Speak Lord

"Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth." I Samuel 3:9

Though heralded with nought of fear,
Or outward sign or show:
Though only to the inward ear
It whispers soft and low;
Though dropping, as the manna fell,
Unseen, yet from above,
Noiseless as dew-fall, heed it well, —
Thy Father's call of love.

J. G. WHITTIER

This is one result of the attitude into which we are put by humility, by disinterestedness, by purity, by calmness, that we have the opportunity, the disengagement, the silence, in which we may watch what is the will of God concerning us. If we think no more of ourselves than we ought to think, if we seek not our own but others' welfare, if we are prepared to take all things as God's dealings with us, then we may have a chance of catching from time to time what God has to tell us. In the Mussulman devotions, one constant gesture is to put the hands to the ears, as if to listen for the messages from the other world. This is the attitude, the posture which our minds assume, if we have a standing-place above and beyond the stir and confusion and dissipation of this mortal world.

A. P. STANLEY

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

A New Heart

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you." Ezekiel 36:26

"Behold," says Christ, "I will make all things new." What a wonder it is that a man should ever have a new heart! You know if a lobster loses its claw in a fight it can get a new claw, and that is thought to be very marvelous. It would be very wonderful if men should be able to grow new arms and new legs, but who ever heard of a creature that grew a new heart? You may have seen a bough lopped off a tree, and you may have thought that perhaps the tree will sprout again and there will be a new limb, but who ever heard of old trees getting new sap and a new core? but my Lord and Master, the crucified and exalted Savior, has given new hearts and new cores; he has put a vital substance into man afresh and made new creatures of them. I am glad to notice the tear in your eye when you think on the past, but wipe it away now, and look up to the cross and say -

"Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Your blood was shed for me,
And that You bid'st me come to You,
O Lamb, O God, I come."

"Make me a new creature!" If you have said that from your heart, you are a new creature, dear brother, and we will rejoice together in this regenerating Savior.

By Charles Spurgeon, taken from "Strengthen My Spirit"

Dealing with our Mistakes

"Lord, help me control my tongue; help me be careful about what I say. Take away my desire to do evil or to join others in doing wrong." Psalm 141:3-4

When we avoid dealing with our mistakes and pretend they don't exist, they usually express themselves in ways that we would not anticipate: anger at someone else, frustration at something else, lack of control.

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

What Motivates You?

"My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing and make music with all my soul." Psalm 108:1

When I was younger I danced in two regional Ballet companies (regional considered not professional). The first company I joined while I was in Jr High and just old enough to qualify for a company position. That first year I was selected to be in a two year apprenticeship as the directors, Steve and Jan, thought I needed more time before I moved into a full fledged position. In other words, I wasn't quite good enough.

As time went on, Jan left and shortly after the company folded. I ended up at her school and eventually became a principal in her company. By the time I was in High School Steve had a new school. Some time later he had composed music and wanted to choreograph a ballet to it. His school consisted of very young students so he asked if he could use one of our company members. A week before the performance the person he chose backed out and I was asked to fill in. This was my chance to show Steve what I was made of, how much I had improved and what he didn't see while I was under his direction. In 7 days I consumed his ballet like I've never done before.

It was frightening to know that Steve counted on me and I really didn't have adequate enough time to properly learn his ballet. As the music began I allowed myself to surrendered to it completely forgetting that I was in front of an audience. I became the breath of the music. At the end I was on the ground with my face down on the stage so I couldn't see the audience. It was then that I realized that it was silent. No one coughed, rustled the programs, shifted nor clapped. As the curtain closed I thought I had failed and was mortified that I had to give a curtain call. Before the curtain opened I was greeted with loud clapping, bravos and a standing ovation.

Today I ask myself why could I give myself fully to please Steve and hold back when it comes to pleasing Jesus? I wanted to wow Steve so much that I literally gave myself to his ballet. Steve wasn't my savior. In fact, he passed away a few years ago from taking one too many drinks. He was talent and his music was amazing. But in the end, he didn't do anything for me. He didn't sacrifice himself for me. In fact, he overlooked me as not being good enough.

Unlike Steve, Jesus gave up His life so that we may have eternal life. He doesn't overlook anyone and wants us to know Him. If we truly believe in Jesus then we need to start acting like we do. We need to start giving ourselves over to the music of His Heart. We need to fully surrender ourselves to Him in everything we do. Let us be His ballet and show others what He did for them.

Whose music are you surrendering to? Is it the music of nature, self, someone whom you want to please? Or is it Jesus? Dance your heart out to His Music and live your life for Him.

Krista Jones
7.15.07

Beware of Criticizing Others

"Judge not, that you be not judged." Matthew 7:1

Jesus’ instructions with regard to judging others is very simply put; He says, "Don’t." The average Christian is the most piercingly critical individual known. Criticism is one of the ordinary activities of people, but in the spiritual realm nothing is accomplished by it. The effect of criticism is the dividing up of the strengths of the one being criticized. The Holy Spirit is the only one in the proper position to criticize, and He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into fellowship with God when you are in a critical mood. Criticism serves to make you harsh, vindictive, and cruel, and leaves you with the soothing and flattering idea that you are somehow superior to others. Jesus says that as His disciple you should cultivate a temperament that is never critical. This will not happen quickly but must be developed over a span of time. You must constantly beware of anything that causes you to think of yourself as a superior person.

There is no escaping the penetrating search of my life by Jesus. If I see the little speck in your eye, it means that I have a plank of timber in my own (see Matthew 7:3-5 ). Every wrong thing that I see in you, God finds in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself (see Romans 2:17-24 ). Stop having a measuring stick for other people. There is always at least one more fact, which we know nothing about, in every person’s situation. The first thing God does is to give us a thorough spiritual cleaning. After that, there is no possibility of pride remaining in us. I have never met a person I could despair of, or lose all hope for, after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.

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

The Beginning of Healing

"God, examine me and know my heart; test me and know my nervous thoughts." Psalm 139:23

Revealing our feelings is the beginning of healing. Articulating what's on our heart, confessing our mistakes, is the first step in seeing that God can forgive those mistakes and all others.

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

The Art of the Heart

"But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief." Job 16:5

Encouragement is one of God's most joyous art forms. He supplies us with the raw materials and invites us to create, build and shape his hope in lives of those around us.

Some people combine a helping hand with a word of praise and produce a grateful heart. Others, by mixing laughter and love, are able to paint new sparkle in dulling eyes. Belief and support build self-esteem. Persistent prayer composes a song of hope; and tenderness and warm embraces fashion a friend.

However we combine the elements of encouragement, one thing we're sure to crate is joy - for others, for ourselves and for our Lord.

By Susan Lenzkes, taken from "Women's Devotional Bible 2"

Can't Be Fixed?

"At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail." Job 14:7

Can't be fixed: a child's face stares bleakly up at me over the plastic shards of a shattered toy.

Can't be fixed: the giant oak lies among the hurricane's debris, it's roots upended helplessly.

Can't be fixed: the man and the woman stare across the distance between them, shocked into silence by brutal words finally uttered.

Some things in life can be patched up, shored up, repaired or redone. But some wounds are too grievous, some blows too shattering, some rifts too wide to be pulled back together. Some experiences - a divorce, a betrayal, abuse, neglect - leave us permanently wounded, our psyches disfigured. We live, we go on, but we're not really fixed.

Yet I believe there is an alternate plan for things that can't be fixed. It won't work for shattered plastic, but this plan can make an astonishing difference in living, growing things like trees and people. I've seen it in a new shoot growing from a shattered stump, in the faces of a couple whose counseling sessions are finally showing some progress. I've seen it in people who have hit bottom and admitted their own helplessness, only to begin growing again from there.

As far as I can see, God's strategy for broken trees and limbs and lives and souls is not repair but growth; not being patched up but being granted the gift to start over:

Can't be fixed - but can be reborn.
Can't be fixed - but can be made new.

By Anne Christian Buchanan, taken from "Women's Devotional Bible 2"

Live in Hope

"Be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises." Hebrews 6:12

Where now with pain thou treadest, trod
The whitest of the saints of God!
To show thee where their feet were set,
The light which led them shineth yet.

J. G. WHITTIER

LET us learn from this communion of saints to live in hope. Those who are now at rest were once like ourselves. They were once weak, faulty, sinful; they had their burdens and hindrances, their slumbering and weariness, their failures and their falls. But now they have overcome. Their life was once homely and common-place. Their day ran out as ours. Morning and noon and night came and went to them as to us. Their life, too, was as lonely and sad as yours. Little fretful circumstances and frequent disturbing changes wasted away their hours as yours. There is nothing in your life that was not in theirs; there was nothing in theirs but may be also in your own. They have overcome, each one, and one by one; each in his turn, when the day came, and God called him to the trial. And so shall you likewise.

H. E. MANNING

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

What do you want to look like?

"A man was asked to speak to a rather large church congregation. After he strode to the pulpit he said, "There are three points to my sermon." Most people yawned at that point. They'd heard that many times before.

But he went on. "My first point is this. At this time there are approximately 2 billion people starving to death in the world."

The reaction through the congregation was about the same, since they'd heard that sort of statement many times before, too. And then he said, "My second point . . ."

Everybody sat up. Only ten or fifteen seconds had passed, and he was already on his second point?

He paused, then said, "My second point is that most of you don't give a damn!"

He paused again as gasps and rumblings flowed across the congregation, and then said:

"And my third point is that the real tragedy among Christians today is that many of you are now more concerned that I said 'damn' than you are that I said that 2 billion people are starving to death." Then he sat down.

The whole sermon took less than a minute, but it is in many ways one of the most powerful ones ever given. In no uncertain terms, he was reminding those of us stuck in our pews that we are called not to mere piety but to genuine morality. We are called to action, not to fancy words. We are members of the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of niceness." - Story in, "Holy Sweat" by Tim Hansel

What kind of Christian are you? What do you want to look like?

Krista Jones
4.26.07

Accepting Consolation

"None of them that trust in Him shall be desolate." Psalms 34:22

"That ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope." I Thessalonians 4:13

"Are the consolations of God too small for thee?" Job 15:11 (R. V.)

WHAT shall make trouble? Not the holy thought
Of the departed; that will be a part
Of those undying things His peace hath wrought
Into a world of beauty in the heart.

SARAH J. WILLIAMS

SHE spoke of those who had walked with her long ago in her garden, and for whose sake, now that they had all gone into the world of light, every flower was doubly dear. Would it be a true proof of loyalty to them if she lived gloomily or despondently because they were away? She spoke of the duty of being ready to welcome happiness as well as to endure pain, and of the strength that endurance wins by being grateful for small daily joys, like the evening light, and the smell of roses, and the singing of birds. She spoke of the faith that rests on the Unseen Wisdom and Love like a child on its mother's breast, and the melting away of doubts in the warmth of an effort to do some good in the world.

HENRY VAN DYKE

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

Letting down of the Wings

"And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings" (Ezek. 1:25).

That is the letting down of the wings? People so often say, "How do you get the voice of the Lord?" Here is the secret. They heard the voice when they stood and let down their wings.

We have seen a bird with fluttering wings; though standing still, its wings are fluttering. But here we are told they heard the voice when they stood and had let down their wings.

Do we not sometimes kneel or sit before the Lord and yet feel conscious of a fluttering of our spirits? Not a real stillness in His presence.

A dear one told me several days ago of a certain thing she prayed about, "But," said she, "I did not wait until the answer came."

She did not get still enough to hear Him speak, but went away and followed her own thought in the matter. And the result proved disastrous and she had to retrace her steps.

Oh, how much energy is wasted! How much time is lost by not letting down the wings of our spirit and getting very quiet before Him! Oh, the calm, the rest, the peace which come as we wait In His presence until we hear from Him!

Then, ah then, we can go like lightning, and turn not as we go but go straight forward whithersoever the Spirit goes. (Ezek. 1:1, 20)

"Be still! Just now be still!
Something thy soul hath never heard,
Something unknown to any song of bird,
Something unknown to any wind, or wave, or star,
A message from the Fatherland afar,
That with sweet joy the homesick soul shall thrill,
Cometh to thee if thou canst but be still.

"Be still! Just now be still!
There comes a presence very mild and sweet;
White are the sandals of His noiseless feet.
It is the Comforter whom Jesus sent
To teach thee what the words He uttered meant.
The willing, waiting spirit, He doth fill.
If thou would'st hear His message,
Dear soul, be still!"

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

What We Are and What We Can Be

"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature." Galatians 5:16

Remember, we are compared with what we could be, not just what we should be. God being who He is, and Jesus Christ being His risen and all-powerful Son, anything we ought to be we can be. Anything that God has declared that we should be we can be. In the wonderful book of Romans, perhaps the greatest and most profound book in the Bible, 7 tells us of a man who is struggling and wanting to be something that he feels he cannot be. Finally he gives up and says, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (verse 24). Immediately, Paul says, "Thanks be to God! . . . because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death" (25; 8:2). In Galatians 5:22-23 we read, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." That is what we ought to be and what we can be. Now compare that with what we are.


Thought
As we walk step-by-step by means of the Spirit, he produces in us the product of His control--the fruit of the Spirit. If we walk out of His control the acts of the sinful nature result.

By A. W. Tozer "Rut, Rot or Revival" - Chapter # Two Errors in Thinking

External Beauty

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple." Psalm 27:4

Thy beauty, O my Father! All is Thine;
But there is beauty in Thyself, from whence
The beauty Thou hast made doth ever flow
In streams of never-failing affluence.

Thou art the Temple! and though I am lame,--
Lame from my birth, and shall be till I die,--
I enter through the Gate called Beautiful,
And am alone with Thee, O Thou Most High!

J. W. CHADWICK

Consider that all which appears beautiful outwardly, is solely derived from the invisible Spirit which is the source of that external beauty, and say joyfully, "Behold, these are streamlets from the uncreated Fountain; behold, these are drops from the infinite Ocean of all good! Oh! how does my inmost heart rejoice at the thought of that eternal, infinite Beauty, which is the source and origin of all created beauty!"

L. SCUPOLI

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

Intercessing in Prayer

"I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men." I Timothy 2:1

Our prayer for spiritual awakening will without question be most effective if we take up the work of interceding for certain individuals in particular.

We find that most of us who have been converted have had some one praying for us, some one who carried us personally to the throne of God while we were unconverted. It seems to me that no one is so poor as he for whom not a single soul is praying, he who has no one who takes him personally and persistently to god in prayer.

We should enter into this work and become personal and regular interceders for certain definite individuals. Ask the Spirit of prayer to assign to you the individuals for whom you should pray. If every believer would do this, the Spirit would distribute the unconverted in every community among the believing men and women of prayer, and ultimately there would not be a single soul but what some consecrated and faithful believe would be p raying for him.

Then it would not be easy for the unconverted to continue to live in sin! Holy spiritual explosive materials would be planted into their souls daily, and the ground blasted from beneath their unrepentant lives. - O. Hallesby

There is a place where thou canset touch the eyes
Of blinded men to instant, perfect sight;
There is a place where thou canst say "Arise!"
To dying captive, bound in chains of night.
There is a place where thou canst reach the store
Of hoarded gold, and free it for the Lord;
There is a place here, or on a distant shore,
Where thou canst send the worker and the Word.
There is a place where Heaven's resistless power
Responsive moves to thine insistent plea;
There is a place, a slight holy hour,
Where God Himself descends and works for thee.
Where is that secret place? - dost thou ask "where?"
O soul, it is the secret place of prayer!

A. A. Polard

By Charles E. Fuller & J. Elwin Wright, taken from " Manna in the Morning"

Mistakes

"Though your sins are like scarlet, they can be as white as snow. Though your sins are deep red, they can be white like wool." Isaiah 1:18

Sometimes we try to deal with a mistake by covering it up with more mistakes, or by repressing it, nor by justifying it. That's like walking around with a pebble in our shoe - it causes us so much frustration that our whole body compensates for its presence, when all we have to do is take it out and toss it away.

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

The Age of Chivalry

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it." Mark 8:35

"Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21

Though Love repine, and Reason chafe,
There came a voice without reply,--
'Tis man's perdition to be safe,
When for the truth he ought to die.

R. W. EMERSON

Some say that the age of chivalry is past. The age of chivalry is never past, so long as there is a wrong left unredressed on earth, or a man or woman left to say, "I will redress that wrong, or spend my life in the attempt." The age of chivalry is never past, so long as we have faith enough to say, "God will help me to redress that wrong; or, if not me, He will help those that come after me, for His eternal Will is to overcome evil with good."

C. KINGSLEY

Thus man is made equal to every event. He can face danger for the right. A poor, tender, painful body, he can run into flame or bullets or pestilence, with duty for his guide.

R. W. EMERSON

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

Commune with your own Heart

"Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still." Psalm 4:4

We cannot "encourage ourselves in the Lord our God" unless we are in fellowship with Him. Hope springs from oneness with God. Faith springs from oneness with God.

If you are having trouble "whipping up faith," perhaps a moment of self-examination will be valuable. Can you "commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still?" In that moment between you and your pillow, is there any shadow of disobedience which robs you of sleep?

Can you face what you see in your own heart, knowing God sees it too? Can you face it and sleep? "Hope springs eternal" from the heart that is one with God. But if there is one single point on which we are not obeying His slightest whisper, we cannot "commune with our own hearts . . . and be still."

Most particularly we will not "be still." We cannot.

If something is blocking our oneness with Christ, we are noisy with excuses and alibis and explanations and dodges. And sometimes we are noisy with service! If something is there between you and Christ, you know it. So does He. And "if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things." We do not need to go on with troubled hearts. With guilty consciences. God is great than your guilty conscience and actually it is an insult to God to keep a guilty conscience. He poured out His own blood on Calvary to free you from sin and the guilt that follows it. Give it to Him. He is "greater than our heart" Norman Grubb suggests keeping "short accounts with God."

If we do, hope will be a part of our daily peace. If there is "nothing between" we are confident of all things in God.

. . . . . Commune with your own heart . . . and be still. . . . . If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.

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

A Deeper Desire for Christ

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God." Psalm 42:1

Now man is new in relationship. He was an heir to wrath; he is now a child of God. He was a bondslave; he is now a freeman. He rejoices in Christ Jesus and feats to the full. He was the citizen of the earth once; he is now a citizen of heaven. He once found his all beneath the clouds, but now his all is beyond the stars. He has new relationships. Christ is his brother, God is his father, the angels are his friends, and the despised people of God are his best and nearest kinsfolk. And hence the man has new aspirations. He now pants to glorify God. What did he care about the glory of God once? he now pants to see God; once he would have paid the fate - if it had cost his life - that he might escape from the presence of the Lord. Now he hungers and thirsts after the living God; if his soul had wings and he could break the fetters of this mortality, he would mount at once to dwell where Jesus is. Dear friends, are you new men? If you are, you understand what it is; if you are not, I know I cannot explain it to you. To be born again is a great mystery; blessed is the soul that comprehends it! But he who does not know it will never learn it by the lip; he can only know it by the Spirit of God causing him also to be made a new creature in Christ Jesus.

By Charles Spurgeon, taken from "Daily Devotional Insights"

This Is Your Time

It was a test we could all hope to pass
But none of us would want to take.
Faced with the choice to deny God to live,
For her, there was one choice to make.

This was her time. This was her dance.
She lived every moment; left nothing to chance.
She swam in the sea; drank of the deep;
Embraced the mystery of all she could be.

This was her time...

Though you are mourning and grieving with us,
Death died a long time ago;
Swallowed in life so that life carries on.
Still it's so hard to let go.

This was her time. This was her dance.
She lived every moment; left nothing to chance.
She swam in the sea; drank of the deep;
Embraced the mystery of all she could be.

What if tomorrow, and what if today,
Faced with the question,
Oh what would you say?

This is your time. This is your dance.
Live every moment. Leave nothing to chance.
Swim in the sea. Drink of the deep.
Follow the mercy and hear yourself praying.

Won't you save me?
Won't you save me?

This is your time. This is your dance.
Live every moment. Leave nothing to chance.
Swim in the sea. Drink of the deep.
Embrace the mystery of all you can be.

This is your time. This is your dance.
Live every moment. Leave nothing to chance.
Swim in the sea. Drink of the deep.
Embrace the mystery of all you can be.

This is your time...
(Won't you save me?)
(This is your time)
(Won't you save me?)

By Michael W. Smith

I like this song because it reminds me to live every day for Jesus. "Live every moment. Leave nothing to chance." What about you? Are you living every moment for Jesus? Don't let any moment big or small slip away. Listen to the Lord's leading and act upon what He is asking you to do. Leave nothing to chance.

Krista Jones
6.17.06

Listen

"Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?" Job 12:12

We live in a culture that reveres its youth and ignores its elders. Nearly every other culture does the opposite and is the richer for it. We are the poorer for having put our grandparents in retirement villages, far away from grandchildren who don't know the wisdom they are missing by not having Grandpa and Grandma around.

The things we can learn from our elders are limitless. They were born in a time that was very different from our own, and their perspective on life can be of great value as we struggle wit our daily lives in this fast-paced, unsettling era. Imagine for a moment: A person born at the end of the last century would have lived through the First World War, the Great Depression, yet another world war, and the suburbanization of America. A telephone would have been a rare thing in the home of their childhood; now their grandchildren can have phones in their cars, their purses and their pockets.

Life has changed at a speed never seen before in human history. More than ever, we need the sagacity of those who lived in a slower time.

Are the elders all gone from your life? Look around - people who have lived rich, full lives are sitting near you in a pew, at the train station, in a nursing home. Ask them questions. Listen, really listen, to their answers. Let them teach you with their stories.

By Bernie Sheahan, taken from "Women's Devotional Bible 2"

Salvation is . . . .

"All things are worth nothing compared with the greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him, I have lost all these things, and now I know they are worthless trash." Philippians 3:8

Salvation is the process that's done, that's secure, that no one can take away from you. Sanctification is the lifelong process of being changed from one degree of glory to the next, growing in Christ, putting away the old, taking on the new.

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

Look for the Proof

http://www.ignitermedia.com/products/iv/singles/572/Proof

Being Content

"Be content with such things as ye have." Hebrews 13:5

"I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content." Philippians 4:11

No longer forward nor behind
I look in hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here.

J. G. WHITTIER

If we wished to gain contentment, we might try such rules as these:

1. Allow thyself to complain of nothing, not even of the weather.

2. Never picture thyself to thyself under any circumstances in which thou art not.

3. Never compare thine own lot with that of another.

4. Never allow thyself to dwell on the wish that this or that had been, or were, otherwise than it was, or is. God Almighty loves thee better and more wisely than thou dost thyself.

5. Never dwell on the morrow. Remember that it is God's, not thine. The heaviest part of sorrow often is to look forward to it. "The Lord will provide."

- E. B. PUSEY

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

What Seeds Are in You?

"Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." Hebrews 12:11

I cannot say,
Beneath the pressure of life's cares to-day,
I joy in these;
But I can say
That I had rather walk this rugged way,
If Him it please.

S. G. BROWNING

The particular annoyance which befell you this morning; the vexatious words which met your ear and "grieved" your spirit; the disappointment which was His appointment for today; the slight but hindering ailment; the presence of some one who is "a grief of mind" to you,--whatever this day seemeth not joyous, but grievous, is linked in "the good pleasure of His goodness" with a corresponding afterward of "peaceable fruit," the very seed from which, if you only do not choke it, this shall spring and ripen. - F. R. HAVERGAL.

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

God's Will

"O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt." Matthew 26:39

O Lord my God, do Thou Thy holy will,--
I will lie still.
I will not stir, lest I forsake Thine arm,
And break the charm
Which lulls me, clinging to my Father's breast,
In perfect rest.

J. KEBLE

Resignation to the will of God is the whole of piety; it includes in it all that is good; and is a source of the most settled quiet and composure of mind. Our resignation to the will of God may be said to be perfect, when our will is lost and resolved up into His; when we rest in His will as our end, as being itself most just, and right, and good. And where is the impossibility of such an affection to what is just and right and good, such a loyalty of heart to the Governor of the universe, as shall prevail over all sinister indirect desires of our own? - JOSEPH BUTLER

There are no disappointments to those whose wills are buried in the will of God. - F. W. FABER

Lord, Thy will be done in father, mother, child, in everything and everywhere; without a reserve, without a BUT, an IF, or a limit. - ST. FRANCIS DE SALES

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

Remember

"The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." Psalm 126:3

Those who go the way of the cross with Jesus are drawn into one of the great secrets of the heart of God: the pearl of great price, the hidden treasure, is found at the bottom of the cup of suffering. In suffering, the true and deepest love will be put to the test, for it will receive the key to God's own heart and love.

By Basilea Schlink, taken from "Women's Devotional Bible 2"

The more we are . . . .

"Christ gave each one of us the special gift of grace, showing how generous he is." Ephesians 4:7

The more we are loved by God, the more we are going to love. The more we are forgiven, the more we're willing to forgive. The more we're treated with patience, the more we are willing to treat others with patience. These area ll extensions of that gift of grace.

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

Our Wills Must Surrender

"His servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness." Romans 6:16

The Christian doctrine of obedience to God and to His will is now largely neglected in modern religious circles, and many in our own congregations seem to feel that our obligation to obey has been discharged by the act of believing on Jesus Christ at the beginning of our Christian lives. We need to remember that "the will is the seat of true religion in the soul." Nothing genuine has been done in a man or woman's life until his or her will has been surrendered in active obedience. It was disobedience that brought about the ruin of the race. It is the obedience of faith that brings us back again into the divine favor! It needs to be said that a world of confusion results from trying to believe without obeying! A mere passive surrender may be no surrender at all. Any real submission to the will of God must include willingness to take orders from Him from that time on. I keep wondering whether the Lord's ministers will again give to obedience the place of prominence it occupies in the Scriptures.

Thought: It was disobedience that brought about the ruin of the race. It is the obedience of faith that brings us back again into the divine favor!

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

The Battle

"Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said," Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem@ Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful." 2 Chronicles 20:20

Lord, I'm losing ground.
The enemy hunts me. Haunts me.
I feel like I'm wielding a squirt gun against a
circle of slashing knives. How weary I am . . .
I FELT IT
The touch of your hand.
Hold mine tighter.
Help me feel your strength.
Fortify my weak armaments.
Lord, I'm gaining ground.

By Catherine DeVries, taken from "Women's Devotional Bible 2"

The Explanation For Our Difficulties

". . . that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us . . ." John 17:21

If you are going through a time of isolation, seemingly all alone, read John 17 . It will explain exactly why you are where you are— because Jesus has prayed that you "may be one" with the Father as He is. Are you helping God to answer that prayer, or do you have some other goal for your life? Since you became a disciple, you cannot be as independent as you used to be.

God reveals in John 17 that His purpose is not just to answer our prayers, but that through prayer we might come to discern His mind. Yet there is one prayer which God must answer, and that is the prayer of Jesus— ". . . that they may be one just as We are one . . ." (John 17:22 ). Are we as close to Jesus Christ as that?

God is not concerned about our plans; He doesn’t ask, "Do you want to go through this loss of a loved one, this difficulty, or this defeat?" No, He allows these things for His own purpose. The things we are going through are either making us sweeter, better, and nobler men and women, or they are making us more critical and fault-finding, and more insistent on our own way. The things that happen either make us evil, or they make us more saintly, depending entirely on our relationship with God and its level of intimacy. If we will pray, regarding our own lives, "Your will be done" ( Matthew 26:42 ), then we will be encouraged and comforted by John 17, knowing that our Father is working according to His own wisdom, accomplishing what is best. When we understand God’s purpose, we will not become small-minded and cynical. Jesus prayed nothing less for us than absolute oneness with Himself, just as He was one with the Father. Some of us are far from this oneness; yet God will not leave us alone until we are one with Him— because Jesus prayed, ". . . that they all may be one . . . ."

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

Lighting Fire

"Your rules are wonderful. That is why I keep them. Learning your words gives wisdom and understanding for the foolish." Psalm 119:129-130

When you light somebody afire with the grace of God, you have a hard time putting him out. When you light people with legalism or with rules and regulations, they're going to burn out because they'll always live in fear. But a person set afire with the love of jesus Christ will live in gratitude - serving his Lord out of love and not out of fear.

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

Missing Music

"He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord." Psalm 40:3

It was a difficult sheet of music.
Laboriously she struggled -
Measure by measure.
Note by note.
Finally with ten-year-old exasperation
She pressed her fits into her cheeks:
"I know I'm playing the right notes
But I just don't hear the music."

Oh God, what a vivid portrait
Of our harassed and hectic lives;
We live in the right houses
Give to the right charities
And read the right books.
We sit in the right church pews
Speak to the right people
And smile the right smiles.
We buy the right clothes
And drive the right cars
And join the right clubs.
Yet, far too often
There's a mysterious emptiness -
A futility in the midst of activity.

The music is missing.
O God
You alone can create new songs
In the depths of our jangled hearts.
Take over.

Ruth Harms Calkin

Almost Home

"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in heaven." 2 Corinthians 5:1

Heaven is indeed the only home of our souls, and we shall never feel that we have come to our rest until we have reached its mansions. One reason why we shall be able to rest in heaven is because we shall there be able perpetually to achieve the object of our creation. Am I nearer heaven? Then I will be doing more of the work that I shall do in heaven. I shall soon use the harp: Let me be carefully tuning it; let me rehearse the hymns which I shall sing before the throne, for if the words in heaven shall be sweeter and more rich than any that poets can put together here, yet the essential song of heaven shall be the same as that which we present to Jehovah here below.

My aged brethren, I congratulate you, for you are almost home; be yet more full of praise than ever. Quicken your footsteps as the glory land shines more brightly. You are close to the gate of pearl; sing on, dear brother, though infirmities increase, and let the song grow sweeter and louder until it melts into the infinite harmonies.

By Charles Spurgeon, taken from "Strengthen My Spirit"

Grace

"Because he was full of grace and truth, from him we all received one gift after another." John 1:16

Grace is a pleasant surprise.
Grace is a kind gesture.
Grace is something you did not expect.
It is something you certainly could never earn.
But grace is something you'd never turn down.

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

He Keps His Promises

"And now, Lord God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house. Do as you promised." 2 Samuel 7:25

God has given us untold promises and each is a promise he has promised to keep. How clearly and wonderfully he assures us, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness" (Jeremiah 31:3). He has given us promises for guidance and instruction. He has given rest for the weary, compassion, tenderness and above all, the blessing of communion with him. Each is wrapped up in the Bible and may be found through simply opening and reading the Book.

David went into the presence of the Lord for a special time with him. He came in humility and lowliness. He thanked God for the promise he had kept and recounted the things which God had done for him and revealed to him. He poured out his heart: "How great you are, O sovereign Lord. There is no one like you, and there is no god but you, as we have heard with our own ears" (vs. 22). He gave dave the glory for everything, then continued, "Do as you promised" (vs. 25).

God always does what he says. His promises are never broken. This is one of life's few certainties. Our promises to him are sometimes broken, but not his to us. They are immutable.

God will not be poorer for giving you the riches he has promised. He is ready and willing to give, and give, and give again!

By Sarah Jepson Coleman, taken from "Women's Devotional Bible 2"

Leave It To God

"Roll on Jehovah thy way" (Ps. 37:6, margin).

Whatever it is that presses thee, go tell the Father; put the whole matter over into His hand, and so shalt thou be freed from that dividing, perplexing care that the world is full of. When thou art either to do or suffer anything, when thou art about any purpose or business, go tell God of it, and acquaint Him with it; yes, burden Him with it, and thou hast done for matter of caring; no more care, but quiet, sweet, diligence in thy duty, and dependence on Him for the carriage of thy matters. Roll thy cares, and thyself with them, as one burden, all on thy God. - R. Leighton

Build a little fence of trust
Around today;
Fill the space with loving work
And therein stay.
Look not through the sheltering bars
Upon tomorrow;
God will help thee bear what comes
Of joy or sorrow.

Mary Butts

We shall find it impossible to commit our way unto the Lord, unless it be a way that He approves. It is only by faith that a man can commit his way unto the Lord; if there be the slightest doubt in the heart that "our way" is not a good one, faith will refuse to have anything to do with it. This committing of our way must be a continuous, not a single act. However extraordinary and unexpected may seem to be His guidance, however near the precipice He may take you, you are not to snatch the guiding reins out of His hands. Are we willing to have all our ways submitted to God, for Him to pronounce judgment on them? There is nothing a Christian needs to be more scrutinizing about than about his confirmed habits and views. He is too apt to take for granted the Divine approbation of them. Why are some Christians so anxious, so fearful? Evidently because they have not left their way with the Lord. They took it to Him, but brought it away with them again. - Selected

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

Rekindle

Our lives can sometimes feel as if nothing is happening. We wake, get dressed, go to work and take care of responsibilities. We fix meals, pick up dry cleaning and pay bills. Life is so daily. Trying to measure the depth of my relationship with God or the growth in my life is like trying to watch the snow melt - an unfulfilled exercise in futility.

Monitoring our spiritual or personal growth isn't up to us. This process, this daily living our faith, is a gradual (and as wonderful) as spring emerging. And like spring, the results aren't up to us. Our job is to be willing to let God be God, and to trust him with the results.

By Debra Klingsporn, taken from "Women's Devotional Bible 2"

Facing Forever What We Have Lost

"Don't call me Naomi," she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter." Ruth 1:20

Widows. Suddenly we have joined a select community, one we had never thought to enter. We are sisters of sorrow, daughters of the void. Suddenly our identity is linked to what we have lost: husband, marriage, father of our children, friend, provider. After years of bounty, suddenly we are the empty ones. How can this be? Why is the steady current of a life that was years in the making so utterly destroyed? Why is tomorrow so hostile and insecure? We absorb the meaning of forever slowly as days pass like beads on a ring, until we have trotted up so many that we begin to understand - he is not coming back.

Tomorrow the sun rises, and tomorrow and tomorrow. Day by day, we go on. We laugh again; we may even love again. But it is a different life, a new love. The first is not "recovered from," not "gotten over." When our sons and daughters marry, when a certain musical refrain wafts into consciousness, when our grandchildren's eyes have just that shade of blue, we will remember. And the old scar will pinch.

Some of us become adults within this relationship. Its soft tension bent on our attitudes and framed our values . . . We did not know the weight of love until its release.

By Kate Convissor, taken from "Women's Devotional Bible 2"

Loving Others

"Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do." I THESS. 5:11

"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." MATT. 19:19

So others shall
Take patience, labor, to their heart and hand,
From thy hand, and thy heart, and thy brave cheer,
And God's grace fructify through thee to all.
The least flower with a brimming cup may stand,
And share its dewdrop with another near.

E. B. BROWNING

What is meant by our neighbor we cannot doubt; it is every one with whom we
are brought into contact. First of all, he is literally our neighbor who
is next to us in our own family and household; husband to wife, wife to
husband, parent to child, brother to sister, master to servant, servant to
master. Then it is he who is close to us in our own neighborhood, in our
own town, in our own parish, in our own street. With these all true charity
begins. To love and be kind to these is the very beginning of all true
religion. But, besides these, as our Lord teaches, it is every one who
is thrown across our path by the changes and chances of life; he or she,
whosoever it be, whom we have any means of helping,--the unfortunate
stranger whom we may meet in travelling, the deserted friend whom no one
else cares to look after.

A. P. STANLEY

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

Under the Shadow of the Almighty

"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Psalm 91:1

They who on the Lord rely,
Safely dwell though danger's nigh;
Lo! His sheltering wings are spread
O'er each faithful servant's head.
When they wake, or when they sleep,
Angel guards their vigils keep;
Death and danger may be near,
Faith and love have nought to fear.

Harriet Auber

"There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling," is a promise to the fullest extent verified in the case of all "who dwell in the secret place of the Most High." To them sorrows are not "evils," sicknesses are not "plagues;" the shadow of the Almighty extending far around those who abide under it, alters the character of all things which come within its influence. - Anonymous

It is faith's work to claim and challenge loving-kindness out of all the roughest strokes of God. - Samuel Rutherford

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

How To Wait

"Blessed is he that waiteth" (Dan. 12:12).

It may seem an easy thing to wait, but it is one of the postures which a Christian soldier learns not without years of teaching. Marching and quick-marching are much easier to God's warriors than standing still.

There are hours of perplexity when the most willing spirit, anxiously desirous to serve the Lord, knows not what part to take. Then what shall it do? Vex itself by despair? Fly back in cowardice, turn to the right hand in fear, or rush forward in presumption?

No, but simply wait. Wait in prayer, however. Call upon God and spread the case before Him; tell Him your difficulty, and plead His promise of aid.

Wait in faith. Express your unstaggering confidence in Him. Believe that if He keep you tarrying even till midnight, yet He will come at the right time; the vision shall come, and shall not tarry.

Wait in quiet patience. Never murmur against the second cause, as the children of Israel did against Moses. Accept the case as it is, and put it as it stands, simply and with your whole heart, without any self-will, into the hand of your covenant God, saying, "Now, Lord, not my will, but Thine be done. I know not what to do; I am brought to extremities; but I will wait until Thou shalt cleave the floods, or drive back my foes. I will wait, if Thou keep me many a day, for my heart is fixed upon Thee alone, O God, and my spirit waiteth for Thee in full conviction that Thou wilt yet be my joy and my salvation, my refuge and my strong tower." - Morning by Morning

Wait patiently wait,
God never is late;
Thy budding plans are in Thy Father's holding,
And only wait His grand divine unfolding.
Then wait, wait,
Patiently wait.
Trust, hopefully trust,
That God will adjust
Thy tangled life; and from its dark concealings,

Will bring His will, in all its bright revealings.
Then trust, trust,
Hopefully trust.
Rest, peacefully rest
On thy Saviour's breast;
Breathe in His ear thy sacred high ambition,
And He will bring it forth in blest fruition.
Then rest, rest,
Peacefully rest!

Mercy A. Gladwin

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

God is Love

"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." I JOHN 3:14

"He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love". I JOHN 4:8

Mutual love the token be,
Lord, that we belong to Thee;
Love, Thine image, love impart;
Stamp it on our face and heart;
Only love to us be given;
Lord, we ask no other heaven.

CHARLES WESLEY

Oh, how many times we can most of us remember when we would gladly have
made any compromise with our consciences, would gladly have made the most
costly sacrifices to God, if He would only have excused us from this duty
of loving, of which our nature seemed utterly incapable. It is far easier
to feel kindly, to act kindly, toward those with whom we are seldom brought
into contact, whose tempers and prejudices do not rub against ours, whose
interests do not clash with ours, than to keep up an habitual, steady,
self-sacrificing love towards those whose weaknesses and faults are always
forcing themselves upon us, and are stirring up our own. A man may pass
good muster as a philanthropist who makes but a poor master to his
servants, or father to his children.

F. D. MAURICE

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

Accepting God's Peace

The above words may be familiar because this blessing is still pronounced in many churches today. But do you grasp its full magnitude? Do you realize who is speaking? It is the Lord, the Creator. His very name and character guarantee that he can give the promised peace. He graciously wants to bestow this on us.

but everything has its price. Peace is no exception. It cannot be bought with money, yet a high prices was paid for it. It cost Someone his life! The Son of God died on a cross in order that there would be peace between God and people He died to reconcile people one with another and with themselves.

So peace is a gift. It is given to those who want to accept it and who meet its conditions. Peace can never be separated from a personal relationship with God. It branches out to all aspects of our lives.

The offer of peace can be trusted. God is its guarantee. Wether we personally enjoy this peace is entirely in our own hands. God extends the offer. The acceptance depends on us.

By Gien Karssen, taken from "Women's Devotional Bible 2"

You Are Precious

As a teacher teaches best by sparking curiosity, so a friend encourages best by kindling self-worth.

Recently a dear friend was talking with me about her struggle to realize her own worth.

"The other day," she said, "I was so frustrated with my slow progress, wondering if I would ever rally learn to be kind to myself. Then I thought of you and another friend who have affirmed me for so many years, believing in me even when I didn't honor my own opinions and feelings, and making me feel special when I didn't place much value on myself. And I suddenly understood something that's helping me be more patient with myself.

"I realized that you've loved me a lot longer then I've loved myself, so you're better at it! I know where that kind of love comes from. And I know that in time, I'll get better at it too."

WHat a privilege God has given us to love one another! When the apostle Paul instructed us to observe whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8), he handed us a delightful set of tools to carve self-wroth into the lives of others. And we see and affirm these positive qualities in our friends, our friends begin to see the source of all that is true and excellent and praiseworthy. And soon they begin praising their lovely Creator by becoming all he meant for them to be.

By Susan Lenzkes, taken from "Women's Devotional Bible 2"

'Love One Another'

". . . add to your . . . brotherly kindness love." 2 Peter 1:5, 7

Love is an indefinite thing to most of us; we don’t know what we mean when we talk about love. Love is the loftiest preference of one person for another, and spiritually Jesus demands that this sovereign preference be for Himself (see Luke 14:26 ). Initially, when "the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit" ( Romans 5:5 ), it is easy to put Jesus first. But then we must practice the things mentioned in 2 Peter 1 to see them worked out in our lives.

The first thing God does is forcibly remove any insincerity, pride, and vanity from my life. And the Holy Spirit reveals to me that God loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now He commands me to show the same love to others by saying, ". . . love one another as I have loved you" ( John 15:12 ). He is saying, "I will bring a number of people around you whom you cannot respect, but you must exhibit My love to them, just as I have exhibited it to you." This kind of love is not a patronizing love for the unlovable— it is His love, and it will not be evidenced in us overnight. Some of us may have tried to force it, but we were soon tired and frustrated.

"The Lord . . . is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish . . ." ( 2 Peter 3:9 ). I should look within and remember how wonderfully He has dealt with me. The knowledge that God has loved me beyond all limits will compel me to go into the world to love others in the same way. I may get irritated because I have to live with an unusually difficult person. But just think how disagreeable I have been with God! Am I prepared to be identified so closely with the Lord Jesus that His life and His sweetness will be continually poured out through Me? Neither natural love nor God’s divine love will remain and grow in me unless it is nurtured. Love is spontaneous, but it has to be maintained through discipline.

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

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