Manchester Youth

“Already Ye Are Clean Because of the Word I Have Spoken Unto You” –John 15:3

What is the pruning knife of this heavenly Husbandman? It is often said to be affliction. By no means in the first place. How would it then fare with many who have long seasons free from adversity; or with some on whom God appears to shower down kindness all their life long? No; it is the Word of God that is the knife, shaper than any two-edged sword, that pierces even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and is quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. It is only when affliction leads to this discipline of the Word that it becomes a blessing; the lack of this heart-cleansing through the Word is the reason why affliction is so often unsanctified. Not even Paul’s thorn in the flesh could become a blessing until Christ’s Word–”My strength is made perfect in weakness”–had made him see the danger of self-exaltation, and made him willing to rejoice in infirmities.

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It is as the soul gives up its own thoughts, and men’s thoughts of what is religion, and yields itself heartily, humbly, patiently, to the teaching of the Word by the Spirit, that the Father will do His blessed work of pruning and cleansing away all of nature and self that mixes with our work and hinders His Spirit. Let those who would know all the Husbandman can do for them, all the Vine can bring forth through them, seek earnestly to yield themselves heartily to the blessed cleansing through the Word. Let them, in their study of the Word, receive it as a hammer that breaks and opens up, as a fire that melts and refines, as a sword that lays bare and slays all that is of the flesh. The word of conviction will prepare for the word of comfort and of hope, and the Father will cleanse them through the Word. All ye who are branches of the true Vine, each time you read or hear the Word, wait first of all on Him to use it for His cleansing of the branch. Set your heart upon His desire for more fruit. Trust Him as Husbandman to work it. Yield yourselves in simple childlike surrender to the cleansing work of His Word and Spirit, and you may count upon it that His purpose will be fulfilled in you.

–From Andrew Murray’s The True Vine

SOMEONE says, “I have tried to live a consistent Christian life, and yet I am not what I wish.”

Perhaps you live too much in your feelings, too little in your will. We have no direct control over our feelings, but we have over our will. God does not hold us responsible for what we feel, but for what we will. Let us, therefore, not live in the summer house of emotion, but in the central citadel of the will, wholly yielded and devoted to the will of God.

At the table of the Lord the soul is often suffused with holy emotion; the tides rise high; the tumultuous torrents of joy knock loudly against the floodgates as if to beat them down, and every element in the nature joins in the choral hymn of rapturous praise. But the morrow comes and life has to be faced in the grim office, the dingy shop, the noisy factory, the godless workroom; and as the soul compares the joy of yesterday with the difficulty experienced in walking humbly with the Lord, it is inclined to question whether it is quite so devoted and consecrated as it was. But at such a time, how fair a thing it is to remark that the will has not altered its position by a hair’s breadth, and to look up and say, “My God, the springtide of emotion has passed away like a summer brook; but in my heart of hearts, in my will, Thou knowest I am as devoted, as loyal, as desirous to be only for Thee as in the blessed moment of unbroken retirement at Thy feet.” This is an offering with which God is well pleased. And thus we may live a calm, peaceful life.

–F.B.Meyer, “The Blessed Life”

“Enoch walked with God…” Gen.5:24

Our lives may be quiet and even obscure; it may be impossible to point to what men call great achievement, but the highest usefulness lies not in such things but in the silent, almost unnoticed but potent and pervasive influence of a holy life, whose light illumines, whose beauty compliments, and whose nobility elevates all who come in contact with it. Enoch has produced immeasurably more good for man than Nebuchadnezzar, who built the marvelous structures of Babylon, than Augustus who “found Rome brick and left it marble,” than the Egyptian monarchs who built the pyramids to amaze and mystify the world for thousands of years to come; and today the man or woman, no matter how humble or obscure, who walks with God is accomplishing more for God and man than Morse with his telegraph, Fulton with his steamboat, Stevenson with his locomotive, Cyrus Field with his Atlantic cable, Roebling with his marvelous bridges, Marconi with his wireless telegraphy and telephony, Edison and Tesla with their electric and electrifying discoveries, or any of the renowned political reformers of the day, with all their futile schemes for turning this world into a terrestrial paradise. Friends, if you wish to be really, permanently, eternally useful, walk with God.

–From “The Secret of Abiding Peace” by R. A. Torrey

“…let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith…” Heb. 12:1-2

LOOKING UNTO JESUS in the Scriptures, to learn there what He is, what He has done, what He gives, what He desires; to find in His character our pattern, in His teachings our instruction, in His precepts our law, in His promises our support, in His person and in His work a full satisfaction provided for every need of our souls.

LOOKING UNTO JESUS Crucified, to find in His shed blood our ransom, our pardon, our peace.

LOOKING UNTO JESUS Risen, to find in Him the righteousness which alone makes us righteous, and permits us, all unworthy as we are, to draw near with boldness, in His Name, to Him Who is His Father and our Father, His God and our God.

LOOKING UNTO JESUS to receive from Him the task and the cross for each day, with the grace which is sufficient to carry the cross and to accomplish the task; the grace that enables us to be patient with His patience, active with His activity, loving with His love…

LOOKING UNTO JESUS and at nothing else… Read on…

Loving People Means Pointing Them to the All-Satisfying God

The idea has been almost totally distorted. Love has to do with showing a dying soul the life-giving beauty of the glory of God, especially his grace. Yes, as we will see, we show God’s glory in a hundred practical ways that include care about food and clothes and shelter and health. That’s what Jesus meant when he said, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

Every good work should be a revelation of the glory of God. What makes the good deed an act of love is not the raw act, but the passion and the sacrifice to make God himself known as glorious. Not to aim to show God is not to love, because God is what we need most deeply. And to have all else without him is to perish in the end. The Bible says that you can give away all that you have and deliver your body to be burned and have not love (1 Corinthians 13:3). If you don’t point people to God for everlasting joy, you don’t love. You waste your life.

–Source: Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life, p34-35

“…И, следуя за Ним, были в страхе”. (Марка 10:32)

Сначала мы были уверены, что знаем об Иисусе Христе все, было так радостно все продать и броситься с головой в Его любовь. Но теперь этой былой уверенности нет. Иисус шагает впереди, и в Нем заметно что-то не то… “Иисус шел впереди их, а они ужасались”.

Иногда выражение лица Иисуса может обдать холодом сердце ученика Его, и у этого ученика вдруг перехватит дыхание. Каким же непонятным и ужасным может быть Христос — лик Его, “как кремень” (Ис. 50:7), Он уверенным, размашистым шагом идет куда-то вдаль. Это уже не Советник и не Друг, Он весь во власти какой-то идеи, о которой я ничего не знаю, и Он меня просто поражает. Сначала я был уверен, что понимаю Его, но теперь эта уверенность развеялась, как дым. Я начинаю понимать, что между мной и Иисусом Христом все-таки есть какой-то промежуток, разрыв. Я уже не могу быть с Ним на дружеской ноге. Он идет далеко впереди меня и совсем не оглядывается. Я понятия не имею, куда Он идет, а пункт назначения нашего пути вообще скрылся из виду.

Иисусу Христу пришлось испытать соблазн всякого греха и тяжесть всякого горя, которое только может испытать человек. Именно поэтому Он и кажется нам непонятным. И когда мы Его видим таким, мы Его не узнаем, мы не видим в Нем ничего общего с тем Христом, Которого мы знали, и не знаем, как же нам идти за ним, с чего начать. Он где-то там, далеко впереди, Он такой далекий и непонятный, и это мало похоже на отношения между друзьями.

В жизни ученика Христа есть место и такому смятению чувств. Опасность таких моментов заключается в том, что мы можем вернуться к своему родному и уютному очагу и начать раздувать его (ср. Ис. 1:10-11). И когда наступает затмение и смятение, терпите, пока оно не пройдет, потому что, если вытерпите, пойдете за Христом с радостью неизреченной.

–Освальд Чеймберс, “Всё, что могу, во славу Его.” Перевод Юрия Смирнова.

“On your back with you!” One raises a mallet to sink in the spike. But the soldier’s heart must sustain the soldier’s life minute by minute, for no man has this power on his own. Who supplies breath to his lungs? Who gives energy to his cells? Who holds his molecules together? Only by the Son do “all things hold together.” The victim wills that the soldier live on — he grants the warrior’s continues existence.

As the man swings, the Son recalls how he and the Father first designed the medial nerve of the human forearm — the sensations it would be capable of. The design proves flawless — the nerves perform exquisitely. “Up you go!” They lift the cross. God is on display and can scarcely breathe.

But these pains are a mere warm-up to his other and growing dread. He begins to feel a foreign sensation. Somewhere during this day an unearthly foul odor began to waft, not around his, but his heart. He feels dirty. Human wickedness starts to crawl upon his spotless being — the living Read on…

“But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord” (Jonah 1:3).

It is easier to identify with Jonah than with any other prophet. Others are so holy. Jonah is so much like us.

God says: Go ye!

Jonah says: No!

Jonah’s basic problem: he had too much love for himself. He thought: “God will make a fool of me. I’ll lose face.”

He refused to be a fool for Christ.

He wanted God, but not God’s kingdom. Read on…

1. An unselfish relationship

“And Jonathan Saul’s son arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God” (1 Sam. 23: 16).

God make us all His Jonathans. There is a great hunter abroad in the world [the devil]. Like Saul who sought David every day, he seeks souls every day, never a day’s respite, always the hunt is on. Although the words stand for ever, “but God delivered him not into his hand,” yet sometimes souls tire of being hunted, and like David they are in a wilderness in a wood. Then is Jonathan’s chance. But notice what he does; he does not so comfort David that he becomes necessary to him. “He strengthened his hand in God.” He leaves his friend strong in God, resting in God, safe in God. He detaches his dear David from himself and he attaches him to his “Very Present Help” [Psalm 46:1]. Then Jonathan went to his house, and David abode in the wood–with God.

2. An inspirational relationship
Read on…

“Чтобы познать Его…” (Филиппийцам 3:10)

Святой Божий должен стремиться не к тому, чтобы реализовать свой потенциал, а к тому, чтобы познать Иисуса Христа. Настоящий святой не верит, что все происходит по воле случая, и не делит свою жизнь на мирскую и духовную. Он смотрит на все обстоятельства, в которых оказывается, как на возможность еще лучше познать Иисуса Христа. Ради этого познания он бесповоротно отрекается от всего. Дух Святой помогает нам познать Иисуса Христа во всем в нашей жизни, и Он снова и снова будет возвращать нас в одно и то же место, пока мы Его не познаем именно там. Если же наша цель будет заключаться в том, чтобы реализовать себя, нашим богом станут дела. Дела могут быть разные: еда, питье, мытье ног ученикам, — но какое бы дело у нас ни стояло на повестке дня, нам нужно во что бы то ни стало стремиться и в нем познать Иисуса Христа. Все, с чем мы сталкиваемся в своей жизни, имеет свое соответствие в жизни Христа. Наш Господь помнил о Своей неразрывной связи с Отцом даже тогда, когда делал дела, кажущиеся другим недостойными Его: “Иисус, зная… что Он от Бога исшел и к Богу отходит… взяв полотенце… начал умывать ноги ученикам” (Ин. 13:3-5). Цель настоящего святого в том, “чтобы познать Его”. Познаю ли я Его там, где я сегодня нахожусь? Если нет, я Его подвожу. Ведь я сегодня там, где я есть, не для того, чтобы познать, на что способен я, а для того, чтобы познать Иисуса. Чаще всего в служении бывает так, что люди понимают: что-то нужно сделать и сделать это нужно именно мне. У настоящего святого такого понимания быть не должно, его цель — в любых обстоятельствах, в которых он окажется, еще лучше познать Иисуса Христа.

–Освальд Чеймберс, “Всё, что могу, во славу Его.” Перевод Юрия Смирнова.