Days of Heaven on Earth
AB Simpson
Daily Scripture – October
December 1“As He is, so are we in this world” (I. John iv. 17). Jesus will come into the surrendered heart and unite Himself with it, impart to it His own life and being and become anew from day to day, the supply of its spiritual needs and the substitute for its helplessness. Our part is simply to yield ourselves fully recognizing our own worthlessness and then take Jesus Himself to live in us and be, moment by moment, our strength, purity and victory.
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December 2“Looking diligently lest any man fail” (Heb. xii. 15). It is not losing all, but coming short we are to fear. We may not lose our souls, but we may lose something more precious than life–His full approval, His highest choice, and our incorruptible and star-gemmed crown. It is the one degree more that counts, and makes all the difference between hot water–powerless in the boiler–and steam–all alive with power, and bearing its precious freight across the continent.
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December 3Thy thoughts are very deep (Ps. xcii. 5). When a Roman soldier was told by his guide that if he insisted on taking a certain journey it would probably be fatal he answered, “It is necessary for me to go, it is not necessary for me to live.” That was depth. When we are convicted like that we shall come to something. The shallow nature lives in its impulses, its impressions, its intuitions, its instincts, and very largely in its surroundings. The profound character looks beyond all these and moves steadily on, sailing past all the storms and clouds into the clear sunshine which is always on the other side, and waiting for the afterwards which always brings the reversion of sorrow and seeming defeat and failure. When God has deepened us, then He can give us His deeper truths, His profoundest secrets, and His mightier trusts. Lord, lead me into the depths of Thy life and save me from a shallow experience. On to broader fields of holy vision; On to loftier heights of faith and love; Onward, upward, apprehending wholly, All for which He calls thee from above. |
December 4“From me is thy fruit found” (Hos. xiv. 8). Nothing keeps us from advancement more than ruts and drifts, and wheel-tracks into which our chariots roll and then move on in the narrow line with unchanging monotony, currents in life’s stream on which we are borne in the old direction until the law of habit almost makes advance impossible. The true remedy for this is to commence at nothing; taking Christ afresh to be the Alpha and Omega for a deeper, higher, Divine experience, waiting even for His conception of thought, desire, prayer, and afraid lest our highest thought should be below His great plan of wisdom and love.
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December 5“With a perfect heart to make David King” (I. Chron. xii. 38). “What is the supreme purpose of our life? They were all of one heart to make David king.” Is this our purpose, to prepare the Bride, to prepare the world, to prepare His way? Does it dwarf and dim all other ambitions, all other cares? Does it fill and satisfy every capacity, every power, every desire? Does it absorb every moment, every energy, every resource? Does it give direction and tone to every plan and work of life? Does it decide for us the education of our children, the investment of our means, the friendships and associations of life, the whole activity, interest and outlook of our being? Are we in it, spirit, soul and body, all we are, all we do, all we hope for–OF ONE HEART TO MAKE JESUS KING?
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December 6“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you” (I. Peter v. 6). Opposition is essential to a true equilibrium of forces. The centripetal and centrifugal forces acting in opposition to each other keep our planet in her orbit. The one propelling, and the other repelling, so act and react, that instead of sweeping off into space in a pathway of desolation and destruction, she pursues her even orbit around her solar center. So God guides our lives. It is not enough to have an impelling force–we need just as much a repelling force, and so He holds us back by the testing ordeals of life, by the pressure of temptation and trial, by the things that seem to be against us, but really are furthering our way and stablishing our goings. Let us thank Him for both, let us take the weights as well as the wings, and thus divinely impelled, let us press on with faith and patience in our high and heavenly calling.
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December 7“Abide with us; for it is toward evening” (Luke xxiv. 29). In His last messages to the disciples in the 14th and 15th chapters of John, the Lord Jesus clearly teaches us that the very essence of the highest holiness is, “Abide in Me, and I in you, for without Me ye can do nothing.” The very purpose of the Holy Ghost whom He promised was to reveal Him, that at “that day, ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in Me, and I in you,” and the closing echo of His intercessory prayer was embraced in these three small but infinite words, “I in them.”
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December 8“Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?” (Jer. viii. 22). Divine healing is just divine life. It is the headship of Christ over the body. It is the life of Christ in the frame. It is the union of our members with the very body of Christ and the inflowing life of Christ in our living members. It is as real as His risen and glorified body. It is as reasonable as the fact that He was raised from the dead and is a living man with a true body and a rational soul to-day, at God’s right hand. That living Christ belongs to us in all His attributes and powers. We are members of His body, His flesh and His bones, and if we can only believe and receive it, we may live upon the very life of the Son of God. Lord, help me to know the “Lord for the body and the body for the Lord.”
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December 9“Launch out into the deep” (Luke v. 4). One of the special marks of the Holy Ghost in the Apostolic Church was the spirit Of boldness. One of the most essential qualities of the faith that is to attempt great things for God and expect great things from God, is holy audacity. Where we are dealing with a supernatural Being, and taking from Him things that are humanly impossible, it is easier to take much than little; it is easier to stand in a place of audacious trust than in a place of cautious, timid clinging to the shore. Like wise seamen in the life of faith, let us launch out into the deep, and find that all things are possible with God, and all things are possible unto him that believeth. Let us to-day attempt great things for God, take His faith and believe for them and His strength to accomplish them.
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December 10“According to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed” (II. Cor. x. 13). According to thy faith be it unto thee was Christ’s great law of healing and blessing in His earthly ministry. This was what He meant when He said, “With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again.” These mighty measures are limited by the the measures that we bring. God deals out His heavenly treasures to us in these glorious vessels, but each of us must bring our drinking cup, and according to its measure we shall be filled. But even the measure of our faith may be a Divine one. Thank God, the little cup has become enlarged through the grace of Jesus, until from its bottom there flows a pipe into the great ocean, and if that connection is kept open we shall find that our cup is as large as the ocean and never can be drained to the bottom. For He has said to us, “Have the faith of God,” and surely this is an illimitable measure.
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December 11“I pray not for the world, but for them” (John xvii. 9). How often we say we would like to get some strong spirit to pray for us, and feel so helped when we think they are carrying us in their faith. But there is One whose prayers never fail to be fulfilled and who is more willing to give them to us than any human friend. His one business at God’s right hand is to make intercession for His people, and we are simply coming in the line of His own appointment and His own definite promise and provision, when we lay our burdens upon Him and claim His advocacy without doubt or fear. “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may find help in time of need.”
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December 12“To abide in the flesh is more needful for you, and having this confidence, I know that I shall abide” (Phil. i. 24, 25). One of the most blessed things about divine healing is that the strength it brings is holy strength, and finds its natural and congenial outflow in holy acts and exercises. Mere natural strength seeks its gratification in natural pleasures and activities, but the strength of Christ leads us to do as Christ would do, and to seek our congenial employment in His holy service. The life of Christ in a human body saves it from a thousand temptations to self-indulgence and sin, and not only gives us strength for higher service, but also a desire for it, and puts into it a zest and spring which gives it double power.
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December 13“He that abideth in Me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for apart from Me ye can do nothing” (John xv. 5). So familiar are the vine and the branches, it is not necessary to explain; only the branches and the vine are one. The vine does not say, I am the central trunk running up and you are the little branches; but I am the whole thing, and you are the whole thing. He counts us partakers of His nature. “Apart from Me ye can do nothing.” The husband and the wife, and many more figures contribute to this marvelous Christ teaching, which has no parallel, no precedent in any other teaching under the sun; that Christ is the life of His people, and that we are absolutely linked with and dependent upon Him. All other systems teach how much man is and may become. Christianity shows how a man must lose all he is if he would come into full unity with Christ in His life.
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December 14“Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree” (Isa. lv. 13). Difficulties and obstacles are God’s challenges to faith. When hindrances confront us in the path of duty we are to recognize them as vessels for faith to fill with the fulness and all-sufficiency of Jesus, and as we go forward, simply and fully trusting Him, we may be tested, we may have to wait and let patience have her perfect work, but we shall surely find at last the stone rolled away, and the Lord waiting to render unto us double for our time of testing, and fulfil the promise, “Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, instead of the brier the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
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December 15“When my heart is overwhelmed lead me to the Rock that is higher than I” (Ps. lxi. 2). The end of self is the beginning of God. “When the tale of bricks is doubled then comes Moses.” That is the old Hebrew way of putting it. “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.” That is the proverbial expression of it. “When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” That is David’s way of expressing it. “We have no might against this company, neither know we what to do.” No might, no light–“but our eyes are upon Thee,” that was Jehoshaphat’s experience of it. “Mine eyes fail with looking upward. I am oppressed, Lord, undertake for me.” “When I had great trouble I always went to God and was wondrously carried through; but in my little trials I used to try to manage them myself, and often most signally failed.” So Miss Havergal has expressed the experience of many a Christian. God wants us “at our wit’s end,” and then He will show His wisdom, love and power. How often we ask God to help, and then begin to count up the human probabilities! God’s very blessings become a hindrance to us if we look from Him to them. |
December 16“I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker worm and the caterpillar and the palmer worm, my great army, which I sent among you” (Joel ii. 25). A friend said to me once: “I have got to reap what I sowed, for God has said: ‘Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.’ Then why don’t you apply this in the spiritual world, and compel the sinner to pay the penalty of his sins?” Christ has borne this penalty, and the same Christ has borne the natural penalties, too, and delivered us out of condemnation in every sense. Physical sufferings come to us, but not under the law of retribution, but only as a Divine discipline. Every penalty has been fulfilled by Christ and every law satisfied, and so far as we can have risen with Him into the plane of spiritual and eternal life, we are lifted above the mere realm of law, and we enter into the full effects of His complete satisfaction of every claim against us. So it is true that even the wreck that sin has brought upon our physical and temporal life is removed by His great atonement, and the promise is made real to us, “I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten.” |
December 17“Be careful for nothing” (Phil. iv. 6). What is the way to lay your burden down? “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” That is the way to take His burden up. You will find that His burden is always light. Yours is a very heavy one. Happy day if you have exchanged burdens and laid down your loads at His blessed feet to take up His own instead. God wants to rest His workers, and He is too kind to put His burden on hearts that are already bowed down with their own weight of cares.
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December 18“The faith of the Son of God” (Gal. ii. 20). Faith is hindered most of all by what we call “our faith,” and fruitless struggles to work out a faith which is but a make-believe and a desperate trying to trust God, which must ever come short of His vast and glorious promises. The truth is that the only faith that is equal to the stupendous promises of God and the measureless needs of our life, is “the faith of God” Himself, the very trust which He will breathe into the heart which intelligently expects Him as its power to believe, as well as its power to love, obey, or perform any other exercise of the new life. Blessed be His name! He has not given us a chain which reaches within a single link of our poor helpless heart, but that one last link is fatal to all the chain. Nay, the last link, the one that fastens on the human side is as Divine as the link that binds the chain of promise in the heavens. “Have the faith of God,” is His great command. “I live by the faith of the Son of God” is the victorious testimony of one who had proved it true. Lord, teach me to have the faith of the Son of God. |
December 19“God giveth grace unto the humble” (James iv. 6). One of the marks of highest worth is deep lowliness. The shallow nature, conscious of its weakness and insufficiency, is always trying to advertise itself and make sure of its being appreciated. The strong nature, conscious of its strength, is willing to wait and let its work be made manifest in due time. Indeed, the truest natures are so free from all self-consciousness and self-consideration that their object is not to be appreciated, understood or recompensed, but to accomplish their true mission and fulfil the real work of life. One of the most suggestive expressions used respecting the Lord Jesus is given by the evangelist John in the thirteenth chapter of His Gospel, where we read, “Jesus, knowing that He came from God, and went to God, riseth from supper and began to wash the disciples’ feet.” It was because He knew His high dignity and His high destiny that He could stoop to the lowest place and that place could not degrade Him. God give to us the Divine insignia of heavenly rank, a bowed head, a meek and lowly spirit. |
December 20“That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the Gospel of God” (Rom. xv. 16). This is a very beautiful and practical conception of missionary work. There is a great difference in being consecrated to our God. We may be consecrated to our work and consecrated to our God. We may be consecrated and fitted to do missionary work, and utterly fail, if He should call us to do something different. But when we are consecrated to Him, we shall be ready for anything He may require of us, and be as well qualified to serve Him by the sick bed of a brother, or even in the secular duties of home, as in standing in the pulpit or leading a soul to Christ. Paul’s conception is holy work, or a special sacrifice, and directly unto Christ, and Christ alone; and he stood as one should stand at the altar of incense, lifting up with holy hands the Gentile nations unto God, and laying all his work like fragrant incense before the throne, pleased only with what would please his Master, and stand the test of His inspection, and the seal of His approval in that glorious day. This is the spirit of true service. |
December 21“Give us day by day our daily bread” (Luke xi. 3). It is very hard to live a lifetime at once, or even a year, but it is delightfully easy to live a day at a time. Day by day the manna fell, so day by day we may live upon the heavenly bread, and live out our life for Him. Let us, breath by breath, moment by moment, step by step, abide in Him, and, just as we take care of the days, He will take care of the years. God has given two precious promises for the days. “As thy days so shall thy strength be,” is His ancient covenant, and the literal translation of our Master’s parting words to His disciples is, “Lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the end of the age.” Like the little water spider that goes down beneath the waters of the pool enclosed in a bubble of air, and there builds its nest and rears its young, and lives its little life in that bright sphere down beneath the slimy pool, so let us in this dark world shut ourselves in with Christ in the little circle of each returning day, and so abide in Him, breathing the air of heaven and living in His love. |
December 22“My tongue also shall talk of Thy righteousness all the day long” (Ps. lxxi. 24). It is a simple law of nature, that air always comes in to fill a vacuum. You can produce a draught at any time, by heating the air until it ascends, and then the cold air rushes in to supply its place. And so we can always be filled with the Holy Spirit by providing a vacuum. This breath is dependent upon exhausting the previous breath before you can inhale a fresh one. And so we must empty our hearts of the last breath of the Holy Spirit that we have received, for it becomes exhausted the moment we have received it, and we need a new supply, to prevent spiritual asphyxia. We must learn the secret of breathing out, as well as breathing in. Now, the breathing in will continue if the other part is rightly done. One of the best ways to make room for the Holy Spirit is to recognize the needs that come into the life as vacuums for Him to fill, and we shall find plenty of needs all around us to be filled, and as we pour out our lives in holy service, He will pour His in–in full measure.
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December 23“Out of the spoils won in battles, did they dedicate to maintain the house of the Lord” (I. Chron. xxvi. 27). Physical force is stored in the bowels of the earth, in the coal mines, which came from the fiery heat that burned up great forests in ancient ages. And so spiritual force is stored in the depths of our being, through the very sufferings which we cannot understand. Some day we shall find that the deliverance we have won from these trials were preparing us to become true “Great Hearts” in life’s Pilgrim’s Progress, and to lead our fellow pilgrims triumphantly through trial to the city of the King. But let us never forget that the source of helping other people must be victorious suffering. The whining, murmuring pang never does anybody any good. Paul did not carry a cemetery with him, but a chorus choir of victorious praise, and the harder the trial, the more he trusted and rejoiced, shouting from the very altar of sacrifice, “Yea, and if I be offered upon the service and sacrifice of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all.” Lord, help me this day to draw strength from all that comes to me. |
December 24“And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not; for behold I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord; but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest” (Jer. xlv. 5). A promise given for hard places, and a promise of safety and life in the midst of tremendous pressure, a life for a prey. It may well adjust itself to our own times, which are growing harder as we near the end of the age, and the tribulation times. What is the meaning of “a life for a prey”? It means a life snatched out of the jaws of the destroyer, as David snatched the lamb from the lion. It means not a place of security, or of removal from the noise of the battle, and the presence of our foes, but it means a table in the midst of our enemies, a shelter from the storm, a fortress amid the foe, a life preserved in the face of continual pressure, Paul’s healing when pressed out of measure so that he despaired even of life, Paul’s Divine help when the thorn remained, but the power of Christ rested upon him and the grace of Christ was sufficient. Lord, give me my life for a prey, and in the hardest places help me to-day to be victorious. |
December 25“I bring you glad tidings” (Luke ii. 10). A Christmas spirit should be a spirit of humanity. Beside that beautiful object lesson on the Manger, the Cradle, and the lowly little child, what Christian heart can ever wish to be proud? It is a spirit of joy. It is right that these should be glad tidings, for, “Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.” It is a spirit of love. It should be the joy that comes from giving joy to others. The central fact of Christmas is the Christ who loved us, and came to live among us and die for us, and he or she has no right to share its joys who is living for himself or herself alone. Love is always sacrificial, and so the Christmas spirit will call us to a glad and full surrender, first to God, and then the joyful sacrifice of what we call our own for His glory and the good of others. The Christmas spirit is a spirit of worship. It finds the Magi at His feet with their gold and frankincense and myrrh. Let it find us there, too. The Christmas spirit is a spirit of missions. Its glad tidings are for all people. |
December 26“The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy” (James iv. 5). This beautiful passage has been unhappily translated in our Revised Version: “The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy.” It ought to be, “The Spirit that dwelleth in us loveth us to jealousy.” It is the figure of a love that suffers because of its intense regard for the loved object. The Holy Ghost is so anxious to accomplish in us and for us the highest will of God, and to receive from us the truest love for Christ, our Divine Husband, that He becomes jealous when in any way we disappoint Him, or divide His love with others. Therefore, it is said in the preceding passage, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?” Oh, shall we grieve so kind a Friend? Shall we disappoint so loving a Husband? Shall we not meet the blessed Holy Spirit with the love He brings us, and give in return our undivided and unbounded affection? Was there ever a Bridegroom so loving seeking our heart to gain? |
December 27“He sent forth the dove which returned not again unto him” (Gen. viii. 12). First, we have the dove going forth from the ark, and finding no rest upon the wild and drifting waste of sin and judgment. This represents the Old Testament period, perhaps, when the Holy Ghost visited this sinful world, but could find no resting-place, and went back to the bosom of God. Next, we have the dove going forth and returning with the olive leaf in her mouth, the symbol and the pledge of peace and reconciliation, the sign that judgment was passed and peace was returning. Surely this may beautifully represent the next stage of the Holy Spirit’s manifestation, as going forth in the ministry and death of Jesus Christ, to proclaim reconciliation to a sinful world. There is a third stage, when, at length, the dove goes forth from the ark and returns no more; but it makes the world its home, and builds its nest amid the habitations of men. This is the third and present stage of the Holy Spirit’s blessed work. Let us welcome the Dove to a nest in our hearts. |
December 28“The Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him” (Acts v. 32). We can only know and prove the fulness of the Spirit as we step out into the larger purposes and plans of Christ for the world. Perhaps the chief reason why the Holy Spirit has been so limited in His work in the hearts of Christians, is the shameful neglect of the unsaved and unevangelized world by the great majority of the professed followers of Christ. There are millions of professing Christians–and, perhaps, real Christians–in the world, who have never given one real, earnest thought to the evangelization of the heathen world. God will not give the Holy Spirit in His fulness for the selfish enjoyment of any Christian. His power is a great trust, which we must use for the benefit of others and for the evangelization of the lost and sinful world. Not until the people of God awake to understand His real purpose for the salvation of men, will the Church ever know the fulness of her Pentecost. God’s promised power must lie along the line of duty, and as we obey the command, we shall receive His promise in his fulness. Lord, help me to understand Thy plan. |
December 29“I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God” (Acts xx. 27). It is probable that God lets every human being, that crosses our path, meet us, in order that we may have the opportunity of leaving some blessing in his path, and dropping into his heart and life some influence that will draw him nearer to God. It would be blessed, indeed, if we could meet every immortal soul, at last, that we have ever touched in the path of life, and truly say, “I am pure from the blood of all men.” Beloved, is it so? The servant that works in your household; the man that sat beside you in the train; the laborer that wrought for you, and, above all, the members of your household and family, your fellow-laborer in the shop or factory, have you done your best to lead them to Christ? The early Christians regarded every situation as an opportunity to witness for Christ. Even when brought before kings and governors, it never occurred to them that they were to try to get free, but the Master’s message to them was, “It shall turn to you for a testimony.” It was simply an occasion to preach to kings and rulers, whom otherwise they could not reach. |
December 30“That God would fulfil in you all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power” (II. Thess. i. 11). Our God is looking to-day for pattern men, and when He gets a true sample, it is very easy to reproduce it in a thousand editions, and multiply it in other lives without limitation. All the experiences of life come to us as tests, and as we meet them, our loving Father is watching with intense and jealous love, to see us overcome, and if we fail He is deeply disappointed, and our adversary is filled with joy. We are a gazing-stock continually for angels and principalities, and every step we take is critical and decisive for something in our eternal future. When Abraham went forth that morning to Mount Moriah, it was an hour of solemn probation, and when he came back he was one of God’s tested men, with the stamp of His eternal approbation. God could say, “I know him, that he will do judgment and justice, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham all that He hath spoken.” God is looking for such men to-day. Lord, help me to be such an one. |
December 31“I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from the evil” (John xvii. 15). He wants us here for some higher purpose than mere existence. That purpose is nothing else than to represent Him to the world, to be the messengers of His Gospel and His will to men, and by our lives to exhibit to them the true life, and teach them how to live it themselves. He is representing us yonder, and our one business is to represent Him here. We are just as truly sent into this world to represent Him as if we had gone to China as the ambassador of the American Government. While engaged in the secular affairs of life, it is simply that we may represent Him there, carry on His business, and have means to use for His affairs. He came here from another realm, and with a special message, and when His work was done He was called to go home to His Father’s dwelling-place and His own.
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