November 1
WHAT KIND OF FAITH?
According to your faith be it unto you. Matthew 9:29
Do I have the right kind of faith? "If you have any faith at all, you may be sure it is the right kind." Do not waste time taking your faith apart and putting it back together. Do not expect saving faith to be some strange, different kind. You believe in Christ with faith like the faith you use when you trust someone or something else.
It is the object that makes the difference. If you have any uncertainty about the matter, come to a definite decision. Trust Christ now. It may help you to put down the time and place. You must have confidence in the decision and consider it settled. But do not confuse faith in your faith with faith in the Saviour. Faith has no value of its own, it has value only as it connects us with Him.
It is a trick of Satan to get us occupied with examining our faith instead of resting in the Faithful One. Go to Him just as you are as best you know. "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." (John 6:37) Vance Havner
O what a Saviour that He died for me! from condemnation He hath made me free;
'He that believeth on the Son' saith He, 'Hath everlasting life'
All my iniquities on Him were laid, all my indebtedness by Him was paid;
All who believe on Him, the Lord hath said, 'Have everlasting life.'
Though poor and needy, I can trust my Lord, though weak and and sinful, I believe His word; O blessed message! every child of God, 'Hath everlasting life.'
Though all unworthy, yet I will not doubt, for him that cometh, He will not cast out,
He that believeth, O! the good news shout, 'Hath everlasting life.' J. McGranahan
N.J. Hiebert - 20480
November 2
Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5:20,21.
The blood of the Lamb cleanses the conscience from every speck and stain of sin, and sets it, in perfect freedom, in the presence of a holiness which cannot tolerate sin. In the cross, all the claims of divine holiness were perfectly answered; so that the more I understand the latter, the more I appreciate the former.
The higher our estimate of holiness, the higher will be our estimate of the work of the cross. "Grace reigns, through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." Hence the Psalmist calls on the saints to give thanks at the remembrance of God's holiness. This is a precious fruit of a perfect a redemption. Before ever a sinner can give thanks at the remembrance of God's holiness, he must look at it by faith, from the resurrection side of the cross.
We see Adam as a type of Christ; but he is not merely to be viewed typically, but personally--not merely as absolutely shadowing forth "the second Man, the Lord from heaven," but also as standing in the place of personal responsibility. In the midst of the fair scene of creation, the Lord God set up a testimony, and this testimony was also a test for the creature.
It spoke of death in the midst of life. "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Strange, solemn sound! yet it was a needed sound. Adam's life was suspended upon his strict obedience. The link which connected him with the Lord God was obedience, based on implicit confidence in the One who had set him in his position of dignity--confidence in His truth--confidence in His love. He could obey only while he confided. C. H Macintosh
N.J. Hiebert - 20481
November 3
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. Psalm 43:5.
Conscious of the sense of tears in things mortal, a true gentleman does not make life hard for anyone. "So long as I have been here," said President Lincoln, after his second election, "I have not willingly planted a thorn in any man's bosom". Someone has defined a gentleman as "one who never puts his feelings before the rights of others; or his rights before their feelings".
God made both tears and laughter, and both for kind purposes. For, as laughter enables mirth and surprise to breathe freely, so tears enable sorrow to vent itself patiently. Tears hinder sorrow from becoming despair and madness; and laughter is one of the privileges of reason, being confined to the human species. These two things form part of the universal language of the human race--the language of looks.
Since Babel, (Genesis 11:9) men in different parts of the world do not understand one another's speech; but this one inarticulate language is understood everywhere. The newly born babe seems to bring some understanding of it with him into the world. The wise man affirms that a merry heart maketh a cheerfulness countenance, and doeth good like a medicine (Proverbs 15:13; 17:22).
What is more refreshing than the merry laugh of a child? It is the bubbling up of the fountain of innocence and simplicity in the little one's heart. Did not our Master bid us to become as little children? (Matthew 18:3). Be assured then that you will make your own life happier and better, and through your happiness the lives of others happier and better, by using the faculty of humour to heal, to solve anger, to mitigate suffering, to cheer adversity, to save us from the wearing action of petty troubles, to arm us with the brightness of spirit which makes the best, and not the worst, of everything!
Winsome Christianity - H. Durbanville
N.J. Hiebert - 20482
November 4
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Casting own imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
I do not fight with merely human weapons. No, the weapons with which I war are not weapons of mere flesh and blood, but, in the strength of the Lord, they are mighty enough to raze all strongholds of our foes. I can batter down bulwarks of human reason; I can scale every crag-fortress that towers up bidding defiance to the true knowledge of God. I can make each rebel purpose my prisoner of war and bow it into submission to Christ.
He said not, thou shalt not be tempted; thou shalt not be travailed;
Thou shalt not be afflicted: But He said, "Thou shalt not be overcome!"
Julian of Norwick, A.D. 1373.
We are not here to be overcome, but we are to rise unvanquished after every knock-out blow, and laugh the laugh of faith--not fear.
Tempted on the sea of life; travailed sore, amid earth's strife;
Afflicted often, and sore dismayed; look up, faint heart, be not afraid ,
Thou shalt not be overcome!
God's ways are far beyond our ken; His thoughts are not the thoughts of men;
And He knoweth what is best for you. Hope on, my friend, He will bear you through.
Thou shalt not be overcome!
Though "the reason why" we cannot see, Our Father knows--'tis enough that we
But trust His love, when our eyes, are dim. Look up! Hold fast! though the fight is grim. We shall not be overcome!
Mary E. Thompson
N.J. Hiebert - 20483
November 5
November 6
