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

  Revive Thy work, O LORD Create soul-thirst for Thee And hungering for the Word of life O may our spirits be! Revive Thy work, O LORD Exalt Thy precious Name And by the Holy Ghost our love For Thee and Thine inflame. Revive Thy work, O LORD Give pow’r unto Thy Word And may its pure and sacred Truth In living faith be heard. Revive Thy work O LORD And give refreshing showers The glory shall all be Thine own The blessing, LORD be ours.   -old Gospel hymn, “I Love Thy Kingdom”     *******0*******     “And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth .   And he that was dead came forth.”   - John 11:43-44 [KJV]   When the Lord Jesus stood before the tomb of His beloved friend Lazarus, (who had been dead four days) did He cry, “Lazarus, I have made life possible for you, will you choose to accept it?”   How absurd!   Lazarus was dead; he could make no choice or decision, nor could he exert his own will. ...

"But now in Christ Jesus, ye, who were sometimes afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ."   - Ephesians 2:13 [KJV]   If any one were asked, Do you live near the court? Have you free access to his majesty? Did you ever kiss the king’s hand? Who would hesitate one moment for an answer? Consciousness would instantly dictate one. Pray, is Christian experience so dark and doubtful a matter, that if asked, are you brought nigh to God? Do you live near God? Have you free access to God? That we cannot answer, with some degree of knowledge and certainty. O my dear fellow Christians, though we are brought nigh to God, yet we do not live near Him. Hence our doubt and uncertainty. Our hearts and affections too much rove in the high roads of earthly honour, riches, and pleasures. Here clouds of dust rise. They so dim our sight, and cloud our views, that we can hardly see our way, or tell where we are.    Here we are reminded, (1st.) That we “were sometimes afa...

"Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power: in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: Thou hast the dew of Thy youth."   -Psalm 110:3 [KJV]   There is so much of the Lord Jesus in this sweet Psalm, indeed it is altogether so truly a gospel Psalm, that the morning portion, which was a selection from it, cannot be better followed than by taking another verse of it for the evening portion, that both together may furnish out blessed meditations to my soul, in the contemplation of our precious Jesus.    Here are views of Jesus, in all His blessed offices, as the Prophet, Priest, and King of His people; and every verse is more or less descriptive of His glorious person, offices, and character. This precious portion for my evening thoughts, contains the promise of Jehovah the Father, in His covenant engagements, that the Redeemer should see the blessed fruits and effects of His undertaking in the hearts and minds of His elect peo...

"Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." -Psalm 81:10 [KJV]   When the LORD favours your soul with sweet access at a throne of grace, make the most of it. What should we think of the master of a vessel coming up the river, if, when the wind was favourable and the tide served, he would not heave her anchor, or hoisted but her fore-sail to the breeze, and would not take full advantage of wind and tide? Now it is so sometimes with our souls; a gale blows, a gale of grace on the soul, and the tide of faith rises. Is it not our wisdom, and is it not our mercy, at such a rare season, to make the most of it?    If the Lord deign to give us an ear, is it not our mercy to tell Him all that our souls desire? Do you recollect what the prophet said to the king who only struck his arrows three times on the ground, and then stayed? "The man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst ...