Reformed Christian Studies

By Octavius Winslow - Posted at Grace Gems : "The Lord is my portion, says my soul" That is why we can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper, so I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?" Hebrews 13:6 The believer is as helpless in himself as he is portionless in the world; and both lessons are only learned by experience--the one, in the school of the soul's nothingness; the other, in the school of earth's insufficiency. Hallowed teaching this which leads to such blessed results! But the lesson of our spiritual helplessness is not once learned, and learned for all time. Oh no! It is a daily, hourly lesson, learned in every event and incident of our life, yet never completed until we pass to the wider sphere, the sublimer studies, the higher, nobler attainments of glory. Oh, what divine studies await our enlarged faculties! what sublime revelations, our complete holiness! what an ocean of bliss, our hearts perfected in the love to God!

By Octavius Winslow - Posted at Grace Gems : "The Lord is my portion, says my soul" "The Lord Jesus Christ, who is our hope."--1 Tim. 1:1 What a precious possession of the believing soul, springing from the Lord as his Portion, is hope. Rob the poor worldling of his--though it be but earth-bound, and fading as a midsummer's evening sun--and you have plunged him in the dark and deep abyss of despondency and despair. Man without hope is the most miserable being in the universe. But with the hope of the Christian glowing in his heart--a hope of which God is the Giver, Jesus the Foundation, the Spirit the Author, and heaven the goal--and there lives not among the happy, a happier being than he. Thus the believer is "saved by hope." Look, my soul, for a moment at this inestimable part of your portion, and learn more thoroughly in what it consists--what the sweet soothing it imparts, the holy obligations it imposes, and the splendid revelations it

By Octavius Winslow - Posted at Grace Gems : "The Lord is my portion, says my soul" "Whoever does God's will is My brother." Mark 3:35 Precious portion this--Christ our BROTHER! If our religion bears this divine stamp of reality--the doing God's will--then, not only are all the saints of God our brethren, but all are Christ's brethren, He standing in the relation to all of the Elder Brother--"the FIRST-BORN among many brethren." The Elder Brother under the law was clothed with peculiar and great privileges. Not only to him belonged the birthright, but he was invested with great power, was entitled to a double share of the patrimony, and, what was of great importance, he was the priest of the family, discharging all the duties and offices of religion. Now all this, and much more, is Jesus our Elder Brother. To Him belongs every attraction that wins our admiration, every perfection that awakens our love, every quality that fits Him to

By Octavius Winslow - Posted at Grace Gems : "The Lord is my portion, says my soul" "For your Maker is your husband--the Lord Almighty is his name--the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth." Isaiah 54:5 How many--appropriate to our circumstances, and endearing to our hearts--are the titles and relations of God! Is there one more sacred or precious to the Christian widow than this--"Your Maker is your HUSBAND." The Lord brings us into a gracious and experimental acquaintance with Himself by the circumstances in which He places us. Just as we learn certain lessons in certain schools, so we learn the relationships which the Lord sustains to us in the positions in life to which those divine relations are the most appropriate. Thus, He may have written you a widow, a "widow indeed," that He might stand to you in a new and more endeared relation--even as you stand to Him in a new and more dependent charac

Source: Wikipedia Posted at Grace Gems : THE LORD MY PORTION or DAILY NEED DIVINELY SUPPLIED By Octavius Winslow, 1870  (31 Day Devotional) PREFACE The Lord's people but imperfectly realize their boundless wealth. They resemble an heir to whom a vast estate has been bequeathed, but who yet remains ignorant of the rich and extensive mines which underlie its surface, filling every acre with veins of the richest ore, until some incidental upturned sod brings to light the precious deposit. God has given us His Word--a field of wealth incalculable; His Son--in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; the covenant of grace--ordered in all things and sure; and Himself, our infinite, all-sufficient, all-satisfying, and inalienable--PORTION. Well may the apostle, summing up the inventory of our possessions, exclaim--as if no measurement or number could compass and compute their extent--"ALL THINGS are yours!" To enable the pious reader to estimate in