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

" For when I am weak, then am I strong." -II  Corinthians 12:10 [KJV]  We have read of St. Paul’s revelations, exaltings, buffetings, and his praying: now of his humbling sight of himself. He is brought down to his right place, low in self; and to his right feelings, weak in self.  Hence we see the true nature and blessed end of Christian experience. It keeps the soul from being puffed-up with pride, lest it fall into the condemnation of the devil. It sinks it low in humility: under a sense of weakness; and it leads out of self, to look for all its strength in Christ. Here the strength of faith is opposed to the weakness of sense. When I am sensibly weak, then I am believingly strong. This, though a difficult lesson, yet is a precious one.  (1st.) Do we see ourselves weak? Christ is held forth to us as our strength, and He calls upon us to be strong in Him. “Trust in the LORD for ever, for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength , ” (Isaiah 26:4.) B...

"Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and divide the coasts of thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every slayer may flee thither." -Deuteronomy 19:3 [KJV] Sweet thought to my soul, that He who is the Refuge is also the Way to every poor soul-slayer, who hath murdered his own soul by sin. And who, my soul, could prepare thee this way, but God thy Father, who gave both Jesus for the Way, and Jesus for the Refuge?  And how hath God the Spirit pointed to the way, cast up and prepared it, by taking up the stumbling-blocks out of the way, as God saith of His people? Isaiah 57:14. Is it not God the Holy Ghost that sets Jesus up, as Moses did the serpent; points to His person, to His blood, to His righteousness, as the sanctuary and the city of refuge to every poor sinner that is the manslayer of his own soul? And if what the Jews have said be true, that magistrates once a year made it their duty to have the roads examined, lest a...

"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." - Romans 6:11 [KJV] How many poor souls are struggling against the power of sin, and yet never get any victory over it! How many are daily led captive by the lusts of the flesh, the love of the world, and the pride of life, and never get any victory over them! How many fight and grapple with tears, vows, and strong resolutions against the besetting sins of temper, levity, or covetousness, who are still entangled and overcome by them again and again!  Now, why is this? Because they know not the secret of spiritual strength against, and spiritual victory over them. It is only by virtue of a living union with the Lord Jesus Christ, drinking into His sufferings and death, and receiving out of His fulness, that we can gain any victory over the world, sin, death, or hell. Let me bring this down a little to your own experience. Say your soul has been, on on...

What is Faith? Is it Necessary? by D.G. Miles McKee (1) Is faith necessary? Yes indeed, faith is necessary.  For example, we can´t get a hold of our salvation without faith. The Bible says, we are saved by grace through faith and not of ourselves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8) . Grace, therefore, is the explanation of our salvation and faith is how we take a hold of it. But what are we saved from? Among other things, we are saved from the wrath of God (see Romans 5:9) and this amazing, saving salvation is all "by grace through faith . " Salvation by grace through faith is an excellent truth and we learn to take a hold of it by faith alone.  Self-righteous people reject this. They want to be saved by their own morality. But what do the Scriptures say? The Scriptures say that salvation is  “not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast ” (Ephesians 2:8-9) . I love what the hymnwriter, Stewart Townend, says....

"There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure." -II Corinthians 12:7 [KJV] I dearly love St. Paul’s experience. For there is so much of the artless simplicity of the poor humble sinner; such a dread of self-glorying, while it ever exalts the rich grace of the dear Saviour. Let us make a few remarks on it, and pray our gracious Lord to bless them.  (1st.) Here is a painful experience, a thorn in his flesh. What was that? Fanciful men have entertained strange ideas. Some have said the cholic: others the ear-ache, others the head-ache, etc. If it were a bodily pain, we might as well guess, the gout in his great toe. But would the apostle have been thus anxious to have a bodily pain removed? Would the most excruciating pain prevent soul exalting?  Surely it was something more. It was the heart-ache. He plainly tells it was, “the messenger of Satan to buffet him.” His very soul was harassed...

"How much owest thou unto my lord?" -Luke 16:5 [KJV] My soul, if this question, which the unjust steward put to his lord's debtors, was put to thee concerning that immense debt which hath made thee insolvent for ever, what wouldest thou answer? Never couldest thou conceive the extent of it, much less think of paying the vast amount. A debtor to free grace for thy very being; a debtor to free grace for thy well-being; ten thousand talents, which the man in the parable owed his master, would not be sufficient to reckon up what thou in reality owest thy Lord, for even the common gifts of nature and of providence.  But when the calculation goeth on in grace, what archangel shall write down the sum total? To the broken law of God, a bankrupt exposed to the justice of God; to the dreadful penalty of everlasting death; to the fears and alarms of a guilty conscience; to the worm that dieth not; to the accusations of Satan, unable to answer one in a thousand! My sou...

"His going forth is prepared as the morning." -Hosea 6:3 [KJV] It is to the living soul walking in darkness, and unable to find God, that this text speaks: "His going forth is prepared as the morning." There is an appointed time for the Lord to go forth and this is sweetly compared to the rising of the sun. Does not "the dayspring know his place?" (Job 38:12.) Does not the sun rise every day according to the minute before appointed? Is he ever before his time, or ever after his time?  Did the free will of the creature ever hurry or retard his rising for a single second? Thus it is with the going forth of the Lord for the salvation of His people, the going forth of the Lord in the revelation of His presence and His power, the going forth of the Lord from the place where He has for a while hidden Himself, to come down with light and life into the soul. All His glorious goings forth are as much prepared, and the moment is as much appointed, a...