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Daily Devotionals
The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions
Devotional: September 18th

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September 18—Morning—Song of Solomon 7:5

"The king is held in the galleries."—Song of Solomon 7:5.

And who but Jesus is King in Zion? As one with the Father over all, God blessed for ever, he is indeed the King eternal, immortal, invisible. And as Mediator God-man, he is my God and King, both by his conquest of my heart, and the voluntary surrender of my soul. Yes, blessed Jesus, I not only hail thee my God and King, but I would have every knee bow before thee, and every tongue confess that thou art Lord and King, to the glory of God the Father. But, my soul, what are those galleries where thy King is held? Are they the scriptures of truth, where Jesus is held and retained, adored and admired? Or are they the public ordinances of thine house, or the place where thine honour dwelleth; or the secret chamber, or the closet of retirement and meditation; when thou comest to visit thy people, and when thou knockest at the door of their hearts, when thou comest in to sup with them, and they with thee? Well, my gracious, condescending Lord, be they what they may, or where they may; methinks, like the patriarch, when thou comest to wrestle with my poor, heedless and sleepy heart, I will hold thee in the galleries, and say, as he did," I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." I would say, as another famous patriarch did, "My Lord, if I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away from thy servant. Rest yourself under the tree; and I will fetch a morsel of thine own bread, and of thine own giving, and comfort ye your hearts: for therefore are ye come to your servant," Genesis 18:3-5. I would entreat thee, Lord, not to be as the wayfaring man, that turneth in to tarry but for the night: but I would hold thee in the galleries of thine own graces, and thine own strength, imparted to my poor soul; and I would beg of thee, and entreat thee to tarry until the dawn of day, and make thyself fully known unto me, in breaking of bread, and in prayer. Yes, my adorable King, my Lord and my God! I would detain thee in the galleries, I would hold thee fast, I would not let thee go, until that I had brought thee into my mother’s house, the church—and until thou hadst brought me home to thine eternal habitation which is above; and there to sit down at thy feet to go out no more, but at the fountain head of joy to drink of the spiced wine of the juice of the pomegranate in everlasting felicity.

September 18—Evening—1 John 2:6

"He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked."—1 John 2:6.

Sweet testimony to the truth as it is in Jesus, when, from being in Christ, we are walking with Christ; and one and the same spirit runs through both. As a man never walks as Christ walked, before he is first united to Christ; so when truly united to Christ, the evidence is made to appear by loving what Jesus loves, and hating what Jesus hates. As Ruth said to Naomi, so the believer saith to the Lord Jesus: "Where thou goest, I would go, and where thou lodgest, I would lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God!" And, my soul, think what a blessed unanswerable proof doth it afford, both to thyself and to the world around, when, from abiding in Christ, we live as Christ; that is, his Holy Spirit moves in us, speaks in us, walks in us, yea, doth all in us; and as the soul of man gives life and action to the body, so Christ, who is the soul of the believer, gives life and action to the soul. Hence Paul considered himself so wholly actuated, in every part of the spiritual life, by the in-dwelling residence of the Spirit of Christ, that he said, it was not he that lived, but Christ that lived in him: "The life," saith he, "which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me:" Galatians 2:20. My soul, canst thou subscribe to the same? "If Christ be in thee, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness;" Romans 8:10. Oh! for grace so to abide in Jesus, that every act of my life may testify" whose I am, and whom I serve;" and like that martyr, who to every question put to him, only answered, "I am a Christian;" so, my soul, may every act, every word, yea, every thought of thine, so proclaim Jesus, and thy union and oneness with him, that all with whom thou hast to do may plainly discover thou art no longer thine own, but that, "being bought with a price, thou dost glorify God in thy body, and in thy spirit, which are both his."

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