DEVOTIONAL COLUMN

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 245, 14 September 1929, Page 12

DEVOTIONAL COLUMN

PRAYER. Lord, teach us to pray I Shed upon thy holy church tlio spirit of prayer and supplication in these solemn hours when iniquity abounds and the love of many is waxing cold ! May we feel the impulse of intercessory prayer, that ere the announcement of thine advent rings out from heaven our world may be refreshed by the latter rain! CHRIST WAITING. 0 0 wondrous love, unfailing and undying, The love of Christ for sinners such as I, Love full and free, 'lieart-cleansing, satisfying, Waits for. us all. Oh! shall we pass it by? It matters not how much wo may have faltered, This Son of God doth patiently attend, He knows your heart, but His great love unaltered Will welcome you and guide you to the end. Delay not, therefore, haste the call of blessing, 0 child of sin, mistake not—’tis for. thee, The lowly Saviour with His love caressing Waits you in hope. What shall your answer bo? “THE LEAST GRAIN.” “For 10, I will command and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.” Amos 9:9. Faint not, 0 Christian, if you are being sifted, though one of “the least of these” you shall not fall. He will preserve you to the end. Perhaps you have been looking to yourself for what you will never find there —some preserving power to keep you; perhaps you have been trusting to something done in or by you for safety. This will bring you into bondage. “Look away to Jesus.” He will keep you from falling, and present you : faultless before His Father. “Whatever God may be doing in you, or may not be doing in vou is not the thing that you are to look to as the foundation of your hope. Your trust is to be in Christ’s work on the Cross, and nothing else,” says Mr Spurgeon. And even this trust is of God. “For we both may and must, commit to Him our trust.” So He must do the work front first to last. “He which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until tlio day of Jesus Christ.” Phil. 1:6. “THEE MUST NOT.” When it is dry, thee must not cry, When it is warm, thee must not storm, When it is wet, thee must not fret, When it is cold, thee must not scold Whatever the weather, be thankful together.

WITH WHOM DO YOU WALK? “You cannot honour Christ in your walk if you walk with those who dishonour Him.” The Psalmist said: “I am a companion of all them that fear the Lord.” “LOOSED.” 1. Liberty through the Lord—“ Loose hint and let him go” (John 11:44). We may have life and not liberty. "We need to get rid of the grave-clothes of sinful habit. 2. Straightness by the Lord—“ Thou art loosed from thine infirmity” (Luke 13:12). She was bowed down to the uttermost, but she was straightened to the full capacity. The Lord does not things by halves . 3. Utterance fro mtlie Lord—“ The string of his tongue was loosed” (Mark 7 :35). The strings of fear and doubt will bind our tongues, but when we receive freedom from the Lord we can speak for Him. 4. Freedom with the Lord—“l see four men loose” (Daniel 3:25). Men may bind the Lord’s servants, and place them in the fire of trial, but the Lord can not only free them, He can cause them to enjoy the fire with Him. 5. Loosing for the Lord—When the Lord wanted the colt, those’ who found it loosed it and brought it to Him . (Mark 11:1-7). The Lord’s commands are the authority for all untiements. THE GREATEST WANT IN THE WORLD, AND THE GREATEST THING. From the great love chapter—namely, the Thirteenth of First Corinthians —we find love capable of doing the following: The love here named is perfect love. Love —“Suffereth long.” Love —“Is kind.” Love—“Envieth not.” Love—“Vaunteth not itself.” Love—“ls not puffed up.” Love —“Doth not behave itself unseemly.” Love —“Seeketh not her own.” Love—“ls not provoked” (R.V.) Love —“Thinketh no evil.” Love —“Rojoiceth not in iniquity.” Love —“Rejoiceth in the truth.” ,Love —“Beareth all things.” Love —“Hopetli all things.” . Love—“Endureth all things.” Love —“Never faileth.” Love—“Abideth.” Love—“ls greitest.” The solution of the world’s woes is in this one word. All the Law and tlie Prophets hang upon it. It is included in the greatest command. It wiil solve the perfect spirituality of the Church. It will make every Christian consistent with the Word of the Lord. It will give complete victory over sin. It takes the savage out of humanity and puts in the lamb nature. It will cure the world of caste. It will solve the difficulties between capital and labour. It will furnish money and men to girdle the world with salvation. It has no prejudice against race or colour. It burns and throbs as the result of. cleansing the heart from sin by the blood of Jesus.