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 Morning, November 12: Go To Evening Reading

“The trial of your faith.”

—1 Peter 1:7

Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith, and it is likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is without trials. Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against her: tempests are her trainers, and lightnings are her illuminators. When a calm reigns on the sea, spread the sails as you will, the ship moves not to its harbour; for on a slumbering ocean the keel sleeps too. Let the winds rush howling forth, and let the waters lift up themselves, then, though the vessel may rock, and her deck may be washed with waves, and her mast may creak under the pressure of the whole and swelling sail, it is then that she makes headway towards her desired haven. No flowers wear so lovely a blue as those which grow at the foot of the frozen glacier; no stars gleam so brightly as those which glisten in the polar sky; no water tastes so sweet as that which springs amid the desert sand; and no faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs in adversity. Tried faith brings experience. You could not have believed your own weakness had you not been compelled to pass through the rivers, and you would never have known God’s strength had you not been supported amid the water-floods. Faith increases in solidity, assurance, and intensity, the more it is exercised with tribulation. Faith is precious, and its trial is precious too.

Let not this, however, discourage those who are young in faith. You will have trials enough without seeking them: the whole portion will be measured out to you in due season. Meanwhile, if you cannot yet claim the result of long experience, thank God for what grace you have; praise him for that degree of holy confidence whereunto you have attained: walk according to that rule, and you shall yet have more and more of the blessing of God, till your faith shall remove mountains and conquer impossibilities.

Go To Morning Reading Evening, November 12

“And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.”

—Luke 6:12

If ever one of women born might have lived without prayer, it was our spotless, perfect Lord, and yet none was ever so much in supplication as he! Such was his love for his Father, that he loved much to be in communion with him: such his love for his people, that he desired to be much in intercession for them. The fact of this eminent prayerfulness of Jesus is a lesson for us—he hath given us an example that we may follow in his steps. The time he chose was admirable; it was the hour of silence, when the crowd would not disturb him; the time of inaction, when all but himself had ceased to labour; and the season when slumber made men forget their woes, and stop their applications to him for relief. While others found rest in sleep, he refreshed himself with prayer. The place was also well selected. He was alone where none would intrude, where none could observe: thus was he free from Pharisaic ostentation and vulgar interruption. Those dark and silent hills were a fit oratory for the Son of God. Heaven and earth, in midnight stillness, heard the groans and sighs of the mysterious Being in whom both worlds were blended. The continuance of his pleadings is remarkable; the long watches were not too long; the cold wind did not chill his devotions; the grim darkness did not darken his faith, or loneliness check his importunity. We cannot watch with him for one hour, but he watched for us the whole night. The occasion for this prayer is notable; it was after his enemies had been enraged—prayer was his refuge and solace; it was before he sent forth the twelve apostles—prayer was the gate of his enterprise, the herald of his new work. Should we not learn from Jesus to resort to special prayer when we are under peculiar trial, or contemplate fresh endeavours for the Master’s glory? Lord Jesus, teach us to pray.

 C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896).

November 12: Exclusivity

1 Kings 15:25–17:24; Mark 9:38–10:16; Proverbs 4:1–7

We often think that God needs us—that we are His arms rather than His agents. When we see our work as integral to God’s kingdom, thinking that God needs our vision, our doctrines, or our ideas to further His kingdom, we might be guilty of something else entirely. These feelings are often motivated by our own feelings of inadequacy. We can sometimes be more concerned with proving ourselves than honoring God.

When the disciples learned that others were casting out demons in Jesus’ name, they tried to prevent them. “We saw … and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us,” they told Jesus (Mark 9:38). But Jesus only rebuked them: “There is no one who does a miracle in my name and will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For whoever is not against us is for us. For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name because you are Christ’s, truly I say to you that he will never lose his reward” (Mark 9:38-41).

The disciples needed to be reminded that they had been chosen, but they were not exclusive agents. Having had difficulty casting out demons themselves, the disciples may have been jealous of this man’s ability. But Jesus reminded them that even the smallest task completed in His name—even giving someone a drink of water—is work done for His kingdom that will be rewarded.

Although He doesn’t need our help, Jesus invites each of us to be part of His plan. He desires our involvement if we do so obediently and willingly, with no thought to how great our actions will be weighed. When we accept that offer and join in His work, we are following Him and making much of Him. We won’t be distracted by ourselves.

How open are you to the idea that God can work in ways that don’t depend on us?

Rebecca Van Noord

 John D. Barry and Rebecca Kruyswijk, Connect the Testaments: A One-Year Daily Devotional with Bible Reading Plan (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).

November 12th

The transfigured life

If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Cor. 5:17.

What idea do you have of the salvation of your soul? The experience of salvation means that in your actual life, things are really altered, you no longer look at things as you used to; your desires are new, old things have lost their power. One of the touchstones of experience is: Has God altered the thing that matters? If you still hanker after the old stuff, it is absurd to talk about being born from above; you are juggling with yourself. If you are born again, the Spirit of God makes the alteration manifest in your actual life and reasoning, and when the crisis comes, you are the most amazed person on earth at the incredible difference there is in you. There is no possibility of imagining that you did it. It is this complete and amazing alteration that is the evidence that you are a saved soul.

What difference has my salvation and sanctification made? For instance, can I stand in the light of 1 Corinthians 13, or do I have to shuffle? The salvation that is worked out in me by the Holy Ghost emancipates me entirely. As long as I walk in the light as God is in the light, He sees nothing to censure, because His life is working out in every particular, not to my consciousness, but deeper than my consciousness.

 Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986).

November 12

Examine yourselves

2 Cor. 13:5

If your state is good, searching into it will give you the comfort of it. If your state is bad, searching into it cannot make it worse; nay, it is the only way to make it better, for conversion begins with conviction.

Bishop Hopkins

 Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).