Days of Heaven on Earth

Days of Heaven on Earth
Thursday, September 10, 2015

0ur text sets forth a sublime principle, and it will give sublimity to all of life. It is stated elsewhere in similar language, Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus (Colossians 3:17).

This is our high calling, to represent Christ and act in His behalf and in His character and spirit under all circumstances and toward all persons. "What would Jesus do?" is a simple question which will settle every difficulty, and always settle it on the side of love.

But we cannot answer this question rightly without having Jesus Himself in our hearts. We cannot act Christ. This is too grave a matter for acting. We must have Christ and simply be natural and true to the life within us. Then that fife within us will act itself out.

How easy it is to love everyone and see nothing but loveliness, when our hearts are filled with Christ. How every difficulty melts away and everyone we meet seems clothed with the 'Spirit within us when we are filled with His presence.

Scripture
Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God—Romans 15:7

Days of Heaven on Earth
Friday, September 11, 2015

Literally, Jesus is saying, "I am with you all the days." He comes to us each day with a new blessing. Every morning, day by day, He walks with us with a love that never tires and a blessing that never grows old. And He is with us "all the days;" it is a ceaseless abiding. There is no day so dark, so commonplace, so uninteresting that we do not find Him there.

Often, no doubt, He is unrecognized, as He was on the way to Emmaus, until we realize how our hearts have been warmed, our love stirred, our Bible so strangely vivified, with every promise seeming to speak to us with heavenly reality and power. It is the Lord!

God grant that His living presence may be made more real to us henceforth. Whether we have the consciousness and evidence-as they had a few glorious times in those 40 days-or whether we go forth into the coming days as they did most of their days to walk by simple faith and in simple duty, let us know this fact always, that He is with us, a Presence all unseen but real and ready when we need Him to manifest Himself for our relief.

Scripture
Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world—Matthew 28:20

Days of Heaven on Earth
Saturday, September 12, 2015

Remember that temptation is not sin unless it is accompanied with the consent of your will. There may seem to be even the inclination, and yet the real choice of your spirit is fixed immovably against it, and God regards it simply as a solicitation and credits you with an obedience all the more pleasing to Him because the temptation was so strong.

We little know how evil can find access to a pure nature and seem to incorporate itself with our thoughts and feelings. When, however, we resist and overcome it we remain as pure as the sea fowl that emerges from the water without a single drop remaining upon its burnished wing. The harp, struck by a rude or clumsy hand, gives forth a discordant sound-not from any defect o the instrument but because of the hand that touches it. But when the Master's hand pluck strings it produces chords of exquisite delight.

In nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God (Philippians 1:28).

Scripture
The furnace for gold; but the Lord trieth the hearts—Proverbs 17:3

Days of Heaven on Earth
Sunday, September 13, 2015

Most persons after a step of faith are looking for sunny skies and unruffled seas, and when they meet a storm and tempest they are filled with astonishment and perplexity. But this is just what we must expect to meet if we have received anything of the Lord. The best token of His presence is the adversary's defiance. The more real our blessing, the more certainly it will be challenged. It is a good thing to go out looking for the worst, and if it comes we are not surprised. To the contrary, if our path is smooth and our way unopposed, it is all the more delightful because it comes unexpectedly.

But let us quite understand what we mean by temptation. If you have stepped out with the assurance that you have died to self and sin, you may be greatly amazed to find yourself assailed with a tempest of thoughts and feelings that seem to come wholly from within, and you will be impelled to say, "Why, I thought I was dead, but I seem to be alive." This, beloved, is the time to remember that temptation itself is not sin, it is a tactic of the evil one.

Scripture
Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you—I Peter 4:12

Days of Heaven on Earth
Monday, September 14, 2015

Here is the language of trust and victory. It was through this faith, as we are told in Hebrews, that in His last agony Jesus for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame (12:2). His life was a life of faith, His death was a victory of faith, His resurrection was a triumph of faith, His mediatorial reign is one long victory of faith, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool (10:13).

And so, for us He has become the pattern of faith. In every situation of difficulty, temptation and distress He has gone before us, waving the banner of trust and triumph and bidding us to follow in His victorious footsteps.

He is the great Pattern Believer. While we must claim our salvation by faith, the great Forerunner also claimed the world's salvation by the same faith.

Let us therefore consider this glorious Leader perfect example, and as we follow close behind Him, let us remember that where He has triumphed we may triumph, too.

Scripture
For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and know that I shall not be ashamed.—Isaiah 50:7

Days of Heaven on Earth
Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Some things have their cycle in an hour and some in a century. Long or short, God's plans shall complete their cycle. The tender annual which blossoms for a season and dies, and the American aloe which develops in a century-each is true to its normal principle. Many of us desire to pluck our fruit in June rather than wait until October, and so, of course, the fruit is sour and immature. But God's purposes ripen slowly and fully, and faith waits while it tarries knowing it will surely come and will not tarry too long.

It is perfect rest to fully learn and wholly trust this glorious promise. We may know without a question that His purposes shall be accomplished when we have fully committed our ways to Him and are walking in watchful obedience to His every prompting. This faith will give a calm and tranquil poise to the spirit and save us from restless fretting and trying to do too much ourselves.

Wait, and every wrong will righten,

Wait, and every cloud will brighten,

If you only wait.

Scripture
Though it tarry, wait for it; for it will surely come, and will not tarry—Habakkuk 2:3


Days of Heaven on Earth
Wednesday, September 16, 2015

It is most cheering to know that although we err and bring upon ourselves many troubles that might easily have been averted, yet God does not forsake even His mistaken child, but on his humble repentance and supplication is ever ready both to pardon and deliver.

Let us not give up our faith because we have perhaps stepped out of the path in which He would have led us. The Israelites did not follow when He called them into the Land of Promise, yet God did not desert them. During the forty years of their wandering He walked by their side, bearing their backsliding with patient compassion, waiting to be gracious to them when another generation came. In all their affliction he afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; . . . he bare them, and carried them all the days of old (Isaiah 63:9). So it is today, while our wanderings bring us many sorrows and lose us many blessings, to the heart that truly chooses His, He has graciously said: I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Scripture
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee—Hebrews 13:5

Days of Heaven on Earth
Thursday, September 17, 2015

This is what the term consecration properly means. It is the voluntary or self-offering of the heart, by the constraint of love, to be the Lord's. Its glad expression is, I am my beloved's (Song of Solomon 6:3).

Surrender must spring, of course, from faith. There must be the full confidence that we are safe in this abandonment, that we are not falling over a precipice or surrendering ourselves to the hands of a judge but we are sinking into a Father's arms and stepping into an infinite inheritance!

It is an infinite privilege to be permitted to relinquish ourselves to One who pledges Himself to make us all that we would love to be, yes, all that His infinite wisdom, power and love will delight to accomplish in us. It is the clay yielding itself to the potter's hands that it may be shaped into a vessel of honor meet for the Master's use. It is the poor street waif consenting to become the child of a prince in order that he may be educated, provided for and prepared to inherit all the wealth of his guardian.

Scripture
The people shall be [a freewill offering] in the day of thy power—Psalm 110:3

Days of Heaven on Earth
Friday, September 18, 2015

There are heavenly notes which have power to break down adamant walls and dissolve difficult mountains. The song of Paul and Silas burst the fetters of the Philippian jail; the choir of Jehoshaphat put to flight the armies of the Ammonites. Even so the song of faith will disperse our adversaries and lift our sinking hearts into strength and victory.

Is this a dark hour in your life? Is it the winter of barrenness and gloom? Remember that it is God's chosen time for the education of faith, and that He conceals beneath the surface precious and untold harvests of unthought-of fruit! It will not always be night. And when the morning comes and spring spreads its verdant mantle over the barren fields, then we shall be glad that we did not disappoint our Father in the hour of testing, but our faith had already claimed and seen in the distance the glad fruition which sight now beholds.

Lord, help me to believe when I cannot see and to learn from my trials to trust Thee more.

Scripture
We walk by faith, not by sight—2 Corinthians 5:7

Days of Heaven on Earth
Saturday, September 19, 2015

If the least of us could only anticipate the eternal issues that will probably spring from the humblest services of faith, we would count our sacrifices and labors occasions of honor and opportunity and would cease to speak of trials and sacrifices for God.

The smallest grain of faith is a deathless and incorruptible germ which will yet plant the heavens and cover the earth with harvests of imperishable glory. Let us lift up our heads, for the horizon is wider than the little circle that we can see. We are living, we are suffering, we are laboring, we are trusting for the ages yet to come. Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. With tears of pure rapture we shall cry some day, Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! (Psalm 31:19).

Lord, help me today to live under the powers of the world to come and to live as one in heaven yet walking upon the earth.

Scripture
In due season we shall reap, if we faint not—Galatians 6:9

Days of Heaven on Earth
Sunday, September 20, 2015

0ften God calls us aside from our work for a season and bids us be still and learn before we begin again to minister. Especially is this so when there has been some serious break, some sudden failure or some radical defect in our work. There is no time lost in such waiting hours.

Fleeing from his enemies, the ancient knight found that his horse needed to be reshod. Prudence seemed to urge him on, but higher wisdom taught him to halt a few minutes at the blacksmith's forge to have the shoe replaced. Though he heard the feet of his pursuers galloping hard behind, yet he waited those minutes until his charger was refitted for his flight. Then, leaping into his saddle just as they appeared a hundred yards away, he dashed away from them with the fleetness on the wind. He knew that his halting had hastened his escape.

So often God bids us tarry and fully recover ourselves for the next great stage of our journey and work.

Lord, teach me to be still and know that Thou art God, and all this day to walk with Thee.

Scripture
They shall not be ashamed that wait—Isaiah 49:23

Days of Heaven on Earth
Monday, September 21, 2015

It is a good thing to learn to depend upon God to work through our feeble resources and yet, while so depending, to be absolutely faithful and diligent and not allow our trust to deteriorate into indolence.

We find no sloth or negligence in Gideon or his three hundred; though they were weak and few, they were completely loyal, and everything in them-down to their last breath-was ready for God to use. Faint, yet pursuing was their watchword as they followed and finished their glorious victory. They did not rest until the last of their enemies was destroyed, and even their false friends were punished for their treachery and unfaithfulness.

God still calls the weakest instruments. When, however, he chooses and enables them, they are no longer weak but mighty through God (2 Corinthians 10:4) and faithful through His grace to every trust and opportunity. "They trust," as Dr. Chalmers used to say, "as though all depended upon God, and work as though all depended upon themselves."

Teach me, my blessed Master, to trust and obey.

Scripture
Faint, yet pursuing—Judges 8:4

Days of Heaven on Earth
Tuesday, September 22, 2015

How true is our text for us all! How many things there are that seem to be stronger than we are, but blessed be Jesus' name they are all in subjection under Him, and we see Him crowned above them all.

Jesus is our Head, our representative, our other self, and where He is we shall surely be. Therefore when we fall to see something that God has promised, and that we have claimed in our experience, let us look up and see it realized in Him and claim it in Him. Our side is only half the circle; the heavenly side is already complete. The rainbow, the upper half of which we cannot see, shall one day be all around the throne and include the other hemisphere of all our now unfinished life.

By faith, then, let us enter into all our inheritance. Let us lift up our eyes to the north, south, east and west, and hear Him say, All the land that thou seest, to thee will I give it (Genesis 13:15). Let us remember that the circle is complete, that the inheritance is unlimited and that all things are put under His feet.

Scripture
We see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus—Hebrews 2:8-9

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson

Days of Heaven on Earth
Monday, September 07, 2015

The secret of joy is not to wait until you feel happy, but to rise, by an act of faith, out of the depression which is dragging you down and begin to praise God as an act of choice. This is the meaning of such passages as these: Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice (Philippians 4:4). I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice (Philippians 1:18). Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations (James 1:2). In all these cases there is an evident struggle with sadness and then the triumphs of faith and praise.

This is what is meant-at least in part-by the sacrifice of praise. A sacrifice is that which costs us something. And when a man or woman has some cherished grudge or wrong and is harboring it, nursing it, dwelling on it, and quite determined to enjoy a miserable time in selfish grumbling, it costs us no little sacrifice to throw off the morbid spell, to rise out of the mood of self-commiseration in wholesome and holy determination and say, I will rejoice in the Lord (Habakkuk 3:18); I will count it all joy (James 1:2).

Scripture
I will joy in the God of my salvation—Habakkuk 3:18

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson

Days of Heaven on Earth
Tuesday, September 08, 2015

What the children of God need is not merely a lot of teaching, but the Living Bread. The best wheat is not good food. It must be ground and baked before it can be digested and assimilated to nourish the system. The purest and the highest truth cannot of itself sanctify or satisfy a living soul.

Christ breathes the New Testament message from His mouth with a breath of quickening power. It is as we abide in Him, and drink in His very life that we are nourished, quickened, comforted and healed.

This is the secret of divine healing. It is not believing a doctrine, it is not performing a ceremony, it is not wringing a petition from the heavens by the logic of faith and the force of our wills; it is the in breathing of the life of God, it is the living touch which none can understand except those whose senses are exercised to know 1he realities of the unseen world. Often, there40re, a very little truth will bring us much more help and blessing than a great amount of instruction.

Scripture
He that eateth me, even he shall live by me—John 6:57

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson

Days of Heaven on Earth
Wednesday, September 09, 2015

I may be perfectly free myself to do many things, the doing of which might hurt my brother and wound his conscience. Love will gladly surrender the little indulgence so that my brother may be saved from temptation. There are many questions which are easily settled by this principle.

So, too, there are many forms of recreation which in themselves might be harmless and, under certain circumstances, unobjectionable, but they have become associated with worldliness and godlessness and have proved snares and temptations to many a younger Christian. In that case, the law of love would lead me to avoid them, discountenance them and in now way give encouragement to others to participate in them.

It is just in these things that are not required of us by absolute rules, but are the impulses of a thoughtful love, that the highest qualities of Christian character show themselves. It is in these that the most delicate shades of Christian love are manifested.

Scripture
All things are lawful for me—1 Corinthians 10:23

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson

Days of Heaven on Earth
Friday, September 04, 2015

0ne of the greatest hindrances to spirituality is the lack of waiting upon God. We cannot go through 24 hours with just the breaths of air we inhale as we sip our morning coffee. We must, rather, live in the atmosphere and breathe it all day long.

Christians do not wait upon God enough. It requires hours and hours daily of spiritual communion with the Holy Spirit to keep our vitality healthful and full. Every moment should find us breathing out ourselves into Christ, and breathing afresh His life.

God is waiting to send us the Holy Spirit. He is longing to bless us. His one business is to quicken and sustain our spiritual life with His infinite and great resources. Let us receive Him. Let us live in Him. Let us give to Him the joy of knowing that His infinite grace has not been bestowed in vain, but that we appreciate and appropriate the blessings He bestows.

Lord, help me this day to dwell in Thee as the flower in the sunshine, as the fish in the sea, living in Thy love as the atmosphere and element of my being.

Scripture
Come ye yourselves apart—Mark 6:31

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson

Days of Heaven on Earth
Saturday, September 05, 2015

The beautiful figure suggested by the words "He breathed on them" is full of simple instruction. It is as easy to receive the Holy Spirit as it is to breathe. It almost seems as if the Lord had given His disciples the very impression of breathing, and had said, "Now this is the way to receive the Holy Spirit."

It is not necessary for us to go to the isolation room of a hospital to have our lungs contaminated with impure air. All we need to do is to keep in our lungs the air we inhaled a minute ago, and it will kill us. All the pure elements have been absorbed from it, and there is nothing left but carbon and other deadly gases.

Therefore, if we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we must first be emptied not only of our old sinful life, but of our old spiritual life. We must take a new breath every moment, or we will die. God wants us to empty out all our being into Him. Then we can take Him in-without needing to try too hard.

A vacuum always becomes filled; an empty pair of lungs unavoidably breathes in the pure air. If we are only in the right attitude, there will be no trouble about receiving the Holy Spirit.

Scripture
He breathed on them—John 20:22

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson

Days of Heaven on Earth
Sunday, September 06, 2015

There is no spiritual value in depression. One bright and thankful look at the cross is worth a thousand morbid, self-condemning reflections. The longer you look at the evil the more it defiles and mesmerizes you into its own likeness. Lay it down at the cross, accept the cleansing blood, reckon yourself dead to the thing that was wrong, then rise up and count yourself as if you were another man or woman.

Identifying yourself with the Lord Jesus, you may then accept your standing in Him and look in your Father's face as blameless as Jesus. Then out of your every fault will come some lesson of watchfulness or some secret of victory that will enable you some day to thank Him, even for your e painful experiences.

But praise is a sacrifice for it is acceptable to God. It ascends to heaven sweeter than the songs angels, a sweet smelling savour (Ephesians 5:2) to your Lord. It should be the sacrifice of praise to God continually (Hebrews 13:15). One drop of poison will make the whole cup a cup of death, one moment of gloom will defile a whole day of sunshine. Let us rejoice evermore (1 Thessalonians 5:16).

Scripture
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord—Philippians 3:1

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson

Days of Heaven on Earth
Sunday, August 30, 2015

You little know the rest that comes from the yielded will, the surrendered choice, the meek and lowly heart that lets the world go by and knows that it shall inherit the earth which is has refused. You little know the relish that it gives to the blessing to hunger and thirst after righteousness and to be filled with a satisfaction that worldly delight cannot afford. You little know what it is to then rise to the higher blessedness of the merciful, the forgiving, the hearts that have learned that it is "more blessed to give than to receive," and the lives that find that "letting go is twice possessing" and blessing other is to be doubly blessed.

There is yet one jewel brighter than all the rest in this crown of beatitudes. It is the teardrop crystallized into the diamond, the blood drop transfigured into the ruby of heaven's eternal crown. It is the joy of suffering with Jesus and then forgetting all the sorrow in the overflowing joy until with the heavenly Pascal we know not which to say first and so we say them both together, "Tears upon tears, joy upon joy."

Scripture
Happy are ye if ye do them—John 13:17

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson

Days of Heaven on Earth
Monday, August 31, 2015

There is often apparently but little difference in two distinct lives between the person in constant victory and the one in frequent victory. But that little difference constitutes a world of success or failure. The one is the divine, the other is the human; the one is the everlasting way, the other the transient and the imperfect way. God wants to lead us to the way everlasting and to establish us and make us immovable as He.

We little know the seriousness of the slightest infraction of our surrender to God. It is but the first step in the downward progression, and only God knows where it shall end. Let us be not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul (Hebrews 10:39).

Our victory today is preparing the way for a greater victory tomorrow; but our small compromise today is opening the door for a more terrible defeat in the days to come. Let us, therefore, whatever we have claimed from our blessed Master commit it to His keeping and take Him to establish us and hold us fast in the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

Scripture
Lead me in the way everlasting—Psalm 139:24

Days of Heaven on Earth
Tuesday, September 01, 2015

God often has to bring us not only into the place of suffering, and the bed of sickness and pain, but also into the place where our righteousness breaks down and our character falls to pieces in order to humble us in the dust and show us the need of entire crucifixion to all our natural life. Then, at the feet of Jesus we are ready to receive Him, to abide in Him, depend upon Him alone and draw all our life and strength each moment from Him, our Living Head.

It was thus that Peter was saved by his very fall and had to die to peter that he might live more perfectly to Christ. Have we thus died, and have we thus renounced the strength of our own self-confidence?

We begin life with the natural, next we come into the spiritual; but then, when we have truly received the kingdom of God and His righteousness, the natural is added to the spiritual, and we are able to receive the gifts of His providence and the blessings of life without becoming centered in them or allowing them to separate us from Him.

Scripture
Afterward that which is spiritual—1 Corinthians 15:46

Days of Heaven on Earth
Wednesday, September 02, 2015

The oak comes out of the acorn, the eagle out of that little egg in the nest, the harvest out of the seed. Thus the glory of the coming age is coming out of the Christ-life now, even as the majesty of His kingdom was all wrapped up that night in the baby in Bethlehem.

Let us take Jesus for our total lives. Let us be united to His person and His risen body. Let us know what it is to say, The body is . . . for the Lord; and the Lord is for the body (1 Corinthians 6:13). We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones (Ephesians 5:30).

He who gave that little infant, His only begotten Son, on that dark winter night to the arms of a cruel and ungrateful world will not refuse to give Him to us in all His fullness if we will but open our hearts and give Him right of way and full ownership and possession. Then we shall know in measure His quickening life, even as our hope shall reach its full fruition when we sit with Him on His throne with every fiber of our immortal beings even as He.

Scripture
Who hath despised the day of small things—Zechariah 4:10

Days of Heaven on Earth
Thursday, September 03, 2015

The little plant may grow out of a pile of refuse and be surrounded by filth and covered with the dust that floats on the breeze, but its white roots are separated from the unclean soil, and it leaves and flowers have no affinity with the dust that settles upon them. After a show of summer rain they throw off every particle of defilement and look up as fresh and spotless as before. Their intrinsic nature cannot have any part with these defiling things.

This is the separation which Christ requires and which He gives. There is no merit in my staying from the theater is I want to go. There is no value in my abstaining from the foolish novel or the intoxicating bottle if I am continually wishing I could have them. My heart is there, and my soul is defiled by the desire for evil things. It is not the world that stains us, but the love of the world. The true Levite is separated from the desire for earthly things, and even if he could, he would not have the forbidden pleasures which others prize.

Scripture
The God of Israel hath separated you—Numbers 16:9

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson

Days of Heaven on Earth
Friday, August 28, 2015

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


SIMPSON DEVOTIONAL
Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson

Days of Heaven on Earth
Saturday, August 29, 2015

0ur healing is represented as a special recompense for obedience. If, therefore, we would please the Lord and have the reward of those who please Him, there is no service so acceptable to Him as our praise.

Let us ever meet Him with a glad and thankful heart, and He will reflect it back in the radiance of our countenance and the buoyant life and springing health which are but the echo of a joyful heart.

Further, thankfulness is the best preparation for faith. Trust grows spontaneously in the praiseful heart. Thankfulness takes the sunny side of the street and looks at the bright side of God, and it is only thus that we can ever trust Him. Unbelief looks at our troubles and, of course, they seem like mountains, and faith is discouraged by the prospect. A thankful disposition will always find some cause for cheer and a gloomy one will find a cloud in the brightest sky and a fly in the sweetest ointment. Let us cultivate a spirit of cheerfulness, and we shall find so much in God and in our lives to encourage us that we shall have no room for doubt or fear.

Scripture
To obey is better than sacrifice—1 Samuel 15:22

Days of Heaven on Earth
Thursday, August 27, 2015

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
Wednesday, August 26, 2015

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

Days of Heaven on Earth
Monday, August 24, 2015

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
Tuesday, August 25, 2015

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
Sunday, August 23, 2015

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
Saturday, August 22, 2015

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
Friday, August 21, 2015

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
Thursday, August 20, 2015

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
Wednesday, August 19, 2015

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
Tuesday, August 18, 2015

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
Monday, August 17, 2015

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

Days of Heaven on Earth
Thursday, August 13, 2015

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

Days of Heaven on Earth
Friday, August 14, 2015

I would rather play with the forked lightning than to speak a reckless word against any servant of Christ. I would rather take in my hands live wires with their fiery current than to idly repeat the slanderous darts which thousands of Christians are hurling at others to the hurt of their own souls and bodies.

You may wonder why your sickness is not hea1ed, why your spirit is not filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, why your life is not blessed and prosperous. It may be that some dart which you have flung with angry voice or in an idle hour of thoughtless gossip is pursuing you on its way. It is describing the circle which always brings back to the source from which it came every shaft of bitterness and every idle and evil word.

Let us remember that when we persecute or hurt the children of God, we are but persecuting Him and hurting ourselves far more.

Lord, make me as sensitive to the feelings and rights of others as I have often been to my own, and let me live and love like Thee.

Scripture
Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm—Psalm 105:15



Days of Heaven on Earth
Saturday, August 15, 2015

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

Days of Heaven on Earth
Sunday, August 16, 2015

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 12, 2015

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
Tuesday, August 11, 2015

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
Monday, August 10, 2015

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
Saturday, August 08, 2015

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 09, 2015

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
Thursday, August 06, 2015

The blessed Holy Spirit is our Guide, our Leader and our Resting-place. There are times when He presses us forward into prayer, into service, into suffering, into new experiences, new duties, new claims of faith and hope and love. Then there are times when He arrests us in our activity and rests us in the secret place of the Most High. He teaches us some new lessons, breathing into us some deeper strength or fullness and then leading us on again, at His bidding alone.

The Holy Spirit is the true Guide of the saint, and the true Leader of the Church. He is our wonderful Counselor, our unerring Friend. He who would deny the personal guidance of the Holy Spirit in order that he might honor the Word of God as our only guide must dishonor that other word of promise, that His sheep shall know His voice, and that His listening and obedient children shall hear a voice behind them saying, this is the way, walk ye in it (Isaiah 30:20).

Scripture
As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God—Romans 8:14


Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson

Days of Heaven on Earth
Friday, August 07, 2015

It is purely a matter of faith. Faith and sight always differ. To your senses it does not seem to be so, but your faith must still reckon it so. This is a very difficult attitude to hold, and only as we thoroughly believe God can we thus reckon upon His Word and His working. But as we do so, faith will convert it into fact, and it will become reality.

These two words "yield" and "reckon" are passwords into the resurrection life. They are like the two edges of the "Sword of the Spirit" through which we enter into crucifixion with Christ.

This act of surrender and this reckoning of faith are recognized in the New Testament as marking a very definite crisis in the spiritual life. It does not mean that we are expected to be going through a continual dying, but that there should be one very definite act of dying, and then a constant habit of reckoning ourselves as dead and meeting everything from this standpoint.

Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:11).

Scripture
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified—Romans 6.6

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson

Days of Heaven on Earth
Wednesday, August 05, 2015

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
Tuesday, August 04, 2015

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

SIMPSON DEVOTIONAL
Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson

Days of Heaven on Earth
Monday, August 03, 2015

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
Sunday, August 02, 2015

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

Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson

Days of Heaven on Earth
Saturday, August 01, 2015

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