SOARING WITH SERENITY
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about
in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of
Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
2 Corinthians 4:8-10
Probably the thing that impresses anyone who has watched eagles soaring the most is the apparent ease and utter serenity with which they fly. Of course this would be impossible without the skill that comes from long practice.
The demands made upon the Christian who would lead a triumphant and serene life are no less exacting. The believer will often grow weary. He or she will be tempted to relax vigilance. One will be impulsive and prone to a faltering up-and-down experience.
Like a young eagle, one will do a good deal of flapping and and flopping around before he or she has mastered the art of continuous soaring. In fact, one might become quite exhausted and downcast on occasion from trying so hard to fly on one’s own strength instead of just resting on God’s faithfulness.
Songs of My Soul - W. Phillip Keller
N.J. Hiebert - 7611
October 21
"ALL TO HIM I OWE”
Ye are bought with a price. 1 Corinthians 6:20
We are not our own, we have been redeemed.
But while we sing “Jesus Paid It All” let us remember the next line, “All To Him I Owe.”
Certain Divine requirements grow out of our being bought with a price.
Such love demands my soul, my life, my all.
We are to glorify God in body and spirit—our selves—because we belong to Him I Corinthians 6:19,20.
We are to glorify Him in our service: “Ye are bought with a price;
be not ye the servants of men” 1 Corinthians 7:23.
And Peter tells us that since we have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ,
we are to pass the time of our sojourning here in fear 1 Peter 1:17-21.
Self, service, sojourning—all to Him I owe, because He paid it all.
While we sing about the price that He paid, we had better check on what God expects for us,
not to repay Him, but as the expression of our heart’s love
to Him who redeemed us.
Vance Havner
N.J. Hiebert - 7612
October 22
Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah. Jonah 1:1
Jonah’s trouble did not lie in a lack of authority to act. The trouble with Jonah was very different:
no lack of authority, but lack of will to obey that authority.
Are we not sometimes very much like Jonah?
We know perfectly well that the blessed Book in our hands, the Bible, is the very Word of God.
It can be truthfully said that the Word of the Lord has come unto us. The Lord Jesus
Christ in that Word has made absolutely clear what His commands are.
On the one hand, we have "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden.” I suppose
that most of our readers have heard this call, and have taken it as a personal call to
themselves, and have obeyed. On the other hand the same lips that said
“Come unto Me,” also said, “Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature.”
We have been glad to obey the call “Come,” we have been glad to obtain the rest that He promised, but when it comes to the command “Go ye,” we are too often like Jonah, not so eager to obey. It is amazing the ingenious excuses we can find for avoiding, or refusing, or postponing obedience to that call.
Most of us, as a matter of fact, are not in any position to criticize Jonah because he tried to avoid obedience to the command,“Go.” Most of us are just as clear as to the Divine source of the command as Jonah was, when ”the word of the LORD came unto Jonah.” Most of us are just as clear as to the authority behind the command.
The real trouble does not lie in any doubt as to the Divine Source, or Divine Authority:
the real trouble lies in our own wretched wills.
G. C. Willis
N.J. Hiebert - 7613
October 23
CARE AND ITS CURE
Dost Thou not care? Luke 10:40 - He careth for you. 1 Peter 5:7
CARE: a little word of only four letters, yet how weighty! Its pressure at times is almost intolerable.
Everybody is more or less affected by it, for probably there is nothing on the face
of the earth more common than care.
It is seen in the merchant’s face; it furrows the cheek of the widow; it sits upon the forehead of the great; it dogs the steps, and hovers around the bed of kings: for we are assured:
“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”
Men of all classes and conditions are victims of care. It calls upon all alike, and has a habit of making itself at home, though never welcomed. Indeed, try as we will to get rid of this unwelcome visitor, it clings to us as if it were the best of friends.
Go where you will you find it. There is not a continent, or country or town that is free from its dark shadows. Is there an individual you could meet, who has come to any years at all, who could truthfully say, “Care and I are are unknown to each other”? It has a habit of creeping in everywhere. Sometimes it will present itself on the most festive occasions, and has been know to cast its shadow even over a marriage scene.
Almost every day is marked by it; the day of death not always being exempt, as though care were the first thing we carry and last thing we lay down. How can we escape from it? No barriers can keep it out. Bolts and bars are useless here, for if you lock the door it will creep through the keyhole, and if you succeed in turning it out of the front door it will find its way round to the back.
It seems as all-pervading and penetrating as the atmosphere. As well attempt to
exclude the air as to exclude care.
“Dost Thou not care?”— The cry of the human heart.
“He careth for you.”—The Divine answer.
Angels in White - Russell Elliott
N.J. Hiebert - 7614
October 24
I forgave thee all that debt . . . Matthew 18:32
After that forgiveness which must come first, there comes a thought of great comfort
in our freshly felt helplessness, rising out of the very thing that makes us realize this helplessness.
Just because our influence is to such a great extent involuntary and unconscious, we may rest
assured that if we ourselves are truly kept for Jesus this will be,
as a quite natural result, kept for Him also.
It cannot be otherwise, for as is the fountain so will be the flow; as the spring, so the action;
as is the impulse, so the communicated motion.
Thus there may be and in simple trust there will be a quiet rest about it, a relief from
all sense of strain and effort, a fulfilling of the words.
“For he that is entered into His rest,
he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His.”
Hebrews 4:10
It will not be a matter of trying to have good influence,
but just of having it as naturally and constantly as the magnetized bar.
(Frances Ridley Havergal)
N.J. Hiebert - 7615
October 25
Let the Lord . . . set a man over the congregation . . . which may lead them out,
and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the Lord
be not as sheep which have no shepherd.
Numbers 27:16-17
I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you.
For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.
Philippians 2:19-20
The timid hand stretched forth to aid a brother in his need,
A kindly word in grief’s dark hour that proves a friend indeed;
Let nothing pass, for every hand must find some work to do;
Lose not a chance to waken love—be firm and just and true.
N.J. Hiebert - 7616
October 26
But He giveth more grace. James 4:6
The Lord surnamed James and John “Boanerges,” or "Sons of Thunder.” From that, and the
fact that they united in asking the Lord to command fire to consume the
village of the Samaritans, who refused them, we gather that
they were rough, impatient, noisy men.
Their mother was ambitious, too, in asking for her sons the chief places in the kingdom, and such
a mother was likely to have ambitious sons. The fact that they accompanied her
when the request was made seems to point to this very clearly.
But see how grace worked. From the Acts of the Apostles we gather that James had developed
into a man, content rather to suffer martyrdom for Christ’s sake,
with no trace of the Boanerges about him.
John from his writings is seen to be gentle, tender, deeply affectionate—he had well
graduated from the top place in the Lord’s school—his head upon his Master’s breast—certainly
the Boanerges had been rooted out of him, the lion of nature had given place to the lamb of grace.
Comforted of God - A. J. Pollock
N.J. Hiebert - 7617
October 27
The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
Proverbs 22:7
He who had unspeakable wealth said “show me a penny” Luke 20:24.
He who abode in the ivory palaces of heaven borrowed a pillow in Bethany Matthew 21:17.
He whose heavenly podium will be the great White Throne borrowed a boat
from which to preach Luke 5:3.
from which to preach Luke 5:3.
He who spoke worlds unknown into existence, borrowed loaves and fish
to feed a hungry throng John 6:9.
to feed a hungry throng John 6:9.
He who owns the cattle upon a thousand hills borrowed a donkey Mark 11:3.
He who inhabits eternity borrowed an upper room Matthew 26:18.
Finally He who is the source of life borrowed a tomb Matthew 27:60.
Sid Halsband
Rich in glory, Thou didst stoop, thence is all Thy people’s hope;
Thou wast poor, that we might be rich in glory, Lord, with Thee.
T. Kelly
N.J. Hiebert - 7618
October 28
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in Him,
the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing. John 15:5.
Our influence with out fellow men in public will always be in exact proportion to the
depth of our hidden life with God in secret. It is not what we say, not what we do; it is what we are
that tells, or rather what Christ is in us. Make room for Christ in your heart, and you need not advertise it.
It will be noised that He is in the house. Mark 2:1
We cannot say to ourselves too often that Christianity is a personal experience.
One evening in a West Point delegation at the Northfield Student Conference, conversation fell on serious lines, and one of the men threw this question into the circle: "What is Christianity, anyway?” After a long pause one of the cadets gave this answer: “Oscar Westover.”
Exactly! I do no know who he was, only that he was one of the cadets living a kind of life so that when the boys thought of Christianity they defined it in terms of him. That is the only way you ever can define it. It is "Oscar Westover.” It is not a creed, nor an organization, nor a ritual.
They are the leaves; they are not the roots. They are the wires; they are not the message.
The thing itself is life. Be ye followers of me (Paul),
even as I am of Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:11
This I learned from the shadow of a tree, which to and fro did sway against a wall,
Our shadow selves, our influence may fall where we can never be.
Selected - Mountain Trailways for Youth
One such example is worth more to earth than the the stained
triumphs of ten thousand Caesars
N.J. Hiebert - 7619
October 29
If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s
commandments, and abide in His love. These things have I spoken unto you, that
My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. John 15:10-11.
Joy should be one of the chief characteristics of our Christian faith. In the New Testament the word chara is used 53 times to mean “joy”. Only a joyful exuberant Christian is a worthy representative of the transforming power of Christ’s gospel. But what is a spiritual joy?
It is much more than mere laughter or even happiness. It is a life that is at rest in the Lord, regardless of life’s circumstances. Such a life cannot help but have a strong impact on nonbelievers. If there were more singing Christians, the testimony would be more effective.
Often our finest and most effective songs are composed during midnight experiences of life. It is easy to sing when all is well. But to sing when all is dark requires the indwelling presence of Christ.
Luther B. Bridgers (1884-1948), an evangelist from Georgia, is believed to have written both words and music for this joyful hymn in 1910, following the death of his wife and three sons in a fire at the the home of his wife’s parents while he was away conducting revival meetings in Kentucky.
There’s within my heart a melody—Jesus whispers sweet and low,
“Fear not, I am with thee—peace be still,” in all of life’s ebb and flow.
All my life was wrecked by sin and strife, discord filled my heart with pain;
Jesus swept across the broken strings, stirred the slumb’ring chords again.
Feasting on the riches of His grace, resting ’neath His shelt’ring wing,
Always looking on His smiling face—that is why I shout and sing.
Tho sometimes He leads thru waters deep, trials fall across the way,
Tho sometimes the path seem rough and steep, see His footprints all the way.
Soon He’s coming back to welcome me far beyond the starry sky;
I shall wing my flight to worlds unknown, I shall reign with Him on high.
Chorus: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus—sweetest name I know;
Fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go.
Kenneth W. Osbeck
N.J. Hiebert - 7620
October 30
I sought him, but I found him not. Song of Solomon 3:1
Mary and Joseph sought Jesus and found Him in the temple.
They thought He was lost, but He was right where they left Him (Luke 2:46).
If our companionship with Him is broken, it is not He who has moved, but us.
We can’t lose our salvation but we can lose our fellowship with Him.
Unconfessed sin, inattention to our Bible, failure to pray, and neglecting to gather
with God’s people—all break fellowship.
The journey back to where we have left Him begins with confession and continues
with a renewed focus on the Scriptures, prayer and Christian fellowship.
Later the bride said, “I found him whom my soul loveth:
I held him, and would not let him go” (Song 3:4).
This can be our blessed reality too.
Milton Haack
N.J. Hiebert - 7621
October 31
Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
Proverbs 23:23
An important word this for our Laodicean and latitudinarian age. We may well cry, with the prophet, “Truth has fallen in our streets.”
But he who desires the approval of God above the praise of men will value it nevertheless, and be ready to purchase it at the cost of friends, reputation, possessions, yea, life itself.
Nor will he part with it whatever the suffering that may result from contending earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
Rationalists may sneer, and the superstitious persecute; but he who possesses the truth will find with it wisdom, instruction and understanding such as all the wise men after the flesh are strangers to.
Who exemplified what is here implanted more than the one-time rabbi,
Paul of Tarsus (Philippians 3:7-11).
Paul of Tarsus (Philippians 3:7-11).
H. A. Ironside
N.J. Hiebert - 7622
November 1
Then are they glad because they be quiet;
so He bringeth them unto their desired heaven.
Psalm 107:30
In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.
Isaiah 30:15
I NEEDED THE QUIET
I needed the quiet so He drew me aside,
Into the shadows where we could confide.
Away from the bustle where all the day long
I hurried and worried when active and strong.
I needed the quiet though at first I rebelled,
But gently, so gently, my cross He upheld,
And whispered so sweetly of spiritual things.
Though weakened in body, my spirit took wings
To heights never dreamed of when busy all day.
He loved me so greatly He drew me away.
I needed the quiet. No prison my bed,
But a beautiful valley of blessings instead—
A place to grow richer in Jesus to hid.
I needed the quiet so He drew me aside.
(Alice Hansche Mortenson)
N.J. Hiebert - 7623
November 2
November 3
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