Joy And Strength

[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 1 Corinthians 7:32 Psalms 22:10

Leave Your Cares With the Lord

I would have you to be free from cares.
1 CORINTHIANS 7:32 (R. V.)

He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.
PSALMS 22:10

I HAVE no cares, O blessed Will!
For all my cares are Thine;
I live in triumph, Lord, for Thou
Hast made Thy triumphs mine.
FREDERICK W. FABER

LET my soul roll itself on Him, and adventure there all its weight. He bears greater matters, upholding the frame of heaven and earth, and is not troubled or burdened with it.
ROBERT LEIGHTON

What is needed for happy effectual service is simply to put your work into the Lord's hand, and leave it there. Do not take it to Him in prayer, saying, "Lord, guide me, Lord, give me wisdom, Lord, arrange for me," and then arise from your knees, and take the burden all back, and try to guide and arrange for yourself. Leave it with the Lord, and remember that what you trust to Him you must not worry over nor feel anxious about. Trust and worry cannot go together.
HANNAH WHITALL SMITH

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference John 14:6 John 20:29

Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life

I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
JOHN 14:6

Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
JOHN 20:29

THE Way, the Truth, the Life Thou art,
This, this I know; to this I cleave;
The sweet new language of my heart,
"Lord, I believe."
I have no doubts to bring to Thee;
My doubt has fled; my faith is free.
HARRIET MCEWEN KIMBALL

WE have been placed upon the Way. We have been taught the Truth. We have been made partakers of the Life. The Way must be traversed; the Truth must be pursued; the Life must be realized. Then cometh the end. Our pilgrimage, long as it may be or short, if we have walked in Christ, will leave us by the throne of God; our partial knowledge, if we have looked upon all things in Christ, will be lost in open sight; our little lives, perfected, purified, harmonized in Him whom we have trusted, will become, in due order, parts of the One Divine Life, when God is all in all.
BROOKE FOSS WESTCOTT

Love is the life of faith; obedience, the life of love. Yea, rather, Christ Himself is the life of the soul.
EDWARD B. PUSEY

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 140:13 Psalms 91:1

Living in God's Presence

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

The upright shall dwell in Thy presence.
PSALMS 111:13

My soul and all its powers
Thine, wholly Thine shall be;
All, all my happy hours
I consecrate to Thee:
Me to Thine image now restore,
And I shall praise Thee evermore.
CHARLES WESLEY

IF the wish is wakened in our soul to be ever in His presence, let us go to Him this moment, and ask Him what to do, and how to feel, believing that He is more ready to hear than we to pray. He will give us realization of His love, and convictions of duty. Let us follow those convictions implicitly; let us ask Him every day to teach us more, and help us more; and we shall soon say, with Paul, "Thanks be unto God, for His unspeakable gift!"
WILLIAM R. HUNTINGTON

The all-important thing is not to live apart from God, but as far as possible to be consciously with Him. It must needs be that those who look much into His face will become like Him.
CHARLES H. BRENT

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 2 Chronicles 19:9

Faithful in Ordinary Things

Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord, faithfully,and with a perfect heart.

2 CHRONICLES 19:9

IN little things of common life,
There lies the Christian's noblest strife,
When he does conscience make
Of every thought and throb within;
And words and looks of self and sin
Crushes for Jesus' sake.

J. B. S. MONSELL

WHERESOEVER we be, whatsoever we are doing, in all our work, in our busy daily life, in all schemes and undertakings, in public trusts, and in private retreats, He is with us, and all we do is spread before Him. Do it, then, as to the Lord. Let the thought of His eye unseen be the motive of your acts and words. Do nothing you would not have Him see. Say nothing which you would not have said before His visible presence. This is to do all in His name.

HENRY EDWARD MANNING

If one sign surer than any other be chosen to mark the progress of the Divine life, it is when sanctity prevails even in the minutest points of character, and in ordinary ways. The least look, the faintest expression, the casual act, may tell more of the secret power of Jesus in the soul, than world-famed acts of self-devotion.

T. T. CARTER

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Luke 2:7

Filling Our Souls With God

There was no room for them in the inn.
LUKE 2:7

GOD often would enrich, but finds not where to place His treasurer,--nor in hand nor heart a vacant space.

RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH

THE soul, in its highest sense, is a vast capacity for God. It is like a curious chamber added on to being, and somehow involving being, a chamber with elastic and contractile walls, which can be expanded, with God as its guest, illimitably, but which without God shrinks and shrivels until every vestige of the Divine is gone.

HENRY DRUMMOND

All that God desires is to give you His great love, so that it may dwell in you, and be the principle of your life and service; and all that withstands God's desire and His gift is the want of room for it, and for its free movement, when that room is taken up with yourselves and your little personal interests.

WILLIAM BERNARD ULLATHORNE

By rooting out our selfish desires, even when they appear to touch no one but ourselves, we are preparing a chamber of the soul where the Divine Presence may dwell.

ELLEN WATSON

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Galatians 2:20 Colossians 1:27

Is Christ Born in Us?

I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me
GALATIANS 2:20

Christ in you, the hope of glory.
COLOSSIANS 1:27

THOUGH Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born,
If He's not born in thee, thy soul is still forlorn.

JOHANN SCHEMES

THE great mystery of the Gospel does not lie in Christ without us only (though we must know also what He has done for us); but the very pith and kernel of it consists in Christ inwardly formed in our hearts.

RALPH CUDWORTH

When therefore the first spark of a desire after God arises in thy soul, cherish it with all thy care, give all thy heart into it; it is nothing less than a touch of the divine loadstone, that is to draw thee out of the vanity of time, into the riches of eternity. Get up therefore, and follow it as gladly as the wise men of the east followed the star from heaven that appeared to them. It will do for thee as the star did for them, it will lead thee to the birth of Jesus, not in a stable at Bethlehem in Judea, but to the birth of Jesus in the dark centre of thine own soul.

WILLIAM LAW

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Revelation 12:11 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10

Doing What Christ Demands

They loved not their lives unto the death.
REVELATION 12:11

Our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:9,10

Be ours the faith that sees Thee stand
Beside the throne of God on high,
To succor with Thy strong right hand
Thy soldiers when to Thee they cry.

Be ours the love, divine and free,
Which asks forgiveness for our foes;
Which draws, in life, its life from Thee,
And, dying, finds in Thee repose.
J. F. THRUPP

"IF He has done so much for me, what can I do for Him?" is the question which a Christian life should answer. He may ask little or much. He may demand heroic sacrifices, or He may require only punctual attention to daily and prosaic duty. But He has a right to make any demands He will, and it should be a point of honor with every Christian to satisfy Him. It is this simple self-surrender, in a spirit of love for God and for the souls of men, which makes life strong and noble, as was the life of St. Stephen. It is this self-surrender which makes death, whenever or wherever it may come, a "falling asleep in Christ."
HENRY PARRY LIDDON

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Acts 4:13

Oh, To Be With Christ

They took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
ACTS 4:13

O HEARTS of love! O souls that turn
Like sunflowers to the pure and best!
To you the truth is manifest;
For they the mind of Christ discern
Who lean like John upon His breast.
JOHN G. WHITTIER

WILT thou with St. John rest on the loving heart of our Lord Jesus Christ, thou must be transformed into the beauteous image of our Lord by a constant, earnest contemplation thereof, considering His holy meekness and humility, the deep, fiery love that He bore to His friends and His foes, and His mighty, obedient resignation which He manifested in all the paths wherein His Father called Him to tread. And now ye must gaze much more closely and deeply into the glorious image of our Lord Jesus Christ than I can show you with my outward teaching, and maintain a continual, earnest effort and aspiration after it. Then look attentively at thyself, how unlike thou art to this image, and behold thy own littleness. Here will thy Lord let thee rest on Him. In the glorious likeness of Christ thou wilt be made rich, and find all the solace and sweetness in the world.
JOHN TAULER

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Luke 18:17

Childlikeness

Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.
LUKE 18:17

DEAR Soul, couldst thou become a child
While yet on earth, meek, undefiled,
Then God Himself were ever near,
And Paradise around thee here.
GERHARD TERSTEEGEN

CHILDLIKENESS, in its Scripture sense, is a perfectness of trust, a resting in a Father's love, a being borne on in its power, living in it--it means a simplicity which resolves all into the one idea of lowly submissiveness to One in whom it lives; a buoyancy of spirit, which is a fountain of joy in itself, always ready to spring forth afresh brightly and happily to meet the claims of the present hour, not looking lingeringly back to the past, nor making plans independently, as of oneself, for the future; a resting contented in one's lot, whatever that lot may be; a singleness of intention; a pliancy, a yielding of the will, a forgetfulness of self in another's claims. To be thus childlike in the pure sense of such an ideal, is to be living in God, as one's Father, one's Preserver, one's Guide, felt to be a perpetual Presence and Providence.
T. T. CARTER

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Ephesians 6:7

Doing the Small Things as They Come in Life

With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men.
EPHESIANS 6:7

YET take the tiny stones which I have wrought,
Just one by one, as they were given by Thee,
Not knowing what came next in Thy wise thought.
Set each stone by Thy Master-hand of grace;
Form the mosaic as Thou wilt for me,
And in Thy temple pavement give it place.
FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL

WHAT God may hereafter require of you, you must not give yourself the least trouble about. Everything He gives you to do, you must do as well as ever you can, and that is the best possible preparation for what He may want you to do next. If people would but do what they have to do, they would always find themselves ready for what came next.
GEORGE MACDONALD

Nothing can excuse the neglect of the duties of the position of life which God has conferred upon us. All is delusive where these are not attended to, and made much of.
FREDERICK W. FABER

If you would advance in true holiness, you must aim steadily at perfection in little things.
ABBÉ GUILORÉ

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Colossians 3:17

Do All Things For Jesus' Sake

Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.
COLOSSIANS 3:17

YEA, through life, death, through sorrow and through sinning,
He shall suffice me, for He hath sufficed:
Christ is the end, for Christ was the beginning;
Christ the beginning for the end is Christ.

F. W. H. MYERS

LET this be thy whole endeavor, this thy prayer, this thy desire,--that thou mayest be stripped of all selfishness, and with entire simplicity follow Jesus only.

THOMAS À. KEMPIS

Do what is pleasing to Jesus Christ, and neglect nothing which pleases Him.

LORENZO SCUPOLI

To "do all things in the name of Jesus" is the lesson of a life; do not be angry with yourselves, nor despair of ever learning it, because thou art slow to learn the first few syllables. When thou hast learned to do all things to Jesus, it will shed pleasure over all dull things, softness over all hard things, peace over all trial and woe and suspense. Then will life be glad, when thou livest to Jesus; and how sweet death, to die in Jesus; with Him, and to Him, and in Him, to live for evermore.

E. B. PUSEY

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 1 Corinthians 3:9

Go and Do What is Good

We are laborers together with God.
1 CORINTHIANS 3:9

THEN bear a joy where joy is not,
Go, speak a kindly word in love,
Less bitter make some loveless lot,
Now earth is linked to heaven above.

FREDERICK G. LEE

DO what you can--give what you have. Only stop not with feelings; carry your charity into deeds; do and give what costs you something.

J. H. THOM

"Up and be doing," is the word that comes from God for each of us. Leave some "good work" behind you that shall not be wholly lost when you have passed away. Do something worth living for, worth dying for. Is there no want, no suffering, no sorrow that you can relieve? Is there no act of tardy justice, no deed of cheerful kindness, no long-forgotten duty that you can perform? Is there no reconciliation of some ancient quarrel, no payment of some long-outstanding debt, no courtesy, or love, or honor to be rendered to those to whom it has long been due; no charitable, humble, kind, useful deed by which you can promote the glory of God, or good will among men, or peace upon earth? If there be any such deed, in God's name, in Christ's name, go and do it.

ARTHUR P. STANLEY

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 1 Chronicles 28:20 Romans 7:6

Begin the Year With Courage

Be strong and of good courage ... fear not, nor be dismayed; for the Lord God, even my God, will be with thee; He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
1 CHRONICLES 28:20

That we should serve in newness of spirit.
ROMANS 7:6

HELP us, O Lord! behold we enter
Upon another year today;
In Thee our hopes and thoughts now centre,
Renew our courage for the way;
New life, new strength, new happiness,
We ask of Thee; oh, hear, and bless !

JOHANN RIST

THE year begins; and all its pages are as blank as the silent years of the life of Jesus Christ. Let us begin it with high resolution; then let us take all its limitations, all its hindrances, its disappointments, its narrow and common-place conditions, and meet them as the Master did in Nazareth, with patience, with obedience, putting ourselves in cheerful subjection, serving our apprenticeship. Who knows what opportunity may come to us this year? Let us live in a great spirit, then we shall be ready for a great occasion.

GEORGE HODGES

Walk cheerfully and freely in God's service.

ST. TERESA

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 125:2

Rooted in the Rock of God

As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth even forever.
PSALMS 125:2

HOPE it may be the happiest year of your life, as I think each succeeding year of everybody's life should be, if only everybody were wise enough to see things as they are; for it is certain that there really exists, laid up and ready to hand, for those who will just lay hands upon it, enough for every one and enough forever. I am quite sure that the central mistake of all lives that are mistaken is the not taking this simple unchangeable fact for granted, not seeing that it is so, and cannot but be so, and will remain so "though we believe not." I think I can trace every scrap of sorrow in my own life to this simple unbelief. How could I be anything but quite happy if I believed always that all the past is forgiven, and all the present furnished with power, and all the future bright with hope, because of the same abiding facts, which don't change with my mood, do not crumble, because I totter and stagger at the promise through unbelief, but stand firm and clear with their peaks of pearl cleaving the air of Eternity, and the bases of their hills rooted unfathomably in the Rock of God?
JAMES SMETHAM

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 43:4 Psalms 40:16

Weariness into Joy

Let all those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee; let such as love Thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified.
PSALMS 40:16

Then will I go unto the altar of God; unto God, my exceeding joy.
PSALMS 43:4

WE doubt the word that tells us: Ask,
And ye shall have your prayer;
We turn our thoughts as to a task,
With will constrained and rare.

And yet we have; these scanty prayers
Yield gold without alloy;
O God, but he who trusts and dares
Must have a boundless joy!
GEORGE MACDONALD

TELL them that, until religion cease to be a burden, it is nothing,--until prayer cease to be a weariness, it is nothing. However difficult and however imperfect, the spirit must still rejoice in it.
EDWARD IRVING

From a weary laborer, worn with slavish and ineffectual toil, I had become as a little child receiving from God the free gift of eternal life and of daily sustenance; and prayer, from a weary spiritual exercise, had become the simple asking from the Heavenly Father of daily bread, and thanking Him.
ELIZABETH RUNDLE CHARLES

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