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

" Can there be a time or season,  When our thanks must silent lie? Times when saints can find no reason,  To lift up their praise on high? No, there’s always blessing flowing,  Even when our tears flow too! For His mercy is ongoing,  Grace is given each day, anew. Oft, we find our tongue is ready,  To sing out our grateful song; When the pantry, filled with plenty,  Speaks of food for days to come. Then we must not trust the blessing,  For ‘tis but the Blesser’s store. Our dependence still confessing,  Let us thank Him all the more!   When the stall and store are empty,  And it seems there’ll be no more; When, with doubting, Satan tempts thee,  Loudly sounds His frightening roar, With still louder thanks and praises,  List those everlasting goods: He our sin fore’er erases,  Fills our souls with heav’nly food. Are we stunned with grief expressless,  For the Lord has taken away, One our heart held close and precious- O...

The Gospel and the Believer. Part 1 by D. G. Miles McKee   "Christian, should your eye ever be withdrawn from the cross, you will be sure to go backwards, to grow cold, and to forget that you were purged from your old sins (see II Peter 1:9) . That cross is life, health, holiness, consolation, strength, joy; let nothing come between it and you.” -preacher Horatius Bonar: ‘Follow The Lamb’ Paul knew that the knowledge of Christ crucified was the highest knowledge we could obtain.  Indeed, Christ, His person, work and offices, are the hub and center of all gospel truth.  We believers have the privilege, therefore, to ‘Look unto Jesus’ and to occupy ourselves with Him.   The message we are to share is about a Person … Jesus Christ. And yes of course we include His benefits but our message is to be centred on Him. Our message is about who the Lord Jesus is, His doing, dying, rising, ascension and session (sitting down) at the place of cosmic authority. No...

" Wait on the L ORD : be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the L ORD ." —Psalm 27:14 [KJV] "Be of good courage!" Alas, how can one be so, when all sense and feeling tend to dishearten the mind and deject the soul. Lively frames in duty, sweet enlargements of heart, heavenly transports of joy, delightful ecstasies of faith, ravishing tastes of love, all, all, like Noah's dove, have taken their flight; and I fear, says the drooping soul, never, never more to return.  Truly, like Hezekiah, "I mourn as a dove, mine eyes fail with looking upward, O L ORD I am oppressed, undertake for me." —Isaiah 38:14 . Still, saith the Comforter (the Holy Ghost) by His word, "Be of good courage." Remember thy calling: It is to live by faith, to honor thy Lord, and be obedient to His word. Thou hast the sentence of death in thyself, that thou shouldst not trust in thyself, lest thine heart depart from thy Lo...

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” -Galatians 5:22-23 [KJV]  Notice the word is “ fruit,” not fruits.  This fruit is not of nature, nor flesh, but is the result of the indwelling Spirit and that which is produced by Him. We can take no glory for any good or good works that are in us, for these are all by His grace . But this fruit, in various degrees according to our spiritual growth, is in every believer.    The kind of life produced by the presence of the Holy Spirit is GOODNESS as opposed to selfishness, RIGHTEOUSNESS as opposed to sinfulness, and TRUTH as opposed to deceit.  Where the Spirit of God dwells, these characteristics dwell.                                  ...

" Thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways: to give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins." —Luke 1:76, 77 [KJV] The day of gospel-truth, like the light of the morning, breaks forth gradually upon the benighted soul, and it increaseth to midday brightness and glory. "The path of the justified is like the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Thus it is in the experience of enlightened souls. The light of God's word manifests the truth as it is in Jesus, gradually; it discovers condemnation and guilt by the law, and grace and pardon by the gospel. The baptist dispensation prepares the way in the heart before the soul enjoys the sweet sense of pardon of sins through the faith in Jesus.  The law is a voice only of wrath and terror to the soul; it leaves the poor sinner in the dreadful state it finds him; it pronounces nothing but curses upon him; it can shew him no rem...

" Hide not Thy face far from me; put not Thy servant away in anger: Thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation." —Psalm 27:9 [KJV] "Love never faileth:" it ever worketh in the heart of disciples towards its beloved Object. Love cannot bear distance or separation from Jesus; the thought of it is grievous and painful; the dread of it makes the soul plead, fills the mouth with arguments, lest the poor heart should lose the sweet sense and comforting savour of the love of God. His presence is its heaven, His absence is its hell; His smiles create joy, His frowns bring gloom and sorrow on the mind.  When the heart feels a sensible withdrawing of God, and the light of His countenance is hid, it cannot but be restless and uneasy. Real believers experience Christianity to be more than a name— doctrines more than mere speculations to fill the head and amuse the thoughts—in ordinances, somewhat more is enjoyed than a dull ...

" This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life; and this life is in His Son: he that hath the Son hath life." —I John 5:11, 12 [KJV] Sovereign power permits man to fall. Guilt fills the wretched pair with dread, and cuts off all hope in God, all claim upon Him. Hence our first parents "fled from the presence of the L ORD , and hid themselves." Sovereign love interposed, and the poor, guilty, trembling partners in woe were called before their highly-offended, justly provoked Lord. Was it to behold Him clothed with vengeance? To hear the sentence of their eternal doom to destruction? To see hell opened to receive them?  No; be astonished, O heavens! Rejoice, ye apostate children of hell-deserving parents! They were to hear a RECORD of what was transacted in the eternal court and counsel of heaven, published on earth. This, instead of wrath, brought mercy; instead of woe, blessing; instead of eternal death, everlasting life; instead of a h...