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Simpson Devotional
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Inspirational Readings by A.B. Simpson
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Simpson Devotional - Monday, December 01, 2008
Jesus will come into our surrendered lives and unite Himself with us, imparting to us His own life and being. From day to day, He will become the supply of our spiritual needs and the substitute for our helplessness.
Our part is simply to yield fully, recognizing our worthlessness, and then taking Jesus Himself to live in us and be, moment by moment, our strength and purity and victory.
One in His death on the tree,
One as He rose from the dead;
I from the curse am as free
E'en as my glorious Head.
One in His merits I stand,
One as I pray in His name,
All that His worth can demand
I may with confidence claim.
All that He has shall be mine,
All that He is I shall be;
Robed in His glory divine,
I shall be even as He.
As he is, so are we in this world
1 John 4:17
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Simpson Devotional - Sunday, November 30, 2008
When the apostle speaks of the deep things Of God (1 Corinthians 2:10), he means more than deep spiritual truth. There must be something before this. There must be a deep soil and a thorough foundation.
Much of our spiritual teaching fails because the people to whom it is directed are so shallow. Their deeper nature has never been stirred.
The beatitudes begin at the bottom of things-the poor in spirit, the mourners, the hungry hearts. Suffering is essential to profound spiritual life. We need not go to a monastery or a hospital for the leprous to find it. Unless we are born into a different race than Adam's, the first real opportunity for unselfishness will bring into our lives the anguish of crucifixion.
Because men and women have not faced this truth, they know little of suffering and death. We must have deep convictions. Truth must be to us a necessity and principle a part of our very being.
Lord, make me poor in spirit. Help me to be even as Thou wert when on earth-always the lowest and, therefore, highly exalted (Philippians 2:9).
In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves
Philippians 2:3
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Simpson Devotional - Saturday, November 29, 2008
A young woman whose parents had died while she was an infant had been cared for by a friend of the family. Before she was old enough to know him he went to Europe. Through all his years of absence he wrote regularly to her and never failed to send her money for all her wants.
Finally word came that during a certain week he would return and visit her. He did not fix the day or the hour. During that week the young woman received several invitations to take pleasant trips with her friends. one of these sounded so exciting that she could not resist accepting it. But during her trip her benefactor came, inquired as to her absence and left. Returning she found a note:
"My life," the note said, "has been a struggle for you; might you not have waited one week for me?" More she never heard, and her life of plenty became one of want.
Jesus has not fixed the day or hour of His return but He has said, Watch. Should He come today, would He find us absorbed in thoughtless dissipation? May we be found each day in the expectant attitude of those watching for a loved one.
Could ye not watch with me one hour?
Matthew 26:40
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Simpson Devotional - Friday, November 28, 2008
How much can we do for Christ? We are accustomed to say, "As much as I can." Have we ever thought that we can do more than we can?
This thought was lately suggested by the remarks of a Christian friend who told how God had laid it upon her heart to do something for His cause which was beyond her power. When she dared to obey Him, He gave her the assurance of His power and resources. So marvelously did He meet her faith that she was enabled to do more than she could have otherwise. She was able to accomplish her heart's desire and see a work fulfilled to which her resources were unequal.
The apostle says, I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me, and yet He says we are not able to think anything, as of ourselves (2 Corinthians 3:5).
Oh, blessed sufficiency! Oh, blessed All-Sufficiency! Oh blessed nothingness, which brings us all things! Oh, blessed faith, whose rich dowry is, All things are possible to him that believeth!
Oh, to be found of Him in peace,
Spotless and free from blame.
Without me ye can do nothing
John 15:5
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Simpson Devotional - Thursday, November 27, 2008
The two men who stand worshiping at the gate of Eden represent the two divisions of mankind-believers and unbelievers.
The earthly man has far more beauty, culture and real effort in his religion. He brings the first and best of the rich, ripe produce of summer. Perhaps his altar is in favorable contrast to the rude mound of clay on which Abel offers the ghastly and revolting sacrifice of a bleeding, dying lamb.
Cain's whole offering was a direct denial of what God had said about the curse upon the ground and its fruits, of the fact of sin and the need of an atoning Savior. Abel's sacrifice acknowledged this truth and accepted God's way of pardon.
The first act of faith is to believe what God says about sin-to believe that we are sinners because God says it. Abel did. He took the sinner's place and instantly found the sinner's Savior. Cain would not see his sin and as a result, fell into deeper sin.
The devil tricks us into saying, "I have not sinned." Humble faith accepts God's judgment upon sin and thereby escapes its penalty.
And the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering
Genesis 4:4
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Simpson Devotional - Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Preeminent above all other ministries for the evangelization of the heathen world is the Great Commission. The command, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature (Luke 16:15), requires a personal ministry from man to man and for every man. The command to begin at Jerusalem passes on to us the obligation to reach God's chosen people. Go ye . . . and disciple all nations raises our commission to a nobler plane and makes us ambassadors for the King of kings and trustees of the gospel for every kindred and tribe and tongue. The command, Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8), lifts the outlook beyond any section of humanity, any circle of selfish patriotism and any form of religious selfishness. It makes the work of evangelization the one supreme ministry of the Church of Christ and the one paramount responsibility of every disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Have you come into close touch with the risen Christ or caught the spirit of His last momentous days on earth? if so, you cannot be inactive, indifferent, or even neutral in this mighty enterprise which is the emergency work of our times and which is the one great business for which God has called us.
As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you
John 20:21
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Simpson Devotional - Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Nothing will more effectually arrest the working of the Spirit in the heart than the spirit of criticism. At the end of a meeting, a young minister came forward and told me of the great blessing he had received that afternoon and of the baptism of the Holy Spirit that had come into his heart and being, setting him free from the bondage of years. And then he added, "it all came through your answer to that question, 'Will a criticizing spirit hinder the Holy Spirit from filling the heart?'"
As the question was asked and answered, he said, "I was sitting in the church criticizing much of what was going on, objecting to this thing and to that thing, finding fault with the expressions of praise and testimony and feeling thoroughly unhappy. The Lord brought the answer home to my heart and convicted me of my sin. There and then I laid it down and began to see the good instead of the evil. Blessing fell upon me, and my soul was filled with joy and praise. I saw where my error lay-that for years I had been trying to see the truth with my head instead of my heart."
Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come
1 Corinthians 4:5
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