Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest
of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came
to Horeb, the mountain of God.  There the angel of the Lord appeared
to him in flames of fire from within a bush. (Exodus 3:1–2)

The vision of the Angel of the Lord came to Moses while he
was involved in his everyday work.  That is exactly where the
Lord delights in giving His revelations.  He seeks a man traveling
an ordinary road, and “suddenly a light from heaven” (Acts
9:3) shines on him.  And a “stairway resting on the earth” (Gen.
28:12) can reach from the marketplace to heaven, transforming
a life from one of drudgery to one of grace.

Beloved Father, help me to expect you as I travel the ordinary
road of life.  I am not asking for sensational experiences.
Fellowship with me through my everyday work and service, and
be my companion when I take an ordinary journey.  And let
my humble life be transformed by Your presence.

Some Christians think they must always be on the mountaintop
of extraordinary joy and revelation, but this is not God’s
way.  Those high spiritual times and wonderful communication
with the unseen world are not promised to us, but a daily life of
communion with Him is.  And it is enough for us, for He will
give us those times of exceptional revelation if it is the right thing
for us.

There were only three disciples allowed to see the Transfiguration,
and the same three also experienced the darkness of
Gethsemane.  No one can stay on the mountaintop of favour forever,
for there are responsibilities in the valley.  Christ fulfilled
His life’s work not in the glory but in the valley, and it was
there He was truly and completely the Messiah.

The value of the vision and the accompanying glory is its
gift of equipping us for service and endurance.   selected

Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have
a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human
hands. (2 Corinthians 5:1)

​The owner of the house I have lived in for many years has notified
me that he will do little or nothing to keep it in repair.  He
also advised me to be ready to move.

At first this was not very welcome news.  In many respects
the surrounding area is quite pleasant, and if not for the evidence
of a somewhat declining condition, the house seems
rather nice.  Yet a closer look reveals that even a light wind causes
it to shake and sway, and its foundation is not sufficient to
make it secure.  Therefore I am getting ready to move.

As I consider the move, it is strange how quickly my interest
is transferred to my prospective new home in another country.  I
have been consulting maps and studying accounts of its inhabitants. 
And someone who has come from there to visit has told
me that it is beautiful beyond description and that language is
inadequate to fully describe what he heard while there.  He said
that in order to make an investment there, he has suffered the
loss of everything he owned here, yet rejoices in what others
would call a sacrifice.  Another person, whose love for me has
been proved by the greatest possible test, now lives there.  He has
sent me several clusters of the most delicious grapes I have ever
eaten, and after tasting them everything here tastes very bland.

Several times I have gone to the edge of the river that forms
the boundary between here and there and have longed to be
with those singing praises to the King on the other side.  Many
of my friends have moved across that river, but before leaving
here they spoke of my following them later.  I have seen the smile
on their faces as they passed from my sight.  So each time I am
asked to make some new investment here, I now respond,  “I
am getting ready to move.”    selected

The words of Jesus during His last days on earth vividly
express His desire to go “back to the Father” (John 16:28).  We,
as His people, also have a vision of something far beyond the
difficulties and disappointments of this life and are traveling
toward fulfillment, completion, and an enriched life.  We too
are going “to the Father.  ”Much of our new home is still unclear
to us, but two things are certain.  Our “Father’s house” (John
14:2) is our home.   And it is in the presence of the Lord.  As
believers,we know and understand that we are all travelers and
not permanent residents of this world.   R.C. Gillie

There he tested them. (Exodus 15:25)

I once visited the testing room of a large steel mill.  I was surrounded
by instruments and equipment that tested pieces of steel
to their limits and measured their breaking point.  Some pieces
had been twisted until they broke, and then were labelled with the
level of pressure they could withstand.  Some had been stretched
to their breaking point, with their level of strength also noted.
Others had been compressed to their crushing point and measured.
Because of the testing,the manager of the mill knew exactly
how much stress and strain each piece of steel could endure if
it was used to build a ship, building, or bridge.

It is often much the same with God’s children.  He does not
want us to be like fragile vases of glass or porcelain.  He wants
us to be like these toughened pieces of steel, able to endure
twisting and crushing pressure to the utmost without collapse.

God does not want us to be like greenhouse plants, which
are sheltered from rough weather, but like storm-beaten oaks;
not like sand dunes that are driven back and forth by every gust
of wind but like granite mountains that withstand the fiercest
storms.  Yet to accomplish this, He must take us into His testing
room of suffering.  And many of us need no other argument
than our own experiences to prove that suffering is indeed
God’s testing room of faith. 

It is quite easy for us to talk and to theorize about faith,
but God often puts us into His crucible of affliction to test the
purity of our gold and to separate the dross from the metal.
How happy we are if the hurricanes that blow across life’s raging
sea have the effect of making Jesus more precious to us!  It
is better to weather the storm with Christ than to sail smooth
waters without Him.

What if God could not manage to mature your life without suffering?

Whoever desires to love life and see good days . . . let him turn away from evil and do good. (1 Peter 3:10–11)

There is only one basic reason why we disobey the commands of Jesus: it’s because we don’t have confidence that obeying will bring more blessing than disobeying. We do not hope fully in God’s promise.

What did he promise? Peter passes on his teaching like this:

Do not return evil for evil or reviling for reviling; but on the contrary bless, for to this you have been called that you may obtain a blessing. He who would love life and see good days . . . let him turn away from evil and do good.

You will always be better off to obey than to disobey, even if it costs you your life.

Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and the gospel’s, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time . . . with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life. (Mark 10:29–30)

The only way to have the power to follow Christ in the costly way of love is to be filled with hope, with strong confidence that if we lose our life doing his will, we will find it again and be richly rewarded.

Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me? (John 18:11)

To “drink the cup” was a greater thing than calming the seas
or raising the dead.The prophets and apostles could do amazing
miracles, but they did not always do the will of God and
thereby suffered as a result. Doing God’s will and thus experiencing
suffering is still the highest form of faith, and the most
glorious Christian achievement.

Having your brightest aspirations as a young person forever
crushed; bearing burdens daily that are always difficult,
and never seeing relief; finding yourself worn down by poverty
while simply desiring to do good for others and provide a
comfortable living for those you love; being shackled by an
incurable physical disability; being completely alone, separated
from all those you love, to face the trauma of life alone;
yet in all these, still being able to say through such a difficult
school of discipline,“Shall I not drink the cup the Father has
given me?”—this is faith at its highest, and spiritual success
at its crowning point.

Great faith is exhibited not so much in doing as in suffering.
Charles Parkhurst

In order to have a sympathetic God,we must have a suffering
Savior, for true sympathy comes from understanding another
person’s hurt by suffering the same affliction.Therefore we
cannot help others who suffer without paying a price ourselves,
because afflictions are the cost we pay for our ability to sympathize.
Those who wish to help others must first suffer. If we
wish to rescue others,we must be willing to face the cross;experiencing
the greatest happiness in life through ministering to
others is impossible without drinking the cup Jesus drank and
without submitting to the baptism He endured.

The most comforting of David’s psalms were squeezed from
his life by suffering, and if Paul had not been given “a thorn in
the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7 KJV),we would have missed much of the
heartbeat of tenderness that resonates through so many of his
letters.

If you have surrendered yourself to Christ, your present circumstances
that seem to be pressing so hard against you are the
perfect tool in the Father’s hand to chisel you into shape for
eternity. So trust Him and never push away the instrument He
is using, or you will miss the result of His work in your life.

Strange and difficult indeed
We may find it,
But the blessing that we need
Is behind it.

The school of suffering graduates exceptional scholars.

Because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only
son, I will . . . make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the
sky . . . because you have obeyed me. (Genesis 22:16–18)

From the time of Abraham, people have been learning that
when they obey God’s voice and surrender to Him whatever
they hold most precious, He multiplies it thousands of times.
Abraham gave up his one and only son at the Lord’s command,
and in doing so, all his desires and dreams for Isaac’s life, as well
as his own hope for a notable heritage, disappeared.  Yet God
restored Isaac to his father, and Abraham’s family became “as
numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore”
(v. 17).  And through his descendants, “when the time had fully
come, God sent his Son” (Gal. 4:4).

This is exactly how God deals with every child of His when
we truly sacrifice.  We surrender everything we own and accept
poverty—then He sends wealth.  We leave a growing area of
ministry at His command—then He provides one better than
we had ever dreamed.We surrender all our cherished hopes and
die to self—then He sends overflowing joy and His “life . . . that
[we] might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10 KJV).

The greatest gift of all was Jesus Christ Himself, and we can
never fully comprehend the enormity of His sacrifice. Abraham,
as the earthly father of the family of Christ, had to begin
by surrendering himself and his only son, just as our heavenly
Father sacrificed His only Son, Jesus.  We could never have come
to enjoy the privileges and joys as members of God’s family
through any other way.  Charles Gallaudet Trumbull
We sometimes seem to forget that what God takes from us,
He takes with fire, and that the only road to a life of resurrection
and ascension power leads us first to Gethsemane, the cross,
and the tomb.

Dear friend, do you believe that Abraham’s experience was
unique and isolated?  It is only an example and a pattern of
how God deals with those who are prepared to obey Him
whatever the cost.  “After waiting patiently,Abraham received
what was promised”(Heb. 6:15), and so will you.  The moment
of your greatest sacrifice will also be the precise moment of
your greatest and most miraculous blessing.God’s river, which
never runs dry, will overflow its banks, bringing you a flood
of wealth and grace.

Indeed, there is nothing God will not do for those who will
dare to step out in faith onto what appears to be only a mist.
As they take their first step, they will find a rock beneath their
feet.         F. B. Meyer

The LORD is God,
and he has made his light to shine upon us.
Bind the festal sacrifice with cords,
up to the horns of the altar!
(Psalm 118:27 ESV)

Is the altar of sacrifice calling you? Why not ask God to bind
you to it, so you will never be tempted to turn away from a life
of consecration, or dedication, to Him? There are times when
life is full of promise and light, and we choose the cross; yet at
other times, when the sky is gray, we run from it.Therefore it
is wise to be bound to the altar.

Dear blessed Holy Spirit, will You bind us to the cross and
fill us with such love for it that we will never abandon it? Please
bind us with Your scarlet cord of redemption,Your gold cord
of love, and the silver cord of hope in Christ’s second coming.
We ask this so we will not turn from the cross of sacrifice, or
desire becoming anything but humble partners with our Lord
in His pain and sorrow!

“The horns of the altar” are inviting you.Will you come?
Are you willing to continually live a life of total surrender, giving
yourself completely to the Lord? 

I once heard a story of a man who attended a tent revival
meeting and tried to give himself to God. Every night at the
altar, he would dedicate himself to the Lord.Yet as he left each
evening, the Devil would come to him and convince him that
since he did not feel changed, he was not truly redeemed.

Again and again he was defeated by the Adversary. Finally
one evening he came to the meeting carrying an axe and a large
wooden stake. After dedicating himself once more, he drove
the stake into the ground where he had knelt to pray. As he
was leaving the tent, the Devil came to him as usual, trying to
make him believe that his commitment to God was not genuine.
He quickly returned to the stake, pointed to it, and said,
“Devil, do you see this stake? This is my witness that God has
forever accepted me.”

Immediately the Devil left him, and he never experienced
doubts again. (from The Still Small Voice)

Beloved, if you are tempted to doubt the finality of your
salvation experience, drive a stake into the ground and then let
it be your witness before God,and even the Devil, that you have
settled the question forever.

Are you groping for a blessing,
Never getting there?
Listen to a word of wisdom,
Get somewhere.
Are you struggling for salvation
By your anxious prayer?
Stop your struggling, simply trust, and--
Get somewhere.
Does the answer seem to linger
To your earnest prayer?
Turn your praying into praise, and--
Get somewhere.
You will never know His fullness
Till you boldly dare
To commit your all to Him, and--
Get somewhere.

But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
(Job 23:10 ESV)

Faith grows during storms.These are just four little words,
but what significance they have to someone who has endured
life-threatening storms!

Faith is that God-given ability that, when exercised, brings
the unseen into plain view. It deals with the supernatural and
makes impossible things possible. And yes, it grows during
storms—that is, it grows through disturbances in the spiritual
atmosphere. Storms are caused by conflicts between the physical
elements, and the storms of the spiritual world are conflicts
with supernatural, hostile elements.And it is in this atmosphere
of conflict that faith finds its most fertile soil and grows
most rapidly to maturity.

The strongest trees are found not in the thick shelter of the
forest but out in the open, where winds from every direction
bear down upon them.The fierce winds bend and twist them
until they become giant in stature. These are the trees that toolmakers
seek for handles for their tools, because of the wood’s
great strength.

It is the same in the spiritual world. Remember, when you
see a person of great spiritual stature, the road you must travel
to walk with him is not one where the sun always shines and
wildflowers always bloom. Instead, the way is a steep, rocky, and
narrow path, where the winds of hell will try to knock you off
your feet, and where sharp rocks will cut you, prickly thorns
will scratch your face, and poisonous snakes will slither and hiss
all around you.

The path of faith is one of sorrow and joy, suffering and healing
comfort, tears and smiles, trials and victories, conflicts and
triumphs, and also hardships, dangers, beatings, persecutions,
misunderstanding, trouble, and distress. Yet “in all these things
we are more than conquerors through him who loved us”
(Rom. 8:37).

Yes, “in all these”—even during storms, when the winds are
the most intense—“we are more than conquerors.” You may
be tempted to run from the ordeal of a fierce storm of testing,
but head straight for it! God is there to meet you in the center
of each trial. And He will whisper to you His secrets, which will
bring you out with a radiant face and such an invincible faith
that all the demons of hell will never be able to shake it. E.A.
Kilbourne