“Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.”
(Exodus 14:13)
It will not do to say that we trust in the Lord; we must prove that we do,
and that too when every thing apparently is the king's bearing in the eyes of the people;
yea, rather, such is ever the bearing of faith, calm, self-possessed, dignified, in the presence of man;
while, at the same time, ready to sink into the very dust in self-abasement in the presence of God.
The man of faith can say to his fellow, 'Stand still, and see the salvation of God!' and,
at the same moment, send up to God the cry of conscious weakness.
Harken to Him while, in the retirement of the sanctuary, shut in
with God, he pours out the anxieties of his soul in the ear
of One who was willing to hear and ready to help.
(C.H.Mackintosh - D.H.)
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January 1
YOU ARE STILL WORLDLY
“I have fed you with milk, and not with meat:
for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife,
and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
(1 Corinthians 3:2-3)
Have you ever heard the statement from an unbeliever..."Why should I become a Christian?
I don't see any difference between my life and theirs.
I don't see how their faith in Christ has affected the way they live.”
What a sad commentary on the average believer.
I'm afraid this is starkly true of many who profess faith in Christ.
For a Christian to be changed from their carnal state to the spiritual,
there must be sincere conviction of inward attitudes, such as pride,
criticism of others, selfishness, arrogance,
and any worldly pursuits that quench the Spirit and bind one in the bondage of SELF.
Until we admit our need, we will not seek God in our new relationship with
Him for Him to deliver us from the "power of sin" in our lives.
But God has not only provided atonement "for" our sin but he has provided every believer the
Holy Spirit who alone enables us to have victory over sin in our daily lives.
The whole aim of Christ's work in our redemption and our walk before others is that
HE MAY BE ALL IN ALL.
This life of walking by the Spirit comes from God. HE will be our sufficiency for every encounter,
when we cast ourselves completely at the foot of the cross.
There must be a displacement of self-rule and the enthronement of God in our heart.
Until God is THE priority of our life, we will wander on the perimeter of
God's plan in inconsequential significance,
and have an unfruitful, ineffective spiritual life.
(Adapted)
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January 2
“The children of Israel journeyed . . . from the wilderness . . . toward the sunrising.”
(Numbers 21:11)
And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year,
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown!”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God,
trod gladly into the night.
And He led me toward the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.
(M. Louise Haskins)
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January 3
“My times are in Thy hand.”
(Psalm 31:15)
“Redeeming the time, because the days are evil."
(Ephesians 5:16)
Implacable. Inevitable. Constant. Time. Keeps. Ticking.
Another year has slipped quietly into the ocean of eternity.
A new year beckons, pristine and unsullied, 365 gifts from God,
brim full of opportunities and possibilities.
As you anticipate 2016, cling to these two great principles.
First, our times are in His hand.
When the sorrows and failures of the year threaten to overwhelm you,
rest in His sovereign, unfailing compassion.
Secondly, use your time for His glory. Set goals for your life in prayer,
Bible study, witnessing, and service.
Do it now!
Sick with it!
He will help you to succeed.
(S.M.)
Another year is dawning! Dear Father, let it be,
In working or in waiting, another year with Thee.
(F.R. Havergal)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The coming of the Lord for all His redeemed ones may well intervene before
we see another year, month, week, day, hour or moment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“The coming of the Lord draweth nigh.”
(James 5:8)
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January 4
“So Joseph sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them,
See that ye fall not out by the way.”
(Genesis 45:24)
In those last words of the upper room, when the Lord is equipping His disciples to be His witnesses,
He thrice exhorts them to love one another (John 13:34; 15:12, 17).
Alas! we have fallen out by the way.
The Galatians by their legality fell out by the way, for the apostle has to say,
“Ye bite and devour one another” (Galatians 5:15).
The Corinthians by their carnality fell out by the way, for the apostle writes,
“There are contentions among you” (1 Corinthians 1:11)
And as in the beginning so it has ever been
through the long history of that which
professes to be a witness for Christ in the earth.
Had love prevailed there would have been no room either for legality
or carnality to divide the servants of Christ and mar their service to the Lord.
(Hamilton Smith)
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January 5
“For it is God which worketh in you both to will
and to do of His good pleasure.”
(Philippians 2:13)
If we would have Christ dwell in our hearts
there must be something more than a guest room set aside for Him.
He desires to dwell with us, to abide in us.
The transient guest is hedged about by certain limitations.
But there can be no secrets from one who has a permanent home with us.
This is so with Christ in the heart.
From attic to basement in the whole house of life there must be no room that is closed to Him.
There may be rooms of the soul we would not throw open to the world,
but if the Lord is to abide with us,
the key even to these must be placed in His hands.
Only so can we know the joy and peace and strength of His abiding presence in the heart.
(Mountain Trailways for Youth)
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January 6
“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another:
and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written
before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name.”
(Malachi 3:16)
It is possible to be so busy that our souls become barren.
Too much activity causes us to be occupied too much with our work and too little with our God.
Preachers who do not spend much time alone in meditation and communion with the
Lord soon give out second-hand messages that have little or no spiritual power.
We should all pray, “Lord, deliver me from the barrenness of a busy life.”
Many believers are afraid to be alone. They must be with others, talking, working or traveling.
No time is spent in quiet contemplation.
The pressures of modern life encourage us to be hyperactive, to be overachievers.
We build up a momentum of activity and it is difficult to slow down.
Life seems to be a continual push, push, push, go, go, go.
The result is that we do not develop deep spiritual roots.
(Adapted)
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January 7
“And He (Jesus) was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, saying, Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done.”
(Luke 22:41-42)
You cannot expect an answer from God unless your will is gone.
You shut out answers to prayer because you have a will
about the thing for which you are praying.
(Edward Dennett)
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January 8
“Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
and a two-edged sword in their hand.”
(Psalm 149:6)
The Lord’s people are to be both worshippers and warriors.
The truth of it is: if you are a worshipper,
you can expect to be a warrior,
for the enemy will surely seek to quell your overflowing heart.
Songs of praise bring pleasure to the Lord but provoke anger in the enemy.
How wonderful, when we turn to the New Testament we find that the
Lord has provided a “melody in your heart” (Ephesians 5:19) to praise Him,
and “the whole armour of God . . .to stand against the wiles of the devil”
(Ephesians 6:11).
(Milton Haack)
“To Thee we pay our grateful songs; Thy kind protection still implore;
O may our hearts, and lives and tongues confess Thy goodness, and adore.”
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January 9
“When thou passest through the waters . . . they shall not overflow thee.”
(Isaiah 43:2)
“When thou passest through the waters” deep the waves may be and cold,
But Jehovah is our refuge, and His promise is our hold;
For the Lord Himself hath said it, He, the faithful God and true:
“When thou comest to the waters thou shalt not go down, BUT THROUGH.”
Seas of sorrow, seas of trial, bitterest anguish, fiercest pain,
Rolling surges of temptation sweeping over heart and brain—
They shall never overflow us for we know His word is true;
All His waves and all His billows He will lead us safely through.
Threatening breakers of destruction, doubt’s insidious undertow,
Shall not sink us, shall not drag us out to ocean depths of woe;
For His promise shall sustain us, praise the Lord, whose Word is true!
We shall not go down, or under, for He saith, “Thou passest THROUGH.”
(Annie Johnson Flint)
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January 10
“Now the Lord of peace Himself give you peace
always by all means. The Lord be with you all”
always by all means. The Lord be with you all”
(2 Thessalonians 3:16)
Praise is all that we can offer to God.
When everything is going on smoothly and pleasantly;
our property safe, our business prosperous, our children carrying
themselves agreeably, our residence comfortable, our health excellent—
everything, in short, just to our mind—how apt we are to mistake the
peace which reposes on such circumstances for that peace
which flows from the realized presence of Christ.
(Food for the Desert)
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January 11
“But [Stephen], being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven,
and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.”
(Acts 7:55)
"Keep your eye on the One gone up . . .”
As you feel the dearth and weariness of everything here,
simply turn your eye upward;
all power and comfort must now come from above.
As your eye becomes educated in the exaltation of Jesus,
so will your heart be invigorated to endure for Him down here in everything,
like the first martyr (Stephen),
though in comparison it may be a very small measure.
(Footprints for Pilgrims)
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January 12
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