Found Worthy

WE pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power.

2 THESSALONIANS 1:11

THOU settest us each task divine,We bless that helping hand of Thine,That strength by Thee bestowed.Thou minglest in the glorious fight;Thine own the cause! Thine own the might! We serve the Living God.

THOMAS H. GILL

EVERY hard effort generously faced, every sacrifice cheerfully submitted to, every word spoken under difficulties, raises those who speak or act or suffer to a higher level; endows them with a clearer sight of God; braces them with a will of more strength and freedom; warms them with a more generous and large and tender heart.

HENRY P. LIDDON

A man's best desires are always the index and measure of his possibilities; and the most difficult duty that a man is capable of doing is the duty that above all he should do.

CHARLES H. BRENT

Under the laws of Providence, we have duties which are perilous.

AUSTIN PHELPS

I Accept Thy Will

WHEN trouble, restless fears, anxious fretfulness, strive to overpower the soul, our safety is in saying, "My God, I believe in Thy perfect goodness and wisdom and mercy. What Thou doest I cannot now understand; but I shall one day see it all plainly. Meanwhile I accept Thy 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.

H. L. SIDNEY LEAR

Morning: Part of the Plan

"He led them forth by the right way."
Psalm 107:7

Changeful experience often leads the anxious believer to enquire "Why is it thus with me?" I looked for light, but lo, darkness came; for peace, but behold trouble. I said in my heart, my mountain standeth firm, I shall never be moved. Lord, thou dost hide Thy face, and I am troubled. It was but yesterday that I could read my title clear; to-day my evidences are bedimmed, and my hopes are clouded. Yesterday I could climb to Pisgah's top, and view the landscape o'er, and rejoice with confidence in my future inheritance; to-day, my spirit has no hopes, but many fears; no joys, but much distress. Is this part of God's plan with me? Can this be the way in which God would bring me to heaven? Yes, it is even so. The eclipse of your faith, the darkness of your mind, the fainting of your hope, all these things are but parts of God's method of making you ripe for the great inheritance upon which you shall soon enter. These trials are for the testing and strengthening of your faith--they are waves that wash you further upon the rock--they are winds which waft your ship the more swiftly towards the desired haven.

According to David's words, so it might be said of you, "so He bringeth them to their desired haven." By honour and dishonour, by evil report and by good report, by plenty and by poverty, by joy and by distress, by persecution and by peace, by all these things is the life of your souls maintained, and by each of these are you helped on your way. Oh, think not, believer, that your sorrows are out of God's plan; they are necessary parts of it. "We must, through much tribulation, enter the kingdom." Learn, then, even to "count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations."

"O let my trembling soul be still,
And wait Thy wise, Thy holy will!
I cannot, Lord, Thy purpose see,
Yet all is well since ruled by Thee."

Charles Spurgeon

Come to Me and Drink

"If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink."

John 7:37

Who does not thirst? Who has not mind thirsts or heart thirsts , soul thirsts or body thirsts? Well, no matter which or whether I have them all - "Come unto Me and" remain thirsty? Ah no! "Come unto Me and drink!"

What, can Jesus meet my need? Yes, and more than meet it. No matter how intricate my path, how difficult my service; no matter how sad my bereavement, how far away my loved ones; no matter how helpless I am, how deep are my soul yearnings - Jesus can meet all. All, and more than meet.

~ Hudson Taylor
~written about the time his first wife, Maria died 18_

Power to Keep

There are two readings for 2 Tm 1:12, "I know who it is in whom I have trusted, and am confident of his power to keep safe what he has put into my charge"(NEB) or "what I have put into his charge." Christ has all the power needed to keep anything safe. What He gives me, or what I give Him, He can take care of. I can rest in perfect assurance, having that kind of coverage.

And--come to think of it--have I anything to put into his charge that He has not first put into mine? It all comes to the same thing. "What hast thou that thou didst not receive?" (1 Cor 4:7 AV).

Paul was writing from prison, where he was powerless to help those he loved or to look after things he cared for. No matter. He knew the One who is never powerless. He was sure of his power to keep.

Father, Long Before Creation

1. Father, long before creation
Thou hadst chosen us in love,
And that love so deep, so moving,
Draws us close to Christ above.
Still it keeps us, still it keeps us
Firmly fixed in Christ alone.

2. Though the world may change its fashion,
Yet our God is e'er the same;
His compassion and His covenant
Through all ages will remain.
God's own children,
God's own children
Must forever praise His name.

3. God's compassion is my story,
Is my boasting all the day;
Mercy free and never failing
Moves my will, directs my way.
God so loved us,
God so loved us
That His only Son He gave.

4. Loving Father now before Thee
We will ever praise Thy love,
And our songs will sound unceasing
'Til we reach our home above,
Giving glory,
giving glory
To our God and to the Lamb.

Chinese Hymn written in c. 1952 during the Cultural Revolution, a time of brutal persecution for Chinese Christians.

Remember!

COMMIT thy way to God,
The weight which makes thee faint;
Worlds are to Him no load,
To Him breathe thy complaint.
Up! up! the day is breaking,
Say to thy cares, good-night!
Thy troubles from thee shaking,
Like dreams in day's fresh light.

PAUL GERHARDT

Ever in Readiness

It is easy to make great sacrifices when God does not ask them, but to give up our own will in each detail of life is something far harder. And this is what He does ask. To hold ourselves ever in readiness for His bidding--to count no token of it too slight--such is His call to each. Thus only shall we be ready for further service if He sees fit to lead us on to it.

H. BOWMAN

God's Eternal Purposes for Us

That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

2 CORINTHIANS 4:11

THE fretting friction of our daily life,
Heart-weariness with loving patience borne,
The meek endurance of the inward strife,
The painful crown of thorn,

Prepare the heart for God's own dwelling-place,
Adorn with sacred loveliness His shrine,
And brighten every inconspicuous grace,
For God alone to shine.

MARY E. ATKINSON

GOD has a purpose for each one of us, a work for each one to do, a place for each one to fill, an influence for each one to exert, a likeness to His dear Son for each one to manifest, and then, a place for each one to fill in His holy Temple.

ARTHUR C. A. HALL

The surest method of arriving at a knowledge of God's eternal purposes about us is to be found in the right use of the present moment. God's will does not come to us in the whole, but in fragments, and generally in small fragments. It is our business to piece it together, and to live it into one orderly vocation.

F. W. FABER

Contentment

1. Allow thyself to complain of nothing, not even the weather.

2. Never picture thyself to thyself under any circumstances in which you are not.

3. Never compare thine own lot with that of another.

4. Never allow thyself to dwell on the wish that this or that had been or were, otherwise than it was, or is. God Almighty loves thee better and more wisely than thou dost thyself.

5. Never dwell on the morrow. Remember that it is God's not thine. The heaviest part of sorrow often is to look forward to it. "The Lord will provide."

E. B. Pusey (1800-1882)