Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

December 31
No Stranger in Heaven

Thou shalt guide me with Thy Counsel, and afterward receive me to glory - Psalm 73:24

From day to day and from year to year my faith believes in the wisdom and love of God, and I  know that I shall not believe in vain. No good word of His has ever failed, and I am sure that  none shall ever fall to the ground.

I put myself into His hand for guidance. I know not the way that I should choose: the Lord shall choose mine inheritance for me. I need counsel and advice; for my duties are intricate, and my  condition is involved. . . The counsel of the infallible God I seek in preference to my own judgment  or the advice of friends. . .

Soon the end will come: a few more years and I must depart out of this world unto the Father. My Lord will be near my bed. He will meet me at heaven's gate: He will welcome me to the  gloryland. I shall not be a stranger in heaven: my own God and Father will receive me to its endless bliss.

Glory be to Him who
Will guide me here,
And receive me hereafter. Amen.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

December 30
Loved To Perfection

Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end - John 13:1

This fact is essentially a promise; for what our Lord was He is, and what He was to those with  whom He lived on earth, He will be to all His beloved so long as the moon endureth.

"Having loved": here was the wonder! That He should ever have loved men at all is the marvel.  What was there in His poor disciples that He should love them? What is there in me?

But when He has once begun to love, it is His nature to continue to do so. Love made the saints  "his own"--what a choice title! He purchased them with blood, and they became His treasure.  Being His own, He will not lose them. Being His beloved, He will not cease to love them. My soul,  He will not cease to love thee!

The text is well as it stands: "to the end." Even till His death the ruling passion of love to His own  reigned in His sacred bosom. It means also to the uttermost. He could not love them more: He  gave Himself for them. Some read it, to perfection. Truly He lavished upon them a perfect love, in  which there was no flaw nor failure, no unwisdom, no unfaithfulness.

Such is the love of Jesus to each one of His people. Let us sing to our Well-beloved a song.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

December 29
He Will Carry Us Home

And even to your old age I am He; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will  bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you - Isaiah 46:4

The year is very old, and here is a promise for our aged friends; yes, and for us all, as age creeps  over us. Let us live long enough, and we shall all have hoar hairs; therefore we may as well enjoy  this promise by the foresight of faith.

When we grow old our God will still be the I AM, abiding evermore the same. Hoar hairs tell of  our decay, but He decayeth not. When we cannot carry a burden and can hardly carry ourselves,  the Lord will carry us. Even as in our young days He carried us like lambs in His bosom, so will  He in our years of infirmity.

He made us, and He will care for us. When we become a burden to our friends and a burden to  ourselves, the Lord will not shake us off, but the rather He will take us up and carry and deliver  us more fully than ever. In many cases the LORD give His servants a long and calm evening.  They worked hard all day and wore themselves out in their Master's service, and so He said to  them, "Now rest in anticipation of that eternal Sabbath which I have prepared for you." Let us not  dread old age. Let us grow old graciously since the Lord Himself is with us in fullness of grace.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

December 28
Absolute Assurance

He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee - Hebrews 13:5

Several times in the Scriptures the Lord hath said this. He has often repeated it to make our  assurance doubly sure. Let us never harbor a doubt about it. In itself the promise is specially  emphatic. In the Greek it has five negatives, each one definitely shutting out the possibility of the  Lord's ever leaving one of His people so that he can justly feel forsaken of his God. This  priceless Scripture does not promise us exemption from trouble, but it does secure us against  desertion. We may be called to traverse strange ways, but we shall always have our Lord's  company, assistance, and provision. We need not covet money, for we shall always have our God, and God is better than gold; His favor is better than fortune.

We ought surely to be content with such things as we have, for he who has God has more than all  the world besides. What can we have beyond the Infinite? What more can we desire than  almighty Goodness.

Come, my heart; if God says He will never leave thee nor forsake thee, be thou much in prayer for  grace that thou mayest never leave thy Lord, nor even for a moment forsake His ways.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

December 26
God Only, You Can Trust

Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of Thee, yet will I  never be offended - Matthew 26:33

Why," cries one, "this is no promise of God." Just so, but it was a promise of man, and therefore it  came to nothing. Peter thought that he was saying what he should assuredly carry out; but a  promise which has no better foundation than a human resolve will fall to the ground. No sooner  did temptations arise than Peter denied his Master and used oaths to confirm his denial.

What is man's word? An earthen pot broken with a stroke. What is your own resolve? A blossom,  which, with God's care, may come to fruit, but which, left to itself, will fall to the ground with the  first wind that moves the bough.

On man's word hang only what it will bear.

On thine own resolve depend not at all.

On the promise of thy God hang time and eternity, this world and the next, thine all and the all of  all thy beloved ones.

This volume is a checkbook for believers, and this page is meant as a warning as to what bank  they draw upon and whose signature they accept. Rely upon Jesus without limit. Trust not  thyself nor any horn of woman, beyond due bounds; but trust thou only and wholly in the Lord.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

December 25
He Came; He Is Coming

This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have  seen Him go into heaven - Acts 1:11

Many are celebrating our Lord's first coming this day; let us turn our thoughts to the promise of  His second coming. This is as sure as the first advent and derives a great measure of its certainty  from it. He who came as a lowly man to serve will assuredly come to take the reward of His  service. He who came to suffer will not be slow in coming to reign.

This is our glorious hope, for we shall share His joy. Today we are in our concealment and  humiliation, even as He was while here below; but when He cometh it will be our manifestation,  even as it will be His revelation. Dead saints shall live at His appearing. The slandered and  despised shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Then shall the saints appear  as kings and priests, and the days of their mourning shall be ended. The long rest and  inconceivable splendor of the millennial reign will be an abundant recompense for the ages of  witnessing and warring.

Oh, that the Lord would come! He is coming! He is on the road and traveling quickly. The  sound of His approach should be as music to our hearts! Ring out, ye bells of hope!

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

December 24
Over Jordan With Singing

Thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee - Deuteronomy 33:29

That archenemy, the devil, is a liar from the beginning; but he is so very plausible that, like  mother Eve, we are led to believe him. Yet in our experience we shall prove him a liar.

He says that we shall fall from grace, dishonor our profession, and perish with the doom of  apostates; but, trusting in the Lord Jesus, we shall hold on our way and prove that Jesus loses  none whom His Father gave Him. He tells us that our bread will fail, and we shall starve with our  children; yet the Feeder of the ravens has not forgotten us yet, and He will never do so, but will  prepare us a table in the presence of our enemies.

He whispers that the Lord will not deliver us Out of the trial which is looming in the distance,  and he threatens that the last ounce will break the camel's back. What a liar he is! For the Lord will never leave us or forsake us. "Let him deliver him now!" cries the false fiend: but the LORD  will silence him by coming to our rescue.

He takes great delight in telling us that death will prove too much for us. "How wilt thou do in  the swelling of Jordan?" But there also he shall prove a liar unto us, and we shall pass through  the river singing psalms of glory.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

December 23
Precious Things

And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the  dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath - Deuteronomy 33:13

We may be rich in such things as Joseph obtained, and we may have them in a higher sense. Oh,  for "the precious things of heaven"!

Power with God and the manifestation of power from God are most precious. We would enjoy the  peace of God, the joy of the Lord, the glory of our God. The benediction of the three divine  Persons in love, and grace, and fellowship we prize beyond the most fine gold. The things of  earth are as nothing in preciousness compared with the things in heaven.

"The dew." How precious is this! How we pray and praise when we have the dew! What  refreshing, what growth, what perfume, what life there is in us when the dew is about' Above all  things else, as plants of the LORD's own right hand planting, we need the dew of His Holy Spirit.

"The deep that coucheth beneath." Surely this refers to that unseen ocean underground which  supplies all the fresh springs which make glad the earth. Oh, to tap the eternal fountains! This is  an unspeakable boon; let no believer rest till he possesses it. The all-sufficiency of Jehovah is ours  forever. Let us resort to it now.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

December 22
Immediately Present

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble - Psalm 46:1

A help that is not present when we need it is of small value. The anchor which is left at home is of  no use to the seaman in the hour of storm; the money which he used to have is of no worth to the  debtor when a writ is out against him. Very few earthly helps could be called "very present": they  are usually far in the seeking, far in the using, and farther still when once used. But as for the Lord our God, He is present when we seek Him, present when we need Him, and present when  we have already enjoyed His aid.

He is more than "present," He is very present. More present than the nearest friend can be, for He  is in us in our trouble; more present than we are to ourselves, for sometimes we lack presence of  mind. He is always present, effectually present, sympathetically present, altogether present. He is  present now if this is a gloomy season. Let us rest ourselves upon Him. He is our refuge, let us  hide in Him; He is our strength, let us array ourselves with Him; He is our help, let us lean upon  Him; He is our very present help, let us repose in Him now. We need not have a moment's care or  an instant's fear. "The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge."

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

December 21
From Anger To Love

He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou  wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea - Micah 7:19

God never turns from His love, but He soon turns from His wrath. His love to His chosen is  according to His nature; His anger is only according to His office. He loves because He is love; He  frowns because it is necessary for our good. He will come back to the place in which His heart  rests, namely, His love to His own, and then He will take pity upon our griefs and end them.

What a choice promise is this--"He will subdue our iniquities"! He will conquer them. They cry to  enslave us, but the Lord will give us victory over them by His own right hand. Like the Canaanites, they shall be beaten, put under the yoke, and ultimately slain.

As for the guilt of our sins, how gloriously is that removed! "All their sins"--yes, the whole host of  them; "thou wilt cast"--only an almighty arm could perform such a wonder; "into the depths of the  sea"--where Pharaoh and his chariots went down. Not into the shallows out of which they might  be washed up by the tide, but into the "depths" shall our sins be hurled. They are all gone. They  sank into the bottom like a stone. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

December 20
Men As Men; God As God

I, even I, am He that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that  shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; and forgettest the Lord thy maker,  that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and host feared  continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and  where is the fury of the oppressor? - Isaiah 51:12-13

Let the text itself be taken as the portion for today. There is no need to enlarge upon it. Trembling  one, read it, believe it, feed on it, and plead it before the Lord. He whom you fear is only a man  after all; while He who promises to comfort you is God, your Maker, and the creator of heaven  and earth. Infinite comfort more than covers a very limited danger.

"Where is the fury of the oppressor?" It is in the Lord's hand. It is only the fury of a dying  creature; fury which will end as soon as the breath is gone from the nostril. Why, then, should we  stand in awe of one who is as frail as ourselves? Let us not dishonor our God by making a god of  puny man. We can make an idol of a man by rendering to him excessive fear as well as by paying  him inordinate love. Let us treat men as men, and God as God; and then we shall go calmly on in  the path of duty, fearing the Lord and fearing nobody else.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

December 19
Afflictions, But No Broken Bones

He keepeth all His bones; not one of them is broken - Psalm 34:20

This promise by the context is referred to the much afflicted righteous man: "Many are the  afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all." He may suffer skin  wounds and flesh wounds, but no great harm shall be done; "not a bone of him shall be broken."

This is great comfort to a tried child of God, and comfort which I dare accept; for up to this hour I  have suffered no real damage from my many afflictions. I have neither lost faith, nor hope, nor  love. Nay so far from losing these bones of character, they have gained in strength and energy. I  have more knowledge, more experience, more patience, more stability than I had before the trials  came. Not even my joy has been destroyed. Many a bruise have I had by sickness, bereavement,  depression, slander, and opposition; but the bruise has healed, and there has been no compound  fracture of a bone, not even a simple one. The reason is not far to seek. If we trust in the Lord, He keeps all our hones; and if He keeps them, we may be sure that not one of them is broken.

Come, my heart, do not sorrow. Thou art smarting, but there are no hones broken. Endure  hardness and bid defiance to fear.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

December 18
Defended And Covered

As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem - Isaiah 31:5

With hurrying wing the mother bird hastens up to the protection of her young. She wastes no  time upon the road when coming to supply them with food or guard them from danger. Thus as  on eagle's wings will the Lord come for the defense of His chosen; yea, He will ride upon the  wings of the wind.

With outspread wing the mother covers her little ones in the nest. She hides them away by  interposing her own body. The hen yields her own warmth to her chicks and makes her wings a  house, in which they dwell at home. Thus doth Jehovah Himself become the protection of His  elect. He Himself is their refuge, their abode, their all.

As birds flying and birds covering (for the word means both), so will the Lord be unto us: and  this He will be repeatedly and successfully. We shall be defended and preserved from all evil: the Lord who likens Himself to birds will not be like them in their feebleness, for He is Jehovah of  hosts. Let this be our comfort, that almighty love will be swift to succor and sure to cover. The  wing of God is more quick and more tender than the wing of a bird, and we will put our trust  under its shadow henceforth and forever.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

December 17
Nearest And Dearest Fellowship

So shall we ever be with the Lord - 1 Thessalonians 4:17

While we are here the Lord is with us, and when we are called away we are with Him. There is  no dividing the saint from His Savior. They are one, and they always must be one: Jesus cannot be  without His own people, for He would be a Head without a body. Whether caught up into the air,  or resting in paradise, or sojourning here, we are with Jesus; and who shall separate us from  Him?

What a joy is this! Our supreme honor, rest, comfort, delight, is to be with the Lord. We cannot  conceive of anything which can surpass or even equal this divine society. By holy fellowship we  must be with Him in His humiliation, rejection, and travail, and then we shall be with Him in His  glory. Before long we shall be with Him in His rest and in His royalty, in His expectation and in  His manifestation. We shall fare as He fares and triumph as He triumphs.

O my Lord, if I am to be forever with Thee, I have a destiny incomparable. I will not envy an  archangel. To be forever with the Lord is my idea of heaven at its best. Not the harps of gold, nor  the crowns unfading, nor the light unclouded is glory to me; but Jesus, Jesus Himself, and myself  forever with Him in nearest and dearest fellowship.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

December 16
Divine Expulsion

Thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong -  Joshua 17:18

It is a great encouragement to valor to be assured of victory, for then a man goes forth to war in  confidence and ventures where else he had been afraid to go. Our warfare is with evil within us  and around us, and we ought to be persuaded that we are able to get the victory and that we shall  do so in the name of the Lord Jesus. We are not riding for a fall, but to win; and win we shall.  The grace of God in its omnipotence is put forth for the overflow of evil in every form: hence the  certainty of triumph.

Certain of our sins find chariots of iron in our constitution, our former habits, our associations,  and our occupations. Nevertheless we must overcome them. They are very strong, and in  reference to them we are very weak; yet in the name of God we must master them, and we will. If  one sin has dominion of us we are not the Lord's free men. A man who is held by only one chain  is still a captive. There is no going to heaven with one sin ruling within us, for of the saints it is  said, "Sin shall not have dominion over you." Up, then, and slay every Canaanite, and break to  shivers every chariot of iron! The Lord of hosts is with us, and who shall resist His  sin-destroying power?

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

December 15
World Concord

And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation  shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more - Isaiah 2:4

Oh, that these happy times were come! At present the nations are heavily armed and are  inventing weapons more and more terrible, as if the chief end of man could only be answered by  destroying myriads of his fellows. Yet peace will prevail one day; yes, and so prevail that the  instruments of destruction shall be beaten into other shapes and used for better purposes.

How will this come about? By trade? By civilization? By arbitration? We do not believe it. Past  experience forbids our trusting to means so feeble. Peace will be established only by the reign of  the Prince of Peace. He must teach the people by His Spirit, renew their hearts by His grace, and  reign over them by His supreme power, and then will they cease to wound and kill. Man is a  monster when once his blood is up, and only the LORD Jesus can turn this lion into a lamb. By  changing man's heart, his bloodthirsty passions are removed. Let every reader of this book of  promises offer special prayer today to the LORD and Giver of Peace that He would speedily put  an end to war and establish concord over the whole world.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

December 14
Nothing Old

And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new - Revelation 21:5

Glory be to His name! All things need making new, for they are sadly battered and worn by sin. It  is time that the old vesture was rolled up and laid aside, and that creation put on her Sunday  suit. But no one else can make all things new except the Lord who made them at the first; for it  needs as much power to make out of evil as to make out of nothing. Our Lord Jesus has  undertaken the task, and He is fully competent for the performance of it. Already he has  commenced His labor, and for centuries He has persevered in making new the hearts of men and  the order of society. By and by He will make new the whole constitution of human government,  and human nature shall be changed by His grace; and there shall come a day when the body  shall be made new and raised like unto His glorious body.

What a joy to belong to a kingdom in which everything is being made new by the power of its  King! We are not dying out: we are hastening on to a more glorious life. Despite the opposition of  the powers of evil, our glorious Lord Jesus is accomplishing His purpose and making us, and  all things about us, "new" and as full of beauty as when they first came from the hand of the Lord.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

December 13
Evening Brightens Into Day

It shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light - Zechariah 14:7

It is a surprise that it should be so; for all things threaten that at evening I time it shall be dark.  God is wont to work in a way so much above our fears and beyond our hopes that we are greatly  amazed and are led to praise His sovereign grace. No, it shall not be with us as our hearts are  prophesying: the dark will not deepen into midnight, but it will on a sudden brighten into day.  Never let us despair. In the worst times let us trust in the Lord who turneth the darkness of the  shadow of death into the morning. When the tale of bricks is doubled Moses appears, and when  tribulation abounds it is nearest its end.

This promise should assist our patience. The light may not fully come till our hopes are quite  spent by waiting all day to no purpose. To the wicked the sun goes down while it is yet day: to  the righteous the sun rises when it is almost night. May we not with patience wait for that  heavenly light, which may be long in coming but is sure to prove itself well worth waiting for?

Come, my soul, take up thy parable and sing unto Him who will bless thee in life and in death, in  a manner surpassing all that nature has ever seen when at its best.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

December 12
A Quiet Heart

In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength - Isaiah 30:15

It is always weakness to be fretting and worrying, questioning and mis-trusting. What can we do  if we wear ourselves to skin and bone? Can we gain anything by fearing and fuming? Do we not  unfit ourselves for action and unhinge our minds for wise decision? We are sinking by our  struggles when we might float by faith.

Oh, for grace to be quiet! Why run from house to house to repeat the weary story which makes us  more and more heart-sick as we tell it? Why even stay at home to cry out in agony because of  wretched forebodings which may never be fulfilled? It would be well to keep a quiet tongue, but it  would be far better if we had a quiet heart. Oh, to be still and know that Jehovah is God!

Oh, for grace to be confident in God! The holy One of Israel must defend and deliver His own. He  cannot run back from His solemn declarations. We may make sure that every word of His will  stand though the mountains should depart. He deserves to be confided in; and if we would  display confidence and consequent quietness, we might be as happy as the spirits before the  throne.

Come, my soul, return unto thy rest, and lean thy head upon the bosom of the Lord Jesus.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

December 11
Trust And Do; Do And Trust

Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed -  Psalm 37:3

Trust and do are words which go well together, in the order in which the Holy Spirit has placed  them. We should have faith, and that faith should work. Trust in God sets us upon holy doing:  we trust God for good, and then we do good. We do not sit still because we trust, but we arouse  ourselves and expect the Lord to work through us and by us. It is not ours to worry and do evil  but to trust and do good. We neither trust without doing nor do without trusting.

Adversaries would root us out if they could; but by trusting and doing we dwell in the land. We  will not go into Egypt, but we will remain in Immanuel's land-the providence of God, the Canaan  of covenant love. We are not so easily to be got rid of as the Lord's enemies suppose. They  cannot thrust us Out nor stamp us out: where God has given us a name and a place, there we  abide.

But what about the supply of our necessities? The Lord has put a "verily" into this promise. As  sure as God is true, His people shall be fed. It is theirs to trust and to do, and it is the Lord's to  do according to their trust. If not fed by ravens, or fed by an Obadiah, or fed by a widow, yet they  shall be fed somehow. Away, ye fears!

Charles Haddon Spurgeon