Simpson Devotional

Simpson Devotional - Thursday, February 16, 2012

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 07:00:00 -0700

In the consecrated believer the Holy Spirit is preeminently a Spirit of prayer. If our whole being is committed to Him and our thoughts are under His control, He will occupy every moment in communion. We shall bring everything to Him as it comes, and pray it out in our spiritual consciousness before we act it out in our lives. We shall, therefore, find ourselves taking up the burdens of life and praying them out in a wordless prayer which we ourselves often cannot understand, but which is simply the unfolding of His thought and will within us. This will be followed by the unfolding of His providence concerning us. Unfaithfulness and disobedience to the faintest whisper of His will often hinder some blessing which He meant for us. After a while, we may become so dull and negligent that He will not be able to trust us with His whispers, and we shall stumble on in the darkness and miss His highest thoughts. Lord, teach us to pray in the Spirit, to pray without ceasing, and to lose nothing of Thy will.

Simpson Devotional - Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:00:00 -0700

How may we enjoy this day? This enjoyment will never come by trying to be happy, and yet there are conditions which, if met, will produce real joy. 1. Be right with God, for gladness [is sown] for the upright in heart (Psalm 97:11). It is His joy that remains in us that makes our joy full. 2. Forget yourself and live for others, for It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). 3. When you cannot rejoice in feelings, circumstances or conditions, rejoice in the Lord (Philippians 4:4), and count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations (James 1:2). 4. Finally, obey the Lord and be faithful to your trust, and again and again His blessed Spirit will whisper to your heart, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, . . . enter thou into the joy of thy lord (Matthew 25:21). Not enjoyment and not sorrow Is our destined end or way, But to act that each tomorrow Finds us farther than today. Let us then be up and doing With a heart for any fate, Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait. From "A Psalm of Life" Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Simpson Devotional - Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:00:00 -0700

Fire is strangely intense and intrinsic. It goes into the very substance of things. It somehow blends with every particle of the thing it touches. There are the severe trials that come to minds more sensitive-to minds that have more points of contact with what hurts. The higher the nature, the higher the joy and the greater the avenues of pain that come. And then there are deeper trials that come as we pass into the hands of God, as we pass from the physical and intellectual into the spiritual. When they first come, we shrink back from their unnatural and fearful breath. We say, "Oh, this cannot be from the hand of a loving Father! This cannot be necessary to me." And then come the pains and sufferings from God's own hand, when He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver, when He lets it burn until it seems that we must be burned to ashes. But we can only obtain the victory through faith. The moment we cease to fear the fire, that moment it ceases to harm us. He says, Neither shall the flame kindle upon thee (Isaiah 43:2).

Simpson Devotional - Monday, February 13, 2012

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 07:00:00 -0700

What a beautiful expression the angel used to Cornelius, Thy prayers are come up for a memorial. It would almost seem as if supplications of years had accumulated before the Throne, and at last the answer broke in blessings on the head of Cornelius, even as the accumulated evaporation of months bursts in floods of rain upon the parched ground. God is represented as treasuring the prayers of His saints in vials; they are described as sweet odors. They are placed like fragrant flowers in the chambers of the king and kept in constant remembrance before Him. Later they are said to be poured out upon the earth; and lo, there are voices, and thunderings and great providential movements fulfilling God's purposes for His kingdom. We are called "the Lord's remembrancers," and are commanded to give Him no rest, day or night, but to crowd the heavens with our petitions. And in due time the answer will come with its accumulated blessings. Not a whisper of true prayer is ever lost. The longer it waits, the larger it becomes.

Simpson Devotional - Sunday, February 12, 2012

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 07:00:00 -0700

For every heart that is seeking anything from the Lord this is a good watchword. That very thing, or the desire for it, may unconsciously separate us from the Lord or at least from the singleness of our purpose toward Him. The thing we desire may be a right thing, but we may desire it in a distrustful and selfish spirit. Let us commit to Him and believe for it; but let us, at the same time, keep our purpose fixed on His will and glory. Let us claim even His promised blessings, not for themselves or ourselves, but for Him. Then shall it be true, Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart (Psalm 37:4). All other things but Himself God will "add." But they must always be added, never first. Then shall we be able to believe for them without doubt, when we claim them for Him and not for ourselves. It is only when we are Christ's that all things are ours. Lord, help me this day to seek Thee first, and be more desirous to please Thee and have Thy will than to possess any other blessing.

Simpson Devotional - Saturday, February 11, 2012

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 07:00:00 -0700

The apostle Paul prays for the Colossians to be strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness. It is one thing to endure and show the strain on every muscle of your face, seeming to say with every wrinkle, "Why doesn't someone sympathize with me?" It is another thing to endure the cross, despising the shame for the joy set before us. There are some trees in the garden of the Lord which shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit (Jeremiah 17:8). Let us set our faces toward the sun rising, and use the clouds that come to make rainbows. Not much longer shall we have glorious opportunity to rejoice in tribulation and learn patience. In heaven we shall have nothing to teach us long-suffering. If we do not learn it here, we shall be without our brightest crown forever and wish ourselves back for a little while in the very circumstances of which we are now trying so hard to rid ourselves.

Simpson Devotional - Friday, February 10, 2012

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:00:00 -0700

The Christ life is in harmony with our nature. The other day I was asked by a thoughtful, intelligent woman-one not a Christian, but who had the deepest hunger for that which is right-"How can Christ enter us and we not lose our individuality? This experience will destroy our personality; it violates our responsibility as individuals." My response was, "Your personality is incomplete without Christ. Christ was made for you, and you were made for Christ, and until you meet Him you are not complete. He needs you as you need Him. "Suppose," I continued, "that gas jet should say, 'If I take this fire in, the gas coursing through me will lose its individuality.' Oh, no; it is only when the fire comes in that the gas fulfills its purpose for being. "Suppose the snowflake should say, 'What shall I do? If I drop on the ground I shall lose my individuality.' But it falls and is absorbed by the soil, and with the coming spring the snowflakes are seen in the primroses and daisies." Let us lose ourselves and rise to a new life in Christ.

Simpson Devotional - Thursday, February 09, 2012

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:00:00 -0700

The best evidence of God's presence is the devil's growl. So once wrote Charles H. Spurgeon in The Sword and the Trowel. That little sentence has helped many a tried and tired child of God to stand fast and even rejoice under the fiercest attacks of the foe. We read in the book of Second Samuel that the moment David was crowned at Hebron, "All the Philistines came up to seek David. And the moment we get anything from the Lord worth contending for, the devil comes to seek us. When the enemy meets us at the threshold of any great work for God, let us accept it as "a token of salvation" and claim double blessing, victory and power. Power is developed by resistance. The cannon carries twice as far because the exploding power has to find its way through resistance. In the powerhouse, electricity is produced by the magnetic resistance of the revolving armature. Even so we shall find some day that Satan has been one of God's agencies of blessing.

Simpson Devotional - Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:00:00 -0700

Not sufficient-all sufficient. These two expressions are the complement of each other. Together they are the key to an effective Christian life. The discovery and full conviction of our utter helplessness is the constant condition for spiritual supply. The aim of the Old Testament, therefore, is ever to show man's failure; that of the New, to reveal Christ's sufficiency. He has all things for us, but we cannot receive them until we admit that we have nothing. The very essence, therefore, of Christian perfection is the constant renunciation of our own perfection and the continual acceptance of Christ's righteousness. And as we receive deeper views of our nothingness and evil, it prompts us to claim more of His rich grace. But it is possible fully to realize our insufficiency and yet not take a firm hold of His "all things." This, too, must be done with a faith that will not accept less than all. The prophet was angry because the king of Israel struck the arrows upon the ground only three times. Had he done so five or six times, he could have had all (see 2 Kings 13:14-19). So let us meet God's full requirement. In humility let us receive His greatness and grace.

Simpson Devotional - Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:00:00 -0700

The man who missed his opportunity and met the doom of the faithless servant was not the man with five talents, or the man with two, but the man who had only one. The people who are in danger of missing life's great meaning are the people of ordinary capacity and opportunity who say to themselves, There is so little I can do that I will not try to do anything. One of the finest windows in Europe was made from the remnants an apprentice boy collected from the cuttings of his master's great work. The sweepings of the British mint are worth millions. The little pivots on which the works of a watch turn are so important that they actually are made of jewels. God places a solemn value on a single talent. He puts a large responsibility on the humble workers and persons who would try to hide behind the insignificance of trifling opportunities. Our littleness will not excuse us in the reckoning day. Talk not of talents; what hast thou to do? Thou hast sufficient, whether five or two. Talk not of talents; is thy duty done? This brings the blessing whether ten or one.

Simpson Devotional - Monday, February 06, 2012

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:00:00 -0700

What a priceless bit of counsel! Stop praying so much for yourself; begin to ask unselfish things, and see if God will not give you faith. See how much easier it will be to believe for another than for your own concerns. Try the effect of praying for the world, for definite things, for difficult things, for glorious things, for things that will honor Christ and save mankind. After you have received a few wonderful answers to prayer in this direction, see if you will not feel stronger to touch your own little burden with a divine faith and then go back again to the high place of unselfish prayer for others. Have you ever learned the beautiful art of letting God take care of you and giving all your thought and strength to pray for others and for the kingdom of God? It will relieve you of a thousand cares. It will lift you up into a noble and lofty sphere and teach you to live and love like God. Lord, save us from our selfish prayers; give us the faith that works through love and the heart of Christ for a perishing world.

Simpson Devotional - Sunday, February 05, 2012

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:00:00 -0700

In the old creation, the week began with work and ended with Sabbath rest. The resurrection week begins with the first day-first rest, then labor. So we must first cease from our own works as God did from His, and enter into His rest. And then, with rested hearts, we will work His works with effectual power. But why labor to enter into rest? See that sailing craft-how restfully it glides over the waters, its canvas swelling with the wind and borne without an effort! And yet, look at that man at the helm. See how firmly he holds the rudder, bearing against the wind, and holding her steady to her position. Let him for a moment relax his steady hold and the vessel will fall listlessly along the wind. The sails will flap, the waves will toss the craft at their will, and all rest and power will have gone. It is the fixed helm that brings the steadying power of the wind. And so He has said, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee (Isaiah 26:3). The steady will and stayed heart are ours. The keeping is the Lord's. So let us labor to enter and abide in His rest.

Simpson Devotional - Saturday, February 04, 2012

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 07:00:00 -0700

This living Christ is not the person who was, but the person who still is your living Lord. At Preston Pans, near Edinburgh, I looked on the field where, long ago, armies had been engaged in contest. In the crisis of the battle the chieftain fell wounded. When they saw their leader's form go down, his men were about to shrink away from the field. Their strong hands held the claymore with trembling grip, and they faltered for a moment. Then the old chieftain rallied strength enough to rise on his elbow and cry: "I am not dead, my children, I am only watching you-to see my clansmen do their duty." And so from the other side of Calvary our Savior is speaking. We cannot see Him, but He says, Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world (Matthew 28:20). Notice how He puts it: "I am"-an uninterrupted and continuous presence. Not "I will be," but the guarantee of an unbroken presence to remain with us forever. Soon the conflict shall be done, Soon the battle shall be won; Soon shall wave the victor's palm, Soon shall sing the eternal psalm. Then our joyful song shall be, I have overcome through Thee.

Simpson Devotional - Friday, February 03, 2012

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:00:00 -0700

This is true faith. When we can see, it is not faith but reasoning. In crossing the Atlantic by ship, I observed this very principle of faith. We could see no path upon the water or sign of the shore. And yet day by day the helmsman was in a path as exactly as if he had been following a great chalk line upon the sea. And when we came within 20 miles of land he knew where we were as surely as if he had seen it all 3,000 miles ahead. How had we measured and marked our course? Day by day our captain had taken his instruments, and looking up to the sky had fixed his course by the sun. He was sailing by the heavenly lights, not the earthly lights. So faith looks up and sails on, by God's great Sun, not seeing one shoreline or earthly lighthouse or path upon the way. Often our steps seem to lead into utter uncertainty or even darkness and disaster. But He opens the way, making our midnight hours the very gates of day. Let us go forth this day, not knowing, yet trusting.

Simpson Devotional - Thursday, February 02, 2012

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:00:00 -0700

The first word here used for service is diakanos, which means minister to others in any usual way or work. The word doulos, however, means a bondservant, and the Lord here plainly teaches us that this is the highest form of service. Christ made himself the servant of all, and he who would come nearest to Him and stand closest to Him at last must likewise learn the spirit of the ministry that has utterly renounced selfish rights and claims forever. It is quite possible for us to be entirely loyal to the Lord Jesus, and yet for His sake to be servants and under the authority of those who are over us in the Lord. The doulos spirit is the spirit of self-renunciation and glad submission to proper authority-service utterly disinterested, yielding its own preferences and interests unreservedly for the glory of the Master and the sake of our brethren. Lord, clothe us with such humility and make us wholly Thine.