From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
Afflictions, But No Broken Bones
December 19
He keepeth all his bones; not one of them is broken. (Psalm 34:20)
This promise by the context is referred to the much afflicted righteous man: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.” He may suffer skin wounds and flesh wounds, but no great harm shall be done; “not a bone of him shall be broken.”
This is great comfort to a tried child of God, and comfort which I dare accept; for up to this hour I have suffered no real damage from my many afflictions. I have neither lost faith, nor hope, nor love. Nay so far from losing these bones of character, they have gained in strength and energy. I have more knowledge, more experience, more patience, more stability than I had before the trials came. Not even my joy has been destroyed. Many a bruise have I had by sickness, bereavement, depression, slander, and opposition; but the bruise has healed, and there has been no compound fracture of a bone, not even a simple one. The reason is not far to seek. If we trust in the Lord, He keeps all our bones; and if He keeps them, we may be sure that not one of them is broken.
Come, my heart, do not sorrow. Thou art smarting, but there are no bones broken. Endure hardness and bid defiance to fear.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Like this:
Like Loading...
Tags: accept, aching, afflicted, afflictions, all, almighty, attacks, battles, before, bereavement, bid, bone, bones, broken, bruise, came, care, character, Child of God, Christ, Christians, come, comfort, Comforter, Compassion, compound, context, damage, dare, defiance, deliverance, delivers, Depression, destroyed, done, Elohim, endurance, endure, energy, experience, Faith, far, Fear, flesh, fracture, frees, gained, God, God's people believers, God's Son, great, handicaps, hardness, hardships, harm, have, healed, Healer, healing, heals, heart, Heavenly Father, help, Holy Spirit, hope, hour, hurting, hurts, illnesses, injuries, Jehovah, Jesus, joy, keep, keeps, knowledge, Lord, losing, lost, love, man, many, more, mourn, much, neither, no, not, oit, one, opposition, oppression, overcome, overcomer, pain, pains, patience, persecution, Physician, Pray, Promise, protection, protector, protects, Provider, provides, provision, real, reason, referred, righteous, savees, Savior, scars, secures, seek, shall be, sickness, simple, skin, slander, smarting, sore, sorrow, stability, strength, struggles, suffer, suffered, sufferings, trials, tribulations, tried, trust, worry, wounds, Yahweh, Yeshua
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
Nearest and Dearest Fellowship
December 17
So shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:17)
While we are here the Lord is with us, and when we are called away we are with Him. There is no dividing the saint from His Savior. They are one, and they always must be one: Jesus cannot be without His own people, for He would be a Head without a body. Whether caught up into the air, or resting in paradise, or sojourning here, we are with Jesus; and who shall separate us from Him?
What a joy is this! Our supreme honor, rest, comfort, delight, is to be with the Lord. We cannot conceive of anything which can surpass or even equal this divine society. By holy fellowship we must be with Him in His humiliation, rejection, and travail, and then we shall be with Him in His glory. Before long we shall be with Him in His rest and in His royalty, in His expectation and in His manifestation. We shall fare as He fares and triumph as He triumphs.
O my Lord, if I am to be forever with Thee, I have a destiny incomparable. I will not envy an archangel. To be forever with the Lord is my idea of heaven at its best. Not the harps of gold, nor the crowns unfading, nor the light unclouded is glory to me; but Jesus, Jesus Himself, and myself forever with Him in nearest and dearest fellowship.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Like this:
Like Loading...
Tags: abiding, air, almighty, always, anything, archangel, assurance, away, be, before, believers, best, blessed, blessing, called, cannot, caught up, Christ, comfort, Comforter, conceive, crowns, dearest, Death, delight, destiny, die, dividing, divine, Earth, Elohim, envy, equal, eternal life, exoectation, fare, fellowship, forever, glory, God, God's people Christians, God's Son, gold, harps, Heaven, Heavenly Father, here, His Body, holy, Holy Spirit, honor, humiliation, idea, incomparable, Jehovah, Jesus, Jesus Himself, joy, light, living, long, Lord, manifestation, martyrs, nearest, no, none, one, Our Head, paradise, Promise, protector, provided, Rapture, raptured, rejection, rest, resting, reward, royalty, saint, saints, Savior, separate, shall, soceity, sojourning, supreme, surpass, Thee, travail, triumph, unclouded, unfading, who, with, without, would be, Yahweh, Yeshua
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
Gift of Strength; Peace to Bless
December 7
The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace. (Psalm 29:11)
David had just heard the voice of the Lord in a thunderstorm and had seen His power in the hurricane whose path he had described; and now, in the cool calm after the storm, that overwhelming power by which heaven and earth are shaken is promised to be the strength of the chosen. He who wings the unerring bolt will give to His redeemed the wings of eagles; He who shakes the earth with His voice will terrify the enemies of His saints and give His children peace. Why are we weak when we have divine strength to flee to? Why are we troubled when the Lord’s own peace is ours? Jesus, the mighty God, is our strength; let us put Him on and go forth to our service. Jesus, our blessed Lord, is also our peace; let us repose in Him this day and end our fears. What a blessing to have Him for our strength and peace both now and forever!
That same God who rides upon the storm in days of tempest will also rule the hurricane of our tribulation and send us, before long, days of peace. We shall have strength for storms and songs for fair weather. Let us begin to sing at once unto God, our strength and our peace. Away, dark thoughts! Up, faith and hope!
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Like this:
Like Loading...
Tags: almighty, attacks, away, battles, before, believers, Bless, blessed, blessing, bolt, calm, chosen, Christ, Christians, Comfoter, cool, dark, David, day, days, described, divine, eagles, Earth, Elohim, end, enemies, fair, Faith, fears, flee, forever, give, God, God'peace, God's children, God's people, God's Redeemed, God's Saints, God's Son, heard, Heaven, Heavenly Father, help, Holy Spirit, hope, hurricane, Jehovah, Jesus, long, Lord, mighty, now, ours, overwhelming, path, peace, power, Promise, protector, Provider, repose, rides, rule, same, Savior, seen, send, service, shaken, shakes, shelter, sing, Songs, Storms, strength, strengthen, struggles, tempest, terrify, thoughts, thunderstorms, trials, tribulation, troubled, unerring, up, Voice, weak, weather, wings, Yahweh, Yeshua
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
Our Holiest Example
December 2
I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. (Psalm 16:8)
This is the way to live. With God always before us, we shall have the noblest companionship, the holiest example, the sweetest consolation, and the mightiest influence. This must be a resolute act of the mind. “I have set,” and it must be maintained as a set and settled thing. Always to have an eye to the Lord’s eye and an ear for the Lord’s voice–this is the right state for the godly man. His God is near him, filling the horizon of his vision, leading the way of his life, and furnishing the theme of his meditation. What vanities we should avoid, what sins we should overcome, what virtues we should exhibit, what joys we should experience if we did indeed set the Lord always before us! Why not?
This is the way to be safe. The Lord being ever in our minds, we come to feel safety and certainty because of His being so near. He is at our right hand to guide and aid us; and hence we are not moved by fear, nor force, nor fraud, nor fickleness. When God stands at a man’s right hand, that man is himself sure to stand. Come on, then, ye foemen of the truth! Rush against me like a furious tempest, if ye will. God upholds me. God abides with me. Whom shall I fear?
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Like this:
Like Loading...
Tags: abides, act, against, aid, almighty, always, avoid, battles, before, being, believer, certainty, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Comforter, companionship, consolattion, Elohim, ever, example, exhibit, experience, eye, Faith, family, Fear, fickleness, filling, foeman, force, fraud, friendship, furious, furnishing, God, God's Son, godly, guide, hand, Heavenly Father, help, helper, holiest, holiness, Holy Spirit, hope, horizon, influence, Jehovah, Jesus, joys, lead, leading, Life, live, living, Lord, Lord's eye, maintained, man, man's rightt hand, meditation, mightiest, mind, minds, moved, near, noblest, not, overcome, prayer, protect, protection, protector, provide, Provider, provision, resolute, right, right hand, right state, rush, safe, safety, Savior, set, settled, sins, State, Storms, struggles, sweetest, tempest, temptations, theme, trials, tribulations, truth, unafraid, upholds, vanities, virtues, vision, way, Yahweh, Yeshua
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
God Is in the Front Line
November 30
The Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed. (Deuteronomy 31:8)
In the presence of a great work or a great warfare, here is a text which should help us to buckle on our harness. If Jehovah Himself goes before us, it must be safe to follow. Who can obstruct our progress if the Lord Himself is in the van? Come, brother soldiers, let us make a prompt advance! Why do we hesitate to pass on to victory?
Nor is the Lord before us only; He is with us. Above, beneath, around, within is the omnipotent, omnipresent One. In all time, even to eternity, He will be with us even as He has been. How this should nerve our arm! Dash at it boldly, ye soldiers of the cross, for the Lord of hosts is with us!
Being before us and with us, He will never withdraw His help. He cannot fail in Himself, and He will not fail toward us. He will continue to help us according to our need, even to the end. As He cannot fail us, so He will not forsake us. He will always be both able and willing to grant us strength and succor till fighting days are gone.
Let us not fear nor be dismayed; for the Lord of hosts will go down to the battle with us, will bear the brunt of the fight, and give us the victory.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Like this:
Like Loading...
Tags: abides, able, according, advanve, afraid, almighty, arm, armor, army of the Lord, attends, battles, bear, before, Belief, boldness, bravery, brint, brother, buckle, Christ, Comforter, continue, courage, Cross, dash, days, diismayed, dismay, Elohim, Eternity, fail, Faith, Fear, fight, fighting, fights, follow, forsake, give, God, God's Son, goes, gone, grant, great, guidance, harness, Heavenly Father, help, hesitation, Holy Spirit, hope, Jehovah, Jesus, Lord, Lord of Hosts, need, nerve, obedience, obstruction, Omnipotent, omnipresent, presence, progress, Promise, prompt, protect, protection, protector, Provider, provision, safety, Savior, soldiers, Soldiers of the Cross, strength, struggles, succor, text, time, trials, tribulations, trust, victory, warfare, wars, weapons, willing, with, withdraw, work, Yahweh, Yeshua, you
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
Pardon and Forgiveness
November 24
He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. (Psalm 103:9)
He will chide sometimes, or He would not be a wise Father for such poor, erring children as we are. His chiding is very painful to those who are true, because they feel how sadly they deserve it and how wrong it is on their part to grieve Him. We know what this chiding means, and we bow before the Lord, mourning that we should cause Him to be angry with us.
But what a comfort we find in these lines! “Not always” will He chide. If we repent and turn to Him with hearts broken for sin and broken from sin, He will smile upon us at once. It is no pleasure to Him to turn a frowning face toward those whom He loves with all His heart: it is His joy that our joy should be full.
Come, let us seek His face. There is no reason for despair, nor even for despondency. Let us love a chiding God, and before long we shall sing, “Thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me.” Be gone, ye dark forebodings, ye ravens of the soul! Come in, ye humble hopes and grateful memories, ye doves of the heart! He who pardoned us long ago as a judge will again forgive us as a father, and we shall rejoice in His sweet, unchanging love.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Like this:
Like Loading...
Tags: almighty, anger, angry, at once, backsliding, before, bow, broken, cause, chide, children, Christ, come, comfort, Comfoter, correction, dark, deserve, despondency, discipline, dispair, doves, Elohim, erring, face, Father, fave, feel, forebodings, forever, forgive, forgiveeness, frowning, full, God, God's Son, gone, grace, grateful, grieve, guilt, heart, hearts, Heavenly Fatherr, Holy Spirit, hopes, humble, immediately, iniquity, Jehovah, Jesus, joy, judge, keep, kneel, lines, Lord, love, loves, meanss, memories, mercy, mistaken, mourning, neither, not always, painful, pardoned, part, pleasure, poor, praise, Pray, prayer, Promise, ravens, reason, rejoice, repent, repentance, saddlyy, Savior, seek, sin, sing, smile, soul, sweet, thankful, those, toward, true, turn, unchanging, wise, worship, wrong, Yahweh, Yeshua
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
Acquiring Perseverance
November 23
The Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little. (Deuteronomy 7:22)
We are not to expect to win victories for the Lord Jesus by a single blow. Evil principles and practices die hard. In some places it takes years of labor to drive out even one of the many vices which defile the inhabitants. We must carry on the war with all our might, even when favored with little manifest success.
Our business in this world is to conquer it for Jesus. We are not to make compromises but to exterminate evils. We are not to seek popularity but to wage unceasing war with iniquity. Infidelity, popery, drink, impurity, oppression, worldliness, error; these are all to be “put out.”
The Lord our God can alone accomplish this. He works by His faithful servants, and blessed be His name. He promises that He will so work. “Jehovah thy God will put out those nations before thee.” This He will do by degrees that we may learn perseverance, may increase in faith, may earnestly watch, and may avoid carnal security. Let us thank God for a little success and pray for more. Let us never sheathe the sword till the whole land is won for Jesus.
Courage, my heart! Go on little by little, for many littles will make a great whole.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Like this:
Like Loading...
Tags: accomplish, addictions, adultery, alcoholism, almighty, alone, avoid, battle, before, bigotry, blessed, blow, business, carnal, carry on, Christ, compromise, conquer, courage, Defeat, defile, degrees, die, drink, drive, drug use, earnestly, elitism, Elohim, enemies, error, evil, evils, expect, expel, exterminate, Faith, faithful, fame, favored, fight, God, God's Son, great, harrd, hatred, heart, Heavenly Father, helper, Holy Spirit, impurity, increase, infidelity, inhabitants, iniquity, Jehovah, Jesus, labor, land, leader, learn, lies, little, littles, Lord, lust, make, manifest, many, might, more, name, nations, not, oppression, out, persecution, perseverance, places, popery, popularity, possession, power, practices, Pray, Prayers, principles, Promises, protector, Provider, put out, racism, remove, Savior, security, seek, servants, sheath, sin, single, slavery, success, sword, takes, temptations, thank, thankfulness, unceasing, vices, victories, victory, wage, war, watch, wealth, whole, win, won, works, World, worldliness, Yahweh, years, Yeshua
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
Clearly Supernatural
November 18
In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them. (Zechariah 12:8)
One of the best methods of the Lord’s defending His people is to make them strong in inward might. Men are better than walls, and faith is stronger than castles.
The Lord can take the feeblest among us and make him like David, the champion of Israel. Lord, do this with me! Infuse Thy power into me, and fill me with sacred courage that I may face the giant with sling and stone, confident in God.
The Lord can make His greatest champions far mightier than they are: David can be as God, as the angel of Jehovah. This would be a marvelous development, but it is possible, or it would not be spoken of. O Lord, work with the best of our leaders! Show us what Thou art able to do–namely, to raise Thy faithful servants to a height of grace and holiness which shall be clearly supernatural!
Lord, dwell in Thy saints, and they shall be as God; put Thy might into them, and they shall be as the living creatures who dwell in the presence of Jehovah. Fulfill this promise to Thine entire church in this our day, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Like this:
Like Loading...
Tags: able, afflicted, aged, almighty, among, angel of Jehovah, angel of the Lord, attacks, baattles, battle, before, believers, best, braveerry, castles, champions, Christ, Christtians, church, Comforter, confidence, confident, couragee, create, creatures, David, day, defend, defending, defense, development, dwell, Elohim, entire, face, Faith, faithful, feeble, feeblest, fight, fill, fulfill, giant, God, God's people, God's Son, grace, greatest, handicapped, Heavenly Father, height, holiness, Holy Spirit, House of David, ill, infusee, inhabitants, inward, Israel, Jeehovah, Jerusalem, Jesus, Jews, leaders, living, Lord, marvelous, men, methods, might, mightier, mighty, possible, power, presence, Promise, prophecy, protection, protector, Provider, raise, sacred, saints, sake, Savior, servants, show, sling, stone, streength, strong, stronger, struggles, supernatural, victory, walls, weaakest, weak, work, Yahweh, Yeshua
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
True Humility Rewarded
November 7
He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. (Luke 18:14)
It ought not to be difficult for us to humble ourselves, for what have we to be proud of? We ought to take the lowest place without being told to do so. If we are sensible and honest, we shall be little in our own eyes. Especially before the Lord in prayer we shall shrink to nothing. There we cannot speak of merit, for we have none; our one and only appeal must be to mercy: “God be merciful to me a sinner.”
Here is a cheering word from the throne. We shall be exalted by the Lord if we humble ourselves. For us the way upward is downhill. When we are stripped of self we are clothed with humility, and this is the best of wear. The Lord will exalt us in peace and happiness of mind; He will exalt us into knowledge of His Word and fellowship with Himself; He will exalt us in the enjoyment of sure pardon and justification. The Lord puts His honors upon those who can wear them to the honor of the Giver. He gives usefulness, acceptance, and influence to those who will not be puffed up by them but will be abased by a sense of greater responsibility. Neither God nor man will care to lift up a man who lifts up himself; but both God and good men unite to honor modest worth.
O Lord, sink me in self that I may rise in Thee.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Like this:
Like Loading...
Tags: abased, acceptance, almighty, appeal, before, bow, bragging, care, cheering, Christ, clothed, Comforter, common sense, difficult, downhill, ego, Elohim, enjoyment, exalt, exalted, Eyes, fellowship, giver, God, God's Son, God's Word, good men, greater, happiness, Heavenly Father, highest, Holy Spirit, honest, honesty, honor, honors, humble, humbleness, humility, influence, Jehovah, Jesus, justification, kneel, knowledge, lift up, little, Lord, lowest, merciful, mercy, merit, mind, modest, pardon, peace, place, prayer, pride, proud, Provider, puffed up, raise, responsibility, reward, rise, Savior, self, sense, sensibility, sensible, sink, sinner, speak, stripped, sure, Thee, Throne, unite, upward, usefulness, wear, Word, worth, Yahweh, Yeshua
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
What Is Painful Will End
November 5
I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls; which I have made. (Isaiah 57:16)
Our heavenly Father seeks our instruction, not our destruction. His contention with us has a kind intention toward us. He will not be always in arms against us. We think the Lord is long in His chastisements, but that is because we are short in our patience. His compassion endureth forever, but not His contention. The night may drag its weary length along, but it must in the end give place to cheerful day. As contention is only for a season, so the wrath which leads to it is only for a small moment. The Lord loves His chosen too well to be always angry with them.
If He were to deal with us always as He does sometimes, we should faint outright and go down hopelessly to the gates of death. Courage, dear heart! The Lord will soon end His chiding. Bear up, for the Lord will bear you up and bear you through. He who made you knows how frail you are and how little you can bear. He will handle tenderly that which He has fashioned so delicately. Therefore, be not afraid because of the painful present, for it hastens to a happy future. He that smote you will heal you; His little wrath shall be followed by great mercies.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Like this:
Like Loading...
Tags: afraid, against, almighty, always, angry, arms, attacks, battles, bear, before, chastisements, cheerful, chiding, chosen, Chrrist, Comforter, Compassion, contend, contention, courage, day, deal, Death, deliicately, destruction, discipline, drag, Elohim, end, endurance, endures, fail, faint, fall, fashioned, Fear, finish, followed, forever, forgiveness, frail, future, gates, give, God, God's Son, goodwill, grace, great, handicaps, handle, happy, hastens, heal, heart, Heavenly Father, Hell, help, Holy Spirit, hope, hopelessly, illness, instruction, intention, Jehovah, Jesus, kind, knows, lasts, leads, lengtth, little, long, Lord, love, made, mercies, moment, neither, night, obedience, outright, pain, painful, patience, place, plummet, present, Promise, Provider, punishment, Savior, season, seek, short, small, smote, souls, Spirit, struggles, teendeerly, tenderness, think, through, toward, trials, tribulations, up, wait, weapons, weary, wrath, wroth, Yahweh, Yeshua
forhisgloryandpraise 
You must be logged in to post a comment.