Witness And Testimony - Blog

Satan May Sometimes Catch His Foot In A Trap

5/21/2019

Before conversion, the devil could no sooner hold up his finger to the sinner to call him to his wicked company...

Sinful games, and filthy delights and immediately he followed...

Like an ox going to the slaughter...

Like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver...

Like a bird darting into a snare...

Little knowing it will cost him his life.

Pro 7:22 He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;

Pro 7:23 Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.

No sooner could Satan bid him to lie...but immediately he had it on his tongue.

No sooner could Satan offer a filthy object...but he was overcome with lust.

But after he is converted he serves another Master...

And takes quite another course...

He goes and comes at Christ's bidding.

Satan may sometimes catch his foot in a trap but he will no longer be a willing captive.

He watches against the snares and baits of Satan...

And studies to be acquainted with his devices and plots.

~Joseph Alleine~

Losses Overcome

5/18/2019

Joel 2:25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

Yes, those wasted years over which we sigh shall be restored to us.

God can give us such plentiful grace that we shall crowd into the remainder of our days as much of service as will be some recompense for those years of unregeneracy over which we mourn in humble penitence.

The locusts of backsliding, worldliness, lukewarmness, are now viewed by us as a terrible plague.

Oh, that they had never come near us!

The LORD in mercy has now taken them away, and we are full of zeal to serve Him.

Blessed be His name, we can raise such harvests of spiritual graces as shall make our former barrenness to disappear.

Through rich grace we can turn to account our bitter experience and use it to warn others.

We can become the more rooted in humility, childlike dependence, and penitent spirituality by reason of our former shortcomings.

If we are the more watchful, zealous, and tender, we shall gain by our lamentable losses.

The wasted years, by a miracle of love, can be restored.

Does it seem too great a boon?

Let us believe for it and live for it, and we may yet realize it, even as Peter became all the more useful a man after his presumption was cured by his discovered weakness.

LORD, aid us by Thy grace.

~Charles Spurgeon~

We Should Be Content With His Daily Allowance!

4/27/2019

2Ki 25:29 And changed his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life.

2Ki 25:30 And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life.

Jehoiachin was not sent away from the king's palace with a 'supply' to last him for months, but his provision was given to him as a daily pension.

Herein he well pictures the happy position of all the Lord's people.

A daily portion is all that a man really needs.

We do not need tomorrow's supplies; for that day has not yet dawned, and its needs are as yet unborn.

The thirst which we may suffer in the month of June...does not need to be quenched in February, for we do not feel it yet.

If we have enough for each day as the days arrive...we shall never know want.

Sufficient for the day is all that we can enjoy.

We cannot eat or drink or wear more than the day's supply of food and clothing; a surplus gives us the care of storing it, and the anxiety of watching against a thief.

Mat 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

Mat 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

One staff aids a traveler but a bundle of staffs is a heavy burden.

Enough is not only as good as a feast but is all that the greatest glutton can truly enjoy.

Enough is all that we should expect and craving for more than this is ungrateful.

When our Father does not give us more...we should be content with His daily allowance.

Jehoiachin's case is ours - we have a sure portion...

A portion given to us by the King...

A gracious portion...

And a perpetual portion.

Surely here is ground for thankfulness.

Beloved Christian reader, in matters of grace you need a daily supply.

You have no store of grace.

Day by day you must seek help from above.

It is a very sweet assurance that a daily portion is provided for you.

In the Word, through the ministry, by meditation, in prayer, and waiting upon God...you shall receive renewed strength.

In Jesus, all needful things are laid up for you.

Then enjoy your continual allowance!

Never go hungry while the daily bread of grace is on the table of mercy!

Luke 11:3 Give us day by day our daily bread.

Deu 33:25 Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.

~Charles Spurgeon~

LEAVEN

4/18/2019

Then what about this leaven that makes things appeal to our natural taste?

Paul said to Timothy, "The time will come when they will not endure sound teaching; and they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears."

And he goes on to say that they will believe the lie instead of the truth.

Why is that?

Because these teachers appeal to the natural life.

These teachers cover over evil.

Indeed, they will sometimes call evil good.

People do not like the teachers who tell them what is wrong, that this thing and that thing are contrary to God.

They like leavened bread, it pleases the flesh....

He says there will be leaven, there will be corruption and defilement everywhere...

But the teaching of the New Testament is: Keep yourselves pure.

See that your garments are not spotted.

Walk in this sinful world as those who do not belong to its nature.

Although there is leaven everywhere, you be the unleavened bread.

But, the world may not like you, the world will not like unleavened bread.

It does not please the flesh...

But the bread which is pure is pleasing to God.

You Become Like Your Obsession.

4/8/2019

You become like that which Obsesses you, which Occupies you.

Is that not true?

You see what people are Occupied with, and you can see their Character Changing by their obsessions.

They are becoming like the thing which is obsessing them...

They are changing...

They are becoming different.

Something has got a grip on them...

They can never think about anything else,,,

Talk about anything else...

And it is Changing their character.

Now Paul said, 'For me to live is Christ - being occupied with Him'.

It is the wrong word to use, but nevertheless it would be a good thing if He became our 'obsession'...

Our continuous occupation.

As we steadfastly fix our gaze upon Him, the Spirit changes us into the same image.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Presence Of Mind

3/31/2019

When God is abroad in judgments, He would not have His people alarmed.

He has not come forth to harm but to defend the righteous.

He would have them manifest courage.

We who enjoy the presence of God ought to display presence of mind.

Since the LORD Himself may suddenly come, we ought not to be surprised at anything sudden.

Serenity under the rush and roar of unexpected evils is a precious gift of divine love.

The LORD would have His chosen display discrimination...

So that they may see that the desolation of the wicked is not a real calamity to the universe.

Sin alone is evil...

The punishment which follows thereupon is as a preserving salt to keep society from putrefying.

We should be far more shocked at the sin which deserves hell than at the hell which comes out of sin.

So, too, should the LORD's people exhibit great quietness of spirit.

Satan and his serpent seed are full of all subtlety...

But those who walk with God shall not be taken in their deceitful snares.

Go on, believer in Jesus, and let the LORD be thy confidence.

~Charles Spurgeon~

To Others An "Ensample"

3/16/2019

It is well when a man can with advantage be so minutely copied as Paul might have been.

Oh, for grace to imitate him this day and every day!

Should we, through divine grace, carry into practice the Pauline teaching, we may claim the promise which is now open before us; and what a promise it is!

God, who loves peace, makes peace, and breathes peace, will be with us.

Peace be with you is a sweet benediction; but for the God of peace to be with us is far more.

Thus we have the fountain as well as the streams, the sun as well as his beams.

If the God of peace be with us, we shall enjoy the peace of God which passeth all understanding, even though outward circumstances should threaten to disturb.

If men quarrel, we shall be sure to be peacemakers, if the Maker of peace be with us.

It is in the Way Of Truth that Real Peace is found.

If we quit the faith or leave the path of righteousness under the notion of promoting peace, we shall be greatly mistaken.

First pure, then peaceable, is the order of wisdom and of fact.

Let us keep to Paul's line, and we shall have the God of peace with us as He was with the apostle.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Home Blessings

3/5/2019

He fears the LORD, and therefore he comes under the divine protection even as to the roof which covers himself and his family.

His home is an abode of love, a school of holy training, and a place of heavenly light.

In it there is a family altar where the name of the LORD is daily had in reverence.

Therefore the LORD blesses his habitation.

It may be a humble cottage or a lordly mansion; but the LORD's blessing comes because of the character of the inhabitant and not because of the size of the dwelling.

That house is most blest in which the master and mistress are Godfearing people...

But a son or daughter or even a servant may bring a blessing on a whole household.

The LORD often preserves, prospers, and provides for a family for the sake of one or two in it, who are "just" persons in His esteem, because His grace has made them so.

Beloved, let us have Jesus for our constant guest even as the sisters of Bethany had, and then we shall be blessed indeed.

Let us look to it that in all things we are just...in our trade, in our judgment of others, in our treatment of neighbors, and in our own personal character.

A just God cannot bless unjust transactions.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Joy For The Cast-Out

3/1/2019

Isa 66:5 Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.

Possibly this text may not apply to one in a thousand of the readers of this little book of promises...

But the LORD cheers that one...in such words as these.

Let us pray for all such as are cast out wrongfully born the society which they love.

May the LORD appear to their joy!

The text applies to truly gracious men who tremble at the word of the LORD.

These were hated of their brethren and at length cast out because of their fidelity and their holiness.

This must have been very bitter to them........

And all the more so because their casting out was done in the name of religion...

And professedly with the view of glorifying God.

How much is done for the devil in the name of God!

The use of the name of Jehovah to add venom to the bite of the old serpent is an instance of his subtlety.

The appearing of the LORD for them is the hope of His persecuted people.

He appears as the Advocate and Defender of His elect...

And when He does so it means a clear Deliverance for the God-fearing...

And shame for their oppressors.

O LORD, fulfill this word to those whom men are deriding!

~Charles Spurgeon~

Past Deliverance Begets Faith

2/23/2019

1Sa 17:37 David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.

This is not a promise if we consider only the words but it is truly so as to its sense...

For David spoke a word which the LORD endorsed by making it true.

He argued from past deliverance's that he should receive help in a new danger.

In Jesus all the promises are "Yea" and "Amen" to the glory of God by us...

And so the LORD's former dealings with His believing people will be repeated.

Come, then, let us recall the LORD's former lovingkindness.

We could not have hoped to be delivered aforetime by our own strength yet the LORD delivered us.

Will He not again save us?

We are sure He will.

As David ran to meet his foe, so will we.

The LORD has been with us, He is with us, and He has said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee,"...

Why do we tremble?

Was the past a dream?

Think of the dead bear and lion.

Who is this Philistine?

True, he is not quite the same, and is neither bear nor lion...

But then God is the same, and His honor is as much concerned in the one case as in the other.

He did not save us from the beasts of the forest to let a giant kill us.

Let us be of good courage.

~Charles Spurgeon~