I said to the man that stood at the gate of the year, "Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown." And he said to me, "Go forth into the darkness and put your hand in the hand of God; And it shall be to you better than a light and safer than a known way."

Minnie Louise Haskins

Start Over

When you've trusted Jesus and walked His way,
When you've felt His hand lead you day by day,
But your steps now take you another way,
Start over.

When you've made your plans and they've gone awry,
When you've tried your best 'till there's no more try,
When you've failed yourself and you don't know why,
Start over.

When you think you're finished and want to quit,
When you've bottomed out in life's deepest pit,
When you've tried and tried to get out of it,
Start over.

When the year's been long and success few,
When December comes and you're feeling blue,
God gives a January just so you
Start over.

Starting over means victories won,
Starting over means a race well run,
Starting over means the Lord's "well done"
So don't just sit there,
Start over.

Woodrow Kroll

When God wants to drill a man
and thrill a man and skill a man
When God wants to mold a man
to play the noblest part;
When he yearns with all his heart
to create so bold a man
that all the world will be amazed,
Watch his methods, watch his ways:

How he relentlessly perfects
whom he royally elects;
How he hammers us and hurts us
and with mighty blows converts us
into trial shapes of clay
which only God can understand,
While our tortured heart is crying
and we lift beseeching hands.

How God bends, but never breaks
when his good he undertakes;
How he uses whom he chooses
and with every purpose fuses us;
By every act induces us
to try his splendor out —
God knows what he's about!

Author unknown

Oh! I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved's mine!
He brings a poor vile sinner into His house of wine!
I stand upon His merit; I know no other stand,
Not e'en where glory dwelleth, in Immanuel's land.

The bride eyes not her garment, but her dear Bride-groom's face;
I will not gaze at glory, but on my King of grace -
Not at the crown He giveth, but on His pierced hand:
The Lamb is all the glory of Immanuel's land.

Anne Ross Cousin

If I gained the world, but lost the Saviour,
Were my life worth living for a day?
Could my yearning heart find rest and comfort
In the things that soon must pass away?

If I gained the world, but had no Saviour,
Would my gain be worth the life-long strife?
Are all earthly pleasures worth comparing,
For a moment with a Christ-filled life?

Anna Olander

I hear the accuser roar of ills that I have done;
I know them well, and thousands more Jehovah findeth none.
Though the restless foe accuses - sins recounting like a flood;
Every charge our God refuses; Christ has answered with His blood.

Author unknown

Gems from my reading

Every circumstance in Genesis 18 speaks of a righteous man's open communion with God. The Lord and the two angels drew near Abraham in human form. They readily accepted Abraham's service, speech, and friendship. In the realm of divine fellowship, Genesis 18 is in striking contrast to God's disposition towards Lot in Genesis 19. In chapter 19, God does not personally visit carnal Lot, nor do the angels appear as men any longer, but as "angels." Even the angels are standoffish and initially refuse Lot's company and provisions. God is not mocked - our carnality necessitates distance and reduced familiarity with Him.

Warren Henderson in Seeds of Destiny (A Genesis Devotional)

Do you ever feel down hearted or discouraged?
Do you ever think your work is all in vain?
Do the burdens thrust upon you make you cheerless,
And you fear that you shall never the victory gain?

Have faith in God, the sun will shine,
Though dark the cloud may be today,
His heart hath planned your path and mine:
Have faith in God, have faith alway.

May Agnew Stephens

Will not the End explain?

Will not the End explain
The crossed endeavor, earnest purpose foiled.
The strange bewilderment of good work spoiled.
The clinging weariness, the inward strain;
Will not the End explain?

Meanwhile He comforteth
Them that are losing patience; 'tis His way.
But none can write the words they hear Him say,
For men to read; only they know He saith
Kind words and comforteth.

Not that He doth explain
The mystery that baffleth; but a sense
Husheth the quiet heart, that far, far hence
Lieth a field set thick with golden grain,
Wetted in seedling days by many a rain;
The End - it will explain.

Amy Carmichael in Toward Jerusalem

An hour of waiting!
Yet there seems such need
To reach that spot sublime!
I long to reach them--but I long far more
To trust HIS time!

"Sit still, my daughter"--
Yet the heathen die,
They perish while I stay!
I long to reach them--but I long far more
To trust HIS way!

'Tis good to get,
'Tis good indeed to give!
Yet is it better still--
O'er breadth, thro' length, down length, up height,
To trust HIS will!

F. M. N.

Nehemiah Chapter 13

Separation of the People of God (Neh 13:1-3)
Corruption of the House of God (Neh 13:4-9)
Desertion of the Work of God (Neh 13:10-14)
Desecration of the Sabbath of God (Neh 13:15-22)
Contamination of the Priesthood of God (Neh 13:23-31)

Nehemiah - Administration of the City

The Distribution of the People - Neh 11
The Dedication of the Wall - Neh 12
The Discipline of the City - Neh 13

*Hamilton Smith*

Rock of our salvation (Psalm 95:1)

Shelter for refuge (Ps 31:2-3; Ps 61:2-3)
Supply for refreshment (Ex 17:6; Num 20:8)
Shadow for rest (Isa 32:2)
Stability for resilience (Ps 40:2)

The Great Sin

The great sin is not the sin of being wicked and immoral but the sin of trying to be good without God, the sin of rebelling against God and saying,"I'm going to be like God, without God."

Lo! He comes, with clouds descending, Once for our salvation slain;
Thousand thousand saints attending, Swell the triumph of His train:
Alleluia! Alleluia! God appears on earth to reign.

Every eye shall now behold Him, Robed in dreadful majesty;
Those who set at naught and sold Him, Pierced and nailed Him to the tree,
Deeply wailing, deeply wailing, Shall the true Messiah see.

Yea, Amen! Let all adore Thee, High on Thine eternal throne;
Savior, take the power and glory, Claim the kingdom for Thine own:
O come quickly, O come quickly, Alleluia! Come, Lord, come!

Charles Wesley

DRAMATIM Hand Mime Easter Outreach (1st Performance)

Not all the blood of beasts, on Jewish altars slain,
Could give the guilty conscience peace, or wash away its stain.
But Christ, the heavenly Lamb, took all our sins away,
A sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they.

Isaac Watts

Nehemiah - Application of the Word

The Word of God (The Lord's commandments) - Neh 8
The Worship of God (The people's confession) - Neh 9
The House of God (The remnant's covenant) - Neh 10

Tempters seek to lure astray,
Storms obscure the light of day:
But in Christ I can be bold,
I've an anchor that shall hold.

W. C. Martin

Nehemiah Chapter 6

The enemy:
Insists friendship (Neh 6:1-8)
Instills fear (Neh 6:9-19)

The enemy attacks Nehemiah's:
Concentration and his work (Neh 6:1-4)
Character and his word (Neh 6:5-8)
Confidence and his will (Neh 6:9-19)

Neh 6:1-4 The enemy's persistence
Neh 6:5-9 The enemy's perversion
Neh 6:10-14 The enemy's prophecy
Neh 6:17-19 The enemy's persuasion

Adaptation of William Hinley's 'Invictus'

I have no fear though strait the gate,
He cleared from punishment the scroll;
Christ is the Master of my fate,
Christ is the Captain of my soul.

Author unknown

A note to an evolutionist

It is absurd for the evolutionist to complain that it is unthinkable for an admittedly unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing, and then pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into everything.

G.K. Chesterton

Hope in 1 Thessalonians

Heavenly Hope (Chapter 1)
Happy Hope (Chapter 2)
Holy Hope (Chapter 3)
Heartening Hope (Chapter 4)
Healthy Hope (Chapter 5)

Nehemiah Chapter 5

The Entrapment (Neh 5:1-5)
The Emancipation (Neh 5:6-13)
The Example (Neh 5:14-19)

Nehemiah Chapter 4

The enemy seeks to:
Despise the people (Neh 4:1-6)
Destroy the people (Neh 4:7-9)
Discourage the people (Neh 4:10-12)

Nehemiah - Attacks of the Enemy

The enemy is without and can be fierce (Neh 4)
The enemy is within and can be fleshly (Neh 5)
The enemy is wily and can be friendly (Neh 6)
The enemy is withstood and can be frustrated (Neh 7)

Psalm 145

God is great (Psalm 145:3)
God is gracious (Psalm 145:8), His mercy is great (Psalm 145:8)
God is good (Psalm 145:9), His goodness is great (Psalm 145:7)

His acts are mighty (Psalm 145:4, 6, 12)
His goodness is memorable (Psalm 145:7)
His kingdom is majestic (Psalm 145:12)

The Blood

1 Peter 1:19 - the precious blood
Colossians 1:20 - the blood of His cross

In the first, the Man is the focus. In the second, the method.
The Man was clean. The method was cruel.
The Man was spotless. The method was senseless.
In the first the blood was precious. In the second, the blood brought peace.

Nehemiah Chapter 2

Response of the king (Neh 2:1-6)
Resource of the king (Neh 2:7-9)
Resistance of the enemy (Neh 2:10, 19-20)
Reconnaissance of the city (Neh 2:11-16)
Revival of the people (Neh 2:17-18)

Nehemiah Chapter 1

His concern (Neh 1:1-3)
His conviction (Neh 1:4)
His communion (Neh 1:5-11)
His confession (Neh 1:6-10)
His commitment (Neh 1:11)

*J.B. Nicholson Jr.*

Outline of Nehemiah

Acts of the servant (Chapters 1-3)
Attacks of the enemy (Chapters 4-7)
Application of the Word (Chapters 8-10)
Administration of the city (Chapter 11-13)