“And God saw their (Nineveh) works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that He had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not.”
(Jonah 3:10)
"But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the Lord . . . I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest Thee of the evil. Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech Thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.” (Jonah 4:1-3)
This is the only request in Jonah’s prayer, a request that he might die. Why? Because he could not have his own way. Self-will and disappointment made him long to give up his honourable position as prophet and servant of Jehovah, a witness to Him, even in a foreign land; and escape all his troubles in death.
It was very wrong and very cowardly—just the kind of thing we do. When things go all wrong, and we do not get our own way, and are disappointed and discouraged; then we sigh, and hope that the Lord may soon come and take us away to heaven.
The writer has to confess that he has done just the same thing as Jonah, and very possibly the reader is little better. If we allow it, how the sword of the Spirit cuts us, and how truly it is “a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
(G. C. Willis - Lessons From Jonah the Prophet)
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September 21
FAITHFUL IN THE LEAST
“Faithful in that which is least. . . .”
(Luke 16:10)
If we have been faithful in the little situation that seemed insignificant,
we are in line for something better.
It is easy to withhold our best from what looks unworthy of all-out effort
and save our best for the big day.
and save our best for the big day.
But when is the big day?
It may be that on that dull drear mission, when we seemed to be wasting our time,
God did something more important than we ever dreamed.
Count not that day lost when we did our best under
most discouraging circumstances.
The deed takes its value from the spirit in which we did it.
He that is faithful over a few things shall be made ruler over many things.
(All the Days - Vance Havner)
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September 22
“What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also:
I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.”
(1 Corinthians 14:15)
The Father’s boundless love we sing, the fountain whence our blessings spring;
How great the depth, how high it flows, no saint can tell, no angel knows.
Its length and breadth no eye can trace, no thought explore the bounds of grace;
The love that saved our souls from hell transcends the creature’s power to tell.
(Tate - The Christian Calendar)
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September 23
“And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him . . . "
(Luke 24:31)
In 1875 a young Christian, whose testimony to his faith in Christ had been met by the rejoinder that it was only phantom and sham, prayed in a meeting definitely asking the Lord that Frances Ridley Havergal might write a poem “to show what Thou art—a living bright Reality”; and waxing bold he added, “and let her do it this very night."
On that evening Miss Havergal was at another meeting where a man in his prayer used the expression: “Father, we know the reality of Jesus Christ.”
The expression made such a deep impression upon her that she went home and wrote a poem of nine stanzas, and dated it.
When she recounted the incident,
she added, "Does not this show the reality of prayer?”
Reality, reality, Lord Jesus Christ Thou art to me;
From the spectral mists and driving clouds,
From the shifting shadows and phantom crowds,
I turn to my glorious rest in Thee,
Who art the grand reality.
We are not left to the dim stars or to the flicker of the uncertain lanterns.
God Himself has spoken to us in the words of Jesus Christ.
(Traveling Toward Sunrise)
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September 24
“Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)
He will never say to anyone in that day of judgment, “I used to know you, but I do not know you any more.” He says, “I never knew you.” But of His own He says, “I know them.”
Now if you will keep that in mind I do not think you will have any question about the eternal security of the believer. He never knew those who, though they seemed to be workers in His own vineyard, had never heard His voice.
First, His sheep know His voice. Second, He says, “I know them.” The third thing, “and they follow Me.” There is no use to profess to be a sheep of Christ’s unless you follow Him. Christ means so much to those who are truly born again that their souls delight to follow Him. Do you follow Him? Is His will precious to you?
We do not become sheep by following Jesus. It is the very opposite. We follow Him because we belong to His flock. Having been saved, we manifest that by following Him. There are a great many people who bear the Christian name who are not really born of God. This accounts for so many who at one time seemed to be Christians, but because there was no reality, they never knew the Lord, they never found any satisfaction in following Him and so they fell away.
Speaking of His own sheep, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” What kind of life? Eternal life. You who have questioned the eternal security of the believer, how long is “ETERNAL?” “I give unto them eternal life.”
Do you not see? It is not probationary life, it is not temporal life, it is ETERNAL life.
(Harry A. Ironside)
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September 25
THE SURE AFTERWARD
“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless,
afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” (Hebrews 12:11)
There are some promises which we are apt to reverse for great occasions,
and thus lose the continual comfort of them. Perhaps we read this one with a
sigh and say: “How beautiful this is for those whom the Lord is really chastening!
I almost think I should not mind that, if such a promise might then be mine.
But the things that try me are only little things that turn up every day to trouble and depress me.
Well, now, does the Lord specify what degree of trouble, or what kind of trouble,
is great enough to make up a claim to the promise? And if He does not, why
should you? He only defines it as “not joyous, but grievous”.
Perhaps there have been a dozen different things today which were “not joyous, but grievous” to you. And though you feel ashamed of feeling them so much, and hardly like to own to their having been so trying, and would not think of dignifying them as “chastening”, yet, if they come under the the Lord’s definition, He not only knows all about them, but they were, every one of them, chastenings from His hand; neither to be despised and called “just nothing” when all the while they did “grieve” you; nor to be wearied of; because they are working out blessing to you and glory to Him.
Every one of them has been an unrecognized token of His love and interest in you; for “whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.”
(Royal Bounty - Frances Ridley Havergal)
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September 26
WHY AFFLICTIONS? . . . A MEASURE OF HIS PROVIDENCE
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment,
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”
(2 Corinthians 4:17)
One of the puzzling dilemmas we face as believers, concerns the
afflictions that befall us. Such concerns go back as far as Job.
He encountered affliction as few have.
Through it all, Job had an encounter with God that radically changed his life.
It is difficult to understand God’s providential ways.
We must leave these occasions in His hands and turn our heart with
unwavering faith to His care, plan, and purpose in it all.
God’s ways are unsearchable . . . but His grace is unfailing!
(Daily Devotions - B. L.)
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September 27
"From a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." (2 Timothy 3:15-17)
Nothing is lacking in the Scriptures to make . . . life useful and comfortable, death safe and desirable, and to bring down something of heaven upon earth.
But this true wisdom can be found nowhere else. If you wander from the Scriptures, in pursuit either of present peace, or future hope—then your search will surely end in disappointment.
This is the fountain of living waters! If you forsake it, and give the preference to broken cisterns of your own devising—then they will fail you when you most need them.
Rejoice, therefore, that such a treasure is put into your hand—but rejoice with trembling. Remember this is not all you need—unless God likewise gives you a heart to use the Scriptures aright—then your privilege will only aggravate your guilt and misery.
(John Newton with thanks, Daily Devotions - B.L)
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September 28
“O God, STRENGTHEN my hands.”
(Nehemiah 6:9)
“My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the STRENGTH of my heart, and my portion forever.”
(Psalms 73:26)
“O Lord God, remember me, I pray Thee, and STRENGTHEN me.”
(Judges 16:28)
"Charge Joshua, and encourage him, and STRENGTHEN him.”
(Deuteronomy 3:28)
"STRENGTHEN thy brethren.”
(Luke 22:32)
“STRENGTHEN the things which remain.”
(Revelation 3:2)
Thy love, most gracious Lord, our joy and STRENGTH shall be;
Till Thou shalt speak the gladdening word that bids us rise to Thee.
(The Christian Daily Calendar)
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September 29
SELF-PITY
“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”
(2 Timothy 3:12)
Someone has said, “Always there is a black spot in our sunshine, it is the shadow of ourselves.” This hateful thing—self—takes innumerable forms; but perhaps the form that is most productive of unhappiness and misery to the one who indulges it, is self-pity. In the opinion of Professor Jung, one-third of the people who came to his nerve clinic were suffering from the effects of constantly being sorry for themselves.
When a person thinks only and always about himself, his likes and dislikes, and the hardness of his lot in life, he is on the way to physical and nervous disaster. Such a thing is distressing in one who makes no profession of Christianity; it is calamitous in one who does.
The outstanding illustration in Holy Writ of a man who was sorry for himself is the elder brother in the parable of Luke 15. By his self-centredness he banished happiness from his life, for, while all the others joyfully celebrated the return of the wanderer, “He was angry and would not go in” (Luke 15:28).
He lost all sense of values; For, while he was the real possessor of the inheritance, he petulantly exclaims; “Thou never gavest me a kid, but gave to the prodigal the fatted calf.”
(Luke 15:29-31).
He robbed himself of the joys of fellowship; for, instead of using the endearing term, “my brother,” he uses the contemptuous one: “This thy son,” (Luke 15: 30).
Now, if we, as Christians, have been giving way to this sad complaint we will have to take ourselves in hand, and deal drastically with it. Change of circumstances won’t cure it; what is needed is a change of disposition. “God harden me against myself,” said Christina Rosetti, whenever she became conscious of the tendency to self-pity.
(In Pastures Green - George Henderson)
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September 30
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.”
(Ephesians 5:19)
One lovely June morning I went out to work in the yard just at the break of day when the sun began to rise. A little mountain canary lighted on a branch of the tree next to where I was standing and began his morning song of praise.
At first I was so intent upon the work before me, and quite accustomed to the sounds of the mountain folk both day and night, that I hardly noticed his singing. Determined that there was to be an appreciative audience for his melodious performance, he hopped down to a branch within arm’s reach and warbled more resoundingly. This time I stopped, gazed and listened.
This little yellow creature put his whole soul into his ethereal song; and I sensed deep within me that he was a choralist sent from God to brighten my whole day with his aria.
Someone has said that a song at the right time and in the right place will outlive any sermon. Perhaps it may be that a song really comes from the melody in the heart. Down through the ages singing has been the mode of expression of all people.
Song has immortalized national events, has cemented relationships, has endeared experiences. To those who are parted, a certain song can fuse their breach.
That feathered messenger caused me to avow that I was to keep the spirit of song in my life; to be useful to others, and become an inspiration to those within the sound of my voice.
(M. Taylor)
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