Gems from November 2017

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.”

(Psalm 37:23)

We have the fullest assurance that our God can and does guide His children in all things. He can signify His mind to us as to this or that particular act or movement. If not, where are we? How are we to get on?  

How are we to regulate our movements? Are we to drift hither and thither by the tide of circumstances? Are we left to blind chance, or to the mere impulse of our own will?  

We thank God it is not so.  He can, in His own perfect way, give us the certainty of His mind in any given case; and, without that certainty, we should never move.  

Our Lord Jesus Christ (all homage to His peerless name!) can intimate His mind to His servant as to where He would have him go, and what He would have him to do; and no true servant will ever think of moving or acting without such intimation.

We should never move in uncertainty.  If we are not sure, let us be quiet and wait! Very often it happens that we harass and fret ourselves about movements that God would not have us make at all.

A person once said to a friend, “I am quite at a loss to know which way to turn.” 

'Then don’t turn at all," was the friend’s wise reply . . .  But it is the meek He will guide in judgment and teach His way! We must never forget this. 

(C. H. Mackintosh)

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“. . . Christ shall be magnified in my body,

whether it be by life, or by death.”

(Philippians 1:20)

Many years ago at the opening of a Disarmament Conference, in the midst of a speech King George was making,  some one tripped over the wires of the Columbia Broadcasting Company, 

tearing them loose and interrupting the service.

The chief operator quickly grasped the loose wires in his bare hands, holding them in contact, and for twenty minutes the current passed through while repairs were being made.  His hands were slightly burned, but through them the words of the King passed on to the millions of listeners and were heard distinctly.  Without his courage and endurance the King’s message would have failed to reach its destination.

The KING of heaven has chosen to send His message to a lost world through human wires. Every faithful missionary and every Christian who gives his or her support is a human wire through which the KING’S voice is reaching the lost with a message of peace, vastly more important than the message from London, England.

For the missionary, it is often a costly business. Some men and women must suffer the loss of every earthly thing, stoop with weariness, waste away with fevers in far-off places, even die—but it pays to HOLD ON.

Only thus can men hear the voice of the KING.

God’s church needs more men who are willing to TAKE HOLD 

and HOLD ON.

(Mountain Trailways for Youth)

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November 1

"I find in Him no fault at all"  (John 18:38, 19:4, 6).

“This man hath done  nothing amiss"  (Luke 23:41).

“Truly this was the Son of God”  (Matthew 27:54).

Certainly this was a righteous Man (Luke 23:47).

Here are three independent testimonies from people 

who were outside the Lord’s circle.

Pilate, the political man; the centurion, a military man;

and the thief, a common criminal.

Yet despite the distance that separated these men socially and morally,  

on one thing they were all agreed — the sinless 

perfection of the Lord Jesus.

Not even his enemies could establish a fault in Him. Ah yes.  

The Lord Jesus was “Holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26).

(W. H. Burnett)

But spotless, undefiled, and pure, the great Redeemer stood,

While Satan’s fiery darts He bore, and did resist to blood.

(Isaac Watts)

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November 2

“. . . I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, HIM declare I unto you.”

(Acts 17:22-23)

Three-fourth of the profession in our 

day is merely worshipping 

an "unknown God.”

If the heart begins to approve itself because 

of its intelligence, the sense of need

lessens, and piety diminishes.

(Hunt’s sayings)

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November 3

“I can do all things through Christ which 

strengtheneth me.”

(Philippians 4:13)

Paul . . . could do all things through Him who strengthened him.

Sweet and precious experience! not only because it gives ability to meet all circumstances, which is of great price, but because the Lord is known, the constant, faithful, mighty friend of the heart.

It is not “I can do all things,“ but ”I can do all though Him who strengtheneth me.” It is a strength which continually flows from a relationship with Christ, a connection with Him maintained in the heart.

Neither is it only “one can do all things.”  This is true; but Paul had learned it practically.

He knew what he could . . . reckon on.

Christ had always been faithful to him, had brought him through so many difficulties, and through so many seasons of prosperity, that he had learned to trust in Him, and not in circumstances.

And Christ was the same ever.

(Pilgrim Portions for the Day of Rest)  

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November 4

“Then were there brought unto Him little children, that He should put His hands on them.

And He laid His hands on them.”

(Matthew 19:13,15)

“Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children,

ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

(Matthew 18:3)

Those who are young, O God, 

Make them Thine own;

Now in their early days—

Turn them to Thy blest ways.

Those who are older too,

Make them Thine own;

Now in salvation’s time—

To Thee their hearts incline. 

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November 5

“Break forth into singing.”

(Isaiah 49:13)

There is a beautiful story which tells of songbirds being brought over the sea. There were thirty-six thousand, mostly canaries.

The sea was very calm when the ship first sailed, and the little birds were silent.

They kept their little heads under their wings and not a note was heard.

But the third day out at sea, the ship struck a furious gale.

The passengers were terrified.  Children wept.  

Then a strange thing happened.

As the tempest reached its height, the birds began to sing, first one, then another, until the thirty-six thousand were singing as if their little throats would burst.

When the storm rises in its fury, do we then begin to sing?

Should not our song break forth in tenfold joy when the tempest begins?  

Try singing!  Singing in the storm!

(Springs in the Valley)

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November 6

Strength in Looking Up

“Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; who

for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, 

despising the shame, and is set down at the right 

hand of the throne of God.”

(Hebrews 12:2)

There is always strength in looking to God; but if the mind rest  

upon the weakness otherwise than to cast it upon God it becomes unbelief.

Difficulties may come in.

God may allow many things to arise to prove our weakness; but the simple path of faith is to go on, not looking beforehand at what we have to do, but reckoning upon the help that we shall need and find when the time arrives.

The sense that we are nothing makes us glad to forget ourselves,

and then it is that Christ becomes everything to the soul.

(Comforted of God - A. J. Pollock)

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November 7

“For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.”

(Acts 17:28)

Distractions in prayer are often because we have let ourselves wander too far from the things that matter most at common times, and so we have slipped into an easily interrupted, easily distracted,

frame of mind.

We need to live more at home.

"In Him we live, and move, and have our being”

means simply this: “God is our Home”.  

Home of our hearts, lest we forget what our redemption meant to Thee,

Let our most reverent thought be set upon Thy Calvary.

These words speak of something that I find I cannot drop out of my day without loss.

I believe that a few minutes given daily to an earnest look at Calvary,

would do more to help our prayer than we imagine.

“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, 

be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength,

and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).  

 (Amy Carmichael) 

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November 8

“Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me.  In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

(John 14:1-3)  

Here we have set before us the prospects of all believers in Christ—young and old: the Father’s house, the many mansions, the prepared place, the return of our Saviour, our going to meet Him,

and our eternal felicity in His presence.

Our strong conviction is that the coming of the Lord Jesus is on the very eve of becoming an accomplished fact; and that, old as some of us are, we shall not see death.

While, however, the Word of the Lord declares the certainty of the Saviour’s second coming, and the signs of the times, its imminence, there is nothing so uncertain as the hour of its fulfilment. 

“Of that hour knoweth no man” (Mark 13:32); and hence it is possible that we may have to pass through the valley of the shadow which, equally with our being caught up to meet Him in the air, will prove to be an avenue to God. 

And since all the things which we know about our Saviour make us trust Him in the things which we do not know, we should face the possibility of death peacefully and with an untroubled heart.

(Heaven’s Cure for Earth’s Care)

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November 9

“I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their task-masters; for I know their sorrows, and I am come down to deliver them.”

(Exodus 3:7-8)

Which particular form of trial is yours at the present moment?

Is it one which everybody can see? 

Is it some serious illness?

Has death come to your household, and are the blinds drawn? Or is it some commercial disaster?

Well remember this, God sees it: “He that formed the eye, shall He not see?”

“I have surely seen the affliction of My people.”

And is He not the same as ever?

Will He not do for you what He did for His people long ago?

"I am come down to deliver them.”

As surely as Christ of old touched the hand of Peter’s wife’s mother and the fever left her;

as certainly as He brought comfort to the bereaved home at Bethany; 

as effectually as He fed the hungry multitude by multiplying the 

loaves and fishes, so surely can He comfort you, and,

if deliverance is necessary, in due time 

deliver you, if you trust Him.  

(Angels in White - Russel Elliot)

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November 10

“O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me;

let them bring me unto Thy holy hill.”

(Psalm 43:3)

I am a creature of a day. I want to know one thing—

the way to heaven; how to land safely on that happy shore.

God Himself has condescended to teach the way; for this very end He came down from Heaven.

He hath written it down in a book.  O give me this Book!  at any price, 

give me the Book of God! I have it; here is 

knowledge enough for me.

Let me be a man of one Book.  Here, then, I am, far from the busy ways 

of men. I sit down alone; only God is here. In His presence I open, 

I read His book; for this end— to find the way to Heaven.    

There is a chart whose tracings show the onward course when tempest blow—

’Tis God’s own Word!  There, there is found directions for the homeward bound.  (H.J.B)

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November 11

“Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth:

for I am God, and there is none else.”

(Isaiah 45:22)

The whole question of sin is settled by the death of Christ.

He went into death, and annulled it.  He destroyed him who had the power of death.

He took sin upon Him, and put it away; and now at the right hand of God, 

He says, “Look unto me, come unto Me.”  If you come, 

He will give you eternal life on the spot,

and make you a living stone.

Peter then, that day, had life communicated to him from the Son of God.

he "passed from death unto life” as he stood before the Son

of God that day; his soul was forever linked 

with the Lord from that day.

(John 1:42)

I do not say that he followed the Lord then,

but here you get the moment of Peter’s conversion,

he is quickened with the very life of Jesus, and becomes a "living stone.”

This then is the account of his conversion.

(Simon Peter - W. T. P. Wolston)

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November 12

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.”

(2 Chronicles 16:9)

God is not waiting to show us strong in His behalf but Himself strong in our behalf.  That makes a lot of difference.

He is not out to demonstrate what we can do but what He can do.

But God is on the lookout for candidates with hearts perfect toward Him.

He is not a a talent scout looking for somebody strong enough or good enough.

He is looking for someone with a heart set on pleasing 

Him and an eye single to His glory.

He will do the rest.

What a wonder that God will use our lives to demonstrate Himself!

But we like to demonstrate ourselves and do great exploits in God’s behalf.

That reverses the process and God does not get the glory.

We have seen enough of what men can do for God;

we need to see more of what God can do through men.

He has shown Himself strong in our behalf many a time.

And what He has done for others, 

He will do for you.

(Vance Havner)

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November 13

“A bruised reed will He not break . . . “

(Matthew 12:20)

After he found himself no longer able to render active Christian service, Austin Phelps wrote, 

“One thought has assumed a new reality in my mind of late, 

as an offshoot of my useless life.

When a man can do nothing else, he can add his little rill to the great river of intercessory prayer which is always rolling up to the throne of God.

The river is made up of such rills as the ocean is of drops.

A praying man can never be a useless man.”

Make use of me, my God! Let me not be forgot;

A broken vessel cast aside, one whom Thou needest not.

All things do serve Thee here, all creatures, great and small;

Make use of me, of me, my God—the meanest of them all.

(Dr. Horatius Bonar)

When a man enlists with God, he lets Him choose his rank and uniform.

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November 14

“And God saw . . . and, behold, it was very good.”

(Genesis 3:1)

"And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord.” (Genesis 3:8)

Sin distorts God’s best.

What started out very good became very bad because of sin.

Man chose to disobey God and the results were catastrophic.

It led to hiding from God, self justification and

living daily with the thorns, sweat and 

sorrow of sin’s consequences.

Oh, dear believer, when you came to Jesus Christ 

your fellowship with Him was very good.

Don’t let sin distort God’s best for you. 

It will only lead to emptiness, sorrow and loss.

“Let us lay aside . . . the sin which doth so easily beset us.” 

(Hebrews 12:1)

(C. Tempest)

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November 15

“For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.”

(Ezra 7:10)

In devoting himself at an early stage of life to the study and practice of God’s law,

Ezra was laying a good foundation for heavy 

responsibilities which lay ahead.

In every generation, moral and spiritual preparation is vital, 

if we wish to accomplish anything for God.

Give him your best now. 

Today is one piece in His “jigsaw” of your life!

Use it for Him!

(G. Hall)

Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord, 

By the power of grace divine;

Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope, 

And my will be lost in Thine.

(Fanny Crosby)

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November 16

“My beloved is gone down into His garden, to the beds of spices,

to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.”

(Song of Solomon 6:2)

As the seasons pass on, it will seem as if there was always more and more to be done; the very fact that He is constantly showing us something more to be done in it, proving that it is really His ground. 

Only let Him have the ground, no matter how poor or overgrown the soil may be, and then

“He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord.”

Yes, even our desert! And then we shall sing:

“My Beloved is gone down into His garden, to the

beds of spices, to feed in the gardens and to gather lilies".

(Kept for the Master’s Use - Frances Ridley Havergal)

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November 17

“Jesus said unto Him, Forbid him not:

for he that is not against us is for us.”

(Luke 9:50)

"He that is not with Me is against Me; 

and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad.”

(Matthew 12:30) 

“If He . . . gather together, then who can hinder Him?”

(Job 11:10)

And God is undisturbed by all this chaos;

His purposes He’s working just the same;

And in this day of ruin and declension,

He’s gathering a people for His name.

As He looks down on all the vast profession, 

He knows each heart, that truly loves His name,

And in His sight, they precious are, and spotless,

Because their trust is placed in God’s own Son.

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November 18

“And when they saw [Joseph] afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him." 

(Genesis 37:18)

“And [the prodigal] arose, and came to his father.

But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him  

and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." (Luke 15:20) 

Joseph’s touching story foreshadows too what manner of reception 

the world has give to the sent One of the Father.

Having no heart for their father, these men of evil ways have no eyes to discern the sent one of his love.  For them Joseph is only a dreamer whose dreams they would 

fain frustrate by conspiring to slay him.

Even so of Christ, His people said, “This is the heir, come let us kill Him.”

And how eager man is to express his hatred.

“When they saw him afar off . . . they conspired against him to slay him."

But God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways as our ways.

If it is a question of the Son of the Father’s love drawing near 

to men, then indeed He will be rejected while yet afar off.

But if it is a question of a sinner being drawn to the Father, then 

we read while “yet a great way off his father saw him, 

and had compassion, and ran, and fell

on his neck and kissed him.”

(Hamilton Smith)

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November 19

“The heart knoweth its own bitterness;

And a stranger doth not intermeddle with its joy.”  (Proverbs 14:10)

         Every heart has its secret of joy or sorrow that no other ever shares.

Hidden deep down from the sight of the nearest and the dearest are, often,

griefs too deep for utterance, or joys too great for words.

How truly was this the case with our blessed Lord Himself!

Who ever sounded the depths of the anguish of His 

soul, or who can estimate aright His joys? 

To such a High Priest we can go with our own heaviest sorrows, 

and with Him we can share our inmost thoughts of exultation and delight.

(H. A. Ironside)

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November 20 

“Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father . . .  Then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.”

(1 Corinthians 15:24, 28)

Yes,  God, by the Son, made the worlds or the ages. And when the worlds or the ages have run their course, and discharged their trust; when dispensations have manifested the counsels and the works and the glories appointed them; the Son, as the One in whom they were laid, and by whom they were ordered, may well be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.

It is the subjection of office, the subjection of Him who had all things put under Him to Him who did put all things under Him. That is the character of this subjection.

As to the Person, unlike the office, it is eternal.

The Son is of the glory of the Godhead, as

is the Father, and as is the Holy Ghost.

"Thou art the  everlasting Word, the Father’s only Son;

God manifest, God seen and heard, the Heaven’s beloved One.

In Thee, most perfectly expressed, the Father’s self doth shine;

Fulness of Godhead, too; the Blest, Eternally divine.”  

(J. G. Bellett)

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November 21

The Glittering Toys of Life!

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:13)

We are pilgrims—we are strangers in a barren land. 

This world is not our portion—it is incapable of satisfying our desires. The glittering toys of life are not calculated to afford real enjoyment.

There is nothing in Heaven or earth that can delight our hearts and ease us of the heavy load of sin, but God.

Let us not be satisfied with the groveling pursuits of time—but let us look to the unchangeable God for a supply of His soul-refreshing grace. 

How much has God done for us individually!  He has made us partakers of His grace and redeemed us from eternal destruction. What shall we render to Him for this abundant mercy? 

O let our future lives evince gratitude—

and let our praises unceasingly 

flow to His throne.

"Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain

from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul!” 

(1 Peter 2:11)

(Harriet Newell - Missionary to India) (1793-1812 - B.L.)

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November 22

“For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.”

(1 John 1:2)

Knowledge itself—mere knowledge—puffs up; but, being brought low, 

the Spirit of God can act upon the soul and give 

knowledge in communion with God.

Although the  epistle of John is very abstract, yet it is abstract about

things that the very feeblest saint knows in Christ.

God is brought down to our nature, for God can come down 

to us in our weakness in Christ.

The difference between the writings of Paul and John is this, that Paul unfolds to us the counsels of God in grace; whereas John may be called more abstract, because he speaks of the nature of God Himself.  

The purpose and object of God is to bring us into

full fellowship with Himself.

(J. N. Darby)

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November 23

“And he (Jonah) prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray Thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country?  Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest Thee of the evil.”

(Jonah 4:2)  

The repentance in man means to “think again,”or a change of thought or a change of mind. In Samuel 15:29, we read: "The hope of Israel will not lie nor repent; for He is not a man, that He should repent.” 

What then does Jonah mean when he says “Thou . . . repentest Thee of the evil”?  It does not mean a change of mind on God’s part, but a change of action caused by a change of mind on man’s part.

God sends warnings to man, in order that man may change his mind, may repent,  so that God may change His action from judgment to mercy.

God has not changed His mind.

God’s mind has ever been toward mercy: “Thou art a gracious God, and merciful;” but man’s sin must bring down the righteous judgment of God, even though He is slow to anger.  There is only one way of escape, and that  is by repentance on the part of sinful man.

With this object in view God sends warnings to individuals and to nations.

If they hear and repent, then God may act according to the desires

of His heart, and show mercy.

If man will not repent, there is no other way,

and judgment must fall.

(G. C. Willis)

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November 24

“His flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little 

child, and he was clean.”

(2 Kings 5:14)

"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

(2 Corinthians 5:17)

The new creation of the soul does now no less His power display

Than when He formed the mighty whole, and kindled darkness into day.

Though self-destroyed, O Lord, we are, yet let us feel what thou canst do;

Thy word the ruin can repair, and all our hearts create anew.

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November 25

THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” (1 Peter 3:15)

Inspiration is a word that is held very lightly and loosely by men of the world. 

The English word “inspiration” is derived from two Latin words, in spiro—to breathe into. It denotes that secret action of the Spirit on the faculties of a living messenger by which he is enabled to receive, utter, or record, the divine message.

Scripture is the result of that sacred influence, embodied and recorded in a written form.  “The Bible, is the divinely inspired volume in which God has revealed to mankind the truths which make for their highest well-being, here and hereafter; which He has not revealed to them otherwise; and which they could not have discovered by their own reason and research.”

The fundamental claim of the Bible in this matter, is set forth in five passages: 

“He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets which have been since the world began” (Luke 1:70). 

“Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth” (1 Corinthians 2:13)

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God” 
(2 Timothy 3:16).

  

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son” (Hebrews 1:1-2). 

“Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21).

(The Wonderful Word - George Henderson)

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November 26

“Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it.” (Deuteronomy 4:2)

The business world says there’s “no such thing as a free lunch” and they’re right—  someone has to pay, even if the lunch is free to me.

God’s plan of salvation is a free gift to all who will receive it, though it was very costly to provide.

The unconverted would try to add something of their own good works to God’s work: baptism or maintaining some church tradition.

The work of Christ is complete—finished!

How dare we seek in our feeble sinful frame to suggest the work of the Saviour is inadequate and that we must do our part to be saved.

(William H. Gustafson)

Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to Thy cross I cling.

(A. M. Toplady)   

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November 27

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

(Philippians 4:6)

How often care comes between our souls and Himself, and thus prevents all possible enjoyment of the Father’s love.

He would have us, in the intimacy of His love, to be without reserve before Him—all told out, nothing kept back.

Our danger never lies in telling Him too much, but just in the opposite direction. . . . 

He loves to hear the cry of His children, for He well knows that it is the expression of their confidence in Him.

It may be, as it often is, a foolish cry, but still it is the cry of His own children, and He never wearies of listening to it.

(Edward Dennett)

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November 28

“I Shall Be Satisfied”

“I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.”

(Psalm 17:15)

“I shall be satisfied when I awake”— not only on some future day of days When I shall hear Him call me, and arise to leave the earth and all its changeful ways;

But now and here, each morning, when my sleep drops from me like a garment of the night, When with the darkness all its fears depart, and I awake to find that it is light,

To feel the sting of memory’s reproach, the consciousness of yesterday’s defeats,  How much was purposed and how little done in all its small advances and retreats;

To know a new day waits me, with its tasks, its disappointed hopes, its vain desires, Its oft-repeated failure to achieve the heights of faith to which my soul aspires,

Its humbling knowledge of my life’s deep need, its weary ways o’er which my feet must plod;  Yet I am satisfied when I awake, because I see His face, my Saviour God.

(Annie Johnson Flint’s Best-Loved Poems)

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November 29

“Fear not, thou worm Jacob . . .  I will make thee a new sharp, threshing instrument having teeth.” (Isaiah 41:14,15)

Could any two things be in greater contrast than a worm and an instrument with teeth?

The worm is delicate, bruised by a stone, crushed beneath the passing wheel; an instrument with teeth can break and not be broken; it can grave its mark upon the rock. And the mighty God can convert the one into the other.

He can take a man or a nation, who has all the impotence of the worm, and by the invigoration of His own Spirit, He can endow with strength by which a noble mark is left upon the history of the time.

And so the “worm” may take heart.  The mighty God can make us stronger than our circumstances.  He can bend them all to our good.

In God’s strength we can make them all pay tribute to our souls.  We can even take hold of a dark disappointment, break it open, and extract some jewel of grace.  

When God gives us wills like iron, we can drive through difficulties as the iron share cuts through the toughest soil.

"I will make thee,” and shall He not do it?

(Streams in the Desert)

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November 30

“If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine whereunto thou has attained.”

(1 Timothy 4:6)

All who minister, whether in the gospel, or in the church of God, should

lean continually and exclusively on the power of the Holy Spirit! 

He knows what soul need, and He can supply it.

We must really get to the bottom of all that belongs to self,

if we are to be the vessels of the Holy Spirit.

It would be a fatal mistake for a man to use professed dependence upon the Spirit as a plea for neglecting prayerful study and meditation.

Let it ever be remembered that the Holy Spirit is the ever living,

never failing spring of ministry. It is He alone that can 

bring forth in divine freshness and fulness 

the treasures of God’s word.

A man may speak a hundred times on the same portion of

scripture, to the same people, and, on each occasion, 

he may minister Christ, in spiritual freshness, 

to their souls. 

And on the other hand, a man may rack his brain to find out new subjects,

and new modes of handling old themes, and all the while there may 

not be one atom of Christ or of spiritual power in his ministry.

(Food for the Desert)

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