From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
Absolute Assurance
December 28
He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. (Hebrews 13:5)
Several times in the Scriptures the Lord hath said this. He has often repeated it to make our assurance doubly sure. Let us never harbor a doubt about it. In itself the promise is specially emphatic. In the Greek it has five negatives, each one definitely shutting out the possibility of the Lord’s ever leaving one of His people so that he can justly feel forsaken of his God. This priceless Scripture does not promise us exemption from trouble, but it does secure us against desertion. We may be called to traverse strange ways, but we shall always have our Lord’s company, assistance, and provision. We need not covet money, for we shall always have our God, and God is better than gold; His favor is better than fortune.
We ought surely to be content with such things as we have, for he who has God has more than all the world besides. What can we have beyond the Infinite? What more can we desire than almighty Goodness.
Come, my heart; if God says He will never leave thee nor forsake thee, be thou much in prayer for grace that thou mayest never leave thy Lord, nor even for a moment forsake His ways.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Tags: abide, against, almighty, always, assistance, assurance, attacks, battles, believers, better, beyond, Bible, blessings, called, Christ, Christians, come, Comforter, content, contentment, covet, definately, desertion, desire, doubly, doubt, Elohim, emphatic, exemption, fame, forever, forgiveness, forsake, forsaken, fortune, God, God's favor, God's people, God's Son, God's Way, God's Will, gold, goodness, grace, Greek, guidance, harbor, have, heart, Heavenly Father, help, Holy Spirit, hope, infinite, Jehovah, Jesus, justly, keep, leave, leaving, Lord, Lord's company, Lord's friendship, love, make, material goods, mercy, moment, money, more, need, negatives, never, out, paths, possibility, power, Pray, prayer, priceless, Promise, protection, protector, Provider, provision, repeated, safe, salvation, Savior, say, Scriptures, secure, several, shutting, specially, stay, strange, struggles, sure, things, Times, traverse, trials, tribulation, trouble, walk, ways, wealth, World, worldly, Yahweh, Yeshua
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
God Only, You Can Trust
December 26
Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. (Matthew 26:33)
“Why,” cries one, “this is no promise of God.” Just so, but it was a promise of man, and therefore it came to nothing. Peter thought that he was saying what he should assuredly carry out; but a promise which has no better foundation than a human resolve will fall to the ground. No sooner did temptations arise than Peter denied his Master and used oaths to confirm his denial.
What is man’s word? An earthen pot broken with a stroke. What is your own resolve? A blossom, which, with God’s care, may come to fruit, but which, left to itself, will fall to the ground with the first wind that moves the bough.
On man’s word hang only what it will bear.
On thine own resolve depend not at all.
On the promise of thy God hang time and eternity, this world and the next, thine all and the all of all thy beloved ones.
This volume is a checkbook for believers, and this page is meant as a warning as to what bank they draw upon and whose signature they accept. Rely upon Jesus without limit. Trust not thyself nor any horn of woman, beyond due bounds; but trust thou only and wholly in the Lord.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Tags: accept, all and all, almighty, arise, ashamed, assuredly, bank, bear, Belief, Believe, believers, beloved ones, better, beyond, blossom, bough, bounds, broken, came nothing, carry, checkbook, Christ, Christians, come, Compassion, confirm, cowardice, cursing, denial, denied, depend, draw, due, earthen, Elohim, Eternity, Faith, faithfulness, fall, first, foundation, fruit, God, God's care, God's people, God's Son, ground, hang, hangs, Heavenly Father, hit, Holy Spirit, horn, human, itself, Jehovah, Jesus, left, limit, Lord, loyalty, man's resolve, man's word, Master, meant, moves, next, nor, not, oaths, offended, only, out, own, page, Peter, pot, Promise, promise of God, promise of man, Promises, provision, rely, resolve, Savior, saying, should, signature, smash, sooner, stroke, temptations, thyself, time, trust, trustworthiness, upon, used, volume, warning, wholly, whose, wind, without, woman, World, Yahweh, Yeshua
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
World Concord
December 15
And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. (Isaiah 2:4)
Oh, that these happy times were come! At present the nations are heavily armed and are inventing weapons more and more terrible, as if the chief end of man could only be answered by destroying myriads of his fellows. Yet peace will prevail one day; yes, and so prevail that the instruments of destruction shall be beaten into other shapes and used for better purposes.
How will this come about? By trade? By civilization? By arbitration? We do not believe it. Past experience forbids our trusting to means so feeble. Peace will be established only by the reign of the Prince of Peace. He must teach the people by His Spirit, renew their hearts by His grace, and reign over them by His supreme power, and then will they cease to wound and kill. Man is a monster when once his blood is up, and only the Lord Jesus can turn this lion into a lamb. By changing man’s heart, his bloodthirsty passions are removed. Let every reader of this book of promises offer special prayer today to the Lord and Giver of Peace that He would speedily put an end to war and establish concord over the whole world.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Tags: about, against, agreements, almighty, anger, answered, anymore, arbitration, armed, armies, be, beat, beaten, Believe, believers, better, Bible Prophecy, blood, bloodthirsty, book, cease, changing, chief, Christ, Christians, civilization, come, Comforter, commerce, concord, cooperation, day, destroying, destruction, Elohim, end, End Times, establish, established, experiences, feeble, fellows, forbids, friendship, God, God's grace, God's people, God's Son, God's Spirit, God's supreme power, happy, hearts, Heavenly Father, heavily, Holy Spirit, instruments, inventing, Jehovah, Jesus, kill, Lamb, Last Days, learn, lift, lion, Lord, Lord and Giver of Peace, man, man's heart, means, mediation, military, Millineum, monster, must, myriads, nation, nations, neither, not, offer, over, passions, Past, peace, people, plowshares, Pray, prayer, present, prevail, Prince of Peace, Promises, protector, Provider, pruning hooks, purposes, reader, reign, removed, renew, Savior, Second Coming, shall, shapes, spear, special, speeding, sword, swords, teach, temper, terrible, Times, today, trade, treaties, trusting, turn, used, war, weapons, whole, World, wound, Yahweh, Yesha
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
A Quiet Heart
December 12
In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. (Isaiah 30:15)
It is always weakness to be fretting and worrying, questioning and mis-trusting. What can we do if we wear ourselves to skin and bone? Can we gain anything by fearing and fuming? Do we not unfit ourselves for action and unhinge our minds for wise decision? We are sinking by our struggles when we might float by faith.
Oh, for grace to be quiet! Why run from house to house to repeat the weary story which makes us more and more heart-sick as we tell it? Why even stay at home to cry out in agony because of wretched forebodings which may never be fulfilled? It would be well to keep a quiet tongue, but it would be far better if we had a quiet heart. Oh, to be still and know that Jehovah is God!
Oh, for grace to be confident in God! The holy One of Israel must defend and deliver His own. He cannot run back from His solemn declarations. We may make sure that every word of His will stand though the mountains should depart. He deserves to be confided in; and if we would display confidence and consequent quietness, we might be as happy as the spirits before the throne.
Come, my soul, return unto thy rest, and lean thy head upon the bosom of the Lord Jesus.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Tags: action, agony, almighty, anything, back, battles, be, Belief, believers, better, Bible, bone, bosom, Christ, Christians, come, Comforter, confidant, confided, confidence, consequent, cry out, decisions, declarations, defend, deliver, depart, deserves, display, Faith, far, fearing, fears, float, forebodings, fretting, fulfilled, fuming, gain, God, God's people, God's Son, God's Throne, God's Will, grace, happiness, happy, head, heart, heartsick, Heavenly Father, Holy One, Holy Spirit, home, hope, house, illnesses, Israel, Jesus, know, lean, Lord, minds, mistrusting, more, mountains, protector, Provider, questioning, quiet, quietness, repeat, rest, return, run, salvation, save, Savior, sinking, skin, solemn, soul, spirits, stand, stay, still, story, strength, struggles, tongue, trials, tribulations, trust, unfit, unfulfilled, unhinge, upon, weakness, wear, weary, wise, Word, worrying, wretched
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
“Through,” Not Engulfed
December 6
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. (Isaiah 43:2)
Bridge there is none: we must go through the waters and feel the rush of the rivers. The presence of God in the flood is better than a ferryboat. Tried we must be, but triumphant we shall be; for Jehovah Himself, who is mightier than many waters, shall be with us. Whenever else He may be away from His people, the Lord will surely be with them in difficulties and dangers. The sorrows of life may rise to an extraordinary height, but the Lord is equal to every occasion.
The enemies of God can put in our way dangers of their own making, namely, persecutions and cruel mockings, which are like a burning, fiery furnace. What then? We shall walk through the fires. God being with us, we shall not be burned; nay, not even the smell of fire shall remain upon us.
Oh, the wonderful security of the heaven-born and heaven-bound pilgrim! Floods cannot drown him, nor fires burn him. Thy presence, O Lord, is the protection of Thy saints from the varied perils of the road. Behold, in faith I commit myself unto Thee, and my spirit enters into rest.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Tags: abide, almighty, attacks, away, battles, behold, believers, better, bridge, burned, burning, Christ, Christians, commit, cruel, dangers, difficulties, drown, Elohim, enemies of God, enters, equal, extraordinary, Faith, feel, ferryboat, fiery, fire, flame, furnace, God, God's people, God's Son, heaven-born, heaven-bound, Heavenly Father, height, help, Holy Spirit, hope, Jehovah, Jesus, kindle, Life, Lord, making, mightier, mockings, myself, neither, not, occasion, overflow, own, pass, perils, persecutions, pilgrim, presence, preservation, preserve, protection, protector, Provider, provision, put, remain, rest, rise, rivers, road, rush, saints, Savior, security, shall, smell, sorrow, Spirit, struggles, surely, Thee, through, trials, tribulations, tried, triumphant, unto, upon, varied, victory, walk, waters, way, with, wonderful, Yahweh, Yeshua
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
Peace Whatever Exposure
December 3
I will make them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. (Ezekiel 34:25)
It is the height of grace that Jehovah should be in covenant with man, a I feeble, sinful, and dying creature. Yet the Lord has solemnly entered into a faithful compact with us, and from that covenant He will never turn aside. In virtue of this covenant we are safe. As lions and wolves are driven off by shepherds, so shall all noxious influences be chased away. The Lord will give us rest from disturbers and destroyers; the evil beasts shall cease out of the land. O Lord, make this Thy promise good even now!
The Lord’s people are to enjoy security in places of the greatest exposure: wilderness and woods are to be as pastures and folds to the flock of Christ. If the Lord does not change the place for the better, He will make us the better in the place. The wilderness is not a place to dwell in, but the Lord can make it so; in the woods one feels hound to watch rather than to sleep, and yet the Lord giveth His beloved sleep even there. Nothing without or within should cause any fear to the child of God. By faith the wilderness can become the suburbs of heaven and the woods the vestibule of glory.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Tags: almighty, aside, away, beasts, believers, better, cause, cease, change, chased, Child of God, Christ, Christians, Comforter, compact, covenant, creature, destroyers, disturbers, driven, dwell, dying, Elohim, enemies, enemies of God, enjoy, entered, evil, exposure, faithful, Fear, feeble, feels, fields, flocks of Christ, folds, give, glory, God, God's people, God's Son, good, grace, greatest, Heaven, Heavenly Father, height, Holy Spirit, hound, influences, Jehovah, Jesus, land, lions, Lord, Lord's people, make, man, nothing, noxious, off, out, pastures, peace, place, places, Promise, protection, protector, Provider, provision, rest, safe, safely, safety, Savior, securitty, shepherds, sinful, sleep, solemnly, suburbs, turn, vestibule, virtue, watch, wilderness, within, without, wolves, woods, Yahweh, Yeshua
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
The Magnitude of Grace
November 8
My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Our weakness should be prized as making room for divine strength. We might never have known the power of grace if we had not felt the weakness of nature. Blessed be the Lord for the thorn in the flesh, and the messenger of Satan, when they drive us to the strength of God.
This is a precious word from our Lord’s own lip. It has made the writer laugh for joy. God’s grace enough for me! I should think it is. Is not the sky enough for the bird and the ocean enough for the fish? The All-Sufficient is sufficient for my largest want. He who is sufficient for earth and heaven is certainly able to meet the case of one poor worm like me.
Let us, then, fall back upon our God and His grace. If He does not remove our grief, He will enable us to bear it. His strength shall be poured into us till the worm shall thresh the mountains, and a nothing shall be victor over all the high and mighty ones. It is better for us to have God’s strength than our own; for if we were a thousand times as strong as we are, it would amount to nothing in the face of the enemy; and if we could be weaker than we are, which is scarcely possible, yet we could do all things through Christ.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Tags: all, All-Sufficient, almighty, amount, attacks, back, battles, bear, believers, better, Bible, bird, blessed, blessing, case, Christ, Comforter, could, divine, do, drive, Earth, Elohim, enable, enemy, enough, face, fall, fish, flesh, God, God's Son, God's Word, grace, grief, Heaven, Heavenly Father, high, Holy Spirit, illness, Jehovah, Jesus, joy, largest, laugh, lips, Lord, meet, messenger, mighty, mountains, nature, nothing, ocean, perfect, poor, possible, poured, power, Precious, prized, Promise, Provider, remove, room, Satan, Savior, scarsely, sky, strength, strong, struggles, sufficient, things, thorn, thousaand, thresh, through, Times, upon, victor, want, weaker, weakness, Word, worm, worms, writer, Yahweh, Yeshua
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
Delight and Desires
November 6
Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. (Psalm 37:4)
Delight in God has a transforming power and lifts a man above the gross desire of our fallen nature. Delight in Jehovah is not only sweet in itself, but it sweetens the whole soul, till the longings of the heart become such that the Lord can safely promise to fulfill them. Is not that a grand delight which molds our desires till they are like the desires of God?
Our foolish way is to desire and then set to work to compass what we desire. We do not go to work in God’s way, which is to seek Him first and then expect all things to be added unto us. If we will let our heart be filled with God till it runs over with delight, then the Lord Himself will take care that we shall not want any good thing. Instead of going abroad for joys let us stay at home with God and drink waters out of our own fountain. He can do for us far more than all our friends. It is better to be content with God alone than to go about fretting and pining for the paltry trifles of time and sense. For a while we may have disappointments; but if these bring us nearer to the Lord, they are things to be prized exceedingly, for they will in the end secure to us the fulfillment of all our right desires.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Tags: above, abroad, added, alike, all, almighty, alone, any, Award, believers, better, bring, care, Christ, Christian, closer, Comforter, compass, content, contentment, delight, desires, desiresmfallen, direction, disappointments, do, drink, Elohim, end, example, exceedingly, expect, first, foolish, formsmremakes, fountain, fretting, friends, fulfill, fulfillment, give, given, God, God's people, God's Son, going, good thing, grand, gross, guidance, heart, Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit, home, iniquity, Jehovah, Jesus, joys, lack, longings, Lord, molds, more, multiplied, nature, nearer, over, overflowing, own, paltry, pining, powermlifts, prized, Promise, Provider, reward, right desires, runs, safely, Savior, secure, seek, sense, set, similar, sin, soul, stay, sweetmsweetens, take, things, thyself, time, transforming, trifles, want, waters, way, whole, without, works, worldly, worrying, Yahweh, Yeshua
forhisgloryandpraise 