Gems from January 22-31, 2016

January 22

“And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself,

even as He is pure.”

(1 John 3:3)

Why do we long for the Lord’s coming?

Because we love Him.

And He loves us infinitely more than we love Him.

That is why I believe that He longs for that day even more than we do.

We know we must be ready at His coming—completely ready.

And if we are really hoping for His return, 

we shall see to it that we are ready.

(Corrie Ten Boom - This Day is the Lord’s)

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January 23

“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, 

even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

(Ephesians 4:32)

“Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel 

against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” 

(Colossians 3:13)   

THE MINISTRY OF BENEVOLENCE

The New Testament speaks of three kinds of works:

- Dead works—the activities of the self-righteous man (Hebrews 9:14).

- Wicked works—the activities of the unrighteous man (Colossians 1:21).

- Good works—the activities of the Christian man (Ephesians 2:10).

It tells us that the Lord Jesus went about continually doing good (Acts 10:38); and that 

He has left His people an example that they should follow His steps (1 Peter 2:21).

Christian women are asked to adorn themselves with good works (1 Timothy 2:9-10).

Christian men are urged to separate from everything that hinders in order 

that they may be meet for the Master’s use and prepared unto every good work (2 Timothy 2:21).

We are to be fruitful in every form of benevolence (Colossians 1:10);

and are not to restrict our activities to the children of God but, as we have opportunity,

are to show kindness to all (Galatians 6:10;  Hebrews 13:16).

The power by which we are equipped for these delightful ministries 

is the illimitable grace of God (2 Corinthians 9:8).

(Heaven’s Cure for Earth’s Care - George Henderson)

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January 24

“The Word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time.”

(Jonah 3:1)

Here is a message that glows with promise and hope. 

Just because a man has failed does not mean that God has put him on the shelf. David’s failures are recorded with stark realism. 

As we read them, we sit in the dust with him and burn with shame. But David knew how to break before the Lord, how to repent with blood-earnestness. 

And God was not through with him. God forgave him and restored him to a life of fruitfulness. Jonah failed to answer God’s missionary call and wound up in the belly of a great fish. 

In that animate submarine, he learned to obey. When God called him the second time, he went to Nineveh, preached imminent judgment, and saw the whole city plunged into deepest repentance. 

So when it comes to service, God is the God of the second chance. 

He is not through with a man just because that man has failed. Whenever He finds a broken and a contrite heart, he bows to lift up the head of his fallen soldier. 

This must not be taken to condone sin or failure, however. 

The bitterness and remorse of having failed the Lord should serve as sufficient deterrent. Neither does it mean that God gives the unrepentant sinner a second chance after this life. 

There is a terrible finality about death. 
For the man who dies in his sins, the awful sentence is,

"...in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be."  

(Ecclesiastes 11:3)

(Truth to live by, one day at a time - D.H.) 

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January 25

“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, 

I will spue thee out of my mouth.”

(Revelation 3:16)

Every decision is a moral decision - - because it is for 

better or for worse;

and whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

God is never neutral; and He does not condone neutrality.

He is offended by the suggestion of it.  

(Nuggets - - Food for Thought - J.K.)

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January 26

“The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails 

fastened by the masters of assemblies.”

(Ecclesiastes 12:11)

- No action so little, but we may in it do God or the devil some service, and therefore none 

too little for our care to be bestowed on. 

- Hypocrisy is a lie with a fair cover over it.

- None sooner topple over into error, than such who have a dishonest heart with a nimble head.

The richest soil, without culture, is most tainted with weeds.

- Thou must live by thy faith, not another's.  Labour to see truth with thy own eyes.

- He that maintains any error from the Bible, bears false witness against God.

-  He that abandons the truth of God, renounceth the God of truth.  

(The Christian in Complete Armour - William Gurnall - 1617-1679)

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January 27

“When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; 

and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, 

he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, 

and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime".  

(Daniel 6:10)

“Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud:

and He shall hear my voice.”

(Psalm 55:17)

“Continuing instant in prayer.”

(Romans 12:12)

I love to steal awhile away from every cumbering care,

And spend the hours of setting day in humble, grateful prayer.

I love in solitude to shed the penitential tear, 

And all His promises to plead, where none but God can hear.

(Anon)

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January 28

“And [Gideon] divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet 

in every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers.  

And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise.”

(Judges 7:16-17)

They were a strangely equipped army as they went out 

to the fight; their weapons were contrary to all accepted ideas, 

and their tactics such as could not be learned in the military schools;

but they were men with the a single object and obedient—all they needed to be.

The battle cry was a glorious one, and proved that they were men assured of victory.

They were focused men, and their gaze was fixed upon their leader, for his command was:

“Look upon me.”  If they had looked upon the foe they would probably have been discouraged by 

the number of them.  But to look upon the foe was no business of theirs, for their God-given captain 

claimed their attention and commanded their obedience, and while they looked on him, 

“they stood every man in his place,” 

and, standing each in his place, they became a compacted, undivided company.

The state of things described in 2 Timothy 3 could scarcely be worse, and yet we have there a

true picture of the professing church today.  But Paul looked not in that direction;

he looked  above the scene of conflict and failure, and fixed his eyes upon

a risen Christ at God’s right hand, and the result of this 

steadfast gaze was continual triumph.  

(The Lord is Near - J.T. Mawson)

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January 29

"I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep 

that which I have committed unto Him against that day."

(2 Timothy 1:12)

When the great Chemist, Sir Michael Faraday, was on his deathbed,

some journalists questioned him as to his speculations

concerning the soul and death.

“Speculations!”

said the dying man, in astonishment;

"I know nothing about speculations;

I am resting on certainties!”

(Streams in the Desert)

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January 30

"And He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, 

even a morning without clouds.”

(2 Samuel 23:4)

"When the mists have rolled in splendour from the beauty of the hills,

And the sunlight falls in gladness on the river and the rills,

We recall our Father’s promise in the rainbow of the spray:

We shall know each other better when the mists have rolled away.

We shall come with joy and gladness, we shall gather round the throne,

Face to face with those that love us we shall know as we are known:

And the song of our redemption shall resound thro’ endless day

When the shadows have departed and the mists have rolled away."

(Annie Herbert)

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January 31

“That ye study to be quiet . . .”

(1 Thessalonians 4:11)

“Be silent . . . before the Lord.”

(Zechariah 2:13) 

A converted slave-trader, John Newton, distilled his life’s perfume into:

“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!”

"Pilgrim’s Progress" was not dashed off in a plush penthouse suite, but 

written from a prison cell - John Bunyan.  

A broken heart guided Joseph Scriven’s pen to exclaim:

“What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!"

That the Holy Spirit lives and breathes through the deep devotional writing of 

Oswald Chambers is no accident.

His short forty-one years were spent in reckless abandonment to God;

his stature of spiritual giant-hood dearly bought.

God seems to exact as His price of "best-selling“ writing success a diploma from 

His gruelling School of Experience.

Courses are: Discipline,  suffering,  Faith,  Tests,  and Self-examination.

Bruised, jostled and mobbed, Charles Wesley sought refuge in a milk-house and wrote:

"Jesus, Lover of my soul, let me to Thy bosom fly,

Other refuge have I none, hangs my helpless soul on Thee."

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