Gems from January 11- 20, 2020

January 11

A man that hath friends must show himself friendly:

and there is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother.  Proverbs 18:24

None complain so loudly of the lack of love and friendliness on the part of others as those

who manifest very little of either themselves.

He who busies himself to show love will receive it back again.

He who is himself a friend will find friends to reciprocate his kindness.  

“A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.  Proverbs 17:17. 

But the true Friend is ever such.

His heart is unchanged by the slights of the objects of His devotion. 

There is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

He always manifested love and grace in a world where all by nature 

were estranged from Him. 

Let those who complain of lack of love on the part of fellow-saints imitate His holy example.

Be concerned, not about receiving kindness, but about manifesting it, and

“good measure, pressed down, shall men give into your bosom.” 

Luke 6:38 .

Proverbs - H. A. Ironside

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January 12

As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young,

spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with Him.  

Deuteronomy 32:11:12

What would it be if one morning we woke up to find a strange god with us—a stranger, 

a foreigner, as the word means—one whom we did not know at all?  What would it be?  It will never

be.  "So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.” We may rest our hearts on that.

Job 19:26-27 "And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another;—"not a stranger"— not a foreigner—not one whom I shall have to learn to know and love—but the God Who has led me all my life long, and not another.

No strange face will meet us us on that Day, we shall be awakened by the vision 

of His face—His face, not the face of a stranger.

A little girl was slowly dying in her worldly home in India, and a Christian doctor who was called to see her told her of our Lord Jesus.  After a little while she began to understand and to love Him.

One day she said, “I don’t know anyone one in Heaven.  I shall feel very shy there.”  “But you 

know our Lord Jesus,” said the doctor, "you won’t be shy of Him,” and she was 

comforted.  Soon after that she saw Him—not another, not a stranger,  

But the Lord Who loved her and gave Himself for her.

Edges of His ways - Amy Carmichael

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January 13

Who was delivered for our offences,

and was raised again for our justification.  Romans 4:25

As we look back to the cross, we exclaim, “What has God done?”

and as we look at the empty tomb, we again exclaim , “What has God done?”

At the cross the Lord Jesus “obtained eternal redemption for us,” (Hebrews 9:12).

In His glorious resurrection He triumphed over sin, death and the grave and He assures us, 

"because I live ye shall live also" John 14:19. 

Today as we look into an empty tomb we proclaim,

“This is the glory of the risen Christ.”

What assurance we have in this living hope!

Jim Comte

Because He lives I can face tomorrow;

Because He lives all fear is gone.

Because I know He holds the future,

And life is worth the living just because He lives.

W. and G. Gaither

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January 14

And God heard their groaning, and God 

remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 

Exodus 2:24 

God always hears, and He never forgets.

His silence does not mean that He is not listening and is not planning.

Probably it means that the best time of deliverance has not come yet, and that He 

is patiently waiting for the moment to arrive when He may prove His love and His power. 

Cromwell said to his soldiers just before a great battle:

“Know ye soldiers all, that God always comes to man’s help in the nick of time.” 

Yes, God is always on time; never behind and never ahead. 

Happy the man who learns to wait as he prays, and never loses patience with God.

Men Who Prayed

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January 15

So the shipmaster came to him (Jonah), and said unto him, what meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. . . . Let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us.  So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.  Then said they unto him, tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; what is thine occupation? and whence comest  thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou? 

Jonah 1:6-8

Notice Jonah’s answer.  He ignored all the questions but the last, and to this he replied: “I am a Hebrew.”  The name ”Hebrew” seems to have been one of contempt.  The name of dignity was “Israelite.” “Israel,” means “A Prince with God.”  In Jonah’s downward pathway, away from God, he had lost the sense of the dignity of his position and citizenship, and used the name that the enemies of Israel used of them in scorn.

It is easy for us, also, to lose a sense of the dignity of the position in which the Lord has so graciously placed us, and sink down to acknowledge the name which the world in contempt and ignorance use of us.  We have the name of Christian given to us in the New Testament.  

Now notice Jonah’s next words—not an answer to their questions but better than that.  He began to get his eyes off himself, and what a difference it made.  “And I fear Jehovah, the God of the heavens, who hath made the sea and the dry land.”  The sailors had been crying every man to his god, but they did not know Jehovah, the God of the heavens.  They prayed that the sea might be still from its raging, but they did not know the God who had made the sea.  

This was a fine answer that Jonah gave to these heather sailors. He may have lost the sense of the dignity of the place into which God had put him, but he had not lost the sense of the God whom he feared. There is the remedy of all our troubles.  Turning our eyes away from self, away from the world, away from the raging seas around us, let us look off unto Jesus, and then, He will enable us to give a true and ringing testimony of the One whom we fear:

“Whose I am, and whom I serve”   Acts 27:23. 

Lessons From Jonah the Prophet by G. C. Willis

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January 16

Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude;

for the battle is not yours but God’s.  2 Chronicles 20:15

So spake the prophet Jahaziel to Jehoshaphat and the people, 

when they were facing a confederacy of three hostile nations and defeat seemed certain.

True to the prophet’s word, these nations were distracted by fighting among themselves

and Judah was left unharmed.

There are times when we feel that we face impossible situations and it appears 

that the enemy has the upper hand.

Never fear.  Our God is the God of the impossible and He is well able to intervene

in a mighty way for our deliverance.

W. H. Burnett 

Faint not Christian!  Though the road, leading to thy blest abode,

Darksome be and dangerous too, Christ

thy guide, will bring thee through. 

James Harinton Evans

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January 17

Fear not: for God is come to prove you, 

and that His fear may be before your faces that ye sin not.

Exodus 20:20.

Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

She said, No man, Lord.  And Jesus said unto her, 

Neither do I condemn thee: 

go, and sin no more. 

John 8:10-11   

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,

and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9

Only through the blood of Jesus

Can the guilty soul have peace;

Only through the death of Jesus

Satan’s captives find release;

Jesus died—thy condemnation,

Thine, believer, Jesus bore;

Conquered grave, thy desolation,

Rose, and lives to die no more.

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January 18

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. 

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

John 14:27

I  WISH  THEE  PEACE

I wish thee peace!  The earth is full of trouble—

And days are marked by rush, and strain and test;

And life grows one unceasing round and struggle;

I wish thee peace!  God’s peace—thy heart’s deep rest!

I wish thee peace! the peace of sins all taken—

All cleansed away through Christ’s atoning Blood;

The peace which rests, untroubled and unshaken,

Since God’s redeeming grace is understood.

I wish thee peace!  the peace of His near presence;

The peace of glad abandon to His will;

The peace which is of God’s own heart the essence;

The peace which reigns—serene, and strong and still.

I wish thee peace! peace past all understanding—

Which comes through prayer, and loving God’s dear Word;

So shall thy life be fruitful, strong, outstanding—

And thou shalt be of service to thy Lord.  

J. Danson Smith  

This was found in an old Bible with a hand written note from

one relative to another.

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January 19

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Philippians 4:13

The Lord does not enumerate our victories until warfare is over.

Until the goal is reached, the believer should not be occupied with his progress.

The apostle says: “forgetting the things that are behind.”  

The race is not the moment for pausing; the apostle had to reach forward

to the things that are before, and every backward glance was not only 

lost time, but a positively evil thing, inasmuch as it divided the 

thoughts, affections, and aim of his heart, and hindered

him in doing "one thing”.   (Philippians 3:13)

Ah! when the goal is reached, it will be time enough to enumerate our victories,

and God will not leave the charge of this to us; 

He will reckon them Himself.

Meanwhile, then, let us run that we may win Christ; let us fight that we may receive the prize.

The end of the struggle is near, and others have already gone before us.

May we be enabled to say with them: 

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”

Meditations on the Book of Joshua - Dr. H. L. Rossier 

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January 20

CLEAR   INSIGHT

“And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, 

Forasmuch as God hath showed thee all 

this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art.

Genesis 41:39

It is still the possession of the Spirit of God that makes the immeasurable difference 

between the children of God and the wise men of the world.

Many indeed may possess giant intellects, well stored with such learning as this world can afford,

holding, too, high rank in the religious world.

But unless born again they are mere natural men, without the Spirit, and cannot even see 

the things that belong to the kingdom of God, 

much less enter that fair kingdom.

Joseph - Hamilton Smith

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January 21

And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee:

for My strength is made perfect in weakness.

2 Corinthians 12:9

SHOW  US  THY  GRACE

Show us our need, O Lord; How lost, How helpless,

How poor, How sunk in sin our carnal hearts;

Show us how vain to change our sad condition,

Our best endeavour and our utmost arts;

Show us how weak we are, and how dependent, 

How multiplied defeats our pride abase;

And then—O Lord, lest we despair too wholly—

Show us Thy grace!

Show us Thy grace, the great, the all-sufficient,

Infinite riches for our poverty,

Mercy of God for uttermost salvation,

Weapon that turns defeat to victory;

Gladness unspeakable and full of glory,

Beyond our needs, a vast, unmeasured space.

Lord, as we never yet have seen or known it, show us Thy grace!

Annie Johnson Flint’s Best-loved Poems

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January 22

“Be careful (anxious) for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication 

with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

Philippians 4:6

The prayer is to be with “supplication” and “thanksgiving.”

We can go again and again to God about the same thing, and be as importunate as we like.

At the same time do not let us omit to mingle our thanksgivings with it all,

for while there may be much to ask Him to give and take away, yet, if sufficiently 

observant, we shall find many blessings to count, and very much demanding our praise.

And this will bring us to the very verge of that marvellous blessing contained in the verse following:

"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your

hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”  Philippians 4:7.

Here God does not promise to do what we ask, nor does He undertake to alter our 

circumstances; but something better is offered us, even His peace, that 

passeth all understanding, to keep our hearts and minds.

God’s own peace, this becomes ours—a thing that has never been disturbed by anything 

that has happened, nor can be by anything that may yet happen.

Angels in White - Russell Elliot

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January 23

Gems from January 1- 10, 2020

January 1

My God shall supply all your need according to 

His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19

What a source—“God!”   What a supply—“His riches in glory!”

What a channel—"Christ Jesus!”

It is your sweet privilege to place all your need over against His riches,  

and lose sight of the former in the presence of the latter.

His exhaustible treasury is thrown open to you, in all the love of His heart;

go and draw upon it, in the artless simplicity of faith, and you 

will never have occasion to look to a creature-stream, 

or lean on a creature—prop. 

C. H. Macintosh

MY  CUP  RUNNETH  OVER

There is always something over, when we trust our gracious Lord;

Every cup He fills o’erfloweth, His great rivers all are broad.

Nothing narrow, nothing stinted, ever issues from His store;

To His own He gives full measure, running over, evermore.

Margaret E. Barber

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January 2

Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world.  Acts 15:18

But now they (Noah, Abraham, Moses, etc.) desire a better country, 

that is, an heavenly . . .  Hebrews 11:16.

The earth at the beginning was given to the children of men.  

What did they do with it?  They forfeited it. Then what did God do with them? 

Well, He opened heaven to them!  He gave them the earth to enjoy.  They soiled and lost it by sin.

Well said He, I’ll open heaven to you.  This is one way in which 

the grace of God abounds.

What should I say of one who, when I had abused the gift which He put in my hand,

put a better gift in my other hand?  This is God!

Ephesians - J. G. Bellett

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January 3

A  LEADER  YOU  CAN  TRUST

Ye have not passed this way heretofore.  Joshua 3:4

We have not passed this way heretofore, but the Lord Jesus has.

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities.   

Hebrews 4:15 

It is all untrodden and unknown ground to us, but He knows it all by personal experience; the

steep bits that take away our breathe, the stony bits that make our feet ache so, the hot 

shadeless stretches that make us feel so exhausted, the rushing rivers that we 

have to pass through, our Shepherd has gone through it all before us.

Not some but all the the many waters went over Him, 

and yet they did not quench His love.

All Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over Me.  Psalm 42:7.  

Many waters cannot quench love, 

neither can the floods drown it. . .  Song of Solomon 8:7  

He was made a perfect Leader by the things He suffered. 

To make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. . . . and being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him.  Hebrews 2:10; 5:9.

For now He knows all about it, and leads us softly according as we are able to endure:

For He knoweth our frame  Psalm 103:14.  

Frances Ridley Havergal

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January 4

Call ye upon Him while He is near. Isaiah 55:6

ONE  DAY  AT  A TIME

One day at a time with its failures and fears,

With its hurts and mistakes, with its weakness and tears,

With its portion of pain and its burden of care,

One day at a time we must meet and must bear.

One day at a time to be patient and strong,

To be calm under trial and sweet under wrong;

Then its toiling shall pass and its sorrow shall cease;

It shall fade and depart and the night shall bring peace.

One day at a time and the day is His day;

He has numbered its hours, though they haste or delay.

His grace is sufficient; we walk not alone;

As the day, so the strength that He gives to His own.

Annie Johnson Flint 

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January 5

ARE  YOU  LISTENING

Speak; for thy servant heareth.  1 Samuel 3:10 

He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.  Matthew 11:15

He that hath an ear, let him hear.  Revelation 2:7

It is an oft-recurring word from our Lord, found through-out the Gospels—
“He that hath ears to hear. . .”

Some have ears—period!  Samuel was listening—and God spoke.

God has much to say today, but we have “ears to hear, and hear not” (Ezekiel 12:2).   

Some stop their ears  Acts 7:57.   Some turn their ears from the truth  (2 Timothy 4:4).

Some have itching ears  (2 Timothy 4:3).

Are you tuned in on God?  It is said that John Burroughs, the naturalist,

could walk along a noisy street and overhear a cricket in the hedge.

His ear was tuned to the little voices of nature.

You can make your way through the hubbub and still keep

in touch with heaven.

Samuel was listening.  The boy who listens for God to speak will hear Him,

for God is looking for such boys.  

God’s men have been men of a double resolve: 

“I will hear what God the Lord will speak” (Psalm 85:8); 

and then, “What the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak”  (1 Kings 22:14). 

Vance Havner

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January 6

As thy days, so shall thy strength be.  Deuteronomy 33:25

Today is a slender bridge which will bear its own load, 

but it will collapse if we add tomorrow’s.  In every year there are 

365 letters from the Lord, each with its own message—"Bear this for Me."

What shall we do with the letters?  Open them a day at a time.  Yesterday’s seal is broken; lay 

that letter reverently away; yesterday’s cross is laid down, never to be born again.

Tomorrow’s letter lies on the table; do not break the seal.

For when tomorrow becomes today, there will stand beside us an unseen Figure; and His hand 

will be on our brow, and His gaze will be in our eyes, as He says with a loving smile, 

“As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” 

The golden summary of our life is to be this: as to the past, a record of gratitude; as to the present, 

a record of service; and as to the future, a record of trust.

D.M. Panton

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January 7

For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.  Hebrews 12:6

We find the greatest difficulty often in bringing our sorrow to God.

How can I do so, the soul of some may be saying, as my sorrow is the fruit of my sin? . . .  Can I, in the integrity of my heart towards God, take my sorrows to Him, knowing I deserve them?

Yes;  Christ has been to God about them.  This, then, is the ground upon which I can go. . . .  God can afford to meet me in all my sorrow, because Christ’s work has been so perfectly done. In the main all sorrow is from sin, and all help is grounded upon the atonement.

There is no position a saint can be in but that he may go to God for help.  

Pilgrim Portions for the Day of Rest -  J. N. D.

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January 8

THE  SHEPHERD  OF  THE  SHEEP

The Lord is my Shepherd.  Psalm 23:1

The Good Shepherd— 

I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.  John 10:11.

  

In the Old Testament the lamb died for the shepherd, in

the New Testament, the Shepherd died for the lambs.

While it is true that all we like sheep had gone astray and thus merited only wrath, still the sword awoke, not against us, but against the Shepherd—the Man Who was Jehovah’s Fellow; and by a lovely parable Christ makes known to us the joy which He has in the salvation of the lost.

And while it is also true that “none of the ransomed ever shall know how deep were the waters the Saviour crossed", yet, through grace, they all may know that the waters have been crossed, that the judgment has been borne, and that in consequence -

"Justice now withstands no more

And mercy yields her boundless store.” 

The Pearl of Psalms - George Henderson

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January 9

THE  SHEPHERD  OF THE  SHEEP

1. THE GOOD SHEPHERD - DEATH

2. THE GREAT SHEPHERD - RESURRECTION.

Redemption accomplished, He is now alive for evermore, and so we would have our young 

Christian friends—especially them—observe what He says of them.

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand.  John 10:27-29.

In verse 27 He describes the two marks which distinguish all His sheep: 

the mark on the ear—they hear His voice; and the mark on the foot—they follow Him. 

And then, in verse 28, He says: “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, 

neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand”.

What assurance and comfort do these soul-emancipating words impart!  They tell us that the mighty Hand, which brought the universe into being and guides the planets in their lonely way, upholds and sustains the feeblest lamb in the flock of Christ; that -

“The very hand our sins had pierced

Is now our guard and guide”.   

Because eternal life is a gift, it can never be earned; because it is the gift of God it can never be forfeited  For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.  Romans 11:29  

The Lord is thy keeper.  Psalm 121:5

Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation 

ready to be revealed in the last time.  1 Peter 1:5

The Pearl of Psalms - George Henderson

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January 10

THE  SHEPHERD  OF  THE  SHEEP

1. THE GOOD SHEPHERD - DEATH.

2. THE GREAT SHEPHERD - RESURRECTION.

3. THE CHIEF SHEPHERD - GLORY.

Feed the flock God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.  And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.  1 Peter 5:2-4

This passage is one of many in the Word of God which mark the difference between salvation and rewards. An examination of these scriptures reveals the fact that in order to obtain salvation we must look to Christ; and that to secure rewards we must look to ourselves—our ways, our acts, our lives.

"Look unto Me and be ye saved”—that epitomizes the passages which deal with the first theme (Isaiah 45:22); “look to yourselves . . . that ye receive a full reward”—that summarizes those dealings with the second theme (2 John 8).  Salvation is for those who are lost; rewards are given for the faithful services of the saved. 

Salvation may be possessed here and now  (John 3:36); rewards will be dispensed at the coming of the Lord- Behold I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Revelation 22:12  .

The Pearl of Psalms - George Henderson 

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January 11

A man that hath friends must show himself friendly:

and there is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother.  Proverbs 18:24

None complain so loudly of the lack of love and friendliness on the part of others as those

who manifest very little of either themselves.

He who busies himself to show love will receive it back again.

He who is himself a friend will find friends to reciprocate his kindness.  

“A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.  Proverbs 17:17. 

But the true Friend is ever such.

His heart is unchanged by the slights of the objects of His devotion. 

There is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

He always manifested love and grace in a world where all by nature 

were estranged from Him. 

Let those who complain of lack of love on the part of fellow-saints imitate His holy example.

Be concerned, not about receiving kindness, but about manifesting it, and

“good measure, pressed down, shall men give into your bosom.” 

Luke 6:38 .

Proverbs - H. A. Ironside

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January 12