Guided by God's Promises , livre ebook

© 2000 by Elisabeth Elliott
Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com
Paper edition published 2022
Previously published in 2000 by Servant Publications
Previously published in 2004 under the title The Music of His Promises
Ebook edition created 2021
Ebook corrections 11.08.2021
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-3462-6
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The New English Bible . Copyright © 1961, 1970 by The Delegates of Oxford University Press and The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press. Reprinted by permission.
Scripture quotations labeled KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.
Scripture quotations labeled Phillips are from are from The New Testament in Modern English, revised edition—J. B. Phillips, translator. © J. B. Phillips 1958, 1960, 1972. Used by permission of Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.
Contents
Cover
Half Title Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
The Music of His Promises
At Every Stage of the Journey
The Eye of the Needle
Recognition
Give and Give and Give
The Way Appointed
What Is Trust?
Unimaginable Solutions
Looking at Graves
Too Rich to Follow Him
Too Strong to Be Crucified
Too Proud for the Low Gate
Too Busy to Be Quiet
No Wagons Provided
Power and Love
Move toward the Light
Our Daily Bread
False Conclusions
Bearing Others’ Burdens
The Rejection of Sacrifice
Unconditional Self-Abandonment
Life and Peace
The Price of Life
We Have Bargained for a Cross
Where Faith Falls Short
Wet Shoes and Cold Feet
Go Quietly on Your Way
Nothing but Crosses?
No Death Wish
When the Heat Comes
The Same Old Routine
A Powerful Advocate
Prayer Unites the Heart to God
Choose to Be Strong and Resolute
Vague Prayers
Be Resolute
Your Plans, Lord, Not Mine
Troubles That Never Happen
Worry Is Meddling
Not by Mere Strength
Even in Temptation
Having Done All, Stand
Jealousy
Find Joy
Your Life—His Own Treasure
The Cross—Day After Day
An Infinite Majesty in the Hands of Men
Prayer Is a Signature
Israel, Poor Louse!
God’s Delays
He Stood His Ground
The Christian’s Stand
A Heart with Skill to Listen
What Will Happen?
Permanent Fence-Sitters
Frame Your Heart to the Burden
Sit Quietly
Choose the Better
A Continual Transformation
Why Doesn’t He Intervene?
Radiant with Hope
The Secret of Understanding
Something Much Smaller
Visible Threats, Invisible Protection
“I Cannot Act by Myself”
No Home, No Love, No Welcome
“But I Don’t Feel Very Loving”
Divine Healing and Miracles
Divine Healing and God’s Glory
Might and Joy
He Will Find a Place
Plunged into Grief ... for Your Good
Faith Leads to Certainty
God’s Hands or Men’s?
Make Me a Servant
Don’t Let Your Courage Fail
Not Your Battle
Our Sennacheribs
Small Change
All We Need to Know
A Salt Land
Thy Shining-Place
He Shall Sit as a Refiner
Rich Enough for the Need
Rescued through Suffering
Dwell in Christ, Dwell in Love
The Prerequisite for Discernment
Unwitting Sins
Defend and Deliver Me, Lord
Incense
I Am Your Salvation
What Else Do You Need?
This Moment’s Need
Two Things You Can Always Do
God’s Message or Satan’s
Impossible Situations
The Rough Road to Freedom
Two Sides of a Coin
Strength for Anything
Where Is Your Mind?
Mercy Even There
Thy Mighty Deeds
Clouds and Mist
I Can’t Take It!
When We Are Wronged
So High and So Low
“The Powers That Be”
What Will People Say?
No Reservations
Fiery Ordeals
Exert Yourself
Intention
I Will Bring You to Safety
A Good Beating
The Accuser’s Overthrow
The Sense of Injured Merit
Love—The Master Spring
Where to Begin
Lifestyle
Such Cowards
The Cross Is the Test of Love
Speaking the Truth in Love
Divine Dispossession
The Helplessness of God’s Servants
The Supreme Act of Will
There Is No Other Way
Follow the Sign
Don’t Get It Backwards
The Fire of His Grace
Your Outward Life
Fellow-Servants
God Will Stop at Nothing
Bend Your Necks to My Yoke
The Test of Relinquishment
Hidden Happenings
This Ordinary Loneliness
How to Measure a Life
A Hard Way and an Easy Yoke
Action as Opposed to Feeling
Godliness with Contentment
Other Plans
Take Up the Cross
Why This Sinking?
The Way of the Cross Leads to the Cross
How Much Is Enough?
Useless Weeping
Holy in Every Part
Dying We Still Live On
Stay Awake One Hour
Willing to Be Walked On
Strength for What’s Coming
Impossible Places
The Greed of Doing
The Greed of Being
The Greed of Having
What About Him, Lord?
A No Is a Mercy
The Heart of Our Need
More Important than Happiness
Gifts We Never Thought of Asking For
As the Need Arises Day by Day
Love Takes Authority
Misgivings
Something to Give Back
God’s Curriculum
How to Go On
All That Comes to Me
Reckoned among Transgressors
Convenient Obstacles
Heaven-Sent Obstacles
Trouble Is Only a Gateway
Equality—Something to Be Coveted?
Seek Things That Last
Do I Love My Neighbor?
Look for the Ancient Paths
Sudden Change
Scriptural Weight Lifting
Very Thoroughly Initiated
A Castle Besieged
The Power, the Glory, and the Humbling
What We Do Not Want
Who—Me, Lord?
The Mightiest Act
Relinquish Everything
Deal First with God
The Strength of the Lamb
In a Desperate Position
What Thanks Do We Expect?
No Visible Results?
A Short Bed
Housecleaning
Cared for in the Wilderness
Remember This in the Dark Place
This Is My Classroom
The Glory of Sacrifice
A Spiritual Conceit
Jesus Was Never Busy
The Father’s Answer
Only a Child May Enter
No Question about the Supernatural
When Things Come to Nothing
The Long Leisure of Eternity
On Planks or Pieces of the Ship
Do Not Try to Save Yourself
Blessed Inconveniences
All Things Serve Thee
The Devil’s Schemes
Reason for Conflict
A Simple Statement Suffices
Nevertheless We Must Run Aground
God Tangles Himself in My Need
The Lifeline
Perseverance
Envy Blinds
Creative Love
The Exceptional Case
The Acceptance of Suffering
Stripped
Glory in Common Things
Stress, Discipline, and Choice
Let God Choose the Curriculum
How to Prepare to Hear God
Hurt Yet Peaceful
The Work of God Displayed
The Facets of Redemption
Self-Disgust
The Holy Paradox
His Peace and Ours
Proof of the Fear of the Lord
My Work—or His?
The Long Way Around
He Knows the Truth
Not My Prerogative
This We Know
Bad Moods
Forgiveness Is an Act of Faith
The Weapon of Forgiveness
How to Help People
The Fear of Loss
Guilt
Tradition
Instant Obedience
Let God Rescue Him
God’s Arm—Too Short?
Burning and Tender Love
Better to Be Maimed
Both Hands, Both Feet, Both Eyes
Take the Word to Heart
About the Author
Back Ad
Back Cover
The Music of His Promises
O n dark days when the only song we feel like singing is a dirge, we can pray, “Let the music of thy promises be on my tongue” (Ps. 119:172). This is no tear-jerking ballad of how I’m feeling. The Promises of God will lift me right out of sad sentimentality and put music in my mouth if I will think steadily on them. Here’s one to sing: “Unfailing love enfolds him who trusts in the L ORD ” (Ps. 32:10).
Do you feel nothing of the kind? When did the validity of the Eternal Word rest on the mood of one of His poor children?
Let the promise be the song you sing. He will hear it and make it true for you .
At Every Stage of the Journey
W hat matters in life is that we should stick with the Lord. Where He goes, we follow. When He says halt, we halt. This is how it was with Israel—as He led them all those years in the wilderness of their journey to the Promised Land, they moved when the pillar of cloud and fire moved, and they camped when it stood still. The most amazing thing about that story is the most amazing thing about ours— the Lord of Hosts is with us ! The pillar of cloud, visible by day, had fire in it at night, so “the Israelites could see it at every stage of their journey” (Exod. 40:38).
Some stops of our wilderness saga seem very difficult and very lonely. We look in vain for any indication around us that the presence of the Lord is still there. Where has He gone? Did we miss the way? Has He forgotten to be gracious? There is no “pillar” for us. But oh yes, there is—it is His unbreakable Word. Hold on to that. Count on it. Believe it. That is our pillar of the proof of His presence: “Be assured, I am with you always, to the end of time” (Matt. 28:20).
That promise, like the wonderful cloud with fire in it, is for every stage of our journey. That means today .
The Eye of the Needle
A husband and wife came seeking counsel for their marriage. As they told their story, fear and pride were revealed as the root causes of strife. The healing of that fear and the renunciation of that pride seemed utter impossibilities—just as impossible as for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of heaven, weighed down as he is with much baggage. This man and woman are weighed down too, yet wanting very much to rescue their home, to do God’s will, to enter the Kingdom. It is, quite simply, impossible—“with men.” But it is possible with God. He who