When the Gospel is put before a man’s soul, it is as if God offers him a lighted candle. It is not enough to hear it, to agree with it, to admire it, and to say it is true. It has to be received into the heart, and obeyed in life. Until this happens the Gospel does him no more

The privileges of those who hear and obey God’s Word are great. They are considered by Christ as His close relatives, closer than any connected to Him by flesh and blood. All too often we think that if we had lived when Christ walked the earth, we would be a better Christian than we are now. But the ability for

Christ is drawing a picture of Satan and his power in these verses. He speaks of the devil as a ‘strong man.’ Satan has won many victories over the souls of men; he has captured the vast majority of mankind and robbed them of heaven; he is a mighty enemy not to be taken lightly. Satan is well supplied with

Christ has just been teaching His disciples about the power and importance of prayer. Now He delivers a man from a devil. The same Saviour who encourages us to pray, is the Saviour who destroys Satan’s power over us, and restores our tongues to their proper use. There are many different ways in which Satan hurts man. He does not always

These verses teach us the importance of persevering in prayer. As selfish as we are, even we can be roused to action by constant asking. How much more can we expect to receive mercy when we constantly ask God for it. It is far easier to begin a habit of prayer than to keep it up. Many Christians are taught

Christ teaches us to approach God as our Father in heaven and pray that His name may be known and respected and glorified by all His creatures. We are taught to pray that the power of Satan may be destroyed, that all mankind will call God King, and that the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of Christ.

The first thing these verses teach us is how different in personality Christians can be. Both Mary and Martha are faithful believers, both honour Christ at a time when few people do, both love Jesus, and Jesus loves both of them. But Martha is active, impulsive, speaking everything she feels, and Mary is quiet and thoughtful. When Jesus comes to

True brotherly love is not a common thing. Both the priest and the Levite are too selfish to offer help to the wounded man. They probably think that they know nothing about this man, that it is probably his own fault that he has got into trouble, that they have no time to stop and help him, and that they

The motive of this man questioning Christ is wrong, but his question is of the greatest importance. We ought to put this question to ourselves and never rest till we find an answer. Very few people, though, want to think about their souls. They hate the subject. It makes them uncomfortable. For Christians the way of salvation should fill the

Three times we are told in the Gospels that our Lord Jesus Christ weeps. Only once are we told that He rejoices. What is the cause of our Lord’s joy? The conversion of souls. Christ sees much in this world to make Him sad, but when He sees men and women receiving salvation He is glad. God is sovereign in saving