Morning, August 8
"They weave the spider's web."
Isaiah 59:5
See the spider's web, and behold in it a most suggestive picture of the hypocrite's religion. It is meant to catch his prey: the spider fattens himself on flies, and the Pharisee has his reward. Foolish persons are easily entrapped by the loud professions of pretenders, and even the more judicious cannot always escape. Philip baptized Simon Magus, whose guileful declaration of faith was so soon exploded by the stern rebuke of Peter. Custom, reputation, praise, advancement, and other flies, are the small game which hypocrites take in their nets. A spider's web is a marvel of skill: look at it and admire the cunning hunter's wiles. Is not a deceiver's religion equally wonderful? How does he make so barefaced a lie appear to be a truth? How can he make his tinsel answer so well the purpose of gold? A spider's web comes all from the creature's own bowels. The bee gathers her wax from flowers, the spider sucks no flowers, and yet she spins out her material to any length. Even so hypocrites find their trust and hope within themselves; their anchor was forged on their own anvil, and their cable twisted by their own hands. They lay their own foundation, and hew out the pillars of their own house, disdaining to be debtors to the sovereign grace of God. But a spider's web is very frail. It is curiously wrought, but not enduringly manufactured. It is no match for the servant's broom, or the traveller's staff. The hypocrite needs no battery of Armstrongs to blow his hope to pieces, a mere puff of wind will do it. Hypocritical cobwebs will soon come down when the besom of destruction begins its purifying work. Which reminds us of one more thought, viz., that such cobwebs are not to be endured in the Lord's house: he will see to it that they and those who spin them shall be destroyed forever. O my soul, be thou resting on something better than a spider's web. Be the Lord Jesus thine eternal hiding-place.
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Evening, August 8
"All things are possible to him that believeth."
Mark 9:23
Many professed Christians are always doubting and fearing, and they forlornly think that this is the necessary state of believers. This is a mistake, for "all things are possible to him that believeth"; and it is possible for us to mount into a state in which a doubt or a fear shall be but as a bird of passage flitting across the soul, but never lingering there. When you read of the high and sweet communions enjoyed by favoured saints, you sigh and murmur in the chamber of your heart, "Alas! these are not for me." O climber, if thou hast but faith, thou shalt yet stand upon the sunny pinnacle of the temple, for "all things are possible to him that believeth." You hear of exploits which holy men have done for Jesus; what they have enjoyed of him; how much they have been like him; how they have been able to endure great persecutions for his sake; and you say, "Ah! as for me, I am but a worm; I can never attain to this." But there is nothing which one saint was, that you may not be. There is no elevation of grace, no attainment of spirituality, no clearness of assurance, no post of duty, which is not open to you if you have but the power to believe. Lay aside your sackcloth and ashes, and rise to the dignity of your true position; you are little in Israel because you will be so, not because there is any necessity for it. It is not meet that thou shouldst grovel in the dust, O child of a King. Ascend! The golden throne of assurance is waiting for you! The crown of communion with Jesus is ready to bedeck your brow. Wrap yourself in scarlet and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day; for if thou believest, thou mayst eat the fat of kidneys of wheat; thy land shall flow with milk and honey, and thy soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness. Gather golden sheaves of grace, for they await thee in the fields of faith. "All things are possible to him that believeth."
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Faith To Labor With God
Expect God To Help Us Do What He Wants Us To Do
By W. C. Moore
The desperate conditions we face today – far from suggesting discouragement – should rather be a clarion challenge to our faith in God, something that will sting us into action that we may – and shall, meet the desperate conditions with a far more desperate faith in God and with a violence that takes the kingdom of heaven by force! (Matt. 11:12).
God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him (Heb. 11:6). With these two basic facts in our minds and in our hearts let us, saints of the Living God, plunge into the battle to win for the Lamb of God the reward of His sufferings.
The head does not work effectively without the body, and the body does not function properly without the head.
Yoked up with our conquering Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, let us the church, His body on earth, be laborers together with Him in harvesting the precious souls for whom He died, before the night cometh when no man can work (John 9:4; 1 Cor. 3:9; Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:15-23).
We should expect the Spirit of God to help us to accomplish the work that He wants us to do. Jesus says, "Have faith in God" (Mark 11:22), and He says, "If a man love Me, he will keep My words" (John 14:23).
Let us, soldier-saints, in these testing days, obey the orders of our great Commander in Chief, the Lord Jesus Christ! Let us have faith in God, and turn deaf ears to the satanic lies, waverings, fears which the devil tries to inject into our hearts.
Let us meditate on the Word of God day and night, and be so full of the Spirit of God and be so full of the Word of God, that every time the devil comes around, we will have the sword of the Spirit ready for him that we shall thrust at the devil – "It is written," – "It is written," till the devil leaves us as he left Jesus in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11; Eph. 6:17).
God means for us to have a conqueror's tread, and to go forward under the glorious, never-defeated banner of our great Captain, Jesus, the Son of God – winning victories on the right hand and on the left hand in behalf of our own needs, and in the behalf of the needs of multitudes of others who are a prey of the terrible, and captives of the mighty (Isa. 49:23-25; Acts 10:38; John 17:18; John 14:12).
O, true soldiers of the Lord (2 Tim. 2:3), POSSESS YOUR POSSESSIONS! (Obad. 17). Get it fixed in your mind and heart that the devil has GOT to go – he has GOT to loose his hold when you move against him, in Jesus' name, in faith and persistence! In the conquering name of Jesus, drive the devil off the scene! "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (Jas. 4:7). He will flee from you, soldier of the cross. He has got to move as you resist him in Jesus' name and on the authority of the Word of God!
God Gives – We Must Take!
"Go up and possess the land which I have given you" (Deut. 9:23). "Rise ye up...behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon...and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle" (Deut. 2:24).
Put your foot of faith right down on God's promises, and refuse to budge! God has given you His promises for you to possess! "Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you" (Josh. 1:3).
Put your foot down and take what God has given you – for spirit, soul, body, circumstances, and field of labor.
Hindrances
If there are things that hinder your victory, ask the Lord to show you so that all stumbling blocks may be removed (Isa. 57:14), and then expect God to answer prayer! At one stage of the onward, conquering march of Joshua and the hosts of Israel something hindered victory, but Joshua got down before the Lord UNTIL He showed him how to remove the Achan from the camp and go ahead in glorious, triumphant victory!
God is no respecter of persons. Believe Him to show you anything and everything that hinders your full and complete victory – then meet God's conditions and enjoy His favor and His blessing on you and on your life's work for Him.
Trust God for Revival!
Let us pray and believe and labor night and day for a mighty prayed-down, Heaven-sent, God-glorifying, devil-defeating, sinner-convicting, saint-edifying, Holy Ghost revival – that will more than meet the desperate needs of a world of men and of the church of God.
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Our Consecrationis feeble without His GRACE!
- RAP
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