C.H. Spurgeon's Morning Devotional
Monday June 23, 2025

"Ephraim is a cake not turned."-Hosea 7:8
    
    A cake not turned is uncooked on one side; and so Ephraim was, in many respects, untouched by divine grace: though there was some partial obedience, there was very much rebellion left. My soul, I charge thee, see whether this be thy case. Art thou thorough in the things of God? Has grace gone through the very centre of thy being so as to be felt in its divine operations in all thy powers, thy actions, thy words, and thy thoughts? To be sanctified, spirit, soul, and body, should be thine aim and prayer; and although sanctification may not be perfect in thee anywhere in degree, yet it must be universal in its action; there must not be the appearance of holiness in one place and reigning sin in another, else thou, too, wilt be a cake not turned.
    
    A cake not turned is soon burnt on the side nearest the fire, and although no man can have too much religion, there are some who seem burnt black with bigoted zeal for that part of truth which they have received, or are charred to a cinder with a vainglorious Pharisaic ostentation of those religious performances which suit their humour. The assumed appearance of superior sanctity frequently accompanies a total absence of all vital godliness. The saint in public is a devil in private. He deals in flour by day and in soot by night. The cake which is burned on one side, is dough on the other.
    
    If it be so with me, O Lord, turn me! Turn my unsanctified nature to the fire of Thy love and let it feel the sacred glow, and let my burnt side cool a little while I learn my own weakness and want of heat when I am removed from Thy heavenly flame. Let me not be found a double-minded man, but one entirely under the powerful influence of reigning grace; for well I know if I am left like a cake unturned, and am not on both sides the subject of Thy grace, I must be consumed for ever amid everlasting burnings.
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Sunday, July 18, 2010

Weekend Devotion ~ Kathi Macias

This weekend I had planned to post a little of my thoughts, but then I changed plans as things rolled into my mailbox through the week. So I'll save my thoughts for another time. I'm going to spotlight an author that I've come to enjoy over the past three years that I've been doing book reviews. I get Kathi's weekly devotional in my mailbox and have her permission to use them intact as I see fit. I love Kathi's new book series Extreme Devotion that just came out this year. There are two more books to come out and I just can't wait to get my hands on them. Also this week a post came out with Kathi's first two books as a giveaway. So I just figured I'd tell you all about the giveaway and post Kathi's devotional so with on further ado Here's Kathi enjoy....




If we are faithless, He remains faithful (2 Timothy 2:13, NKJV).

I’m a longtime supporter of Voice of the Martyrs and other such ministries. No doubt that connection fed my desire to write the Extreme Devotion fiction series, four novels loosely based on real-life events and individuals in other countries. As a result, when I hear others express their uncertainty and concern over how they would stand up under serious testing or persecution for their faith, I can reassure them by sharing what I’ve learned.

I too, particularly when I was a new Christian and just learning about what some believers endure for their faith, was apprehensive at what my response might be in such a situation. All I could focus on was my own feeble strength. But as my study of persecuted believers and Christian martyrs continued, I came to see a common thread in their lives—and deaths. None relied on his or her own strength. All recognized their frailties and weaknesses and instead clung to God’s strength and faithfulness to get them through.

I love that, don’t you? If I saw persecution on the horizon and knew I had to walk into it on my own, I’d probably just give up right now. But to know that the God who remains faithful, despite my own faithlessness, stands ready and eager to carry me through it enables me to sing with joy as the flames grow hot around me.

It doesn’t have to be a life-or-death choice that causes us to recognize our need to cling to the faithful One. We learn that reliance in the everyday choices of life. Will we compromise a biblical mandate for convenience…or throw ourselves on God’s mercy and ask for a changed heart to do the right thing? Will we deny Christ to impress the world…or willingly allow God’s Spirit to woo us into making the right choice?

It’s the little choices for righteousness that teach us to rely on God when the big decisions loom—and they will! Now is the time to put into practice the belief that even when “we are faithless, He remains faithful.” He will not leave or forsake us; He will carry us through to victory if we will climb into His arms and allow Him to do so.


You may visit Kathi at Kathi Macias or her blog EasyWriter.

Click on icon below to go to Finding Hope Through Fiction's giveaway of Kathi's first two books. Hurry Deadline is July 20th.


Read my review of Kathi's first two books:
No Greater Love
More than Conquerors


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