One of the brightest signs of the times is that many Christians in our
Young People's Societies and churches are observing a "Quiet Hour"
daily. In this age of rush and activity we need some special call to go
apart and be alone with God for a part of each day. Any man or woman who
does this faithfully and earnestly cannot be more than twenty-four hours
away from God.
The selections given in this volume were first published in the monthly
issues of the "_Record of Christian Work_," and were found very helpful
for devotional purposes. They are also a mine of thoughts, to light up
the verses quoted. Being of permanent value, it has been thought
desirable to transfer them from the pages of the magazine to this
permanent volume.
May they have a helpful ministry, leading many into closer communion
with God!
[Illustration: D. L. Moody]
Index of Texts Quoted in This Volume.
=Genesis=
1: 4, 34
2: 7, 36
3: 3, 71
9, 5
24, 109
4:15, 105
6: 8, 128
12: 1, 18
13:12, 124
15, 37
16: 9, 94
18:17, 96
25: 8, 18, 28
11, 68
28:12, 102
15, 60
16, 69, 102
32: 1, 24
32, 119
33: 1, 111
=Exodus=
2: 3, 32
4:13, 32
14:13, 6
19, 112
20: 3, 81
24:18, 11
28: 2, 12
33:14, 88
34: 2, 25
=Numbers=
9:23, 20
11:14, 51
13:27, 38
28, 38
=Deuteronomy=
1: 2, 26
4: 1, 102
18:14, 80
33:25, 63, 69
=Joshua=
4:21, 20
5:14, 26
23:11, 7
24:15, 114
=Judges=
6:14, 78
8:18, 38
=I. Samuel=
1:10, 128
13, 128
27, 50
28, 50
2: 3, 23
12:24, 43
=II. Samuel=
5:19, 57
22:36, 24
=I. Kings=
2:34, 106
8:12, 94
13, 94
17: 3, 52
10, 113
=II. Kings=
6:17, 11
10: 5, 74
25:30, 39, 113
=I. Chronicles=
4:23, 92
=Job=
5:17, 100
=Psalms=
5: 3, 12
16:11, 110
19:12, 74, 124
21: 4, 90
23: 2, 38
3, 31
25: 4, 12
32: 8, 93
34: 1, 51
19, 6
39: 3, 52
55:22, 58
62: 5, 40
63: 1, 45
65: 3, 112
78:14, 91
90: 1, 114
12, 96
91: 3, 104
9, 119
11, 98
100:2, 95
103:2, 122
4, 122
19, 53
118:14, 6
119:117, 72
134: 1, 17
3, 17
145: 2, 9
16, 17
=Proverbs=
4:18, 34
23, 53
11:25, 121
13:25, 47
16:32, 50
27: 1, 21
=Ecclesiastes=
9:10, 78
=Song of Solomon=
1: 5, 57
6, 37
2: 3, 13
15, 35
3: 1, 30
4:16, 70
7:10, 57
=Isaiah=
6: 5, 51
30:18, 19
32:20, 72
40: 8, 104
31, 10, 31,
42, 80
41:13, 43
14, 21
43: 2, 112
48:10, 94
49: 5, 14
23, 44
50:10, 105
56: 2, 72
=Jeremiah=
18: 4, 113
22:21, 104
=Ezekiel=
12: 8, 36
34:26, 85
36:37, 88
37: 3, 101
=Daniel=
5: 1, 122
6:20, 15
9: 9, 89
10: 8, 109
=Hosea=
6: 3, 18
=Jonah=
1:11, 125
=Micah=
7: 8, 100
=Zechariah=
4:10, 64, 116
13: 1, 56
=Malachi=
3: 6, 85
18, 123
=Matthew=
2:10, 100
13, 106
5:14, 45, 55
16, 106
45, 35
48, 65
6: 6, 95
32, 75
33, 30
8: 6, 72
10: 8, 68
42, 52
14:14, 81
23, 81
22, 59
15:28, 44
20:18, 92
28, 93
25:21, 59
26, 59
24-26, 44
26:39, 15
40, 40
27:32, 54
28:16, 107
18, 107
19, 107
20, 41
=Mark=
2: 3, 122
5:36, 99
6:41, 123
7:34, 46
10:17, 120
13:34, 22
14:41, 65
50, 121
=Luke=
2:10, 107
13, 126
14, 126
5: 3, 77
5, 85
7: 5, 19
10:29, 115
39, 98
14:10, 126
11, 49
27, 62
16:10, 8
24:16, 31
18, 13
31, 32
34, 47
=John=
1: 4, 45
36, 71
37, 71
45, 23
46, 23
2:3-5, 48, 76
11, 91
3: 8, 23
4: 6, 67
8, 67
39, 67
34, 40, 70
6:57, 29
8: 9, 110
29, 27
11: 9, 14
21-24, 58
12: 4, 68
6, 6
20:21, 56
25, 124
27, 124
29, 9
21: 3, 37
10, 22
12, 101
=Acts=
1: 3, 67
4, 61, 97
8, 28, 60
2: 1, 61
4, 61
41, 47
4:10, 64
13, 79, 99
6: 5, 20
8:21, 64
19:38, 94
11:26, 123
13: 2, 64
47, 60
14:8-10, 57
17: 6, 63, 119
20:19, 82
24, 119
28, 90
27:23-25, 42
=Romans=
5: 3, 46
6: 4, 15
7:11, 75
8:28, 11, 31
13:11, 89
15:13, 90
=I. Corinthians=
1: 7, 30
28, 95
3:10, 69
7:32, 87
10:12, 76
11: 1, 82
13:13, 124
15:58, 46
=II. Corinthians=
1:21, 116
22, 116
13:5, 114
17, 65
=Galatians=
1: 4, 55
2:20, 96, 103,
115
3:27, 58
6: 2, 33, 39
7, 25
9, 88
14, 127
=Ephesians=
1:13, 21
17, 109
18, 109
2:10, 78, 84
12, 120
21, 16
4:15, 113
5:8, 7, 77
15, 32
=Philippians=
1:21, 27
2:12 39, 41,
73
13, 39, 41,
73
3:13, 24
14, 24
4: 6, 42
12, 48
13, 55, 63
19, 8
=Colossians=
1:27, 96
3: 2, 46, 78
3, 75
11, 16
15, 87
16, 118
17, 54
24, 87
4: 2, 16, 76,
126
=I. Thessalonians=
5: 6, 66
8, 103
19, 27
24, 118
=I. Timothy=
1:15, 73
17, 73
=II. Timothy=
1:12, 61
2: 3, 62
12, 53, 86
15, 60
=Hebrews=
4: 9, 13
6:12, 125
19, 128
7:25, 127
10: 5, 27
19, 41
22, 41
32, 23, 118
11: 7, 83
8, 22
12: 1, 79
2, 79
2, 14
6, 47, 107,
117
13: 5, 118
=James=
1: 2, 8
4, 72
23, 125
25, 125
4: 4, 127
14, 123, 125
=I. Peter=
1:16, 96
21, 121
23, 86
2: 5, 20
21, 81
5: 5, 111
=II. Peter=
1: 5, 70
21, 121
3:18, 44, 74
=I. John=
1: 7, 48
9, 26
2: 6, 18
15, 17, 87
3: 2, 91
4:14, 88
16, 61, 98
18, 42
5: 4, 97
=Jude=
21, 28
=Revelation=
1:10, 117
11, 117
17, 66
2:10, 105
3:19, 20
4: 8, 30
7: 9, 34
22:12, 5
14, 109
[Illustration: JANUARY]
=January 1st.=
_Come up in the morning . . . and present thyself . . .
to me in the top of the mount. Ex. xxxiv. 2._
My Father, I am coming. Nothing on the mean plain shall keep me away
from the holy heights. Help me to climb fast, and keep Thou my foot,
lest it fall upon the hard rock! At Thy bidding I come, so Thou wilt not
mock my heart. Bring with Thee honey from heaven, yea, milk and wine,
and oil for my soul's good, and stay the sun in his course, or the time
will be too short in which to look upon Thy face, and to hear Thy gentle
voice.
Morning on the mount! It will make me strong and glad all the rest of
the day so well begun.--_Joseph Parker._
=January 2nd.=
_My reward is with me. Rev. xxii. 12._
We are to be rewarded, not only for work done, but for burdens borne,
and I am not sure but that the brightest rewards will be for those who
have borne burdens without murmuring. On that day He will take the lily,
that has been growing so long among thorns, and lift it up to be the
glory and wonder of all the universe; and the fragrance of that lily
will draw forth ineffable praises from all the hosts of heaven.--_Andrew
Bonar._
=January 3rd.=
_Where art thou? Gen. iii. 9._
Art thou hiding thyself away from Him who would send thee forth to do
His own blessed work in His own way? Oh, let me say to thee this
morning, "The Lord hath need of thee." It may seem to be only a little
thing He has for you to do, but it is an important one. He has "need of
thee." Turn not thy back upon Him; put not thyself out of the way of
being employed by Him; do not begin by laying down laws for thyself as
to what thou wilt do and what thou wilt not do; but cry out from the
very depth of thy heart, "Here am I, send me,"--_W. Hay Aitken._
=January 4th.=
_Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the
Lord delivereth him out of them all. Psa. xxxiv. 19._
All the afflictions of the righteous open out into something glorious.
The prisoner is not merely delivered, but he finds an angel waiting for
him at the door. And with every deliverance comes a specific blessing.
One angel is named faith; another, love; another, joy; another,
longsuffering; another, gentleness; another, goodness; another,
meekness; another, temperance; another, peace. Each of these graces
says, "We have come out of great tribulation."--_G. Bowen._
=January 5th.=
_The Lord is my . . . song. Psa. cxviii. 14._
Let us think of God Himself becoming our song. This is the fulness and
perfection of knowing God: so to know Him that He Himself becomes our
delight; so to know Him that praise is sweetest, and fullest, and
freshest, and gladdest, when we sing of Him. He who has learned this
blessed secret carries the golden key of heaven--nay, he hath fetched
heaven down to earth, and need not envy the angels now.--_Mark Guy
Pearse._
=January 6th.=
_Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of
the Lord. Ex. xiv. 13._
Often God seems to place His children in positions of profound
difficulty--leading them into a wedge from which there is no escape;
contriving a situation which no human judgment would have permitted, had
it been previously consulted. The very cloud conducts them thither. You
may be thus involved at this very hour. It does seem perplexing and very
serious to the last degree; but it is perfectly right. The issue will
more than justify Him who has brought you hither. It is a platform for
the display of His almighty grace and power. He will not only deliver
you, but in doing so He will give you a lesson that you will never
forget; and to which, in many a psalm and song in after days, you will
revert. You will never be able to thank God enough for having done just
as He has.--_F. B. Meyer._
=January 7th.=
_Now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of
light. Eph. v. 8._
The influence we exert in the world is created by our relationship to
Jesus Christ; and our relationship to Jesus Christ is revealed by our
influence.--_Selected._
=January 8th.=
_Take good heed therefore unto your souls. Josh.
xxiii. 11._ (_Margin._)
Gold cannot be used for currency as long as it is mixed with the quartz
and rock in which it lies imbedded. So your soul is useless to God till
taken out from sin and earthliness and selfishness, in which it lies
buried. By the regenerating power of the Spirit you must be separated
unto Christ, stamped with His image and superscription, and made into a
divine currency, which shall bear His likeness among men. The Christian
is, so to speak, the circulating medium of Christ, the coin of the realm
by whom the great transactions of mercy and grace to a lost world are
carried on. As the currency stands for the gold, so does the Christian
stand for Christ, representing His good and acceptable will.--_A. J.
Gordon._
=January 9th.=
_He that is faithful in that which is least, is
faithful also in much. Luke xvi. 10._
The least action of life can be as surely done from the loftiest motive
as the highest and noblest. Faithfulness measures acts as God measures
them. True conscientiousness deals with our duties as God deals with
them. Duty is duty, conscience is conscience, right is right, and wrong
is wrong, whatever sized type they be printed in. "Large" and "small"
are not words for the vocabulary of conscience. It knows only two
words--right and wrong.--_Alex. McLaren._
=January 10th.=
_My God shall supply all your need according to His
riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Phil. iv. 19._
What a source--"God"! What a standard--"His riches in glory"! What a
channel--"Christ Jesus"! It is your sweet privilege to place _all your
need_ over against _His riches_, and lose sight of the former in the
presence of the latter. His exhaustless treasury is thrown open to you,
in all the love of His heart; go and draw upon it, in the artless
simplicity of faith, and you will never have occasion to look to a
creature-stream, or lean on a creature-prop.--_C. H. M._
=January 11th.=
_Count it all joy when ye fall into divers
temptations. James i. 2._
We cannot be losers by trusting God, for He is honored by faith, and
most honored when faith discerns His love and truth behind a thick cloud
of His ways and providence. Happy those who are thus tried! Let us only
be clear of unbelief and a guilty conscience. We shall hide ourselves in
the rock and pavilion of the Lord, sheltered beneath the wings of
everlasting love till all calamities be overpast.--_Selected._
=January 12th.=
_Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have
believed. John xx. 29._
The seen are shadows: the substance is found in the unseen. . . . No
doubt, in Christ, the foundation of our faith is unseen; but so is that
of yonder tower that lifts its tall erect form among the waves over
which it throws a saving light. It appears to rest on the rolling
billows; but, beneath these, invisible and immovable, lies the solid
rock on which it stands secure; and when the hurricane roars above, and
breakers roar below, I could go calmly to sleep in that lone sea tower.
Founded on a rock, and safer than the proudest palace that stands on the
sandy, surf-beaten shore, it cannot be moved. Still less the Rock of
Ages! Who trusts in that is fit for death, prepared for judgment, ready
for the last day's sounding trumpet, since, "The Lord redeemeth the soul
of His servants, and none of them that trust in Him shall be
desolate."--_Guthrie._
=January 13th.=
_Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much
fruit. John xv. 8._
What a possibility, what an inspiration, that we can enhance the glory
of "our Father"! Our hearts leap at the thought.
How can this be done? By bearing "leaves,"--a _profession_ of love for
Him? No. By bearing _some_ fruit? No. "That ye bear _much_ fruit." In
the abundance of the yield is the joy, the glory of the husbandman. We
should, therefore, aim to be extraordinary, "hundred-fold" Christians,
satisfied with none but the largest yield. Our lives should be packed
with good deeds. Then at harvest time we can say, "Father, I have
glorified Thee on the earth!"--_W. Jennings._
=January 14th.=
_Every day will I bless Thee; and I will praise Thy
name for ever and ever. Psa. cxlv. 2._
There is a very beautiful device by which the Japanese are accustomed to
express their wishes for their friends. It is the figure of a drum in
which the birds have built their nest. The story told of it is that once
there lived a good king, so anxiously concerned for the welfare of his
people that at the palace gate he set a drum, and whoever had any wrong
to be redressed or any want, should beat the drum, and at once, by day
or night, the king would grant the suppliant an audience and relief. But
throughout the land there reigned such prosperity and contentment that
none needed to appeal for anything, and the birds built their nests
within it and filled it with the music of their song.
Such gracious access is granted to us even by the King of Heaven, and
day and night His ready hearing and His help are within the reach of all
that come to Him; but of all men most blessed are they who have found on
earth a blessedness in which all want is forgotten, and trust rests so
assured of safety in the Father's care that prayer gives place to
ceaseless praise. They _rejoice in the Lord alway_.--_Mark Guy Pearse._
=January 15th.=
_They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall
run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not
faint.--Isa. xl. 31._
This, my soul, is the triumph of thy being--to be able to _walk_ with
God! Flight belongs to the young soul; it is the _romance_ of religion.
To run without weariness belongs to the _lofty_ soul; it is the _beauty_
of religion. But to walk and not faint belongs to the _perfect_ soul; it
is the _power_ of religion.
Canst thou walk in white through the stained thoroughfares of men? Canst
thou touch the vile and polluted ones of earth and retain thy garments
pure? Canst thou meet in contact with the sinful and be thyself
undefiled? _Then_ thou hast surpassed the flight of the eagle!--_George
Matheson._
=January 16th.=
_And Moses was in the mount forty days and forty
nights. Ex. xxiv. 18._
The life of fellowship with God cannot be built up in a day. It begins
with the habitual reference of all to Him, hour by hour, as Moses did in
Egypt. But it moves on to more and longer periods of communion; and it
finds its consummation and bliss in days and nights of intercession and
waiting and holy intercourse.--_F. B. Meyer._
=January 17th.=
_Elisha said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he
may see. 2 Kings vi. 17._
This is the prayer we need to pray for ourselves and for one another,
"Lord, open our eyes that we may see"; for the world all around us, as
well as around the prophet, is full of God's horses and chariots,
waiting to carry us to places of glorious victory. And when our eyes are
thus opened, we shall see in all the events of life, whether great or
small, whether joyful or sad, a "chariot" for our souls. Everything that
comes to us becomes a chariot the moment we treat it as such; and, on
the other hand, even the smallest trial may be a Juggernaut car to crush
us into misery or despair if we so consider them. It lies with each of
us to choose which they shall be. It all depends, not upon what these
events are, but upon how we take them. If we lie down under them, and
let them roll over us and crush us, they become Juggernaut cars, but if
we climb up into them, as into a car of victory, and make them carry us
triumphantly onward and upward, they become the chariots of
God.--_Smith._
=January 18th.=
_All things work together for good to them that love
God. Rom. viii. 28._
In one thousand trials it is not five hundred of them that work for the
believer's good, but nine hundred and ninety-nine of them, AND ONE
BESIDE.--_George Mueller._
=January 19th.=
_Thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron. Ex. xxviii.
2._
Have we no garments of blue, and purple, and beautiful suggestiveness?
We have garments of praise; we are clothed with the Lord Jesus. And have
we no ornaments? The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is, in the
sight of God, of great price. And have we no golden bells? We have the
golden bells of holy actions. Our words are bells, our actions are
bells, our purposes are bells. Whenever we move, our motion is thus
understood to be a motion towards holy places, holy deeds, holy
character.--_Joseph Parker._
=January 20th.=
_My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in
the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and
will look up. Psa v. 3._
The morning is the gate of the day, and should be well guarded with
prayer. It is one end of the thread on which the day's actions are
strung, and should be well knotted with devotion. If we felt more the
majesty of life we should be more careful of its mornings. He who rushes
from his bed to his business and waiteth not to worship is as foolish as
though he had not put on his clothes, or cleansed his face, and as
unwise as though he dashed into battle without arms or armor. Be it ours
to bathe in the softly flowing river of communion with God, before the
heat of the wilderness and the burden of the way begin to oppress
us.--_Spurgeon._
=January 21st.=
_Show me Thy ways, O Lord; teach me Thy paths. Psa.
xxv. 4._
There is a path in which every child of God is to walk, and in which
alone God can accompany him.--_Denham Smith._
=January 22nd.=
_There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of
God. Heb. iv. 9._
How sweet the music of this first heavenly chime floating across the
waters of death from the towers of the New Jerusalem. Pilgrim, faint
under thy long and arduous pilgrimage, hear it! It is REST. Soldier,
carrying still upon thee blood and dust of battle, hear it! It is REST.
Voyager, tossed on the waves of sin and sorrow, driven hither and
thither on the world's heaving ocean of vicissitude, hear it! The haven
is in sight; the very waves that are breaking on thee seem to
murmur--"_So He giveth His beloved_ REST." It is the long-drawn sigh of
existence at last answered. The toil and travail of earth's protracted
week is at an end. The calm of its unbroken Sabbath is begun. Man, weary
man, has found at last the long-sought-for _rest_ in the bosom of his
God!--_Macduff._
=January 23rd.=
_Under His shadow. Song of Sol. ii. 3._
Frances Ridley Havergal says: I seem to see four pictures suggested by
that: under the shadow of a rock in a weary plain; under the shadow of a
tree; closer still, under the shadow of His wing; nearest and closest,
in the shadow of His hand. Surely that hand must be the pierced hand,
that may oftentimes press us sorely, and yet evermore encircling,
upholding and shadowing!
=January 24th.=
_He made as though He would have gone further. Luke
xxiv. 28._
Is not God always acting thus? He comes to us by His Holy Spirit as He
did to these two disciples. He speaks to us through the preaching of the
Gospel, through the Word of God, through the various means of grace and
the providential circumstances of life; and having thus spoken, He makes
as though He would go further. If the ear be opened to His voice and
the heart to His Spirit, the prayer will then go up, "Lord, abide with
me." But if that voice makes no impression, then He passes on, as He has
done thousands of times, leaving the heart at each time harder than
before, and the ear more closed to the Spirit's call.--_F. Whitfield._
=January 25th.=
_My God shall be my strength. Isa. xlix. 5._
Oh, do not pray for easy lives! Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for
tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks! Then
the doing of your work shall be no miracle. But you shall be a miracle.
Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the richness of life which
has come in you by the grace of God.--_Phillips Brooks._
=January 26th.=
_Despising the shame. Heb. xii. 2._
And how is that to be done? In two ways. Go up the mountain, and the
things in the plain will look very small; the higher you rise the more
insignificant they will seem. Hold fellowship with God, and the
threatening foes here will seem very, very unformidable. Another way is,
pull up the curtain and gaze on what is behind it. The low foot-hills
that lie at the base of some Alpine country may look high when seen from
the plain, as long as the snowy summits are wrapped in mist; but when a
little puff of wind comes and clears away the fog from the lofty peaks,
nobody looks at the little green hills in front. So the world's
hindrances and the world's difficulties and cares look very lofty till
the cloud lifts. But when we see the great white summits, everything
lower does not seem so very high after all. Look to Jesus, and that will
dwarf the difficulties.--_Alex. McLaren._
=January 27th.=
_Are there not twelve hours in the day? John xi. 9._
The very fact of a Christian being here, and not in heaven, is a proof
that some work awaits him.--_William Arnot._
=January 28th.=
_Not as I will, but as Thou wilt. Matt. xxvi. 39._
There are no disappointments to those whose wills are buried in the will
of God.--_Faber._
=January 29th.=
_The living God. Dan. vi. 20._
How many times we find this expression in the Scriptures, and yet it is
just this very thing that we are so prone to lose sight of! We know it
is written "_the living God_"; but in our daily life there is scarcely
anything we practically so much lose sight of as the fact that God is
THE LIVING GOD; that He is now whatever He was three or four thousand
years since; that He has the same sovereign power, the same saving love
towards those who love and serve Him as ever He had, and that He will do
for them now what He did for others two, three, four thousand years ago,
simply because He is the living God, the unchanging One. Oh, how
therefore we should confide in Him, and in our darkest moments never
lose sight of the fact that He _is_ still and ever _will be_ THE LIVING
GOD!--_George Mueller._
=January 30th.=
_Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into
death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead
by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life. Rom. vi. 4._
That is the life we are called upon to live, and that is the life it is
our privilege to lead; for God never gives us a call without its being a
privilege, and He never gives us the privilege to come up higher without
stretching out to us His hand to lift us up. Come up higher and higher
into the realities and glories of the resurrection life, knowing that
your life is hid with Christ in God. Shake yourself loose of every
incumbrance, turn your back on every defilement, give yourself over
like clay to the hands of the potter, that He may stamp upon you the
fulness of His own resurrection glory, that you, beholding as in a
mirror the glory of the Lord, may be changed from glory to glory as by
the Spirit of the Lord.--_W. Hay Aitken._
=January 31st.=
_Christ is all, and in all. Col. iii. 11._
The _service_ of Christ is the _business_ of my life.
The _will_ of Christ is the _law_ of my life.
The _presence_ of Christ is the _joy_ of my life.
The _glory_ of Christ is the _crown_ of my life.--_Selected._
[Illustration]
=February 1st.=
_Continue in prayer. Col. iv. 2._
Dost thou want nothing? Then I fear thou dost not know thy poverty. Hast
thou no mercy to ask of God? Then may the Lord's mercy show thee thy
misery. A prayerless soul is a Christless soul. Prayer is the lisping of
the believing infant, the shout of the fighting believer, the requiem of
the dying saint falling asleep in Jesus.--_Spurgeon._
=February 2nd.=
_In whom all the building, fitly framed together,
groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. Eph. ii. 21._
The life-tabernacle is a wondrous building; there is room for workers of
all kinds in the uprearing of its mysterious and glorious walls. If we
cannot do the greatest work, we may do the least. Our heaven will come
out of the realization of the fact that it was God's tabernacle we were
building, and under God's blessing that we were working.--_Joseph
Parker._
=February 3rd.=
_Love not the world. 1 John ii. 15._
Love it not, and yet love it. Love it with the love of Him who gave His
Son to die for it. Love it with the love of Him who shed His blood for
it. Love it with the love of angels, who rejoice in its conversion. Love
it to do it good, giving your tears to its sufferings, your pity to its
sorrows, your wealth to its wants, your prayers to its miseries, and to
its fields of charity, and philanthropy, and Christian piety, your
powers and hours of labor. You cannot live without affecting it, or
being affected by it. You will make the world better, or it will make
you worse.
God help you by His grace and Holy Spirit so to live in the world as to
live above it, and look beyond it; and so to love it that when you leave
it, you may leave it better than you found it.--_Guthrie._
=February 4th.=
_Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of
every living thing. Psa. cxlv. 16._
Desire, it is a dainty word! It were much that He should satisfy the
_need_, the _want_; but He goeth far beyond that. Pity is moved to meet
our need; duty may sometimes look after our wants; but to satisfy the
_desire_ implies a tender watchfulness, a sweet and gracious knowledge
of us, an eagerness of blessing. God is never satisfied until He has
satisfied our desires.--_Mark Guy Pearse._
=February 5th.=
_Ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the
house of the Lord. . . . The Lord that made heaven and
earth bless thee out of Zion. Psa. cxxxiv. 1, 3._
If I would know the love of my friend, I must see what it can do in the
winter. So with the divine love. It is very easy for me to worship in
the summer sunshine, when the melodies of life are in the air and the
fruits of life are on the tree. But let the song of the bird cease, and
the fruit of the tree fall; and will my heart still go on to sing? Will
I stand in God's house by night? Will I love Him in His own night? Will
I watch with Him even one hour in His Gethsemane? Will I help to bear
His cross up the Via Dolorosa? My love has come to Him in His
humiliation. My faith has found Him in His lowliness. My heart has
recognized His majesty through His mean disguise, and I know at last
that I desire not the gift, but the Giver. When I can stand in His house
by night, I have accepted Him for Himself alone.--_George Matheson._
=February 6th.=
_He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so
to walk even as He walked. 1 John ii. 6._
The preaching that this world needs most is the _sermons in shoes_ that
are walking with Jesus Christ.--_Selected._
=February 7th.=
_Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord.
Hosea vi. 3._
The Lord has brought us into the pathway of the knowledge of Him, and
bids us pursue that path through all its strange meanderings until it
opens out upon the plain where God's throne is. Our life is a following
on to know the Lord. We marvel at some of the experiences through which
we are called to pass, but afterwards we see that they afforded us some
new knowledge of our Lord. . . . We have not to wait for some brighter
opportunity; but by improvement of the present are to build for
ourselves a bridge to that future.--_G Bowen._
=February 8th.=
_Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred,
and from thy father's house. Gen. xii. 1._
_Abraham . . . was gathered to his people. Gen. xxv. 8._
After all communion we dwell as upon islands, dotted over a great
archipelago, each upon his little rock with the sea dashing between us;
but the time comes when, if our hearts are set upon that great Lord
whose presence makes us one, there shall be no more sea and all the
isolated rocks shall be parts of a great continent . . . If we cultivate
that sense of detachment from the present and of having our true
affinities in the unseen, if we dwell here as strangers because our
citizenship is in heaven, then death will not drag us away from our
associates nor hunt us into a lonely land, but will bring us where
closer bonds shall knit the "sweet societies" together, and the sheep
shall couch close by one another because all gathered round the one
Shepherd. Then many a tie shall be re-woven, and the solitary wanderer
meet again the dear ones whom he had "loved long since and lost
awhile."--_Alex. McLaren._
=February 9th.=
_Therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious
unto you. Isa. xxx. 18._
This is God's way. In the darkest hours of the night His tread draws
near across the billows. As the day of execution is breaking, the angel
comes to Peter's cell. When the scaffold for Mordecai is complete, the
royal sleeplessness leads to a reaction in favor of the threatened race.
Ah, soul, it may have come to the worst with thee ere thou art
delivered; but thou wilt be! God may keep thee waiting, but He will ever
be mindful of His covenant, and will appear to fulfil His inviolable
word.--_F. B. Meyer._
=February 10th.=
_He loveth our nation and he hath built us a
synagogue. Luke vii. 5._
Marble and granite are perishable monuments, and their inscriptions may
be seldom read. _Carve your names on human hearts_; they alone are
immortal!--_Theodore Cuyler._
=February 11th.=
_As many as I love I . . . chasten. Rev. iii. 19._
I once saw a dark shadow resting on the bare side of a hill. Seeking its
cause I saw a little cloud, bright as the light, floating in the clear
blue above. Thus it is with our sorrow. It may be dark and cheerless
here on earth; yet look above and you shall see it to be but a shadow of
His brightness whose name is Love.--_Dean Alford._
=February 12th.=
_What means these stones? Josh. iv. 21._
_Ye also as living stones. 1 Pet. ii. 5. (R. V.)_
There should be something so remarkable, so peculiar about the life and
conversation of a Christian that men should be compelled to ask, "What
does this mean?". . . . Is there anything in your character, words, and
habits of life so different from the world around you that men are
involuntarily compelled to ask themselves or others, "What does this
mean?" Not that there is to be a forced singularity, a peculiarity for
the sake of being peculiar; that were merely to copy the pharisaism of
ancient days. . . . Oh, that we might realize that this is the purpose
for which God sends us into the world, as He sent His only begotten
Son!--_S. A. Blackwood._
=February 13th.=
_All . . . saw his face as it had been the face of an
angel Acts vi. 15._
The face is made every day by its morning prayer, and by its morning
look out of windows which open upon heaven.--_Joseph Parker._
=February 14th.=
_At the commandment of the Lord they rested in the
tents, and at the commandment of the Lord they
journeyed. Num. ix. 23._
This is the secret of peace and calm elevation. If an Israelite, in the
desert, had taken it into his head to make some movement independent of
Jehovah; if he took it upon him to move when the crowd was at rest, or
to halt while the crowd was moving, we can easily see what the result
would have been. And so it will ever be with us. If we move when we
ought to rest, or rest when we ought to move, we shall not have the
divine presence with us.--_C. H. M._
=February 15th.=
_In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed
with that holy Spirit of promise. Eph. i. 13._
The Lord puts a seal upon His own, that everybody may know them. The
sealing in your case is the Spirit producing in you likeness to the
Lord. The holier you become, the seal is the more distinct and plain,
the more evident to every passer-by, for then will men take knowledge of
you that you have been with Jesus.--_Andrew Bonar._
=February 16th.=
_Boast not thyself of to-morrow. Prov. xxvii. 1._
The only preparation for the morrow is the right use of to-day. The
stone in the hands of the builder must be put in its place and fitted to
receive another. The morrow comes for naught, if to-day is not heeded.
Neglect not the call that comes to thee this day, for such neglect is
nothing else than boasting thyself of to-morrow.--_G. Bowen._
=February 17th.=
_I will help thee, saith the Lord. Isa. xli. 14._
O my soul, is not this enough? Dost thou need more strength than the
omnipotence of the united Trinity? Dost thou want more wisdom than
exists in the Father, more love than displays itself in the Son, or more
power than is manifest in the influences of the Spirit? Bring hither
thine empty pitcher! Surely this well will fill it. Haste, gather up
thy wants, and bring them here--thine emptiness, thy woes, thy needs.
Behold, this river of God is full for thy supply; what canst thou desire
beside? Go forth, my soul, in this thy might. The eternal God is thine
helper!--_Spurgeon._
=February 18th.=
_To every man his work. Mark xiii. 34._
He does the most for God's great world who does the best in his own
little world.--_Selected._
=February 19th.=
_Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. John xxi.
10._
Why was this? Oh, the Lord wants us to minister to Him as well as to
receive from Him, and our service finds its true end when it becomes
food for our dear Lord. He was pleased to feed on their fish while they
were feeding on His. It was the double banquet of which He speaks in the
tender message of revelation, "I will sup with him, and he with
Me."--_A. B. Simpson._
=February 20th.=
_By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a
place which he should after receive for an
inheritance, obeyed. Heb. xi. 8._
Whither he went, he knew not; it was enough for him to know that he went
with God. He leant not so much upon the promises as upon the Promiser.
He looked not on the difficulties of his lot, but on the King, eternal,
immortal, invisible, the only wise God, who had deigned to appoint his
course, and would certainly vindicate Himself. O glorious faith! This is
thy work, these are thy possibilities: contentment to sail with sealed
orders, because of unwavering confidence in the love and wisdom of the
Lord High Admiral: willinghood to rise up, leave all, and follow Christ,
because of the glad assurance that earth's best cannot bear comparison
with heaven's least.--_F. B. Meyer._
=February 21st.=
_The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions
are weighed. 1 Sam. ii. 3._
God does not _measure_ what we bring to Him. He _weighs_ it.--_Mark Guy
Pearse._
=February 22nd.=
_After ye were illuminated ye endured a great fight of
afflictions. Heb. x. 32._
Our boldness for God _before the world_ must always be the result of
individual dealing with God _in secret_. Our victories over self, and
sin, and the world, are always first fought where no eye sees but
God's. . . . If we have not these _secret_ conflicts, well may we not
have any _open_ ones. The _outward_ absence of conflict betrays the
_inward_ sleep of the soul.--_F. Whitfield._
=February 23d.=
_Philip findeth Nathaniel and saith unto him, We have
found Him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets
did write. . . . Come and see. John i. 45, 46._
The next thing to knowing that "we have found Him" is to find someone
else, and say, "Come and see."--_Frances Ridley Havergal._
=February 24th.=
_The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest
the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh
and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of
the Spirit. John iii. 8._
We know that the wind listeth to blow where there is a vacuum. If you
find a tremendous rush of wind, you know that somewhere there is an
empty space. I am perfectly sure about this fact: if we could expel all
pride, vanity, self-righteousness, self-seeking, desire for applause,
honor, and promotion--if by some divine power we should be utterly
emptied of all that, the Spirit would come as a rushing mighty wind to
fill us.--_A. J. Gordon._
=February 25th.=
_Thy gentleness hath made me great. 2 Sam. xxii. 36._
The gentleness of Christ is the comeliest ornament that a Christian can
wear.--_William Arnot._
=February 26th.=
_Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
Gen. xxxii. 1._
It is in the path where God has bade us walk that we shall find the
angels around us. We may meet them, indeed, on paths of our own
choosing, but it will be the sort of angel that Balaam met, with a sword
in his hand, mighty and beautiful, but wrathful too; and we had better
not front him! But the friendly helpers, the emissaries of God's love,
the apostles of His grace, do not haunt the roads that we make for
ourselves.--_Alex. McLaren._
=February 27th.=
_I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh
unto the Father but by me. John xiv. 6._
Heaven often seems distant and unknown, but if He who made the road
thither is our guide, we need not fear to lose the way. We do not want
to see far ahead--only far enough to discern Him and trace His
footsteps. . . . They who follow Christ, even through darkness, will
surely reach the Father.--_Henry Van Dyke._
=February 28th.=
_Forgetting those things which are behind . . . I press
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus. Phil. iii. 13, 14._
It is not by regretting what is irreparable that true work is to be
done, but by making the best of what we are. It is not by complaining
that we have not the right tools, but by using well the tools we have.
What we are, and where we are, is God's providential arrangement--God's
doing, though it may be man's misdoing. Life is a series of mistakes,
and he is not the best Christian who makes the fewest false steps. He is
the best who wins the most splendid victories by the retrieval of
mistakes.--_F. W. Robertson._
[Illustration: MARCH]
=March 1st.=
_Come up in the morning . . . and present thyself unto
me in the top of the mount. Ex. xxxiv. 2._
The morning is the time fixed for my meeting the Lord. This very word
_morning_ is as a cluster of rich grapes. Let me crush them, and drink
the sacred wine.
In the morning! Then God means me to be at my best in strength and hope.
I have not to climb in my weakness. In the night I have buried
yesterday's fatigue, and in the morning I take a new lease of energy.
Sweet morning! There is hope in its music. Blessed is the day whose
morning is sanctified! Successful is the day whose first victory was won
in prayer! Holy is the day whose dawn finds thee on the top of the
mount! Health is established in the morning. Wealth is won in the
morning. The light is brightest in the morning. "Wake, psaltery and
harp; I myself will awake early."--_Joseph Parker._
=March 2nd.=
_Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Gal. vi. 7._
The most common actions of life, its every day and hour, are invested
with the highest grandeur, when we think how they extend their issues
into eternity. Our hands are now sowing seeds for that great harvest. We
shall meet again all we are doing and have done. The graves shall give
up their dead, and from the tombs of oblivion the past shall give up all
that it holds in keeping, to bear true witness for or against
us.--_Guthrie._
=March 3rd.=
_There are eleven days' journey from Horeb, by the way
of mount Seir, unto Kadesh-barnea. Deut. i. 2._
Eleven days, and yet it took them forty years! How was this? Alas! we
need not travel far for the answer. It is only too like ourselves. How
slowly we get over the ground! What windings and turnings! How often we
have to go back and travel over the same ground, again and again. We are
slow travelers because we are slow learners. Our God is a faithful and
wise, as well as a gracious and patient Teacher. He will not permit us
to pass cursorily over our lessons. Sometimes, perhaps, we think we have
mastered a lesson and we attempt to move on to another, but our wise
Teacher knows better, and He sees the need of deeper ploughing. He will
not have us mere theorists or smatterers; He will keep us, if need be,
year after year at our scales until we learn to sing.--=C. H. M.=
=March 4th.=
_If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. 1 John i. 9._
The same moment which brings the consciousness of sin ought to bring
also the confession of it and the consciousness of forgiveness.--_Smith._
=March 5th.=
_As captain of the host of the Lord am I now come.
Josh. v. 14._
Surely Israel might now face the foe with unwavering confidence, and
sing of victory even before the battle was gained. And so may the
Christian. It is to no conflict of uncertain issue that he advances; the
result of the battle is not doubtful. The struggle may be severe, the
warfare long; he may sometimes, like the pilgrim, be beaten to the
ground, and well-nigh lose his sword; but "though cast down" he is "not
destroyed." The Captain of salvation is on his side, and in the midst of
sharpest conflict he can say, "Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."--_S. A. Blackwood._
=March 6th.=
_To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Phil. i.
21._
Live in Christ, and you are in the suburbs of heaven. There is but a
thin wall between you and the land of praises. You are within one hour's
sailing of the shore of the new Canaan.--_William Rutherford._
=March 7th.=
_He that sent me is with me; the Father hath not left
me alone, for I do always those things that please
Him. John viii. 29._
He who holds nearest communion with heaven can best discharge the duties
of everyday life.--_Selected._
=March 8th.=
_Quench not the Spirit. 1 Thess. v. 19._
In order that you may not quench the Spirit, you must make it a constant
study to know what is the mind of the Spirit. You must discriminate with
the utmost care between His suggestions and the suggestions of your own
deceitful heart. You will keep in constant recollection what are the
offices of the Spirit as described by Christ in the Gospel of John. You
will be on your guard against impulsive movements, inconsiderate acts,
rash words. You will abide in prayer. Search the Word. Confess Christ on
all possible occasions. Seek the society of His people. Shrink from
conformity to the world, its vain fashions, unmeaning etiquette. Be
scrupulous in your reading. "What I say unto you, I say unto all,
watch!" "Have oil in your lamps." "Quench not the Spirit."--_Bowen._
=March 9th.=
_When He cometh into the world, He saith, . . . A body
hast Thou prepared me. Heb. x. 5._
This word of Christ must be adopted by each of His followers. Nothing
will help us to live in this world and keep ourselves unspotted but the
Spirit that was in Christ, that looked upon His body as prepared by God
for His service; that looks upon our body as prepared by Him too, that
we might offer it to Him. Like Christ, we too have a body in which the
Holy Spirit dwells. Like Christ, we too must yield our body, with every
member, every power, every action, to fulfil His will, to be offered up
to Him, to glorify Him. Like Christ, we must prove in our body that we
are holy to the Lord.--_Andrew Murray._
=March 10th.=
_Full of [satisfied with] years. Gen. xxv. 8._
Scaffoldings are for buildings, and the moments and days and years of
our earthly lives are scaffolding. What are you building inside it? What
kind of a structure will be disclosed when the scaffolding is knocked
away? Days and years are ours, that they may give us what eternity
cannot take away--a character built upon the love of God in Christ, and
moulded into His likeness.
Has your life helped you to do that? If so, you have got the best out of
it, and your life is completed, whatever may be the number of its days.
Quality, not quantity, is the thing that determines the perfectness of a
life. Has your life this completeness?--_Alex. McLaren._
=March 11th.=
_Keep yourselves in the love of God. Jude 21._