Gems from July 1- 10, 2016

July 1

“Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; who for the joy 

that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, 

and is set down at the right hand  of the throne of God.”

(Hebrews 12:2)

UNTO JESUS and not at the amount of sorrow that our sins make us experience,

or the amount of humiliation which they produce in us.

If only we are humiliated by them enough to make us no longer complacent with 

ourselves; if only we are troubled by them enough to make us look to Jesus, 

so that He may deliver us from them, that is all that He asks from us; 

and it is also this look which more than anything else 

will make our tears spring and our pride fall.

And when it is given to us as to Peter, to weep bitterly (Luke 22:62) 

Oh! then may our tear dimmed eyes remain more that ever directed unto Jesus;

for even our repentance will become a snare to us, if we think to blot out in some measure by our tears those sins which nothing can blot out, except the blood of the Lamb of God.

(Translated from the French of Theodore Monod by Helen Willis)

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July 2

The first lesson in the school of tribulation!

“Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, 
neither doth trouble spring out of the ground.” 

(Job 5:6)

Why has this trial come? How ought I to regard affliction? 

These questions are natural in seasons of suffering. 

Pain and sorrow make us ask in earnest, the why and the wherefore of what befalls us. 

And so the soul finds a time of trial, to be a time of education.

The first lesson in the school of tribulation, is that affliction is the visitation of God. 

"The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:21) 

Nothing in any man's life comes to him by "chance.” 

All things, both small and great, are under the control of God. 

He foresees, and limits, and disposes. 

What is sometimes called "good fortune”-- comes not by accident; 

neither does trouble spring out of the ground. 

Am I healthy and prosperous? It is the will of God. 

Am I suffering in body or in mind? It is the Lord--let Him do what seems good unto Him. 

This is the only answer that can be given to the weak and sorely tempted ones, 

whom one trial after another afflict with increasing sorrows, 

"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?                                                               

” (Genesis 18:25)

To the believer, Providence is not merely general and universal, but particular and personal. 

“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered!" (Matthew 10:30). 

The believer looks to his own particular afflictions, as the dispensations of Divine Providence. 

To myself, affliction comes as the special visitation of God; and, 

looking above second causes, the word of trust from my soul should go forth, 

"Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.” (1 Samuel 3:10)

(Walter Purton - 1868)

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July 3

“Be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud,

and giveth grace to the humble.”

(1 Peter 5:5) 

A man can counterfeit love, he can counterfeit faith, 

he can counterfeit hope and all the other graces, 

but it is very difficult to counterfeit humility.

You soon detect mock humility.

They have a saying among the Arabs that as 

the tares and the wheat grow they show which God has blessed.

The ears that God has blessed bow their heads and acknowledge every grain,

and the more fruitful they are the lower their heads are bowed.

The tares lift up their heads erect, high above the wheat, 

but they are only fruitful of evil. 

If we only get down low enough, God will use us to His glory.

(The D.L. Moody Year Book)

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July 4

WHO IS YOUR MASTER?

“Behold, Satan hath desired to have you.”

(Luke 22:31)

“No man can serve two masters.”

(Matthew 6:24)

Shall the devil have the use of our members? 

Oh, no, of course not!

We start back at this, as a highly unnecessary question.

Yet if Jesus has not, Satan has.

For as all are serving either the Prince of Life
or the prince of this world,
and as no man can serve two masters,
it follows that if we are not serving the one,

we are serving the other.

And Satan is only too glad to disguise this service
under the less startling form of the world,
or the still less startling one of self.

All that is not “kept for Jesus,“ is left for self
or the world, and therefore for Satan.

Jesus, Thy life is mine! Dwell evermore in me;

And let me see

That nothing can untwine my life from Thine.

Thy life in me be shown!  Lord, I would henceforth seek

To think and speak

Thy thoughts, Thy words alone, no more my own

(Francis Ridley Havergal) 

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July 5

Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, 

and turneth the shadow of death into the morning,

and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the 

waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: 
The LORD is His name.” (Amos 5:8)

Jehovah is the God of creation.

He made the stars also and with His 

power He can turn mourning into morning.

Mourning signifies a loss but morning shows 

the faithfulness of God and implies a new start.

Many of the Lord’s people sadly mourn
but joy comes in the morning. 

We must embrace the changed and difficult circumstances
and move on into the day.

The Lord is in control!

(Roy Hill)

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July 6

“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, 
and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: 
but we know that, when He shall appear, 
we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.”

(1 John 3:2)

“Beloved, now are we the sons of God.” 

  

We are called sons of God,

thus called by the same name as Christ,

and the world knows us not, but thinks we are mad—

“therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.”

It was just the same thing with Christ.

They said He was mad, and had a devil.

No wonder they do not understand what we are:

“Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.”

Who?  Him, Christ. 

(J.N. Darby - Lectures on 1 John)

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July 7

Prayer Warriors

“And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: 
and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.” 

(Exodus 17:11)

Israel was in conflict with the forces of Amalek. Moses was on top of the hill, overlooking the battle field. 

The position of Moses’ hand spelled the difference between victory and defeat. The uplifted hand turned Amalek back. The lowered hand turned Israel back.

As long as Moses’ hand was raised, he pictured the Lord Jesus as our Intercessor, 

“for us His hands uplifting in sympathy and love.” It is through His intercession that we are saved to the uttermost. But from then on, the type breaks down, because our Intercessor’s hand is never lowered. 

No fatigue causes Him to need outside help. He always lives to make intercession for us.

There is a second way in which we may apply this incident, namely, to ourselves as prayer warriors. 

The uplifted hand pictures our faithful intercession for those believers who are engaged in the spiritual conflict on the mission fields of the world. When we neglect the ministry of prayer, the enemy prevails.

A missionary and his party on safari had to spend the night in an area infested by brigands. 

They committed themselves to the Lord’s care, then retired. 

Months later when a brigand chief was brought to a mission hospital, he recognized the missionary. 

“We intended to rob you that night out in the open country,” he said, but we were afraid of your twenty-seven soldiers.”

Later, when the missionary related this in a news letter to his home church, one of the members said, “We had a prayer meeting that same night and there were twenty-seven of us present.”

When our God beholds us there, pleading in the place of prayer,

Then the tide of battle turns, then the flame of conquest burns,

Then the flag of truth prevails, foes slink back and Satan quails!

Then the faltering wail of fear turns to victory’s ringing cheer!

Bring us, Lord, O bring us there, where we learn prevailing prayer.

(Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time)

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July 8

“My hands also will I lift up unto Thy commandments, which I have loved; 

and I will MEDITATE in Thy statutes” (Psalm 119:48).

MEDITATION can be enjoyed at all times: in the night watches; “I remember Thee upon my bed, and MEDITATE on Thee in the night watches" (Psalm 63:6).

In the daytime; “O how I love Thy law! it is my MEDITATION all the day" (Psalm 119:97).

Day and night: “. . . in His law doth he MEDITATE day and night” (Psalm 1:2).

When standing in a queue, or traveling on a train, wherever one is alone: there, one may MEDITATE on one’s Saviour and friend “My MEDITATION of Him shall be sweet: 

I will be glad in the Lord” (Psalm 104:34).

On the wonders of the written Word: “I will MEDITATE in Thy precepts, and have respect unto Thy ways” (Psalm 119:15).

On all God’s works: “I remember the days of old; 

I MEDITATE on all Thy works . . .” (Psalm 143:5).

It will be noticed that all these quotations are from the book of Psalms, which, 

like a limpid lake, reflects every mood in man’s changeful sky. 

(In Pastures Green - George Henderson) 

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July 9

“But speaking the truth in love, [that we] may grow up into Christ in all things.”

(Ephesians 4:15)

Have you no truth?

Whatever little bit you have, tell it out—Ephesians 4:15.

This is quite apart from gifts.

If you have got Christ, you have to tell out what He bestows to 

every saint as a member of the one body; 

there is positive responsibility to do so.

The smallest bit of truth tasted from 

Christ is not for yourself only,

but to be handed out 

for  others.

(G.V. Wigram)

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July 10

HOW GOOD WERE THE “GOOD OLD DAYS”?

"Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these?

For thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.”

(Ecclesiastes 7:10)

"DISTANCE LENDS ENCHANTMENT to the view,” and in retrospect we crown the past with a halo.

Like King Saul, we try to call up Samuel, and sigh, "If only Wesley Or Finney or Moody were alive now!"

Elisha did not pine for Elijah: he asked, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” 

Someone wrote to an editor, saying, “Your paper is not as good as it used to be.”

He replied, “It never has been.”

Some of the old worthies could take pretty mean cracks at each other.

If you go all the way back to the Early Church, consider the plight of Corinth.

And even in Acts it was not long after Pentecost that “there arose a murmuring.”

We do not inquire wisely when we cast longing eyes in the direction of the past.

The days of Elijah are gone but the God of Elijah lives today.

There are no untarnished haloes in any generation,

and looking at heroes of any era is disappointing.

Look not to “the good old days” but to the God of all the days. 

(Day by Day with Vance Havner)

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July 11

“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

(Isaiah 40:31)

On one occasion, while fighting Great Britain, George Washington,

 Commander and Chief of the Continental Army,

went alone into the woods at Valley Forge to pray.

He was overheard by a Tory on the side of England who returned to his home shaken.

He said to his wife, “Our cause is lost.

I came unexpectedly upon a person kneeling in prayer.

I heard the impassioned plea of his prayers.

I saw tears on his cheeks and knew our cause was lost!”

(R.E. Surgenor)

Prayer is the burden of a sigh, the falling of a tear.

The upward glancing of an eye, when none but God is near.

(J.M)

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July 12