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

"And they called the name of that place Bochim." -Judges 2:5 [KJV]   Surely it was enough to induce such an effect, when the preaching of an angel informed the people, that the LORD, for their sins, would not drive out their enemies before them. The place might well be called *Bochim, and they themselves might hear the name *Bochim, weepers . But, my soul, thou hast lately been to a place which is yet more calculated to make it memorable, by weeping, when thou didst attend Jesus at the ordinance of His supper. For there Jesus Himself was, and is, the everlasting Preacher, Who sheweth thee His hands and His side, pierced and streaming with blood, for thy sins.    Didst thou not hear Him speak to thee Himself, in His own words, "They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced: and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born?" -Zechariah 12:10. Didst thou not...

"I will lay thy foundations with sapphires." -Isaiah 54:11 [KJV]   Before we can stand firmly in the things of God we must have a good foundation, something solid for our faith, our hope, our love, our all, to rest upon. This God promises to lay for His afflicted Zion: "I will lay thy foundations with sapphires." "A gift," we read, "is a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it." Every testimony, then, that God gives to the soul, every promise brought into the heart, every manifestation of mercy, every visit of love, or application of truth, we may call, in a spiritual sense, a sapphire; for it is indeed a precious stone, radiant with heaven's own hue. When God thus lays His sapphires in the soul, they afford a solid foundation for faith. And as they are laid by the hand of God Himself, they must be firm; as they are sapphires, they must be indestructible.    These sapphires, it is true, may every one of them be buried ...

I Am Coming to Every Household I was sitting at my computer working, praying about the seriousness of the word and judgment falling on households I had recently received when the Lord began speaking this word to me. Tell My people I am coming to visit them. I am coming to every household in every nation and I will render according to what I find there. Those who are found faithful will receive reward. Those who are found pure will receive reward. Those who are found watching and praying for My return will receive reward. Those who are found continuing to cavort in the world will not. Those who love the world still shall receive the world as their just reward for the world is at enmity with Me and My ways and My truths. The world does not honor Me or follow Me. If you choose the world as your god, then you will receive answer from it when you cry out. If you choose the world as your god then occupy, make ready, for from there must your help come when you are in need. My ways hav...

     Man is a strange compound.  A sinner, and the worst of sinners, and yet a pharisee!  A wretch, and the vilest of wretches, and yet pluming himself on his good works!  Did not experience convince us to the contrary, we should scarcely credit that a monster like man, a creature, as someone has justly said, “half-beast and half-devil,” should dream of pleasing God by his obedience, or of climbing up to heaven by a ladder of his own righteousness.       Pharisaism is firmly fixed in the human heart.  Deep is the root, broad the stem, wide the branches, but poisonous the fruit of this gigantic tree, planted by pride and unbelief in the Adamic soil.  And what can  “hew this tree down, yet leave the stump of the roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass in the tender grass of the field?”  (Daniel 4:23).  The axe of the Spirit only.  Self-righteousness is not peculiar to this or t...

     Tell everybody you meet what a good and blessed and faithful God He is and so give Him glory now.  And be happy and cheerful; you cannot glorify God better than by a calm, quiet, happy life.  Let the world know that you serve a good Master.  If you are in trouble, do not let anyone see that the trouble touches your spirit; --nay, more, do not let it trouble your spirit.  Rest in the Lord; take adversity as well as good from His hand, and keep on praising Him.  You do not know how much good you may do and how greatly you may glorify God if you praise Him in your dark times.  Worldlings do not care much about our Psalm-singing unless they see us in pain and sorrow, and observe that we praise God even then.  -preacher C.H. Spurgeon

An old writer of many years ago said, “I know not the way God leads me, but well I know my Guide.”  With those words in mind, I wrote the following hymn.   GRACIOUS PROVIDENCE Tune: “Majestic Sweetness” CM Words by Jim Byrd   God’s wise and gracious providence Directs me on my way; And everything I truly need, Is given day by day, Is given day by day.   How comforting it is to know, Whate’er my lot may be; My steps were ordered by the Lord, From old eternity, From old eternity.   No matter what the future holds, In this I find sweet rest; My life is managed by the Lord, His will I know is best, His will I know is best.   The Christ Who governs all the world, Has saved me by His grace; And He will lead me on my way, Until I see His face, Until I see His face.   His hand shall guide me to that home, Reserved for me above; And then forever I will sing, Of providential love, Of providential love.     -------O-------       THE L...