The Perpetual Presence
“Lo, I am with you alway” (Matthew 28:20).
Some of us think and say a good deal about ‘a sense of His presence;’ sometimes rejoicing in it,
sometimes going mourning all the day long because we have it not; praying for it,
and not always seeming to receive what we ask; measuring our own position,
and sometimes even that of others, by it; now on the heights,
now in the depths about it.
And all this April-like gleam and gloom instead of steady summer glow, because
we are turning our attention upon the sense of His presence,
instead if the changeless reality of it!
All our trouble and disappointment about it is met by His own simple word, and vanishes in the simple faith that grasps it. For if Jesus says simply and absolutely, “Lo, I am with you alway,” what have we to do with feeling or “sense” about it? We have only to believe it, and to “recollect” it. And it is only by thus believing and recollecting that we can realize it.
It comes practically to this: Are you a disciple of the Lord Jesus at all? If so, He says to you,
"I am with you alway.” That overflows all the regrets of the past and all the possibilities
of the future, and most certainly includes the present. Therefore, at this very
moment, as surely as your eyes rest on this page,
so surely is the Lord Jesus with you.
"I am,” is neither “I was,” nor “I will be.” It is always abreast of our lives,
always encompassing us with salvation. It is a splendid perpetual “Now.”
It always means “I am with you now,” or it would cease
to be “I am” and “alway.”
(Frances Ridley Havergal)
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November 21
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil;
for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.”
(Psalm 23:4)
THE SHEPHERDS of Palestine will tell you the purpose for their staff. One such shepherd was asked in what sense the staff could be said to be a comfort for his sheep.
The experienced leader of his flock proceeded to explain that in daylight he always carried the staff across his shoulder, and when the sheep saw it, it spoke of the presence of the shepherd (to guide), and thus it was a means of comfort.
On the other hand, if night overtook him with the sheep on the mountainside, or if they were caught
in a heavy mountain mist so that the sheep could no longer see the staff, then he would lower it,
and as he walked he would tap with it on the ground, so that by hearing if not by sight
the staff (to guide) comforted the sheep by speaking the presence of the shepherd.
If wild animals would prey upon his flock, he could use the rod (to protect) and ward them off.
On occasion the lambs would fall into ravines and among brambles. The shepherd
would use the crook on the end of the staff for lifting the fallen one to safety.
The person who is carrying the rod is the leader or ruler of his flock.
The sheep know their shepherd by his rod and they follow him—not
any other person who may pass by, or attempt to lead them astray.
David remembered these things and said in effect to himself,
“It would be unreasonable to suppose that God has
less care for me than I had for the sheep!”
(Streams in the Desert)
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November 22
“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
(Matthew 3:17)
Who can explain the riddle of this miserable world without Christ?
Go into the alleys and lanes of this vast city, and see the woe
and degradation even in this best and most civilized
of countries, and learn there what sin does.
In the drawing-room you may philosophize about it, but it is not
in a drawing-room that you will learn what the world is.
When you tell me it was because of all this sin and wretchedness that God’s Son
came down into this world to put the sin away, then I can understand it;
and God gives eternal life—not life for a moment, or a life we can
sin away, as Adam’s, but eternal life which is above and
beyond sin altogether, being in His Son, and
therefore as near to God as can be.
“This life is in His Son,” who was ever the object of His Father’s delight;
for when Christ was down here God could not be silent in His
expression of joy, “This is my beloved Son.”
(J.N. Darby)
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November 23
“To give knowledge of salvation unto His people by remission of their sins.”
(Luke 1:77)
“Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”
(Luke 24:46-47)
In the Lord we have redemption,
Full remission in His blood;
From the curse entire exemption,
From the curse pronounced by God:
What a Saviour Jesus is!
Oh what grace, what love is His!
(T. Kelly)
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November 24
"Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed:
Thou has guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation.”
(Exodus 15:13)
Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it! Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through His infinite mercy, His child and forever I am.
(Treasures From Fanny Crosby)
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November 25
Cleave to the Lord
“ . . . exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.”
(Acts 11:23)
Do not let the world come in and distract your thoughts. I speak especially to you young ones.
They who are older have had more experience in it, and know more what it is worth: but
it all lies shining before you, endeavouring to attract you.
Its smiles are deceitful; still it smiles.
It makes promises which it cannot keep; still it makes them.
Your hearts are too big for the world; it cannot fill them.
They are too little for Christ: He fills heaven, He will fill you to overflowing.
“With purpose of heart . . . cleave unto the Lord.”
He knew how treacherous the heart is, and how soon it would put anything in His place.
You will have indeed to learn what is in your own heart.
(Comforted of God - A. J. Pollock)
PART 1
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November 26
“And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpha kissed her mother in law;
but Ruth clave unto her.” (Ruth 1:14)
Abide with God, and you will learn it with Him, and with His grace. If you do not, you will have to learn it with bitter sorrow, through the successful temptation of the devil. But God is faithful.
If you have been getting away from Him, and other things have come in, and formed a crust, as it were, over your hearts, you will not at once get back the joy. God will have you deal with this crust, and get rid of it.
Remember Christ bought you with His own blood, that you should be His, not the world’s. Do not let Satan get between you and God’s grace.
However careless you may have been, however far you may have got away from Him, count on His love. It is His joy to see you back again. Look at the sin with horror, but never wrong Him by distrusting His love. Mistrust not His work, mistrust not His love. He has loved you, and will love you to the end. Talk much with Jesus.
Never be content without being able to walk and talk with Christ as with a dear friend.
Be not satisfied with anything short of close communion of soul with Him who
has loved you and washed you from your sins in His own blood.
(Comforted of God - A. J. Pollock)
(Part 2)
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November 27
I know that Thou canst do every thing,
and that no thought can be withholden from Thee.”
(Job 42:2)
I believe that Jesus who is Head over all things to His Church,
has the program of my best possible future which involves these two elements—
His highest glory, through me, and my highest happiness in Him.
(Daniel Steele)
God’s plan for my life is undefeatable.
A soldier on service in the spiritual army is never off his battlefield.
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November 28
“And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
The great Master Gardener, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in a wonderful providence, with His own hand, planted me here, where by His grace, in this part of His vineyard, I grow; and here I will abide till the great Master of the vineyard think fit to transplant me.
If your Lord call you to suffering, be not dismayed; there shall be a new allowance of the King for you when ye come to it.
One of the softest pillows Christ hath is laid under His witnesses’ head, though often they must set down their bare feet among thorns.
God hath called you to Christ’s side, and the wind is now in Christ’s face in this land; and seeing ye are with Him, ye cannot expect the lee-side or the sunny side of the brae (hill).
He delighteth to take up fallen bairns (children) and to mend broken brows: binding up of wounds is His office.
Wants are my best riches, for I have these supplied by Christ.
(The Loveliness of Christ - Samuel Rutherford 1600-1661)
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November 29
“Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.”
(Proverbs 21:23)
(Proverbs 21:23)
“By long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and a soft tongue breaketh the bone.”
(Proverbs 25:15)
A little word in kindness spoken, a motion or a tear,
Has often healed the heart that’s broken! And made a friend sincere.
Then deem it not an idle thing, a pleasant word to speak;
The face you wear, the thoughts you bring, a heart may heal or break.
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November 30
“He maketh a path to shine after him . . .” (Job 41:32)
Let us light up the path as we go on;
like a ship moving through the night let us leave a bright track behind.
No little patch of darkness, no tired mood,
must find room in that path.
“They looked upon Him, and were lightened (radiant)”.
(Psalm 34:5)
“But we all with open face beholding [or reflecting] as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed [transformed] into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
(2 Corinthians 3:18)
Such verses show how this life may be ours.
(Edges of His Ways - Amy Carmichael)
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December 1
“Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with
many tears, and temptations.”
(Acts 20:19)
The apostle Paul puts before us here what should characterize every true minister of Christ:
“Serving the Lord with all humility (lowliness) of mind.”
If there is any position, any calling where pride should have no place,
it is in connection with the ministry of the Word of God, for, the minister of Christ is one who was just a poor, lost, needy sinner, but who has been saved by grace and entrusted with a message to the world and to the people of God. He does not receive this because of any merit of his own. It is all because of the goodness of the Lord. Certainly therefore he has nothing to be proud of.
When people used to crowd around George Whitefield and praise him because of his marvellous preaching, he would stop them like this: “The devil told me that, just before I came down from the pulpit.”
Then he would add, “There are many who can preach the gospel better than I can,
but none can preach a better gospel.” It is the message that counts.
The servant is really nothing, and the more we realize this and are willing to take the place of nothingness, the more God delights to come in and work through His servants.
(H. A. Ironside)
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