September 10
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to His purpose.”
(Romans 8:28)
Anna Steele, whose hymns have helped so very many people,
encountered much pain and sorrow as she journeyed through life.
On the eve of her bridal morn, while she awaited the arrival of her betrothed,
a message came with the news that he had been drowned.
She retired to her chamber; and when the first violent shock had passed away and her
soul had somewhat recovered strength, she wrote a hymn which
has brought healing to many a wounded spirit.
“Father, what’er of earthly bliss Thy sovereign will denies,
Accepted at Thy throne of grace let this petition rise:
Give me a calm and thankful heart, from every murmur free;
The blessing of Thy grace impart, and let me live to Thee.”
(Heaven’s Care for Earth’s Joy)
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September 11
“We will flee upon horses.”
(Isaiah 30:16)
God is never slow from His standpoint, but He is from ours,
because impetuosity and doing things prematurely are universal weaknesses.
God lives and moves in eternity, and every little detail in His working must be like Himself,
and have in it the majesty and measured movement, as well as the accuracy and promptness of infinite wisdom.
We are to let God do the swiftness and we do the slowness.
The Holy Spirit tells us to “be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.”
That is, swift to take in from God, but slow to give out the opinions, the emotions of the creature.
We miss a great many things from God by not going slow enough with Him.
Who would have God change His perfections to accommodate our whims?
Have we not had glimpses into God’s perfections, insight into wonderful truths, quiet
unfoldings of daily opportunities, gentle checks of the Holy Spirit
upon our decisions or words, sweet and secret
promptings to do certain things?
There is a time for everything in the universe to get ripe—and to go slow with God is
the heavenly pace that gathers up all things at the time they are ripe.
What they win, who wait for God, is worth waiting for!
Going slow with God is our greatest safety!
(Springs in the Valley)
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September 12
ONE DAY AT A TIME
One of the most common causes of nervous exhaustion and breakdown is the attempt
on the part of men and women to live three days in one.
When a person lives in a state of constant remorse because of past sins of
omission and commission; and at the same time perpetually worries
about the trials and responsibilities that may come tomorrow;
and then finds that the tasks and obligations of
today must be discharged, the natural
result is a mind overwrought.
But when that one, with a heart willing to be taught God’s way of life,
opens the Bible, relief is sure and speedy.
We live in a three dimensioned world.
If we think of it in relation to space we have length, width, and depth;
but we are to think of it now in relation to time, which includes past, present and future.
YESTERDAY
“This one thing I do; forgetting those things which are behind . . . I press toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
(Philippians 3:13-14).
TOMORROW
"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take
thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matthew 6:34).
"Leave tomorrow’s troubles for tomorrow’s strength; tomorrow’s work for tomorrow’s time;
tomorrow’s trial for tomorrow’s grace—and tomorrow’s God."
(David Livingston)
TODAY
“As thy days so shall thy strength be” (Deuteronomy33:25). It is not too much to say
that if we accept these words at their true value, all worry will be banished from
our lives. "The days of our years are three-score years and ten”- Psalm 90:10;
but remember that they come to us one at a time, and that our
whole life is but a day repeated.
(In Pastures Green)
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September 13
“Hold up my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.
“Hold up my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.
I have called upon Thee, for Thou wilt hear me,
O God: incline Thine ear unto me,
and hear my speech.”
(Psalms 17:5-6)
He guides my halting footsteps
Along the weary way,
For well He knows the pathway
Will lead to endless day.
I sing through shade and sunshine,
And trust what’er befall;
His way is best—it leads to rest;
My Father planned it all.
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September 14
“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.”
(Matthew 11:28)
Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Saviour am happy and blessed.
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His
goodness,
lost in His love.
(Treasures from Fanny Crosby)
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September 15
“When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers,
they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire,
thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the
flame kindle upon thee.”
(Isaiah 43:2)
God sometimes shuts the door and shuts us in, that He may speak, perchance through grief or pain;
And softly, heart to heart, above the din may teach some precious truth to us again.
In old testament worship, the mercy seat was the cover of the Ark of the Covenant,
which housed the Mosaic tables of stone, a pot of manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded.
The mercy seat was a most sacred, holy place. It symbolized the place of God’s eternal presence with His people.
When the storms of life blow our way, we can either cringe in despair or flee to the heavenly Mercy
Seat-the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). There we can find the help and strength to be over-comers.
Trials can sometimes embitter and harden our spirits. However, if we use the trial to lean more fully on
Christ and to learn the lesson He desires to teach us, we become stronger in our faith.
From every stormy wind that blows, from every swelling tide of woes,
there is a calm, a sweet retreat; ’Tis found before the mercy-seat.
There is a place where mercy sheds the oil of gladness on our heads;
a place than all beside more sweet—It is the heavenly mercy-seat.
There is a spot where souls unite, and saint meets saint in heavenly light;
though sundered far, by faith they meet before the common mercy-seat.
Ah! whither could we flee for aid when tempted, desolate, dismayed?
or how the hosts of hell defeat, had suffering saints no mercy-seat?
Thither by faith we upward soar, and time and sense seem all no more,
For freely God our souls can greet where glory crowns the Mercy-seat.
(Hugh Stowell)
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September 16
September 17
September 18
September 19
September 20
September 21
September 22
The Worldling's Bible!
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.”
Matthew 5:16
The worldling's Bible is the Christian.
He never reads the Book--but he reads the disciple of Christ,
and he judges the Christian religion by the lives of its professors!
The world does not read the Bible--the world reads Christians!
"For it is the will of God,
that with well doing ye put to silence the ignorance of foolish men!”
1 Peter 2:15
“I therefore the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love.”
Ephesians 4:1-2
(Charles Spurgeon)
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September 17
“See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven:
Whose voice then shook the earth . . . yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.”
Hebrews 12:25-27
That which does not result from the Divine nature itself will be removed:
no testing or shaking afterwards.
How important for the soul not to be following the opinion of men,
or leaning upon men, but upon that which
“cannot be shaken.”
That which has its foundation in the Word of God only
will abide, and not “be shaken.”
“Receiving a kingdom.”
That which we have in Christianity is final—not to be moved.
(Hunt’s Sayings)
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September 18
“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known unto God.”
(Philippians 4:6)
The word “nothing” covers the whole range of wilderness anxieties without omitting one.
It does not include sin, far from it, for the simple reason that sin is
in no wise contemplated in this epistle.
It is not proper to the experience of the Christian, though, alas! every true believer realizes
its presence, and needs to be on constant guard against its subtile workings.
Sin is abnormal to Christian experience—not impossible, but not normal.
It is confessed and judged just on that very account.
The child of God should be most careful about sin,
but apart from that he should be careful about nothing—no thing!
(Comforted of God - A.J. Pollock)
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September 19
"Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made know unto God . . .”
Solution - This is exercise, deep, earnest and precious. It is not careless nor indifference.
There is prayer; there is supplication; there is making requests known to God;
and there is the blending of thanksgiving with every prayer.
This signifies close personal dealing with God.
“In everything,” no matter how small, nor how great or complex,
let each request of the burdened heart be laid before Him.
The Bible teems with instances of prayerful men, who spread all kinds of requests before God,
from kings on their thrones to prisoners in chains, and never was a deaf ear
turned to the lowly and believing suppliant.
(Comforted of God - A. J. Pollock)
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September 20
“Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made know unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
(Philippians 4:6-7)
Supplication is prayer intensified; it is importunity; its root idea is the sense of want;
it is illustrated in the Prodigal Son.
The word is often used by the Apostle Paul; but it must carry no legal, or
cringing, or selfish element; it must be sustained by thanksgiving;
for remember that the Christian has received infinitely more
than he can ever request.
His blessings far exceed his greatest wants.
God loves a thankful suppliant, and in this happy spirit the requests are made know to One who
assuredly knows all about them, but who waits for the cries of the wearied child,
so that He may pour in the flood of His own incomprehensible peace.
As God’s peace enters care departs; the soul is tranquilized. No direct answer may have been gathered—
the thorn may remain in the flesh—but the heart and mind are garrisoned by the deep,
eternal calm that marks the throne on high.
See the reflection of that calm as it shone in the face of Stephen; see it in the words of Paul:
“I am ready to be offered”; recall it in the bold language of the three men who had
to face the fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar, when they said:
“We are not careful to answer thee in this matter . . . We will not serve thy gods,
nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”
And witness the Son of God as their companion in that fiery ordeal.
(Comforted of God - A. J. Pollock)
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September 21
"Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; And an idle soul shall suffer hunger.”
(Proverbs 19:15)
Many of us fail to realize that idleness is sin.
Time wasted is time to be accounted for at the judgment-seat of Christ.
Needed rest is, of course, very right and proper.
Jesus Himself had to say to His disciples,
“Come ye yourselves apart . . . and rest awhile” (Mark 6:31).
But idleness is quite different.
Slothfulness is trifling away opportunities that will never return.
It is failing to appreciate the value of time.
In a natural sense, the sluggard is made to feel the pinch of want;
and spiritually, the same is also true.
He who, for lack of godly energy, does not bestir himself to procure suited sustenance
for his soul, will come to want, and know the pangs of famine.
“Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16).
(Proverbs - H. A. Ironside)
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September 22
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