Scripture: "God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."—1 JOHN iv. 16.
        May God through His Holy Spirit grant us grace rightly to adore this unfathomable mystery.

        Jesus said: "None is good save one, even God." The glory of God in heaven is that He has a Will to all that is good. That includes the two meanings of the word: good, all that is right and perfect: good, all that makes happy.

        The God who wills nothing but good is a God of love. He does not seek His own: He does not live for Himself; but pours out His love on all living creatures. All created things share in this love, to the end that they may be satisfied with that which is good.

        The characteristic of Love is that she "seeketh not her own." She finds her happiness in giving to others; she sacrifices herself wholly for others. Even so God offered Himself to mankind in the Person of His Son, and the Son offered Himself upon the cross to bring that love to men, and to win their hearts. The everlasting love with which the Father loved the Son is the same love with which the Son has loved us. This self-same love of God, Christ has poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, so that our whole life may be permeated with its vital power.

        The love of God to His Son, the love of the Son to us, the love with which we love the Son, the love with which we, in obedience to His command, love the brethren, and try to love all men and win them for Christ—all is the same eternal, incomprehensible, almighty love of God. Love is the power of the God-head, m the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This love is the possession of all who are members of the body of Christ, and streams forth from them to take the whole world within its compass.

        Unsearchable, adorable wonder of love! "He that abideth in love, abideth in God, and God in him." O my soul, meditate on this wondrous love, and adore the great God of Love!

Scripture: "A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench"(Isaiah 42:3).
        Then I may reckon upon tender treatment from my LORD. Indeed, I feel myself to be at best as weak, as pliant, as worthless as a reed. Someone said, "I dont care a rush for you"; and the speech, though unkind, was not untrue. Alas! I am worse than a reed when it grows by the river, for that at least can hold up its head. I am bruised -- sorely, sadly bruised. There is no music in me now; there is a rift which lets out all the melody. Ah, me! Yet Jesus will not break me; and if He will not, then I mind little what others try to do. O sweet and compassionate LORD, I nestle down beneath Thy protection and forget my bruises!

        Truly I am also fit to be likened to "the smoking flax," whose light is gone, and only its smoke remains. I fear I am rather a nuisance than a benefit. My fears tell me that the devil has blown out my light and left me an obnoxious smoke, and that my LORD will soon put an extinguisher upon one. Yet I perceive that though there were snuffers under the law, there were no extinguishers, and Jesus will not quench me; therefore, I am hopeful. LORD, kindle me anew and cause me to shine forth to Thy glory and to the extolling of Thy tenderness.

Scripture: “From me is thy fruit found.”(Hosea 14:8)
        Our fruit is found from our God as to union. The fruit of the branch is directly traceable to the root. Sever the connection, the branch dies, and no fruit is produced. By virtue of our union with Christ we bring forth fruit. Every bunch of grapes have been first in the root, it has passed through the stem, and flowed through the sap vessels, and fashioned itself externally into fruit, but it was first in the stem; so also every good work was first in Christ, and then is brought forth in us. O Christian, prize this precious union to Christ; for it must be the source of all the fruitfulness which thou canst hope to know. If thou wert not joined to Jesus Christ, thou wouldst be a barren bough indeed.
        Our fruit comes from God as to spiritual providence. When the dew-drops fall from heaven, when the cloud looks down from on high, and is about to distil its liquid treasure, when the bright sun swells the berries of the cluster, each heavenly boon may whisper to the tree and say, “From me is thy fruit found.” The fruit owes much to the root—that is essential to fruitfulness—but it owes very much also to external influences. How much we owe to Gods grace-providence! in which he provides us constantly with quickening, teaching, consolation, strength, or whatever else we want. To this we owe our all of usefulness or virtue.
        Our fruit comes from God as to wise husbandry. The gardeners sharp-edged knife promotes the fruitfulness of the tree, by thinning the clusters, and by cutting off superfluous shoots. So is it, Christian, with that pruning which the Lord gives to thee. “My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” Since our God is the author of our spiritual graces, let us give to him all the glory of our salvation.

Scripture: “The exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead.”(Ephesians 1:19, 20)
        In the resurrection of Christ, as in our salvation, there was put forth nothing short of a divine power. What shall we say of those who think that conversion is wrought by the free will of man, and is due to his own betterness of disposition? When we shall see the dead rise from the grave by their own power, then may we expect to see ungodly sinners of their own free will turning to Christ. It is not the word preached, nor the word read in itself; all quickening power proceeds from the Holy Ghost. This power was irresistible. All the soldiers and the high priests could not keep the body of Christ in the tomb; Death himself could not hold Jesus in his bonds: even thus irresistible is the power put forth in the believer when he is raised to newness of life. No sin, no corruption, no devils in hell nor sinners upon earth, can stay the hand of Gods grace when it intends to convert a man. If God omnipotently says, “Thou shalt,” man shall not say, “I will not.” Observe that the power which raised Christ from the dead was glorious. It reflected honour upon God and wrought dismay in the hosts of evil. So there is great glory to God in the conversion of every sinner. It was everlasting power. “Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.” So we, being raised from the dead, go not back to our dead works nor to our old corruptions, but we live unto God. “Because he lives we live also.” “For we are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God.” “Like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Lastly, in the text mark the union of the new life to Jesus. The same power which raised the Head works life in the members. What a blessing to be quickened together with Christ!

Scripture: "Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress" (Ps. 4:1).
        This is one of the grandest testimonies ever given by man to the moral government of God. It is not a mans thanksgiving that he has been set free from suffering. It is a thanksgiving that he has been set free through suffering: "Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress." He declares the sorrows of life to have been themselves the source of lifes enlargement.

        And have not you and I a thousand times felt this to be true? It is written of Joseph in the dungeon that "the iron entered into his soul." We all feel that what Joseph needed for his soul was just the iron. He had seen only the glitter of the gold. He had been rejoicing in youthful dreams; and dreaming hardens the heart. He who sheds tears over a romance will not be most apt to help reality; real sorrow will be too unpoetic for him. We need the iron to enlarge our nature. The gold is but a vision; the iron is an experience. The chain which unites me to humanity must be an iron chain. That touch of nature which makes the world akin is not joy, but sorrow; gold is partial, but iron is universal.

        My soul, if thou wouldst be enlarged into human sympathy, thou must be narrowed into limits of human suffering. Josephs dungeon is the road to Josephs throne. Thou canst not lift the iron load of thy brother if the iron hath not entered into thee. It is thy limit that is thine enlargement. It is the shadows of thy life that are the real fulfillment of thy dreams of glory. Murmur not at the shadows; they are better revelations than thy dreams. Say not that the shades of the prison-house have fettered thee; thy fetters are wings--wings of flight into the bosom of humanity. The door of thy prison-house is a door into the heart of the universe. God has enlarged thee by the binding of sorrows chain.--George Matheson

        If Joseph had not been Egypts prisoner, he had never been Egypts governor. The iron chain about his feet ushered in the golden chain about his neck.--Selected

References: Further Study: Psa 31:21-22 Psa 23:5-6 Psa 27:13 Matt 6:27 Jonah 2
Whatever our need, be it small or be it great, God wants to do good for us. Perhaps we feel like the psalmist who needed God’s loving kindness in a ‘besieged city’. Perhaps we feel besieged in life’s relationships. Maybe we are besieged in our physical bodies or in our emotions. It could be in our attitudes, our aspirations or in our disappointments. Perhaps we have made our circumstances harder than they needed to be. Like King David, we can fall on the Lord’s mercy and ‘see the goodness of God in the land of the living’. If we find ourselves in emotional distress and turmoil, we need to firstly acknowledge our distress before the Lord. This is what David did in his alarm. He did not fret or become anxious. Instead, ‘He said in his alarm, “I am cut off”’. David identified his crisis. Much of our turmoil is simply the result of not understanding or acknowledging our crises. However, the Holy Spirit has come to enable us. We must separate the elements, distinguish one thing from another and find true perspective. In our turmoil, we often make wrong decisions. If this is the case, we must cry out like David and wait upon the goodness of the Lord. There is an answer for each of us. The Bible says that by reason of thought or worry, we will not add one thing to ourselves. Rather, like King David, we should cry out in our alarm. He wants to do good for us. He wants to add substance to us. Then we can say, ‘My cup overflows. Surely goodness and loving-kindness will follow me all the days of my life’.

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References Further Study 2 Cor 4:15 1 Cor 3:6, 10 2 Cor 4 Eph 3:7 1 Cor 15:10 James 4:6
The particular stewardship of grace that was committed to Paul had a number of initiatives implicit within it. He was a preacher of grace, a messenger of the word of grace. And by this preaching, the word of grace was spreading to more and more people. This caused a giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. According to the grace of God, the apostle Paul was a wise master builder. The grace of Christ produced in him a determination to see all believers firmly established and built up on a foundation. It is important to consider that this ‘grace mandate’ did not end with Paul. In our day, the Lord has committed the stewardship of the word of grace to messengers so that it may likewise spread to more and more people. The working of His power toward us is always according to the gift of His grace. In this way, His grace is not in vain. Grace is an individual possession, given to us to steward for the course of our lifetime. And more than this, we are to grow in the grace, to increase and abound in the work which He has committed to us. The grace for the last season will not be sufficient for the next. It is not as though it will be different. He gives more and greater grace. When the effect of His grace upon us is bringing success, we must maintain a humble attitude and recognise that the effective working of His grace within us is indeed a gift. If we become puffed up or proud it is the evidence of our corruption and inferiority. Most of us do not cope with failure all that well, but we cope with success even more poorly.

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References Further Study Gal 3:13-18 Heb 9:15 Gal 3 Isa 53:10 Heb 12:2
It is compelling that John proceeded from the accounts of Lazarus and Mary’s anointing, directly to the report of the Greeks who were coming to see Jesus. Why is this significant? It is because they were Gentiles. Further, what appeared to be an innocent inquiry by some persistent Greeks prompted a pivotal statement from Jesus. The significance soon became clear. He is the Seed that would bear much fruit, if He ‘falls into the ground and dies’. And a fruitful multitude is to be brought into the kingdom. Soon the gospel would go out as a great light to the Gentiles. It would leap across the present borders of the Jewish context, burn like a raging fire, and turn the world upside down. And so, the inquiry of these few Greek seekers, intentionally included by John, led to Jesus’ words, ‘The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Except a grain of wheat falls into the ground.’ Yes, the hour had come and Jesus now knew it. The time had come for His life to be multiplied. It was time for the Gentiles, for the multitudes, for the households. The Son of Man was to be glorified. And in this action, the Father would be glorified also. Why, and how? The Father would soon receive the many sons who were predestined in the Eternal Covenant. A multitude of seeds were all included in the one Seed. The one, the many. Jesus could see the joy set before Him. The time was near. He had raised Lazarus from the dead. He had demonstrated that He is the Resurrection and the Life. Those who believe would not die. Those who believe would live in and by resurrection life, right now, awaiting full completion in the physical resurrection of the last day.

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References Further Study Exo 23:15 Exo 34:20 Joh 8 Joh 8:28, 45 2Ti 2:15 Rom 12:1 Jas 1:18
When we are eating and drinking the communion, we are participating in the Eternal Covenant. This fellowship cannot be found without participating in the offering of Christ. The Scripture is quite clear. ‘None shall appear before Me empty-handed.’ When we are eating and drinking, then we are participating in the altar of the Eternal Covenant. This is the power of Eternal Spirit. And it is here that we present our body as a living sacrifice. Nevertheless, we did not begin here. We are first illuminated when we behold Him high and lifted up by the word of the kingdom. We then proceed to hear the word of truth concerning our sonship. The apostle James said, ‘In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of firstfruits’. We are born again and recovered to our sonship by the word of truth. It would be completely inadequate to say that we have beheld the kingdom, but don’t continue to receive the word of truth concerning our sonship. The word of truth is most certainly the truth about Jesus – who He is and where He has come from. But more so, it is the truth about us. That is to say, it is the truth about who we are as sons of God and the works of sonship that the Father has prepared for us. When Jesus spoke to the Jews about continuing in the word, they would not accept the word of truth. They did not know the truth that would set them free to be sons of God. They believed they were already legitimate and valid because of their lineage from Abraham. He said to them, ‘Because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me’.

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