From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
He Will Carry Us Home
December 29
And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you. (Isaiah 46:4)
The year is very old, and here is a promise for our aged friends; yes, and for us all, as age creeps over us. Let us live long enough, and we shall all have hoar hairs; therefore we may as well enjoy this promise by the foresight of faith.
When we grow old our God will still be the I AM, abiding evermore the same. Hoar hairs tell of our decay, but He decayeth not. When we cannot carry a burden and can hardly carry ourselves, the Lord will carry us. Even as in our young days He carried us like lambs in His bosom, so will He in our years of infirmity.
He made us, and He will care for us. When we become a burden to our friends and a burden to ourselves, the Lord will not shake us off, but the rather He will take us up and carry and deliver us more fully than ever. In many cases the Lord give His servants a long and calm evening. They worked hard all day and wore themselves out in their Master’s service, and so He said to them, “Now rest in anticipation of that eternal Sabbath which I have prepared for you.” Let us not dread old age. Let us grow old graciously since the Lord Himself is with us in fullness of grace.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Tags: abide, aged, almighty, anticipation, bear, believers, blessing, bosom, burden, calm, care, carry, cases, Christ, Christians, Comforter, Compassion, created, Creator, creeps, days, decay, deliver, deliverance, dread, Elohim, enjoy, enough, eternal, evening, everlasting life, evermore, Faith, feebleness, foresight, forever, friends, fullness, fully, gives, God, God's Creation, God's people, God's Servant, God's Son, grace, graciously, gray hairs, grow, handicap, hard, hardly, Heaven, Heavenly Father, hoar hairs, Holy Spirit, I Am, illness, infirmity, Jehovah, Jesus, lambs, last years, lasting, lift, live, long, Lord, made, Master, off, old, old age, ourselves, out, over, prepared, Promise, protection, protector, Provider, provision, rather, rest, reward, Sabbath, same, Savior, senior years, service, shake, still, with, worked, worn, Yahweh, years, young age, youth, zyeshua
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
He Came; He Is Coming
December 25
This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. (Acts 1:11)
Many are celebrating our Lord’s first coming this day; let us turn our thoughts to the promise of His second coming. This is as sure as the first advent and derives a great measure of its certainty from it. He who came as a lowly man to serve will assuredly come to take the reward of His service. He who came to suffer will not be slow in coming to reign.
This is our glorious hope, for we shall share His joy. Today we are in our concealment and humiliation, even as He was while here below; but when He cometh it will be our manifestation, even as it will be His revelation. Dead saints shall live at His appearing. The slandered and despised shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Then shall the saints appear as kings and priests, and the days of their mourning shall be ended. The long rest and inconceivable splendor of the millennial reign will be an abundant recompense for the ages of witnessing and warring.
Oh, that the Lord would come! He is coming! He is on the road and traveling quickly. The sound of His approach should be as music to our hearts! Ring out, ye bells of hope!
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Tags: 1st Advent, 2nd Coming, abundant, almighty, appear, appearing, assuredly, believers, Bible, Bible Prophecy, came, celebrating, certainty, Christ, Christians, Christmas, come, Comforter, coming, concealment, days, dead, derives, despised, Elohim, Emmanuel, ended, Everlasting Father, Father, forth, glorious, go, God, God with us, God's people, God's Son, great, Heaven, Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit, hope, humiliation, inconceivable, into, Jehovah, Jesus, joy, King of Kings, kingdom, kings, like, live, long, Lord, Lord's 1st Coming, lowly, man, manner, measure, millennial, mourning, priests, Prince of Peace, Promise, prophecy, protector, Provider, reign, rest, Revelation, reward, saints, same, Savior, seen, serve, service, shall, Share, shine, sinners, slandered, slow, splendor, suffer, sun, take, taken, thoughts, today, turn, up, 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
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”
Evening Brightens into Day
December 13
It shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. (Zechariah 14:7)
It is a surprise that it should be so; for all things threaten that at evening time it shall be dark. God is wont to work in a way so much above our fears and beyond our hopes that we are greatly amazed and are led to praise His sovereign grace. No, it shall not be with us as our hearts are prophesying: the dark will not deepen into midnight, but it will on a sudden brighten into day. Never let us despair. In the worst times let us trust in the Lord who turneth the darkness of the shadow of death into the morning. When the tale of bricks is doubled Moses appears, and when tribulation abounds it is nearest its end.
This promise should assist our patience. The light may not fully come till our hopes are quite spent by waiting all day to no purpose. To the wicked the sun goes down while it is yet day: to the righteous the sun rises when it is almost night. May we not with patience wait for that heavenly light, which may be long in coming but is sure to prove itself well worth waiting for?
Come, my soul, take up thy parable and sing unto Him who will bless thee in life and in death, in a manner surpassing all that nature has ever seen when at its best.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Tags: abounds, above, all, almighty, amazed, appears, assist, attacks, battles, believers, best, beyond, Bless, bricks, brighten, Christ, Christians, come, Comforter, coming, dark, darkness, day, Death, deepen, despair, doubled, down, Elohim, end, eternal life, evening, Faith, fears, fully, God, God's people, God's Son, grace, greatly, hearts, heavenly, Heavenly Father, help, Holy One, Holy Spirit, hope, hopes, into, Jehovah, Jesus, led to, Life, light, long, Lord, manner, midnight, morning, Moses, nature, nearest, never, night, overcome, overcomer, parable, pass, patience, patiencee, praise, Promise, prophecy, prophesying, protector, prove, Provider, purpose, reward, righteous, righteousness, rises, Saviior, see, seen, shadow of death, shall be, should be, sing, soul, sovereign, spent, struggle, suddenly, sun, sure, surpassing, surprise, take, tale, testing, things, threaten, Times, trials, tribulation, tribulations, trust, turneth, unto, wait, waiting, way, wicked, wont, work, worst, worth, Yahweh, Yeshua
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
Following Leads to Honor
December 8
If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where lam, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor. (John 12:26)
The highest service is imitation. If I would be Christ’s servant I must be His follower. To do as Jesus did is the surest way of bringing honor to His name. Let me mind this every day.
If I imitate Jesus I shall have His company: if I am like Him I shall be with Him. In due time He will take me up to dwell with Him above, if, meanwhile, I have striven to follow Him here below. After His suffering our Lord came to His throne, and even so, after we have suffered a while with Him here below, we also shall arrive in glory. The issue of our Lord’s life shall be the issue of ours: if we are with Him in His humiliation we shall be with Him in His glory. Come, my soul, pluck up courage and put down thy feet in the blood-marked footprints which thy Lord has left thee.
Let me not fail to note that the Father will honor those who follow His Son. If He sees me true to Jesus, He will put marks of favor and honor upon me for His Son’s sake. No honor can be like this. Princes and emperors bestow the mere shadows of honor; the substance of glory comes from the Father. Wherefore, my soul, cling thou to thy Lord Jesus more closely than ever.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Tags: abiding, arrive, Believe, believers, bestow, Bless, blessing, blood-marked, bring, Christ, Christ's example, Christ's life, Christ's name, Christ's servant, Christ's suffering, Christ's throne, Christians, cling, closely, Comforter, company, courage, day, dwell, Earth, Elohim, Emperors, every, example, fail, faithfulness, favor, follow, followers, footprints, glory, God, God's people, God's Son, Heaven, Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit, honor, humiliation, humility, imitate, imitation, issues, Jehovah, Jesus, like, Lord, marks, note, pluck up, Princes, Promise, protector, Provider, reward, Savior, servant, serve, service, shadows, soul, strive, substances, suffering, surest, true, way, 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
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”
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
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
Heavenly Wealth
November 2
No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. (Psalm 84:11)
Many pleasing things the Lord may withhold but “no good thing.” He is the best judge of what is good for us. Some things are assuredly good, and these we may have for the asking through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Holiness is a good thing, and this He will work in us freely. Victory over evil tendencies, strong tempers, and evil habits He will gladly grant, and we ought not to remain without it.
Full assurance He will bestow, and near communion with Himself, and access into all truth, and boldness with prevalence at the mercy seat. If we have not these, it is from want of faith to receive and not from any unwillingness of God to give. A calm, a heavenly frame, great patience, and fervent love–all these will He give to holy diligence.
But note well that we must “walk uprightly.” There must be no cross purposes and crooked dealings; no hypocrisy nor deceit. If we walk foully God cannot give us favors, for that would be a premium upon sin. The way of uprightness is the way of heavenly wealth-wealth so large as to include every good thing.
What a promise to plead in prayer! Let us get to our knees.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Tags: access, almighty, asking, assurance, blessed, blessings, boldness, calm, Christ, Comforter, Communion, courage, crooked, Cross, dealings, deceit, diligence, Elohim, evil, Faith, favors, fervant, foul, frame, freely, full, give, gladly, God, God's Son, good, grace, grant, great, habits, heavenly, Heavenly Fsther, holiness, holy, Holy Spirit, hypocrisy, Jehovah, Jesus, judge, knees, large, Lord, love, mercy, mercy seat, note, overcome, overcomer, patience, plead, pleasing, prayer, premium, prevalence, Promise, purposes, receive, remain, reward, Savior, sin, strength, strong, tempers, tendencies, things, truth, unwillingness, uprightly, uprightness, victory, walk, want, wealth, withhold, without, work, Yahweh, Yeshua
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
Harvest of Light, Gladness
October 23
Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. (Psalm 97:11)
Righteousness is often costly to the man who keeps to it at all hazards, but in the end it will bear its own expenses and return an infinite profit. A holy life is like sowing seed: much is going out, and apparently it is buried in the soil, never to be gathered up again. We are mistaken when we look for an immediate harvest; but the error is very natural, for it seems impossible to bury light. Yet light is “sown,” says the text. It lies latent: none can see it; it is sown. We are quite sure that it must one day manifest itself.
Full sure are we that the Lord has set a harvest for the sower of light, and they shall reap it, each man for himself. Then shall come their gladness. Sheaves of joy for seeds of light. Their heart was upright before the Lord, though men gave them no credit for it, but even censured them: they were righteous, though those about them denounced them as censorious. They had to wait, as husbandmen wait for the precious fruits of the earth: but the light was sown for them, and gladness was being prepared on their behalf by the Lord of the harvest.
Courage, brothers! We need not be in a hurry. Let us in patience possess our souls, for soon shall our souls possess light and gladness.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Tags: Christ, continue, discouragement, Elohim, expenses, gather, God, God's Son, harvest, hazards, heart, Heavenly Father, holy life, Holy Spirit, Jehovah, Jesus, light, Lord, mocked, overcome, persevere, profit, Promise, reap, return, reward, righteous, righteousness, Savior, seed, sow, sower of light, sowing, sown, upright, Yahweh, Yeshua
From Charles Spurgeon’s “Faith’s Checkbook”
God’s Multiplication Table
October 21
A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time. (Isaiah 60:22)
Works for the Lord often begin on a small scale, and they are none the worse for this. Feebleness educates faith, brings God near, and wins glory for His name. Prize promises of increase! Mustard seed is the smallest among seeds, and yet it becomes a treelike plant, with branches which lodge the birds of heaven. We may begin with one, and that “a little one,” and yet it will “become a thousand.” The Lord is great at the multiplication table. How often did He say to His lone servant, “I will multiply thee!” Trust in the Lord, ye ones and twos; for He will be in the midst of you if you are gathered in His name.
“A small one.” What can be more despicable in the eyes of those who count heads and weigh forces! Yet this is the nucleus of a great nation. Only one star shines out at first in the evening, but soon the sky is crowded with countless lights.
Nor need we think the prospect of increase to be remote, for the promise is, “I Jehovah will hasten it in his time.” There will be no premature haste, like that which we see at excited meetings; it will be all in due time, but yet there will be no delay. When the Lord hastens, His speed is glorious.
From the Faith’s Checkbook Mobile Devotional Android app – http://www.LookingUpwardApps.com/fcb
Tags: Christ, closeness, educates, Elohim, feebleness, glory, God, God's Son, harvest, hasten, Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit, honor, illness, increase, Jehovah, Jesus, Lord, mustard seed plant, nation, nearness, one, prayer, Promise, raise, reap, respect, reward, scale, small, sow, thousandmstrengthnfaith, time, win, works, Yahweh, Yeshua
forhisgloryandpraise 
You must be logged in to post a comment.