April 20
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life:
and they are they which testify of me.”
(John 5:39)
Since language is the incarnation of thought,
we can get to know the mind of God only through the words of God.
There are, however, depths of meaning in these words which only Spirit-
anointed eyes can see; and we are now to think of the means by which we pass from
the mere literary element in the Bible to its profoundly spiritual content; how, with reverent feet,
we may enter into that innermost shrine where God ever causes fresh
light to break from His holy Word.
The steps that lead us to that sacred spot, the
things that ensure these unveilings,
are four in number.
We must:
Pray - Search the Scriptures - Meditate - Obey
(The Wonderful Word - G. Henderson)
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April 21
“And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.
For the law was given by Moses, but grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ”
(John 1:16-17)
“Jonah” means “a dove.”
A dove is the symbol of peace: and the Book of Jonah is in reality an offer of peace from the Lord Himself. It is not an offer of peace to the people of Nineveh only, but to others as well.
The name "Amittai” (the father of Jonah), means “Truth.”
May it not be, that in these two names, we have told out the same precious
message of John 1:17, “Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ”?
Truth is the light that shows our sins.
Grace provides the means to cover our sins. How clearly we see
these two sides of God’s character shown out in the little book of Jonah!
God is a God of truth, and He must have all our paths brought into the light of His truth;
but where can we find a brighter example of the grace of God
that is ever ready to pardon and forgive?
We must ever remember that Jonah is truly a type of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and how beautifully do these two names illustrate this!
(Lessons From Jonah the Prophet - G.C. Willis)
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April 22
ALWAYS AVAILABLE
“That ye, always having all sufficiency in all things.”
(2 Corinthians 9:8)
When Webb Peploe was at the height of his power as a preacher, his little daughter died;
and the great man was so passionately fond of the wee lass that the bereavement
completely upset him, and he feared that he would have to give up his work.
One day in his study he prayed in an agony of spirit:
“Lord, make Thy grace sufficient for this dreadful hour”; and as he prayed,
he opened his eyes and, looking at the wall before him, beheld the answer to his prayer.
For there in letters of gold were the words:
“My grace is sufficient for thee”—the word “is” standing out from
the others as if doubly to assure him of heaven’s care for him in his hour of sorrow.
He rose from his knees a changed man,
and went back to his work with increased power.
(Heaven’s Cure for Earth’s Care - George Henderson)
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April 23
"But your iniquities have separated between you and your God,
and your sins have hid His face from you,
that He will not hear.”
(Isaiah 59:2)
When calamity strikes a person, his first reaction is to pray.
It is said that there are no atheists in foxholes.
When circumstances overwhelm us we call out to God.
And yet the scriptures say that unless one is saved and has his sins forgiven,
the heavens will be brass to his prayers.
Repent.
Confess your sins.
Trust Christ for salvation.
He died and paid the penalty of your sins.
God will forgive and then the ear of heaven will be open to your prayers.
(Donald L. Norbie)
That rich atoning blood, which sprinkled ‘round we see,
Provides for those who come to God, an all prevailing plea.
(John Newton)
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April 24
GETTING USED TO THE DARK
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,
but rather reprove them.”
(Ephesians 5:11)
A friend of mine took me to a restaurant where they must have loved darkness rather than light. I stumbled into the dimly-lit cavern, fumbled for a chair, and mumbled that I needed a flashlight in order to read the menu.
When the food came I ate it by faith and not by sight. Gradually, however, I began to make out objects a little more clearly. My host said, “Funny, isn’t it, how we get used to the dark?” “Thank you,”I replied, “You have given me a new sermon subject.”
We are living in the dark. The closing chapter of this age is dominated by the prince and powers of darkness. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. The night is far spent; the blackness is more extensive and more excessive as it deepens just before the dawn.
Lot was a righteous man, but he moved into Sodom, lived in it, probably became its mayor. His soul was vexed from day to day with the Sodomites’ unlawful deeds, but he lost his influence with his family and had to flee for his life. He died in disgrace.
I have met many Lots in the past few years! “. . . as it was in the days of Lot; . . . Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (LUKE 17:28-30).
Modern Lots tell us that we should hobnob with Sodom and get chummy with Gomorrah in order to convert them. But the end does not justify the means. Such people do not turn the light on in Sodom—they merely get used to the dark.
(Vance Havner)
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April 25
“It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness.”
(Lamentations 3:22-23)
Our path through the desert is strewed with countless mercies,
and yet let but a cloud, the size of a man’s hand, appear
on the horizon, and we at once forget the rich mercies of the
past, in view of this single cloud, which, after all,
may only “break in blessings on our head.”
Nothing is more dishonouring to God than the manifestation of a
complaining spirit on the part of those that belong to Him.
The heart that ceases to retain a thankful sense of God’s goodness,
will speedily become “dark.”
(Food for the Desert)
“Ye fearful saints fresh courage take, the clouds that you much dread,
are big with mercy and will break in blessings on your head.
Blind unbelief is sure to err, and scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter, and He will make it plain.
(William Cowper)
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April 26
“Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.”
(Exodus 14:13)
These words contain God’s command to the believer where he is reduced
to great straits and brought into extraordinary difficulties.
He cannot retreat; he cannot go forward; he is shut
upon the right hand and on the left.
What is he now to do?
Despair whispers, “Lie down and die; give it all up.”
Cowardice says, “Retreat; go back to the worldling’s way of action. Relinquish your principles."
Precipitancy cries, “Do something; stir yourself; to stand still and wait is sheer idleness.”
Presumption boasts, “If the sea be before you, march into it, and expect a miracle.”
"Stand still”—keep the posture of an upright man, ready for action, expecting further orders,
cheerfully and patiently awaiting the directing voice; and it will not be long ere God shall
say to you, as distinctly as Moses said it to the people of Israel, “Go forward.”
(Spurgeon)
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April 27
“Why seek ye the living among the dead?
He is not here, but is risen.”
(Luke 24:5-6)
He Is Risen
He is risen! Earth awakes and her prison house forsakes.
Hear the glad bird-voices sing—“Where, O Death, is now thy sting?”
Winds their silver trumpets blow—"He hath conquered every foe.”
Soft the murmuring waters say—“Lo, the stone is rolled away.”
He is risen, He is risen, Christ the Lord is risen to-day.
He is risen! Heart, rejoice, Hear you not the angel's voice?
Though you wait beside the tomb, there is light within its gloom:
Grave, where is thy victory? He hath set thy captives free,
He hath robbed thee of thy prey, they with Him shall live alway.
He is risen, He is risen, Christ the Lord is risen to-day.
(Flint’s Best - Loved Poems)
April 28
"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)
More Than Conquerors
Dr. V. Raymond Edman, past President of Wheaton College, in his book "They Found the Secret,”
expressed the contrast so beautifully—the exchange of the new life for the old.
"It is rejoicing for weariness, radiance for dreariness,
strength for weakness, steadiness for uncertainty,
triumph even through tears, tenderness of heart instead of touchiness,
lowliness of spirit instead of self- exaltation, and loveliness of life because of the
presence of the altogether Lovely One! Out of striving and struggling, out of discouragement and defeat…
we enter into the realization of life more abundant, drawing upon the all-sufficient grace of our Lord Jesus Christ."
How beautifully the hymn "Himself" by A. B. Simpson, expresses this exchanged life.
I trust this will be your experience and you can sing it from a heart that has found its sufficiency in Christ.
"Once it was the blessing, now it is the Lord. Once it was the feeling, now it is His Word. Once His gifts I wanted, now the Giver own. Once I sought for healing, now Himself alone. Once was painful trying, now it's perfect trust.
Once a half salvation, now the uttermost. Once was ceaseless holding, now He holds me fast.
Once was constant drifting, now my anchor's cast." A crisis of utter surrender finds a fountain of unfailing love in Jesus Christ.
Life will never be the same when HE IS LORD OF ALL!"
(E.P. - Bob Lucas with thanks)
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“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, if ye continue in my word,
then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32)
I heard a cute little story, growing up in India. It is the story of a little boy who had lots of pretty marbles. But he was constantly eyeing his sister’s bagful of candy.
One day he said to her, “If you give me all your candy, I’ll give you all of my marbles.”
She gave it much thought, and agreed to the trade.
He took all her candy and went back to his room to get his marbles.”
But the more he admired them the more reluctant he became to give them all up.
So he hid the best of them under his pillow and took the rest to her.
That night, she slept soundly, while he tossed and turned restlessly, unable to sleep and thinking,
“I wonder if she gave me all the candy?”
I have often wondered, when I see our angry culture claiming that God has not given us enough evidence, if it is not the veiled restlessness of lives that live in doubt because of their own duplicity.
The battle in our time is posed as one of the intellect, in the assertion that truth is unknowable.
But that may be only a veneer for the real battle, that of the heart,
which even now the risen Christ pursues.
(From the writings of Ravi Zacharias)
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April 30
“Not as though I have already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after,
that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended for Christ Jesus.”
(Philippians 3:12)
In 1856, Charles Spurgeon, the great London preacher, founded the Pastors’ College in 1923.
Today’s college crest shows a hand grasping a cross and the Latin words,
Et Teneo Et Teneor, which means, I hold and am held.
In his autobiography, Spurgeon wrote, “This is our College motto . . . hold forth the Cross of
Christ with a bold hand because that Cross holds us fast by its attractive power.
Our desire is that every man may both hold the Truth, and
be held by it; especially the truth of Christ crucified.
In Paul’s letter to the Philippians he expressed this truth as the bedrock of his life.
"Not that I have . . . already [arrived] . . . but I press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (PHILIPPIANS 3:12).
As followers of Jesus, we extend the message of the cross to others as Jesus holds us
fast in His grace and power.
“I am crucified with Christ: yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (GALATIANS 2:20).
Our Lord holds us in His grip of love each day—and we hold His message of love to others.
(DAVID MCCASLAND)
“Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries, Copyright (2016), Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted pwemission.”
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