DEVOTIONAL COLUMN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 5, 5 December 1931, Page 9

DEVOTIONAL COLUMN

A MOTHER’S PRAYER.

MORNING. The day begins, much work awaits my hands, I have not time to spare, Thou knowest, Lord; And yet I must commence the day with prayer, And seek a message from Thy Holy Word. So shall Thy blessing hallow all my work, My burdens lighter feel since cast on Thee, Fresh courage come because I hear Thee “For as thy days, so shall thy strength still be.” EVENING. O God, forgive, that during all this day, , I’ve been so busy with the cares or earth. As not to hear Thy voice when calling me . To give my mind to things of higher worth. And, Lord, thou knowest how my temper’s worn And frayed and fretted by my worrying soul, . A ... Just take my anxious, weary, trembling heart, Cleanse it from sin, and make it pure and whole. Marjorie Rees. SEALED. “If w r e can learn aright how Christ wds sealed, we shall learn how we are sealed. The sealing of Christ by the Father was the communeation of the Holy Ghost in all His fullness to Him, authorising Him unto and acting His Divine power in all tho acts and duties of His office, so as to evidence the presence of God unto Him and appropriation of Him. So in God’s sealing of believers He owns and gives them His Holy Spirit to fit them for their relations, to enable them unto tlieir duties, to act their new principles, and every way to discharge the work they are called to do. He gives them the spirit of power—of love—and of a sound mind. And hereby does God seal them.” —John Owen. ■ _ He opened the Book. —Luke 4: 17. That was not the first time He had opened it. We are to remember that the Scriptures were no sealed Book to tlie Jews. In every village school the children heard and recited and read them. It was the aim of every 'thoughtful Jew to possess a portion. The reading of them was a chief part of the synagogue service. The routine of morning and evening, feast and fast, Sabbaths and holy days, sprang from the Book. Yet were they “sealed” : as living waters may be sealed under the accumulation of debris, so the spirit and power of the Word were rendered void by the oxplainings and traditions of the scribes. When Jesus said: “This day. is this Scripture fulfilled,” and Himself stood as Fulfiller, the waters burst forth anew, and thirsty souls drank and were refreshed. The Word is for today. That is the message of the Lord. It is to be received, obeyed, practised, to-day. It is to transform the life of home and shop and city.

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.

Be still, my heart! Amid the Babel sounds that greet thine ears, ' Amid the rush and riot of the day. Let God’s own silence of the eternal years Keep thee unmoved, undaunted, on thy way, My heart, be still! Be still, my heart! Amid the devious ways that thoumust tread. Amid the sorrow and the pain of life; ~ , , , - Look up, for so to faithful souls is read The message of His peace m every strife, My heart, be still I —A. M’Fadyen. If you asked me to measure sin, there is no measure for it but the Cross. There alone can you form any idea of what the intolerance of God is to sin. If looking up by faith to the One crucified there, the Cross will be your mark by which to measure everything in you. There is no charge against me, tor Christ has met it all, arid perfected me for ever. The blood shed for sinners ever pleads in the presence of God, and not only can I be perfectly fre3 from guilt there, but God delights to give me all that Christ has and is.—Anon. ‘Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). Once in the early days of Rome forty Christians were taken prisoners, and because they would not deny Jesus were sentenced to stand naked, upon the icy river till they should die. A Roman soldier was placed on guard and told that if anyone would forsake Christ he would be spared. Soon the wintry cold began to do its work, and at last one brave soul sank upon the ice in death. But when he fell it seemed as if everyone heard strange singing, “Forty martyrs and forty crowns; be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life.” Again a Christian fell, and again the same song. One by one through the night they died till all but one had gone. This one, brave till now, looking about him, saw his thirty-nine courageous companions lying still in death. The wintry wind pierced his heart. He thought of the freedom that might be his and, cowardly, decided to forsake his Lord. He rushed from the ice, threw out his hands to the Roman guard, and claimed the nmiso of pardon. But the soldier heard that chant all through the night, “Forty martyrs and forty crowns; be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life.” The' faith of the brave had won him. “Here is my robe; take it, and I will take your place upon the ice.” And the brave Roman era long heard that song ns the angels sang it for the fortieth time when he paid the price of his love for Christ. There are many things to tempt us to deny our Lord. But the crown of life is only for those who are “faithful until death.”