Gems for January - wk 1
January 1
"It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great
is Thy faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22,23)
Yea, "new every morning," though we may awake,
Our hearts with old sorrow beginning to ache;
With old work unfinished when night stayed our hand,
With new duties waiting, unknown and unplanned;
With old care still pressing, to fret and to vex,
With new problems rising, our minds to perplex;
In ways long familiar, in paths yet untrod,
Oh, new every morning the mercies of God!
His faithfulness fails not; it meets each new day
With guidance for every new step of the way;
New grace for new trials, new trust for old fears,
New patience for bearing the wrongs of the years,
New strength for new burdens, new courage for old,
New faith for whatever the day may unfold;
As fresh for each need as the dew on the sod;
Oh, new every morning the mercies of God!
(Annie Johnson Flint)
N.J.H. # 2844
January 2
"Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put
away concerning faith have made shipwreck." (1 Timothy 1:19)
There were those who had turned from the great fundamental principles of Christianity, and were living in ways displeasing to God; they had put away a good conscience. They knew what God's Word required of them, but they went against their own consciences; and little by little they got to the place where they were no longer very much exercised. The conscience is like a rubber band. You pull it, and it snaps back; you pull it again, and it snaps back; but if you keep on pulling it by-and-by it loses its elasticity, and finally it does not snap back at all. It is very dangerous to trifle with conscience, for if we act contrary to this inward monitor we find the reaction becomes less and less, until eventually there is no reaction at all. Then we are likely to make shipwreck of the faith.
It is easy to lose the truth of God if we do not live in obedience to the Word. We do not hold the truth simply in the mind; we learn it through the heart and the conscience, and we hold it by keeping a conscience that is void of offence. (H.A. Ironside)
N.J.H. # 2845
January 3
"Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name.
(Malachi 3:16)
Whenever we speak to one another of Christ He will always be one of the company. Do our hearts long for His presence? Then let us speak together of Him more. (Edward Dennett)
N.J.H. # 2846
January 4
"The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the
Son of man hath not where to lay His head." (Matthew 8:20)
The Lord Jesus began in a manger and ended on the cross, and along the way He had not where to lay His head. (J.N. Darby)
N.J.H. # 2847
January 5
"Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 10:17)
No sin the believer brings to God but when it comes to be weighed is not outweighed by the blood. (G.V. Wigram)
N.J.H. # 2848
January 6
"Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him." (Proverbs 26:12)
Of all fools the conceited fool is the worst. Pride makes a man incapable of receiving counsel.
(William Gurnall - The Christian in Complete Armour) (1616-1679)
N.J.H. # 2849
January 7
"I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being." (Psalms 104:33)
A little boy was watching the birds in a field. At length a little songster perched itself on the limb of a tree. As the boy prepared to throw a stone, the little bird began to sing.
Slowly the boy dropped the stone. He listened till the song had ceased, and watched the bird fly away.
"Why did you not stone him?" asked a gentleman.
"Couldn't," was the brief reply. "couldn't, cos he sung so."
Thus the enemy of our soul is on the lookout to fire some poisonous dart of doubt or fear. Sing, sing in the warfare. The trial may be fiery, the march may seem long; let the glory in your soul sing His praise. The devil will flee. He does not like songs of praise. The joy of the Lord is excellent equipment for the conflict.
Uncertainty is unfavourable to song. (Travelling Toward Sunrise)
N.J.H. # 2850
January 8
"As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us." (Psalms 103:12)
Not some of them; He takes them all away. You may pile up your sins till they rise like a dark mountain, and then multiply them by ten thousand for those you cannot think of; and after you have tried to enumerate all the sins you have ever committed, just let me bring one verse in, and that mountain will melt away: "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1:7) (D.L. Moody)
N.J.H. # 2851
