Gems December 1- 11, 2015

“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”

(Philippians 2:13)

Once Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) came to see the great Freiburg organ.  

The old custodian refused him permission to play upon the instrument, not knowing who he was.  

At length however, he reluctantly granted him leave to play a few notes.  

Mendelssohn took his seat, and soon the most wonderful music was breaking forth from the organ.  

The custodian was spellbound.  

He came up beside the great musician and asked his name.  

Learning it, he stood humiliated, self-condemned, saying, 

‘And I refused you permission to play upon my organ!’  

There comes One to us, who desires to take our lives and play upon them.  

But we withhold ourselves from Him, and refuse him permission, when, 

if we would yield ourselves to Him, He would bring from our souls heavenly music.

(Streams in the Desert)

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December 1

“Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.”

(1 Peter 2:13-14)

As loyal subjects of the State, Christians are to be obedient to the laws passed, even though they may feel that in some instances they are unnecessarily arbitrary and even actually unjust.

By their submission they honour Him whom they recognize as their Lord and Saviour.

Whatever form of government may prevail, so long as it is recognized as the 

constituted authority of the country, we are to be in subjection,

whether to a king or by whatever name the supreme executive is known.

Human government has been established by God that evil may be checked and righteousness 

encouraged.  The fact that some rulers act contrary to the divine ideal does 

not absolve the believer from obedience to the powers that be.

All human government manifests imperfection, but without its restraints 
society would be shipwrecked and anarchy would prevail.

In principle, all constituted authority is intended to prevent 

crime and encourage honesty and good living.

(H.A. Ironside)

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December 2

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, 

or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . Nay, in all 

these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” 

(Romans 8:35, 37)    

“No condemnation; blessed is the word!

No separation; forever with the Lord,

By His blood He bought us, cleansed our every stain;

With rapture now we’ll praise Him.

The Lamb for sinners slain.”

(J. Denham Smith)

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December 3

"Your heart shall rejoice, 

and your joy no man taketh from you.”

(John 16:22) 

I am so thankful that I have a joy that the world cannot rob me of;

I have a treasure that the world cannot take from me;

I have something that is not in the power of man or 

Devil to deprive me of—

the joy of the Lord.

“No man taketh it from you.”

(D.L Moody)

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December 4

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of KNOWLEDGE:

but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

(Proverbs 1:7)

Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.  Knowledge is limited.”

He was wrong.

Imagination is limited because man is finite.

Knowledge is infinite because its source is God.

God does not imagine anything.

He knows everything—and shares His knowledge with us.

(Nuggets of Truth - J.K.)

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December 5

“For Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy name.”

(Psalm 138:2)

How sublime and wonderful are the Scriptures!

This verse is one of many that extols their worth.

Essentially it means that beyond all other previous manifestations of 

His divine character and will,

God’s written Word revealed the Eternal.

This was affirmed by the incarnation of God in Christ,

the Living Word, and the record of the Living Word 

is expressed in the pages of the written Word.

How majestic and marvellous is the Bible!

What treasures are to be found in its pages.

Is the Bible a dull book to you, read

only from a sense of duty?

To dig is to discover and delight.

Try it today.

(F.W. Faber)   

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December 6

“They saw no man, save Jesus only.”

(Matthew 17:8)

When Samuel Rutherford (1600 - 1661) lay in Aberdeen prison, 

we are told he used to write at the top of his letters,

“God's Palace, Aberdeen.”

When Madam Guyon (1648 - 1717) was imprisoned in the castle at Vincennes, she said:

“It seems as though I were a little bird whom the 

Lord has placed in a cage, and that I have 

nothing now to do but sing.”

“And prisons shall palaces prove

If Jesus abides with me there.”

I never had in all my life so great an inlet into the Word of God as now; 

those scriptures that I saw nothing in before, are in this place 

and state (in Bedford Jail) made to shine upon me;

Jesus Christ also was never more real and apparent than now;

Here I have seen and felt Him indeed!

(John Bunyan  1628 1688)

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December 7

Prayer and Fasting 

“When Thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto Thee, 
Thy face, Lord, will I seek.” (Psalm 27:8)   

It means a determined effort to put first things first,
even at the cost of some inconvenience to oneself.  

It means a setting of the will towards God.
It means shutting out as much as possible all interrupting things.

Don’t be discouraged if at first you seem to get nowhere.  

I think there is no command in the whole Bible
so difficult to obey and so penetrating in power, 

as the command to be still—“Be still, and know that I am God.”

Ah dearest Lord! I cannot pray, my fancy is not free;

Unmannerly distractions come, and force my thoughts from Thee.

The world that looks so dull all day glows bright on me at prayer,

And plans that ask no thought but then wake up and meet me there.

All nature one full fountain seems of dreary sight and sound,

Which, when I kneel, breaks up its deeps, and makes a deluge round.

My very flesh has restless fits; my changeful limbs conspire

With all these phantoms of the mind my inner self to tire.

(Faber)

This is true.  Let the tender understanding of your God enfold you.
He knows the desire of your heart. 

Sooner or later He will fulfil it. `

Don’t feel it necessary to pray all the time; LISTEN.
Solomon asked for a hearing heart.  

It may be that the Lord wants to search
the ground of your heart, not the top layer, but the ground.  

Give Him time to do this.  And read the Words of life.  Let them enter into you.

Don’t forget there is one other person interested in you—extremely interested; he will talk, 

probably quite vehemently, for there is no truer word than the old couplet,

Satan trembles when he sees 

The weakest saint upon his knees.

As far as I know the only way to silence his talk is to read
or say aloud (or recall to mind) counter-words, 

“It is written, . . . It is written, . . . It is written, . . ." (Matthew 4:4,7,10);
or sing, for the devil detests song.  

“"Singing . . . in your heart” (Ephesians 5:19),
“singing . . . to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16) - 

Either or both are too much for him.   

(Edges of His Ways)

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December 8

“But Jonah had gone down into the lower part of the ship;

and he lay, and was fast asleep.”

(Jonah 1:5)

This was the third  step down for Jonah: 

down to Joppa, 

down into the ship, 

down into the lower part of the ship.

Alas, for Jonah, he was to go still further down.

In a downward pathway we cannot, as we suppose, stop when and where we will.

What a strange position to find the heathen mariners in their terrible danger, calling on their 

gods to save them, while the one and only man on board that ship who knew the true and living God,

did not trouble to call upon Him, but lay and was fast asleep.

How like us! 

In a day when trouble seems about to overwhelm all about us,

men’s hearts failing them for fear, how often do we find the people of the Lord asleep, 

content to go on in their own immediate circle, without a care for the sorrows and troubles of 

those about them, without a thought of those on every hand who do not know the true and living 

God whom we know, and yet we are content to sleep on through it all! 

(G.C. Willis)

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December 9

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”

(Philippians 2:3)

What was the mind that was in Jesus?

It was always coming down. . . .

The more He humbled Himself, the more He was trampled on. . . .

He goes down. . . . till He can go no lower, 

down to the dust of death. . . .

Are you content to do this?

Are you content to have the mind that was in Christ Jesus,

content to be always trampled on?

(Pilgrim Portions for the Day of Rest - JND)

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December 10

“And they said, thou has saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my Lord, 

and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.”

(Genesis 47:25)

"Thou hast saved our lives.”  But there is something higher than this.  As I see these Egyptians crowding round Joseph with these words upon their lips, it makes me think of Him of whom Joseph was but a type.  Joseph lay in the pit; and from the pit was raised to give bread to the brethren who had rejected him, and to a nation of Gentiles.

Jesus lay in the grave; and from its dark abyss He was raised to give salvation to His brethren the Jews, and to the millions of Gentile people.  Already I hear the sound of countless myriads, as they fall before the sapphire throne, and cry, “Thou hast saved us!” 

The Egyptian name of Joseph meant, “the Saviour of the world”; but the salvation wrought by him is hardly to be named in the same breath with that which Jesus has achieved.  Joseph  saved Egypt by sagacity;  Jesus saved us by laying down His life.  Joseph’s bread cost him nothing; but the bread which Jesus gives cost Him Calvary.

Joseph was well repaid by money, cattle, and land; but Jesus takes His wares to the market of the poor, and sells them to those who have no money or price.  He can supply all our need.  His only condition is that he should do it freely.

To offer Him anything in exchange is to close all dealings with Him.  But if you are willing to go without gold in your hand, and with an empty sack, He will give without stint, with both hands, pressed down, and running over. "He will fill the hungry with good things; but the rich He will send empty away.”  “Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven.” (F.B. Meyer)

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December 11

“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

(Matthew 11:28) 

Nearly twenty years ago I was told by my doctor that I was suffering from a a certain disease.

From what I knew of that disease, I believed that I could not live more than six months.

How did the doctor’s information affect me?  I did not want to die.  I was young.

Life was sweet to me.  The physical process of death was not inviting.

But one thought filled my heart with an ecstasy of joy,

“In six months’ time I shall actually see my Saviour.”

God raised me up.  For two years I had a strenuous fight for life.

Death contested stubbornly every inch of ground on the road to recovery.

During those two very grave years the knowledge that my eternal 

future was assured was my stay and comfort and joy.

I can conceive of nothing more terrible than to be in sorrow, especially as 

to one’s own physical condition, without the knowledge of a personal Saviour. 

There came a moment in my history, over forty years ago, 

when I learned that I was a guilty sinner before God, that I could not save myself,

nor help to save myself; that if I were to be saved, God must do it.

I learned that the Lord Jesus Christ had died on the cross for sinners— 

for me, there to atone for sins, and enable God righteously to forgive the repentant sinner.

(A.J. Pollock)

"I came to Jesus as I was, weary and worn and sad,

I found in Him my resting place, and He has made me glad.” 

(H. Bonar) 

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December 12