Joy And Strength

[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Isaiah 8:6

Hold on to the Hand

I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee.

ISAIAH 42:6

DON'T be content with spending all your time on your faults, but try to get a step nearer to God. It is not He who is far away from us, but we from Him. If you ask me the best means to persevere, I would say, if you have succeeded in getting hold of Almighty God's hand, don't let it go. Keep hold of Him by constantly renewing ejaculatory prayers to Him, acts of desire, and the seeking to please Him in little things.

MOTHER FRANCIS RAPHAEL

Strive to be as a little child who, while its mother holds its hand, goes on fearlessly, and is not disturbed because it stumbles and trips in its weakness. So long as God holds you up by the will and determination to serve Him with which He inspires you, go on boldly and do not be frightened at your little checks and falls, so long as you can throw yourself into His arms in trusting love. Go there with an open, joyful heart as often as possible; if not always joyful, at least go with a brave and faithful heart.

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Job 22:21

Peace from Wearying Labor

Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
JOB 12:21

DON'T be unwise enough to think that we are serving God best by constant activity at the cost of headaches and broken rest. I am getting to be of the opinion that we may be doing too much. We want at least this is my own want--a higher quality of work. Our labor should be to maintain unbroken communion with our blessed Lord; then we shall have entire rest, and God abiding in us; that which we do will not be ours, but His.
JOHN KENNETH MACKENZIE

OUR object in life should not be so much to get through a great deal of work, as to give perfect satisfaction to Him for whom we are doing the work.
WM. HAY M. H. AITKEN

Let me not seek out of Thee what I can only find in Thee, peace and rest and joy and bliss, which abide only in Thy abiding joy. Lift up my soul above the weary round of harassing thoughts to Thy eternal Presence. Lift up my soul to the pure, bright, clear, serene, radiant atmosphere of Thy Presence, that there I may breathe freely, there repose in Thy love, there be at rest from myself and from all things that weary me; thence return, arrayed with Thy peace, to do and bear what shall please Thee.
E. B. PUSEY

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 2 Corinthians 9:8

Peace in the Bustle of Life

God is able to make all grace abound toward you: that ye always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.
2 CORINTHIANS 9:8

O LOVE, Thy sovereign aid impart
To save me from low-thoughted care;
Chase this self-will through all my heart,
Through all its latent mazes there;
Make me Thy duteous child, that I
Ceaseless may "Abba, Father" cry.
GERHARD TERSTEEGEN

THE grace which keeps me from falling one inch further, irrecoverably, and is not worn out by my provocations in this wilderness, is simply more visibly alive and active in my most certain experiences, more prompt, more steady, than I have any experience of among material things and persons. Everything material. is simply feeble; and everything personal is shadowy, as compared with this personality under whose shadow I am allowed to dwell. And all this is the more extraordinary because of the hurry, hotness, dryness, aridity of the life I am obliged to live in London, if correspondence, interviews, letters, are to be kept down and dealt with at all. The want of time to read and think, the shortness and distractions of prayer, seem to threaten one's very existence as a conscious child of God. And yet He is on my right hand and I know it.
EDWARD WHITE BENSON

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference James 1:2-3

Temptations Can Be Opportunities

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

JAMES 1:2,3

TEMPTATION is surely an assault to be withstood, but at the same time it is an opportunity to be seized. Viewed in this light, life becomes inspiring, not in spite but because of its struggles, and we are able to greet the unseen with a cheer, counting it unmixed joy when we fall into the many temptations which, varied in form, dog our steps from the cradle to the grave. The soldier who is called to the front is stimulated, not depressed; the officer who is bidden by his general to a post of great responsibility, and so of hardship and peril, is thrilled with the joy of his task. An opportunity has been given him to prove himself worthy of great trust, which can be done only at the cost of great trouble.

This is a true picture of temptation. And the result of it all is a nature invigorated and refined, a character made capable of close friendship with God, to say nothing of the unmeasured joy that is the attendant of nobility of soul and stalwart Christian manhood.

CHARLES H. BRENT

Every trial that we pass through is capable of being the seed of a noble character. Every temptation that we meet in the path of duty is another chance of filling our souls with the power of Heaven.

FREDERICK TEMPLE

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalm 119:47

How Love for Christ Frees Us

I will delight myself in Thy commandments, which I have loved.

PSALMS 119:47

THIS everlasting and compunctious study of duty, duty to everybody, everywhere, every day,--it keeps you questioning all the while, rasping in a torment of debates and compunctions, till you almost groan aloud for weariness. It is as if your life itself were slavery. And then you say, with a sigh, "Oh, if I had nothing to do but just to be with Christ personally, and have my duty solely as with Him, how sweet and blessed and secret and free would it be." Well, you may have it so; exactly this you may do and nothing more! Sad mistake that you should ever have thought otherwise! What a loss of privilege has it been! Come back then to Christ, retire into the secret place of His love, and have your whole duty personally as with Him. Only then you will make this very welcome discovery, that, as you are personally given up to Christ's person, you are going where He goes, helping what He does, keeping ever dear, bright company with Him, in all His motions of good and sympathy, refusing even to let Him suffer without suffering with Him. And so you will do a great many more duties than you even think of now; only they will all be sweet and easy and free, even as your love is.

HORACE BUSHNEM

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalm 105:3

Let God Have His Way

Glory ye in His holy name; let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.
PSALMS 105:8

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
LUKE 12:82

I KNOW not what it is to doubt,
My heart is ever gay;
I run no risk, for come what will,
Thou always hast Thy way.
FREDERICK WM. FABER

This way of seeing our Father in everything makes life one long thanksgiving and gives a rest of heart, and, more than that, a gayety of spirit, that is unspeakable. Some one says, "God's will on earth is always joy, always tranquillity." And since He must have His own way concerning His children, into what wonderful green pastures of inward rest, and beside what blessedly still waters of inward refreshment is the soul led that learns this secret. If the will of God is our will, and if He always has His way, then we always have our way also, and we reign in a perpetual kingdom. He who sides with God cannot fail to win in every encounter; and, whether the result shall be joy or sorrow, failure or success, death or life, we may, under all circumstances, join in the Apostle's shout of victory, "Thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ!"
HANNAH WHITALL SMITH

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 1 John 5:3

God's Commands are Not a Burden

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous.

1 JOHN 5:3

His commandments grievous are not,
Longer than men think them so;
Though He send me forth, I care not,
Whilst He gives me strength to go.

FRANCIS QUARLES

FOR nothing is grievous or burdensome to him who loves. They are not grievous, because love makes them light; they are not grievous, because Christ gives strength to bear them. Wings are no weight to the bird, which they lift up in the air until it is lost in the sky above us, and we see it no more, and hear only its note of thanks. God's commands are no weight to the soul which, through His Spirit, He upbears to himself; nay, rather, the soul, through them, the more soars aloft and loses itself in the love of God. "The commandments of God are not grievous," because we have a power implanted in us mightier than all which would dispute the sway of God's commandments and God's love, a power which would lift us above all hindrances, carry us over all temptations, impel our listlessness, sweep with it whatever opposes it, sweep with it even the dulness or sluggishness of our own wills,--the almighty power of the grace of God.

EDWARD B. PUSEY

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Ephesians 2:20-22

Stones God is Shaping

Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

EPHESIANS 2:20-22

WHEN God afflicts thee, think He hews a rugged stone,
Which must be shaped, or else aside as useless thrown.

RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH

WHAT comforts me is the thought that we are being shaped here below into stones for the heavenly temple,--that to be made like Him is the object of our earthly existence. He is the shaper and carpenter of the heavenly temple. He must work us into shape, our part is to be still in His hands; every vexation is a little chip; also we must not be in a hurry to go out of the quarry, for there is a certain place for each stone, and we must wait till the building is ready for that stone; it would put out the building if we were taken pell-mell.

CHARLES GEORGE GORDON

Oh, thrice fools are we, who like new-born princes weeping in the cradle, know not that there is a kingdom before them; then, let our Lord's sweet hand square us, and hammer us, and strike off the knots of pride, self-love, and world-worship, and infidelity, that He may make us stones and pillars in His Father's house.

SAMUEL RUTHERFORD

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 2 Peter 3:18 Luke 24:32

Looking to Jesus

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and for ever. Amen. 2 PETER 3:18

Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?

LUKE 24:32

NOTHING could make the period of Lent so much of a reality as to employ it in a systematic effort to fix the mind on Jesus. The history in the Gospels is so well worn that it often slips through the head without affecting the heart. But if, retiring into solitude for a portion of each day, we should select some one scene or trait or incident in the life of Jesus, and with all the helps we can get seek to understand it fully, tracing it in the other evangelists, comparing it with other passages of Scripture, etc., we should find ourselves insensibly interested, and might hope that, in this effort of our souls to understand Him, Jesus Himself would draw near, as He did of old to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. This looking unto Jesus and thinking about Him is a better way to meet and overcome sin than any physical austerities or spiritual self--reproaches. It is by looking at Him, the Apostle says, "as in a glass," that we are "changed into the same image, as from glory to glory."

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Jeremiah 23:24

Satisfied With God Alone

Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord.

JEREMIAH 23:24

LET me not dwell so much within
My bounded heart, with anxious heed--
Where all my searches meet with sin,
And nothing satisfies my need--
It shuts me from the sound and sight
Of that pure world of life and light.

ANNA L. WARING

DO you think that the infinite God cannot fill and satisfy your heart?

FRANÇOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNMON

Let not cares, riches, pleasures of this world, choke the heart, which was formed to contain the love of God. Pray, and all is thine. Thine is God Himself, who teacheth thee to pray for Himself. To pray is to go forth from earth, and to live in Heaven.

EDWARD B. PUSEY

The vision of God is indeed the transfiguration of the world; communion with God is the inspiration of life. That vision, that communion, Christ by His coming had made our abiding inheritance. As often as the Christian touches heaven, the heaven which lies about us though our eyes are holden that we should not see it, he is again filled with the powers of the world to come. Then reverence finds its perfect satisfaction; then devotion finds its invincible strength.

BROOKE FOSS WESTCOTT

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 2 Timothy 2:4 Ephesians 6:13

Questions for the Soldier of Christ

Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.
EPHESIANS 6:13

That he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
2 TIMOTHY 2:4

SOLDIERS of Christ, arise,
And put your armor on,
Strong in the strength which God supplies
Through His eternal Son.

CHARLES WESLEY

WHITHER goest thou?
Where is thy soul?
Is it in peace?
If troubled, why?
How art thou fulfilling the duties of thy position?
What are they?
What effort hast thou made to amend thy disposition, and conquer thy sins?
Hast thou been faithful to the light God has given thee?
What means shouldst thou use, especially with regard to thy most besetting sin or temptation?
Hast thou fought against it?
Hast thou thought about it at all?
What hast thou done with the circumstances of the last month?
Have they wrought God's work in thee?

PÉRE RAVIGNAN

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Jude 1:2 1 John 4:8

God is Love!

Mercy unto you, and peace, and love be multiplied.

JUDE 2

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

1 JOHN 4:8

HE rests in God and He in him,
Who still abides in love;
In love the saints and seraphim
Obey and praise above;
For God is love; the loveless heart
Hath in His life and joy no part.

C.F. GELLERT

DIVINE love is perfect peace and joy, it is a freedom from all disquiet, it is all content and happiness; and makes everything to rejoice in itself. Love is the Christ of God; wherever it comes, it comes as the blessing and happiness of every natural life, a redeemer from all evil, a fulfiller of all righteousness, and a peace of God, which passeth all understanding. Through all the universe of things, nothing is uneasy, unsatisfied, or restless, but because it is not governed by love, or because its nature has not reached or attained the full birth of the spirit of love. For when that is done, every hunger is satisfied, and all complaining, murmuring, accusing, resenting, revenging, and striving, are as totally suppressed and overcome, as the coldness, thickness, and horror of darkness are suppressed and overcome by the breaking forth of the light.

WILLIAM LAW

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[nChrist]

Title: Life in Heaven
Author: Mary Tileston Wilder
Scripture References:
Philippians 1:21-23
Devotion: Joy and Strength
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Title: Life in Heaven

For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain ... having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better.

PHILIPPIANS 1:21,23

IF I were annihilated this moment, I should bless God for having been allowed to live. Far more, if I were to have to toil and suffer in this sorrowful but glorious earth-life through unnumbered ages, and the sorrow and suffering continued to bring the living life with it that it has brought, I would gladly accept sorrow and suffering here on earth. How much more, then, when I expect, and am sure, that a very few years more will place me with these precious life-powers in a world fitted for highest life, with life intensified, and all the pure great life of ages gathered there, besides those whom I have dearly loved.

EDWARD THRING

Our present life in Christ may be compared to that of the seed; a hidden life, contending underground against cold and darkness and obstructions, yet bearing within its breast the indestructible germ of vitality. Death lifts the soul into the sunshine for which a hidden, invisible work has prepared it. Heaven is the life of the flower.

DORA GREENWELL

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[Willowbirch]

For love loves unto purity. Love has ever in view the absolute loveliness of that which it beholds. Where loveliness is incomplete, and love cannot love its fill of loving, it spends itself to make more lovely, that it may love more; it strives for perfection, even that itself may be perfected -- not in itself, but in the object.... Therefore all that is not beautiful in the beloved, all that comes between and is not of love's kind, must be destroyed. And our God is a consuming fire.

-George MacDonald, Unspoken Sermons

[Willowbirch]

But if, retiring into solitude for a portion of each day, we should select some one scene or trait or incident in the life of Jesus, and with all the helps we can get seek to understand it fully, tracing it in the other evangelists, comparing it with other passages of Scripture, etc., we should find ourselves insensibly interested, and might hope that, in this effort of our souls to understand Him, Jesus Himself would draw near, as He did of old to the disciples on the way to Emmaus.

Awesome.