Grace Gems

[nChrist]

Spiritual health and strength

("The Marvelous Riches of Savoring Christ,
The letters of Ruth Bryan" 1805-1860)

"My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink.
 The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood
 lives in Me, and I in him." John 6:55-56

It is a present act--"eats" and "drinks."

Is the very life and death, person and work of Jesus
--the daily feast of your soul? Are you eating His flesh,
and drinking His blood? Let us see to it, that we are
seeking spiritual health and strength in no other
way than by the continual, daily feeding on Christ!

There is an ever fresh, ever full, sweetness in
heaven's precious Lamb! Oh, this precious truth!
It is gospel wine to my poor soul!

We have such a Christ that we little think how far His
glories and His matchless love surpass what we have
ever yet conceived. We do not make half enough of
Him--heaven's brightest gem, and richest treasure!
Oh, that the precious Comforter may reveal Him more
and more--that we may count all other things but filth
and dross.

____________________

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[nChrist]

A life of simple faith

(Gleanings from the Inner Life of Ruth Bryan)

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer
 live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the
 body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved
 me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20

Oh, the sweet wonders of a life of simple
faith in Christ! From what little I know, I
am sure it is the most . . .
  flesh-humbling,
  sin-subduing,
  world-crucifying,
  Satan-defeating,
  soul-invigorating,
life in the world!

Unbelief is the source of my misery.

"Lord, increase my faith." Holy Comforter,
teach me how to live Christ at all times,
in all conditions.

Lord Jesus, I am Yours. I submit to Your will,
and unreservedly lay before You myself, with
all I have and am--to be at Your disposal, and
used for Your glory. I am no longer my own--
but Yours; and You, O precious Jesus, are
mine forever!

____________________

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[nChrist]

Oh, what a picture!

(Gleanings from the Inner Life of Ruth Bryan
 --written at the age of seventeen)

I seem to have some feeling about Divine things;
but, alas! this afternoon am as stupid as usual.
Nothing, nothing will break this hard heart! Oh,
that I may be directed by the Spirit of truth to
the right way of happiness!

I fear that I am not affected as I ought, and have
only a faint desire to become a Christian--and that
merely to escape hell. Lord, have mercy upon me!
Lead aright! Break this hard, hard heart! You, Lord,
know what I would have--even the forgiveness
of my sins.

During service I was as cold as a stone! Oh, when
will this vile heart be melted and subdued by divine
grace? I have no faith, no humility, no sense of sin, no
confidence in the promises, no fear of the threatened
punishments; nor anything that I ought to have!

Oh, what a picture!

O Lord, break this heart into ten thousand pieces!
Oh! I would sooner suffer all horrors and terrors
imaginable, and be saved at last--than be in my
present dreadful and stupid state. Break--break,
oh, break my heart, and make me give it entirely
to You, O blessed Savior!

____________________

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[nChrist]

Sweet comfort

(Gleanings from the Inner Life of Ruth Bryan)

During the past night I have again been called to
suffer much bodily affliction and very severe pain--
but was favored with such sweet comfort from my
precious Savior that it seemed light; nay, I thought
I could willingly bear a life of such suffering--if I
might constantly enjoy His presence!

Oh, how delightful was the hope of an eternity of
glory, and how sweet the thought that when life's
journey was ended, the veil would be drawn aside,
and no cloud ever again intervene to hide from my
soul, even for one moment, the lovely countenance
of my adorable Jesus!

Ten thousand thanks to you, dearest Savior, for this
love-glimpse! I long for more tokens of Your love,
and thirst for more constant communion with You!

Such is my frailty, that I am ever prone to sin. Come,
precious Jesus! chase away these thick clouds, and
let me behold Your lovely countenance, and be so
captivated with Your charms, that I may never more
give my heart to earthly objects!

____________________

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[nChrist]

Tell your sorrows and secrets

("The Marvelous Riches of Savoring Christ,
The letters of Ruth Bryan" 1805-1860)

"This is what the Lord says--Cursed are those who put
 their trust in mere humans and turn their hearts away
 from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert,
 with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren
 wilderness, on the salty flats where no one lives. But
 blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made
 the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees
 planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep
 into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat
 or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay
 green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit."
    Jeremiah 17:5-8

How I do like this passage! It is so descriptive of the
blessedness of trusting in the Lord alone; and the sterility
and disappointment of all creature confidence!

I know not your present difficulties, nor need I know them,
for I could not bring you out of them! But I do bless the Lord
that He has brought you into the very best posture of soul--
looking to Him alone. Tell your sorrows and secrets to
this your Friend, watch His eye, obey His bidding--and go
not to carnal and lower means for relief.
Adieu in our heavenly Bridegroom, and in His undying love,
Ruth

____________________

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[nChrist]

The believer's perfection

(Gleanings from the Inner Life of Ruth Bryan)

I am most exceedingly distressed by my sins, and
feel the need of Jesus' precious blood every hour!
I need a supply from the Fountain! "On that day
a fountain will be opened . . . a fountain to cleanse
them from all their sins and defilement." Zech. 13:1

Feeling fully what I am in myself, and proving
afresh that "in my flesh dwells no good thing"--
in this sad state I fly to Jesus as my only refuge!

Oh that the depth of my sin and misery may be
overcome by His rich grace, that with Mary I may
weep at His dear feet, and love much, having
much forgiven.

While in the body we shall never be free from sin.
I had been looking for something from and in my
flesh which the Word of God does not warrant me
to expect. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh"
--and ever will be!

The believer's perfection is in Christ. Oh that
He may condescend to teach me, and lead me to
look straight out of self--to a glorious Christ!

"And you are complete in Him." Colossians 2:10

____________________

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[nChrist]

A silly fly!

(Gleanings from the Inner Life of Ruth Bryan)

I have just seen a silly fly, sporting heedlessly
close to a spider's web, and most likely it would
soon have sported into it--and have become fast
entangled in the snare. But a friendly hand swept
away the spider's network, and thus removed the
danger; while the heedless, helpless fly, was equally
unconscious of both the danger and the preservation.

Ah! then, I thought, perhaps it is thus often with me!
In an unseen snare I had been almost heedlessly
caught. But the seeing eye, loving heart, and powerful
arm of Jesus are mine! He beholds the intended mischief,
defeats the wily worker, sweeps away the entangling
thread--and thus preserves me from disaster!

All praise be Yours, dear Lord, for known and unknown
mercies and deliverances! Oh, may I never knowingly
sport on the edge of sin--or trifle with temptation.

"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You preserve my
 life . . . with Your right hand You save me!" Psalm 138:7

____________________

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[nChrist]

Evidently given up

(Gleanings from the Inner Life of Ruth Bryan)

I have again this week written to my friend, and
pressed eternal things upon her notice. May the
Lord bless the message. My soul yearns over her,
and often do I mourn over her condition--for she
is evidently given up to fashion, and worldly
pursuits, and pleasure.

____________________

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[nChrist]

Streams & Fountain

(Gleanings from the Inner Life of Ruth Bryan)

November 21st, 1830. While thinking this afternoon of
some friends who have been running eagerly from one
place to another after a celebrated, and, I suppose, most
interesting preacher; this idea forcibly struck me--why
manifest such undue concern after streams, when we
have the Fountain always accessible? I can, in my
humble cottage, approach the footstool of the Father
of mercies, and enjoy the manifestation of His love!

____________________

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[nChrist]

Playing with its tinsel toys

(Gleanings from the Inner Life of Ruth Bryan)

How the world has lessened and deadened to me
lately. It seems a very nothing, and vanity indeed. To
see Christians gathering its golden dust, and playing
with its tinsel toys, is monstrous. Oh, come away,
you foolish ones, and leave the ash-heap, and rise into
Christ--your priceless inheritance and your eternal riches!

"Don't collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth
 and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But
 collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
 moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don't break in
 and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will
 be also. No one can be a slave of two masters, since either
 he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one
 and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and
 of money." Matthew 6:19-21, 24

 

____________________

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[airIam2worship]

Streams & Fountain

(Gleanings from the Inner Life of Ruth Bryan)

November 21st, 1830. While thinking this afternoon of
some friends who have been running eagerly from one
place to another after a celebrated, and, I suppose, most
interesting preacher; this idea forcibly struck me--why
manifest such undue concern after streams, when we
have the Fountain always accessible? I can, in my
humble cottage, approach the footstool of the Father
of mercies, and enjoy the manifestation of His love!

____________________

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AMEN and AMEN. He is with us at all times.

[nChrist]

Malady and remedy

("The Marvelous Riches of Savoring Christ,
 The letters of Ruth Bryan" May 1845)

Dear friend,
I know not your present malady; but
I know that Christ is the remedy for it!

There is more in Christ for empty souls, than
pen or tongue of men or angels can count!
May you have free access, and eat and drink,
and forget your poverty--being taken up with
His riches, fullness, and glory! The Lord comfort
you, and establish your heart with grace. Adieu.

Yours affectionately, in our Beloved One,
Ruth

____________________

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[nChrist]

Content his soul with earth's poor dust

(Charles Spurgeon, December 31, 1871)

There is a joy of divine origin--"The joy of the Lord."
Springing from the Lord as its source, it will necessarily
be of a very elevated character. Since man fell in the
garden, he has too often sought for his enjoyments
where the serpent finds his. It is written, "You will
crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the
days of your life." This was the serpent's doom; and
man, with infatuated ambition, has tried to find his
delight in his sensual appetites, and to content his
soul with earth's poor dust.

But the joys of time cannot satisfy an undying nature,
and when a soul is once quickened by the eternal Spirit,
it can no more fill itself with worldly mirth, or even with
the common enjoyments of life--than can a man snuff
up wind and feed thereon. But, beloved, we are not left
to search for joy; it is brought to our doors by the love
of God our Father--joy refined and satisfying, befitting
immortal spirits!

God has not left us to wander among those unsatisfactory
things which mock the chase which they invite. He has
given us appetites which carnal things cannot
content, and He has provided suitable satisfaction for
those appetites. He has stored up at His right hand
pleasures for evermore, which even now He reveals
by His Spirit to those chosen ones whom He has
taught to long for them.

____________________

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[nChrist]

The unanswerable question

(Gleanings from the Inner Life of Ruth Bryan)

"Why me?" This is the unanswerable question--
the wonder of wonders! I, a weak, low, vile, wandering
worm--filled with Your love, ravished with Your beauty!
It is all of grace! To God be all the glory!

Oh, my precious Lord, I am overwhelmed in, and
by, Your love! You have freed me from my sin and
its punishment--by taking them upon Yourself! And
You have prepared me for Yourself--by putting Your
perfect loveliness upon me!

You have overcome me, You ravish my heart!

I thirst with intense and increased ardency, for
unfoldings of the personal glories of my precious
Christ, who is, indeed, "more precious than rubies."

Precious Lord, You are my rest, my happiness, and
You are all-sufficient. Hold me to You, nor let me
wander more.

____________________

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[nChrist]

My Ishi!

(Gleanings from the Inner Life of Ruth Bryan)

"You will call Me Ishi--(my husband). Hosea 2:16

"You will be called Hephzibah--(My delight is in her)
. . . for the Lord will take delight in you." Isaiah 62:4

Christ is most precious. He is my Ishi! I, His Hephzibah!
What love! What wonders, for a worm so vile! But He has
borne my vileness away--and is Himself my loveliness!

Christ, the Beloved of my soul, is my perfection, and His
blood is my purity. However great my guilt, His precious
blood is more than a match for it all. This has been like
solid rock to my soul. "Praise the Lord, O my soul!"

____________________

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