GOD’S WORD FOR AUGUST 17~ ~ Psalm 118:19-21 ~ ~ “Open to me the gates of righteousness;

I will go through them,  and I will praise the LORD.  This is the gate of the LORD,  Through which the righteous shall enter.   I will praise You,  for You have answered me, and have become my salvation.”

From the book, “We Shall See God”–with writings by Charles H. Spurgeon and Randy Alcorn

“Godly Optimism” part 1

SPURGEON:

Do you consider yourself an optimist or a pessimist?  We have no guarantees about how our circumstances will turn out in this life.  But when it comes to eternity, Christians have every reason for optimism—we know how the story will end!

It is a present and a lasting joy:  “Be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create”  (Isaiah 65:18).  Be now glad, and now rejoice; it is a present joy.  Take a delightful interest in that which God is now creating in the spiritual realm.  Be glad in anything that the Lord has created in you.  Has He created in you so much of a new life as to have produced conviction, repentance, faith in Christ, hope in the promise, longing for holiness?  Be glad in this even if you have other circumstances pressing upon you, and causing you to be heavy of heart.

Though you might be mourning because you are sickly, yet be glad that you are born again.  If somewhat distressed because you are so poor, yet be glad that you are a child of God and have a place in the new family of love.  Let the old things go and grasp the new, the heavenly.  The old creation—bear with it a little longer, for the time of your redemption from its bondage draws near.  Find your joy where God would have you find it, namely, in that part of your nature which is new.  Rejoice in the new principles, the new promises, the new covenant, and the blood of the new covenant which are yours—all of them.  The kingdom of God is within you;  rejoice in it.

Find your joy in the new creation of God as you see it in others.  The angels rejoice over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:10);  surely you and I ought to do so!  Try and do good, and bring others to Christ.  And when a soul shows signs of turning to its God, let that be your joy.

“Be glad and rejoice forever.” As long as you live, there will be something in the new creation that shall be to you a fresh joy and delight.  Heaven will only enlarge this same joy.  Be glad forever, because God will ever be creating something fresh in which you may be glad.

It may be said of the joy we ought to feel that it is a joy God intended for us.  “Behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness”  (Isaiah 65:18)  He has made a new city, the new people, the new world to be a source of joy. 

We ought to be glad and rejoice forever in that which God creates.  Ours is a heritage of joy and peace.  My dear brothers and sisters, if anybody in the world ought to be happy, we are the people.

How large our obligations!  How boundless our privileges!  How brilliant our hopes!

What should make us miserable?  Sin?  That is forgiven.  Affliction?  That is working our good.  Inward corruptions?  They are doomed to die.  Satanic temptations?  We wear an armor which they cannot penetrate.  We have every reason for delight, and we have moreover this command for it:  “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart”  (Psalm 37:4).  May

 God bring us into the blessed condition and keep us there!

God intends not only that we should have joy but also that we should spread it among others.  He intends that wherever we go we should be light bearers and set other lamps shining.

Help the widow, comfort the fatherless, assist the poor, cheer the disheartened, tell the glad news to the weary heart.  In the Father’s hands, in Christ’s hands, in the Spirit’s hands, seek to break the prisoner’s fetters and to bring him out into the light of liberty.  You too, are anointed to proclaim liberty to the captives (Luke 4:18)  May the God in infinite mercy help you and me so to do!

When you and I see  sin subdued, do we not feel happy?  Whenever the news comes to me that a man has been reclaimed from drunkenness or a woman has been saved from the streets, or when I hear of a hard-hearted sinner repenting, I rejoice in the Lord.  Conversion days are our high holidays.  But eventually there will be a still greater joy.  We shall enter into heaven, and there will be joy among the angels and joy in our hearts over God’s new creation work, which will proceed at a glorious rate.  The day shall come when Christ shall reign from pole to pole.  What a joy that will be!!!

We shall indeed be glad in that which God creates, as the islands of the sea shall ring out His praise! Then Christ the Lord will come, and what joy and rejoicing there will be in that day when He has fully fashioned the new earth and the new heavens.

Nothing prophesied should be dreaded in us.  There is nothing foretold by the prophet or beheld in a vision that can alarm the Christian.  He can stand serenely on the brink of the great eternity and say, “come on!  Let every event foretold become a fact!  Pour out your vials, you angels!  Fall, you star called Wormwood!  Come, Gog and Magog, to the last great battle of Armageddon!”  Nothing is to be feared by those who are one with Jesus.  To us remains nothing but joy and rejoicing.  For God has made His people a joy, and He has made them for rejoicing.

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Ps 96:1-3

Oh, sing to the LORD a new song!

Sing to the LORD, all the earth.

Sing to the LORD, bless His name;

Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.

Declare His glory among the nations,

His wonders among all peoples.

Ps 96:4-6

For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised;

He is to be feared above all gods.

For all the gods of the peoples are idols,

But the LORD made the heavens.

Honor and majesty are before Him;

Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

Psalm 34:8-16

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good;

Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints!

There is no want to those who fear Him.

The young lions lack and suffer hunger;

But those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.

Come, you children, listen to me;

I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

Who is the man who desires life,

And loves many days, that he may see good?

Keep your tongue from evil,

And your lips from speaking deceit.

Depart from evil and do good;

Seek peace and pursue it.

The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,

And His ears are open to their cry.

The face of the LORD is against those who do evil,

To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

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