Truth for Life - February 24, 2017

February 24

Showers of Blessing

I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. - Ezekiel 34:26

Here is sovereign mercy--"I will send down the showers in their season." Is it not sovereign, divine mercy? For who can say, "I will send down showers" except God? There is only one voice that can speak to the clouds and bid them send the rain. "Who sends down the rain upon the earth? Who scatters the showers upon the green herb? Do not I, the Lord?" So grace is the gift of God and is not to be created by man.

It is also needed grace. What would the ground do without showers? You may break the clods, you may sow your seeds, but what can you do without the rain? Just as absolutely needful is the divine blessing; you work in vain until God then bestows the shower and sends salvation down.

Then, it is plenteous grace. "I will send down the showers." It does not say, "I will send down drops," but "showers." So it is with grace. If God gives a blessing, He usually gives it in such a measure that there is not room enough to receive it. Plenteous grace! We need plenteous grace to keep us humble, to make us prayerful, to make us holy; plenteous grace to make us zealous, to preserve us through this life, and at last to land us in heaven. We cannot do without saturating showers of grace.

Again, it is seasonable grace. "I will cause the shower to come down in their season." What is your season this morning? Is it the season of drought? Then that is the season for showers. Is it a season of great heaviness and black clouds? Then that is the season for showers. "As your days, so shall your strength be."1

And here is a varied blessing. "I will give you showers of blessing." The word is in the plural. All kinds of blessings God will send. All God's blessings go together, like links in a golden chain. If He gives converting grace, He will also give comforting grace. He will send "showers of blessing." Look up today, O parched plant, and open your leaves and flowers for a heavenly watering.

1) Deuteronomy 33:25

Family Bible reading plan

verse 1 Exodus 7

verse 2 Luke 10

Holiness - It's Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties and Roots

J. C Ryle wrote this timeless classic on holiness over a hundred years ago, yet how poignant his words still are for us today. Sadly, we all know how easy it is to appear godly in public, while behind closed doors to continue in our own sin.
 
This modern English version will challenge a new generation of readers to live a Christ–like life. Ryle’s timeless wisdom reminds us that holiness shouldn’t be cold, distant and unobtainable, but that Christ himself is the root of our godliness. Be exhorted not to simply settle for half–hearted holiness, but to strive to be holy in every area of our lives. Holiness, Ryle argued, was not simply a matter of believing and feeling, but of doing.
 

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From Morning & Evening revised and edited by Alistair Begg copyright © 2003. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.

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Christianity / Devotionals / Truth For Life Daily, with Alistair Begg / Truth for Life - February 24, 2017