“#Jesus taught that perseverance is the essential element of #prayer. Men must be in earnest when they kneel at God’s footstool. Too often we get faint-hearted and quit praying at the point where we ought to begin. We let go at the very point where we should hold on strongest. Our prayers are weak because they are not impassioned by an unfailing and resistless will.”
– E.M. Bounds
Christopher Love – Zealous Christian Holding Communion With God, in Wrestling and Prayer
Christopher Love was born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1618. He was admitted to New Inn Hall, Oxford, in 1635, and earned a bachelor’s degree in 1639. He met Mary Stone, the daughter of a London merchant; he married her, and the Loves had five children: two girls who died early in life, and three boys. The last son was born thirteen days after Love’s death.
Love was finally ordained as a Presbyterian in 1645, at St. Mary’s Aldermanbury, London, which enabled him to work as a pastor at St. Ann and St. Agnes, Aldersgate. After preaching there for three years, Love became minister of St. Lawrence Jewry (about 600 feet from St. Ann’s). He earned a great reputation for his eloquence and vigor in preaching, though he continued to offend Independents.
Love was arrested on May 14, 1652, by Oliver Cromwell’s forces for alleged involvement with the Presbyterians of Scotland who were raising money for the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II. Love denied the charge, but he was tried and convicted of treason for what has become known as “Love’s plot.” Love’s wife and numerous friends, including several prominent ministers in London, interceded on his behalf, but to no avail. Ardent republican Independents were determined to destroy him. Love was beheaded on Tower Hill, London, on August 22, 1651, at the age of thirtythree. Presbyterians were divided on the issue. Some were incensed, and regarded Love as a heroic martyr. Others were less sympathetic to Love’s cause. In the end, the Scots and some English, like Love, were badly deceived by Charles II’s supposed adherence to the “Covenant.” Even Thomas Watson, who was involved with Love in the plot to some degree, later had second thoughts about the affair.
In a moving address from the scaffold, Love answered the charges made against him and urged citizens of London to heed and love their godly ministers. Sheriff Tichburn granted him permission to pray. He prayed:
Most Glorious and eternal Majesty, Thou art righteous and holy in all Thou dost to the sons of men, though Thou hast suffered men to condemn Thy servant, Thy servant will not condemn Thee. He justifies Thee though Thou cuttest him off in the midst of his days and in the midst of his ministry, blessing Thy glorious name, that though he be taken away from the land of the living, yet he is not blotted out of the Book of the Living….
O Thou blessed God, whom Thy creature hath served, who hath made Thee his hope and his confidence from his youth, forsake him not now while he is drawing near to Thee. Now he is in the valley of the shadow of death; Lord, be Thou life to him. Smile Thou upon him while men frown upon him. Lord, Thou hast settled this persuasion in his heart that as soon as ever the blow is given to divide his head from his body he shall be united to his Head in heaven. Blessed be God that Thy servant dies in these hopes.
We entreat Thee, O Lord, think upon Thy poor churches. O that England might live in Thy sight! And O that London might be a faithful city to Thee! That righteousness might be among them, that peace and plenty might be within her walls and prosperity within their habitations. Lord, heal the breaches of these nations; make England and Scotland as one staff in the Lord’s hand, that Ephraim may not envy Judah, nor Judah vex Ephraim, but that both may fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines. O that men of the Protestant religion, engaged in the same cause and covenant, might not delight to spill each other’s blood, but might engage against the common adversaries of our religion and liberty! God, show mercy to all that fear Thee. The Lord think upon our covenant-keeping brethren of the Kingdom of Scotland; keep them faithful to Thee, and let not them that have invaded them overspread their whole land. Prevent the shedding of more Christian blood if it seems good in Thine eyes….
After the public prayer, Love thanked the sheriff, and said, “I go from a block to the bosom of my Savior.” Love called for the executioner and tipped him to encourage a beheading with one blow. He fell on his knees and said, “I lie down with a world of comfort as if I were to lie down in my bed. My bed is but a short sleep, and this death is a long sleep where I shall rest in Abraham’s bosom and in the embraces of the Lord Jesus.” His last words, just before he put his head on the
block, were, “Blessed be God for Jesus Christ.”
Thomas Manton, preached at Love’s funeral to a huge audience. Love’s wife wrote 140 pages of memoirs about her husband. “His family looked upon him as a Moses for meekness and a Job for patience,” she wrote. “He lived too much in heaven to live long out of heaven.”
Luke 11:8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
Thomas Watson playlist: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=9B58A93B5F60F495
Psalm 73:3 For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Luke 6:24 “But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
Thomas Watson – (ca. 1620-1686), English non-conformist Puritan preacher and author
Watson was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was noted for remarkably intense study. In 1646 he commenced a sixteen year pastorate at St. Stephen’s, Walbrook. He showed strong Presbyterian views during the civil war, with, however, an attachment to the king, and in 1651 he was imprisoned briefly with some other ministers for his share in Christopher Love’s plot to recall Charles II of England. He was released on June 30, 1652, and was formally reinstated as vicar of St. Stephen’s Walbrook.
Watson obtained great fame and popularity as a preacher until the Restoration, when he was ejected for nonconformity. Notwithstanding the rigor of the acts against dissenters, Watson continued to exercise his ministry privately as he found opportunity. Upon the Declaration of Indulgence in 1672 he obtained a license to preach at the great hall in Crosby House. After preaching there for several years, his health gave way, and he retired to Barnston, Essex, where he died suddenly while praying in secret. He was buried on 28 July 1686.
Thomas Watson – The Acorns with Which God Feeds Swine
Charles Spurgeon Devotional: Faith’s Checkbook Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2A5DC93549644D84
Charles Spurgeon Devotional: Faith’s Checkbook – Never Despair
Malachi 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
A PROMISE from God may very instructively be compared to a check payable to order. It is given to the believer with the view of bestowing upon him some good thing. It is not meant that he should read it over comfortably, and then have done with it. No, he is to treat the promise as a reality, as a man treats a check.
He is to take the promise, and endorse it with his own name by personally receiving it as true. He is by faith to accept it as his own. He sets to his seal that God is true, and true as to this particular word of promise. He goes further, and believes that he has the blessing in having the sure promise of it and therefore he puts his name to it to testify to the receipt of the blessing.
This done, he must believingly present the promise to the LORD, as a man presents a check at the counter of the Bank. He must plead it by prayer, expecting to have it fulfilled. If he has come to Heaven’s bank at the right date, he will receive the promised amount at once. If the date should happen to be further on, he must patiently wait till its arrival; but meanwhile he may count the promise as money, for the Bank is sure to pay when the due time arrives.
Some fail to place the endorsement of faith upon the check, and so they get nothing; and others are slack in presenting it, and these also receive nothing. This is not the fault of the promise, but of those who do not act with it in a common-sense, business-like manner.
God has given no pledge which He will not redeem, and encouraged no hope which He will not fulfill. To help my brethren to believe this, I have prepared this little volume. The sight of the promises themselves is good for the eyes of faith: the more we study the words of grace, the more grace shall we derive from the words. To the cheering Scriptures I have added testimonies of my own, the fruit of trial and experience. I believe all the promises of God, but many of them I have personally tried and proved. I have seen that they are true, for they have been fulfilled to me. This, I trust, may be cheering to the young; and not without solace to the older sort. One man’s experience may be of the utmost use to another; and this is why the man of God of old wrote, “I sought the LORD, and he heard me”; and again, “This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him.”
I commenced these daily portions when I was wading in the surf of controversy. Since then I have been cast into “waters to swim in,” which, but for God’s upholding hand, would have proved waters to drown in. I have endured tribulation from many hails. Sharp bodily pain succeeded mental depression, and this was accompanied both by bereavement and affliction in the person of one dear as life. The waters rolled in continually, wave upon wave. I do not mention this to exact sympathy, but simply to let the reader see that I am no dry-land sailor. I have traversed full many a time those oceans which are not Pacific: I know the roll of the billows, and the rush of the winds. Never were the promises of Jehovah so precious to me as at this hour. Some of them I never understood till now; I had not reached the date at which they matured, for I was not myself mature enough to perceive their meaning.
How much more wonderful is the Bible to me now than it was a few months ago! In obeying the LORD, and bearing His reproach outside the camp, I have not received new promises; but the result to me is much the same as if I had done so, for the old ones have opened up to me with richer stores. Specially has the Word of the LORD to His servant Jeremiah sounded exceedingly sweet in mine ears. His lot it was to speak to those who would not hear, or hearing, would nor believe. His was the sorrow which comes of disappointed love, and resolute loyalty; he would have turned his people from their errors, but he would not himself quit the way of the LORD. For him there were words of deep sustaining power, which kept his mind from failing where nature unaided must have sunk. These and such like golden sentences of grace I have loved more than my necessary food, and with them I have enriched these pages.
J.R. Miller – It takes both of these Elements to make True Religion
J.R. Miller playlist: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=2085C7193D4C2AAE
Link to my “Christian Devotional Readings” Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Christian-Devotional-Readings/196846270398160?ref=hl
A Treasury of Ageless,
Sovereign Grace,
Devotional Writings http://www.gracegems.org/
Luke 2:25
New International Version (NIV)
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.
James Russell Miller was born on March 20, 1840 at Frankfort Springs, Pennsylvania and died on July 2, 1912. Besides authoring over 80 books, booklets, and pamphlets, he was the Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication and a very active pastor in a succession of churches.
The crucible of his education was his service with the United States Christian Commission, an agency set up to minister to the troops, during the civil war. When the war ended he completed his theological studies and was ordained and installed on September 11, 1867. On June 22, 1870, when he was thirty, he married Miss Louise E. King.
The end of life on earth came without warning on the afternoon of July 2, 1912. JR’s wife, Louise Miller, and their only daughter, Mary Wanamaker Miller (Mrs. W.B. Mount), were present, but it was impossible to summon the sons — William King Miller and Russell King Miller. One moment he seemed to be resting quietly; the next he was at rest.
He was one of the best selling Christian authors of his era. His books had a total circulation of over two million copies during his lifetime and in 1911 the Presbyterian Board of Publication, under his direction, published over 66 million copies of its periodicals.
“I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realize the Lord is able to carry out His will, and His will is mine. It makes no matter where He places me, or how. That is rather for Him to consider than for me; for in the easiest positions He must give me His grace, and in the most difficult, His grace is sufficient.”
– Hudson Taylor
Audio / Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion – Testimony of the Spirit Necessary
Calvinism playlist: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=1D60D3A2D8DF224B
John Calvin – (1509-1564), French reformer and theologian
Born July 10, 1509 in Noyon, France, Jean Calvin was raised in a staunch Roman Catholic family. The local bishop employed Calvin’s father as an administrator in the town’s cathedral. The father, in turn, wanted John to become a priest. Because of close ties with the bishop and his noble family, John’s playmates and classmates in Noyon (and later in Paris) were aristocratic and culturally influential in his early life.
At the age of 14 Calvin went to Paris to study at the College de Marche in preparation for university study. His studies consisted of seven subjects: grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. Toward the end of 1523 Calvin transferred to the more famous College Montaigu. While in Paris he changed his name to its Latin form, Ioannis Calvinus, which in French became Jean Calvin. During this time, Calvin’s education was paid for in part by income from a couple of small parishes. So although the new theological teachings of individuals like Luther and Jacques Lefevre d’Etaples were spreading throughout Paris, Calvin was closely tied to the Roman Church. However, by 1527 Calvin had developed friendships with individuals who were reform-minded. These contacts set the stage for Calvin’s eventual switch to the Reformed faith. Also, at this time Calvin’s father advised him to study law rather than theology.
By 1528 Calvin moved to Orleans to study civil law. The following years found Calvin studying in various places and under various scholars, as he received a humanist education. By 1532 Calvin finished his law studies and also published his first book, a commentary on De Clementia by the Roman philosopher, Seneca. The following year Calvin fled Paris because of contacts with individuals who through lectures and writings opposed the Roman Catholic Church. It is thought that in 1533 Calvin experienced the sudden and unexpected conversion that he writes about in his foreword to his commentary on the Psalms.
For the next three years, Calvin lived in various places outside of France under various names. He studied on his own, preached, and began work on his first edition of the Institutes of the Christian Religion, an instant best seller. By 1536 Calvin had disengaged himself from the Roman Catholic Church and made plans to permanently leave France and go to Strasbourg. However, war had broken out between Francis I and Charles V, so Calvin decided to make a one-night detour to Geneva.
But Calvin’s fame in Geneva preceded him. Farel, a local reformer, invited him to stay in Geneva and threatened him with God’s anger if he did not. Thus began a long, difficult, yet ultimately fruitful relationship with that city. He began as a lecturer and preacher, but by 1538 was asked to leave because of theological conflicts. He went to Strasbourg until 1541. His stay there as a pastor to French refugees was so peaceful and happy that when in 1541 the Council of Geneva requested that he return to Geneva, he was emotionally torn. He wanted to stay in Strasbourg but felt a responsibility to return to Geneva. He did so and remained in Geneva until his death May 27, 1564. Those years were filled with lecturing, preaching, and the writing of commentaries, treatises, and various editions of the Institutes of the Christian Religion.
Dr. Alan Cairns Sermon – The Curse of Using Carnal Methods for God’s Work
Dr. Alan Cairns Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB1CE60FC54C57C69
Isaiah 31
1Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!
Dr. Alan Cairns served for 25 years as pastor of Faith Free Presbyterian Church, Greenville, SC, before retiring and being named Pastor Emeritus in 2007. Prior to coming to the United States, he pastored Free Presbyterian churches in Dunmurry and Ballymoney, in Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. Dr. Cairns also held the position Professor of Theology in the Whitefield College of the Bible in Northern Ireland and lectured in what is now Geneva Reformed Seminary in Greenville. As both an author and expositor, Dr. Cairns is revered for his Christ-centered focus and gifts of scriptural insight.
John Fawcett Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL773FDDD6A5F0F7E5
John Fawcett – Our Continual and Absolute Need of Christ
My Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ChristianDevotionalReadings
John Fawcett (1740-1817) was a British theologian, pastor and hymn writer.
In 1765, John Fawcett became pastor of a small Baptist church at Wainsgate in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, England. He served faithfully for seven years, despite a small income and a growing family much too large to be supported by his meager wages. It seemed only practical that he move to a church that paid a larger salary. When he received a call in 1772 to the large and influential Carter’s Lane Baptist Church in London[1] he planned to accept the call.
After pastor John Fawcett had preached his farewell sermon at Wainsgate he and his family loaded up all their belongings to move to his new church in London. But, his parishioners begged him to stay and because of his bond with these fellow believers, he unloaded the wagon and made the decision to continue to serve God there instead of moving to the larger church. To commemorate this event he later wrote the words to “Blessed Be the Tie that Binds”[2], possibly his most famous hymn.He at first joined the Methodists, but three years later united with the Baptist Church at Bradford. Having begun to preach he was, in 1765, ordained Baptist minister at Wainsgate near Hebden Bridge, Yorks. In 1772 he was invited to London to succeed the celebrated Dr. J.Gill as pastor of Carter’s Lane. The invitation had been formerly accepted, the farewell sermon at Whinsgate had been preached and the wagon loaded with his goods for removal, when the love and tears of his attached people prevailed and he decided to remain. Fawcett sacrificed a London appointment and remained where he was loved and respected. His salary was £25 pounds a year.
From the circumstances of this incident Fawcett wrote his well-known hymn, “Blest be (is) the tie that binds”, headed “Brotherly Love”. In 1777 a new chapel was built for him at Hebden Bridge, and about the same time he opened a school at Breasley Hall, his place of residence. In 1793 he was invited to become President of the Baptist Academy at Bristol, but declined. In 1811 he received from America the degree of D.D. and died in 1817 at the age of 78. Dr. Fawcett was the author of a number of prose works in Practical Religion, several of which attained a large circulation. His poetic publications are:
Poetic Essays, 1767. The Christian’s Humble Plea; a poem in answer to Dr. Priestly against the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, 1772. Three hymns in the Gospel Magazine, 1777. The Death of Euminio, A Divine Poem, 1779. Another Poem suggested by the decease of a friend, “The Reign of Death”, 1780 Hymns adapted to the circumstances of Public Worship and Private Devotion, Leeds, G. Wright and Son 1782. They are 166 in number and were mostly composed to be sung after sermons by the author. Whilst not attaining a high degree of excellence as poetry, they are ’eminently spiritual and practical’ and a number of them are found in all the Baptist and Congregational hymn books that have appeared during the last one hundred years. One of Fawcett’s hymns, “Humble souls who seek salvation” with the heading, “Invitation to follow the Lamb”, Matt 3:15) had the following note: “The author lays claim to this hymn, ‘tho it has appeared under another name: he hopes that the insertion of it, and the following, (Ye saints with one accord) will give no offence to those of his friends who are differently minded, as to the subject to which they refer. Obviously someone’s name had been wrongly given as the author of the hymn.
Fawcett’s hymn in ‘Spiritual Songs’ is no. 267, “All fulness resides in Jesus our Head”. The original text of this hymn is in Baptist Psalms and Hymns, 1858-80) The first line is “A Fulness resides in Jesus our Head” and is rendered in this way in G.V. Wigram’s 1856 Little Flock Hymnbook, and in J.N.D’s 1881 edition; also in W. Kelly’s 1894 edition. T.H. Reynolds and W.J. Hocking’s editions have “All fulness resides etc.”
Audio Bible / New Testament Playlist: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=8B99415A0015DA8D
Gospel According to John – Audio Bible Reading ( New Testament / NASB )
Christian Sermons and Audio Books 