Days of Heaven on Earth

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Tuesday, August 28, 2012

When we reach the place of union with God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we come into the inheritance of external blessing and enter upon the land of our possession. Then our health and physical strength come to us through the power of our interior life. Then the prayer is fulfilled that we shall be in health and prosper as our soul prospers. Then, with the kingdom of God and His righteousness within us all things are added unto us.

God's external working always keeps pace with the power that works in us. When God is enthroned in a human soul, the devil and the world soon find it out. We do not need to advertise our power. Jesus could not be hid, and a soul filled with divine power and purity should become the center of attraction to hungry hearts and Suffering lives.

Let us receive Him and recognize Him in His indwelling glory, and then will we appropriate all that it means for our life in all its fullness.

Lord, give me the "hiding of thy power," and let Christ be glorified in me.

Scripture
According to the power that worketh in us—Ephesians 3:20

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Monday, August 27, 2012

The Lord is still using the things that are despised. The very names of Nazarene and Christian were once epithets of contempt. No man can have God's highest thought and be popular with his immediate generation. The most abused men are often the most used.

There are far greater calamities than to be unpopular and misunderstood. There are far worse things than to be found in the minority. Many of God's greatest blessings are lying behind the devil's scarecrows of prejudice and misrepresentation. The Holy Spirit is not ashamed to use unpopular people. And if He uses them, what need they care for men?

Oh, let us but have God's recognition and man's notice will count for little, and God will give us all we need of human help and praise. Let us only seek God's will, His glory, His approval. Let us go for Him on the hardest errands and do for Him the most menial tasks. It will be honor enough that He sends us and uses us. Let us not fear in this day to follow Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. By-and-by he will own our worthless name before the myriads of earth and heaven.

Scripture
Take no thought for your life—Matthew 6:25

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Sunday, August 26, 2012

Elisha asked the widow, "What hast thou in the house?" And she said, "Nothing but a pot of oil." But that pot of oil was adequate all her needs, had she only known how to use it. In truth it represented the Holy Spirit, and the great lesson of the incident is that the Holy Spirit is adequate for all our needs, if we only know how to use Him.

All the widow needed was to get sufficient vessels to hold the overflow, and then pour out until all were filled. Even so the Holy Spirit is limited only by our capacity to receive Him, and when God wants us to have a larger fullness, he has to make room for it by creating greater needs.

God sends us new vessels to be filled with His Holy Spirit in the needs that come to us and the trials that meet us. These are God's opportunities to give us more of Himself. As we meet them He comes to us in larger fullness for each new necessity.

Lord, help me to see Thee in all my trying situations and to make them vessels to hold more of Thy grace.

Scripture
Thine handmaid hath riot anything in the house, save a pot of oil—2 Kings 4:2

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Saturday, August 25, 2012

This state spoken of by Ezekiel is much more than a new heart. It is a heart filled with the Holy Spirit, the Divine Spirit, the power that causes us to walk in God's commandments.

This is the greatest crisis that comes to a Christian: when into the spirit that was renewed in conversion, God Himself comes to dwell, to make it His abiding place, and to hold it by His mighty power in holiness and righteousness.

After this occurs, one would suppose that we would be lifted up into a much more hopeful and exuberant spirit, but the prophet gives a very different picture. He says when this comes to pass we shall loathe ourselves in our own eyes.

The revelation of God conveys a profound sense of our own nothingness and worthlessness and lays us on our face in the dust in self-denial. The incoming of the Holy Spirit displaces self and disgraces self forever. The highest holiness is to walk in self-renunciation.

Scripture
And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them—Ezekiel 36.27

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Friday, August 24, 2012

The very test of consecration is our willingness not only to surrender the things that are wrong, but to surrender our rights, to be willing to be subject. When God begins to subdue a soul, He often requires us to yield the things that are of little importance in themselves and thus breaks our necks and subdues our spirits.

No Christian worker can ever be used of God until the proud self-will is broken and the heart is ready to yield to God's every touch, no matter through whom it may come.

Many people want God to lead them in their way, but they will endure no authority or restraint. They will give their money, but they want to dictate how it shall be spent. They will work as long as you let them please themselves, but let any pressure come and you immediately run up against not the grace of resignation but a letter of resignation. They may withdraw from some important trust, and arouse a whole community of criticizing friends, who are equally disposed to have their own opinions and their own way. Such attitudes are destructive of all real power.

Scripture
Let your moderation be known unto all men—Philippians 4:5

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Thursday, August 23, 2012

God is now aiming to reproduce in us the pattern which has already appeared in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Christian life is not an imitation of Christ, but a direct new creation in Christ, and the union with Christ is so complete that He imparts His own nature to us and lives His own life in us. This, then, is not an imitation but simply the outgrowth of the nature implanted within.

We live Christlike because we have the Christ-life. God is not satisfied with anything less than perfection. He required that from His Son. He requires it from us, and He does not, in the process of grace, reduce the standard, but He brings us up to it. He does not let down the righteousness of the law, but He requires of us a righteousness that far exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, and then He imparts it to us. He counts us righteous in sanctification, and He says of the new creation, He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous (I John 3:7).

Lord, live out Thy very life in me.

Scripture
Even as he is pure—1 John 3:3
Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Thousands of people get stranded after they have embarked on the great voyage of holiness because they have depended upon the experience rather than on the Author of it. They had supposed that they were thoroughly and permanently delivered from all sin, and in the ecstasy of their first experience they imagined that they never would be tried and tempted as before.

When, therefore, they step out into the actual facts of Christian life and find themselves failing and falling, they are astonished and perplexed, and they conclude that they must have been mistaken in their experience. Then they make a new attempt at the same thing, and again fall, until at last, worn out with the experiment, they conclude that the experience is a delusion, or at least that it was never intended for them. Thus they fall back into the old way, and their last state is worse than the first.

Men and women today need to know not sanctification as a state but Christ as a living Person.

Lord Jesus, give me Thy heart, Thy faith, Thy life, Thyself.

Scripture
I the Lord, the first, and with the last—Isaiah 41:4

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Tuesday, August 21, 2012

The thing is to count the battle God's. The battle is not yours but God's. We shall not need to fight in this battle. As long as we count our dangers and responsibilities, we shall be distracted with fear. But when we realize God is bound to take care of us as His property and His representatives, we shall feel infinite relief and security.

If I send my employee on a long journey, I am responsible for his expenses and protection; if God sends me anywhere, He is responsible. If we belong to God and put our life, our family, and our all in His hands, we may know He will take care of us.

If our body belongs to God, it is His interest to keep us well, just as much as it is for the interest of the shepherd to have his sheep well fed, well cared for and a credit to him.

Thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph (2 Corinthians 2:14).

Stand up, stand up for Jesus,

Stand in His strength alone;

The arm of flesh will fail you,

Ye dare not trust your own.

Scripture
The battle is not yours—2 Chronicles 20:15

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Monday, August 20, 2012

The true way to glorify God is for God to show His glory through us, to shine through us as empty vessels, reflecting His fullness of grace and power.

The sun is glorified when it has a chance to show its light through the crystal window, or in reflection from the spotless mirror or the glassy sea.

There is nothing that glorifies God so much as for a weak and helpless man or woman to be able to triumph through His strength in places where the highest human qualities will fail us and to carry on in divine power through every form of toll and suffering. A spirit naturally weak, irresolute, selfish, and sinful, transformed into sweetness, purity and power and standing victorious amid circumstances from which its natural qualities must utterly unfit it brings glory to God. A mind not naturally wise or strong, yet directed by a divine wisdom and carried along the path of a great and mighty plan, being used to accomplish stupendous results for God and man-this glorifies God.

Father, let me glorify Thee this day and adorn Thy doctrine in all things I do.

Scripture
Herein is my Father glorified—John 15:8

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Sunday, August 19, 2012

God requires of us a perfect faith, and He tells us that if we believe and doubt not, we shall have whatsoever we ask. The faintest touch of unbelief will neutralize our trust.

But how shall we have such perfect faith? Is it possible for human nature? No, but it is possible to the divine nature; it is possible to the Christ within us. It is possible for God to give us faith, and He does. But Christ is the Author and Finisher of our faith, and He bids us have the faith of God. As we have faith through the imparting of the Spirit of Christ, we believe even as He.

We pray in His name and in His very nature, and, [we] live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved [us], and gave himself for [us] (Galatians 2:20). The love that He requires of us is not mere human love, or even the standard of love required in the Old Testament, but something far higher. The new commandment is to love one another (John 13:34), not as ourselves but as He has loved us

How shall such love be made possible? Our love is simply His love working in us and imparted to us through the Spirit.

Scripture
Have faith in God—Mark 11:22

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Saturday, August 18, 2012

We little dream sometimes what a hasty word, a thoughtless speech, an imprudent act, or a confession of unbelief and fear may do to hinder our highest usefulness or turn it aside from some great opportunity which God has been preparing for us.

Although the Holy Spirit uses weak men, He does not want them to be weak after He chooses and calls them. Although He uses the foolish things to confound the wise, He does not want us to be foolish after He comes to give us His wisdom and grace. He uses the foolishness of preaching, but not necessarily the foolishness of preachers. Like the electric current which can supply the strength of a thousand men, it is necessary that it should have a proper conductor, and a very small wire is better than a very big rope.

God wants fit instruments for His power-wills surrendered, hearts trusting, lives consistent and lips obedient to His will. Then He can use the weakest weapons and make them mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.

Scripture
The three hundred blew the trumpets—Judges 7:22

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Friday, August 17, 2012

The Holy Spirit is very sensitive, as love always is. You can conquer a wild beast by blows and chains, but you cannot conquer a woman's heart that way, or win the love of a sensitive nature; that must be wooed by the delicate touches of trust and affection. So the Holy Spirit has to be taken by a faith as delicate and sensitive as the gentle heart with whom it is coming in touch. One thought of unbelief, one expression of impatient distrust or fear will instantly check the perfect freedom of His operations as much as a breath of frost would wither the petals of the most sensitive rose or lily.

Speak to the Rock do not strike it. Believe in the Holy Spirit and treat Him with the most tender confidence and unwavering trust, and He will meet you with instant response and confidence.

Have you come to the rock in Kadesh? (Numbers 20:1-8). Have you opened all your being to the fullness of the Spirit, and then, with the confidence of the child to the mother, the bride to the husband, the flower to the sunshine, have you received by faith, and are you drinking of His blessed life?

Scripture
Speak ye unto the rock—Numbers 20:8

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Oh, how it helps and comforts us in the plodding of life to know that we have with us the Christ who spent the first thirty years of His life swinging a hammer in the carpenter shop at Nazareth, covered with sweat and grimy dust, physically weary as we often are, and able to understand all our experiences of drudgery and labor! Moreover, He still loves to share our common tasks and equip us for our difficult undertakings of hand and brain.

Yes, housewife, He will help you at the kitchen range and sink as gladly as at the hour of prayer. Yes, busy laborer, He will go with you and help you to swing the hammer, or handle the saw, or hold the plow in the soil of life. You will be a better mechanic, a more skilled workman, a more successful man because you take His wisdom for the common affairs of life.

There is no place or time where Jesus is not able and willing to walk by our side, to work through our hand and minds, and to unite Himself in loving and caring partnership with all our needs and tasks and trials. In this way He proves Himself our all-sufficiency for all things.

Scripture
I am with you always Matthew 28:20
Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Wednesday, August 15, 2012

The Holy Spirit does not come to give us extraordinary manifestations but to give us life and light. The nearer we come to Him the more simple will His illumination and leading be. He comes to guide [us] into all truth. He comes to shed light upon our own hearts and to show us ourselves. He comes to reveal Christ, to give, and then to illumine the Holy Scriptures and to make divine realities vivid and clear to our spiritual apprehension. He comes as a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ, to enlighten the eyes of our understanding, that we may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power (Ephesians 1:18-19).

Spirit of Power! with heavenly fire,

Our souls endue, our tongues inspire;

Stretch forth Thy mighty hand,

Thy Pentecostal gifts restore,

The wonders of Thy power once more

Display in every land.

Scripture
He will guide you into all truth—John 16:13

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Monday, August 13, 2012

The presence of clouds upon your sky and trials in your path are the very best evidence that you are following the pillar of cloud and walking in the presence of God. The disciples had to enter the cloud before they could behold the glory of the transfiguration. A little later that same cloud became the chariot to receive the ascending Lord, and it is still waiting as the chariot that will bring His glorious appearing.

Still it is true that while clouds and darkness are round about him, mercy and truth are ever in their midst and shall go before thy face (Psalm 89:14).

Perhaps the most beautiful and gracious use of the cloud was to shelter Israel from the fiery sun. Like a great umbrella, that majestic pillar spread its canopy above the camp and became a shielding shadow from the burning heat in the treeless desert. One who has never felt an oriental sun cannot fully appreciate how much this means-a shadow from the heat.

So the Holy Spirit comes between us and the fiery, scorching rays of sorrow and temptation.

Scripture
Clouds and darkness are round about him—Psalm 97:2
Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Sunday, August 12, 2012

Your Christian influence, your reputation as a worker for God and your standing among your brethren may be an idol to which you must die before you can be free to live for Jesus alone.

If you have ever noticed the type on a printed page, you must have seen that the little "i" always has a dot over it. It is that dot that elevates it above the other letters in the line.

Now, each of us is a little i, and over every one of us there is a little dot of self-importance, self-will, self-interest, self-confidence, self-complacency- or something to which we cling and for which we contend. But it just as surely reveals self-life as if it were a mountain of real importance.

This i is a rival of Jesus Christ. It is the enemy of the Holy Spirit and of our peace and life. God has therefore decreed its death, and the Holy Spirit, with His flaming sword, is waiting to destroy it that we may be able to enter through the gates and come to the Tree of Life.

Lord, crowd me out by Thy fullness, even as the glory of the Lord left no room for Moses in the tabernacle.

Scripture
Not ourselves, but Christ Jesus 2 Corinthians 4:5

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Saturday, August 11, 2012
The actual provisions of God's grace come from the inner vision.

He who gives to the bird the instinct to cross the continent in search of summer sunshine in a southern climate is too good to deceive it. And just as surely as He has put the instinct in the breast of the bird, so has He also put the balmy breezes and the vernal sunshine there to meet it when it arrives.

He who gave to Abraham the vision of the Land of Promise also said in infinite truth and love: All the land that thou seest will I give thee. He who breathes into our hearts the heavenly hope will not deceive or fail us when we press forward to its realization. There is nothing unfaithful in Him who has said: If it were not so, I would have told you (John 14:2), and we may know that God never will deceive us or fail us, but all that He reveals by His Holy Spirit He will make our own as we press forward and enter into its realization.

Lord, give me first the vision and then the victory. Show me all my inheritance, and then give it all to me in Christ Jesus.

Scripture
All the land which thou seest—Genesis 13:15

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Friday, August 10, 2012

The blessed Holy Spirit who possesses the consecrated heart is intensely concerned for our highest life and watches us with a sensitive and even a jealous love. Very beautiful is the true translation of that ordinary passage in James 4:5, The Spirit that dwelleth in us loveth us to jealousy.

The heart of the Holy Spirit is deeply concerned in preserving us from every stain and blemish and in bringing us into the very highest possibilities of the will of God.

The heavenly Bridegroom would have His Church not only free from every spot, but also from every wrinkle, or any such thing. The spot is the mark of sin, but the wrinkle is the sign of weakness, age and decay; Jesus wants no such defacing touch upon the holy features of His beloved. So the Holy Spirit, who is the Executor of His will and the Divine Messenger whom He sends to call, separate and bring home His Bride, is jealously concerned in fulfilling in us all the Master's will.

Lord, take from me every blemish and mark of weakness and decay and make me Thy spotless Bride.

Scripture
There is no spot in thee—Song of Solomon 4:7

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Thursday, August 09, 2012

As any evil comes up and the consciousness of any unholy thing touches our inner senses, it is our privilege at once to hand it over to the Holy Spirit and to lay it upon Jesus as something already crucified with Him. Then, as was done with the sin offering, it will be carried outside the camp and burned to ashes.

There may be deep suffering, there may be protracted pain, and it may be intensely real; but throughout all there will be a very sweet and sacred sense of God's presence, of intense purity in our whole spirit and of our separation from the evil which is being consumed. Truly, it will be borne outside the camp, leaving not even the smell of the flames upon our garments.

It is so blessed to have the Holy Spirit slay things. No sword but His can pass so perfectly between us and the evil, so that it consumes the sin without touching the spirit.

Lord Jesus, my sin offering, I lay my sin, myself, my whole nature, upon Thy cross. Consume me by Thy holy fire, and let me die to all but Thee!

Scripture
Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel—Leviticus 16:21

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Speech is one of the supreme distinctions between man and the lower animals. The power of expressing thought in articulation and written language is one of the high prerogatives of rational beings.

A man's conversation is the real test of his character and if any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain (James 1:26). An unbridled tongue is a sure sign of an unsanctified spirit. On the other hand, if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. It is a sign that he is under the government of his conscience, his will and the Holy Spirit. This is a most heart-searching test.

It was a foolish word that lost Moses the Land of Promise. He would have taken it back if he could have, but it was too late. Though he was taken to heaven, he could not lead Israel into the promised land.

Many men and women of great potential ruin their whole lives by an uncontrolled tongue. It settles our character and influence here. How much more in the sight of Him who has said, By thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned (Matthew 12:37).

Scripture
If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body—James 3:2

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Sunday, August 05, 2012

Some of us are starving and wondering why the Holy Spirit does not fill us. We have plenty coming in, but we do not give it out. Give out the blessing you have, start larger plans for service and blessing and you will soon find that the Holy Spirit is before you. He will prevent [precede] you with blessings of goodness (Psalm 21:3) and give you all that He can trust you to give away to others.

There is no music so heavenly as an Aeolian harp. The Aeolian harp is nothing but a set of stretched strings arranged in harmony and then left to be touched by the unseen fingers of the wandering winds. As the breath of heaven floats over the chords, notes almost divine float out upon the air as if a choir of angels were wandering around and touching the strings.

And so it is possible to keep our hearts so open to the touch of the Holy Spirit that He can play upon them at will, as we quietly wait in the pathway of His service.

Scripture
If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me—Revelation 3:20

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Sunday, August 05, 2012

Some of us are starving and wondering why the Holy Spirit does not fill us. We have plenty coming in, but we do not give it out. Give out the blessing you have, start larger plans for service and blessing and you will soon find that the Holy Spirit is before you. He will prevent [precede] you with blessings of goodness (Psalm 21:3) and give you all that He can trust you to give away to others.

There is no music so heavenly as an Aeolian harp. The Aeolian harp is nothing but a set of stretched strings arranged in harmony and then left to be touched by the unseen fingers of the wandering winds. As the breath of heaven floats over the chords, notes almost divine float out upon the air as if a choir of angels were wandering around and touching the strings.

And so it is possible to keep our hearts so open to the touch of the Holy Spirit that He can play upon them at will, as we quietly wait in the pathway of His service.

Scripture
If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me—Revelation 3:20

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Saturday, August 04, 2012

A spiritual man is not so much a man possessing a strong spiritual character as a man filled with the Holy Spirit. So the apostle Paul said: Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
The glory of the new creation, then, is not only that it recreates the human spirit, but that it fits it for the abode of God Himself, and makes it dependent upon the Son, as the child upon the mother. The highest spirituality, therefore, is the most utter helplessness, the most total dependence and the most complete possession of the Holy Spirit. The beautiful act of Christ in breathing upon His disciples and imparting to them from His own lips the very Spirit that was already in Him expressed in the most vivid manner the crowning glory of the new creation. And when the Holy Spirit thus possesses us, He fills every part of our being.

Scripture
Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his—Romans 8:9

Devotions » Simpson Devotional
Days of Heaven on Earth
Friday, August 03, 2012

The pressure of hard places makes us value life. Every time we come through such a trial, it is like a new beginning, and we learn better how much life is worth and make more of it for God and man. The pressure helps us to understand the trials of others and fits us to help and sympathize with them.

There is a shallow, superficial nature that gets hold of a theory or a promise and talks very glibly about the distrust of those who shrink from every trial. But the man or woman who has suffered much never does this. Knowing what suffering really means, he or she is very tender and gentle.

This is what Paul meant when he said, Death worketh in us, but life in you (2 Corinthians 4:12). Trials and hard places are needed to press us forward, even as the furnace fires in the hold of the mighty steamship give the force that moves the Piston, drives the engine and propels that great vessel in the face of winds and waves.

Scripture
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God—1 Peter 5:6

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Thursday, August 02, 2012

The blessed Comforter is gentle, tender and full of patience and love. How gentle are God's dealings even with sinners. How patient His forbearance. How tender His discipline with His own erring children. How He led Jacob, Joseph, Israel, David, Elijah and all His ancient servants until they could truly say, Thy gentleness hath made me great.

The heart in which the Holy Spirit dwells will always be characterized by gentleness, lowliness, quietness, meekness and forbearance. The rude, sarcastic spirit, the brusque manner, the sharp retort, the unkind cut-all of these belong to the flesh and have nothing in common with the gentle teaching of the Comforter.

The Holy Dove shrinks from the noisy, tumultuous, excited and vindictive spirit and finds His home in the peaceful soul. The fruit of the Spirit is . . . gentleness, . . . meekness.

Lord, make me gentle. Hush my spirit. Refine my manner. Let me have Christ in my bearing and my very tones, as well as in my heart.

Scripture
Thy gentleness hath made me great—Psalm 18:35

God's Help Is Just A Prayer Away

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Wednesday, August 01, 2012

It will not always be the day of toll and trial. Some day we shall hear our names announced before the universe and the record read of things that we had long forgotten. How our hearts will thrill, and our heads will bow, as we hear our own names called, and then the Master shall recount the triumph and the services which we had ourselves forgotten! And, perhaps, from the ranks of the saved He shall call forward the souls that we have won for Christ, and the souls that they in turn have won. As we see the issue of things that have, perhaps, seemed unimportant at the time, we shall fall before the throne, and say, Not unto us, 0 Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory (Psalm 115:1).

Beloved, each day we are adding pages to the record of our lives. We are setting the type ourselves, by every moment's action. Soon the record will be read before the audience of the universe and amid the issues of eternity.

Scripture
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done—2 Corinthians 5:10

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Why should God have to lead us through troubles and allow the pressure to be so hard and constant?

In the first place, it shows His all-sufficient strength and grace much better than if we were exempt from pressure and trial. We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us (2 Corinthians 4:7).

Also, it makes us more conscious of our dependence upon God. God is constantly trying to teach us our dependence and to hold us absolutely in His hand and hanging upon His care.

This was the place where Jesus Himself stood and where He wants us to stand, not with a self constituted strength, but with a hand ever leaning upon His, and a trust that dares not take one step alone.

Troubles teach us trust. There is no way of learning faith except by trial. It is God's school of faith, and it is far better for us to learn to trust God than to escape trials.

The lesson of faith, once learned, is an everlasting acquisition and an eternal fortune made. Without trust even riches will leave us poor.

Scripture
We were troubled on every side—2 Corinthians 7:5

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Days of Heaven on Earth
Monday, July 30, 2012

Sometimes people fall because they lack confidence in the Physician. The very first requirement for your healing is that you trust the Physician, and trust Him implicitly-so implicitly that you go forward on His bare word and act as if you had received His healing the moment you claimed His promise.

You must also do what the Great Physician tells you, if you expect Him to make you whole. The pills prescribed by your doctor would do you no good if left on the cupboard shelf.

You cannot expect to be healed if you are living in sin, any more than you could expect the best physician to cure you while you lived in a malarial climate or inhaled poison with every breath. So you must move from doubt into the pure air of trust and obedience before Christ can make you whole. And then if you will trust Him and respond to His directions, you will find that there is balm in Gilead and a Great Physician there.

Scripture
If thou wilt diligently hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, . . . and wilt keep all his statutes—Exodus 15:26