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| Previous Next Selection Taken From: A contemporary version of a devotional classic based on the New International Version |
"Evening August 8"
"“Everything is possible for him who believes.” — Mark 9:23 "
MANY professing Christians are always doubting and fearing, and they forlornly think that this is the necessary state of believers. This is a mistake, for “everything is possible for him who believes;” and it is possible for us to mount into a state in which a doubt or a fear shall be but as a bird of passage flitting across the soul, but never lingering there. When you read of the high and sweet communions enjoyed by favored saints, you sigh and murmur in the chamber of your heart, “Alas! these are not for me.” O climber, if you just have faith, you shall yet stand upon the sunny pinnacle of the temple, for “everything is possible for him who believes.” You hear of exploits which holy men have done for Jesus; what they have enjoyed of Him; how much like Him they have been; how they have been able to endure great persecutions for His sake; and you say, “Ah! as for me, I am but a worm; I can never attain to this.” But there is nothing which one saint was, that you may not be. There is no elevation of grace, no attainment of spirituality, no clearness of assurance, no post of duty, which is not open to you if you just have the power to believe. Lay aside your sackcloth and ashes, and rise to the dignity of your true position; you are little in Israel because you will be so, not because there is any necessity for it. It is not right that you should grovel in the dust, O child of a King. Ascend! The golden throne of assurance is waiting for you! The crown of communion with Jesus is ready to bedeck your brow. Wrap yourself in scarlet and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day; for if you believe, you may eat the fat of kidneys of wheat; your land shall flow with milk and honey, and your soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness. Gather golden sheaves of grace, for they wait for you in the fields of faith. “Everything is possible for him who believes.”
