Today's Puritan Audio Devotional:
Powerful 5 minute video clip by Al Martin
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The rose taught me a lesson
(J. R. Miller, "Miller's Year Book--a Year's Daily Readings")
"Turn my eyes from looking at what is worthless." Psalm 119:37
We must be always turning--if we would keep our life true and according to God's commandments.
There are some flowers which always turn toward the sun. There was a little potted rose-bush in a sick-room which I visited. It sat by the window. One day I noticed that the one rose on the bush was looking toward the light. I referred to it; and the sick woman said that her daughter had turned the rose around several times toward the darkness of the room--but that each time the little flower had twisted itself back, until again its face was toward the light. It would not look into the darkness.
The rose taught me a lesson--never to allow myself to look toward any evil--but instantly to turn from it. Not a moment should we permit our eyes to be inclined toward anything sinful. To yield to one moment's sinful act--is to defile the soul. One of the main messages of the Bible is, "Turn from the wrong, the base, the crude, the unworthy--to the right, the pure, the noble, the godlike!" We should not allow even an unholy thought to stay a moment in our mind--but should turn from its very first suggestion, with face fully toward Christ, the Holy One.
"I will set before my eyes no vile thing!" Psalm 101:3
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things!" Philippians 4:8
Grace Gems (choice ELECTRONIC books, sermons & quotes)
Grace Audio Treasures (choice AUDIO sermons)
Sovereign Grace Treasures (choice PRINTED books)
You may simply 'unsubscribe' at our home page.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
The rose taught me a lesson
Saturday, December 19, 2009
A threefold cord which cannot be broken!
Today's Puritan Audio Devotional:
"The continued teachings of the Spirit" J. C. Philpot
Play Audio! Download MP3
Audio messages are broadcast in high quality.~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A threefold cord which cannot be broken!
(J. R. Miller)
"When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven!" Nehemiah 1:4
TEARS were not all. Nehemiah also carried the burden to God in prayer. He did this before he took any step himself for the relief of the suffering, and the advancement of his work. Compassion is Christlike; but tears alone are not enough. This is a lesson we should not forget in our compassion for others: God cares more for them than we do, and His compassion is deeper than ours; we may, therefore, be sure of interest upon His part--when we speak the names of our friends into His ear. Besides, He knows best how to help. We should take the burden to Him first--and then be ready to do whatever He may tell us to do.
The best way for us to help others--usually is to PRAY for them. Of course praying is not all we should do; Nehemiah did not stop with tears and prayers. He gave himself to the work in behalf of his people. He left the luxurious palace, and journeyed away to Jerusalem, and took earnest hold with both hands, giving all his energy and influence to the cause.
Likewise, more than tears and prayers are needed; there is something for us to DO. Many people can weep over distress, and then pray fervently for the relief that is needed--but never DO anything themselves!
Nehemiah's way is better: sympathy, prayer, work.
This makes a threefold cord which cannot be broken!
Grace Gems (choice ELECTRONIC books, sermons & quotes)
Grace Audio Treasures (choice AUDIO sermons)
Sovereign Grace Treasures (choice PRINTED books)
Only a 'kiss'
Today's Puritan Audio Devotional:
"Sovereign supreme disposal!"
by J. C. Philpot
Play Audio! Download MP3Audio messages are broadcast in high quality.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Only a 'kiss'
(J. R. Miller, "The Friendships of Jesus" 1897)
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends--if you do what I command. . . . I have called you friends." John 15:13-15
The central fact in every true Christian life, is a personal friendship with Jesus. Men were called to follow Him, to leave all and cleave to Him, to believe on Him, to trust Him, to love Him, to obey Him; and the result was the transformation of their lives into His own beauty! That which alone makes one a Christian, is being a friend of Jesus.
Friendship transforms--we become like those with whom we live in close, intimate relations. Life flows into life, heart and heart are knit together, spirits blend, and the two friends become one.
We have but little to give to Christ; yet it is a comfort to know that our friendship really is precious to Him, and gives Him joy--poor and meager though its best may be. But He has infinite blessings to give to us. The friendship of Jesus includes all other blessings for time and for eternity! If Christ is our friend, all of life is made rich and beautiful to us.
"I have called you friends." No other gift He gives to us--can equal in value, the love and friendship of His heart.
When King Cyrus gave Artabazus, one of his courtiers, a 'gold cup'; he gave Chrysanthus, his favorite, only a 'kiss'. And Artabazus said to Cyrus, "The gold cup you gave me, was not so precious as the kiss you gave Chrysanthus."
No good man's money is ever worth as much as his love. Certainly the greatest honor of this earth, greater than rank or station or wealth--is the friendship of Jesus Christ.
The stories of the friendships of Jesus when He was on the earth, need cause no one to sigh, "I wish that I had lived in those days, when Jesus lived among men--that I might have been His friend too--feeling the warmth of His love, my life enriched by contact with His, and my spirit quickened by His love and grace!" The friendships of Jesus, whose stories we read in the New Testament, are only patterns of friendships into which we may now enter--if we are ready to consecrate our life to Him in faithfulness and love.
Grace Gems (choice ELECTRONIC books, sermons & quotes)
Grace Audio Treasures (choice AUDIO sermons)
Sovereign Grace Treasures (choice PRINTED books)
Friday, December 18, 2009
It is only a heathen lodging-place!
Today's Puritan Audio Devotional:
"Growing worse?" by J. A. James
Play Audio! Download MP3~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It is only a heathen lodging-place!
(J. R. Miller, "Our New Edens")
Parents are the custodians of their children's lives. If they would meet their responsibility and be able to look God and their children in the face at the judgment, they must make their homes as nearly 'gardens of Eden' as possible.
The way to save your children from the temptations of the streets--is to make your home so bright, so sweet, so beautiful, so happy, so full of love, joy and prayer--that the streets will have no attractiveness for them--no power to win them away. "Do not be overcome by evil--but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21
The place of the home-life among the influences which mold and shape character, is supreme in its importance. Our children are given to us in tender infancy--to teach them and train them for holy, worthy, beautiful living.
It is not enough to have an opulent house to live in! It is not enough to have fine foods, and luxurious furniture, and expensive entertainments! Most of the world's worthiest men and women, those who have blessed the world the most--were brought up in plain homes, without any luxury!
It is the tone of the home-life, that is important. We should make it pure, elevating, refining, inspiring. The books we bring in, the papers and magazines, the guests we have at our tables and admit to our firesides, the home conversation, the pictures we hang on our walls--all these are educational. As in everything, LOVE is the great master-secret of home happiness.
The religious influences are also vitally important. In that first 'garden home', the Lord came and went as a familiar friend. Christ must be our guest--if our home is to be a fit place either for our children or for ourselves. If there is no sincere prayer in it, it is not a true home at all--it is only a heathen lodging-place!
How can we make 'new Edens' of our homes? What are some of the secrets of home happiness? I might gather them all into one word and say--CHRIST! If we have Christ as our guest--our home will be happy! He must be welcomed into all our life. He must be in each heart. He must sit at our tables and mingle with us in all our family interaction. Christ can bless our home, only through the lives of those who make the home circle.
Make your home so sweet, so heavenly, with love and prayer and song and holy living--that all through it, there shall be the fragrance of the heart of Christ!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We have posted J. R. Miller's "Our New Edens", a choice ten page article on Christian home-life.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Subscribers regularly ask where they can purchase printed copies of the fine books we offer electronically. Unfortunately, most of of our books are not currently available--having not been re-published since their original editions in the 1800's or before.
Sovereign Grace Treasures is a modest attempt to publish a choice selection of our books in print, through a quality 'on-demand' internet printer. All of the books are large, top quality paperbacks.
All of these books are sold at cost. We at Grace Gems pay the same price that everyone else pays--we do not make a penny. Our policy remains--"Freely you have received, freely give." Matthew 10:8.
Please order soon--to insure arrival for Christmas gifting.
Grace Gems (choice ELECTRONIC books, sermons & quotes)
Grace Audio Treasures (choice AUDIO sermons)
Sovereign Grace Treasures (choice PRINTED books)
How good I am! What fine things I have done!
Today's Puritan Audio Devotional:
"For the ungodly!" Henry Law Play Audio Download MP3
All audio messages are now broadcast in very high quality.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
How good I am! What fine things I have done!
(J. R. Miller, "The Beauty of Quietness" 1903)
"They will be like dew sent by the Lord." Micah 5:7
The lives of godly people are sometimes compared to the dew. One point of likeness, is the quiet way in which the dew performs its ministry. It falls silently and imperceptibly. It makes no noise. No one hears it dropping. It chooses its time in the night when men are sleeping, when none can see its beautiful work. It covers the leaves with clusters of pearls. It steals into the bosoms of the flowers, and leaves new cupfuls of sweetness there. It pours itself down among the roots of the grasses and tender herbs and plants. It loses itself altogether, and yet it is not lost. For in the morning there is fresh life everywhere, and new beauty. The fields are greener, the gardens are more fragrant, and all nature is clothed in fresh luxuriance!
Is there not in this simile, a suggestion as to the way we should seek to do good in this world? Should we not wish to have our influence felt--while no one thinks of us; rather than that we should be seen and heard and praised? Should we not be willing to lose ourselves in the service of self-forgetful love, as the dew loses itself in the bosom of the rose--caring only that other lives shall be sweeter, happier, and holier--and not that honor shall come to us? We are too anxious, some of us, that our names shall be written in large letters on the things we do, even on what we do for our Master; and are not willing to sink ourselves out of sight--and let Him alone have the praise.
Our Lord's teaching on the subject is very plain. He says: "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full." That is, they have that which they seek--the applause of men.
"But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." The meaning would seem to be, that we are not to wish people to know of our good deeds, our charities, our self-denials; that we should not seek publicity, when we give money or do good works; indeed, that we are not even to tell ourselves what we have done; that we are not to think about our own good deeds so as to become conscious of them; not to put them down in our diaries and go about complimenting ourselves, throwing bouquets at ourselves, and whispering: "How good I am! What fine things I have done!"
This is an insightful test of our lives. Are we willing to be as the dew--to steal abroad in the darkness, carrying blessings to men's doors, blessings that shall enrich the lives of others and do them good--and then steal away again before those we have helped or blessed awaken, to know what hand it was that brought the gift? Are we willing to work for others . . .
without gratitude,
without recognition,
without human praise,
without requital?
Are we content to have our lives poured out like the dew--to bless the world and make it more fruitful--and yet remain hidden away ourselves? Is it enough for us to see the fruits of our toil and sacrifice--in others' spiritual growth, and deeper happiness; yet never hear our names spoken in praise or honor--perhaps even hearing others praised for things we have done?
If you go about doing good in simple ways, in gentle kindnesses, not thinking of reward, not dreaming of praise, not hoping for any return--you are enshrining your name where it will have immortal honor! Our lesson teaches us that this is the way we are to live--if we are followers of Christ!~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We have published J. R. Miller's insightful article, "A Parable of Christian Growth".
Grace Gems (choice ELECTRONIC books, sermons & quotes)
Grace Audio Treasures (choice AUDIO sermons)
Sovereign Grace Treasures (choice PRINTED books)
Friday, November 13, 2009
Jeremiah 9:24
> Jeremiah 9:24 (NASS)
> but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows
> Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and
> righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the
> LORD.
>
>
> Sent from my iPod