Streams In The Desert

By : L. B. Cowman

But he said to me, “My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So then, I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in me. (2 Cor 12:9)

The other evening I was riding home after a heavy day’s work. I felt very wearied, and sore depressed, when swiftly, and suddenly as a lightning flash, that text came to me, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” I reached home and looked it up in the original, and at last it came to me in this way, “MY grace is sufficient for thee”; and I said, “I should think it is, Lord,” and burst out laughing. I never fully understood what the holy laughter of Abraham was until then. It seemed to make unbelief so absurd. It was as though some little fish, being very thirsty, was troubled about drinking the river dry, and Father Thames said, “Drink away, little fish, my stream is sufficient for thee.” Or, it seemed after the seven years of plenty, a mouse feared it might die of famine; and Joseph might say, “Cheer up, little mouse, my granaries are sufficient for thee.” Again, I imagined a man away up yonder, in a lofty mountain, saying to himself, “I breathe so many cubic feet of air every year, I fear I shall exhaust the oxygen in the atmosphere,” but the earth might say, “Breathe away, O man, and fill the lungs ever, my atmosphere is sufficient for thee.” Oh, brethren, be great believers! Little faith will bring your souls to Heaven, but great faith will bring Heaven to your souls.
—C. H. Spurgeon

His grace is great enough to meet the great things

The crashing waves that overwhelm the soul,

The roaring winds that leave us stunned and breathless,

The sudden storm beyond our life’s control.

His grace is great enough to meet the small things

The little pin-prick troubles that annoy,

The insect worries, buzzing and persistent,

The squeaking wheels that grate upon our joy.

—Annie Johnson Flint

There is always a large balance to our credit in the bank of Heaven waiting for our exercise of faith in drawing it. Draw heavily upon His resources.

catch up on Streams in the Desert in our Archives.

Streams In The Desert

By : L. B. Cowman
Followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises (Heb. 6:12).

They (heroes of faith) are calling to us from the heights that they have won, and telling us that what man once did man can do again. Not only do they remind us of the necessity of faith, but also of that patience by which faith has its perfect work. Let us fear to take ourselves out of the hands of our heavenly Guide or to miss a single lesson of His loving discipline by discouragement or doubt.

“There is only one thing,” said a village blacksmith, “that I fear, and that is to be thrown on the scrap heap. “When I am tempering a piece of steel, I first beat it, hammer it, and then suddenly plunge it into this bucket of cold water. I very soon find whether it will take temper or go to pieces in the process. When I discover after one or two tests that it is not going to allow itself to be tempered, I throw it on the scrap heap and sell it for a cent a pound when the junk man comes around.

“So I find the Lord tests me, too, by fire and water and heavy blows of His heavy hammer, and if I am not willing to stand the test, or am not going to prove a fit subject for His tempering process, I am afraid He may throw me on the scrap heap.”

When the fire is hottest, hold still, for there will be a blessed “afterward”; and with Job we may be able to say, “When he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold.”
–Selected

Sainthood springs out of suffering. It takes eleven tons of pressure on a piano to tune it. God will tune you to harmonize with Heaven‘s key-note if you can stand the strain.

Things that hurt and things that mar
Shape the man for perfect praise;
Shock and strain and ruin are
Friendlier than the smiling days.

Knowledge Of Christ

Here’s Today’s Devotional from The Vine…

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ – John 14:9

There seems to be pain in the Master’s question. This disciple had been with Him for three years. He had seen His beautiful and gentle life. He had witnessed His works of power. Surely by this time, after such long and close intimacy, the disciple ought to have known Jesus. Yet Jesus tells him here that he did not really know Him.

We get this lesson – that it is possible to be with Christ a long time, and to know very much about Him, without ‘knowing’ Him in the true sense of the word. Philip knew Jesus as a man, as a worker of miracles, as having a very beautiful character; but he seems never to have gone below the surface in understanding Him. He did not know Him as the revealer of the Father. He never saw divine glory in the radiance that streamed from that blessed life. And not to know Christ in this aspect, to know Him only as a man, is not to know Him at all. To leave out the divine in our thought of Christ is not to have any Christ at all.

We may be quite familiar with the facts of our Lord‘s life, from His birth in Bethlehem to His ascension from Olivet, and yet may not know anything of Him as a personal Savior, saving us from our sins, or as a Helper in our times of need. Such knowledge will do us no good unless it lead us to the true knowledge of Christ as Savior, Lord, and Friend.

There is something very touching in the thought that for so long the Son of God walked with His disciples, all the glory of divinity dwelling in His humanity, and that they did not recognize Him. But is it any better with us? The divine love is close to us perpetually, flowing all about us, with all its infinite tenderness, but how unconscious we are of it! May our prayer be, ” Lord, make thyself known to us!”

Please share your thoughts on“Knowledge Of Christ”

The Eye Of The Lord Is On His Children

By David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 – April 27, 2011]

In the midst of this worldwide “shaking of all things,” what is God’s
great concern? Is it the events in the Middle East? No! The Bible tells us
God’s vision is trained on His children: “Behold, the eye of the Lord is
upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy” (Psalm 33:18).

Our Lord is aware of every move by every living thing on Earth. And yet His
gaze is focused primarily on the well-being of His children. He fixes His eyes
on the pain and needs of each member of His spiritual body. Simply put,
whatever hurts us concerns Him.
To prove this to us, Jesus said, “Fear not them which kill the body, but are
not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both
soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).  Even in the midst of great world
wars, God’s primary focus is not on the tyrants. His focus is on every
circumstance in His children’s lives.

Christ says in the very next verse: “Are not two sparrows sold for a
farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father”
(Matthew 10:29). In Christ’s day, sparrows were the meat of the poor and sold
two for a penny. Yet, Jesus said, “Not one of these small creatures falls to
the ground without your Father knowing it.”

Jesus’ use of the word “fall” in this verse signifies more than the
bird’s death. The Aramaic meaning is “to light on the ground.” In other
words, “fall” here indicates every little hop a tiny bird makes.

Christ is telling us, “Your Father’s eye is on the sparrow not just when it
dies but even when it lights on the ground. As a sparrow learns to fly, it falls
from the nest and begins to hop along the ground. God sees every little struggle
it has and He is concerned over every detail of its life.”

Jesus then adds, “Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many
sparrows” (Matthew 10:31). Indeed, He says, “The very hairs of your head
are all numbered” (10:30). Simply put, the One who made and counted all the
stars—who monitored every action of the Roman Empire and who keeps all the
galaxies in the orbits—has His eye fixed on you. And, Jesus asks, “Are you
not worth much more to Him?”

 

Read this devotion online:http://sermons.worldchallenge.org/en/node/27818?src=devo-email

At His Feet

English: Jesus at the house of Mary and Martha (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here’s Today’s Devotional from The Vine…

Mary, therefore, took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. – John 12:3

Mary appears three times in the gospel, and each time she is in the same posture – “at Jesus’ feet.” When we have our first glimpse within their home at Bethany, we find Martha in her characteristic attitude, serving. Mary meanwhile was sitting at the Master’s feet, eagerly listening to His words. Our next sight of Mary is when Jesus came back to Bethany after the death of Lazarus, and the sisters went out to meet Him. Again she is at the feet of Christ, this time in deep sorrow, seeking comfort. Here a third time we find her at Christ’s feet, and now it is in honoring her Lord.

We think of Mary, therefore, as a woman who was always at Christ’s feet. In the bright, common days she sat there as a learner, looking up into His face, drinking in His words, and absorbing His spirit into her soul. When grief came she went to His feet for comfort, pouring out her sorrow there, looking up into His face for comfort. Then, when the trouble was over, and there were joy and victory instead, we find her again in her usual place, honoring Jesus with her heart’s richest gifts. There is no fitter place for the redeemed life than at the Savior’s feet.

In Mary’s gift she brought the best she had, the richest gift in all her possession. We should always bring our best to Christ. No ointment in the world is half so precious to Him as the love of human hearts; we should bring Him our best love, giving Him the first place in our affections. We should give Him the best of our lives, our youth in all its freshness and purity, our body and mind when they are at their best. We should give Him the best of our time, not the weary moments of languor only, but the hours when we are most alert. We should give Him the best of our services, doing our finest work of all kinds for Him.

Nothing But Leaves

Here’s Today’s Devotional from The Vine…

If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs him;’ and immediately he will send him back here.” – Mark 11:3

There were many other fig trees in that region, but Jesus did not turn to any of them to look for food, because they gave no promise, made no show or pretence of having fruit. He went to this tree because by its early leaves it declared to all who saw it that it had also early fruit. Christ does not expect to find spiritual fruit on the life of the godless man or the worldly woman; but He does expect it on the life of the man or woman who professes to be a Christian.

As Jesus turned to that fig tree, drawn thereto by the tree’s profession of fruitfulness, so hungry souls turn to the Church and to God‘s professed people to find spiritual food. What that tree with leaves and no fruit was to Jesus, the Jewish Church was to the people whose soul hungered for spiritual food. With their burden of sin, with their deep heart-questionings, with their sorrows, with their unsatisfied longings, with their yearnings for help and sympathy, they turned to the priests, the professed spiritual guides, if haply they might get from them what they wanted. So the mission of every Christian Church is to feed hungry souls. In the hour of penitence, when the soul is conscious of guilt; in the day of trouble, when the world has no more to give; in the shadow of death, in all the great crises of life, even the most worldly turn to the Church for what they need.

A church is like a great tree in the desert which holds out the promise of fruit, and toward which all the spiritually hungry turn. There can be few sadder things in this world than a church, promising by its very name, by its spire pointing to heaven, by its open doors, by its songs and services, by its bells of invitation, to give food to the hungry, refreshment to the weary, comfort to the sorrowing, and then failing to keep its promises to the souls that come expecting.

The Life Of Jesus

To devotions-en@lists.worldchallenge.org

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 20
by David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 – April 27, 2011]

The apostle Paul says, “I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last,
as it were appointed to death [handed over to death]: for we are made a
spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men” (1 Corinthians 4:9).

Simply put, when godly saints full of the Christ-life are led into death
situations, it’s never a private matter. Scripture says we are on display to
three different intelligences: angels, devils and humankind.

At times you may feel all alone in your struggle, but you are not involved in
some secret battle taking place in a dark corner. On the contrary, three realms
are watching you with great interest. Devils are watching you, angels are
watching you, and people are watching you. And they are all wondering, “How
is this servant of God going to respond to his trial?”

What are such spectacle-trials all about? Why must we go through these deaths?
What is in us that God is after? Our heavenly Father knows that certain
unredeemed areas in our lives hinder the full manifestation of Christ’s life in
us. He knows our stumbling blocks, our fears, our ambitions, our
lusts—everything that blocks a full shining forth of Jesus. So He allows us
to be put into “death situations” to rid our hearts of these hindrances.

If your hindrance is a fear of man, God may lead someone into your life whose
presence paralyzes you with fear. Everything that person says or does adds to
your fear, until it becomes unbearable.

I have seen such fear cause physical pain to God’s saints. Some have ended up
hyperventilating over the “hard person” in their life, literally losing their
breath. Why does God allow such a man or woman to become involved in your life?
It happens because your loving Father is handing you over to death. He’s telling
you, “Your fear of man hinders the precious flow of the Christ-life in you,
thus it cannot produce life in others. This fear in you must end. You have to
die to it!”

Your cry to Him may be, “Lord, get me out of this!” But God responds, “No
I’m going to let death do its work. I have arranged all of this so the life of
Jesus might be manifest in you!”

Read this devotion online:http://sermons.worldchallenge.org/en/node/25355?src=devo-email

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Holy Desperation

By Carter Conlon


You and I are living in what I call “an hour of holy desperation.”

Our society is degenerating very rapidly, and horrific crimes are occurring so
often that we are becoming dulled to it all. The abnormal is becoming normal;
evil is becoming good. As you look around perhaps you wonder, “How do I fit
into this moment in time? What can God do through my life? And if He is going
to do something, why is it that my prayers, that I know are according to His
Word, have not yet been answered?”

To help address some of these questions, let’s look at another time in
history when a desperate hour came upon a nation. The book of First Samuel
speaks of a season when there was no clear word or vision. The priesthood that
was supposed to represent God was instead deeply compromised (see 1 Samuel
2:22-24, 3:1). God’s character, purpose, and mind were hidden from the
people, leaving them without answers to the questions in their hearts: “What
is happening in our society? Where are we going?”

This situation was very similar to the day in which we live when it seems as if
the presence of God—His power and provision that we have known throughout our
history—is suddenly gone. It appears that the enemies of God now have the
upper hand, dictating to us when we can pray, what we can teach our children,
what is right and what is wrong. As a result, a deep cry is beginning to form
in the hearts of the people.

Psalm 107 speaks of these seasons of holy desperation that recurred throughout
history. The psalmist describes a people who were wandering, hungry, fainting
and held captive. It was a time marked by a foolish handling of the truth of
God. Yet it is in these very moments of desperation that the general population
begins to cry out to God, as is beginning in our day. There is a cry rising in
this generation—a cry not necessarily heard by the natural ear, but God hears
it. It is like the time He came to Moses and said, “I have heard the cry of
the people and I have come down to deliver them” (see Exodus 3:7-8). In other
words, I have heard their groans of hopelessness. Today the Lord hears the cries
of those whose dreams have been shattered, of parents whose children have gone
astray, of those who ask, “What happened to us?”

“I have surely seen the affliction of my people . . . and have heard their
cry” (Exodus 3:7).

 

Carter Conlon joined the pastoral staff of Times Square Church in 1994 at the
invitation of the founding pastor, David Wilkerson, and was appointed Senior
Pastor in 2001. A strong, compassionate leader, he is a frequent speaker at the
Expect Church Leadership Conferences conducted by World Challenge throughout the
world.
 



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Read this devotion online: http://sermons.worldchallenge.org/en/node/27799?src=devo-email

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How To Know Who Your Real Friends Are

May 20, 2014

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Colossians 3:12-13

One thing that always astounds me is the number of people who put conditions on their relationships with others. I’m talking about those people who say, “I’ll be your friend if…” or “I’ll be your friend until….” That’s so sad because it goes against the very definition of friendship!

Real friendship is unconditional. A true friend is one who stays your friend even when you mess up. It’s not about what you do for them. Their friendship is about the love they have for you and will have for you no matter what.

This should impact both how we choose our friends, as well as the kind of friends we are to other people. Biblical friendship reflects the love of Christ and sticks together through thick and thin. In the way that Christ accepts you regardless of your performance, so we are to accept others.

If you want to know who your real friends are, just make a mistake and see who stays around. You’ll find that some “friends” will leave like rats scurrying off a sinking ship. But the real friends in your life will be with you no matter what. Find and be that kind of friend!

SEEK OUT AND BE A GOOD FRIEND WHO LOVES OTHERS DESPITE THEIR PERFORMANCE.

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For more from PowerPoint Ministries and Dr. Jack Graham, please visit www.jackgraham.org

Finding Fault With Others

Here’s Today’s Devotional from The Vine…

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye? – Matthew 7:3

It is strange how oblivious we can be of our own faults and blemishes, and how clearly we can see those of other people. One old writer says: “Men are more apt to use spectacles than looking-glasses – spectacles to behold other men’s faults than looking-glasses to behold their own.” A man can see a little speck of dust in his neighbour’s eye while utterly unaware of the great beam in his own eye. He observes the most minute fault in his brother while unconscious of his own far greater fault.

We would say that a beam in a man’s eye would so blind him that he could not see the mote in another’s eye. As our Lord represents it, however, the man with the beam is the very one who sees the mote and thinks himself competent to pull it out. So it is in morals. No man is so sharp at seeing a fault in another as he who has the same or a similar fault of his own. A vain man is the first to detect the indications of vanity in another. A bad-tempered person is most apt to be censorious toward a neighbour who displays bad temper. One with a sharp uncontrolled tongue has the least patience with another whose speech is full of poisoned arrows. A selfish man discovers even motes of selfishness in others. Rude people are the very first to be hurt and offended by rudeness in a neighbour.

So it is always. If we are quick to perceive blemishes and faults in others, the probability is that we have far greater blemishes and faults in ourselves. This truth ought to make us exceedingly careful in our judgments and exceedingly modest in our expressions of censure, for we really are telling the world our own faults. It is wiser, as well as more in accordance with the spirit of Christ, for us to find lovely things in others, and to be silent regarding their faults.

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