Daniel…Kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed. Daniel. 6:10.
It is well to accustom oneself to stated seasons of prayer, and to refuse to allow even pressing business to turn one aside. Who has not heard of the white handkerchief in front of General “Chinese Gordon’s'' tent? The sentry, pacing to and fro, allowed no courier to enter—no matter how urgent - till that handkerchief was removed. It indicated that Gordon was having an audience with God, and all other matters must wait. How often it is otherwise with many of us. God is put last!
H.A.Ironside
I’m busy! No, I cannot stay,
A thousand things call me away;
Tomorrow I will stop to pray.
And so I lost me one great day.
N.J. Hiebert 9402
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4 :4,7
THE TYRNNY OF WORRY
One does not need to travel very far along the road of life before one discovers that probably the greatest foe with which the human heart has to contend is worry. The terrible havoc which it works is written on the faces of men and women everywhere.
It destroys the vitality of the body, turns the mind into a seething caldron of unrest, and robs the soul of peace. No one is exempt from its attacks; for it possesses the fatal power of entering the palace of the king as easily as it does the humblest cottage in the land.
Since the grace that makes us Christians still leaves us men, we too— believers in the Lord Jesus Christ—are faced by this demon of worry; and it may be helpful to enquire how it is that we so frequently get into its grip; to show how sadly it hinders us in our witness for God; and to point out how we may be finally delivered from its power.
Our theme then is: worry—its prevalence, uselessness and baselessness ; its causes, consequences and cure. Heaven’s Cure for Earth’s Care - George Henderson
N.J.Hiebert—9403
(To be continued)
WORRY - ITS CAUSES
Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. 1 Peter 5:7
By reason of our complex personality, we stand related to three realms of being—physical, mental and spiritual; and worry may come to us from any one of these. On the physical plane, life for very many is a constant battle for the bread that perisheth; and the worry that reaches us from this source is largely occasioned by such questions as: what shall we eat? What shall we drink? or wherewithall shall we be clothed? (Matthew 6:31)
Mentally, some are so constituted that they live in perpetual dread of coming disaster. An incurable malady is imagined to be on its way, an impending doom, an overhanging sword is already perceived.
Finally, in the spiritual realm, the happenings of the hour frequently furnish occasion for our faithless hearts to doubt the tenderness of God.
Now it is an indisputable fact that, people worry more about their imaginary troubles than they do about those which are actually upon them.
The troubles that never come form the heaviest part of our daily load. The worry and the fear caused by these apprehended miseries often work said havoc with brain and nerves. The actual sorrows, the bereavements, the disappointments, have their comfort and cure. But there is no cure for the troubles that never come. They are haunting ghosts, unsubstantial as mist, yet very real in their depressing and harmful power over us. Heaven’s Cure for Earth’s care. George Henderson
N.J.Hiebert - 9404 (To be continued)
Draw me, we will run after Thee! Song of Solomon1:4
Were I to read the heart of the loving bride through these words, I should say that her desire to be near the person of the Lord is so great that, near and dear though she be, there is something like distance experienced. Hence the deep breathings of her heart, “Draw me”—oh! draw me nearer—closer—my Lord, to Thee! The more we know of Christ the more we shall desire to know of Him.
The nearer we are to Him, the more we shall desire to be drawn nearer still. As Paul says, “That I may know Him” (Philippians 3:10), and yet none on earth knew Him so well! Do you speak thus, my soul, to yourself? Do you know this in you own experience?
There is a beautiful connection between the Lord’s drawing and our running. Note the last two words—not after our own notions, or even after the best of men on earth—but “after Thee”. The one who draws, goes before. Thus the Lord goes before His people in the wilderness and sees the danger and meets it before they come to it. Many, many are the dangers He delivers us from that we know nothing about.
A snare may be laid for us by the enemy in the way that we said we would go; but our divine Leader, seeing the snare, turns into another path, leads in another direction, and the snare which might have proved fatal is escaped. And yet I may feel so disappointed and so discontented because something hindered me from reaching my previously appointed place.
Blessed Lord, may we ever and only “run after Thee!” Andrew Miller
N.J.Hiebert - 9405
ANXIETY—ITS CURE
As thy days, so shall thy strength be. Deuteronomy 33:25
Sometimes, “says John Newton, “I compare the troubles we have to undergo in the course of a year to a great bundle of sticks far too large for us to lift. But God does not require us to carry the whole at once. He mercifully unties the bundles, and gives us first one stick, which we are able to carry today, and then another, which we are able to carry tomorrow, and so on.
This we can easily manage, if we could only take the burden appointed for us each day; but we chose to increase our trouble by carrying yesterday’s stock over again today, and adding tomorrow’s burden before we are required to bear it.”
Heaven’s Cure for Earth’s Care—George Henderson
Apart from the woes that are past and gone
And the shadow of future care,
The heaviest load of the present hour
Is easy enough to bear.
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What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 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?
Rom. 8:31-32
Trust... in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.
1 Tim. 6:17
His love has no limit,
His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto
men;
For out of His infinite
Riches in Jesus
He giveth and giveth and giveth again.
N.J.Hiebert - 9407
Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.
Luke 18:1
A man, past eighty years, stood in a prayer meeting and said,
"Friends, I would like to share with you my joy today. Sixty-five years ago my dying mother said to me, 'You are the only Christian in the family so I commend your brothers to you. Pray for them every day until they are saved.' This morning I received a letter from my remaining brother, in which he said he had the very best news - he was saved!" Are your prayers yet to be answered? Keep on praying!
I will pray on. Though distant it may seem, The answer may be almost at my door, Or iust around the corner on its way.
But whether near or far, yes, I shall pray - I will pray on.
- E. L. Mapes
N.J. Hiebert 9408
We love Him, because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19
If you consult the Greek you will find that one word does not appear. Correctly we read, “We love, because He first love us.” Maybe some of you feel that you have lost something, you like to think, “We love Him because He first loved us.” But take it just as the Spirit of God originally wrote it, “We love, because He first loved us.” Think it over, and you will see how much more precious that is after all.
Many a one will talk about loving Him who has not very much love for His! How easy it is to talk about loving Christ and loving God, and yet be cold and unkind and discourteous toward those for whom Jesus died. The test of whether we really love Him is found in the way we behave toward His, and what a test that is! You say you love Him, but you do not love Him a bit more than you love the child of God of whom you think the least.
Just try to think who that is, that cantankerous, cross-grained person who always seems to upset you, and yet you know that that one belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, that he is a member of Christ's Body. You do not love Christ any more than you love His members, and so "We love, because He first loved us."
When our hearts are occupied with His wondrous love, we remember that He loved us when we were unlovely, and some of us are not very lovely now; we remember that He loved us when we were unlovable, and some of us are not very lovable yet. If He could do that when we were rebellious, and if that same love is now shed abroad in our hearts, we ought to be able to love those who are sinful and unkind and selfish. It is love triumphing in the midst of evil. “We love because He first loved us.”Epistles of John — H. A. Ironside
N.J.Hiebert - 9409
Now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation.
2 Corinthians 6:2.
The Mystery at the End
Sooner or later, we’ll face the end of life sometime in the future. What then? Writers and philosophers have many varied answers, but the fact remains, we can’t see beyond that Mystery Wall with certainty. We can wish for a blissful paradise, a land of plenty where the sun always shines, or we can take the “cop out” position: that there is only oblivion to come. No God, no heaven, no hell; just nothing.
Unless - Unless we turn to what God says in His Word, the Holy Bible speaking to us all. It starts at page one: in the beginning, God. From before time began, God was, always was, is now and always will be. Reading on: God created the heaven and the earth. His creative power points clearly to His eternal existence. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork. (Psalm 19:1)
Look at (Romans1:20) For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they (we) are without excuse. Believe these basic truths and you are well on your way to actually KNOWING your destiny beyond your lifespan on earth.
One Route to Heaven - Everyone makes the choice whether to look diligently for God’s only way, or ignore it at their peril. The default position is Hell forever. The Old Testament part of the Bible, two-thirds of it, firmly establishes that we can do nothing by our own strength, logic, keeping the Ten Commandments or will power to make our way into heaven. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23). The New Testament tells us exactly how to go about it.
The route is summed up in several specific verses. If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. This is an absolute promise from God. The Old Testament has many illustrative true stories pointing to Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension; but we read the details about these events in the New Testament.
Lorne Perry for Vision 2020 in 2023 (To be continued)
N.J.Hiebert - 9410
The Mystery at the end - (continued)
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
One Book Inspired by God - God’s Holy Spirit guided faithful men to write down His thoughts for us, and the resulting book has been remarkably preserved for thousands of years (example; recent discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls written in Bible times). Even if your Bible, is left on the shelf unopened, that does not change what it says. You are already guilty before God and badly need a rescue package.
That package is yours by faith in Jesus Christ, God’s only and eternal Son. He is presented as the ONLY way. He declared I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father (God) but by Me. John 14:6.
One Thing to do? - First, realize that you can do nothing by your own strength, logic or will power to get into heaven. It’s only by believing what God says about His Son. When on earth, the Lord Jesus declared in John 3:17: God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him, might be saved.
Now in Romans 3:22: even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. There is no room for believing collectively; it is an individual and personal matter.
One step to Jesus - Take it now! Come believing what God says about you, and about His Son, Jesus Christ. Once the deal is done, you have Eternal Life from that very moment. Plus you have peace with God now your loving Father. And you have Jesus as your Saviour, Shepherd and Friend. You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. The Mystery Wall crumbles and you have no more uncertainty about your future beyond this life. Jesus will be there waiting to take you to paradise. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
Lorne for Vision 2020 in 2023
N.J. Hiebert 9411
Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. Isaiah 50:7
It came to pass, when the time was come that He should be received up,
He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. Luke 9:51
Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed.
Luke 22:7
Himself He could not save; He on the cross must die,
Or mercy cannot come to ruined sinners nigh.
Yes, Christ, the Son of God, must bleed,
That sinners might from sin be freed.
Himself He could not save; for justice must be done;
Our sins full weight must fall upon the sinless One;
For nothing less can God accept
In payment of that fearful debt.
Himself He could not save, For He the surety stood
For all who now rely upon His precious blood;
He bore the penalty of guilt
When on the cross His blood was spilt.
Himself He could not save, Love’s stream too deeply flowed,
In love Himself He gave, to pay the debt we owed.
Obedience to His Father’s will,
And love to Him did all fulfil.
And now exalted high—a Prince and Saviour He,
That sinners might draw nigh and drink of mercy free,
Of mercy now so richly shed,
For Jesus liveth who was dead.
A. Midlane
N.J.Hiebert - 9412
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 1 Corinthians 9:24
Ye were running well! Paul loves the picture of the race. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, he exhorts the Corinthian believers from the same picture: ”So run, that ye may obtain!” In Galatians 2:2 and Philippians 2:16, Paul speaks of himself in his own race, that he had not run in vain, or to no purpose. In Philippians 3:12-14, Paul sees himself still as the runner, but drawing nearer the end of the race.
The goal is in sight, and that is not the time to relax; on the contrary, now is the time to put forth all his strength, so “down to the goal I press!” As he parted from his dear Ephesian brethren he thinks of the time when, the race finished, the goal passed, the prize won, only the joy remains: “…neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy.” (Acts 20:24).
It is the Greek word for the race course that Paul uses here once again. And in 2 Timothy 4:7, using the same word, he sees the race is over: “I have finished my course (again, the word means “race course”)…henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.” This was not the kingly crown of royalty, but it was the victor’s wreath that the winner of the race received at the Olympic Games. That wreath was made of leaves, a corruptible crown. ” But the crown that we receive is “an incorruptible” one (1 Corinthians 9:25). Meditations on Galatians - G. C. Willis
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I sat down under his shadow with great delight. Song of Solomon 2:3
Communion with God is the retiring place of the heart.
If living in communion with God we are not thinking of ourselves. Moses did not know his face shone when when every one else did. He had been looking up out of himself and turned towards the earth, bearing upon him the light of heaven.
None can be so intimately near us as God, for He is in us. Yet what an intimacy it is!
The cross and the crown go together; and, more than this, the cross and communion go together. The cross touches my natural will, and therefore it breaks down and takes away that which hinders communion.
If I am not in communion it is for the Holy Spirit to speak to my conscience, instead of using me.
May our work be a work of faith, drawing its strength, its existence even from our communion with God our Father.
In speaking of God’s truth, whenever we cannot “speak as the oracles of God” through communion, it is our business to be silent.
I may study the word again and again, but unless I get into communion with Him by it, it will profit me nothing—at least at that time.
What is the joy of a Redeemer but the joy and communion, the happiness of His redeemed? Pilgrim Portions for the Day of Rest - J. N. Darby
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