[That you] “may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge” (Eph 3:18-19). Every believer has a unique Christ, a Christ to answer exactly our unique needs, abilities, challenges, and burdens—thus all the saints are needed to […]
When others unjustly start name-calling, what do we do? We call on the name of the Lord! Psalm 7 is the second Biographical Psalm, and is titled “A Meditation of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite.” I hope I’m not spoiling it for you, but those words would hardly […]
CHRIST UNSEEN: “…Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Pet 1:7-8). J. Sidlow Baxter, in his devotional, Going Deeper, quotes the words of F.B. Meyer: “The great painters of Christendom covered the walls of picture […]
“Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law” (Ps 119:18). The current term to “be woke” or “stay woke” refers to a need for awareness about conditions around, especially injustice. But the idea is an old one. We need to be sensitive about holy living: “Awake to righteousness, and do not […]
Faith is often needed not only for spiritual efforts but for financial provision as well. In dark days, when funds were low for the China Inland Mission, Hudson Taylor received a letter from George Müller: “My chief object is to tell you that I love you in the Lord; that I feel deeply interested about […]
“There remains therefore a rest for the people of God…Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest” (Heb 4:9, 11). Faith is not a substitute for effort, nor is effort a substitute for faith, but both must link together, with our sincere efforts based on faith in God’s Word, providing evidence of faith in […]
When He makes you lie down, even in green pastures (see Ps 23:2), it helps you to look up. With Psalm 6, we come to the first of the Penitential Psalms (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143). The title indicates the use of stringed instruments for this moving psalm, but adds another word […]
“The Lord Jesus CHRIST, our HOPE” (1 Tim 1:1). Charles Spurgeon tells of visiting with the Earl of Shaftsbury who had taken his dying daughter to Menton on the French Riviera in hopes of her regaining some strength. Spurgeon writes: “That day he was particularly cast down about the general state of society. He thought […]
“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites…” (Mt 6:5). How often there is a serious gap in our prayers and platitudes between what we profess and what we possess. Prolific English author Thomas Fuller warned people like me: “How easy is pen-and-paper piety! I will not say it costs nothing, but […]