Wisdom Of Life

"Although he did not remove the high places from Israel, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life."   [2Chronicles 15:17] Asa was not completely obedient in the outward, visible areas of his life. He was obedient in what he considered the most important areas, but he was not entirely right. Beware of ever thinking, “Oh, that thing in my life doesn’t matter much.” The fact that it doesn’t matter much to you may mean that it matters a great deal to God. Nothing should be considered a trivial matter by a child of God. How much longer are we going to prevent God from teaching us even one thing? But He keeps trying to teach us and He never loses patience. You say, “I know I am right with God”—yet the “high places” still remain in your life. There is still an area of disobedience. Do you protest that your heart is right with God, and yet there is something in your life He causes you to doubt?  Whenev...

"...Lift them up forever."   [Psalm 28:9] God’s people need lifting up, they are very heavy by nature. They have no wings, or, if they have, they are like the dove of old which lay among the pots; and they need divine grace to make them mount on wings covered with silver, and with feathers of yellow gold. By nature sparks fly upward, but the sinful souls of men fall downward. O Lord, “lift them up forever!” David himself said, “Unto thee, O God, do I lift up my soul [Psa.25:1],” and here he feels the necessity that other men’s souls should be lifted up as well as his own. When you ask this blessing for yourself,  do not forget to seek it for others also. There are three ways in which God’s people require to be lifted up, t hey require to be elevated in character. Lift them up, O Lord; do not allow Your people suffer to be like the world’s people! The world lies in the wicked one; lift them out of it! The world’s peo...

"Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them."   [Isaiah 3:10] It is well with the righteous always. If it had said, “Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them in their prosperity,” we must have been thankful for so great a blessing, for prosperity is an hour of peril, and it is a gift from heaven to be secured from its snares: or if it had been written, “It is well with them when under persecution,” we must have been thankful for so sustaining an assurance, for persecution is hard to bear; but when no time is mentioned, all time is included. God’s “shalls” must always be understood in their largest sense. From the beginning of the year to the end of the year, from the first gathering of evening shadows until the day-star shines, in all conditions and under all circumstances, it shall be well with the righteous. It is so well with him that we could not imagine it to be better, for he is well fed, he feeds upon the flesh and blood of Jesus; he is well ...

" Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me…"   [Matthew 11:29] “Whom the Lord loves He chastens…” [Heb.12:6]. How petty our complaining is! Our Lord begins to bring us to the point where we can have fellowship with Him, only to hear us moan and groan, saying, “Oh Lord, just let me be like other people!” Jesus is asking us to get beside Him and take one end of the yoke, so that we can pull together. That’s why Jesus says to us, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light” [Mat.11:30]. Are you closely identified with the Lord Jesus like that? If so, you will thank God when you feel the pressure of His hand upon you. “…to those who have no might He increases strength” [Isa.40:29]. God comes and takes us out of our emotionalism, and then our complaining turns into a hymn of praise. The only way to know the strength of God is to take the yoke of Jesus upon us and to learn from Him.  “…the joy of ...

"Cast your burden on the Lord… "   [Psalm 55:22] We must recognize the difference between burdens that are right for us to bear and burdens that are wrong. We should never bear the burdens of sin or doubt, but there are some burdens placed on us by God which He does not intend to lift off. God wants us to roll them back on Him— to literally “cast your burden,” which He has given you, “on the Lord….” If we set out to serve God and do His work but get out of touch with Him, the sense of responsibility we feel will be overwhelming and defeating. But if we will only roll back on God the burdens He has placed on us, He will take away that immense feeling of responsibility, replacing it with an awareness and understanding of Himself and His presence. Many servants set out to serve God with great courage and with the right motives. But with no intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ, they are soon defeated. They do not know what to do with t...

"Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them." [Psalm 126:5–6 ] There is nothing to sad about sowing seed, it only takes no more work than reaping. The days can be beautiful, and there can be great hope of harvest. Yet the psalm speaks of “sowing in tears.” It says that someone “goes forth weeping, bearing the seed for sowing.” So why are they weeping? The only reason is not that sowing is sad, or that sowing is hard, but the reason has nothing to do with sowing. Sowing is simply of work that has to be done even when there are things in life that make us cry. The crops won’t wait while we finish our grief or solve all our problems. If we are going to eat next winter, we must get out in the field and sow the seed whether we are crying or not. If you do that, the promise of the psalm is that “you will reap with shouts of joy....

" … our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin ."   [Romans 6:6] Have you made the following decision about sin—that it must be completely killed in you? It takes a long time to come to the point of making this complete and effective decision about sin. It is, however, the greatest moment in your life once you decide that sin must die in you– not simply be restrained, suppressed, or counteracted, but crucified—just as Jesus Christ died for the sin of the world. No one can bring anyone else to this decision. We may be mentally and spiritually convinced, but what we need to do is actually make the decision that Paul urged us to do in this passage. Pull yourself up, take some time alone with God, and make this important decision, saying, “Lord, identify me with Your death until I know that sin is dead in me.” Make the moral decision that sin in you must ...