God's dearest children are exercised with sharp spiritual conflicts. God sometimes allows their faith to be shaken or to doubt the principles in God's Word, but it is very clear that God is working a...  Read More

When we pray, we must be wary that our misunderstanding of providence does not make us faint. God cannot answer our prayers if they cross his revealed will or secret providence. Since God makes all t...  Read More

In the things we ask for in prayer, God knows the proper time so the answers are good for us. God gives us his cheque, but he will pay at his pleasure. The time is concealed and hidden to us, though ...  Read More

This duty suggests diligence in prayer. Every Christian who seeks to be a true one in deed and not name only must be a man of prayer. Prayer is like an investment in bonds that give a future return f...  Read More

The answers to your prayers are of infinite concern. You should watch for the answers with holy impatience and desire. Like an archer, take careful aim that you may hit the mark. Send your requests t...  Read More

Why does God keep some of his people so long under the discipline of the rod? Truly, God does not only bring his children into the school of affliction, but many times he keeps them there a long time...  Read More

We can admire the wisdom and power of God, who can make his people better by their sufferings. Behold, I show you a mystery: sin brought affliction into the world, and God makes affliction carry sin ...  Read More

When the Word of God and the rod meet together, they are the fruit of a father's affection. Affliction is sanctified through its instruction, and is a seal of God's lovingkindness. Chastisement consi...  Read More

Someone might ask if God can teach his people by sin. He might, and does (Rom. 8:28). All things do work, but all things do not work alike. Sin works for good, but it is by absolute omnipotence, by p...  Read More

Prayer brings those who have the spirit of supplication into great familiarity with God. Those who pray receive great things for themselves and for those they pray for. Prayer opens the heart of God ...  Read More

These words express the glorious power of the Spirit in a mature Christian, and serve as our pattern. 'I have learned', said Paul. This is very significant. It is not the learning of education, but o...  Read More

God's mercies over his people are exceedingly great and tender. He does not delight in afflicting and grieving them. He delays as long as the honour of his name and the safety of his people will perm...  Read More

Epaphroditus met with a long and dangerous sickness. This is our nature; let us not dream of any immunity. God's children are subject to sickness while they live. Daily experience proves it, for our ...  Read More

God's providence extends to the smallest things, to the sparrow and to the hairs of our heads. He governs every particular passage in our lives. This should teach us to look up to heaven for permissi...  Read More

Prayer should be constant. It is your duty to give yourself to prayer. It is like the fire on the altar—it must never go out day or night. It is like a saint's breathing. A Christian's prayer may hav...  Read More

God's will and Word must be the rule of our prayers. Our prayers are bound by divine precepts, promises, and prophecies. To wander beyond these leads to our loss. The Christian may have anything from...  Read More

Sin is an hindrance to prayer. When dust clogs the wheels of a watch, it cannot strike true. When the sin of the petitioner is before God's eyes, his petitions cannot enter his ears. Sin shouts loude...  Read More

Meditation prepares the heart for prayer. Meditate on your sins, and hunt them out of their lurking holes; this helps in our confession. Meditate on your needs, for God is fully able to supply them. ...  Read More

God is so gracious that he condescends to converse with poor, sinful, dust and ashes. Prayer is one of the most pleasant ways he has appointed for children of men to walk with him. His children whisp...  Read More

If God is once our God, he is so forever (Psa. 48:14). He is ours from everlasting in election to everlasting in glory. And so we shall ever be with the Lord. Let us improve our interest in him and c...  Read More

Our assurance of heaven is not perfect. True believers shall still be deficient in this as well as in other things. We only know in part. If we have obtained assurance in some degree, the perfection ...  Read More

Does not our fear of death make our lives a continual torment? Erasmus said, ‘The fear of death causes more sorrow than death itself.’ Our lives might be full of joy in daily contemplation of the swee...  Read More

Why are we so loath to die and depart from here to possess the everlasting rest promised to the people of God? If I may judge others by my own heart, we are exceedingly guilty at this point. We linge...  Read More

If Satan fails in his fiery darts of temptation, he will seek to dismay and discourage the Christian with the spirit of fear. Faith alone can quench these fiery darts. These darts are held in the ene...  Read More