness in the stream, but that now it has found the ocean. The excellency of Christ is an object adequate to the natural cravings of the soul, and is sufficient to fill the capacity. It is an infinite excellency, such an one as the mind desires, in which it can find no bounds; and the more the mind is used to it, the more excellent it appears. Every new discovery makes this beauty appear more ravishing, and the mind sees no end; here is room enough for the mind to go deeper and deeper, and never come to the bottom. The soul is exceedingly ravished when it first looks on this beauty, and it is never weary of it. The mind never has any satiety, but Christ's excellency is always fresh and new, and tends as much to delight, after it has been seen a thousand or ten thousand years, as when it was seen the first moment. The excellency of Christ is an object suited to the superior faculties of man, it is suited to entertain the faculty of reason and understanding, and there is nothing so worthy about which the understanding can be employed as this excellency; no other object is so great, noble, and exalted.

Jonathan Edwards, Safety, Fullness, and Sweet Refreshment in Christ 

Christ, the Ever-flowing Fountain

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 

John 4:13-14

It is said that Christ is a river of water, because there is such a fullness in him, so plentiful a provision for the satisfaction of the needy and longing soul. When one is extremely thirsty, though it is not a small draught of water will satisfy him, yet when he comes to a river, he finds a fullness, there he may drink full draughts. Christ is like a river, in that he has a sufficiency not only for one thirsty soul, but by supplying him the fountain is not lessened; there is not the less afforded to those who come afterwards. A thirsty man does not sensibly lessen a river by quenching his thirst.

Christ is like a river in another respect. A river is continually flowing, there are fresh supplies of water coming from the fountain-head continually, so that a man may live by it, and be supplied with water all his life. So Christ is an ever-flowing fountain; he is continually supplying his people, and the fountain is not spent. They who live upon Christ, may have fresh supplies from him to all eternity; they may have an increase of blessedness that is new, and new still, and which will never come to an end. 

Jonathan Edwards, Safety, Fullness, and Sweet Refreshment in Christ

Oh! Christ He is the Fountain, The deep sweet well of love!

~Samuel Rutherford

Jesus. . .the Lovely Name

 The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. Proverbs 18:10

Talk or argue about what you will, I shall not relish it if you exclude the name of Jesus. Jesus to me is honey in the mouth, music in the ear, a song in the heart.  ~Bernard of Clarvaux

Truly, no name can banish fear like the name of Jesus! It is the beginning of hope and the end of despair! Let but the sinner hear of “the Savior” and he forgets to die! He hopes to live! He rises out of the deadly lethargy of his hopelessness and, looking upward, he sees a reconciled God and no longer fears. Especially, Brothers and Sisters, this name is full of rare delights when we meditate upon the infinite preciousness of the Person to whom it was assigned. Ah, here is a Jonathan’s wood dripping with honey from every bough and he that tastes it shall have his eyes enlightened! We have no common Savior, for neither earth nor Heaven could produce His equal! ~Charles Spurgeon

So inexpressibly fragrant is the name of Jesus that it imparts delicious perfume to everything which comes in connection with it.  ~Charles Spurgeon 

John Newton wrote:

How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds
In a believer’s ear!
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.

It makes the wounded spirit whole,
And calms the troubled breast;
’Tis manna to the hungry soul,
And to the weary, rest.

Dear Name, the Rock on which I build,
My Shield and Hiding Place,
My never failing treasury, filled
With boundless stores of grace!

By Thee my prayers acceptance gain,
Although with sin defiled;
Satan accuses me in vain,
And I am owned a child.

Jesus! my Shepherd, Husband, Friend,
O Prophet, Priest and King,
My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,
Accept the praise I bring.

Weak is the effort of my heart,
And cold my warmest thought;
But when I see Thee as Thou art,
I’ll praise Thee as I ought.

Till then I would Thy love proclaim
With every fleeting breath,
And may the music of Thy Name
Refresh my soul in death!

Christ Jesus, the Gift of Gifts

God's children are enriched with the gift of gifts--the largest and the best, which heaven could grant. God gives His co-eternal and co-equal Son, Christ Jesus the Lord. If worlds upon worlds with all their treasures, beauties, glories, had been piled into one pyramid, it would have been as the small dust of the balance, when weighed against this portion. Each one can truly say, "I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine."--Song 6:3. Christ--all that Christ is--all that Christ has--is granted as an inalienable possession.

~Henry Law

No Separation from Christ!

It was getting late, and the Soviet officer had beaten and tortured Paulus for many hours. “We are not going to torture you anymore,” he said, smiling brutally when the Christian looked up. “We will send you instead to Siberia, where the snow never melts. It is a place of great suffering. You and your family will fit in well.”
    Paulus, instead of being depressed, smiled. “The whole earth belongs to my Father, Captain. Wherever you send me I will be on my Father’s earth.”
    The captain looked at him sharply. “We will take away all you own.”
    “You will need a high ladder, Captain, for my treasures are stored up in heaven.” Paulus still wore a beautiful smile.
    “We will put a bullet between your eyes,” shouted the captain, now angry.
    If you take away my life in this world, my real life of joy and beauty will begin,” answered Paulus. “I am not afraid of being killed.”
    The captain grabbed Paulus by his tattered prison shirt and screamed into his face, “We will not kill you! We will keep you locked alone in a cell and allow no one to come see you!”
    “You cannot do that, Captain,” said Paulus, still smiling. “I have a Friend who can pass through locked doors and iron bars. No one can separate me from the love of Christ.”

Extreme Devotion, Voice of the Martyrs
Day 15

None But Christ!

When life's greater questions come to us, we have only one answer to give: "None but Christ." Is there another way to heaven? None but Christ -- he is the Way. Is there another priority in life that deserves one's full devotion? None but Christ -- he is supreme. Can someone else satisfy the longing of the human heart? None but Christ can satisfy. Truth has no alternative, you see. When life's greater questions come, and they will, are you prepared to testify that of all the possibilities "none but Christ" will satisfy?

from Extreme Devotion, Voice of the Martyrs

"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,  and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
-Simon Peter