“And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
The answer to our oft-repeated cry comes not in the way of deliverance; if instead of removing the trying thing, He speaks to our hearts in tender, gracious power, saying, “My grace is sufficient for thee,” shall we not bow submissively to His perfect will, assured that His choice is wiser and better than ours?
May we not even go further, as Paul did when he said, “Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me"? It is a great thing to say, for glorying in our infirmities goes far beyond bearing them with patience and submission.
But His grace enables His weak and suffering saints thus to speak when He is
fully trusted and His will accepted in perfect acquiescence.
We rest, then, as one rests on a bed of down, and we gladly leave ourselves in His hands as we hear Him say, “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter” (John 13:7).
(A. J. Pollock)
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February 28
“But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared.”
(Psalm 130:4)
But if we are defeated? There is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared.
When I was small I used to wonder why the word feared was used there, why not loved?
But the Spirit of God chooses the words He uses in the Scriptures, and there is a solemn truth in this word “feared”. Some of us know what it is to have a child speak lovingly after being forgiven, and yet perhaps that child does that same wrong thing again, without apparently very much caring that it will need forgiveness again, and without in the least thinking of what its sin has cost, and what forgiveness costs.
So here the word strikes a deeper note. “Feared” means "reverenced”, it means "the deep awe,
which love so tender, yet so holy, must needs inspire.” It means the kind of love which
has fear and reverence in it, and that kind of love will never think
it is a little thing to grieve our holy God.
If we have been defeated, let us not be discouraged, there is forgiveness.
But do not let us think lightly of defeat, as though it did not much
matter. It cost God Calvary to forgive my “smallest” sin.
(Amy Carmichael)
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March 1
March 2
March 3
March 4
March 5
March 6
March 7
March 8
March 9
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March 11
"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
(Romans 12:2)
At BAALBEC* in a quarry lies a magnificent column—the largest worked stone in the world—
almost detached and ready for transportation. In the ruined Temple of the Sun
nearby is a niche still waiting for it after forgotten centuries.
So large, so good, yet a failure, because it never filled the place for
which it was quarried and hewn.
The unused column may represent the possibilities in a human life—the empty niche, the opportunities!
How many lives that never fulfilled the bright possibilities before them!
“If you are in the wrong place, the right place is vacant.”
God has just one person to come at the right moment;
a place which no one can fill but that person and at that time!
What’er your place, it is not yours alone,
but His who sent you there.
(John Oxenham)
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*BAALBEC, Lebanon, where the Roman ruins outstrip Rome.
March 2
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
(Acts 4:12)
You yield your heart to Jesus now, and you will find your sins blotted out, and that you are pardoned and forgiven; yea, built then on the Rock that can never be shaken, because you are built on Him who died and rose again, and you will find that His Name is everything to you now, and will be your joy for ever, the Name of Jesus.
The Lord give you to know, the power of that Name.
God will have that Name to be honoured, the Name of the glorified Saviour.
The Lord give you grace to trust Him now, and know that you are saved by Him,
and by Him alone, the Chief Corner Stone.
The only Name “given among men whereby we must be saved”
will then be your delight, and you will learn to sing truly and joyfully:—
“There is a name I love to hear, I love to sing its worth;
It sounds like music in mine ear, the sweetest name on earth.
Jesus! the name I love so well, the name I love to hear,
No saint on earth its worth can tell, no heart conceive how dear.”
(W. T. P. Wolston)
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March 3
Hope & Faith
"Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.”
(Hebrews11:1)
The prominence given to faith in the New Testament, and rightly emphasized in Christian experience, should not allow us to forget that Hope is also distinctly brought before us in the
Holy Scriptures, and should therefore have its due force in our daily life.
As faith is a primal necessity for the very existence of the Christian life, so is
hope for the full growth and ripeness of the Christian character.
Faith and Hope are both essential; and, though they have an intimate connection with each other,
it is possible to distinguish them so that the precise value and force of Hope may be clearly seen and appreciated.
Faith looks backward and upward - Hope looks onward.
Faith is concerned with the Person who promises - Hope, with the things the Person promises.
Faith accepts - Hope expects - Faith appropriates - Hope anticipates.
Faith believes and takes - Hope desires and waits.
Faith comes by hearing - Hope by experience.
Faith is a root of which Hope is a fruit.
Faith has an attitude towards good and against evil;
Hope is concerned only with
that which is good.
(George Henderson)
N.J. Hiebert - 7010
March 4
“Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH
is everlasting strength.”
(Isaiah 26:4)
Some older saints may say, “I am sure that I will spend eternity with the Lord,
but what about the years until then, when I’m no longer well and strong? It’s that period I dread.”
The Lord says we can still bring forth fruit in old age for His glory.
"They shall still bring forth fruit in old age . . .”
(Psalm 92:14).
He promises that He will never leave nor forsake us.
(Hebrews 13:5)
Even in times of extreme difficulty, He is with us.
"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).
"The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.”
(Psalm 138:8)
“. . . He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
(Philippians 1:6)
When we pass through that last valley, it will be bright with His comforting presence.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:
for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.”
(Psalm 23:4)
May we continue to bear fruit even as heaven nears.
(G. Harlow)
Until then my heart will go on singing, until then with joy I’ll carry on,
Until the day my eyes behold the Saviour, until the day God calls me home.
N.J. Hiebert -7011
March 5
“I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching
forth unto those things which are before.”
(Philippians 3:13)
Our souls know what it is to leave things here behind, and to find Christ excellently precious:
and then some vain trifle comes in, and pulls us down, and makes
us more intensely interested about the passing trifle than
all the solid realities which are in Christ Jesus.
God produces desires within us that nothing but the glory can satisfy.
The Holy Ghost produces the power now to enter into these things.
This shows the importance of our minds dwelling there. . . .
“Whatsoever is lovely”—or “of good report, think on these things.”
How bright the heart would be! What growing up to the knowledge and
preciousness of Christ, if accustomed to be where God dwells.
The secret of real progress is personal attachment to Himself.
(Pilgrim Portions for the Day of Rest - JND)
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March 6
“WITH HIM—ALL THINGS"
“He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,
how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”
(Romans 8:32)
How blessed to move from our nothingness to “everything in Jesus”!
“By Him all things consist” (Colossians 1:17).
The Father has given Him all things
(John 3:35; 13:3; 16:15).
All things were made by Him (John 1:3; 1 Corinthians 8:6).
Jesus has said, “All things are Mine . . . Come” (Matthew 11:27,28).
“All things are Mine . . . Believe” (John 3:35,36).
“All things are Mine . . . Go”
(Matthew 28:18-20).
Your part is to bring Him all your need. His part is to supply all your need (Philippians 4:19).
If the first step is to realize the nothingness of yourself,
the second is to turn to the Allness of Christ.
“All that I need is Jesus,” because all that I need is in Jesus.
If God spared not His own Son but freely delivered Him up for
our redemption, He will not give me the greater and fail to give me the
lesser, but with Him He has given all else that I need, whether great or small.
And if everything is in Jesus, surely Jesus ought
to be everything to us!
(Vance Havner)
N.J. Hiebert - 7013
March 7
Truth From a Shark
“Be sure your sin will find you out.”
(Numbers 32:23)
In 1799, the captain and crew of an American ship named the Nancy were put on trial for smuggling.
Before capture, their illegal cargo and ship’s records were thrown overboard
and a faked set of records were substituted.
Just when they were about to be acquitted for lack of evidence,
another captain walked into the courtroom with the original records that had been
thrown into the sea. They had been eaten by a shark that was harpooned that very morning.
Truth has a way of coming out, even through the belly of a shark.
The Shark Papers are still on exhibit in the Institute of Jamaica.
In the Day of Judgment everything you do in secret will be seen in the light.
Those things you thought were hidden will be revealed, because truth comes out in the end.
Therefore, live your life in the light.
Let God wash away your sins and be pure.
Take no part in secret things that bring shame.
Live a life that you’d be glad to have lit up with light
because you never know what could turn up in the belly of a shark.
Courtesy hopeoftheworld.org - With thanks Dr. F. Charters
N.J. Hiebert - 7014
March 8
God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night.
(Job 35:10)
At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God:
and the prisoners heard them.
Acts 16:25
We make our songs in the day of our gladness, when life is all laughter and joy and delight,
When never a shadow has clouded our sunshine; But God giveth songs in the night!
God giveth songs in the night of affliction, when earth has no sun and the heavens no star;
Like comforting touch in the desolate darkness His voice stealeth in from afar.
N.J. Hiebert - 7015
March 9
“Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”
(Hebrews 10:17)
Do you mean to say that my future sins were all atoned for?
All our sins were future when Christ bore them on the cursed tree.
The sins of all believers for the last (twenty) centuries, were future when Christ died for them.
Hence, if the idea of future sins present a difficulty in reference to what we may commit, if
left here, it presents just as great a difficulty in reference to what we have committed.
But, in truth, all this perplexity about future sins arises very much, from the habit of looking at the Cross from our own point of view, instead of God’s—looking at it from earth instead of from Heaven. Scripture never speaks of future sins. Past, present, and future are only human and earthly. All is an eternal now with God.
All our sins were before the eye of infinite Justice at the Cross, and all were laid on the head of Jesus the Sin-bearer, who, by His death, laid the eternal foundation of forgiveness of sins, in order that the believer, at any moment of his life, at any point in his history, at any stage of his career, from the time at which the hallowed tidings of the Gospel fall upon the ear of faith until the moment in which he steps into the glory, may be able to say, with clearness and decision, without reserve, misgiving or hesitation -
“Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back” (Isaiah 38:17).
To say this is but faith’s response to God’s own declaration, when He says,
“Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”
"Jehovah hath made to meet on Him
the iniquities of us all.”
(Hebrews 10:17)
(C. H. Mackintosh)
N.J. Hiebert - 7016
March 10
NOW I BELONG TO JESUS
“For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die,
we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore,
or die, we are the Lord’s.”
(Romans 14:8)
God is FOR us — that is good.
God is WITH us — that is better.
God is IN us — that is best!
(Unknown)
We hear much these days about the problem of homeless people—people
of the street with no place to go and no one who cares.
Can we really appreciate the terrible state of despair and loneliness experienced by these masses?
Man was created by God to enjoy His fellowship and the fellowship of family and friends.
All of us have a need to belong to someone and something .
This popular song by Norman J. Clayton speaks so well about this truth of the mystical union that
exists between Christ and the believer—Christ in the believer and the believer in Christ.
Who can fathom the mystery of a mortal believer’s spirit being united with the divine Christ—a
glorious relationship that begins for the believer at the moment of genuine response
to the call of Christ and one that will last for eternity?
Norman Clayton has authored and composed numerous other fine gospel hymns, but
“Now I Belong to Jesus” is still his most widely used song. He writes that one
of his greatest thrills in life was hearing a ten-year old deaf girl
sing his song at a camp for handicapped children.
(Kenneth W. Osbeck - Hymn Stories)
Jesus my Lord will love me forever, from Him no pow’r of evil can sever;
He gave His life to ransom my soul—now I belong to Him!
Once I ws lost in sin’s degradation, Jesus came down to bring me salvation,
lifted me up from sorrow and shame—now I belong to Him!
Joy floods my soul, for Jesus has saved me, freed me from sin that long had enslaved me;
His precious blood He gave to redeem—now I belong to Him!
CHORUS: Now I belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to me;
Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity.
N.J. Hiebert - 7017
March 11
“Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.”
(Matthew 14:25,27)
The Lord Jesus made it plain from the beginning that there would be trials
of many kinds for all who would follow Him, and He Himself led the way in that path.
Should we be surprised when we find ourselves following in His footsteps?
There is joy too. He said clearly that sorrow would be turned into joy, joy that would never end.
But I think that He wants us all to understood quite definitely that if we follow
in the way of the cross we must be prepared to take up the cross.
We must not think of life as a joy-ride. But there is nothing whatever to be afraid of.
“Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house: they will be still praising Thee.”
is a shining word for us all” (Psalms 84:4).
No one knows what the next year will bring, but one thing is sure.
He will be with us, and He is enough for every difficulty
that may arise. He is enough for today’s difficulty.
Do you sometimes feel like the disciples when they were in the midst of the
sea toiling in rowing, for the wind was contrary to them?
Then take the lovely words for your comfort.
“Jesus went unto them . . . and spake unto them saying, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.”
No matter how much the wind blows, it will be true for us as it was for them,
“The wind ceased”. So let us be of good cheer and
go on our way rejoicing.
(Amy Carmichael)
N.J. Hiebert - 7018
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