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

"...Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."   -I Timothy 1:9 [KJV] Have you any testimony that God has called you by His grace, quickened your soul into divine life, brought you under the curse of a condemning law, given you repentance for your sins, raised up a sigh and a cry in your breast for a sense of His pardoning love, brought you to the footstool of mercy, given you faith to believe in His dear Son, with any sweet hope that He has begun a gracious work upon your heart? Can you look back upon any never-to-be-forgotten period when the Lord, by His special and omnipotent grace, quickened your soul into divine life? For I do believe we never can forget the first sensations of the Spirit of God in His quickening movements upon the soul; when He, to use the figure of Moses, fluttereth over it as an eagle which stirreth up her nes...

"I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it and come down to you?" -Nehemiah 6:3 [KJV] My soul, a very blessed instruction is held forth to thee, in these words. Nehemiah met with sad interruptions in his service, while building the Lord's house. Various were the attempts made by the enemies of God and his cause, to call him off from his labours. But this was his answer to all. Now, my soul, thou hast many enemies also, both from within and without; the world, and the powers of darkness, and thine own corruptions, are all in league to interrupt thy pursuit of divine things.   When, therefore, the Sanballats and the Geshems of the day invite thee to the villages, in the plain of Ono, here is thine answer: "Why should the work of the Lord cease, when the King's business requires dispatch?" Wherefore should the body, with all its corrupt affections, drag down the soul? Is it reasonable, is it proper to be ...

"...until the day-dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts." -II Peter 1:19 [KJV] And what is "the day-dawn, and day-star," arising in the hearts of God's people, but Jesus, "the dayspring from on high, visiting us?" Is not Jesus "the bright and morning star, the light and the life of men?" Yea, is He not "the Sun of righteousness arising with healing in His wings?" And when He ariseth on our benighted minds, may He not be called, "the day-dawn, and the day-star?" Pause, my soul, over the sweet thought. It was all darkness in the creation of God, until Jesus arose. And His coming was as the breaking forth of the morning, the sure harbinger of day. Indeed, Jesus was "the day-dawn, and the day-star," in the light of redemption, before the world was formed: for in the council of peace, as man's light and salvation, He carne up, at the call of God, from all eternity. And in time, during all His eventful...

"But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation."   -I Thessalonians 5:8 [KJV] Sobriety in religion is a blessed gift and grace. In our most holy faith there is no room for lightness. The things which concern our peace are solemn, weighty matters, and if they lie with any degree of weight and power on our spirit, they will subdue that levity which is the very breath of the carnal mind. But sobriety implies not merely the absence of all unbecoming levity in speech and conduct, but the absence also of all wild, visionary imaginations in the things of God. It denotes, therefore, that "spirit of a sound mind" which the Apostle says is the gift of God.   Vital godliness, it is true, has its mysteries, its revelations and manifestations, its spiritual and supernatural discoveries and operations; but all these come through the word of truth, which is simple, weighty and solid, and as far re...

  Jesus: The Amen by  D. G. Miles McKee   “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning ( origin ) of the creation of God“ (Revelation 3:14) .   Notice how Christ is designated as ‘the Amen’.  When we say, “Amen” as someone prays, we are saying, “So let it be.”  By adding our ‘Amen’, we are identifying with and entering into the petition that has just been made.  When God says ‘Amen’, however, He is saying, “ And so it shall be .”    He is the God of truth and faithfulness. He is the ultimate Amen.  When He says something will happen, the mere fact that He has said it guarantees the matter.  He is the guarantor of His word.  He is the One who cannot lie (Titus 1:2) .  He is the One with all the power necessary to bring His word to pass.  That which God declares will, therefore, take place because He is the Amen.   Yes, Jesus ...

"And the king said unto Esther at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed." -Esther 5:6 [KJV] My soul, thou hast lately been at the banquet of wine indeed, even of the Redeemer's blood, which Jesus holds at His table; and didst thou not behold the numberless petitioners who attended there with thyself? Surely, if the Persian king made so generous an offer to Esther, to perform her petition, be it what it might, to the half of his kingdom; thy Jesus, thy heavenly King; with Whom are all the treasures, and the unsearchable riches of grace and glory, did not suffer a poor humble petitioner to go empty away. Tell me, ye that attended there, did ye not find the King most gracious? How went the matter with you? I pray you tell me. Did the poor man find Jesus indeed rich; and did the trembling sinner, under the apprehensions of wrath, find himself delivered by Him ...

"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren."   -I John 3:14 [KJV] The Lord's people in their early days have a measure of heavenly love. Though perhaps they cannot say that Jesus is theirs; though they dare not declare they shall certainly go to heaven when they die; though they sometimes cannot even assert that the work of grace is really begun upon their souls; yet there is love manifested in them to God's word, God's people, God's servants, and God's truth. There is in them, in their weakest and tenderest days, a separation from the world, a casting-in of their lot amongst the people of God, a going-out in the tenderness of their heart and affection towards them. We see this in Ruth: though she was a poor heathen idolatress, no sooner was her heart touched by the finger of God, than she clave to Naomi.   Divine love can only spring from the teachings and operations of God upon the heart. Our "carnal mind is enmi...