Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. – Luke 12:32

Believers are a “little flock.” They always have been, ever since the world began. Professing servants of God have sometimes been very many. Baptized people at the present day are a great company. But true Christians are very few. It is foolish to be surprised at this. It is vain to expect it will be otherwise until the Lord comes again. “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leads unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matt. 7:14.)

Are we members of Christ’s little flock? Then surely, we ought not to be afraid. There are given to us exceeding great and precious promises. (2 Pet. 1:4.) God is ours, and Christ is ours. Greater are those that are for us than all that are against us. The world, the flesh, and the devil, are mighty enemies. But with Christ on our side we have no cause to fear.

True Christians should never be greatly moved by the persecution of man. Their enemies may be strong, and they may be weak; but still they ought not to be afraid. They should remember that “the triumphing of the wicked is but short.”

What has become of the Pharaohs and Neros and Diocletians, who at one time fiercely persecuted the people of God? Where is the enmity of Charles the Ninth of France, and Bloody Mary of England? They did their utmost to cast the truth down to the ground. But the truth rose again from the earth, and still lives; and they are dead, and mouldering in the grave.

Let not the heart of any believer fail. Death is a mighty leveler and can take any mountain out of the way of Christ’s church. “The Lord lives” forever. His enemies are only men. The truth shall always prevail.

 JC Ryle

Soli Deo Gloria!

The LORD is my shepherd – Psalm 23:1

We are such forgetful creatures; too often forgetting what we are, and what a God He is.

How poor and unsatisfying are all things here below; even the best and the loveliest! Oh, to walk more intimately with Him, to live above the world, and hold the creature with a looser hand, taking God’s Word as our guiding light; our unfailing spring of comfort.

God is my Shepherd, and all my concerns are in His hands. Blessed, forever blessed, be His dear and holy name, who has looked with everlasting mercy on such a poor, vile sinner as me; and encouraged me with such sweet manifestations of His love, to trust my soul and all my interests in His hands!

The world and its ‘nothings’ are often a sad snare to God’s saints. Oh that by faith we may overcome it all, and keep close to Jesus! We are not of the world. Let us try and not attend to its gewgaws! Keep a more steadfast, unwavering eye upon Christ. He has gone a little before us, and stands beckoning us to follow. Live for eternity! Let go your hold upon the world!

Let us aim in all things to follow Him who, despising this world’s show, left us an example how we should walk. Have your lamp trimmed and brightly burning, for every day and every hour brings us nearer and nearer to our home!

Dearest Jesus! help Your pilgrims to live more like pilgrims, above a poor dying world, and more in full view of the glory that awaits them when they shall see You face to face!

-Mary Winslow

Soli Deo Gloria!

My groaning is not hid from thee. —Psalm 38:9

One of the strongest and sweetest consolations God gives to His sick and afflicted ones is the assurance that He not only “knows their sorrows” and tenderly sympathizes with them in their griefs, but that the appointment of the trial proceeds from Him, and that its whole course and continuance are watched by Him with infinite love and care.

As a physician keeps his finger on a suffering patient’s pulse, that he may know just the limit to which pain may be safely endured, so does our God hold our right hand while we are passing through the furnaces of trial that lie on our road to heaven, that He may support us through them and bring us forth in due time to praise Him for His comforting and sustaining grace.

Do remember, dear friend, that the God you love, the master you serve, is never indifferent to your grief or unwilling to hear your cry.

In time of trouble, the soul is greatly helped by cherishing great thoughts of God; they are sure to induce great longings after Him, great faith in Him, and great love toward Him.

Pain, whether bodily, mental, or spiritual, is always unwelcome and at first sight wears an aspect that alarms and discomforts us. But it is often an angel in disguise, and many times we have found that, underneath its terrible exterior, there are hidden the tender smiles of God’s love, the gentle discipline of His teaching, and the sweet pity of His marvelous forbearance.

-Susannah Spurgeon

Soli Deo Gloria!