Gems from August 10- 20, 2018

August 10

“Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; 

and ye yourselves like unto men that 

wait for their Lord.”

(Luke 12:35-36)

Your Father . . . your treasure . . . your loins . . . your lights . . . yourselves:

here in this section of the Gospel are things that are ours and

instructions for appropriate deportment. 

Having such a Father and such treasure, we should be ready for worship and service,

for witness, and for a personal welcome for our returning Lord.

He is coming back again.

Let us be found fulfilling our responsibilities.  

(Roy Hill)

Brightly beams our Father’s mercy from His lighthouse evermore,

But to us He gives the keeping of the lights along the shore.

Let the lower lights be burning!  Send a gleam across the wave!

Eager eyes are watching, longing, for the lights along the shore. 

(P. P. Bliss)

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August 11

“Take heed unto thyself . . .”

(1 Timothy 4:16)

Let nothing come between my soul and God.

Keep nothing back from God — tell Him everything as if He knew nothing about it.

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Be mercilessly true to yourself, and have everything out with God; none will ever treat you so tenderly as He. 

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The measure of my love for God’s Word is the measure of my love for God; 

as you reverence Him, so you reverence it. 

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There is no halting-place short of conformity to Christ; but there is no need to be disheartened,

the Holy Spirit is here to work this out in us.  

(Comforted of God - A. J. Pollock)

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August 12

Worship of God

“Is there no balm in Gilead?”

(Jeremiah 8:22)

’Tis the blessed hour of prayer, when our hearts lowly bend,

And we gather to Jesus, our Saviour and friend;

If we come to Him in faith, His protection to share,

What a balm for the weary, O how sweet to be there! 

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

(1 Peter 5:7)

’Tis the blessed hour of prayer, when the Saviour draws near,

With a tender compassion His children to hear;

When He tells us we may cast at His feet every care,

What a balm for the weary, O how sweet to be there!

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“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched

with the feeling of our infirmities.”

(Hebrews 4:15)

’Tis the blessed hour of prayer, when the tempted and tried 

to the Saviour Who loves them their sorrow confide;

With a sympathizing heart He removes every care;

What a balm for the weary, O how sweet to be there!

(Treasures from Fanny Crosby)

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August 13

“And he that reapeth receiveth  wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: 

that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.”

(John 4:36)

Life is neither game nor dream, but true as God who gives it.

Life is more than it may seem; and he who knows God lives it.

Lost is neither thought nor deed, time’s record God is keeping;

Time we have for planting seed—eternity for reaping.

(With thanks - John Kaiser)

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; 

but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake 

and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.”

(Mark 8:35)

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August 14

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

(1 Peter 5:7)

I have little, little of Him; yet I long for more.

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Scare not at suffering for Christ: for Christ hath a chair, and a

cushion, and sweet peace for a sufferer. 

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He taketh the bairns (children) in His arms when they come to a deep water; 

at least, when they lose ground, and are put to swim, 

then His hand is under their chin.

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My shallow and ebb thoughts are not the compass Christ saileth by.

I leave His ways to Himself, for they are far, far above me. . . .

There are windings and to’s and fro’s in His ways,

which blind bodies like us cannot see. 

(Samuel Rutherford 1600-1661)

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August 15

“I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, 

and over all the power of the enemy:

and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

(Luke 10:19)

Our Lord Jesus said this to the seventy: and yet we know that all down the 

ages His servants have been hurt in a thousand ways.

So the words must mean, and we know they do mean,
something that goes far deeper than bodily hurt,

deeper even than disappointment—
that hardest hurt the mind can be asked to bear.

It must mean that our spirits shall tread on serpents and scorpions

and have power over all the enemy.

Nothing shall be able to sting our spirit, poison it, or paralyze it.

It is one of the magnificent promises of the Bible.

We cannot take it too literally.

There is no need to be overcome, whatever happens.

“O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength” (Judges 5:21).

(Edges of His Ways - Amy Carmichael)

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August 16

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other

name under heaven give among men,

whereby we must be saved.”

(Acts 4:12)

 “Peter’s statement, evidently staggered the august council
before whom he and his fellow - apostle stood.

They paused in their opposition, and have a secret conference what to do.

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, 
and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; 
and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.  

And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, 
they could say nothing against it."

(Acts 4:13-14)

They were silenced.

Faith and facts are two stubborn witnesses.  Both attest God’s grace.

The outcome of the conference was— 

“That indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them 

is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.”

They admit defeat, and then, calling in the apostles,

“Commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.” 

This command raised the most important question possible: Was God to be obeyed or man?

The apostles permit of no ambiguity as to the course they judge right to adopt.

"Peter and John answered and said unto them, whether it be right in the

sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.” 

The prohibitory injunction of man had no weight with them.

God had commanded them to preach Christ - to preach the gospel, 

and “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”

The religious leaders of Israel were not now the expositors
of the will of God—they were opposed to His will.

The path of Peter and his companions is plain.  God must be obeyed rather than man.

(W. T. P. Wolston)

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August 17

“Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches,

and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature;

and his top was among the thick boughs.”

(Ezekiel 31:3)

The cedars of Lebanon are unique in possessing properties
that make their wood resistant to insects,

virtually impervious to decay, and extremely durable.
This is why they are capable 

of growing into fine, fragrant timber suitable for the temple.

In the economy of God, He saw clearly that because death dominated the earth, 

the only way its power and domination could be broken was for Himself, 

in Christ, to enter directly into the cycle of birth, growth, life, and death on our planet.

Christ Jesus was born of a virgin, grew up among men,
lived and moved among us, then died for us.

But, marvel of marvels, His body did not decay (Psalm 16:10).
Instead of being chained to the cycle, 
He shattered its power and rose directly from the dead. 

No wonder Christians shout, 

“Death is swallowed up in victory.  O death where is thy sting?

O grave, where is thy victory?” 

(1 Corinthians 15:54-55).

What a triumph!

The shackles that had chained men to the wheel of death on this planet have been snapped.

This is the magnificent overcoming life made available to man through the resurrection of Christ.

(Songs of My Soul - W. Phillip Keller)

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August 18

“That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which HOPE we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil.”

(Hebrews 6:18-19)

In ordinary use by men of the world, HOPE has in it the elements of uncertainty and transcience. 

In the Scriptures, HOPE is spoken of as an anchor both sure and steadfast, and is thus set forth as the equivalent of an absolute certainty.  The essential difference between an uncertain hope and one which is absolutely sure, therefore, is that the former precedes faith in God, and the latter follows it.  

The elements of HOPE are three in number: desire, expectation, and patience.  Not desire only, for we may desire what we do not expect; not expectation only, for we may expect what we do not desire; but desire and expectation combined and exercised with that patience which can wait for the full realization.

(George Henderson)

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August 19

“By faith they . . .”  (Hebrew 11:29)

Guard the citadel of faith, sleep not, 

but watch and pray.

Enemies at every gate are waiting night and day—to storm the walls, or to approach

 by guile and flattery—using wordy argument and high philosophy.  

Guard it well.  It’s worth the strain, 

the effort, and the strife.

It will be your tower of strength when come the storms of life, 

a fortress that will stand against the worst that 

Fate can do, a citadel of faith that none 

can conquer or subdue.

(Patience Strong)

FEAR knocked at the door; FAITH opened it 

And—there was no one there. 

(Mountain Trailways for Youth)

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August 20

“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims,

abstain from fleshly lusts, which war

against the soul.”

(1 Peter 2:11)  

The truth needs not man: man needs the truth.

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Sweeping away snow is long work; if the sun is well up, 

it is gone.  A night covers the earth a foot deep—

what millions of men could not do, a day takes 

it all away if God’s warmth comes in.

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Do not be afraid of . . . consequences.

If we do right God will take care of them.

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I cannot do the work I did, but I have His work to do

as long as He gives it to me.

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We should like to go always with a full, favourable wind,

but this does not make a good sailor.

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Not a single thing in which we have served Christ shall be 

forgotten . . . all shall come out that is real, and

what is real is Christ in us, and this only.

(Pilgrim Portions for the Day of Rest - JND)

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August 21

August 22