A STORY ABOUT WORRY) "I once met a poor 'colored woman', who earned a precarious living by hard, daily labor; but who was a joyous, triumphant Christian. 'Ah, Nancy,' said a gloomy Christian lady to her one day, '... it is well enough to be happy NOW...; but I should think the thoughts of your future would sober you!' /// 'Only suppose, for an instance, you should have a spell of sickness, and be unable to work; or suppose your present employers should move away, and no one else should give you any work; or suppose...;' /// 'STOP!', cried Nancy, 'I never supposes! De Lord is my Shepherd, and I knows I shall not want! And, honey,' she added, to her gloomy friend, '... it's all dem supposes as is makin you so miserable. You'd better give dem all up, and just trust de Lord!'" --Anonymous [SITD#1 6/9]

A STORY ABOUT DEATH) 'He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass.' Ps 72:6 "Amos speaks of the King's mowings. Our King has many scythes, and is perpetually mowing His lawns. The musical tinkle of the whetstone on the scythe portends the cutting down of myriads of green blades, daisies, and other flowers. Beautiful as they were in the morning, within an hour or two they lie in long, faded rows. /// "Thus in human life we make a brave show, before the scythe of pain, the shears of disappointment, the sickle of death. There is no method of obtaining a velvety lawn but by repeated mowings; and there is no way of developing tenderness, evenness, sympathy, but by the passing of God's scythes. /// "How constantly the Word of God compares man to grass, and his glory to its flower! But when grass is mown, and all the tender shoots are bleeding, and desolation reigns where flowers were bursting, it is the most acceptable time for showers of rain falling soft and warm. /// "O soul, thou hast been mown! Time after time the King has come to thee with His sharp scythe. Do not dread the scythe -- it is sure to be followed by the shower!" --F.B. Meyer

A STORY ABOUT DEATH) "A few days before his death, Dr. F.B. Meyer (famed Deeper-life author) wrote a very dear friend these words: "I have just heard, to my great surprise, that I have but a few days to live. It may be that before this reaches you, I shall have entered the Palace. Don't trouble to write. We shall meet in the morning!"

A STORY ABOUT DEATH) "I had dropped in upon an old friend of my boyhood days. She was one of God's own saints. Rich in experience, she was ripe for the coming glory. She had gone so far in life's pilgrimage that her mind was slightly beclouded, and her memory affected. /// As I rose to go home she arose also and said, "I want to go home." /// "But mother," said her daughter, "you are home now." At that she looked a bit dazed. Then looking at me with a tender smile she said with a profound touch of pathos in her voice, "I want to go home before its dark." /// "I opened the door and started homeward. The twilight sky was still aglow with the vanishing glory of the sunset. Beyond it lay the glory of the Father's House. /// My soul was tingling with the spiritual message my dear friend's words had brought me. What an unspeakable blessing for God's children to reach Home before it gets dark! /// Before the darkness of broken body and failing health; of dimmed senses and clouded faculties; of physical sufferings and infirmaties; of vanished faces, voices, and fellowships -- before all these come, how blessed it is to reach Home before it gets dark. /// "Sometimes we deplore the passing of those of God's own who die young. The young girl in the bloom of her sweet maidenhood; the lad in the flush of his strong youth; /// ...how premature it seems, and what a grievous mistake. But, is it not we who are mistaken in this? They have only reached Home before it got dark. /// They have entered the Homeland; they have found "a place to stay;" they are "forever with the Lord;" they see His face and walk in the unfailing splendor of His glory. /// It is only because we look through tear-blinded eyes, "see through a glass darkly," and so fail to measure eternal values as God measures them, that we ever lament as premature the passing of the young into the Homeland. /// The Father's House is thronged with children. /// And we may be sure He made no mistake in taking them there. After all, when we enter into a Homeland whose time-units are centuries and ages, instead of seconds and minutes, then the mere human distinctions of age and years shall count as nought." -- James McConkey

POEM, AGENDA "I carefully laid every plan; the future seemed so bright. My hopes and dreams, they towered high -- I saw no trace of night. /// "And then at closing of the day, I knelt in usual prayer, and prayed: 'Dear Lord, bless every plan -- all that I hope and dare.' /// "But day by day my plans all failed, my hopes came tumbling down. All my ambitions disappeared, and FAILURE was my crown! /// "Perplexed -- I could not understand; had I not knelt in prayer? And asked that every plan and hope would find a blessing rare? /// "Then in the stillness of the night, out from the shadows dim, I heard a sweet persuading voice that called me close to Him. /// "Why don't you let Me make you plans? I've trod the path before. Just leave the future in My hands, I'll lead thee o're and o're.' /// "In shame, I bowed my humble head; my spirit low was brought, for I had caught a strange new Light, by His Own Spirit taught. /// "No longer do I pray as once, 'Dear Lord, bless all my plans.' But now I pray: "Lord, plan FOR me, the future's in Thy hands!" --Anonomous

POEM, ANXIETY "His grace is great enough to meet the great things; the crashing waves that overwhelm the soul, the roaring winds that leave us stunned and breathless, the sudden storms beyond our life's control. -- His grace is great enough to meet the small things; the little pin-prick troubles that annoy, the insect worries, buzzing and persistant, the squeaking wheels that grate upon our Joy." --Annie Johnson Flint

POEM, ANXIETY "It is His Will that I should cast my cares on Him each day; He also tells me not to cast my confidence away -- But oh!, how foolishly I act, when taken unawares; I cast away my confidence, and carry all my cares!" --Anonomous [worry is sin against trust, which is mutiny against Love]

POEM, ANXIETY "O thou of little faith, God hath not failed thee yet! When all looks dark and gloomy, thou dost soon forget -- Forget that He has led thee, and gently cleared thy way; on clouds has poured His sunshine, and turned thy night to day. /// "And if He's helped thee hitherto, He will not fail thee now; how it must wound His loving heart to see thy anxious brow! Oh! doubt not any longer, to Him commit thy way, Whom in the past thou trusted, and 'is just the same today'!" --Anonomous

POEM, BROKEN-NESS "O break my heart; but break it as a field is by the plough up-broken for the corn; O break it as the buds, by green leaf sealed, are, to unloose the golden blossom torn; Love would I offer onto Love's great Master, set free the odor, break the alabaster. /// "O break my heart; break it victorious God, that life's eternal well may flash abroad; O let it break as when the captive trees, breaking cold bonds, regain their liberties; And as thought's sacred grove to life is springing, be joys, like birds, their hope, Thy victory singing!" -- Thomas Toke Bunch

POEM, COMFORT "I have been through the 'Valley Of Weeping', the valley of sorrow and pain; but the 'God of all comfort' was with me, at-hand to uphold and sustain. /// As the earth needs the clouds and the sunshine, our souls need both sorrow and joy; so He places us oft in the furnace, the dross from the gold to destroy. /// When He leads thru some valley of trouble, His Omnipotent hand we trace; for the trials and sorrows He sends us, are a part of His lessons in grace. /// Oft we shrink from the purging and pruning, forgetting the Husbandman knows; that the deeper the cutting and paring, the richer the cluster that grows! /// Well He knows that affliction is needed; He has a wise purpose in view, and in the dark valley He whispers, 'Hereafter thou'lt know what I do!'. /// As we travel thru life's shadowed valley, fresh springs of His love ever rise; and we learn that our sorrows and losses, are blessings just sent in disguise. /// So we'll follow wherever He leadeth, let the path be dreary or bright; for we've proved that our God can give comfort; our God can give songs in the night!" --Anonomous ("Without a hurt, the heart is hollow!" --A line from the musical, "FANTASTIKS")

POEM, COURAGE "Keep looking UP - The waves that roar around thy feet, Jehovah-Jireh will defeat, when looking up. /// Keep looking UP - Though darkness seems to wrap thy soul; the Light of Light shall fill thy soul, when looking up. /// Keep looking up - When worn, distracted with the fight; Your Captain gives you conquering might, when you look up!" --Anonymous

POEM, CROSS "Twas by a path of sorrows drear, Christ entered into Rest; and shall I look for roses here, or think that earth is blessed? Heaven's whitest lilies blow from earth's sharp crown of woe: who here his cross can meekly bear, shall wear the kingly purple there." --Anonymous

POEM, CROSS "Out of the presses of pain, cometh the soul's best wine; - And the eyes that have shed no rain, can shed but little shine!" -A.B.Simpson

POEM, CROSS "I know thy sorrow, child; I know it well, thou needst not try with broken voice to tell. Just let me lay thy head here on My breast, and find here sweetest comfort, perfect rest; Thou needst not bear the burden, child, thyself, I yearn to take it all upon Myself; Then trust it all to me today -- tomorrow, yes, e'en forever; for I know thy sorrow. /// "Long years ago I planned it all for thee; prepared it that thou mightst find need of Me. Without it, child, thou wouldst not come to find this place of comfort in this Love of Mine. Hadst thou no cross like this for Me to bear, thou wouldst not feel the need of My strong care; But in thy weakness thou didst come to Me, and through this plan I have won thee! /// "I know thy sorrow and I love thee more, because for such as thee I came and bore the wrong, the shame, the pain of Calvary, that I might comfort give to such as thee. So, resting here, My child, thy hand in Mine, thy sorrow to My care today resign; Dread not that some new care will come tomorrow -- What does it matter? I know all thy sorrow! /// "And I will gladly take it all for thee, if only thou wilt trust it all to Me, thou needest not stir, but in My love lie still, and learn the sweetness of they Father's will -- That will has only planned for the best; So, knowing this, lie still and sweetly rest. Trust Me. The future shall not bring to thee but what will bring thee closer still to Me!" --Anonomous

POEM, DEATH TITLE: "SEED CORN INTO GRAIN": "We are too stupid about death. We will not learn how it is wages paid to those who earn; How it is the gift for which on earth we yearn -- To be set free from bondage to the flesh; how it is turning seed corn into grain, how it is wining Heaven's eternal gain, how it means freedom evermore from pain, how it untangles every mortal mesh. /// We are so selfish about death. We count our grief far more than we consider their relief, when the great reaper gathers in the sheaf, no more to know the season's constant change; And we forget that it means only Life -- Life with all Joy, Peace and Rest and Glory rife, the Victory won, and ended all the strife, and Heaven no longer far away and strange!" --The Watchman Examiner (a 19th Century Christian magazine)

POEM, DEATH "Afraid? Of what? To feel the spirit's glad release? To pass from pain to perfect peace, the strife and strain of life to cease? Afraid of what? --- Afraid? Of what? Afraid to see the Saviour's face, to hear His welcome, and to trace the Glory-Gleam from wounds of Grace? Afraid of that?? /// Afraid? Of what? A flash - a crash - a pierced heart; darkness - light - O Heaven's art! A wound of His counterpart! Afraid of that? --- Afraid? Of what? To enter Heaven's Rest, and yet to serve the Master blest, from service good to service best? Afraid of that?? /// Afraid? Of what? To do by death what life could not -- Baptize with death a stony plot, till souls shall blossom from that spot? Afraid of that??" -- E.H. Hamilton

POEM, DISCERNMENT "Being perplexed, I say, 'Lord, make it right! Night is as day to Thee, darkness is as light. I am afraid to touch things that involve so much; my trembling hand may shake, my skilless hand may break; Thine can make no mistake.' /// "Being in doubt, I say, 'Lord, make it plain; which is the true, safe way? Which would be gain? I am not wise to know, nor sure of foot to go; what is so clear to Thee, Lord, make it clear to me!'" --Anonomous (We have but to obey to know!)

POEM, FAITH "Passive faith but praises in the light, when sun doth shine - Active faith will praise in darkest night; Which faith is thine?" --Anonymous

POEM, FAITH "The Shepherd does not ask of thee, Faith in thy Faith, but only Faith in Him: and this He meant in saying, 'Come unto me'. In light or darkness seek to do His will, and leave the work of Faith to Jesus still." --Anonymous

POEM, FAITH "Not until each loom is silent, and the shuttles cease to fly, will God unroll the pattern, and explain the reason "why?". The dark threads are as needful, in the Weaver's skillful hand, as the threads of gold and silver, for the pattern which He planned!" --Anonymous

POEM, FAITH "Stay firm, He has not failed thee, in all the past - and will He go and leave thee to sink at last? /// Nay, He said He will hide thee, beneath His wing... and sweetly there in safety, thou mayest sing!" --Anonymous

POEM, FAITH "I cannot know why suddenly, the storm should rage so fiercely round me in its wrath; but this I know - God watches all my path... and I can trust! /// I may not draw aside the mystic veil, that hides the unknown future from my sight, nor know if for me waits the dark or light... but I can trust! /// I have no power to look across the tide, to see while here the land beyond the river; but this I know - I shall be God's forever... so I can trust!" --Anonymous

POEM, FAITH "When the frosts are in the valley, and the mountaintops are grey; And the choicest buds are blighted, and the blossoms die away; A loving Father whispers, 'This cometh from My hand;' Blessed are ye if ye trust - where ye cannot understand! /// "If, after years of toiling, your health should fly away; And leave your hands all empty, and your locks are turning grey; Remember then your Father owns all the sea and land; Blessed are ye if ye trust - where ye cannot understand!" -- Anonomous

POEM, HUSH "Drop Thy still dews of quietness, till all our strivings cease; Take from our hearts the strain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess the bounty of Thy peace. /// Breathe through the pulses of desire Thy coolness and Thy balm; let sense be dumb, its beats expire: speak through the earthquake, wind and fire -- O still small Voice of calm!" --Anonymous

POEM, HUSH "O troubled soul, beneath the Rod, thy Father speaks, 'Be still, be still'; Learn to be silent unto God, and let Him mould thee to His will. /// "O praying soul, be still, be still, He cannot break His plighted Word; Sink down into His blessed will, and wait in patience on the Lord. /// "O waiting soul, be still, be strong, and though He tarry, trust and wait; Doubt not, He will not wait too long, fear not, He will not come too late!" --Anonomous {It has been said, "the Lord is seldom early - but He's never late!"}

POEM, HUSH "Thread in solitude thy pathway, quiet heart and undismayed. Thou shalt know things strange, mysterious, which to thee no voice has said. /// While the croud of petty hustlers grasps at vain and paltry things, thou wilt see a great world rising where soft mystic music rings. /// Leave the dusty road to others, spotless keep thy soul and bright, As the radiant ocean's surface when the sun is taking flight." --V. Schoffel

POEM, HUSH "Not in the tumult of the rending storm, not in the earthquake or the devouring flame; but in the hush that could all fear transform, the still, small whisper to the prophet came. /// O Soul, keep silence on the mount of God, though cares and needs throb round thee like the sea; from supplications and desires unshod, be still, and hear what God shall say to thee. /// All fellowship hath interludes of rest, new strength maturing in each poise of power; the sweetest Alleluias of the blest, are silent, for the space of half an hour. /// O rest, in utter quietude of soul, abandon words, leave prayer and praise awhile; let thy whole being, hushed in His control, learn the full meaning of His voice and smile. /// Not as an athlete wrestling for a crown, not taking Heaven by violence of will; but with thy Father as a child sit down, and know the bliss that follows His "Be Still!" --Mary Rowles Jarvis

POEM, HUSH "Be quiet! Why this anxious heed about thy tangled ways? God knows them all. He giveth speed, and He allows delays. - Tis good for thee to walk by faith and not by sight! - Take it on trust a little while. Soon shalt thou read the mystery aright, in the full sunshine of His smile." --Anonymous {"Active work may be the very counterfeit of spiritual activity!" --O.Chambers [MUFHH 7/10]}

POEM, HUSH "Be still! Just now be still! - Something thy soul hath never heard, something unknown to any song bird, something unknown to any wind, or wave, or star; A message from the Fatherland afar, that with sweet joy the homesick soul shall thrill... cometh to thee if thou canst but, BE STILL!" /// "Be Still! Just now, be still! - There comes a Presence very mild and sweet; white are the sandals of His noisless feet. It is the Comforter Whom Jesus sent, to Teach thee what the Words He unttered MEANT. The willing, waiting spirit, He doth fill... if thou would'st hear His Message, dear soul - BE STILL!" -- Anonomous

POEM, HUSH "'I will be still,' my bruised heart faintly murmured, As o're me rolled a crushing load of woe; The cry, the call, e'en the low moan was stifled; I pressed my lips; I barred the teardrop's flow. /// "I will be still, although I cannot see, The love that bares a soul and fans pain's fire; Than takes away the last sweet drop of solace, Breaks the lone harp string, hides Thy prescious lyre. /// "But God is love, so I will 'bide me, 'bide me -- We'll doubt not, Soul, we will be very still; We'll wait till after a while, when He shall lift us -- Yes, after awhile, when it shall be His will. /// "And I did listen to my heart's brave promise; And I did quiver, struggling to be still; And I did lift my tearless eyes to Heaven, Repeating ever, 'Yea, Christ, have Thy will!" /// "But soon my heart upspake from 'neath our burden, Reproved my tight-drawn lips, my visage sad; 'We can no more than this, O Soul,' it whispered. 'We can be more than still, we can be glad!" /// "And now my heart and I are sweetly singing -- Singing without the sound of tuneful strings; Drinking abundant waters in the desert; Crushed and yet soaring as on eagle's wings!" -- S.P.W. (C2/26)

POEM, HUSH "STAND STILL!, my soul, for so thy Lord commands: E'en when thy way seems blocked, leave it in His wise hands; His arm is mighty to divide the wave. STAND STILL!, my soul, STAND STILL! and thou shalt see how God can work the impossible for thee, for with a great deliverance He doth save! /// "Be not impatient, but in stillness stand, even when compassed 'round on every hand, in ways thy spirit does not comprehend. God cannot clear thy way till thou art still, that He may work in thee His blessed will, and all thy heart and will to Him do bend. /// "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! /// "BE STILL! -- a deeper step in faith and rest. "Be still and know!" thy Father knoweth best the way to lead His child to that fair land, a "Summer" land, where quiet waters flow; where longing souls are satisfied, and "know their God", and praise for all that He has planned!" --Anonymous

POEM, JESUS HELD HIS PEACE "The day when Jesus stood alone and felt the hearts of men like stone, and knew He came but to Atone; That day "He held His peace!" /// They witnessed falsely to His word, they bound Him with a cruel cord, and mockingly proclaimed Him Lord; "But Jesus held His peace !" /// They spat upon Him in the face, they dragged Him on from place to place, they heaped upon Him all disgrace; "But Jesus held His peace!" /// My friend, have you for far much less, with rage which you called righteousness, resented slights with great distress? Your Saviour held His peace!" --L.S.P.

POEM, MISJUDGED "Men may misjudge thy aim, think they have cause to blame, say thou art wrong... Keep on thy quiet Way, Christ is the Judge, not they -- Fear not, be strong!" --Anonymous

POEM, MORNING WATCH {"The Morning Watch"} "Begin the day with God! He is thy Sun and Day! His is the radiance of thy dawn; to Him address thy lay. - Sing a new song at morn! Join the glad woods and hills; join the fresh winds and seas and plains, join the bright flowers and rills. - /// Sing thy first song to God! Not to thy fellow men; not to the creature of His hand, but to the Glorious One! - Take thy first walk with God! Let Him go forth with thee; by stream or sea, or mountain path, see still His company. /// - Thy first transaction be with God Himself above; so shall thy business prosper well, and all thy day be Love!" --Horatius Bonar /// At the world-renowned "Keswick Convention" in England - reputed for years to be the largest single gathering of Christians, Missionaries & Clergy from all over the globe - the congregants were asked one question upon arrival each year; /// "What one habit or characteristic would you advise any New Babe in-Christ would be the most important for him/her to master?". Year after year the almost unanimous response was, "The Morning Watch!". /// So much so, it was abandoned as a cliche! The 'Morning Watch' is a faithful appointment with God (most usually upon first-waking in the A.M.), and consists of spending ALONE-TIME with the Lord in diligent Bible study, serious Prayer and child-like God-bonding. "Any soul who has not that solitary place alone with God is in supreme peril spiritually!" --Oswald Chambers (HGM)

POEM, OBEY "God bade me go when I would stay ('twas cool within the wood); I did not know the reason why. I heard a boulder crashing by, accross the path just where I stood. /// He bade me stay when I would go; "Thy will be done!", I said. They found one day at early dawn, accross the way I would have gone, a serpent with a mangled head! /// No more I ask the reason why, although I may not see, the path ahead, His way I go; for though I know not, He doth know, and He will choose safe paths for me." --Sunday School Times

POEM, OVERCOMING "Great is the facile conqueror; yet haply, he, who, wounded sore... Breathless, all covered o'er with blood and sweat... Sinks fainting, but fighting evermore -- is greater yet!" --Anonymous

POEM, OVERCOMING "Have you come to the 'Red Sea' place in your life, where, in spite of all you can do, there is no way out, there is no way back, there is no other way but through? Then wait on the Lord with a trust serene till the night of your fear is gone; He will send the wind, He will heap the floods, when He says to your soul, "Go on!" /// "And His hand will lead you through -- clear through -- ere the watery walls roll down, no foe can reach you, no wave can touch, no mightiest sea can drown; The tossing billows may rear their crests, their foam at your feet may break, but over their bed you shall walk dry shod in the path that your Lord will make!" /// "In the morning watch, 'neath the lifted cloud, you shall see but the Lord alone, when He leads you on from the place of the sea to a land that you have not known; And your fears shall pass as your foes have passed, you shall be no more afraid; You shall sing His praise in a better place, a place that His hand has made!" -- Annie Johnson Flint

POEM, PATIENCE "O thou of little faith, God hath not failed thee yet! - When all looks dark and gloomy, thou dost soon forget! /// Forget that He has led thee, and gently cleared thy way - On clouds has poured His sunshine, and turned thy night to day! /// And if He's helped thee hitherto, He will not fail thee now - How it must wound His loving heart, to see thy anxious brow! /// Oh! doubt not any longer, to Him COMMIT thy way - Whom in the past thou trusted, and is just the same today!" --Anonomous [See Isa 30:18; Lk 21:19] {"... Fret not thyself, it tendeth only to evil doing!" --Ps 37:(8)RSV}

POEM, PEACE! "My peace I give in times of deepest grief, imparting calm and trust and My relief. My peace I give when prayer seems lost; know that my promises are ever in My Word. /// "My peace I give when thou art left alone -- the nightingale at last has sweetest tone. My peace I give in time of utter loss, the way of glory leads right to the cross. /// "My peace I give when enemies will blame. Thy fellowship is sweet through cruel shame. My peace I give in agony and sweat, for Mine own brow with Bloody drops was wet! /// "My peace I give when nearest friend betrays -- peace that is merged in love, and for them prays. My peace I give when there's but death for thee -- the Gateway is the Cross to get to Me!" --L.S.P.

POEM, 'A PILGRIM'S PRAYER' "To grow a little wiser day by day - To keep my inner life both clean and strong - To free my life from guile, my heart from wrong - To shut the door on hate and scorn and pride - To open up to love the window wide - To meet with cheerful heart what comes to me - To turn life's discords into harmony - /// To share some weary worker's heavy load - To point some straying comrad to the Road - To know that what I have is not my own - To feel that I am never quite alone - This would I pray from day to day - For then I know my life would flow - In peace until it be God's will I go." --Anonomous

POEM, PRAYER "Speak thou to Him for he heareth, and Spirit with Spirit will meet! - Nearer is He than breathing, nearer than hands and feet." --Maltbie D. Babcock

POEM, PRAYER "May the Lord keep Watch between you and me while we are away from each other; helping together so far apart, long distances dividing, and loving words pass not our hearts between; /// ...nor know each the many things betiding; nor on each other, comforted, may lean; /// ...but we may pray with strong and Holy pleading, and live that so our pleadings must prevail; /// ...and He Who Knoweth well what each is needing, can guide us what to ask to help avail; /// ...and at the End, when safely Home in Glory, when prayers and needs have changed for Wonders New, how sweet, how blessed, if we may read the Story of how each helped to pray the other through!" --A Missionary's husband-poem home.

POEM, "PRESSED!" "Pressed out of measure and pressed to all length; Pressed so intensely it seems, beyond strength! /// Pressed in the body and pressed in the soul; Pressed in the mind till the dark surges roll ... /// Pressure by foes, and a pressure from friends; Pressure on pressure, till life nearly ends! /// Pressed into knowing no helper but God; Pressed into loving the Staff and the Rod! /// Pressed into Liberty where nothing clings; Pressed into faith for impossible things! /// Pressed into living a life in the Lord; Pressed into living a Christ-Life outpoured!" --Anonymous ["... death worketh in us!" 2Cor 4:12]

POEM, SALVATION "We have a wonderful salvation. The Father THOUGHT it; The blood BOUGHT it; The Bible TAUGHT it; The spirit BROUGHT it; The devil FOUGHT it; Faith CAUGHT it; And I GOT it!" -Anonymous

POEM, SHUT-UP W/GOD "God sometimes shuts the door and shuts us in, that He may speak, perchance through grief or pain, and softly, heart-to-heart, above the din, may tell some precious thought to us again!" --Anonymous

POEM, SORROW "I walked a mile with Pleasure, she chattered all the way; But left me none the wiser, for all she had to say...... /// I walked a mile with Sorrow, and ne'er a word said she; But, oh, the things I learned from her, when Sorrow walked with me!" --Anonymous

POEM, SORROW "Go bury thy sorrow, the world hath its share; Go bury it deeply, go hide it with care; Go think of it calmly, when curtained by the night; Go tell it to Jesus, and all will be made right!" /// "Hearts growing a-weary with heavier woe, now droop 'mid the darkness, go comfort them - GO!; Go bury thy sorrows, let others be blest; Go give them the sunshine, tell Jesus the rest!" --Anonomous

POEM, STAND STILL! "STAND STILL!, my soul, for so the Lord commands; E'en when thy way seems blocked, leave it in His wise hands; His arm is mighty to divide the wave. Stand still, my soul, stand still - and thou shalt see how God can work the impossible for thee, for with a great deliverance He doth save!" /// "Be not impatient, but in stillness stand, even when compassed round on every hand, in ways thy spirit does not comprehend. God cannot clear thy way till thou art still, that He may work in thee His blessed will; and all thy heart and will to Him do bend." /// "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." /// "BE STILL! --- A deeper step in faith and rest! "Be still and KNOW!", thy Father knoweth best the way to lead His child to that fair land - a 'Summer Land' - where quiet waters flow; were longing souls are satisfied, and KNOW their God, and praise for all that He has planned." --Anonomous [If God is long-suffering for us, ought we not be patient with Him? - see Lk 21:19]

POEM, SUFFERING "There was a scar on yonder mountainside, gashed out where once the cruel storm had trod; a barren, desolate chasm, reaching wide across the soft green sod. /// "But years crept by beneath the purple pines, and veiled the scar with grass and moss once more, and left it fairer now with flowers and vines than it had been before. /// "There was a wound once in a gentle heart, whence all life's sweetness seemed to ebb and die; and love's confiding changed to bitter smart, while slow, sad years went by. /// "Yet as they passed, unseen an angel stole and laid a balm of healing on the plain, till love grew purer in the heart made whole, and peace came back again." -- Anonomous

POEM, THORN "Strange gift indeed! - a thorn to prick - to pierce into the very quick; to cause perpetual sense of pain; strange gift! - and yet, 'twas given for gain. /// "Unwelcome, - yet it came to stay; nor could it e'en be prayed away. It came to fill its God-planned place - a life-enriching means of grace. /// "And he who bore it day by day, found Christ his power, his strength, his stay; in weakness glorified, since thereby - the power of Christ might on him lie. /// "Oh much-tried saint, with fainting heart, the thorn with its perpetual smart, with all its wearing ceaseless pain can be thy means of priceless gain. /// "God's grace-thorns, - ah, what forms they take! What piercing, smarting pain they make! And yet, each one in love is sent, and always just for blessing meant. /// "And so, whate'er thy thorn may be, from God accept it willingly; but reckon Christ, - His life - the power to keep, in thy most trying hour. /// "And sure - thy life will richer grow; He grace sufficient will bestow; and in Heaven's morn thy joy 'twill be - that, by His thorn, He strengthened thee." --J. Danson Smith (SITD#2 10/8)

POEM, TRIALS "A hero is not fed on sweets; daily his own heart he eats! /// Chambers of the great are jails; and head winds right for Royal sails!" --Emerson

POEM, TRIALS "For every hill I've had to climb, for every stone that bruised my feet, for all the blood and sweat and grime, for blinding storms and burning heat, my heart sings but a grateful song -- These were the things that made me strong! /// "For all the heartaches and the tears, for all the anguish and the pain, for gloomy days and fruitless years, and for the hopes that lived in vain, I do give thanks, for now I know -- These were the things that helped me grow!" --Anonomous

POEM, TRIALS "Hold steady when the fires burn, when inner lessons come to learn - And from this path there seems no turn; "Let Patience have her Perfect Work!" --L.S.P.

POEM, TRUST "When is the time to trust? Is it when all is calm, when waves the victor's palm, and life is one glad psalm of joy and praise? Nay!, but the time to trust is when the waves beat high, when storm clouds fill the sky, and prayer is one long cry, O help and save me! /// "When is the time to trust? Is it when friends are true? Is it when comforts woo, and in all we say and do we meet but praise? Nay!, but the time to trust is when we stand alone, and summer birds have flown, and every prop is gone, all else but God. /// "What is the time to trust? Is it some future day, when you have tried YOUR way, and learned to trust and pray by bitter woe? Nay!, but the time to trust is in the moment's need, poor, broken, bruised reed! Poor, troubled soul, make speed to trust thy God. /// What is the time to trust?? Is it when hopes beat high, when sunshine guilds the sky, and joy and ecstacy fill all the heart? Nay!, but the time to trust is when our joy has fled, when sorrow bows the head, and all is cold and dead, all else but God!" --Anonomous { ... Else what's a Faith FOR??}

POEM, WAIT "When I cannot understand my Father's leading, And it seems to be but hard and cruel fate, Still I hear that gentle whisper ever pleading, God is working, God is faithful, *only wait*" [anonymous]

POEM, THE LIVING WORD "Oh, wonderful, wonderful Word of the Lord! - The hope of our friends in the past; Its truth where so firmly they anchored their trust, through ages eternal shall last. /// Oh, wonderful, wonderful Word of the Lord! - Unchanging, abiding and sure; For we know that when time and the world pass away, God's Word shall forever endure!" --Julia Sterling

POEM, VICTORY! "One in His death on the tree, one as He rose from the dead! - I from the curse am set free, E'en as my glorious Head! - One in His merits I stand, one as I pray in His Name! /// All that His worth can demand, I may with confidence claim! /// All that He has shall be mine, all that He is I shall be! - Robed in His glory divine, I shall be even as He!" -AB Simpson (DOHOE 12/1) (See 1Jn 4:17)

POEM, VICTORY! "'I will be still!,' my bruised heart faintly murmured, as o're me rolled a crushing load of woe; The cry, the call, e'en the low moan was stifled - I pressed my lips, I barred the teadrops flow! /// "I will be still, although I cannot see it - the love that bares a soul and fans pain's fire; That takes away the last sweet drop of solace, breaks the lone harp string, hides Thy precious lyre! /// "But God is love. So I will 'bide me, 'bide me -- We'll doubt not, soul, we will be very still; We'll wait till after while, when He shall lift us -- Yes, after while, when it shall be His will! /// "And I did listen to my heart's brave promise; And I did quiver, struggling to be still; And I did lift my tearless eyes to heaven, repeating over, 'Yea, Christ, have Thy will!' /// "But soon my heart upspake from 'neath our burden, reproved my tight-drawn lips, my visage sad; 'We can do more than this, O soul,' it whispered. 'We can be more than still, we can be GLAD!' /// "And now my heart and I sweetly singing -- Singing without the sound of tuneful strings; Drinking abundant waters in the desert; Crushed, and yet soaring as on eagle's wings!" --S.P.W.

POEM, WORRY TITLE: "OVERHEARD IN AN ORCHARD" -- "Said the robbin to the sparrow, 'I should really like to know why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so?' /// "Said the sparrow to the robbin, 'Friend, I think that it must be that they have no Heavenly Father such as cares for you and me!'" -- Elizabeth Cheny

(AFFLICTION) "Suffering is essential to profound spiritual life!" -A.B.Simpson [DOHOE 11/20] 1Pet 1:7 (KJS) That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: /// 1Pet 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

(AFFLICTION) "It is doubtful if God can ever use a man GREATLY until He has hurt him DEEPLY!" -A.W.Tozer

(APOSTASY) "It is an open question whether the evangelical movement has sinned too long and departed too far from God to return (repent) again to spiritual sanity!" --A.W.Tozer (RDBD#1 7/23) (Repentance, like Grace, is an OPPORTUNITY - and it CAN be denied)

(APETITE) "Where there is spiritual LIFE, there is spiritual APETITE!" --Stuart Brisco (You HUNGRY? - or dying?)

(BEATITUDES) "Christ's Beatitudes begin at the bottom of things -- the poor in spirit, the mourners, the hungry-hearts. Suffering is essential to profound spiritual life!" -A.B.Simpson [DOHOE 11/30] 2Tim 2:(12) "If we suffer, we shall also reign with [Him]..."

(CHARACTER) "The secret of Power is Character - but the secret of Character is God!" -D. Barnhouse [Lk 6:19, 8:46]

(COMMENTARIES) "Isn't it amazing how much Light the Bible throws on commentaries?" --Robert Thompson

(DEATH) "If you knew what God knows about death, you'd clap your listless hands!" --George MacDonald

(DOUBLE-MINDEDNESS) "The person who thinks he or she is serving God a little is deceived! He or she is not serving God. God will not have that service. The Devil will monopolize the person before long!" --A.B. Simpson (DOHOE 6/16) (Mt 6:24, Mt 16:23) Strong MEAT requires chewing!

(ERROR) "Throughout the whole world error and truth travel the same highways, work in the same fields and factories, attend the same churches, fly the same planes and shop the same stores. So skilled is error at imitating truth that the two are constantly being mistaken for each other. It takes a sharp eye these days to know which brother is Cain and which is Abel!" -A.W.Tozer [RDBD#1, 9/23]

(FEAR) "Fear is sin!" (carnal fear, that is) -A.B. Simpson (DOHOE 6/18) {See Ro 14:23}

(FOOL!) "Down deep inside every man is a fool trying to get out & take that soul to hell!" --A.B.Simpson [DOHOE 8-1]

(FREE WILL) "Where there is no frredom of choice there can be neither sin nor righteousness, because both are voluntary by nature! The very act of anything involuntarily imposed destroys its moral nature! Sin is a voluntary commission of an act known to be contray to the Will of God [or the willful rebellion against that Will]." --AW Tozer (RDBD#1 12/6)

(GRACE) "It is characteristic of the carnal, unregenerate man that he sees God only in nature; and of the immature Christian, that he can see God only in Grace!" --A.W.Tozer (RDBD#1 6/15)

(HUMILITY) "Knowledge without Humility turns to vanity!" --Tozer [RDBD #1, 9/25]

(IDOLATRY) "Idolatry is the supreme sin, and UNBELIEF IS THE CHILD of idolatry!" -A.W.Tozer 'He that believeth not God hath made God a liar!" (Jn 5:10) The very LAST WORDS of the Apostle John (other-than in Revelation) were: "Little children, keep yourselves from idols!" 1John 5:21 -- let me ask you, Pilgrim... what about YOUR idols? ... remember, nursing idols breeds unbelief!

(IMMATURITY) "The immature Christian sees God only in terms of Grace!" --A.W.Tozer [RDBD#1, 6/15]

(LOVE) "... love creates a likeness between that which loves and that which is love."Ascent Of Mt. Carmel" by John-Of-The-Cross

(LUKEWARMNESS) "The average modern Christian is not Christlike! Most Christians today live such sub-Christian lives that their Christianity is so watered-down and weak that, if it were poison, it would not hurt anyone, and, if it were medicine, it would not cure anyone!" -A.W.Tozer [RDBD#1 11/30]

(LUKEWARMNESS) "Few sights are more depressing than a confessed Christian defending his supposed "rights", and bitterly resisting any effort to "violate" them. Such a "Christian" has never accepted the 'Way-Of-The-Cross'." --A.W.Tozer [ RDBD#1, 8/7] [Lukewarmness KILLS]

(OBEY!) "It needs to be said that a world of confusion results from trying to believe without obeying! Many believe that their Biblical duty to obey God was discharged by the act of believing on Jesus Christ at the begining of their Christian lives. It was disobedience that brought about the ruin of the race; it is the obedience of faith (repentance) that brings us back into the divine favour! Any real submission to the will of God must include willingness to take orders from Him from that time on!" --A.W.Tozer (RDBD#2 6/20) {And as we ABIDE (remain, continue, endure) we inherit, as Jesus Warns in Lk 21:19. WHAT?? Shall we begin in obedience only to lapse into rebellion??!! This is "lukewarmness" and apostasy!} (Lk 6:46)

(PROMISE) "God's Promises are His infallible predictions!" -AW Tozer (RDBD 6/11) {But do not think you can receive His promises by disregarding His warnings [or conditions]! Every beatitude has it's woe!}

(PURITY) "Purity of mind [spirit] is having one thought in-mind!" -Kirkegard [The spiritual battle is always over FOCUS] Mt 6:33; Isa 26:3; Phil 3:3; Mt 5:8

(REPENTANCE) "Jesus came to change our natures!" --A.W.Tozer (RDBD#2 6/23)

(RIGHTEOUSNESS) "There is no real value to religion without righteousness!" -A.W.Tozer [RDBD#1-12/8]

(SEEK!) "Are you aware that we have been snared in the coils of a modern spurious [heretical] logic which insists that if we have found Christ we need no more seek Him?" --A.W.Tozer [RDBD#1, 9/29]

(SEEK!) "God is never found accidentally!" --A.W.Tozer (RDBD#1-11/2)

(SELF) "In Coming unto Him & abiding in Christ, we lose our heaviest load, OUR SELVES, and find our highest joy; Divine Love!" --A.B. Simpson (DOHOE 7/13) {Christ's Yoke is self-less-ness} (Our heaviest load is SELF)

("SPIRIT-FILLED") "The Spirit cannot FILL whom He cannot SEPARATE (consecrate, sanctify); and whom He cannot FILL, He cannot make HOLY; and whom He cannot make HOLY, He cannot make HAPPY (or bless)!" --AW Tozer (RDBD#1 11/30) Be not deceived - God is not mocked; we CHOOSE either God's blessings-in-Christ by obedience, or His CURSES in our carnal defiance. (Dt 28:2&15; Ro 8:14; Gal 6:15,16; Rev 3:19)

(SUBMISSION) "If we ask for God's HELP, we must make sure that our hearts SUBMIT to whatever He Ordains!" --Elibeth Elliott

(SUFFERING) "Suffering is essential to profound spiritual life!" --AB Simpson (DOHOE 11/30) (1Pet 4:13)

(SWEETNESS) "A cup, filled to the brim with sweetness, cannot spill even the tiniest drop of bitteness, even when suddenly jarred!" --Amy Charmichael {"IF"} [See 1 Cor 13:4-7]

(TENDER EARS) "Every time I broadcast, I like to remember that someone might be hearing, on the T.V. or radio, the Gospel for the LAST time in his life! Eternity is involved." --Ben Haden

(TRIALS) "Trial is the fruitful soil of Trust!" --A.B.Simpson (DOHOE 6/5) {It ain't just the seed, ya know - it's also the SOIL that makes the difference! - Do we resent the very affliction without which we will surely "go astray"?} Ps 119:67

(TRUTH) "As scarce as Truth is, the supply is always greater than the demand!" --Henry Wheeler [American Author]

(UNBELIEF) "Unbelief sees God through CIRCUMSTANCES!" --F.B.Meyer [Put your roots down in circumstances, "pilgrim", and you will soon learn the hard way that this mortal life is all about LOSS!!]

(UNBELIEF) "Never turn God's FACTS into hopes or prayers, but simply USE them as Realities - and you will find them as Power-ful as you believe them!" --H.W.Webb Peploe ["My grace IS sufficient!" - "The Kingdom is AT-HAND (right now)!"] /// "Unbelief sees God through circumstances! Faith puts God between self and circumstances." --F.B. Meyer (SITD 7/11) (Paul warns that anything that is not OF-Faith is SIN!)

(TRUE WORSHIP) ""True Christian experience is direct knowledge of God. A belief in magic and supersition was thought by the late Sir James G. Frazer to be the only truly universal faith or religion - having been accepted, as it is in some form, by all the peoples of the world!" --Tozer (RDBD 10/30) /// MAGIC is attempting to manipulate God for our own purpose, and WORSHIP is serving God for His Purpose! Paul defines worship as SUBMISSION (Ro 12:1,2); and Jesus defines it as the "SPIRIT of TRUTH" (Jn 4:24) ... or what I call 'REAL-ationship', or 'WITH-ness'

(ABANDON-MENT TO GOD) "Abandon to God is of more value than personal holiness!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH) {submission is 9/10 of the Spiritual Law}

(ABIDE!) "Determine to abide in Jesus Christ wherever you are placed!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH)

(ADVENT) "Christ did not come as an Angel, but as a Man!" --Oswald Chambers (BP) "The Coming of Jesus Christ is not a peaceful thing, it is a disturbing thing!" --Oswald Chambers (POH) (Mt 10:34)

(ANXIETY) "Fuss always ends in sin!" --O.Chambers {MUFHH 7/4} "Anxiety always produces evil!" --A.B.Simpson {SITHD 7/6} [Stress KILLS!]

(APOSTASY, which is Greek for DIVORCE) "When a man becomes 'severed from' God his life tumbles into turmoil and confusion!" --Oswald Chambers (CHI) "A 'back-slider' has forsaken God and taken up with something 'other'!" --Oswald Chambers (WG) (MUTINY!)

(ATHEISM) "Atheism is what the Bible calls the belief of a fool!" --Oswald Chambers (BP)

(BELIEVING) "I am not Saved by believing; I REALIZE I am Saved by believing!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH) (see Jn 6:28,29) "With our Lord, to believe MEANS to commit!" --Oswald Chambers (AUG)

("BORN AGAIN", or from Above) "Until a man is 'Born Again' what Jesus Says does not mean anything to him!" --Oswald Chambers "Unless I have received the Holy Spirit my personality is dead to all God has to Say!" --Oswald Chambers (BSG) "Evidence of NewBirth is that we see the Rule of God {God's King-dom}." --Oswald Chambers (PR) (Jn 3:3) "Our Lord's first requirement is a personal relationship to Himself!" --Oswald Chambers (BE) "The natural heart, we cannot repeat it too often, does not want the Gospel!" --Oswald Chambers (BP) "The natural man does not want to be BornAgain!" --Oswald Chambers (PR)

(CHARACTER) "A man is what he is in the dark!" --Oswald Chambers (POH) "The Christian life is one of incarnate spiritual pluck!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH) "The one thing God is after is character!" --Oswald Chambers (HG) "Character is always revealed in crisis!" --Oswald Chambers (GW)

(CHURCH BODY) "The church ceases to be a SPIRITUAL society when it is on the look-out for it's own orginazation!" --Oswald Chambers [MUFHH 7/12] "The Body of Christ is an Organism - NOT an organization!" --Oswald Chambers (HGM)

(CHRIST-NATURE) "Jesus Christ is the only One Who has not only been on this earth, but beyond it!" --Oswald Chambers (HGM)

(COMMON SENSE) "Nothing Jesus Christ ever said is 'common sense'! Faith arguing with 'common sense' is fanaticism, and 'common sense' arguing with faith is rationalism. (Of what value is a pearl to a pig?) 'Common sense' is of the flesh, and faith is Spiritual. Faith that is not tried is not REAL!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH 10/30) /// {What does not require waiting is not faith. What faith does not involve patient endurance? Can there be endurance without suffering? There is nothing of 'common sense' about the cross - and Christ MANDATES every disciple must take up his OWN cross DAILY! Lk 9:23} "Don't take the part of Job's friends and think you can explain the whole thing!" --Oswald Chambers (DI) {the carnal mind hates God's Mysteries!} "Jesus Christ is a source of deep offense to the educated mind of today!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH) /// "The most devout among us become aesthetic when it comes to our daily cross-bearing; we do not believe God! We enthrone common sense, and we tack the Name of God onto it. We lean to our own understanding instead of trusting God with all our hearts!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH 6/27)

(COURAGE) "The Christian life is one of incarnate spiritual pluck!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH) "The one thing God is after is character!" --Oswald Chambers (HG) "Character is always revealed in crisis!" --Oswald Chambers (GW)

(CROSS) "To preach the Sermon on the Mount apart from the Cross is to preach an impossibility!" --Oswald Chambers (BE) "Our cross is the steady exhibition of the fact that we are NOT OWR OWN!" --Oswald Chambers (PS) {God help us always to remember WHO'S we Are!} /// "The Bible makes more of the Death of Jesus than of His Life or His Teaching!" --Oswald Chambers (CHI) "The Death of Jesus Christ holds the SECRET of the Mind of God!" --Oswald Chambers (BSG) /// {see Ps 25:14; Mt 6:6; 1Cor 2:2} "Jesus Christ is the only One Who can transmute everything we come across {by the cross-daily}!" --Oswald Chambers (SHH) (2Cor 3:18 Lk 9:23) /// "The only way to love God with all of your soul is to give up your lives for His sake!" --Oswald Chambers (IWP) "Calvary is God's responsibility undertaken and carried through as redemption!" --Oswald Chambers (PR) /// "Be yourself first, then go to your own funeral, and let God forever after be All in all!" --Oswald Chambers (IWP) "If it was God's will to bruise His Own Son, why should it not be His will to bruise YOU?!" --Oswald Chambers (NKW) /// "Am I prepared to let my obedience to God cost other people something?" --Oswald Chambers (POH)

(DEBATE) "Take heed to yourself, take heed how you read, and above all don't argue!" --Oswald Chambers (WG)

(DECEIT/GUILE) "A lie is a truth told with bad intent!" --Oswald Chambers (SHH) "We are apt to forget that the enemy is unseen and that he is supernatural!" --Oswald Chambers (GW) "Satan represents the self-interest of humanity!" --Oswald Chambers (HGM)

(DEEPER-LIFE) "If you do not cut the moorings, God will have to break them by a storm to send you out! Beware of harking back to what you were once when God wants you to be something you have never been!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH 6/8) {God is determined that we go DEEPER (grow up) in-Christ!} /// "Sorrow burns up a great amount of shallowness!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH 6/25)

(DILIGENCE) "Running all through the Bible is the awful curse on laziness and spiritual sloth!" --Oswald Chambers (WG) "No man is born with character - it must be developed!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH 6/15) "The whole meaning of the Christian life from our Lord's standpoint is to be ready for (able to recognize) Him!" --Oswald Chambers (SSY) {Anti-Christ comes first - in the 6th Seal/Vial/Trump {666}; Christ in the 7th! Are you prepared for His Return - lest you too, "know not the time of YOUR Visitation"? Lk 19:44}

(DISCERNMENT) "Simplicity is the SECRET of spiritual discernment. A saint ought to See clearly. You cannot THINK a spiritual muddle clear, you have to OBEY it clear. As soon as we obey, we discern!" --Oswarld Chambers (MUFHH 9/14) /// Spiritual discernment is the PRODUCT (Fruit) of obedience! "Spiritual darkness comes because of something I do not intend to OBEY!" --Oswald Chambers (SSM) "If you do not obey the Light, it will turn into darkness!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH) (Jesus said that THE Condemnation was the REJECTION of Light!) "We must never take our Lord's Words and interpret them by our own reason!" --Oswald Chambers (PR) "I am not Judged by the Light that I have, but by the Light I have refused to accept!" --Oswald Chambers (SA) {"THIS is THE Condemnation ...!!" - the same Light which SAVES, also DAMNS!} "The only way we can understand the Bible is by personal contact with The Living Word Himself!" --Oswald Chambers (BSG) "'Darkness' is my own point of view, my prejudices and preconceived determinations!" --Oswald Chambers (BP) {or that of ANY carnal mind - that I have 'bought' - darkness is deception} "Spiritually, we are all good at producing fogs!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH 8/24) "You cannot think a spiritual muddle clear, you have to OBEY it clear!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH 9/14) "When you know you should do a thing, and you DO it, immediately you know MORE!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH 6/8) {Want MORE God?? Then DO the God you've GOT!}

(DISCIPLE-SHIP) "There is no 'ROYAL ROAD' to sainthood and discipleship!" --Oswald Chambers (CD#2) "The New Testament idea is that Jesus Christ is the absolute LORD over His disciples!" --Oswald Chambers (SSY) "There is a time in spiritual life when God does not seem to be a friend!" --Oswald Chambers (POH)

("ELECT") "Few prove themselves the chosen ones!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH)

(EXPECTATIONS/ASSUMPTIONS) "According to the Bible, things do not go as we expect them to!" --Oswald Chambers (SSY) "The Bible reveals that the basis of things is not reasonable, but tragic!" --Oswald Chambers (BFB) "'Darkness' is my own point of view, my prejudices and preconceived determinations!" --Oswald Chambers (BP) {or that of ANY carnal mind - that I have 'bought' - darkness is deception}

(FAITH) "Faith does not deny death... faith is not insensible to sorrow!" --Oswald Chambers (NKW) "Faith must be tried, and it is the trial of faith that is precious!" --Oswald Chambers (NKW) "Faith in the Bible is faith in God against everything that contradicts Him!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH) "Faith never knows where it is being led, it knows and loves (trusts) the One who is leading!" --Oswald Chambers (NKW) "If you have faith, prove (do) it in your life!" --Oswald Chambers (CHI) /// "There is nothing miraculous about anything we can explain!" (MUFHH 7/18) {Faith sees in God's Mysteries}

(FEAR) "When you fear God you fear nothing else!" --Oswald Chambers (HG)

(FOCUS) "There is an enormous power in little things to distract our attention from God!" --Oswald Chambers {The spiritual battle is always over FOCUS, and always INSIDE - never 'out there, with "them"!'} "Be careful of anything that is going to deflect your attention from God!" --Oswald Chambers (HG) "The man who does not put God first (foremost) in his calculations is always double-minded!" --Oswald Chambers (OBH)

(GIFT[s]) "We have to consecrate ourselves and leave our gifts alone!" --Oswald Chambers (SSY)

(GOD-DEPENDENCY) "God loves the man who needs Him!" --Oswald Chambers (OPG) "It is easier to rely upon God in big things than in little things!" --Oswald Chambers (HG)

(GOSPEL) "The Gospel of Jesus Christ awakens an intense craving and an equally intense resentment!" --Oswald Chambers (AUG) {when faced with the cross, we will either RESENT or REPENT!}

(GRACE) "Measure your growth-in-Grace by your sensitiveness to sin!" --Oswald Chambers (DI) "The forgiveness of God does not work unless we turn (repent)!" --Oswald Chambers (HGM) {As the Promise was conditioned upon faith, so Grace is conditioned upon repentance!} "It takes all God's Power (Grace) in me to do the most commonplace things in His way!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH) "Eternal Life is not a present given me by God, but it is God Himself!" --Oswald Chambers (PR) "The profound thing in man is his will, not sin. Will is the essential element in God's creation of man!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH 6/6) "God is interested in some strange people!!" --Oswald Chambers (HGM)

("GREAT COMMISSION") "Jesus Christ did NOT say, "Go out and save souls." (the salvation of souls is the supernatural work of God!), but, "Go and TEACH!" - i.e. - "Go and DISCIPLE all nations" - and you cannot make disciples until/unless you are a DISCIPLE yourself!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH 10/27) /// {"Disciple" means: one UNDER-AUTHORITY; or, as disciplined BY another! Jesus DEFINES His "disciples" as those who OBEY Him -DAILY! (Lk 9:23, 14:27) One can only teach what one has LEARNED.} "We slander God by our very eagerness to work for Him without first KNOW-ing Him!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH 10/3) {"Go!" means "Follow!"} "Jesus Christ INTENDS that His 'Sermon On The Mount' bring despair to the natural man!" --Oswald Chambers (MUFHH 7/21)

(HOLINESS) "If sin rules in me, God's Life-in-me will DIE!" --O. Chambers [MUFHH, 6/23] {See Ro 5:21; Ro 6:12, 16; 2Pet 2:19} "Jesus Christ STANDS for 'Holiness'!" --Oswald Chambers (SA) "The Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus ONLY!" --Oswald Chambers (IWP)

(HONOR) "Remember that the honor of Jesus Christ is at-stake in your bodily life!" --Oswald Chambers (MFL)

(HUMILITY) "The great characteristic of the saint is humility!" --Oswald Chambers (SSM) {"Ye are the SALT of the earth!"} "There is something very humbling ... in being loyal to God!" --Oswald Chambers (NKW)