Grace Gems

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Living upon Christ!

(Octavius Winslow, "The God of Grace")

We are as much to live upon Christ for sanctification--as for pardon and justification.

The grace which delivers us from Hell--also fits us for Heaven.
That grace which cancels our guilt--also subdues our corruptions.
That grace which emancipates us from our bondage to sin--equally dethrones the tyrant.

O wondrous, precious grace that, by its divine sanctity and power--brings first one, and then another indwelling corrupt principle, passion, and desire of our hearts--into subjection to Christ.

Precious and marvelous grace--that molds and fashions us into the image of Jesus!

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God has two fires!

(Thomas Watson, "The Beatitudes" 1660)

God has two fires:
  one where He puts His gold,
  one where He puts His dross.

The fire where He puts His gold, is the fire of affliction--to purify them.
"I have refined you in the furnace of affliction." Isaiah 48:10

The fire where He puts His dross, is the fire of damnation--to punish them.
"Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his demons!
 And they will go away into eternal punishment!" Matthew 25:41, 46

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I want those You have given Me to be with Me!

("Every Day!" Author unknown, 1872)

"Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory!" John 17:24

Precious Savior, how does Your love to Your own redeemed people appear in these words! Nothing will satisfy You short of the eternal possession of those whom the Father has given to You, whom You have redeemed with Your own most precious blood, and sanctified by Your Spirit. It is Your will that they should be with You. You would have them in Your presence and in Your home--that they may behold You face to face, and share Your glory and Your joy!

And the love of Your redeemed people answers to Your love to them--their chief desire is be with You where You are. The visits of Your love to them here on earth, are their seasons of highest enjoyment--but they are transient, and they see You only as in a glass darkly. They desire to be with You far away from this world of pollution and sin--with You in the place which You have prepared for them! They desire . . .
  to forever abide with You,
  to forever dwell where You dwell,
  to forever behold Your glory, and
  to enjoy continual manifestations of Your love--and so forever be with their precious Savior.

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By the grace of God I am what I am!

("Every Day!" Author unknown, 1872)

"By the grace of God I am what I am!" 1 Corinthians 15:10

All that I am . . .
  as a child of God,
  as a servant of Christ,
  as an heir of Heavenly glory
--I am by the grace of God!

Am I cleansed from the guilt of my sins? It was Your grace, O God of love, which opened the fountain that washed it all away!

Am I justified? It was Your grace that provided the spotless robe of righteousness, in which I stand accepted before You.

Am I sanctified? It is not by works of righteousness which I have done, but by Your grace I am saved from the love and power of my sins.

Am I bearing any fruit to Your glory? It is by Your grace in Christ Jesus--for apart from Him, I could do nothing.

Am I different from what I once was, or from the ungodly who have their portion in this world? It is Your grace alone which has made me to differ. I have nothing which I have not received from You.

"By the grace of God I am what I am!"
  A pardoned sinner,
  a justified believer,
  an adopted child,
  an heir of glory!

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Here is a prohibition and an admonition

("Every Day!" Author unknown, 1872)

"I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not be conformed to this world; but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12:2

Here is a prohibition and an admonition. O Lord, give me grace to avoid what You forbid--and to do what you enjoin.

Enable me to avoid compliance with those customs and ways of the world which are contrary to Your will.

While in the world--let me not be of it.

Give me grace to come out and to be separate from its ungodly principles and sinful pleasures.

Transform me by the renewal of my mind.

Deliver me from pride, from selfishness, and vain-glory.

Afford me a continual supply of the grace of Christ.

Impress His image on me--and help me to tread in His steps.

Let it plainly appear that I am not of the world--even as He was not of the world. John 17:16

O Lord, work in me to will and to act according to Your good pleasure.

"Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you--and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." 2 Corinthians 6:17-18

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I am my Beloved's--and my Beloved is mine!

("Every Day!" Author unknown, 1872)

"I am my Beloved's--and my Beloved is mine!" Song of Songs 6:3

The Lord Jesus Christ is not only the Father's beloved Son--He is the believer's beloved Savior.

Jesus is the object of a Christian's adoring love--as well as of his hearty trust.

He loves Him--because He laid down His life to redeem him. He also loves Him for what He is in Himself. He loves Him for His personal glories, and for the excellence of His character:

    "All human beauties--all Divine,
     In His Beloved meet and shine!"

He is to him the chief among ten thousand, and "altogether lovely." What especially affords him satisfaction, is that he can claim Christ as his own--and that Christ also claims him as His own! His joy is supreme, when with assurance he can say, "I am my Beloved's--and He is mine!"

Every believer who heartily receives Christ as his Savior, his Substitute, and as his Lord and Master, and who unreservedly yields himself to Him--is warranted to claim Christ as His own, and to know also that he is Christ's.

"Oh! I am my Beloved's,
 And my Beloved is mine!
 He feasts a poor vile sinner,
 With love and grace Divine!"

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He grew prayerless, unwatchful, self-confident, worldly and proud!

(Octavius Winslow, "Eminent Holiness Essential to an Efficient Ministry")

Although the evidences of a deteriorating piety in a minister may not be so conspicuous to the eye--they are not the less decided in their character, and painful in their consequences.

Externally, there may be nothing tending to awaken suspicion that the life of God in our soul is passing through a process of decline.
The appropriate functions of our office are going forward with the utmost regularity and zeal;
the study witnesses to the wearisome hours of hard reading and severe thought;
the pulpit is regularly and ably filled;
the ordinances are duly and seriously administered; and
the pastoral duties are systematically and affectionately discharged.

And yet a faithful, honest, and close examination of our souls would probably detect . . .
  an alarming distance from God in the habitual frame of our mind,
  but little real, close communion with Him in secret prayer,
  coldness and deadness, gathering and congealing around the spirit,
  a waning love for, and delight in, our work,
  a decreasing sense of individual and ministerial responsibility, and
  a lessening apprehension of the nearness and solemnity of eternity.

To so great a degree may the anointing oil have evaporated from our minds--so formal, cold, and mechanical may be the spirit with which the duties of our office are discharged--we shall be found to go forward in a work that might "fill an angel's hand, and that filled a Savior's heart"--with but the slow and dying vibrations of the pendulum, when the power which first set it in motion has ceased to exist.

And oh! my brethren . . .
  with no power to move us, but that which is artificial;
  with no love to our work, but that which is professional;
  with no interest in its discharge, but that which is selfish;
  and with no desire of success, but that which spreads far our own petty fame--
to what low, contemptible drudgery is our high office reduced! No galley slave could be more pitiable than we!

The falls of so many ministers, are awful and affecting warnings to those who think they stand. The bleak shores of eternity are strewed with the fragments of many a beautiful wreck--men who once stood high in the church--too high for their own safety--but who made shipwreck of their profession and their faith, and now serve as beacons of warning to those who follow.

What do I see yonder? A spectacle over which demons have exulted, the church has mourned--and, if it is possible, angels have wept!

I knew him well. He was my compeer in age, my associate in study, the companion of my walks, the confidant of my bosom. His fine mind was redolent of thought, his bright eye gleamed with genius, his tall and manly form was fascinating in its appearance. Few men ever entered the Christian ministry with higher prospects, or awoke in the hearts of friends, and of the church--richer, fonder hopes. He bid fair, as his sun arose to its zenith, to be a bright and a shining light. Distinguished posts of labor were offered to him. Crowds, eager to receive his instructions, clustered around his pulpit, drawn together by the tender, subduing eloquence of his lips.

But--he fell! and fell deeply, awfully! The church entrusted to him the keeping of the vineyards--but his own vineyard, he kept not. Laboring for the salvation of others, he labored not for his own. He grew prayerless, unwatchful, self-confident, worldly and proud--and by slow but certain and fatal degrees, he descended from his lofty eminence! His sun went down while it was yet day, and around him is now gathered in thick and solemn folds--the dark pall of guilt, of infamy, and of shame! "Bemoan him, all you who are around him; and all you who know his name. Say: How the strong staff is broken, and the beautiful rod!" Jeremiah 48:17

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It is the blood of Jesus, applied by the Spirit

(Octavius Winslow)

There is a perpetual proneness to seek our fruitfulness from anything but a close, spiritual, and constant dealing with the cross of Jesus. But as well might we expect the earth to clothe itself with verdure, or the tree to blossom, and the blossom ripen into fruit, without the sun's genial warmth--as to look for fruitfulness in a regenerate soul, without a constant dealing with the Lord Jesus Christ. For just what the sun is to the kingdom of nature, Jesus the Sun of righteousness is to the kingdom of grace--the blessed source of all its verdure, fragrance, and fruitfulness. Then, let all your expectations be centered here.

No real good can come to you, no healing to your spirit, no fruitfulness to your soul, from a perpetual living upon convictions of sin, legal fears, or transient joys--the Divine life can derive no nourishment from these. But live upon the atoning blood of Jesus--here is the fatness of your soul found. This is that which heals the wound, wins the heart, and hushes to repose every fear of condemnation. This is that which enables a poor sinner to look fully at God--feeling that justice, holiness, truth, and every Divine perfection are on his side.

It is the blood of Jesus, applied by the Spirit--which moistens each fiber of the root of holiness in the soul, and is productive of its fruitfulness. This is that which sends the warm current of life through every part of the regenerate man, quickening the pulse of love, and imparting a healthy and vigorous power to every act of obedience.

And when the spiritual seasons change--for it is not always spring-time with the soul of a child of God; when the summer's sun withers, or the autumnal blast scatters the leaves, and winter's fiercer storm beats upon the smitten bough--then the blood and righteousness of Christ, lived upon, loved, and cherished--will yet sustain the Divine life in the soul, and in due season the spring blossom and the summer fruit shall again appear, proving that the Divine life of a believer is "hid with Christ in God."

Then shall be said of you, as was said of the church by her Beloved: "Look, the winter is past, and the rains are over and gone. The flowers are springing up, the season of singing birds has come, and the cooing of turtledoves fills the air. The fig trees are forming young fruit, and the fragrant grapevines are blossoming. Rise up, My darling! Come away with Me, My fair one!"

Then let your heart respond, "Awake, north wind! Rise up, south wind! Blow on my garden and spread its fragrance all around. Come into Your garden, my Beloved--taste its finest fruits!"

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Rejecting the cross--they will lose the crown!

("Every Day!" Author unknown, 1872)

"If any man will come after Me--let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me!" Matthew 16:24

Our Lord and Savior plainly states that discipleship involves self-denial. He who would tread in the steps of Christ--must be prepared to take up his cross. It was no path of flowery ease that the Savior trod--and anyone who would follow Him must be determined . . .
  to resist self and sin,
  to accept the world's scorn, and
  to take up any cross that might lie in the path of obedience and service.

Those who habitually consult their own ease, who indulge sinful self, and will not take up a cross for Christ--are not His true disciples. Rejecting the cross--they will lose the crown!

Surely, the remembrance of the Cross that Jesus bore for us, and on which He bled and died to redeem us from the curse of the law and all the fearful consequences of sin--should lead us cheerfully to take up any cross that we might be called to bear for Him.


    Jesus, I my cross have taken,
    All to leave and follow Thee.
    Destitute, despised, forsaken,
    Thou from hence, my all shall be!

    Go, then, earthly fame and treasure,
    Come disaster, scorn and pain.
    In Thy service, pain is pleasure,
    With Thy favor, loss is gain!

    I have called Thee Abba Father,
    I have stayed my heart on Thee.
    Storms may howl, and clouds may gather;
    All must work for good to me!

    Soon shall close my earthly mission,
    Soon shall pass my pilgrim days.
    Hope shall change to glad fruition,
    Faith to sight, and prayer to praise!
       ~ Henry Lyte

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May you know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge!

("Every Day!" Author unknown, 1872)

"May you know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge!" Ephesians 3:19

Christ's love surpasses knowledge! Blessed fact! His love is so vast, so full, so free--that it cannot in its completeness be comprehended by finite minds. But enough of it may be known to satisfy our longing hearts, and to fill us with joy and peace.

Let it be our constant desire to know and feel the Savior's love. Let us dwell with wonder and delight on that marvelous manifestation of it--the sin-atoning sacrifice of Himself for us! What love must that be, that led Him to die, even the death of the cross, for our sins! "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends"--but Jesus died for His enemies!

Did He die for us as His enemies--then what is His love to us now that we are His friends? It is unutterable!

May the Holy Spirit reveal Christ's love to us now in such measure as we may be able to understand and enjoy it; but the full disclosures of it await that period when we shall be with Him, and shall see Him as He is!

"May you have the power to understand, as all God's people should--how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is!" Ephesians 3:18

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Speak Lord, for Your servant is listening!

("Every Day!" Author unknown, 1872)

"Speak Lord, for Your servant is listening!" 1 Samuel 3:9

Lord, I may not expect to hear You speak to me with an audible voice, as You spoke to Samuel; but by Your Word and by Your Spirit--You still speak to the hearts of Your people.

O Lord, but speak thus unto me. Speak to my mind, my conscience, and my heart . . .
  words of instruction,
  words of warning,
  words of reproof,
  words of counsel,
  words of comfort--
according as You, in Your infinite wisdom, see fit.

Speak to me as my Savior--tell me of Your redeeming mercy.

Speak to me as my Friend--draw near and commune with my heart.

Speak to me as my Father--and tell me of Your care and constant love.

When burdened with sin, say unto me, "I, even I, am He who blots out your sins as a cloud, and your transgressions as a thick cloud!"

When struggling with inward corruption, say unto my soul, "I am your salvation!"

When distressed in the hour of trial, say unto me, "Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you--I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."

In every time of need, say to my heart, "My grace is sufficient for you."

"Speak Lord, for Your servant is listening!"

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He will wipe every tear from their eyes!

("Every Day!" Author unknown, 1872)

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes--and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever!" Revelation 21:4

This is but a glimpse of the glorious state upon which all the people of God will hereafter enter! There will not only be the absence of all evil--there will be the eternal enjoyment of all good. There will be perpetual vigor, perfect purity, happy service, joyous praise, eternal friendship, holy communion, and unmingled and everlasting bliss!

Suffering Christian, a few more pangs--and your last moment of anguish will be past!

Bereaved one, in Heaven you will never wear the garments of sadness--you will never lose a friend!

Sorrowing one, you will soon heave your last sigh, and have all tears wiped from your eyes!

Weary one, your journey is almost ended. Soon you will cross the threshold of your Father's house, find yourself at home, and enter upon the enjoyment of your everlasting rest!

"A few more storms shall beat
 On this wild rocky shore,
 Then we shall be where tempests cease,
 And surges swell no more.

"A few more struggles here,
 A few more partings o'er,
 A few more toils, a few more tears,
 And we shall weep no more!"

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All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth

("Every Day!" Author unknown, 1872)

"All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, unto those who keep His covenant and His testimonies." Psalm 25:10

The Lord's faithful ones keep His covenant--for He is their keeper. They keep His testimonies--for He puts His laws into their minds and writes them upon their hearts.

By "the paths of the Lord"--we may understand the different ways He takes in His dealings with His people. Observe that "all" of them are declared to be mercy and truth towards them.

While, commonly, the Lord comes to His people in the way of refreshment and comfort--He sometimes approaches them in clouds and darkness, and in storms of trial. By whatever way He comes--it is in faithfulness and love.

But His people do not always see this, and at times their faith may be sharply tried to believe it--but it is nevertheless true.

Though the Lord's dispensations change--He does not change.

He is good when He gives--and He is equally good when He denies.

He is faithful when He comforts--and He is just as faithful when He corrects.

He is Love when He cheers--and He is Love when He chides.

Believer, seek grace to trust in the Lord at all times, and to bless Him for crosses as well as for comforts.

"When you can't trace His hand--trust His heart!"

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Certainly I will be with you!

("Every Day!" Author unknown, 1872)

"Certainly I will be with you!" Exodus 3:12

Then, Lord, I will go forward. I would not venture a step--if You did not accompany me; but if You are with me, then all is well.

With You I will go forth to my daily business in the world--for You will keep me amidst its temptations and snares.

With You I will labor in Your vineyard--for You will make Your strength perfect in my weakness.

With You I will walk the thorny path of trial--for You will furnish me with shoes of iron and brass.

With You I will enter the field of conflict--for You will teach my hands to war, and will cover my head in the day of battle.

With You I will enter the chamber of pain and weakness--for You will make all my bed in my sickness.

With You I will walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and will fear no evil--for Your rod and Your staff will comfort me.

With You I will enter the waters of Jordan--for You will bear me through, and land me on the shore of the heavenly Canaan.

"Surely I am with you always--even to the end of the age!" Matthew 28:20

"I will never leave you or forsake you!" Hebrews 13:5

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God gives His people a taste of Heaven!

(Thomas Brooks)

God gives His people a taste of Heaven--that they may not faint.
And He gives them but a taste . . .
  that they may be encouraged in their difficult journey,
  that they may long to be at Home,
  that they may keep humble,
  that they may sit loose from things below,
  that Heaven may be more sweet to them at last!

"No eye has seen,
 no ear has heard, and
 no mind has imagined--
what God has prepared for those who love Him!" 1 Corinthians 2:9