Gems from December 21-31, 2017

December 21

“The light of the body is the eye: therefore 

when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light.”

(Luke 11:34)

A divided heart brings a disordered mind.

Much of what passes these days for “mental illness”

is largely the effect of a heart in rebellion against God’s hand.

(Nugget - John Kaiser)

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December 22

“Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended?

Who hath gathered the wind in his fists?

Who hath bound the waters 

in a garment?

(Proverbs 30:4)

“And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still.

And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”

(Mark 4:39)   

Observe Him again in the vessel on the lake during the storm (Mark 4:39).

He was there as a tired labouring man whose sleep was sweet.

Such was His manifested form.  But underneath lay 

“the form of God” (Philippians 2:6).

He arose, and as the Lord who gathers the wind in His fists, and binds 

the waters in a garment, He rebuked the sea into a calm.  

(J. G. Bellett)

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December 23

“But let all those that put their trust in Thee rejoice.”

(Psalm 5:11)

How sweet the hour of praise and prayer, when our devotions blend,

And on the wings of faith divine our songs of joy ascend! 

’Tis then we hear in tones more clear the gracious promise given,

That, though we part from friends on earth, we all shall meet in heaven.

(Treasures From Fanny Crosby)

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December 24

Introducing Jesus

“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith,

Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

(John 1:29)

John is introducing Jesus to his disciples.  He did not say,

“Here comes my cousin, Jesus,” “Here comes Jesus, the carpenter.”

No, he went far beyond that; he declared Him to be 

“The lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” 

Here was Jesus, very near the beginning of His public ministry,

a ministry that would take Him all the way to Calvary’s cross.

There He would become God’s sacrificial Lamb, and there lay down His life for you 

and for me.  Our sins would all be laid on His blessed head there, 

and Holy God would pour out His righteous wrath on

the innocent Jesus for our guilty sins. 

Oh, how He suffered for you and for me!  Is He your Lamb; have you made 

it a personal matter with you?  Have you said, He died for me?

As Christians, how do we introduce Jesus?  Once it is personal, it is so different.

The personal-ness of it is reflected in our choice of words, 

in our emotions, in our face.

He is my Saviour!  He is my Lord! He is my Keeper!  He is my advocate with the Father! and so on.

(With thanks - Lifelines - F. Pratt)

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December 25

“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth 

not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

 (2 Timothy 2:15)

Differences of apprehension are mainly due to sluggishness and perversity on our part.

Dulness in a Christian is always the effect of having neglected the spiritual opportunities that have been given.

Unless there is growth there is always declension.

Satan goes right through every weapon that isn’t the Word of God.

(Hunt’s Sayings)

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December 26

“And the angel said unto them (shepherds), Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings

 of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in 

the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”

(Luke 2:10-11)

"He shall stand upon the earth."

(Job 19:29)

Greater Than Walking on the Moon

Colonel James Irwin, related how he stood on the moon seeing Planet Earth suspended in space, glowing like an iridescent jewel.  He said that as he walked on the surface of the moon his thought was - "Man walking on the moon - this is the greatest event of human history!”  But at that very moment he heard an inner voice quietly speak to his heart; "I did something greater than that - I WALKED ON THE EARTH!"

Colonel Irwin returned from the moon a different man - not with a desire to be a celebrity but to walk as a servant of the Lord of the universe - the Lord Jesus Christ - who came from glory and walked on earth.

The greatest event this world has ever experienced is the incarnation - God manifest in flesh in the Person of the Son. The fullness of the Godhead clothed in the garb of humanity.  The infinite becoming the humble Servant.  

The Sovereign becoming the Saviour.  

Another expressed:

"The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world is the most stupendous event of human history."

"He shall stand upon the earth" (Job 19:29).  

This remarkable declaration of Job, anticipated centuries in advance of our Lord's coming to earth, was for Job his great hope. It enabled him to endure and maintain his faith amid the fiercest of trials as God lovingly dealt with His dear child.

What a grand realization!  Our redeemer has come to earth and given His life a ransom for many.  

Because He came, died on the cross and rose again the third day, we can say with even greater confidence than Job,

"And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God" (Job 19:26).  “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15)

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December 27

DELIGHT YOURSELF IN THE LORD

"Delight thyself also in the LORD; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” 

(Psalm 37:4)

Too often we read Scripture without concentrating on what we are reading and therefore miss completely what God has to say to us. We read quickly without delving into the depths of what has been written. 

We need to read God's Word slowly, thoughtfully, incisively with a desire, not only to understand what is being said, but to seek to apply to our lives the truth or principle before us. 

With this, we need to have eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts open to respond to all God wants to 

reveal to us. The Holy Spirit has been given to us, not simply to dwell within our 

hearts, but to teach and give us discernment to understand 

His Word and make it a reality in our daily walk.

(Adapted)

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December 28

“. . . It is enough . . .” (1 Kings 19:4)

“. . . It is finished . . .” (John 19:30)

When Elijah, depressed and alone in the wilderness under a tree,

 couldn’t withstand any more, he exclaimed,

“It is enough!”

When Jesus, tortured and crucified, alone on the tree,

couldn’t give any more, He exclaimed, 

“It is finished!”

"Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through 

our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians  15:57)

(R. M. B.)

I am unworthy to take of His grace, wonderful grace so free;

Yes, Jesus suffered and died in my place, e’en for a soul like me.

How can I help but love Him, when He love me so?

(Elton M. Roth)

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December 29

“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee.”

(Psalm 55:22)

Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.”

(1 Peter 5:7) 

We all have "little tangles” in our lives, 

and are discouraged because we cannot make them straight;

so, instead of singing at our work, we are heavy-hearted and complaining.

But is there really so easy a remedy always at hand?

May we send directly to the King? 

Let us hear what He says about it Himself, for if it is true, why should we go on

carrying all our burdens, and keeping all our sorrows pent up within? 

(A.J. Pollock)

"Be careful for nothing; but in EVERYTHING, by prayer and supplication,

with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.”

(Philippians 4:6) 

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December 30

“The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, 

to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, 

to give them light; to go by day and night.”

(Exodus 13:21)

So cloud and fire are bound up with thoughts of guidance.

Each day for each Israelite began with the sight of the impenetrable Cloud.

What was the day to bring of journeying or of waiting?  He did not know.

He saw the Cloud, that was all.  So do our days begin.

We may have a time-table, even so,

we face the Unknown. 

We know not what a day may bring forth,

but if we are following our Leader we know that we shall be led.

The symbol of that leading is a Cloud, through which we cannot see.

Great Leader, guide me by cloud or fire, let me be loyal to Thy heart’s desire.

And lest I falter if the way be long, O let Thy joy be strength to me and song. 

(Edges of His Way - Amy Carmichael)

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December 31

The Humble Christian 

"By the grace of God, I am what I am!” 

(1 Corinthians 15:10)

The humble Christian will not be easily angered--nor will he be dogmatic and judgmental. 

He will be compassionate and tender towards the infirmities of his fellow-sinners; knowing, that, 

if there is any difference between himself and others--it is grace of God that has made it. 

He knows that he has the seeds of every evil in his own heart!

Also, under all trials and afflictions, the humble Christian will look to the hand of the Lord, 

and lay his mouth in the dust--acknowledging that he suffers much less than his iniquities have deserved. 

These are some of the advantages and good fruits which the Lord enables us to obtain from that bitter root, indwelling sin.

(John Newton)

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January 1

“And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more,

save Jesus only with themselves.”

(Mark 9:8)

Christ is the key to the puzzle of this world.

May God give us to be anything or nothing, so that the Lord Jesus may be everything.

The magnet always turns towards the pole;

the needle always trembles a little when the storm and tempest roar,

but its direction changes not; the needle of the Christian heart always points towards Christ.

The only thing which can be truly blessing to our brethren, 

so precious because they belong to Him, 

is that which we reproduce of Him.

(Pilgrim Portions for the Day of Rest)

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Gems from December 10- 21, 2017

December 8

“For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are

 in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, 

or dominions, or principalities, or powers: 

all were created by Him and for Him.”

(Colossians 1:16)

In our days, man and his achievements are increasingly being 

brought into the center of people’s thinking.

This may seem to be the right thing, because man 

has indeed achieved much.

However, if we really think man is on top of 

everything, we make a mistake.

We forget that all man’s thinking is nothing but afterthought,

copying what God has originally thought long, long ago.

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

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December 9

“The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal 

life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

(Romans 6:23)

If an angel came straight from the throne of God,

and proclaimed that God has sent him to offer us any one thing we 

might ask—that each one should have his own petition granted—what would be your cry?  

There would be but one response, and the cry would make Heaven ring: "Eternal life! 

eternal life!"  Everything else would float away into nothingness.

It is life men want, and value most.  Let a man worth a million dollars be on

a wrecked vessel, and if he could save his life for six months by 

giving that million, he would give it in an instant. But the 

gospel is not a six months’ gift; 

“The gift of God is eternal life.” 

And is it not one of the greatest marvels that men have to stand and plead and

pray and beseech their fellow men to take this precious gift of God?

(Dwight  L. Moody)

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December 10

“Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant,

and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a 

man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death,

even the death of the cross.”

(Philippians 2:5-8)   

Strange thought for the heart of man, 

that none but the very highest could go down low enough! 

None so high as He, but none other could stoop so low.

None save that One could measure out what sin is in

the creature; bear its penalty and settle our account with God.

The believer is brought before God in a way altogether peculiar.

A way, the peculiarity of which—! learned at His hand—turns out 

to be the most blessed way that could possibly have been conceived. 

(G. V. Wigram)

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December 11

"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)

“Brethren, be not weary in well doing.”

(2 Thessalonians 3:13) 

Yes! He knows the way is dreary, knows the weakness of our frame,

Knows that hand and heart are weary; He, in all points, felt the same;

He is near to help and bless; be not weary; onward press.

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December 12

Earnests of More and More“

"He hath given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for 

you the rain, the former rain, and the later rain in the first month.” 

(Joel 2:23)

God keeps writing a commentary on His word in the volume of our own 

experience.  That is, in so far as we put that volume into His hands,

 and do not think to fill it with our own scribble.

We are not to undervalue or neglect this commentary, but

to use it as John Newton did, when he wrote—

“His love in time past forbids me to think

He’ll leave me at last in trouble to sink;

Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review

Confirms His good pleasure to help me quite through.”

The keywords of what the Spirit writes in it are, 

“He hath,” and therefore “He will.”

Every record of love bears the great signatures, “I am the Lord, I change not;”

“Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” 

Every Hitherto of grace and help is a Henceforth of more grace and more help.

Every experience of the realities of faith widens 

the horizon of the possibilities of faith.

Every realized promise is the stepping-stone to one yet unrealized.

(Royal Bounty F.R.H.)

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December 13

“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; they

shall walk and not faint.”

(Isaiah 40:31)

We smell of the smoke of this lower house of the earth,

because our hearts and our thoughts are here.

If we could mount up with God, we

should smell of heaven and of our country above,

and we should look like our country, and like strangers or

people not born or brought up here-away.

Our crosses would not bite upon us,

if we were heavenly minded. 

(From the Letters of Samuel Rutherford ~ 1600-1661)

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December 14

SEPARATION AND INVOLVEMENT

“In the world. . . . not of the world.”

(John 17:11,14)

THE CHRISTIAN HAS been saved out of the world.

He is in the world but not of it and he is sent into the world 

to win others out of the world, which is his business in this world.

He must keep separated from its defilements, yet he must be in the midst

of it for the salt must be mixed with whatever it is to purify.

Light is needed in a dark place, not in a light place.

We are to be separated from all that might hinder our 

witness, but we are to separate from sin and not from sinners.

The Pharisees would not even eat an egg that thad been laid on the Sabbath,

but they wrapped their robes of their super-sanctity around them

and would not touch poor sinners with a forty-foot pole.

How to be a separated mixer, both apart and involved, is a lesson learned 

in the school of our Lord who was both.

(Vance Havner)

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December 15

“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

(Hebrews 4:15)

“Lo I am with you alway.”

(Matthew 28:20)

There is no other touch like the human touch, that touch of your hand and mine,

That means far more to the fainting heart, than shelter, or bread, or wine:

For shelter is gone when the night is o’er, and bread only lasts for a day; 

But the touch of the hand, and the sound of the voice, live on in the soul alway.

(In Pastures Green) 

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December 16

HEARTS AFLAME

“Philip findeth Nathniel, and saith unto him, we have found Him.”

(John 1:45)

When Jesus had found Philip, Philip knew that he had found Him.

And the next thing to knowing that we have found Him is to find someone else, and say,

“Come and See! . . . We have found Him . . . We see Jesus!”

If you only knew the irresistible longing, the very heart’s desire that you should find, and see Him too, you would pardon all the pertinacity, all the insistence, with which again and again we say, “Come and see!”     

The woman of Samaria left her water pot, and went her way into the city with the same message: 

“Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did.” And we to whom Jesus has said, 

"I that speak unto thee am He,” cannot do otherwise or less.

“Come!” to those who never heard why the Saviour’s blood was shed;

Bear to them the message-word that can quicken from the dead;

Tell them Jesus “died for all,” Tell them of His loving call.”

(Opened Treasure - F.R.H.)

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December 17

“While I live will I praise the Lord:

I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.”

(Psalm 146:2)

Christianity is not a theory or speculation, but a life; not a philosophy of life, but a living presence. 

This realization can turn any gloom into a song.”  

(S. T. Coleridge) 

Praise is our Lord’s most righteous due.  It is not an option whether we will offer 

praise—it is one of God’s commands.  Scriptures clearly teach that we are to  

offer a sacrifice of praise to God continually  (Hebrews 13:15-16).

Our daily sacrifice of praise should include joyful songs for who Christ is—“our blessed Redeemer.”

Then we need to praise God for all of His daily blessings, which are beyond number. We should 

offer praise even for the trials of life for they are often blessings in disguise.

Finally, our sacrifice should include praise for His 

leading in ways yet to be experienced.

Praise Him! praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer! Sing, O earth—His wonderful love proclaim!

Hail Him! Hail Him! highest archangels in glory, strength and honour give to His holy name!  

Like a shepherd Jesus will guard His children—in His arms He carries them all day long:

Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus our blessed Redeemer! For our sins He suffered and bled and died;

He our Rock, our hope of eternal salvation, hail Him! hail Him! Jesus the Crucified.  Sound

His praises—Jesus who bore our sorrows—love unbounded, wonderful, deep and strong:

Praise Him! praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer! Heavenly portals loud with hosannas ring!

Jesus, Saviour, reigneth forever and ever, crown Him! crown Him! Prophet and Priest and King!  

Christ is coming, over the world victorious—power and glory unto the Lord belong: 

Chorus: Praise Him! praise! tell of His excellent greatness! Praise Him! praise Him! ever in joyful song!

(Fanny Crosby)

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December 18

“. . . for I called him alone, and blessed him . . .”

(Isaiah 51:2)

Whenever God has required someone to do a big thing for 

Him, He has sent him to a “lonely furrow.”

He has called him to go alone. 

What lonely men the great prophets of Israel were!

John the Baptist stood alone from the crowd!

Paul had to say, "all men forsook me."

And who was ever more alone than the Lord Jesus?

Victory for God is never won by the multitude.

The man who dares to go where others hold back 

will find himself alone, but he will see the glory of God. . . .”

(Gordon Watt)

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December 19

“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, 

and that thought upon His name.” 

(Malachi 3:16)

It is possible to be so busy that our souls become barren.  Too much activity causes us to be occupied too much with our work and too little with our God. 

Preachers who do not spend much time alone in meditation and communion with the Lord soon give out second-hand messages that have little or no spiritual power.

We should all pray, “Lord, deliver me from the barrenness of a busy life.” 

Many believers are afraid to be alone. They must be with others, talking, working or traveling. 

No time is spent in quiet contemplation. The pressures of modern life encourage us to be hyperactive, to be overachievers. We build up a momentum of activity and it is difficult to slow down. 

Life seems to be a continual push, push, push, go, go, go. 

The result is that we do not develop 

deep spiritual roots.

(Adapted - William MacDonald)

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December 20

“Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart . . .

that I may discern between good and bad: . . ."

(1 Kings 3:9)

Hear the testimony of John Wesley’s mother:

“Would you judge of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of pleasure?

Take this rule:  

Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures

your sense of God, or takes off the relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever 

increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, 

that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself."

The North American natives have a saying among themselves which they use 

concerning a person who is keen of discernment and quick to 

detect secret dangers — “He hears a cataract.”

Guard your intuition or discernment as a gift from God.

“And shall make him of quick understanding [keen of scent or smell, (Hebrew)] 

in the fear of the Lord: . . . (Isaiah 11:3)

(Mountain Trailways for Youth)

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December 21

“The light of the body is the eye: therefore 

when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light.”

(Luke 11:34)

A divided heart brings a disordered mind.

Much of what passes these days for “mental illness”

is largely the effect of a heart in rebellion against God’s hand.

(Nugget - John Kaiser)

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December 22

“Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended?

Who hath gathered the wind in his fists?

Who hath bound the waters 

in a garment?

(Proverbs 30:4)

“And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still.

And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”

(Mark 4:39)   

Observe Him again in the vessel on the lake during the storm (Mark 4:39).

He was there as a tired labouring man whose sleep was sweet.

Such was His manifested form.  But underneath lay 

“the form of God” (Philippians 2:6).

He arose, and as the Lord who gathers the wind in His fists, and binds 

the waters in a garment, He rebuked the sea into a calm.  

(J. G. Bellett)

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Gems from December 1- 10, 2017

December 1

“When he (Peter) saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink,

he cried, saying, Lord, save me.  And immediately Jesus 

stretched forth His hand, and caught him.”

(Matthew 14:30-32)  

But if from Him we turn the eye,

We see the raging floods run high,

Our hearts are full of fear;

Lord! we our unbelief confess,

Do Thou our little faith increase,

That we may fail no more—

But fix on Thee a steady eye, 

And on Thine outstretched arm rely,

Till all the storm is o’er.

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December 2

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

(Philippians 4:13)

Apart from Christ we have no power.  The Lord can say, “Without me ye can do nothing”,

but, says the Apostle, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).

It is, then, only as our souls are kept in secret communion with Christ that we shall be able 

to avail ourselves of the power that is in Him.

This being so, all Satan’s power will be directed to putting our souls out of touch with Christ,

and seeking to keep us from feeding on Him and walking in communion with Him.

It may be that He will seek to draw us out of communion with Christ by the cares and duties

of every-day life, or by sickness and weakness of the body.

He may seek to use the difficulties of the path, the contentions among the people of God,

 or the petty insults we have to meet, to depress the spirit and fret the soul.

If, however, instead of allowing all these things to come between our souls and the Lord,

we make them occasions for drawing near to the Lord, we shall learn what it is to 

be strong in the Lord, while realizing our own weakness; and we

shall learn the blessedness of the word —

“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall  sustain thee” (Psalm 55:22). 

(Hamilton Smith)

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December 3

“Casting all your care upon Him;

for He careth for you.”

(1 Peter 5:7)

Everywhere, always, close by my side,

Faithful, unchangeable, Christ will abide;

Through sunshine and shadow, through good and through ill,

Seeing me, knowing me, loving me still.

(Bells & Pomegranates - James M. S. Tait)

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December 4

“All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of 

Caesar’s household.  The grace of our Lord

Jesus Christ be with you all.  Amen.”

(Philippians 4:22-23)

“Tho’ vice, flagrant and unblushing, Nero’s palace boldly trod,

In that vile court’s baleful precincts there were some who walked with God.

Like the few souls who, in Sardis kept unspotted from the world,

So these saints of Caesar's household held their stainless flag unfurled.

Trusting in their Saviour’s merits, leaning on their Saviour’s might,

They were proof against temptation; now they walk with Hm in white!

Lord, Thy power can keep Thy children in the most unlikely place.

There is no temptation sent them which is greater than Thy grace."

(Author unknown)

But let us never forget that all the saints in Rome sent greetings to all the saints in Phillippi:

and not the slightest distinction is made between a slave and one highborn.

All are ‘one in in Christ Jesus:’ ‘one spirit, one soul, one body, one loaf, one new man,

one flock’: just as there is ‘one Spirit, one hope of your calling, 

one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all 

who is above all, and through all, and in you all.’

(G. Christopher Willis)

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December 5

The Voyage of Life!

" . . . who walketh upon the wings of the wind.”

(Psalm 104:3)

“Who hath measured the waters in the hollow His hand . . .”

(Isaiah 40:12)

All true believers walk by the same rule, and mind the same things:  the Word of God is their compass, Jesus is both their polar star and their sun of righteousness, their hearts and faces are all set Zion-ward. 

Thus far they are as one body, animated by one Spirit. Yet their experience, formed upon these common principles—is far from being uniform. 

The Lord, in His first call, and His following dispensations, has a regard to the situation, temper, and talents of each— and to the particular services or trials which He has appointed them for. Though all believers are tried at times—

yet some pass through the voyage of life much more smoothly than others. 

But He "who walks upon the wings of the wind, and measures the waters in the hollow of His hand,” will not allow any of whom He has taken charge, to perish in the storms—though, for a season, perhaps, many of them are ready to give up all hopes.

We must not, therefore, make the experience of others, in all respects—a rule to ourselves. 

Nor are we to make our own experience—

a rule to others. 

(Adapted - John Newton’s Autobiography)

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December 6

"The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran.”

(Acts 7:2)

After Abraham had this experience with God, the brightest earthly glories were tawdry by comparison.

So it was with Moses at the burning bush;

Isaiah and his vision of the Lord “high and lifted up;”

Ezekiel and his vision of the one having the appearance of a man,

seated above the firmament.

Stephen, at the moment of martyrdom, saw the glory of God.

For all of these men, earthly glories had been eclipsed by the glory of Christ.

We take up the words of Moses, “Show me Thy Glory!”

The answer will surely come, if we are ready for it,

and our lives will never be the same.

(W. H. Burnett)

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face,

And the things of earth, will grow strangely dim,

in the light of His glory and grace."

(Helen Howarth Lemmel)    

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December 7

“. . . The time is short.”

(1 Corinthians 7:29)

“It is an ill time to caulk the ship when at sea, tumbling up and down in a storm: 

this should have been looked to when on her seat in the harbour.

And as bad it is to begin to trim a soul for heaven, when tossing on a sick bed.

Things that are done in a hurray are seldom done well.

These poor creatures, I am afraid, go in an ill dress to 

another world who begin to provide for it when on a dying bed . . .  

There is but one heaven: miss that, and where can you take up your lodging

but in hell?  One Christ that can lead 

you thither: reject Him, 

"and there remains no more sacrifice for sin.”  

(Hebrews 10:26)

(William Gurnall - 1617 - 1679)

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December 8

“For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are

 in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, 

or dominions, or principalities, or powers: 

all were created by Him and for Him.”

(Colossians 1:16)

In our days, man and his achievements are increasingly being 

brought into the center of people’s thinking.

This may seem to be the right thing, because man 

has indeed achieved much.

However, if we really think man is on top of 

everything, we make a mistake.

We forget that all man’s thinking is nothing but afterthought,

copying what God has originally thought long, long ago.

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

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December 9

“The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal 

life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

(Romans 6:23)

If an angel came straight from the throne of God,

and proclaimed that God has sent him to offer us any one thing we 

might ask—that each one should have his own petition granted—what would be your cry?  

There would be but one response, and the cry would make Heaven ring: "Eternal life! 

eternal life!"  Everything else would float away into nothingness.

It is life men want, and value most.  Let a man worth a million dollars be on

a wrecked vessel, and if he could save his life for six months by 

giving that million, he would give it in an instant. But the 

gospel is not a six months’ gift; 

“The gift of God is eternal life.” 

And is it not one of the greatest marvels that men have to stand and plead and

pray and beseech their fellow men to take this precious gift of God?

(Dwight  L. Moody)

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December 10

“Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant,

and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a 

man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death,

even the death of the cross.”

(Philippians 2:5-8)   

Strange thought for the heart of man, 

that none but the very highest could go down low enough! 

None so high as He, but none other could stoop so low.

None save that One could measure out what sin is in

the creature; bear its penalty and settle our account with God.

The believer is brought before God in a way altogether peculiar.

A way, the peculiarity of which—! learned at His hand—turns out 

to be the most blessed way that could possibly have been conceived. 

(G. V. Wigram)

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December 11

"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)

“Brethren, be not weary in well doing.”

(2 Thessalonians 3:13) 

Yes! He knows the way is dreary, knows the weakness of our frame,

Knows that hand and heart are weary; He, in all points, felt the same;

He is near to help and bless; be not weary; onward press.

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