Gems from January 1- 11, 2018

January 1

“So will not we go back from thee . . .” 
(Psalm 80:18)

Oh, there are heavenly heights to reach in many a fearful place, 
While the poor, timid heir of God lies blindly on his face; 
Lies languishing for light Divine that he shall never see ’
Til he goes forward at Thy sign, and trusts himself to Thee.

(C.A. Fox)  

When Mallory and Irvine were last seen on Mt Everest—

the highest peak in the world—they were "going strong for the top.”

Bitter cold, raging winds, blinding blizzards, engulfing avalanches of snow and rock—

all these dangers stood between these brave climbers and the top of

that towering mountain. Nothing could turn them back!

What a great way to close the old year, and crossing the threshold into the new

to say with these heroic climbers, “We will not go back from Thee!”

Let us fare forth bravely, our feet on solid ground, our eyes to the stars,

for we walk with Him whose promise is:

“Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age.” 

Press on!  Surmount the rocky steeps, climb boldly o’er the torrent’s arch;

He fails alone who feebly creeps, he wins who dares the hero’s march.

Be thou a hero! Let thy might tramp on eternal snows its way

And through the ebon walls of night hew down a passage unto day.

(Park Benjamin) 

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January 2

Happy new year . . .

“. . . Forgetting those things which are behind, 

and reaching forth unto those things which are before.”  

(Philippians 3:13)

The New Year is not present with us.  Only a new day!  So it will be continually.

We shall see but one day at a time.

. . . If each day is lived right, the whole year will be right;

if each day is wrong, the year will be all wrong.

Each day is a white page to be written.

Write it beautifully, and the year will be beautiful.

Lord, Thou hast given me a clean, new year.  Help me to keep its pages pure, unspoiled;

To write upon its scroll but kindly thoughts, with no unsightly blots to have it soiled.

Let me not mar, in thought or word or deed, this page, so white, so pure, unsullied, fair, 

Help me to know that when I stand in need of help from Thee, thou’rt always standing there.

When duty calls me, Lord, let pleasure wait.  Let me fulfill my calling. Let Thy will,

Not mine, be done.  Oh, let me ever hear Thy calm, approving voice, Thy guidance still.

Lead me, dear Lord, in paths of peacefulness.  But if, perchance, Thy paths should ever lie

O’er mountain trails, though they be rough and bleak, then may I answer, “Master, here am I.”

(I. S. Ellis)       

An artist who was asked, “What is your best picture?” answered, 

 “My next.”  Make tomorrow your best day!

"Yesterday ended last night.”

(Mountain Trailways)

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January 3

“They shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels.”

(Malachi 3:17) 

What do God’s children as jewels remind us of?

1. Like jewels, they are rare.

2. Like jewels, they are beautiful, brilliant, ornamental.

3. Like jewels, they are found in strange and unlikely places.

4. Like jewels, they are obtained only with much risk and trouble.

5. Like jewels, they have to be cut and polished to bring out their beauty and value.

6. Like jewels, they are very valuable; hence they cost a great deal.

7. Like jewels, they are carefully preserved.

8. Like jewels, they will be collected 

and exhibited.

Sapphires, rubies, opals, precious every one;

The great Lapidary sees His work begun.

He will not relax His care 

till His work is finished there.

(E. E. T.)

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January 4

"Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” 
(Isaiah 53:4,5)

That covers the days and the deeds that are gone.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” (Psalm 23:6)

These are the two shining ones from the upper sanctuary who are commissioned

to look after needs as we journey to the heavenly land.

“Surely I come quickly.”

(Revelation 22:20)

There we are pointed on to the glad event, at the fulfilment of which,

we shall be translated from the place of sin and sorrow to

one into which sin shall never entered in which

all tears are wiped away.

(Revelation 21:4)   

(Heaven’s Cure for Earth’s Care)

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January 5

“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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January 6

“The Holy Scriptures . . . are able to make 

thee wise unto salvation.”

(2 Timothy 3:15)

I am a spirit come from God, and returning to God . . .  I want to know one thing, the way to heaven . . . 

God Himself has condescended to teach me the way . . . 

He hath written it down in a book.

O give me that book!

At any price give me the book of God!

I have it; here is knowledge enough for me.

Let me be “homo unius libri” (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.

(J. Wesley)

The Bible tells us Jesus died, a sacrifice for sin;

The gates of heaven to open wide that we may enter in.

The Bible tells us Jesus rose, and left the silent grave,

Triumphant over all His foes, the mighty One to save,

The Bible tells us all may come, and drink at mercy’s stream;

That Jesus soon will share His home with all who trust in Him.

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January 7

A weak, defenseless, thoughtless creature--and prone to wander!

"I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep." 

(John 10:11) 

This great and good Shepherd has a flock, whom He loved from everlasting—and whom having loved, He will love to the end. He . . . humbled Himself for their sakes, submitted to partake of their nature and their sorrows,

took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. 

He died for His sheep, "the just for the unjust," to redeem them . . . from the curse of the law,

  from the guilt and dominion of sin, from the power of Satan--and to bring them to God. 

They, by nature, are all "gone astray, every one to his own way".  But having thus bought them with His blood--in His own appointed time He seeks, finds, and restores His sheep. By the power of His Word and Spirit--He makes Himself known to their hearts, causes them to hear and understand His voice, and guides them into His fold. They are under His immediate protection and government.

Considered as individuals, they are fitly described by the name of sheep. A sheep is a weak, defenseless, thoughtless creature— and prone to wander! If once gone astray--it is seldom known to return of its own accord.

A sheep has neither strength to fight with the wolf, nor speed to escape from him; 

nor has it the foresight of the ant, to provide its own sustenance. 

(John Newton)

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January 8

“Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth,

that we should be a kind of first 

fruits of His creatures.”

(James 1:18)

Look at yonder tottering babe, the object of ceaseless care and solicitude, wholly unable to promote his father’s interests in any one way, yet so loved by the father that he would not exchange him for ten thousand worlds;

and if it be thus with an earthly father, what must it be with our heavenly Father? 

He loves us, not for aught that we are able to do, but because we are His children.

He has begotten us, of His own will, by the word of truth. 

We could no more earn a place in the heart of the Father than we could satisfy the claims of the righteous Judge.

All is of free grace.

The Father has begotten us; and the Judge has found a ransom (Job 33:24).

We are debtors to grace for both the one and the other.

(C. H. Mackintosh)

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January 9

CHRIST OR ANTICHRST

“He that is not with Me is against Me; 

and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad.”

(Matthew 12:30)

AFTER ALL IS said and done, the real issue today, as always, is Christ or Antichrist.

We try to move the focal point elsewhere, 

but here is where the battle rages.

And if Christ is the issue, then for us the supreme matter is—

(1) to become a Christian;  

(2) to become a better Christian daily;

(3) to help other Christians to be better Christians, and 

(4) to help those who are not Christians to become Christians.

We gather with Him, or we scatter abroad.

This is our real “program,” faith in Christ, fellowship with Christ, 

faithfulness to Christ, fruitfulness for Christ.

It simplifies life to one thing, just to be a Christian, a believer in Christ, 

a follower of Christ, a witness of Christ.

Anything less is not enough.  Anything more is too much.

“With Me”— there is our position; “gathering"— there is our practice.

“Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” 

Following and fishing!

Are you Christian or Anti-christian?

(Vance Havner)

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January 10

“Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth,

and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes:

but know thou, that for all these things God will

bring thee into judgment."

(Ecclesiastes 11:9)

“The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are 

all thy ways, hast thou not glorified."

(Daniel 5:23) 

What though I might live without the Saviour,

When I come to die, how would it be?

O to face the valley’s gloom without Him!

And without Him for eternity!

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January 11

“Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.”

(John 6:37)

Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord to Thee.

“Take my life!” We have said it or sung it before the Lord, it may be many times; but if it were only once whispered in His ear with full purpose of heart, should we not believe that He heard it?  And if we know that He heard it, should we not believe that He has answered it, and fulfilled this, our heart’s desire? 

For with Him hearing means heeding. 

Then why should we doubt that He did verily take our lives when we offered them—our bodies when we presented them? Have we not been wronging His faithfulness all this time by practically, even if unconsciously, doubting whether the prayer ever really reached Him?

And if so, is it any wonder that we have not realized all the power and joy of full consecration? 

By some means or other He has to teach us to trust implicitly at every step of the way.

And so, if we did not really trust in this matter, 

He has had to let us find out our want of trust by withholding the 

sensible part of the blessing, and thus stirring us up to find out why it is withheld. 

(Kept for the Master’s Use - Frances Ridley Havergal)

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January 12

The one indispensable book!

“Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read: no one of these shall fail,

none shall want her mate: for My mouth it hath commanded,

and His Spirit it hath gathered them.”

(Isaiah 34:16)

The Bible is the oldest--and the newest of books.

The Bible surveys the whole field of time--and it looks farthest into the infinite depths of eternity. 

The Bible lends the most vivid and absorbing interest to the scenes and events of the past—and 

it keeps us in the most active sympathy with the time in which we live.

The Bible gives us the most reliable record of what has been—and it affords us our only 

means of knowing what is yet to be. 

The Bible is holy enough to denounce the very shadow and semblance of sin—and 

it is merciful enough to save the chief of sinners.

The Bible is full of God--and must therefore be read with a pure heart, 

or its true glory will not be seen.

The Bible is full of man--and must therefore always be interesting and 

instructive to all who would know themselves.

The Bible is the plainest of books--and yet it has depths of wisdom 

which no created mind can fathom. 

The Bible is set up as a beacon to show all wanderers the safe way--and yet its light shines 

forth from thick clouds of mystery, and from abysses of infinite darkness. 

The Bible describes all conditions of life--and it gives utterance 

to all desires and emotions of the soul. 

The Bible has a song of triumph for the overcomer—and 

a wail of defeat for the overcome. 

(Daniel March - 1870)

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