Fwd: Gems From My Reading

Be of good cheer. "Then the spirit . . . said unto me, Go, shut thyself within."  Ezekiel 3:24  'Tis good to be with Jesus from all the world apart, Enjoying sweet communion, that blessed 'better part'. Get a place, some familiar place, for being alone with God - and a time.  What time, it is not for me to say.  I would not have anybody to be bound by rules concerning times or anything else; but have a time - times if you will - but a time at least.  We shall all agree that, for the young, strong and healthy, there is no time like the morning.  Remember that God can do a wonderful amount of work in five minutes, if you can spare no more, but He can do nothing in five minutes if you can give Him sixty.  All this is between yourself and Him. Have a time, the time when the door is shut, the best loved on earth excluded, the soul brought face to face with God. A Christian lad giving a testimony for Jesus, told his secret when he said that from the time of his conversion he trusted the Lord with his morning hour; and the way he spoke of it indicated the radiancy of the light that shone from him then.  Do you want a glad and rejoicing life?  Do you want  to live by the wells that never dry up or freeze?  There is no hour like that of the morning prime for fellowship with God.  The filling of that hour will overflow into all the hours that follow.  Mountain Trailways for Youth "Do not have your concert first, then tune you instruments afterwards.  Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all, in harmony with Him."  J. Hudson Taylor. "When morning gilds the skies my heart awaking cries,  Let Jesus Christ be praised!"   Edward Caswall

The cats came back...not right away!

Fwd: Gems From My Reading

Gems From My Reading Be of good cheer. PRAYER  AND  THANKSGIVING Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.  Daniel 6:10. Daniel, when in the very shadow of death, the plot being laid to take away his life, prayed three times a day, and gave thanks before his God.  (Daniel 6:10).  To have heard him pray in that great strait would not have afforded so much matter for wonder; but to have his heart in tune for giving thanks in such a sad hour was admirable.  MORNING  AND  EVENING  PRAYER Prayer must be the key of the morning, and lock of the night.  We show not ourselves Christians, if we do not open our eyes with prayer when we rise, and shut them again with the same key when we lie down at night. Pray as often as you please besides.  BROKEN  PRAYER Sometimes thou hearest one pray with a moving expression, while thou canst hardly get out a few broken words in duty, and thou art ready to accuse thyself and admire him; as if the gilt of the key made it open the door better. "Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain . . . "  (James 5:17).  A weak hand with a sincere heart is able to turn the key in prayer. The Christian in Complete Armour - William Gurnall  (1665) N.J. Hiebert - 8188

May 2020

Cottage Life in April...

Fwd: Gems From My Reading

Be of good cheer. ". . . there was a famine in the land.  And a certain man of Bethlehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he (Elimelech), and his wife (Naomi), and his two sons (Mahlon and Chilion)". (Ruth 1:1-2) Elimelech, the head of this family, purposed in his heart to leave God's people, and all the sweet associations connected with the place where God had set His name, that he might go forth to a strange land to dwell among strange people, who knew not God, nor thought upon His name. He did this rather than endure the chastening of the Lord in the land of promise.  Led away by "the wandering of the desire" (Ecclesiastes 6:9) he found his anticipated joy become unmitigated sorrow, and nothing left but "vanity and vexation of sprit," (Ecclesiastes 6:9).   God dealt with Elimelech in this way by death, and took him away.  So let us be warned and seek not to avoid the chastening of the Lord, but rather let us be exercised thereby, that we may bring forth "the peaceable fruit of righteousness." (Hebrews 12:11). He tried to flee from the discipline of God, and he fell into Satan's snare; "as if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand upon the wall, and a serpent bit him." (Amos 5:19). Elimelech is unquestionably brought before us as a proof that all those who act wilfully must eventually reap that which they have sown.  He had turned away from the fountain of life, and found the cup which he had mingled one of death, unhappy death. Beware then, for the desire of the Spirit is "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God."  (Colossians 1:10). Meditations on The Book of Ruth - D. McKendrick N.J. Hiebert - 8054