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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Thursday, June 19, 2008
MORNING:
"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost."
-- Acts 2:4
Rich were the blessings of this day if all of us were filled with the
Holy Ghost. The consequences of this sacred filling of the soul it
would be impossible to overestimate. Life, comfort, light, purity,
power, peace; and many other precious blessings are inseparable from
the Spirit's benign presence. As sacred oil, he anoints the head of the
believer, sets him apart to the priesthood of saints, and gives him
grace to execute his office aright. As the only truly purifying water
he cleanses us from the power of sin and sanctifies us unto holiness,
working in us to will and to do of the Lord's good pleasure. As the
light, he manifested to us at first our lost estate, and now he reveals
the Lord Jesus to us and in us, and guides us in the way of
righteousness. Enlightened by his pure celestial ray, we are no more
darkness but light in the Lord. As fire, he both purges us from dross,
and sets our consecrated nature on a blaze. He is the sacrificial flame
by which we are enabled to offer our whole souls as a living sacrifice
unto God. As heavenly dew, he removes our barrenness and fertilizes our
lives. O that he would drop from above upon us at this early hour! Such
morning dew would be a sweet commencement for the day. As the dove,
with wings of peaceful love he broods over his Church and over the
souls of believers, and as a Comforter he dispels the cares and doubts
which mar the peace of his beloved. He descends upon the chosen as upon
the Lord in Jordan, and bears witness to their sonship by working in
them a filial spirit by which they cry Abba, Father. As the wind, he
brings the breath of life to men; blowing where he listeth he performs
the quickening operations by which the spiritual creation is animated
and sustained. Would to God, that we might feel his presence this day
and every day.
EVENING:
"My Beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the
lilies. Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn,
my Beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the
mountains of Bether."
-- Song of Solomon 2:16,
Surely if there be a happy verse in the Bible it is this-"My Beloved is
mine, and I am his." So peaceful, so full of assurance, so overrunning
with happiness and contentment is it, that it might well have been
written by the same hand which penned the twenty-third Psalm. Yet
though the prospect is exceeding fair and lovely-earth cannot show its
superior-it is not entirely a sunlit landscape. There is a cloud in the
sky which casts a shadow over the scene. Listen, "Until the day break,
and the shadows flee away."
There is a word, too, about the "mountains of Bether," or, "the
mountains of division," and to our love, anything like division is
bitterness. Beloved, this may be your present state of mind; you do not
doubt your salvation; you know that Christ is yours, but you are not
feasting with him. You understand your vital interest in him, so that
you have no shadow of a doubt of your being his, and of his being
yours, but still his left hand is not under your head, nor doth his
right hand embrace you. A shade of sadness is cast over your heart,
perhaps by affliction, certainly by the temporary absence of your Lord,
so even while exclaiming, "I am his," you are forced to take to your
knees, and to pray, "Until the day break, and the shadows flee away,
turn, my Beloved."
"Where is he?" asks the soul. And the answer comes, "He feedeth among
the lilies." If we would find Christ, we must get into communion with
his people, we must come to the ordinances with his saints. Oh, for an
evening glimpse of him! Oh, to sup with him to-night!
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MORNING & EVENING from HEARTLIGHT /\/\
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Morning & Evening is the classic devotional by 19th-century writer
and preacher Charles Spurgeon. It's part of HEARTLIGHT Magazine,
the leading Christian living e-zine on the Web. Visit HEARTLIGHT
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