All our wounds are for Christ's binding up: our broken hearts
become witnesses to His skill and loving kindness; for it is
spoken by the prophet, "Himself took our infirmities, and bare
our sicknesses." (Matt. 8:17.)
Special comfort and consolation may be given to any Christian;
but it is the diligence of the soul in walking with God that
brings settled comfort.
Consolation in Jesus will abound as our sorrow for sin is deep,
and our desire for obedience sincere.
If our peace be marred amidst our upright desires to please the
Lord, it is because of self-willed purposes mingled with those
upright desires.
We speak of our comfort and peace being marred by the ways of
others towards us, little considering that Self-will is the author
of our vexation.
It is our duty to be always happy. True, we may be sorrowful;
but if we be unhappy, it is because we have been drinking of
some foul stream, and not of our fountain of joy—God Himself.
A happy, joyful spirit spreads joy everywhere; a fretful spirit
is a trouble to ourselves, and to all around us.
Let us solemnly consider how much we may injure others when we
are fretful and wilful, and how much we may help others when
we are joyful in God.
If God impart to us peculiar joy in the Holy Ghost, filling us
with Christ and His love, causing us to keep holy Sabbath in
the soul by faith of Jesus, it is for this end—that we may
come down from the mount to do the work of the Lord, ready to
bear all things for Jesus' sake.
If any believer lack peace and joy, let him examine himself by
the Word, and use diligence in cleansing heart and conscience
by the blood of Jesus.
The joy of the Holy Ghost is a holy, solemn thing. It always
humbles the soul, and keeps it low. Not so the joy of the flesh.
Begin every day with the Word of God and prayer, if you would
enjoy settled blessedness. It is in the Word of God that the
fulness of Christ is revealed, as the rich portion of every one
who trusts in the blood of Christ.
The peace of the believer, through faith in the atoning blood
of Jesus, if the soul be flourishing, flows like a river; joy
in believing is the same river overflowing its banks. Let watchfulness
keep pace with joy.