Grace Gems

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Our hearts are Yours!

(Henry Law, "Family Prayers")

"My son, give Me your heart, and let your eyes observe My ways." Proverbs 23:26

Holy Father, Almighty God,
We desire to give our hearts unto You, without one shadow of reserve. We beseech You to take full possession of them.

Expel mightily every opposing foe.

Crush every rebel lust.

Mortify each traitorous passion.

Annihilate each earth-born desire.

Our hearts are Yours--for You have created them.

They are Yours--for You have redeemed them by the most precious blood of Your only begotten Son.

They are Yours--because in free love You have renewed them by Your Holy Spirit.

They are Yours--because You have conquered them by Your grace.

They are Yours--because we willingly surrender them to You.

Occupy them wholly by Your presence.

Exclude every intruding rival.

Reign supreme within them.

We would love You now, and forevermore, with all our hearts, and all our souls, and all our might, and all our strength. You are worthy of infinitude of adoration, far beyond what our dull hearts can yield. Is love among men awakened by genius, wisdom, worth, and seeming perfection? You are the very perfection of all perfections! All intellect is derived from You. Our scanty rivulets flow from Your unfathomable fountain. Compared with You--
  the sun is darkness,
  all beauty is deformity,
  all knowledge is folly,
  the best goodness is most faulty.
You, the great Creator, who inhabits eternity, are high above all creatures. So invigorate our love, that it may worthily rise to You and tightly entwine itself around You!

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His most afflictive dispensations

(Letters of John Newton)

Dear friend,
I hope that you have found your trials so sweetened, and so sanctified, by God's blessing, that you have been enabled to rejoice in them!

Whatever may be the immediate causes of your troubles--they are all under the direction of a gracious hand--and each, in their place, cooperating to a gracious end. Your afflictions all come from God's heart, who loves you better than you love yourself! They are all tokens of His love and favor--and are necessary means of promoting your growth in faith and grace.

You are in the hands of Him who does all things well, and conducts His most afflictive dispensations to those who fear Him, with wisdom and mercy!

The Lord knows what is best for you! When there is an especial need-be for your being in the furnace--He knows how to support you; and at what season, and in what manner, deliverance will best comport with His glory and your good. These are the two great ends which He has in view, and which are inseparably connected together.

He knows our frame, and of what we are made. His pity exceeds that of the most tender parent. And though He causes grief--He will have compassion. Your afflictions which at present are not joyous but grievous, shall, when you have been duly exercised by them--yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness. I trust the Lord gives you a measure of patience and submission to His holy will. If so, everything shall be well--and when He has fully tried you--you shall come forth as gold!

The thoughts of what we have deserved at His hands--and what Jesus suffered for our sakes--when applied by his Holy Spirit, have a sovereign efficacy to compose our minds, and enable us to say, "Not my will--but may Yours be done!" How unspeakably better is it to be chastened by the Lord now--than to be left to ourselves for a season, and at last condemned with the world.

The path of affliction is sanctified by the promises of God, and by the consideration of our Lord Jesus, who walked in it Himself, that we might not think it too much to tread in His steps. Yes, it has been a beaten path in all ages; for the innumerable multitudes of the redeemed who are now before the eternal throne, have entered the kingdom by no other way. Let us not then be weary and faint--but cheerfully consent to be the followers of those who, through faith and patience, are now inheriting the promises!

If, after much tribulation, we stand accepted before the Lord in His glory, we shall not then think much of the difficulties we met with in our pathway to glory. Then sorrow and sighing shall cease forever--and songs of triumph and everlasting joy shall take their place! Oh, happy transporting moment, when the Lord God Himself shall wipe every tear from our eyes!

Until then, may the prospect of this glory which shall be revealed, cheer and comfort our hearts! Hitherto the Lord has helped us. He has delivered us in six troubles--and we may trust Him in the seventh.

Whatever storms may arise, we have an infallible and almighty Pilot, who will be a Sun and a Shield to those who love Him!

As long as we live, new trials will be needful. It is not that the Lord delights in grieving us and putting us to pain; on the contrary, He rejoices in the prosperity of His servants. No, it is not for His pleasure--but for our profit, that we may be made partakers of His holiness!

Perhaps you may have observed a bird, in a hedge, or upon the boughs of a tree; if you disturb it--it will move a little higher--and thus you may make it change its place three or four times. But if it finds, after a few trials, that you continue to follow it--it takes wing at last, and flies away!

Thus it is with us! When the Lord drives us from one creature-rest, we immediately perch upon another! But He will not allow us to stay long upon any. At length, like the bird, we are sensible that we can have no safety, no stable peace below! Then our hearts take flight and soar heavenwards, and we are taught by His grace to place our treasure and affections out of the reach of earthly vanities. So far as this end is accomplished, we have reason to be thankful and say, happy rod--that brought me nearer to my God!

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Groveling among the baubles of this world

(Thomas Boston, "Human Nature in its Fourfold State")

"He who overcomes will inherit all things!" Revelation 21:7

He shall have peace and plenty, profit and pleasure, everything desirable--full satisfaction of his most enlarged desires! Let the expectants of heaven, then, lift up their heads with joy. Let them gird up their loins, and so run that they may obtain; trampling on everything that may hinder them in their way to the kingdom. Let them never account any duty too hard, nor any cross too heavy, nor any pains too great--so that they may attain the unfading crown of glory.

Christians should behave suitably to their character and dignity--as heirs of the eternal glorious kingdom. Let your heart be in heaven. Let your souls delight in communion with God while you are on earth, since you look for your happiness in communion with Him in heaven. Let your speech and actions savor of heaven; and in your manner of life, look towards the heavenly country to which you are going.

Maintain a holy contempt of the world, and of the things of the world. Although others, whose earthly things are their best things, set their hearts upon them; yet it befits you to set your feet on them, since your best things are above. This world is but the alien country through which you must pass through, on your journey to Immanuel's land. Therefore, pass through it as pilgrims and strangers; and do not immerse yourself in its encumbrances, so as to retard you in your journey.

It is unworthy of one born to a palace--to set his heart to dwell in a poor hovel. It is unworthy of one running for a prize of gold--to depart from his path to gather pebbles and sticks. How much more is it unworthy of an heir of the kingdom of heaven--to be groveling among the baubles of this world, when he should be traveling on to receive his eternal inheritance!

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A most sovereign antidote

(Thomas Brooks, "A Word in Season to Suffering Saints")

Then Moses said to Him, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here!" Exodus 33:15

God's presence is infinitely better than the presence of all outward comforts. God is with His people to counsel them in all doubtful and difficult cases, and to defend and secure them against all their enemies and opposers.

A sound sincere Christian can never have enough . . .
  power against sin, nor
  strength against temptation, nor
  weanedness from this world, nor
  ripeness for heaven, nor
  of the presence of the Lord.

The special presence of God with His people, is a most sovereign antidote.

Troubles will be no troubles,
distresses will be no distresses,
dangers will be no dangers--
if God's presence is with you.

Mountains--will be molehills; stabs at the heart--will be as scratches upon the hand; if God's presence is with you.

God's special presence will turn . . .
  storms into calms,
  winter nights into summer days,
  prisons into palaces,
  weakness into strength,
  poverty into plenty,
  death into life.

Just so, while a Christian enjoys the singular presence of God with him, he will make nothing of this affliction and that affliction, of this trouble and that trouble, of this loss and that loss. God's presence makes . . .
  heavy afflictions--light, and
  long afflictions--short, and
  bitter afflictions--sweet.

A man in misery, without this gracious presence of God, is in a very hell on this side hell. God's gracious presence makes every condition--to be a little heaven to the believing soul. There is nothing, there can be nothing, but heaven--where God is specially present.

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble." Psalm 46:1

"The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress!" Psalm 46:7

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You ought to wash one another's feet!

(Philip Bennett Power)

"He got up from supper, laid aside His robe, took a towel, and tied it around Himself. Next, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples' feet and to dry them with the towel tied around Him." John 13:4-5

When the Lord Himself would stoop to the humblest and lowest act of service, and teach His disciples to do the same--the washing of feet was the one He chose.

During His earthly walk--Jesus saw all humble deeds in both their present and future dignity. He knew how and why it was, that he who would be greatest--must be the servant of all. He connected service and reward together. In His mind--all humble deeds of service were invested with great dignity. Jesus never did a humble deed, or took up a menial position, or uttered a lowly speech, without a consciousness of the true nobility attached to them. Therefore, with great joy did He perform all His humble service!

It is just here that we fail. We have little power of association. We isolate our humble services and deeds--from their eternal principles and thoughts, and then our services become burdensome, and our duties become toilsome--and failure is too often the result. Let us realize the nobility of our humble services. Let us remember that our now all-glorious Redeemer once said, "I am among you as the One who serves." Luke 22:27

Life, and common every-day service and duties, will wear a new aspect to us--when we see them tending to such a glorious consummation! We shall have fresh heart and energy--when we realize that the future will compensate abundantly for them.

"So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet--you ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done for you." John 13:14-15

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When you stand over your child's dead body

By Charles Spurgeon

May you so live, that when you stand over your child's dead body, you may never hear a voice coming up from that clay, "Father, your negligence was my destruction! Mother, your prayerlessness was the instrument of my damnation!"

"Impress these words of Mine on your hearts and minds . . . Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Deuteronomy 11:18-19

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The secret of development of Christian character

(Arthur Pink, "The Sovereignty of God")

The loss of all confidence in ones self, is the first essential in the believer's growth in grace! The Christian, conscious of his own frailty, will turn unto the Lord for strength.  "That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak--then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:10

There must be consciousness of our weakness, before we shall turn to the Lord for help. While the Christian imagines that he is sufficient in himself; while he imagines that by the mere force of his will, that he shall resist temptation; while he has any confidence in the flesh--then, like 'boasting Peter'--so we shall certainly fail and fall. The plain fact is--that of ourselves we are utterly unable to practice a single precept, or obey a single command that is set before us in the Scriptures! Apart from Christ--we can do nothing! (John 15:5). The promise of God is, "He gives power to the faint; and strengthens the powerless!" Isaiah 40:29

The secret of development of Christian character, is the realization of our own powerlessness, and the consequent turning unto the Lord for help. A consciousness of our powerlessness, should cast us upon Him who has all power.

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble!" Psalm 46:1

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A very delicate thing

(Arthur Pink, "The Eye of Faith")

Faith is frequently represented in Scripture, under the metaphor of bodily sight. Of Moses it is said that "he endured as seeing Him who is invisible" Hebrews 11:27. That is, his heart was sustained through faith's being occupied with the mighty God.

The eye is a very delicate thing--it is soon hurt and easily damaged. A tiny speck of dust will cause pain and make it weep. It is very striking to note, that this is the very way to recovery--it weeps out the dust that gets into it.

Just so, faith is a most delicate grace, thriving best in a pure conscience. Hence the apostle speaks of "holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience" (1 Timothy 3:9). The lively actings of faith are soon marred by the dust of sin, or by the vanities of the world getting into the heart where it is seated. And wherever true faith is--if it is hurt by sin--it vents itself in a way of godly sorrow.

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Your chief study

(Jonathan Edwards)

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it
 is the wellspring of life!" Proverbs 4:23

See that your chief study is about your heart:
  that there, God's image is planted;
  that there, His interests are advanced;
  that there, the world and flesh are subdued;
  that there, the love of every sin is cast out;
  that there, the love of holiness grows.

"I, the Lord, search the heart and examine
 the mind!" Jeremiah 17:10

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Sailing through the narrow strait of repentance

(William Dyer)

To bless God for mercies--is the way to increase them;
to bless Him for miseries--is the way to remove them.

Christ uncrowned Himself--to crown us!
He put off His robes--to put on our rags!
He came down from heaven--to keep us out of hell!
He fasted forty days--that He might feast us to all eternity!
He came from heaven to earth--that He might send us from earth to heaven!

There is no going to the fair haven of glory--without
sailing through the narrow strait of repentance.

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He makes all His subjects kings!

(William Dyer, "Christ's Famous Titles")

"He has made us kings and priests to our God!" Revelation 5:10

The Lord Jesus infinitely excels all earthly kings--in that He makes all His subjects kings! He has a crown of glory for every subject! Oh, what a glorious King is this!

Oh, sirs, it is better to be a poor member of Christ--than the head of a nation! Oh, how infinitely happy are all Christ's subjects! They are all kings, all heirs, all favorites, all sons!

Alas! where is there such a king to be found--who makes all his subjects kings?

There are many kings who undo their subjects--but Christ makes His subjects kings!

There are many kings who make their subjects beggars--but Christ makes His subjects kings!

There are many kings who put their subjects to death--but Christ died that His subjects might live!

There are many kings who give their subjects titles--but Christ gives all His subjects heaven!

Now, beloved, here is the excellence of our King--He makes all His subjects kings--and gives them all crowns of glory!

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He not only makes them kings

(William Dyer, "Christ's Famous Titles")

"To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with Me on My throne!" Revelation 3:21

Jesus Christ is an ENTHRONED King! But, beloved, this is not all; Christ not only sits there Himself--but He has promised that all who overcome, shall sit down with Him upon His throne!

Now, I wonder where there is any king but Christ, who allows his subjects to sit upon his throne with him. Alas! this would be treason for a man to attempt it!

Oh, what a glorious King is Jesus! Every one of His poor subjects shall sit upon the throne with Him! One would think this very promise would draw the whole world after Christ! Oh! what great offers, and privileges, and honors Christ bestows upon all His poor followers! He not only makes them kings--but He brings them to sit upon His very throne with Him!

O believer, you say that it would be an honor indeed, if could you but look into heaven, and merely to see Christ sit upon His throne! But this honor have all His saints; yes, much more--He makes them all kings, and grants to them to sit down with Him upon His throne!

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All the hell that you shall ever have!

(William Dyer, "Christ's Famous Titles")

"Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows!" John 16:33

"You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand!" Psalm 16:11

Cheer up, Christian! The sweetness of the crown which shall be enjoyed--will make amends for the bitterness of the cross which was endured. This world is all the hell that you shall ever have!

Here you have your bad things--your good things are yet to come!

Here you have your bitter things--but your sweet things are yet to come!

Here you have your prison--but your palace is yet to come!

Here you have your rags--your royal robes are yet to come!

Here you have your sorrow--your joy is yet to come!

Here you have your hell--your heaven is yet to come!

After the cup of affliction--comes the cup of salvation!

Oh, sirs, under the greatest troubles--lie your greatest treasures!

The seed of sorrow on earth--shall reap a golden crop of joy in heaven!

Those who sow holiness in the seed-time of their lives--shall reap happiness in the harvest of eternity!

Oh! sirs, never think to have an end of your sorrow--until there is an end of your sin!

The apostle tells us, "Our light affliction, which is for a moment--works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!"
A grain of affliction--works a weight of glory!
A short moment of pain--works an eternity of pleasures!

Therefore saints, be of good cheer! Here is comfort for you--your best days are yet to come!

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The sea of damnation!

(William Dyer, "Christ's Famous Titles")

"Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when His righteous judgment will be revealed." Romans 2:4-5

Oh! who will pity you who would not pity yourselves--when you are damned--when you are howling and roaring in hell?

If the day of mercy leaves you graceless--the day of judgment will find you speechless!

There is no standing before Christ--but by standing in Christ.

Ungodly men fear no wrath--because they presently feel no wrath.

Because their sin is now unpunished--they think there is no punishment for their sins!

Because God continues to spare them--they go on to provoke Him!

Because He adds to their lives--they add to their lusts!

Because He is very merciful--they will be very sinful!

Because He is very good to them--they will be very bad to Him!

Because His justice now winks--men think He is blind!

Because He does not reprove them for their sins--therefore they think He approves them in their sins!

But JUSTICE will soon avenge the quarrel of abused mercy!

Oh! sinners, though the patience of God is lasting--it is not everlasting!

If by the warnings of God, you are not alarmed--you shall be consumed by His wrath!

The longer God is in raising His omnipotent arm--the heavier will be the blow when it comes!

The day that begins in mercy--may end in judgment!

God is silent for only so long; but know, that God has vials of wrath filled with indignation--for vessels of wrath fitted for destruction!

If God's mercy does not draw you to repentance--God's judgments will drive you to destruction!

The sea of damnation--shall not be sweetened with one drop of compassion!

"How will we escape--if we neglect such a great salvation!" Hebrews 2:3. If you neglect the great salvation--you cannot escape the great damnation!

Oh! sinners, think of this--before the bottomless pit has shut its mouth upon you!

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Christ is our pelican!

(William Dyer, "Christ's Famous Titles")

"While we were still sinners--Christ died for us!" Romans 5:8

He loved us more than His own life! The 'pelican' feeds her young ones with her own blood. Oh! sirs, Christ is our pelican, who has nourished and fed us with His own blood. "My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink," says Christ.

Christ's red blood--has taken away our red guilt!

Scarlet-red sinners--have become milk-white saints, when washed in His blood!

All our precious mercies--come swimming to us in Christ's precious blood!

Christ bled love at every vein! His drops of blood--were drops of love! Yes, the more bloody He was--the more lovely! He was most lovely upon the cross--because then He showed most love to us!

Christ took upon Him our shame--that we might be partakers of His glory!

He died our death--that we might live His life!

He suffered our hell--that we might enjoy His heaven!

He endured the sorest pains--that we might enjoy the sweetest pleasures!

He went through the furnace of wrath--to keep us out of the flames of hell!

Oh! how infinitely does He love us!