How Love for Christ Frees Us

"I will delight myself in Thy commandments, which I have loved." PSALMS 119:47

THIS everlasting and compunctious study of duty, duty to everybody, everywhere, every day,--it keeps you questioning all the while, rasping in a torment of debates and compunctions, till you almost groan aloud for weariness. It is as if your life itself were slavery. And then you say, with a sigh, "Oh, if I had nothing to do but just to be with Christ personally, and have my duty solely as with Him, how sweet and blessed and secret and free would it be." Well, you may have it so; exactly this you may do and nothing more! Sad mistake that you should ever have thought otherwise! What a loss of privilege has it been! Come back then to Christ, retire into the secret place of His love, and have your whole duty personally as with Him. Only then you will make this very welcome discovery, that, as you are personally given up to Christ's person, you are going where He goes, helping what He does, keeping ever dear, bright company with Him, in all His motions of good and sympathy, refusing even to let Him suffer without suffering with Him. And so you will do a great many more duties than you even think of now; only they will all be sweet and easy and free, even as your love is.

HORACE BUSHNEM

By Mary Wilder Tileston, taken from :Joy and Strength"

Thank God for Little Things

Thank you, God, for little things
that often come our way -
The things we take for granted
but don't mention when we pray -
The unexpected courtesy,
the thoughtful, kindly deed -
A hand reached out to help us
in the time of sudden need -
Oh, make us more aware, dear God,
of little daily graces
That come to us with "sweet surprise"
from never-dreamed-of places.

"Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits . . . ." Psalms 68:16

By Helen Steiner Rice, taken from "Showers of Blessings"

Rest in the Lord

"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him" (Ps. 37:7).

Have you prayed and prayed and waited and waited, and still there is no manifestation?

Are you tired of seeing nothing move? Are you just at the point of giving it all up? Perhaps you have not waited in the right way? This would take you out of the right place the place where He can meet you.

"With patience wait" (Rom. 8:25). Patience takes away worry. He said He would come, and His promise is equal to His presence. Patience takes away your weeping. Why feel sad and despondent? He knows your need better than you do, and His purpose in waiting is to bring more glory out of it all. Patience takes away self-works. The work He desires is that you "believe" (John 6:29), and when you believe, you may then know that all is well. Patience takes away all want. Your desire for the thing you wish is perhaps stronger than your desire for the will of God to be fulfilled in its arrival.

Patience takes away all weakening. Instead of having the delaying time, a time of letting go, know that God is getting a larger supply ready and must get you ready too. Patience takes away all wobbling. "Make me stand upon my standing" (Daniel 8:18, margin). God's foundations are steady; and when His patience is within, we are steady while we wait. Patience gives worship. A praiseful patience sometimes "long-suffering with joyfulness" (Col. 1:11) is the best part of it all. "Let (all these phases of) patience have her perfect work" (James 1:4), while you wait, and you will find great enrichment. --C. H. P.

Hold steady when the fires burn,
When inner lessons come to learn,
And from this path there seems no turn
"Let patience have her perfect work."
--L.S.P.

By Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, taken from "Streams in the Dessert"

Insignificant

"My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." John 4:34

I am glad to think
I am not bound to make the world go right;
But only to discover and to do,
With cheerful heart, the work that God appoints.
I will trust in Him,
That He can hold His own; and I will take
His will, above the work He sendeth me,
To be my chiefest good.

Jean Ingelow

Don't object that your duties are so insignificant; they are to be reckoned of infinite significance, and alone important to you. Were it but the more perfect regulation of your apartments, the sorting away of your clothes and trinkets, the arranging of your papers - "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might," and all thy worth and constancy. Much more, if your duties are of evidently higher, wider scope; if you have brothers, sisters, a father, a mother, weigh earnestly what claim does lie upon you, on behalf of each, and consider it as the one thing needful, to pay them more and more honestly and nobly what you owe. What matter how miserable one is, if one can do that? That is the sure and steady disconnection and extinction of whatsoever miseries one has in this world. - Thomas Carlyle

By Mary W. Tileston, taken from "Daily Strength for Daily Needs"

What is Good For You

"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give you good gifts to them that ask him?" Matthew 7:11

For His great love has compassed
Our nature, and our need
We know not; but He knoweth,
And He will bless indeed.
Therefore, O heavenly Father,
Give what is best to me;
And take the wants unanswered,
As offerings made to Thee.

Anonymous

Whatsoever we ask which is not for our good. He will keep it back from us. And surely in this there is no less of love than in the granting what we desire as we ought. Will not the same love which prompts you to give a good, prompt you to keep back an evil, thing? If, in our blindness, not knowing what to ask, we pray for things which would turn in our hands to sorrow and death, will not our Father, out of His very love, deny us? How awful would be our lot, if our wishes should straightway pass into realities; i we were endowed with a power to bring about all that we desire; if the inclinations of our will were followed by fulfillment of our hasty wishes, and sudden longings were always granted. One day we shall bless Him, not more for what He has granted than for what He has denied. - Henry Edward Manning

By Mary W. Tileston taken from "Daily Strength for Daily Needs"

Our Individual Worth

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Romans 10:4

Our lost race has always been prone to discount and reject the wonderful fact of the individual factor in the love of God. Far, far too many men and women in this world are convinced that God's love for the world is just one big lump - and the individual is not involved. We have only to look around us with serious observation to confirm the fact that the devil has been successful in planting his lie that no one cares for the individual person. Even in nature around us, there appears to be very little individual concern. The burden of concern is always for the species. But Jesus did not preach to the multitudes as though they were a faceless crowd. He preached to them as individuals, and with a knowledge of the burdens and the needs of each one. Our Savior did not come into the world to deal with statistics! Each of us must come with full confidence that it is a personal word God has spoken to us in Christ, that "whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish."

Thought: We have only to look around us with serious observation to confirm the fact that the devil has been successful in planting his lie that no one cares for the individual person.

By A.W. Tozer, taken from "Renewed Day by Day"

A Very Present Help

"Why standest thou afar off, O Lord?" (Psalm 10:1.)

God is "a very present help in trouble." But He permits trouble to pursue us, as though He were indifferent to its overwhelming pressure, that we may be brought to the end of ourselves, and led to discover the treasure of darkness, the unmeasurable gains of tribulation. We may be sure that He who permits the suffering is with us in it. It may be that we shall see Him only when the trial is passing; but we must dare to believe that He never leaves the crucible. Our eyes are holden; and we cannot behold Him whom our soul loveth. It is dark--the bandages blind us so that we cannot see the form of our High Priest; but He is there, deeply touched. Let us not rely on feeling, but on faith in His unswerving fidelity; and though we see Him not, let us talk to Him. Directly we begin to speak to Jesus, as being literally present, though His presence is veiled, there comes an answering voice which shows that He is in the shadow, keeping watch upon His own. Your Father is as near when you journey through the dark tunnel as when under the open heaven! --Daily Devotional Commentary

"What though the path be all unknown?
What though the way be drear?
Its shades I traverse not alone
When steps of Thine are near."

By Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, taken from "Streams in the Desert"

How Can We Escape?

"How shall we escape if we ignore such as great salvation? The salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him." Hebrews 2:3

Jesus paid the ultimate price for us by dying on the cross. By doing so He gave us the most wonderful and free gift of Salvation ("For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. . ." Ephesians 2:8). I often wonder if it's free why do so many ignore it when our society is so caught up with free gifts and sales. Have you ever been shopping the day after Thanksgiving? A month before the holiday you begin to get flyers in the mail and newspaper advertising the biggest shopping day of the year. Shoppers get up at the crack of dawn to stand in line for hours just to get the good deals and door prizes. It seems easy to sacrifice comfort, sleep and money just to get something for free. And yet we choose to turn away from the best deal in town - Jesus and eternal life.

We live in a society where we are too concerned with what people think and acceptance being vitally important. We are so concerned about these things that we are letting this gift escape us into the land of non-existence. I don't see the fruits of what's being taught through all the religions that express openness to every belief, the good news of peace, love and acceptance. I see a world that is reaching out for something but not finding it. Book stores are packed with self-help/improvement/make you happy books and yet, we don't seem to be any happier or content then we use to be.

The Bible says, "Salvation is found in now one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12). That name is Jesus. Do you realize that true peace, love and acceptance is achieved through the gift of Salvation? And you don't have to wake up early to stand in line for it. Yet, it does come at a price. The price is giving up a lifestyle you may be accustomed too. To realize that sin, although may be fun for a while, is causing pain, unhappiness and confusion. Repentance and daily giving up of yourself is required.

The other side of the price to be paid is that you find the freedom you're looking for. You find acceptance, peace and love from a loving God who created you to know Him. As you turn to Jesus and accept Him, the hole in your heart will finally be filled with the missing piece. Life will not be perfect and may often continue to be difficult. But you won't be going through those difficult moments alone.

Don't ignore Christ's offer of Salvation much longer. Stop running and run to Jesus and grab that free gift He so wants to give you. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

Krista Jones
2.15.07

Give Time To God

"In his law doth he meditate day and night." Psalm 1:2

I have often wished that there were some way to bring modern Christians into a deeper spiritual life painlessly by short easy lessons; but such wishes are vain. No shortcut exists! God has not bowed to our nervous haste nor embraced the methods of our machine age. It is well that we accept the hard truth now: the man who would know God must give time to Him! He must count no time wasted which is spent in the cultivation of His acquaintance. He must give himself to meditation and prayer hours on end. So did the saints of old, the glorious company of the apostles, the goodly fellowship of the prophets and the believing members of the holy Church in all generations. And so must we if we would follow in their train! May not the inadequacy of much of our spiritual experience be traced back to our habit of skipping through the corridors of the kingdom like little children

Thought: God has not bowed to our nervous haste nor embraced the methods of our machine age. It is well that we accept the hard truth now: the man who would know God must give time to Him!

By A.W. Tozer, taken from "Renewed Day by Day"

"It Is the Lord!"

"Thomas answered and said to Him, ’My Lord and my God!’" John 20:28

Jesus said to her, ’Give Me a drink’ " (John 4:7). How many of us are expecting Jesus Christ to quench our thirst when we should be satisfying Him! We should be pouring out our lives, investing our total beings, not drawing on Him to satisfy us. "You shall be witnesses to Me . . ." (Acts 1:8). That means lives of pure, uncompromising, and unrestrained devotion to the Lord Jesus, which will be satisfying to Him wherever He may send us.

Beware of anything that competes with your loyalty to Jesus Christ. The greatest competitor of true devotion to Jesus is the service we do for Him. It is easier to serve than to pour out our lives completely for Him. The goal of the call of God is His satisfaction, not simply that we should do something for Him. We are not sent to do battle for God, but to be used by God in His battles. Are we more devoted to service than we are to Jesus Christ Himself?

By Oswald Chambers, taken from "His Utmost For His Highest"

Am I Looking To God?

"Look to Me, and be saved . . ." Isaiah 45:22

Do we expect God to come to us with His blessings and save us? He says, "Look to Me, and be saved . . . ." The greatest difficulty spiritually is to concentrate on God, and His blessings are what make it so difficult. Troubles almost always make us look to God, but His blessings tend to divert our attention elsewhere. The basic lesson of the Sermon on the Mount is to narrow all your interests until your mind, heart, and body are focused on Jesus Christ. "Look to Me . . . ."

Many of us have a mental picture of what a Christian should be, and looking at this image in other Christians’ lives becomes a hindrance to our focusing on God. This is not salvation— it is not simple enough. He says, in effect, "Look to Me and you are saved," not "You will be saved someday." We will find what we are looking for if we will concentrate on Him. We get distracted from God and irritable with Him while He continues to say to us, "Look to Me, and be saved . . . ." Our difficulties, our trials, and our worries about tomorrow all vanish when we look to God.

Wake yourself up and look to God. Build your hope on Him. No matter how many things seem to be pressing in on you, be determined to push them aside and look to Him. "Look to Me . . . ." Salvation is yours the moment you look.

By Oswald Chambers, taken from "My Utmost for His Highest"

Persistent Prayer

"Men ought always to pray and not to faint" (Luke 18:1).

"Go to the ant." Tammerlane used to relate to his friends an anecdote of his early life. "I once" he said, "was forced to take shelter from my enemies in a ruined building, where I sat alone many hours. Desiring to divert my mind from my hopeless condition, I fixed my eyes on an ant that was carrying a grain of corn larger than itself up a high wall. I numbered the efforts it made to accomplish this object. The grain fell sixty-nine times to the ground; but the insect persevered, and the seventieth time it reached the top. This sight gave me courage at the moment, and I never forgot the lesson." --The King's Business

Prayer which takes the fact that past prayers have not been answered as a reason for languor, has already ceased to be the prayer of faith. To the prayer of faith the fact that prayers remain unanswered is only evidence that the moment of the answer is so much nearer. From first to last, the lessons and examples of our Lord all tell us that prayer which cannot persevere and urge its plea importunately, and renew, and renew itself again, and gather strength from every past petition, is not the prayer that will prevail. --William Arthur

Rubenstein, the great musician, once said, "If I omit practice one day, I notice it; if two days, my friends notice it; if three days, the public notice it." It is the old doctrine, "Practice makes perfect." We must continue believing, continue praying, continue doing His will. Suppose along any line of art, one should cease practicing, we know what the result would be. If we would only use the same quality of common sense in our religion that we use in our everyday life, we should go on to perfection.

The motto of David Livingstone was in these words, "I determined never to stop until I had come to the end and achieved my purpose." By unfaltering persistence and faith in God he conquered.

By Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, taken from "Streams in the Desert"

Evidence of His Love

"But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him...And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf" (Gen. 8:9-11).

God knows just when to withhold from us any visible sign of encouragement, and when to grant us such a sign. How good it is that we may trust Him anyway! When all visible evidences that He is remembering us are withheld, that is best; He wants us to realize that His Word, His promise of remembrance, is more substantial and dependable than any evidence of our senses. When He sends the visible evidence, that is well also; we appreciate it all the more after we have trusted Him without it. Those who are readiest to trust God without other evidence than His Word always receive the greatest number of visible evidences of His love. --C. G. Trumbull

"Believing Him; if storm-clouds gather darkly 'round,
And even if the heaven seem brass, without a sound?
He hears each prayer and even notes the sparrow's fall.

"And praising Him; when sorrow, grief, and pain are near,
And even when we lose the thing that seems most dear?
Our loss is gain. Praise Him; in Him we have our All.

"Our hand in His; e'en though the path seems long and drear
We scarcely see a step ahead, and almost fear?
He guides aright. He has it thus to keep us near.

"And satisfied; when every path is blocked and bare,
And worldly things are gone and dead which were so fair?
Believe and rest and trust in Him, He comes to stay."

Delays are not refusals; many a prayer is registered, and underneath it the words: "My time is not yet come." God has a set time as well as a set purpose, and He who orders the bounds of our habitation orders also the time of our deliverance. --Selected

By Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, taken from "Streams in the Desert"

Wait on the Lord

"Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart; wait, I say, on the Lord." PSALMS 27:14

WITH smile of trust and folded hands,
The passive soul in waiting stands
To feel, as flowers in the sun and dew,
The One true Life its own renew.
JOHN G. WHITTIER

THE whole duty and blessedness of waiting on God has its root in this, that He is such a blessed Being, full, to overflowing, of goodness and power and life and joy, that we, however wretched, cannot for any time come into contact with Him, without that life and power secretly, silently, beginning to enter into us and blessing us. God is Love! God's love is just His delight to impart Himself and His blessedness to His children. Come, and however feeble you feel, just wait in His presence. As a feeble invalid is brought out into the sunshine to let its warmth go through him, come with all that is dark and cold in you into the sunshine of God's holy, omnipotent love, and sit and wait there, with the one thought: Here I am, in the sunshine of His love. As the sun does its work in the weak one who seeks its rays, God will do His work in you. - ANDREW MURRAY

By Mary Wilder Tileston, taken from "Joy and Strength"

Transformed by Beholding

"We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image . . . " 2 Corinthians 3:18

The greatest characteristic a Christian can exhibit is this completely unveiled openness before God, which allows that person’s life to become a mirror for others. When the Spirit fills us, we are transformed, and by beholding God we become mirrors. You can always tell when someone has been beholding the glory of the Lord, because your inner spirit senses that he mirrors the Lord’s own character. Beware of anything that would spot or tarnish that mirror in you. It is almost always something good that will stain it— something good, but not what is best.

The most important rule for us is to concentrate on keeping our lives open to God. Let everything else including work, clothes, and food be set aside. The busyness of things obscures our concentration on God. We must maintain a position of beholding Him, keeping our lives completely spiritual through and through. Let other things come and go as they will; let other people criticize us as they will; but never allow anything to obscure the life that "is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3). Never let a hurried lifestyle disturb the relationship of abiding in Him. This is an easy thing to allow, but we must guard against it. The most difficult lesson of the Christian life is learning how to continue "beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord . . . ."

By Oswald Chambers, taken from "My Utmost For His Highest"

Leave Room for God

As servants of God, we must learn to make room for Him-to give God "elbow room." We plan and figure and predict that this or that will happen, but we forget to make room for God to come in as He chooses. Would we be surprised if God came into our meeting or into our preaching in a way we had never expected Him to come? Do not look for God to come in a particular way, but do look for Him. The way to make room for Him is to expect Him to come, but not in a certain way. No matter how well we may know God, the great lesson to learn is that He may break in at any minute. We tend to overlook this element of surprise, yet God never works in any other way. Suddenly— God meets our life ". . . when it pleased God . . . ."

Keep your life so constantly in touch with God that His surprising power can break through at any point. Live in a constant state of expectancy, and leave room for God to come in as He decides.

By Oswald Chambers, taken from "My Utmost For His Highest"

Strength in Christ

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." PHILIPPIANS 4:13

"Let him take hold of my strength." ISAIAH 27:5

THOU canst o'ercome this heart of mine,
Thou wilt victorious prove;
For everlasting strength is Thine,
And everlasting love.
CHARLES WESLEY

WE are conscious of our own weakness and of the strength of evil; but not of the third force, stronger than either ourselves or the power of evil, which is at our disposal if we will draw upon it. What is needed is a deliberate and whole-hearted realization that we are in Christ, and Christ is in us by His Spirit; an unconditional surrender of faith to Him; a practice, which grows more natural by exercise, of remembering and deliberately drawing by faith upon His strength in the moments of temptation and not merely upon our own resources. "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I will do thus and thus." So we too may form, like St. Paul, the habit of victory.
CHARLES GORE

By Mary Wilder Tileston, taken From "Joy and Strength"

Look to Jesus

"That ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing." COLOSSIANS 1:9,10

SOMETHING for Thee! Lord, let this be
Thy choice for me from day to day;
The life I live it is not mine,
Thy will, my will, have made it Thine!
Oh, let me do in Thine own way
Something for Thee!

ELIZABETH PRENTISS

ACT faithfully according to thy degree of light, and what God giveth thee to see; and thou shalt see more clearly. Hearken to the low whispers of His voice within thee, and thou shalt hear more distinctly. Above all, do not stifle any motions of conscience. Meditate daily on the things of Eternity; and, by the grace of God, do something daily which thou wouldest wish to have done when that day cometh. Above all things, in all things, "look unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of thy faith." If thou failest, look to Him to uphold thee; if thou stumblest, hold swift His hand to help thee; if thou fallest, lie not hopelessly there, but look to Him to raise thee; if, by His grace, thou doest well, look to Him in thanksgiving, that He has helped thee, and pray that thou mayest do better.
EDWARD B. PUSEY

By Mary Wilder Tileston, taken from, "Joy and Strength"

Your Heart God's Home

"As the hart panteth after the waterbrooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God." PSALMS 42:1

"Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." EPHESIANS 5:19

LORD, make my heart a place where angels sing!
For surely thoughts low--breathed by Thee
Are angels gliding near on noiseless wings;
And where a home they see
Swept clean, and garnished with adoring joy,
They enter in and dwell,
And teach that heart to swell
With heavenly melody, their own untired employ.
JOHN KEBLE

LET your heart and desires continually hold converse with God, in heartfelt simplicity. Reflect on Him with feelings of love and reverence, and often offer up your heart, with all that you have and are, to Him, in spirit and in truth, as cordially and sincerely as possible. if through weakness or unfaithfulness you forsake this exercise, which is so incredibly helpful and beautiful, all you have to do is, meekly and heartily to begin again; and do not be weary of it, although in the beginning you may not find any great advantage from it, or make any rapid progress in it. It is not true that such a mode of life is hard; it is easy and pleasant to the spirit, and becomes in due time like a heaven upon earth. A little patience and courage alone are needed.

GERHARD TERSTEEGEN

By Mary Wilder Tileston, taken from "Joy and Strength"

Ever Present Help

"In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path." Proverbs 3:6

"He leadeth me." Psalm 23:2

In "pastures green"? Not always; sometimes He
Who knoweth best, in kindness leadeth me
In weary ways, where heavy shadows be.

So, whether on the hilltops high and fair
I dwell, or in the sunless valleys, where
The shadows lie, what matter? He is there.

Henry H. Barry

The Shepherd knows what pastures are best for His sheep, and they must not question nor doubt, but trustingly follow Him. Perhaps He sees that the best pastures for some of us are not to be found in the midst of opposition or of earthly trials. If He leads you there, you may be sure they are green for you, and you will grow and be made strong by feeding there. Perhaps He sees that the best waters for you to walk beside will be raging waves of trouble and sorrow. If this should be the case, He will make them still waters for you, and you must go and lie down beside them, and let them have all their blessed influences upon you. - H. W. Smith

By Mary W. Tileston,taken from "Daily Strength for Daily Needs"