Behold Your King

“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod, the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem” (Matthew 2:1).

Head knowledge is useful, but unless it is sanctified by the Holy Spirit it can be the most dangerous thing in the world. It will rob you of right thinking and give you nothing but wrong living. Gipsy Smith, when asked how he kept fresh in soul well into the eighties, replied, “I have never lost the wonder.”

God never intended His Word to remain indoors. It was designed for the outdoors! It was made to be communicated to the world by means of our own walk and our talk. The gospel is for lifeboats, not showboats, and a man must make up his mind which boat he is going to operate.

God left heaven to communicate to us…God! He has shown to us and is revealing to us Who He is and who we are. God meant that we adjust to the Gospel–not that we fit the Gospel to us. When the Gospel hurts the devil’s business, trouble begins. God came to destroy Satan’s work. The story of Christmas is about this great enterprise of our great God and Savior.

Christmas lights are seen from the road as we travel by. People light up their homes so that the joy of Christmas, the hope of a better time, is revealed in us and to us. The lights are not shut up and closed down, but opened up to be seen by others. When the gospel is fully given in its most powerful manner, then the Light of the World is seen.

The church is not a gloried glee club staging holy hootenannies and the Gospel was never meant for entertainment. Nor is the gospel meant to be hoarded but a story to be heralded. Too many of us, too many Christians are stuffing themselves with Gospel blessings, while millions have never had a taste or a look.

There is so much more than what the eyes see. The heart feels it and desires it, so God gives us Himself, the Light of the World. The grace of our God transcends all our feeble efforts to describe it. God’s amazing Christmas grace cannot be poured into any of our mental receptacles without running over. May our hearts enlarge and our eyes behold Jesus this Christmas season so that our cups runneth over.

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  • A Baby’s Sword

    “And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also, and we were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, except we two were in the house” (I Kings 3:18).

    Two women who were harlots each gave birth to a child. Each slept that night in the same room and yet one woke up the morning after to discover the child next to her was dead and he was not hers. The other woman switched the baby at death.

    The case was brought before Solomon. What would he do? He said, “Bring me a sword” (I Ki 3.24). What does this mean? The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other” (I Ki 3:25). The woman whose the living child was hers said, “O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it.”

    Two lessons we can learn. In every circumstance always use and wield the Word of God. It is a two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12). If we want to be effective cutting through this world and the words of others, let these words be upon your lips and may the Word of God be in your hand, “Bring me the sword.”

    The second lesson to draw from the true event described for us: Don’t allow division. A man or woman of God will not be identified with division in a marriage, a family, or a church body, for division leads either quickly or eventually to one thing: death. Don’t be a part of tolerating division unless it is for righteousness. May we be surrendered to God’s Word as Solomon and committed to unity as this mother was.

  • The Mind of Christ

    “How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is rather to be chosen than silver” (Proverbs 16:16).

    Wisdom and understanding are worth more than gold and silver. God created the gold and God made the silver. We can find it in the earth and look for it in the ocean basins of the world, yet, wisdom and understanding come from above. God’s wisdom and understanding will make you rich in faith and wealthy in hope.

    We do so much that rides against us when we do not seek the Father above. God has given us His mind and that mind is the mind of Christ. Instead of running off with our own religious thoughts God will give us His thoughts if we desire them more than all.

    Dr. R.G. Lee was one of God’s prince preachers. One time Dr. Adrain Rogers asked Dr. Lee, “When God calls you on, is there some way we could put your brain in my head?” He replied, with a twinkle in his eyes, “That would be like putting a grand piano in a closet!” Better than having someone’s brain in your head is to have the mind of Christ in you by the Holy Spirit.

    Don’t go out looking for something that is right under your nose. When we become impatient with people or disappointed in life we turn too often to our own ways. Turn to the Word of God and train yourself to depend upon the Spirit of God at every turn. If the Holy Spirit is not our Guide and we depend upon our own thoughts then we are doing even religious things that are empty of the power of Christ.

    Father please teach us with the mind of Christ. We are a new creation in Christ. Your heart is to lead us and teach us. Therefore You died to live in us. Thank you for keeping us safe from our own thoughts. Your wisdom and understanding affords to us your direction and leadership. Thank you for giving us truth below the surface of our own understanding. Amen

  • The Shepherds: Changed by God

    “And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them” (Luke 2:20).

     There was only one explanation for the lives of the shepherds: God! There should be only one explanation for our lives: God!

     The Shepherds believed God. The Angels appeared to them and told them there was a Savior, Lord, the Messiah born and given unto them and for the whole world. They left the scene and searched for the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths.

    These Shepherds were men who were not counted worthy of anything appearing to them from heaven, yet God thought so. They felt unworthy by their peers and yet God said that they were of value. The religious crowd considered them unclean, unintellectual, and unattached, but God appeared unto them and touched them by angels.

    Afterwards the men left in search for the Lord Jesus, found Him lying in the manger and told everyone of what and who they had seen. They went on with God and didn’t stop telling the good news. The appearance of the Living Word changed their lives.

    After we meet the Lord Jesus we want to be like Him. We have a sincere desire for the Word. A man without an appetite for God’s Word causes us to wonder if he is saved. We will desire as the shepherds did to be like Jesus.

    There should be only one explanation for our lives. “God” is the only explanation for what we are and what we are doing. If we can explain it on any other level, we are a failure. Most Christians’ lives can be explained on a basis other than the work of God. The shepherds represent what happens when we see the face of God.

     

  • Courage

    “Now it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the earth” (I Kings 18:1).

    A little lady by the name of Amy Carmichael spent her life for the gospel in India. Amy became aware of the terrible practice that was so common in the Hindu Temples. Little girls as young as six and seven would be sold by their parents into lives that prostituted their little bodies. Amy Carmichael was shaken to the core of her being. So she decided something must be done

    Through miraculous means, the first girl was brought to her in 1901. The little seven-year-old girl showed Amy her hands that had been branded with hot irons because she had tried to escape once before. By 1943, Amy was taking care of eight hundred children, and she was the hated woman by a powerful system of prostitution. God protected this woman who stood for Him and His Word.

    Oh, if men, God’s men, would rise up and have just a tenth of the courage of this woman then we can change our churches and our homes. Why? Because God would stand up for these mighty men as He stood for Stephen as Stephen stood for Him. It is going to take courage and holiness for this new era of American history. That is why some of you are going through trouble because God is getting you ready for leadership.

     

     

     

     

  • Mere Life

    “A cheerful heart is good medicine but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Proverbs 17:22). 

     

    Too many people walk through life with gloves and a raincoat on, refusing to observe and experience the beauty and the wonder of the world around them and above them. So many have forgotten the privilege of not only earthly delights, but also of our unearthly purpose.
    Each day has its own distinctness and its own inexhaustibility. And yet how few really realize the miracle. Just because we take it for granted, doesn’t mean it isn’t miraculous. Perhaps nothing is really ordinary.
    Do not treat your faith in God as if it were an artificial limb that you strap on each day. Though faith in God is meant to be full, yet to many it only helps you to stumble along, it never really becomes an intrinsic part of you. Whatever happened to that holy wonder, that appetite for the sacred? Have we grown blind to the sacredness of everyday things and of everyday people?
    It’s been said that as we get older, we don’t regret the things that we did do, but only those things that we failed or forgot to do. Life is short, and at times it is shorter than its “supposed” to be. But there is the question that troubles me far too many times: Why do we still continue to live bland, insipid lives? Why do we waste the days that God has given us? Each day comes and we forget but once in human history that each day comes!

     

  • Sinners and Their Enticement

    “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother” (Proverbs 1:8).

    The culture will try to dictate what you are to believe and how to behave. The culture changes but the culture should not change us. We are to go into the culture and choose to confront the culture with the gospel.

    It is the job of the father and mother to teach their children the right way, which is God’s way. The father and mother choose to be the professors in the home, using the Word of God as their main text book, and with total dependence upon the Holy Spirit.

    When parents live with an agenda that says, “Me and no other” will rule and reign in my child’s life, they are setting themselves up for a fall, and their children. We are to live in the fear of God and not by our own set of fears. When we live with God’s total control over any thing that takes place in our children’s lives, then we can know God’s power. The culture entices but God’s leadership through the parents can be much stronger when children are taught with truth and love.