“By this shall all men know that that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another.”
(John 13:35)
The moment a Christian recognizes divine life in another,
in spite of difference of education, rank, and many
other things, he will be drawn towards him.
It is characteristic; he cannot help it.
The moment a man discerns the Spirit of
Christ in another, there is a necessary attraction to him.
At once they are united together in love.
(J. N. Darby)
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July 21
“And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;
The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were
stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; and
the waters returned from off the earth continually.”
(Genesis 8:1-3)
All this because God remembered Noah! The
forces of heaven and earth were enlisted, reversed, ordered
about, solely because God remembered Noah and had plans for him.
God has not forgotten you.
He will as readily order about the forces of
the universe on your account as He did on Noah’s.
His plans for Noah were also plans for
the whole world through Noah.
So they are for you.
He will use you for the good of the whole
world if you will let Him.
(Selected)
We may forget; God does not!
God’s time is never wrong, never too fast nor too slow;
The planets move to its steady pace as the centuries come and go.
Stars rise and set by that time, the punctual comets come back
With never a second’s variance, from the round of their viewless track.
Men space their years by the sun, and reckon their months by the moon,
Which never arrive too late and never depart too soon.
Let us set our clocks by God’s, and order our lives by His ways,
And nothing can come and nothing can go too soon or too late in our day.
(Annie Johnson Flint)
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July 22
Judging
“Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”
(John 7:24)
At the beginning of the last war a young man sat at a table in a London restaurant.
Two young enthusiasts seated at another table, watched him for a few
minutes, whispering together; and then, approaching him,
offered him a little box.
He opened it, and in it lay—a white feather.
“How strange”, he remarked, “that I should receive two such gifts
in one day: this morning I received the Victoria Cross at Buckingham Palace”.
The simple incident illustrates a profound truth.
For we are called upon, if we judge at all, to judge righteously—
John 7:24; and that implies that we have accurate knowledge of the circumstances
of the one whom we dare to judge.
To criticize without such knowledge may cause pain and sorrow to innocent hearts.
(In Green Pastures - George Henderson)
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July 23
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised
Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
(Romans 10:9)
Only a step to Jesus! then why not take it now?
Come, and thy sin confessing, to Him, thy Saviour, bow.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
(1 John 1:9)
Only a step, only a step, come, He waits for thee;
Come, and thy sin confessing, thou shalt receive a blessing;
Do not reject the mercy He freely offers thee.
(Treasures from Fanny Crosby)
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July 24
“And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ,
and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.”
(2 Corinthians 5:18)
There is nothing in the new creation that is not of God—nor
can anything else ever enter into it.
“All things are of God.”
Our “life,” which "is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3),
is a tested life, not a life exposed to be tested—and
God has been glorified in that life.
“And He is before all things, and
by Him all things consist.”
(Colossians 1:17)
God’s purposes are not in Adam, but are all in Christ.
(Hunt’s Sayings)
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July 25
TAKE MY LIFE AND LET IT BE
“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do,
do all to the glory of God.”
(1 Corinthians 10:31)
It was said of Frances R. Havergal, author of this text, that the beauty of a consecrated life
was never more perfectly revealed than in her daily living.
"These little couplets that chimed in my heart one after another” were for Frances Havergal the result of an evening in 1874 passed in pursuing a deeper consecration of herself to God.
“Take my voice and let me sing always only for my King”
was personally significant for Frances.
She was naturally very musical and had been trained as a
concert soloist with an unusually pleasant voice.
Her musical talents could have brought her much worldly fame.
However, she determined that her life’s mission
was to sing and work only for Jesus.
Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love,
Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee;
take my voice and let me sing always, only, for my King.
Take my lips and let them be filled with messages for Thee;
take my silver and my gold—not a mite would I withhold,
Take my love—my God, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store;
take myself—and I will be ever, only, all for Thee.
(From Amazing Grace - Kenneth W. Osbeck)
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July 26
“Whom have I in heaven but Thee?
And there is none upon earth that I desire but Thee.”
(Psalm 73:25)
Thoughts of heaven make us think of being with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
He will be the centre of our focus for all eternity.
But why should that attitude and adoration be put off to a coming day?
As we live here and now, is the Lord Jesus truly all that we desire?
Or are we caught up with earthly desires and pleasures?
May He be our all in all now, as He will be then.
(L. Tempest)
And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.
(Carl Boberg)
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July 27
“And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, and gave
them a charge unto the children of Israel.”
(Exodus 6:13)
Time and again God had told Moses of the mission He expected him
to accomplish, but repeatedly Moses presented excuses,
in particular, focusing on his
own inadequacies.
In the end God commanded him to just “go”!
In life the Lord gives us frequent confirmations that He is with us in our future plans,
but we excuse ourselves because of our own limitations.
Stop looking within and “go”— know of a surety He
is with you and will always support you.
(Brian Russell)
Arise ye warriors of the cross, the Master’s word obeying;
Gird on the sword, count all things loss, go forth without delaying.
(S. Trevor Francis)
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July 28
Oil And Wine
“Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?”
(Jeremiah 8:22)
There is a balm for every pain, a medicine for all sorrow;
The eye turned backward to the Cross and forward to the morrow—
The morrow of the glory and the psalm, when He shall come;
The morrow of the harping and the palm, the welcome home.
Meantime in His beloved hands our ways, and on His heart the wandering heart’s at rest; And comfort for the weary one who lays his head upon His breast.
(A. J. Pollock)
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July 29
“Looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith;
who for the 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)
Calvary is never the end of the road for the blind man (Mark 8:23) whom the
Lord leads by the hand out of the town, and to whom He gives vision.
“Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross”
is a great word for fainting souls.
As I read the New testament over and over, I am more and more impressed by the way suffering was taken for granted as something appointed; but always there is the thought of joy not far off.
In our Lord’s private talks with his disciples, there is continually and clearly
that “Must” of suffering, and the joy to follow.
We often act as if the place that is called Calvary had been taken out of the landscape of life, or were an accident there.
It is not so; but just out of sight is the joy that is set before us, and there is the power which can enable us to treat the invisible as visible, the promised as present.
(Edges of His Ways - Amy Carmichael)
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July 30
“Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth.”
(John 17:17)
While we may decry legalism, we tend to prefer it to open idolatry because it appears more respectable. But, in actuality, there is not much difference between the two.
Idolatry is essentially having an object other that Christ and God’s glory.
Legalism is having a standard other than Christ and God’s glory.
Ultimately, that standard becomes an idol, and legalism adds the reek of hypocrisy.
Legalism is little more than a sanctimonious form of idolatry.
(Nuggets— Food for Thought - John Kaiser)
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July 31
THE DAY OF TROUBLE
"Call upon Me in the day of trouble:
I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify Me.”
(Psalm 50:15)
It has been said that man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. (Job 5:7)
So that we may be quite sure a text such as this
appeals to a great many.
It presents to us four points, each of which is worthy of consideration.
They are—first, “The day of trouble.”
Secondly, what we are to do in it: “Call upon Me.”
Next, what God will do in answer to our call: “I will deliver thee.”
Lastly, the end God has in view: “Thou shalt glorify Me.”
(Angels in White - Russell Elliott)
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