True happiness does not come to us in serving ourselves and our own ambitions.
It comes in serving others. Christ revealed this secret of a happy life by
His example. He gave His very life, not to fulfil His own personal ambitions,
but to do God’s will. By the giving of His life He was able to save a multitude
of others. In making that supreme sacrifice, Christ is an example to us all.
He said, in John 15:13,
Greater love hath no man than this, that
a man lay down his life for his friends.
(KJV). In the great cause of
bringing the Good News of salvation to others, we should be willing to make
any sacrifice. If you are looking for happiness, you will find the secret
is service to others. (DG)
It was prophesied of God’s amazing Christmas gift, His Son the Lord Jesus
Christ, that, ... his name shall be called Wonderful ...
(KJV).
This fact is recorded in Isaiah 9:6. A Christian life
ought to be full of wonders - the essence of Christianity is a WONDERFUL SAVIOUR. What
wonderful things has the Lord done for you lately? Has He been doing wonderful things
in your heart, in your home, in your Christian work? Don’t let the expectation
of wonders die out of your heart, for Jesus is Wonderful. Look out for wonders!
(DG)
How expert we all are at asking. Practice makes perfect. From the earliest
years we have been at it - even before we could talk we knew how to make
our requirements known. Jesus said, Matthew 7:7
Ask, and it shall be given you;
...
(KJV). When it comes to prayer we are expert at asking,
but faulty in our receiving. Jesus said, it will be given to you. Then receive
it. The moment you ask God in faith, your prayer is answered. When you ask
God for forgiveness, you are forgiven. When you ask for help, it is given.
You make your needs known and He gives. You may be expert at asking, but God
is more expert at giving. Then receive now. (DG)
An amusing thing about early childhood is the mistaken sense of values.
Show a young child two coins, a nickel and a dime. Offer him his choice and
he will take the nickel because it is larger, and therefore seems to be worth
more. There are many people today with a twisted sense of values. Observe,
for example, the one who spends a life time providing for old age, and makes
no preparation for eternity. Another person seeks the thrills of the world
and overlooks the thrills of salvation. The Lord Jesus shows us what is the
right perspective. In Matthew 6:33 we are told,
But seek ye first
the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added
unto you.
(KJV). (DG)
In Deuteronomy 32:10 God’s people are
called the apple of His eye
(KJV). It speaks of God’s
loving protection of His own. The eye is protected by bone structure round the
eye; the eyebrows keep out the sweat; the eyeball is washed constantly and the
eyelids are able to close quickly to prevent foreign objects getting in. As we
guard our eyes and consider them among our most treasured possessions, so God
cares for His own. If you belong to God through Christ, you can be sure of His
loving care and protection of you today. (DG)
Faithful in little things - is not this the real test of a man’s worth?
True Christianity is seen in the little things, neat homes, paid up bills,
and a methodical fulfilment of the details of life. We would hesitate to entrust
a big piece of work to a man who is careless in a small piece. In God’s sight
the little things are great things - since each gives opportunity for faithfulness.
We are taught by Christ, in Matthew 25:21 that it
is he who is faithful over a few
things
who will be worthy to become
ruler over many things
(KJV). Faithfulness to Christ is the secret of faithfulness in the little
things. (DG)
The Scripture states in Proverbs 23:7,
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he ...
(KJV).
If a man is to change, he must change his thoughts; and once the thoughts are
changed, anything can be changed. The world in which you live is not determined
by outward circumstances nearly so much as by the thoughts which habitually
occupy your mind. We are taught in Philippians 4:8
to form good thinking habits. Think on ... whatever
things are true, ... honest, ... just, ... pure, ... lovely, ... of good
report, ...
(KJV). This kind of thinking brings freshness and vitality
to life. (DG)
When the creator first breathed the breath of life
into man, He
placed at creation’s summit a creature in the divine image.
Genesis 2:7 And
the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life; and man became a living soul
. (KJV). But MAN IN
SIN and shame seeks to endure without life from the breath of God. His physical
survival three minutes hence, depends upon the air he now breathes. Unrenewed
by God’s Spirit, modern man sacrifices both a glorious destiny in eternity,
and worthwhile survival in time. Let us come with the prayer of the hymn-writer,
Breathe on me, breath of God; So shall I never die; But live with Thee the
perfect life Of Thine eternity.
In a world out of breath, men need to discover
again the true source of life in the breath of God. Do go to a place of worship
this week, and breathe again. (DG)
Love is a term we are apt to use wrongly. Oswald Chambers said,
We emphasise perfect love towards our fellow men; the Bible emphasises perfect
love towards God.
Love is an indefinable word, and in the Bible it is always
used as directly characteristic of God – God is love.
In
Romans 5:5 Paul says that, ...
the love of God has been poured out in our hearts ...
(NKJV). Not the power to
love God - but the love of God
. Then we cannot
know perfect love until we let Christ into our lives; then God’s love will
be poured out in our hearts
. (DG)
A leading psychiatrist said, The greatest medicine for the mentally sick,
is forgiveness.
Fifty per cent of hospital beds are filled with those who
are mentally sick, some worried by a guilt complex. Distress is everywhere.
But what can we do about it? If someone has wronged you, forgive them. If
you have injured another, tell them you are sorry - this takes real courage.
None of us finds it easy to forgive. When they crucified Jesus, He said,
... Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do.
(Luke 23:34
KJV). We have all sinned against God, but He waits to forgive the moment
we tell Him we are sorry. We read of this in 1 John 1:9,
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness
(KJV).
(DG)
How easy it is to lose our appreciation for what we have! Once there was
a couple who grew tired of their house. They put it in the hands of an estate
agent, for sale. Meanwhile they looked for another house to buy. One day they
read an advertisement of just the house they wanted. They phoned the number
which was listed and learned to their dismay that it was their own house.
A person is ever in danger of taking his home, his family, and his job, and
his church for granted. Paul learned a secret which he was willing to share
with us. In 1 Timothy 6:6 he says,
But godliness with contentment is great gain.
(KJV). A
life committed to Christ and lived in the assurance of His presence can be a
life of wonderful contentment. (DG)
King Hezekiah was down in the dumps. But not for long. He went to God about
it, and told God that he was down in the dumps. We read in
Isaiah 38:14 that he said, ...
O Lord I am oppressed; undertake for me.
(KJV). He did not make an eloquent
prayer - he did not wrestle with God in agonising and prolonged prayer. The first
five words told God how he felt; in the next three, he asked for help. The answer
was as swift as the prayer was short. Whatever may be getting you down, you can
bring it to God and He will lift you up. (DG)
When God delays it does not mean that He will deny. The Bible tells of
many instances when God has waited, only to give blessing in greater measure.
God waited till Jacob could wrestle no more, then blessed him. The Lord waited
till the Syrophenician woman fell at His feet crying Lord, help me,
then
He gave the healing she sought for her child. God waited while the praying
band prayed into the night, then He released Peter from prison. We think that
because there is a delay, there will be no answer. God holds back for our
good. His loving heart wants to give us the best at the right time, and so
often, when it comes, He gives far more than we asked.
Isaiah 30:18 assures us, And
therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, ...
(KJV).
(DG)
Henry Ward Beecher said, Nothing on earth can smile but a man.
In Proverbs 15:13 we read in the Amplified version,
A glad heart maketh a cheerful countenance.
Gems may flash
reflected light - but what is a diamond flash compared with an eye flash? Flowers
cannot smile: this is a charm which even they cannot claim. It is the prerogative
of man. A smile is a light in the window of the face. Communion with Christ today
will bring a gladness that will produce a smile which will bring happiness to another
on life’s way. (DG)
Super-sales talk often amounts to sheer exaggeration. Some people exaggerate
to attract self attention. After a sermon by Billy Sunday, a woman
asked him, I wonder if you can help me, I have a terrible habit of exaggeration.
Certainly madam
, replied the evangelist. Just call it SIN
. Let us
face it. We often excuse SIN by calling it by another name. Acknowledge your sin
like the psalmist in Psalm 32:5, saying
I acknowledged my sin to You, ...
. Then you will also be
able to say like him, And You forgave ...
(NKJV).
(DG)
At times, when we become the prey to tension, worry, and ill-health, how
we long to get away from it all. Healing balm is sometimes ministered to us
through a song, or witnessing a lovely sunset - the sea washing on a sandy
shore. These things may be denied you. Let me invite you, when tense and restless,
to sit quietly and allow the calming words of Jesus to pass unhindered through
your thoughts. John 14:27
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give
unto you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be
troubled, neither let it be afraid.
(KJV).
(DG)
Can a person know where he is going? Can he be sure he is on the right
road, and the one which will make THIS life worthwhile, and the next one safe
and secure in heaven? Can he know whether he is saved or lost? Yes - the
information is furnished for us in the Word of God. While we may not know
what lies immediately ahead of us we can know positively that we have eternal
life. In spite of all the claims that you can’t know till you get
there
, the Bible makes it plain that you can, for it says in
1 John 5:13, These things have
I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may
know that ye have eternal life.
(KJV). (DG)
An old time hymn contains the phrase, Judge not the Lord by feeble sense.
By a very understandable mistake, a youngster who heard the song in Sunday
school came home and recited it to her family in this way, Judge not the
Lord by feeble saints.
The way some so-called saints conduct themselves is
not a very good recommendation for the Lord. We can be glad that He is more
understanding and more merciful than some of us. Let us remember though, that
we are the only gospel some people read, and we should be careful how we
conduct ourselves. Paul reminded the Corinthian believers in
2 Corinthians 3:2, You are
our epistle ... known and read by all men;
(NKJV).
(DG)
There is a popular proverb which says, Promises are made to be broken.
Some people go through life leaving a trail of disappointed and broken hearts
simply because they have given promises which they made no effort to keep.
Worse, there are those who make promises to God during times of stress, and
then forget about them when the stress has passed. The psalmist said in
Psalm 116:18, I will pay
my vows unto the LORD ...
(KJV). Let us be faithful to God and to our
fellowman by making good our promises. Notice the psalmist used the word
now
; he had learned that it did not pay to put off the fulfilment
of a promise. (DG)
To hate a man is to become his slave. Hatred badly affects working ability;
it takes over the thoughts. According to modern medical knowledge hatred produces
many stress hormones in the body, which bring fatigue after only a few hours
work, making work a drudgery. Even vacation ceases to give pleasure:, hate
makes eating uninteresting. The advice in Ephesians
4:26 is, ... do not let the sun go down on your
wrath,
(NKJV). Don’t let hurt fester into hate. It is far too costly
to your physical and spiritual health. (DG)
Our treasure is in Christ. This has been so well put by C. H.
McKintosh. He said, God’s exhaustless treasure in Christ is
thrown open to you, in all the love of His heart. Draw upon it, in the artless
simplicity of faith, and you will never have occasion to lean on a human prop.
Romans 8:32 says, He that
spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with
him also freely give us all things?
(KJV). Seeing that Christ is the source
of all rich blessing, let us spend time with Him today.
(DG)
Are you feeling useless, and wishing God could use you in bringing blessing
to others? Well, God can. Lillian Trasher, the Nile Mother
,
who established a great orphanage in Egypt, once encouraged an audience by saying,
When Jesus healed the blind man in John chapter 9
by putting clay on his eyes, it wasn’t the mud that healed, but the power
behind the mud. God can use me or any other piece of mud.
Let us yield ourselves
to the hand of Christ today, and let Him use us. (DG)
Suppose a man sowing seed was asked, What kind of seed are you sowing?
And he replied, I don’t know.
And when further questioned, Well,
do you know if it is good or bad seed?
the reply was No, I can’t
tell, but it is seed, that is all I know, and I am sowing it.
Such a man
would be regarded as a fool. But he would not be half so foolish as the man who
goes on sowing for time and eternity and never asks himself what he is sowing or
what the harvest will be. The statement in Galatians 6:7
is, ... Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
(KJV).
(DG)
Through misconduct or mistake, as a result of folly or sin, we may reduce
ourselves, and those dear to us, to the last degree of misery. There is sure
hope in turning to God. Psalm 42:5 says,
Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted
within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His
countenance.
(NKJV).You may have lost all hope in yourself, your friends,
your circumstances - but you must never lose your hope in God. The past, when
viewed with repentance, is forgiven. In the present God is willing to be all
in all. Godly hope looks into the future and says, I will yet praise Him.
(DG)
If you would learn the secret of power and usefulness to God and love to
your fellowman, read the stories of God’s great spiritual men in the Bible.
Notice their lives are filled with a two-way conversation - requests on the
part of the suppliant, and the ever willing reply from God. Sometimes it is
a reply of encouragement or assuring promise. At other times God replies with
a denunciation of sin, or in direct answer to their cry God grants direction
and guidance and reveals His Almightiness. In Exodus 33
we have an example of this two-way communion - and the Lord
talked with Moses .... And Moses said unto the Lord .... and the Lord said unto
Moses.
When you pray you are talking to God. When you read the Bible, God is
talking to you. (DG)
Christians are instructed in 1 John 5:21,
... keep yourselves from idols ...
(KJV). In the Amplified
Version we read, false gods, from anything and everything that
would occupy the place in your heart due to God. From any sort of substitute for
Him that would take first place in your life.
One of the modern IDOLS is called,
in the Bible, COVETOUSNESS (Colossians 3:5).
Adam Clarke explains why. It is God’s prerogative to confer
happiness, and godly men seek happiness in God. But a covetous man seeks it in material
things; therefore these things take the place of God, and so covetousness
is idolatry.
Turn today to the living God, from idols. (DG)
When Ezekiel went to the captives by the river he went, according to
Ezekiel 3:14, ... in bitterness,
in the heat of my spirit ...
(KJV). He would lay down the law of God to them!
But God said to him, No, Ezekiel, not yet. Sit down with them and learn what they
have to go through.
Ezekiel said, Ezekiel 3:15,
... I sat where they sat ... and remained there ... seven days
...
(KJV). For seven days he learned sympathy. At the close of the seven days
God said to him, Now you can speak.
And now he could, for he knew. If we could
only sit where people sit; if we could only put ourselves in the other person’s
place, what a difference it would make in our actions toward them!
(DG)
It can be very instructive reading God’s Word to children. One godly father
was reading Genesis chapter eight to his little boy. It is about the offering
Noah made to God after he came from the ark. As the smoke from the altar ascended,
we read, and the Lord smelled a sweet savour.
The father said,
It’s funny that God could smell a sweet savour from burning meat. It
doesn’t smell very good to us.
The boy answered at once, Well, it
wasn’t the meat God smelled, Daddy, it was Noah’s heart God smelled.
How right the little fellow was! God is quick to smell the fragrance of beautiful
deeds which come from the heart given over to the Lord Jesus.
2 Corinthians 2:15 says, For we are
unto God a sweet savour of Christ ...
(KJV). (DG)
Worry is something to which all human beings are prone! But the life that
is built on faith and trust in the Lord can be free from worry. We should
be showing a greater confidence in the Lord by spending less time in worrying.
To help you, let me remind you that there are two times when you are never
to worry. One, you are never to worry when you can help the situation. Two,
you are never to worry when you cannot help the situation. Do make sure that
you never worry alone! Take your problem to the Lord.
Philippians 4:6 says, Be
careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known unto God.
(KJV). (DG)
To Gideon, the sixth judge of Israel, the angel of the Lord said,
... The Lord is with thee ...
(KJV). The words are recorded
for us in Judges 6:12. How reassuring these words
would be to Gideon. But they were more than words of comfort, they were words of
commission. If the Lord asks us to do something for Him He also guarantees His presence
with us to enable us to accomplish the work. Though there will be opposition to
our performance of God’s word we are assured of success, because if God be
for us, who can prevail against us? Today can be faced in the knowledge of God’s
declared presence. That is enough for us! (DG)
We all like receiving gifts. It would, of course, be silly to skimp and
save for something that has been given to us freely - yet many struggle to
live a victorious Christian life when they can have that victory as a gift
from Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57 calls for
praise, But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(KJV). Victory over sin and the devil is
through trusting the Lord Jesus Christ who is the great Overcomer. We need
not be the victims of evil power. The Good News of the gospel is that we
can overcome through Christ. Receive victory for today as a gift from Christ.
(DG)
God’s Word and His Holy Spirit can help men with modern problems.
Dr. Howard Kelly has written something pertinent: - I testify
that the Bible is the Word of God because it is food for the Spirit, just as
definitely as bread and meat are food for the body. The Bible appeals strongly
to me as a physician, because it is such excellent medicine: it has never failed
to cure a single patient if only he took his prescription.
Our Lord, answering
the tempter, said in Matthew 4:4
... Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
(KJV).
It is essential for our well-being that we feed upon the Word of God.
(DG)
In the fourfold portrait of Christ in the gospels we are given a thrilling
and wonderful picture. We see His compassion and His readiness to forgive.
We see the complete self-sacrifice of Jesus and the giving of Himself unsparingly
for sinners. The prophet Isaiah foretold that His name would be called Wonderful,
and truly, Jesus is Wonderful, for Christ Jesus is the vision of the Father.
He said in John 14:9, ...
He who has seen Me has seen the Father;
...
(NKJV). We know what God is like - we see Him fully revealed in Jesus
Christ. It is not hard to trust such a wonderful God.
(DG)
We are often surprised at the outward calmness of men who are called upon
to do unpleasant and most trying deeds. Had we witnessed the preparation behind
the scenes we would understand and be less surprised. In a day when every
boychild of Israel was condemned to death, the mother of Moses laid the ark
in the rushes by the river’s brink. But before doing so, she laid it on the
heart of God! Joseph Parker said, She could not have laid it so
courageously upon the Nile if she had not first devotedly laid it upon the care
and love of God.
In the light of this thought, read the story in Exodus 1
verse 22 through to chapter 2, verse 10. There may be something difficult or even
unpleasant facing you today. Prepare yourself by taking it to God first,
and you will prove God CAN and God WILL see you through.
(DG)
Winston Churchill, wounded in the first world war, had to keep
his bed for 20 months. His friends thought he would never walk again. The meditation
forced upon him, according to his biographer, cut a strong groove in his character.
Any pause in the activity of life can be put to good use and later prove
to be worthwhile. New discoveries of grace can be made, new powers of prayer
achieved, and new good effects on our character can be wrought, and best
of all, the pause can give us time to spend with Christ that we may learn
of Him. Job 37:14 commands,
Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God.
(NKJV)
(DG)
You have all heard the story of the little boy who put his hand into a
vase and could not get it out. He ran to his father for help, and his father
soon discovered that the child had his fist tightly clenched inside the vase.
Open your hand, son,
he said, and your hand will come out.
If I
do,
cried the boy, I will drop my penny.
It is necessary for us to
let go, and let God help us. What we think is worth holding is sometimes of
little value. God knows best. Cast yourself on Him. Don’t hold on to
something you think is valuable when, by letting go, you can have freedom and
Christ. Paul said in Philippians 3:7
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for
Christ.
(KJV). (DG)
Peter put his problem on forgiveness to Christ. In
Matthew 18:21 he says, ... Lord,
how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? ...
(KJV). In
Peter’s estimate of how many times he should forgive he exceeded the estimate
of the religious teachers of his day, for they taught that four times was the extreme
limit of forgiveness. But Peter fell far short of the divine ideal, because Christ
said not seven but seventy times
seven.
By the time one has forgiven seventy times seven the same offending
brother, forgiveness has become a habit. Our forgiveness should never be withheld
from anyone who seeks it. Let us begin now to form the habit of forgiveness.
(DG)
A child was given a copy book when learning to write. On the first line
was a sentence in the teacher’s hand-writing. It was perfect. The child
copied his first line fairly well. The second line he copied from his first, his
third line was copied from the second. At the end of the page there was very
little likeness to the original line. We need an example for our lives. If
we copy others we shall make mistakes. Our best example is the Lord Jesus.
In 1 Peter 2:21 we read, ...
Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his
steps:
(KJV). Let us follow the example set by Christ. We must keep our copy
before us daily by reading God’s Word and by prayer.
(DG)
In Luke 23:34 we are told that Christ prayed
while hanging on the cross, ...
Father, forgive them ...
(KJV). What
unfathomable love! Rejected, misunderstood, humiliated, spat upon, lashed,
crowned with thorns and crucified - yet He harboured no resentment, and sought
no retaliation! We, the guilty, are offered freely His forgiveness, and we are
called to follow in His steps.
On such a day as this, commemorating the
sufferings of Christ for our forgiveness - how can we possibly withhold forgiveness
from those who have hurt or wronged us? (DG)
There are those who claim to be peace-loving! But those who are committed
to Christ who is the Prince of Peace, are to be more than peace-loving. Christ
expects them to be peace-makers
. Our Lord did not just love peace, for
according to Colossians 1:20, He ...
made peace through the blood of his cross, ...
(KJV). And when He announced
who would be blessed, in the teaching on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5, He
said, Matthew 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers: for
they shall be called the children of God.
(KJV). Like Christ, it will
cost us much to be peace-makers, but let us seek to do it today.
(DG)
Has it occurred to you that God could have kept Daniel out of the lions’
den? He could have kept Paul and Silas out of jail? And He could have kept
the three Hebrew children out of the fiery furnace? Actually though, God has
never promised to keep His people out of hard places. What He has promised
is to go with us through every hard place and bring us through victoriously.
In Joshua 1:9 we are told, Joshua 1:9
... Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither
be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest
(KJV). (DG)
The tender love Jesus showed to the two bewildered disciples on the road to Emmaus is the same love He offers you today. The account is recorded for our learning in Luke 24:14-35. He lovingly took those Emmaus disciples from confusion to faith and took away their ignorance by the light of His Word. Whatever your problem, the Lord Jesus stands in love waiting to convince you both of His love and His power. He’ll be patient, as He was with those Emmaus disciples, showing you the truth from His Word. Because of this, Christ’s love is reaching out to you now. (DG)
Being discontented only aggravates a trying situation; lack of contentment
brings about a rundown condition. Your present situation may not be to your
liking and this makes you dissatisfied and discouraged. The way out for you
is to put this disagreeable condition into God’s hands determining to
embrace His will in the matter. When you face up to your circumstances, it may be
brought home to you that God wants you exactly where you are. Then you will
begin to see the purpose God has in it for you, and you will begin to adjust
and become content in spite of the situation. Paul testified in
Philippians 4:11 ... I have
learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
(KJV).
(DG)
If you really want to live your life in the will of God your whole attitude
is most important. Not to seek God’s guidance in even the little things may
result in deciding to please yourself. Romans 15:3
... Christ pleased not himself; ...
(KJV). He did always
those things which pleased the Father. When we truly want God’s will we can
ask God to lead us, then commit our way to Him in confidence that He will choose
the best for us. Psalm 37:5 says,
Commit thy way unto the Lord: trust also in Him; and He
shall bring it (His will) to pass
. (DG)
The Bible is God’s talking book to those who have ears to hear.
Isaiah 30:21 says, And thine
ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it,
when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
(KJV). Have we
heard the Word speaking to us? Or if we have heard the Word, have we been too busy
with the trivial things of life to obey it? Let us expect the Word of God to speak
to us and be ready to obey, taking no wrong turnings, but following strictly its
infallible guide for living. The hymn-writer rejoiced in this truth, saying,
Thy Word is light, Thy Word is life and power. By it, O guide me in each trying
hour. (DG)
The most wonderful truth revealed about God is given in the New Testament;
that truth is God is love.
It is the Lord Jesus Christ who first brought
to mankind the news that man loves God only because God has first loved man.
1 John 4:16,19 declares And
we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; ... We love
him, because he first loved us.
(KJV). Can you say that you are not satisfied
with talking or thinking on God’s love to you in Christ, but that you are
seeking to show your love to God, even in the daily fret of life and its petty
annoyances? What pleasure it brings to God, Who is love, to hear you say and show
that you love Him. (DG)
In these days of shaking, man must find something unshaken. Christ is spoken
of in Scripture as the Rock. As our Rock, Christ is our rest, in the shadow
of whom we find rest in a weary land. As our Rock, Christ is the refuge in
which it is safe to hide. More, we can say, Thou art my Rock and fortress.
In Christ, the believer can repulse every attack of evil. As the Rock, Christ
is the sure foundation on which we can build. Christ is all these things to
those who know Him as the Smitten Rock
of the account in Exodus 17:1-7.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:4 ...
they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
(KJV). Smitten for sinners, He opens to us the fountains of living waters. How we
need Christ the Rock of safety and satisfaction. (DG)
An Italian fruit vendor stood by his apple stand one cold, windy day. A
customer came along, and while making a purchase remarked on the severity
of the cold. Yes, pretty cold,
agreed the vendor, but by and by - think
of that!
He was thinking of the warm sunny days ahead, instead of dwelling
on his present circumstances. By and by - think of that!
The Christian can
look ahead to the sunny days of eternity with Christ. Even in this life joy
will follow tears. Are you experiencing the coldness of sorrow, or persecution,
or adversity? The psalmist tells us in Psalm 30:5
that ... weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the
morning.
(KJV). (DG)
A little girl was sitting at the breakfast table. Through a crack in the
window shade the sun was shining on the table. As the little girl lifted a
spoonful of cereal to her mouth the sun was shining on it. She exclaimed:
Oh, Mommy, I swallowed a spoonful of sunshine!
How much brighter would
our lives and homes be if we would swallow some sunshine at breakfast! Begin
the day with Christ and then you will be able to obey
Matthew 5:16,
Let your light so shine before
men, ...
(KJV). (DG)
Everybody has encounters with Giant Worry. When the mighty king Saul and
his forces were cowering in the face of the giant Goliath, young David went
out armed with a mighty faith in God, and a slingshot. Was he afraid?
Psalm 56:3 gives the answer. What
time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
(KJV). David was able to conquer not
only Goliath, but also worry, on many occasions. In our everyday circumstances
with big and little worries, our faith will decide whether we cower or conquer.
(DG)
After a few hours spent shopping, or travelling, you have inescapably become
contaminated with the soil and grime of the city or town. The effects are
clearly visible upon the face and hands as you view yourself in a mirror.
So you refresh yourself with a thorough wash. It is amazing how much contamination
of the soul takes place through daily association with the world’s opinions
and groveling materialism. It must be washed away in the cleansing Word of
God. Jesus said in John 15:3,
Now ye are clean through the word
which I have spoken unto you.
(KJV). Through God’s Word standards of
conduct and thinking are re-adjusted to the mind of God. Make sure that
your soul has a daily cleansing through reading the scriptures.
(DG)