DEVOTIONAL COLUMN

Horowhenua Chronicle, 9 July 1938, Page 6

DEVOTIONAL COLUMN

PEAYEE. •w-hiis, rhy strength, we need, ooeing xny jncuuuo seen; xu u.uugiii, or worn, or uced, un, jluu us uy my xu.uu. -.•nay lit this hour be led -.u xignceuus pains to tread; Alia, uy lily manna ted, wn, icau us uy hhy nami. its Uus brier lice ting day xusses so swixt auay, may we Horn race nut stray— f wn, read us uy lay naiid. And wnen the Jiuur draws nigh wnen death slum dim our eye, ra.ve us lo Tnee on nigu — on, rcao. us uy xiiy maid. FORGIVENESS. . Uod proclaims '•lorgueuoss of sins’' to all, ju the Gospel. Gut only tuuse u’iio uelieve Hie message "have rorgiveness" (itpii, I, 7;. xiioy know mat iheir sins "are lurgiven” (1 John 2, til), because God says so. —U. 11. xUacklutosii. ASSURANCE. The witness of the Spirit fitom. 8, 10) in the believer ox his salvation auu sonsiiip, is no secret revelation given to some and withheld from others, it is tiie testimony of the Word of God, given by the Spirit to ail who truly believe and are born of God.

—(J. Krause. HIS LOVE. Ho was “constrained by love. 1 ’ ‘ ‘Jit loved his own" even “unto the emT ; (John 13, I). His gracious words to His disciples shortly before ilia death were, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man Jay down his life for las friends ” (John la, 13). The real desire, ur prayer, of iiis heart was that they should love one another;} even as Ho had loved them (see John 13, 31; Id, 111), This was the new commandment He gave to them. And it is still the commandment for His dear children.

PRAYER, Our Father we praise Thee to-day for the way in which Thou has brought us along our life's journey. We remember the milestones along the way, tiie roads that would have been wrong to take, but where Thou didst guide us into the right road. We remember Thy providing care, and we know that Thou art still leading on. Even though we may be walking painfuiU iit a wilderness of problems in these days, we knew that the way is not unknown to Thee, and that we may trust Thee fully for Thy guidance. Help us as we go forward under Thy care to lead others into the company of believers. Whether we are moving 'forward, or halted in the way, us Thou I dost direct, may we realise that in ' active service or in seeming obscurity,! we are still under Thy loving care. Wo j ask this in the name of our Lord i Jesus. Amen. i

GOD'S RULE FOR OUR WALK. Lot the Spirit be your Adviser and Controller, and the ilesh will become powerless to spoh and mar your life. I Alas, we all know by experience how strenuous is the struggle within. Are we by sheer force of will and mental activity to keep under the old nature, and ever to be conscious of strain and anxiety.’ What is the Scriptural method of dealing with the problem.' . . . Aot by eradication or annihilation of the old nature, but by its continual subjection and paralysis through faith, in other words, by surrender to the Spirit of God, Who indwelling in our hearts ever controls and holds in check these tendencies to evil. —W. W. Martin, M.A.

THE BIBLE ON THE RAILWAY. In view of public interest in the fourth centenary of the English Bible as an open book, the London and -North ’ Eastern Railway has agreed to have one of its waiting rooms decorated entirely with pictures of Biblical subjects. These are engravings, forty in number —after Giorgione, Titian, Mic'.hel, Angelo, Rembrandt, and oilier great ma.-.ters. They will be hung in the first instance in the main waiting room at Lincoln, and a tier a period go “on tear” to other stations.

TELL ME MOKE. O tell me more of < lirist, mv Saviour; On this glad theme dwell o'er and o ’o. r; liis boundless grace, His saving favour, His previous (> lell me more! () tell ni(> morel so much I need His power to keep, His imml lo lead; O tell me more of Him I love, i Until I see His face a hove . . . U tell me more of love’s sweet story, If you would cheer and comfort me; How Jesus wept, the King of glory, Those tender tears of sympathy. 0 tell mo more! How waves of sorrow all hoar His voice say, “Peace, be 1 still”; j How after night, bright dawns th;> morrow,

To those who trust His blessed will. 0 tell me more! And I repeating The happy news, shall spread the joy; Come, blessed Lord, Thy work completing, Till songs of praise our lips employ.

| OPTIMIST AND PESSIMIST. i | “Lot us {4O up at once, and possess jit . . . We bo not aide to go up against the people” (Nuni. 13: 30, 31). 'Mr. Chesterton, in one of his essays, has cpioted from the blunder of a 'school girl what is perhaps the best Jdefinition of the terms “optimist” and “pessimist.” “An optimist,” said the girl, “is a man who takes care of the eyes, and a pessimist, is a man who lakes care of the feet.” Mxactly. The pessimist is concerned with the obstacles in the path about our feet; the optimist lias eyes to see the plan of Die Journey and the gaol at the end. 'the pessimist may have anxious prudence; the optimist lias vision.