Full of years

Help me to train my heart each day,
That it will only sweetness hold;
And as the days and years roll on,
May I keep sweet, as I grow old.

Author unknown

The Lonely Olive Mill

O child of God, are you being crushed
`Neath trial, pain or woe?
No eye to pity, no ear to hear,
No voice to whisper low?

Alone in your Gethsemane,
Christ watches with you there.
He will not suffer one ounce of weight
More than your strength can bear.

He chasteneth but to purify;
He crusheth but to raise;
In love he worketh his blessed will
To his glory’s endless praise.

In our affliction, afflicted still
He leaveth us not alone;
He will not forget, he will not forsake,
He is mindful of his own.

Annie Johnson Flint
(part of the whole poem)

How beautiful the character of our Saviour! Those He loved could not watch with Him one single hour, leaving Him alone in His Gethsemane. But He now watches with His loved ones all the time through their place of oil-press, never leaving them alone.

Give me oil in my lamp...

They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. - Matt 25:3-4

Here lies the difference between the wise virgins and the foolish virgins. Not only that one group had oil and the other did not, but the difference also lies in the emphasis.

The lamp speaks of the outward profession of one who claims to be a Christian. The foolish took their lamps and took no oil. They remembered the lamp but forgot the oil. Some build on the outward so much that they forget that it's what's inside that matters more. We may emphasise attendance at meetings, good works, Bible knowledge and even fluent prayer but all this may still be manifested by one who is empty inside. The wise took oil...with their lamps. The emphasis this time was spot on. The oil first and then the lamp! True spirituality is measured from inward growth and not the externals. However, inward growth will be clearly seen from the externals. Oh that the balance may be found in me!

They that multiply gods multiply griefs to themselves; for whosoever thinks one god too little, will find two too many, and yet hundreds not enough. - Matthew Henry

The LORD will provide

...and get thee into the land of Moriah, and there offer him up for a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell thee of...[Abraham] went to the place that God had told him of...On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar...And they came to the place of which God had told him. - Gen 22:2-4, 9

And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh; as it is said at the present day, On the mount of Jehovah will be provided. - Gen 22:14

The mount on which the Lord provided was the very place that the Lord directed Abraham to, right from the start. Abraham experienced God's providence as he obeyed and found himself at the right place, the place that the Lord led Him to be in. Do I sometimes wonder why I don't experience the Lord's providence in my life? Then I must ask, am I in the right place? Have I obeyed the Lord's directions? Or have I gone astray with eyes looking down and losing sight of that place, that Jehovah-jireh place?

Quotes from my reading

Christianity...does not teach us by dry rules and regulations, but by setting before us, in the Person of Christ, a perfect model of what we ought to be. It presents to our view the very One who, as a test, left us without a single plea, and as a victim, left us without a single stain, and who now, as our model, is to be the subject of our admiring study and the standard at which we are ever and only to aim. - C. H. Mackintosh

We see Christ's life only to be judged by it's perfection, we accept His death to be saved through it's efficacy and then understand His life now to live by it's example.

Remedy for retreat

The wall built, stone by stone, strong,
To shut one in from what seems wrong;
Serves only to keep others at bay,
Even to chasing dear ones away.

Those who passed by, peering in, concerned,
And though for them one’s heart truly yearned;
Shut out by each stone of cynicism,
Overwhelmed by arrows of sarcasm.

Now, all lonely, a peek outside taken,
Only to be filled with more fear, shaken;
Locked within, long, from the external shore,
Now makes it stranger than ever before.

Oh! For courage to step out again,
Knowing the labour shall not be in vain;
To live is Christ, to die is gain,
‘Tis God’s strange design to overcome pain.

His and Mine

My joy, a falling star,
For one brief moment bright;
But God's, the changeless firmament
That holds a changeless light.

My love, the ebb and flow
Of ocean's restless tides;
But His the towering cliff above
That evermore abides.

My trust, the spider's web,
As gossamer, as frail;
His word, the everlasting hills,
Whose strength can never fail.

My peace, a shallow pool,
Soon brimmed and sooner dried;
But God's, an ever-flowing stream
With waters deep and wide.

O rock! O steadfast hills!
Far sky, and river free!
Thy strength, Thy sure serenity,
Thy quietness, give me.

Annie Johnson Flint

Pray without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Hudson Taylor, a missionary in China, had three important beliefs concerning prayer: first, you can work without praying, but it is a bad plan; second, you cannot pray in earnest without working; and third, do not be so busy with work for Christ, that you have no strength left to pray. True praying requires strength. Warren Wiersbe wrote, “Prayer is not an escape from responsibility; it is our response to God’s ability. True prayer energizes us for service and battle.” Augustine said, “Pray as though everything depended on God, and work as though everything depended on you.” --Warren Henderson

O how praying rests the weary! Prayer will change the night to day;
So, when life seems dark and dreary, don’t! forget to pray. --M. A. K.

Will I pray?

Sometimes I have so much to do
I think it must be done.
I'll work so very, very hard
From morn till set of sun,
But there is something I have found;
This really doesn't pay.
I've always found I've weaker grown
If I have failed to pray.

Sometimes 'twas something for myself,
Sometimes it was for God,
Sometimes it was for other folks
That many steps I trod.
But 'tis no matter who 'twas for,
I truthfully must say,
My faith and trust had smaller grown
Because I failed to pray.

So I am trying hard to learn
That nothing's really great
If it must take my praying time,
So praying has to wait.
It's praying, makes me fit for work;
It is my staff and stay,
And work will never be the best,
If I have failed to pray.

Author unknown

God's Thoughts and Mine

The Hammer thoughts
That pound and shatter peace;
The Rodent thoughts
That gnaw and will not cease;

The Brier thoughts
That pull and prick and scratch;
The Rover thoughts
That I can never catch;

The Serpent thoughts
That leave their lairs at night;
The Shadow thoughts
That dim the new day's light;

These are my thoughts;
Oh, take them, Lord, I pray,
Out of my heart,
And cast them far away;

And in their stead
Give me those thoughts of Thine,
So crystal-clear,
So holy, high and fine,

That I shall grow
By their pure grace enticed,
Worthy to think
The lovely thoughts of Christ.

Annie Johnson Flint

Honour thy father...

And Shem and Japheth took the upper garment and both laid it upon their shoulders, and went backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father. And their faces were turned away, that they saw not their father's nakedness. - Genesis 9:23

Have always been struck by the way in which these two sons protected the honour of their drunk father. Am reminded of it again. No complains about how shameful Noah's behaviour was. No arguments about whether or not they should do what they did and the effects of Noah's doing on the family. No doubts about their duty to honour their father. Had they chosen not to cover Noah's nakedness, they could have argued that he asked for it, they could have reasoned that he deserved it or they could have rationalised that he had it coming to him. Instead, not only did they cover him so that others would not see his nakedness but they themselves refused to take a glimpse of their father's bareness and vulnerability, refusing to allow their father's flawed character to influence the degree of honour they should give him. Is it not said that love covers all trangressions?

Taking it a step further, here's a father who is but human, weak and sinful, like all earthly fathers. We may give the excuse that they make it difficult for us to honour them. But we who know the perfect Father in heaven, what excuse do we have not to honour Him in our lives? And if we say we honour Him, then wouldn't we honour our earthly fathers as He commanded us to?

Show Us Thy Grace

Show us our need, O Lord; how lost, how hopeless,
How poor, how sunk in sin our carnal hearts;
Show us how vain to change our sad condition,
Our best endeavor and our utmost arts;
Show us how weak we are, and how dependent,
How multiplied defeats our pride abase;
And then -- O Lord, lest we despair too wholly --
Show us Thy grace!

Show us Thy grace, the great, the all-sufficient,
Infinite riches for our poverty,
Mercy of God for uttermost salvation,
Weapon that turns defeat to victory;
Gladness unspeakable and full of glory,
Beyond our needs, a vast unmeasured space.
Lord, as we never yet have seen or known it,
Show us Thy grace!

Annie Johnson Flint