“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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