There are many ways of promoting Christian wakefulness. Among the rest, let me strongly advise Christians to converse together concerning the ways of the Lord. Christian and Hopeful, as they journeyed towards the Celestial City, said to themselves:
"To prevent drowsiness in this place, let us fall into good discourse."
Christians who isolate themselves and walk alone are very liable to grow drowsy. Hold Christian company, and you will be kept wakeful by it, and refreshed and encouraged to make quicker progress in the road to heaven.--_Spurgeon._
[Ill.u.s.tration: JULY]
=July 1st.=
_He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not. Rev. i. 17._
One of Wellington"s officers, when commanded to go on some perilous duty, lingered a moment as if afraid, and then said:
"Let me have one clasp of your all-conquering hand before I go; and then I can do it."
Seek the clasp of Christ"s hand before every bit of work, every hard task, every battle, every good deed. Bend your head in the dewy freshness of every morning, ere you go forth to meet the day"s duties and perils, and wait for the benediction of Christ, as He lays His hands upon you. They are hands of blessing. Their touch will inspire you for courage and strength and all beautiful and n.o.ble living.--_J. R.
Miller._
=July 2nd.=
_Being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of G.o.d. Acts i. 3._
This lingering for forty days is the crowning proof of Christ"s tender regard for His little flock. He who had laid down His life for them is loath to leave them. Though they had forsaken Him, and doubted Him, they had not wearied, much less had they worn out, His love. He stays to look again, and yet again, and yet again, upon them, as if turning back and lingering to bless them. It is all of a piece with His life of love.
Everywhere He meets them without a touch of upbraiding, without recalling a single memory of all His bitter suffering, revealing Himself to the disciples with a tenderness and blessedness indescribably beautiful.
How can He go till He has healed the Magdalene"s broken heart? He must linger till poor Peter can venture near to have his forgiveness a.s.sured.
He must stay to strengthen Thomas" faith. He must tarry with them till He has made them feel that He is just the same friendly, brotherly Jesus that He has ever been, caring for them in their work, watching them with a yearning pity, stooping to kindle a fire for their warmth, and to cook the fish for their meal, and then to bid them come and dine.--_Mark Guy Pea.r.s.e._
=July 3rd.=
_Jesus, . . . being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well. . . . (For His disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) . . . And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on Him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. John iv. 6, 8, 39._
The bits of wayside work are very sweet. Perhaps the odd bits, when all is done, will really come to more than the seemingly greater pieces! . . . It is nice to know that the King"s servants are always really on duty, even while some can only stand and wait.--_Frances Ridley Havergal._
=July 4th.=
_Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you . . .
let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John xiv. 27._
Dark hours come to us all; and if we have no clew to a peace that can pa.s.s unbroken through their murky gloom, we shall be in a state of continual dread. Any stone flung by a chance pa.s.ser-by may break the crystal clearness of the Lake of Peace and send disturbing ripples across it, unless we have learnt to trust in the perpetual presence of Him who can make and keep a "great calm" within the soul. Only let nothing come to you which you shall not instantly hand over to Him--all petty worries, all crushing difficulties, all inability to believe.--_F.
B. Meyer._
=July 5th.=
_Isaac dwelt by the well Lahai-roi. Gen. xxv. 11._
Isaac dwelt there, and made the well of the living and all-seeing G.o.d his constant source of supply. The usual tenor of a man"s life, the _dwelling_ of his soul, is the true test of his state. Let us learn to live in the presence of the living G.o.d. Let us pray the Holy Spirit that this day, and every other day, we may feel, "Thou G.o.d seest me." May the Lord Jehovah be as a well to us, delightful, comforting, unfailing, springing up unto eternal life. The bottle of the creature cracks and dries up, but the well of the Creator never fails. Happy is he who dwells at the well, and so has abundant and constant supplies near at hand! Glorious Lord, constrain us that we may never leave Thee, but dwell by the well of the living G.o.d!--_Spurgeon._
=July 6th.=
_Judas Iscariot . . . was a thief, and had the bag, and bore what was put therein. John xii. 4, 6._
_Freely ye have received, freely give. Matt. x. 8._
Ah, but if we should go thoroughly into this matter, should we not probably find that many of us are guilty, in some modified and yet sufficiently alarming sense, of treachery to the poor? Are we not, some of us, sent to them with benefactions which never reach them, and are only unconscious of guilt because so long accustomed to look upon the goods as bestowed on us, whereas the light of G.o.d"s word would plainly reveal upon those goods the names of the poor and needy?--_George Bowen._
=July 7th.=
_Let every man take heed how he buildeth. 1 Cor. iii.
10._
Our business is not to build quickly, but to build upon a right foundation, and in a right spirit. Life is more than a mere compet.i.tion as between man and man; it is not who can be done first, but who can work best; it is not who can rise highest in the shortest time, but who is working most patiently and lovingly in accordance with the designs of G.o.d.--_Joseph Parker._
=July 8th.=
_As thy days, so shall thy strength be. Deut. x.x.xiii.
25._
No day without its duty; no duty without strength to perform it.--_Selected._
=July 9th.=
_Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.
Gen. xxviii. 16._
"Surely the Lord was in this place, and I knew it not." My soul, this is also thine experience! How often hast thou said in thy sorrow, "Verily thou art a G.o.d that hidest Thyself!" How often hast thou slept for very heaviness of heart, and desired not to wake again! And when thou didst wake again, lo, the darkness was all a dream! Thy vision of yesterday was a delusion. G.o.d had been with thee all the night with that radiance which has no need of the sun.
O my soul, it is not only after the future thou must aspire; thou must aspire to see the glory of thy past. Thou must find the glory of that way by which thy G.o.d has led thee, and be able even of thy sorrow to say, "This was the gate of heaven!"--_George Matheson._
=July 10th.=
_My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me. John iv. 34._
The real secret of an unsatisfied life lies too often in an unsurrendered will.--_J. Hudson Taylor._