Joy And Strength

[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Malachi 1:13 Ephesians 5:14 Psalm 119:25

Praying in Spite of Yourself

Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it.
--MALACHI 1:13

My soul cleaveth unto the dust; quicken Thou me according to Thy word.
  --PSALMS 119:25

Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
  --EPHESIANS 5:14

THERE are some who give up their prayers because they have so little feeling in their prayers--so little warmth of feeling. But who told us that feeling was to be a test of prayer? The work of prayer is a far too noble and necessary work to be laid aside for any lack of feeling. Press on, you who are dry and cold in your prayers, press on as a work and as a duty, and the Holy Spirit will, in His good time, refresh your prayers Himself.
  --ARTHUR F. WINNINGTON INGRAM

You do not feel in the spirit of prayer; you have no spiritual uplift; you are simply indifferent. Give that unhappy mood no heed. You know very well what you ought to do. You ought to present yourself before God; you ought to say your prayers. Do that, and the devout attitude, the bended knees, the folded hands, the quiet and the silence, the lips busied with holy words, will induce the consciousness of the divine presence, and help you to pray in spirit and in truth.
--GEORGE HODGES

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 1 John 4:16

A Broken and Contrite Heart

We have known and believed the love that God hath to us.
--1 JOHN 4:16

NOT what I am, O Lord, but what Thou art!
That, that alone can be my soul's true rest;
Thy love, not mine, bids fear and doubt depart, And stills the tempest of my tossing breast.
--HORATIUS BONAR

WHEN you go to prayer, your first thought must be: The Father is in secret, the Father waits me there. Just because your heart is cold and prayerless, get you into the presence of the loving Father. As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth you. Do not be thinking of how little you have to bring God, but of how much He wants to give you. Just place yourself before Him, and look up into His face; think of His love, His wonderful, tender, pitying love. Tell Him how sinful and cold and dark all is; it is the Father's loving heart will give light and warmth to yours.
--ANDREW MURRAY

God is not found in multiplicity, but in simplicity of thoughts and words. If one word suffice for your prayer, keep to that word, and to whatever short sentence will unite your heart with God,
--MARGARET MARY HALLAHAN

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalm 119:28 Colossians 2:2

Possibilities in Love

My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen Thou me according unto Thy word.
--PSALMS 119:28

That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love.
--COLOSSIANS 2:2

WHEN I am with Thee as Thou art with me,
Life will be self-forgetting power;
Love, ever conscious, buoyant, clear, and free
Will flame in darkest hour.
--GEORGE MACDONALD

EVERYTHING becomes possible to those who love. The commands of the Lord are no longer grievous, for the soul that loves is gifted by that love with fresh energies; it discovers in itself unsuspected possibilities, and is supplied with ever-flowing currents of new vigor. We shall be enabled to do so much if only we love. We live by loving, and the more we love the more we live; and therefore, when life feels dull and the spirits are low, turn and love God, love your neighbor, and you will be healed of your wound. Love Christ, the dear Master; look at His face, listen to His words, and love will waken, and you will do all things through Christ who strengtheneth you.
--HENRY SCOTT HOLLAND

The noble love of Jesus impels a man to do great things, and stirs him up to be always longing for what is more perfect.
--THOMAS À KEMPIS

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 1 John 4:21

Preeminent Love

This commandment have we from Him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
  --1 JOHN 4:21

HE who loves God all else above,
His own shall also clasp
In circles ampler far of love
Than weaker arms can grasp;
And farther down through space and time
His sympathies descend and climb.
  --SIR AUBREY DE VERE

THE true proficiency of the soul consists not so much in deep thinking, or eloquent speaking, or beautiful writing; as in much and warm loving. Now, if you ask me in what way this much and warm love may be acquired, I answer,--By resolving to do the will of God, and by watching to do His will as often as occasion offers. Those who truly love God love all good wherever they find it. They seek all good to all men. They commend all good, they always acknowledge and defend all good. They have no quarrels. They bear no envy. O Lord, give me more and more of this blessed love! It will be a magnificent comfort in the hour of death to know that we are on our way to be judged by Him whom we have loved above all things. We are not going to a strange country, since it is His country whom we love and who loves us.
  --ST. TERESA

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Ephesians 4:31

Recognize Sin

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.
--EPHESIANS 4:31

THE wider vision of the mind;
The spirit bright with sun;
The temper like a fragrant wind,
Chilling and grieving none;
The quickened heart to know God's will,
And on His errands run.
--SUSAN COOLIDGE

IT is of the very greatest moment to know the occasions of our sin, and the way in which it shows itself. To know the occasions, puts us on our guard; to know how our sin shows itself, gives us the means of stopping it. Thus, as to these occasions; one is made angry, if he is found fault with roughly, or even at all, or slighted, or spoken slightly of, or laughed at, or kept waiting, or treated rudely, or hurt even unintentionally, or if his will is crossed, or he is contradicted, or interrupted, or not attended to, or another be preferred to him, or if he cannot succeed in what he has to do. These sound little things when we speak of them in the presence of God, and in the sight of eternity. But these and such like little things make up our daily trials, our habits of mind, our life; our likeness or unlikeness to God, who made us in His own image; our eternity.
--E. B. PUSEY

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Luke 10:19

The Strongest Power

Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
--LUKE 10:19

SHED down on me Thy mighty power,
To strengthen for each coming hour;
And then, through flood, through fire and sword,
I'll follow Thee, my Lord, my Lord!
--JOHANN RAMBACH

WHY do we grow so little in grace? It is because we do not use our intellect to meditate upon the forces of the unseen world amidst which we live, or our will to draw upon them. We know that we are weak, and sin and Satan are strong, and we know the truth. But there is a third power stronger than either our weakness or the forces of evil, which we commonly forget, and which will never disclose itself except in our using of it. We must stir up the gift within us. Within us we have the Spirit of power, the Spirit of Jesus, the life of Jesus. It remains to us to appeal to it; in constant acts of faith to draw upon it and to use it. Thus it will become to each of us as much a truth of experience as it was to St. Paul, and no vague language of metaphor, that "it is no longer merely I that live, but Christ that liveth in me."
--CHARLES GORE

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 2 Corinthians 4:17

Turn Trials to Opportunity

Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
  --2 CORINTHIANS 4:17

ONLY be still, and wait His leisure
In cheerful hope, with heart content
To take whate'er thy Father's pleasure,
And all-discerning love hath sent;
Nor doubt our inmost wants are known
To Him who chose us for His own.
  --GEORG NEUMARK, 1657

OH, how is the face of life altered, as soon as a man has in earnest made his first object to do his Father's will! Oh, how do, what before seemed grievous burdens, bodily sickness, domestic trial, privations, losses, bereavement, the world's scorn, man's unthankfulness, or whatever grief his Father may put upon him, how do these things change! To those, whose hope is in heaven, everything becomes a means of discipline, an instrument of strengthening their cheerful acceptance of their Father's will. Their irksome tasks, privations, sickness, heaviness of heart, unkindness of others, and all the sorrows which their Father allots them in this world, are so many means of conforming them to their Saviour's image. Then doth everything which God doeth with them seem to them "very good," even because He doth it.   --EDWARD B. PUSEY

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Matthew 26:42

Thy Will Be Done

O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, Thy will be done.
  --MATTHEW 26:42

To do or not to do,--to have,
Or not to have I leave to Thee;
To be or not to be, I leave,--
Thy only will be done to me:
All my requests are lost in one,
Father, Thy only will be done!
  --C. WESLEY

DEAR Lord, in all our loneliest pains
Thou hast the largest share,
And that which is unbearable,
'Tis Thine, not ours, to bear.
  --FREDERICK W. FABER

OFFER thyself as a sacrifice to God in peace and quietness of spirit. And the better to proceed in this journey, and support thyself without weariness and disquiet, dispose thy soul at every step, by widening out thy will to meet the Will of God. The more thou dost widen it, the more wilt thou receive. Thy will must be disposed as follows: to will everything and to will nothing, if God wills it or wills it not.
  --LORENZO SCUPOLI

You must make, at least once every week, a special act of love to God's will above all else, and that not only in things supportable, but also in things insupportable.
  --ST. FRANCIS DE SALES

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalm 130:6 Psalm 18:28

Wait for Light

My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
--PSALMS 130:6

The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
--PSALMS 18:28

A SOUL that is patient waits with calm endurance for light before acting, and in virtue of this calm and patient endurance suffers no pain or anxiety, because the soul possesses herself and waits for light; and when the mind waits patiently for light, sooner or later it is sure to come. Trials of mind affect us more deeply than pains of body, and if we give way to anxiety such trials become troubles, and are immensely increased. But this cannot happen to those patient souls, who feel that they are in the hands of God, and are encircled with His fatherly providence, and that all things are in His disposal. When we see not our way through some trial or difficulty, we have only to look to God, and to wait in patience, and in due time His light will come and guide us. This very attitude of waiting, this very patience of expecting, will dispose the mind to receive, and the will to rightly use, the needful light. Whenever you are perplexed as to what course you should take, if you go blindly into action you will be sure to repent it. Wait for light, wait with patience, and light will not fail you.
--WILLIAM BERNARD ULLATHORNE

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Jeremiah 7:27

Selfish Conversation

Thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee.
--JEREMIAH 7:27

HIS eyes were bright with intelligence and trained powers of observation; and they were beautiful with kindliness, and with the well-bred habit of giving complete attention to other people and their affairs when he talked with them.
--JULIANA H. EWING

There is a grace of kind listening, as well as a grace of kind speaking. Some men listen with an abstracted air, which shows that their thoughts are elsewhere. Or they seem to listen, but by wide answers and irrelevant questions show that they have been occupied with their own thoughts, as being more interesting, at least in their own estimation, than what you have been saying. Some interrupt, and will not hear you to the end. Some hear you to the end, and then forthwith begin to talk to you about a similar experience which has befallen themselves, making your case only an illustration of their own. Some, meaning to be kind, listen with such a determined, lively, violent attention, that you are at once made uncomfortable, and the charm of conversation is at an end. Many persons, whose manners will stand the test of speaking, break down under the trial of listening. But all these things should be brought under the sweet influences of religion.
--FREDERICK WM. FABER

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference John 15:16

Life of the Chosen

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.
--JOHN 15:16

Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
--JOHN 15:14

OWE have not chosen Thee,
But us Thou deign'st to choose,--
Not servants, but Thy friends to be,
Whom Thou wilt never lose:
For never wilt Thou change
Who art all change above:
Nor life nor death shall us estrange
>From Thy most perfect love.
--GEORGE B. BUBIER

WE offer Christ the submission of our hearts, and the obedience of our lives; and He offers us His abiding Presence. We take Him as our Master, and He takes us as His friends. Our Lord takes us up into a relationship of love with Himself, and we go out into life inspired with His spirit to work His work. It begins with the self-surrender of love; and love, not fear or favor, becomes the motive. To feel thus the touch of God on our lives changes the world. Its fruits are joy and peace, and confidence that the events of life are suffused, not only with meaning, but with a meaning of love. The soul that is bound by this personal attachment to Jesus has a life in the eternal, which transfigures the life in time with a great joy.
--HUGH BLACK

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[nChrist]

Title: Growth in Holiness
Book: Joy and Strength
Author: Mary Wilder Tileston


Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ.
--2 CORINTHIANS 2:14

FIGHT the good fight
With all thy might;
Christ is thy Strength, and Christ thy Right;
Lay hold on life,
And it shall be
Thy joy and crown eternally.
--J. B. S. MONSELL

LET the first act on waking be to place yourself, your heart, mind, faculties, your whole being, in God's hands. Ask Him to take entire possession of you, to be the Guide of your soul, your Life, your Wisdom, your Strength. He wills that we seek Him in all our needs, that we may both know Him truly, and draw closer and closer to Him; and in prayer we gain an invisible force which will triumph over seemingly hopeless difficulties.
--H. L. SIDNEY LEAR

However matters go, it is our happiness to win new ground daily in Christ's love, and to purchase a new piece of it daily, and to add conquest to conquest.
--SAMUEL RUTHERFORD

This ought to be our endeavor,--to conquer ourselves, and daily to wax stronger, and to make a further growth in holiness.
--THOMAS À KEMPIS

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Colossians 3:3 Colossians 3:12-13

Everyone's Responsibility

Your life is hid with Christ in God.
--COLOSSIANS 3:3

Put on therefore a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving each other; even as the Lord forgave you so also do ye.
--COLOSSIANS 3:12-13 (R. V.)

IT is not the deed we do,
Though the deed be never so fair,
But the love that the dear Lord looketh for,
Hidden with holy care
In the heart of the deed so fair.
--HARRIET MCEWEN KIMBALL

THESE are duties which belong to us alike, whatever our outward lot be, whether rich or poor, honored or despised, amid outward joys or sorrows. For as our life is hidden in Christ, so have we all an outward and an inward, a hidden life. Outwardly, we seem busied for the most part about common things, with trivial duties, worthless tasks. Inwardly we are, or ought to be, studying how, in all, to please God, walking in His sight, doing them in His Presence, seeking to know how He would have them done. So amid trivial things we may be, nay men are, in every station of life, pleasing God, that is, leading angels' lives, in that they are doing His will on earth, as the angels in heaven. They are "servants of His, doing His pleasure."
--EDWARD B. PUSEY

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference John 4:34

The Correct Perspective

My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work.
--JOHN 4:34

THEY who tread the path of labor follow where My feet have trod;
They who work without complaining do the holy will of God.
--HENRY VAN DYKE

WHENCE comes it that we have so many complaints, each saying that his occupation is a hindrance to him, while notwithstanding his work is of God, who hindereth no man? Whence comes this inward reproof and sense of guilt which torment and disquiet you? Dear children, know that it is not your work which gives you this disquiet. No; it is your want of order in fulfilling your work. If you performed your work in the right method, with a sole aim to God, and not to yourselves, your own likes and dislikes, nor sought your own gain or pleasure, but only God's glory, in your work, it would be impossible that it should grieve your conscience. It is a shame for a man if he have not done his work properly, but so imperfectly that he has to be rebuked for it. For this is a sure sign that his works are not done in God, with a view to His glory and the good of his neighbor.
--JOHN TAULER

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[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Isaiah 45:3

No Matter the Circumstances

I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
--ISAIAH 45:3

GOD! Thou art Love! I build my faith on that! I know Thee, Thou hast kept my path and made
Light for me in the darkness--tempering sorrow,
So that it reached me like a solemn joy:
It were too strange that I should doubt Thy love.
--ROBERT BROWNING

IF I believe in God, in a Being who made me, and fashioned me, and knows my wants and capacities and necessities, because He gave them to me, and who is perfectly good and loving, righteous, and perfectly wise and powerful,--whatever my circumstances inward or outward may be, however thick the darkness which encompasses me, I yet can trust, yea, be assured, that all will be well, that He can draw light out of darkness, and make crooked things straight.
--THOMAS ERSKINE

Though sorrows, heaviness, and faintings of heart ever so much increase; yet, if thy faith increase also, it will bear thee up in the midst of them. I would fain have it go well with thee, and that thou mightest not want the holy Counsellor and Adviser, in any strait or difficulty which the wise and tender God orders to befall thee.
--ISAAC PENINGTON

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