Simpson Devotional
Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
Simpson Devotional - Thursday, July 29, 2010
Christ's Church is overrun with captains. It is in great need of a few more privates. A few rivers run into the sea, but a larger number run into other rivers. We cannot all be Pioneers, but we can all be helpers. No man is fitted to go in first place until he has learned well how to go second. A spirit of self-importance is fatal to all work for Christ. The biggest enemy of true spiritual power is spiritual self-consciousness. Joshua had to die to human plans and strategy before Jericho could fall. God often has to test His chosen servants by putting them into a subordinate place before He can bring them to the front. Joseph had to learn to serve in the kitchen and to suffer in prison before he could rise to the throne. As soon as he was ready for the throne, the throne was waiting for Joseph. God has more places than accepted candidates. Let us not be afraid to go into the training class and even take the lowest place, for we shall soon move up if we really deserve to. Lord, use me so that Thou shalt be glorified and I shall be hidden from myself and others.
Posted on 29 July 2010 | 9:00 am
Simpson Devotional - Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Jesus who once suffered in Gethsemane will be our strength and our victory, too. We may fear, we may also sink, but let us not be dismayed, and we shall yet praise Him and look back from a finished course and say, Not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord [our] God spake concerning [us] (Joshua 23:14). But in order to do this, we must, like Jesus, meet the conflict, not with a defiant but with a submissive spirit. He had to say, Not my will, but thine be done, but in saying it He gained the very thing He surrendered. The submission of Gethsemane is not a blind and dead submission of a heart that abandons all its hope, but it is the free submission that bows the head in order to get double strength through faith and prayer. We let go in order that we may take a firmer hold. We give up in order that we may more fully receive. We lay our Isaac on Mount Moriah, and we receive him back, no longer our Isaac, but God's Isaac and infinitely more secure because he is returned to us in resurrection life.
Posted on 28 July 2010 | 9:00 am
Simpson Devotional - Tuesday, July 27, 2010
God is preparing His heroes. When the opportunity comes He can fit them into their places in a moment, and the world will wonder where they came from. Let the Holy Spirit prepare you by all the discipline of life. When the last finishing touch has been given to the marble, it will be easy for God to put it on the pedestal and fit it into its niche. There is a day coming, when, like Othniel (see judges 3:9-11) we too shall judge the nations and rule and reign with Christ on the millennial earth. Before that glorious day can be, we must let God prepare us as He did Othniel at Kirjath-Sepher (Judges 1:11-13) amid the trials of our present life and in the little victories the significance of which, perhaps, we little dream. We may be sure of this, that if the Holy Spirit has an Othniel ready, the Lord of heaven and earth has a throne prepared for him. Is it for me to be used by His grace, Helping His kingdom to bring? Is it for me to inherit a place, E'en on the throne of my King?
Posted on 27 July 2010 | 9:00 am
Simpson Devotional - Monday, July 26, 2010
We must recognize the true character of our self-life and its real virulence and vileness. We must consent to its destruction, and we must take it ourselves, as Abraham did Isaac, and lay it at the feet of God in willing sacrifice. This is a seemingly impossible task for the natural heart, but the moment the will is yielded and the choice is made, we are astonished to find that the agony is over and death is accomplished. Usually the crisis in such cases hangs upon a single point. God does not need to strike us in a hundred places to inflict a death wound. There is one point that touches the heart and that is the Point God usually strikes. It will likely be the dearest thing in our lives, the decisive thing in our plans, the citadel of our wills, the center of our hearts. And when we yield there, there is little left to yield anywhere else. But when we refuse to yield at that point, a spirit of evasion and compromise enters into all the rest of our lives. Let us take Him to enable us to will His will in all things in our lives.
Posted on 26 July 2010 | 9:00 am
Simpson Devotional - Sunday, July 25, 2010
God can only use us while we are trusting Him completely. Satan cared far less for Peter's denial of his Master than for the use he made of it afterwards to destroy his faith. So Jesus said to him, I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not (Like 22:32). It was Peter's faith Satan attacked, and so it is our faith that he contests. The trial of your faith, being much more precious that of gold that perisheth (1 Peter 1:7). Whatever else we let go, let us go, let us hold steadfastly to our trust. Cast not away therefore your confidence (Hebrews 10:35), and hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end (Hebrews 3:6). And if you would hold your trust, hold your sweetness, your rightness of spirit, your obedience to Christ, your victory in every way. Whatever comes, regard it as of less consequence than that you should triumph and remain steadfast. Accept every circumstance as something God is pleased to allow. Wave the4 banner of your victory in the face of every foe. Go on, shouting in Jesus' name, Thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ (2 Corinthians 2:14).
Posted on 25 July 2010 | 9:00 am
Simpson Devotional - Saturday, July 24, 2010
In our earlier experiences we know the Holy Spirit only at a distance, in things that happen in a providential direction or in the Word alone. But after a while we receive Him as an inward Guest, and He dwells in our hearts. He speaks to us in the innermost chambers of our being. The external working of His power does not cease; rather, it increases and seems even more glorious. The Power that dwells within us works outside us, answering prayer, healing sickness, overruling providences, doing exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us (Ephesians 3:20). There is a double presence of the Lord for the consecrated believer. He is present in the heart and is mightily present in the events of life. He is the Christ in us and the Christ of all our days, with all power in heaven and earth. The Holy Spirit is our wonder-worker, our all-sufficient God and Guardian. And He is waiting in these days to work as mightily in the affairs of men as in the days of Moses, of Daniel and of Paul.
Posted on 24 July 2010 | 9:00 am
Simpson Devotional - Friday, July 23, 2010
Why have you not received all the fullness of the Holy Spirit? Do you not long to be anointed with the rest of the oil? (Leviticus 14:17-18). Look around you at your situation. Are you not conscious of many needs at this very moment and almost overwhelmed with difficulties, trials and emergencies? These are all divinely provided vessels for the Holy Spirit's filling. If you would only understand their meaning, they will become opportunities for receiving new blessings and deliverances which you can obtain in no other way. Bring these vessels to God. Hold them steadily before Him in faith and prayer. Keep still. Cease your own restless working until He begins to work. Do nothing that He does not Himself command you to do. Give Him a chance to work, and He will surely do so. Then the very trials that threatened to overcome you with discouragement and disaster will become God's opportunity for the revelation of His grace and glory in your life, as you have never known Him before. Bring them [all needs] to me.
Posted on 23 July 2010 | 9:00 am
Simpson Devotional - Thursday, July 22, 2010
Beloved, are you ministering to Christ? Arc you doing it with your hands? Are you doing it with your substance and with your gifts? Is He getting the best at your table? And when He does not come to fill the chair, is it free to His representative, His poor and humble children? Your words and wishes are cheap if they do not find expression in your actual gifts. Even Mary did not put Him off with the incense of her heart. Rather, she laid her costliest gift at His feet. Busy person, you who work so hard to dress your children and furnish your home and table, what have your hands earned for the Master? What have you done or sacrificed for Jesus? "Can you afford it?" was the question asked of an earnest woman as she promised a costly offering for the Master's work. "No," was her noble reply, "but I can sacrifice it." Let us today look around us and see what we are presently doing. Then let us give more to the loving Savior, who gave up His whole life for us.
Posted on 22 July 2010 | 9:00 am
Simpson Devotional - Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Let us think for a moment of the blessedness of faith. Our own littleness and nothingness sometimes becomes bondage. We are so small in our own eyes we dare not claim God's mighty promises. We say: "If I could be sure I was in God's will I could trust." This is all wrong. Self-consciousness is a great barrier to faith. Get your eyes on Him and Him alone. Not on your faith, but on the Author of your faith; not with a half look, but with a steadfast, prolonged look, with a true heart and fixedness of purpose that knows no faltering, no parleying with the enemy and not a shadow of fear. When you become fearful you are almost sure to fail. Travelers who have crossed the Alps know how dangerous those mountain passes are, how narrow the foothold, how deep the rocky ravines. They know how necessary to safety it is that they look up continually. One downward glance into the dizzying depths might be fatal. So if we would surmount the heights of faith we must look up-look up. Take your eyes off yourself, off surrounding circumstances, off means, off gifts, and turn them to the Great Giver.
Posted on 21 July 2010 | 9:00 am
Simpson Devotional - Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Let us also go, that we may die with him-this was an outburst of impetuous love from the heart of Thomas. The disciples had been trying to dissuade the Master from going back to Judea because of the hate which the raising of Lazarus had aroused and the certainty of danger if He should return. But when Thomas saw that their persuasions did not avail and that Jesus was certainly going back to face His enemies, he cried in an impulse of desperation and devotion, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." Thomas's cry was that of a devoted soldier ready to follow his leader into the jaws of danger and death. Thomas's words were wiser than he knew. It is true that he and his fellow disciples did not immediately share their Master's fate, but there was a deep and sacred sense in which they were to die with Him even before their literal persecution and martyrdom. In a very real and solemn way, these words are true of every disciple of Christ. For His death is not only the source of our salvation, but it is also the pattern of our lives. With an intelligent faith and a renewed dedication, let us with Thomas, "also go that we may die with Him."
Posted on 20 July 2010 | 9:00 am
Simpson Devotional - Monday, July 19, 2010
If you seem to have so much fighting to do, it may be because you did not have one sharp, decisive battle to begin with. It is far easier to have one great battle than to keep on skirmishing all your life. I know men who spend forty years fighting what they call their besetting sin, and on which they waste strength enough to evangelize the world. Does it pay to throw away your lives? Why not have one battle, one victory and then praise God. There is labor to enter in. The height is steep; the way of the cross is not an easy way. It is hard to enter in, but having entered in, there is perfect rest. And when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about (Deuteronomy 12:10). May God help us and give us His perfect rest. 0 come, and leave thy sinful self forever Beneath the fountain of the Saviour's blood; 0 come, and take Him as thy Sanctifier, Come thou with us and we will do thee good.
Posted on 19 July 2010 | 9:00 am
Simpson Devotional - Sunday, July 18, 2010
In Jesus we are now complete. Even as the architect's model is planned and prepared and completed in his office, so the perfect pattern of the life of holy service, for which Jesus has redeemed and called us, is now in Him in heaven. But now it must be formed in us and transferred to our earthly lives, and this is the Holy Spirit's work. He takes the gifts and graces of Christ and brings them into our lives as we need and receive them day by day, just as the various sections of a vessel may be reproduced in a distant land. Thus we receive of His fullness, even grace for grace-His grace for our grace, His supply for our needs, His strength for our strength, His body for our body, His Spirit for our spirit. He Himself of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). But it is much more than mere abstract help and grace, much more even than the Holy Spirit bringing us strength, and peace and purity. It is personal companionship with Jesus Himself! Lord, help us receive from Thee today that grace in all trials that shall result in our being made perfect.
Posted on 18 July 2010 | 9:00 am
Simpson Devotional - Saturday, July 17, 2010
Are you missing what belongs to you? Jesus has promised to sanctify you. He has promised sanctification for you by coming to you Himself and being made of God to you sanctification. Jesus is our sanctification. Having Him, we have obedience, rest, patience and everything we need. He is alive forevermore. If you have Jesus nothing can be against you. Your temptations will not be against you. Your bad temper will not be against you. Your hard life, your circumstances-even the devil himself will not be against you. Every time he comes to attack you, he will only root you deeper in Christ. You will become a coward at the thought of being alone; you will be thrown on Jesus every time a trouble confronts you. From now on, all things will work together for good to your spiritual welfare. Since God is for you nothing can be against you. My heavenly Bridegroom sought me and called me one glad day. "Arise, my love, my fair one, arise and come away," I listened to His pleading, gave Him all my heart, And we are one forever and nevermore shall part.
Posted on 17 July 2010 | 9:00 am
Simpson Devotional - Friday, July 16, 2010
In order to enter into a life of consecration, there must be a sense of need-the need of purity, of power and of a greater nearness to the Lord. Christians often experience a second conviction. It is not now a sense of guilt and God's wrath so much as of the power and evil of inward sin, and the dissatisfaction with the life the person is living. It usually comes from the deeper revelation of God's truth, from more spiritual teaching, from definite examples and testimonies of this life in others. Or it may result from an experience of deep trial, conflict and temptation in which the Christian has found his attainments and resources inadequate for the real issues and needs of life. The first result is often a deep discouragement and even despair, but the Valley of Achor is the door of hope, and Romans 7 with its bitter cry, 0 wretched man that I am (7:24) is the gateway to Romans 8 with its shout of triumph, The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death (8:2).
Posted on 16 July 2010 | 9:00 am
Simpson Devotional - Thursday, July 15, 2010
I am the Lord's then the Lord is mine. If Christ owns me I own Him. And so faith must reach out and claim its full inheritance and begin to use its great resources. Moment by moment we may now take Him as our grace and strength, our faith and love, our victory and joy, our all in all. And as we thus claim Him we will find His grace sufficient for us, and begin to learn that giving all is just receiving all. Consecration is taking Jesus fully in exchange for our own miserable lives. There are two persons involved in such consecration. One of them is the Lord Himself. And for their sakes, He says, I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth (John 17:19). The moment we consecrate ourselves to Him, He consecrates Himself to us. Thereafter the whole strength of His life and love and everlasting power is dedicated to keep and complete our commitment to Him and to make the very best and most of our consecrated lives. Who would not give himself to such a Savior? Today, let us first give ourselves to Jesus, and then present to Him each moment as it comes, to be filled and used.
Posted on 15 July 2010 | 9:00 am