Going to Jesus

Gospel Tracts

 Select a tract to read:

• Tracts 1-50

  1. How I Received the Holy Ghost 2. Jesus Is Coming Again 3. You Must Be Born Again 4. Stir Up the Gift of God 5. The World’s Most Dreaded Hour 6. What is Salvation? 7. Stand Still in Jordan 9. Grieved Hearts 10. The Second Death 11. The Father and the Son 12. Suffering and the Saints 13. Cancer Conquered 14. The Church? 15. How Shall They Preach, Except They Be Sent? 16. Have You Received the Holy Ghost Since You Believed? 17. Patience 18. Alone With God 19. Tithes and Offerings 20. Prayer 21. The True Sabbath 22. The Besetting Sin 23. The Cry of the Righteous 24. What Will the Harvest Be? 25. Marriage and Divorce 26. Taking the Name of the Lord 27. The Keys of the Kingdom 28. Works 29. Politics and Believers 30. Unequally Yoked in Marriage 31. Coming Out of Babylon 32. The Forgiven Woman 33. The New Earth 34. The Sin of Silence 35. Freedom 36. Gods of the Gentiles 37. Why Some Are Not Healed 38. The Seven Pillars 39. Life, More Abundantly 40. Fear 41. The Comforter’s Testimony 42. This is My Friend 43. Conversion 44. The Time Is Drawing Near? 45. Songs in the Night 46. The Master’s Net 47. Trials are Opportunities 48. Receiving the Messenger 49. Seven Messages to the Seven Pastors 50. Keep Yourself Pure

• Tracts 51-100

  51. The New Birth 52. John the Baptist and Jesus 53. Denying Jesus 54. Bruised Reeds 56. The Wise and the Foolish 57. Holiness 58. Is Jesus God? 59. Christ or Christianity 60. Have Faith In God 61. Worthy to Suffer 63. Four Kinds of Soil 64. Communion 65. The Fullness of Time 66. Baptism 68. No Room 69. Crucified With Christ 70. Homosexuality and the Bible 71. The Kingdom of God 72. The Gospel of Christ 74. Perseverance 75. The Resurrection 76. Salvation 77. Sanctification 78. New Commandments 79. The Sacrifice of Christ 81. The Sound of the Spirit 82. The Wrath of God 84. God’s Compass 85. Perfection 86. The Abomination of Desolation 87. Antichrist 88. The Way of Grace 90. Relationships 91. The Vineyard of God 93. Subdued 94. The Spirit of Christ 95. The Blood of Christ 96. Spirit of a Serpent, Spirit of a Dove 97. Gluttony 98. The Lost Lamb 99. Scripture Burners 100. Bleating and Lowing

 

The dearest friend we have here in this world may turn against us and become our enemy.  Often our own children, whom we have reared with tenderness and care, prove ungrateful.  Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, often become traitors to our faith.  The little money we have, we may lose; it flies from us, perhaps when we need it most.  Our reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action.  Those who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to cast the stone when misfortune settles its cloud upon our heads. The one absolutely unselfish Friend that we have in this world, the one who never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is the Friend who has promised never to leave us nor forsake us, but to stick closer than a brother.  Have you met him?  I am talking about God’s only begotten Son, Jesus, our Redeemer.

Yes, this Friend of whom I speak will stand by us in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness.  When all other friends forsake us, he remains.  When riches take wing and reputation is ruined, he is as constant in his love as is the sun in its journey through the heavens.

If one is driven forth, an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, this faithful Friend asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying one, to guard against danger, to fight against one’s enemies.  And when the last scene of all comes, and death takes us into its embrace, and our body begins to turn cold, no matter if all other friends pursue their own way, there by our side, this Friend and Savior of ours will be found, his ear open to our prayers, his heart, to our pleadings, faithful and true even to death.^[1]

Praise the Lord!  We have “a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”  He has said, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you.”  So, we may boldly say, “The Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid of what man will do to me.”  When we think of our friendship with Jesus, this sacred song runs through our mind:

It is Jesus’ desire that our lives be free of trouble!  He endured the disgrace of the whipping post that we might be healed (Isa. 53:5), and he endured the torture of the cross that we might be washed from all sin.  He has also prepared a new earth for those who love him, a world where “righteousness dwells” (2Pet. 3:13), where there is no death, fear, pain, or sorrow (Rev. 21:4).  Faith understands that even if misfortune comes our way, it comes only for a while and that it comes only “for our benefit, that we might partake of His holiness” (Heb. 12:10).

Saving Strength

Many precious children of God are suffering physical or spiritual weakness, but they seem unable to make a connection with God for their healing.  Yet, James was speaking to all of the saints when he wrote: “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the congregation, and let them pray for him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will heal the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up; moreover, if he have committed sins, they will be forgiven him” (5:14–15).

God freely offers to His children faith for healing and deliverance; yet, because of spiritual weaknesses, some have not learned altogether to trust Him.  Still, our Friend, Jesus, patiently walks beside us, guiding our faltering steps, encouraging us to trust God to be our strength, as he did.  We know that God is the strength of His people; therefore, we may believe Him when He says, “I am the Lord your healer” (Ex. 15:26).  We may receive faith for our healing by becoming conscious of the fact that God is our strength. To have the spiritual strength to believe God for healing is a great blessing indeed.

In order to possess this needed strength, one must first possess the Author of strength; he must know Strength Himself.  King David declared, “I love you, O Lord, my strength!” (Ps. 18:1).  Likewise, Jeremiah cried, “O Lord, my strength!” (16:19).  In Exodus 15:2, Moses and the children of Israel sang, “The Lord is my strength.”  Amen!  After failing God and sinning with Uriah’s wife, David cried aloud to God, “My strength has failed because of my sin” (Ps. 31:10).  What a picture of many today!  Think of the thousands of whom it can truthfully be said, “You have a reputation that you are alive, but you are dead” (Rev. 3:1).  May that phrase never apply to you, my dear Reader.  May you never hear the Lord speak of you as He once lamented concerning His efforts for Israel, “I have labored for nothing.  I have spent my strength in vain” (Isa. 49:4).

No doubt, in the hearts of many believers today lies this statement and question of the Psalmist (43:2), “You are the God of my strength.  Why have you rejected me? Why must I walk about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”  Sometimes we fail to understand that trials are heaven-sent opportunities to build strength, and it is God’s will to give us strength to believe Him for our healing.  He wills weakness upon none.  He is our Friend.  Isaiah tells us why we are oppressed of the enemy: “Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, the Rock of your strength” (Isa. 17:10).  Let us not get our minds off God and lose confidence in God’s doing for us what He has faithfully promised to do.

My dear Friend, it is God’s will to give strength to all believers for both body and soul, and He will do this for all His faithful children, those who keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.  And as we look to God from day to day for His saving strength, let us ever be conscious of the fact that it is His strength we receive, and not ours, for without Him, we are less than weak; we are helpless.

You recall the time, my fellow believer, when you first found the Way – the day Christ came into your life and set you free from sin.  How well you remember that experience!  You felt well and strong in body and soul at that time.  Yes, you had strength then.  That same strength can be yours again, even now.  Don’t let doubts hold you down!  Loose your faith, and be healed.  How precious to live in the strength of the Lord!  Doing this will keep you well and happy.

Remember, God has said, “My strength is perfected in weakness” (2Cor. 12:9).  Beloved, kneel right where you are and ask God to renew your strength, so that you may travel again in the greatness of His power.  This is what you want.  This is the step one must take when one finds his strength gone, and he is spiritually crippled.  Oh, to learn the precious lesson of renewing our strength in the Lord!  Arise from your knees now and say with our friend, David, “The Lord is my strength and my shield!  My heart trusted in Him, and I was helped; therefore, my heart exults, and with my song, I will give Him thanks” (Ps. 28:7).

We pray for the weak members among us, those especially who are sick and weak in faith.  Let us pray with David as he labored in prayer with a burden for others after being renewed himself in the strength of the Lord, “Save your people, and bless your inheritance, and feed them, and lift them up forever!” (Ps. 28:9).  Amen!  May God bless you and keep you healthy and happy.

^[1] Excerpted from George Graham Vest (Eulogy on the Dog, 1870).