Devotional Column

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 7201, 26 April 1930, Page 5

Devotional Column

- PRECEPT » Comfort one another with these I Thess., iv, 18. PROMISE We which are alive . . . shall be caught up ... to meet the Lord. I Thess., iv, 17. PRAYER Even so,, come, Lord Jesus. Rev., xxii, 20. To see God as Ho .appears in Jesus, and to cast oneself upon Him, is to be delivered from the fear of things, and very specially from the fear of tasks that scare us by their size. We get back our nerve as we look at Him. What gives the Bible its majesty of attitude, its perfect self-possession in face of an impossible situation, is just that the writers of the book were all the time looking at God. They lost even the thought of their own weakness as they gazed on the might of the Eternal.—-Prof. H. R. Mackintosh, D.D. Lord,.l know a work is waiting For each ransomed child of Thine; Lo, I come in faith beseeching— Show mo mine. Open Thou my heart to gather To its tender lovo and care All Thy lost and wandering children Everywhere. Wheresoever Thou dost need me Let Thy Spirit’s guidance show, And'with loving swift obedience i I will go. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. ’ ’ —Zech., iv, 6. “According to the Word that I covenanted with you . . . so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not.” —Haggai, ii, 5. ■“Our .Gospel camo'not you in word only but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.” —I Thess., 1, 5.

We may now encourage our own and each other’s hearts, by the remem* brance that the Holy Spirit «is “the Eternal Spirit,” the same to us now as when the words of encouragement were sent to Zerubabbel and to Haggai. There is a building to be built of living stones' on the one foundation of odr Lord Jesus Christ. And it is given. to us to build, as we take the words of the Gospel to men one by one, in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. It is a blessed ministry. PRAYER Prayer is the bringer of power, as evidenced at Pentecost (Acts, i, 14; ii, 1-4); the meeter of need, as seen in the early Church praying to the Lord (Acts, iv, 24-31); the harbinger of ldessing,’-'as God declares to those that wait upon him (Isa./ xlj-31) ; the killer of sin, a? manifest when, Elijah prayed against -the priests of Baal (I Kings, xviii, 36^40); the prompter of holiness, as made known in the result of Heze* kiah’s intercession (II Chron., xx, 3-

Fights and boxing matches have been added to the list of entertainments which women now attend—another step forward in their march. Just at present to see- them at the ring-side strikes, oho as a little inconruous, perhaps. Their ethereal, evening frocks and lovely cloaks, their jewels and their boautifully-waved hair are in striking contrast to the general atmosphere. But then it used to be considered rather daring for a woman to go to a football match or a water polo display, and now their presence at these functions.- excites no commenj; whatever Presently we may expect to see reports of fights without the little sentence—- “ There were several women present.” At the Carncra-Stribling fight at the Albert Hall, women had seats here and there, and several pretty society women were with the Prince of Wales’ party. -

30); the strengthener of faith, as unfolded in' tho woman’s prayer for her daughter (Matt., xv, 28); the compan ion of love, as seen in Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian saints (Eph., iii, 1420); and the feeder of hope, as made known in the wonderful intercession of Christ in John xvii. THE CROSS, A BEACON 0 Lamp of Life! that on the bloody Cross . Dost hang the Beacon of our wandering race, To guide us homeward to our resting place, And save our best wealth from eternal loss! So purge my inward sight from earthly dross, That fix’d upon Thy Cross, or near or far, In all the storms this weary bark that toss (Whate’er bo lost in that tempestu our war), Thee I retain, my Compass and my Star! Then when arrived upon the wish’d . for strand, I pass of death th’ irrevocable bar, And at the gates of heaven trembling stand, The everlasting doors may open wide, And give Thee to my sight, God glorified! CHARACTERS IN GALATIANS VI, 1-6 1. An Overtaken One. “A man overtaken in a fault” (1). The thought is, one tripped up suddenly, to his hurt. 2. A Spiritual Restorer. “Ye which are spiritual restore” (1). Tho one who is not in the ditch, can pull out the one that is. 3. A Burden Bearer. “Bear one another’s burden” (2). A bent back in helping another with his burden, finds help in helping. 4. A Mistaken “Nothing.” “If a man think himself to bo something, when he is nbthing, he deceiveth himself” (3). An empty head is filled with self-conceit. 5. A Proved Worker. “Let every man prove his own work” (4). Testing our own task, wo are able to estimate its worth and wealth.

6. An Individual Receiver. “Each man shall bear his own burden” (5) or sheaf. The largeness of our sheaf depends on our tillage. 7. A Communicating Teacher (6). “Let him that is taught communi cate.” We are taught to teach, blessed to bless, and fed to feed. A SOCIAL RELIGION Christianity is essentially a social religion, and to turn it into a solitary one is to destroy it. Your holiness makes you as conspicuous as tho sun in the midst of heaven. Ye may not flee from men, and while ye are among them it is impossible to hide your lowliness and meekness and those other dispositions whereby ye aspiro to be perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect. ... As well may men think to. hide a city as to hide a Christian; yea, as well may they conceal a city set upon a hill, as a holy, zealous, active lover of God. —John Wesley.

You can never tell where feminine fashions end thoir ramifications. I am told now that tho longer evening skirts are going to change the tone of our ballroom dances. Because a flowing skirt neither suits hustle nor looks graceful when it lacks dignity of movement, tho wintor vogue is to be for the more leisurely French variety of t.ho tango. Already tango bands arc being imported by the up-to-date West End hotels, and tangoing is at the moment what all London dance instructors aro being asked to teach. Fortunately the French tango is quite different, and much less 'difficult than the Argentine variety, and, although it lacks the. latter’s Spanish verve, it is likely to be • quite popular. Amongst the musical 'instruments —perhaps one should say. “implements”—used by the latest tango' orchestras is a carpenter,’s saw. It supplics'the exotic note.