Milo

May 28

“I will not let thee go, except thou bless me … and he blessed him there.” (Gen. 32:26, 29.)

JACOB got the victory and the blessing not by wrestling, but by clinging. His limb was out of joint and he could struggle no longer, but he would not let go. Unable to wrestle, he wound his arms around the neck of his mysterious antagonist and hung all his helpless weight upon him, until at last he conquered.
We will not get victory in prayer until we too cease our struggling, giving up our own will and throw our arms about our Father’s neck in clinging faith.
What can puny human strength take by force out of the hand of Omnipotence? Can we wrest blessing by force from God? It is never the violence of wilfulness that prevails with God. It is the might of clinging faith, that gets the blessing and the victories. It is not when we press and urge our own will, but when humility and trust unite in saying, “Not my will, but Thine.” We are strong with God only in the degree that self is conquered and is dead. Not by wrestling, but by clinging can we get the blessing.—J. R. Miller.
An incident from the prayer life of Charles H. Usher (illustrating “soul-cling” as a hindrance to prevailing prayer): “My little boy was very ill. The doctors held out little hope of his recovery. I had used all the knowledge of prayer which I possessed on his behalf, but he got worse and worse. This went on for several weeks.
“One day I stood watching him as he lay in his cot, and I saw that he could not live long unless he had a turn for the better. I said to God, ‘O God, I have given much time in prayer for my boy and he gets no better; I must now leave him to Thee, and I will give myself to prayer for others. If it is Thy will to take him, I choose Thy will—I surrender him entirely to Thee.’
“I called in my dear wife, and told her what I had done. She shed some tears, but handed him over to God. Two days afterwards a man of God came to see us. He had been very interested in our boy Frank, and had been much in prayer for him.
“He said, ‘God has given me faith to believe that he will recover—have you faith?’
“I said, ‘I have surrendered him to God, but I will go again to God regarding him.’ I did; and in prayer I discovered that I had faith for his recovery. From that time he began to get better. It was the ‘soul-cling’ in my prayers which had hindered God answering; and if I had continued to cling and had been unwilling to surrender him, I doubt if my boy would be with me today.
“Child of God! If you want God to answer your prayers, you must be prepared to follow the footsteps of ‘our father Abraham,’ even to the Mount of Sacrifice.” (See Rom. 4:12)

28 MAY

An altar

‘And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.’ Genesis 12:7
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Hebrews 13:9–16

Abraham erected an altar. This shows:
(i) his faith—in the great sacrifice, the virtue of which was set forth by all the sacrifices before under the law.
(ii) his gratitude. When God had appeared to him and given him such promises, immediately he raises an altar. Who is there amongst you, upon whom the Lord has lately shone? Has he answered your prayers, prevented your fears, taken off your sackcloth and girded you with gladness? O say, the vows of God are upon me [Psalm 56:12]. O may your heart be as an altar upon which the sacrifice of praise is continually offered [Hebrews 13:15].
(iii) his profession. He was among a people that knew not God, but he was not so affected by the custom of the country as to be ashamed or afraid to have it publicly known that he worshipped the Lord. Everything that looks like ostentation should be avoided, but if the Lord has called us out of darkness into light, we should not be unwilling to be marked and known by our neighbours and friends as those who have given themselves to him.

FOR MEDITATION: The points of his public profession of religion from which I think he cannot warrantably recede, are such as these: he will say with Joshua, or his example and conduct will say it for him, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. He will neither be afraid nor ashamed to have it publicly supposed or known that he worships God, in his closet, and (allowing for unavoidable interruptions) in his family; and that so far as his example, persuasion and authority can influence, he will endeavour that all who live under his roof shall be restrained from evil, and taught and encouraged to serve the Lord with him.
John Newton to William Wilberforce, 1 November 1787

[responding with advice on embarking on the abolition of the slave trade]

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 24 [3/4], GENESIS 12:7

May 27th

The life that lives

Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. Luke 24:49.

The disciples had to tarry until the day of Pentecost not for their own preparation only; they had to wait until the Lord was glorified historically. As soon as He was glorified, what happened? “Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.” The parenthesis in John 7:39 (“For the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified”) does not apply to us; the Holy Ghost has been given, the Lord is glorified; the waiting depends not on God’s providence, but on our fitness.
The Holy Spirit’s influence and power were at work before Pentecost, but He was not here. Immediately Our Lord was glorified in Ascension, the Holy Spirit came into this world, and He has been here ever since. We have to receive the revelation that He is here. The reception of the Holy Spirit is the maintained attitude of a believer. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive quickening life from the ascended Lord.
It is not the baptism of the Holy Ghost which changes men, but the power of the ascended Christ coming into men’s lives by the Holy Ghost that changes them. We too often divorce what the New Testament never divorces. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is not an experience apart from Jesus Christ: it is the evidence of the ascended Christ.
The baptism of the Holy Ghost does not make you think of Time or Eternity, it is one amazing glorious NOW. “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee.” Begin to know Him now, and finish never.

May 27

“Bring them hither to me.” (Matt. 14:18.)

ARE you encompassed with needs at this very moment, and almost overwhelmed with difficulties, trials, and emergencies? These are all divinely provided vessels for the Holy Spirit to fill, and if you but rightly understood their meaning, they would become opportunities for receiving new blessings and deliverances which you can get in no other way.
Bring these vessels to God. Hold them steadily before Him in faith and prayer. Keep still, and stop your own restless working until He begins to work. Do nothing that He does not Himself command you to do. Give Him a chance to work, and He will surely do so; and the very trials that threatened to overcome you with discouragement and disaster, will become God’s opportunity for the revelation of His grace and glory in your life, as you have never known Him before. “Bring them (all needs) to me.”—A. B. Simpson.
“My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:19.)
What a source—“God!” What a supply—“His riches in glory!” What a channel—“Christ Jesus!” It is your sweet privilege to place all your need over against His riches, and lose sight of the former in the presence of the latter. His exhaustless treasury is thrown open to you, in all the love of His heart; go and draw upon it, in the artless simplicity of faith, and you will never have occasion to look to a creature-stream, or lean on a creature-prop.—C. H. M.

“MY CUP RUNNETH OVER”

There is always something over,
  When we trust our gracious Lord;
Every cup He fills o’erfloweth,
  His great rivers all are broad.
Nothing narrow, nothing stinted,
  Ever issues from His store;
To His own He gives full measure,
  Running over, evermore.

There is always something over,
  When we, from the Father’s hand,
Take our portion with thanksgiving,
  Praising for the path He planned.

Satisfaction, full and deepening,
  Fills the soul, and lights the eye,
When the heart has trusted Jesus
  All its need to satisfy.

There is always something over,
  When we tell of all His love;
Unplumbed depths still lie beneath us,
  Unscaled heights rise far above:
Human lips can never utter
  All His wondrous tenderness,
We can only praise and wonder,
  And His name forever bless.

—Margaret E. Barber.

“How can He but, in giving Him, lavish on us all things.”

27 MAY

Sunshine through the clouds

‘And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.’ Genesis 12:7
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Revelation 21:22–22:6

Though the Lord was always with Abraham to protect and bless him, he manifested himself or appeared to him but now and then. Thus with respect to all necessary supplies of grace and strength, and a liberty to seek his direction and blessing, he is ever with his people—but there is a gracious presence, the light of his countenance, which they do not always enjoy. In this sense he visits them but does not abide, as the sun gives us every day for necessary uses, but does not always shine upon us. When it does, it casts an inimitable glory and gilds every object. Be thankful for the light and for eyes to behold it, but pray likewise for the breaking forth of the Sun of righteousness. If you have it, rejoice in it, yet expect a change. There are reasons both on the Lord’s part and on ours why he does not always shine. But in yonder happy world we shall have unclouded skies.
FOR MEDITATION:
As when the weary traveller gains
The thought of home his spirit cheers,
The height of some o’er-looking hill;
No more he grieves for troubles past;
His heart revives, if cross the plains
Nor any future trial fears,
He eyes his home, though distant still.
So he may safe arrive at last.

While he surveys the much-loved spot,
’Tis there, he says, I am to dwell
He slights the space that lies between;
With JESUS, in the realms of day;
His past fatigues are now forgot,
Then I shall bid my cares farewell,
Because his journey’s end is seen.
And he will wipe my tears away.

Thus, when the Christian pilgrim views
JESUS, on thee our hope depends,
By faith, his mansion in the skies;
To lead us on to thine abode;
The sight his fainting strength renews,
Assured our home will make amends
And wings his speed to reach the prize.
For all our toil while on the road.

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 24 [2/4], GENESIS 12:7