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

Jesus Our Hiding Place by D.G. Miles McKee How do we, with confidence, come before the all-holy God, and stand in His presence? This is a great question for both the unsaved and believers alike.  The unsaved person, under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, knows that his sin has separated him from God (Isaiah 59:2).  Likewise, the believer, through the ministry of the Word and the Spirit, is conscious that his best efforts are flawed and that his very righteousness is like a filthy rag (Isaiah 64:6).  How then can either of them come before God and receive a welcome?   No doubt this was Adam's question when he put his fig leaves together for a makeshift covering.  Somehow, he knew that, because of sin, what he really needed was a covering that left him unexposed.  He tried his best, but even then, his fig leaves were inadequate … and he knew it.  Sensing the inadequacy of his covering see how he rushed into the bushes to hide when God came near.  ...

"Whom having not seen, ye love; in Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory; receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." -I Peter 1:8, 9 [KJV] My soul! mark what a blessed testimony believers of the present hour are here said to give to an unseen, but dearly beloved Redeemer; and behold what blessed effects are induced in the soul by such lively acts of faith upon His person and righteousness! And, indeed, when it is considered who Christ is, what He is to us, what He hath done for us, and what He is for ever doing for us, and will do to all eternity, who but must love Him? In His person all divine perfections center; whatever tends to make any creature lovely, in heaven or on earth, is found in Jesus in the most eminent degree. For there is nothing lovely in creatures of any character, whether angels or men, but it is derived from Him: it is Jesus who gives all that excellency and grace which ...

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory ."   -II Corinthians 4:17 [KJV] O ye suffering saints of God! ye tried and afflicted children of the most High! raise up your thoughts as God may enable you—lift up your eyes, and see what awaits you. Are you tried, tempted, exercised, afflicted? It is your mercy. God does not deal so with every one. It is because you are His children, that He lays on you His chastening hand. He means to conform you to the image of His Son in glory, and therefore He now conforms you to the image of His Son in suffering. 'O but,' you say, 'I cannot believe it is so!' No; if you could, it would not be much of a trial.  This is the trial of faith—to go groaning on, struggling on, sorrowing on, sighing on; believing against unbelief, hoping against hope; and still looking to the Lord, though there is everything in nature to damp the hopes and expectations of you...

"He brought me to the banqueting-house, and His banner over me was love." -Song of Solomon 2:4 [KJV] In whatever sense thou art led, my soul, to look at the banqueting-house of Jesus, thy joy will be great in the contemplation. And if He who hath prepared the banqueting-house, and well stored it with every thing to afford a spiritual repast, will lead thee thither, and regale thee there with the rich enjoyment of Himself, and the fulness of blessings in Him, thou wilt have a feast of fat things indeed! Come then, this evening, and take a view of Jesus's banqueting-house, and wait on thy kind and condescending Lord. He hath been known to take home many a poor waiting hungry sinner, that hath been on the look-out for him, to His banqueting-house, and given him a gracious, full, and satisfying entertainment.   Come then, my soul, and see this banqueting-house of Jesus. Some have looked at it as the covenant itself of redemption; for this is indeed a house of banquet, where e...

"Ye believe in God, believe also in Me ."   - John 14:1 [KJV] To believe in God is to believe in Him as He has manifested Himself in His dear Son in all the fulness of His love, in all the riches of His grace, and in all the depth of His mercy. God must be seen, not in the terrors of a holy law, but in the mercy and truth of the glorious gospel of the Son of God, and thus be approached and believed in as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our Father in Him.   How few see and realise this, and yet how sorely exercised are many of the living family upon this point! To believe in God in such a way as to bring pardon and peace into their conscience; to believe in God so as to find manifest acceptance with Him; to believe in God so as to call Him Abba , Father, and feel that the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are His children; to believe in God so as to find Him a very present help in trouble; to receive answers to prayer, to walk in the light ...

"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him, shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." -Hebrews 9:28   [KJV]   My soul! pause over this blessed portion, for it is most blessed, and seek from God the Holy Ghost, grace to gather all its sweets for thine evening enjoyment. Every word is big with importance. And, first, who is it that is here said to have been once offered? Even Christ, the sent, the sealed, the anointed of Jehovah. So that when thou goest to a throne of grace, to plead for mercy in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ; thou goest in His name, whom thy God and Father hath appointed. Thou then tellest thy God, what thy God first told thee. He, in whose name, blood and righteousness, thou askest redemption, is He whom Jehovah Himself "hath set forth as a propitiation, through faith in His blood." Hence it is impossible not to succeed. "I have given Him (saith the Lord) for a coven...

"Though I be nothing."   -II Corinthians 12:11 [KJV] Paul did not mean to say that he had no religion, but none in himself. 'What! could not Paul stand against temptation?' Not more than you or I, unassisted by the grace of God. 'Could not Paul pray more than I can?' No, not at all, except so far as the spirit of grace and supplications was given to him. 'Could not Paul love more than I do?' Not a bit more, nor think a spiritual thought more, as far as self was concerned. I do not mean to say that Paul did not pray, believe, and love more than any of us do; but he did not perform these actions in himself one whit more than we can. He says, expressly, "In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing;" and therefore not the good thing of faith, or love, or divine communion.   Now when the Lord has brought a soul down to be nothing, He then makes His strength perfect in that nothingness; He communicates strength to pray, strength to believe...