THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NE S S
262
Beware of Evil-Speaking "Speak not evil one of another, brethren” (Jas. 4:11). The evil-speaking we have to guard against is not so much the flagrant lie and reviling speech, as the private. ways of calumny, the ungrounded and false rumors, the un kind constructions, the ready acceptance Of bad reports, the carrying of tales, and the disposition to dwell upon the worst rather than the best in people. —Moody Monthly. Seeing the Unseen "I have set the, Lord always before me” (Psa. 16:8). He permits me to put out my hand, as It were, and station Him where I want Him, that I may always have Him in my sight, and be able to -look at Him and be calm and blest. You canftot do that if you let the world, with its cares, sorrows, duties, and family responsibilities, jostle and hustle Him out of your mind and heart. —Alexander- Maclaren. He Carries the Yoke "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:30). The word "yoke” must not frighten us. It is His yoke and ,not our own. Jesus Christ makes us love His yoke. He sweetens it by the inward charm of righteousness and truth. He upholds man against his own in clination, and renders him strong in spite of his weakness. O man of little faith, what do you fear? Let God work. —Fenelon. Confessing and Forsaking "He that covereth his sins shall not pros per: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Prov. 28:13). It is vain for us to pray while conscious that we have injured another. Let us first make amends to the injured one before we dare approach God at either the private or the public altar. Revival would break out in most churches if this were done. As regards public sins, these can only be swept away by public confession. This amounts to crucifixion; but by disobedience we have put the Lord of glory to open shame, and it is the price we must pay. —Jonathan Goforth. Abiding in Him "He that abideth in me, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). In His last words to His own, our Lord solemnly laid it down that union is absolute ly necessary to fruit-bearing; "separated from me ye can do” not a little, but "noth ing.” . . . Fruit-bearing is the essential pur pose of the Christian’s life. He exists for this. In work and in rest, in sacred things and secular, alone and in intercourse', he still belongs. Let him cherish that word. The realization of it. results in fruit-bearing. — H. C. Moule. The Founlmn-head of Joy "They looked unto him, and were radiant” (Psa. 34:5 R. V.). I presume everybody, has known someone whose life was radiant. .Toy beamed out of their eyes; joy bubbled over their lips: joy seemed to fairly run from ¿heir fingertips They were great electric batteries charged with joy. If you look into the life of such a radiantly happy person, you will find that one to be a man or woman who spends a great deal of lime in prayer alone with God. God is the source of all joy, and If we come in contact with Him, His infinite joy comes into our lives. —R. A. Torrey. Rejected of Men "He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (John, 1:11). It is one of the tragedies of this confused world that the only life ever. lived here which completely realized the ideals of our humanity should have been treated with scant courtesy Änd counted as a stranger. If He should come again in the flesh, would our Lord be otherwise received today? —Baptist Herald..
DEVOTIONAL READINGS A Wonderful Work } "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). This implies the-actual presence of God At’the center of our being. The very sim plicity of the words renders them difficult to understand; for no man understands the complex and marvelous mechanism of his own personality. God worketh in you— not outside, but in—ip the place where thought is born, the throne of the will is set up and the affections have their seat. —G. Campbell Morgan. / Will Be With Thee "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee - . .” (Isa. 43:2). "When 'thou passest through the waters’^’ Deep the waves may be and cold, But Jehovah is our refuge, , And His promise is our hold; For the Lord Himself hath said it, Île,, the faithful God and true: "When thou comest to the .waters Thou shalt not go down, but through.’' —Streams in the Desert. Even So, Come, Lord Jesus "Surely 1 come quickly” (Rev. 22:20). There are two aspects regarding our ex pectation of the Lord’s coming. There is a looking for and there is a looking at it. It is possible to look at it with, a keen in tellect ancT profound interest, and yet have it mean nothing to fus personally. It is possible to know but little of the theológy and exegesis of the subject, and yet have a deep and holy longing for our Lord to appear. YVhen a wedding is about to occur, the people aré looking at it, but the bride is looking for it. Oh, that this great theme may not only be our study, but our personal hope! —Christian Witness. Self-Love, a Deadly Disease ‘•Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself” (Mk. 8:34). Not;'Only has self-love the largest place of any of the passions of .our hearts, but it is out of self-love that all our other evil passions spring. The whole fall and ruin and misery of our present human nature lies in this, that ■in every human being self- love lias taken the place of the love of God and of the love of man also. All the passions that are awakened in us by self- love will be selfish, rt is to 'kill and ■ex tirpate our so passionate self-love that is •the end and aim of all God’s dealings with us in this world. —Alliance. Weekly. Together in the Furnace “ to , T see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God” .(Dan. 3:25). That Great Shepherd of the sheep saw that some of His true servants were in peril; and He Came from His Father’s presence, to b® with them in it. . . . Jesus was with His servants as the flames ‘ wreathed around them, and not a hair .of their heads was singed; they were not scorched; not even the smell' of fire was upon them. As with these servants of old, so now. We all are as "brands plucked from the burning.” - '—Dwight L. Moody.
Prayer, a Spiritual Delight "Thy statutes have/ been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage” (Psa. 119:54). Pride and presumption flourish when the mercy seat is neglected; but joy and humility abound when we remember that of ourselves we can do nothing, but that all our enablings are from God. Happy, indeed, is that en lightened soul who has learned that prayer is more, than a,, religious duty, who has discovered that it is a spiritual delight. —Life of Faith. Freedom from Turmoil "Kept by the power of God through faith’* (1 Pet. 1:5). If we would be kept, we must maintain a quiet spirit—still enough to always hear His voice. If you are walking closely with God, and watching for His voice, you will be conscious of a constraint, a weight upon your mind, a repression upon your heart, a deep, tender sense of God’s anxiety for His child. Truly, "Whoso keepeth his mouth and tongue, keepeth his soul.” —Selected. In Tune With God "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). If one stands near a piano and strikes a note with his voice, he „will hear a sym pathetic response from a certain string in the instrument. If the pitch of the voice be altered, a different tone will be heard! No other string will respond except the one in tune with the voice. If you would learn the secret of the Lord's voice, get in tune with it. Get so adjusted to; Him that your heart will not respond to anything that comes from the evil* one. —George P. Pardington. Prayer Looses God’s Power "I trust -that through your prayers I shall be given unto you” (Philem. 22). God shapes the world by prayers. Prayers are deathless. The lips that uttered them may be closed in death, the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God. Prayers outlive the lives of those who utter them; out- ,live -a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world. That man is immortal who has done the most and best praying. God’s conquering days 'are when God’s saints have given themselves to mightiest prayer. —Edward M. Bounds. Divine Restoration "And l will restore, to you the years that the locust hath eaten” (Joel 2:25). This is a divine work. No human being can give lost years back to you. The omnip otent Jehovah says, "I will restore, them to you.” Those dead, desponding, idle, back sliding years; all the harvests of them God can give back to you. This restoration follows upon a true and genuine repentance. Look away, from yourself, and trust in the miracle-working God. —Charles Spurgeon.
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online