They shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My Jewels. Malachi 3:17
What do God's children as jewels remind us of?
1. Like jewels, they are rare.
2. Like jewels, they are beautiful, brilliant, ornamental.
3. Like jewels, they are found in strange and unlikely places.
4. Like jewels, they are obtained only with much risk and trouble.
5. Like jewels, they have to be cut and polished to bring out
their beauty and value.
6. Like jewels, they are very valuable; hence they cost a great deal.
7. Like jewels, they are carefully preserved.
8. Like jewels, they will be collected and exhibited.
Sapphires, rubies, opals, precious every one;
The great Lapidary sees His work begun.
He will not relax His care till work is finished there. -- E.E.T.
When He cometh, when He cometh, to make up His jewels;
All His jewels, precious jewels, His loved and His own.
He will gather, He will gather the gems for His kingdom;
All the pure ones, all the bright ones, His loved and His own.
Little children, little children, who love their Redeemer,
Are the Jewels, precious Jewels, His loved and His own.
Like the stars of the morning, His bright crown adorning,
They shall shine in His beauty, bright gems for His crown,
W. O. Cushing
N.J. Hiebert - 20335
June 10
THE MOST VALUABLE LIFE
Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, know and read of all men.
2 Corinthians 3:2
After all, the lives that do the most for the world are the steady, quiet lives. They are like stars; they just stay in their appointed places and shine with the light God has given them. Meteors shoot brilliantly across the sky, and we exclaim and wonder, but long after they have vanished the stars shine on to guide us.
I need not shout my faith:
Thrice eloquent are quiet trees,
And the green listening sod;
Hushed are the stars, whose power is never spent,
The hills are mute: yet how they speak of God.
Charles Hanson Towne
It is not necessarily the busiest, who are ever on the rush after some visible work; It is the lives like stars, which simply pour down upon us the calm light of their bright and faithful being, out of which we gather the deepest calm and courage. It is good to know that no man or woman can be strong, gentle, good, without somebody being helped and comforted by the very existence of that goodness.-- Philips Brooks
"The rose needs no tongue to tell its fragrance; the flower to speak its beauty. The best arguments for Christianity are the Christians themselves".
Calmness is the seal of strength.
N.J. HIebert - 20336
June 11
STEADFASTNESS
Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord; for He shall pluck my feet out of the net. Psalm 25:15
If anyone feels, as I did, smitten and penetrated by the force of those two words, looking back, I think you will find cheer from Psalm 25:15. How often, perhaps almost before we knew it, we have looked back; how often we have found ourselves caught in a net of longing. There is one way of deliverance: "Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord:"
If only that be so, then not backward longings, not discouragements because of past failure,
"For Thy loving kindness is before mine eyes." (Psalm 26:3).
"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise Him." (Psalm 28:7)
So, like all the words of the Lord Jesus, this word goes deeper and deeper the more one thinks of it. All know this temptation, and our Lord, who was tempted in all points like as we are, must have know it too. But He never yielded. "Therefore have I set My face like a flint." (Isaiah 51:7) and, just before He warned others against looking back, it is written of Him, "He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem." (Luke 9:51)
Thou Givest...They Gather - Amy Carmichael
N.J. Hiebert - 20337
June 12
PRAYER AND INTEGRITY
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (Psalm 66:18)
Now, when God refuses to hear, we may be sure the Spirit refuses to assist; for God never rejects a prayer which His spirit indite(s). Have you defiled yourself with any known sin? Think not to have Him help you in prayer, till He has helped you to repent; He will carry you to the laver before He goes with you to the altar.
Take heed you pray not with a reservation: be sure you renounce what you would have God remit. . . . He that desires not to be purged from the filth of sin, prays in vain to be eased of the guilt. If we love the work of sin, we must take the wages. A false heart could be willing to have his sin covered, but the sincere desires his heart may be cleansed .
David begged a clean heart as well as as a quiet conscience: "Blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God." (Psalm 51:9,10) In nothing do our hearts more cheat us than in our prayers, and in no request more than those which are levelled against our lusts. That is often, times least intended, which is most pretended. . . . The saint's prayer may miscarry from some secret grudge that is lodged in his heart against his brother.
The Christian in Complete Armour - William Gurnall (1617-1679)
N.J. Hiebert - 20338
June 13
June 14
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