THE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S Salvation does not come through obedience. That is always the giit of God to be received by faith in the finished work of Christ. _ Being saved we must obey. Happiness", fruit fulness, blessedness, all come through keeping His commandments. The Old Testament title of our King is the Ser vant of Jehovah. The explanation of His earthly life is found in the words, “ I come to do thy will, O God, yea, thy law is within my heart.” TUESDAY, January 10. Matt. 11:1-15. The spirit and power of Elijah. Elijah .was filled with the Holy Spirit This was the secret of his power and the testimony of those who knew him best. “ The spirit of Elijah” was a say ing often on the lips of the sons of the prophets. II Kings 2:15. His ministry can be explained, therefore, not by any natural endowment or in herent qualities but only by the super natural enduement and Divine indwell ing of the Holy Spirit. This was given to him as to all other men before and since, by faith. If we had the same faith we should doubtless have an equal measure of the Spirit and if we had that why could we not do what Elijah did? The electric current does not de pend upon the strength and thickness of the wire over which it runs. It travels as easily over the slender thread as the massive cable. The Spirit seeks empty and clean channels through which He can pour rivers of living water. If men are saying today, “ Where is the God of Elijah?” may we not con- •ceive of God as saying, “Where is Eli jah?” WEDNESDAY, January 11. I Tim. 5; 1 - 8 . The test of the home life. Elijah was the same in the widow’s humble home as by the drying brook or on the heigr.ts of Carmel. The home life is the be3t test of character. It is a school of grace and sacrifice. Some one has compared our religion to the law of gravitation. It not only controls the stars in their appointed orbits but guides the falling autumn leaf and the grain of dust in the air. Religion per vades all life. It ensures patience with a flea-bite as well as a fractured limb. “ My grace is sufficient for thee” is the one reply of our Lord to all ex cuses and complaints. Carlyle said that no man was a hero to his valet-de- chambre. If that be true, public hero ism is humbug and nypocrisy. The heroism that will not stand a close in round us.
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spection is unworthy of the name. The testimony of Elisha concerning his mas ter Elijah disproves and falsifies the verdict of the sage and cynic of Chelsea. THURSDAY, January IS. I Tim. 4 i l ls. How to do Christian Work. The method that Elijah followed in raising the widow’s son from death to life may be taken as an example of do ing Christian work in the right way. In the first place there was definite, earn est and prevailing prayer, I Kings 17: 19, 20. Then there was the forth-putting of vital force in personal contact. “ He measured himself upon the child.” We can not help people at a distance. There must be the impact of a consecrated Spirit-filled personality upon the soul dead in trespasses and sins. Again there must be undisco araged persever ance. “He measured himself three times and cried unto the Lord.” It is thus that» God tests the genuineness of desire and the earnestness of purpose. Importunate prayer accompanied by earnest persistent effort will usually overtake any objective. FRIDAY, January 13. I Kings 18:1-6 The distorted vision of selfishness. The sore famine that prevailed every where brought out the real character of Ahab. One would suppose that he would seek to help his people, that ho would even have repented and turned to God. He cares more however for horses and mules than for men and women. He seeks grass instead of God. This is ever the way with the selfish man. He clothes himself in purple and fine linen and fares sumptuously every day, unconcerned a- bout the needy hungry men all around him. There are those who profess and call themselves Christians who spend more for personal adornment .and lux uries than they give to God for sending the Gospel to a perishing world. These are they to whom the King will say in the great assize. “ Depart from me, I never knew you.” Such selfishness in verts the standards of value in human life. SATURDAY) January 14. I Kings 18: 7-16. Two contrasted characters. Obadiah was cautious, conservative, compromising and politic. Elijah was bold, aggressive, uncompromising and out-spoken. Obadiah was a good man, vs. 3, 12, but he must have been greatly lacking in moral strength or die never
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