April 30

I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. (2 Corinthians 12:2)

Some people have wondered what the third heaven means. That is where God dwells, and where the storms do not come. There sits the incorruptible Judge. Paul, when he was caught up there, heard things that it was not lawful for him to utter, and he saw things that he could not speak of down here. The higher up we get in spiritual matters, the nearer we seem to heaven. There our wishes are fulfilled at last.

April 29

It is written. (Matthew 4:4,7,10)

Christ overcame Satan by the word. He simply said: “It is written”; and a second time, and a third time, “It is written” and that was the arrow that shot right into him and drove him away. The devil does not care a bit about our feelings. He can make our feelings good or bad; he can take us up on the mountain, or down into the valley, and we can only vanquish him by the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word.

April 28

He will shew you things to come. (John 16:13)

People talk about news nowadays. The Bible is the only news-book in the world. The newspaper tells us what has taken place, but this Book tells us what will take place. And for people to be shutting it up, and saying we can be guided without it, is just as reasonable as to shut out the sun by closing up our windows because we have the electric light. There is as much reason to say that the sun is worn out as to say that we have got beyond the Bible.

April 27

I would thou wert cold or hot. (Revelation 3:15)

What we want is to be red hot all the time. Do not wait until some one hunts you up. People talk about striking while the iron is hot. I believe it was Cromwell who said that he would rather strike the iron and make it hot. So let us keep at our post, and we will soon grow warm in the Lord’s work.

April 26

For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. (Psalm 69:9)

I heard of some one who was speaking the other day of something that was to be done, and who said he hoped zeal would be tempered with moderation. Another friend very wisely replied that he hoped moderation would be tempered with zeal. If that were always the case, Christianity would be like a red hot ball rolling over the face of the earth. There is no power on earth that can stand before the onward march of God’s people when they are in dead earnest.

April 25

And in every work that he began, he did it with his heart. (2 Chronicles 31:21)

In all ages God has used those who were in earnest. Satan always calls idle men into his service. God calls active and earnest—not indolent men. You remember where Elijah found Elisha ploughing in the field. Gideon was at the threshing floor.

Moses was away in Horeb looking after the sheep. None of these were indolent men; what they did, they did with all their might. We want such men and women nowadays. If we cannot do God’s work with all the knowledge we would like, let us at any rate do it with all the zeal that God has given us.

April 24

A kingdom which shall never be destroyed (Daniel 7:14)

Napoleon tried to establish a kingdom by the force of arms. So did Alexander the Great, and Caesar, and other great warriors; but they utterly failed. Jesus founded His kingdom on love, and it is going to stand. When we get on to this plane of love, then all selfish and unworthy motives will disappear, and our work will stand the fire when God shall put it to the test.

April 23

From darkness unto light. (Acts 26:18)

I remember one night when the Bible was the driest and darkest book in the universe to me. The next day it was all light. I had the key to it. I had been born of the Spirit. But before I knew anything of the mind of God in His word I had to give up my sin.

April 22

Exceeding great and precious promises. (2 Peter 1:4)

Let men feed for a month on the promises of God and they will not be talking their “leanness.” It is not leanness, it is laziness. There is an abundant supply for us if we will only rouse ourselves to take it.

April 21

One man of you shall chase a thousand. (Joshua 23:10)

When in Glasgow, a friend was telling me about a man who was preaching one Sabbath morning on Shamgar. He said: “I can imagine that when he was ploughing in the field a man came running over the hill all out of breath, and shouted: ‘Shamgar! Shamgar! There are six hundred Philistines coming toward you.’ Shamgar quietly said: ‘You pass on; I can take care of them, they are four hundred short.’ So he took an ox goad and slew the whole of them. He routed them hip and thigh." “One shall chase a thousand.” Nowadays it takes about a thousand to chase one, because we do not realize that we are weak in ourselves and that our strength is in God.

April 20

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Philippians 4:13)

Take Christ for your strength, dear soul. He’ll give you power. Power to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil; power to crucify every  sin, passion, lust; power to shout in triumph over every trouble and temptation of your life, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

April 19

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15)

I can imagine Jesus saying: “Go search out the man who put that crown of thorns on My brow; tell him I will have a crown for him in My kingdom, if he will accept salvation; and there shall not be a thorn in it. Find out that man who took the reed from My hand, and smote My head, driving the thorns deeper into My brow. Tell him I want to give him a sceptre. Go, seek out that poor soldier who drove the spear into My side; tell him that there is a nearer way to My heart than that. Tell him I want to make him a soldier of the Cross, and that My banner over him shall be love.”