“knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end?  l” 2 Samuel 2:26

If, O my reader! thou art merely a professor, and not a possessor of the faith that is in Christ Jesus, the following lines are a true sketch of thine end. You are a respectable attendant at a place of worship; you go because others go, not because your heart is right with God. This is your beginning. I will suppose that for the next twenty or thirty years you will be spared to go on as you do now, professing religion by an outward attendance upon the means of grace, but having no heart in the matter.

Tread softly, for I must show you the deathbed of such a one as yourself. Let us gaze upon him gently. A clammy sweat is on his brow, and he wakes up crying, “O God, it is hard to die. Did you send for my minister?” “Yes, he is coming” The minister comes “Sir, I fear that I am dying!” “Have you any hope?” “I cannot say that I have. I fear to stand before my God; oh! pray for me” The prayer is offered for him with sincere earnestness, and the way of salvation is for the ten-thousandth time put before him, but before he has grasped the rope, I see him sink. I may put my finger upon those cold eyelids, for they will never see anything here again. But where is the man, and where are the man’s true eyes? It is written, “In hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment” Ah! why did he not lift up his eyes before? Because he was so accustomed to hear the gospel that his soul slept under it. Alas! if you should lift up your eyes there, how bitter will be your wailings.

Let the Saviour’s own words reveal the woe: “Father Abraham, send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame” There is a frightful meaning in those words. May you never have to spell it out by the red light of Jehovah’s wrath!

© Spurgeon

You know how I see myself? As the best... This is not pride, not mere self esteem, it is the winning mindset... The positive mindset... I'm not on top of the class or at the peak of my game... Actually, success and failure are not events, neither are they principally about one's ability... It is about one's mentality... Ali the terror of the ring, Pele, the legend of the pitch, Bolt, the roar of the track, Shakespeare, the deity of creativity (the list simply endless) immortalized their names on the slate of human history... You want to know the secret of this dignified aristocracy? They see themselves as the best and so they were.... That guy will not step up unless you let him know he's got all he needs to get up. I know those that will never succeed in life.... They are those that think they may never do. Miracles can not change this fact... It is an immutable law of nature..." As a man thinks, so he is"

© Olatuja Oloyede

The first spoke words
Words that gave life
Beauty from the rubble
Perfection from the ashes

All like a mirrage in Eden
She crawled in to put a dent
Mortals reap to lose at sunset
We live to die, so blood's red

Teach me not to sing the swansong
For my time is not yet come
Teach me how to defeat death at sight
When it comes blaring it's teeth at night

Many is life's great phenomenon
Birth, the dawn of a new star
Joy, Peace, and love:life's greatest
But death the faceless monster

Oh death! swell not in your pride
Blow not your horns to heaven's gateman
Flesh to the dust : your bragging right gone
For our souls are far above your reach
Even In death, we live

©Amudipe Opeyemi Marcus
IG- Oluwamarc

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Inspired by the Death of Dr Auuba, a lecturer in the Department of Religious African Studies, AAUA

A lady committed a crime and she was sent to court. The punishment for the crime was life imprisonment. She shed tears for help but to no avail. When the case was called in court she started weeping. Her husband, family and friends who accompanied her started weeping but there was no hope. But something happened. Before the lady could stand in the witness box a man stood up and the court room was silent. Everyone looked at Him. He was noble and gentle. He stood in the witness box and interceded on behalf of the woman. The case was difficult, yet He used all His strength, energy and resources to fight on behalf of the woman. After a long legal battle between the man and the accusers, the lady was set free. The lady fell before the man and asked 'WHO ARE YOU?' The next day the lady deliberately committed another crime and was sent to the same court. As soon as she entered the courtroom, she saw the man who interceded for her the previous day on the judgement seat. He was no longer a lawyer, but a judge. With smiles on her face the lady said 'I have come again' The man lifted his head and said 'yesterday I was a lawyer, so I fought for you, even when you were guilty. But today I am a judge and my judgement must be fair.' With tears in the ladies eyes she asked for the second time 'WHO ARE YOU' and the man replied "YESTERDAY I WAS YOUR SAVIOUR. BUT NOW I AM YOUR JUDGE" Today Christ Jesus is our lawyer and redeemer, but a day is coming when He will give a fair judgement to everyone. JESUS IS COMING SOON, SO PREPARE TO MEET HIM. Don't fail to share this with others, I have done mine by sharing it with you

Copied

Patience in the Routine

Be thou there till I bring thee word – Matt 2:13

“I’ll stay where You’ve put me; 
I will, dear Lord, Though I wanted so badly to go;
I was eager to march with the ‘rank and file,’ 
Yes, I wanted to lead them, You know.
I planned to keep step to the music loud,
To cheer when the banner unfurled,
To stand in the midst of the fight straight and proud, 
But I’ll stay where You’ve put me.

“I’ll stay where You’ve put me; I’ll work, dear Lord, 
Though the field be narrow and small,
And the ground be fallow, and the stones lie thick, 
And there seems to be no life at all.
The field is Thine own, only give me the seed, 
I’ll sow it with never a fear;
I’ll till the dry soil while I wait for the rain, 
And rejoice when the green blades appear; 
I’ll work where You’ve put me.

“I’ll stay where You’ve put me; I will, dear Lord;
I’ll bear the day’s burden and heat,
Always trusting Thee fully; when even has come 
I’ll lay heavy sheaves at Thy feet.
And then, when my earth work is ended and done, 
In the light of eternity’s glow,
Life’s record all closed, I surely shall find 
It was better to stay than to go;
I’ll stay where You’ve put me.”

“Oh restless heart, that beat against your prison bars of circumstances, yearning for a wider sphere of usefulness, leave God to order all your days. Patience and trust, in the dullness of the routine of life, will be the best preparation for a courageous bearing of the tug and strain of the larger opportunity which God may some time send you.

Streams in the desert

Songs of Praise Rise From Affliction
Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints – Rev 15:3

The following incident is related by Mrs. Charles Spurgeon, who was a great sufferer for more than a quarter of a century:

“At the close of a dark and gloomy day, I lay resting on my couch as the deeper night drew on; and though all was bright within my cozy room, some of the external darkness seemed to have entered into my soul and obscured its spiritual vision. Vainly I tried to see the Hand which I knew held mine, and guided my fog-enveloped feet along a steep and slippery path of suffering. In sorrow of heart I asked,

“’Why does my Lord thus deal with His child? Why does He so often send sharp and bitter pain to visit me? Why does He permit lingering weakness to hinder the sweet service I long to render to His poor servants?’

“These fretful questions were quickly answered, and through a strange language; no interpreter was needed save the conscious whisper of my heart.

“For a while silence reigned in the little room, broken only by the crackling of the oak log burning in the fireplace. Suddenly I heard a sweet, soft sound, a little, clear, musical note, like the tender trill of a robin beneath my window.

“’What can it be? surely no bird can be singing out there at this time of the year and night.’

“Again came the faint, plaintive notes, so sweet, so melodious, yet mysterious enough to provoke our wonder. My friend exclaimed,

“’It comes from the log on the fire!’ The fire was letting loose the imprisoned music from the old oak’s inmost heart!

“Perchance he had garnered up this song in the days when all was well with him, when birds twittered merrily on his branches, and the soft sunlight flecked his tender leaves with gold. But he had grown old since then, and hardened; ring after ring of knotty growth had sealed up the long-forgotten melody, until the fierce tongues of the flames came to consume his callousness, and the vehement heart of the fire wrung from him at once a song and a sacrifice. ’Ah,’ thought I, ’when the fire of affliction draws songs of praise from us, then indeed we are purified, and our God is glorified!’

“Perhaps some of us are like this old oak log, cold, hard, insensible; we should give forth no melodious sounds, were it not for the fire which kindles around us, and releases notes of trust in Him, and cheerful compliance with His will.

“’As I mused the fire burned,’ and my soul found sweet comfort in the parable so strangely set forth before me.

“Singing in the fire! Yes, God helping us, if that is the only way to get harmony out of these hard apathetic hearts, let the furnace be heated seven times hotter than before.”

Streams in the Desert

Treasures in the Darkness
Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was – Exod 20:21

God has still His hidden secrets, hidden from the wise and prudent. Do not fear them; be content to accept things that you cannot understand; wait patiently. Presently He will reveal to you the treasures of darkness, the riches of the glory of the mystery. Mystery is only the veil of God’s face.

Do not be afraid to enter the cloud that is settling down on your life. God is in it. The other side is radiant with His glory. “Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings.” When you seem loneliest and most forsaken, God is nigh. He is in the dark cloud. Plunge into the blackness of its darkness without flinching; under the shrouding curtain of His pavilion you will find God awaiting you. —Selected

“Hast thou a cloud?
Something that is dark and full of dread;
A messenger of tempest overhead?
A something that is darkening the sky;
A something growing darker bye and bye;
A something that thou fear’st will burst at last;
A cloud that doth a deep, long shadow cast,
God cometh in that cloud.

Hast thou a cloud?
It is Jehovah’s triumph car: in this
He rideth to thee, o’er the wide abyss.
It is the robe in which He wraps His form;
For He doth gird Him with the flashing storm.
It is the veil in which He hides the light
Of His fair face, too dazzling for thy sight.
God cometh in that cloud.

Hast thou a cloud?
A trial that is terrible to thee?
A black temptation threatening to see?
A loss of some dear one long thine own?
A mist, a veiling, bringing the unknown?
A mystery that unsubstantial seems:
A cloud between thee and the sun’s bright beams?
God cometh in that cloud.

Hast thou a cloud?
A sickness—weak old age—distress and death?
These clouds will scatter at thy last faint breath.
Fear not the clouds that hover o’er thy barque,
Making the harbour’s entrance dire and dark;
The cloud of death, though misty, chill and cold,
Will yet grow radiant with a fringe of gold.
GOD cometh in that cloud.”

As Dr. C. stood on a high peak of the Rocky Mountains watching a storm raging below him, an eagle came up through the clouds, and soared away towards the sun and the water upon him glistened in the sunlight like diamonds. Had it not been for the storm he might have remained in the valley. The sorrows of life cause us to rise towards God.

Streams in the Desert

Tempered and Tried Followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises – Heb 6:12 They (heroes of faith) are calling to us from the heights that they have won, and telling us that what man once did man can do again. Not only do they remind us of the necessity of faith, but also of that patience by which faith has its perfect work. Let us fear to take ourselves out of the hands of our heavenly Guide or to miss a single lesson of His loving discipline by discouragement or doubt. “There is only one thing,” said a village blacksmith, "that I fear, and that is to be thrown on the scrap heap. “When I am tempering a piece of steel, I first beat it, hammer it, and then suddenly plunge it into this bucket of cold water. I very soon find whether it will take temper or go to pieces in the process. When I discover after one or two tests that it is not going to allow itself to be tempered, I throw it on the scrap heap and sell it for a cent a pound when the junk man comes around. “So I find the Lord tests me, too, by fire and water and heavy blows of His heavy hammer, and if I am not willing to stand the test, or am not going to prove a fit subject for His tempering process, I am afraid He may throw me on the scrap heap.” When the fire is hottest, hold still, for there will be a blessed “afterward”; and with Job we may be able to say, “When he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold.” —Selected Sainthood springs out of suffering. It takes eleven tons of pressure on a piano to tune it. God will tune you to harmonize with Heaven’s key-note if you can stand the strain. “Things that hurt and things that mar Shape the man for perfect praise; Shock and strain and ruin are Friendlier than the smiling days.”

Streams in the Desert

Alone With God

And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day – Gen 32:24

Left alone! What different sensations those words conjure up to each of us. To some they spell loneliness and desolation, to others rest and quiet. To be left alone without God, would be too awful for words, but to be left alone with Him is a foretaste of Heaven! If His followers spent more time alone with Him, we should have spiritual giants again.

The Master set us an example. Note how often He went to be alone with God; and He had a mighty purpose behind the command, “When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray.”

The greatest miracles of Elijah and Elisha took place when they were alone with God. It was alone with God that Jacob became a prince; and just there that we, too, may become princes—“men (aye, and women too!) wondered at” (Zech. 3:8). Joshua was alone when the Lord came to him. (Josh. 1:1) Gideon and Jephthah were by themselves when commissioned to save Israel. (Judges 6:11 and 11:29) Moses was by himself at the wilderness bush. (Exodus 3:1-5) Cornelius was praying by himself when the angel came to him. (Acts 10:2) No one was with Peter on the house top, when he was instructed to go to the Gentiles. (Acts 10:9) John the Baptist was alone in the wilderness (Luke 1:90), and John the Beloved alone in Patmos, when nearest God. (Rev. 1:9)

Covet to get alone with God. If we neglect it, we not only rob ourselves, but others too, of blessing, since when we are blessed we are able to pass on blessing to others. It may mean less outside work; it must mean more depth and power, and the consequence, too, will be “they saw no man save Jesus only.”

To be alone with God in prayer cannot be over-emphasized.

“If chosen men had never been alone,
In deepest silence open-doored to God,
No greatness ever had been dreamed or done.”

Streams in the Desert.

Believing Before Seeing
The land which I do give them, even the children of Israel – Josh 1:2

God here speaks in the immediate present. It is not something He is going to do, but something He does do, this moment. So faith ever speaks. So God ever gives. So He is meeting you today, in the present moment. This is the test of faith. So long as you are waiting for a thing, hoping for it, looking for it, you are not believing. It may be hope, it may be earnest desire, but it is not faith; for “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The command in regard to believing prayer is the present tense. “When ye pray, believe that ye receive the things that ye desire, and ye shall have them.” Have we come to that moment? Have we met God in His everlasting NOW? —Joshua, by Simpson

True faith counts on God, and believes before it sees. Naturally, we want some evidence that our petition is granted before we believe; but when we walk by faith we need no other evidence than God’s Word. He has spoken, and according to our faith it shall be done unto us. We shall see because we have believed, and this faith sustains us in the most trying places, when everything around us seems to contradict God’s Word.

The Psalmist says, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of living” (Ps. 27:13). He did not see as yet the Lord’s answer to his prayers, but he believed to see; and this kept him from fainting.

If we have the faith that believes to see, it will keep us from growing discouraged. We shall “laugh at impossibilities,” we shall watch with delight to see how God is going to open up a path through the Red Sea when there is no human way out of our difficulty. It is just in such places of severe testing that our faith grows and strengthens.

Have you been waiting upon God, dear troubled one, during long nights and weary days, and have feared that you were forgotten? Nay, lift up your head, and begin to praise Him even now for the deliverance which is on its way to you. —Life of Praise

Streams in the Desert

*WHAT IS MATURITY?*
I used to think that maturity was about age and physical development, how wrong I was. I have since found out that age is only but a number, below are 20 definitions of *MATURITY*
*-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-*
1.... *Maturity* is when you accept other people the way they are and their level of maturity.
*+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+*
2.... *Maturity* is when you understand that your ideas are not always the best.
*+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+*
3.... *Maturity* is when you learn to let go even if it pains.
*+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+*
4... *Maturity* is when you are able to drop expectations from a relationship and give for giving sake.
*+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+*
5.... *Maturity* is when you understand that whatever positive things you do, you do for your own peace.
*-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+*
6... *Maturity* is when you stop proving to the world how RIGHT OR SUPERIOR you are.
*+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+*
7.... *Maturity* is when you stop comparing yourself with others because life is not a competition.
*+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-*
8.... *Maturity* is when you understand that you cant and shouldn't always get what you want every time.
*+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+*
9.... *Maturity* is when you are content and satisfied with your life and yet aspiring to be better everyday..
*+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+*
10.... *Maturity* is when someone hurt you and you understand their attitude and stay clear, rather than trying to hurt them back.
*+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+*
11.... *Maturity* is when you start thinking about other people and not just yourself.
*+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+*
12.... *Maturity* is when you know you cant please everyone.
*+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+*
13.... *Maturity* is when you see things in different perspectives - far beyond the way they seem.
*+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+*
14.... *Maturity* is when you love more and judge less.
*+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+*
15.... *Maturity* is responsibility
*+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+*
16.... *Maturity* is Love
*+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+*
17.... *Maturity* is the application of wisdom and knowledge in humility..
*+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+*
18... *Maturity* is when you accept that your accomplishment, failures, destiny, reputations and virtually everything about your life depends on God's will and the choices you make and not pointing fingers at others.
*+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+*
19... *Maturity* is when someone hates you and you still pray for them to succeed.
*+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+*
20.... *Maturity* is knowing God, serving Him with all that you've got and pursuing His Kingdom no matter what people think or say..

Copied

Nothing shall be impossible unto you – Matt 17:20

It is possible, for those who really are willing to reckon on the power of the Lord for keeping and victory, to lead a life in which His promises are taken as they stand and are found to be true.

It is possible to cast all our care upon Him daily and to enjoy deep peace in doing it.

It is possible to have the thoughts and imaginations of our hearts purified, in the deepest meaning of the word.

It is possible to see the will of God in everything, and to receive it, not with sighing, but with singing.

It is possible by taking complete refuge in Divine power to become strong through and through; and, where previously our greatest weakness lay, to find that things which formerly upset all our resolves to be patient, or pure, or humble, furnish today an opportunity—through Him who loved us, and works in us an agreement with His will and a blessed sense of His presence and His power—to make sin powerless over us.

These things are DIVINE POSSIBILITIES, and because they are His work, the true experience of them will always cause us to bow lower at His feet and to learn to thirst and long for more.

We cannot possibly be satisfied with anything less—each day, each hour, each moment, in Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit—than to WALK WITH GOD. —H. C. G. Moule

We may have as much of God as we will. Christ puts the key of the treasure-chamber into our hand, and bids us take all that we want. If a man is admitted into the bullion vault of a bank, and told to help himself, and comes out with one cent, whose fault is it that he is poor? Whose fault is it that Christian people generally have such scanty portions of the free riches of God? —McLaren

Streams in the Desert

I have said that in the spring of the year the older members of the church began manifestly to decline in their engagedness and zeal for God. This greatly oppressed me, as it did also the young converts generally. About this time I read in a newspaper an article under the head of, "A revival revived." The substance of it was, that in a certain place there had been a revival during the winter; that in the spring it declined; and that upon earnest prayer being offered for the continued out-pouring of the Spirit, the revival was powerfully revived. This article set me into a flood of weeping.

At the next meeting of the young people, I proposed that we should observe a closet concert of prayer for the revival of God's work; that we should pray at sunrise, at noon, and at sunset, in our closets, and continue this for one week, when we should come together again and see what farther was to be done. No other means were used for the revival of God's work. But the spirit of prayer was immediately poured out wonderfully upon the young converts.

(Memoirs of Rev. Charles G. Finney. 1876, p44)

Revival In 1741, William Cooper wrote the preface to Jonathan Edwards work entitled The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God. In his preface, Cooper wrote:

Now for a great while, it has been a dead and barren time without fruit in all the churches of the Reformation. The showers of blessing have been restrained. The influence of the Spirit stopped. The Gospel has not had any famous success. Conversions have been rare and dubious. Few sons and daughters have been born to God.

The hearts of Christians are not as lively, warm, and refreshed under the ordinances of the Word and sacraments as they have been. The Christian faith has been in this sad state in this land for many years. There are one or two well-known exceptions. This sad state is acknowledged by all who have any spiritual awareness. Faithful ministers and serious Christians lament this fact. This sad state of the church is a constant petition in our public prayers. From Sabbath to Sabbath we pray, "God, pour out Your Spirit upon us, and revive Your work in the midst of the years." 

He did! The answer to this prayer was the Great Awakening!