Dr. Edward Simpson, a well-known Christian educator, suddenly
stopped in the delivery of his speech and began to look, with fixed gaze, on his
watch. After what seemed a long time he said, That was thirty seconds - but there
are over thirty million seconds in a year, loaded with opportunities to work
for God.
Let us plan to do a better job with those thirty million seconds
next year than we did this year. Use each second to please God, and by so
doing, we shall benefit others. Remember the words of the Apostle Paul in
Ephesians 5:16, Redeeming the
time, because the days are evil.
(KJV). Or, as another translation puts it,
making the very most of time, buying up each opportunity.
(DG)
Sometimes the mistakes made by little children in Christmas plays carry
important lessons. A small boy was heard to recite a piece concerning the
three Wise Men. In doing so, he referred to their gifts as gold, frankincense
and ME.
Of all the gifts we can give to Christ, He wants us
most of all.
Note the appeal of Romans 12:1.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that
ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is
your reasonable service.
(KJV). (DG)
In Pilate’s treatment of Jesus he revealed himself as a moral coward.
Pilate sought to shift to other shoulders the responsibility for his own actions.
In Matthew 27:24 we are told that he sought to
wash his hands of the whole matter. In modern parlance he tried to pass
the buck
or, as psychologists would put it, he sought to rationalise
his sin - to find justifiable and plausible excuse for it. This tendency is present
in all of us. The victorious life in Christ calls for complete honesty with God
and with oneself! (DG)
The superintendent of a mission school read the text,
Matthew 11:29,30
29 Take
my yoke upon you, and learn of me; ...
30 For my yoke is easy,
...
(KJV). She asked the children, Who can tell me what a yoke is?
One little
girl said, It is something they put on the necks of animals.
The teacher
further questioned, Can you tell me what is the meaning of God’s yoke?
The
children were thoughtfully silent for a time. Then, a four year old slowly
put up her hand and said, It is God putting His arms round our necks.
To
be yoked to Christ by love is the secret of power for accomplishing the difficult
things. (DG)
If you were to claim a Bible promise every single day for more than 20
years you would still not exhaust the fund of God’s promises to man.
Everk R. Storms has said, in the Gospel
Banner, that there are 7,487 promises given by God to man. These promises
are ours for the asking. They are waiting for us to test and prove them. The
testimony is given concerning God’s wonderful promises in
1 Kings 8:56, ... there hath
not failed one word of all his good promise, ...
(KJV). It has been aptly
put that we sing Standing on the promises
, but most of us are sitting
on them. Claim and prove a promise of God today. (DG)
One day Martin Luther was greatly discouraged. He stood and
fed a little robin at the window sill. After the meal was over the bird flew
up into a tree nearby and there sang a beautiful song of thanksgiving. Then tucking
its head under its wing it went to sleep. Luther was greatly encouraged by
the incident. A God who would care for a bird would care for him. If that
bird could sing his Master’s praises why should he not do the same? Let us
be thankful to God this day for all His goodness to us. Follow the psalmist’s
example in Psalm 34:1, I will
bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
(KJV).
Such praise and thankfulness will insure our presence in God’s house so that
we can unite with others in praising Him, unless through sickness or infirmity
this is impossible. (DG)
As Elva Johnson Hoover has said: - God’s questions, when
honestly answered, may bring some interesting and revealing answers. He asks
simple questions such as, Where are you?
and Who are you?
and What
is that in thine hand?
Even by discovering and admitting what skills are in our
hands we tell something of our character. God observed and caused to be written that
... and David played with his hand, ... and there was a javelin
in Saul’s hand.
1 Samuel 18:10 (KJV). The
harp and the javelin were actually symbols of each man’s nature. One had in
his hands the skill to bless and soothe and heal; the other power to mar and hurt
and kill. What is that in thine hand?
(DG)
We all know what it is to have a touchy spot - a cut, a bruise, or a boil. With animals it can be positively dangerous if you happen to put your hand on a touchy spot. When a person is habitually touchy it is safe to conclude there is an inflamed spot somewhere in the consciousness. Are you touchy? Are you constantly getting your feelings hurt by little jokes, thoughtless remarks, indiscreet questions? If you are unreasonably sensitive you ought to find out why! Why not pray the prayer of the psalmist in Psalm 139:23-24? The Amplified Version reads,
23 Search me thoroughly O God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.
24 And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
(DG)
The two disciples on the Emmaus road, according to Luke
24:29, constrained the Lord saying abide with us.
(KJV). Had they not constrained Jesus He would have passed on and they would have
missed the blessed enjoyment of His company and the disclosure of Himself. Christ
loves to be constrained. He does not go where He is not really and earnestly desired.
Where His presence is eagerly sought, there He abides. Only love in us can receive
and enjoy Christ’s love. Life’s experiences will be transfigured if we
make it our daily request to Christ, Abide with us
.
(DG)
When Christ was arrested, Matthew tells us in Matthew
26:56 that, ... all the disciples forsook him, and fled.
(KJV). But Peter soon recovered from his fright and as the mob led Jesus to the
house of the high priest he followed afar off
. Peter’s heart was
divided. He loved Christ enough to follow Him, but self-consideration and pride kept
him from following too closely and this led to Peter’s denial of his Lord.
Distant discipleship invites many dangers. The easiest, safest and happiest way
is to follow Christ closely. Stay close to Christ. (DG)
We always appreciate the thoughtfulness of others. Do remember today how
thoughtful Jesus is about you! Jesus thought of you and died for you with
as direct an aim for your salvation as though there had not been another soul
to be redeemed by His blood. And now, though He reigns exalted high, and
you are poor and needy
, yet He thinks upon you still.
Hebrews 7:25 says, ... he
ever liveth to make intercession for ...
(KJV). He plans to have with Him
all things in heaven and earth that are His through faith. If you are His you
can be greatly comforted in the fact that the Son of God is constantly thinking
about you. (DG)
When two friends suffer a break in their friendship they need to be reconciled.
Reconciliation is to bring back the lost harmony and love and restore friendship.
Definite steps must be taken to move the enmity. Since the days of creation
man has erected barriers of sin between himself and God. Jesus came to remove
the barriers to reconcile men to God and to one another. To accomplish His
mission He suffered on the cross. That work of reconciling love is put forcibly
in Ephesians 2:16. The New English Bible puts it
this way, This was His purpose, to reconcile the two in a
single body to God through the cross, on which He killed the enmity.
(DG)
Jesus sent His disciples to take the colt on which He was to ride into
Jerusalem. They were to take it by divine authority. They were, according
to Mark 11:3, to say to its owner,
... the Lord hath need of him ...
(KJV). The Lord has
a right to anything we have. All should be at Christ’s disposal for His
use. Time - talents - hands - feet - lips - influence. What joy can be ours
today in showing that He is Lord of our lives by putting His need of us first
before all other demands. If you were thinking of putting off going to that
service, or doing that good deed, remember - the Lord hath need of you!
(DG)
Hopelessness is a sin to those who know God. It is a state of unbelief.
Hopelessness is failure to believe that with God, all
things are possible.
To be hopeless means that we are away from the God
of hope. This paralyses our efforts and prayers. Of course it is easy to hope
when things are bright. But true, godly hope is there in spite of the
circumstance, because it is born of faith in the unchangeable and faithful God.
In times of perplexity and trial may you be able to say with Paul in
2 Corinthians 4:8, ...
we are perplexed, but not in despair;
(KJV). With Christ in your life
as a living reality you will never be without hope.
(DG)
It would be of little use to receive a letter if one could not read it
because it was illegible. Paul speaks of christians as being the letter of
Christ, therefore every Christian should be a clear expression of God’s
message to the world. Christ should be seen in our daily living. Some professing
christians are about as difficult to make out as the autograph of some writers.
The letters are so badly formed that it is next to impossible to get the
right message out of them. Peter and John, as letters of Christ, were large
and legible. Acts 4:13 says:
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and
perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they
took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
(KJV).
(DG)
A little girl and her brother were carrying a basket of cakes to grandmother.
Looking in the basket they saw the tempting cakes. Their mouths fairly watered
to taste them. While they were gazing at the cakes and just ready to take
one, the little girl looked up in her brother’s face and asked, Can God
count?
This settled the matter and grandmother received all the cakes.
Psalm 44:21 reveals the All-knowledge of God,
stating, ... he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
(KJV).
By keeping this truth before us we will be kept from wrong decisions and wrong ways.
Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 failed to remember
this, and sought to deceive God. They reaped the terrible consequences. Let us
remember God is not deceived, and seek to live as children of light.
(DG)
A group of artists were discussing the methods they used to recover their
strength quickly after painting for a great length of time. After hearing
many of the artists tell their different methods one of them said, When I
am tired after many hours of hard work I go to Christ in prayer. He is always
ready to help me and give me rest. The remedy has never failed me yet.
In
Matthew 11:28, the Lord said,
Come unto me, all ye that
labour ... and I will give you rest.
(KJV). If we are tired physically Christ can meet our physical needs. If we are
tired mentally Christ can also provide mental stability. And if we become weary
while working for Him, He is ready and willing to sustain us and give us new
spiritual strength. (DG)
Patience is a costly thing. Surprisingly we learn that patience comes through
tribulation, Romans 5:3 ...
we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
(KJV). Paul knew what tribulation could bring forth, and therefore gloried in
it. God is anxious to produce the very best in us. If you are having tribulation
today do not ask, What have I done?
But ask, What is God doing in me?
Then you can include yourself in the statement we glory in tribulations
,
knowing that they help to accomplish God’s purpose of producing His
Son’s patience in you. (DG)
Over the triple doorway of the Cathedral of Milan there are three inscriptions
spanning the splendid arches. Over one is carved a beautiful wreath of roses
and underneath is the legend; All that pleases is but for a moment.
Over
the other is sculptured a cross and these are the words beneath, All trouble
is but for a moment.
But underneath the great central entrance in the main
aisle is the inscription: That only is important which is eternal.
How true
it is that people will spend much labour and time on things which are only
for a moment and which please for a short time and neglect the things of
eternity. Colossians 3:2 advises christians,
Set your minds on higher things, not on the things that are on
earth.
(Amplified Version). (DG)
Every promise of scripture is a writing of God and can be trusted and claimed
by the child of God through faith. We read in Hebrews
10:23 ... he is faithful that promised;
(KJV). God
in His promises gives His Word. He will keep His Word. God will never disappoint
those who put their trust in His Word. He has said, to those who belong to Him in
Christ, Hebrews 13:5, ... I will
never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
(KJV). The trusting heart can respond,
Psalm 23:4 ... I will fear no evil:
for thou art with me; ...
(KJV). (DG)
F. W. Robertson points out: - Opportunities of doing good do not
come back. We are here for a most definite and intelligible purpose - to educate
our own hearts by deeds of love, and to be the instruments of blessing to
our brother men.
There are two ways in which this is to be done - by guarding
them from danger, and by soothing them in their rough path by kindly sympathies.
Kindly words, sympathising attentions, watchfulness against wounding men’s
sensitiveness, these cost so very little, but KINDLY WORDS ARE PRICELESS.
The apostle Paul exhorts us in Ephesians 4:32,
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, ...
(KJV). (DG)
Many people have the wrong idea about praying. They think that praying
is just talking to God. Prayer is communion but not a one-sided one. This
accounts for the statement that for one soul who exclaims, like Samuel in
1 Samuel 3:10, ... Speak; for
thy servant heareth.
(KJV), there are ten who say, Hear Lord, for Thy
servant speaketh.
Take time to hear God speaking in your heart today
through the holy Scriptures. (DG)
Children are apt to say strange, but true, things. A little girl made a
strange misquotation of a well-known text but she told the truth when she
said, Christ Jesus came into the world to save cinders.
YES, HE DID! He
takes the cinders, the clinkers, the ashes, the burnt-out, hopeless lives,
and makes them glorious and new. 1 Timothy 1:15
states, ... Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners;
...
(KJV). Has He done this saving work in you? (DG)
How prone we are to be concerned and over-anxious about the things we fear
will overtake us tomorrow! We need to be in constant remembrance of the precious
promise recorded in Deuteronomy 33:25
... and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.
(KJV) A
doctor was once asked by a patient, How long have I got to lie here?
The
answer was, Only a day at a time.
This taught the patient a very helpful
lesson. We are required to be faithful each day; the years will take care of
themselves. (DG)
It is said that a lady, looking at one of Turner’s pictures
portraying some scene of nature, said to the artist, Mr. Turner, I cannot see
in nature what you put into your pictures.
The artist’s quiet answer was,
Don’t you wish you could, Madam?
Men of the world observe the
raptures of Christian faith and Christian hope, and read the joyous words of
Christian experience with a sneer, We cannot see any such joys as these in the
Christian life.
None but Christ can remove spiritual blindness. The Lord said,
in John 3:3, ...
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God.
(KJV). (DG)
The prophet Jonah received a second chance to preach to Nineveh. In
Jonah 3:1 And the word of the
LORD came unto Jonah the second time, ...
(KJV). What is more important, through
Jonah’s second chance Nineveh received the first chance to hear God’s
message and repent. Did it ever occur to you that God may give you a second chance
not primarily to benefit you but to benefit others and carry forth His plan for the
world? Is God giving you a second chance to repent and receive His forgiveness? Or
a second chance to serve and glorify Him today? (DG)
God is perpetually the same. In the prophecy of Malachi
3:6 God declares, For I am the LORD, I change not; ...
(KJV). God is everlastingly the same. Someone has said, There are no furrows on
His eternal brow; no age hath palsied Him; no years have marked Him with their flight.
He sees ages pass but with Him it is ever Now. He is the great unchangeable - hence
the confidence we have in Him. (DG)
I cannot help it; he-or-she-made me so angry
. How often we excuse loss
of temper in these terms as though, because there is a reason behind our sin
of word, thought or deed, we are therefore excused and to be pitied. Moses
was known for meekness owing to his sweet temper. But the Bible makes no
excuse for him, though sorely provoked, when he sinned grievously in losing
his temper and suffered for his sin. If we would be helped not to sin through
temper we must think on Christ and learn of Him. Hebrews
12:3 exhorts, For consider him that endured such
contradiction of sinners against himself, ...
(KJV).
(DG)
A most blessed promise is given in Psalm 72:6
He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: ...
(KJV). Grass that is mown has lost its height and beauty, all its magnificence;
everything that it could boast of is gone. The roots alone are left. How welcome
is the rain to those roots, bringing new life and growth. You may feel mown down -
your self-complacency and self-satisfaction all gone. Self strength has been mown
away. There is hope and assurance in this promise for you. God will ‘come
down as rain’ upon your mown down experience, revitalizing and reviving and
replacing the self-life with the glory of the Christ life.
(DG)
Fear is a grievous malady. It haunts the minds of so many people. There
is a wonderful antidote to fear in Psalm 27:1
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
(KJV). A
spiritually darkened mind is a breeding ground for terrifying fears. When the
darkness is flooded with light the fears scurry away. When the mind is filled
with the presence of the Lord it is filled with light and fears are driven away.
Are you rejoicing in the Lord as your light and your salvation? Then you can say,
... I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;...
Psalm 23:4 (KJV). (DG)
Nicholas Herman tells us that as he could not concentrate his
mind on prolonged prayers he gave up set times of prayer and sought constant
conversations with Christ. Speak to Him then in the midst of your daily toil.
He knows the unspoken prayer and catches your whispers. Talk to Christ about
your trials, sorrows and anxieties! Make Him your confidant in your joy and
happiness. If you know nothing of this communion with Christ respond to the
invitation of Isaiah 55:6Seek
ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
In
Psalm 145:18 we read that the
LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.
(KJV). Nothing makes Him so real as to talk to Him aloud about everything.
(DG)
If you have difficult tasks to perform today, in service for Christ, you
can be assured of the Lord’s presence. No servant of God is sent out alone.
God gives the promise in Exodus 3:12
... Certainly I will be with thee; ...
(KJV). The promise involves God’s
presence, co-operation, support and help. It is a wonderful thought that in work
for God today we can know God’s presence, power, strength and skill enabling
us. Don’t put off that difficult task. Go with God. (DG)
God can do amazing things with a life committed to Him. We are reminded
that a handful of sand is deposited by the Lord in the heart of the earth,
great heat is applied from beneath and ponderous weight from above. When found
by man it has become a beautiful fiery opal. God does the same thing with
clay and makes an amethyst, and the same thing with black carbon and makes
a glorious diamond.
How? I do not know. I do know that God can take a life,
drab and useless, and make it something for His glory. Of such changed and
committed lives God says in Malachi 3:17
And they shall be mine, ... in that day when I make up my
jewels; ...
(KJV). Let God have your life and do something with it for
His glory. (DG)
A certain Christian when asked how he was feeling had a standard reply.
He would say, Oh, all right I guess under the circumstances.
One of his
friends grew weary of this reply and detected a certain amount of self-pity
in the gloomy answer and said quite candidly, Why are you always ‘under
the circumstances’? It’s time you lived above them.
Count your
blessings and you too can live above your circumstances.
Ephesians 1:3 tells us that God has
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
(KJV). The Christian life is a life of victory and by the grace of God we
can be triumphant in every situation. (DG)
C. W. Berner in a book entitled Soul Secrets
writes, Thankfulness is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning ‘thinkfulness’.
A terrible moral collapse comes to people who can daily receive God’s goodness
without lifting eyes of thanksgiving to the Author of all their blessing. Either
they must feel that there is no God or that they are deserving of His gifts.
Where there is faith and hope there is gratitude, and thankfulness is always
accompanied by joy and happiness. Psalm 100:4
advises, Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his
courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
(KJV). What a
wonderful difference sincere thankfulness would make to the home, to the church,
to the nation. (DG)
One of the marks of the godly life is just plain ordinary kindness. In
the Old Testament, Micah 6:8, kindness is given
as one of the essentials of true goodness. it reads, He hath
shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to
do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
(KJV). How sad
it is that people wait for tragedy before being kind! Let us appreciate the Godlike
kindness we see in others and receive from others, but also let us practice the
admonition of Paul in Ephesians 4:32
And be ye kind one to another, ...
(KJV).
(DG)
Let us learn to give God time - God needs time with us. If we only give
Him time, that is time in the daily fellowship with Himself, time for Him
to exercise the full influence of His presence on us, we shall then be led
to faith and triumph. Psalm 62:8
Trust in him at all times; ... pour out your heart before
him: God is a refuge for us.
God is longsuffering over you. God wants the
blessing for you that is rich and full and sure. Then give God time!
(DG)
Benjamin Franklin, a minister of the gospel, said that the sentence
which had most influence upon his life was: - Some persons grumble because God
placed thorns among the roses; why not thank God because He placed roses among
the thorns?
Franklin said he read that sentence when a mere lad and that
it had occupied a front room in his life and had given his mind its optimistic
trend. We also have grounds for optimism if God is our Father through the
grace of Christ. 2 Thessalonians 2:16
... God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given
us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
(KJV). Don’t look
at the thorns today - thank God for the roses. (DG)
A famous preacher pointed out that comfort
in the Bible means
strengthening. The word comfort
has deteriorated of late. Now it
too often signifies soothing, lulling to rest; but when God says in
Isaiah 40:1 Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, ...
(KJV), He is calling His prophets to strengthen them,
to arouse them and nerve them. The false comforter lulls into a state of
inactivity and self-pity. The true comforter calls for a rising up from prostration
and failure and urges faith in the God of all strength. Be comforted, that
is be strengthened, in God today. (DG)
A boy and his father were in a pet shop to buy a dog. The father told
the dealer that he wanted an expensive one. The dealer brought out an old
dog, moth-eaten and decrepit looking, and told how many prizes the dog had
won. Next he brought out a puppy and told what it could become if it was
trained properly. The boy exclaimed, Daddy, I don’t want a
‘used-to-be-er’, or a ‘going-to-be-er’, I want a
‘real-is-er’.
Ours must be a present tense Christianity.
Let us obey the command of James 1:22
... be ye doers of the word, ...
(KJV), and so be
known by our actions as people who are Christlike.
(DG)
Twice, in 1 John 4:8, 16, we are given
the wonderful statement, God is love.
(KJV). Some
people think that God is loving in the New Testament and austere in the Old.
He always has and always will deal drastically with sin. There always has
been and always will be love, mercy and pardon for all who will repent. Why
does God desire our affection and worship? Why is He not willing that any
should perish? Because of what He is. God is love
.
(DG)
The farmer with dry land will spare no cost or effort to irrigate his land
with life-giving water. He knows that the cost and labour will be rewarded
over and over again. Yet people will go on for years in a barren, dry existence
when, if they would come to the Lord, He would give them the life-giving water
which brings satisfaction and fruitfulness. Of Christ,
Isaiah 32:2 prophesies, ...
man shall be ... as rivers of water in a dry place, ...
(KJV). The Lord
invites in John 7:37 ...
If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and
drink.
(KJV). The Lord Jesus remains ever the same. The rivers of
mercy and power in Him can never be dried up. (DG)
Christ taught men to pray. In Luke 11:2 He
states that we are to pray Hallowed
be thy name.
(KJV). Just what does hallowed
mean to us?
Probably it signifies sacred
. But the Greek verb here means
sanctify
. Literally this petition, found also in
Matthew 6:9, reads Let Thy
name be sanctified
. Every believer bears the name of Christ, for we are called
Christians
. How can we sanctify that name? The simple answer is by living
Christlike lives. What a challenge! It means that every day I must act as
Jesus would act, talk as He would talk, think as He would think, live and
love as He would live and love. We need to pray this prayer that His name
be hallowed in our lives. (DG)
An oyster fisherman, on opening the shell of an oyster, discovered a live
fish three and a half inches long, but there was no sign of the oyster. Evidently
the fish had entered the open shell and had been trapped by its closing. Once
inside it proceeded to devour the oyster! How like certain forms of sin.
They enter the life through the door of a careless will. Once inside their
eviction is most difficult and soon they are holding dominion over the whole
man, and eventually destroy his communion with God.
Proverbs 4:23 tells us, Keep
thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
(KJV)
(DG)
It is quite easy to be friends with someone who is friendly towards you.
But when people are unfriendly and sometimes mean, what then? To be unfriendly
in return for unfriendliness, and to hurt in return for hurt, the Bible shows,
can only injure us, and medical knowledge reveals that hurt to oneself can
be physical as well as spiritual. True friendliness is proved in the time
when things are difficult and go wrong. Proverbs
17:17 A friend loveth at all times, and a brother
is born for adversity.
(KJV) Let us seek to be true friends to everyone.
(DG)
Someone has calculated that if every living person in the world shed only
one tear a week, or 50 tears a year - the annual harvest of teardrops would
be 150 billion! These tears would fill 3 million one gallon cans. What a lot
of sorrow and heartache that would represent. Those who are Christ’s
through faith in Him as the Lamb of God will, in heaven, have every tear wiped
from their eyes by God. This promise is in Revelation
21:4. There is also the promise of reward for the tears of concern for
the souls of others. It is found in Psalm 126:5
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
(KJV).
(DG)
Paul knew how desperately we need Christ in our lives - it is only in Christ
that we are safe. In Romans 6:23 he says,
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(KJV). Sin is an ugly word. It has
the hiss of the serpent in it. Sin holds a man in bondage and pays only
destruction and death. What a blessed contrast we have in the free gift of God,
which comes to us through Christ who died to deliver us from sin and give us
freely of His love, protection, strength and life everlasting. What freedom and
exceeding joy and sure hope belongs to those who know Christ as Lord.
(DG)
A young lady was merrily describing a woman who had taken a seat by her
in a crowded railway car, and had crammed into the small space a bird cage,
a basket of apples and numerous bundles. Why did you not tell her that she
was encroaching upon your rights?
asked her friend. Oh it was not worth
while to trouble about it; we had such a little way to go together,
was the
reply. What a motto for life’s journey. So many little annoyances are not
worth noticing; so many small unkindnesses may be passed by silently, because
we have only such a little way to go together.
In view of life’s
brevity let us obey the words of Romans 12:18
If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably
with all men.
(KJV) (DG)
God wonderfully teaches His love for His people by comparing Himself to
a great eagle in its care of its young. In Exodus
19:4 ... I bare you on eagles’ wings, ...
(KJV), and in Deuteronomy 32:11 God declares,
As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young,
spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: So the
LORD alone did lead him, ...
(KJV). God cares about you and so makes
the nest uncomfortable.The wings of faith will never become strong in the
nest. It is true that God provides for your needs and protects you in times
of danger - but it is also true that He permits the testing time to make
you strong. (DG)
Is something troubling you right now? If it is some wrong thing you have
done, the way to get forgiveness and peace is explained in
1 John 1:9 If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, ...
(KJV). But
if you are in trouble through something you could not help-cheer up! Because
Romans 8:28 says, And we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God, ...
(KJV).
Remember, this turning of troubles into good is done by God for those who love Him.
How wonderful to be in the sheltering love of our heavenly Father. Our love
for God insures that God is on our side and by our side in time of trouble.
(DG)
A favourite verse of mine is in Hebrews 4:16
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we
may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
(KJV). Dr. G.
Campbell Morgan never tired of pointing out that the Greek phrase translated
in time of need
is a colloquialism of which in the nick of time
is the exact equivalent. That we may have grace to help in the nick of time.
Grace
just when and where we need it. When attacked by temptation and at the moment of assault
look to Him, and the grace is there to help you in the nick of time.
Not
waiting till the evening hour to pray - but there in the busy street with the
temptation confronting you, turn to Christ with a cry for help and the grace will
be there in the nick of time.
(DG)
Can you tell a butterfly from a moth? They look very much alike, but by
looking closely you can tell the difference between the two. A butterfly has
little knobs at the end of its antennae, while the moth has none. Moths fly
at night, while butterflies flit about in the daylight. But the little knob
is the easiest mark to look for. God has given a mark, or sign, by which everyone
can tell whether or not we belong to Him. The Lord Jesus said in
John 13:35
By this shall all men know that
ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
(KJV). If you
have given your heart to Christ, ask Him to give you so much love for other
people who love Jesus that no one will have to look twice to see if you have
the Christian mark. (DG)