Joy And Strength

[nChrist]

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 130:6 Psalms 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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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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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 2 Corinthians 2:14

Growth in Holiness

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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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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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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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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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Colossians 1:11

Acceptance of God's Dispensations

Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.
  --COLOSSIANS 1:11

REJOICE in Christ always!
When earth looks heavenly bright,
When joy makes glad the livelong day,
And peace shuts in the night.
Rejoice, when care and woe
The fainting soul oppress,
When tears at wakeful midnight flow,
And morn brings heaviness.
  --JOHN MOULTRIE

A GREAT point is gained when we have learned not to struggle against the circumstances God has appointed for us.
  --H. L. SIDNEY LEAR

All mental discomfort comes from our minds being in divergence from God's; when the two are agreed no warfare occurs, for they work together, and man's mind accepts God's rule, but reason tells us that disagreement must bring conflicts. He will have His way, and would have us accept all events with the knowledge that He is love, whatever and however contradictory those events may be to our comprehension of Him.
  --CHARLES GEORGE GORDON

Something is wrong, when the Christian cannot rejoice in all the dear dispensations of his Father's providence.
  --ISABELLA CAMPBELL, 1825
 
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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 1 Chronicles 29:5

The Christian Service

Who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord? --1 CHRONICLES 29:5

My blessed task from day to day
Is humbly, gladly, to obey.
--HARRIET MCEWEN KIMBALL

THE only way to restore a weakened will is by exercising itself in details of duty, it may be in smallest acts of obedience, regularly done, "here a little, and there a little," content to grow by slow degrees into the use of lost powers through repeated acts of observance however trivial or unobserved. Faithfulness to every smallest call of obedience, as it comes, is the means of gaining gradual accessions of strength, and thus tending more and more to higher degrees of conformity to the Will of God. Only by such simple practical dutifulness can habits be formed. --T. T. CARTER

Break off some one evil, seek to uproot some one sin, cut off some one self-indulgence, deny thyself some one vanity; do it as an offering to God, for the love of God, in hope once to see God; and some gleam of faith, and life, and love will stream down upon thy soul from the everlasting Fount of love. Follow on, and thou shalt never lose that track of light. --EDWARD B. PUSEY

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 119:45

Freedom by Grace

I will walk at liberty: for I seek Thy precepts.
--PSALMS 119:45

To be made with Thee one spirit,
Is the boon that I lingering ask,
To have no bar 'twixt my soul and Thine;
My thoughts to echo Thy will divine,
Myself Thy servant for any task.
--LUCY LARCOM

THERE is more effort, more steadfastness, involved in a diligent attention to little duties than appears at first sight, and that because of their continual recurrence. Such heed to little things implies a ceaseless listening to the whispers of grace, a strict watchfulness against every thought, wish, word or act which can offend God ever so little, a constant effort to do everything as perfectly as possible. All this, however, must be done with a free, childlike spirit, without restlessness and anxiety. He does not ask a fretted, shrinking service. Give yourself to Him, trust Him, fix your eye upon Him, listen to His voice, and then go on bravely and cheerfully, never doubting for an instant that His grace will lead you in small things as well as great, and will keep you from offending His law of love.
--JEAN NICOLAS GROU

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Isaiah 3:15

Exercising Simple Faith

In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.
--ISAIAH 30:15

BE Still, MY soul--for just as thou art still,
Can God reveal Himself to thee; until
Through thee His love, and light, and life can freely flow.
In stillness God can work through thee and reach
The souls around thee. He then through thee can teach
His lessons--and His power in weakness show.
--BESSIE PORTER

WE are always wanting to be doing, to be giving, to be planning for the future, to be mapping out all our life; instead of resting and receiving day by day, leaving the morrow to our God, and rejoicing in Jesus Christ amidst all our falls and failures. Instead of going on rejoicing in Jesus, we are tempted to despond, and to go on desponding, after every failure, negligence, and sin.
--GEORGE H. WILKINSON

We seek God afar off, in projects perhaps altogether unattainable, and we do not consider that we possess Him now in the midst of confusion, by the exercise of simple faith, provided we bear humbly and bravely the annoyances which come from others, and our own imperfect ions.
--FRANCOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNELON

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

Count Your Blessings

Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee.
--DEUTERONOMY 8:2

NOT mindless of the growing years
Of care and loss and pain,
My eyes are wet with thankful tears
For blessings that remain.
--J. G. WHITTIER

THE years of available and happy life which have been already enjoyed ought to be the cause of thankfulness, even if "the days of darkness" were many. "The sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier things," says Tennyson. Surely, in the sphere of Faith, at least, there is some mistake here. "For what we have received the Lord make us truly thankful."
--JAMES SMETHAM

A bright, happy soul, rejoicing in all God's gifts, seeing cause for thankfulness and gladness in everything, counting up mercies rather than trials, looking at the bright side, even of sickness, bereavement, and death--what a very fountain of goodness and love of Christ such an one is! I remember one who, worn with sickness and sleepless nights, answered to the question if the nights did not seem interminable: "Oh no, I lie still, and count up my blessings!"
--H. L. SIDNEY LEAR

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Ephesians 1:10

Company of the Apostles

That He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth.
--EPHESIANS 1:10

For all the saints who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy name, O Jesu, be for ever blessed.
Alleluia!

Oh, blest communion! fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia!
WILLIAM W. HOW

IN the glorious company of the apostles, the goodly fellowship of the prophets, the noble army of martyrs, the holy Church throughout all the world is one. Therefore year by year let us reverently commemorate their names, remembering what they were, but stead-fastly gazing at what they are. Their very words are still ringing in our ears: of some the beloved image too is full before us. Let us live as they would bid us, could they still speak: let us fulfil their known behests, following in their steps, filling up the works that they began, carrying on their hallowed offices, now be-queathed to our care; let us be like them in deadness to sin, and unceasing homage to our unseen Lord. As we grow holier, we grow nearer to them; to be like them is to be with them; even now they are not far from us, we know not how nigh.
HENRY EDWARD MANNING

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

Inheritance of the Saints

Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.
COLOSSIANS 1:12

NOT their own, ah! not from earth was flowing
That high strain to which their souls were tuned;
Year by year we saw them inly growing
Liker Him with whom their hearts communed.
Then to Him they passed; but still unbroken,
Age to age, lasts on that goodly line,
Whose pure lives are, more than all words spoken,
Earth's best witness to the life divine.
JOHN CAMPBELL SHAIRP

ONLY to remember that such have been, that we walked for a season with them, is a chastening, a purifying, yea, and however much we may miss and mourn them, a gladdening thought.
RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH

The beatitude of the Saints is the matured result of the long course of patient strivings, which may have passed wholly unobserved because of their minuteness. One step has followed another in the mysterious progress of daily, hourly acts, each seeming to pass away, as footprints on the sand are obliterated by the advancing tide; but the end is the Vision of God, and the recompense is the perfection of a nature made one with the Mind of God.
T. T. CARTER

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Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Job 13:15 Isaiah 48:10

I Have Refined Thee

Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.
JOB 13:15

Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
ISAIAH 48:10

I WILL not let Thee go; Thou Help in time of need!
Heap ill on ill, I trust Thee still,
E'en when it seems that Thou wouldst slay indeed!
Do as Thou wilt with me, I yet will cling to Thee;
Hide Thou Thy face, yet, Help in time of need,
I will not let Thee go.
WOLFGANG C. DESSLER

YOUR afflictions are not eternal, time will end them, and so shall ye at length see the Lord's salvation; His love sleepeth not, is still in working for you; His salvation will not tarry nor linger; and suffering for Him is the noblest cross out of heaven. Your Lord hath the choice of ten thousand other crosses, beside this, to exercise you withal; but His wisdom and His love choosed out this for you, beside them all; and take it as a choice one, and make use of it. Let the Lord absolutely have the ordering of your evils and troubles, and put them off you, by recommending your cross and your furnace to Him, who hath skill to melt His own metal, and knoweth well what to do with His furnace.
SAMUEL RUTHERFORD

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