“Watch ye therefore, and pray always.”
(Luke 21:36)
Time must be set apart for prayer.
Prayer is the key for the day, the lock for the night.
(Corrie Ten Boom)
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April 2
“I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also
I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.”
(Philippians 3:12)
The Apostle Paul, looking back on his experience on the Damascus Road, sees it as an "arrest.”
He was immediately and completely under the control of Another.
Doctrinally, it was “out of darkness, into the kingdom of His dear Son.”
Practically, it was to be the bond slave of Jesus Christ,
to the point of bearing in his body,
the brand marks of his Master.
We must remember that we, too, who profess His Name, are under arrest,
by and to Him who bought us with His own most precious blood.
(Drew Craig)
I belong to Jesus; I am not my own;
All I have and all I am, shall be His alone.
(M. Fraser)
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April 3
“I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things,
and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; that thou
keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: which in His times He shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.” (1 Timothy 6:13-15)
In one of his sonnets, the writer Percy Bysshe Shelly tells of a traveler from Egypt who,
in a trek across a desert wasteland came upon the remains of a marble statue.
All that remained on the pedestal were two feet and the lower part of two gigantic legs.
Nearby, lying in the sand, was the cracked remnant of what had been the head.
The face had a cruel sneer on its lips.
When the traveler rubbed the sand away from the pedestal,
he found this inscription: “My name is Ozymandias, king
of kings: Look on my works, ye mighty and despair!”
The traveler looked, and as far as the eye could see, there was naught but the sifting sand.
Ozyymandias bestowed upon himself the name “king of kings,” but
whatever kingdom and glory he once enjoyed had disappeared.
In contrast, the true King of kings was meek and lowly of mind when he came into
Jerusalem riding a donkey’s colt. Here, riding into town in great humility,
was the King of kings and Lord of lords—the king of all creation!
Napoleon observed at St. Helena; Can you conceive of Caesar as the eternal emperor of
the Roman Senate and, from the depths of his mausoleum, governing the empire, watching
over the destinies of Rome? Such is the history of the invasion and conquest of the
world by Christianity; such is the power of the God of the Christians . . .”
Jesus is the eternal King of kings, the Lord who reigns supreme.
No other has ever been or ever will be greater.
(With Thanks - F. Charters)
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"Mine eyes are unto Thee, O God the Lord:
in Thee is my trust."
(Psalm 141:8)
"I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:
which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number."
(Job 5:8-9)
I do not know what may befall of sunshine or of rain;
I do not know what may be mine of pleasure or of pain;
But this i know — my Saviour knows, and whatsoe’er it be,
Still I can trust His love to give what will be best for me.
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April 5
“But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us . . . and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
(Ephesians 2:4,6)
We are apprehended of the Lord Jesus distinctly, not for what we are, but for what we shall be.
It is impossible when we come to know Christ, to stand still; we pass on from childhood to manhood and to fatherhood.
Every separate saint is being prepared for a prepared place in the Father’s house.
Seeing this, it becomes impossible to settle down here the question of self and all connected with it as dung and dross— the question of work—the setting Christ before you, pressing on towards the mark of the high calling of God in Him; these questions can only be settled in view of our heavenly position, our life up there.
Are you saying: “Christ loves me, and I must press on till I see Him;
nothing can satisfy me till I can get to Him”?
Christ has seen exactly where I shall be in the glory; the jewel will not be lost which is to be put into His crown.
The believer can walk in this world as one who is apprehended of Christ for glory.
Are your hearts occupied with Him in the glory? It will be as a stream of
heavenly blessing in all troubles.
(G.V. Wigram)
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April 6
“My meditation of Him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord.”
(Psalm 104:34)
“Heaven above is softer blue, earth around is sweeter green:
Something lives in every hue Christless eyes have never seen;
Birds with gladder songs o’erflow, flowers with deeper beauty shine,
Since I know, as now I know, I am His; and He is mine”.
(G. W. Robinson)
But there is better yet: though there is so much that is truly loveable in the Lord’s own people,
and so much that is lovely in His handiwork; we must turn our eyes elsewhere to
behold the only One who is ”Altogether lovely” (Song of Sol. 5:16).
No flaw or disappointment we will ever find in Him, as we may in all else below; and yet,
strange as it may seem, there was a time when we saw in Him
“no beauty that we should desire Him”.
But now, through His infinite grace, we may say:
“My meditation of Him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord.”
(Psalm 104:34)
(G. Christopher Willis)
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April 7
“Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith.”
(Hebrews 12:2)
UNTO JESUS and not at obstacles which meet us in our path.
As soon as we stop to consider them, they amaze us,
they confuse us, they overwhelm us, incapable as we are of understanding
either the reason why they are permitted, or the means by which we may overcome them.
The apostle began to sink as soon as he turned to look at the waves tossed by the storm;
it was while he was looking at Jesus that he walked on the waters as on a rock.
The more difficult our task, the more terrifying our temptations,
the more essential it is that we look only at Jesus.
(Theodore Monod - Translated from French by Helen Willis)
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April 8
“But do Thou for me, O God the Lord, for Thy name’s sake:
because Thy mercy is good, deliver Thou me.”
(Psalm 109:21)
The psalmist does not say what he wanted God to do for him. He leaves it open.
So this most restful prayer is left open for all perplexed hearts to
appropriate ‘according to their several necessities.’
And so we leave it open for God
to fill up in His own way.
Only a trusting heart can pray this prayer at all: the very utterance of it is an act of faith.
We could not ask any one whom we did not know intimately and trust
implicitly to ‘do’ for us, without even suggesting what.
Only a self-emptied heart can pray it.
It is when we have come to the end of our own resources, or
rather, come to see that we never had any at all, that we are willing to
accept the fact that we can ‘do nothing,' and to let God do everything for us.
Only a loving heart can pray it. For nobody likes another to take them and their
affairs in hand, and ‘do’ for them, unless that other is cordially loved.
We might submit to it, but we should not like it,
and certainly should not seek it.
(Royal Bounty - F. R. H.)
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April 9
“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, less his deeds should be reproved.”
(John 3:19-20)
Be very sure of this--people never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it.
They understand it only too well! They understand that it condemns their own behavior.
They understand that it witnesses against their own sins, and summons them to judgment!
They try to believe it is false and useless--because they don't like to believe it is true.
An evil lifestyle must always raise an objection to this Holy book.
Men question the truth of Christianity--because they hate the practice of it!
(J. C. Ryle)
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April 10
A Man Apart
"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD."
(Genesis 6:8)
It is hard to be a Christian in days when sin is applauded and righteousness is despised.
We have to determine that we are going to be different.
We will live by God’s standards and not those promoted in society.
We will look to the Bible and not to the media for our guidance in matters of daily living.
Noah lived in an evil day. “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”
(Genesis 6.5). He encountered the sins that still abound in the 21st century,
for the heart of man has not changed.
Despite the wickedness all around him, Scripture records that
“Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”
(Genesis 6.8)
He was different.
Before the gaze of heaven, he stood out.
He was a righteous man, blameless in his generation.
“Noah walked with God.”
(Genesis 6.9).
Before God he was righteous, before men he was blameless.
Take courage in your Christian walk! It is possible to walk with God in the most evil days.
He will have His eye upon you and will supply necessary grace.
(Christian Living Today)
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April 11
“There shall not any man be able to stand before Thee all the days
of thy life; as I was with Moses, so will I be with thee;
I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.”
(Joshua 1:5)
We may be called to traverse strange ways, but we shall always have our
Lord’s company, assistance and provision.
We need not covet money, for we shall always have our God, and He is better than gold;
His favour is better than fortune.
We must imitate Alpine climbers and keep strong hold of the guide
as we climb toward the top. Let us take short views.
If we look over precipices, we shall grow dizzy.
If we look too far ahead, we shall grow discouraged.
Let us rather put our weak hands into Christ’s strong loving
grasp, and all the time listen to His cheering words, “Fear not, only trust!”
(Theodore L. Cuyler)
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April 12
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