"Salvation is of the LORD." -Jonah 2:9

“Blessed be the LORD: for He hath shewed me His marvellous kindness in a strong city.  For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before Thine eyes: nevertheless Thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto Thee.    O love the LORD, all ye His saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.  Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.”   -Psalm 31:21-24 [KJV]   -------O------- Great Encouragement in Christ JESUS unto His Afflicted Saints    1.  Every trial is according to the will of God.  Nothing happens by accident.  Satan could do nothing to Job except by the divine will.  Job did not attribute his troubles to Satan, but to the Lord.  “The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD”   (Job 1:21). 2.  Every trial is meted out by our all-wise heavenly Father.  He closely ...

  I will praise the name of Jesus, Prophet, Priest and reigning King; Join with me and bow before Him, Unto Him your homage bring. I will praise the name of Jesus, Who descended from above; Came to save His chosen people, Sent by God in cov’nant love.   I will praise the name of Jesus, Who upon Mount Calvary; Shed His blood to seal my pardon, Died from sin to set me free. I will praise the name of Jesus, Risen, conquering, gracious Friend; Jesus is my Mediator, All my hopes on Him depend.   I will praise the name of Jesus, O how good He is to me; I will gladly bow and worship, Praise His name eternally. I will praise the name of Jesus, Till I see His blessed face; Then throughout the endless ages, Praise Him for His love and grace.

"Every one who useth milk, is unskillful in the word of righteousness; for he is a babe." -Hebrews 5:13 [KJV] This is a sharp reproof. As then, so now there are many who need it. The word rendered unskillful, in the margin of our bibles, is, hath no experience . Christian experience is much talked of, but too little understood. Many are ready to give a long detail of experience which they have had of one thing and another, but you can find nothing of the word of righteousness in it. It all begins in self, ends in self, and tends to exalt self.  O! there is a great deal of self-seeking, self-soothing, and self-complacency, in what is called Christian experience. But real Christian experience is that inward proof or trial, which our minds have of the word of righteousness; how the belief of it has brought relief to our guilty consciences, ease to our troubled souls, and rest to our weary minds. From hence, Christ, the sum and substance of the word of righteousness...

"And they began to pray Him to depart out of their coasts." -Mark 5:17 [KJV] And was this Jesus whom they desired to depart? Yes: and what had the Redeemer done to merit this treatment? He had dispossessed the evil spirit from the mind of a poor creature, and caused the whole country to be freed from the fury of one whom no chains could bind: was this the cause? Yes.  And is it possible that so divine an act could have had such an effect upon the minds of a whole body of people? What, would these Gadarenes rather have the devil raging among them, in the person of this poor creature, than the Son of God in the kindness of our nature? Pause, my soul: is it not the same now? Do not men still prefer the raging uncontrolled lusts of their own hearts, the dominion of Satan, and the customs, pursuits, and follies, of the world; to the grace, mercy, and sweet dominion of Jesus? Do they not indeed, if not in words, say, "Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge o...

"Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped Him, saying, Of a truth Thou art the Son of God ."   -Matthew 14:33 [KJV] What a beauty and blessedness there is in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, when viewed by the spiritual eye! Our reasoning minds, it is true, may be deeply stumbled at the doctrine of an incarnate God. My own mind, I know, has sometimes been driven almost to its wits' end by this great mystery of deity and humanity combined in the Person of Christ, for it so surpasses all human comprehension, and is so removed beyond the grasp of all our reasoning faculties. It is not, indeed, contrary to reason, for there is nothing in it impossible or self-contradictory; but it is beyond and above the reach of human thought and tangible apprehension. But when we are led to consider what would be the most certain and most fearful consequences unless the Lord Jesus Christ were what He declares He is, God as well as man, we are compelled, from the v...