I believe there is a positive warning in the gospels that a person's faith may stand in the revealed Bible text-and still be as dead as the proverbial door nail! Consider the prayer of our Lord in Matthew 11: "All things are delivered unto me of my Father; and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." There is more than a body of truth - and if we do not get through to the soul of truth, we have only a dead body on our hands. When the power of God moves in on the text and sets the sacrifice on fire, then you have genuine Christianity! We try to call that revival, but it is not revival at all. It is simply New Testament Christianity. People who thought they were saved get saved! People who have only believed in a code now have placed their faith and trust in Christ's person. It is not any deluxe edition of Christianity-it is simply New Testament Christianity having its place!

A.W. Tozer's materials are a mainstay in Evangelical churches in our day and he is one of the most quoted authors. He was a prophet in his day and his writings are even more influential in our day. One of his books: The Pursuit of God, has had over 1 million copies sold world-wide.

Morning and Evening with A.W. Tozer

TRUTH HAS A SOUL

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction… Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. § The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. § Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you. § Be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure … for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. § Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. § The Lord will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory.

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Morning Daily Light

 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest. 

If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well. § “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” … “I am willing; be cleansed.” § Faith as a mustard seed. Do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. § Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. First the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. § Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. § The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. § Run in such a way that you may obtain it. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day.

Evening Daily Light

 Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. 

From the time of John the Baptizer until now, the kingdom 
of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful people have been seizing 
it. (Matthew 11:12 GW)
The Kingdom is so much bigger than conversion. 
Of course, if you are going to be saved at all – I mean saved initially – you 
will have to mean business for that. You will have to make it a desperate 
matter, because there will be everything to stop you. But the Kingdom means a 
very great deal more than merely getting into it, far more than being converted. 
There is a great deal more in the purpose of God for our lives than we have ever 
imagined, and if we are to enter into that, violence has to characterize us. We 
must desperately mean business, and come to the place where we say: "Lord, I am 
set upon all that Thou dost mean in Christ. I am set upon that, and I am not 
going to allow other people's prejudices or suspicions or criticisms to get in 
the way; I am not going to allow any man-made system to hinder me; I am going 
right on with Thee for all Thy purpose. I am going to do violence to everything 
that would get in the way." It calls for violence, and we have to do a lot of 
violence to get all that God wills for us. 
Oh, how easily many lives are side-tracked, 
simply because they are not desperate enough! They are caught in things which 
limit – things which may be good, that may have something of God in them, but 
which none the less are limiting things, and do not represent a wide open way to 
all God's purpose. The only way for us to come into all that the Lord means – 
not only into what we have seen but into all that He has purposed – is to be 
desperate, to be men of violence; to be men who say, "By God's grace, nothing 
and no one, however good, is going to stand in my way; I am going on with God." 
Have that position with the Lord, and you will find that God meets you on that 
ground. No men – not even Paul himself – knew all that they were going to know. 
Paul was constantly getting fuller unveilings of that unto which he was called. 
He received something fairly strong and rich at the beginning; then, later, he 
was shown unspeakable things (2 Corinthians 12:4). He was growing in 
apprehension. But why? Because he was a man of violence. God meets us like that. 
"With the perverse Thou wilt show Thyself froward" (Psalm 18:26). That, in 
principle, means that God will be to you what you are to Him. He will mean 
business if you mean business. There is a vast amount in the Kingdom that we 
have never suspected. Do believe that.

This devotional contains short daily portions from a selection of Mr. Austin-Sparks' messages. In his own words, “Perhaps this is just like a window opened into heaven. If you get the right window you can see quite a lot. You can see great things and you can see far things. But the best that I can hope is that this has just opened a window, and that as you look through it you are seeing one thing - how superior is Jesus Christ to all else, and how superior is the dispensation into which we have come, and how superior are all the resources at our disposal to all that ever was before!” Open Windows messages have been selected and compiled by Austin-Sparks.Net from the works of T. Austin-Sparks. In some cases they appear in abridged form. The introductory verse and its associated Bible version have been selected by the editor and did not always appear within the original message.

Open Windows

Prophetic Ministry - Chapter 6

 Men of Violence 

Matthew 11:1-19John was a brave man and a firm believer in Jesus as the Messiah - but in his prison, questions arose. "When John heard in the prison the works of the Christ, he sent two of his disciples." There were some things which he could not make out himself, and he sent promptly to Jesus to ask Him about them. That is just what we should learn to do in all our perplexities. There often are times when all seems dark about us. We cannot understand the things that are happening to us. We are apt to get very much worried and disheartened. The true Christian way in all such experiences, is to take the matters at once to Christ.John's faith in the Messiahship of Jesus wavered in his hard circumstances. "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" Some people think that John could not really have been in doubt. It is impossible, they say, that such a brave, grand man should ever have wavered in his confidence. They forget that John lived in the mere dawn of Christianity, before the full day burst upon the world. He had not the thousandth part of the light that we have - yet do we never have our questions?The truth is, there are very few of us who are not sometimes disheartened without a hundredth part of the cause John had! We are amazed at every person's blindness or dullness - but our own! Other people's failures look very large to us - but we do not see our own at all. We wonder how Moses, once, under sorest provocation, lost his temper and spoke a few hasty and impatient words; while we can scarcely get through a single sunny day ourselves without a far worse outbreak, at a far smaller provocation! We wonder how the beloved disciples, with all his sweet humility, could once show an ambition for a place of honor, while we ourselves are forever miserably scrambling for preferment! We say, "Isn't it strange that the people of Christ's time would not believe on Him when they saw all His power and love?" Yet we do not believe on Him any more readily or any more fully than they did - though we have far greater evidence! We think it strange that the Baptist grew despondent when his trials were so great, though many of us are plunged into gloom by the merest trifles!Somehow Jesus was not realizing John's expectation as the Messiah, and he thought that possibly there was yet another to come after Him. "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" It is the same yet with many people. When everything is bright and sunny - they think they surely have found Christ, and their hearts are full of joy. But when troubles come and things begin to go against them - they wonder whether after all they really have found the Savior. They begin to question their own experience. Christ does not do just the things they thought He would do for them. Their religion does not support them as they supposed it would do. If they are indeed Christians, why does Christ let them suffer so much and not come to relieve them? So they sink away into the slough of despond, sometimes losing all hope.But we see from John's case, how unnecessary all this worry is. Of course, we must have some earthly trials. Christ does not carry us to heaven on flowery beds of ease. We must expect to bear the cross many a long mile. The true way is never to doubt Him. Suppose there are clouds, the sun still shines behind them, undimmed, and the very clouds have their silver lining. Suppose we have disappointments, Jesus is the same loving Friend as when all our hopes come to ripeness. There is no need to look for another; all we need we find in Him. If we turn away from Him, where shall we go?When John's messengers came with their questions, Jesus did not give a direct answer. He went on with His ministry of love and mercy - that they might see what His work was. Then "Jesus answered." Jesus always answers. Many of our prayers to Him are mixed with doubts. Many of them are full of complaints, fear and murmuring. Still He never grows impatient with us. He never shuts His door upon us. We must cause Him much pain by our distrusts and our unhappy fears. We wonder whether He loves us or not, whether He really has forgiven us or not, whether or not he will take care of us all through our life. Half the time we are worried or perplexed about something, and are full of frets and cares. Does Jesus ever get tired of listening to such prayers? No, no! He listens always, and though His heart must often be pained by the discordant notes of our murmurings and fears - He never grows impatient, and never chides but always answers. He remembers how frail we are, that we are but dust, and gives loving answers.Jesus let the messengers get their own conclusions from what they saw. "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see ." Here we see how Jesus proved His own Messiahship. The best evidence of Christianity is not a long array of arguments - but the things Christianity has done. The tree's fruits are the best index to the tree's character. Jesus pointed to the miracles He had wrought. Yet it was not to the miracles as miracles, merely as wonderful works, that He pointed; it was the character of these works that proved His Messiahship. The blind received their sight, the lame were enabled to walk, lepers were cleansed, and the deaf were made to hear. All these were works of Divine mercy and love. Pulling down mountains, floating in the air, performing remarkable feats of magic, would not have proved our Lord's Messiahship; the miracles He wrought were never ostentatious, never for show - but were acts of love, done to relieve suffering, lift up fallen men, give joy and help - and thus manifest the Divine character. Once He walked on the water - yet it was not for show - but in carrying relief to His imperiled and terrified disciples.Jesus said nothing about John, while the messengers from John were there - but when they were gone, He spoke of him. "As they departed, Jesus began to say." What a beautiful thing this was for Jesus to do for His friend! The people and the disciples would misunderstand John's perplexity about the Christ, and would be sure to misjudge Him, thinking Him weak and vacillating. Jesus would not rest a moment until he had removed any unfavorable impression about John that might have been left in anyone's mind. He was most careful of the reputation of His friend.The lesson is very important. We should always seek to guard the good name of our friends. We should not allow any wrong impression of them or of their acts to become current. We should hold their name and honor sacred as our own. If we find that anything they have done is likely to leave an unfair or injurious impression on others who do not know all the circumstances, we must try to set the matter right. It is very sad to see people sometimes even apparently glad to find others unfavorably regarded. Instead of hastening to remove or correct wrong impressions, they seem quite willing to let them remain and even to confirm them by significant silence or by ambiguous words. Surely that is not the Christ like way.John was not a weak man, blown with every breeze. He was not a "reed shaken with the wind." That is what many people are. A reed grows in soft soil by the water's edge. Then it is so frail and delicate in its fiber, that every breeze bends and shakes it. There are people of whom this is a true picture. Instead of being rooted in Christ, their roots go down into the soft mire of this world and are easily torn up. Thus they have no fixed principles to keep them upright and make them true and strong, and they are bent by every wind and moved by every influence. They lack nothing so much as backbone. The boy that cannot say 'no', when other boys tease him to smoke or drink or to go places he ought not to go, is only a reed shaken with the wind. The girl who is influenced by frivolities and worldly pleasures, and drawn away from Christ, and from a noble, pure, beautiful life - is another "reed shaken with the wind." They are growing everywhere, these reeds, and the wind shakes them every time it blows. Who wants to be a reed? Who would not rather be more like the oak, growing with roots firm as a rock, which no storm can bend?It was a splendid commendation that Jesus gave His friend. "There has not arisen a greater than John the Baptist." So a man may sometimes have doubts and perplexities of faith, and yet be a very great man. Christ does not cast us off, because we sometimes lose faith. Of course, we ought never to have any doubts about Christ, or about His way being the best way - but if ever we do yield to such discouragements, we must not think we have lost our place in Christ's love. He makes a great deal of allowance for our weakness and for the greatness of our trials, and keeps on loving us without interruption. Thousands of good people have their times of despondency, and Jesus is always gentle and tender to all in such experiences. He does not chide. He does not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax. He restores the sick or wounded soul to health.

A unique type of devotional from the writings of James Russell Miller, published between 1908 and 1913.

Devotional Hours Within the Bible

Matthew 11:1-19

The Question of John the Baptist

12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

Matthew 11:12

 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

In 1604, King James I of England authorized that a new translation of the Bible into English be started. It was finished in 1611, just 85 years after the first translation of the New Testament into English appeared (Tyndale, 1526). The Authorized Version, or King James Version, quickly became the standard for English-speaking Protestants. Its flowing language and prose rhythm has had a profound influence on the literature of the past 400 years. The King James Version present on the Bible Gateway matches the 1987 printing. The KJV is public domain in the United States.

OT: Masoretic Text, some LXX and Vulgate influence.
NT: Textus Receptus, similar to the Byzantine text-type; some readings derived from the Vulgate.
Apocrypha: Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate.

Matthew 11:12 KJV

Matthew 11:12 KJV

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