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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference John 15:9


The Call to Live in Him


Even as the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you; abide ye in my love.
--JOHN 15:9 (R. V.)

ABIDE IN ME: These words are the command of love, which is ever only a promise in a different shape. Think of this until all feeling of burden and fear and despair pass away, and the first thought that comes as you hear of abiding in Jesus be one of bright and joyous hope.
--ANDREW MURRAY

When love is heard inviting more trust, more love, the encouragement to trust, to love, goes beyond the rebuke that our love is so little, and we take heart to confide in the love that is saying, "Give me thine heart," expecting that it will impart itself to us, and enable us to give the response of love which it desires. For indeed it must be with the blessed purpose to enable us to love Him that our God bids us love Him; for He knows that no love but what He Himself quickens in us can love Him.

Therefore always feel the call to love a gracious promise of strength to love, and marvel not at your own deadness, but trust in Him who quickeneth the dead.
--JOHN MCLEOD CAMPBELL

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Colossians 3:14


Religion That Changes Us


And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness.
  --COLOSSIANS 3:14 (R. V.)

THOU hatest hatred's withering reign;
In souls that discord maketh dark
Dost Thou rekindle love's bright spark,
And make them one again.
  --PAUL GERHARDT

WE have cause to suspect our religion if it does not make us gentle, and forbearing, and forgiving; if the love of our Lord does not so flood our hearts as to cleanse them of all bitterness, and spite, and wrath. If a man is nursing anger, if he is letting his mind become a nest of foul passions, malice, and hatred, and evil wishing, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
  --HUGH BLACK

Love me always, boy, whatever I do or leave undone. And--God help me--whatever you do or leave undone, I'll love you. There shall never be a cloud between us for a day; no, sir, not for an hour. We're imperfect enough, all of us, we needn't be so bitter; and life is uncertain enough at its safest, we needn't waste its opportunities.
  --JULIANA HORATIA EWING

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Proverbs 31:26 Romans 13:10


Lack of Kindness


Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
  --ROMANS 13:10

In her tongue is the law of kindness.
  --PROVERBS 31:26

THE worst kinds of unhappiness, as well as the greatest amount of it, come from our conduct to each other. If our conduct, therefore, were under the control of kindness, it would be nearly the opposite of what it is, and so the state of the world would be almost reversed. We are for the most part unhappy, because the world is an unkind world. But the world is only unkind for the lack of kindness in us units who compose it.
  --FREDERICK WM. FABER

You feel in some families as if you were living between the glasses of a microscope. Manner, accent, expression, all that goes to make up your "personality," all that you do or leave undone, is commented upon and found fault with.
  --H. BOWMAN

If you would be loved as a companion, avoid unnecessary criticism upon those with whom you live.
  --ARTHUR HELPS

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference James 2:8


Loving Others


If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well.
  --JAMES 2:8

DO you feel yourself alone and empty-hearted? Then you have necessity indeed for fortitude and brave endurance, but above all and before all you must get out of your solitude. You cannot command for yourself the love you would gladly receive; it is not in our power to do that; but that noble love which is not asking but giving,--that you can always have. Wherever your life touches another life, there you have opportunity. To mix with men and women in the ordinary forms of social intercourse becomes a sacred function when one carries into it the true spirit. To give a close, sympathetic attention to every human being we touch; to try to get some sense of how he feels, what he is, what he needs; to make in some degree his interest our own,--that disposition and habit would deliver any one of us from isolation or emptiness.
  --GEORGE S. MERRIAM

She [Annie Keary] did not try to set others right; she only listened to and loved and understood her fellow-creatures.
  --ELIZA KEARY

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Philippians 4:7


Amidst the Circumstances


The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
--PHILIPPIANS 4:7

I TAKE Thee for my Peace, O Lord,
My heart to keep and fill;
Thine own great calm, amid earth's storms,
Shall keep me always still,
And as Thy Kingdom doth increase,
So shall Thine everdeepening peace.
--ANNIE W. MARSTON

REMEMBER this, busy and burdened disciple; man or woman tried by uncertain health; immersed in secular duties; forced to a life of almost ceaseless publicity. Here is written an assurance, a guarantee, that not at holy times and welcome intervals only, not only in the dust of death, but in the dust of life, there is prepared for you the peace of God, able to keep your hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus. It is found in Him, it is cultivated by intercourse with Him. It is "the secret of His presence." Amidst the circumstances of your life, which are the expression of His will, He can maintain it, He can keep you in it. Nay, it is not passive; it "shall keep" you, alive, and loving, and practical, and ready at His call.
--HANDLEY C. G. MOULE

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 101:2


As to the Lord


I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
  --PSALMS 101:2

TEACH me, 0 God, Thy holy way,
And give me an obedient mind;
That in Thy service I may find
My soul's delight from day to day.
  --WILLIAM TIDD MATSON

AS far as human frailty will permit, each little trifling piece of duty which presents itself to us in daily life, if it be only a compliance with some form of social courtesy, should receive a consecration, by setting God--His will, word, and Providence--before us in it, and by lifting up our hearts to Him in ejacu.latory prayer, while we are engaged in it. The idea must be thoroughly worked into the mind, and woven into the texture of our spiritual life, that the minutest duties which God prescribes to us in the order of His Providence--a casual visit, a letter of sympathy, an obligation of courtesy, are not by any means too humble to be made means of spiritual advancement, if only the thing be done "as to the Lord, and not to men."   --EDWARD MEYRICK GOULBURN

Learn to commend thy daily acts to God, so shall the dry every-day duties of common life be steps to heaven, and lift thy heart thither.
  --EDWARD B. PUSEY

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Proverbs 24:11-12


Seeking the Same


If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it, and He that keepeth thy soul, doth not He know it? and shall not He render unto every man according to his works?
--PROVERBS 24:11, 12

WHAT we value for ourselves we must seek to spread to others; and what we shrink from ourselves--lowering surroundings, a tainted atmosphere--what we shrink to think of those nearest and dearest to us being exposed to--let us do all we can to remove from others. "Lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil." Do what you can to sweeten the mental and moral atmosphere that surrounds you.
--ARTHUR C. A. HALL

We have a more or less true ideal of what our own human life ought to be--of what opportunities we ought to have for the development of our faculties--of what home and school and college, youth and married life and old age, work and rest, ought to mean for ourselves and our families. We are to be as truly zealous and active for other classes or other individuals as we are for our own class or our own family or ourselves.
--CHARLES GORE

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Isaiah 63:7 Philippians 4:19 Hebrews 13:5


Look for Reasons to Praise


I will mention the lovingkindness of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us.
--ISAIAH 63:7

Be content with such things as ye have.
--HEBREWS 13:5

My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
--PHILIPPIANS 4:19

BEGIN with thanking Him for some little thing, and then go on, day by day, adding to your subjects of praise; thus you will find their numbers grow wonderfully; and, in the same proportion, will your subjects of murmuring and complaining diminish, until you see in everything some cause for thanksgiving. If you cannot begin with anything positive, begin with something negative. If your whole lot seems only filled with causes for discontent, at any rate there is some trial that has not been appointed you; and you may thank God for its being withheld from you. It is certain that the more you try to praise, the more you will see how your path and your lying down are beset with mercies, and that the God of love is ever watching to do you good.
--PRISCILLA MAURICE

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 37:11


Joy in the Present


The meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
--PSALMS 37:11

Joy is Thy gift, O Father!
Thou wouldst not have us pine;
In darkest hours Thy comfort
Doth aye most brightly shine;
Ah, then how oft Thy voice
Hath shed its sweetness o'er me,
And opened heaven before me,
And bid my heart rejoice!
--PAUL GERHARDT

TO be with God, in whatever stage of being, under whatever conditions of existence, is to be in heaven.
--DORA GREENWELL

I perceive we postpone all our joys of Christ, till He and we be in our own house above, thinking that there is nothing of it here to be sought or found, but only hope and fair promises; and that Christ will give us nothing here but tears, sadness, crosses; and that we shall never feel the smell of the flowers of that high garden of paradise above, till we come there. Nay, but I find it possible to find young glory, and a young green paradise of joy even here. We dream of hunger in Christ's house, while we are here, although He alloweth feasts to all the bairns within God's household.
--SAMUEL RUTHERFORD

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Ephesians 3:20-21


Expecting Great Things


Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
--EPHESIANS 3:20,21

ALL the simplest, most living, and most genuine Christians of our own time are such as rest their souls, day by day, on this confidence and promise of accruing power, and make themselves responsible, not for what they have in some inherent ability, but for what they can have in their times of stress and peril, and in the continual raising of their own personal quantity and power. Instead of gathering in their souls timorously beforehand upon the little sufficiency they find in possession, they look upon the great world of the Saviour's Kingdom in it, as being friendly and tributary, ready to pour in help, minister light, and strengthen them to victory, just according to their faith. And so they grow in courage, confidence, personal volume, efficiency of every kind, and instead of slinking into their graves out of impotent lives, they lie down in the honors of heroes.
--HORACE BUSHNELL

Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.
--WILLIAM CAREY

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 91:1


Give Him All Things


He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
--PSALMS 91:1

AS soon as I woke in the morning I threw myself into the arms of Divine Love as a child does into its father's arms. I rose to serve Him, and to perform my daily labor simply that I might please Him. If I had time for prayer, I fell on my knees in His divine presence, consecrated myself to Him, and begged Him that He would accomplish His holy will perfectly in me and through me, and that He would not permit me to offend Him in the least thing all through the day. I occupied myself with Him and His praise as long as my duties permitted. Very often, I had not leisure to say even so much as the Lord's Prayer during the day; but that did not trouble me. I thought it as much my duty to work for Him as to pray to Him, for He Himself had taught me, that all that I should do for love of Him would be a true prayer. I loved Him and rejoiced in Him. If my occupations required all my attention, 1 had nevertheless my heart turned towards Him; and, as soon as they were finished, I ran to Him again, as to my dearest Friend. When evening came, and every one went to rest, I found mine only in the Divine Love, and fell asleep, still loving and adoring Him.
--ARMELLE NICOLAS

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 119:165


God Will Take Care Of You


Great peace have they which love Thy law; and they have none occasion of stumbling.
  --PSALMS 119:165 (R. V.)

IN Thy might all things I bear,
In Thy love find bitter sweet,
And with all my grief and care,
Sit in patience at Thy feet.
  --A. H. FRANCKE

WHAT you need to do, is to put your will over completely into the hands of your Lord, surrendering to Him the entire control of it. Say, "Yes, Lord, YES!" to everything, and trust Him so to work in you to will, as to bring your whole wishes and affections into conformity with His own sweet, and lovable, and most lovely will. It is wonderful what miracles God works in wills that are utterly surrendered to Him. He turns hard things into easy, and bitter things into sweet. It is not that He puts easy things in the place of the hard, but He actually changes the hard thing into an easy one.
  --HANNAH WHITALL SMITH

It has been well remarked, It is not said that after keeping God's commandments, but in keeping them there is great reward. God has linked these two things together, and no man can separate them--obedience and peace.
  --F. W. ROBERTSON

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Deuteronomy 30:19-20


Obey the Call


Choose life, . . . that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him; for He is thy life, and the length of thy days.
  --DEUTERONOMY 30:19,20

GOD gently calls us every day:
Why should we then our bliss delay?
He calls to heaven and endless light;
Why should we love the dreary night?


Praise, Lord, to Thee for Matthew's call,
At which he rose and left his all;
Thou, Lord, e'en now art calling me;
I will leave all, and follow Thee.
  --WILLIAM WALSHAM HOW

OBEY His blessed call now, and, having obeyed it once, never again disobey any call within you, to do His will. While we mourn our neglect of past calls, our sorrow, which is still His gift and call within us, will draw down His gladdening look, which will anew call us unto Him. Pass we by no call which, however indistinctly, we may have, and He will cheer us with clearer and gladlier calls. Our very sorrow and fear will be our joy and hope; our very stumblings our strength, and dimness our light, while stumbling or in darkness we feel after Him who is our Stay, our Light, our Joy.
  --EDWARD B. PUSEY

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 1 Peter 4:12-13


Within the Ranks


Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings.
--1 PETER 4:12, 13

NOT more than I can bear I know
Thou, dearest Lord, wilt on me lay,
And I can learn of Thee to go
Unfearing on my way.
--HARRIET MCEWEN KIMBALL

IT is a tremendous moment when first one is called upon to join the great army of those who suffer. That vast world of love and pain opens suddenly to admit us one by one within its fortress. We are afraid to enter into the land, yet you will, I know, feel how high is the call. It is as a trumpet speaking to us, that cries aloud, "It is your turn--endure." Play your part. As they endured before you, so now, close up the ranks--be patient and strong as they were. Since Christ, this world of pain is no accident untoward or sinister, but a lawful department of life, with experiences, interests, adventures, hopes, delights, secrets of its own. These are all thrown open to us as we pass within the gates--things that we could never learn or know or see, so long as we were well. God help you to walk through this world now opened to you, as through a kingdom, royal, and wide and glorious.
--HENRY SCOTT HOLLAND

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Isaiah 7:4


Receiving Suffering


Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted.
--ISAIAH 7:4

THOUGH everything without fall into confusion, and though thy body be in pain and suffering, and thy soul in desolation and distress, yet let thy spirit be unmoved by it all, placid and serene, delighted in and with its God inwardly, and with His good pleasure outwardly.
--GERHARD TERSTEEGEN

To say each morning, "I must have things weariful, painful, to bear today, and they shall all be offered up beforehand as my heart's sacrifice; they shall be, not fought against, but received calmly and as welcome, for His sake who suffers them to come," gives a dignity, a purpose, nay, a very joy to what otherwise is all cheerless annoyance.
--H. L. SIDNEY LEAR

As soon as anything presents itself to your mind as a suffering, and you feel a repugnance to it, resign yourself immediately to God with respect to it; give yourself up to Him in sacrifice, and you will find that, when the cross arrives, it will not be so very burdensome, because you had disposed yourself to a willing reception of it.
--MADAME GUYON

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 27:14


Looking for Opportunities


Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart; wait, I say, on the Lord.
--PSALMS 27:14

I ASK not that my course be calm and still;
No, here too, Lord, be done Thy holy will:
1 ask but for a quiet childlike heart;
Though thronging cares and restless toil be mine,
Yet may my heart remain forever Thine;
Draw it from earth, and fix it where Thou art.
--C. J. P. SPITTA

TRUE union with God is to do His will without ceasing, in spite of all our natural disinclination, in all the wearisome and painful duties of our condition.
--FRANCOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNELON

When persons have learnt to look upon the daily course of their ordinary life, with its duties and troubles, however common-place, as their offering to God, and as the safest school for themselves of perfection, they will have made a very important step in the spiritual life. Another step, so simple that it is often despised, is to do everything, however ordinary, as well as it can possibly be done, for God's sake. A third is to be always pressing forward; when a mistake is made, or a fault committed, to face and admit it freely; but having asked God to supply the deficiency caused by our own infirmity, to go on steadfastly and hopefully.
--H. L. SIDNEY LEAR

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