Forgiven Ministries, Inc & Sacred Professional Services, LLC

ALL POWER COMES FROM GOD

“Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?"
Job 38:31

If inclined to boast of our abilities, the grandeur of nature may soon show us how puny we are.

We cannot move the least of all the twinkling stars, or quench so much as one of the beams of the morning.

We speak of power, but the heavens laugh us to scorn.

When the Pleiades shine forth in spring with vernal joy we cannot restrain their influences, and when Orion reigns aloft, and the year is bound in winter's fetters, we cannot relax the icy bands.

The seasons revolve according to the divine appointment, neither can the whole race of men effect a change therein.

Lord, what is man?

In the spiritual, as in the natural world, man's power is limited on all hands.

When the Holy Spirit sheds abroad his delights in the soul, none can disturb; all the cunning and malice of men are ineffectual to stay the genial quickening power of the Comforter.

When He deigns to visit a church and revive it, the most inveterate enemies cannot resist the good work; they may ridicule it, but they can no more restrain it than they can push back the spring when the Pleiades rule the hour.

God wills it, and so it must be.

On the other hand, if the Lord in sovereignty, or in justice, bind up a man so that he is in soul bo***ge, who can give him liberty?

He alone can remove the winter of spiritual death from an individual or a people.

He looses the bands of Orion, and none but He.

What a blessing it is that He can do it.

O that He would perform the wonder tonight.

Lord, end my winter, and let my spring begin.

I cannot with all my longings raise my soul out of her death and dulness, but all things are possible with You.

I need celestial influences, the clear shinings of Your love, the beams of Your grace, the light of Your countenance; these are the Pleiades to me.

I suffer much from sin and temptation; these are my wintry signs, my terrible Orion.

Lord, work wonders in me, and for me. Amen.

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IS YOUR SPRING SHUT UP?”

“DO YOU BELONG TO GOD?”

A spring shut up, a fountain sealed."
Song of Solomon 4:12

In this metaphor, which has reference to the inner life of a believer, we have very plainly the idea of secrecy.

It is a spring shut up: just as there were springs in the East, over which an edifice was built, so that none could reach them save those who knew the secret entrance.

So is the heart of a believer when it is renewed by grace: there is a mysterious life within which no human skill can touch.

It is a secret which no other man knows; nay, which the very man who is the possessor of it cannot tell to his neighbor.

*****The text includes not only secrecy, but separation.

It is not the common spring, of which every passer-by may drink, it is one kept and preserved from all others; it is a fountain bearing a particular mark—a king's royal seal, so that all can perceive that it is not a common fountain, but a fountain owned by a proprietor, and placed specially by itself alone.

So is it with the spiritual life!

The chosen of God were separated in the eternal decree; they were separated by God in the day of redemption; and they are separated by the possession of a life which others have not; and it is impossible for them to feel at home with the world, or to delight in its pleasures.

There is also the idea of sacredness.

The spring shut up is preserved for the use of some special person: and such is the Christian's heart.

It is a spring kept for Jesus.

Every Christian should feel that he has God's seal upon him—and he should be able to say with Paul, "From henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus."

Another idea is prominent—it is that of security.

Oh! how sure and safe is the inner life of the believer!

If all the powers of earth and hell could combine against it, that immortal principle must still exist, for he who gave it pledged his life for its preservation.

And who "is he that shall harm you," when God is your protector?

Great job! 💪

Their looks speak for them!