Though the old man’s ways beset, yet only for a time
Till the saint sees troubles clear, to lay them all behind
The skies now cloud-cleared, and as oft as thou would
No troubles or disappointments, but walking as thou should
Now standing through assails, encouraged with all might
Ever seeing Jesus, in heaven with all sight
This the lot of saints, while below in joyful role
Persisting by the Father, life’s ever blessed goal
NC (Jn 14:1, 27)
Till the saint sees troubles clear, to lay them all behind
The skies now cloud-cleared, and as oft as thou would
No troubles or disappointments, but walking as thou should
Now standing through assails, encouraged with all might
Ever seeing Jesus, in heaven with all sight
This the lot of saints, while below in joyful role
Persisting by the Father, life’s ever blessed goal
NC (Jn 14:1, 27)
There I Am!
“Have you ever thought of the Father dealing with you not as to what you are in yourself, but as to where He has positioned you in His Son? Have you ever thought that it is the affections of the Father’s heart which flow down to us where we are, seeing us in the Son, not in our poor wretched selves? What we were in the old man is not the thing to scan, but what we are, and where we are in the Son (Ro 8:9; Eph 2:6—NC); and what there is in the living affections of the Father, who has raised us up together with His Son, and has given us all heavenly blessings in Him (2Pe 1:3).” —G V Wigram (1805-1879)
“The lack I find in souls is, that while they know that their sins are forgiven, they do not know their new place. What place have you? Is it earth or heaven? It could not possibly be earth, for Christ was rejected from the earth. It has a great moral effect upon a person to be able to say, “I have a place in heaven, I have no property on earth at all, it is all in heaven. It is the Lord’s property I have on earth (Psa 24:1), but in heaven I have my own. In the Garden of Eden, man lost his place, man is lost; but the question to him then is first, “Where art thou?” Then, “What hast thou done?” Every believer seeks to be clear as to the latter, but very few are clear about the former.
“Most do not go beyond His resurrection (they don’t see themselves presently and eternally in heaven where He now is, not understanding the permanency of salvation—NC); they do not extend to His ascension. They do not know the Lord Jesus in glory (only in His salvific work—NC). They are occupied with Him in relation to their own side. He was at my side and glorified the Father perfectly in His walk here, in death; but He is now at His own side, and it is there I intelligently realize the vastness of my life in Him, for He is my Life (Col 3:4). His death, resurrection and ascension translated the believer from his own side to His side, so that “as He is, so are we in this world” (1Jo 4:17); and according as we are at full rest about ourselves, we are occupied with Him who has set us free.
“‘Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth’ (Col3:2). For this I need to keep my heart more fixed upon the place where the Lord Jesus is. Nothing will draw my heart there like dwelling on the delight the Father has that I should be there, and the delight of the One who has brought me there. There I learn the blessedness and the freshness of His love, and there I become qualified to stand for Him in the place where He is not.”
—J B Stoney (1814-1897)
“Our growth (ceaseless until we leave here—NC) is wrought out in our lives down here; but it is formed up there in fellowship with the Lord Jesus, where our affections and minds get into the condition to be manifested down here.” —J N Darby (1800-1882)
“The grace that saves from death and judgment, with present forgiveness of sins, is much clouded with uncertainty; so that the fullness of grace in seating us in the Lord Jesus in heaven is rarely heard of, much less known and believed in as a present reality. No wonder therefore, that the ground of an earthly people is accepted (walking worldly more than godly—NC), and Jewish things initiated (still walking in the “shadow” and not the “image” - Heb 10:1; Col 2:17—NC); as if what was, should still be in experience and practice, rather than what is, since Christ has come and is gone back to heaven. Eternal redemption, eternal life, presently seated position in Christ before the Father (Eph 2:6; Col 3:1), in the abiding rest and peace of a complete salvation, are nevertheless for today (one can have this and not realize it, thus not walk in the encouragement of it—NC). Happy are they who receive in their simplicity these blessed realities, as beyond all question.” —G Gardner (1869-1935)
MJS daily devotional for June 22
“Charismatic Arminianism’s experience omits truth. Covenant Calvinism’s legality chokes truth. Cross-centered Christianity’s Christ-life is Truth!” –Miles J Stanford
“Greater zeal for the salvation of sinners, and the amelioration of the condition of mankind, never was more manifested than at present (1850). This is ground of rejoicing to all the friends of the Gospel. But there is one unhappy symptom of the present times, with respect to Christianity. Zeal for the purity of divine truth has not kept pace with zeal for the salvation of sinners.” - Alexander Carruthers (1860-1930)
