Gems for March - wk 4
March 18
"Think on these things." (Philippians 4:8)
- While we are praying for sinners to come to Christ,
He is pleading for us to go to sinners.
- Prayer offers God an opportunity to speak to us,
to give to us, and to work through us.
- The Christian who has no appointed time for prayer
may soon have no time at all for prayer.
- Freedom does not give us the right to do as we please,
but liberty to do as we ought.
- The Christian who pulls on the oars has no time to rock the boat.
- God does not shield us from life's storms;
He shelters us in life's storms.
- Love adapts itself to the wants of those loved. (T.C.N. March 1992)
N.J.H. # 2919
March 19
"Beloved if God SO loved us, we ought also to love one another."
(1 John 4:11)
I was meditating on the mighty love of God and drinking in a little of the measureless supply, while seated near a large tank of water. A little wasp flew along and stopped to drink out of that tank - perhaps it was only the tenth part of a drop, but it flew away satisfied. And I thought to myself, I am that wasp. I cannot understand that "SO" of God's love (1 John 4:11); it cannot be measured; but like the little wasp, I can drink to my full. And there, alone with Him, I drank and my soul was satisfied! I went on my way, seeking to show the love of God to others. (Selected)
N.J.H. # 2920
March 20
"And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil."
(Deuteronomy 33:24)
An American oil executive went to Israel and explored for oil. He found none and returned to America. A friend of his pointed out to him that there was an Old Testament prophecy in the Book of Deuteronomy 33:24, where it is prophesied that the Tribe of Asher would have abundance of oil. The American oil executive got curious, found a map of Israel showing where the 12 tribes of Israel would be located long ago and noticed Haifa was in the old land for Asher, the only spot in Israel he hadn't bothered to check for oil.
He went back to Israel and checked the area around Haifa for oil. To his shock, the tests indicate this is probably the largest single reservoir of oil in the entire Middle East. Israel may have trillions of dollars in oil reserves in Haifa, Israel which would never have been spotted except an ancient prophecy given by Moses recorded in the Book of Deuteronomy 33:24 told exactly where it would be located. Believe the prophecies of the Bible. They are given from God and are true. (The Midnight Cry)
N.J.H. # 2921
March 21
"God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." (1 Peter 5:5)
How one does long to know more of this! "God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace unto the humble." What a difference between the two attitudes! God must resist the proud; but when man takes his true place, God has nothing to resist; every barrier is removed, and the full tide of divine goodness can flow into the lowly heart. God can dwell with a lowly heart. There may be great weakness, great poverty, nothing attractive; but God can dwell there, and that is enough. It is a great point to be able to ascertain what God can go along with. He cannot go on with pride, with assumption, with pretension, with bustling self-importance. Whenever you see these things in a man, you may be quite sure that he is not enjoying the precious privilege of having God making His abode with him. It is this which constitutes the moral security of a lowly path. Oh! that we may know it in this day of pretension! (Things New and Old - 1863)
N.J.H. # 2922
March 22
"My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience
have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire,
wanting nothing." (James 1:2-4)
We often make this great mistake: we expect in the kingdom of patience what is only promised in the kingdom of glory, and we ask God rather for deliverance from the warfare than grace for it as long as He is pleased that it shall last. Our impatience for victory often increases the heat of the battle. (Robert Cleaver Chapman)
N.J.H. # 2923
March 23
"And it shall come to pass, that before they call I will answer; and
while they are yet speaking I will hear." (Isaiah 65:24)
The blessing is all prepared; He is not only willing but most anxious to give them what they ask; everlasting love burns with the longing desire to reveal itself fully to its beloved, and to satisfy their needs. God will not delay one moment longer than is absolutely necessary. He will do all in His power to hasten and speed the answer. (Andrew Murray)
N.J.H. # 2924
March 24
"Pray to thy Father." (Matthew 6:6)
"So I prayed to the God of heaven." (Nehemiah 2:4)
Much so-called prayer is not to God. There is very little thought of God in it. We think of the audience, we think it may be of our need, but there is not a clear, deep sense that we have come into the presence of the all-holy, almighty, all-loving One, and are laying hold upon Him for His help. This is one of the most frequent causes of failure in prayer. We do not really pray to God. The first thing to do when we pray is to actually come into God's presence, to dismiss from our minds, as far as possible, all thought of our surroundings and look by the Spirit to present God to our minds and make Him real to us. It is possible by the Holy Spirit's aid to have God so really present that it almost seems as if we could see and touch Him. (R.A. Torrey)
How true it is that our need, our weakness, our surroundings, our thoughts are often more to us in the time of prayer than God is. Let us seek a deeper consciousness of God in prayer.
N.J.H. # 2925
