"Having loved His own which were in the world,
He loved them unto the end.”
(John 13:1)
Oh, how sweet this experience of Christ’s love in this cold world!
When the heart is chilled, and yearning for a little warmth,
how sweet to turn to the Lord Jesus and
feel the warmth of His love!
Ah, looking up to Him, the heart is always warmed.
If you see any beauty in Christ, and say,
“I desire to have that,” God will work it in you.
Can you spread out no wants before Christ, the Giver, the Healer?
Believers grieve the Spirit by not using Christ,
and then God must compel them to do it.
(G.V. Wigram)
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June 1
“Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.”
(John 17:17)
By Thy truth and Spirit guiding, earnest He of what’s to come,
And with daily strength providing, Thou dost lead Thy children home.
(Tregelles)
The more you nourish your own soul by feeding on the word of God
the more likely is He to use you.
The sight of the eyes is constantly tending to dim the estimate which
faith forms; and if faith is not nourished by the word,
it sinks down and fades away.
If I am not feeding on the word, faith is not fed, for it
cannot be fed by sight of things all around.
(J. N. Darby)
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June 2
“This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly,
that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain
good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.”
(Titus 3:8)
We may be doing a great deal,
but it will not be service to Christ.
We may be saying a great deal;
but it will not be testimony to Christ.
We may exhibit a great deal of piety and devotion;
but it will not be spiritual and true worship.
The moment the soul hesitates, the enemy has the advantage;
but there is blessing in every act of obedience.
It is of the utmost importance to see that what really stamps man’s
character and condition is his ignorance or knowledge of God.
(Food for the Desert)
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June 3
“And he took his staff in his hand,
and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and
put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a script;
and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.”
(1 Samuel 17:40)
Young David chose five smooth stones from the brook.
To slay Goliath just one stone he took.
So he who seemed so ill-equipped before,
Has weapons now enough, and four times more.
Thus is it ever; God’s resources still
Surpass the needs of all who wait His will.
Nor when His last proud foe is overthrown,
Will half His strength exhaustless yet be known.
(Bells & Pomegranates - James M. S. Tait)
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June 4
"And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition,
but to you of salvation, and that of God.”
(Philippians 1:28)
When Luther was summoned to stand before the council at Worms: and his friends did their utmost to persuade him not to go, as they were sure it meant death; he replied, “Even although there were as many devils at Worms as there are tiles upon the roofs, I would enter it."
Zwingli, in Switzerland, when threatened by all the Civilian and Ecclesiastical wrath, was asked if he was not frightened, and he replied, with noble scorn, "I dread them . . . as the rock-bound shore dreads the threatening billows . . . — with God!”
"How depressing to the enemy is the endurance of the saints."
It is of the utmost importance ”that we should keep in our souls good courage in face of the foe, and confidence in God, not only for our own sake but for others. There is no testimony more gracious, nor more solemn to our adversaries.” (W.K)
Do you not think it was the courage and grace of Stephen that were the first links of the chain that won that terrible “opposer”, Saul of Tarsus?
There are many today who are opposed to the Gospel. Don’t be scared of them! Don’t be frightened! When they see you are not frightened, it will be clear evidence, absolute proof, to them of destruction: but for you of the final triumph of the gospel over all the opposing ones, and over all that the opposing ones can do: and this triumph is of God, not by us.
It may mean suffering . . . but remember there is power that can make even suffering sweet.
(G. Christopher Willis)
“And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us.
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.”
(Martin Luther)
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June 5
“Arise . . . for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good; and are ye still?
Be not slothful to go, and enter to possess the land: for God hath given
it into your hands; a place where there is no want
of anything that is in the earth.”
(Judges 18:9,10)
Arise! Then there is something definite for us to do. Nothing is ours unless we take it.
“The children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephriam, took their inheritance” (Joshua 16:4).
“The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions” (Obadiah 17).
“The upright shall have good things in possession.”
We need to have appropriating faith in regard to God’s promises. We must make
God’s Word our own personal possession.
A child was asked once what appropriating faith was, and the answer was,
“it is taking a pencil and underscoring all the me’s and mine’s and my’s in the Bible.”
Take any word you please that He has spoken and say, “That word is my word.”
Put your finger on this promise and say, “It is mine.”
How much of the Word has been endorsed and receipted and said “It is done.”
How many promises can you subscribe and say, “fulfilled to me.”
“Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.”
Don’t let your inheritance go by default.
“When faith goes to market it always takes a basket.”
(Streams in the Desert)
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“But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness,
I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto
Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house.”
(Genesis 40:14)
Joseph is a wonderful picture of the Lord, especially here.
A butler with a cup, baker with bread, and a request, “Remember Me.”
The Lord Jesus took bread and a cup and instituted a feast of remembrance.
“Remember Me” was His request.
He used emblems that were a part of everyday life, yet how easily we forget.
That’s what the butler did. He forgot! When he remembered he said,
“I remember my faults this day.”
How much better had he remembered Joseph.
What a privilege to remember the Lord as He requested.
(Rex Trogdon)
According to Thy gracious Word, in meek humility,
This would I do, O Christ my Lord, I would remember Thee.
( — J. M.)
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June 7
“And take the helmet of salvation . . .”
(Ephesians 6:17)
We are directed to “take the helmet of salvation”; and this not for some particular occasion,
and then hang it up till another extraordinary strait calls us to take it down,
and use it again; but we must take it so as never to lay it aside,
till God shall take off this helmet, to put on
a crown of glory in the room of it.
“Be sober, and hope to the end,” is the apostle Peter’s counsel (1 Peter 1:13)
The Christian in complete Armour - William Gurnall (1617- 1679)
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June 8
“. . . come; for all things are now ready.
and they all with one consent began to make excuse.”
(Luke 14:17-18)
Excuse: The thin skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.
An excuse is an attempt to avoid an issue and to escape responsibility.
A man who lives by excuses endorses conditional obedience and is an excuse for a man.
We may make excuses or we may make progress, but not both at the same time.
David faced Goliath before he killed him.
Beware excuses! An excuse is the symptom of the secret presence of an idol (Genesis 31:31-35).
God provides an escape, not an excuse (1 Corinthians 10:7-13)
Multiplied excuses amount to insult.
Excuses cheapen apologies and their users.
They are the maggots which suck the life from an apology.
They are the opposite of repentance.
(Morsel’s for Meditation - J. Kaiser)
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June 9
"He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea,
driven with the wind and tossed."
(James 1:6)
The sea when agitated by the wind has visible motions:
to and from (fluctuation) and another, up and down (undulation).
James in his inimitable words says a sea-wave cannot stay anywhere;
if it is propelled forward, it recedes backward;
if lifted up, it sinks downward.
So a half-believing soul; whatever onward or upward impulse he gets, he cannot retain.
He has no staying qualities and like the surging sea is frothy and flighty.
I wonder, is my testimony, and particularly my prayer life constant,
consistent and day-by-day continual?
Keep praying!
(Les Rainey)
Pray without ceasing, pray, your Captain gives the word;
His summons cheerfully obey and call upon the Lord.
(Charles Wesley)
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June 10
“Let not your heart be troubled . . .”
(John 14:1)
“. . . I will trust, and not be afraid . . .”
(Isaiah 12:2)
Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear.
But God does not want His children to be fearful, and the best
way to overcome fear is through the Word of God.
(Corrie Ten Boom)
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June 11
"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come.
And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will,
let him take the water of life freely.”
"Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."
(Revelation 22:17,20)
As soon as we are in connection with the Lord Jesus Christ we have got God;
God has introduced Himself as a living person to the soul,
and all our associations are connected with God.
When He separates any one to Himself,
He plants the blood of Christ right behind them.
(Gleanings - G. V. Wigram)
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June 12
"Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith. . . .”
(Hebrews 12:2)
UNTO JESUS and it is from Him and in Him that we learn
to know, not only without danger, but for the wellbeing of our
souls, what it is good for us to know about the world and about
ourselves, our sorrows and our dangers, our resources and our victories:
seeing everything in its true light, because it is He Who shows them to us,
and that only at the time and in the proportion in which this knowledge will produce
in us the fruits of humility and wisdom, gratitude and courage, watchfulness and prayer.
All that it is desirable for us to know, the Lord Jesus will
teach us; all that we do not learn from Him,
it is better for us not to know.
(Theodore Monod)
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