Coconut
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Meditate On The Power of God
"Meditate on this power of God, and press it often upon your minds. We reason many things of God that we do not practically **** the comfort of, for lack of deep thoughts of it, and frequent inspection into it. We believe God to be true, yet distrust him; we acknowledge him powerful, yet fear the motion of every straw.
Many truths, though assented to in our understandings, are kept under covers by corrupt affections, and have not their due influence, because they are not brought forth into the open air of our souls by meditation. If we will but search our hearts, we shall find it is the power of God we often doubt of.
When the heart of Ahaz and his subjects trembled at the combination of the Syrian and Israelitish kings against him, for lack of a confidence in the power of God, God sends his prophet with commission to work a miraculous sign at his own choice, to rear up his fainting heart; and when he refused to ask a sign out of diffidence of that almighty Power, the prophet complains of it as an affront to his Master (Isa. 7:12, 13).
Moses, so great a friend of God, was overtaken with this kind of unbelief, after all the experiences of God's miraculous acts in Egypt; the answer God gives him manifests this to be at the core: "Is the Lord's hand waxed short" (Numb. 11:23)?
For lack of thoughts carried out into practise of this, we are many times turned from our known duty by the blast of a creature— as though man had more power to dismay us, than God hath to support us in his commanded way.
The belief of God's power is one of the first steps to all religion; without settled thoughts of it, we cannot pray lively and believingly for the obtaining the mercies we need, or the averting the evils we fear; we should not love him, unless we are persuaded he hath a power to bless us; nor fear him, unless we were persuaded of his power to punish us. The frequent thoughts of this would render our faith more stable, and our hopes more stedfast; it would make us more feeble to sin, and more careful to obey.
When the virgin staggered at the message of the angel, that she should "bear a Son," he, in his answer, turns her to the creative power of God (Luke 1:35): "The power of the Highest shall overshadow thee;" which seems to be in allusion to the Spirit's moving upon the face of the deep, and bringing a comely world out of a confused mass. Is it harder for God to make a virgin conceive a Son by the power of his Spirit, than to make a world?
Why doth he reveal himself so often under the title of Almighty, and press it upon us, but that we should press it upon ourselves? Any shall we be forgetful of that which every thing about us, everything within us, is a mark of? How come we by a power of seeing and hearing, a faculty, and act of understanding and will, but by this power framing us, this power assisting us?
What though the thunder of his power cannot be understood, no more cart any other perfection of his nature; shall we, therefore, seldom think of it? The sea cannot be fathomed, yet the merchant excuseth not himself from sailing upon the surface of it.
We cannot glorify God without due consideration of this attribute; for his power is his glory as much is any other, and called both by the name of glory (Rom. 6:4), speaking of Christ's resurrection by the glory of the Father; and also "the riches of his glory" (Eph. 3:16).
Those that have strong temptations in their course and over-pressing corruptions in their hearts, have need to think of it out of interest, since nothing but this can relieve them. Those that have experienced the working of it in their new creation, are obliged to think of it out of gratitude.
It was this mighty power over himself that gave rise to all that pardoning grace already conferred, or hereafter expected; without it our souls had been consumed, the world overturned; we could not have expected a happy heaven, but have lain yelling in an eternal hell, had not the power of his mercy exceeded that of his justice, and his infinite power executed what his infinite wisdom had contrived for our redemption."
Discourse On the Power of God
by Stephen Charnock
"Meditate on this power of God, and press it often upon your minds. We reason many things of God that we do not practically **** the comfort of, for lack of deep thoughts of it, and frequent inspection into it. We believe God to be true, yet distrust him; we acknowledge him powerful, yet fear the motion of every straw.
Many truths, though assented to in our understandings, are kept under covers by corrupt affections, and have not their due influence, because they are not brought forth into the open air of our souls by meditation. If we will but search our hearts, we shall find it is the power of God we often doubt of.
When the heart of Ahaz and his subjects trembled at the combination of the Syrian and Israelitish kings against him, for lack of a confidence in the power of God, God sends his prophet with commission to work a miraculous sign at his own choice, to rear up his fainting heart; and when he refused to ask a sign out of diffidence of that almighty Power, the prophet complains of it as an affront to his Master (Isa. 7:12, 13).
Moses, so great a friend of God, was overtaken with this kind of unbelief, after all the experiences of God's miraculous acts in Egypt; the answer God gives him manifests this to be at the core: "Is the Lord's hand waxed short" (Numb. 11:23)?
For lack of thoughts carried out into practise of this, we are many times turned from our known duty by the blast of a creature— as though man had more power to dismay us, than God hath to support us in his commanded way.
The belief of God's power is one of the first steps to all religion; without settled thoughts of it, we cannot pray lively and believingly for the obtaining the mercies we need, or the averting the evils we fear; we should not love him, unless we are persuaded he hath a power to bless us; nor fear him, unless we were persuaded of his power to punish us. The frequent thoughts of this would render our faith more stable, and our hopes more stedfast; it would make us more feeble to sin, and more careful to obey.
When the virgin staggered at the message of the angel, that she should "bear a Son," he, in his answer, turns her to the creative power of God (Luke 1:35): "The power of the Highest shall overshadow thee;" which seems to be in allusion to the Spirit's moving upon the face of the deep, and bringing a comely world out of a confused mass. Is it harder for God to make a virgin conceive a Son by the power of his Spirit, than to make a world?
Why doth he reveal himself so often under the title of Almighty, and press it upon us, but that we should press it upon ourselves? Any shall we be forgetful of that which every thing about us, everything within us, is a mark of? How come we by a power of seeing and hearing, a faculty, and act of understanding and will, but by this power framing us, this power assisting us?
What though the thunder of his power cannot be understood, no more cart any other perfection of his nature; shall we, therefore, seldom think of it? The sea cannot be fathomed, yet the merchant excuseth not himself from sailing upon the surface of it.
We cannot glorify God without due consideration of this attribute; for his power is his glory as much is any other, and called both by the name of glory (Rom. 6:4), speaking of Christ's resurrection by the glory of the Father; and also "the riches of his glory" (Eph. 3:16).
Those that have strong temptations in their course and over-pressing corruptions in their hearts, have need to think of it out of interest, since nothing but this can relieve them. Those that have experienced the working of it in their new creation, are obliged to think of it out of gratitude.
It was this mighty power over himself that gave rise to all that pardoning grace already conferred, or hereafter expected; without it our souls had been consumed, the world overturned; we could not have expected a happy heaven, but have lain yelling in an eternal hell, had not the power of his mercy exceeded that of his justice, and his infinite power executed what his infinite wisdom had contrived for our redemption."
Discourse On the Power of God
by Stephen Charnock
