January 24.

January 24.“Freely ye have received, freely give”(Matt. x. 8).When God does anything marked and special for our souls, or bodies, He intends it as a sacred trust for us to communicate to others.“Freely ye have received, freely give.”It has pleased the Master in these closing days of the dispensation to reveal Himself in peculiar blessing to the hearts of His chosen disciples in all parts of the Christian Church; but this is intended to be communicated to a still wider circle, and every one of us who has been brought into these intimate relations with God, becomes a trustee, or witness for these higher truths to every one we can influence.If God has revealed Himself to us as our Sanctifier, it is that we may help others to know Him as a Sanctifier.If He has become our Healer, it is because there are sick and suffering lives to whom we can bring some blessing.In like manner, if the hope of the Lord's coming has become precious to us, it would be worse than ingratitude for us to hide our testimony to this truth, and hold it only for our own personal comfort.[pg 031]January 25.“Hold fast that which is good”(I. Thess. v. 21).It is a great thing to be able to receive new truth and blessing without sacrificing the truths already proved, and abandoning foundations already laid.Some persons are always laying the foundations, and they present at last, the appearance of a lot of abandoned sites and half constructed buildings, and nothing is ever brought to completion.The fact that you are abandoning to-day for some new truth the things that a year ago you counted most precious and believed to be divinely true, should be sufficient evidence that you will probably a year from to-day abandon your present convictions for the next new light that comes to you.God is ever wanting to add to us, to develop us, to enlarge us, to teach us more and more, but it is ever in the line of things which He has already taught us, and in which we have been established.While we are to“prove all things,”let us“hold fast that which is good,”and“whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.”[pg 032]January 26.“I called him alone and blessed him”(Isa. li. 2).When we were in the East we noticed the beautiful process of raising rice. The rice is sown on a morass of mud and water, ploughed up by great buffaloes, and after a few weeks it springs up and appears above the water with its beautiful pale green shoots. The seed has been sown very thickly and the plants are clustered together in great numbers, so that you can pull up a score at a single handful. But now comes the process of transplanting. He first plants us and lets us grow very close to some of His children, and in great clusters in the nursery or the hothouse, but when we reach a certain stage we must be transplanted, or come to nothing. He calls us out by His Spirit and Providence into situations where we have to lean directly on Him, where He puts upon us a weight of responsibility and service so great that we have an opportunity of developing and are thrown upon the great resources of His grace.“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is; for he shall be like a tree planted by the waters and that spreadeth out her roots by the rivers.”[pg 033]January 27.“This one thing I do”(Phil. iii. 13).One of Satan's favorite employees is the switchman. He likes nothing better than to side-track one of God's express trains, sent on some blessed mission and filled with the fire of a holy purpose.Something will come up in the pathway of the earnest soul, to attract its attention and occupy its strength and thought. Sometimes it is a little irritation and provocation. Sometimes it is some petty grievance we stop to pursue or adjust. Sometimes it is somebody else's business in which we become interested, and which we feel bound to rectify, and before we know, we are absorbed in a lot of distracting cares and interests that quite turn us aside from the great purpose of our life.Perhaps we do not do much harm, but we have missed our connection. We have got off the main line.Let all these things alone. Let grievances come and go, but press forward steadily and irresistibly, crying, as you haste to the goal,“This one thing I do.”[pg 034]January 28.“That my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full”(John xv. 11).There is a joy that springs spontaneously in the heart without external or even rational cause. It is an artesian fountain. It rejoices because it cannot help it. It is the glory of God; it is the heart of Christ, it is the joy divine of which He says,“These things have I spoken unto you that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”And your joy no man taketh from you. He who possesses this fountain is not discouraged by surrounding circumstances, but is often surprised at the deep, sweet gladness that comes without any apparent cause, and even comes most strongly when everything in our condition and circumstances is fitted to fill us with sorrow and depression.It is the nightingale in the heart, which sings at night, and sings because it is its nature to sing.It is the glorified and incorruptible joy which belongs to heaven, and anticipates already the everlasting song. Lord, give me Thy joy under all circumstances this day, and let my full heart overflow in blessing to others.[pg 035]January 29.“Send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared”(Neh. viii. 10).That was a fine picture in the days of Nehemiah, when they were celebrating their glorious Feast of Tabernacles.“Neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions to them for whom nothing is prepared.”How many there are on every side for whom nothing is prepared! Let us find out some sad and needy heart for whom there is no one else to think or care. Let us pray for some one that has none to pray for him. Let us be like Him who, one Christmas Day, gave His life and His all, and came to those who would not appreciate His holy gift, but rejected His blessed Babe, and murdered His only Son.Let us not be afraid to know something even of the love that is unrequited and is thrown away on the unworthy. That is the love of Christ, and God has for such love a rich recompense.How Christ must almost weep over the selfishness that meets Him from those for whom He died.[pg 036]January 30.“Cast down but not destroyed”(II. Cor. iv. 9).How did God bring about the miracle of the Red Sea? By shutting His people in on every side, so that there was no way out but the divine way. The Egyptians were behind them, the sea was in front of them, the mountains were on every side of them. There was no escape but from above.Some one has said that the devil can wall us in, but he cannot roof us over. We can always get out at the top. Our difficulties are but God's challenges, and He makes them so hard, often, that we must go under or get above them.In such an hour, if there is a divine element, it brings out the highest possibilities of faith and we are pushed by the very emergency into God's best.Beloved, this is God's hour. If you will rise to meet it you will get such a hold upon Him that you will never be in extremities again, or if you are, you will learn to call them not extremities, but opportunities, and like Jacob, you will go forth from that night at Peniel, no longer Jacob, but victorious Israel. Let us bring to Him our need and prove Him true.[pg 037]January 31.“Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption”(I. Cor. i. 30).More and more we are coming to see the supreme importance of getting the right conception of sanctification, not as a blessing, but as a personal union with the personal Saviour and the indwelling Holy Spirit. Thousands of people get stranded after they have embarked on the great voyage of holiness.They find themselves failing and falling, and are astonished and perplexed, and they conclude that they must have been mistaken in their experience, and so they make a new attempt at the same thing and again fall, until at last, worn out with the experiment, they conclude that the experience is a delusion, or, at least, that it was never intended for them, and so they fall back into the old way, and their last state is worse than their first.What people need to-day to satisfy their deep hunger and to give them a permanent and Divine experience is to know, not sanctification as a state, but Christ as a living Person, who is waiting to enter the heart that is willing to receive Him.[pg 038]February 1.“A well of water springing up”(John iv. 14).In the life overflowing in service for others, we find the deep fountain of life running over the spring and finding vent in rivers of living water that go out to bless and save the world around us. It is beautiful to notice that as the blessing grows unselfish it grows larger. The water in the heart is only a well, but when reaching out to the needs of others it is not only a river, but a delta of many rivers overflowing in majestic blessing. This overflowing love is connected with the Person and work of the Holy Spirit which was to be poured out upon the disciples after Jesus was glorified.This is the true secret of power for service, the heart filled and satisfied with Jesus, and so baptized with the Holy Ghost that it is impelled by the fulness of its joy and love to impart to others what it has so abundantly received; and yet each new ministry only makes room for a new filling and a deeper receiving of the life which grows by giving.Letting go is twice possessing,Would you double every blessing,Pass it on.[pg 039]February 2.“And whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant”(Matt. xx. 26, 27).Slave is the literal meaning of the word,doulos.The first word used for service isdiakanos, which means a minister to others in any usual way or work: but the worddoulosmeans a bond slave, and the Lord here plainly teaches us that the highest service is that of a bond slave.He Himself made Himself the servant of all, and he who would come nearest to Him and stand closest to Him at last, must likewise learn the spirit of the ministry that has utterly renounced selfish rights and claims forever.It is quite possible to be entirely loyal to the Lord Jesus, and yet for Jesus' sake, a servant ourselves, and under the authority of those who are over us in the Lord.Thedoulosspirit is the spirit of self-renunciation and glad submission to proper authority, service utterly disinterested, yielding our own preferences and interests unreservedly for the glory of the Master and the sake of our brethren. Lord, clothe us with humility and make us wholly Thine.[pg 040]February 3.“He went out, not knowing whither He went”(Heb. xi. 8).It is faith without sight. When we can see, it is not faith but reasoning. In crossing the Atlantic we observed this very principle of faith. We saw no path upon the sea nor sign of the shore. And yet day by day we were marking our path upon the chart as exactly as if there had followed us a great chalk line upon the sea; and when we came within twenty miles of land we knew where we were as exactly as if we had seen it all three thousand miles ahead.How had we measured and marked our course? Day by day our captain had taken his instruments, and looking up to the sky had fixed his course by the sun. He was sailing by the heavenly, not the earthly lights. So faith looks up and sails on, by God's great Sun, not seeing one shore line or earthly lighthouse or path upon the way. Often its steps seem to lead into utter uncertainty, and even darkness and disaster. But He opens the way, and often makes such midnight hours the very gates of day. Let us go forth this day, not knowing but trusting.[pg 041]February 4.“Lo, I am with you alway”(Matt. xxviii. 20).This living Christ is not the person that was, but the person that still is, your living Lord. At Preston Pans, near Edinburgh, I looked on the field where in the olden days armies were engaged in contest. In the crisis of the battle the chieftain fell wounded. His men were about to shrink away from the field when they saw their leader's form go down; their strong hands held the claymore with trembling grip, and they faltered for a moment. Then the old chieftain rallied strength enough to rise on his elbow and cry:“I am not dead, my children, I am only watching you—to see my clansmen do their duty.”And so from the other side of Calvary He is speaking; we cannot see Him, but He says,“Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world”; and He puts it,“I am”—an uninterrupted and continuous presence. Not“I will be,”but the unbroken presence still is with us forevermore.Soon the conflict shall be done,Soon the battle shall be won;Soon shall wave the victor's palm,Soon shall sing the eternal Psalm;Then our joyful song shall be,I have overcome through Thee.[pg 042]February 5.“Rest in the Lord”(Ps. xxxvii.).In the old creation the week began with work and ended with Sabbath rest. The resurrection week begins with the first day—first rest, then labor.So we must first cease from our own works as God did from His, and enter into His rest, and then we will work, with rested hearts, His works with effectual power.But why“labor to enter into rest”? See that ship—how restfully she sails over the waters, her sails swelling with the gale; and borne without an effort! And yet, look at that man at the helm. See how firmly he holds the rudder, bearing against the wind, and holding her steady to her position. Let him for a moment relax his steady hold and the ship will fall listlessly along the wind. The sails will flap, the waves will toss the vessel at their will, and all rest and power will have gone. It is the fixed helm that brings the steadying power of the wind. And so He has said,“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.”The steady will and stayed heart are ours. The keeping is the Lord's. So let us labor to enter and abide in His rest.[pg 043]February 6.“Praying always for all saints”(Eph. vi. 18).One good counsel will suffice just now. Stop praying so much for yourself; begin to ask unselfish things, and see if God won't give you faith. See how much easier it will be to believe for another than for your own petty self. Try the effect of praying for the world, for definite things, for difficult things, for glorious things, for things that will honor Christ and save mankind, and after you have received a few wonderful answers to prayer in this direction, see if you won't feel stronger to touch your own little burden with a Divine faith, and then go back again to the high place of unselfish prayer for others.Have you ever learned the beautiful art of letting God take care of you, and giving all your thought and strength to pray for others and for the kingdom of God? It will relieve you of a thousand cares. It will lift you up into a noble and lofty sphere, and teach you to live and love like God. Lord save us from our selfish prayers and give us the faith that worketh by love, and the heart of Christ for a perishing world.[pg 044]February 7.“Faithful in that which is least”(Luke xvi. 10).The man that missed his opportunity and met the doom of the faithless servant was not the man with five talents, or the man with two, but the man who had only one. The people who are in danger of missing life's great meaning are the people of ordinary capacity and opportunity, and who say to themselves,“There is so little I can do that I will not try to do anything.”One of the finest windows in Europe was made from the remnants an apprentice boy collected from the cuttings of his master's great work. The sweepings of the British mint are worth millions. The little pivots on which the works of your watch turn are so important that they are actually made of jewels. And so God places a solemn value and responsibility on the humble workers, the people that try to hide behind their insignificance the trifling opportunities and the single talents; and our littleness will not excuse us in the reckoning day.“Talk not of talents, what hast thou to do?Thou hast sufficient, whether five or two.Talk not of talents; is thy duty done?This brings the blessing whether ten or one.”[pg 045]February 8.“We are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves”(II. Cor. iii. 5).Insufficient,“All sufficient.”These two words form the complement of each other and together give the key to an efficient Christian life. The discovery and full conviction of our utter helplessness is the constant condition of spiritual supply. The aim of the Old Testament, therefore, is ever to show man's failure; that of the New, to reveal Christ's sufficiency. He has all things for us, but we cannot receive them till we know that we have nothing.The very essence, therefore, of Christian perfection is the constant renunciation of our own perfection, and the continual acceptance of Christ's righteousness. And as we receive deeper views of our nothingness and evil, it is but a call to claim more of His rich grace. But it is possible fully to know our insufficiency and yet not take firmly hold of His“all things.”This, too, must be done with a faith that will not accept less than ALL. The prophet was angry because the king of Israel had only smitten thrice upon the ground. He should have done it five or six times. He might have had all. So let us meet His greatness and grace.[pg 046]February 9.“None of these things move me”(Acts xx. 24).The best evidence of God's presence is the devil's growl. So wrote good Mr. Spurgeon once in“The Sword and the Trowel,”and that little sentence has helped many a tried and tired child Of God to stand fast and even rejoice under the fiercest attacks of the foe.We read in the book of Samuel that the moment that David was crowned at Hebron,“All the Philistines came up to seek David.”And the moment we get anything from the Lord worth contending for, then the devil comes to seek us.When the enemy meets us at the threshold of any great work for God let us accept it as“a token of salvation,”and claim double blessing, victory and power. Power is developed by resistance. The cannon carries twice as far because the exploding power has to find its way through resistance. The way electricity is produced in the power-house yonder is by the sharp friction of the revolving wheels. And so we shall find some day that even Satan has been one of God's agencies of blessing.[pg 047]February 10.“I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live”(Gal. ii. 20).Christ life is in harmony with our nature. A lady asked me the other day—a thoughtful, intelligent woman who was not a Christian, but who had the deepest hunger for that which is right:“How can this be so, and we not lose our individuality! This will destroy our personality, and it violates our responsibility as individuals.”I said:“Dear sister, your personality is only half without Christ. Christ was made for you, and you were made for Christ, and until you meet you are not complete, and He needs you as you need Him.”I said:“Suppose that gas-jet should say,‘If I take this fire in, the gas will lose its individuality.’Oh, no; it is only when the fire comes in that the gas fulfils its very purpose of being. Suppose the snowflake should say,‘What shall I do? If I drop on the ground I shall lose my individuality.’But it falls and is absorbed by the soil, and the snowflakes are seen by-and-by in the primroses and daisies. Let us lose ourselves and rise to a new life in Christ.”[pg 048]February 11.“Strengthened with all might unto all patience”(Col. i. 11).The apostle prays for the Colossians, that they may be“strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness.”It is one thing to endure and show the strain on every muscle of your face, and seem to say with every wrinkle,“Why does not somebody sympathize with me?”It is another to endure the cross,“despising the shame”for the joy set before us.There are some trees in the garden of the Lord which“shall not see when heat cometh”; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, nor cease from yielding fruit. Let us set our faces toward the sunrising and use the clouds that come, to make rainbows. Not much longer shall we have the glorious opportunity to rejoice in tribulation, and learn patience. In heaven we shall have nothing to teach long-suffering. If we do not learn it here, we shall be without our brightest crown forever, and wish ourselves back for a little while, in the very circumstances of which we are now trying so hard to get rid.[pg 049]February 12.“But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you”(Matt. vi. 33).For every heart that is seeking anything from the Lord this is a good watchword. That very thing, or the desire for it, may unconsciously separate you from the Lord, or at least from the singleness of your purpose unto Him. The thing we desire may be a right thing, but we may desire it in a distrusting and selfish spirit. Let us commit it to Him, and not cease to believe for it, but let us, at the same time, keep our purpose fixed on His will and glory, and claim even His promised blessings, not for themselves or ourselves, but for Him. Then shall it be true,“Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”All other things but Himself God will“add.”But they must be everadded, neverfirst.Then shall we be able to believe for them without doubt, when we claim them for Him and not for ourselves. It is only when“we are Christ's”that“all things are ours.”Lord, help me this day to seek Thee first, and be more desirous to please Thee and have Thy will than to possess any other blessing.[pg 050]February 13.“Thy prayers are come up for a memorial before God”(Acts x. 4).What a beautiful expression the angel used to Cornelius,“Thy prayers are come up for a memorial.”It would almost seem as if supplications of years had accumulated before the Throne, and at last the answer broke in blessings on the head of Cornelius, even as the accumulated evaporation of months at last bursts in floods of rain upon the parched ground. So God is represented as treasuring the prayers of His saints in vials; they are described as sweet odors. They are placed like fragrant flowers in the chambers of the King. And kept in sweet remembrance before Him. And later they are represented as poured out upon the earth; and lo, there are voices and thunderings and great providential movements fulfilling God's purposes for His kingdom. We are called“the Lord's remembrancers,”and are commanded to give Him no rest, day nor night, but crowd the heavens with our petitions and in due time the answer will come with its accumulated blessings.No breath of true prayer is lost. The longer it waits, the larger it becomes.[pg 051]February 14.“He shall baptize you with fire”(Matt. iii. 11).Fire is strangely intense and intrinsic. It goes into the very substance of things. It somehow blends with every particle of the thing it touches.There are the severe trials that come to minds more sensitive, to the minds that have more points of contact with what hurts; so that the higher the nature the higher the joy, and the greater the avenues of pain that come.And then there are deeper trials that come as we pass into the hands of God, as we pass from the physical and intellectual into the spiritual nature.When they first come, we shrink back from their unnatural and fearful breath, and we say:“Oh, this cannot be from the hand of a loving Father! This cannot be necessary to me.”And then come the pains and sufferings from God's own hand, when He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver, when He lets it burn, until it seems that we must be burned to ashes, and we are, indeed, at last burned to ashes.But we must get the victory through faith. The moment you cease to fear it, that moment it ceases to harm you. He says,“The flames shall not kindle upon you.”[pg 052]February 15.“Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus”(II. Tim. ii. 1).How to enjoy this day. This will never come by trying to be happy and yet we are responsible for the conditions of real joy.1. Be right with God; for“Gladness is sown for the upright in heart.”“It is His joy that remains in us that makes our joy to be full.”2. Forget yourself and live for others; for“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”3. When you cannot rejoice in feelings, circumstances and states,“rejoice in the Lord,”and“count it all joy, when ye fall into divers temptations.”Finally, obey the Lord and be faithful to your trust; and again and again will His blessed Spirit whisper to your heart,“Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord.”“Not enjoyment and not sorrowIs our destined end or way,But to act that each to-morrowFinds us farther than to-day.“Let us then be up and doingWith a heart for any fate,Still achieving, still pursuing,Learn to labor and to wait.”[pg 053]February 16.“We will give ourselves continually to prayer”(Acts vi. 4).In the consecrated believer the Holy Spirit is pre-eminently a Spirit of prayer. If our whole being is committed to Him, and our thoughts are at His bidding, He will occupy every moment in communion and we shall bring every thing to Him as it comes, and pray it out in our spiritual consciousness before we act it out in our lives. We shall, therefore, find ourselves taking up the burdens of life and praying them out in a wordless prayer which we ourselves often cannot understand, but which is simply the unfolding of His thought and will within us, and which will be followed by the unfolding of His providence concerning us.Want of faithfulness and obedience to the faintest whisper of His will will often hinder some blessing which He meant for us until after a while we may get so dull and negligent that He will not be able to trust us with His whispers and we shall thus stumble on in the darkness and miss His highest thoughts.Lord, teach us to pray in the Spirit, to pray without ceasing and to lose nothing of Thy will.[pg 054]February 17.“Your life is hid”(Col. iii. 3).Some Christians loom up in larger proportion than is becoming. They can tell, and others can tell, how many souls they bring to Christ. Their labor seems to crystallize and become its own memorial. Others again seem to blend so wholly with other workers that their own individuality can scarcely be traced. And yet, after all, this is the most Christ-like ministry of all, for the Master Himself does not even appear in the work of the church except as her hidden Life and ascended Head, and even the Holy Spirit is lost in the vessels that He uses. The vine does not bear the fruit, and even the sap is unseen in its ceaseless flow, and it is the little branches which bear all the clusters and seem to have all the honor of the vintage. And so the nearer we come to Christ the more we are willing to be lost sight of in our fruit, and let others be more prominent, while we are the glad and willing witnesses of our testimony and hold up their hands by the silent ministry of love and prayer. Lord, let me be like the veiled seraphim before the throne, who cover their faces and their feet, and hide themselves and their service while they fly to obey Thee.[pg 055]

“Freely ye have received, freely give”(Matt. x. 8).

When God does anything marked and special for our souls, or bodies, He intends it as a sacred trust for us to communicate to others.“Freely ye have received, freely give.”

It has pleased the Master in these closing days of the dispensation to reveal Himself in peculiar blessing to the hearts of His chosen disciples in all parts of the Christian Church; but this is intended to be communicated to a still wider circle, and every one of us who has been brought into these intimate relations with God, becomes a trustee, or witness for these higher truths to every one we can influence.

If God has revealed Himself to us as our Sanctifier, it is that we may help others to know Him as a Sanctifier.

If He has become our Healer, it is because there are sick and suffering lives to whom we can bring some blessing.

In like manner, if the hope of the Lord's coming has become precious to us, it would be worse than ingratitude for us to hide our testimony to this truth, and hold it only for our own personal comfort.

January 25.“Hold fast that which is good”(I. Thess. v. 21).It is a great thing to be able to receive new truth and blessing without sacrificing the truths already proved, and abandoning foundations already laid.Some persons are always laying the foundations, and they present at last, the appearance of a lot of abandoned sites and half constructed buildings, and nothing is ever brought to completion.The fact that you are abandoning to-day for some new truth the things that a year ago you counted most precious and believed to be divinely true, should be sufficient evidence that you will probably a year from to-day abandon your present convictions for the next new light that comes to you.God is ever wanting to add to us, to develop us, to enlarge us, to teach us more and more, but it is ever in the line of things which He has already taught us, and in which we have been established.While we are to“prove all things,”let us“hold fast that which is good,”and“whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.”

“Hold fast that which is good”(I. Thess. v. 21).

It is a great thing to be able to receive new truth and blessing without sacrificing the truths already proved, and abandoning foundations already laid.

Some persons are always laying the foundations, and they present at last, the appearance of a lot of abandoned sites and half constructed buildings, and nothing is ever brought to completion.

The fact that you are abandoning to-day for some new truth the things that a year ago you counted most precious and believed to be divinely true, should be sufficient evidence that you will probably a year from to-day abandon your present convictions for the next new light that comes to you.

God is ever wanting to add to us, to develop us, to enlarge us, to teach us more and more, but it is ever in the line of things which He has already taught us, and in which we have been established.

While we are to“prove all things,”let us“hold fast that which is good,”and“whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.”

January 26.“I called him alone and blessed him”(Isa. li. 2).When we were in the East we noticed the beautiful process of raising rice. The rice is sown on a morass of mud and water, ploughed up by great buffaloes, and after a few weeks it springs up and appears above the water with its beautiful pale green shoots. The seed has been sown very thickly and the plants are clustered together in great numbers, so that you can pull up a score at a single handful. But now comes the process of transplanting. He first plants us and lets us grow very close to some of His children, and in great clusters in the nursery or the hothouse, but when we reach a certain stage we must be transplanted, or come to nothing. He calls us out by His Spirit and Providence into situations where we have to lean directly on Him, where He puts upon us a weight of responsibility and service so great that we have an opportunity of developing and are thrown upon the great resources of His grace.“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is; for he shall be like a tree planted by the waters and that spreadeth out her roots by the rivers.”

“I called him alone and blessed him”(Isa. li. 2).

When we were in the East we noticed the beautiful process of raising rice. The rice is sown on a morass of mud and water, ploughed up by great buffaloes, and after a few weeks it springs up and appears above the water with its beautiful pale green shoots. The seed has been sown very thickly and the plants are clustered together in great numbers, so that you can pull up a score at a single handful. But now comes the process of transplanting. He first plants us and lets us grow very close to some of His children, and in great clusters in the nursery or the hothouse, but when we reach a certain stage we must be transplanted, or come to nothing. He calls us out by His Spirit and Providence into situations where we have to lean directly on Him, where He puts upon us a weight of responsibility and service so great that we have an opportunity of developing and are thrown upon the great resources of His grace.

“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is; for he shall be like a tree planted by the waters and that spreadeth out her roots by the rivers.”

January 27.“This one thing I do”(Phil. iii. 13).One of Satan's favorite employees is the switchman. He likes nothing better than to side-track one of God's express trains, sent on some blessed mission and filled with the fire of a holy purpose.Something will come up in the pathway of the earnest soul, to attract its attention and occupy its strength and thought. Sometimes it is a little irritation and provocation. Sometimes it is some petty grievance we stop to pursue or adjust. Sometimes it is somebody else's business in which we become interested, and which we feel bound to rectify, and before we know, we are absorbed in a lot of distracting cares and interests that quite turn us aside from the great purpose of our life.Perhaps we do not do much harm, but we have missed our connection. We have got off the main line.Let all these things alone. Let grievances come and go, but press forward steadily and irresistibly, crying, as you haste to the goal,“This one thing I do.”

“This one thing I do”(Phil. iii. 13).

One of Satan's favorite employees is the switchman. He likes nothing better than to side-track one of God's express trains, sent on some blessed mission and filled with the fire of a holy purpose.

Something will come up in the pathway of the earnest soul, to attract its attention and occupy its strength and thought. Sometimes it is a little irritation and provocation. Sometimes it is some petty grievance we stop to pursue or adjust. Sometimes it is somebody else's business in which we become interested, and which we feel bound to rectify, and before we know, we are absorbed in a lot of distracting cares and interests that quite turn us aside from the great purpose of our life.

Perhaps we do not do much harm, but we have missed our connection. We have got off the main line.

Let all these things alone. Let grievances come and go, but press forward steadily and irresistibly, crying, as you haste to the goal,“This one thing I do.”

January 28.“That my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full”(John xv. 11).There is a joy that springs spontaneously in the heart without external or even rational cause. It is an artesian fountain. It rejoices because it cannot help it. It is the glory of God; it is the heart of Christ, it is the joy divine of which He says,“These things have I spoken unto you that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”And your joy no man taketh from you. He who possesses this fountain is not discouraged by surrounding circumstances, but is often surprised at the deep, sweet gladness that comes without any apparent cause, and even comes most strongly when everything in our condition and circumstances is fitted to fill us with sorrow and depression.It is the nightingale in the heart, which sings at night, and sings because it is its nature to sing.It is the glorified and incorruptible joy which belongs to heaven, and anticipates already the everlasting song. Lord, give me Thy joy under all circumstances this day, and let my full heart overflow in blessing to others.

“That my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full”(John xv. 11).

There is a joy that springs spontaneously in the heart without external or even rational cause. It is an artesian fountain. It rejoices because it cannot help it. It is the glory of God; it is the heart of Christ, it is the joy divine of which He says,“These things have I spoken unto you that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”And your joy no man taketh from you. He who possesses this fountain is not discouraged by surrounding circumstances, but is often surprised at the deep, sweet gladness that comes without any apparent cause, and even comes most strongly when everything in our condition and circumstances is fitted to fill us with sorrow and depression.

It is the nightingale in the heart, which sings at night, and sings because it is its nature to sing.

It is the glorified and incorruptible joy which belongs to heaven, and anticipates already the everlasting song. Lord, give me Thy joy under all circumstances this day, and let my full heart overflow in blessing to others.

January 29.“Send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared”(Neh. viii. 10).That was a fine picture in the days of Nehemiah, when they were celebrating their glorious Feast of Tabernacles.“Neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions to them for whom nothing is prepared.”How many there are on every side for whom nothing is prepared! Let us find out some sad and needy heart for whom there is no one else to think or care. Let us pray for some one that has none to pray for him. Let us be like Him who, one Christmas Day, gave His life and His all, and came to those who would not appreciate His holy gift, but rejected His blessed Babe, and murdered His only Son.Let us not be afraid to know something even of the love that is unrequited and is thrown away on the unworthy. That is the love of Christ, and God has for such love a rich recompense.How Christ must almost weep over the selfishness that meets Him from those for whom He died.

“Send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared”(Neh. viii. 10).

That was a fine picture in the days of Nehemiah, when they were celebrating their glorious Feast of Tabernacles.“Neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions to them for whom nothing is prepared.”

How many there are on every side for whom nothing is prepared! Let us find out some sad and needy heart for whom there is no one else to think or care. Let us pray for some one that has none to pray for him. Let us be like Him who, one Christmas Day, gave His life and His all, and came to those who would not appreciate His holy gift, but rejected His blessed Babe, and murdered His only Son.

Let us not be afraid to know something even of the love that is unrequited and is thrown away on the unworthy. That is the love of Christ, and God has for such love a rich recompense.

How Christ must almost weep over the selfishness that meets Him from those for whom He died.

January 30.“Cast down but not destroyed”(II. Cor. iv. 9).How did God bring about the miracle of the Red Sea? By shutting His people in on every side, so that there was no way out but the divine way. The Egyptians were behind them, the sea was in front of them, the mountains were on every side of them. There was no escape but from above.Some one has said that the devil can wall us in, but he cannot roof us over. We can always get out at the top. Our difficulties are but God's challenges, and He makes them so hard, often, that we must go under or get above them.In such an hour, if there is a divine element, it brings out the highest possibilities of faith and we are pushed by the very emergency into God's best.Beloved, this is God's hour. If you will rise to meet it you will get such a hold upon Him that you will never be in extremities again, or if you are, you will learn to call them not extremities, but opportunities, and like Jacob, you will go forth from that night at Peniel, no longer Jacob, but victorious Israel. Let us bring to Him our need and prove Him true.

“Cast down but not destroyed”(II. Cor. iv. 9).

How did God bring about the miracle of the Red Sea? By shutting His people in on every side, so that there was no way out but the divine way. The Egyptians were behind them, the sea was in front of them, the mountains were on every side of them. There was no escape but from above.

Some one has said that the devil can wall us in, but he cannot roof us over. We can always get out at the top. Our difficulties are but God's challenges, and He makes them so hard, often, that we must go under or get above them.

In such an hour, if there is a divine element, it brings out the highest possibilities of faith and we are pushed by the very emergency into God's best.

Beloved, this is God's hour. If you will rise to meet it you will get such a hold upon Him that you will never be in extremities again, or if you are, you will learn to call them not extremities, but opportunities, and like Jacob, you will go forth from that night at Peniel, no longer Jacob, but victorious Israel. Let us bring to Him our need and prove Him true.

January 31.“Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption”(I. Cor. i. 30).More and more we are coming to see the supreme importance of getting the right conception of sanctification, not as a blessing, but as a personal union with the personal Saviour and the indwelling Holy Spirit. Thousands of people get stranded after they have embarked on the great voyage of holiness.They find themselves failing and falling, and are astonished and perplexed, and they conclude that they must have been mistaken in their experience, and so they make a new attempt at the same thing and again fall, until at last, worn out with the experiment, they conclude that the experience is a delusion, or, at least, that it was never intended for them, and so they fall back into the old way, and their last state is worse than their first.What people need to-day to satisfy their deep hunger and to give them a permanent and Divine experience is to know, not sanctification as a state, but Christ as a living Person, who is waiting to enter the heart that is willing to receive Him.

“Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption”(I. Cor. i. 30).

More and more we are coming to see the supreme importance of getting the right conception of sanctification, not as a blessing, but as a personal union with the personal Saviour and the indwelling Holy Spirit. Thousands of people get stranded after they have embarked on the great voyage of holiness.

They find themselves failing and falling, and are astonished and perplexed, and they conclude that they must have been mistaken in their experience, and so they make a new attempt at the same thing and again fall, until at last, worn out with the experiment, they conclude that the experience is a delusion, or, at least, that it was never intended for them, and so they fall back into the old way, and their last state is worse than their first.

What people need to-day to satisfy their deep hunger and to give them a permanent and Divine experience is to know, not sanctification as a state, but Christ as a living Person, who is waiting to enter the heart that is willing to receive Him.

February 1.“A well of water springing up”(John iv. 14).In the life overflowing in service for others, we find the deep fountain of life running over the spring and finding vent in rivers of living water that go out to bless and save the world around us. It is beautiful to notice that as the blessing grows unselfish it grows larger. The water in the heart is only a well, but when reaching out to the needs of others it is not only a river, but a delta of many rivers overflowing in majestic blessing. This overflowing love is connected with the Person and work of the Holy Spirit which was to be poured out upon the disciples after Jesus was glorified.This is the true secret of power for service, the heart filled and satisfied with Jesus, and so baptized with the Holy Ghost that it is impelled by the fulness of its joy and love to impart to others what it has so abundantly received; and yet each new ministry only makes room for a new filling and a deeper receiving of the life which grows by giving.Letting go is twice possessing,Would you double every blessing,Pass it on.

“A well of water springing up”(John iv. 14).

In the life overflowing in service for others, we find the deep fountain of life running over the spring and finding vent in rivers of living water that go out to bless and save the world around us. It is beautiful to notice that as the blessing grows unselfish it grows larger. The water in the heart is only a well, but when reaching out to the needs of others it is not only a river, but a delta of many rivers overflowing in majestic blessing. This overflowing love is connected with the Person and work of the Holy Spirit which was to be poured out upon the disciples after Jesus was glorified.

This is the true secret of power for service, the heart filled and satisfied with Jesus, and so baptized with the Holy Ghost that it is impelled by the fulness of its joy and love to impart to others what it has so abundantly received; and yet each new ministry only makes room for a new filling and a deeper receiving of the life which grows by giving.

Letting go is twice possessing,Would you double every blessing,Pass it on.

Letting go is twice possessing,

Would you double every blessing,

Pass it on.

February 2.“And whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant”(Matt. xx. 26, 27).Slave is the literal meaning of the word,doulos.The first word used for service isdiakanos, which means a minister to others in any usual way or work: but the worddoulosmeans a bond slave, and the Lord here plainly teaches us that the highest service is that of a bond slave.He Himself made Himself the servant of all, and he who would come nearest to Him and stand closest to Him at last, must likewise learn the spirit of the ministry that has utterly renounced selfish rights and claims forever.It is quite possible to be entirely loyal to the Lord Jesus, and yet for Jesus' sake, a servant ourselves, and under the authority of those who are over us in the Lord.Thedoulosspirit is the spirit of self-renunciation and glad submission to proper authority, service utterly disinterested, yielding our own preferences and interests unreservedly for the glory of the Master and the sake of our brethren. Lord, clothe us with humility and make us wholly Thine.

“And whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant”(Matt. xx. 26, 27).

Slave is the literal meaning of the word,doulos.

The first word used for service isdiakanos, which means a minister to others in any usual way or work: but the worddoulosmeans a bond slave, and the Lord here plainly teaches us that the highest service is that of a bond slave.

He Himself made Himself the servant of all, and he who would come nearest to Him and stand closest to Him at last, must likewise learn the spirit of the ministry that has utterly renounced selfish rights and claims forever.

It is quite possible to be entirely loyal to the Lord Jesus, and yet for Jesus' sake, a servant ourselves, and under the authority of those who are over us in the Lord.

Thedoulosspirit is the spirit of self-renunciation and glad submission to proper authority, service utterly disinterested, yielding our own preferences and interests unreservedly for the glory of the Master and the sake of our brethren. Lord, clothe us with humility and make us wholly Thine.

February 3.“He went out, not knowing whither He went”(Heb. xi. 8).It is faith without sight. When we can see, it is not faith but reasoning. In crossing the Atlantic we observed this very principle of faith. We saw no path upon the sea nor sign of the shore. And yet day by day we were marking our path upon the chart as exactly as if there had followed us a great chalk line upon the sea; and when we came within twenty miles of land we knew where we were as exactly as if we had seen it all three thousand miles ahead.How had we measured and marked our course? Day by day our captain had taken his instruments, and looking up to the sky had fixed his course by the sun. He was sailing by the heavenly, not the earthly lights. So faith looks up and sails on, by God's great Sun, not seeing one shore line or earthly lighthouse or path upon the way. Often its steps seem to lead into utter uncertainty, and even darkness and disaster. But He opens the way, and often makes such midnight hours the very gates of day. Let us go forth this day, not knowing but trusting.

“He went out, not knowing whither He went”(Heb. xi. 8).

It is faith without sight. When we can see, it is not faith but reasoning. In crossing the Atlantic we observed this very principle of faith. We saw no path upon the sea nor sign of the shore. And yet day by day we were marking our path upon the chart as exactly as if there had followed us a great chalk line upon the sea; and when we came within twenty miles of land we knew where we were as exactly as if we had seen it all three thousand miles ahead.

How had we measured and marked our course? Day by day our captain had taken his instruments, and looking up to the sky had fixed his course by the sun. He was sailing by the heavenly, not the earthly lights. So faith looks up and sails on, by God's great Sun, not seeing one shore line or earthly lighthouse or path upon the way. Often its steps seem to lead into utter uncertainty, and even darkness and disaster. But He opens the way, and often makes such midnight hours the very gates of day. Let us go forth this day, not knowing but trusting.

February 4.“Lo, I am with you alway”(Matt. xxviii. 20).This living Christ is not the person that was, but the person that still is, your living Lord. At Preston Pans, near Edinburgh, I looked on the field where in the olden days armies were engaged in contest. In the crisis of the battle the chieftain fell wounded. His men were about to shrink away from the field when they saw their leader's form go down; their strong hands held the claymore with trembling grip, and they faltered for a moment. Then the old chieftain rallied strength enough to rise on his elbow and cry:“I am not dead, my children, I am only watching you—to see my clansmen do their duty.”And so from the other side of Calvary He is speaking; we cannot see Him, but He says,“Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world”; and He puts it,“I am”—an uninterrupted and continuous presence. Not“I will be,”but the unbroken presence still is with us forevermore.Soon the conflict shall be done,Soon the battle shall be won;Soon shall wave the victor's palm,Soon shall sing the eternal Psalm;Then our joyful song shall be,I have overcome through Thee.

“Lo, I am with you alway”(Matt. xxviii. 20).

This living Christ is not the person that was, but the person that still is, your living Lord. At Preston Pans, near Edinburgh, I looked on the field where in the olden days armies were engaged in contest. In the crisis of the battle the chieftain fell wounded. His men were about to shrink away from the field when they saw their leader's form go down; their strong hands held the claymore with trembling grip, and they faltered for a moment. Then the old chieftain rallied strength enough to rise on his elbow and cry:“I am not dead, my children, I am only watching you—to see my clansmen do their duty.”And so from the other side of Calvary He is speaking; we cannot see Him, but He says,“Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world”; and He puts it,“I am”—an uninterrupted and continuous presence. Not“I will be,”but the unbroken presence still is with us forevermore.

Soon the conflict shall be done,Soon the battle shall be won;Soon shall wave the victor's palm,Soon shall sing the eternal Psalm;Then our joyful song shall be,I have overcome through Thee.

Soon the conflict shall be done,

Soon the battle shall be won;

Soon shall wave the victor's palm,

Soon shall sing the eternal Psalm;

Then our joyful song shall be,

I have overcome through Thee.

February 5.“Rest in the Lord”(Ps. xxxvii.).In the old creation the week began with work and ended with Sabbath rest. The resurrection week begins with the first day—first rest, then labor.So we must first cease from our own works as God did from His, and enter into His rest, and then we will work, with rested hearts, His works with effectual power.But why“labor to enter into rest”? See that ship—how restfully she sails over the waters, her sails swelling with the gale; and borne without an effort! And yet, look at that man at the helm. See how firmly he holds the rudder, bearing against the wind, and holding her steady to her position. Let him for a moment relax his steady hold and the ship will fall listlessly along the wind. The sails will flap, the waves will toss the vessel at their will, and all rest and power will have gone. It is the fixed helm that brings the steadying power of the wind. And so He has said,“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.”The steady will and stayed heart are ours. The keeping is the Lord's. So let us labor to enter and abide in His rest.

“Rest in the Lord”(Ps. xxxvii.).

In the old creation the week began with work and ended with Sabbath rest. The resurrection week begins with the first day—first rest, then labor.

So we must first cease from our own works as God did from His, and enter into His rest, and then we will work, with rested hearts, His works with effectual power.

But why“labor to enter into rest”? See that ship—how restfully she sails over the waters, her sails swelling with the gale; and borne without an effort! And yet, look at that man at the helm. See how firmly he holds the rudder, bearing against the wind, and holding her steady to her position. Let him for a moment relax his steady hold and the ship will fall listlessly along the wind. The sails will flap, the waves will toss the vessel at their will, and all rest and power will have gone. It is the fixed helm that brings the steadying power of the wind. And so He has said,“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.”The steady will and stayed heart are ours. The keeping is the Lord's. So let us labor to enter and abide in His rest.

February 6.“Praying always for all saints”(Eph. vi. 18).One good counsel will suffice just now. Stop praying so much for yourself; begin to ask unselfish things, and see if God won't give you faith. See how much easier it will be to believe for another than for your own petty self. Try the effect of praying for the world, for definite things, for difficult things, for glorious things, for things that will honor Christ and save mankind, and after you have received a few wonderful answers to prayer in this direction, see if you won't feel stronger to touch your own little burden with a Divine faith, and then go back again to the high place of unselfish prayer for others.Have you ever learned the beautiful art of letting God take care of you, and giving all your thought and strength to pray for others and for the kingdom of God? It will relieve you of a thousand cares. It will lift you up into a noble and lofty sphere, and teach you to live and love like God. Lord save us from our selfish prayers and give us the faith that worketh by love, and the heart of Christ for a perishing world.

“Praying always for all saints”(Eph. vi. 18).

One good counsel will suffice just now. Stop praying so much for yourself; begin to ask unselfish things, and see if God won't give you faith. See how much easier it will be to believe for another than for your own petty self. Try the effect of praying for the world, for definite things, for difficult things, for glorious things, for things that will honor Christ and save mankind, and after you have received a few wonderful answers to prayer in this direction, see if you won't feel stronger to touch your own little burden with a Divine faith, and then go back again to the high place of unselfish prayer for others.

Have you ever learned the beautiful art of letting God take care of you, and giving all your thought and strength to pray for others and for the kingdom of God? It will relieve you of a thousand cares. It will lift you up into a noble and lofty sphere, and teach you to live and love like God. Lord save us from our selfish prayers and give us the faith that worketh by love, and the heart of Christ for a perishing world.

February 7.“Faithful in that which is least”(Luke xvi. 10).The man that missed his opportunity and met the doom of the faithless servant was not the man with five talents, or the man with two, but the man who had only one. The people who are in danger of missing life's great meaning are the people of ordinary capacity and opportunity, and who say to themselves,“There is so little I can do that I will not try to do anything.”One of the finest windows in Europe was made from the remnants an apprentice boy collected from the cuttings of his master's great work. The sweepings of the British mint are worth millions. The little pivots on which the works of your watch turn are so important that they are actually made of jewels. And so God places a solemn value and responsibility on the humble workers, the people that try to hide behind their insignificance the trifling opportunities and the single talents; and our littleness will not excuse us in the reckoning day.“Talk not of talents, what hast thou to do?Thou hast sufficient, whether five or two.Talk not of talents; is thy duty done?This brings the blessing whether ten or one.”

“Faithful in that which is least”(Luke xvi. 10).

The man that missed his opportunity and met the doom of the faithless servant was not the man with five talents, or the man with two, but the man who had only one. The people who are in danger of missing life's great meaning are the people of ordinary capacity and opportunity, and who say to themselves,“There is so little I can do that I will not try to do anything.”One of the finest windows in Europe was made from the remnants an apprentice boy collected from the cuttings of his master's great work. The sweepings of the British mint are worth millions. The little pivots on which the works of your watch turn are so important that they are actually made of jewels. And so God places a solemn value and responsibility on the humble workers, the people that try to hide behind their insignificance the trifling opportunities and the single talents; and our littleness will not excuse us in the reckoning day.

“Talk not of talents, what hast thou to do?Thou hast sufficient, whether five or two.Talk not of talents; is thy duty done?This brings the blessing whether ten or one.”

“Talk not of talents, what hast thou to do?

Thou hast sufficient, whether five or two.

Talk not of talents; is thy duty done?

This brings the blessing whether ten or one.”

February 8.“We are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves”(II. Cor. iii. 5).Insufficient,“All sufficient.”These two words form the complement of each other and together give the key to an efficient Christian life. The discovery and full conviction of our utter helplessness is the constant condition of spiritual supply. The aim of the Old Testament, therefore, is ever to show man's failure; that of the New, to reveal Christ's sufficiency. He has all things for us, but we cannot receive them till we know that we have nothing.The very essence, therefore, of Christian perfection is the constant renunciation of our own perfection, and the continual acceptance of Christ's righteousness. And as we receive deeper views of our nothingness and evil, it is but a call to claim more of His rich grace. But it is possible fully to know our insufficiency and yet not take firmly hold of His“all things.”This, too, must be done with a faith that will not accept less than ALL. The prophet was angry because the king of Israel had only smitten thrice upon the ground. He should have done it five or six times. He might have had all. So let us meet His greatness and grace.

“We are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves”(II. Cor. iii. 5).

Insufficient,“All sufficient.”These two words form the complement of each other and together give the key to an efficient Christian life. The discovery and full conviction of our utter helplessness is the constant condition of spiritual supply. The aim of the Old Testament, therefore, is ever to show man's failure; that of the New, to reveal Christ's sufficiency. He has all things for us, but we cannot receive them till we know that we have nothing.

The very essence, therefore, of Christian perfection is the constant renunciation of our own perfection, and the continual acceptance of Christ's righteousness. And as we receive deeper views of our nothingness and evil, it is but a call to claim more of His rich grace. But it is possible fully to know our insufficiency and yet not take firmly hold of His“all things.”This, too, must be done with a faith that will not accept less than ALL. The prophet was angry because the king of Israel had only smitten thrice upon the ground. He should have done it five or six times. He might have had all. So let us meet His greatness and grace.

February 9.“None of these things move me”(Acts xx. 24).The best evidence of God's presence is the devil's growl. So wrote good Mr. Spurgeon once in“The Sword and the Trowel,”and that little sentence has helped many a tried and tired child Of God to stand fast and even rejoice under the fiercest attacks of the foe.We read in the book of Samuel that the moment that David was crowned at Hebron,“All the Philistines came up to seek David.”And the moment we get anything from the Lord worth contending for, then the devil comes to seek us.When the enemy meets us at the threshold of any great work for God let us accept it as“a token of salvation,”and claim double blessing, victory and power. Power is developed by resistance. The cannon carries twice as far because the exploding power has to find its way through resistance. The way electricity is produced in the power-house yonder is by the sharp friction of the revolving wheels. And so we shall find some day that even Satan has been one of God's agencies of blessing.

“None of these things move me”(Acts xx. 24).

The best evidence of God's presence is the devil's growl. So wrote good Mr. Spurgeon once in“The Sword and the Trowel,”and that little sentence has helped many a tried and tired child Of God to stand fast and even rejoice under the fiercest attacks of the foe.

We read in the book of Samuel that the moment that David was crowned at Hebron,“All the Philistines came up to seek David.”And the moment we get anything from the Lord worth contending for, then the devil comes to seek us.

When the enemy meets us at the threshold of any great work for God let us accept it as“a token of salvation,”and claim double blessing, victory and power. Power is developed by resistance. The cannon carries twice as far because the exploding power has to find its way through resistance. The way electricity is produced in the power-house yonder is by the sharp friction of the revolving wheels. And so we shall find some day that even Satan has been one of God's agencies of blessing.

February 10.“I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live”(Gal. ii. 20).Christ life is in harmony with our nature. A lady asked me the other day—a thoughtful, intelligent woman who was not a Christian, but who had the deepest hunger for that which is right:“How can this be so, and we not lose our individuality! This will destroy our personality, and it violates our responsibility as individuals.”I said:“Dear sister, your personality is only half without Christ. Christ was made for you, and you were made for Christ, and until you meet you are not complete, and He needs you as you need Him.”I said:“Suppose that gas-jet should say,‘If I take this fire in, the gas will lose its individuality.’Oh, no; it is only when the fire comes in that the gas fulfils its very purpose of being. Suppose the snowflake should say,‘What shall I do? If I drop on the ground I shall lose my individuality.’But it falls and is absorbed by the soil, and the snowflakes are seen by-and-by in the primroses and daisies. Let us lose ourselves and rise to a new life in Christ.”

“I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live”(Gal. ii. 20).

Christ life is in harmony with our nature. A lady asked me the other day—a thoughtful, intelligent woman who was not a Christian, but who had the deepest hunger for that which is right:“How can this be so, and we not lose our individuality! This will destroy our personality, and it violates our responsibility as individuals.”

I said:“Dear sister, your personality is only half without Christ. Christ was made for you, and you were made for Christ, and until you meet you are not complete, and He needs you as you need Him.”I said:“Suppose that gas-jet should say,‘If I take this fire in, the gas will lose its individuality.’Oh, no; it is only when the fire comes in that the gas fulfils its very purpose of being. Suppose the snowflake should say,‘What shall I do? If I drop on the ground I shall lose my individuality.’But it falls and is absorbed by the soil, and the snowflakes are seen by-and-by in the primroses and daisies. Let us lose ourselves and rise to a new life in Christ.”

February 11.“Strengthened with all might unto all patience”(Col. i. 11).The apostle prays for the Colossians, that they may be“strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness.”It is one thing to endure and show the strain on every muscle of your face, and seem to say with every wrinkle,“Why does not somebody sympathize with me?”It is another to endure the cross,“despising the shame”for the joy set before us.There are some trees in the garden of the Lord which“shall not see when heat cometh”; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, nor cease from yielding fruit. Let us set our faces toward the sunrising and use the clouds that come, to make rainbows. Not much longer shall we have the glorious opportunity to rejoice in tribulation, and learn patience. In heaven we shall have nothing to teach long-suffering. If we do not learn it here, we shall be without our brightest crown forever, and wish ourselves back for a little while, in the very circumstances of which we are now trying so hard to get rid.

“Strengthened with all might unto all patience”(Col. i. 11).

The apostle prays for the Colossians, that they may be“strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness.”It is one thing to endure and show the strain on every muscle of your face, and seem to say with every wrinkle,“Why does not somebody sympathize with me?”It is another to endure the cross,“despising the shame”for the joy set before us.

There are some trees in the garden of the Lord which“shall not see when heat cometh”; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, nor cease from yielding fruit. Let us set our faces toward the sunrising and use the clouds that come, to make rainbows. Not much longer shall we have the glorious opportunity to rejoice in tribulation, and learn patience. In heaven we shall have nothing to teach long-suffering. If we do not learn it here, we shall be without our brightest crown forever, and wish ourselves back for a little while, in the very circumstances of which we are now trying so hard to get rid.

February 12.“But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you”(Matt. vi. 33).For every heart that is seeking anything from the Lord this is a good watchword. That very thing, or the desire for it, may unconsciously separate you from the Lord, or at least from the singleness of your purpose unto Him. The thing we desire may be a right thing, but we may desire it in a distrusting and selfish spirit. Let us commit it to Him, and not cease to believe for it, but let us, at the same time, keep our purpose fixed on His will and glory, and claim even His promised blessings, not for themselves or ourselves, but for Him. Then shall it be true,“Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”All other things but Himself God will“add.”But they must be everadded, neverfirst.Then shall we be able to believe for them without doubt, when we claim them for Him and not for ourselves. It is only when“we are Christ's”that“all things are ours.”Lord, help me this day to seek Thee first, and be more desirous to please Thee and have Thy will than to possess any other blessing.

“But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you”(Matt. vi. 33).

For every heart that is seeking anything from the Lord this is a good watchword. That very thing, or the desire for it, may unconsciously separate you from the Lord, or at least from the singleness of your purpose unto Him. The thing we desire may be a right thing, but we may desire it in a distrusting and selfish spirit. Let us commit it to Him, and not cease to believe for it, but let us, at the same time, keep our purpose fixed on His will and glory, and claim even His promised blessings, not for themselves or ourselves, but for Him. Then shall it be true,“Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”All other things but Himself God will“add.”But they must be everadded, neverfirst.

Then shall we be able to believe for them without doubt, when we claim them for Him and not for ourselves. It is only when“we are Christ's”that“all things are ours.”

Lord, help me this day to seek Thee first, and be more desirous to please Thee and have Thy will than to possess any other blessing.

February 13.“Thy prayers are come up for a memorial before God”(Acts x. 4).What a beautiful expression the angel used to Cornelius,“Thy prayers are come up for a memorial.”It would almost seem as if supplications of years had accumulated before the Throne, and at last the answer broke in blessings on the head of Cornelius, even as the accumulated evaporation of months at last bursts in floods of rain upon the parched ground. So God is represented as treasuring the prayers of His saints in vials; they are described as sweet odors. They are placed like fragrant flowers in the chambers of the King. And kept in sweet remembrance before Him. And later they are represented as poured out upon the earth; and lo, there are voices and thunderings and great providential movements fulfilling God's purposes for His kingdom. We are called“the Lord's remembrancers,”and are commanded to give Him no rest, day nor night, but crowd the heavens with our petitions and in due time the answer will come with its accumulated blessings.No breath of true prayer is lost. The longer it waits, the larger it becomes.

“Thy prayers are come up for a memorial before God”(Acts x. 4).

What a beautiful expression the angel used to Cornelius,“Thy prayers are come up for a memorial.”It would almost seem as if supplications of years had accumulated before the Throne, and at last the answer broke in blessings on the head of Cornelius, even as the accumulated evaporation of months at last bursts in floods of rain upon the parched ground. So God is represented as treasuring the prayers of His saints in vials; they are described as sweet odors. They are placed like fragrant flowers in the chambers of the King. And kept in sweet remembrance before Him. And later they are represented as poured out upon the earth; and lo, there are voices and thunderings and great providential movements fulfilling God's purposes for His kingdom. We are called“the Lord's remembrancers,”and are commanded to give Him no rest, day nor night, but crowd the heavens with our petitions and in due time the answer will come with its accumulated blessings.

No breath of true prayer is lost. The longer it waits, the larger it becomes.

February 14.“He shall baptize you with fire”(Matt. iii. 11).Fire is strangely intense and intrinsic. It goes into the very substance of things. It somehow blends with every particle of the thing it touches.There are the severe trials that come to minds more sensitive, to the minds that have more points of contact with what hurts; so that the higher the nature the higher the joy, and the greater the avenues of pain that come.And then there are deeper trials that come as we pass into the hands of God, as we pass from the physical and intellectual into the spiritual nature.When they first come, we shrink back from their unnatural and fearful breath, and we say:“Oh, this cannot be from the hand of a loving Father! This cannot be necessary to me.”And then come the pains and sufferings from God's own hand, when He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver, when He lets it burn, until it seems that we must be burned to ashes, and we are, indeed, at last burned to ashes.But we must get the victory through faith. The moment you cease to fear it, that moment it ceases to harm you. He says,“The flames shall not kindle upon you.”

“He shall baptize you with fire”(Matt. iii. 11).

Fire is strangely intense and intrinsic. It goes into the very substance of things. It somehow blends with every particle of the thing it touches.

There are the severe trials that come to minds more sensitive, to the minds that have more points of contact with what hurts; so that the higher the nature the higher the joy, and the greater the avenues of pain that come.

And then there are deeper trials that come as we pass into the hands of God, as we pass from the physical and intellectual into the spiritual nature.

When they first come, we shrink back from their unnatural and fearful breath, and we say:“Oh, this cannot be from the hand of a loving Father! This cannot be necessary to me.”

And then come the pains and sufferings from God's own hand, when He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver, when He lets it burn, until it seems that we must be burned to ashes, and we are, indeed, at last burned to ashes.

But we must get the victory through faith. The moment you cease to fear it, that moment it ceases to harm you. He says,“The flames shall not kindle upon you.”

February 15.“Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus”(II. Tim. ii. 1).How to enjoy this day. This will never come by trying to be happy and yet we are responsible for the conditions of real joy.1. Be right with God; for“Gladness is sown for the upright in heart.”“It is His joy that remains in us that makes our joy to be full.”2. Forget yourself and live for others; for“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”3. When you cannot rejoice in feelings, circumstances and states,“rejoice in the Lord,”and“count it all joy, when ye fall into divers temptations.”Finally, obey the Lord and be faithful to your trust; and again and again will His blessed Spirit whisper to your heart,“Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord.”“Not enjoyment and not sorrowIs our destined end or way,But to act that each to-morrowFinds us farther than to-day.“Let us then be up and doingWith a heart for any fate,Still achieving, still pursuing,Learn to labor and to wait.”

“Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus”(II. Tim. ii. 1).

How to enjoy this day. This will never come by trying to be happy and yet we are responsible for the conditions of real joy.

1. Be right with God; for“Gladness is sown for the upright in heart.”“It is His joy that remains in us that makes our joy to be full.”

2. Forget yourself and live for others; for“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

3. When you cannot rejoice in feelings, circumstances and states,“rejoice in the Lord,”and“count it all joy, when ye fall into divers temptations.”

Finally, obey the Lord and be faithful to your trust; and again and again will His blessed Spirit whisper to your heart,“Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord.”

“Not enjoyment and not sorrowIs our destined end or way,But to act that each to-morrowFinds us farther than to-day.

“Not enjoyment and not sorrow

Is our destined end or way,

But to act that each to-morrow

Finds us farther than to-day.

“Let us then be up and doingWith a heart for any fate,Still achieving, still pursuing,Learn to labor and to wait.”

“Let us then be up and doing

With a heart for any fate,

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labor and to wait.”

February 16.“We will give ourselves continually to prayer”(Acts vi. 4).In the consecrated believer the Holy Spirit is pre-eminently a Spirit of prayer. If our whole being is committed to Him, and our thoughts are at His bidding, He will occupy every moment in communion and we shall bring every thing to Him as it comes, and pray it out in our spiritual consciousness before we act it out in our lives. We shall, therefore, find ourselves taking up the burdens of life and praying them out in a wordless prayer which we ourselves often cannot understand, but which is simply the unfolding of His thought and will within us, and which will be followed by the unfolding of His providence concerning us.Want of faithfulness and obedience to the faintest whisper of His will will often hinder some blessing which He meant for us until after a while we may get so dull and negligent that He will not be able to trust us with His whispers and we shall thus stumble on in the darkness and miss His highest thoughts.Lord, teach us to pray in the Spirit, to pray without ceasing and to lose nothing of Thy will.

“We will give ourselves continually to prayer”(Acts vi. 4).

In the consecrated believer the Holy Spirit is pre-eminently a Spirit of prayer. If our whole being is committed to Him, and our thoughts are at His bidding, He will occupy every moment in communion and we shall bring every thing to Him as it comes, and pray it out in our spiritual consciousness before we act it out in our lives. We shall, therefore, find ourselves taking up the burdens of life and praying them out in a wordless prayer which we ourselves often cannot understand, but which is simply the unfolding of His thought and will within us, and which will be followed by the unfolding of His providence concerning us.

Want of faithfulness and obedience to the faintest whisper of His will will often hinder some blessing which He meant for us until after a while we may get so dull and negligent that He will not be able to trust us with His whispers and we shall thus stumble on in the darkness and miss His highest thoughts.

Lord, teach us to pray in the Spirit, to pray without ceasing and to lose nothing of Thy will.

February 17.“Your life is hid”(Col. iii. 3).Some Christians loom up in larger proportion than is becoming. They can tell, and others can tell, how many souls they bring to Christ. Their labor seems to crystallize and become its own memorial. Others again seem to blend so wholly with other workers that their own individuality can scarcely be traced. And yet, after all, this is the most Christ-like ministry of all, for the Master Himself does not even appear in the work of the church except as her hidden Life and ascended Head, and even the Holy Spirit is lost in the vessels that He uses. The vine does not bear the fruit, and even the sap is unseen in its ceaseless flow, and it is the little branches which bear all the clusters and seem to have all the honor of the vintage. And so the nearer we come to Christ the more we are willing to be lost sight of in our fruit, and let others be more prominent, while we are the glad and willing witnesses of our testimony and hold up their hands by the silent ministry of love and prayer. Lord, let me be like the veiled seraphim before the throne, who cover their faces and their feet, and hide themselves and their service while they fly to obey Thee.

“Your life is hid”(Col. iii. 3).

Some Christians loom up in larger proportion than is becoming. They can tell, and others can tell, how many souls they bring to Christ. Their labor seems to crystallize and become its own memorial. Others again seem to blend so wholly with other workers that their own individuality can scarcely be traced. And yet, after all, this is the most Christ-like ministry of all, for the Master Himself does not even appear in the work of the church except as her hidden Life and ascended Head, and even the Holy Spirit is lost in the vessels that He uses. The vine does not bear the fruit, and even the sap is unseen in its ceaseless flow, and it is the little branches which bear all the clusters and seem to have all the honor of the vintage. And so the nearer we come to Christ the more we are willing to be lost sight of in our fruit, and let others be more prominent, while we are the glad and willing witnesses of our testimony and hold up their hands by the silent ministry of love and prayer. Lord, let me be like the veiled seraphim before the throne, who cover their faces and their feet, and hide themselves and their service while they fly to obey Thee.

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