Worship Series

Jesus Thy Charming Name
C.H.Spurgeon

"Thou shalt call his name Jesus." -Matthew 1:21

WHEN a person is dear, everything connected with him becomes dear for his sake. Thus, so precious is the person of the Lord Jesus in the estimation of all true believers, that everything about Him they consider to be inestimable beyond all price.

"All Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia," said David, as if the very vestments of the Saviour were so sweetened by His person that he could not but love them.

Certain it is, that there is not a spot where that hallowed foot hath trodden—there is not a word which those blessed lips have uttered—nor a thought which His loving Word has revealed—which is not to us precious beyond all price. And this is true of the names of Christ—they are all sweet in the believer's ear. Whether He be called the Husband of the Church, her Bridegroom, her Friend; whether He be styled the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world—the King, the Prophet, or the Priest—every title of our Master—Shiloh, Emmanuel, Wonderful, the Mighty Counsellor—every name is like the honeycomb dropping with honey, and luscious are the drops that distil from it.

But if there be one name sweeter than another in the believer's ear, it is the name of Jesus. Jesus! it is the name which moves the harps of heaven to melody. Jesus! the life of all our joys. If there be one name more charming, more precious than another, it is this name. It is woven into the very warp and woof of our psalmody.

Many of our hymns begin with it, and scarcely any, that are good for anything, end without it. It is the sum total of all delights. It is the music with which the bells of heaven ring; a song in a word; an ocean for comprehension, although a drop for brevity; a matchless oratorio in two syllables; a gathering up of the hallelujahs of eternity in five letters. "Jesus, I love Thy charming name, 'Tis music to mine ear."

Return from backsliding

Return from Backsliding
C.H.Spurgeon

If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up. -Job 22:23

Eliphaz, in this utterance, spoke a great truth, which is the summary of many an inspired Scripture. Reader, has sin pulled you down? Have you become like a ruin? Has the hand of the Lord gone out against you so that in estate you are impoverished and in spirit you are broken down? Was it your own folly which brought upon you all this dilapidation? Then the first thing to be done is to return to the Lord. With deep repentance and sincere faith find your way back from your backsliding.

It is your duty, for you have turned away from Him whom you professed to serve. It is your wisdom, for you cannot strive against Him and prosper. It is your immediate necessity, for what He has done is nothing compared to what He may do in the way of chastisement, since He is Almighty to punish.

See what a promise invites you! You shall be "built up." None but the Almighty can set up the fallen pillars and restore the tottering walls of your condition; but He can and He will do it if you return to Him. Do not delay. Your crushed mind may quite fail you if you go on to rebel; but hearty confession will ease you, and humble faith will console you. Do this, and all will be well.

God's way of healing

The way of Amnesia
Timrufus

Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, “It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” -Genesis 41:51

I am sure no one really likes to remember the wrong others did to him or her. However, what if the wrong done to you were of members of your own household or peoples whom you once held in high regards or peoples whom you once loved, be it of Phileo or of agape; that feeling of anger and injustice would be very much intensified.

Joseph ought to hate his brothers deeply but he chose to forget his father’s household. What caused him to make such a prayer? Firstly, it wasn’t any other households but his own father’s household. Being made the second-in-command of Pharaoh’s Kingdom, Joseph had absolute authority in the world to send an army of soldiers to Canaan and bring back all of his nemesis to ruin but he didn’t and all because it was his father’s household. - He chose the way of amnesia.

There was a time when I had some grievances with members of the same Household of God. I have not hated anyone in my life but The Lord showed me that I would die if I persist in my way and I got all the more angrier because I thought it not fair. Each time I saw how these religiously religion leaders could have trampled on other just because it is in their power to do so, make me wonder, is God really in control?

But once I realize the focus point was wrong, I asked the Lord for a new heart and a new spirit. The LORD however made me forgot everything in one day. At that point of time, my mind was in a total blank. I cannot recalled anything that has happened. There were some doubts of course, but I thought it was a dream.

However, over the weeks, as I continued to listen intensively into what these peoples had been saying furthermore, I realize that it was not a dream after all. (Psalm 73:20) Each time I prayed to the Lord, I loved them from the bottom of my heart but each time they repeat the same matter again and again, it just make me more and more angrier. That injustice I carried until one day a colleague sent me a short messaging. The text read, “Jesus came not to a throne but a manger; not as a king but as a servant; chose not a kingdom but a cross; gave not just a little but everything!”

Jesus – the man who carried all our infirmities, he bled and died for us on the cross, is not a man but the Son of God! He was sinless yet he died for selfish men like you and I. He was led like a sheep to be slaughtered and yet he shouted no injustice. May God made us like Joseph today, instead of remembering how others had played sin on us, may God make us forget all our troubles and even the names and faces of our nemesis!

Verse of the day: Proverbs 17:9

Yes LORD, let the morning brought forth word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. For your name’s sake, LORD, preserve my life. In your righteousness, bring me out of trouble. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust myself. May the place where you are leading, be a place flowing with honey and milk. Your Word to me O LORD, are sweeter, more sweeter than honey from the honeycomb. Precious, more precious than much pure gold and Your love O Lord, is better, more better than life itself. In Jesus mighty Name. Amen!

The Intercessor's Prayer

The Intercessor's Prayer
C.H.Spurgeon

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. -James 5:16

As an encouragement cheerfully to offer intercessory prayer, remember that such prayer is the sweetest God ever hears, for the prayer of Christ is of this character.

In all the incense which our Great High Priest now puts into the golden censer, there is not a single grain for Himself. His intercession must be the most acceptable of all supplications—and the more like our prayer is to Christ's, the sweeter it will be; thus while petitions for ourselves will be accepted, our pleadings for others, having in them more of the fruits of the Spirit, more love, more faith, more brotherly kindness, will be, through the precious merits of Jesus, the sweetest oblation that we can offer to God, the very fat of our sacrifice.

Remember, again, that intercessory prayer is exceedingly prevalent. What wonders it has wrought! The Word of God teems with its marvellous deeds. Believer, thou hast a mighty engine in thy hand, use it well, use it constantly, use it with faith, and thou shalt surely be a benefactor to thy brethren.

When thou hast the King's ear, speak to Him for the suffering members of His body. When thou art favoured to draw very near to His throne, and the King saith to thee, "Ask, and I will give thee what thou wilt," let thy petitions be, not for thyself alone, but for the many who need His aid. If thou hast grace at all, and art not an intercessor, that grace must be small as a grain of mustard seed. Thou hast just enough grace to float thy soul clear from the quicksand, but thou hast no deep floods of grace, or else thou wouldst carry in thy joyous bark a weighty cargo of the wants of others, and thou wouldst bring back from thy Lord, for them, rich blessings which but for thee they might not have obtained:—

"Oh, let my hands forget their skill,
My tongue be silent, cold, and still,
This bounding heart forget to beat,
If I forget the mercy-seat!"

The many prayers of Gratitude

The many prayers of Gratitude
C.H. Spurgeon

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people." -Ephesians 6:18

What multitudes of prayers we have put up from the first moment when we learned to pray. Our first prayer was a prayer for ourselves; we asked that God would have mercy upon us, and blot out our sin.

He heard us. But when He had blotted out our sins like a cloud, then we had more prayers for ourselves. We have had to pray for sanctifying grace, for constraining and restraining grace; we have been led to crave for a fresh assurance of faith, for the comfortable application of the promise, for deliverance in the hour of temptation, for help in the time of duty, and for succour in the day of trial.

We have been compelled to go to God for our souls, as constant beggars asking for everything. Bear witness, children of God, you have never been able to get anything for your souls elsewhere. All the bread your soul has eaten has come down from heaven, and all the water of which it has drank has flowed from the living rock—Christ Jesus the Lord.

Your soul has never grown rich in itself; it has always been a pensioner upon the daily bounty of God; and hence your prayers have ascended to heaven for a range of spiritual mercies all but infinite.

Your wants were innumerable, and therefore the supplies have been infinitely great, and your prayers have been as varied as the mercies have been countless. Then have you not cause to say, "I love the Lord, because He hath heard the voice of my supplication"?

For as your prayers have been many, so also have been God's answers to them. He has heard you in the day of trouble, has strengthened you, and helped you, even when you dishonoured Him by trembling and doubting at the mercy-seat.

Remember this, and let it fill your heart with gratitude to God, who has thus graciously heard your poor weak prayers. "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits."

Renewing our Mind

Be Renewed In The Spirit Of Your Mind
Edward Powell

"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." -Ephesians 4:22-24

You can gauge the depth of a Christian's spiritual life by the things he puts first. Tell me his priorities and you tell me the focus of his life and his relationship with the Lord. Matthew said, "Wherefore by their fruits you will know them."

The voice from the world says, "Don't tell me how spiritual you are; show me by the way you live. Don't tell me how much you pray, show me the effect of prayer by the power of God being manifested in your daily walk. Don't tell me how much you read the Bible, show me how you have applied it by a righteous life and holy living. Don't tell me how much you love the Lord; show me how His love abounds in your life unto others. Don't tell me you are a Christian; show me the evidence through your godly character and committed life to Christ."

They have had their full, and more, of superficial, shallow, uncommitted, ineffective religious professions. They are looking for and are influenced by a Christian whose life reveals a personal relationship with Christ and manifests the fruit of the Spirit. And what is the fruit of the Spirit? It is "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance" (Galatians 5:22).

Can these virtues be evidenced in our lives by our doing? Absolutely not! This "fruit" is initiated and manifested by the power of God living within the believer. It is the manifestation of His indwelling Spirit in our lives. It's the result of being made a new creation in Christ, but there's more! Paul says, "Put off the old man and make no provision for the flesh; put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

The "old man" is what we are by birth, by nature, through inheritance, and by our actions. We are fallen, depraved, corrupt, sinful, and with a bias against God for evil. Our habits, associations, worldly interests, lifestyle, and our whole concept of life and God are from a "fallen nature."

Therefore, Paul says, "Put off the old man." These things are incompatible with the "new man." Get rid of them! WHY? Because they belong to the sinful life of our past, the way we once lived.

What a radical difference in the way we were and the way God wants us to be! Paul knows what can happen when we "put off the old man and put on the new man." He's been there, done that, and his life was transformed from a persecutor of the Christians to an apostle of Christ. He went from one end of the spectrum to the other. BUT SO CAN WE! When we yield the control of our lives to His lordship, He clothes us with His righteousness and holiness! This is not our doing; IT IS GOD'S!

Let us adorn our lives with the fruit of the Spirit by the power of the Holy Spirit, being renewed daily in the spirit of our minds, and strengthened with His might by the Spirit in the inner man, that we may magnify Christ and impact lives for eternity. "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit" (John 15:16)

Never Despair

Never Despair
C. H. Spurgeon

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings. -Malachi 4.2

Fulfilled once in the first advent of our glorious Lord, and yet to have a fuller accomplishment in His second advent, this gracious word is also for daily use. Is it dark with the reader? Does the night deepen into a denser blackness? Still let us not despair: the sun will yet rise. When the night is darkest, dawn is nearest.

The sun which will arise is of no common sort. It is the Sun—the Sun of Righteousness, whose every ray is holiness. He who comes to cheer us, comes in the way of justice as well as of mercy, comes to violate no law even to save us. Jesus as much displays the holiness of God as His love. Our deliverance, when it comes, will be safe because righteous.

Our one point of inquiry should be—"Do we fear the name of the Lord? Do we reverence the living God and walk in His ways?" Then for us the night must be short; and when the morning cometh, all the sickness and sorrow of our soul will be over forever.

Light, warmth, joy, and clearness of vision will come, and healing of every disease and distress will follow after. Has Jesus risen upon us? Let us sit in the sun. Has He hidden His face? Let us wait for His rising. He will shine forth as surely as the sun.