For those who would like to finish reading this little booklet by John Bunyan, I’ll let you do it through reading this PDF document. I highly recommend finishing the reading of it for those who began. It provides great encouragement to finish the race that is set before us.
“I know of other Christians who were released from Communist prisons, such as I was. Like them, I was stopped several times on the street by passersby asking, ‘Sir, what is it in you? You look like such a happy man. What is the source of your happiness?’ I told them that it came from many years in Communist jails suffering for my Savior. “They could not understand this because they could not think beyond the difficulties of their own lives. They had not learned to walk in the Spirit and to experience the presence of God. Many would think, ‘If only you knew what a life I have—a husband who batters me, a wife who nags, and children who break my heart.’ There are many material difficulties and tempests in your soul. But what of them? How are they to compare with the joy of knowing Jesus?”
What Jesus gives, no one can take away. He gives us joy in the presence of the Holy Spirit within us. And though our circumstances may grow dim and dark, our joy still shines. Even the darkest dirt from three years in a Communist prison cannot disguise Christian joy. We are not necessarily happy for our affliction. We are not glad for our sorrow. Yet we remain joyful because of Christ’s presence within our sorrow. Have you lost your sense of joy? You realize no one can take your joy from you. If it is missing from your life, it is because you willingly gave it up on account of your circumstances. Ask God to restore your joy in him today.
Now I beheld in my dream, that they had not journeyed far, but the river and the way for a time parted, at which they were not a little sorry; yet they durst not go out of the way. Now the way from the river was rough, and their feet tender by reason of their travels; so the souls of the pilgrims were much discouraged because of the way. Numb. 21:4. Wherefore, still as they went on, they wished for a better way. Now, a little before them, there was on the left hand of the road a meadow, and a stile to go over into it, and that meadow is called By-path meadow. Then said Christian to his fellow, If this meadow lieth along by our wayside, let’s go over into it. Then he went to the stile to see, and behold a path lay along by the way on the other side of the fence. It is according to my wish, said Christian; here is the easiest going; come, good Hopeful, and let us go over.
Hopeful: But how if this path should lead us out of the way?
Christian: That is not likely, said the other. Look, doth it not go along by the wayside? So Hopeful, being persuaded by his fellow, went after him over the stile. When they were gone over, and were got into the path, they found it very easy for their feet; and withal, they, looking before them, espied a man walking as they did, and his name was Vain-Confidence: so they called after him, and asked him whither that way led. He said, To the Celestial Gate. Look, said Christian, did not I tell you so? by this you may see we are right. So they followed, and he went before them. But behold the night came on, and it grew very dark; so that they that went behind lost the sight of him that went before.
He therefore that went before, (Vain-Confidence by name,) not seeing the way before him, fell into a deep pit, which was on purpose there made, by the prince of those grounds, to catch vain-glorious fools withal, and was dashed in pieces with his fall. Isa. 9:16.
Now, Christian and his fellow heard him fall. So they called to know the matter, but there was none to answer, only they heard a groaning. Then said Hopeful, Where are we now? Then was his fellow silent, as mistrusting that he had led him out of the way; and now it began to rain, and thunder, and lighten in a most dreadful manner, and the water rose amain.
Then Hopeful groaned in himself, saying, Oh that I had kept on my way!
Christian: Who could have thought that this path should have led us out of the way?
Hopeful: I was afraid on’t at the very first, and therefore gave you that gentle caution. I would have spoke plainer, but that you are older than I.
Christian: Good brother, be not offended; I am sorry I have brought thee out of the way, and that I have put thee into such imminent danger. Pray, my brother, forgive me; I did not do it of an evil intent.
Hopeful: Be comforted, my brother, for I forgive thee; and believe, too, that this shall be for our good.
Christian: I am glad I have with me a merciful brother: but we must not stand here; let us try to go back again.
Hopeful: But, good brother, let me go before.
Christian: No, if you please, let me go first, that if there be any danger, I may be first therein, because by my means we are both gone out of the way.
Hopeful: No, said Hopeful, you shall not go first, for your mind being troubled may lead you out of the way again. Then for their encouragement they heard the voice of one saying, “Let thine heart be toward the highway, even the way that thou wentest: turn again.” Jer. 31:21. But by this time the waters were greatly risen, by reason of which the way of going back was very dangerous. (Then I thought that it is easier going out of the way when we are in, than going in when we are out.) Yet they adventured to go back; but it was so dark, and the flood was so high, that in their going back they had like to have been drowned nine or ten times.
Neither could they, with all the skill they had, get again to the stile that night. Wherefore at last, lighting under a little shelter, they sat down there till the day brake; but being weary, they fell asleep. Now there was, not far from the place where they lay, a castle, called Doubting Castle, the owner whereof was Giant Despair, and it was in his grounds they now were sleeping: wherefore he, getting up in the morning early, and walking up and down in his fields, caught Christian and Hopeful asleep in his grounds. Then with a grim and surly voice, he bid them awake, and asked them whence they were, and what they did in his grounds. They told him they were pilgrims, and that they had lost their way. Then said the giant, You have this night trespassed on me by trampling in and lying on my grounds, and therefore you must go along with me. So they were forced to go, because he was stronger than they. They also had but little to say, for they knew themselves in a fault. The giant, therefore, drove them before him, and put them into his castle, into a very dark dungeon, nasty and stinking to the spirits of these two men. Here, then, they lay from Wednesday morning till Saturday night, without one bit of bread, or drop of drink, or light, or any to ask how they did; they were, therefore, here in evil case, and were far from friends and acquaintance. Psa. 88:18. Now in this place Christian had double sorrow, because it was through his unadvised counsel that they were brought into this distress.
Now Giant Despair had a wife, and her name was Diffidence: so when he was gone to bed he told his wife what he had done, to wit, that he had taken a couple of prisoners, and cast them into his dungeon for trespassing on his grounds. Then he asked her also what he had best do further to them. So she asked him what they were, whence they came, and whither they were bound, and he told her. Then she counseled him, that when he arose in the morning he should beat them without mercy. So when he arose, he getteth him a grievous crab-tree cudgel, and goes down into the dungeon to them, and there first falls to rating of them as if they were dogs, although they gave him never a word of distaste. Then he falls upon them, and beats them fearfully, in such sort that they were not able to help themselves, or to turn them upon the floor. This done, he withdraws and leaves them there to condole their misery, and to mourn under their distress: so all that day they spent the time in nothing but sighs and bitter lamentations. The next night, she, talking with her husband further about them, and understanding that they were yet alive, did advise him to counsel them to make away with themselves. So when morning was come, he goes to them in a surly manner, as before, and perceiving them to be very sore with the stripes that he had given them the day before, he told them, that since they were never like to come out of that place, their only way would be forthwith to make an end of themselves, either with knife, halter, or poison; for why, said he, should you choose to live, seeing it is attended with so much bitterness? But they desired him to let them go. With that he looked ugly upon them, and rushing to them, had doubtless made an end of them himself, but that he fell into one of his fits, (for he sometimes in sunshiny weather fell into fits,) and lost for a time the use of his hands; wherefore he withdrew, and left them as before to consider what to do. Then did the prisoners consult between themselves whether it was best to take his counsel or no; and thus they began to discourse:
Christian: Brother, said Christian, what shall we do? The life that we now live is miserable. For my part, I know not whether it is best to live thus, or to die out of hand. My soul chooseth strangling rather than life, and the grave is more easy for me than this dungeon. Job. 7:15. Shall we be ruled by the giant?
Hopeful: Indeed our present condition is dreadful, and death would be far more welcome to me than thus for ever to abide; but yet, let us consider, the Lord of the country to which we are going hath said, “Thou shalt do no murder,” no, not to another man’s person; much more, then, are we forbidden to take his counsel to kill ourselves. Besides, he that kills another, can but commit murder upon his body; but for one to kill himself, is to kill body and soul at once. And moreover, my brother, thou talkest of ease in the grave; but hast thou forgotten the hell whither for certain the murderers go? for “no murderer hath eternal life,” etc. And let us consider again, that all the law is not in the hand of Giant Despair: others, so far as I can understand, have been taken by him as well as we, and yet have escaped out of his hands. Who knows but that God, who made the world, may cause that Giant Despair may die; or that, at some time or other, he may forget to lock us in; or that he may, in a short time, have another of his fits before us, and may lose the use of his limbs? And if ever that should come to pass again, for my part, I am resolved to pluck up the heart of a man, and to try my utmost to get from under his hand. I was a fool that I did not try to do it before. But, however, my brother, let us be patient, and endure a while: the time may come that may give us a happy release; but let us not be our own murderers. With these words Hopeful at present did moderate the mind of his brother; so they continued together in the dark that day, in their sad and doleful condition.
Well, towards evening the giant goes down into the dungeon again, to see if his prisoners had taken his counsel. But when he came there he found them alive; and truly, alive was all; for now, what for want of bread and water, and by reason of the wounds they received when he beat them, they could do little but breathe. But I say, he found them alive; at which he fell into a grievous rage, and told them, that seeing they had disobeyed his counsel, it should be worse with them than if they had never been born.
At this they trembled greatly, and I think that Christian fell into a swoon; but coming a little to himself again, they renewed their discourse about the giant’s counsel, and whether yet they had best take it or no. Now Christian again seemed for doing it; but Hopeful made his second reply as followeth:
Hopeful: My brother, said he, rememberest thou not how valiant thou hast been heretofore? Apollyon could not crush thee, nor could all that thou didst hear, or see, or feel, in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. What hardship, terror, and amazement hast thou already gone through; and art thou now nothing but fears! Thou seest that I am in the dungeon with thee, a far weaker man by nature than thou art. Also this giant hath wounded me as well as thee, and hath also cut off the bread and water from my mouth, and with thee I mourn without the light. But let us exercise a little more patience. Remember how thou playedst the man at Vanity Fair, and wast neither afraid of the chain nor cage, nor yet of bloody death: wherefore let us (at least to avoid the shame that it becomes not a Christian to be found in) bear up with patience as well as we can.
Now night being come again, and the giant and his wife being in bed, she asked him concerning the prisoners, and if they had taken his counsel: to which he replied, They are sturdy rogues; they choose rather to bear all hardships than to make away with themselves. Then said she, Take them into the castle-yard to-morrow, and show them the bones and skulls of those that thou hast already dispatched, and make them believe, ere a week comes to an end, thou wilt tear them in pieces, as thou hast done their fellows before them.
So when the morning was come, the giant goes to them again, and takes them into the castle-yard, and shows them as his wife had bidden him. These, said he, were pilgrims, as you are, once, and they trespassed on my grounds, as you have done; and when I thought fit I tore them in pieces; and so within ten days I will do you: get you down to your den again. And with that he beat them all the way thither. They lay, therefore, all day on Saturday in a lamentable case, as before. Now, when night was come, and when Mrs. Diffidence and her husband the giant was got to bed, they began to renew their discourse of their prisoners; and withal, the old giant wondered that he could neither by his blows nor counsel bring them to an end. And with that his wife replied, I fear, said she, that they live in hopes that some will come to relieve them; or that they have picklocks about them, by the means of which they hope to escape. And sayest thou so, my dear? said the giant; I will therefore search them in the morning.
Well, on Saturday, about midnight they began to pray, and continued in prayer till almost break of day.
Now, a little before it was day, good Christian, as one half amazed, brake out into this passionate speech: What a fool, quoth he, am I, thus to lie in a stinking dungeon, when I may as well walk at liberty! I have a key in my bosom, called Promise, that will, I am persuaded, open any lock in Doubting Castle. Then said Hopeful, That is good news; good brother, pluck it out of thy bosom, and try.
Then Christian pulled it out of his bosom, and began to try at the dungeon-door, whose bolt, as he turned the key, gave back, and the door flew open with ease, and Christian and Hopeful both came out. Then he went to the outward door that leads into the castle-yard, and with his key opened that door also. After he went to the iron gate, for that must be opened too; but that lock went desperately hard, yet the key did open it. They then thrust open the gate to make their escape with speed; but that gate, as it opened, made such a creaking, that it waked Giant Despair, who hastily rising to pursue his prisoners, felt his limbs to fail, for his fits took him again, so that he could by no means go after them. Then they went on, and came to the King’s highway, and so were safe, because they were out of his jurisdiction.
Now, when they were gone over the stile, they began to contrive with themselves what they should do at that stile, to prevent those that shall come after from falling into the hands of Giant Despair. So they consented to erect there a pillar, and to engrave upon the side thereof this sentence: “Over this stile is the way to Doubting Castle, which is kept by Giant Despair, who despiseth the King of’ the Celestial country, and seeks to destroy his holy pilgrims.” Many, therefore, that followed after, read what was written, and escaped the danger. This done, they sang as follows:
| “Out of the way we went, and then we found
What ‘twas to tread upon forbidden ground: And let them that come after have a care, Lest heedlessness makes them as we to fare; Lest they, for trespassing, his prisoners are, Whose castle’s Doubting, and whose name’s Despair.” |
Taken from Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
This morning the Lord challenged me to consider whether I really believed in Him as the REWARDER of all those who diligently seek Him.
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that HE IS, and that HE is a REWARDER of them that diligently seek him.” Heb. 11:6
I believe that He IS, but do I believe that He is the Rewarder? And do I seek Him for the rewards or do I seek Him as my Rewarder? There is a difference. 
When we seek Him as the Rewarder then we are resting in His character and wisdom in how He rewards us.
Am I locked into Doubting Castle, fretting over circumstances or the impossibilities of trials that seem insurmountable? Or are my eyes fixed on my Lord Jesus Christ as the One who Is, and Who is a Rewarder of those who diligently seeking Him?
If I find myself in Doubting Castle, I need to pluck out that key of promise and unlock the dungeon doors and walk out keeping my eyes on the Faithful One who has given me many promises to cling to. Because the only other option is to be a fool like Christian and Hopeful and sit in a stinking prison being beat up by the giant Despair until I realize that the key lies within my own bosom. And only an insane person would choose to remain in prison when there is the option of freedom.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free!
~Joy
DIRECTION OF DISCIPLINE
“And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” Matthew 5:30
Jesus did not say that everyone must cut off the right hand, but – If your right hand offends you in your walk with Me, cut it off. There are many things that are perfectly legitimate, but if you are going to concentrate on God you cannot do them. Your right hand is one of the best things you have, but, says Jesus, if it hinders you in following His precepts, cut it off. This line of discipline is the sternest one that ever struck mankind.
When God alters a man by regeneration, the characteristic of the life to begin with is that it is maimed. There are a hundred and one things you dare not do, things that to you and in the eyes of the world that knows you are as your right hand and your eye, and the unspiritual person says – Whatever is wrong in that? How absurd you are! There never has been a saint yet who did not have to live a maimed life to start with. But it is better to enter into life maimed and lovely in God’s sight than to be lovely in man’s sight and lame in God’s. In the beginning Jesus Christ by His Spirit has to check you from doing a great many things that may be perfectly right for everyone else but not right for you. See that you do not use your limitations to criticize someone else.
It is a maimed life to begin with, but in v.48 Jesus gives the picture of a perfectly full-orbed life – “Ye shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
~Oswald Chambers
From my quiet time with Jesus…
After reading Oswald Chamber’s devotional for the day, the Lord brought practical application from the devotional for my life.
“Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” Isaiah 40:10-11
He gathers the lambs with His arm and carries them in His bosom – there is an aspect to the character of Jesus that is only seen by the lambs, by the weak ones, and by the needy. They who are strong do not know what it is to rest in His bosom.
And so it is in His faithfulness that Jesus Christ, our Shepherd, brings trials into our lives that show us our weakness and needs. Sometimes He has to maim us, or tell us to cut off our right hand, our place of strength. He does it because it is His way of bringing His sheep to the pasture of perfection. We must be willing to embrace the pain and to cut off our right hand, the best thing we have, but it hinders our following hard after God. For me, it is the right hand of good health, a clear mind. My mind is my strong point, but right now it must be maimed lest it hinder the process of perfection that Jesus is doing in my life.
Sometimes He takes our ‘right hand’ and then asks us to cut it off by surrendering our rights to it and even the hope of getting it back. Other times we must take the ax and cut it off as we resolutely turn our back on something that everyone else has a legitimate right to, but for us it is a hindrance. The point isn’t what each person’s right hand is; the point is, will we be obedient to say, ‘yes, Lord,’ and cut off what He shows to be our ‘right hand’? The place of perfection can only be found through maiming, weakness, trials and testings. I haven’t done an exhaustive study…but I think we will find that as we study the lives of Christians who walked closely with the Lord, we will find that they were reduced to a place of weakness and dependency in at least one part of their life. And it was through that point of weakness that Christ was able to work perfection in their lives.
As the Son learned obedience through the things which He suffered, so must we. And it is on Jesus Christ that we must keep our eyes!
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.” Hebrews 12:1-3
A dear friend shared this with me earlier this evening. She has graciously given permission for me to share it and I thank her for it.
“You know, I was thinking today that life is like the changing sky. We like the sunshine in this part of the US because we don’t see if very often, but I have learned to appreciate the clouds that cover the sky. There is greater beauty is those clouds than in the clear sky. The sun can tint them, gild the edges, and put a hundred shades of gray in them that is very beautiful to behold. The blue sky is just blue. But the clouds give character and hues that are lovely and uplifting. God’s grace through the clouds is a beautiful thing, and much more lovely and enduring than the unclouded day. I say, praise God for the clouds, they are what makes you into the image of Christ.” Mrs. Hargett
1. Blest be the dear uniting love
that will not let us part;
our bodies may far off remove,
we still are one in heart.
2. Joined in one spirit to our Head,
where He appoints we go,
and still in Jesus’ footsteps tread,
and do His work below.
3. O may we ever walk in Him,
and nothing know beside,
nothing desire, nothing esteem,
but Jesus crucified!
4. We all are one who Him receive,
and each with each agree,
in Him the One, the Truth, we live;
blest point of unity!
5. Partakers of the Saviour’s grace,
the same in mind and heart,
nor joy, nor grief, nor time, nor place,
nor life, nor death can part.
Charles Wesley
