Joy And Strength

[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalm 110:3 Job 24:13

On Through the Darkness

They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
JOB 24:13

Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power.
PSALMS 110:3

SEE, in Thy hands I lay them all--
My will that fails, my feet that fall;
My heart that wearies everywhere,
Yet finds Thy yoke too hard to bear.
KATHARINE T. HINKSON

THE way may at times seem dark, but light will arise, if thou trust in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him. That light may sometimes show hard things to be required, but do not be distressed if thy heart should rebel; bring thy unwillingness and disobedience to Him, in the faith that He will give thee power to overcome, for He cannot fail. "Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world," so keep close to Him, and the victory will be won. But do not, I beseech thee, neglect anything that is required, for disobedience brings darkness; and do not reason or delay, but simply follow the leadings of the Holy Spirit, and He will guide thee into all peace.
ELIZABETH T. KING

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Luke 17:14 Deuteronomy 8:6

The Test of Love

Thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways.
DEUTERONOMY 8:6

And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
LUKE 17:14

GOD calls us to duty, and the only right answer is obedience. If it can be glad and willing and loving obedience, happy are we; but, in any case, whether we ourselves get enjoyment and blessing from the task or not, the call must be obeyed. The will of God must be done for the sake of God, not for the sake of ourselves. Undertake the duty, and step by step God will provide the disposition. We can at least obey. Ideal obedience includes the whole will and the whole heart. We cannot begin with that. But we can begin with what we have. God calls. It is better to obey blunderingly than not to obey at all.
GEORGE HODGES

The test of love is not feeling, but obedience.
WILLIAM BERNARD ULLATHORNE

If one fights for good behavior, God makes one a present of the good feelings.
JULIANA H. EWING

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalm 43:5

Do Not Despair

Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
PSALMS 43: 5

IN prayer we own Thee, Father, at our side,
Not always feel or taste Thee; and, 't is well,
So, hour by hour, courageous faith is tried,
So, gladlier will the morn all mists dispel.
JOHN KEBLE

SOMETIMES we are disturbed because we have no devout feelings; but what we want is a devout will. We cannot always control the imagination, but we can always do that which is our duty carefully and patiently, with a view to pleasing God, and proving our love to Him. We may feel cold and mechanical, but we cannot fulfil our appointed duty without an exercise of the will, and therefore all duties diligently performed testify a desire to love, and prove our love.
H. L. SIDNEY LEAR

WE must not allow ourselves to be cast down, nor to despair, because our hearts seem colder at one time than another. The test of the cold heart is the yielding to sin, and, if we are clinging to Him, and to His will, we may be quite sure that what we take for coldness of heart is a trial, not a treason.
FREDERICK TEMPLE

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Matthew 10:8 Hebrews 13:16

Give What You Have

To do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
HEBREWS 13:16

Freely ye have received, freely give.
MATTHEW 10:8

SURELY Thou hast some work for me to do!
Oh, open Thou mine eyes,
To see how Thou wouldst choose to have it done,
And where it lies
ELIZABETH PRENTISS

THEN saw I that each kind compassion that man hath on his fellow-Christians with charity, it is Christ in him.
MOTHER JULIANA

SAY not you cannot gladden, elevate, and set free; that you have nothing of the grace of influence; that all you have to give is at the most only common bread and water. Give yourself to your Lord for the service of men with what you have. Cannot He change water into wine? Cannot He make stammering words to be instinct with saving power? Cannot He change trembling efforts to help into deeds of strength? Cannot He still, as of old, enable you in all your personal poverty "to make many rich?" God has need of thee for the service of thy fellow men. He has a work for thee to do. To find out what it is, and then to do it, is at once thy supremist duty and thy highest wisdom. "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it."
GEORGE BODY

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference

Small Things Give Anxiety

The Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times in all ways.

2 THESSALONIANS 3:16 (R. V.)

Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy presence.

PSALMS 31:20

LET my life be hid in Thee,
Life of life and Light of light!
Love's illimitable sea,
Depth of peace, of power the height!

Let my life be hid in Thee
>From vexation and annoy;
Calm in Thy tranquillity,
All my mourning turned to joy.
JOHN BULL

IT is small things that, just because of their smallness, distress and overset us. I mean the weight of daily care, which in their small details of personal expenditure, and in the careful routine of a household, and in the rearing of children, and in the society of friends, and in the outside duty, and in private affairs, singly and separately is sufficiently burdensome; but altogether, and on one set of shoulders, is sometimes felt to be more than the strength can bear. Those anxious lives, tempted to be fretful, and hasty, and self-important, and fussed with their incessant activities, may, if rightly interpreted, and manfully grasped, settle down into round and sunny centres of regular, and peaceful, and fruitful activities. Where there is prayer, there is peace; and God, who makes every duty possible, knows, helps, and cares.
ANTHONY W. THOROLD

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[nChrist]

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

The Purpose of Man

The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love; He will joy over thee with singing.

ZEPHANIAH 3:17

MADE for Thyself, O God!
Made for Thy love, Thy service, Thy delight;
Made to show forth Thy wisdom, grace and might;
Made for Thy praise, whom veiled archangels laud;
O strange and glorious thought, that we may be
A joy to Thee.
F. R. HAVERGAL

IT is not of God's severity that He requires much from man; it is of His great kindness that He will have the soul to open herself wider, to be able to receive much, that He may bestow much upon her. Let no one think that it is hard to attain thereunto. Although it sound hard, and is hard at first, as touching the forsaking and dying to all things, yet, when one has reached this state, no life can be easier, or sweeter, or fuller of pleasures; for God is right diligent to be with us at all seasons, and to teach us, that He may bring us to Himself, when we are like to go astray. None of us ever desired anything more ardently than God desires to bring men to the knowledge of Himself.
J. TAULER

God always fills in all hearts all the room which is left Him there.
F. W. FABER

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Revelation 3:20

He Awaits An Invitation

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.
REVELATION 3:20

O LOVE Divine!--whose constant beam
Shines on the eyes that will not see,
And waits to bless us, while we dream
Thou leavest us because we turn from Thee.
J. G. WHITTIER

UNHAPPY spirit, cast down under thy sins, multitudes of sins, years of sins!--heavily burdened as thou art, and pierced through with sorrows, thou mayest look to God, and hope, for "HE delighteth in mercy." His mercy can make thee a clean and beautiful, a happy and rejoicing spirit. God will be "delighted" to make thee "equal to the angels." So humble, so loving is thy God, and so earnestly does He long to bless thee, that behold, He stands at thy door and knocks.
JOHN PULSFORD

And if God knocks continually at the heart of man, desiring to enter in and sup there, and to communicate to him His gifts, who can believe that when the heart opens and invites Him to enter, He will become deaf to the invitation, and refuse to come in?
LORENZO SCUPOLI

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalm 41:1 1 Thessalonians 5:14 1 Kings 20:40

Consider Others

And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone.
1 KINGS 20:40

Blessed is he that considereth the weak; Jehovah will deliver him in the day of evil.
PSALMS 41:1 (R. V. MARGIN)

Encourage the faint-hearted, support the weak, be long-suffering toward all.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:14 (R.V.)

IT is decreed in the providence of God that, although the opportunities for doing good, which are in the power of every man, are beyond count or knowledge; yet, the opportunity once neglected, no man by any self-sacrifice can atone for those who have fallen or suffered by his negligence.
JULIANA H. EWING

DO not make life hard to any.
R. W. EMERSON

Forgive us if this day we have done or said anything to increase the pain of the world. Pardon the unkind word, the impatient gesture, the hard and selfish deed, the failure to show sympathy and kindly help where we had the opportunity, but missed it; and enable us so to live that we may daily do something to lessen the tide of human sorrow, and add to the sum of human happiness.
F. B. MEYER

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalm 30:2

Crying Unto God

O Lord my God, I cried unto Thee, and Thou hast healed me.
PSALMS 30:2

IT is sometimes a small matter that hindereth and hideth grace from us; at least if anything can be called small, and not rather a weighty matter, which obstructeth so great a good.

And, if thou remove this, be it great or small, and perfectly overcome it, thou wilt have thy desire.

For immediately, as soon as thou givest thyself to God from thy whole heart, and seekest neither this nor that, according to thine own pleasure or will, but settlest thyself wholly in Him, thou shalt find thyself united and at peace; for nothing can afford so sweet a relish, nothing be so delightful, as the good pleasure of the Divine Will.
THOMAS À. KEMPIS

IF at any time this life of ours grows feeble, or low, or lonely, I know no other remedy than to return to its Eternal Source, to God Himself; and through Him all the means of grace become again living and true; and through Him all His creatures become again near and dear and accessible.
ELIZABETH RUNDLE CHARLES

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Micah 3:8 1 Peter 1:4-5

Kept By the Power of God

Truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord.
MICAH 3:8

You, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
1 PETER 1:4,5

THOU must not look so much at the evil that is nigh, but rather at that which stands ready to pity and help,--and which hath pitied and helped thy distressed soul, and will pity and help it again. Why is there a mercy-seat, but for the sinner to look towards in time of need? Be patient till the Lord's tender mercy and love visit thee again; and then, look up to Him against this and such like snares, which would come between thee and the appearance of the Lord's love; that thou mayest feel more of His abidings with thee, and of the sweet effects thereof. For, these things are not to destroy thee, but to teach thee wisdom; which the Lord is able, through many exercises and sore trials, to bestow upon thee; that thy heart may be rid of all that burdeneth, and filled with all it rightly desires after, in the proper season and goodness of the Lord; to whose wise ordering and tender mercy I commit thee.
ISAAC PENINGTON

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference

Take Up Wings

Oh, that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.
PSALMS 55: 6

They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles.
ISAIAH 40:31

IS there no way of escape for us when in trouble or distress? Must we just plod wearily through it all, and look for no relief? I rejoice to answer that there is a glorious way of escape for every one of us, if we will but mount up on wings, and fly away from it all to God. All creatures that have wings can escape from every snare that is set for them, if only they will fly high enough; and the soul that uses its wings can always find a sure "way to escape" from all that can hurt or trouble it. What then are these wings? Their secret is contained in the words "They that wait upon the Lord." The soul that waits upon the Lord is the soul that is entirely surrendered to Him, and that trusts Him perfectly. Therefore we might name our wings the wings of Surrender and of Trust. If we will only surrender ourselves utterly to the Lord, and will trust Him perfectly, we shall find our souls "mounting up with wings as eagles" to the "heavenly places" in Christ Jesus, where earthly annoyances or sorrows have no power to disturb us.
HANNAH WHITALL SMITH

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Ecclesiastes 10:12 Proverbs 2:25

The Power of a Kind Word

The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious.
ECCLESIASTES 10:12

Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop; but a good word maketh it glad.
PROVERBS 12:25

IT would seem as if very few of us give this power of kind words the consideration which is due to it. So great a power, such a facility in the exercise of it, such a frequency of opportunities for the application of it, and yet the world still what it is, and we still what we are! It seems incredible. Take life all through, its adversity as well as its prosperity, its sickness as well as its health, its loss of its rights as well as its enjoyment of them, and we shall find that no natural sweetness of temper, much less any acquired philosophical equanimity, is equal to the support of a uniform habit of kindness. Nevertheless, with the help of grace, the habit of saying kind words is very quickly formed, and when once formed, it is not speedily lost. Sharpness, bitterness, sarcasm, acute observation, divination of motives,--all these things disappear when a man is earnestly conforming himself to the image of Christ Jesus. The very attempt to be like our dearest Lord is already a well-spring of sweetness within us, flowing with an easy grace over all who come within our reach.
FREDERICK WM. FABER

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Mark 10:49

Too Busy for Others

Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called.

MARK 10:49

--As we meet and touch, each day,
The many travellers on our way,
Let every such brief contact be
A glorious, helpful ministry;
The contact of the soil and seed,
Each giving to the other's need,
Each helping on the other's best,
And blessing, each, as well as blest.
SUSAN COOLIDGE

DO we not sometimes feel, in trial or perplexity, that others might help us if they would only stop and listen? But they will not, and in their constant hurry we know it is little use to speak. Let us note the lesson for ourselves, and give what we ask--leisure to hear, attentive, concentrated, not divided--calm, patient consideration. It may be our busy work, as we think, for the Master, which so overcrowds our lives that we have not time for this "standing still." Sad eyes meet ours, but we cannot stay to read their story. Some look to us for help in battles which we fought long ago, but we cannot turn aside to see how it fares with them in the strife, or to whisper the secret of victory. But He would have said, even though some plans of our own for His service were put aside, "Ye have done it unto Me."
H. BOWMAN

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Luke 11:2

His Will is Done

Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
LUKE 11:2

THY Father reigns supreme above,
The glory of His name
Is Grace and Wisdom, Truth and Love,
His will must be the same.
And thou hast asked all joys in one,
In whispering forth, "Thy will be done."
FRANCES R. HAVERGAL

IN heaven God's will is done, and the Master teaches the child to ask that the will may be done on earth just as in heaven; in the spirit of adoring submission and ready obedience. Because the will of God is the glory of heaven, the doing of it is the blessedness of heaven. As the will is done, the kingdom of heaven comes into the heart.
ANDREW MURRAY

WHAT is it thou wouldst have done, that He cannot do if He think fit? And if He think it not fit, if thou art one of His children, thou wilt think with Him; thou wilt reverence His wisdom, and rest satisfied with His will. This is believing indeed; the rolling all our desires and burdens over upon an almighty God; and where this is, it cannot choose but establish the heart in the midst of troubles, and give it a calm within in the midst of the greatest storms.
ROBERT LEIGHTON

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalm 103:1-4

Consider That He is God

Bless the Lord, 0 my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name: Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies.
PSALMS 103:1,4

I DESIRE that thou shouldst consider with firm faith that I, thy most glorious God, who have created thee for eternal blessedness, am eternal, sovereign, omnipotent. I will that thou shouldst seriously meditate that in Me, thy God, dwell the most perfect knowledge and infinite wisdom; so that in My government of thee, the heavens, and the earth, and the entire universe, I cannot be deceived in any way, or misled by any error. Were it otherwise, I should neither be all wise, nor should I be God. Also consider attentively that, as I am thy God, so am I infinitely good, yea, love itself in My essence; that, therefore, I cannot will anything but that which is useful and salutary to thee and to all men; nor can I wish any evil to My creatures. Thus illuminated by the living light of faith, thou wilt perceive that I, thy God, have infinitely more knowledge, power, and will to advance thy happiness than thou hast. Therefore seek with all diligence to submit thyself totally to My will; so shalt thou abide in continual tranquillity of spirit, and shalt have Me forever with thee.
ST. CATHARINE OF SIENA

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