Gems from November 2019

November 1

Then are they glad because they be quiet; 

so He bringeth them unto their desired heaven. 

Psalm 107:30

In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.  

Isaiah 30:15

I NEEDED THE QUIET

I needed the quiet so He drew me aside,

Into the shadows where we could confide.

Away from the bustle where all the day long 

I hurried and worried when active and strong.

I needed the quiet though at first I rebelled,

But gently, so gently, my cross He upheld,

And whispered so sweetly of spiritual things.

Though weakened in body, my spirit took wings

To heights never dreamed of when busy all day.

He loved me so greatly He drew me away.

I needed the quiet.  No prison my bed, 

But a beautiful valley of blessings instead—

A place to grow richer in Jesus to hid.

I needed the quiet so He drew me aside.

(Alice Hansche Mortenson)

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November 2

God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love,

and of a sound mind.  2 Timothy 1:7.

But it is impossible to close our eyes to the startling fact that the claims of Christ, the value of truth, the authority of holy Scripture, are being more and more set aside each day, each week, each year. We believe we are approaching a moment in the which there will be toleration for any thing and every thing save the truth of God.

It is necessary for us, therefore, to look well to it that God’s Word has its own proper place in the heart, and that the conscience is governed in all things by its holy authority.

A tender conscience is a most precious treasure to carry about with us from day to day—a conscience that ever yields a true response to the action of the Word of God—that bows down without a question to its plain statements.

When the conscience is in this fine condition, there is always a regulating power wherewith to act upon one’s practical course and character.

C. H. Macintosh

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November 3

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

let them bring me unto Thy holy hill.

Psalm 43:3 

A MAN OF ONE BOOK

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.

John Wesley 1703-1791

There is a chart whose tracings show

The onward course when tempests blow—

’Tis God’s own Word! There, there is found

Directions for the homeward bound.    .

H.J.B.

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November 4

[Love] thinketh no evil.  1 Corinthians 13:5.

. . . Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.  Psalm 15:3.

If all of us, by the grace of God, lived in the spirit of these two verses it would set free an immense amount of time  and strength for the Things of the Father, that Business for which alone we Christians are in the world.

Think of the time that would be set free for prayer for those who do not know Him, if we had not to spend so much on those who do.  Think of the strength we have to expend in sorting out wrong relationships, which could be given instead to the War of the Lord.

It should be simply impossible for us to think unkindly of anyone.

Satan will always see to it that there are people ready

to sow seeds of suspicion.

Let us refuse to receive them.  Let us not endure them for a moment.  Let us not imagine evil in our heart, but always put the best and most loving construction on everything. /Unkindness in our thought life is one of the things that God hates.  

Beloved, let us love.  1 John 4:7.  

Amy Carmichael

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November 5

WORDS LIKE NO OTHER

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away. Matthew 24:35

Could the whole world have heard, the whole world would have laughed in ridicule and scorn at the impossibility of such a thing.  But these words were true.

Unlike the words of mortal men that turn to ashes like themselves,

the words of Christ are enduring and eternal.

His words did not have to be preserved by the art of publication, 

so that being shelved among the monuments of the past, they would continue.

His words are living words; they grow like the seed in the hearts of His people, and shall bloom and bear fruit through time and eternity.

They have not passed away, nor shall they.

A Plant of Renown - Leonard Sheldrake  

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November 6

A  HIGHER  MOTIVE

He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God.  Psalm 40:3

O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth.  Psalm 96:1

It is not only for the sake of the unsaved that we want them so much to come to the Saviour. Our earnestness has a stronger spring than even that.  We love our Lord, so that we cannot bear Him not to be esteemed aright.

We cannot bear Him to be thought little of, and to be misunderstood; it is pain, real pain, to us when He is not appreciated and loved and adored—when all that He has done is treated as not worth whole-hearted gratitude and love—when His great and blood-bought salvation is neglected. 

For His own beloved sake, for His own glory’s sake, we want others to come, that they too may love, and bless, and glorify Him!

Do ye doubt our feeble witness?  Though ye scorn us, come and see!

Come and hear Him for yourselves, and ye shall know that it is He!

Ye shall find in Him the Center, the very Truth and Life,     

Resplendent resolution of the endless doubt and strife.

Opened Treasures - Frances Ridley Havergal

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November 7

RICH TOWARDS GOD

And I will say to my soul, Soul, Thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.  Luke 12:19.

The world has never been without such characters as the Saviour describes here.  Such men into whose lap the Creator has poured blessings in abundance only use His favours to the utter exclusion of Himself.

The rich man of our parable was hampered because his farm had brought forth plentifully and his barns were full to overflowing, so that greater storehouses must be erected.  The possibility of any hitch arising in connection with his projects never occurred to his self-confident mind.

No thought of God and no thought of eternity found room in his foolish thoughts.  To him this world was everything, and he confidently expected to hold and enjoy it indefinitely.  He ought to have remembered that there is a life beyond this world, and there is a God to meet, to whom all must give account.

The divine word to him and to all of his kind is this: “Fool!”  This is God’s epithet, not man’s.  Surely it is not too strong a term to apply to one who ignores his possession of a never-dying soul.   He who thinks of nothing but  his few years in this world, in utter forgetfulness of the ages upon ages which lie beyond, is a fool indeed. 

But God said unto him, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?   Luke 12:20.    

W.W. Fereday

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November 8

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.

John 10:11

-  No shepherd is a true one, unless he cares for the sheep

because they are Christ’s.

- If love be not the motive spring, I am nothing, and

it profits me nothing.

- The effect of power used apart from God is to lead

souls astray.

- Love, as seen in 1 Corinthians 13 is the exact contradiction 

of what Satan and the world are.

And now abideth faith, hope, charity (LOVE), these three: 

but the greatest of these is charity (LOVE).

1 Corinthians 13:13 

Rochfort Hunt

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November 9

DIVINE POSSIBILITIES

To know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.  Ephesians 3:19

O Lord!  Thy rich, Thy boundless love  

No thought can reach, no tongue declare;

O give our hearts its depth to prove, 

And reign without a rival there.

From Thee, O Lord, we all receive, 

Thine, wholly Thine, alone we’d live.

GERHARDT

Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.  

Fellowship with the Father is to be filled with His thoughts, His desires, His objects and His affections. So also with fellowship with the Son. . . . It is our privilege to be taken out of ourselves altogether, to be lost in the affections and aims of the Father and the Son! . . . 

It is written, “All things are possible to him that beliveth”; we read the words, do not doubt them, and yet we seldom think of the possibility of their being verified in our own experience. 

Footprints for Pilgrims - Edward Dennett

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November 10

Wrapped . . . in swaddling clothes, and laid . . . in a manger.

Luke 2:7

Wrapped . . . in linen, and laid . . . in a sepulchre.

Luke 23:53

The Perfect Man came into the world as a baby,

and was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger-cradle.

He went out by way of a garden-tomb, wrapped in linen.

On these two occasions He became voluntarily dependent upon those who loved Him: at the manger, wrapped and laid by a Mary while a Joseph watched; at the tomb, wrapped and laid by a Joseph; while a Mary watched.  

O, how He appreciates the ministry and devotion of the Josephs and the Marys.

Jim Flanigan.   

Spices most sweet they chose, aloes they brought, and myrrh;

Wound Him with these in linen clothes, gave Him a sepulchre.

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November 11

. . . Stormy wind fulfilling His Word.  Psalm 148:8

I once lived in an old house in the country where the wind would 

sometimes whistle around.

Thinking I would have some music if it must blow like that,

I made a rude Aeolian harp of sewing silk strung across a board.

I placed it under the slightly lifted sash of a north window and the 

music could be heard through all the house when the wild storms came!

Is there any north window in your life?

Could you not so arrange the three wires of faith, hope and love

that the storms of life should only bring more music into this sad world?

Many are doing it and perhaps more music than we dream of comes this way.

God has many an Aeolian harp.  Will you be one?

Crumbs

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November 12

Underneath are the everlasting arms — Deuteronomy 33:27

On April 30, 1868, Dr. W. H. Doane came into my house and said, "I have exactly forty minutes before my train leaves for Cincinnati.  Here is a melody.  Can you write words for it?" I replied that I would see what I could do.

Then followed a space of twenty minutes during which I was wholly unconscious of all else except the work I was doing.  At the end of that time I recited the words to “Safe in the Arms of Jesus."  Dr. Doane copied them, and had time to to catch his train.

SAFE IN THE ARMS OF JESUS

Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe on His gentle breast,

There by His love o’er shadowed, sweetly my soul shall rest.

Hark! ’tis the voice of angels borne in a song to me,

Over the fields of glory, over the jasper sea.

Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe from corroding care,

Safe from the world’s temptations, sin cannot harm me there.

Free from the blight of sorrow, free from my doubts and fears;

Only a few more trials, only a few more tears.

Jesus my heart’s dear refuge, Jesus has died for me;

Firm on the Rock of Ages ever my trust shall be.

Here let wait with patience, wait till the night is o’er —

Wait till I see the morning break on the golden shore.

CHORUS: Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe on His gentle breast,

There by His love o’er shadowed, sweetly my soul shall rest.     

TREASURES FROM FANNY CROSBY

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November 13

EATING  WITH

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door,

I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.

Revelation 3:20

You probably know the value of sitting down to a meal with someone.  In fact, if you’re married, I’d venture to say that you and your spouse ate together a lot during the courtship. That was a very natural way to get to know that person.

It seems that most often, there is much emphasis on opening the door and letting in, and rightly so. When we sense that the Lord is knocking on the door of our heart, desiring entrance,  that is the appropriate response - to open the door and let him in.  But that isn’t where it stops.

The issue of eating together is very significant.  To do no more than just letting Him in, might be similar to getting married.  When we get married, do we make it official and then, after the ceremony, go our separate ways, only to have occasional contact with each other?  That would be unthinkable.

The eating with is spending time with the Lord.  When we’re eating, we’re feeding and being fed. Feeding on God’s precious word, growing in our knowledge of the Lord Jesus—yes, our knowledge of Him, getting to know Him more intimately, not just knowing about Him.  To know Jesus is to love Him.

  

To know Him more and more is to love Him more and more.  The better we know Him, the more like Him we become! If we let Jesus into our heart, then let’s be faithful to eat with Him.

I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.

Philippians 3:8

With thanks - Fred Pratt - L.I.F.E.LINES

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November 14

NO QUESTIONS ASKED

I will see you again . . . And in that day ye shall ask me nothing.

John 16:22,23

Our Lord did not say, “When I see you again, I will answer all your questions.” He said, “You won’t ask any questions!"

Our minds and hearts are filled with whys and we can hardly wait 

to hear the answers.

But when we see Him we will not bother to bring up those questions.

They will vanish in the glory of His presence.

He will not answer them for we will not ask them!

We see not yet all things put under Him.

There is much that puzzles us for we see through a glass as in a riddle.

We do not know all the answers, but He is the Answer.

Our whys will no longer have significance.

Don’t hang on to them now for they will be as a mist before the rising sun. Everything will clear up one day.  No questions asked.

The Answer will have come!

Vance Havner

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November 15

. . . Except a man be born again, he cannot see the

kingdom of God.   John 3:3.

Have you been born again?

It is so important.

When a child is born, there is great joy for the parents.

The baby does a lot of crying, but we, who know what it means 

to live, say, “Baby, why cry?  You were born, and you received a life to live.” 

Jesus told Nicodemus how important it is to be 

born again and to receive another life:  Eternal life. 

This day is the Lord’s - Corrie Ten Boom

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November 16

GOODNESS  AND  MERCY

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

Psalm 23:6

Psalm 23 represents us as occupying successively seven distinct positions:

(1) underneath us—green pastures;

(2) beside us—still waters;

(3) with us—the Lord;

(4) before us—a table prepared;

(5) around us—enemies; 

(6) behind us—goodness and mercy;

(7) above us—the  House of the Lord.

Thus, if the retrospective glance calls forth gratitude and thankfulness,

the prospective glance imparts joyfulness and confidence.

We praise Him for all that is past,

And trust Him for all that’s to come.

The Pearl of Psalms

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November 17

Search me, O God, and know my heart . . . and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:23-24

On a November morning when looking out of my kitchen window, I noticed the Osage Orange tree across the road was leafless.

Yet clinging to its topmost branches was a cluster of hedge apples. As in nature, so too, we must at times be stripped of the entanglements of life.

Maybe it is excess busyness or a hindering habit.  Perhaps discipline or an exhortation is needed to reveal a blind spot we are unaware of. 

Our lives rise to a higher level of holiness the more we walk in the Spirit. Fruitfulness pleasing to the Lord will follow.

—E. Dyck

We are Thine, do thou befriend us, be the guardian of our way;

Keep Thy flock; from sin defend us; seek us when we go astray.

—D Thrupp  

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November 18

SHACKLED  BY   MAN . . . SET  FREE  BY  GOD

"And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. . .  

Acts 16:23.

Paul and Silas had just seen God's power manifested through them, in casting out the evil spirit that possessed a young girl. They were falsely accused, stripped, beaten, unjustly thrown into prison, and their feet bound fast to the stocks.  This was the unjust reaction of ungodly men, shackled by man. What a scene! 

They had every human right to complain, cry out for justice, and plead for mercy.  Their eyes were not fixed upon their circumstances, for they knew God was in control, and in His providential care, permitted this encounter to reach one man, the jailer...and then, his whole family.

Look at the scene. Paul and Silas were a pitifully beaten sight of humanity, and what was their response?  "At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.”   Acts 16:25 

Can you imagine what went through the minds of these prisoners as they heard Paul and Silas pray and praise God in word and song? But then, we see them set free by God. “Suddenly there was a great earthquake . . . and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bands were loosed.”   Acts 16:26 

We may not be responsible for the circumstances we are in, but we are responsible for the way we allow those circumstances to affect us: we can either allow them to defeat us, or we can allow them to transform us into what God wants us to be. Paul said, "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us" (Romans 8:37). 

God has promised an overcoming spirit to all who will dare to trust Him!  “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place.” 2 Corinthians 2:14  Shackled by man...set free by God!

(Daily Devotions - R. L.)

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November 19

He answered nothing.  Mark 15:3

There is no spectacle in all the Bible so sublime as the silent Saviour answering not a word to the men who were maligning Him, and whom He could have laid prostrate at His feet by one look of Divine power, or one word of fiery rebuke.  But He let them say and do their worst, and He stood  in THE POWER OF STILLNESS—God’s holy silent Lamb.

There is a stillness that lets God work for us, and holds our peace; the stillness that ceases from its contriving and self-vindiction, and its expedients of wisdom and forethought, and lets God provide and answer the cruel blow, in His own unfailing, faithful love.

How often we lose God’s interposition by taking up our own cause, and striking for our defence.  God give to us this silent power, this conquered spirit!  And after the heat and strife of earth are over, men will remember us as we remember the morning dew, the gentle light and sunshine, the evening breeze, the Lamb of Calvary, and the gentle, holy, heavenly Saviour.

A. B. Simpson 

The day when Jesus stood alone and felt the hearts of men like stone, And knew He came but to atone—that day “He held His peace.”

They witnessed falsely to His word, they bound Him with a cruel cord, And mockingly proclaimed Him Lord; "But Jesus held His peace.”

They spat upon Him in the face, they dragged Him on from place to place, They heaped upon Him all disgrace; "But Jesus held His peace.”

My friend, have you for far much less, with rage, which you called righteousness, Resented slights with great distress?  Your Saviour “held His peace.”

(L. S. P. -  Streams in the Desert) 

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November 20

What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?

Isaiah 36:4

The Lord shall be thy confidence, 

and shall keep thy foot from being taken.

Proverbs 3:26

In Thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein 

I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto Thee. 

Psalm 143:8

He holds the planets in His hands,

And all the universe;

What power can alter His commands,

Or change His holy course?

And they who trust in Him may rest

In calm and sweet repose

Upon His promise sure and blest;

He loves; He cares; He knows.

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November 21

Without Me ye can do nothing.   John 15:5

Oh, keep us, love divine, near Thee,

That we our nothingness may know

and ever to Thy glory be

Walking in faith while here below.

In every detail of our lives there is no blessing but in dependence on God. . . . if in speaking to you now I were to cease from depending on the Lord in doing it all blessing to my own soul would cease.

“Without Me ye can do nothing.”

Neither can I speak, nor you hear,

to profit without dependence on the Lord.

The point for us is to rest in the arm of the Lord, whatever may be, 

and not run to get help elsewhere.

We may be saying true things in prayer or in testimony, but if we are not realizing our dependence on the Lord we shall not have His strength in the battle. 

Pilgrim Portions for the Day of Rest

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November 22

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away. Matthew 24:35

Oh, wonderful, wonderful Word of the Lord!  the hope of our friends in the past: Its truth where so firmly they anchored their trust, through ages eternal shall last.

Oh, wonderful, wonderful Word of the Lord! unchanging, abiding and sure; For we know that when time and the world pass away, God’s Word shall forever endure.

Julia Sterling

You never get to the end of the words of our Lord. They pass into proverbs,  they pass into laws, they pass into doctrines, they pass into consolations, they pass into hymns, they pass into poems, but they never pass away, and after all the use that is made of them they are still as fresh and inexhaustible as ever. 

F. E. W.

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November 23

And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness . . .   2 Corinthians 12:9a 

Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.   2 Corinthians 12:9b 

God hath not promised skies always blue,

Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;

God hath not promised sun without rain,      

 Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

But God hath promised strength for the day

Rest for the labour, light for the way,

Grace for all trials, help from above,

Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

Annie Johnson Flint

"We never prize the precious words of promise,”said Mr. Spurgeon, “ ‘till we are placed in conditions in which their suitability and sweetness are manifested.”  All of us value those golden words: “When thou walkest through fire thou shalt not be burned neither shall the flame kindle upon thee,” but few, if any of us, have read them with the delight of the martyr Binney. To him this passage was a stay while he was in prison awaiting burning at the stake.

His Bible, still preserved in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, has the passage marked with a pen in the margin.

Doubtless if all were known, every promise in the Bible has borne a special message to some one Christian, and so the whole volume might be scored in the margin with mementoes of Christian experience, every one appropriate to the very letter.

Every promise in the book is mine; every chapter, every verse, every line.

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.  2 Peter 1:14.   

“The promises of God are certain, but they do not all mature in ninety days.”

A. J. Gordon

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November 24

He is risen . . .  Mark 16:6.

A little lad was gazing intently at the picture in the art store window: the store was displaying a notable picture of the crucifixion.

A gentleman approached, stopped, and looked.  The boy, seeing his interest, said: “That’s Jesus.” The man made no reply, and the lad continued: “Them’s Roman soldiers.” And, after a moment: “They killed Him.”  

"Where did you learn that?" asked the man. "In the Mission Sunday-school,” was the reply.  The man turned and walked thoughtfully away.  He had not gone far when he heard a youthful voice calling:  "Say, Mister,”  and quickly the little street lad caught up with him.  “Say, Mister,” he repeated, ”I wanted to tell you that He rose again.”   

That message, which was nearly forgotten by the boy, is the message which has been coming down through the ages.  It is the story of the eternal triumph of life over death; the promise and pledge of man’s immortality.

The grave to Him was not the end!

“I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death”  Revelation 1:18.        

Blessed be God!  Jesus lives to die no more!  Go quickly, and tell everywhere the glad news!

Springs in the Valley 

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November 25

My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?

Psalm 22:1

This, the deepest suffering of all, came from God, not from men, though caused by our sins. Some people would tell us that the Lord Jesus only thought that God had forsaken Him, as in Jonah’s case: “I said, I am cast out of Thy sight.” Jonah 2:4. 

It was, however, very different in the case of our Lord and Saviour.  There on the cross, He bore our sins; and with all those mountains of sins upon Him, God must turn away from Him, and it was in very truth that He uttered that awful cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”  

We may, to some small extent (never fully), enter into what it meant to our pure and holy Saviour to bear those external sufferings and shame and reproach from man; but no human mind can ever fathom the depth of suffering contained in that terrible cry, 

“Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani?” 

Here, indeed, the waters compassed Him about, to the soul.  It was then He took that awful cup of the wrath of a holy God agains sin (the cup you and I deserved to drink), and drank it to its very dregs.

G. C. Willis

The depth of all Thy suffering no heart can e’er conceive;

The cup of wrath o’er flowing, 

for us Thou didst receive.”

G. W. Frazer

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November 26

For by grace are ye saved through faith;

and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.

Ephesians 2:8

It was April 14, 1912.

Two men floated in the cold North Atlantic.

They were within hailing distance and one who was wearing a 

life-jacket looked at his fearful friend and asked, 

“Are you saved, and on your way to heaven?”

The response came through chattering teeth to say, “No”.

"Then take my life jacket and accept the Lord Jesus as your Saviour.”

When the lists of the Saved and Lost appeared in New York,

the willing donor was listed among the Lost—but only physically.

The recipient of his life-jacket was among the Saved—but without 

Christ he was still spiritually lost.

If you accept the Lord Jesus now, you will be eternally saved.

Arnot P. McIntee   

Out of Christ without a Saviour, O can it, can it be?

Like a ship, without a rudder, on a wild and stormy sea.

F. M. Davis

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November 27

RELIEF  IN  SUFFERING

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Psalm 46:1

But to receive this “help” we must learn to "be still" and know that God is God  (Psalm 46:10). God has His time as well as His way to bring His purposes to pass.

In the mean time, if man forgets to show Joseph kindness, God will not forget to show him mercy.  As we read, “The Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy.”  Joseph may fail, just as we may and do, but the Lord’s "compassions fail not, they are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.  The Lord is my portion saith my soul; therefore I hope in Him.” Lamentation 3:22-24.

The devil may tempt us day by day, and God may test by keeping us, waiting from day to day; nevertheless His mercy will be renewed every day.  Thus though we oft-times have to wait for the Lord’s deliverance, yet “The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him,” and on our side we learn that “It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation the Lord.”  Lamentation 3:25,26.        

Forgotten by man Joseph is remembered by the Lord, until in God’s due time he learns that “those that wait upon the Lord . . . shall inherit the earth” Psalm 37:9.  

Joseph - Hamilton Smith

Commit thy way to God, the weight that makes thee faint;

Worlds are to Him no load, to Him breathe thy complaint.

He, who for winds and clouds maketh a pathway free, 

Through wastes and hostile crowds, can make a way for thee.

Hope, then, though woes be doubled; hope and be undismayed;

Let not thy heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid.

This prison where thou art—thy God will break it soon,

And flood with light thy heart in His own blessed noon.

Paul Gerhardt

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November 28

POWER  OVER  PERILS

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

The Christian life is a perilous one; it is threatened with danger and destruction on every hand.

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted,  but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 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 4:8-10.   

This is the exact picture of how a virile Christian responds to the stimuli of perils which encircle him. How do I realize this resurrection life within?  How do I acquire this vitality to counteract all the forces of evil and sin and despair that surround me in a dying and despairing world?

By calmly claiming and acting on God’s own declaration:  "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He [Christ] that is in you, than he [Satan] that is in the world”  1 John 4:4.  

This takes trust, simple faith, implicit confidence in God.  Faith is more than mere belief; it is an absolute conviction, an implicit confidence that gives me the grit to act on and respond to the declaration of divine truth.   

Songs of My Soul - W. Phillip Keller

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November 29

A  TROUBLING  REMEMBRANCE

I remembered God, and was troubled.  Psalm 77:3

One would expect it to read, “I remembered God and was comforted.” But remembering God may sometimes make us unhappy.

As a truant child remembers his parents and dreads their discipline, so when we go astray we remember that evil doings brings consequences.  When we remember God’s holiness and our sinfulness we are troubled.  

Then, again, when we remember God’s goodness and our ingratitude we  are troubled. The goodness of God is meant to lead us to repentance.  

Like the Psalmist here, we call to mind better days and are brought to consider our ways to discover where we have departed from His Way.

Finally, when we remember God’s service and our unfaithfulness we are troubled. So much to do, so little done!  If that does not trouble us, then we are in a low state indeed. 

But the kind of trouble the remembrance of God brings is trouble that leads through tears to triumph. May God stir up our minds by way of remembrance, lest we forget Him too long!

Day by Day with Vance Havner 

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November 30

Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.”

Hebrews 12:12-13

It is at once interesting and profitable to mark the way in which Moses presses upon the congregation the varied motives of obedience arising from the past, the present, and the future. Every thing is brought to bear upon them to quicken and deepen their sense of Jehovah’s claims upon them.

They were to “remember" the past, they were to “consider" the present, and they were to anticipate the future;  and all this was to act on their hearts, and lead them forth in holy obedience to that blessed and gracious One who had done, who was doing, and who would do such great things for them. 

C. H. Macintosh

Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, and to fear Him. 

 Deuteronomy 8:6 

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December 1