Christmas Devotional '22 "~"Jesus revealed the preciousness and worth of childhood."

                     

Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.  For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

Luke 2:10-12

A baby is a harmless thing

And wins our hearts with one accord,

And Flower of Babies was their King,

Jesus Christ our Lord:

Lily of lilies He

Upon His Mother’s knee;

Rose of roses, soon to be 

Crowned with thorns on leafless tree.

A lamb is innocent and mild

And merry on the soft green sod;

And Jesus Christ, the Undefiled,

Is the Lamb of God:

Only spotless He

Upon His Mother’s knee;

White and ruddy, soon to be

Sacrificed for you and me.

Nay, lamb is not so sweet a word,

Nor lily half so pure a name;

Another name our hearts hath stirred,

Kindling them to flame:

‘Jesus’ certainly

Is music and melody:

Heart with heart in harmony

Carol we and worship we.

C.G. ROSSETTI

Poems -1886

By coming Himself a little child, our Lord forever glorified and sanctified childhood. Christmas is, par excellence, the children’s festival. It is the day when the children however far they may be scattered during the year, meet again around the family hearth and sit down again around the family table. When we begin to analyse our Christmas joy, it is amazing how largely it gathers round the children. And it is right that Christmas should be the children’s festival, for it is the anniversary of the discovery of the little child. Before Christ came child life was held of little account; infanticide was common; little children were flung out as rubbish and left to die. But Jesus became a little child, and by so doing revealed the preciousness and worth and winsome beauty of childhood. He put the crown upon the child’s head. What care is taken of him today. And what love is lavished upon him. When Christmas morning dawns, the child wakes to find himself surrounded with presents. He hung his stocking up overnight, and, sure enough, in the morning it is filled with good things. Santa Claus, we say in our make-believe way, visited his bedroom overnight, and brought him the gifts. But many of our children know better. They have begun to realize that father and mother are the real Santa Claus, and that it is they who have brought the presents. But another figure is standing behind father and mother—it is Jesus Christ. He is the true Santa Claus. He, and not St. Nicholas, is the ‘good fairy’ to whom the children owe all their Christmas joy and gladness. It is well, therefore, that Christmas Day should be made a happy day for the children. It is well that all that is brightest should be identified with the birthday of Jesus, for it was the coming of Jesus that exalted the child. Our children owe their happy homes, their parents’ love, their beautiful presents, all to the fact that when the shepherds went to Bethlehem long ago they found a Babe.

JAMES HASTINGS
The Gospel of Luke

The Christ of God we sing, 

The Babe of Bethlehem!

And on His infant head we place

The royal diadem.

The crown of thorns is His,

That child of poverty, 

Who on this earth of ours can find

No place His head to lay. 

The crown of heaven is His,

And angels own him there.

The crown of earth shall yet be His,

And we that crown shall share.

HORATIUS BONAR

Christ My Song

Thanksgiving Devotional '22 ~"The LORD God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds' feet"

  

 

      

  

    For who is God, except the LORD?  And who is a rock, except our God?  It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way blameless.  He makes my feet like hinds' feet, and sets me upon my high places.                                                                                                          Psalm 18:31-33

        Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food…Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  The LORD God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds' feet, and He will make me to walk upon my high places.                                                                                    Habakkuk 3:17-19

                                        I leave thee never; thou art not alone, 
                                                            And with thine own and thee Mine angels dwell: 
                                                            Possess thy soul in patience; freely give 
                                                            Me love for love, and all shall yet be well.

                                        The time is short, they that now weep, ere long 
                                                            Shall be as though they wept not:  they that mourn 
                                                            Be comforted, for I will comfort them; 
                                                            And sweet shall be their glad thanksgiving song. 
                                                                                                              Author Unknown

        
        I think of Wordsworth's lines, in which he describes a natural lady, made by Nature herself: 
                                                                  "She shall be sportive as the fawn 
                                                                   That wild with glee across the lawn 
                                                                              Or up the mountain springs." 
        And it is this buoyancy, this elasticity, this springiness that the Lord is waiting to impart to the souls of His children, so that they may move along the ways of life with the light steps of the fawn.

        Some of us move with very heavy feet.  There is little of the fawn about us as we go along the road.  There is reluctance in our obedience.  There is a frown in our homage.  Our benevolence is graceless, and there is no charm in our piety, and no rapture in our praise.  We are the victims of "the spirit of heaviness."  And yet here is the word which tells us that God will make our feet "like hinds' feet."  He will give us exhilaration and spring, enabling us to leap over difficulties, and to have strength and buoyancy for the steepest hills.  Let us seek the inspiration of the Lord.  "It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way blameless."

                                                                                          J.H. Jowett 
                                                                              My Daily Meditation~1914

        Methinks these words are worthy of being written as with a diamond on a rock forever.  Oh, that by Divine grace they might be deeply engraven on each of our hearts!  That in the day of his distress he would fly to God; that he would maintain a holy composure of spirit under this dark dispensation, nay, that in the midst of all he would indulge in a sacred joy in God, and a cheerful expectation from Him.  Heroic confidence!  Illustrious faith!  Unconquerable love!

                                                                                                  P. Doddridge~1795

Autumn Devotional '22 -"Come, ye weary, heavy-laden..."

 

I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.

Psalm 27:13-14

Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love and pow'r.

I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms
In the arms of my dear Savior,
Oh, there are ten thousand charms.

Come, ye weary, heavy-laden,
Lost and ruined by the fall
If you tarry till you're better,
You will never come at all.

Joseph Hart -1750

There are times when we seem to be simply crushed with the trouble laid on us; and, strangely enough it is not always the great trial, the death-stroke, which takes the treasure of a clinging heart from us.  But there are seasons when outward matters practically are much the same as when we could look at things brightly, and enjoy them, even; when no special sorrow or anxiety presses, hopes and fears and anticipations are all much as before; and yet there is a dense cloud of weary, clogging depression on our souls. Everything seems grey, chill, and disheartening; we find no spirit, no “savour” in anything. The cloudy days chills us, but the sunshine hardly gladdens us; solitude is full of carking, weary painfulness, yet we shrink from society, and are oppressed with the feeling that it is “nothing” to those who pass by, all unconscious of our suffering.  

Familiar places, books we have habitually delighted in, occupations we longed to have time to pursue, have lost all zest.  We cannot write freely to the most sympathetic of correspondents for fear we should break out into fretful complaining, or lest they should entirely fail to understand our trouble.  The interests, practical, artistic, literary, political, ecclesiastical, or even domestic, which were so keen a while since, are all pale and sickly.  “Cui bono!” is the perpetual rejoinder of the weary spirit, and we shrink more and more within our shell, more and more utterly miserable.

Now there are several remedies to be taken promptly, even if the relief they give be slow.  First of all, say to yourself that He Who was constrained to cry out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” more than knows every iota of your trouble; knows it, sees it, watches it, and the precise chastening, healing discipline it is meant to work in your soul, pities and loves you the while; in short, “in all your affliction He is afflicted,” and you were never less alone than in this dreary, heartsick, languid season of chilling desolation. 

Take any little “hold-byes,” as the old Covenanters called them, that happen to touch you: “My time is in Thy Hand;“ “When my spirit was in heaviness Thou knewest my path;” “Teach me to do the thing that pleaseth Thee;” “O tarry thou the Lord’s leisure; be strong, and He shall comfort thine heart, and put thou thy trust in the Lord.” The words may have lost the cheering reality they once had; but never mind, go on repeating them, striving to realize them, and even as the soft dew sinks imperceptibly into the ground, and makes the tender grass to spring up and grow, we know not how, so the Spirit of the Comforter will sink into your heart, and in an hour when you think not, you will feel His ineffable grace and hope stealing over you.  It may not be now, or speedily-leave that to Him Who cares for you as not even your fond mother knew how to care -but come it will.  Only hold on with both hands to that certain hope, and let the Father’s Love, the Son’s Grace, and the Holy Spirit’s Fellowship work in you till patience has her perfect work.

H.L. Sydney Lear

Weariness-1884

 

 

Summer Devotional '22 ~"A word, a sigh, a sentiment, says all to God"

        

 

     Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.                Eph. 6:24

        And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory…

I Peter 1:8 

 
                                             This is my earnest plea:  More love, O Christ, to Thee; 
                                             Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest; 
                                             Now Thee alone I seek, give what is best. 
                                             Let sorrow do its work, come grief or pain; 
                                             Sweet are Thy messengers, sweet their refrain, 
                                             When they can sing with me:  More love, O Christ, to Thee; 
                                             More love to Thee, more love to Thee! 
                                                                   Elizabeth Prentiss -1869

 

            For many years I have been rich in faith; rich in an unfaltering confidence that I was beloved of my God and Saviour.  But something was wanting; I was ever groping for a mysterious grace the want of which made me often sorrowful in the very midst of my most sacred joy, imperfect when I most longed for perfection.  It was that personal love to Christ of which my precious mother so often spoke to me, which she often urged me to seek upon my knees.  If I had known then, as I know now, what this priceless treasure could be to a sinful human soul, I would have sold all that I had to buy the field wherein it lay hidden.  But not till I was shut up to prayer and to the study of God's word by the loss of earthly joys, sickness destroying the flavor of them all, did I begin to penetrate the mystery that is learned under the cross.  And wondrous as it is, how simple is this mystery!  To love Christ, and to know that I love Him--this is all!

Elizabeth Prentiss -Stepping Heavenward

 

        It is not necessary to say much to God.  Oftentimes one does not speak much to a friend whom one is delighted to see; one looks at him with pleasure; one speaks certain short words to him which are mere expressions of feeling….  It is not so much a variety of thoughts that one seeks in intercourse with a friend, as a certain repose and correspondence of heart.  It is thus we are with God, who does not disdain to be our tenderest, most cordial, most familiar, most intimate friend.  A word, a sigh, a sentiment, says all to God; it is not always necessary to have transports of sensible tenderness; a will all naked and dry, without life, without vivacity, without pleasure, is often purest in the sight of God.  In fine, it is necessary to content one's self with giving to Him what He gives it to give, a fervent heart when it is fervent, a heart firm and faithful in its aridity, when He deprives it of sensible fervor.  It does not always depend on you to feel; but it is necessary to wish to feel. 

 François de la Mothe-Fénelon  1651-1715

 

As soon as they were out of the kitchen door, the boy put his hand into his father's.  The father grasped it, and without a word spoken, they walked on together.  They would often be half a day together without a word passing between them. To be near one another seemed enough for each. 

George MacDonald -Castle Warlock

Mother's Day Devotional '22 ~"The teaching of kindness is on her tongue"

 

Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future.  She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.  She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.  Her children rise up and bless her; her husband also, and he praises her saying, “Many daughters have done nobly, but you excel them all.”

Proverbs 31:25-29

O happy home, where Thou art loved the dearest,

Thou loving Friend and Savior of our race,

And where among the guests there never cometh

One who can hold such high and honored place!

 

O happy home, whose little ones are given

Early to Thee, in humble faith and prayer,

To Thee, their Friend, Who from the heights of Heaven

Guides them, and guards with more than mother’s care!

 

O happy home, where each one serves Thee, lowly,

Whatever his appointed work may be,

Till every common task seems great and holy,

When it is done, O Lord, as unto Thee!

Karl Spitta

O Happy Home-1833

        “You have set my heart at ease, my cousin, so far as you were yourself the object of its anxieties.  What other trouble it feels can be cured by God alone.... I am delighted with Mrs. Bodham’s kindness in giving me the only picture of my mother that is to be found, I suppose, in all the world.  I had rather possess it than the richest jewel in the British Crown, for I loved her with an affection that her death, fifty-two years since, has not in the least abated. I remember her too, young as I was when she died, well enough to know that it is a very exact resemblance of her, and as such it is to me invaluable.  Everybody loved her, and, with an amiable character so impressed upon all her features, everybody was sure to do so.”

                                                              William Cowper~1790 
                                                              In a Letter to Lady Hesketh

         We sought where we might serve Thee most usefully, and were together returning to Africa; whitherward having come as far as Ostia, my mother departed this life.  Much I omit, as hastening much.  Receive my confessions and thanksgivings, O my God, for innumerable things whereof I am silent.  But I will not omit whatsoever my soul would bring forth concerning that Thy handmaid, who brought me forth, both in the flesh, that I might be born to this temporal light, and in her heart, that I might be born to Light eternal.  Not her gifts, but Thine in her, would I speak of; for neither did she make nor educate herself.  Thou createdst her; nor did her father and mother know what a child should come from them.  And it was the rod of Thy Christ, the discipline of Thine only Son, that educated her in Thy fear, to be in a Christian house, a good member of Thy Church....

                Finally, her own husband, towards the very end of earthly life, did she gain unto Thee; nor had she to complain of those things in him now a Christian, which before he was a believer she had so meekly borne from him.  She was also the servant of Thy servants; whosoever of them knew her, did in her much praise and honour and love Thee; for that, through the witness of the fruits of a holy conversation, they perceived Thy presence in her heart.  For she had been the “wife of one man,” had “requited her parents, had governed her house” piously, “was well reported of for good works, had brought up children,” so often “travailing in birth of them,” as she saw them swerving from Thee.  Lastly, of all of us Thy servants, O Lord (whom on occasion of Thy own gift Thou sufferst to speak), us, who before her sleeping in Thee lived united together, having received the grace of Thy baptism, did she so take care, as though she had been mother of us all; so served us as though she had been the daughter of us all.

Augustine 354-430 
Confessions

 

Good Friday Devotional "Deep depression of spirit is the most grievous of all trials...."

 

 'My heart is like wax: it is melted within My breast…'                       

Psalm 22:14

 

        Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God….                    

Hebrews 2:17

 

Jesus, only You know our deepest trials,

You bore the grief of our fallen world.

Your Body was pierced, Your heart full of sorrow;

Our sins fell upon You, so we can be restored.

 

I am a wind-blown reed, weakened and bruised;

You'll not break me, nor quench my flickering flame.

You were crushed and wounded to make me new;

Jesus, my heart overflows for Your Cross of grace.

C. TAYLOR

 

Our Blessed Lord experienced a terrible sinking and melting of soul.  'The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear?'  Deep depression of spirit is the most grievous of all trials; all besides is as nothing.  Well might the suffering Saviour cry to His God, 'Be not far from Me', for above all other seasons a man needs his God when his heart is melted within him because of heaviness.  Believer, come near the cross this morning, and humbly adore the King of glory as having once been brought far lower, in mental distress and inward anguish, than any one among us; and mark His fitness to become a faithful High Priest, who can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities.  Especially let those of us whose sadness springs directly from the withdrawal of a present sense of our Father's love, enter into near and intimate communion with Jesus.  Let us not give way to despair, since through this dark room the Master has passed before us.  Our souls may sometimes long and faint, and thirst even to anguish, to behold the light of the Lord's countenance: at such times let us stay ourselves with the sweet fact of the sympathy of our great High Priest.  Our drops of sorrow may well be forgotten in the ocean of His griefs; but how high ought our love to rise!  Come in, O strong and deep love of Jesus, like the sea at the flood in spring tides, cover all my powers, drown all my sins, wash out all my cares, lift up my earth-bound soul, and float it right up to my Lord's feet, and there let me lie, a poor broken shell, washed up by His love, having no virtue or value; and only venturing to whisper to Him that if He will put His ear to me, He will hear within my heart faint echoes of the vast waves of His own love which have brought me where it is my delight to lie, even at His feet forever.

 

 C. H. SPURGEON

Mornings and Evenings

 

      …such is the Lord Jesus, the One who in the first chapter of Hebrews is shown as the unique Son of God, heir of all things, the brightness of God's glory, the express image of His person, upholding all things by the word of His power, is seen in the second chapter as stooping to be "made like unto His brethren in all things."  God has arranged it that in every conceivable way Jesus has been made like unto His brethren. There are no sufferings that His brethren suffer but that He has suffered them too.  There are no tears that His brethren shed, but that He has shed them too….God has made the Captain of our salvation perfect through suffering.  He would not be an adequate High Priest for us had He not been through everything that we go through….  In our hour of suffering He says, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden.  I am your Brother, I have been made like unto you in everything."

 

 ROY HESSION 1908-87

 

From Shadow to Substance

 

Late Winter '22 Devotional - "We have seen Him in the light of faith. But we want to see Him as He is."

 

“But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’ ? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living.”

Mark 12:26-7

 

 

“And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 8:11

 

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best!
’Tis an ocean full of blessing, ’tis a haven giving rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, ’tis a heaven of heavens to me;
And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!

O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus

 

 

       The reunion of the saints will not be limited to the little circle that makes the family here. We belong to a bigger family than the one we live with in the flesh, like elder children born and out in the world before the younger children appear, the poets, prophets, painters, and martyrs preceded us. We never saw them in the flesh. Never heard their voices, but they will be with us in the great family reunion in the Father’s house.

       Like every family reunion, there shall be One, however, whose personality shall be dominant. What would the gathering of all the saints amount to if He would not be there who sent to prepare the place? It would be a palace without a hearth. It would be a tree without foliage. It would be a sky without sun.

       We all want to see the loved ones with whom we walked dusty miles. We all want to see the immortals who went on before us. But far above and beyond all cravings is the desire to see our Lord and Master.

       We have seen Him in the sacred page. We have seen Him on the artist’s canvas. We have seen Him in the light of faith. But we want to see Him as He is. 

       We have often heard Him in the multitude. But we want to know Him as the family of Bethany knew Him. We want to hear Him as the group at Emmaus heard Him. Free from all the restraints of mortality and time, we want to grasp the nail pierced hand, hear the love-filled voice of our Savior in His Heavenly Home.

       The joy of fellowship with our Savior will not obliterate the joy of fellowship with each other, but it will subordinate it as the enjoyment of a soul-stirring sermon or chorus subordinates minor relations. Through eternity we shall be together in our Father’s house, each real enough to each other, yet entranced by our Lord.

 

Whirlwinds of God