Gems from November 1- 10, 2017

October 30

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.”

(Psalm 37:23)

We have the fullest assurance that our God can and does guide His children in all things.  

He can signify His mind to us as to this or that particular act or movement.  

If not, where are we? How are we to get on?  

How are we to regulate our movements? Are we to drift hither and thither by the tide of

circumstances? Are we left to blind chance, or to the mere impulse of our own will?  

We thank God it is not so.  He can, in His own perfect way, give us the certainty of His mind

in any given case; and, without that certainty, we should never move.  

Our Lord Jesus Christ (all homage to His peerless name!) can intimate His mind to His servant

as to where He would have him go, and what He would have him to do; and no true 

servant will ever think of moving or acting without such intimation.

We should never move in uncertainty.  If we are not sure, let us be quiet and wait!

Very often it happens that we harass and fret ourselves about

 movements that God would not have us make at all.

A person once said to a friend, “I am quite at a loss to know which way to turn.” 

'Then don’t turn at all," was the friend’s wise reply . . .  But it is 

the meek He will guide in judgment and teach His way!  

We must never forget this. 

(C. H. Mackintosh)

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“. . . Christ shall be magnified in my body,

whether it be by life, or by death.”

(Philippians 1:20)

Many years ago at the opening of a Disarmament Conference, in the midst of a speech King George was making,  some one tripped over the wires of the Columbia Broadcasting Company, 

tearing them loose and interrupting the service.

The chief operator quickly grasped the loose wires in his bare hands, holding them in contact, and for twenty minutes the current passed through while repairs were being made.  His hands were slightly burned, but through them the words of the King passed on to the millions of listeners and were heard distinctly.  Without his courage and endurance the King’s message would have failed to reach its destination.

The KING of heaven has chosen to send His message to a lost world through human wires.

Every faithful missionary and every Christian who gives his or her support is a human 

wire through which the KING’S voice is reaching the lost with a message of 

peace, vastly more important than the message from London, England.

For the missionary, it is often a costly business.

Some men and women must suffer the loss of every earthly thing, stoop with 

weariness, waste away with fevers in far-off places, even die—but it pays to HOLD ON.

Only thus can men hear the voice of the KING.

God’s church needs more men who are willing to TAKE HOLD 

and HOLD ON.

(Mountain Trailways for Youth)

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November 1

"I find in Him no fault at all"  (John 18:38, 19:4, 6).

“This man hath done  nothing amiss"  (Luke 23:41).

“Truly this was the Son of God”  (Matthew 27:54).

Certainly this was a righteous Man (Luke 23:47).

Here are three independent testimonies from people 

who were outside the Lord’s circle.

Pilate, the political man; the centurion, a military man;

and the thief, a common criminal.

Yet despite the distance that separated these men socially and morally,  

on one thing they were all agreed — the sinless 

perfection of the Lord Jesus.

Not even his enemies could establish a fault in Him. Ah yes.  

The Lord Jesus was “Holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26).

(W. H. Burnett)

But spotless, undefiled, and pure, the great Redeemer stood,

While Satan’s fiery darts He bore, and did resist to blood.

(Isaac Watts)

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November 2

“. . . I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, HIM declare I unto you.”

(Acts 17:22-23)

Three-fourth of the profession in our 

day is merely worshipping 

an "unknown God.”

If the heart begins to approve itself because 

of its intelligence, the sense of need

lessens, and piety diminishes.

(Hunt’s sayings)

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November 3

“I can do all things through Christ which 

strengtheneth me.”

(Philippians 4:13)

Paul . . . could do all things through Him who strengthened him.

Sweet and precious experience! not only because it gives ability to meet all circumstances,

which is of great price, but because the Lord is known, the constant, faithful, mighty friend of the heart.

It is not “I can do all things,“ but ”I can do all though Him who strengtheneth me.”

It is a strength which continually flows from a relationship with Christ, 

a connection with Him maintained in the heart.

Neither is it only “one can do all things.”  This is true; but Paul had learned it practically.

He knew what he could . . . reckon on.

Christ had always been faithful to him, had brought him through so many difficulties,

and through so many seasons of prosperity, that he had learned to trust 

in Him, and not in circumstances.

And Christ was the same ever.

(Pilgrim Portions for the Day of Rest)  

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November 4

“Then were there brought unto Him little children, that He should put His hands on them.

And He laid His hands on them.”

(Matthew 19:13,15)

“Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children,

ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

(Matthew 18:3)

Those who are young, O God, 

Make them Thine own;

Now in their early days—

Turn them to Thy blest ways

Those who are older too,

Make them Thine own;

Now in salvation’s time—

To Thee their hearts incline. 

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November 5

“Break forth into singing.”

(Isaiah 49:13)

There is a beautiful story which tells of songbirds being brought over the sea.

There were thirty-six thousand, mostly canaries.

The sea was very calm when the ship first sailed, and the little birds were silent.

They kept their little heads under their wings and not a note was heard.

But the third day out at sea, the ship struck a furious gale.

The passengers were terrified.  Children wept.  

Then a strange thing happened.

As the tempest reached its height, the birds began to sing, first one, then another, 

until the thirty-six thousand were singing as if their 

little throats would burst.

When the storm rises in its fury, do we then begin to sing?

Should not our song break forth in tenfold joy when the tempest begins?  

Try singing!  Singing in the storm!

(Springs in the Valley)

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November 6

Strength in Looking Up

“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)

There is always strength in looking to God; but if the mind rest  

upon the weakness otherwise than to cast it upon God it becomes unbelief.

Difficulties may come in.

God may allow many things to arise to prove our weakness; but the

simple path of faith is to go on, not looking beforehand at what we have to 

to do, but reckoning upon the help that we shall need and find when the time arrives.

The sense that we are nothing makes us glad to forget ourselves,

and then it is that Christ becomes everything to the soul.

(Comforted of God - A. J. Pollock)

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November 7

“For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.”

(Acts 17:28)

Distractions in prayer are often because we have let ourselves wander too far

from the things that matter most at common times, and so we have 

slipped into an easily interrupted, easily distracted,

frame of mind.

We need to live more at home.

"In Him we live, and move, and have our being”

means simply this: “God is our Home”.  

Home of our hearts, lest we forget what our redemption meant to Thee,

Let our most reverent thought be set upon Thy Calvary.

These words speak of something that I find I cannot drop out of my day without loss.

I believe that a few minutes given daily to an earnest look at Calvary,

would do more to help our prayer than we imagine.

“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, 

be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength,

and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).  

 (Amy Carmichael) 

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November 8

“Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me. 

In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, 

I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come 

again, and receive you unto Myself; that where

I am, there ye may be also.”

(John 14:1-3)  

Here we have set before us the prospects of all believers in Christ—young and old:

the Father’s house, the many mansions, the prepared place,

the return of our Saviour, our going to meet Him,

and our eternal felicity in His presence.

Our strong conviction is that the coming of the Lord Jesus is on the very eve of

becoming an accomplished fact; and that, old as some of us are, 

we shall not see death.

While, however, the Word of the Lord declares the certainty of the Saviour’s second coming, and the 

signs of the times, its imminence, there is nothing so uncertain as the hour of its fulfilment. 

“Of that hour knoweth no man” (Mark 13:32); and hence it is possible that we may have to

pass through the valley of the shadow which, equally with our being caught

up to meet Him in the air, will prove to be an avenue to God. 

And since all the things which we know about our Saviour make us trust Him in the things

which we do not know, we should face the possibility of death peacefully and with an untroubled heart.

(Heaven’s Cure for Earth’s Care)

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November 9

“I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and have

heard their cry by reason of their task-masters; for I know

their sorrows, and I am come down to deliver them.”

(Exodus 3:7-8)

Which particular form of trial is yours at the present moment?

Is it one which everybody can see? 

Is it some serious illness?

Has death come to your household, and are the blinds drawn? Or is it some commercial disaster?

Well remember this, God sees it: “He that formed the eye, shall He not see?”

“I have surely seen the affliction of My people.”

And is He not the same as ever?

Will He not do for you what He did for His people long ago?

"I am come down to deliver them.”

As surely as Christ of old touched the hand of Peter’s wife’s mother and the fever left her;

as certainly as He brought comfort to the bereaved home at Bethany; 

as effectually as He fed the hungry multitude by multiplying the 

loaves and fishes, so surely can He comfort you, and,

if deliverance is necessary, in due time 

deliver you, if you trust Him.  

(Angels in White - Russel Elliot)

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November 10

“O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me;

let them bring me unto Thy holy hill.”

(Psalm 43:3)

I am a creature of a day. I want to know one thing—

the way to heaven; how to land safely on that happy shore.

God Himself has condescended to teach the way; for this very end He came down from Heaven.

He hath written it down in a book.  O give me this Book!  at any price, 

give me the Book of God! I have it; here is 

knowledge enough for me.

Let me be a man of one Book.  Here, then, I am, far from the busy ways 

of men. I sit down alone; only God is here. In His presence I open, 

I read His book; for this end— to find the way to Heaven.    

There is a chart whose tracings show the onward course when tempest blow—

’Tis God’s own Word!  There, there is found directions for the homeward bound.  (H.J.B)

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