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