Wait for the Finals

"Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last." Genesis 49:19

Some of us have been like the tribe of Gad. Our adversaries for a while were too many for us; they came upon us like a troop. Yes, and for the moment they overcame us; and they exulted greatly because of their temporary victory. Thus they only proved the first part of the family heritage to be really ours, for Christ's people, like Dan, shall have a troop overcoming them. This being overcome is very painful, and we should have despaired if we had not by faith believed the second line of our father's benediction, "He shall overcome at the last." "All's well that ends well," said the world's poet; and he spoke the truth. A war is to be judged, not by first success or defeats, but by that which happens "at the last." The LORD will give to truth and righteousness victory "at the last"; and, as Mr. Bunyan says, that means forever, for nothing can come after the last.

What we need is patient perseverance in well-doing, calm confidence in our glorious Captain. Christ, our LORD Jesus, would teach us His holy art of setting the face like a flint to go through with work or suffering till we can say, "It is finished." Hallelujah. Victory! Victory! We believe the promise. "He shall overcome at the last."

By C.H. Spurgeon, taken from "Faith's Checkbook"

Pain

"There was given to me a thorn in the flesh." 2 Corinthians 12:7

Pain has a great mission. While God does not send pain, He lets it stay, though He might intervene and take it away. While as a rule, with possibly rare exceptions, it comes through sin, it remains through the deliberate purpose of God. God has a great purpose of love in pain. He uses it as His teacher. It is the greatest of all His great teachers. It charges the very highest rates, insists upon the severest discipline, will tolerate nothing short of the highest ideal, needs our sympathetic help in working, and produces the very finest results. - D. S. Gordon

O Christ of Calvary, this Lent
Has brought Thee strangely near;
Perhaps it is because I too
Have borne a cross this year.

I did not climb Golgotha's brow
Nor in Thy sufferings share;
But knowing Thee has made my cross
Much easier to bear.

It somehow granted me a part
In Thy great sacrifice;
Thus sorrow has its recompense
Where joy cannot suffice.

O Christ, dear Christ of Calvary,
In gratitude I bow;
Thy resurrection day will dawn
With deeper meaning now.

Alice Hansche Mortenson

Taken from "Manna in the Morning"

Praise Always

"The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." JOB 1:21

What Thou hast given, Thou canst take,
And when Thou wilt new gifts can make.
All flows from Thee alone;
When Thou didst give it, it was Thine;
When Thou retook'st it, 't was not mine.
Thy will in all be done.
JOHN AUSTIN

We are ready to praise when all shines fair; but when life is overcast, when all things seem to be against us, when we are in fear for some cherished happiness, or in the depths of sorrow, or in the solitude of life which has no visible support, or in a season of sickness, and with the shadow of death approaching,--then to praise God; then to say, This fear, loneliness, affliction, pain, and trembling awe are as sure tokens of love, as life, health, joy, and the gifts of home: "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away;" on either side it is He, and all is love alike; "blessed be the name of the Lord,"--this is the true sacrifice of praise. What can come amiss to a soul which is so in accord with God? What can make so much as one jarring tone in all its harmony? In all the changes of this fitful life, it ever dwells in praise. - H. E. MANNING

Compiled by Mary W. Tileston, "Daily Strength for Daily Needs"

Listen for the Signal

"And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the LORD go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines" (2 Samuel 5:24).

There are signs of the LORD's moving which should move us. The Spirit of God blows where He listeth, and we hear the sound thereof. Then is the time for us to be more than ever astir. We must seize the golden opportunity and make the most we can of it. It is ours to fight the Philistines at all times; but when the LORD Himself goes out before us, then we should be specially valiant in the war.

The breeze stirred the tops of the trees, and David and his men took this for the signal for an onslaught, and at their advance the LORD Himself smote the Philistines. Oh, that this day the LORD may give us an opening to speak for Him with many of our friends! Let us be on the watch to avail ourselves of the hopeful opening when it comes. Who knows but this may be a day of good tidings; a season of soul-winning. Let us keep our ear open to hear the rustle of the wind and our minds ready to obey the signal. Is not this promise, "Then shall the LORD go out before thee," a sufficient encouragement to play the man? Since the LORD goes before us, we dare not hold back.

By C.H. Spurgeon, taken from "Faith's Checkbook"

Run With Patience

"Let us run with patience" (Heb. 12:1).

O run with patience is a very difficult thing. Running is apt to suggest the absence of patience, the eagerness to reach the goal. We commonly associate patience with lying down. We think of it as the angel that guards the couch of the invalid. Yet, I do not think the invalid's patience the hardest to achieve.

There is a patience which I believe to be harder—he patience that can run. To lie down in the time of grief, to be quiet under the stroke of adverse fortune, implies a great strength; but I know of something that implies a strength greater still: It is the power to work under a stroke; to have a great weight at your heart and still to run; to have a deep anguish in your spirit and still perform the daily task. It is a Christlike thing!

Many of us would nurse our grief without crying if we were allowed to nurse it. The hard thing is that most of us are called to exercise our patience, not in bed, but in the street. We are called to bury our sorrows, not in lethargic quiescence, but in active service--in the exchange, in the workshop, in the hour of social intercourse, in the contribution to another's joy. There is no burial of sorrow so difficult as that; it is the "running with patience."

This was Thy patience, O Son of man! It was at once a waiting and a running--a waiting for the goal, and a doing of the lesser work meantime. I see Thee at Cana turning the water into wine lest the marriage feast should be clouded. I see Thee in the desert feeding a multitude with bread just to relieve a temporary want. All, all the time, Thou wert bearing a mighty grief, unshared, unspoken. Men ask for a rainbow in the cloud; but I would ask more from Thee. I would be, in my cloud, myself a rainbow — a minister to others' joy. My patience will be perfect when it can work in the vineyard. - George Matheson

"When all our hopes are gone,
'Tis well our hands must keep toiling on
For others' sake:
For strength to bear is found in duty done;
And he is best indeed who learns to make
The joy of others cure his own heartache."

Compiled by Mrs. Charles Cowman, Taken from "Streams in the Desert"

Trust is the Answer

"Who is among you that walketh in darkness and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God." ISAIAH 1:10

THE heart that yet can hope and trust,
And cry to Thee, though from the dust,
Is all unconquered still.
PAUL GERHARDT

PRESS this upon thy soul, for there is not such another charm for all its fears and disquiet; therefore repeat it still with David, sing this till it be stilled, and chide thy distrustful heart into believing: "Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him." Though I am all out of tune for the present, never a right thing in my soul, yet He will put forth His hand and redress all, and I shall yet once again praise, and therefore, even now, I will hope.
ROBERT LEIGHTON

Oh, that we could breathe out new hope, and new submission, every day. Our waters are but ebb, and come neither to our chin, nor to the stopping of our breath. I may see (if I would borrow eyes from Christ) dry land, and that near: why then should we not laugh at adversity, and scorn our short-born and soon-dying temptations?
SAMUEL RUTHERFORD

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

Trouble? Which way will you go?

"And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way." John 4:50

The narrative of the nobleman and his sick son beautifully illustrates the beginning of faith and its rapid progress in the human soul. It is one thing to hear about the conversation of someone else but it is another to experience this great salvation personally, and to appropriate it by saving faith. This same living Christ is ever ready to help in time of great need, as He helped this nobleman.

Trouble led this man to Jesus, had it not been for this severe trail he might have lived on, never knowing the Saviour. Listen! trouble will do one of two things for you. It will either drive you to the place of refuge, shelter, and safety or it will cause your heart to become hard and rebellious. Pharaoh was made bitter, stiff-necked and hard.

When the nobleman heard that Jesus was passing that way he went to Him. That was the evidence that there was within his heart a spark of faith. Faith without works is dead. He "went and besought Him." And he continued to beseech until the assurance of the answer was given him. That is your privilege and mine, also. - Charles E. Fuller

Just one touch as He moves along,
Push'd and press'd by the jostling throng;
Just one touch and the weak was strong,
Cured by the Healer divine.

Just one touch and He makes me whole,
Speaks sweet peace to my sin-sick soul;
At His feet all my burdens roll, -
Cured by the Healer divine.

Just one touch! and He turns to me,
O the love in His eyes I see!
I am His for He hears my plea,
Cured by the Healer divine.

Birdie Bell

Taken from "Manna in the Morning"

Simple Love

"Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." I Peter 1:8

If our love were but more simple,
We should take Him at His word;
And our lives would be all sunshine
In the sweetness of our Lord.

F. W. FABER

What would it be to love absolutely a Being absolutely lovely,--to be able to give our whole existence, every thought, every act, every desire, to that adored One,--to know that He accepts it all, and loves us in return as God alone can love? This happiness grows forever. The larger our natures become, the wider our scope of thought, the stronger our will, the more fervent our affections, the deeper must be the rapture of such God-granted prayer. Every sacrifice _resolved on_ opens wide the gate; every sacrifice _accomplished_ is a step towards the paradise within. Soon it will be no transitory glimpse, no rapture of a day, to be followed by clouds and coldness. Let us but labor, and pray, and wait, and the intervals of human frailty shall grow shorter and less dark, the days of our delight in God longer and brighter, till at last life shall be nought but His love, our eyes shall never grow dim, His smile never turn away. F. B. COBBE

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

For His Work

"These were the potters, and those that dwelt among plants and hedges: there they dwelt with the king for his work." I Chronicles 4:23

A lowlier task on them is laid,
With love to make the labor light;
And there their beauty they must shed
On quiet homes, and lost to sight.
Changed are their visions high and fair,
Yet, calm and still, they labor there.

HYMNS OF THE AGES

Anywhere and everywhere we may dwell "with the King for His work." We may be in a very unlikely or unfavorable place for this; it may be in a literal country life, with little enough to be seen of the "goings" of the King around us; it may be among hedges of all sorts, hindrances in all directions; it may be, furthermore, with our hands full of all manner of pottery for our daily task. No matter! The King who placed us "there" will come and dwell there with us; the hedges are all right, or He would soon do away with them; and it does not follow that what seems to hinder our way may not be for its very protection; and as for the pottery, why, that is just exactly what He has seen fit to put into our hands, and therefore it is, for the present, "His work." - F. R. HAVERGAL

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

Bear One Another's Burdens

"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2

Is thy cruse of comfort wasting?
Rise and share it with another,
And through all the years of famine,
It shall serve thee and thy brother.
Is thy burden hard and heavy?
Do thy steps drag heavily?
Help to bear thy brother's burden;
God will bear both it and thee.

ELIZABETH CHARLES.

However perplexed you may at any hour become about some question of truth, one refuge and resource is always at hand: you can do something for some one besides yourself. When your own burden is heaviest, you can always lighten a little some other burden. At the times when you cannot see God, there is still open to you this sacred possibility, to _show_ God; for it is the love and kindness of human hearts through which the divine reality comes home to men, whether they name it or not. Let this thought, then, stay with you: there may be times when you cannot find help, but there is no time when you cannot give help. - GEORGE S. MERRIAM.

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

Write on me

It's been so long since I've seen a burning bush

Some seasons I see them in every desert wash

The magnificence, the miracle . . . "burning and not being consumed."

Yet who do I fool?

Moses paid dearly for his burning bush - sweaty desert miles and exhausted, sweaty tears -

All for the dubious blessing of talking with God.

What claim have I to a burning bush? (or to God?)

I have not yet even learned to remove my shoes!

I've learned so much of me.

Every inch of it has hurt . . .

to see honestly and at length . . .

because at first all I could see were the wounds of humanity.

I looked for cool, unflawed marble of deity but found only a heart of flesh . .

but hearts of flesh are all that God can write on.

Write on me, Father, Write on me.

Barbara Francken Kelley


Taken from "Holy Sweat" by Tim Hansel

Note: I'm not sure what the title of the poem is. The one I used is not the original title.

Tranquil Day

"Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust." Psalm 40:4

"That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life." I Timothy 2:2

Just to let thy Father do
What He will;
Just to know that He is true,
And be still;
Just to trust Him, this is all!
Then the day will surely be
Peaceful, whatsoe'er befall,
Bright and blessed, calm and free.

Frances Ridley Havergal

Every morning compose your soul for a tranquil day, and all through it be careful often to recall your resolution, and bring yourself back to it. so to say. If something discomposes you, do not be upset, or trouble; but having discovered the fact, humble yourself gently before god, and try to bring your mind into a quiet attitude. Say to yourself, "Well, I have made a false step; now I must go more carefully and watchfully." Do this each time, however frequently you fall. When you are at peace, use it profitably, making constant acts of meekness, and seeking to be calm even in the most trifling things. Above all, do not be discouraged; be patient, wait; strive to attain a calm, gentle spirit. - Francis De Sales

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

Give Up Yourself

"What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul?" Deuteronomy 10:12

What asks our Father of His children save
Justice and mercy and humility,
A reasonable service of good deeds,
Pure living, tenderness to human needs,
Reverence, and trust, and prayer for light to see
The Master's footprints in our daily ways?
No knotted scourge, nor sacrificial knife,
But the calm beauty of an ordered life
Whose every breathing is unworded praise.
J. G. WHITTIER

Give up yourself to God without reserve; in singleness of heart meeting everything that every day brings forth, as something that comes from God, and is to be received and gone through by you, in such an heavenly use of it, as you would suppose the holy Jesus would have done in such occurrences. This is an attainable degree of perfection. - WILLIAM LAW

We ought to measure our actual lot, and to fulfil it; to be with all our strength that which our lot requires and allows. What is beyond it, is no calling of ours. How much peace, quiet, confidence, and strength, would people attain, if they would go by this plain rule. - H. E. MANNING

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

Finding Rest

Perhaps the words of the Carpenter, promising rest, are so compelling because of our endless desire and quest to rest - not just to rest in the body, but to rest the heart, to find peace, to finally settle down in the valley fertile with contentment.

"Come to me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

By Max Lucado, taken from "Walking with the Savior"

Lift Your Priase!

"Let them give thanks to the Lord for His loveingkindness, and for His wonders to the sons of men! "Psalm 107:8

If we complained less and praised more, we should be happier and God would be more glorified. Let us daily praise God for common mercies - common as we frequently call them, and yet so priceless that when deprived of them we are ready to perish. let us bless God for the eyes with which we behold the sun, for the health and strength to walk abroad, for the bread we eat, for the raiment we wear. Let us praise Him for everything we receive from His bounteous hand, for we deserve little and yet are most plenteously endowed. But the sweetest and the loudest note in our songs of praise should be of redeeming love. God's redeeming acts toward His chosen are forever the favorite themes of their praise. If we know what redemption means, let us not withhold our sonnets of thanksgiving. We have been redeemed from the power of our corruptions, uplifted from the depth of sin in which we were naturally plunged. We have been led to the cross of Christ - we are no longer slaves but children of the living God. Child of God, can you be silent?

By Charles Spurgeon, taken from "Daily Devotional Insights"

Trust His Word

"I trust in thy word" (Ps. 119:42).

Just in proportion in which we believe that God will do just what He has said, is our faith strong or weak. Faith has nothing to do with feelings, or with impressions, with improbabilities, or with outward appearances. If we desire to couple them with faith, then we are no longer resting on the Word of God because faith needs nothing of the kind. Faith rests on the naked Word of God. When we take Him at His Word, the heart is at peace.

God delights to exercise faith, first for blessing in our own souls, then for blessing in the Church at large, and also for those without. But this exercise we shrink from instead of welcoming. When trials come, we should say: "My Heavenly Father puts this cup of trial into my hands, that I may have something sweet afterwards."

Trials are the food of faith. Oh, let us leave ourselves in the hands of our Heavenly Father! It is the joy of His heart to do good to all His children.

But trials and difficulties are not the only means by which faith is exercised and thereby increased. There is the reading of the Scriptures, that we may by them acquaint ourselves with God as He has revealed Himself in His Word.

Are you able to say, from the acquaintance you have made with God, that He is a lovely Being? If not, let me affectionately entreat you to ask God to bring you to this, that you may admire His gentleness and kindness, that you may be able to say how good He is, and what a delight it is to the heart of God to do good to His children.

Now the nearer we come to this in our inmost souls, the more ready we are to leave ourselves in His hands, satisfied with all His dealings with us. And when trial comes, we shall say:

"I will wait and see what good God will do to me by it, assured He will do it." Thus we shall bear an honorable testimony before the world, and thus we shall strengthen the hands of others. - George Mueller.

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

Invisible Blessings

Being very much of the earth--earthy--we always want tangible, visible things--proofs, demonstrations, something to latch onto. If we always had them, of course, faith would be "struck blind." When Jesus hung on a cross, the challenge was flung at Him: Come down! He stayed nailed, not so that spectators would be satisfied (that miracle, his coming down, would have been a great crowd-pleaser), but that the world might be saved.

Many of our prayers are directed toward the quick and easy solution. Long-suffering is sometimes the only means by which the greater glory of God will be served, and this is, for the moment, invisible. We must persist in faith. God has a splendid purpose. Believe in order to see it.

"Our troubles are slight and short-lived, and their outcome an eternal glory which outweighs them far. Meanwhile our eyes are fixed, not on the things that are seen, but on the things that are unseen" (2 Cor 4:17, 18 NEB).

By Elisabeth Elliot

I call you friends

Jesus described for his followers what he came to do. He came to build relationships with people. He came to take away the enmity, to take away the strife, to take away the isolation that existed between God and man. Once he bridged that, once he over came that, he said, "I will call you friends."

"I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. But I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I heard from my Father." John 15:15

By Max Lucado, taken from "Walking with the Savior"

Things that are Invisible

Simply because you can't put your hands around something doesn't mean it's not there. In fact, those things that are most precious to us are the things that are invisible, aren't they? Love, tenderness, happiness, air, feelings, emotions - those things we cannot touch, but they are very real. And so it is with God's power: It may not be touchable, but it's real and it's obtainable.

"Your love is wonderful. By your power you save those who trust you from their enemies. Protect me as you would protect your own eye. Hide me under the shadow of your wings." Psalm 17:7-8

By Max Lucado, taken from "Walking with the Savior"

For it pleased the Father . . .

"For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell." Colossians 1:19

I have been writing and speaking on this verse for many months. I sit hour after hour on trains and think about it. And yet I know so little of what it really means.

" . . . it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell."

All fulness.

In Jesus Christ. In HIS person. how can it e that to those of us who know Him, He is enough? How can one life fill the emptiness in every human life? How is this possible? We cannot know. We can only experience this fulness by emptying ourselves of ourselves and by receiving Him fully.

No-one can tell anyone else how to do this. Only each individual person knows what it is that prevents the complete capture by Christ. He is in pursuit. Every minute. He is near now, pressing in upon us from within and from without. He would be "fulness" to each person in the world. Fulness includes everything. And it pleased the Father that all fulness should be in the person of Jesus Christ, His Son. In Him is everything we ever need. Our part is to "learn of" Him.

In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

By Eugenia Price, taken from "Share My Pleasant Stones"

Trials

"The trial of your faith . . ." I Peter 1:7

Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith, and it is likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is without trials. Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against her: Tempests are her trainers, and lightnings are her illuminators. When a clam reigns on the sea, spread the sails as you will, the ship moves not to its harbor; for on a slumbering ocean, the kneel sleeps, too. Let the winds rush howling forth, and let the waters lift up themselves; though the vessel may rock and her deck may be washed with waves and her mast may creak under the pressure of the full and swelling sail, it is then that she makes headway toward her desired haven. No stars gleam so brightly as those which glisten in the polar sky, no water tastes so sweet as that which springs amid the desert sand, and no faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs in adversity. Tried faith brings experience. You could not have believed your own weakness had you not been compelled to pass through the rivers; and you would never have known God's strength had you not been supported amid the water-floods. Faith increases in solidity, assurance, and intensity, the more it is exercised with tribulation. Faith is precious, and its trial is precious, too.

By Charles Spurgeon, taken from "Daily Devotional Insights"

God's Love

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. He was, he is and he is coming." Revelation 4:8

God's love for you is not dependent on how you look, how you think, how you act, or how perfect you are. His love is absolutely nonnegotiable and nonreturnable. Ours is a faithful God.

My Max Lucado, taken from "Walking with the Savior"

What are you willing to give up?

I have been reading a book about the life and testament of Jim Elliot this week. Jim Elliot was one of four missionaries killed by the Auca Indians in attempts to share with them about Jesus. I am humbled by his life's desire to follow the Lord no matter what the cost. And because of his sacrifice those he was trying to reach came to know Jesus as well as countless others who have read his story.

"He is no fool who gives that which he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

Taken from "Shadow of the Almighty, The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot by Elisabeth Elliot

Our Role and God's Role

"He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are judgment; a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is He." DEUTERONOMY 32:4

"We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture." PSALMS 100:3

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." PSALMS 23:1, 4

DUTIES are ours, events are the Lord's; when our faith goeth to meddle with events, and to hold a court (if I may so speak) upon God's Providence, and beginneth to say, "How wilt Thou do this or that?" we lose ground; we have nothing to do there; it is our part to let the Almighty exercise His own office, and steer His own helm; there is nothing left us, but to see how we may be approved of Him, and how we may roll the weight of our weak souls, in well-doing, upon Him who is God omnipotent, and when what we thus essay miscarrieth, it shall neither be our sin nor cross. - SAMUEL RUTHERFORD

SHALL there be a mutiny among the flocks and herds, because their lord or their shepherd chooses their pastures, and suffers them not to wander into deserts and unknown ways? - JEREMY TAYLOR

Compiled by Mary Wilder Tileston, taken from "Joy and Strength"

What is Grace?

"All have sinned and are not good enough for God's glory, and all need to be made right with God by his grace, which is a free gift." Romans 3:23-24

What is grace? It's what someone gives us out of the goodness of their heart, not out of the perfection of ours. The story of grace is the good news that says that when we come, He (God) gives. That's what grace is.

By Max Lucado, taken from "Walking with the Savior

Newness in Christ

"Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." Revelation 21:5

I do not know, but it is sometimes as well, when one has been plunged in sorrow or feels ashamed of his past life - after having regretted that which is bygone and repented of it and sorrowed over it - to feel as if he breathed another atmosphere and had started on a fresh career. Having thrown away the old sword, he is now about to see what he can do with the new; having put off an old garment, he is desirous to walk more worthily of his vocation with fresh ones that are provided for him. Perhaps the thoughts of freshness, the fact of new time having dawned on our path, may be a little help to those of us whoa re dull and heavy, and we may be stirred up to action. If not to action, it may awaken earnest hope that the infusion of a new start into our lives, new vigor instead of the old lethargy, new love instead of the old lukewarmness, new zeal instead of the old deathlikeness, new persevering industry for Christ instead of the old idleness may result. God grant that it may be so!

By Charles Spurgeon, taken from "Strengthen My Spirit"

Don't Fret

"Do not begin to be anxious" (Phil. 4:6, PBV).

Not a few Christians live in a state of unbroken anxiety, and others fret and fume terribly. To be perfectly at peace amid the hurly-burly of daily life is a secret worth knowing. What is the use of worrying? It never made anybody strong; never helped anybody to do God's will; never made a way of escape for anyone out of perplexity. Worry spoils lives which would otherwise be useful and beautiful. Restlessness, anxiety, and care are absolutely forbidden by our Lord, who said: "Take no thought," that is, no anxious thought, "saying what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed?" He does not mean that we are not to take forethought and that our life is to be without plan or method; but that we are not to worry about these things. People know you live in the realm of anxious care by the lines on your face, the tones of your voice, the minor key in your life, and the lack of joy in your spirit. Scale the heights of a life abandoned to God, then you will look down on the clouds beneath your feet. -Rev. Darlow Sargeant

It is always weakness to be fretting and worrying, questioning and mistrusting. Can we gain anything by it? Do we not unfit ourselves for action, and unhinge our minds for wise decision? We are sinking by our struggles when we might float by faith.

Oh, for grace to be quiet! Oh, to be still and know that Jehovah is God! The Holy One of Israel must defend and deliver His own. We may be sure that every word of His will stand, though the mountains should depart. He deserves to be confided in. Come, my soul, return unto thy rest, and lean thy head upon the bosom of the Lord Jesus. -Selected

"Peace thy inmost soul shall fill Lying still!"

Compiled by Mrs. Charles Cowman, taken from "Streams in the Desert"

Sitting Still

"Their strength is to sit still." (Isa. 30:7) KJV.

In order really to know God, inward stillness is absolutely necessary. I remember when I first learned this. A time of great emergency had risen in my life, when every part of my being seemed to throb with anxiety, and when the necessity for immediate and vigorous action seemed overpowering; and yet circumstances were such that I could do nothing, and the person who could, would not stir.

For a little while it seemed as if I must fly to pieces with the inward turmoil, when suddenly the still small voice whispered in the depths of my soul, "Be still, and know that I am God." The word was with power, and I hearkened. I composed my body to perfect stillness, and I constrained my troubled spirit into quietness, and looked up and waited; and then I did "know" that it was God, God even in the very emergency and in my helplessness to meet it; and I rested in Him. It was an experience that I would not have missed for worlds; and I may add also, that out of this stillness seemed to arise a power to deal with the emergency, that very soon brought it to a successful issue. I learned then effectually that my "strength was to sit still." --Hannah Whitall Smith

There is a perfect passivity which is not indolence. It is a living stillness born of trust. Quiet tension is not trust. It is simply compressed anxiety.

Not in the tumult of the rending storm,
Not in the earthquake or devouring flame;
But in the hush that could all fear transform,
The still, small whisper to the prophet came.

0 Soul, keep silence on the mount of God,
Though cares and needs throb around thee like a sea;
From supplications and desires unshod,
Be still, and hear what God shall say to thee.

All fellowship hath interludes of rest,
New strength maturing in each poise of power;
The sweetest Alleluias of the blest
Are silent, for the space of half an hour.

0 rest, in utter quietude of soul,
Abandon words, leave prayer and praise awhile;
Let thy whole being, hushed in His control,
Learn the full meaning of His voice and smile.

Not as an athlete wrestling for a crown,
Not taking Heaven by violence of will;
But with thy Father as a child sit down,
And know the bliss that follows His "Be Still!"

-Mary Rowles Jarvis

Compiled by Mrs. Charles Cowman, taken from "Streams in the Desert"

Mind The Checks

"And after the earthquake a fire; and after the fire a sound of gentle stillness" (1 Kings 19:12, RV margin.)

A soul, who made rapid progress in her understanding of the Lord, was once asked the secret of her easy advancement. She replied tersely, "Mind the checks." And the reason that many of us do not know and better understand Him is, we do not give heed to His gentle checks, His delicate restraints and constraints. His is a still, small voice. A still voice can hardly be heard. It must be felt. A steady, gentle pressure upon the heart and mind like the touch of a morning zephyr to your face. A small voice, quietly, almost timidly spoken in your heart, but if heeded growing noiselessly clearer to your inner ear. His voice is for the ear of love, and love is intent upon hearing even faintest whispers. There comes a time also when love ceases to speak if not responded to, or believed in. He is love, and if you would know Him and His voice, give constant ear to His gentle touches. In conversation, when about to utter some word, give heed to that gentle voice, mind the check and refrain from speech. When about to pursue some course that seems all clear and right and there comes quietly to your spirit a suggestion that has in it the force almost of a conviction, give heed, even if changed plans seem highest folly from standpoint of human wisdom. Learn also to wait on God for the unfolding of His will. Let God form your plans about everything in your mind and heart and then let Him execute them. Do not possess any wisdom of your own. For many times His execution will seem so contradictory to the plan He gave. He will seem to work against Himself. Simply listen, obey and trust God even when it seems highest folly so to do. He will in the end make "all things work together," but so many times in the first appearance of the outworking of His plans,

"In His own world He is content
To play a losing game."

So if you would know His voice, never consider results or possible effects. Obey even when He asks you to move in the dark. He Himself will be gloriously light in you. And there will spring up rapidly in your heart an acquaintanceship and a fellowship with God which will be overpowering in itself to hold you and Him together, even in severest testings and under most terrible pressures. - Way of Faith

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

Alone In The Desert

"And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place" (Luke 9:10).

In order to grow in grace, we must be much alone. It is not in society that the soul grows most vigorously. In one single quiet hour of prayer it will often make more progress than in days of company with others. It is in the desert that the dew falls freshest and the air is purest. - Andrew Bonar

"Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile,
Weary, I know it, of the press and throng,
Wipe from your brow the sweat and dust of toil,
And in My quiet strength again be strong.

"Come ye aside from all the world holds dear,
For converse which the world has never known,
Alone with Me, and with My Father here,
With Me and with My Father not alone.
"Come, tell Me all that ye have said and done,
Your victories and failures, hopes and fears.
I know how hardly souls are wooed and won:
My choicest wreaths are always wet with tears.

"Come ye and rest; the journey is too great,
And ye will faint beside the way and sink;
The bread of life is here for you to eat,
And here for you the wine of love to drink.
"Then fresh from converse with your Lord return,
And work till, daylight softens into even:
The brief hours are not lost in which ye learn
More of your Master and His rest in Heaven."

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

God's Stairway

". . . but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." I John 2:17

Step by step we climb each day
Closer to God with each prayer we pray
For "the cry of the heart" offered in prayer
Becomes just another "spiritual stair"
In the "heavenly staircase" leading us to
A beautiful place where we live anew . . .
So never give up for it's wroth the climb
To live forever in "endless time"
Where the soul of man is safe and free
To live in love through eternity!

Helen Steiner Rice

From Start To Finish

The great witnesses to faith in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, beginning with Abel, who offered a sacrifice by faith, down to those nameless others whose stories are not success stories by any stretch of the imagination, did not know Jesus, God's full revelation of Himself. Yet they believed. Yet they were strong in faith. It was, although they were ignorant of it, Christ on whom their faith rested. Faith depends on Him "from start to finish" (Heb 12:2 NEB). The whole saga of human faith from Abel to us in the twentieth century depends on Him who endured a cross. The whole story of any one individual's faith also depends on Him from start to finish. There is no other ground anywhere. He is the Rock.

I don't know why I keep forgetting this and assuming that somewhere along the line (or the racetrack) I am supposed to manage it by myself. It is Jesus at the start, Jesus every foot of the track, Jesus at the finish. Trust Him. Trust Him. Trust Him.

So, through life, death, through sorrow and through sinning.

Christ shall suffice me, for He hath sufficed.

Christ is the End, for Christ was the Beginning--

Christ the Beginning, for the End is Christ.

(F.W.H. Meyer, St. Paul)

By Elisabeth Elliot

Nothing on Earth Is Forever Yours - Only the Love of the Lord Endures!

"O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever." Psalms 136:1

Everything in life is passing
and whatever we possess
Cannot endure forever
but ends in nothingness,
For there are no safety boxes
nor vaults that can contain
The possessions we collected
and desire to retain . . .
So all that man acquires,
be it power, fame, or jewels,
Is but limited and earthly,
only "treasure made for fools" . . .
For only in God's kingdom
can man find enduring treasure,
Priceless gifts of love and beauty -
more than mortal man can measure,
And the "riches" he accumulates
he can keep and part with never,
For only in God's kingdom
do our treasures last forever . . .
So use the word forever
with sanctity and love,
For nothing is forever
but the love of God above!

Helen Steiner Rice

The Burning Heart

"Did not our heart burn within us . . . ?" Luke 24:32

We need to learn this secret of the burning heart. Suddenly Jesus appears to us, fires are set ablaze, and we are given wonderful visions; but then we must learn to maintain the secret of the burning heart— a heart that can go through anything. It is the simple, dreary day, with its commonplace duties and people, that smothers the burning heart— unless we have learned the secret of abiding in Jesus.

Much of the distress we experience as Christians comes not as the result of sin, but because we are ignorant of the laws of our own nature. For instance, the only test we should use to determine whether or not to allow a particular emotion to run its course in our lives is to examine what the final outcome of that emotion will be. Think it through to its logical conclusion, and if the outcome is something that God would condemn, put a stop to it immediately. But if it is an emotion that has been kindled by the Spirit of God and you don’t allow it to have its way in your life, it will cause a reaction on a lower level than God intended. That is the way unrealistic and overly emotional people are made. And the higher the emotion, the deeper the level of corruption, if it is not exercised on its intended level. If the Spirit of God has stirred you, make as many of your decisions as possible irrevocable, and let the consequences be what they will. We cannot stay forever on the "mount of transfiguration," basking in the light of our mountaintop experience (see Mark 9:1-9 ). But we must obey the light we received there; we must put it into action. When God gives us a vision, we must transact business with Him at that point, no matter what the cost.

We cannot kindle when we will The fire which in the heart resides, The spirit bloweth and is still, In mystery our soul abides; But tasks in hours of insight willed Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled.

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

Counting the Cost

"I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord" (Phil. 3:8).

This is the happy season of ripening cornfields, of the merry song of the reapers, of the secured and garnered grain. But let me hearken to the sermon of the field. This is its solemn word to me. You must die in order to live. You must refuse to consult your own case and well-being. You must be crucified, not only in desires and habits which are sinful, but in many more which appear innocent and right. If you would save others, you cannot save yourself. If you would bear much fruit, you must be buried in darkness and solitude.

My heart fails me as I listen. But, when Jesus asks it, let me tell myself that it is my high dignity to enter into the fellowship of His sufferings; and thus I am in the best of company. And let me tell myself again that it is all meant to make me a vessel meet for His use. His own Calvary has blossomed into fertility; and so shall mine. Plenty out of pain, life out of death: is it not the law of the Kingdom? --In the Hour of Silence Do we call it dying when the bud bursts into flower? -Selected

"Finding, following, keeping, struggling,
Is He sure to bless?
Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs,
Answer, 'Yes."'

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

Peace in the Arms of God

"I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for Thou, Lord, only makest
me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:8

"He giveth His beloved sleep." Psalm 127:2

He guides our feet, He guards our way,
His morning smiles bless all the day;
He spreads the evening veil, and keeps
The silent hours while Israel sleeps.

Isacc Watts

We sleep in peace in the arms of God, when we yield ourselves up to His providence, in a delightful consciousness of His tender mercies; no more restless uncertainties, no more anxious desires, no more impatience at the place we are in; for it is God who has put us there, and who holds us in His arms. Can we be unsafe where He has placed us?

Francois De La Mothe Felelon

One evening when Luther saw a little bird perched on a tree, to roost there for the night, he said, "This little bird has had its supper, and now it is getting ready to go to sleep here, quite secure and content, never troubling itself what its food will be, or where its lodging on the morrow. Like David, it 'abides under the shadow of the Almighty.' It sits on its little twig content, and lets God take care."

Martin Luther

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

What can we do?

"Are they not all ministering spirits?" Hebrews 1:14

May I reach
That purest heaven, be to other souls
The cup of strength in some great agony,
Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love,
Be the sweet presence of a good diffused,
And in diffusion ever more intense!
So shall I join the choir invisible
Whose music is the gladness of the world.

George Eliot

Certainly, in our own little sphere it is not the most active people to whom we owe the most. Among the common people whom we know, it is not necessarily those who are busiest, not those who, meteor-like, are ever on the rush after some visible charge and work. It is the lives, like the stars, which simply pour down on us the calm light of their bright and faithful being, up to which we look and out of which we gather the deepest calm and courage. It seems to me that there is reassurance here for many of us who seem to have no chance for active usefulness. We can do nothing for our fellow-men. But still it is good to know that we can be something for them; to know (and this we may know surely) that no man or woman of the humblest sort can really be strong, gentle, pure, and good, without the world being better for it, without somebody being helped and comforted by the very existence of that goodness.

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

Continue Upright

"The prayer of the upright is His delight" (Proverbs 15:8).

This is as good as a promise, for it declares a present fact, which will be the same throughout all ages. God takes great pleasure in the prayers of upright men; He even calls them His delight. Our first concern is to be upright. Neither bending this way nor that, continue upright; not crooked with policy, nor prostrate by yielding to evil, be you upright in strict integrity and straightforwardness. If we begin to shuffle and shift, we shall be left to shift for ourselves. If we try crooked ways, we shall find that we cannot pray, and if we pretend to do so, we shall find our prayers shut out of heaven.

Are we acting in a straight line and thus following out the LORD's revealed will? Then let us pray much and pray in faith. If our prayer is God's delight, let us not stint Him in that which gives Him pleasure. He does not consider the grammar of it, nor the metaphysics of it, nor the rhetoric of it; in all these men might despise it. He, as a Father, takes pleasure in the lispings of His own babes, the stammerings of His newborn sons and daughters. Should we not delight in prayer since the LORD delights in it? Let us make errands to the throne. The LORD finds us enough reasons for prayer, and we ought to thank Him that it is so.

By C.H. Spurgeon, taken from "Faith's Checkbook"

Becoming Fit for Glory

"The LORD will give grace and glory" (Psalm 84:11).

Grace is what we need just now, and it is to be had freely. What can be freer than a gift? Today we shall receive sustaining, strengthening, sanctifying, satisfying grace. He has given daily grace until now, and as for the future, that grace is still sufficient. If we have but little grace the fault most lie in ourselves; for the LORD is not straitened, neither is He slow to bestow it in abundance. We may ask for as much as we will and never fear a refusal. He giveth liberally and upbraideth not.

The LORD may not give gold, but He will give grace: He may not give gain, but He will give grace. He will certainly send us trial, but He will give grace in proportion thereto. We may be called to labor and to suffer, but with the call there will come all the grace required;

What an "end" is that in the text -- "and glory!" We do not need glory yet, and we are not yet fit for it; but we shall have it in due order. After we have eaten the bread of grace, we shall drink the wine of glory. We must go through the holy, which is grace, to the holiest of all, which is glory. These words and glory are enough to make a man dance for joy. A little while -- a little while, and then glory forever!

By C.H. Spurgeon, taken from "Faith's Checkbook"

What do you desire?

"Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Matthew 4:10

"Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and that seek Him with the whole heart." Psalm 119:2

The comfort of a mind at rest
From every care Thou hast not blest;
A heart from all the world set free,
To worship and to wait on Thee.

A. L. WARING.

Resign every forbidden joy; restrain every wish that is not referred to His will; banish all eager desires, all anxiety. Desire only the will of God; seek Him alone, and you will find peace. - Francois De La Mothe Fenelon

"I've been a great deal happier since I have given up thinking about what is easy and pleasant, and being discontented because I couldn't have my own will. Our life is determined for us; and it makes the mind very free when we give up wishing, and only think of bearing what is laid upon us, and doing what is given us to do." - George Eliot


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

Lord, what would you have me do today?

"Showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things." TITUS 2:10

If on our daily course our mind
Be set to hallow all we find,
New treasures still, of countless price,
God will provide for sacrifice.
- John Keble

If content and thankfulness, if the patient bearing of evil, be duties to God, they are the duties of every day, and in every circumstance of our life. If we are to follow Christ, it must be in our common way of spending every day. - William Law

He who is faithful over a few things is a lord of cities. It does not matter whether you preach in Westminster Abbey, or teach a ragged class, so you be faithful. The faithfulness is all. - George MacDonald

I would have you invoke God often through the day, asking Him to kindle a love for your vocation within you, and saying with St. Paul, "'Lord, what wouldst Thou have me to do?' Wouldst Thou have me serve Thee in the lowest ministries of Thy house? too happy if I may but serve Thee anyhow." And when any special thing is repugnant to you, ask "Wouldst Thou have me do it? Then, unworthy though I be, I will do it gladly." - St. Francis De Sales

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

Walk in Light

"I am come a Light into the world, that whosoever believeth on Me should not abide in darkness" (John 12:46).

This world is dark as midnight; Jesus has come that by faith we may have light and may no longer sit in the gloom which covers all the rest of mankind.

Whosoever is a very wide term: it means you and me. If we trust in Jesus we shall no more sit in the dark shadow of death but shall enter into the warm light of a day which shall never end. Why do we not come out into the light at once?

A cloud may sometimes hover over us, but we shall not abide in darkness if we believe in Jesus. He has come to give us broad daylight. Shall He come in vain.' If we have faith we have the privilege of sunlight: let us enjoy it. From the night of natural depravity, of ignorance, of doubt, of despair, of sin, of dread, Jesus has come to set us free; and all believers shall know that He no more comes in vain than the sun rises and fails to scatter his heat and light.

Shake off thy depression, dear brother. Abide not in the dark, but abide in the light. In Jesus is thy hope, thy joy, thy heaven, Look to Him, to Him only, and thou shalt rejoice as the birds rejoice at sunrise and as the angels rejoice before the throne.

By C.H. Spurgeon, taken from "Faith's Checkbook"

How do we act?

"Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous." I PETER 3:8

Make us of one heart and mind;
Courteous, pitiful, and kind;
Lowly, meek, in thought and word,
Altogether like our Lord.
- C. WESLEY

A little thought will show you how vastly your own happiness depends on the way other people bear themselves toward you. The looks and tones at your breakfast-table, the conduct of your fellow-workers or employers, the faithful or unreliable men you deal with, what people say to you on the street, the way your cook and housemaid do their work, the letters you get, the friends or foes you meet,--these things make up very much of the pleasure or misery of your day. Turn the idea around, and remember that just so much are you adding to the pleasure or the misery of other people's days. And this is the half of the matter which you can control. Whether any particular day shall bring to you more of happiness or of suffering is largely beyond your power to determine. Whether each day of your life shall give happiness or suffering rests with yourself. - GEORGE S. MERRIAM

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

Trouble Teaches

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Ps. 46:1).

The question often comes, "Why didn't He help me sooner?" It is not His order. He must first adjust you to the trouble and cause you to learn your lesson from it. His promise is, "I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him." He must be with you in the trouble first all day and all night. Then He will take you out of it. This will not come till you have stopped being restless and fretful about it and become calm and quiet. Then He will say, "It is enough."

God uses trouble to teach His children precious lessons. They are intended to educate us. When their good work is done, a glorious recompense will come to us through them. There is a sweet joy and a real value in them. He does not regard them as difficulties but as opportunities. -Selected.

Not always OUT of our troublous times,
And the struggles fierce and grim,
But IN--deeper IN--to our one sure rest,
The place of our peace, in Him.
-Annie Johnson Flint

We once heard a simple old colored man say something that we have never forgotten: "When God tests you, it is a good time for you to test Him by putting His promises to the proof, and claiming from Him just as much as your trials have rendered necessary."

There are two ways of getting out of a trial. One is to simply try to get rid of the trial, and be thankful when it is over. The other is to recognize the trial as a challenge from God to claim a larger blessing than we have ever had, and to hail it with delight as an opportunity of obtaining a larger measure of Divine grace. Thus even the adversary becomes an auxiliary, and the things that seem to be against us turn out to be for the furtherance of our way. Surely, this is to be more than conquerors through Him who loved us. -A. B. Simpson

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

Deeper

"Not much earth" (Matt. 13:5).

Shallow! It would seem from the teaching of this parable that we have something to do with the soil. The fruitful seed fell into "good and honest hearts." I suppose the shallow people are the soil without much earth--those who have no real purpose, are moved by a tender appeal, a good sermon, a pathetic melody, and at first it looks as if they would amount to something; but not much earth--no depth, no deep, honest purpose, no earnest desire to know duty in order to do it. Let us look after the soil of our hearts.

When a Roman soldier was told by his guide that if he insisted on taking a certain journey it would probably be fatal, he answered, "It is necessary for me to go; it is not necessary for me to live."

This was depth. When we are convicted something like that we shall come to something. The shallow nature lives in its impulses, its impressions, its intuitions, its instincts, and very largely its surroundings. The profound character looks beyond all these, and moves steadily on, sailing past all storms and clouds into the clear sunshine which is always on the other side, and waiting for the afterwards which always brings the reversion of sorrow, seeming defeat and failure.

When God has deepened us, then He can give us His deeper truths, His profoundest secrets, and His mightier trusts. Lord, lead me into the depths of Thy life and save me from a shallow experience!

On to broader fields of holy vision; On to loftier heights of faith and love; Onward, upward, apprehending wholly, All for which He calls thee from above. --A. B. Simpson

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

Head of the Body

" Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ." Ephesians 4:15

My child, just as a garden is made up of many varieties of flowers, My body—the Church on earth—includes many kinds of gifted people. Roses, carnations, snapdragons, daisies, petunias—all blooming together make a beautiful bouquet of praise to Me. I need your gifts. Serve Me joyfully!

Whether I am an eye, an ear, a mouth, or a leg, You have created me as an important part of Your body, Lord. Only as we look to You—our Head—can the body—Your Church— function as You intend. I praise You for gifting each one of us to build up the Church. Without You, Lord, we are nothing.

Two heads may be better than one, but not when it comes to the spiritual world.

By Rebecca Barlow Jordan, taken from "Daily in Your Presence"

Take Courage

"The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth". - Psalm 145:18

"I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears." - Psalm 34:4

Be Thou, O Rock of Ages, nigh!
So shall each murmuring thought be gone;
And grief and fear and care shall fly,
As clouds before the mid-day sun.

C. WESLEY.

Take courage, and turn your troubles, which are without remedy, into
material for spiritual progress. Often turn to our Lord, who is watching
you, poor frail little being as you are, amid your labors and distractions.
He sends you help, and blesses your affliction. This thought should enable
you to bear your troubles patiently and gently, for love of Him who only
allows you to be tried for your own good. Raise your heart continually to
God, seek His aid, and let the foundation stone of your consolation be your
happiness in being His. All vexations and annoyances will be comparatively
unimportant while you know that you have such a Friend, such a Stay, such a
Refuge. May God be ever in your heart.

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES

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

Fashioned In The Fire

"Unto you it is given . . .to suffer" (Phil. 1:29).

God keeps a costly school. Many of its lessons are spelled out through tears. Richard Baxter said, "O God, I thank Thee for a bodily discipline of eight and fifty years"; and he is not the only man who has turned a trouble into triumph.

This school of our Heavenly Father will soon close for us; the term time is shortening every day. Let us not shrink from a hard lesson or wince under any rod of chastisement. The richer will be the crown, and the sweeter will be Heaven, if we endure cheerfully to the end and graduate in glory. - Theodore L. Cuyler

The finest china in the world is burned at least three times, some of it more than three times. Dresden china is always burned three times. Why does it go through that intense fire? Once ought to be enough; twice ought to be enough. No, three times are necessary to burn that china so that the gold and the crimson are brought out more beautiful and then fastened there to stay.

We are fashioned after the same principle in human life. Our trials are burned into us once, twice, thrice; and by God's grace these beautiful colors are there and they are there to stay forever. - Cortland Myers

Earth's fairest flowers grow not on sunny plain,
But where some vast upheaval rent in twain
The smiling land . . . .
After the whirlwinds devastating blast,
After the molten fire and ashen pall,
God's still small voice breathes healing over all.
From riven rocks and fern-clad chasms deep,
Flow living waters as from hearts that weep,
There in the afterglow soft dews distill
And angels tend God's plants when night falls still,
And the Beloved passing by that way
Will gather lilies at the break of day.

- J.H.D.

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

Now is the Time

"Behold now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Corinthians 6. 2.

When I have the time so many things I'll do,
To make life happier and more fair
For those whose lives are crowded now with care,
I'll help to lift them from their low despair
When I have time.
When I have time the friend I love so well
Shall know no more the weary, toiling days;
I'll lead his feet in pleasant paths always,
And cheer his heart with words of sweetest praise,
When I have time.
Now is the time! Speed, friend; no longer wait
To scatter loving smiles and words of cheer
To those around whose lives are drear;
They may not need you in the far-off year:
Now is the time.

—Unknown

By Margaret Bird Steinmetz, taken from "Leaves of Life"

Is He Really My Lord?

". . . so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus . . ." Acts 20:24

Joy comes from seeing the complete fulfillment of the specific purpose for which I was created and born again, not from successfully doing something of my own choosing. The joy our Lord experienced came from doing what the Father sent Him to do. And He says to us, "As the Father has sent Me, I also send you" (John 20:21 ). Have you received a ministry from the Lord? If so, you must be faithful to it— to consider your life valuable only for the purpose of fulfilling that ministry. Knowing that you have done what Jesus sent you to do, think how satisfying it will be to hear Him say to you, "Well done, good and faithful servant" ( Matthew 25:21 ). We each have to find a niche in life, and spiritually we find it when we receive a ministry from the Lord. To do this we must have close fellowship with Jesus and must know Him as more than our personal Savior. And we must be willing to experience the full impact of Acts 9:16 — "I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake."

"Do you love Me?" Then, "Feed My sheep" ( John 21:17 ). He is not offering us a choice of how we can serve Him; He is asking for absolute loyalty to His commission, a faithfulness to what we discern when we are in the closest possible fellowship with God. If you have received a ministry from the Lord Jesus, you will know that the need is not the same as the call— the need is the opportunity to exercise the call. The call is to be faithful to the ministry you received when you were in true fellowship with Him. This does not imply that there is a whole series of differing ministries marked out for you. It does mean that you must be sensitive to what God has called you to do, and this may sometimes require ignoring demands for service in other areas.

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

Steadfast

"The shadow of a great rock in a weary land." Isaiah 32:2

"In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." Isaiah 30:15

O Shadow in a sultry land!
We gather to Thy breast,
Whose love, enfolding like the night,
Brings quietude and rest,
Glimpse of the fairer life to be,
In foretaste here possessed.

Caroline M. Packard

Strive to see God in all things without exception, and acquiesce in His will with absolute submission. Do everything for God, uniting yourself to HIm by a mere upward glance, or by the overflowing of your heart towards Him. Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inward peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset. Commend all to God, and then lie still and be at rest in HIs bosom. Whatever happens, abide steadfast in a determination to cling simply to God, trusting to His eternal love for you; and if you find that you have wandered forth form this shelter, recall your heart quietly and simply. Maintain a holy simplicity of mind, and do not smother yourself with a host of cares, wishes, or longings, under any pretext. - Francis De Sales

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

Every Man Has Hope

"And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." I John 3:3

Now, Lord, what wait I for?
On Thee alone
My hope is all rested -
Lord, seal me Thine own!
Only Thine own to be,
Only to live to Thee.
Thine, with each day begun,
Thine, with each set of sun,
Thine, till my work is done.

Anna B. Warner

Now, believe me, God hides some ideal in every human soul. At some time in our life we feel a trembling, fearful longing to do some good thing. Life finds its noblest spring of excellence in this hidden impulse to do our best. There is a time when we are not content to be such merchants or doctors or lawyers as we see on the dead level or below it. The woman longs to glorify her womanhood as sister, wife, or mother. Here is God - God standing silently at the door all day long - God whispering to the soul, that to be pure and true is to succeed in life, and whatever we get short of that will burn up like stubble, though the whole world try to save it. - Robert Collyer

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

God's Tender Care

When trouble comes,
as it does to us all
God is so great
and we are so small -
But there is nothing
that we need know
If we have faith
that wherever we go
God will be waiting
to help us bear
Our pain and sorrow,
our suffering and care -
For no pain or suffering
is ever too much
To yield itself
to God's merciful touch!

"The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works." Psalms 145:8, 9

By Helen Steiner Rice taken from "Showers of Blessings"

Burdens

"Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; not yet for your body, what ye shall put on." Matthew 6:25

One there lives whose guardian eye
Guides our earthly destiny;
One there lives who, Lord of all,
Keeps His children least they fall;
Pass we, then, in love and praise,
Trusting Him through all our days
Free from doubt and faithless sorrow -
God provideth for the morrow.

- Reginald Heber

It has been well said that no man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow's burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than a man can bear. Never load yourselves so, my friends. If you find yourselves so loaded, at least remember this; it is your own doing, not God's. He begs you to leave the future to Him, and mind the present. - George MacDonald

Cast thy burdens upon the Lord - hand it over, heave it upon Him - and He shall sustain thee; bear both, if thou trust Him with both, both thee and thy burden; he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. - Robert Leighton

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

Blessing on Littleness

"He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great" (Psalm 115:13).

This is a word of cheer to those who are of humble station and mean estate. Our God has a very gracious consideration for those of small property, small talent, small influence, small weight. God careth for the small things in creation and even regards sparrows in their lighting upon the ground. Nothing is small to God, for He makes use of insignificant agents for the accomplishment of His purposes. Let the least among men seek of God a blessing upon his littleness, and he shall find his contracted sphere to be a happy one.

Among those who fear the LORD there are little and great. Some are babes, and others are giants. But these are all blessed. Little faith is blessed faith. Trembling hope is blessed hope. Every grace of the Holy Spirit, even though it be only in the bud, bears a blessing within it. Moreover, the LORD Jesus bought both the small and the great with the same precious blood, and He has engaged to preserve the lambs as well as the full-grown sheep. No mother overlooks her child because it is little; nay, the smaller it is, the more tenderly does she nurse it. If there be any preference with the LORD, He does not arrange them as "great and small" but as "small and great."

By C. H. Spurgeon, taken from "Faith's Checkbook"

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"