Tag Archives: Jerusalem

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Mankind’s History = War Christ’s History = War Won at the Cross!

A WALK IN HISTORY

Jewish American Timeline pdf

Biblical Time Line pdf

Uncle Sam poster 2

1917 the day that changed the world!

Now you can see it temporarily:

Presented as For Liberty: American Jewish Experience in WWI at the National World War I Museum and Memorial, Kansas City, MO, June 29 – November 11, 2018 

Source Link

 

WORLD WAR ONE

9US 1918 0 0 A7 WW1 Parade for 4th War loan 1918 World War ...

(PICTORIAL VIEWS)

1917 : The Rage of Men

Russia and Secret Treaties

WWI Resource

U.S. Entered World War I
April 6, 1917

Military Service in the United States Army During World War I, 1917–1919

Primary Documents – 1917

CHRIST’S DEATH AND OURS NO. 3024

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 1907. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD’S-DAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 14, 1869.

“ And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come t hat the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wh eat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone: but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit. ” John 12:23-24.

(Read sermon here)

Reason for point of wars is simply this Brothers and Sisters:

In the end, God wins the war for the human soul He created to worship and serve Him alone. Jesus, the perfect Lamb, (1 Peter 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:) defeated death at the Cross: ( 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. )

Satan seeks to kill, steal and destroy ( John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.)  Jesus came to give life eternal!  Look up and expect:  Luke 21:28  And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

Amen and Amen

 

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Jerusalem – Embassy United States of America May 14, 2018

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We Are Called!

GLORY REVEALED

Beyond these Walls God Calls!

 

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STORMS OF LIFE

He affirms to us He is constantly with us, strengthening and supporting us. Pray that God will help you to keep your eyes and focus on Him, not on the circumstances surrounding you. Ask Him to help you grown in your trust, believing He is faithful to see us through.

Mark 4:39-40, Isaiah 41:10, John 16:33

GOD HAS YOU! DON’T PANIC!!

satan will lure us towards panic and worry if we focus on all that is wrong in this world. But God offers us confident peace that can never be found in this life without Him. Ask for His help in choosing not to worry, but instead to pray, allowing His Spirit to guard your heart and mind in Him.

Philippians 4:6-9, Isaiah 26:3-4, John 14:27

GOD KNOWS THE FUTURE

When the future feels uncertain, when things seem to change, or we find ourselves on a new journey in this life, we can start to feel the pressure and stress of it all weighing down heavy on our hearts and minds. But Christ reminds us not to worry about tomorrow. He assures us of His care for each and every day. Ask Him to help you let go of trying to fgure everything out and to trust Him in today, knowing He is with you always, and will lead you every step of tomorrow. Psalm 56:3, Matthew 6:34, Luke 12:22-26

FEAR FOR YOU LOVED ONES

One of the biggest fears many battle is that something bad will happen to their loved ones. Yet reality is, we can’t always be with them, nor can we always protect them from all that may come their way. But God is with them always, and He is Mighty. Pray that His protection would surround those you love, that His angels would guard their coming and going, and He would keep them safe from harm. Thank Him that we can release those we love into His care, knowing that He watches over His children, and covers them in His care.

Psalm 34:7, Psalm 121:3-8, Psalm 91:11

FEELING OVERWHELMED

When you feel overwhelmed When troubles overwhelm and worry sets in, it can feel like we can hardly breathe. It might seem as if we’re drowning in the pressures and fears that life has thrown our way. God can cut through all that; He is powerful to work a miracle on our behalf. The same God who split the sea and healed the sick is the God who hears your prayers today. Tell him what concerns you, and thank Him that He is helping you this day.

Isaiah 35:4, 1 Corinthians 14:33, Psalm 61:2-5

Psalm 91 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

Psalm 91
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

 

 

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TIME IS HERE! PART 2 LOCK AND LOAD – GIRD YOURSELF IN GOD’S WORD!!

The loaded wagon

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‘Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.’ Amos 2:13

Suggested Further Reading: Isaiah 53:1–12

See him; like a cart pressed down with sheaves he goes through the streets of Jerusalem. Well may you weep, daughters of Jerusalem, though he bids you dry your tears; they hoot him as he walks along bowed beneath the load of his own cross which was the emblem of your sin and mine. They have brought him to Golgotha. They throw him on his back, they stretch out his hands and his feet. The accursed iron penetrates the tenderest part of his body, where most the nerves do congregate. They lift up the cross. O bleeding Saviour, thy time of woe has come! They dash it into the socket with rough hands; the nails are tearing through his hands and feet. He hangs in extremity, for God has forsaken him; his enemies persecute and take him, for there is none to deliver him. They mock his nakedness; they point at his agonies. They look and stare upon him with ribald jests; they insult his griefs, and make puns upon his prayers. He is now indeed a worm and no man, crushed till you can think scarcely that there is divinity within. The fever gets hold upon him. His tongue is dried up like a potsherd, and he cries, ‘I thirst!’ Vinegar is all they yield him; the sun refuses to shine, and the thick midnight darkness of that awful mid-day is a fitting emblem of the tenfold midnight of his soul. Out of that thick horror he cries ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ Then, indeed, was he pressed down! O there was never sorrow like unto his sorrow. All human griefs found a reservoir in his heart, and all the punishment of human guilt spent itself upon his body and his soul. O shall sin ever be a trifle to us? Shall I ever laugh at that which made him groan?

For meditation: Believers still have problems with sin as a weight impeding progress in the Christian life (Hebrews 12:1), but our struggle with sin on earth has its limits (Hebrews 12:4); the Lord Jesus Christ went beyond those limits and was crushed by our sin to save all who trust in him from being crushed by it eternally (Hebrews 12:2–3; 1 Peter 2:24).

Sermon no. 466     24 August (1862)

All rights belong to the collections of Charles Spurgeon(C)

 

The comer’s conflict with satan

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“And as he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father.” Luke 9:42

Suggested Further Reading: 1 John 5:13-21

“There is a sin unto death; I do not say that he shall pray for it.” “There,” says the devil, “the apostle did not say he could even pray for the man who has committed certain sins.” Then he reads that “sin against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven.” “There,” he says, “is your character: you have committed sin against the Holy Ghost, and you will never be pardoned.” Then he brings another passage: “Let him alone; Ephraim is joined unto idols.” “There,” says Satan, “you have had no liberty in prayer lately; God has let you alone; you are given unto idols; you are entirely destroyed;” and the cruel fiend howls his song of joy, and makes a merry dance over the thought that the poor soul is to be lost. But do not believe him, my dear friends. No man has committed the sin against the Holy Ghost as long as he has grace to repent; it is certain that no man can have committed that sin if he flies to Christ and believes on him. No believing soul can commit it; no penitent sinner ever has committed it. If a man be careless and thoughtless—if he can hear a terrible sermon and laugh it off, and put away his convictions—if he never feels any strivings of conscience, there is a fear that he may have committed that sin. But as long as you have any desires for Christ, you have no more committed that sin than you have flown up to the stars and swept cobwebs from the skies. As long as you have any sense of your guilt, any desire to be redeemed, you cannot have fallen into that sin; as a penitent you may still be saved, for if you had committed it, you could not be penitent.

For meditation: The devil is the father of lies, a murderer and sinner from the beginning (John 8:44; 1 John 3:8). His attempts to be a Bible expositor are never to be trusted (Luke 4:9,10).

Sermon no. 100    24 August (1856)

Al the rights belong to the collections of Charles Spurgeon(C)

 

 

 

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JULY 15 2014 ISRAELI SHARED NEWSLETTER

 

 

Is Your Name

Don’t Give in to Anger

July 15, 2014

Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle. — Numbers 31:14

The Torah portion for this week is Matot, which means “branches,” from Numbers 30:2–32:42, and the Haftorah is from Jeremiah 1:1–2:3.

Abraham Lincoln once said, “You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry.” If that’s the case, then we can tell a lot about the greatness of Moses from what made him angry in this week’s Torah portion. God had commanded Moses to instruct the Israelites to go to war against the nation of Midian. This was the same nation that had attempted to destroy the children of Israel by sending women to seduce the men and trick them into idolatry. However, when the fighters returned from war, Moses was angered to see that the Midianite women – the ones who caused the most damage – were left alive. The people had disobeyed God and that was what angered Moses. He was angry because of his intense devotion to God.

That being said, it seems that Moses was punished for his anger even though it originated from an admirable place. A few verses later we learn that it was Eleazar the priest who communicated the laws regarding the purification of vessels taken in war rather than Moses. (See Numbers 31:21–24.) The Sages explain that Eleazar had to instruct the soldiers about the law because Moses was made to forget the laws when he became angry. Certainly Moses was justified in his anger, and we can even argue that his zealousness was praiseworthy, so why was he seemingly punished for it?

Maybe you’ve had the following experience. You are trying to open a door to a house or car and the key just won’t turn. You might be in a rush or your hands full of packages and you start to get frustrated. You jam the key in further but the door still won’t open. You become angry and annoyed, trying desperately to open the door in all sorts of foolish ways. Had you stayed calm and rational you might have realized that you simply had the wrong key!

In Proverbs 29:11 it is written: “Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end.” One way to understand this verse is that when we are angry, we become foolish, but when we are calm, we are wise. Moses wasn’t punished with forgetfulness because of his anger; rather, it was the natural consequence of his anger. When we are angry, we compromise our mental faculties. We do all sorts of foolish things and say things that we later regret. We lose control and rationality. Moses’ anger clouded his ability to give instructions clearly and rationally, so Eleazar had to do it.

The word “anger” is one letter away from the word “danger.” Next time you find yourself angered, even if it is fully justified, stop and do nothing. Wait for your anger to subside and only then take action. One moment of anger can destroy a lifetime of work, but one moment of patience can save us from a lifetime of regret.

With prayers for shalom, peace,

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
Founder and President

http://www.blog.standforisrael.org/iitn

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ISRAEL = BIRTH OF A NATION

God protects his people

The land of Israel

Jerusalem, Israel My Beloved!

Jerusalem, Israel
My Beloved!

CLICK PICTURE ON HOW TO PRAY FOR PEACE OF JERRUSALEM

 PRAY FOR PEACE OF JERRUSALEM

 

O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel.

Ezekiel 37:12 

Birth of a Nation

In 63 B.C. the Roman armies invaded the land of Israel and made it part of the Roman Empire. Then Jesus came, and in response to the Jews’ rejection of him as their Messiah, he predicted that the Jewish temple would be completely destroyed (Luke 21:6), a prediction fulfilled in A.D. 70. After a second revolt in A.D. 135, no Jews lived in Jerusalem, and they became scattered through the world.

Then in the late 1800s, in response to anti-Semitism, particularly in eastern Europe, a Jewish movement called Zionism arose. In 1917 in an attempt to win Jewish support for World War I, England issued the Balfour Declaration, supporting the creation “in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”

Following War World II, Britain turned the matter of a Jewish state to the newly created U.N., which voted on November 29, 1947 to endorse a plan to create separate Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem as an international zone.

The British Mandate was scheduled to end on May 15, 1948, at which time their troops would begin leaving. The day before, a historic meeting was held in Tel Aviv. At exactly 4:00 p.m. the meeting was called to order by David Ben-Gurion. The audience rose and sang “Hatikvah,” the Jewish national anthem. Then Ben-Gurion read in Hebrew Israel’s Declaration of Independence. Everyone in the audience stood to their feet and applauded, many with tears streaming down their faces. For the first time in two thousand years there was an independent Jewish state of Israel.

The very existence of present-day Israel is a reminder to us of God’s faithfulness in keeping his promises. (Ezekiel 37:1-13)

Adapted from The One Year® Book of Christian History by E. Michael and Sharon Rusten (Tyndale, 2003), entry for May 15.

 

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

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WHITE AS SNOW

LION OF JUDAH

LION OF JUDAH

Isaiah 1:18 – Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Revelation 1:14 – His head and [his] hairs [were] white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes [were] as a flame of fire;

Daniel 7:9 – I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment [was] white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne [was like] the fiery flame, [and] his wheels [as] burning fire.

 

 

 

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Agates

Translucent Wonder: Agate

Translucent Wonder: Agate (Photo credit: cobalt123)

Morning

“Salt without prescribing how much.” Ezra 7:22

Salt was used in every offering made by fire unto the Lord, and from its preserving and purifying properties it was the grateful emblem of divine grace in the soul. It is worthy of our attentive regard that, when Artaxerxes gave salt to Ezra the priest, he set no limit to the quantity, and we may be quite certain that when the King of kings distributes grace among his royal priesthood, the supply is not cut short by him. Often are we straitened in ourselves, but never in the Lord. He who chooses to gather much manna will find that he may have as much as he desires. There is no such famine in Jerusalem that the citizens should eat their bread by weight and drink their water by measure. Some things in the economy of grace are measured; for instance our vinegar and gall are given us with such exactness that we never have a single drop too much, but of the salt of grace no stint is made, “Ask what thou wilt and it shall be given unto thee.” Parents need to lock up the fruit cupboard, and the sweet jars, but there is no need to keep the salt-box under lock and key, for few children will eat too greedily from that. A man may have too much money, or too much honour, but he cannot have too much grace. When Jeshurun waxed fat in the flesh, he kicked against God, but there is no fear of a man’s becoming too full of grace: a plethora of grace is impossible. More wealth brings more care, but more grace brings more joy. Increased wisdom is increased sorrow, but abundance of the Spirit is fulness of joy. Believer, go to the throne for a large supply of heavenly salt. It will season thine afflictions, which are unsavoury without salt; it will preserve thy heart which corrupts if salt be absent, and it will kill thy sins even as salt kills reptiles. Thou needest much; seek much, and have much.

Evening

English: Chalcedony (Var.: Agate) :: Locality:...

English: Chalcedony (Var.: Agate) :: Locality: Chihuahua, Mexico (Locality at mindat.org) :: Size: 5.2 x 2.4 x 1.4 cm. :: Some agate varieties are prized by collectors, as are these Mexican agates. This is a fine specimen showing excellent color and banding. Deutsch: Chalcedon (Var.: Achat) :: Fundort: Chihuahua , Mexiko (Fundort bei mindat.org) :: Größe: 5.2 x 2.4 x 1.4 cm. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

EVENING

“I will make thy windows of agates.” Isaiah 54:12

The church is most instructively symbolized by a building erected by heavenly power, and designed by divine skill. Such a spiritual house must not be dark, for the Israelites had light in their dwellings; there must therefore be windows to let the light in and to allow the inhabitants to gaze abroad. These windows are precious as agates: the ways in which the church beholds her Lord and heaven, and spiritual truth in general, are to be had in the highest esteem. Agates are not the most transparent of gems, they are but semi-pellucid at the best:

“Our knowledge of that life is small,

Our eye of faith is dim.”

Faith is one of these precious agate windows, but alas! it is often so misty and beclouded, that we see but darkly, and mistake much that we do see. Yet if we cannot gaze through windows of diamonds and know even as we are known, it is a glorious thing to behold the altogether lovely One, even though the glass be hazy as the agate. Experience is another of these dim but precious windows, yielding to us a subdued religious light, in which we see the sufferings of the Man of Sorrows, through our own afflictions. Our weak eyes could not endure windows of transparent glass to let in the Master’s glory, but when they are dimmed with weeping, the beams of the Sun of Righteousness are tempered, and shine through the windows of agate with a soft radiance inexpressibly soothing to tempted souls. Sanctification, as it conforms us to our Lord, is another agate window. Only as we become heavenly can we comprehend heavenly things. The pure in heart see a pure God. Those who are like Jesus see him as he is. Because we are so little like him, the window is but agate; because we are somewhat like him, it is agate. We thank God for what we have, and long for more. When shall we see God and Jesus, and heaven and truth, face to face?

All rights belong to the collection of Charles Spurgeon(C)

 

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THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD

Morning

BRIDE WAITS FOR GROOM

“Thou art all fair, my love.” Song of Solomon 4:7

The Lord’s admiration of his Church is very wonderful, and his description of her beauty is very glowing. She is not merely fair, but “all fair.” He views her in himself, washed in his sin-atoning blood and clothed in his meritorious righteousness, and he considers her to be full of comeliness and beauty. No wonder that such is the case, since it is but his own perfect excellency that he admires; for the holiness, glory, and perfection of his Church are his own glorious garments on the back of his own well-beloved spouse. She is not simply pure, or well-proportioned; she is positively lovely and fair! She has actual merit! Her deformities of sin are removed; but more, she has through her Lord obtained a meritorious righteousness by which an actual beauty is conferred upon her. Believers have a positive righteousness given to them when they become “accepted in the beloved” (Eph. 1:6). Nor is the Church barely lovely, she is superlatively so. Her Lord styles her “Thou fairest among women.” She has a real worth and excellence which cannot be rivalled by all the nobility and royalty of the world. If Jesus could exchange his elect bride for all the queens and empresses of earth, or even for the angels in heaven, he would not, for he puts her first and foremost–“fairest among women.” Like the moon she far outshines the stars. Nor is this an opinion which he is ashamed of, for he invites all men to hear it. He sets a “behold” before it, a special note of exclamation, inviting and arresting attention. “Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair” (Song of Sol. 4:1). His opinion he publishes abroad even now, and one day from the throne of his glory he will avow the truth of it before the assembled universe. “Come, ye blessed of my Father” (Matt. 25:34), will be his solemn affirmation of the loveliness of his elect.

Evening

“Behold, all is vanity.” Ecclesiastes 1:14

Nothing can satisfy the entire man but the Lord’s love and the Lord’s own self. Saints have tried to anchor in other roadsteads, but they have been driven out of such fatal refuges. Solomon, the wisest of men, was permitted to make experiments for us all, and to do for us what we must not dare to do for ourselves. Here is his testimony in his own words: “So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.” “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” What! the whole of it vanity? O favoured monarch, is there nothing in all thy wealth? Nothing in that wide dominion reaching from the river even to the sea? Nothing in Palmyra’s glorious palaces? Nothing in the house of the forest of Lebanon? In all thy music and dancing, and wine and luxury, is there nothing? “Nothing,” he says, “but weariness of spirit.” This was his verdict when he had trodden the whole round of pleasure. To embrace our Lord Jesus, to dwell in his love, and be fully assured of union with him–this is all in all. Dear reader, you need not try other forms of life in order to see whether they are better than the Christian’s: if you roam the world around, you will see no sights like a sight of the Saviour’s face; if you could have all the comforts of life, if you lost your Saviour, you would be wretched; but if you win Christ, then should you rot in a dungeon, you would find it a paradise; should you live in obscurity, or die with famine, you will yet be satisfied with favour and full of the goodness of the Lord.

All rights belong to the collections of Charles Spurgeon(C)

 

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Holy Spirit Gives Us Grace and Works In Us

The Spirit of Grace

    RED ROCKS MORRISON CO 10 2013

James Smith, 1864

    “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem  the Spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one     they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only     child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.”     Zechariah 12:10

Grace is one of the most beautiful words in God‘s Book. The very sound of it is musical to the believer who understands     it. It just meets our case, for it tells us that God is inclined to be favorable unto us; more, that he is prepared to shower down the richest blessings upon us; and that what he gives — he gives freely, from the love of his own heart.

Grace is favor shown to the unworthy, without any  cause or reason — but what is found in God’s own bosom. Grace never looks outside of itself for a motive — but is its own motive. It dwells in all its     fullness in Jesus, and is the glory of the gospel scheme. But we are not  going to dwell upon grace itself — but to fix the eye upon the Holy  Spirit, as called, “the Spirit of grace.”

The Spirit is the gift of God’s grace — one of  it’s greatest gifts. Indeed, it has no greater. Grace gave Jesus, and it     gives the Holy Spirit; these gifts are equal in value and importance, as     they are equal in nature, power, and glory. Without Jesus, we could have no deliverance from wrath, or title to Heaven; and without the Holy Spirit, we     would never realize deliverance, or be made fit for glory. The Father     promised the Spirit to his Son, and the Son bestows the Spirit upon his     church, and makes us new creatures in Christ Jesus. The Father laid up our  fortune in Jesus; Jesus has preserved for us all that the Father entrusted to him; but it is the Holy Spirit who makes known to us — the wealth which our heavenly Father has laid up for us, and conveys the foretastes and     pledges of it into our souls. Holy and blessed Spirit, daily bring down into our souls fresh and fuller supplies of grace from the Father and the Son!

The Holy Spirit produces all our graces within us.  He is the root — and our graces are his fruits; hence we read, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness,     faith, meekness, temperance.” If we believe, it is through grace. If     we love, it is because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts     by the Holy Spirit. If we rejoice, it is in consequence of his revealing and applying the truth to our souls. When his influence is put forth within us — then we . . .     believe God’s word,  hope in his mercy, rejoice in his goodness, cleave to his cause,  walk in his ways, love his truth, his people, and himself, holiness is then happiness, duties are then pleasant, and even the cross lays light upon our shoulders.

But if the Spirit hides Himself, withdraws His  influences, and leaves us to ourselves — then we . . .     doubt and fear, fret and pine,  kick and rebel, rove from thing to thing, and  nothing will either please or satisfy us.

We often . . .     question the past,     are wretched at present,     and dread the future.

But when he puts forth his power in us again . . .     our graces shoot forth like bulbous roots in the spring,     our sighs are exchanged for songs, our fears are exchanged for fortitude, our doubts are exchanged for confidence, and our murmurings are exchanged for gratitude and love.

We then . . . sink into the dust of self-abasement, admire the forbearance and longsuffering of God,     condemn our own conduct, and wonder that we are out of Hell.

Then we take down our harps from the willows, and with a melting heart, a weeping eye, and a tremulous voice we sing, “The winter is     past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season     of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree  forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.” Our     wilderness is now turned into an Eden, and our desert into the garden of the Lord. Come, Holy Spirit, come, and produce a spring season in     our souls, for, with the church of old, we cry, “Turn us again, O Lord God  Almighty; cause your face to shine, and we shall be saved.”

The Holy Spirit is, emphatically, the gracious Spirit.     All that he does for us, and all that he works within us — is of grace. His grace is his glory, and he glories in his grace. We may obtain his presence,     and receive his blessing in answer to prayer — but we can never deserve either, nor can we by any works we perform merit them. He graciously . . .     quickens the dead, instructs the ignorant,     liberates the captives,     restores the wanderers,   comforts the dejected,     strengthens the weak and sanctifies the impure.     His work is his delight, and to see us holy and happy his pleasure!

Nothing grieves him like neglect, indifference, and going back to the beggarly elements of this present world. Such conduct  wounds his loving heart, grieves his kind and tender nature; hence it was     said of Israel: “They vexed and grieved his Holy Spirit.” And the apostle exhorts us: “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.”

Brethren, we need the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of grace–to make us gracious and graceful Christians. Without     the Spirit of grace . . .    we cannot live up to our profession;  we cannot copy the example of our beloved Master;  we cannot keep His commandments; we cannot love one another as He has loved us;       we cannot sympathize with lost sinners as we should;  we cannot keep God’s glory in view in all that we do;  we cannot walk in high and holy fellowship with God;  we cannot meet death with peace and joy!

Let us look up, therefore, to our heavenly Father, let us  plead his precious promises, let us go in the name of the Lord Jesus, and let us entreat him to give us more of “the Spirit of grace.” He is not backward to bestow — if we are willing to receive. He will not refuse to listen to us — if we are earnest, hearty, and importunate. He will grant us the blessing — if we seek it as that which is essential to our holiness and happiness, and to his honor and praise. His word warrants us to expect that  he will give his Holy Spirit to those who ask him. (Luke 11:13). His nature and his name, encourage us to persevere in our application to his throne, until we receive. Oh, For Jacob’s spirit — that we may wrestle until we prevail! Oh, for David’s power with God — that a messenger may be caused to fly very swiftly, to assure us that our prayer is heard! Oh, for the     faith and fervor of the first Christians — that we may be all filled with the Holy Spirit and with power! Oh, for the fullness of “the Spirit of     grace,” to be poured out upon every member of the one church of Jesus, that we may all love each other, and endeavor, by all possible means, to glorify his glorious name!

green_rain

The work of the Holy Spirit (James Smith, “Rills from the Rock of Ages”, 1860)

I love to meditate on the work of the Holy Spirit, to whom we are so much indebted, and from whom we receive such great and invaluable blessings. To Him, I feel that I am indebted, for every good thought, and for every good work.  How wonderful His patience — that He should bear with me so long; and how wonderful His loving-kindness — that He  should confer on me so much! O that I was more  deeply sensible of my obligations!

It was the Holy Spirit who quickened me when I was dead in trespasses and sins — imparting a new life,            infusing new thoughts, and producing new desires in my soul.

Having quickened me, He conquered me — subduing the enmity of my heart, the obstinacy of my will, the worldliness of my affections — and bringing every thought into subjection to the obedience of Christ.

Having quickened and conquered me, He comforted me, assuring me of a saving interest in — the love of God, the perfect work of Jesus, the precious promises of the Word, and the eternal rest which remains for the people of God.

Having quickened, conquered, and comforted me, He sanctified me — separating me from the world, and setting me apart for my  Redeemer’s glory and praise.

As my Sanctifier, He became my Guide — leading me into the truth, conducting me out of the paths of danger, and directing me   into the everlasting way.

Not only my guide, but He became my Guard — preserving me from danger, protecting me from  foes, and becoming a wall of fire round about me.

Whenever I wander — He reproves me; when I willfully go astray — He corrects me, and makes me smart for my folly.

The work He began so long ago — He carries on, nor will He withdraw His hand from it, until it is perfected, and I am fully fitted for glory.

Reader, what do you experimentally know of the work of the Holy Spirit? Has He quickened you? Has He conquered          you? Does He comfort you? Are you sanctified by His presence, power, and operation in your heart? Does He . . .   guide you by His counsel,  guard you by His power, and   correct you for your follies?

The work of the Spirit within  us — is as necessary as the work of Jesus for us!  For if the atonement of Christ entitles us to glory — it is the work of the Holy Spirit that prepares us to  possess and enjoy it. We must be washed, justified, and sanctified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit  of God — or we cannot be saved!