Devotional Column

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 37, 13 February 1937, Page 5

Devotional Column

■WHAT PRAYER MEANS. The necessity for prayer is the means by which God secures for Himself the delight of hearing llis children speak to Him. Moreover, wo must remember thut submission of my will to God's will i.s a real and essential clement iu prayer. I am not to understand that Christ means that if I ask long and often enough 1 shall get what I want. There i? far more blessedness in duo submission to God’s will than ever can be in perking up my own will ugainst llis. When He bolds the blessing that we may feel our need more I may be importunate. When He signifies to my spirit thut, as with Paul, I must ask Him no more of that one thing, then submission and not wrest ling is blest. THE GOSPEL. So long as sin endures the world will need a- Saviour, and in the only-be-gotten Son of God we have a Saviour Who is able to save to the uttermost. We know this. We have proved it in our own experience, and we have seen it proved in a myriad lives. Why, then, do we utter that Gospel so hesitantly? Why are we playing about on the fringes of religion instead of living at its vital core? Every lever that lilts must have a fulcrum; and in the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints wo have the fulcrum which in every century has lifted humanity out of the horrible pit and out of tho miry clay.— R. Moffat Gautrey. "YE SERVE THE LORD CHRIST." Until we see Th*y face, beloved Lord, And bow with reverence before Tby throne, Join in the triumph song with one accord, And meet those whom on earth we called our own: Help us to be Thy faithful servants here, Willing to go wherever Thou ahalt send, Content with what to others may appear Some hopeless task, on which our lives we Spend. Thou dost look down, with ever-watch-ful eyes, On countless unseen acts of service done; On all the bravo attempts to win tho prize Of Thine approval, when the race is Itabboni, keep us true, where’**»■ we go, Fearless to follow, loyal to Thy name. May we, who still are serving Thee below, Share, one day, with Thy saints who "overcame." NOT OF THE WORLD. Would you judge of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of pleasure, of the innocence or malignity of actions—take this rule; whatever weakness your reason, impairs tho tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off the relish of spiritual things; iu short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind; that thing is siu to you, however innocent it may be in itself.—ln a letter to John Wesley from his mother. Anything that would hinder us from the closest walk with Josus that is possible to us till we see Him face to face, is not for us.—Amy Wilson Carmichael. THE PROMISES, OUR INHERITANCE. Happy is it for him if he knows how to enrich himself with their hidden treasures. They are an armoury containing all manner of offensive and defensive weapons. Blessed is he who has learned to enter tho sacred arsenal, to put on tho breastplate and the helmet, and to lay his hand to the spear and the sword. They are a surgery in which tho believer will find all manner of restoratives and blessed elixirs; nor lacks there an ointment for every wound, a cordial for every faintness, a remedy for every disease. Blessed is he who knoweth how to lay hold on the healing virtues of the prom ises of God. —C. H. Spurgeon. THE HEART OF LOVE. ‘TOR SHE LOVED MUCH." (Luke 7, 47). The richest ointment that her love could bring, Was poured upon her Lord, her glorious King; But to His heart more fragrant ani more sweet, Those happy loving tears that washed His feet. BLESSING IN WAITING. A great deal is said in the Bio., about waiting for God. Tho lesson cannot bo too strongly enforced. We easily grow impatient of God’s delays. Much of our trouble iu life comes out of v>ur restless, sometimes reckless, haste. Wo cannot wait for tho fruit ripen, but insist on plucking it while it is green. We cannot wait for the answers to our prayers, although the years in their preparation. Christ Himself is better than any of His blessings; better than the power, or the victory, or tho service, that He grant.. Christ creates spiritual power; hut Christ is better than that power. JIo is Coil’s best,; Ho is Cod; and wo may have this best.