DEVOTIONAL COLUMN.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 7 December 1929, Page 9

DEVOTIONAL COLUMN.

Precept. Let ua draw near. —Heb. 10, 22. - * s Promise. If ye ask. anything in My Name, I will do it. - -—John 14, 14. * Prayer, Hpar my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry. * „ —Ps. 39, 12., He that eonfesseth the Son hath the .Father also , . . and our fellowship is with the father and with His Sob. V : > ■ —1 John 2:23; 1, 3. ‘ THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. In receiving the Lord Jesus we are born of God, and we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and are thus anointed and sealed. We are thus capaeitaed by that life and empowered by the "■ Spirit, as acknowledging the Son, to have the Father also. Our bright privilege is to have this fellowship as ours, with unstinted and. joyful assurance / by the will and’ word of God . ... . ■‘ He that had the best robe for the returned prodigal would have you as His •. child-, to enjoy communion with Him-. ■jfelf and His Son. The love of the Father * anil the Son is its spring, working by the Holy Spirit.—-William Kelly. THE WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD.

■i Mark the keenness of Paul’s description of the man who does most effective work in praying. There are ~ six qualifications under the figure of the six'pieces of amour. A clear understanding of truth, a clean, obedient life, earnest service, a strongly simple trust in (-rod, and a good grip of the truth for others —these things prepare: a man for the real conflict of prayer. * Such ‘ a tnan—praying—drives back these hosts of the traitor prince. Such ‘ a man- praying is invincible in his Chief, Jesus. The equipment is simpie, and in its beginnings comes quickly to.sthe willing earnest heart.—S. D. Gordon. CHEER FOR WEARIED SOULS. A famous Australian preacher has published two volumes, iu which .are listed the favourite texts of notable men and women, or those most influential in their lives. What I call “the most cheerful text in the world’’ is not among them (states a writer). Nor is it to be found in the twenty useful .volumes treating the “Great Texts rf the Bible. Nevertheless, it is in *• the Book itself! Our lives and all our interest depend 'em the reign bf law. Without it there would be no stability to our enterprises, nor morality possible in our living. Therefore I regard the text: “Lot us not be weary in well-doing; for in due season wo shall reap, if we faint not,’’ as one of the most cheerful in the world, fit to be put by the side of John iii, 16. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked, for whatsoever, a man soweth, that shall he also reap.’’ It is not necessarily ,a sombre text. Like produces like. Alen reap in kind. You can depend upon it in God’s universe. The rewards of goodness are sure. The law holds and it is beneficent and kind. The harvest may seem long in coming, but it will be on time. Who sows the wind reaps the whirlwind. We have heard it often. Now let us hear often and with equal power that he who sows love will reap it. The immortality of goodness exceeds the life of evil. Let every discouraged soul take heart. Let every man and woman sow lavishly of joy and kindness and cheer and sympathy. The harvest will exceed the sowing, and we need a great harvest. Only lot not the sowing tarry.