Gems from June 2003

June 1

"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou (disturbed) within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God." (Psalms 43:5)

"Cheerfulness -- the bright weather of the heart -- consists in that happy frame of mind which is best described by its negation of all that pertains to what is morbid, somber, and morose. Its perfection is displayed in general good tempter, united to much kindliness of heart. A life without it is a Lapland winter without a sun."It would seem that cheerfulness among Christians is regarded by some folk as a very rare thing.

Some years ago an advertisement appeared in an English paper reading as follows: 'Wanted: an elderly man to live indoors; must be a Christian; cheerful if possible!' But surely, surely, Alexander Raleigh is nearer the truth when he says: 'When I know that I have a Father in heaven Who watches over me, Who forgives my sin, Who strengthens every holy purpose in me, provides for all may needs, cares for me in all my cares, supports and guides me ... and draws me towards His heart and home, why should I not be cheerful as my life is long?' " (Henry Durbinville - Winsome Christianity)

N.J. Hiebert # 1540

June 2

"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:32)

"If we would wisely reprove the flesh in our brethren, we must first, after the Lord's example, remember and commend the grace in them.

"Those who are much acquainted with the cross of Christ, and with their own hearts, will be slow to take the reprover's office: if they do reprove, they will make it a solemn matter, knowing how much evil comes of the unwise handling of a fault.

"Let us begin by searching ourselves, if we would be profitable reprovers of others.

"Much self-judgment makes a man slow to judge others; and the very gentleness of such an one gives a keen edge to his rebukes.

"In reproving sin in others, we should remember the ways of the Holy Spirit of God towards us. He comes as the Spirit of Love; and whatever His rebukes, He wins the heart by mercy and forgiveness through Christ.

"To forgive without upbraiding even by manner or look, is a high exercise of grace -- it is imitation of Christ.

"If I have been injured by another, let me think to myself -- how much better to be the sufferer than the wrongdoer!

"The flesh would punish to prevent a repetition of wrongs; but Grace teaches us to defend ourselves without weapons. The man who 'seventy times seven' forgives injuries, is he who best knows how to protect himself.

"If one does me a wrong, let me with the compassion of Christ seek after him, and entreat God to move him to repentance.

"If our tongue has been betrayed into speaking contemptuously or even slightingly of an absent brother, let us quickly say, Alas! We have wounded Christ.

"If in love I speak to a brother of his fault, it is because I hate the sin. If I speak of it with backbiting tongue, it is self-pleasing that moves me."
(Robert C. Chapman 1803-1902)

N.J. Hiebert # 1541

June 3

"Behold a Sower went forth to sow." (Matthew 13:3)

"Israel has been set aside because they utterly failed to produce any fruit towards God. This introduces us to an entirely new order of things: God now takes the character of a Sower. Man had proved himself to be fruitless, and now probation had ceased, and God became a Giver. This makes the parable of the Sower a sort of key-parable. Our Lord said to His disciples, 'Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?' (Mark 4:13)

And it is strange that to this day this is a point that many professing Christians do not see. They are busily looking for something in man, something that can be cultivated and improved and made fit for God. All a grievous mistake! Man had been tried in innocence; without law; under law; under the prophets; under Christ; but all ended in failure, and now a Sower must go out to sow His seed, and His servants sow it in the wide world." (The Parables of Our Lord)

N.J. Hiebert # 1543

June 4

"He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets." (Matthew 12:19)

"If the gentleness of Jesus be such that the very fierceness of His foes could not provoke Him to anger or strife but moved Him only to pity, like the rough wind of autumn that shakes down the golden fruit from the bough which it assails -- what gentleness hath He for those who fain would come to Him and know Him as their Lord and Saviour. "A bruised reed will He not break.' (Matthew 12:20) "
(The Gentleness of Jesus - Mark-Guy Pearse)

N.J. Hiebert # 1544

June 5

"I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." (Genesis 3:10)

"The world cannot endure the very thought of the presence of God. We see this from the very moment of the fall, in Genesis 3. Man fled away from God before God drove him out of Eden. He could not endure the divine presence." (C.H. Mackintosh - God's Fulness for an Empty Vessel - Volume 6 - Miscellaneous Writings)

N.J. Hiebert # 1545

June 6

"From a child thou hast know the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." 
(2 Timothy 3:15)

The Word of God is our means of defense against the temptations and wiles of Satan; hence it is called the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17). We thus see in the temptation of out blessed Lord that it was His only weapon. To all the allurements which Satan presented to His soul -- and he assailed Him through every avenue of approach, and in every character -- He replied, 'It is written.' From first to last, He never expressed a thought of His own, but rested for His defense entirely and alone upon the Word of God. 

Satan consequently was utterly powerless; he could not advance a single step; but, defeated at every point, he had to retire baffled and overcome. And he is as powerless today as then, when encountered in the same way. He cannot touch an obedient, dependent man. Would that every young believer, indeed all, whether young or old, might always bear it in mind!" (Edward Dennett - Twelve Letters to Young Believers)

N.J. Hiebert # 1546

June 7

"My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him"(Psalm 62:5)

"Do not let us reserve God's promises for some far future time. In connection with chastening the Lord did not say, 'a long while afterward' and do not let us gratuitously insert it. It rather implies that as soon as the chastening is over, the peaceable fruit shall appear 'unto the glory and praise of God.' So let us look out for the afterward as soon as the pressure is past. This immediate expectation will bring its own blessing if we can say, 'My expectation is from Him,' and not from any fruit-bearing qualities of our own, for only 'from Me is Thy fruit found.' Fruit from Him will also be fruit unto Him." 
(Frances Ridley Havergal - Opened Treasures) 

N.J. Hiebert # 1547

June 8

"A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." (Luke 12:15)

"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4)

"Is the beast better, that has two or three mountains to graze on, than a little bee, that feeds on dew or manna, and lives upon what falls every morning from the storehouse of heaven, clouds, and providence?" (Jeremy Taylor)

"Every lot is happy to a person who bears it with tranquility." (Boethus)
(Taken from "Daily Strength for Daily Needs" 1907 - Selected by Mary W. Tileston)

N.J. Hiebert # 1548

June 9

"That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed."
(Romans 15:32)

"Not many of us love to be under a roof between walls, without being able to go out into the open air. Think what it must have meant to Paul to be not only indoors but never once alone. Think of being chained to a Roman soldier at all hours of the day and night. There was not much natural joy and refreshment in coming as a chained prisoner.

"Nothing was explained. Paul and the men and women of Rome were trusted to accept the unexplained and, like John the Baptist, not to be offended in their Lord."Do you not think that a great deal of what we call faith is not worth the name? It is too flimsy to be called by so strong a word. Faith is the steel of the soul." (Amy Carmichael - Edges of His Ways)

N.J. Hiebert # 1549

June 10

"No prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation." 
(2 Peter 1:20)

"You have got the mind of God in writing, and there it is stable and imperishable -- in contrast to traditions merely handed down from one to another. There cannot be the church speaking, without scripture. If the church can say anything itself, then Christ's words go for noting. I have another master over me. I am speaking of authority now, not of gift, which of course there is in the church for the bringing out of truth. But authority in the church trenches on the lordship of Christ over His house. It is a great thing to treasure in our souls that we have this revelation of God in Christ." (J.N. Darby)

N.J. Hiebert # 1551

June 11

"Ye must be born again." (John 3:7)

"When we are born again, it is not that something is born into us, but we are born into a new world. In natural birth the child is born into the physical round of Nature, and begins to function among the things to which it is introduced by its senses; and, in the second birth, we are born into the spiritual world, and begin to function among the things of the Spirit. 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.' (John 3:6)

Among the most precious results of the natural birth is the gift of the intellect, by which we accumulate and store knowledge; but among the results of our second birth into the realm of the Spirit, is the creation within us of the clean heart and the right sprit. "Create in me a clean heart, O God,' said David, 'and renew a right spirit within me.' This is the direct result of Regeneration. 'The eyes of our heart are opened.' We no longer see men as trees walking, but we see everything plainly. 'Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new (creation); old things are passed away, behold all things are become new.' " (F.B. Meyer)

N.J. Hiebert # 1196

June 12

"But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him." 
(John 4:23)

"We hear from many sides the cries for a new religion, for a universal religion. It will surely come; yea, it is almost upon us. The age will not run out irreligiously. The false worship, the Cain-cult is all about us. It is the bloodless religion, the religion which exalts man. And there you may even now go and hear the sweetest music, the finest operatic airs from well trained singers, often taken from the playhouses of the world. And the magnificent ceremonies and rituals - all great helps to worship - yes, but what kind of worship? A sensuous, soulical worship, but not the worship in Spirit and in truth. The true worship in the Spirit does not need the sweet music of the world." (A.C. Gaebelein)

N.J. Hiebert # 1197

June 13

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?... we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other (created thing) shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:35-39)

"Suppose a person gives up his state, what good will his standing be? Satan will soon wile him off that; that is just where the Ephesians themselves went wrong, so that we find them in the Revelation as having 'lost their first love.'

"A title, without means to support it, merely lays a person open to ridicule and censure. It is not now a question of the standing; but the question is, Have you means to support it?""Supposing a person goes on carelessly, it does not at all alter the fact of his title, but he will lose the enjoyment of it; and I believe this is one of the reasons why persons want to hear over and over again of the putting away of their sins; it is just that they are not walking blamelessly - that they are not walking up to the standing that they have received."
(Taken from "Food for the Desert")

N.J. Hiebert # 1198

June 14

"And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
(Deuteronomy 6:7)

"It is of little use attempting to teach our children the Word of God if our lives are not governed by that Word. We do not believe in making the blessed Word of God a mere schoolbook for out children; to do so is to turn a delightful privilege into a wearisome drudgery. Our children should see that we live in the very atmosphere of Scripture -- that it forms the material of our conversation when we sit in the bosom of the family, in our moments of relaxation.

Have we not rather to be deeply humbled in the presence of God when we reflect upon the general character and tone of our conversation at the table, and in the family circle? How little there is of Deuteronomy 6:7! How much of 'foolish talking' and 'jesting, which are not convenient'! How much evil speaking of our brethren, our neighbors, servants of Christ! How much idle gossip! How much worthless small talk!"
(Christian Truth January 1962)

N.J. Hiebert # 1553

June 15

"The Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me." (Psalm 42:8)

"Sherwood Wirt tells how God used a song to assure him of His unfailing love in the midst of overwhelming problems. He was serving as an Air Force chaplain in the Aleutian Islands shortly after World War ll had ended. The troops were bitter and disillusioned. 'I too became discouraged,' Wirt wrote, 'for life "on the chain" (as we called the stormy islands) was not only difficult, it was miserable.'"Then one day when things seemed 'most abysmal,' a record arrived at the Armed Forces radio station from a gospel broadcast. When Wirt played it, he heard, 'I trust in God wherever I may be, upon the land or on the rolling sea; for come what may, from day to day, my heavenly Father watches over me.'

"Wirt testifies, 'The music found its way down through...my own sin and frustration and self-pity, through the layers of theology, ecclesiology, and military rank and protocol, until it reached my poor shriveled heart. For the first time in weeks, I knew, I knew, that God loved me, and cared for me, and was watching over me. Through the long night of that Aleutian winter, the Lord's song stayed with me.' (Selected)

I trust in God, I know He cares for me
On mountain bleak or on the stormy sea;
Though billows roll, He keeps my soul,
My heavenly Father watches over me. (Martin)

N.J. Hiebert # 1199

June 16

"What wilt thou? And he (blind man) said, Lord, that I may receive my sight"  (Luke 18:41)

"When a soul owns that he is blind, and gets down at the feet of Jesus to own his need, then he gets the blessing. The last thing the natural heart is willing to do is to own its total poverty toward God.

"I remember Dr. Dashwood's giving an address at St. Louis. He told about a young lady to whom he had spoken as to her soul's salvation. Her reply was, 'I'm not interested.' He replied, 'It is not a question of your being interested, but of whether or not you are willing to be saved.' She admitted that this was the real reason of her indifference. So the Doctor replied, 'Are you willing to be made willing? She said, 'No, I do not think I am.' 'Well, possibly you would be willing to be made willing to be willing.' Again she responded in the negative.

Finally, he asked, 'Would you go as far as to ask God to make you willing to be made willing to be made willing to be willing?' She thought a bit, and said, 'Yes, I think I would be ready to go that far.' So the doctor said, 'Let us kneel and tell the Lord what you have just said.' So they knelt, and the Doctor prayed, 'Lord, look upon us. Make this dear soul willing to be made willing to be made willing to be saved. So, Lord, we count on Thee to do this for Jesus' sake. Amen.' As they rose from their knees, the tears were flowing; she was willing. And, of course, the result was, she was brightly saved right there. Yes, that was the crux of the whole matter." (C.H. Brown)

N.J. Hiebert # 1554

June 17

"And the Lord said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel."
(Genesis 3:14-15)

"In this we have the foundation for the establishment of the glory of God in connection with all that the devil has done in this world, or, I might say, in the whole universe of God.

"It was manifest in the Lord's life on earth that Divine love and mercy flowed out freely to all around, and the love and mercy was enjoyed by those who had hearts to receive it by faith. But then there were questions of eternal import that sin had raised which had to be settled by the Son of God."The righteousness of God had to be established in connection with the love and mercy that had been flowing from God ever since the Fall. God had said, 'In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.' " (W.M Sibthorpe)

N.J. Hiebert # 1200

June 18

"Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood." (Revelation 1:5)

"You may tell me of the highest truths, of the union of the Church with Christ, of the kingdom and the glory of the millennial age, of the Holy Ghost dwelling in me; but nothing will touch a chord in my heart like this - He loves me. He 'washed us from our sins in His own blood.' Think what it cost Him!' (R.K.)

N.J. Hiebert # 1555

June 19

"Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing: and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." (Revelation 3:17)

"It is hard to imagine a greater loss in the whole realm of nature than that of the eyesight. The blind man can no longer look on familiar scenes or on loved and cherished faces; he is doomed to perpetual darkness. The exquisite organ which has played so prominent a part in his life and fortune is unavailing now, and he is necessarily dependent on the kindly guiding hand of another. A greater privation cannot be conceived.

"Now, Christendom has lost its spiritual eyesight. It has become blind!"This was not always the case. It was not always 'dull of hearing, 'nor spiritually insensible; but, alas, when as a system it is outwardly triumphant and can boast of learning, wealth, and worldly position, He who walks among the seven golden candlesticks says to Laodicea, 'Thou... knowest not that thou art...blind!' ( J.W.S.)

N.J. Hiebert # 1556

June 20

"No chastening for the present seemeth to be (joyful)... nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness."
(Hebrews 12:11)

"I was in my second year of widowhood and I was struggling. Morning after morning my prayer life consisted of one daily sigh: 'Lord, I shouldn't be struggling like this!' 'And why not ?' His still, small voice asked me from within one morning.

"Then the answer came -- unrecognized pride! Somehow I had thought that a person of my spiritual maturity should be beyond such struggle. What a ridiculous thought, since I had never been a widow before and needed the freedom to be a true learner, even a struggling learner."At the same time, I was reminded of the story of a man who took home a cocoon so he could watch the emperor moth emerge. 

As the moth struggled to get through the time opening, the man enlarged it with the snip of his scissors. The moth emerged easily -- but its wings were shriveled. The struggle through the narrow opening is God's way to force fluid from its body into its wings. The 'merciful' snip, in reality, was cruel."Hebrews 12 describes the Christian life as an effort that involves discipline, correction, and training in righteousness. Surely such a race could not be run without a holy striving against self and sin. Sometimes the struggle is exactly what we need."
(Our Daily Bread - October 1994)

N.J. Hiebert #1557

June 22

"Our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." (2 Peter 3:15-16)

"Never cut the knot of a difficulty in Scripture, but wait until God unties it for you. There are difficulties in His Word. What is to be done with them? Submit to them; own that you do not understand; pray to God till, in the use of all right means, He clears them up. But never force the Word of God." (William Kelly)

N.J. Hiebert # 1559

June 23

"My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:30)

"The Christianity of the closet and the Christianity of busy life are not, as often fancied, conflicting things. The person who has fellowship with Jesus in His solitude knows how to carry the savor of the fellowship even into the most common affairs. There is need of prayer in this matter. For though we be convinced that there is but one thing needful, we are easily led away, like Martha, to busy and trouble ourselves about 'many things.'

Many things we must needs do and care about while we are in the flesh; but the work to which Christ calls us is to do and care about these things in such a spirit as to make them part and parcel of our great work -- the work of keeping close to Jesus, and of following Him whithersoever he goes. If only willing to leave all and follow Christ, He will make the cross not heavy to be borne, but a delight, more pleasant than to the miser is his load of gold, or to the earthly monarch are his insignia of power."
(Christian Truth - Vol. 15 - June 1962)

N.J. Hiebert # 1560

June 24

"Lord what wilt Thou have me to do?" (Acts 9:6)

"Am I thinking whether the things I do will get praise from men? Paul's service was not more approved than Phoebe's might be. The question for each one is, 'What has the Lord given me to do?' " (G.V. Wigram)

N.J. Hiebert # 1561

June 25

"Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body."
(2 Corinthians 4:10)

"With Paul the flesh was not allowed to interrupt the power of this divine life, so that it flowed on in an unhindered way..."It is an important fact that sacred Scripture never tells me to die to sin, for this I never could do. But the Scripture tells me that I am dead, having died with Christ, and this is Christian liberty. I begin with being dead with Christ. For I cannot die to sin, when sin is the character of my whole life apart from Christ." (J.N. Darby)

N.J. Hiebert # 1562

June 26

"And they shall all be taught of God." 
(John 6:45)

"What explains prophecy? That which explains all Scripture - the Spirit of God alone. His power can unfold any part of the Word of God. Do you ask if I mean to say that it is of no importance to know languages, understanding history, and so on? I am not raising a question about learning. It has its use; but I deny that history is the interpreter of prophecy, or of any scripture. And if there are Christians who know the history of the world, or the original tongues of Scripture, it is Christ who has to do with the spiritual intelligence, and not their knowledge or learning. 

Besides, even if men are Christians, it does not necessarily follow that they understand Scripture. They know Christ, else they would not be Christians. But real entrance into God's mind, in Scripture, supposes that a person watches against self, desires the glory of God, has full confidence in His Word, and dependence on the Holy Ghost. 

The understanding of Scripture is not a mere intellectual thing. If a man has no mind at all, he could not understand anything; but the mind is only the vessel -- not the power. The power is the Holy Ghost acting upon and through the vessel, but it must be the holy Ghost Himself that fills the soul."
(C.H. Macintosh)
N.J. Hiebert # 1563

June 27

"That we... be no more children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." 
(Ephesians 4:14)

"The present is a time, when many are running to and fro to increase knowledge of all kinds. And this must be a caution to our souls; for the saint has always to watch against the spirit of the times. And in these present times of light and knowledge (though it may be knowledge of God), we are still to remember that it is not food merely, but digestion, that nourishes. The clean animal, under the law, chewed the cud. And the Spirit of God, through the wisdom of Solomon, has said, 'Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.' (Proverbs 15:16)" 
(J.G. Bellett - Short Meditations on the Psalms)

N.J. Hiebert # 1564

June 28

"Wilt Thou not revive us again: that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?" (Psalms 85:6)

"It is as His word searches us that we can be delivered from independency of God. Is that not true? Suppose pride and independency lift up their head, how can we get delivered from them? When the word of God becomes a living reality to us, when we bow to its authority. I love to hear of revival among God's people, or rather I love to hear of a revived faith. But what is it that marks a revival? Is it excitement, is it a wonderful kind of sentiment to gather us together by a sort of natural love? 

These would not be a genuine spirit of revival, such as has marked the great epochs of the Church's history. A revival is not effected in this way, but by bringing home the word of God to the conscience, mind and heart, and the people bowing under the authority of that holy Word." 
(S. Ridout - Lectures on Judges)

N.J. Hiebert # 1565

June 29

"If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction..." (James 1:26-27)

"True religion is shown by love in the heart, and by purity -- keeping oneself unspotted from the world. It thinks of others, for those who are in distress, in need of protection, and the help and support of love, as widows and orphans. The truly religious heart, full of the love of God, and moved by Him, thinks, as God does, upon sorrow, weakness, and need. It is the true christian character." (J.N. Darby)

N.J. Hiebert # 1566

June 30

"By love serve one another." (Galatians 5:13)

"We need not be restless and tried about this or that. We often fail in thinking what we may do in talking to people; whereas if we spoke a good deal more to God, and less to man, others would not be losers, and we should be gainers, and God would be far more glorified." (William Kelly - Galatians)
N.J. Hiebert # 1567

July 1

"Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away. Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." (Isaiah 41:9-10)

"To know God and to confide in Him is to be invincible. None can really injure one whose confidence is in the Lord, for He will cause all that seems to be evil to work for the good of those who put their trust in Him. It is thus that fear, that deadly enemy of the heart, is overcome. In due time God will deal with those who seek to injure His people. He will mete out righteous judgment to those who trouble His saints (2 Thessalonians 1:6,7). The believer can afford to leave all in His hands and so go on in quietness and confidence, through good or evil report." (H.A. Ironside - Isaiah)

N.J. Hiebert # 1568

"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me for I am meek and lowly of heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

"Here we have two things standing in contrast to each other, a burden and a rest. The burden is not a local one, peculiar to those first hearers, but one which is borne by the whole human race. It consists not of political oppression or poverty or hard work. It is far deeper than that. It is felt by the rich as well as the poor, for it is something from which wealth and idleness can never deliver us.

"The burden borne by mankind is a heavy and a crushing thing. The word Jesus used means 'a load carried or toil borne to the point of exhaustion.' Rest is simply release from that burden. It is not something we do; it is what comes to us when we cease to do. His own meekness, that is the rest."Let us examine our burden. It is altogether an interior one. It attacks the heart and the mind and reaches the body only from within. First, there is the burden of pride. The labor of self-love is a heavy one indeed. Think for yourself whether much of your sorrow has not arisen from someone speaking slightingly of you. As long as you set yourself up as a little god to which you must be loyal there will be those who will delight to offer affront to your idol. How then can you hope to have inward peace?

The heart's fierce effort to protect itself from every slight, to shield its touchy honor from the bad opinion of friend and enemy, will never let the mind have rest. Continue this fight through the years and the burden will become intolerable. Yet the sons of earth are carrying this burden continually, challenging every word spoken against them, cringing under every criticism, smarting under each fancied slight, tossing sleepless if another is preferred before them."Such a burden as this is not necessary to bear. Jesus calls us to His rest, and meekness is His method. (A.W. Tozer)

N.J. Hiebert # 1569

July 2

"THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS." (Matthew 27:37)

"When the King whom the magi worshipped appeared as a small Child, the enemy sought to cut Him off through the murder of the children at Bethlehem. At the cross where he thought to make an end of Him, he could not prevent Him from being declared King of the Jews in sight of all by Pilate's inscription; and, when the enemy thought he was victorious, God resurrected His Anointed and made Him Lord and Christ before the eyes of the whole house of Israel." (H.L. Rossier)

N.J Hiebert # 1570

July 3

"Hypocrite, cast out first the (plank) out of thine own eye." 
(Luke 6:42)

"Some of us are quick to find fault with our fellow believers. In the name of 'encouraging' or 'exhorting,' we point out the sins and shortcomings of our brothers and sisters in Christ without seeing our own failures or guilt."I was reminded of that when I heard an account of a young person. Late one evening, she was driving through the streets of Broken Arrow, Okalahoma, when an oncoming car turned left in front of her. She honked her horn to let the person know he had nearly caused an accident by his carelessness."When she parked her car a few minutes later, the same car pulled up beside her and the driver got out. 'The next time you honk your horn at someone,' he said, 'maybe you should make sure your headlights are on.' 

Sure enough, in her haste she had forgotten to turn on her lights. She had been so convinced he was in the wrong that she never saw her own error. She was the one who had almost caused an accident."We often act in a similar way. We're quick to judge the behavior of others and point out their error. Jesus prefers that we examine our own lives and be quick to say, 'I was wrong. I am sorry." (Selected --)

N.J. Hiebert # 1572

July 4

"But now are they many members, yet but one body." 
(1 Corinthians 12:20)

"I will not let you find fault with your bodies, because He made them. You may find as much fault as you like with the flesh, but that is not your bodies. Our bodies are 'members of Christ' Christendom has fallen into the great mistake of making our bodies members of the church, which is quite contrary to scripture: 'We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.' (Taken from "Foods for the Desert.")

N.J. Hiebert # 1573

July 5

"The way of transgressors is hard." (Proverbs 13:15)

"The pleasures of sin. The pleasures of sin must needs be short, because life cannot be long, and they both end together. Indeed, many times the pleasure of sin dies before the man dies: sinners live to bury their Joy in this world. The worm breeds in their conscience before it breeds in their flesh by death.

But be sure the pleasure of sin never survives this world. The word is gone out of God's mouth, every sinner 'shall lie down in sorrow' and wake in sorrow.... The carnal heart is all for the present; his snout is in the trough, and while his draught lasts, he thinks it will never end. Who would envy the condemned man his feast which he hath in his way to the gallows?

"Where guilt is contracted in the getting of and enjoyment, there can be little sweetness tasted when it comes to be used. There is a great difference between the joy of the husbandman, at the getting in of his corn at the harvest, and the thief's joy, who hath stolen some sheaves out of another's field, and is making merry with his booty." (William Gurnall - The Christian in Complete Armor) (1665)

N.J. Hiebert # 1574

July 6

"But He (Jesus) answered and said, it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4)

"Nine-tenths of our ideas come from relationship, not from intellect; just as a child knows its father.
Relationship is never known by reason: mind is fond of a kind of metaphysical reasoning about this, but it is all folly. The moment relationship is formed, all moral duty flows from it, and from it alone. Duty has nothing to do with intellect. This it is that makes us totally dependent. Man at the outset tried to get out of dependence on God, and really got into dependence on the devil and his own lusts. 'By every word of God shall man live' was dependence and obedience, and that was where Christ was: it is the proper place of every intelligent creature, who ought to be both dependent and obedient."
(J.N. Darby)

N.J. Hiebert # 1575