"Thy Redeemer." Isaiah 54:5

Jesus, the Redeemer, is altogether ours and ours for ever. All the offices of Christ are held on our behalf. He is king for us, priest for us, and prophet for us. Whenever we read a new title of the Redeemer, let us appropriate him as ours under that name as much as under any other. The shepherd's staff, the father's rod, the captain's sword, the priest's mitre, the prince's sceptre, the prophet's mantle, all are ours.

 Jesus hath no dignity which he will not employ for our exaltation, and no prerogative which he will not exercise for our defence.

 His fulness of Godhead is our unfailing, inexhaustible treasure-house.

His manhood also, which he took upon him for us, is ours in all its perfection. To us our gracious Lord communicates the spotless virtue of a stainless character; to us he gives the meritorious efficacy of a devoted life; on us he bestows the reward procured by obedient submission and incessant service. He makes the unsullied garment of his life our covering beauty; the glittering virtues of his character our ornaments and jewels; and the superhuman meekness of his death our boast and glory. He bequeaths us his manger, from which to learn how God came down to man; and his Cross to teach us how man may go up to God. All his thoughts, emotions, actions, utterances, miracles, and intercessions, were for us. He trod the road of sorrow on our behalf, and hath made over to us as his heavenly legacy the full results of all the labours of his life. He is now as much ours as heretofore; and he blushes not to acknowledge himself "our Lord Jesus Christ," though he is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.

 Christ everywhere and every way is our Christ, for ever and ever most richly to enjoy.

 O my soul, by the power of the Holy Spirit! call him this morning, "thy Redeemer.

C.Spurgeon

"I know how to abound."

- Philippians 4:12

There are many who know "how to be abased" who have not learned "how to abound." When they are set upon the top of a pinnacle their heads grow dizzy, and they are ready to fall. The Christian far oftener disgraces his profession in prosperity than in adversity. It is a dangerous thing to be prosperous. The crucible of adversity is a less severe trial to the Christian than the refining pot of prosperity. Oh, what leanness of soul and neglect of spiritual things have been brought on through the very mercies and bounties of God! Yet this is not a matter of necessity, for the apostle tells us that he knew how to abound. When he had much he knew how to use it. Abundant grace enabled him to bear abundant prosperity.

When he had a full sail he was loaded with much ballast, and so floated safely. It needs more than human skill to carry the brimming cup of mortal joy with a steady hand, yet Paul had learned that skill, for he declares, "In all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry." It is a divine lesson to know how to be full, for the Israelites were full once, but while the flesh was yet in their mouth, the wrath of God came upon them. Many have asked for mercies that they might satisfy their own hearts' lust. Fulness of bread has often made fulness of blood, and that has brought on wantonness of spirit. When we have much of God's providential mercies, it often happens that we have but little of God's grace, and little gratitude for the bounties we have received. We are full and we forget God: satisfied with earth, we are content to do without heaven.

 Rest assured it is harder to know how to be full than it is to know how to be hungry-so desperate is the tendency of human nature to pride and forgetfulness of God.

 Take care that you ask in your prayers that God would teach you "how to be full.

"

"Let not the gifts thy love bestows

Estrange our hearts from thee."

Spurgeon

NEED WASHING??

A little girl had been shopping  with her Mom in Target. She must have been 6 years old, this  beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence. It was  pouring outside.

The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain  gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to  flow down the spout. We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of  Target. 

We waited, some patiently,  others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day. 

The  little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were  all caught in "Mom let's run through the rain," she said.

"What?" Mom asked. "Lets run through the rain!" She  repeated. "No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit,"  Mom replied.This young child waited about another minute  and repeated: "Mom, let's run through the rain," 

"We'll  get soaked if we do," Mom said."No, we won't, Mom. That's not  what you said this morning,"

the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm. 

This morning? When did I say we could run  through the rain and not get wet? 

"Don't you remember?  When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, 'If God  can get us through this, he can get us through anything!" 

The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain. We all stood silently. No one came  or left in t he next few minutes. Mom paused and thought for a  moment about what she would say. Now some would laugh it off and  scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said.  But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A  time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom  into faith. 

"Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run  through the rain. If GOD let's us get wet, well maybe we just  needed washing," Mom said. 

Then off they ran. We all stood  watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and  yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their  heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a  few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars.

And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.

Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious  memories...So, don't forget to make time and take the  opportunities to make memories everyday. To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.

I HOPE YOU STILL  TAKE THE TIME TO RUN THROUGH THE RAIN.

"I am crucified with Christ."

- Galatians 2:20

The Lord Jesus Christ acted in what he did as a great public representative person, and his dying upon the cross was the virtual dying of all his people. Then all his saints rendered unto justice what was due, and made an expiation to divine vengeance for all their sins. The apostle of the Gentiles delighted to think that as one of Christ's chosen people, he died upon the cross in Christ. He did more than believe this doctrinally, he accepted it confidently, resting his hope upon it.

 He believed that by virtue of Christ's death, he had satisfied divine justice, and found reconciliation with God.

 Beloved, what a blessed thing it is when the soul can, as it were, stretch itself upon the cross of Christ, and feel, "I am dead; the law has slain me, and I am therefore free from its power, because in my Surety I have borne the curse, and in the person of my Substitute the whole that the law could do, by way of condemnation, has been executed upon me, for I am crucified with Christ."

But Paul meant even more than this. He not only believed in Christ's death, and trusted in it, but he actually felt its power in himself in causing the crucifixion of his old corrupt nature. When he saw the pleasures of sin, he said, "I cannot enjoy these: I am dead to them." Such is the experience of every true Christian. Having received Christ, he is to this world as one who is utterly dead. Yet, while conscious of death to the world, he can, at the same time, exclaim with the apostle, "Nevertheless I live." He is fully alive unto God. The Christian's life is a matchless riddle.

 No worldling can comprehend it; even the believer himself cannot understand it.

 Dead, yet alive! crucified with Christ, and yet at the same time risen with Christ in newness of life! Union with the suffering, bleeding Saviour, and death to the world and sin, are soul-cheering things.

 O for more enjoyment of them!   

Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith, and it is likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is without trials. Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against her: tempests are her trainers, and lightnings are her illuminators. When a calm reigns on the sea, spread the sails as you will, the ship moves not to its harbour; for on a slumbering ocean the keel sleeps too. Let the winds rush howling forth, and let the waters lift up themselves, then, though the vessel may rock, and her deck may be washed with waves, and her mast may creak under the pressure of the full and swelling sail, it is then that she makes headway towards her desired haven. No flowers wear so lovely a blue as those which grow at the foot of the frozen glacier; no stars gleam so brightly as those which glisten in the polar sky; no water tastes so sweet as that which springs amid the desert sand; and no faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs in adversity. Tried faith brings experience.

You could not have believed your own weakness had you not been compelled to pass through the rivers; and you would never have known God's strength had you not been supported amid the water-floods.

 Faith increases in solidity, assurance, and intensity, the more it is exercised with tribulation.

 Faith is precious, and its trial is precious too.

Let not this, however, discourage those who are young in faith.

 You will have trials enough without seeking them: the full portion will be measured out to you in due season.

 Meanwhile, if you cannot yet claim the result of long experience, thank God for what grace you have; praise him for that degree of holy confidence whereunto you have attained: walk according to that rule, and you shall yet have more and more of the blessing of God, till your faith shall remove mountains and conquer impossibilities.

C. Spurgeon