Thus will I live and walk
from day to day,
Contented, trustful, satisfied, and still.
What life so shielded, or what life
so free,
As that within the center of Thy will!
Jane Woodfall
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Trusting In Him
"When trouble, restless fears, anxious fretfulness strive to
overpower the soul, our safety is in saying, 'My God, I believe in Your
perfect goodness and wisdom and mercy. What You are doing I cannot now
understand, but I shall one day see it all plainly. Meanwhile I accept
Your will, whatever it may be, unquestioning, without reserve.'
There would be no restless disturbance, no sense of utter discomfort and discomposure in our souls, if we were quite free from any -- it may be almost unconscious -- opposition to God's will. But we do struggle against it, we do resist; and so long as that resistance endures we cannot be at peace. Peace, and even joy, are quite compatible with a great deal of pain -- even mental pain -- but never with a condition of antagonism or resistance."
Henrietta Louisa Sidney Lear
There would be no restless disturbance, no sense of utter discomfort and discomposure in our souls, if we were quite free from any -- it may be almost unconscious -- opposition to God's will. But we do struggle against it, we do resist; and so long as that resistance endures we cannot be at peace. Peace, and even joy, are quite compatible with a great deal of pain -- even mental pain -- but never with a condition of antagonism or resistance."
Henrietta Louisa Sidney Lear
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Trust His Ways
"Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass" (Psalm 37:5).
"Having taken the step of faith by which you have put yourself wholly and absolutely into His hands, you must now expect Him to begin to work. His way of accomplishing that which you have entrusted to Him may be different from your way; but He knows and you must be satisfied.
There was this lady who entered into this life of faith ... with a wonderful flood of light and joy. She supposed this was a preparation for some great service ... Instead of this, almost at once, her husabnd lost all his money, and she was shut up to domestic duties, with no time or strength left for any Gospel work at all. She accepted the discipline, and yielded herself up as heartily to sweep, and dust, and bake, and sew, as she would have done to speak, or pray, or write for the Lord. And the result was that through this very training He made her into a vessel 'meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work.'
Another lady who had entered this life of faith under similar circumstances of wondrous blessing ... was shut up with two peevish invalid children to nurse and amuse all day long. Unlike the first one, this lady chafed and fretted, and finally rebelled, lost all her blessing, and went back into a state of sad coldness and misery. She had understood her part of trusting to begin with, but not understanding the Divine process of accomplishing that for which she had trusted, she took herself out of the hands of the Heavenly Potter, and the vessel was marred on the wheel. I believe many a vessel has been similarly marred by a want of understanding these things.
Hannah Whitall Smith (adapted)
"Having taken the step of faith by which you have put yourself wholly and absolutely into His hands, you must now expect Him to begin to work. His way of accomplishing that which you have entrusted to Him may be different from your way; but He knows and you must be satisfied.
There was this lady who entered into this life of faith ... with a wonderful flood of light and joy. She supposed this was a preparation for some great service ... Instead of this, almost at once, her husabnd lost all his money, and she was shut up to domestic duties, with no time or strength left for any Gospel work at all. She accepted the discipline, and yielded herself up as heartily to sweep, and dust, and bake, and sew, as she would have done to speak, or pray, or write for the Lord. And the result was that through this very training He made her into a vessel 'meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work.'
Another lady who had entered this life of faith under similar circumstances of wondrous blessing ... was shut up with two peevish invalid children to nurse and amuse all day long. Unlike the first one, this lady chafed and fretted, and finally rebelled, lost all her blessing, and went back into a state of sad coldness and misery. She had understood her part of trusting to begin with, but not understanding the Divine process of accomplishing that for which she had trusted, she took herself out of the hands of the Heavenly Potter, and the vessel was marred on the wheel. I believe many a vessel has been similarly marred by a want of understanding these things.
Hannah Whitall Smith (adapted)
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Victory Over Our Enemy
God promised us an abiding place of great victory over our enemy. From the moment God first issued the promise of land to Aram, He described its occupants as quickly as its perimeters: "To your descendents I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates --the land of the Kenites, kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites" (Gen. 15:18-21. Our Promised Lands are characterized by the presence of victory, not the absence of opposition.
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