“I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud,
thy sins: return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee."
(Isaiah 44:22)
“Who is God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by transgression . . .
He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy.
He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will
subdue our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all their sins
into the depth of the sea."
(Micah 7:18-19)
“And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”
(Hebrews 10:17)
“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
(1 John 1:7)
From these words which tell of the consciousness of shortcomings in the past,
and of absolute uncertainty regarding the future, we turn to the joy
and confidence that characterize the Word of the Lord.
There I find the revelation of One Who cancels the past with its failure and
shortcoming, and gives us assuring words.
As regards the future, we possess a threefold assurance:
(a) We know that we have eternal life-
“. . . that ye may KNOW that ye have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).
(b) We know where we are going-
“We have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." (2 Corinthians 5:1).
(c) We know what we are going to be like.
“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).
(In Pastures Green - George Henderson)
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November 11
“He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.”
(Romans 4:20)
FAITH DOES NOT nervously go over the same committal again and again.
Faith goes on from there ruggedly believing that what God has promised He will perform.
Abraham did not even consider what were really impossibilities.
He considered God, not circumstances.
So did Hannah when “she went her way and her countenance was no more sad.”
So did Paul in the storm at sea, when he said, “I believe God.”
It is a mark of unbelief, not of faith, when we uneasily look around
us and keep reminding God that we are depending on Him.
We are trusting Him more when, instead of constantly reminding Him, we move on
to do the next thing and the next, counting it all as good as done.
A father would be grieved if his child kept on asking,
“Are you sure you will take care of me?”
A trusting child goes on about other things and wastes no time trying to trust its father.
You are not really trusting until you quit trying.
The more you examine your faith, the sicklier it will be.
Don’t look at your faith. Look at Jesus!
(Day by Day - Vance Havner)
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November 12
“. . . The people had a mind to work.”
(Nehemiah 4:6)
In the morning when thou findest thyself unwilling to rise, consider thyself presently,
if it is to go about a man’s work, that I am stirred up; or was I made for this,
to lay me down and make much of myself in a warm bed.”
(Marcus Aurelius 121-180 AD)
Sunshine and sleep have no inter-fitness.
Moonlight and ploughing are badly matched.
The youth of the world who have reached the mountain summit were not
pushed into their place of triumph; they worked their way there!
God never called a lazy man to do a task for Him—
He’s looking for the men who work with energy and vim.
For men like that are sure to win a cause they undertake.
He doesn’t want the lazy kind, He wants men wide awake.
So if you’re called to do a task, to help Him right some wrong,
You just be glad that you are called to help His cause along.
(Edward H. Kessler - Mountain Trailways for Youth)
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November 13
Trust in Christ
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee:
because he trusted in Thee.”
(Isaiah 26:3)
All the way my Saviour leads me—what have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy, Who through life has been my guide?
Heavenly peace, divinest comfort, here by faith in Him to dwell!
For I know, whatever befall me, Jesus doeth all things well.
(The Treasures of Fanny Crosby)
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November 14
“Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom,
and instruction, and understanding.”
(Proverbs 23:23)
How do you buy truth?
First of all one must recognize it as truth,
and ultimate reality.
Then one must pay the price to obtain it;
they must be willing to obey that truth.
Next they make the decision to obtain it for themselves.
Their life should then be formed by that truth.
Jesus said,
“I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:6).
Is that true?
Is He the Son of God and the only Saviour of sinners?
Are you willing to pay the price of following Him?
Then receive Him as Lord and Saviour
and begin to follow Him today.
(Donald L. Norbie)
Oh, dearly, dearly has He loved, and we should love Him too;
And trust in His redeeming blood, and seek His will do.
(C.F. Alexander)
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November 15
“So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”
(Romans 8:8)
There can be nothing of man for God.
His works, his nature,—all are inadmissible in the presence of God.
Nothing but the grace of God will do in the presence of God.
No one, but God alone, knows the value of Christ.
(Hunt’s Sayings)
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November 16
“In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider:
God also hath set the one (thing) over against the other,
to the end that man should find nothing after him.”
(Ecclesiastes 7:14)
Too often we see life’s prose, but not its poetry. Too often we miss the inspiration of the songs.
How manifold are our sorrows, but how manifold are His gifts!
Sin is here, but so is boundless grace; the devil is here, but so is Christ;
the sword of judgment is crossed by Mercy’s sceptre.
God everlastingly sets Mercies over against Miseries! His interventions are never mistimed.
He never comes at the wrong season. God has the affairs of the world in His hands.
.(Selected)
With mercy and with judgment my web of time He wove.
And aye the dews of sorrow were lustered with His love.
I’ll bless the Hand that guided, I’ll bless the Heart that planned,
When throned were glory dwelleth, in Immanuel’s land.
(Samuel Rutherford)
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November 17
“And the government shall be upon His shoulder . . . And of the increase
of His government and peace there shall be no end.”
(Isaiah 9:6-7)
Isaiah anticipates Christ’s kingdom and reveals two characteristics
of His millennial reign—its strength and its duration.
We live in days of weak and changing governments, but all this will
change when the Lord establishes His Kingdom. It will be characterized by strength,
“And He shall rule them with a rod of iron” (Revelation 2:27).
Not only so, but,
“His government and peace shall endure forever”
We, as the Lord’s people, enjoy the beneficence of His reign in our hearts in the
present, and we look forward to that day when the entire cosmos will bow the knee to Him.
(W.H. Burnett)
Grant us Thy peace, bid dangers cease, and Thou, Thy mercy sending,
Christ, give us rest, where, with the blest, Thy reign is never ending.
(Anon)
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November 18
"If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
(Matthew 16:24)
TODAY WE ARE BESET by easy ways to do everything:
playing the piano becomes a game, mathematics
is fun, you can learn without work, become
a master of anything without drudgery,
become an instant artist,
a genius overnight.
But our Lord did not call us to a sanctified picnic and a glorified hayride.
We do not become saints in our sleep.
The old masters of the deeper life found the way straight and narrow with a
cross now and crown hereafter.
In position, one becomes a saint instantly, but in condition the being is followed
by the becoming and that is not fun.
(All the Days - Vance Havner)
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November 19
“Think (Meditate) upon these things.”
(Philippians 4:8)
Delay is not denial.
God will come in at the right moment.
“My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him” (Psalm 62:5).
God is behind everything, and there is nothing behind God.
Faith and God see alike. God has Christ before Him—not sin; and faith has the same object as God
“Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace . . .
But if not . . . we will not serve thy gods . . ."(Daniel 3:17-18)—the dignity of faith.
"God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power,
and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).
and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).
Whatever humbles me, helps me. Not a particle of pride will enter glory
“The proud He knoweth afar off” (Psalm 138:6).
(A.J. Pollock)
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November 20
“Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons,
Why do ye look one upon another? . . . get you down thither, and buy for us . . .”
(Genesis 42:1-2)
So long as the hills were green and the pastures clothed with flocks;
so long as the valleys were covered over with corn and rang with the songs of reapers—
just so long Jacob might have mourned alone; but Reuben, Simeon, and the
rest of them would have been unconcerned and content.
But when the mighty famine came, the hearts of these men were opened to conviction;
their carnal security was shattered; and they were prepared for certain spiritual
experiences of which they never would have dreamed.
Yes; and they were being prepared for the meeting with Joseph.
It is so that God deals with us.
God breaks up our nest. He loosens our roots.
He sends a mighty famine which cuts away the whole staff of bread.
And at such times, weary, worn, and sad, we are prepared to confess our sins,
and to receive the words of Christ, when He says,
“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give your rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
Is your life just now passing through a time of famine? Do your supplies threaten to fail?
Does your heart fail you, as you look forward to the disasters that menace you?
Yet take courage; this is simply the motion of the current which is drifting you to Christ and to a better life.
In after-days those men looked back upon that time of sore straitness as the best thing that could have happened to them:
nothing less would have brought them to Joseph.
Yes, and the time is coming when you will bless God for your times of sorrow and misfortune. You will say, “Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept Thy word” (Psalm 119:67).
(F.B. Meyer)
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November 21
“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved,
bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness, long-suffering . . .”
(Colossians 3:12)
That is the end of all true “doing to death”—the end is life, not death; a life of uttermost love,
love that cannot help loving any more than the sun can help shining,
or the river flowing, or the trees putting forth green leaves.
The bond that holds God’s children together is love, just love.
One unkind deed, one unkind word, one thought even that
moves towards unkindness, is fatal to the quality of
love we must have if His love is to be in us.
It is not a little thing to love like this.
Lord, evermore give us this love.
(Edges of His Ways - Amy Carmichael)
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November 22
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