Blog Archives - WELCOME TO THE JOY OF TROY

November 30, 2019

11/30/2019

     I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world (John 6:51).

    The promise here is twofold: if anyone eats this bread they will live forever, and Christ will give this bread for the life of the world. He Himself is the living bread, "the bread of life" (John 6:48).

    How may we eat this living bread? What did our Savior mean when He identified the living bread with His own flesh? He said: "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed" (verses 53-55).

    Some of His disciples, hearing these words, said, "This is a hard saying; who can hear it?" (verse 60). But Christ explained the meaning of these words in the sixty-third verse: "The flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." The apostle Peter so understood our Savior, for we find him asking, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life" (verse 68).

    The Arabs have great respect for wheat in any form. When a morsel of bread falls to the ground, they will gather it up in their right hand, touch it to their forehead, and place it in a recess or on a wall where the birds may find it, for they say, "We must not tread underfoot the gift of God."

    When a person has once tasted the bread of life, they have no more desire for the husks of Egypt, for "the weak and beggarly elements" of the world (Gal. 4:9). Have we eaten of the fruits and bread of the kingdom of grace? It's a sad day when the hunger for them is lost. Mat we all pray, "Lord, evermore give us this bread" (John 6:34).

MEDITATION PRAYER: "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee" (Ps. 73:25).

November 29, 2019

11/29/2019

And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not (Isa. 58:11).

    What wonderful promises for the spiritual life as well as the material do we find here! Guidance, satisfaction, health--the whole life, like a watered garden, blooming even in the heat of summer and bringing forth fruit in season.

    "On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:37, 38, ARV). Believers are like artesian well, life-giving and never-failing in every desert way.

    Deep in the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky is a bronze tablet that reads: "Out of the lowest depths there is a path to the loftiest heights." And nearby stands a guide ready to show the reader the way out. In Christ we have a guide who will show us the way of all life's difficulties.

                                He leadeth me! O blessed thought!
                                O words with heavenly comfort fraught!
                                Whate're I do, where'er I be,
                                Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.

                                Lord, I would clasp my hand in Thine,
                                Nor ever murmur nor repine;
                                Content, whatever lot I see,
                                Since 'tis my God that leadeth me.
                                                                            __J. H. Gilmore

MEDITATION PRAYER: "From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I" (Ps. 61:2)

November 28, 2019

11/28/2019

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty (Ps. 91:1).

    Shortly after the Civil War in the United States, two Americans were crossing the Atlantic and heard a third man with an exceedingly rich tenor voice singing on the deck in the moonlight, "Jesus, Lover of My Soul." When the music ceased, one of the men turned to the singer and asked if he had been in the Civil War. He said that he had been a Confederate soldier. Then he was asked if he was at such a place on such a night.

    "Yes," he said, "and a curious thing happened that night. I was on sentry duty on the edge of a dark wood. The night was cold, and I was lonely and not a little frightened, because the enemy was close. I was homesick and miserable, too. About midnight, when everything was still, I began to feel unusually depressed and frightened, so I began to to sing this hymn softly, 'Jesus, Lover of My Soul.' When I came to the verse, "All my trust on Thee is stayed, all my help from thee I bring; cover my defenseless head with the shadow of Thy wing' a strange peace come over me, and I was no longer afraid."

    "Now," said the first man, "listen to my story. I was a Union soldier with a party of sharpshooters and scouts in those woods that very night. We saw you outlined against the sky. My men focused their rifles on you, when suddenly you sang those words, 'Cover my defenseless head with the shadow of Thy wing." We listened. I said, 'Boys, put down your rifles. We can't shoot now."

    We are not merely to flee to God's secret place, but to abide there. "For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me" (Ps. 27 5). In harmony with this promise our prayer may be, "Keep me a the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings" (Ps. 17:8).

MEDITATION PRAYER: "Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice" (Ps. 63:7).

November 27, 2019

11/27/2019

        No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord (Isa. 54:17).

    There may be great activity in the arsenal of evil, forging weapons against the saints, but on every product of these flaming foundries is this inscription: "It shall not prosper."

    A company of Scottish Covenanters in the old days of persecution were pursued by their persecutors. They were entirely exhausted. Reaching a little hill that separated them from their enemies, their leader said, "Let us pray here, for if the Lord hear not our prayer and save us, we are all dead men." Then he prayed, "twine them about the hill, O Lord, and cast the lap of Thy cloak over poor old Saunders and these poor things." Before he had done speaking, a mist rose up about the hill and wrapped the devoted little band about like the very cloak of the Lord, for which he had prayed. In vain their enemies sought them, and while they were wearying themselves to find them, an order came calling them away in an opposite direction.

    In the end, the weapon formed against God's children will not prosper. He will break it or dull its edge.

    Now we hear another hubbub--slander, libel, falsehood, ridicule, insinuation. These things my condemn us, for a moment, but we shall condemn them at last and forever. God's promise is: "Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the strife of tongues" (Ps. 31:20). This is the heritage of God's servants. Why? Because their "righteousness is of me, saith the Lord." This righteousness is ours by faith (Rom. 3:22). It is a gift (Rom. 5:17). "Clad in the armor of Christ's righteousness, the church is to enter upon her final conflict" (Prophets and Kings, p. 725).

MEDITATION PRAYER: "I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord" (Ps. 116:17).

November 26, 2019

11/26/2019

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:27).

    Shortly before His crucifixion our Savior bequeathed this legacy of peace to His disciples. "This peace is not the peace that comes through conformity to the world. Christ never purchased peace by compromise with evil. The peace that Christ left His disciples is internal rather than external, and was ever to remain with His witnesses through strife and contention" (The Acts of the Apostles, p. 84).

    He was the Prince of Peace, but His coming brought many contentions into the world. Those who opposed His teachings would bring controversy and bitter trouble to His followers, and He warns His people, "In the world ye shall have tribulations" (John 16:33). "They shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you....And ye shall be betrayed" (Luke 21:12-16). But of every tempest-tossed and tried servant of His, Jesus says, "I will love him, and will manifest myself to him" (John 14:21). Nothing or no one can take this peace from that person's heart. "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe on God, believe also in me" (John 14:1). Faith in Christ brings peace. In fact, "He is our peace" (Eph. 2:14).

    A bricklayer had fallen from a great height and was lying fatally injured. He was approached by a minister from the neighborhood, whose first words were: "My dear friend, I am afraid you are dying. I urge you to make your peace with God at once."

    "Make my peace with God!" exclaimed the injured man. "Why, that was made 1,900 years ago when my Savior died upon the cross. Christ is my peace, and has been ever since I knew Him."

    And so is He our peace, today and tomorrow and forever.

MEDITATION PRAYER: "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise" (Ps. 57:7).

November 25, 2019

11/25/2019

Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death (John 8:51).

    To every believer Christ is "the resurrection, and the life" (John 11:25). "I am come," said Jesus, "that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:54). "To the believer, death is but a small matter. Christ speaks of it as if it were of little moment. 'If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death,' 'he shall never taste of death.' To the Christian, death is but a sleep, a moment of silence and darkness. The life is hid with Christ in God" (The Desire of Ages, p. 787). Jesus said, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep" (John 11:11).

    "For we know," says the apostle, "that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (2 Cor. 5:1). And our desire is "not...that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life....Knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (for we walk by faith, not by sight)...willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him" (verses 4-9).

    When death had brought grief to the home of Thomas Carlyle, a friend opened the Bible and read the words of Jesus: "Let not your heart be troubled....In my Father's house are many mansions" (John 14:1, 2).

    "Aye," muttered Carlyle, "if you were God, you had a right to say that. But if you were only a man, what do you know any more than the rest of us?" And that's the truth. But He is God, and He does know.

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Lord, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him!" (Ps. 144:3).

November 24, 2019

11/24/2019

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it (Eccl. 12:7).

    This is the reversal of the Creation story, where we read: "God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Gen. 2:7). When we come to the end of life's journey, the dust returns to the earth as it was; and the spirit, or breath of life, returns unto God who gave it. Our personality, our life, our eternal destiny, are safe there.

    So, Christians, "set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory" (Col. 3:2-4). Our true citizenship is in heaven, "from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body ["the body of our humiliation," ARV], that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body" (Phil. 3:20, 21).

    An eaglet was caught and raised with the chickens, so the great bird had no sense of his power of flight. With the other birds, he was always looking down to the ground for food. The owner decided to teach the eagle to fly, so lifted him up in his hands, but as soon as he was released he fell to the ground. Then he threw the bird above his head, but his fall was all the more severe. After many trials the eagle was put up on a fence and held there for a moment. He lifted his head, and catching a glimpse of the sun, suddenly pushed out one wing, then the other. With a shriek and a bound he rose from the fence. In another moment he began to soar, higher and higher, until soon he was lost from sight in the blazing light of the sun.

    True, was are children of earth now, but through Christ our Savior, heaven is our home.

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips" (Ps. 63:5).

November 23, 2019

11/23/2019

For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee (Isa. 54:10).

    God's covenant is God's promise. It is a covenant of peace, and a promise of mercy and kindness. The mountains are still here, and the hills are still here. That is certain evidence that His kindness, peace, and mercy have not departed from us. The author of all the promises of the Bible is "the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever" (Heb. 13:8). He says, "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me" (Isa. 49:16). He never forgets us.

    Sometime ago a certain printer in an Eastern city of the United States sent out an impressive trademark. It was a circle within which is his name with the words "I never disappoint." So it is with God's promises; He never disappoints.

    It is true that "the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment," but our God's "righteousness shall not be abolished" (Isa. 51:6).

    A well known organization has advertised itself as "strong as the Rock of Gibraltar," but even that great fortress may fall. "Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea....The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge" (Ps. 46:2-7).

                                When all Thy mercies, O my God!
                                        My rising soul surveys,
                                Transported with the view, I'm lost
                                        In wonder, love, and praise.
                                                                    __Joseph Addison

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds" (Ps. 57:10).

November 22, 2019

11/22/2019

  And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you (Isa. 46:4).

    In contrast to the idols, which need to be borne by others, the Lord bears His people in safety from birth to old age. He likens Himself to a nurse, tenderly carrying a child. Notice His multiple promise: I will bear, I will carry, I will deliver. We grow old, but God is still the I AM, the unchangeable Lord of heaven and earth. We may become a burden to others and to ourselves, but He will care for us. He who has carried us as lambs in His bosom will not forsake us when we are old.

    "I am on the bright side of 70," said the aged man of God. "Bright side, because nearer to everlasting glory."

    The apostle who wrote, "Being such an one as Paul the aged" (Philemon 9), also testified, "Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me" (2 Tim. 4:17). Though everyone forsook him before the bloodthirsty emperor of Rome, the Lord did not.

    Notice that the promise "I will carry you" is doubled in our text. And we need this double promise when physical weakness and afflictions come upon us, that we may keep not only in the path of righteousness but in the way of joyfulness as we grow old.

                                Lord, keep me joyful in the way,
                                        Until the story's told;
                                And as I walk with slower step,
                                        Grow sweeter growing old.

                                May each new day that dawns for me,
                                        More of Thy grace unfold;
                                Until the last and best of life
                                        Is sweeter growing old.

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Now also when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come" (Ps. 71:18).

November 21, 2019

11/21/2019

When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up (Ps. 27:10).

    David's father and mother were unable to shelter him, for they were forced into exile. Our parents may be able to care for us for a time, but the Lord will care for us at all times and for eternity.

    Jesus was speaking of children when He said, "In heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father....It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish" (Matt. 18:10-14).

    Many years ago a company of slaves were sold at auction in Nigeria. Just one little boy was left on the auction block. He presented such a miserable appearance that people laughed at the suggestion of buying him. Finally, however, someone purchased him for a roll of tobacco, and with the rest of the slaves he had to march to the coast. There he was put in the hold of a ship bound for America. On the high seas the ship was captured by the British, who took the slaves to Freetown, in Sierra Leone, and set them at liberty. The little boy was taken in by some missionaries.

    Many years later there was an interesting service at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. In the presence of the great of the earth this little boy, now grown, was consecrated as the first bishop of Nigeria. So the lonely little slave, whose parents could not or would not help him, became Bishop Samuel Crowther, and his name is still revered as a true hero of the cross.

    The great father heart of God yearns over His little ones, and of them it is written, "He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shall thou trust" (Ps. 91:4).

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "The poor committeth himself unto thee; thou are the helper of the fatherless" (Ps. 10:14).