Joy And Strength

[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Philippians 3:10

He's Still Glorified

That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.
PHILIPPIANS 3:10

WHAT within me and without
Hourly on my spirit weighs,
Burdening heart and soul with doubt,
Darkening all my weary days;
In it I behold Thy will,
God, who givest rest and peace;
And my heart is calm and still,
Waiting till Thou send release.
A. H. FRANCKE

WHATEVER thy grief or trouble be, take every drop in thy cup from the hand of Almighty God. He with whom "the hairs of thy head are all numbered," knoweth every throb of thy brow, each hardly drawn breath, each shoot of pain, each beating of the fevered pulse, each sinking of the aching heart. Receive, then, what are trials to thee, not in the main only, but one by one, from His all-loving hands; thank His love for each; unite each with the sufferings of thy Redeemer; pray that He will thereby hallow them to thee. Thou wilt not know now what He thereby will work in thee; yet, day by day, shalt thou receive the impress of the likeness of the ever-blessed Son, and in thee, too, while thou knowest it not, God shall be glorified.
E. B. PUSEY

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 1 Peter 5:7

Take It to the Lord

Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.
1 PETER 5:7

HOW gentle God's commands!
How kind His precepts are!
Come, cast your burdens on the Lord,
And trust His constant care.
His goodness stands approved
Down to the present day;
I'll drop my burden at His feet,
And bear a song away.
PHILIP DODDRIDGE

SHE was not accustomed in these days to meet troubles, small or great, with the small stock of strength her mind or body could afford. She had acquired, by long habit, the power of putting them from her until she could take them into the presence of her Lord, and there, in secret, commune with Him of all that was in her heart.
SARAH W. STEPHEN

The Lord calls for our burdens, would not have us wrestle with them ourselves, but roll them over on Him. Now, the desires that are breathed forth in prayer are, as it were, the very unloading of the heart; each request that goes forth, carries out somewhat of the burden with it, and lays it on God. Tell Him what are your desires, and leave them there with Him, and so you are sure to be rid of all further disquieting care of them.
ROBERT LEIGHTON

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Colossians 2:6 1 Corinthians 2:16

His Will Becomes Mine

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.
COLOSSIANS 2:6

We have the mind of Christ.
1 CORINTHIANS 2:16

NEVER further than Thy cross;
Never higher than Thy feet;
Here earth's precious things seem dross;
Here earth's bitter things grow sweet.

Here we learn to serve and give,
And, rejoicing, self deny;
Here we gather love to live,
Here we gather faith to die.
ELIZABETH R. CHARLES

ARE we assimilating His mind, His way of looking at things, His judgments, His spirit? Is the Christ-conscience being developed in us? Have we an increasing interest in the things which interest Him, an increasing love of the things that He loves, an increasing desire to serve the purposes He has at heart? "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you," is the test by which we can try ourselves.
HUGH BLACK

This I saw, that when a soul loves God with a supreme love, God's interests and his are become one. It is no matter when nor where nor how Christ should send me, nor what trials He should exercise me with, if I may be prepared for His work and will.
DAVID BRAINERD

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Isaiah 26:12

Ready to do His Will

Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us: for Thou hast also wrought all our works for us.
ISAIAH 26:12 (R. V.)

WITH that deep hush subduing all
Our words and works that drown
The tender whisper of Thy call,
As noiseless let Thy blessing fall
As fell the manna down.
JOHN G. WHITTIER

PRAY to be calm and quiet and hushed, and that He will vouchsafe you the sense of His blessed presence; that you may do all things beneath His eye; to sit with Mary calmly at His feet and hear His voice, and then calmly rise and minister to Him.
EDWARD BOUVERIE PUSEY

Try so to live in the light of God's love that it becomes a second nature to you, tolerate nothing adverse to it, be continually striving to please Him in all things, take all that He sends patiently; resolve firmly never to commit the smallest deliberate fault, and if, unhappily you are overtaken by any sin, humble yourself, and rise up speedily. You will not be always thinking of God consciously, but all your thoughts will be ruled by Him, His Presence will check useless or evil thoughts, and your heart will be perpetually fixed on Him, ready to do His holy will.
JEAN NICOLAS GROU

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 1 John 4:11 John 13:35

The Lord's Love

Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another.

1 JOHN 4:11

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

JOHN 13:35

Do I find love so full in my nature, God's ultimate gift,
That I doubt His own love can compete with it? Here, the parts shift?
Here, the creature surpass the Creator,--the end, what Began?
Would I fain in my impotent yearning do all for this man,
And dare doubt He alone shall not help him, who yet alone can?

ROBERT BROWNING

"COME unto me," says the holy Jesus, "all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you." Beg of Him to be the light and life of your soul; love the sound of His name; for Jesus is the love, the sweetness, the compassionate goodness of the Deity itself; which became man, that so men might have the power to become the sons of God. Love, and pity, and wish well to every soul in the world; dwell in love and then you dwell in God.

WILLIAM LAW

The Lord's love is the love of communicating all that He has to all His creatures; for He desires the happiness of all; and a similar love prevails in those who love Him, because the Lord is in them.

EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Ephesians 4:14-16

The Eternal End

That we . . . may grow up in all things into Him, which is the head, even Christ; from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love.
EPHESIANS 4:14-16 (R. V.)

WE become the living means to a great end; and all our inner salvation--our finding of Jesus--is seen, not to centre in ourselves, in our own gain, our own rescue, our own peace; but to lead out beyond itself; to have been our qualification for use and office, without which we could not be taken up, as workers with God, into that eternal husbandry whereby He sets Himself to win over the stubborn and thorny field of the world. Our eyes are taken off ourselves; we are not absorbed in rehearsing our own experiences, however blessed. We are caught up into the counsels; we serve to widen the frontiers of the Kingdom; through us, correlated as we are, by joints and bands, into the articulated body, the Spirit of Christ can get abroad, can take a fresh step forward. We are become its vantage-ground from which it can again advance. Oh, that we were more quick to His touch, more ready for His needs, more serviceable in His ministry!
HENRY SCOTT HOLLAND

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 17:11

Sacrificing for the Good of Others

Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.
PSALMS 17:11

SUN of the soul, Thou light divine,
Around and in us brightly shine,
To strength and gladness wake us.
Where Thou shinest, life from heaven
There is given; we before Thee
For that precious gift implore Thee.
MICHAEL SCHIRMER

THAT is what our sacrifice of ourselves should be--"full of life." Not desponding, morbid, morose; not gloomy chilly, forbidding; not languid, indolent, inactive; but full of life, and warmth, and energy; cheerful, and making others cheerful; gay, and making others gay; happy, and making others happy; contented, and making others contented; doing good, and making others do good, by our lively vivid vitality,--filling every corner of our own souls and bodies, filling every corner of the circle in which we move, with the fresh life-blood of a warm, genial, kindly Christian heart. Doubtless this requires a sacrifice; it requires us to give up our own comfort, our own ease, our own firesides, our dear solitude, our own favorite absorbing pursuits, our shyness, our reserve, our pride, our selfishness.
ARTHUR P. STANLEY

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 1 Timothy 6:17 Isaiah 65:14 Psalms 25:9

Rejoicing in God's Love

My soul shall be joyful in the Lord; it shall rejoice in His salvation.
PSALMS 25:9

The living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.
1 TIMOTHY 6:17

Behold, My servants shall sing for joy of heart.
ISAIAH 65:14

GIVE me, O Lord, a heart of grace,
A voice of joy, a shining face,
That I may show where'er I turn
Thy love within my soul doth burn!

A tenderness for all that stray,
With strength to help them on the way
A cheerfulness, a heavenly mirth,
Brightening my steps along the earth!
LADY GILBERT

THOSE who love God are encompassed with gladness on every side, because in every passing moment they see and feel a Father's love, and nothing of this world can take it away or lessen it.
H. L. SIDNEY LEAR

To be happy is properly the beginning of all schemes for making happy.
SARAH W.STEPHEN

My life is so strangely free from all trial and trouble, that I cannot doubt my own happiness is one of the talents entrusted to me to "occupy" with, till the Master shall return, by doing something to make other lives happy.
CHARLES L. DODGSON

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Isaiah 59:19

Conquering by Faith

When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
ISAIAH 59:19

STILL more and more do Thou my soul redeem,
>From every bondage set me wholly free;
Though Evil oft the mightest power may seem,
Still make me more than conqueror, Lord, in Thee.
C. J. P. SPITTA

WAIT on the Lord in humility of heart, that thou mayest daily feel the change which is wrought in the heart and conscience by the holy, eternal, ever-living Power; and so thou mayest witness, "that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit." And then thou wilt feel that this birth of the Spirit cannot fulfil the lusts of the flesh, but will be warring and fighting the good fight against them; and thus, in faithfulness to the truth, and waiting upon the Lord, thou shalt witness an overcoming, in His due time. Oh, the conquering faith, the overcoming life and power of the Spirit! We cannot but speak of those things; and cry up the perfect gift, and the power of Him, who is not only able to perfect His work in the heart, but delights so to do; and even to tread down Satan under the feet of those that wait in patience for the perfect conquest.
ISAAC PENINGTON

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 Isaiah 43:25 Judges 8:4

Continue the Struggle by God's Grace

Perplexed, but not in despair; cast down, but not destroyed.
2 CORINTHIANS 4:8,9

Faint, yet pursuing.
JUDGES 8:4

I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
ISAIAH 43:25

I don't think it is possible to overrate the hardness of the first close struggle with any natural passion, but indeed the easiness of after-steps is often quite beyond one's expectations. The free gift of grace with which God perfects our efforts may come in many ways, but I am convinced that it is the common experience of Christians that it does come. There may be some souls, whose brave and bitter lot it is to conquer comfortless. Perhaps some terrible inheritance of strong sin from the father is visited upon the son, and, only able to keep his purpose pure, he falls as fast as he struggles up, and still struggling falls again. Soft moments of peace with God and man may never come to him. He may feel himself viler than a thousand trumpery souls who could not have borne his trials for a day. For you and me is reserved no such cross and no such crown as theirs who falling still fight, and fighting fall, with their faces Zionwards, into the arms of the everlasting Father. "As one whom his mother comforteth" shall be the healing of their wounds.
JULIANA HORATIA EWING

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference John 15:17

Check Those Unkind Words and Thoughts

These things I command you, that ye love one another.
JOHN 15:17

YET habits linger in the soul;
More grace, O Lord! more grace!
More sweetness from Thy loving heart,
More sunshine from Thy face!
FREDERICK W. FABER

IF thy disturbance of mind proceeds from a person who is so disagreeable to thee, that every little action of his annoys or irritates thee, the remedy is to force thyself to love him, and to hold him dear; not only because he is a creature formed by the same sovereign hand as thou art, but also because he offers thee an opportunity (if thou wilt accept it) of becoming like unto thy Lord, who is kind and loving unto all men.
LORENZO SCUPOLI

The habit of letting every foolish or uncharitable thought, as it arises, find words, has a great deal to do with much evil in the world. Check the habit of uttering the words, and gradually you will find that you check the habit of thought too. A resolution always to turn to some distinctly good thought when a complaining or unkind one arises in the mind, is a great help--as it is to turn every thought condemnatory of our neighbor into a prayer for him. We never can long continue to dislike people for whom we pray.
H. L. SIDNEY LEAR

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 1 Samuel 12:23

Loving Our Neighbor on Our Knees

Moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord, in ceasing to pray for you.

I SAMUEL 12:23

MORE things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day.
For what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friend?
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.

ALFRED TENNYSON

PERHAPS we do not think enough what an effective service prayer is, especially intercessory prayer. We do not believe as we should how it might help those we so fain would serve, penetrating the hearts we cannot open, shielding those we cannot guard, teaching where we cannot speak, comforting where our words have no power to soothe; following the steps of our beloved through the toils and perplexities of the day, lifting off their burdens with an unseen hand at night. No ministry is so like that of an angel as this--silent, invisible, known but to God.

ELIZABETH RUNDLE CHARLES

Intercessory prayer might be defined as loving our neighbor on our knees.

CHARLES H. BRENT

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference John 11:28

Death is Christ's Minister

The Master is come, and calleth for thee.
JOHN 11:28

STIR in us the might of faith,
Light in us the fire of love!
Then will smile Thine angel Death,
Opener of the gate above;
Sweet Thy summons then will come;
Gladsome then shall we go home.
THOMAS H. GILL

BEYOND all secondary causes, deeper than disease or accident, lies the loving will of Him who is the Lord of life and death. Death is Christ's minister, "mighty and beauteous, though his face be dark," and he, too, stands amidst the ranks of the "ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them that shall be heirs of salvation."
ALEXANDER MACLAREN

Until our Master summons us, not a hair of our head can perish, not a moment of our life be snatched from us. When He sends for us, it should seem but the message that the child is wanted at home.
ANTHONY W. THOROLD

Death to a good man is but passing through a dark entry out of one little dusky room of his father's house into another that is fair and large, lightsome and glorious.
ANONYMOUS

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 1 Chronicles 29:13 Psalms 97:12

Praise and Thanksgiving to God

Now therefore, our God, we thank Thee, and praise Thy glorious name.
1 CHRONICLES 29:13

Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness.
PSALMS 97:12

AND now the wants are told, that brought
Thy children to Thy knee;
Here, lingering still, we ask for nought,
But simply worship Thee.

The hope of heaven's eternal days
Absorbs not all the heart
That gives Thee glory, love, and praise
For being what Thou art.
WILLIAM BRIGHT

LET praise--I say not merely thanksgiving, but praise--always form an ingredient of thy prayers. We thank God for what He is to us; for the benefits which He confers, and the blessings with which He visits us. But we praise Him for what He is in Himself,--for His glorious excellences and perfections, independently of their bearing on the welfare of the creature. And it shall often happen that when thy heart is numb and torpid, and yields not to the action of prayer, it shall begin to thaw, and at last burst, like streams under the breath of spring, from their icy prison, with the warm and genial exercise of praise.
EDWARD M. GOULBURN

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Hosea 14:9 Isaiah 30:21

Bearing Crosses Made by Ourselves

And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
ISAIAH 30:21

The ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them.
HOSEA 14:9

YET more and more this truth doth shine
>From failure and from loss,
The will that runs transverse to Thine
Doth thereby make its cross:
Thine upright will
Cuts straight and still
Through pride and dream and dross.
W. M. L. JAY

LET us remember that it is not God who makes many of the crosses that we find in our way, such as we commonly call "crosses." Our Heavenly Father makes "straight paths for our feet," and, if we would go in His way, if we would straighten our wills to His will, and lay them side by side, there would be no crosses. But when the path that God points out goes north and south, and our stubborn wills lead us east and west, the consequence is "a cross"--a cross of our own making, not that which our Master bids us "take up and carry after Him," and of which it has been well said, "He always carries the heaviest end Himself."
ANNIE WEBB-PEPLOE

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