Gems from January 22-31, 2016

January 22

“And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself,

even as He is pure.”

(1 John 3:3)

Why do we long for the Lord’s coming?

Because we love Him.

And He loves us infinitely more than we love Him.

That is why I believe that He longs for that day even more than we do.

We know we must be ready at His coming—completely ready.

And if we are really hoping for His return, 

we shall see to it that we are ready.

(Corrie Ten Boom - This Day is the Lord’s)

N.J. Hiebert - 6140

January 23

“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, 

even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

(Ephesians 4:32)

“Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel 

against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” 

(Colossians 3:13)   

THE MINISTRY OF BENEVOLENCE

The New Testament speaks of three kinds of works:

- Dead works—the activities of the self-righteous man (Hebrews 9:14).

- Wicked works—the activities of the unrighteous man (Colossians 1:21).

- Good works—the activities of the Christian man (Ephesians 2:10).

It tells us that the Lord Jesus went about continually doing good (Acts 10:38); and that 

He has left His people an example that they should follow His steps (1 Peter 2:21).

Christian women are asked to adorn themselves with good works (1 Timothy 2:9-10).

Christian men are urged to separate from everything that hinders in order 

that they may be meet for the Master’s use and prepared unto every good work (2 Timothy 2:21).

We are to be fruitful in every form of benevolence (Colossians 1:10);

and are not to restrict our activities to the children of God but, as we have opportunity,

are to show kindness to all (Galatians 6:10;  Hebrews 13:16).

The power by which we are equipped for these delightful ministries 

is the illimitable grace of God (2 Corinthians 9:8).

(Heaven’s Cure for Earth’s Care - George Henderson)

N.J. Hiebert - 6141 

January 24

“The Word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time.”

(Jonah 3:1)

Here is a message that glows with promise and hope. 

Just because a man has failed does not mean that God has put him on the shelf. David’s failures are recorded with stark realism. 

As we read them, we sit in the dust with him and burn with shame. But David knew how to break before the Lord, how to repent with blood-earnestness. 

And God was not through with him. God forgave him and restored him to a life of fruitfulness. Jonah failed to answer God’s missionary call and wound up in the belly of a great fish. 

In that animate submarine, he learned to obey. When God called him the second time, he went to Nineveh, preached imminent judgment, and saw the whole city plunged into deepest repentance. 

So when it comes to service, God is the God of the second chance. 

He is not through with a man just because that man has failed. Whenever He finds a broken and a contrite heart, he bows to lift up the head of his fallen soldier. 

This must not be taken to condone sin or failure, however. 

The bitterness and remorse of having failed the Lord should serve as sufficient deterrent. Neither does it mean that God gives the unrepentant sinner a second chance after this life. 

There is a terrible finality about death. 
For the man who dies in his sins, the awful sentence is,

"...in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be."  

(Ecclesiastes 11:3)

(Truth to live by, one day at a time - D.H.) 

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January 25

“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, 

I will spue thee out of my mouth.”

(Revelation 3:16)

Every decision is a moral decision - - because it is for 

better or for worse;

and whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

God is never neutral; and He does not condone neutrality.

He is offended by the suggestion of it.  

(Nuggets - - Food for Thought - J.K.)

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January 26

“The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails 

fastened by the masters of assemblies.”

(Ecclesiastes 12:11)

- No action so little, but we may in it do God or the devil some service, and therefore none 

too little for our care to be bestowed on. 

- Hypocrisy is a lie with a fair cover over it.

- None sooner topple over into error, than such who have a dishonest heart with a nimble head.

The richest soil, without culture, is most tainted with weeds.

- Thou must live by thy faith, not another's.  Labour to see truth with thy own eyes.

- He that maintains any error from the Bible, bears false witness against God.

-  He that abandons the truth of God, renounceth the God of truth.  

(The Christian in Complete Armour - William Gurnall - 1617-1679)

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January 27

“When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; 

and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, 

he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, 

and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime".  

(Daniel 6:10)

“Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud:

and He shall hear my voice.”

(Psalm 55:17)

“Continuing instant in prayer.”

(Romans 12:12)

I love to steal awhile away from every cumbering care,

And spend the hours of setting day in humble, grateful prayer.

I love in solitude to shed the penitential tear, 

And all His promises to plead, where none but God can hear.

(Anon)

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January 28

“And [Gideon] divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet 

in every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers.  

And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise.”

(Judges 7:16-17)

They were a strangely equipped army as they went out 

to the fight; their weapons were contrary to all accepted ideas, 

and their tactics such as could not be learned in the military schools;

but they were men with the a single object and obedient—all they needed to be.

The battle cry was a glorious one, and proved that they were men assured of victory.

They were focused men, and their gaze was fixed upon their leader, for his command was:

“Look upon me.”  If they had looked upon the foe they would probably have been discouraged by 

the number of them.  But to look upon the foe was no business of theirs, for their God-given captain 

claimed their attention and commanded their obedience, and while they looked on him, 

“they stood every man in his place,” 

and, standing each in his place, they became a compacted, undivided company.

The state of things described in 2 Timothy 3 could scarcely be worse, and yet we have there a

true picture of the professing church today.  But Paul looked not in that direction;

he looked  above the scene of conflict and failure, and fixed his eyes upon

a risen Christ at God’s right hand, and the result of this 

steadfast gaze was continual triumph.  

(The Lord is Near - J.T. Mawson)

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January 29

"I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep 

that which I have committed unto Him against that day."

(2 Timothy 1:12)

When the great Chemist, Sir Michael Faraday, was on his deathbed,

some journalists questioned him as to his speculations

concerning the soul and death.

“Speculations!”

said the dying man, in astonishment;

"I know nothing about speculations;

I am resting on certainties!”

(Streams in the Desert)

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January 30

"And He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, 

even a morning without clouds.”

(2 Samuel 23:4)

"When the mists have rolled in splendour from the beauty of the hills,

And the sunlight falls in gladness on the river and the rills,

We recall our Father’s promise in the rainbow of the spray:

We shall know each other better when the mists have rolled away.

We shall come with joy and gladness, we shall gather round the throne,

Face to face with those that love us we shall know as we are known:

And the song of our redemption shall resound thro’ endless day

When the shadows have departed and the mists have rolled away."

(Annie Herbert)

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January 31

“That ye study to be quiet . . .”

(1 Thessalonians 4:11)

“Be silent . . . before the Lord.”

(Zechariah 2:13) 

A converted slave-trader, John Newton, distilled his life’s perfume into:

“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!”

"Pilgrim’s Progress" was not dashed off in a plush penthouse suite, but 

written from a prison cell - John Bunyan.  

A broken heart guided Joseph Scriven’s pen to exclaim:

“What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!"

That the Holy Spirit lives and breathes through the deep devotional writing of 

Oswald Chambers is no accident.

His short forty-one years were spent in reckless abandonment to God;

his stature of spiritual giant-hood dearly bought.

God seems to exact as His price of "best-selling“ writing success a diploma from 

His gruelling School of Experience.

Courses are: Discipline,  suffering,  Faith,  Tests,  and Self-examination.

Bruised, jostled and mobbed, Charles Wesley sought refuge in a milk-house and wrote:

"Jesus, Lover of my soul, let me to Thy bosom fly,

Other refuge have I none, hangs my helpless soul on Thee."

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Gems from January 12-23, 2016

“Now the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always by 

all means. The Lord be with you all”

(2 Thessalonians 3:16)

Praise is all that we can offer to God.

When everything is going on smoothly and pleasantly;

our property safe, our business prosperous, our children carrying 

themselves agreeably, our residence comfortable, our health excellent—

everything, in short, just to our mind—how apt we are to mistake the 

peace which reposes on such circumstances for that peace

which flows from the realized presence of Christ. 

(Food for the Desert)

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January 11

“But [Stephen], being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, 

and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.” 

(Acts 7:55)

"Keep your eye on the One gone up . . .”

As you feel the dearth and weariness of everything here,

simply turn your eye upward;

all power and comfort must now come from above.

As your eye becomes educated in the exaltation of Jesus,

so will your heart be invigorated to endure for Him down here in everything,

like the first martyr (Stephen),

though in comparison it may be a very small measure.

(Footprints for Pilgrims)

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January 12

The Scarlet Line
“And she bound the scarlet line in the window.”
(Joshua 2:21)
Perhaps our thoughts went to the story of Rahab when the
Children of Israel took the city of Jericho.
The scarlet line was the salvation for her and all who were in her house. 
But there is another “scarlet cord/thread” very prominent in the Scriptures.
It runs from Genesis to Revelation, from the coat of skins
God provided to cover Adam and Eve’s
nakedness (Genesis 3:21) to the blood of the Lamb mentioned in Revelation 12:11.
It is the vital role of blood throughout Scripture.

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood . . .
to make an atonement for the soul.” (Leviticus 17:11).
“Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22).

The countless animal sacrifices in the Old Testament, with all that shedding of blood,
served as a foreshadowing of the one true sacrifice to come, Jesus, the Lamb of God when He died on the cross.
The blood of all those animals could never take away sins, but the precious blood of Christ,
(as of a Lamb without blemish or spot), was used once and for ever.

“In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins" (Ephesians 1:7).

Have you put your trust in Jesus and His shed blood, blood shed for you?(Daily Devotionals - F.P.)

“Would you be free from the burden of sin? There’s power in the blood, power in the blood,
Would you o’er evil a victory win? There’s wonderful power in the blood.
There is power, power. Wonder working power in the blood of the Lamb.
Oh, there’s power, power. Wonder-woking power in the precious blood of the Lamb.”(Song by Lewis Jones - 1899)
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January 13

“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling . . .”

(Jude 24)

“Unto Him that is able!”

This is what gives new strength to the wearied warrior.

Weak and helpless in himself,

he looks up in faith to 

One who is able

and thus out of weakness is made strong.

(H.A. Ironside)

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January 14

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith . . .”

(Revelation 3:22)

If we are quiet, we shall hear.

If we hear, we shall be quiet.

(JND)

It will often be seen that those who complain most of lack of appreciation 

do not know how to love— 

of inadequate pay do not know how to work— 

of abuse of rights do not know how to give—

of not being heard do not know how to listen.

(With thanks - J.K.)

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January 15

“And he took his staff in his hand, and chose five 

smooth stones out of the brook.”

(1 Samuel 17:40)

David faced a formidable foe in Goliath,

yet the shepherd met the enemy with a sling and five smooth stones.

He was challenging Goliath on God’s level!

The feeble sling and five smooth stones were symbols of dependence upon Him.

David would not defeat the enemy with carnal weapons,

but with spiritual power.

The stones were small, insignificant things, 

but they were powerful in the hand of the man of God.

God can give us victory over the world,

the flesh, and the devil,

but we too need to be dependent on Him,

allowing the Spirit of God to energize our lives day by day.

(James Comte)

Be thou a vessel, contented and low, 

Ever kept clean by His mercies’ pure flow.

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January 16

“My soul is even as a weaned child.”

(Psalm 131:2)

“For when for the time ye ought to be teachers,

ye . . . are become such as have need of 

milk, and not of strong meat.”

(Hebrews 5:12)

The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “weaned” takes us straight to Hebrews 5:12.

For “to wean” means “to complete, to ripen," and to be weaned therefore

means to be completed, ripened, so that baby food and baby 

ways are left behind and childish things are put away.

We are not meant to live on prepared food, or to be spoon fed.

God did not mean us always to have the Living Water drawn 

for us and poured out into glasses and set on our tables.

We are meant to draw water out of the wells of 

salvation ourselves (Isaiah 12:3).

The Eastern picture is not that of turning on a tap, 

but of going to a well, dipping down into it,

and drawing water up for ourselves.

We must not go on being baby souls, starved and 

thirsty if our food and drink is not doled out to us.

Don’t let us so live on anything given by others to us.

If the time has come for us to be teachers, helpers,

 givers ourselves, don’t let us disappoint our God.

He wants His children to be ripened, complete, weaned.

(Amy Carmichael)

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January 17

“With Christ; which is far better.”

(Philippians 1:23) 

“In My Father’s house are many mansions . . . 

I go to prepare a place for you.”

(John 14 :2) 

He tells us the place He is going to take us to—It is the Father’s house.

And what makes the Father’s house of importance to the child—if he has right affections?                                                        

It is, that the Father is there. . . .

However feebly we may enjoy it now, 

when we talk of “going to heaven,”

it is going to the Father.

(J.N. Darby)  

“There no stranger God shall meet Thee!

Stranger thou in courts above:

He who to His rest shall greet thee,

Greets thee with a well known love."

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January 18

"So will I also be for thee.”

(Hosea 3:3)

His life for thee.  “The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.”  

Oh, wonderful gift! not promised but given; not to friends but to enemies.

Given without condition, without reserve, without return.

Himself unknown and unloved, his gift unsought and unasked, He gave His life for thee;

a more than royal bounty—the greatest gift that Deity could devise.  

Oh, grandeur of love!

"I lay down My life for the sheep.”  And we for whom 

He gave it have held back, and hesitated to give our lives,

not even for Him (He has not asked us to do that) but to Him. 

But that is past and he has tenderly pardoned the unloving,

 ungrateful reserve and has graciously accepted the poor little 

fleeting breath and speck of dust which was all we had to offer.

And now His precious death and His glorious life are all”for thee".

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

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January 19

“His blood-servants shall serve Him.”

(Revelation 22:3

“And they shall reign for ever and ever.”

(Revelation 22:5)

Before the throne there’s neither toil nor care;

No wearied limbs, no anxious minds, are there.

Yet though they rest indeed who see His face,

No one is idle in that happy place.

The saints above two diverse tasks combine — 

(What man divorces, God can intertwine) — 

They are His servants, and they serve amain,

Yet, e’en while serving Him, they also reign.

O teach me, Lord, that of this heavenly art

I may beforetime learn a little part!

For my proud heart would fain for honours pray,

Yet from the bond-slave’s task-work turn away.

O give me grace to stoop!  For otherwise

I sink the lower as I seem to rise.

And let this truth my life’s endeavours nerve — 

None truly reigns but those who truly serve!

(Bells & Pomegranates)

(James M.S. Tait)

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January 20

“As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness:

I shall be satisfied, when I awake,

with Thy likeness.”

(Psalm 17:15)

At least ten times the Psalmist speaks of being satisfied.  

The world claims to offer satisfaction, but time after 

time, to our sorrow, we’ve found that its waters fail.

Its joys are shallow and its pleasures fleeting.

Note Jacob’s response in Genesis 45 when he saw the wagons 

sent from Egypt for his deliverance,

“It is enough, I will go.”  

Concerning the things of Christ, can you say from the depths of your heart,

“It is enough, I am satisfied”?

(Wm. H. Gustafson)

"Satisfied with Thee, Lord Jesus, I am blest;

Peace which passeth understand on Thy breast;

No more doubting, no more trembling, O, what rest!”  

(H. Bennett)

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January 21

“And He said, so is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.  

For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that 

the full corn in the ear.  But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he 

putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come” (Mark 4:26-29).

The parable depicts three different periods in the experience of a farmer,

first that of faithful sowing, then that of patient waiting, and lastly that of joyful reaping.

Jesus declares that this experience is similar to that of one who proclaims  the message of salvation.

His task is to sow the seed faithfully; the production of the harvest is in the hands of God.

This sowing may be difficult and painful; it may involve hardship and sacrifice and pain;

but when the seed has been carefully planted, then one can rest.  

 He can “sleep and rise night and day,” for by processes of which he is ignorant, 

and which he does not seek to discover, the seed will spring up and grow, he doesn’t know how.

There are forces in the earth, and rain and sunlight and summer air; over these the sower has no control; but he trusts that, if he has sown good seed, these influences will combine to produce the ripe grain.

Happy is the Christian messenger who has learned to wait patiently for the harvest when he has 

faithfully scattered the seed, to do his work carefully and to leave the results with God!

(Charles R. Erdman)

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January 22

“And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself,

even as He is pure.”

(1 John 3:3)

Why do we long for the Lord’s coming?

Because we love Him.

And He loves us infinitely more than we love Him.

That is why I believe that He longs for that day even more than we do.

We know we must be ready at His coming—completely ready.

And if we are really hoping for His return, 

we shall see to it that we are ready.

(Corrie Ten Boom - This Day is the Lord’s)

N.J. Hiebert - 6140

January 23

“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, 

even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

(Ephesians 4:32)

“Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel 

against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” 

(Colossians 3:13)   

THE MINISTRY OF BENEVOLENCE

The New Testament speaks of three kinds of works:

- Dead works—the activities of the self-righteous man (Hebrews 9:14).

- Wicked works—the activities of the unrighteous man (Colossians 1:21).

- Good works—the activities of the Christian man (Ephesians 2:10).

It tells us that the Lord Jesus went about continually doing good (Acts 10:38); and that 

He has left His people an example that they should follow His steps (1 Peter 2:21).

Christian women are asked to adorn themselves with good works (1 Timothy 2:9-10).

Christian men are urged to separate from everything that hinders in order 

that they may be meet for the Master’s use and prepared unto every good work (2 Timothy 2:21).

We are to be fruitful in every form of benevolence (Colossians 1:10);

and are not to restrict our activities to the children of God but, as we have opportunity,

are to show kindness to all (Galatians 6:10;  Hebrews 13:16).

The power by which we are equipped for these delightful ministries 

is the illimitable grace of God (2 Corinthians 9:8).

(Heaven’s Cure for Earth’s Care - George Henderson)

N.J. Hiebert - 6141 

January 24