Gems from February 2020

And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the LORD spake unto Joshua . . . and carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and laid them down there.  And Joshua set up twelve stones  in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of covenant stood.  Joshua 4:8-9

One heap of stones was covered over by the waters of the river; the other heap was set up in the open for all to see.

Have you passed through some new experience of power and the love of your Lord?  It helps if you write the date beside the verse in your Bible which helped you, or write a word or two of reminder in a private notebook, lest you forget.  That note will be like the heap of stones set up in the river.

Nobody will see it but your God and you.  It is a private heap.

But don’t forget the other hep which wasn’t private.  Your children shall ask ". . . in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?" (v. 21).  The children you look after, the sick you tend, the people you meet, will not something that will make them ask question.  Take them in your confidence.Tell them what has been for you, not long ago, but perhaps an hour or two ago, or yesterday, or last week.

Set up your heap of stones to the glory of you Lord, so that all will see that He is indeed a God of Deliverances, a splendid, loving, joy-giving Lord whom to serve is the greatest joy in the world.

Whispers of His Power - Amy Carmichael 

N.J. Hiebert - 8012

February 1

Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Ephesians 6:16

Myself I cannot save, Myself I cannot keep; But strength in Thee I surely have whose eyelids never sleep. The moment we enter upon the enjoyment of any blessing Satan will seek to rob us of it.

An unsatisfied heart is a source of danger, and a divided heart is the continual cause of inconsistency of walk.  On the other hand, when Christ possess and engrosses the affections we are superior to every temptation of the enemy.

We never enter upon any service rightly unless we expect to encounter the opposition of Satan.

Footprints for Pilgrims

N.J. Hiebert - 8013

February 2

But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Romans 5:15 

Although God's love never changes, we do not always live in the joy of it. When sin comes between God and our soul, as a dark cloud between the sun and the earth, our communion with Him is broken.

Let us therefore avoid everything that might rob us of enjoying
God's immeasurable love.
Corrie Ten Boom

N.J. Hiebert - 8014

February 3

But whoso harkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall
be quiet from fear of evil. Proverbs 1:33 

These words must ever possess a tender and precious interest for the writer.
It was through having learned them as a lad in the Sunday-school that I was, when fourteenth years of age, truly awakened by the Spirit of God to see the awful result of rejecting the call of the gospel.

Unable to shake off the vivid impression of God's righteous wrath if I longer
refused His grace, I fell down before Him confessing myself a lost,
undone sinner, and found in John 3:16 the 
solace my conscience needed:

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.

It was a night to be remembered forever!
H. A Ironside - Notes on Proverbs

N.J. Hiebert  - 8015 

February 4

GRACE ABOUNDING

She fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?
Ruth 2:10

We cannot but admire the gracious manner in which Boaz dealt with Ruth as she gleaned in his field, and how beautifully she acknowledged in a practical manner his kindness to her, and her own sense of unworthiness.

How many of the Lord's loved ones go on day by day, like Job, having a knowledge of God by the hearing of the ear; but the moment the eye sees Him, they will abhor themselves in dust and ashes.

How little we comprehend the grace of that blessed One until we see Him and know what it cost Him to obtain eternal redemption for those who believe in Him:

Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11
Meditations on Ruth - C. McKendrick

N.J. Hiebert - 8016  

February 5

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Colossians 3:1-2  

World-bordering is perilous for our souls in this age.  
It exposes us unnecessarily to the enemy.  We are only safe as we take our place definitely outside everything here, as dead to it.

When our minds are really set upon things above, with the risen Christ as our sole object, 
we are proof against the seductions of the world and the devil.

A position of compromise, once accepted, 
lays us open to trouble at every turn.  
W. W. Fereday

N. J. Hiebert - 8017  

February 6

Dreadful as are the consequences of the sin, the outgoings of grace exceed them.
But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.  Romans 5:20

The life and happiness of the Christian is learning about Christ.
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.   Romans 15:4

To be associated with Christ where He is, we must follow the road He went through death.
Who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.  1 Peter 1:21
Hunt's Sayings

N.J. Hiebert - 8018  

February 7

CLIMATE  AND  CONSCIENCE

And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of
offence toward God, and toward men.
Acts 24:16

They tell us that times have changed, that we live in a new moral climate and must learn to live with it. I also have a conscience and must live with it.

Paul lived in an evil day and the spiritual climate was bad.  He wrestled with principalities and powers of the world of darkness.  He was most concerned to have a good conscience. 

He is a foolish man who comes to terms with this world at the expense of his soul.  We have to live with ourselves and, while everybody is majoring on how to get along with the times,
let us remember that we are not thermometers to register the
prevailing temperature but thermostats to change it.
All the Days - Vance Havner

N.J. Hiebert - 8019   

February 8

I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day;
the night cometh when no man can work.
John 9:4

We must solemnly devote each day and all its actions to the glory of God.

They say the world has an eagle eye for anything inconsistent,
an eye sharp to discover the vagaries and inconsistencies in the defaulty and the unworthy.

It has an eagle eye; but the eagle winks before the sun, and the burning iris of its eye shrinks abashed before the unsullied purity of noon.

Let your light so shine before men, that others, awed and charmed by the consistency of your godly life day by day, may come to enquire, and to say you have been with Jesus.
Punshon  (from Thoughts for the Quiet Hour).

N.J. Hiebert - 8020  

February 9

Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.
And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.  
Jonah 1:17

When we shut God out of His own universe we are immediately in difficulties, but when we accept what God says, just as He says it, there is no difficulty whatsoever.

God is well able to prepare a great fish, to preserve His servant's life; He is able to have that special fish ready, waiting outside the boat, in exactly the right place, and at just the right time.

This is not one miracle only, this is a combination of many miracles, and to the one who knows God, and His ways, there is nothing impossible, or even improbable in what happened here, but rather just what we might expect our gracious God to do for one of His own.

This great fish is the first thing the book tells us that Jehovah prepared for His servant, but it was by no means the last.

The gourd, the worm, and the sultry east wind, were each in turn specially prepared by God, and each one was just as truly a miracle of God, as the great fish. 
Lessons From Jonah the Prophet  - G. C. Willis 
N.J. Hiebert - 8021  

February 10

Having loved His own which were in the world,
He loved them unto the end.
John 13:1

Our God and Father looks after the little as well as the big. He makes the tides in the sea and shapes the wing of the sparrow.

Nothing is big enough to to defy Him and nothing is so little as to escape Him. The ray of light from the farthest solar system and the blush on the primrose alike reveal His radiance.

Back of it all is His infinite, everlasting personal love.  Why should we ever forget Him, or think that anything is too difficult for Him, or fear that He has forgotten us?
Joseph Anderson Vance

There's not a bird, with lonely nest
In pathless wood or mountain crest,
Nor meaner thing, which does not share
O God, in Thy paternal care.

Love holds the field when all else dies.  

N.J. Hiebert - 8022

February 11

. . . There was a famine in the land.
And a certain man of Bethlehem-Judah went to sojourn in  the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.  Ruth 1:1 

Why did Elimelech and Naomi really go to Moab? In these anxious times when difficulties and problems increased and the neighbours could not help either, their faith simply could not rise above the circumstances.  And they are not the only ones of whom this can be said. How many there who, although saved by faith, are not able to walk by faith in times of testing and trial.

How many there are who, though trusting God for salvation, yet are fearful and anxious concerning their family needs.  Has HE ceased to exist then - He who has said,  "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee"?    

How great is our loss of knowledge, even knowledge which we once possessed, when we lose sight  of and forget the true Redeemer, and when our hearts long for the things of the world!
The Book of Ruth - H. L. Heijkoop

N.J. Hiebert - 8023 

February 12

BACK  TO  THE  FOLD

What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the  wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

Luke 15:4

'Twas a sheep, not a lamb, that went astray

In the parable Jesus told, 

A grown up sheep that wandered away

From the ninety and nine in the fold.

Out on the hillside, out in the cold,

'Twas a sheep the Good Shepherd sought,

Borne on His shoulders and back to the fold,

The sheep the Good Shepherd brought.

Why for the sheep should we earnestly long

And as earnestly hope and pray?

Because there is danger, if they go wrong

They may lead the lambs astray.

Lambs will follow the sheep, you know

Wherever the sheep may stray,

If the sheep go wrong, it won't be long

'Till the lambs are as wrong as they.

So for the sheep let us earnestly pray,

For the sake of the lambs today,

If the lambs are lost, what a terrible cost 

Some sheep will have to pay. 

C. C. Miller

N.J. Hiebert - 8024

February 13

Be of good cheer.
Quit you like men, be strong.  
1 Corinthians 16:13

Do not pray for easy lives!  Pray to be stronger men.
Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers.
Pray powers equal your tasks.

Then the doing of your work shall be not miracle,
but you shall be a miracle.
Phillips Brooks

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Philippians 4:13

N.J. Hiebert - 8025

February 14

The name of the Lord (Jehovah) is a strong tower:
The righteous runneth into it, and is safe.
Proverbs 18:10

The name of Jehovah stands for the Lord Himself. To run into it, as into a strong tower, is therefore to confide in Him in the time of trouble.  Such is the blessed privilege of every true saint.

"Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep (garrison) your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4: 6,7.  

All that perplexes and oppresses the spirit can be poured into His ear.  Then the soul can leave it all with Him, and can confide in His love.

Thus the heart shall be at peace, protected as in a garrisoned tower, let the enemy rage as he may. 
H. A. Ironside - Notes on Proverbs  

N.J. Hiebert - 8026

February 15

DIVINE AFFECTIONS

The love of Christ which passeth Knowledge.  Ephesians 3:19

Love, that no suffering stayed,
We'll praise, true love divine;
Love that for us atonement made,
Love that has made us Thine.

The Lord that I have know as laying down His life for me, is the same Lord I have to do with every day of my life, and all His dealings with me are on the same principles of grace. 

How precious, how strengthening it is to know that Jesus is at this moment feeling and exercising the same love towards me as when He died on the cross for me.

His death opened the flood-gates, in order that the full tide of love might flow over poor sinners.

Impossible to find two words, the bringing together of which has so important a meaning, the death of the Lord.  How many things are comprised in that He who is called the Lord has died! What love!  What purposes!  What efficacy!  What results!  ! 1 Corinthians 11:26

O Jesus, Lord, who loved me like to Thee?
Fruit of Thy work, with Thee, too, there to see 
Thy glory, Lord, while endless ages roll,
Myself the prize and travail of Thy soul.
(Pilgrim Portions for the Day of Rest - JND)

N.J. Hiebert - 8027  

February 16

The  Narrow  Way

Can two walk together except they be agreed?  Amos 3:3

Oh, strait and narrow is the way
Wherein I walk my Lord beside;
So easily my feet might stray
That I am glad it is not wide.
Because 'tis such a narrow way,
Oh, close together we must stay.

The narrow way is sometimes dark,
And yet so near my Shepherd is
I do not mind when shadows come,
For night and day alike are His;
And so because my sight is dim,
Oh, very close I keep to Him.

The narrow way is sometimes rough,
And I might stumble if alone;
But now my Lord directs my steps,
And holds my hand within His own.
However steep the path may be,
I cannot fall, so close is He.

Sometimes a sorrow comes to me,
Or trial that is hard to bear,
And then He wipes the tears away,
For I am always in His care:
So naught for long I grieve or fear,
My Comforter's so very near.
Annie Johnson Flint

N.J. Hiebert - 8028   

February 17

COME  FOR  YOURSELF
  
Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.  John 6:37

Various "rules" and "steps" have been proposed for seekers after salvation, the filling of the Spirit, guidance and other experiences of the Christian life.  Sometimes they confuse more than they clarify.  No two experiences are alike.

We tend to make a norm of our own and force it upon others.
Coming to Jesus is a personal matter, not a dry business procedure. 
Nobody ever fell in love by reading books on how to fall in love.  We meet
someone, associate with someone, and either fall in love or not fall in love.

There are, indeed, certain conditions that must be met in a personal knowledge of Christ, but it is more like falling in love than a cold business deal.  There is a sense of need, a drawing near, a fellowship that ripens with the years. 

The expressions and manifestations vary with different types and temperaments. Do not try to imitate a made-to-order experience handed down from someone else. He invites you to come as you are and know Him for yourself. 

Just as I am -- without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bid'st me come to Thee:
O Lamb of God, I come!
Charlotte Elliott

N.J. Hiebert - 8029

February 18

THE  KING NEEDS YOU

Loose him, and bring him . . . The Lord hath need of him.
Mark 11:2,3

Perhaps we have the dreary idea, "Nobody wants me!"
We never need grope in that gloom again, when the King Himself desires us!
This desire is love active, love in glow, love going forth, love delighting and longing.   

It is the strongest representation of the love of Jesus -- something far beyond
the love of pity or compassion; it is the taking pleasure in His people;
delighting in them; willing that they should be with Him where
He is, with Him now, with Him always.

It is the love that does not end and will not endure separation--
the love that cannot do without its object. 
Frances Ridley Havergal

N.J. Hiebert - 8030  

February 19

COMPANIONSHIP

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want . . .
I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me.  Psalm 23:1,4

Till now, David has been speaking of the Shepherd; but as the valley of death's shade is approached he begins to speak to Him.  Instead of saying "He" he says "Thou art with me".  The word of confidence which David uses here, is transmuted for us into a word of promises by our Lord.  "I am with you always," He says (Matthew 28:20); and again, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5).

Come dark valley or bright sunshine, green pasture or desert land -- 'I am with you always". That is a fact, irrespective of the strength or weakness of our faith; apart from, and entirely independent of, what we feel .  Our feelings may change as frequently as do the winds; our experience of the blessedness of the promise may rise or fall as frequently as do the tides; but the promise and the Promiser abide.

A man once came to a preacher, and said to him: "I was filled with joy in the meeting yesterday, and now it all has gone--all-- and I do not know what to do.  It is as dark as night."  "I am so glad," was the reply. He looked at the servant of Christ with astonishment, and said: "What do you mean?"  

"Yesterday, God gave you joy, and to-day He sees you are resting on your emotions instead of on Christ, and He has taken them away in order to turn you to Christ.  You have lost your joy, but you have Christ none the less. 

Did you ever pass through a railway tunnel?"  "Yes, often."  "Did you, because it was dark, become melancholy and alarmed?"  "Of course not."  "And did you, after awhile, come out again into the light?" "I am out now," he exclaimed, interrupting the servant of Christ; "it is all right--feelings or no feelings".
The Pearl of Psalms

N.J. Hiebert - 8031

February 20

Though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.   Habakkuk 2:3 

Some things have their cycle in an hour and some in a century; but His plans shall complete their cycle whether long or short.

The tender annual which blossoms for a season and dies, and the Columbian aloe which develops in a century, each is true to its normal principle.

Many of us desire to pluck our fruit in June rather than wait until October, and so, of course, it is sour and immature; but God's purposes ripen slowly and fully, and faith waits while He tarries, knowing He will surely come and will not tarry too long.

It is perfect rest to fully learn and wholly trust this glorious promise.  We may know without a question that His purposes shall be accomplished when we have fully committed our ways to Him, and are walking in watchful obedience to His every prompting.  This faith will give a calm and tranquil poise to the spirit and save us from the restless fret of trying to do too much ourselves. 

Wait, and every wrong will righten;
Wait, and every cloud will brighten,
If you will only wait.
Dr. A. B. Simpson

N.J. Hiebert - 8032   

February 21

Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.  Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21.

Do I believe that God can strengthen us to do things which are humanly speaking quite impossible? It is easy to say, Of course I do.  But do I?

"A man's right hand is capable of a pull equal to about two thirds of his own weight, but a crab's claw can support a weight equal to thirty times the weight of its own body", so I have read in a book about the Barrier reef. It sounds impossible.

Sometimes we are asked to do things that seem far too hard for us, to "support a weight" far too heavy for us.  But the God with Whom we have to do can do for us what He does for the crab.

He can make us strong to do that which looks and feels impossible;
He is the God of the Impossible.
Edges of His Ways - Amy Carmichael

N.J. Hiebert - 8033

February 22

JOSEPH  WAS  HATED

Now Israel loved, Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.  
(Genesis 37:3,4) 

If Joseph has a unique place in his father's affections, and if he is destined in the counsels of God to the place of supremacy, he will, in the mean time, have to face the hatred of his brethren. This must be so if, in any measure, his story is to shadow forth that far greater hatred which Christ was called to endure at the hands of men.

The One whom God has destined to the place of universal dominion is the only one that is hated by every natural heart.  Why does the natural heart bear such hatred to Christ? Was there any cause of hatred in Him?  Surely not, for in Christ there was an entire absence of the cruelty and violence, the lust and covetousness, the pride and arrogance, the meanness and selfishness, which in other men give such occasion for hatred.

In Him there was everything to call forth love.  While others went about doing evil, He "went about doing good"  (Acts 10:38).  Man's mouth may be full of cursing and bitterness, but at least man must bear witness to "the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth" Luke 4:22, and the officers who were sent to take him said, "never man spake like this man"
(John 7:46).
Hamilton Smith
N.J. Hiebert - 8034

February 23

As thy days, so shall thy strength be.  Deuteronomy 33:25
The Lord's compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23 

Sometimes I compare the troubles which we have to undergo in the course of a year to a great bundle of sticks--far too large to lift.  But God does not require us to carry the whole bundle at once.

He mercifully unties the bundle and gives us one stick that we are to carry today and then another that we are to carry tomorrow, and so on.

We might easily manage it, if we would take only the burden appointed for us each day. But we chose to increase our troubles by carrying yesterday's stick over again today and by adding tomorrow's burden to our load before we are required to bear it.
John Newton - Author of the hymn "Amazing Grace."
N.J. Hiebert - 8035 

February 24

All that generation were gathered unto their fathers:
and there arose another generation after them,
which knew not the Lord.  Judges 2:10 

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.  2 Corinthians 13:5

It is easy for a young person who has had the privilege of growing up in a
godly home and a Bible believing assembly to rest on the faith of
his/her parents and yet not know the Lord in a personal,
life-changing way!  

Such faith will not stand.  Eventually life will force you to stand alone and make
your own decision regarding Christ and your relationship to Him.  Only
Christ Himself can satisfy the deepest longings of the heart.

Before you drift away into a world of sin that will never satisfy, turn
to Christ.  Humbly trust Him as your Saviour and commit 
your life completely to Him.
David Croudace

Now none but Christ can satisfy, no other name for me,
There's  love, and life, and lasting joy,
Lord Jesus found in Thee.
Emma Bevan

N.J. Hiebert - 8036

February 25

Slowing Down Time 

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.   Psalm 90:12

A lot has changed since the electric clock was invented in the 1840s.  We now keep time on smart watches, smart phones, and lap tops.  The entire pace of life seems faster - with even our "leisurely" walking speeding up.  We're just moving faster and faster and getting back to people as quickly as we can.  That's driving us to think everything has to happen now.

Moses, the writer of one of the oldest of the Bible's Psalms, reflected on time.  He reminds us that God controls life's pace.  "For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night" (Psalm 90:4).

The secret to time management, therefore, isn't to go faster or slower.  It's to abide in God, spending more time with Him.  Then we get in step with each other, but first with Him - the One who formed us (Psalm 139:13) and knows our purpose and plans  (v.16).

Our time on earth won't last forever.  Yet we can manage it wisely, not by watching the clock, but by giving each day to God.  As Moses said. "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom (Psalm 90:12).  Then with God we'll always be on time, now and forever.
(Patricia Raybon)

N.J. Hiebert - 8037
-----------------------------------------------
Our daily Bread, RBC Ministries, Copyright (2020), Grand Rapids, MI - Reprinted permission. 

February 26

For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life.
2 Corinthians 1:8

Have you ever watched a musician and seen how he tightens the strings before commencing to play?
Sometimes he screws and screws until the strings seem as though they would snap. It is to get the right tone.  The musician knows what he is about. And does not God, though He may be dealing with you in much the same way and putting a great strain upon you?

Yes, even though, like the apostle, you may seem pressed out of measure, yet He knows how much we can bear.  And He knows the effect the pressure will produce. The music will be all the sweeter.
Angels in White - Russell Elliot

"Praise shall employ these tongues of ours,
Till we with all the saints above
Extol His Name with nobler powers,
And see the ocean of His love;
Then while we look, and wondering gaze,
We'll fill the heavens with endless praise."
Toplady
N.J. Hiebert - 8038  

February 27

They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.  Genesis 3:8

If I covered my transgressions as Adam, 
by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom.
Job 31:33

He that covereth his sins shall not prosper:
but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
Proverbs 28:13

Come at once, thy way forsaking,
Own thy sins with all their shame,
Claim God's pardon, full, eternal,
Now believing in His name;
Then with joy thy Lord confessing,
Press thou on, the glory's thine,
Wait His coming, live unto Him,
Let your light thus brightly shine.
Anon
N. J. Hiebert - 8039   

February 28

DO  IT!

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.   Philippians  2:13 

The will of God streams and flows like a colossal, cosmic current through the seas of time. Only the person who also moves in accord with it finds purpose and direction in a divine destiny of utter fulfilment.  

If you would walk with God in His will, discover what it is.  Then do it! Step out in simple faith, your attention centred in Christ to go where He asks you to go; to live as He instructs you to live; to be what He asks you to be; to do what He asks you to do.

As you set your will to so live, you are taking the first giant step of faith which He will honour. He in turn will be faithful to you and empower you to walk with Him in joy.
Songs of My Soul - W. Phillip Keller

N.J. Hiebert - 8040  

February 29

THE  SUBMISSIVE  HEART

Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the
Father of spirits and live?  Hebrews 12:9

A heart resigned, submissive meet,
My great Redeemer's throne,
Where only Christ is heard to speak,
Where Jesus reigns alone.

Faith is a divine plant that only grows out of the soil of a broken will. Two lessons to be learned: first, to expect nothing but from the Lord; and second, to take nothing, even though it be that on which you have set your heart, and even if it be brought to you, but to wait on the Lord until He puts it into your hands.  

You are of no use to God until your will is broken.
The calm of a soul which reposes in the will of God is unspeakable.
When you have learned that your only home is God's presence, and your only happiness is in doing God's will, there is nothing more that I can teach you.

The more subject we are to the will of God the more
we shall grow in holiness.
Edward Dennett

N.J. Hiebert - 8041

March 1

MEET  FOR THE  MASTER'S  USE

Serving the Lord with all humility of mind.  Acts 20:19

The eye that is most anointed will not be the first to see failure in others, and the soul that knows most of walking under the yoke with the Master will not be the first to undertake the putting right, according to its own mind, of what halts and limps in others.

Prayer is sure work and the harbinger of blessing . . . and often what sets us a praying for more is the a first dropping of His rich love and grace.

Through evil report and through good report Paul had to pass, and so far as any accusation against me is known to me as not true . . . I do not think one need to be unhappy about it. . . .  But there is a reward for our bearing false accusations. 
G. V. Wigram

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake.  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Matthew 5:11-12

N.J. Hiebert - 8042 

March 2

Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee.  John 21:17

It is not someone else, some temporarily possessing spirit, which says these words, but our true and very self, only changed and renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit.  And when "I do that which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me" (Romans 7:16-17).

Our true self is the new self, taken and won by the love of God and kept by the power of God.

Yes, kept!  There is the promise on which we ground our prayer; or, rather, one of the promises.  For, search and look for your own strengthening and comfort,  and you will find it repeated in every part of the Bible from "I am with Thee, and will keep thee (Genesis 28:15) to "I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation" (Revelation 3:10).

And kept for Him!  Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you when it is only the fulfilling of His own eternal purpose in creating us?  "This people have I formed for Myself" (Isaiah 43:21).  Not ultimately only but presently and continually, "Thou shalt abide for Me." (Hosea 3:3).  "He that remaineth, even He shall be for our God"  (Zechariah 9:7).

Are you one of His people by faith in Jesus Christ? Then see what you are to Him.  You, personally and individually, are part of the Lord's portion and of His inheritance.  His portion and inheritance would not be complete without you; you are His peculiar treasure (Exodus 19:5); a special people unto Himself (Deuteronomy 7:6). 
Kept for the Master's Use - Frances R.Havergal 

N.J. Hiebert - 8043

March 3

Pray without ceasing.  1 Thessalonians 5:17

It has been rightly said that prayer does not equip us for greater work--
prayer is the greater work.

Some of God's people are given the responsibility to preach His word in public settings, even before large audiences, but the privilege of all God's people is to pray.

It can and must involve the sacrifice of time, the giving up of other things to focus upon the Lord. The joy of prayer and the power that flows from it is very much anchored to the discipline of interceding with God.

The need today is for true intercessors and that is
the challenge for each of us! 
Paul Young

In the busy round of life, do we stop to pray?
commit each day into His care, and seek His help alway.
Norah A. Young

N.J. Hiebert - 8044     

March 4

Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.
Psalm 127:1

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11

We are building day by day a temple the world cannot see;
building, building, for eternity.

If you are to have a good tomorrow you must lay the right foundation today. A foundation of wood, hay, or stubble will never support a character-making building.

An aged low-caste woman in India was once asked the price of a temple in the process of building.  She turned to the missionary in surprise and said: "Why, we do not know!  It is for our god; we don't count the cost."

He who builds with God, builds not alone.
Mountain Trailways for Youth  

We are building every day in a good, or evil way,
And the structure as it grows, will our inmost self disclose.
Build it well, what'er you do, build it straight, and strong and true;
Build it clean, and high and broad, build it for the eye of God.
I. E. Dickenza  

N.J. Hiebert - 8045

March 5