From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
True Walking Posture
December 1
He that walketh uprightly walketh surely. (Proverbs 10:9)
His walk may be slow, but it is sure. He that hasteth to be rich shall not be innocent nor sure; but steady perseverance in integrity, if it does not bring riches, will certainly bring peace. In doing that which is just and right, we are like one walking upon a rock, for we have confidence that every step we take is upon solid and safe ground. On the other hand, the utmost success through questionable transactions must always be hollow and treacherous, and the man who has gained it must always be afraid that a day of reckoning will come, and then his gains will condemn him.
Let us stick to truth and righteousness. By God’s grace let us imitate our Lord and Master, in whose mouth no deceit was ever found. Let us not be afraid of being poor, nor of being treated with contempt. Never, on any account whatever, let us do that which our conscience cannot justify. If we lose inward peace, we lose more than a fortune can buy. If we keep in the Lord’s own way and never sin against our conscience, our way is sure against all comers. Who is he that can harm us if we be followers of that which is good? We may be thought fools by fools if we are firm in our integrity; but in the place where judgment is infallible we shall be approved.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Like this:
Like Loading...
Tags: account, afraid, against, almighty, approved, Belief, buy, Christ, Christianity, comers, Comforter, condemn, confidence, conscience, contempt, day of reckoning, deceit, Elohim, firm, followers, fools, fortune, found, gain, God, God's grace, God's Son, good, ground, guide, guilt, harm, haste, Heavenly Faatheer, holiness, hollow, Holy Spirit, imitate, infallible, innocense, integrity, inward, Jehovah, Jesus, judgment, just, justify, Life, Lord, lose, Master, mouth, peace, perseverance, place, poor, Promise, protector, Provider, questionable, rich, right, righteousness, rock, safe, salvation, Savior, sin, slow, solid, sready, step, stick, success, sure, taken, thought, transactions, treacherous, treated, truth, upright, utmost, walk, way, Yahweh, Yeshua
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”
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
Like this:
Like Loading...
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”
A Covenant He Remembers
October 1
He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant. (Psalm 111:5)
Those who fear God need not fear want. Through all these long years the Lord has always found meat for His own children, whether they have been in the wilderness, or by the brook Cherith, or in captivity, or in the midst of famine. Hitherto the Lord has given us day by day our daily bread, and we doubt not that He will continue to feed us till we want no more.
As to the higher and greater blessings of the covenant of grace, He will never cease to supply them as our case demands. He is mindful that He made the covenant and never acts as if He regretted it. He is mindful of it when we provoke Him to destroy us. He is mindful to love us, keep us, and comfort us, even as He engaged to do. He is mindful of every jot and tittle of His engagements, never suffering one of His words to fall to the ground.
We are sadly unmindful of our God, but He is graciously mindful of us. He cannot forget His Son who is the surety of the covenant, nor His Holy Spirit who actively carries out the covenant, nor His own honor, which is bound up with the covenant. Hence the foundation of God standeth sure, and no believer shall lose his divine inheritance, which is his by a covenant of salt.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Like this:
Like Loading...
Tags: battles, believers, brook, caring, Christ, Comforter, Compassion, covenant, Elohim, faithful, famine, Fear, feed, Food, God, God's children, God's only Son, grace, Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit, Jehovah, Jesus, Lord, meat, mindful, needmwant, plenty, poor, prison, Promise, provide, Provider, remember, reward, Savior, struggles, thankfulness, thoughts, trials, wilderness, Yahweh, Yeshua
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
Reward Is Certain
September 16
And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. (Matthew 10:42)
Well, I can do as much as that. I can do a kind act toward the Lord’s servant. The Lord knows l love them all and would count it an honor to wash their feet. For the sake of their Master, I love the disciples.
How gracious of the Lord to mention so insignificant an action — “to give to drink a cup of cold water only”! This I can do, however poor: this I may do, however lowly: this I will do right cheerfully. This, which seems so little, the Lord notices — notices when done to the least of His followers. Evidently it is not the cost, nor the skill, nor the quantity, that He looks at, but the motive: that which we do to a disciple, because he is a disciple, his Lord observes and recompenses. He does not reward us for the merit of what we do but according to His riches of His grace.
I give a cup of cold water, and He makes me to drink of living water. I give to one of His little ones, and He treats me as one of them. Jesus finds an apology for His liberality in that which His grace has led me to do, and He says, “He shall in no wise lose his reward.”
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Like this:
Like Loading...
Tags: Charity, Christ, cold, Comforter, Compassion, Disciple, Elohim, generosity, Giving, God, Heavenly Father, help, Holy Spirit, hope, Jehovah, Jesus, Little ones, Lord, love, needy, poor, Promise, reward, Savior, servant, water, wose, Yahweh, Yeshua
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
He Lowers to Raise
August 10
Thy Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. (1 Samuel 2:7)
All my changes come from Him who never changes. If I had grown rich, I should have seen His hand in it, and I should have praised Him; let me equally see His hand if I am made poor, and let me as heartily praise Him. When we go down in the world, it is of the Lord, and so we may take it patiently: when we rise in the world, it is of the Lord, and we may accept it thankfully. In any case, the Lord hath done it, and it is well.
It seems that Jehovah’s way is to lower those whom He means to raise and to strip those whom He intends to clothe. If it is His way, it is the wisest and best way. If I am now enduring the bringing low, I may well rejoice, because I see in it the preface to the lifting up. The more we are humbled by grace, the more we shall be exalted in glory. That impoverishment which will be overruled for our enrichment is to be welcomed.
O Lord, Thou has taken me down of late and made me feel my insignificance and sin. It is not a pleasant experience, but I pray Thee make it a profitable one to me. Oh, that Thou wouldst thus fit me to bear a greater weight of delight and of usefulness; and when I am ready for it, then grant it to me, for Christ’s sake! Amen.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Like this:
Like Loading...
Tags: brought low, changes, Christ, Comforter, Elohim, equal, God, Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit, Jehovah, Jesus, Lord, Messiah, plan, poor, praise, Promise, provide, Provider, raised up, rich, Savior, Yahweh, Yeshua
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
A Shepherd Secures Them
June 10
They shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid. (Zephaniah 3:13)
Yesterday we thought of the afflicted and poor people whom the Lord left to be a living seed in a dead world. The prophet says of such that they shall not work iniquity nor speak lies. So that while they had neither rank nor riches to guard them, they were also quite unable to use those weapons in which the wicked place so much reliance: they could neither defend themselves by sin nor by subtlety.
What then? Would they be destroyed? By no means! They should both feed and rest and be not merely free from danger but even quiet from fear of evil. Sheep are very feeble creatures, and wolves are terrible enemies; yet at this hour sheep are more numerous than wolves, and the cause of the sheep is always winning, while the cause of the wolves is always declining. One day flocks of sheep will cover the plains, and not a wolf will be left. The fact is that sheep have a Shepherd, and this gives them provender, protection, and peace. “None” — which means not one, whether in human or diabolical form — “shall make them afraid.” Who shall terrify the Lord’s Rock when He is near? We lie down in green pastures, for Jesus Himself is food and rest to our souls.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Like this:
Like Loading...
Tags: afflicted, demon, diabolical, Elohim, Food, God, Heavenly Father, human, iniquity, Jehovah, Jesus, lies, Lord, overcome, poor, Promise, prophet, protection, provision, rest, seed, sheep, shepherd, sin, wolves, Yahweh
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
A Trustworthy Name
June 9
I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. (Zephaniah 3:12)
When true religion is ready to die out among the wealthy it finds a home among the poor of this world, rich in faith. The Lord has even now His faithful remnant. Am I one of them?
Perhaps it is because men are afflicted and poor that they learn to trust in the name of the Lord. He that hath no money must try what he can do on trust. He whose own name is good for nothing in his own esteem, acts wisely to rest in another name, even that best of names, the name of Jehovah. God wilt always have a trusting people, and these will be an afflicted and poor people. Little as the world thinks of them, their being left in the midst of a nation is the channel of untold blessings to it. Here we have the conserving salt which keeps in check the corruption which is in the world through lust.
Again the question comes home to each one of us. Am I one of them? Am I afflicted by the sin within me and around me? Am I poor in spirit, poor spiritually in my own judgment? Do I trust in the Lord? This is the main business. Jesus reveals the name, the character, the person of God; am I trusting in Him? If so, I am left in this world for a purpose. Lord, help me to fulfill it.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Like this:
Like Loading...
Tags: afflicted, Christ, elitists, Elohim, faithful, God, Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit, home, hope, Jehovah, Jesus, Lord, need, patience, poor, Promise, religion, remnant, rest, rich, Savior, trust, wealthy, Yahweh
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
Full Reliance on God
May 23
For he shall deliver the needy when he lieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper. (Psalm 72:12)
The needy cries; what else can he do? His cry is heard of God; what else need he do? Let the needy reader take to crying at once, for this will be his wisdom. Do not cry in the ears of friends, for even if they can help you it is only because the Lord enables them. The nearest way is to go straight to God and let your cry come up before Him. Straightforward makes the best runner: run to the Lord and not to secondary causes.
“Alas!” you cry, “I have no friend or helper.” So much the better; you can rely upon God in both capacities – as without supplies and without helpers. Make your double need your double plea. Even for temporal mercies you may wait upon God, for He careth for His children in these temporary concerns. As for spiritual necessities, which are the heaviest of all, the Lord will hear your cry and will deliver you and supply you.
O poor friend, try your rich God. O helpless one, lean on His help. He has never failed me, and I am sure He will never fail you. Come as a beggar, and God will not refuse you help. Come with no plea but His grace. Jesus is King; will He let you perish of wants What! Did you forget this?
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Like this:
Like Loading...
Tags: Christ, deliverance, Elohim, emotional, family, friends, God, Heavenly Father, help, helper, Holy Spirit, hope, Jehovah, Jesus, Lord, needy, physical, poor, prayer, Promise, provision, Savior, spiritual, supply, wisdom, Yahweh
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
We Receive as We Give
May 16
Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. (Matthew 5:7)
It is not meet that the man who will not forgive should be forgiven, nor shall he who will not give to the poor have his own wants relieved. God will measure to us with our own bushels, and those who have been hard masters and hard creditors will find that the Lord will deal hardly with them. “He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy.”
This day let us try to give and to forgive. Let us mind the two bears – bear and forbear. Let us be kind, gentle, and tender. Let us not put harsh constructions upon men’s conduct, nor drive hard bargains, nor pick foolish quarrels, nor be difficult to please. Surely we wish to be blessed, and we also want to obtain mercy: let us be merciful, that we may have mercy. Let us fulfill the condition, that we may earn the beatitude. Is it not a pleasant duty to be kind? Is there not much more sweetness in it than in being angry and ungenerous? Why, there is a blessedness in the thing itself! Moreover, the obtaining of mercy is a rich reward. What but sovereign grace could suggest such a promise as this’. We are merciful to our fellow mortal in pence, and the Lord forgives us “all the debt.”
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Like this:
Like Loading...
Tags: actions, attitudes, beatitude, blessings, bushels, Christ, Compassion, creditors, Elohim, forgive, forgiven, God, grace, help, hope, Jehovah, Jesus, judgment, Lord, masters, merciful, mercy, needy, poor, Promise, Savior, sins, standards, wrongs, Yahweh
You must be logged in to post a comment.