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January 2002 The Blessed Blessing
February 2002 Divine Direction
April 2002 Nothing's for Nothing
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September 2002 Promise-Eternal Life
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GOD showers upon us the riches of His never failing bountiful goodness. His mercies are new every morning, every noonday, and every evening. But He has taught us by the experiences of life, that He Himself is the one all-inclusive blessing sufficient for our every need. He gave Himself once to men in the gift of His Son, and through Him and by His Holy Spirit He is ever renewing the gift of Himself to all who will receive Him. This is the blessing for which we thirst, the blessing far exceeding every other gift. If we can but lay hold of this gift, then there will be no restlessness, no darkness, no weakness, no sorrow, no deadness, for who hath God wanteth nothing. Give us thou gracious Father both the will and the power to receive Thyself and abide with us and in us through all of time and eternity.
Psalm 42: 1,2 My soul thirsteth for God, Jesus Christ Almighty for the living God:" Rt. Rev. William F. Anderson, Litt.D., LL.D., |
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WE do not want so much to bring God's approval and blessing down to our plan as to adjust our plans and works to His perfect will. Prayer is not only a receiving, but a seeking and finding His direction and illumination. Let us, like Jotham, prepare all our ways before Him and go forth with the inspiring consciousness that the things we ask are given because He has asked them in us and wants them for us. Let us cover all the coming year with a canopy of His covenant promise and overshadowing presence, and so shall we be "different from all other people of the earth" because "He goeth with us." Thus shall our lives be divinely insured and the Lord shall bless our "going out" and our "coming in, from this time forth, and even for evermore."
Psalm 121:8 Rev. Walter E. Edmonds, |
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Christ"They cast four anchors.....
Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord Acts 27: 29 A SENSE of security and the dawn of hope! How reassuring and glorious! Four anchors: God, Hope, Duty, and Faith. We shall be kept from drifting if, for us, God is not an absentee God but "a very present help in time of trouble." Hope is an anchor found close to our God, Who is a God of hope. "Why art thou cast down, O, my soul?..... Hope thou in God." Then there is Duty. The path of duty always leads to glory. Every call of duty is a call of God. And faith! Faith is confidence. Many good people are full of fears. A conviction that God is, that the best for us all lies ahead, that Duty always reveals the next step we must take, and that Right must inevitably triumph because God is God, will allay our fears. Though clouds and darkness are round about His throne, yet righteousness and judgment are the habitations of His dwelling place.
Psalm 97: 2 Rev. Joel Harper |
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Christ"every one that is called by my name: Jesus Christ our SaviourIsaiah 43: 7 THERE is not a spider hanging on the king's wall but hath its errand; there is not a nettle that groweth in the corner of the chruchyard but hath its purpose; there is not a single insect fluttering in the breeze but accomplisheth some divine decree; and I will never have it that God created any man, especially any Christian man, to be a blank, and to be a nothing. He made you for an end. Find out what that end is; find out your niche, and fill it. If it be ever so little, if it is only to be a hewer of wood and a drawer of water, do something in this great battle for God and truth.
Revelation 4:11 Rev. C. H. Spurgeon
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Christ"Why are ye troubled? Jesus Christ and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?" Intellectual doubt destroys the peace of the soul. We walk by faith, not by sight. Yet he who believes is more likely to see than he who believes not. Faith in God, in the certified truths of the gospel, in His promises, and in His overruling providence, brings rest. God reigns! Not a sparrow falleth on the ground without Him. His kingdom is sure to come in spite of all obstacles. The darkest experiences are but the appointments of His infinite wisdom, and in the midst of them He will manifest Himself. In every garden of Gethsemane an angel; in every lonely chamber the risen Saviour! Do not question, but trust. Be not troubled, "only believe".
Hebrews 4: 3 Rev. Henry M. King |
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Christ"In me ye might have peace."
And now as we commit all our affairs to His loving care the "peace of God that passeth all understanding keeps our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
Rev. H. A. Ironside, Litt. D., |
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Christ"Men ought always to pray"
shall be saved. (Romans10:13) Men ought always to pray. (Luke 18:1) Pray without ceasing. (II Thes. 5:17)
J.C. Ryle |
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Christ Jesus is our Lord "Blessed is the Man."
This is not mere happiness. Happiness is rooted in "hap" and depends on what happens. If the right thing happens you are happy. If the wrong thing, you are unhappy. Happiness is an emotion. Blessedness is a condition. The drunkard might be happy wallowing in the mire but he wouldn't be blessed. Happiness is like the mercury in the thermometer going up and down with the weather. Blessedness is like the life of the palm tree ignoring the dry sand and striking its root down to concealed waters. Blessedness is a state above circumstances. There was a strange character who frequently in the prayer meeting said, "I feel as good when I don''t feel good as I do when I do feel good." O, the blessedness of the New Birth: relationship to the Father; fellowship with Christ and an ingeritance waiting!
Rev. Will H. Houghton, |
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I say unto you "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he shall never see deathIf a man keep my saying, he shall never see death." Fully as pregnant, more mysterious in meaning, yet as simple in form, is our text. "I say unto you." Here, as so often when a mighty truth is to come, the personality of Christ stands forth. Not, "men say," not, "it is said", but "I say." I who came down from heaven, I who am the truth, I who have the keys of death and hell, I who am the Resurrection and the Life, say, "If a man keep my saying he shall never see death," This stupendous contradiction to the natural mind becomes a mine of light and truth to him whose soul the Spirit of God illumines. He who spake was soon to die after the flesh. He was speaking to dying men. What did He mean, then? That he who faithfully keeps the saying of Christ shall not see that death from which Christ came to deliver man, the death of the soul, the death of condemnation in hell, the death which comes from separation from God, the only real death. To the Christian, death is a sleep, a passage from earth to paradise, an unconscious journey whose end is light; but to the sinner it is an awful catastrophy, the close of hope, the beginning of the end. Abraham was not dead, though for centuries in his tomb. But many who heard Christ with beating hearts and flowing veins were dead even while they lived, because they neither knew nor obeyed Him.
Rev. Edward L. Stoddard, |
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ask/given"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek/and findseek, and ye shall find; knock / to open knock, and it shall be opened unto you." and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live." We cannot refrain from asking for whatever we truly desire. We cannot keep from seeking what we know to be infinitely precious. We are sure to knock at the door which is between us and the object of our warmest affections. Father, I ask for thy loving-kindness,
Rev. Wendell Prime, D.D. |
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"But one thing is needful: which shall not be taken away from her." Every day brings its own cares and duties; every day, like Paul himself, we must serve God "with many distractions;" but amid them all, like him, we must be able to say, "this one thing I do....I press toward the mark." Pause, O my soul, and consider! What life am I choosing? Fretful, iritable, do I make my much service an excuse for neglecting prayer and praise and God's word? That is Martha, – blamed. Calm, tranqil, do I do what I can in this life, yet careful to serve God always "with a quiet mind"? That is Mary, – praised. What shall I do to-day and always?
Rev. E. Walpole Warren Mr. Collect unkown |
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I am the way, truth, life"I am the way, the truth, and the life: but by me." The sixth verse is a release from perplexity. Heaven often seems distant and unknown, but if He who made the road thither is our guide we need not fear to lose the way. We do not want to see far ahead, only far enough to discern Him and trace His footsteps. Christ does not give us the full revelations of God and heaven at once; we could not bear them now. He gives us Himself, and in that gift everything is secure. If you own the mines you will not lack treasure. If the fountain is yours you will have water day by day. Our peace lies not in believing much, but in believing well. If our faith in Him is unwavering He will return it with knowledge. The way to escape from doubts is to think about Christ. What we need is not explanation, but confidence. Sometimes we know not what to believe, but always we know whom we have believed. Religion is not a theory, nor a doctrine; it is the coming of a person to a person, by a person. They who follow Christ, even through darkness, will surely reach the Father.
Rev. Henry Van Dyke D.D. |
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