Blog Archives - WELCOME TO THE JOY OF TROY

March 31, 2019

3/31/2019

The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore (Ps. 121:7, 8).

    George MacDonald, in his book Robert Falconer, wrote: "This is a sane, wholesome, practical, working faith: First, that it is a man's business to do the will of God; second, that God takes on Himself the special care of that man; and third, that therefore that man ought never to be afraid of anything."

    Not afraid of anything! That is just what today's promise means. The Lord preserves from all evil--not only from without but from within, because "he shall preserve thy soul," is the promise. He shall preserve our going out. God guides us when we come in contact with the world--our business, our work, our pleasures; and in our coming in--back home again. God preserves the inner life, and how we do need His preservation there! We need His preservation in our intimate contacts with others, and especially in our personal life with ourselves. This promise isn't for Sabbaths or weekends, but for every day, "even for evermore."

    The Pilgrims on the Mayflower began their famous Compact with the words "In the name of God, amen." Daniel Webster called this the first clause of the American Constitution. These adventurers in faith knew that the preservation of a new civilization in the New World depended upon God.

                                Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us
                                        O'er the world's tempestuous sea;
                                Guard us, guide us, keep us, feed us,
                                        For we have no help but Thee.
                                                                            __James Edmeston

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust" (Ps. 16:1).

March 30, 2019

3/30/2019

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand (John 10:27, 28).

    A traveler in the Near East asserted to a shepherd that the sheep knew their master by his dress, not his voice. To prove his point, the stranger changed clothes with the shepherd and went among the sheep, calling them and trying to lead them. Not knowing his voice, the sheep wouldn't move. But when the shepherd called, they ran at once to him, although he was wearing strange clothing. "A stranger," said Jesus, "they will not follow" (John 10:5). Not only do the sheep know the voice of their master, but Jesus, as the Great Shepherd, says, "I know them." Are you not glad, friend, that Christ knows you, the sheep of His pasture?

    Notice the threefold blessing of being His sheep: First, He gives eternal life; second, they shall never perish; third, no man shall pluck them out of His hand. Eternal life is God's gift in Christ. "To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality," He gives "eternal life" (Rom. 2:7). It is given to those who seek it by faith, "for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). We are safe in His nail-pierced hand, and no one can pluck us from that hand.

                                And so through all the length of days
                                        Thy goodness faileth never;
                                Good Shepherd! I would sing Thy praise
                                        Within Thy house forever.
                                                                               __H. W. Baker

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me" (Ps. 23:4).

March 29, 2019

3/29/2019

The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth (Ps. 145:18).

    During a fatal illness a hopeless unbeliever in his despairing bitterness commanded his little girl to print a placard with the words "God is nowhere," and to hang it on the wall at the foot of his bed, where he could see it constantly. She obeyed, but in her excitement she disarranged the letters so that the motto read "God is not here." With the father's surprise at these unexpected words the Holy Spirit brought faith to his heart.

    God is "not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:27, 28). The poet said, He is "nearer than hands and feet." By His Holy Spirit God is everywhere. He is "the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity," and he dwells "with him also that is of a contrite...spirit" (Isa. 57:15). Those who call upon Him, those who honestly seek Him, recognize His presence.

    Electricity was always in the world, but nobody knew it until scientists discovered it. So God may be near us, but we will never really know it until we call upon Him, until we truly seek Him. The greatest need of humanity toady is to know that God is always near at hand and that He is in charge of the world.

    Bishop William A. Quale went to bed one night overburdened with the problems of the world, which he could not solve. Then he seemed to hear the voice of God say, "Quale, you go to sleep; I'll sit up the rest of the night."

                                Still, still with Thee, when purple morning breaketh,
                                        When the bird waketh, and the shadows flee;
                                Fairer than morning, lovelier than the daylight,
                                        Dawns the sweet consciousness, I am with Thee!
                                                                        __Harriet Beecher Stowe

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help" (Ps. 22:11).

March 28, 2019

3/28/2019

But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you (1 Peter 1:25).

    In the village of Newbury, England, after the bombing during World War II, there stood fragments of the walls of an old church amid a heap of stone and debris. On one side were the ruins of a home for the aged; on the other the wreckage of a schoolhouse. Such bombing seemed an attempt to wipe out religion, education, and mercy; or, to put it in other words, an attempt to do away with faith, hope, and charity.

    But these three are the very heart of the Word of God, and "the word of the Lord endureth for ever." All the wars of ages past and of days to come cannot destroy it. All human teachings and all human teachers pass away as the grass of the field, but we are told here that the Word of the Lord is different. It will endure forever. This is the Word; that is preached to us, and how thankful we should be! It is a divine gospel; it is the Word of the Lord; it is an ever-living gospel.

    This Word of God will convince and convert and regenerate and sustain and comfort every heart that receives it. It is an unchanging Word; not green grass today and dry straw tomorrow, but always the living Word of the living God. It is a Word to make us happy, because it is "for ever."

    Ah, friend, make use of it. Accept it as the very bread of heaven, and feed upon it every day of your life. "Of making many books there is no end" (Eccl. 12:12), and God's Book is endless.

                                O Word of God Incarnate,
                                        O Wisdom from on high,
                                O Truth unchanged, unchanging,
                                        O Light of our dark sky,
                                We praise Thee for the radiance
                                        That from the hallowed page,
                                A lantern to our footsteps,
                                        Shines on from age to age.
                                                                        __William Walsham How

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee" (Ps. 119:11).

March 27, 2019

3/27/2019

And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him (James 5:15).

    Today He is the same compassionate physician that He was while on this earth. We should let the afflicted understand that in Him there is healing balm for every disease, restoring power for every infirmity. His disciples in this time are to pray for the sick as verily as His disciples of old prayed. And recoveries will follow, for 'the prayer of faith shall save the sick' " (Councils of Health, p. 210).

    Sickness is a hard school, but it teaches us precious lessons. It brings us nearer to God, and we see ourselves more clearly as God sees us. We find forgiveness for sin, and often a renewal of health is a part of God's plan for us. It is "the prayer of faith" that saves the sick. It is not God's plan to give immortal bodies to His people until the second coming of our Lord and the resurrection of the dead. But many of the sick are healed and raised up to health and faithful service. "I am the Lord that healeth thee" are the words of God in Exodus 15:26.

    In Psalm 103:3 the Lord is said to be the one who forgives all our iniquities and heals all our diseases. Jesus Himself was the Great Physician, "who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil" (Acts 10:38).

    I personally know a very successful eye surgeon who always prays with patients. But it is no denial of faith to cooperate with God in the laws of our being by making the proper use of diet, exercise, sunlight, water, and rest--all of which are conducive to health. Faith and works go together, and it is our blessed privilege to pray for the sick that they may be healed.

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins" (Ps. 25:18).

March 26, 2019

3/26/2019

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever (Heb. 13:8).

    Jesus Christ is still the Son of God, still the Great Unique.

    When proofreaders find what they think is a mistake, they cross it out. If later they discover that what they thought was a mistake is correct, they write the word "stet" over against their marking. This means that their change was wrong: "Let the original stand." So Pilate might have written over against Christ, "Stet--I was wrong; let the original stand."

    We can depend on Jesus. He does not change with the weather, with the regime, with the economic situation or the political wind. He is the Son of God, the Savior, the Redeemer, the Lord our righteousness, "whose goings forth have been...from everlasting," as we read in Micah 5:2. Those who knew Him best said, "Thou are the Son of God; thou are the King of Israel" (John 1:49). Our Savior will be the same tomorrow, for "he shall reign...for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:33). People have condemned Him, repudiated Him, neglected Him, rejected Him, but they have not changed Him or His power to save.

    Those who try to forget Jesus, and just hope that when they look around He will not be there, will be disappointed. He will be there. You may have rejected Him and considered the case closed, but it will be opened again. "Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained" (Acts 17:31).

    Yes, the case will be reopened. Jesus Christ is always the same--yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever. As revealed to us in the Holy Scripture, the original must stand, "that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:11).

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "But thou are the same, and thy years shall have no end" (Ps. 102:27).

March 25, 2019

3/25/2019

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his (Heb. 4:9, 10).

    It was God's plan to give spiritual rest to His people, but they entered not into it because of unbelief. Joshua could not give it to them; the land of Canaan could not yield it. David sang of this rest and declared it would be another day that would be offered to the people of the world. So this rest of blessing remains for believers. Even our works for God, which might be called "very good," give us no confidence. We are not saved by works, but by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, for it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8). Everything has been done. Christ has finished His work. "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent" (John 6:29). Let us cease from our works as God did from His.

    All God's providential matters, all His work for people's souls, we must leave in His hands. We must cast these burdens upon the Lord, and He will sustain us. By faith we are to labor to enter into this rest. In the endless confusion and tension of the world, we may find our rest in Christ.

    Dr. James Rendel Harris was once staying with friends in the state of Delaware. In the room where he slept, the bed coverlet was made of brown linen spun in the old days by a godly grandmother. On it she had embroidered Mrs. Browning's lines:

                                God's greatness flowed around our incompleteness__
                                Round our restlessness, His rest.

    When asked in the morning how he had slept, Dr. Harris replied, "How could I have slept other than well with such a text as that over me?"

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Oh that I had wings, like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be as rest" (Ps. 55:6).

March 24, 2019

3/25/2019

Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:12).

    During the Diocletian persecution, when the meeting places, sacred books, and homes of Christians were burned, and they themselves were deprived of all civil rights and honors, the emperor struck a coin with this inscription: "The Christian name extinguished." The Christian church was born in persecution, and it will never be entirely free of persecution until the end of time.

    A godly life here on earth is a constant challenge to the ungodly. Righteousness holds the mirror up to unrighteousness. Those who do right are a constant irritation to those who do wrong. Jesus said to His disciples, "If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you" (John 15:20).

    In our Savior's prophecy of Matthew 24 He speaks of certain times of persecution as signs--first, of the fall of Jerusalem; second, of the end of the world. "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved" (Matt. 10:22).

    Suffering for evildoing is not persecution "for righteousness' sake," but if we are persecuted for doing good, there is blessing in it. Among six men turned out of Oxford University for praying were John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield. Evil persecutes good, but good never persecutes evil. Cain persecuted Abel, the Scriptures says, "because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous" (1 John 3:12). In Old Testament days the prophets were persecuted and put to death by the very people they tried to help. Most of the apostles also suffered martyrdom for their faith. Jesus, the greatest apostle, prophet, and priest, was persecuted from city to city, spit upon, denied, derided, and finally crucified as a common criminal; yet He was the King of love.

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Arise, O Lord,...deliver my soul from the wicked" (Ps. 17:13).

March 23, 2019

3/25/2019

MARCH 23

        And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people (2 Cor. 6:16).

    In His high-priestly prayer Jesus requested for His followers "that they all may be one; as thou Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us:...I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one" (John 17:21-23). Each believer is a living temple. There is no place in any consecrated life for idols. Notice three things here:

    First, a mutual interest--each belongs to each. God is the portion of His people, and they are His portion.

    Second, a mutual consideration. God will always think of His people, and they will always think of Him. God says that His thoughts toward us are thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give us an expected end (Jer. 29:11). What do we think of Him and of His work?

    Third, a mutual fellowship. God dwells in us as believers, and we dwell in God. Such a great thought makes life sacred in all its experiences. God dwells with us--yes, in us. We are His people. In a special way was this fellowship true of Jesus, for "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself" (2 Cor. 5:19). In our sphere we are to be like Him. As He was in the world, so we are to be in the world (1 John 4:17). We are to like Him.

                                God be in my head, and in my understanding;
                                God be in my eyes, and in my looking;
                                God be in my mouth, and in my speaking;
                                God be in my heart, and in my thinking;
                                God be at my end, and at my departing.
                                                                            ___Sarum Primer

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me and know my thoughts" (Ps. 139:23).

March 22, 2019

3/22/2019

Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up (Hosea 6:1).

    The greatest short story ever written is called the story of the prodigal son, but it's really the story of the forgiving father. He had two prodigal sons--one stayed home, the other went away; but the father was there to forgive. When he saw the long-lost boy a great way off, he was moved with compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him, replaced his rags with the best robe, put the ring of sonship on his finger and shoes of peace upon his feet, and provided the feast of reconciliation. "For," he said, "this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found."

    Read the entire wonderful story again for yourself. In it we hear the voice of the Holy Spirit saying, "Come, and let us return unto the Lord." Have you wandered away from Him? Come back, for "he hath torn, and he will heal us." That is God's way. By the pain of our affliction when we wander away from Him, He makes us realize our need of healing.

    Remember, the diagnosis of the law comes before the healing of the gospel. "Come unto me," He says, "all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). Only the weary seek rest, only the ill seek healing, only the wounded seek help, only the lost desire to be found. And although we may wander in some far country, our heavenly Father says to every one of us, "Return unto me; for I have redeemed thee" (Isa. 44:22).

                                Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
                                Weak and wounded, sick and sore,
                                Jesus ready stands to save you,
                                Full of pity, love and power.
                                                            __Joseph Hart

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses" (Ps. 25:17).