Listening For God's Voice

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalm 85:8

Listening For God's Voice

I will hear what God the Lord will speak; for He will speak peace unto His people.
PSALMS 85:8

Now, O my God,
My comfort, portion, rest!
Thou, none but Thou, shalt reign within my breast.
Call me to Thee! call me Thyself--oh, speak,
And bind my heart to Thee, whom most I seek!

GERHARD TERSTEEGEN

JUST as in prayer it is not we who momentarily catch His attention, but He ours, so when we fail to hear His voice, it is not because He is not speaking so much as that we are not listening. We must recognize that all things are in God and that God is in all things, and we must learn to be very attentive, in order to bear God speaking in His ordinary tone without any special accent. A man must not stop listening any more than praying when he rises from his knees. No one questions the need of times of formal address to God, but few admit in any practical way the need of quiet waiting upon God, gazing into His face, feeling for His hand, listening for His voice. "I will hearken what the Lord God will say concerning me." God has special confidences for each soul. Indeed, it would seem as though the deepest truths came only in moments of profound devotional silence and contemplation.

CHARLES H. BRENT

Peace in God's Daily Presence

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalm 25:14

Peace in God's Daily Presence

The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant.
PSALMS 25:14

THEN shall my days be Thine,
And all my heart be love;
And joy and peace be mine,
Such as are known above.
Come, Holy Spirit, quickly come,
And make my heart Thy lasting home.
ANDREW REED

IT is a sign that the soul is living in God, if it maintain calmness within through the consciousness of His Presence, while working for Him in active ministrations. Such restfulness will show itself in the commonest ways, in doing common duties at the right time, in preserving a sweetness and evenness of temper in the midst of ordinary interruptions and disturbances, in walking to and fro quietly on the day's varied errands, in speaking gentle words, in sweetly meeting unexpected calls. A calm, restful temper grows as self is learning to lose itself in God. Such grace tells gradually on the daily life; even the minutest detail may be brought under the power of God, and carried out in union with Him.
T. T. CARTER

God Has Good Plans For You

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Jeremiah 29:11 Isaiah 45:5

God Has Good Plans For You

I girded thee, though thou hast not known me.
ISAIAH 14:5

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord; thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
JEREMIAH 29:11

THOU knowest,--oh, the precious truth
That bids my soul be strong!
The care, the never-weary care
That cannot lead me wrong!
There is a blessed end for me,
Whereon thine eyes are set;
Thou hast a comfort in Thy love,
Too great to show me yet.
ANNA L. WARING

NO room for a discouraged or depressed feeling is left you. If your sphere is outwardly humble, if it even appears to be quite insignificant, God understands it better than you do, and it is a part of His wisdom to bring out great sentiments in humble conditions, great principles in works that are outwardly trivial, great characters under great adversities and heavy loads of encumbrance. Let it fill you with cheerfulness and exalted feeling, however deep in obscurity your lot may be, that God is leading you on, girding you for a work, preparing you for a good that is worthy of His divine magnificence. If God is really preparing us all to become that which is the very highest and best thing possible, there ought never to be a discouraged or uncheerful being in the world.
HORACE BUSHNELL

God's Peace for Our Anxieties

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Philippians 4:6-7

God's Peace for Our Anxieties

In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.
PHILIPPIANS 4:6,7 (RV)

JUST think of having His wonderful peace guarding one's heart and one's thoughts all day long. But it is only on condition that we fulfil the sixth verse, "In nothing be anxious,"--this is a distinct command, and, if we fail to fulfil it, we shall not get the blessing. Sorrow even is anxiety, and should be laid upon our blessed Lord. Then in prayer and supplication we must not forget that thanksgiving is also distinctly commanded; we must praise God for His dealings with us, even though we cannot make them out at times. Pray God to make you cease from anxiety about yourself and your plans; just be willing to do the work our dear Father gives you at the time.
JOHN KENNETH MACKENZIE

Oh, how great peace and quietness would he possess who should cut off all vain anxiety and place all his confidence in God.
THOMAS À KEMPIS

Resting Our Sorrows in the Love of God

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalm 107:29-30

Resting Our Sorrows in the Love of God

He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so He bringeth them unto their desired haven.
PSALMS 107:29,30

AS thou learnest this lesson, to carry all thy sorrows to God, and lie at thy Saviour's feet, and spread thy grief before Him, thou wilt find a calm come over thee, thou knowest not whence; thou wilt see through the clouds a bright opening, small perhaps and quickly closed, but telling of eternal rest, and everlasting day, and of the depth of the Love of God. Thy heart will still rise and sink, but it will rise and sink, not restlessly, nor waywardly, not in violent gusts of passion; but resting in stillness on the bosom of the ocean of the Love of God. Then shalt thou learn, not to endure only patiently, but, in everything against thy will, humbly and quickly to see and to love the loving Will of God. Thy faith and thy love and thy hope will grow, the more thou seest the work of God with thee; thou wilt joy in thy sorrow, and thy sorrow will be turned into joy.
EDWARD B. PUSEY

God is Good

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Ephesians 5:1-2

God is Good

Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God.
EPHESIANS 5:1,2

O JOY supreme! I know the Voice,
Like none beside on earth or sea;
Yea, more, 0 soul of mine, rejoice,
By all that He requires of me,
I know what God Himself must be.
JOHN G. WHITTIER

EITHER there is a God supremely good, One whom His children may love and trust to the very uttermost point without the slightest fear of the reality falling short of the heart's desire, or else there is no God, no love, no forgiveness, no redress. God is wholly good, if good at all, and those who hope in Him will be wiser if they hope with all their hearts than if they hope with only half their hearts.
WILLIAM R. HUNTINGTON

As mighty and as wise as God is to save man, as willing He is. For Christ Himself is the ground of all the laws of Christian men; and He taught us to do good against evil. Here we may see that He is Himself this charity, and doth to us as He teacheth us to do: for He willeth that we be like Him in fullness of endless love.
MOTHER JULIANA

We know what God is like because we know the character of Jesus Christ.
GEORGE HODGES

Begin the Year With Courage

Author: Mary Wilder
Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 1
Chronicles 28:20 Romans
7:6

Begin the Year With
Courage

Be strong and of good courage ... fear not, nor be dismayed; for the Lord
God, even my God, will be with thee; He will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee.
1 CHRONICLES 28:20

That we should serve in newness of spirit.
ROMANS 7:6

HELP us, O Lord! behold we enter
Upon another year today;
In Thee our
hopes and thoughts now centre,
Renew our courage for the way;
New life,
new strength, new happiness,
We ask of Thee; oh, hear, and bless !

JOHANN RIST

THE year begins; and all its pages are as blank as the silent years of the
life of Jesus Christ. Let us begin it with high resolution; then let us take all
its limitations, all its hindrances, its disappointments, its narrow and
common-place conditions, and meet them as the Master did in Nazareth, with
patience, with obedience, putting ourselves in cheerful subjection, serving our
apprenticeship. Who knows what opportunity may come to us this year? Let us live
in a great spirit, then we shall be ready for a great occasion.

GEORGE HODGES

Walk cheerfully and freely in God's service.

ST. TERESA

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Living in God's Presence

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalm 140:13 Psalm 91:1

Living in God's Presence

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
PSALMS 91:1

The upright shall dwell in Thy presence.
PSALMS 111:13

My soul and all its powers
Thine, wholly Thine shall be;
All, all my happy hours
I consecrate to Thee:
Me to Thine image now restore,
And I shall praise Thee evermore.
CHARLES WESLEY

IF the wish is wakened in our soul to be ever in His presence, let us go to Him this moment, and ask Him what to do, and how to feel, believing that He is more ready to hear than we to pray. He will give us realization of His love, and convictions of duty. Let us follow those convictions implicitly; let us ask Him every day to teach us more, and help us more; and we shall soon say, with Paul, "Thanks be unto God, for His unspeakable gift!"
WILLIAM R. HUNTINGTON

The all-important thing is not to live apart from God, but as far as possible to be consciously with Him. It must needs be that those who look much into His face will become like Him.
CHARLES H. BRENT

Thy Burden

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalm 55:22

Thy Burden

Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
PSALMS 55:22

To Thee I bring my care,
The care I cannot flee;
Thou wilt not only share,
But bear it all for me.
O loving Saviour, now to Thee
I bring the load that wearies me.
FRANCES R. HAVERGAL

CAST thy burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain thee"--burden and all. "Thee" is the greatest burden that thou hast! All other burdens are but slight, but this is a crushing burden. But when we come to the Lord with our burden, He just lifts up His child, burden and all, and bears him all the way home.
CHARLES A. FOX

He lays his affairs and himself on God, and so hath no pressing care; no care but the care of love, how to please, how to honor his Lord. And in this, too, lie depends on Him, both for skill and strength; and, touching the success of things, he leaves that as none of his to be burdened with, casts it on God, and since He careth for it, they need not both care, His care is sufficient. Hence springs peace, inconceivable peace.
ROBERT LEIGHTON

His Will in Your Surroundings

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Ephesians 6:6

His Will in Your Surroundings

As bond-servants [margin] of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. EPHESIANS 6:6 (R. V.)

LORD Jesus, turn us from the noise
Of endless strivings and empty joys,
To find forever Thy one true peace,
Rest from sorrow, from sin release!
HARRIET MCEWEN KIMBALL

CAN He not enable you to do that will from your heart, in your surroundings? Are you sorely tried by those surroundings? Are they, in themselves, humiliating to you, or exasperating to you? Are they full of acute heart-pangs, or heavy with a chronic heartache? Not one of these things is forgotten before your Lord. Your slightest pain finds response in His sympathy. But let that thought be but the steppingstone to this, that for you as for the slave-saint of Ephesus there lies open in that same Lord the blessed secret of a life which shall move amidst these same unwelcome surroundings as a life free, and at leisure, and at peace, full of love and rest, blessed and blessing; a life hid with Christ in God; a life in which everything, from your rising up to your lying down, the smallest cross and the largest, is seen in the light of the holy, the beloved, will of God, and so is met not with a sigh, or a murmur, but "from the soul."
HANDLEY C. G. MOULE

I Have Refined Thee

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

I Have Refined Thee

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

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

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

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

Joy to the World

Author: Woodrow Kroll Source: Lessons On Living From Abraham Scripture: Genesis 21:1-3 Joy to the World And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—Isaac. Joy to the World Someone asked Joseph Haydn, the famous composer, why his music was so cheerful. He replied, "I cannot make it otherwise. When I think upon God, my heart is so full of joy that the notes dance and leap from my pen!" This must have been the way that Abraham and Sarah felt. After Abraham waited 100 years and Sarah reached the matronly age of 90, God gave them a son. Joy surely leapt and danced in their hearts. In fact, they named their son Isaac, which means "laughter." Unlike the laughter of unbelief they had engaged in earlier (Gen. 17:17, 18:12), this laughter percolated through a holy wonder at the miracle in their life. It was a laughter of such unalloyed joy that all who heard it laughed with them (21:6). The joy that began with the birth of Isaac, however, reached its crescendo in the birth of Jesus. When the angels announced their heavenly message, they proclaimed, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people" (Luke 2:10, emphasis mine). Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full" (John 15:11). When was the last time you laughed for the sheer joy of your salvation? People are not attracted to somber doctrines. There is no persuasive power in a gloomy and morbid religion. Let the world see your joy and you won’t be able to keep them away. To be filled with God is to be filled with joy.

Rejoicing in Each Day

Read Psalm 118:19-29

"This is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it" (v. 24). When you are having one of those difficult days--a day when the storm is blowing and the battle is raging, when the burdens are heavy, when your heart is broken and your tears are flowing, when it feels like everybody is turned against you, including your Heavenly Father--that's the time to heed this verse by faith.

The psalmist was going through battles and difficulties, yet he was able to say, "If God put this day together, I'm going to rejoice and be glad in it. Even though I may not see the blessing now, eventually by faith I'll be able to say, 'It all worked together for good.' So I'll say it now."

Jews sing this psalm at Passover. Jesus also sang this song before He was crucified. Can you imagine saying on your way to Calvary, "This is the day which the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it"? That's another way of saying, "Not my will, but Your will be done." If Jesus sang this song, we should sing it also.

* * *

Perhaps your day is full of overwhelming burdens or sorrows. Jesus also suffered days like that. Accept the day God has given you and acknowledge that He is in charge. Anticipate what God is going to do for you today; rejoice and be glad in it. You may not understand His purposes now, but one day you will.

The Strongest Power

Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
--LUKE 10:19

SHED down on me Thy mighty power,
To strengthen for each coming hour;
And then, through flood, through fire and sword,
I'll follow Thee, my Lord, my Lord!
--JOHANN RAMBACH

WHY do we grow so little in grace? It is because we do not use our intellect to meditate upon the forces of the unseen world amidst which we live, or our will to draw upon them. We know that we are weak, and sin and Satan are strong, and we know the truth. But there is a third power stronger than either our weakness or the forces of evil, which we commonly forget, and which will never disclose itself except in our using of it. We must stir up the gift within us. Within us we have the Spirit of power, the Spirit of Jesus, the life of Jesus. It remains to us to appeal to it; in constant acts of faith to draw upon it and to use it. Thus it will become to each of us as much a truth of experience as it was to St. Paul, and no vague language of metaphor, that "it is no longer merely I that live, but Christ that liveth in me."
--CHARLES GORE

Dying to Self

Scripture Reference Romans 12:2 John 18:11

The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink?
--JOHN 18:11

Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.
--ROMANS 12:2

WE are often greatly hindered in the fulfilment of our duties by an unconscious clinging to self, which holds us back from God, and which leads us to seek our rest in something other than the simple fulfilment of His most holy will. If we honestly sought nothing save His will, we should always be in a state of perfect peace, let what may happen. But, very often, even when we ask that God's will may be done, we still wish it to be done after our fashion.
--PÉRE HYACINTHE BESSON

When we are fully delivered from the influence of selfish considerations, and have become conformed to the desires and purposes of the Infinite Mind, we shall drink the cup, and drink it cheerfully, whatever it may be. In a word, we shall necessarily be submissive and happy in all trials, and in every change and diversity of situation. Not because we are seeking happiness, or thinking of happiness, as a distinct object, but because the glorious will of Him whom our soul loves supremely, is accomplished in us.
--THOMAS C. UPHAM

The joy of the Lord is your strength.

Nehemiah 8:9-10 And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

Roughly 2500 years ago, there was a special Sukkot celebration in Jerusalem. The people of Israel were exiled and dispersed all across the Babylonian empire. Later, they were given the right to return and start construction on the 2nd temple of Israel. Nehemiah 8 speaks of the special celebration that happened at that time. We read how Ezra taught the people out of the book of the law and how they responded in weeping and repentance before the God of Israel.

Interestingly, Sukkot is a holiday in which the people were commanded to rejoice, yet they were weeping in repentance. And then, in verse 9, they did! Isn’t it true that joy always comes after the mourning?

The word for strength in Hebrew is ”mah-oz”. Not only does it mean strength, but it also means fortress and rock.

When we commit our lives to walking in repentance and practicing holiness, then we will live in a constant state of joy. As the Apostle Paul said, Rejoice always! In our joy we find our fortress, our rock – the stability of our lives!

Trials not Evils

Scripture Reference Luke 12:21

Trials not Evils

So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
--LUKE 12:21

IT seems as if God gathered into His storehouse, from each of our lives, fruit in which He delights. And the daily cross-bearings and self-denials, the bright word spoken when head and heart are weary, the meek endurance of misunderstanding, the steady going on in one unbroken round, with a patient cheerfulness that knows nothing of "moods,"--all these are garnered there, and add to our riches towards Him.
--H. BOWMAN

IT is a great matter to learn to look upon troubles and trials not as simply evils. How can that be evil which God sends? And those who can repress complaints, murmurs, and peevish bemoaning--better still, the vexed feelings which beset us when those around inflict petty annoyances and slights on us--will really find that their little daily worries are turning into blessings.
--H. L. Sidney LEAR

Just to leave in His dear hand
Little things;
All we cannot understand,
All that stings.
Just to let Him take the care
Sorely pressing,
Finding all we let Him bear
Changed to blessing.
--FRANCES R. HAVERGAL

Loving God

Scripture Reference John 16:33

Loving God

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
--JOHN 16:33

THEE will I love, my Crown of gladness,
Thee will I love, my God and Lord,
Amid the darkest depths of sadness;
Not for the hope of high reward,---
For Thine own sake, O Light Divine,
So long as life is mine.
--JOHANN SCHEFFLER

WHAT is the secret of serenity? We all want to know it. Indeed, we do know it already. There is no secret about it. St. Paul speaks it out plainly enough. Everybody can see what it is. All things work together for good to them that love God. We must love God; that is the heart of it. Happiness, content, and right satisfaction, all doubts answered, all dark places lighted up, heaven begun here--this is the reward of loving God. In this world, tribulation; yes, but good cheer in spite of that, for the Son of God, whom we love, has overcome the world.
--GEORGE HODGES

Man's happiness consists in present peace, even in the midst of the greatest trials, and in more than hope of a glorious future.
--CHARLES G. GORDON