Daily Strength for Daily Needs, Mary W. Tileston [good book recommendations .TXT] 📗

and hindrances; He knows how to mould you to His will, and lead you onwards to perfect sanctification; He knows exactly how each event, each trial, each temptation, will tell upon you, and He disposes all things accordingly. The consequences of this belief, if fully grasped, will influence your whole life. You will seek to give yourself up to God more and more unreservedly, asking nothing, refusing nothing, wishing nothing, but what He wills; not seeking to bring things about for yourself, taking all He sends joyfully, and believing the "one step" set before you to be enough for you. You will be satisfied that even though there are clouds around, and your way seems dark, He is directing all, and that what seems a hindrance will prove a blessing, since He wills it.

JEAN NICOLAS GROU.

August 20

_Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord_.--PS. xxvii. 14.

_He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength_.--ISA. xl. 29.

Leaning on Him, make with reverent meekness His own thy will, And with strength from Him shall thy utter weakness Life's task fulfil.

J. G. WHITTIER.

Should we feel at times disheartened and discouraged, a confiding thought, a simple movement of heart towards God will renew our powers. Whatever He may demand of us, He will give us at the moment the strength and the courage that we need.

FRANÇOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNELON.

We require a certain firmness in all circumstances of life, even the happiest, and perhaps contradictions come in order to prove and exercise this; and, if we can only determine so to use them, the very effort brings back tranquillity to the soul, which always enjoys having exercised its strength in conformity to duty.

WM. VON HUMBOLDT.

August 21

_We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves_.--ROM. xv. 1.

_The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary_.

If there be some weaker one, Give me strength to help him on; If a blinder soul there be, Let me guide him nearer Thee.

J. G. WHITTIER.

Ask Him to increase your powers of sympathy: to give you more quickness and depth of sympathy, in little things as well as great. Opportunities of doing a kindness are often lost from mere want of thought. Half a dozen lines of kindness may bring sunshine into the whole day of some sick person. Think of the pleasure you might give to some one who is much shut up, and who has fewer pleasures than you have, by sharing with her some little comfort or enjoyment that you have learnt to look upon as a necessary of life,--the pleasant drive, the new book, flowers from the country, etc. Try to put yourself in another's place. Ask "What should I like myself, if I were hard-worked, or sick, or lonely?" Cultivate the habit of sympathy.

G. H. WILKINSON.

August 22

_I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service_.--ROM. xii. 1.

Thou hast my flesh, Thy hallowed shrine, Devoted solely to Thy will; Here let Thy light forever shine, This house still let Thy presence fill; O Source of Life, live, dwell, and move In me, till all my life be love!

JOACHIM LANCE.

May it not be a comfort to those of us who feel we have not the mental or spiritual power that others have, to notice that the living sacrifice mentioned in Rom. xii. 1, is our "bodies"? Of course, that includes the mental power, but does it not also include the loving, sympathizing glance, the kind, encouraging word, the ready errand for another, the work of our hands, opportunities for all of which come oftener in the day than for the mental power we are often tempted to envy? May we be enabled to offer willingly that which we have.

ANON.

August 23

Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not.--JER. xlv. 5.

I would not have the restless will That hurries to and fro, Seeking for some great thing to do, Or secret thing to know; I would be treated as a child, And guided where I go.

A. L. WARING.

Oh! be little, be little; and then thou wilt be content with little; and if thou feel, now and then, a check or a secret smiting,--in that is the Father's love; be not over-wise, nor over-eager, in thy own willing, running, and desiring, and thou mayest feel it so; and by degrees come to the knowledge of thy Guide, who will lead thee, step by step, in the path of life, and teach thee to follow. Be still, and wait for light and strength.

I. PENINGTON.

Sink into the sweet and blessed littleness, where thou livest by grace alone. Contemplate with delight the holiness and goodness in God, which thou dost not find in thyself. How lovely it is to be nothing when God is all!

G. TERSTEEGEN.

August 24

_And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares, and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection_.--LUKE viii. 14.

Preserve me from my calling's snare, And hide my simple heart above, Above the thorns of choking care, The gilded baits of worldly love.

C. WESLEY.

Anything allowed in the heart which is contrary to the will of God, let it seem ever so insignificant, or be ever so deeply hidden, will cause us to fall before our enemies. Any root of bitterness cherished towards another, any self-seeking, any harsh judgments indulged in, any slackness in obeying the voice of the Lord, any doubtful habits or surroundings, any one of these things will effectually cripple and paralyze our spiritual life. I believe our blessed Guide, the indwelling Holy Spirit, is always secretly discovering these things to us by continual little twinges and pangs of conscience, so that we are left without excuse,

H. W. SMITH.

August 25

See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh.--HEB. xii. 25.

From the world of sin and noise And hurry I withdraw; For the small and inward voice I wait with humble awe; Silent am I now and still, Dare not in Thy presence move; To my waiting soul reveal The secret of Thy love.

C. WESLEY.

When therefore the smallest instinct or desire of thy heart calleth thee towards God, and a newness of life, give it time and leave to speak; and take care thou refuse not Him that speaketh. Be retired, silent, passive, and humbly attentive to this new risen light within thee.

WM. LAW.

It is hardly to be wondered at that he should lose the finer consciousness of higher powers and deeper feelings, not from any behavior in itself wrong, but from the hurry, noise, and tumult in the streets of life, that, penetrating too deep into the house of life, dazed and stupefied the silent and lonely watcher in the chamber of conscience, far apart. He had no time to think or feel.

G. MACDONALD.

August 26

Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord.--ZECH. ii. 13.

Be earth, with all her scenes, withdrawn; Let noise and vanity be gone: In secret silence of the mind, My heaven, and there my God, I find.

I. WATTS.

It is only with the pious affection of the will that we can be spiritually attentive to God. As long as the noisy restlessness of the thoughts goes on, the gentle and holy desires of the new nature are overpowered and inactive.

J. P. GREAVES.

There is hardly ever a complete silence in our soul. God is whispering to us wellnigh incessantly. Whenever the sounds of the world die out in the soul, or sink low, then we hear these whisperings of God. He is always whispering to us, only we do not always hear, because of the noise, hurry, and distraction which life causes as it rushes on.

F. W. FABER.

The prayer of faith is a sincere, sweet, and quiet view of divine, eternal truth. The soul rests quiet, perceiving and loving God; sweetly rejecting all the imaginations that present themselves, calming the mind in the Divine presence, and fixing it only on God.

M. DE MOLINOS.

August 27

_Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it_.--PHIL. i. 6.

He that endureth to the end shall be saved.--MATT. x. 22.

Fill with inviolable peace; Stablish and keep my settled heart; In Thee may all my wanderings cease, From Thee no more may I depart: Thy utmost goodness called to prove, Loved with an everlasting love!

C. WESLEY.

If any sincere Christian cast himself with his whole will upon the Divine Presence which dwells within him, he shall be kept safe unto the end. What is it that makes us unable to persevere? Is it want of strength? By no means. We have with us the strength of the Holy Spirit. When did we ever set ourselves sincerely to any work according to the will of God, and fail for want of strength? It was not that strength failed the will, but that the will failed first. If we could but embrace the Divine will with the whole love of ours; cleaving to it, and holding fast by it, we should be borne along as upon "the river of the water of life." We open only certain chambers of our will to the influence of the Divine will. We are afraid of being wholly absorbed into it. And yet, if we would have peace, we must be altogether united to Him.

H. E. MANNING.

August 28

_They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee: for Thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee_.--PS. ix. 10.

Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good.--PS. lxxxv. 12.

In Thee I place my trust, On Thee I calmly rest; I know Thee good, I know Thee just, And count Thy choice the best.

H. F. LYTE.

The souls that would really be richer in duty in some new position, are precisely those who borrow no excuses from the old one; who even esteem it full of privileges, plenteous in occasions of good, frequent in divine appeals, which they chide their graceless and unloving temper for not heeding more. Wretched and barren is the discontent that quarrels with its tools instead of with its skill; and, by criticising Providence, manages to keep up complacency with self. How gentle should we be, if we were not provoked; how pious, if we were not busy; the sick would be patient, only he is not in health; the obscure would do great things, only he is not conspicuous!

J. MARTINEAU.

August 29

Am I my brother's keeper?--GEN. iv. 9.

Because I held upon my selfish, road, And left my brother wounded by the way, And called ambition duty, and pressed on-- O Lord, I do repent.

SARAH WILLIAMS.

How many are the sufferers who have fallen amongst misfortunes along the wayside of life! "By chance" we come that way; chance, accident, Providence, has thrown them in our way; we see them from