DEVOTIONAL COLUMN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 266, 7 October 1933, Page 11

DEVOTIONAL COLUMN

Prayer: 0 God, who art our Father and or Friend, we would trust and rest more fully in Tliy love. In ourselves there are weariness and unrest; in Thee their is peace. We bless Thee that Thou hast a vision for every doubt; and a fulfilment for every aspiration. We praise Tliee for Him in whom we find all that oiir hearts can ever need. May we receive more and more out of His fulness! May His life become our life. Grant that we may have the mind that was in Christ Jesus, and be transformed into the same image from glory to glory. We ask everything in His name. Amen. Scripture: 2 Cor. 1 : 12-24. THE SENTINEL. The morning is the gate of day, But ere you enter there, See that you set to guard it well, The Sentinel of prayer. So shall God’s grace your steps attend, But nothing else pass through Save what can give the countersign. The Father’s will for you. When you have reached the end of day, Where night and sleep await, Set there the Sentinel again To bar the evening’s gate. So shall no fear disturb your rest. No danger and no care, For only peace and pardon pass, The' watchful guard of, prayer. Annie Johnson Flint. THE BELIEVER’S HERITAGE (PSALM 23). Verse 1. A Priceless Possession.— “The Lord is my Shepherd.” Verse 2. A Satisfying Portion—“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures,” etc. Verse 4 An Unfailing Friend—- “ Thou art with me.” Verse 6. Ail Inexhaustible Supply—- “ Surely goodness and mercy,” etc. An Unending Joy— “I shall dwell in the House of the Lord.” —R. T. Dick. TWELVE REASONS. How and Why you should Read the Bible. 1. The Bible is the message from God to man. 2. It has made known to us the character and will of God, and his purpose of love to our sinful race. 3. The Bible is our only perfect and authoritative rule of life and conduct. It is the standard of the highest moral teaching. 4. The Bible is the great source of comfort to sorrowing hearts. It also gives new faith, peace and hope to hearts burdened with trouble or fear. 5. Tho Bible is the only source of light for mortal man upon his own future destiny, upon the future of humanity, and upon the life beyond tho grave. 6. Its great purpose is to tell us how God in love has, through, the death of Christ, met the need of sinful man; so that all who truly believe in Him can have eternal life. 7. Its treasures are only found by those who search for them with all their heart, by study, prayer, and sincerity of heart to .do the will of God. 8. We owe it to the Bible that we should' receive it with personal faith, appropriate its messages to ourselves, and put our own name in every promise. 0. It is the traveller’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword, and the Christian’s charter. 10. Christ is its grand subject, its design is our good, and the glory of God is its end. 11. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practise it to be holy. 12. A portion from the Gospels and Psalms should be read daily, and a little of each introduced into the daily life will make the whole year different by renewing our faith and bringing comfort and hope. RUIN, REDEMPTION, RECEPTION. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way.”—lsaiah 53:6. “Dead in trespasses and sins.”-—Eph. 2:1. “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.”—l Pet. 3:18. “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” —1 Peter 2:24. “To as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.”—John 1:12. THE POWER OF SONG. No words of entreaty or admonition could touch my heart, said a man, ! until I heard my dear wife after her conversion as she poured forth in song her love for her Redeemer and her faith and trust in Him. Countless instances could he given where song carried the gospel into hearts closed against all other influences. And now abideth preaching, teaching, and praise, but the greatest of these is praise! A Scotch clergyman said: “It was Sankey’s sweet singing that melted tho hearts of the people, and made the open door for Mr Moody’s matchless Bible expositions. None can reproduce those expositions, but all Scotland for years to come will sing Sankey’s songs.” “For myself,” says another minister, “I should feel utterly lost and without sword or trowel for the building and defence of the walls of Zion if I were deprived of the armoury and kit of hymns which God has given the Church to profit withal.” Every revival of religion has been marked by a revival of song. Every decadence” of piety lias been marked by a decadence of singing. When the godly mother of the Wesleys lay dying she said to lior weoping children: “My children, as soon as my spirit is released, sing a song of praise to God!” It has been said that the walls of Methodism would never have gone up so fast had they not been built to music. After the singing of the hymn “When I Survey” by a certain congregation, the pastor slowly read again, “Demands my soul, my life, my all,” adding: “Well, I am surprised to hear you sing that! Do you know that altogether you only put fifteen shillings into the collection box this morning?” We cannot give God the glory duo unto His name by offering him the smallest coin in a bulging pocket book.