Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Exodus 33:14 Psalms 16:11


Inward Home
In Thy presence is fulness of joy.
PSALMS 16:11
My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.
EXODUS 33:14
O REST of rests! O peace serene, eternal!
Thou ever livest, and Thou changest never;
And in the secret of Thy presence dwelleth
Fulness of joy, for ever and for ever.
HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
I HAVE no home, until I am in the realized presence of God. This holy presence is my inward home, and, until I experience it, I am a homeless wanderer, a straying sheep in a waste howling wilderness.
ANONYMOUS, 1841
Heaven consists in nothing else than walking, abiding, resting in the Divine Presence. There are souls who enter into this heaven before leaving the body. If thou believest that thy God, found, felt, and rested in, is heaven, why not, under the gracious help which He vouchsafes to thee in His Son, begin at once to discipline and qualify thy soul for this heaven? If this be thy chief good, why turn away from it, as though it were a thing not to be desired? If it be the very end of thy being, the only right, good, and blessed end, why postpone thy qualification for it, as though it were a bitter necessity? Suffer thy soul, so noble in its origin, to be withdrawn from dust, noise, multitudes, vain treasures, and vain pleasures, to find its sweetness and fulness in God.
JOHN PULSFORD

This is awesome! Thanks for sharing.

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Habakkuk 1:12 Psalms 104:34


Happiness of God

Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die.
HABAKKUK 1:12

My meditation of Him shall be sweet; I will be glad in the Lord.
PSALMS 104:34

THE more our ideas about God are multiplied, the more various our thoughts, and images, and recollections of things which have to do with Him, of course the more our minds and hearts are engrossed with Him, and so it becomes easier to live all day in His sensible presence. And is not the practice of the presence of God one half of holiness? And so, weary with work or foiled with disappointment, when the dark night is closing in, bringing with it to our sick spirits a sense of imprisonment, and when the dismal rain curtains us round, and we fret to be at liberty and at large, there is the very freedom of a sovereign to a soul traversing this boundless empire of God and Jesus, angels, saints, men, and the blameless creatures, and rejoicing in that never-ceasing sacrifice of praise which is rising up from every nook and corner of creation to the dear Majesty of our most loving God and Father!
FREDERICK WM. FABER

Delight in the happiness of God.
LORENZO SCUPOLL

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Isaiah 26:4


The Lord Will Do All

Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.
ISAIAH 26:4

COME, children, let us go!
Our Father is our guide;
And when the way grows steep and dark,
He journeys at our side.
Our spirits He would cheer,
The sunshine of His love
Revives and helps us as we rove,
Ah, blest our lot e'en here!
GERHARD TERSTEEGEN

WE are living out these lives of ours too much apart from God. We toil on dismally, as if the making or the marring of our destinies rested wholly with ourselves. It is not so. We are not the lonely, orphaned creatures we let ourselves suppose ourselves to be. The earth, rolling on its way through space, does not go unattended. The Maker and Controller of it is with it, and around it, and upon it. He is with us here and now. He knows us infinitely more thoroughly than we know ourselves. He loves us better than we have ever dared to believe could be possible.
WILLIAM R. HUNTINGTON

Some of us believe that God is all mighty, and may do all; and that He is all wisdom, and can do all; but that He is all love, and will do all, there we fail.
MOTHER JULIANA

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Leviticus 9:4 2 Corinthians 6:2


Please the Lord Now

For to-day the Lord will appear unto you.
LEVITICUS 9:4

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
2 CORINTHIANS 6:2

DO not let your growth in holiness depend upon surrounding circumstances, but rather constrain those circumstances to minister to your growth. Beware of looking onward, or out of the present in any way, for the sanctification of your life. The only thing you can really control is the present--the actual moment that is passing by. Sanctify that from hour to hour, and you sanctify your whole life; but brood over the past, or project yourself into the future, and you will lose all. The little act of obedience, love, self-restraint, meekness, patience, devotion, offered to you actually, is all you can do now, and if you neglect that to fret about something else at a distance, you lose your real opportunity of serving God. A moment's silence, when some irritating words are said by another, may stem a very small thing; yet at that moment it is your one duty, your one way of serving and pleasing God, and if you break it, you have lost your opportunity.
H. L. SIDNEY LEAR

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Galatians 5:13-14


Prepared for Great Sacrifice

By love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
GALATIANS 5:13,14

A MAN who habitually pleases himself will become continually more selfish and sordid, even among the most noble and beautiful conditions which nature, history, or art can furnish; and, on the other hand, any one who will try each day to live for the sake of others, will grow more and more gracious in thought and bearing, however dull and even squalid may be the outward circumstances of his soul's probation.
FRANCIS PAGET

It is the habit of making sacrifices in small things that enables us for making them in great, when it is asked of us. Temper, love of preeminence, bodily indulgence, the quick retort, the sharp irony,--in checking these let us find our cross and carry it. Or, when the moment comes for some really great service, the heart will be petrified for it, and the blinded eyes will not see the occasion of love.
ANTHONY W. THOROLD

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Judges 10:15


Peace of Heart

Do Thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto Thee.
JUDGES 10:15

DEAR Lord, whose mercy veileth all
That may our coming days befall,
Still hide from us the things to be,
But rest our troubled hearts in Thee.
HARRIET MCEWEN KIMBALL

PEACE of heart lies in perfect resignation to the will of God. What you need is true simplicity, a certain calmness of spirit which comes from entire surrender to all that God wills, patience and toleration for your neighbor's faults, and a certain candor and childlike docility in acknowledging your own faults. The trouble you feel about so many things comes from your not accepting everything which may happen to you, with sufficient resignation to God. Put all things, then, in His hands, and offer them beforehand to Him in your heart, as a sacrifice. From the moment when you cease to want things to be according to your own judgment, and accept unconditionally whatever He sends, you will be free from all your uneasy retrospects and anxieties about your own concerns.
FRANCOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNELON

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 2 Samuel 10:12


Conforming to His Will

The Lord do that which seemeth Him good.
2 SAMUEL 10:12

THE best will is our Father's will,
And we may rest there calm and still;
Oh! make it hour by hour thine own,
And wish for nought but that alone
Which pleases God.
PAUL GERHARDT

"THY will be done." For instance, when you wish, and by every means endeavor, to be well, and yet remain ill,--then say, "Thy will be done." When you undertake something, and your undertaking does not succeed, say, "Thy will be done." When you do good to others, and they repay you with evil, say, "Thy will be done." Or when you would like to sleep, and are overtaken by sleeplessness, say, "Thy will be done." In general, do not become irritated when anything is not done in accordance with your will, but learn to submit in everything to the Will of the Heavenly Father.
FATHER JOHN

Try to make an instantaneous act of conformity to God's Will, at everything which vexes you.
EDWARD B. PUSEY

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Deuteronomy 10:14


No Change

Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's thy God, the earth also with all that therein is.
DEUTERONOMY 10:14

FATHER, there is no change to live with Thee,
Save that in Christ I grow from day to day;
In each new word I hear, each thing I see,
I but rejoicing hasten on my way.
JONES VERY

THE immediate result of the coming of these good tidings of great joy to me was no outward change in anything, but an inward change of everything, making everything translucent with the light within and beyond. The sum of it all was always that the universe is full of God, and God is love. We are His, and all things are His; therefore in Him all things are ours. In the home, in society, in nature, our beloved moors and woods, and rivers and glens and seas, there was the touch, the breath of God's living, real presence.
ELIZABETH RUNDLE CHARLES

He is so infinitely blessed, that every perception of His blissful presence imparts a vital gladness to the heart. Every degree of approach to Him is, in the same proportion, a degree of happiness. And I often think that were He always present to our mind, as we are present to Him, there would be no pain, nor sense of misery.
SUSANNA WESLEY

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Isaiah 42:16


The Acceptance of the Divine

I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.
ISAIAH 16

WHEN over dizzy heights we go,
One soft hand blinds our eyes,
The other leads us, safe and slow,
O Love of God most wise!
ELIZA SCUDDER

THE simple thought of a life which is to be the unfolding of a Divine plan is too beautiful, too captivating, to suffer one indifferent or heedless moment. Living in this manner, every turn of your experience will be a discovery to you of God, every change a token of His fatherly counsel. Whatever obscurity, darkness, trial, suffering, falls upon you; your defeats, losses, injuries; your outward state, employment, relations; what seems hard, unaccountable, severe, or, as nature might say, vexatious--all these you will see are parts or constitutive elements in God's beautiful and good plan for you, and, as such, are to be accepted with a smile. Take your burdens, and troubles, and losses, and wrongs, if come they must and will, as your opportunities, knowing that God has girded you for greater things than these.
HORACE BUSHNELL

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 105:4


Seek His Strength

Seek the Lord, and His strength: seek His face evermore.
PSALMS 105:4

O JESUS CHRIST, grow Thou in me,
And all things else recede;
My heart be daily nearer Thee,
From sin be daily freed.

Make this poor self grow less and less,
Be Thou my life and aim;
Oh, make me daily, through Thy grace,
More worthy of Thy name.
J. C. LAVATER

AS, on rising, we should hear Him saying to us, "Take this yoke upon thee, my child, today," "Bear this burden for me and with me today," so, before retiring to rest, and collecting our mind for our evening prayer, it were well to put these questions to our conscience, "Have I, in a single instance this day, denied myself either in temper or appetite, and so submitted myself to the Saviour's yoke?" And again, "Have I, in a single instance, shown sympathy or considerateness for others, borne with their faults or infirmities of character, given time or taken trouble to help them, or be of use to them?" If so, I have gained ground; I have made an advance in the mind of Christ today, if it be only a single step. Let me thank God, and take courage. A single step is so much clear gain.
EDWARD MEYRICK GOULBURN

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Ephesians 2:4-5


He Loves the Effort

But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.
EPHESIANS 2:4,5

LORD, to Thy call of me I bow,
Obey like Abraham;
Thou lov'st me because Thou art Thou,
And I am what I am.

Doubt whispers, "thou art such a blot
He cannot love poor thee."
If what I am He loveth not, He loves what I shall be.
GEORGE MACDONALD

WE may hate ourselves when we come to realize failings we have not recognized before, and feel that there are probably others which we do not yet see as clearly as other people see them, but this kind of impatience for our perfection is not felt by those who love us, I am sure. It is one's greatest comfort to believe that it is not even felt by God. just as a mother would not love her child the better for its being turned into a model of perfection at once, but does love it the more dearly every time it tries to be good, so I do hope and believe our Great Father does not wait for us to be good and wise to love us, but loves us, and loves to help us in the very thick of our struggles with folly and sin.
JULIANA H. EWING

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Luke 9:23


Tribulation With Joy

And He said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
LUKE 9:23

WE pray Thee, grant us strength to take
Our daily cross, whate'er it be,
And gladly for Thine own dear sake
In paths of pain to follow Thee.
W. W. HOW

THE more you accept daily crosses as daily bread, in peace and simplicity, the less they will injure your frail, delicate health; but forebodings and frettings would soon kill you.
FRANCOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNELON

We speak of the crosses of daily life, and forget that our very language is a witness against us, how meekly we ought to bear them, in the blessed steps of our holy Lord; how in "every cross and care," we ought not to acquiesce simply, but to take them cheerfully,--not cheerfully only but joyfully; yea, if they should even deserve the name of "tribulation," to "joy in tribulation" also, as seeing in them our Father's hand, our Saviour's cross.
E. B. PUSEY

Take kindly and heartsomely with His cross, who never yet slew a child with the cross.
SAMUEL RUTHERFORD

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Isaiah 30:18


Strength to Walk

Blessed are all they that wait for Him.
ISAIAH 30:19

I WILL trust again His love, His power,
Though I cannot feel His hand to-day;
To His help anew I will betake me,
Though His countenance seems turned away!
Though without one smile, one gracious token,
Through the flames and floods my path must go,
When the fires subside, the waves pass over,
My Deliverer I again shall know.
JOACHIM LANGE

IN the night of distress, feel after somewhat which may quiet and stay thy heart till the next springing of the day. The sun will arise, which will scatter the clouds. And in the day of His power thou wilt find strength to walk with Him; yea, in the day of thy weakness His grace will be sufficient for thee.
ISAAC PENINGTON

My times are in Thy hand, O Lord! And, surely, that is the best. Were I to choose, they should be in no other hands, neither mine own, nor any others. When He withholds mercies or comforts for a season, it is but till the due season. Therefore it is our wisdom and our peace to resign all things into His hands, to have no will nor desires, but only this, that we may still wait for Him. Never was any one who waited for Him miserable with disappointment.
ROBERT LEIGHTON

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 145:16


Spring of Life

Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.
PSALMS 145:16

THERE'S not a craving in the mind
Thou dost not meet and still;
There's not a wish the heart can have
Which Thou dost not fulfil.
FMERICK W. FABER

YOU will see the truth about the eternal life soon; I don't think it is possible to live up to the highest point of duty and of happiness without this. I know, one can go on doing one's duty thoroughly under clouds of doubt, and even in complete unbelief; there are many who do, and they are dear to God, but the duty is done sadly, without the spring of life and joy that we are meant to have. That fountain of life and strength is hid in God. Christ showed us the way to it, and we get it into our souls when we utterly trust Him and give up our hearts, and our lives, and our aspirations to Him as to a faithful Creator, who will not leave unsatisfied any of the longings of the souls He has made; who will not let love die, or disappoint finally the cravings for joy, for perfection, for light and knowledge that He has implanted, and that are parts of Himself, immortal as He is.
ANNIE KEARY

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Isaiah 45:12-13


Trust the Creator

I have made the earth, and created man upon it; I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways.
ISAIAH 45:12,13

HE who suns and worlds upholdeth
Lends us His upholding hand;
He the ages who unfoldeth
Doth our times and ways command.
God is for us;
In His strength and stay we stand.
THOMAS H. GILL

YOU have trusted Him in a few things, and He has not failed you. Trust Him now for everything, and see if He does not do for you exceeding abundantly above all that you could ever have asked or thought, not according to your power or capacity, but according to His own mighty power, that will work in you all the good pleasure of His most blessed will. You find no difficulty in trusting the Lord with the management of the universe and all the outward creation, and can your case be any more complex or difficult than these, that you need to be anxious or troubled about His management of it?
HANNAH WHITALL SMITH

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Colossians 1:13


Members of the Kingdom

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son.
COLOSSIANS 1:13

IT is right that we should have an aim of our own, determined by our individuality and our surroundings; but this may readily degenerate into exclusive narrowness, unless it has for a background the great thought that there is a Kingdom of God within us, around us, and above us, in which we, with all our powers and aims, are called to be conscious workers. Toward the forwarding of this silent, ever-advancing Kingdom, our little work, whatever it be, if good and true, may contribute something. And this thought lends to any calling, however lowly, a consecration which is wanting even to the loftiest self-chosen ideals. But even if our aim should be frustrated and our work come to naught, yet the failure of our most cherished plans may be more than compensated. In the thought that we are members of this Kingdom, already begun, here and now, yet reaching forward through all time, we shall have a reserve of consolation better than any which success without this could give.
JOHN CAMPBELL SHAIRP

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 119:94 1 John 2:17


Abandoning Self

He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
1 JOHN 2:17

I am Thine, save me.
PSALMS 119:94

TAKE, O Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given it to me; to Thee, O Lord, I restore it; all is Thine, dispose of it according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and Thy grace, for this is enough for me.

Are we willing to give ourselves entirely to God; to let Him do with us whatever He pleases; to follow anywhere at His bidding; to renounce anything at His call; asking only, in return, that He will give us Himself, with all His infinite love, to be ours from this time forever? If we are thus willing, let us kneel down this moment and tell Him so. Alone with God, let us give Him ourselves, all we have and are and shall be, to be unreservedly His.
WILLIAM R. HUNTINGTON

There is no stay so strong as an unreserved aban-donment of self into God's hand.
H. L. SIDNEY LEAR

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Isaiah 51:7 Exodus 23:2 1 Samuel 15:24


Peer Pressure


Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear Him and keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and ye shall serve Him, and cleave unto Him.
--DEUTERONOMY 13:4

GOD visits a soul when He brings before it a new vision of truth or duty, a new range of opportunities, a new endowment of force as well as insight, at some time to which all that precedes has led up, and from which all that follows depends in its solemn history. No Divine visitation leaves us where it found us; it always leaves us better or worse; if not better, then certainly worse.
--HENRY PARRY LIDDON

The issues are with God, and His servants know not the word disappointment, for they are incapable of reading His designs. Only this they know, that the slightest hesitation in obeying what they believe to be a divine impulse, produces a suffering more intense than any consequences which may accrue to them from the world.
--LAURENCE OLIPHANT

Never shrink from deep devotion, because you fear its trials or its sacrifices. Paul, in martyrdom, was unspeakably happier than God's half-hearted servants.
--WILLIAM R. HUNTINGTON

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Deuteronomy 13:4


Complete Devotion


Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear Him and keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and ye shall serve Him, and cleave unto Him.
--DEUTERONOMY 13:4

GOD visits a soul when He brings before it a new vision of truth or duty, a new range of opportunities, a new endowment of force as well as insight, at some time to which all that precedes has led up, and from which all that follows depends in its solemn history. No Divine visitation leaves us where it found us; it always leaves us better or worse; if not better, then certainly worse.
--HENRY PARRY LIDDON

The issues are with God, and His servants know not the word disappointment, for they are incapable of reading His designs. Only this they know, that the slightest hesitation in obeying what they believe to be a divine impulse, produces a suffering more intense than any consequences which may accrue to them from the world.
--LAURENCE OLIPHANT

Never shrink from deep devotion, because you fear its trials or its sacrifices. Paul, in martyrdom, was unspeakably happier than God's half-hearted servants.
--WILLIAM R. HUNTINGTON

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Isaiah 48:18


The Ideal Life


Oh, that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.
--ISAIAH 48:18

IT is so easy to become more thick-skinned in conscience, more tolerant of evil, more hopeless of good, more careful of one's own comfort and one's own property, more self-satisfied in leaving high aims and great deeds to enthusiasts, and then to believe that one is growing older and wiser. And yet those high examples, those good works, those great triumphs over evil, which single hands effect sometimes, we are all grateful for, when they are done, whatever we may have said of the doing. But we speak of saints and enthusiasts for good, as if some special gifts were made to them in middle age which are withheld from other men. Is it not rather that some few souls keep alive the lamp of zeal and high desire which God lights for most of us while life is young?
--JULIANA HORATIA EWING

To live with a high ideal is a successful life. It is not what one does, but what one tries to do, that makes the soul strong and fit for a noble career.
--E. P. TENNEY

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Isaiah 63:9 Psalms 103:13


His Love, Not Ours


In His love and in His pity He redeemed them.
--ISAIAH 63:9

Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.
--PSALMS 103:13

GOD only knows the love of God:
Oh, that it now were shed abroad
In this poor stony heart;
For love I sigh, for love I pine;
This only portion, Lord, be mine,
Be mine this better part.
--CHARLES WESLEY

DON'T measure God's mind by your own. It would be a poor love that depended not on itself, but on the feelings of the person loved. A crying baby turns away from its mother's breast, but she does not put it away till it stops crying. She holds it closer. For my part, in the worst mood I am ever in, when I don't feel I love God at all, I just look up to His love. I say to Him, "Look at me. See what state I am in. Help me!" Ah! you would wonder how that makes peace. And the love comes of itself; sometimes so strong, it nearly breaks my heart.
--GEORGE MACDONALD

He does not love us because we art so lovely, but because He always loves what He pities.
--ELIZABETH PRENTISS

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 2 Thessalonians 1:12 Romans 13:14


Like Christ


That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
--2 THESSALONIANS 1:12

Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.
--ROMANS 13:14

SEND down Thy likeness from above,
And let this my adorning be:
Clothe me with wisdom, patience, love,
With lowliness and purity.
--JOACHIM LANGE

EVIDENTLY, in order to be a manifestation of Christ we must be in some way like Him. He is a Christian who follows Christ, who measures all things by the standard of His approbation, who would not willingly say a word which he would not like to have Christ hear, nor do an act which he would not like to have Christ see. He is a Christian who tries to be the kind of neighbor Christ would be, and the kind of citizen Christ would be, and who asks himself in all the alternatives of his business life, and his social life, and his personal life, what would the Master do in this case? The best Christian is he who most reminds the people with whom he lives of the Lord Jesus Christ. He who never reminds anybody of the Lord Jesus Christ is not a Christian at all.
--GEORGE HODGES

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Mark 9:5 Matthew 17:2


The Transfiguration


And was transfigured before them: and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light.
--MATTHEW 17:2

Master, it is good for us to be here.
--MARK 9:5

MASTER, it is good to be
Entranced, enwrapt, alone with Thee;
Watching the glistering raiment glow,
Whiter than Hermon's whitest snow;
The human lineaments that shine
Irradiant with a light Divine:
Till we too change from grace to grace,
Gazing on that transfigured face.
--A. P. STANLEY

THE Transfiguration has lived on through ages, and has shed its light upon all ages. It has brought the past into union with the present. "The decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem" has been owned as the bond of fellowship between those who walk the earth and suffer in it, and those who are departed from it. In the light of that "countenance which was altered, of that raiment which was white and glistering," all human countenances have acquired a brightness, all common things have been transfigured. A glimpse of the Divine beauty has broken through the darkness, and has cheered the humblest pilgrims.
--FREDERIC DENISON MAURICE

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 36:9


Getting What You Look For


With Thee is the fountain of life; in Thy light shall we see light.
--PSALMS 36:9

How beautiful our lives may be; how bright
In privilege; how fruitful of delight!
And lo! all round us His bright servants stand;
Events, His duteous ministers and wise,
With frowning brows, perhaps, for their disguise,
But with such wells of love in their deep eyes,
And such strong rescue hidden in their hands!
--HENRY SEPTIMUS SUTTON

WE see always what we are looking for, and if our mind has become trained to look for trouble and difficulty and all dark and dreary things, we find just what we seek. On the other hand, it is quite as easy to form the habit of looking always for beauty, for good, for happiness, for gladness, and here, too, we shall find precisely what we seek.
--J. R. MILLER

I never knew her [Mrs. Ewing] fail to find happiness wherever she was placed, and good in whomever she came across. Whatever her circumstances might be, they always yielded to her causes for thankfulness, and work to be done with a ready and hopeful heart.
--HORATIA K. F. EDEN

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Proverbs 16:20


Looking to God


Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.
--PROVERBS 16:20

THIS world of ours is a happy world, so that God is our end, so that we can say to Him, "Thou art my God." Then everything takes new hues of joy and love. Our daily comforts have a soul in them, for they abound in thanksgiving; our daily infirmities or crosses have a special joy in them, because they are so tenderly fitted to us by the medicinal hand of our God; the commonest acts of life are full of deep interest, because their end is God; daily duties are daily joys, because they are something which God gives us to offer unto Him, to do to our very best, in acknowledgment of His love. It is His earth we walk on; His air, we breathe; His sun, the emblem of His all-penetrating love, which gladdens us. Eternity! Yes, that too is present to us, and is part of our joy on earth. God has given us faith to make our future home as certain to us, as this our spot of earth; and hope, to aspire strongly to it; and love, as a foretaste of the all-surrounding, ever-unfolding, Almighty love of our own God.
--E. B. PUSEY

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 86:4


Peaceful Time


Rejoice the soul of Thy servant; for unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
--PSALMS 86:4

AH, dearest Lord! to feel that Thou art near,
Brings deepest peace, and hushes every fear;
To see Thy smile, to hear Thy gracious voice,
Makes soul and body inwardly rejoice
With praise and thanks!
--CHRISTIAN GREGOR

PRAYER is a habit; and the more we pray the better we shall pray. Sometimes to go to be alone with God and Christ in the fellowship of the Spirit, just for the joy and blessedness of it; to open, with reverent yet eager hands, the door into the presence chamber of the great King, and then to fall down before Him, it may be, in silent adoration; our very attitude an act of homage, our merely being there, through the motive that prompts it, being the testimony of our soul's love; to have our set day-hours of close communion, with which no other friends shall interfere, and which no other occupations may interrupt; to which we learn to look forward with a living gladness; on which we look back with satisfaction and peace; this indeed is prayer.
--ANTHONY W. THOROLD

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference John 14:27 Psalms 119:35


Serenity in Christ


Make me to go in the path of Thy commandments, for therein do I delight.
--PSALMS 119:35

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
--JOHN 14:27

THEN may Thy glorious, perfect will
Be evermore fulfilled in me,
And make my life an answering chord
Of glad, responsive harmony.
--JEAN SOPHIA PIGOTT

CHRIST is the embodied harmony of God, and he that receives Him settles into harmony with Him, "My peace I give unto you," are the Saviour's words; and this peace of Christ is the equanimity, dignity, firmness, serenity, which made His outwardly-afflicted life appear to flow in a calmness so sublime. The soul is such a nature that, no sooner is it set in peace with itself, than it becomes an instrument in tune, a living instrument, discoursing heavenly music in its thoughts, and chanting melodies of bliss, even in its dreams. We may even say, that when a soul is in this harmony, no fires of calamity, no pains of outward torment can for one moment break the sovereign spell of its joy. It will turn the fires to freshening gales, and the pains to sweet instigations of love and blessing.
--HORACE BUSHNELL

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 60:4


Strong in His Strength


Thou hast given a banner to them that fear Thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth.
--PSALMS 60:4

MY cloud of battle.dust may dim,
His veil of splendor curtain Him;
And, in the midnight of my fear,
I may not feel Him standing near:
But, as I lift mine eyes above,
His banner over me is love.
--GERALD MASSEY

MY son, thou art never secure in this life, but, as long as thou livest, thou shalt always need spiritual armor.

Thou oughtest manfully to go through all, and to use a strong hand against whatsoever withstandeth thee.

For to him that overcometh is manna given, and for the indolent there remaineth much misery.

Dispose not thyself for much rest, but for great patience.

Wait for the Lord, behave thyself manfully, and be of good courage; do not distrust Him, do not leave thy place, but steadily expose both body and soul for the glory of God.
--THOMAS À KEMPIS

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Luke 10:39 Psalms 119:16


Seeing the Master


I will delight myself in Thy statutes: I will not forget Thy word.
--PSALMS 119:16

Which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard His word.
--LUKE 10:39

Lo! at Thy feet I wait Thy will,
Let that alone my being fill,
All earthly passions calm and still.
--C. S.

WHATEVER happens let us not be too busy to sit at Jesus' feet. We shall not really lose time by enjoying this; nay, we shall redeem the time; for there is usually much more time and strength forfeited by friction than by toil, and we shall gain in blessedness and enjoyment of our work, and gain in the quality of our work; and, above all, we shall gain in that we shall give Him pleasure where otherwise we might only grieve Him. And this is indeed the crown of all our endeavors. He who pleases Him does not live in vain.
--WM. HAY M. H. AITKEN

A low standard of prayer means a low standard of character and a low standard of service. Those alone labor effectively among men who impetuously fling themselves upward towards God.
--CHARLES H. BRENT

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 33:21


Music of the Lord


Our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name.
--PSALMS 33:21

ON our way rejoicing as we homeward move,
Hearken to our praises, O Thou God of love!
Is there grief or sadness? Thine it cannot be!
Is our sky beclouded? Clouds are not from Thee!
On our way rejoicing as we homeward move,
Hearken to our praises, O Thou God of love!
--J. B. S. MONSELL

MY position has come to this, Am I living near my Saviour; then I am as happy as the day is long, and as light-hearted as a child. It may be that I have plenty of annoyances, but they don't trouble me when His presence is with me. Am I downcast and worried: then I am away from God.
--JOHN KENNETH MACKENZIE

We may sing beforehand, even in our winter storm, in the expectation of a summer sun at the turn of the year; no created powers can mar our Lord Jesus' music, nor spill our song of joy. Let us then be glad and rejoice in the salvation of our Lord; for faith had never yet cause to have wet cheeks, and hanging-down brows, or to droop or die.
--SAMUEL RUTHERFORD

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Luke 11:13 Job 32:8


Relationship With the Most High God


There is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.
--JOB 32:8

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?
--LUKE 11:13

IS it supposable that God has permitted personal intercourse between man and man to be such a potent instrument in the building up of character, and yet has made all intercourse with Himself impossible? If the spirit of man can, through the power of influence and sympathy, bless and uplift the spirit of his fellow-man, much more, a thousand-fold more, shall God who, be it remembered, is a Spirit also, aid by intercourse and influence the creature spirit whom He permits to call himself His child.
--WILLIAM REED HUNTINGTON

In the fellowship which is established in prayer between man and God we are brought into personal union with Him in whom all things have their being. In this lies the possibility of boundless power; for when the connection is once formed, who can lay down the limits of what man can do in virtue of the communion of his spirit with the Infinite Spirit?
--BROOKE FOSS WESTCOTT

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 78:9 Joshua 1:7


The Long Fight


The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
--PSALMS 78:9

Be thou strong, and very courageous.
--JOSHUA 1:7

Go forward, Christian soldier,
Beneath His banner true!
The Lord Himself, thy Leader,
Shall all thy foes subdue.
His love foretells thy trials;
He knows thine hourly need;
He can with bread of heaven
Thy fainting spirit feed.
--LAWRENCE TUTTIETT

WHILE there is left in you a trace of ill-temper, or of vanity, of pride, or of selfishness; while there is left in you a single sin, or germ of sin, you must not rest from the battle. God does not require from you to be sinless when you come before Him, but He does require you to be unceasing in your perseverance. He does not require that you shall never have fallen; but He does require unwearied efforts. He does not require you to win, but He does require you to fight.
--FREDERICK TEMPLE

Still fight resolutely on, knowing that, in this spiritual combat, none is overcome but he who ceases to struggle and to trust in God.
--LORENZO SCUPOLI

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 65:8-11 Psalms 33:5


The Glory of God


Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice. Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness.
--PSALMS 65:8,11

He loveth righteousness and justice: the earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord.
--PSALMS 33:5 (R. V.)

I SING because Thy works are fair,
Thy glory makes me glad,
The garments bright of praise I wear,
For Thou art brightly clad.

Full triumph doth my soul possess,
Because Thy ways are right;
The glory of Thy righteousness
Maketh my dear delight.
--THOMAS H. GILL

THE fulness of joy is to behold God in all; for by the same blessed might, wisdom, and love, that He made all things, to the same end our good Lord leadeth it continually, and there to Himself shall bring it, and, when it is time, we shall see it.
--MOTHER JULIANA

God gives us richly all things to enjoy, while He Himself is His own best gift, and to be enjoyed not in a way of duty, but in the simple, natural realizing aright of what we possess in Him.
--JOHN MCLEOD CAMPBELL

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 1 Corinthians 4:2


Responsibility


It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.
--1 CORINTHIANS 4:2

TOO many people are not faithful in little things. They are not to be absolutely depended upon. They do not always keep their promises. They break en.gagements. They fail to pay their debts promptly. They come behind time to appointments. They are neglectful and careless in little things. In general they are good people, but their life is honeycombed with small failures. One who can be positively depended upon, who is faithful in the least things as well as in the greatest, whose life and character are true through and through, gives out a light in this world which honors Christ and blesses others.
--J. R. MILLER

Duties retire evermore from the observation of those who slight them.
--SARAH W. STEPHEN

Great thoughts go best with common duties. Whatever therefore may be your office regard it as a fragment in an immeasurable ministry of love.
--BROOKE FOSS WESTCOTT

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Philippians 3:13-14


Pressing On


Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark.
--PHILIPPIANS 3:13,14

TILL, as each moment wafts us higher,
By every gush of pure desire,
And high-breathed hopes of joys above,
By every sacred sigh we heave,
Whole years of folly we outlive,
In His unerring sight, who measures Life by Love.
--JOHN KEBLE

WHAT we can do is a small thing; but we can will and aspire to great things. Thus, if a man cannot be great, he can yet be good in will; and what he, with his whole heart and mind, love and desire, wills to be, that without doubt he most truly is. It is little we can bring to pass; but our will and desire may be large. Nay, they may grow till they lose themselves in the infinite abyss of God. And if ye cannot be as entirely His as ye fain would be, be His as much as ye may attain unto; but, whatever ye are, be that truly and entirely; and what ye cannot be, that be contented not to be, in a sincere spirit of resignation, for God's sake and in Him. So shall you peradventure possess more of God in lacking than in having.
--JOHN TAULER

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 68:35


Trusting in God


The God of Israel is He that giveth strength and power unto His people. Blessed be God.
--PSALMS 68:35

I WILL meet distress and pain,
I will greet e'en Death's dark reign,
I will lay me in the grave
With a heart still glad and brave;
Whom the Strongest doth defend,
Whom the Highest counts His friend,
Cannot perish in the end.
--PAUL GERHARDT

COULD we but live more entirely in the unseen Presence, and trust to the unseen support,--and if lonely, or disappointed, or depressed, turn more quickly to God, fully confident of His all-embracing care, believing in His perfect love, the tender sympathy with which He ever regards us, how different life would be from what it ordinarily is! Yet we doubt not that Divine support is assured to us, if we seek to do what is pleasing in His sight. If the end we desire comes not, yet there is rest in the assurance that we have told Him all, and left it to Him to do what He wills.
--T. T. CARTER

How reasonable it is to trust ourselves to the keeping of infinite love, and infinite wisdom, and infinite power!
--THOMAS ERSKINE

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 1 Peter 4:1


Give Ourselves Up


Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind.
--1 PETER 4:1

TAKE thy whole portion with thy Master's mind--
Toil, hindrance, hardness, with His virtue take--
And think how short a time thy heart may find
To labor or to suffer for His sake.
--ANNA L. WARING

YOUR portion is to love, to be silent, to suffer, to sacrifice your inclinations, in order to fulfil the will of God, by moulding yourself to that of others. Happy indeed you are thus to bear a cross laid on you by God's own hands, in the order of His Providence. The discipline which we choose for ourselves does not destroy our self-love like that which God assigns us Himself each day. All we have to do is to give ourselves up to God day by day, without looking further. He carries us in His arms as a loving mother carries her child. In every need let us look with love and trust to our Heavenly Father.
--FRANCOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNELON

The loving heart which seeks to offer all, even disappointments and vexations which touch the tenderest places, to God, will be more likely to grow in generosity of spirit than one who bears grudgingly what cannot be averted.
--H. L. SIDNEY LEAR

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 2 Peter 1:3


Strengthen or Remove


According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue.
--2 PETER 1:3

WE often try in vain to cut up our errors by the roots, to fight evil hand to hand on its own ground, where it has us at a disadvantage, whereas our most sure way to victory is by developing and fortifying the good that is in us. We have but a certain measure of strength and activity; as much of this as is added to the good is taken from the evil.
--MADAME SWETCHINE

I think you will find that it is not by making resolutions in a difficulty that you will conquer a fault--tackling it, I mean,--but much more by opening a window to Almighty God, and letting Him speak to you. As long as we are young we set so much importance on our own efforts, whereas often, if we will just do nothing but listen quietly to what God has to say to us, we shall find that He sets us thinking and mending our faults by a quiet way which looks as though it had nothing to do with it; and then, when we come to about where our fault used to be, we find it gone, imperceptibly as it were, by our having been strengthened in another direction which lay, though we did not know it, at the real root of the matter.
--HENRIETTA KERR

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Exodus 16:12


Thankfulness, Not Longing


I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel.
--EXODUS 16:12

SAVE our blessings, Master, save
From the blight of thankless eye,
Teach us for all joys to crave
Benediction pure and high,
Own them given, endure them gone,
Shrink from their hardening touch, yet prize them won,
Prize them as rich odors meet
For love to lavish at His sacred feet.
--JOHN KEBLE

NOTHING so hinders us in what we are doing as to be longing after something else; in so doing, we leave off tilling our own field, to drive the plough through our neighbor's land, where we must not look to reap a harvest; and this is mere waste of time. If our thoughts and hopes are elsewhere, it is impossible for us to set our faces steadily towards the work required of us.
--ST. FRANCIS DE SALES

One thing is indisputable: the chronic mood of looking longingly at what we have not, or thankfully at what we have, realizes two very different types of character. And we certainly can encourage the one or the other.
--LUCY C. SMITH

Seek to cultivate a buoyant, joyous sense of the crowded kindnesses of God in your daily life.
--ALEXANDER MACLAREN

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Isaiah 54:10 1 Kings 8:56


The Helper


The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.
--ISAIAH 54:10

There hath not failed one word of all His good promise.
--1 KINGS 8:56

THERE is a persuasion in the soul of man that he is here for cause, that he was put down in this place by the Creator to do the work for which He inspires him, that thus he is an overmatch for all antagonists that could combine against him.
--RALPH WALDO EMERSON

It is impossible for that man to despair who remembers that his Helper is omnipotent; and can do whatsoever He please. Let us rest there awhile,--He can, if He please: and He is infinitely loving, willing enough; and He is infinitely wise, choosing better for us than we can do for ourselves. God invites and cherishes the hopes of men by all the variety of His providence. He that believes does not make haste, but waits patiently, till the times of refreshment come, and dares trust God for the morrow, and is no more solicitous for the next year than he is for that which is past.
--JEREMY TAYLOR

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 2 Corinthians 1:3-4


Expressed Affection


Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribu.lation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
--2 CORINTHIANS 1:3,4

THE spirit of gracious and expressed affection. Ah, let no one shrink from expressing it! The heart has strange abysses of gloom, and often yearns for just one word of love to help. And it is just when the manner may be drier and less genial than usual that the need may be greatest.
--LUCY C. SMITH

God puts within our reach the power of helpful.ness, the ministry of pity: He is ever ready to in.crease His grace in our hearts, that as we live and act among all the sorrows of the world we may learn by slow degrees the skill and mystery of consolation. "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." There is no surer way of steadfast peace in this world than the active exercise of pity; no happier temper of mind and work than the lowly watching to see if we can lessen any misery that is about us: nor is there any better way of growth in faith and love.
--FRANCIS PAGET

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Matthew 6:20-21


Laying Up Treasures


Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, . . . for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
--MATTHEW 6:20,21

SINCE I am coming to that holy room
Where with the choir of saints forevermore
I shall be made Thy music, as I come
I tune the instrument here at the door,
And, what I must do then, think here before.
--JOHN DONNE

TO lay up treasure in heaven is to do arts which promote, or belong to, the kingdom of God; and what our Lord assures us of is that any act of our hands, any thought of our heart, any word of our lips, which promotes the divine kingdom by the ordering whether of our own life or of the world outside--all such activ.ity, though it may seem for the moment to be lost, is really stored up in the divine treasure-house; and when the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, shall at last appear, that honest effort of ours, which seemed so ineffectual, shall be found to be a brick built into that eternal and celestial fabric.
--CHARLES GORE

We cannot remove the conditions under which our work is to be done, but we can transform them. They are the elements out of which we must build the temples wherein we serve.
--BROOKE FOSS WESTCOTT

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference John 15:10


Love Comes From Action


If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love.
--JOHN 15:10

THIS did not once so trouble me,
That better I could not love Thee;
But now I feel and know
That only when we love, we find
How far our hearts remain behind
The love they should bestow.
--RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH

OUR Lord gives the answer to a difficulty continually perplexing honest Christians--"How am I to learn to love God? I want to do my duty, but I do not feel as if I loved God." Our Lord gives the answer, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Act for God, do and say the things that He wills; direct your thoughts and intentions God-ward; and, depend upon it, in the slow process of nature, all that belongs to you--your instincts, your intelligence, your affections, your feelings--will gradually follow along the line of your action. Act for God; you are already showing love to Him and you will learn to feel it.
--CHARLES GORE

They who, continuing faithful to divine grace, however partially communicated, serve God with their whole lives, will never fail of that one reward, the greatest which even He has to bestow, the being made able to love Him with their whole hearts.
--DORA GREENWELL

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 25:17


Self: The Greatest Burden


The troubles of my heart are enlarged: Oh, bring Thou me out of my distresses.
--PSALMS 25:17

Low at His feet lay thy burden of carefulness,
High on His heart He will bear it for thee,
Comfort thy sorrows, and answer thy prayerfulness,
Guiding thy steps as may best for thee be.
--J. S. B. MONSELL

THE greatest burden we have to carry in life is self. The most difficult thing we have to manage is self. Our own daily living, our frames and feelings, our especial weaknesses and temptations, and our peculiar temperaments,--our inward affairs of every kind,--these are the things that perplex and worry us more than anything else, and that bring us oftenest into bondage and darkness. In laying off your burdens, therefore, the first one you must get rid of is yourself. You must hand yourself and all your inward experiences, your temptations, your temperament, your frames and reelings, all over into the care and keeping of your God, and leave them there. He made you and therefore He understands you, and knows how to manage you, and you must trust Him to do it.
--HANNAH WHITALL SMITH

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Isaiah 48:17


Made For a Purpose


I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
--ISAIAH 48:17

JUST as God leads me I would go;
I would not ask to choose my way;
Content with what He will bestow,
Assured He will not let me stray.
So as He leads, my path I make,
And step by step I gladly take,
A child in Him confiding.
--LAMPERTUS GEDICKE

HE has not made us for nought; He has brought us thus far, in order to bring us further, in order to bring us on to the end. He will never leave us nor forsake us; so that we may boldly say, "The Lord is my Helper; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me." We "may cast all our care upon Him who careth for us." What is it to us how our future path lies, if it be but His path? What is it to us whither it leads us, so that in the end it leads to Him? What is it to us what He puts upon us, so that He enables us to undergo it with a pure conscience, a true heart, not desiring anything of this world in comparison of Him? What is it to us what terror befalls us, if He be but a hand to protect and strengthen us?
--JOHN HENRY NEWMAN

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Isaiah 59:1-2


Conforming to God


Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot bear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from You.
--ISAIAH 59:1,2

ONE thing alone, dear Lord! I dread;--
To have a secret spot
That separates my soul from Thee,
And yet to know it not.
--FREDERICK W. FABER

IT is a condition of enjoying continued insight into the laws which govern spiritual truth, that we should conform our moral being to that measure of truth which we already see. A deliberate rejection of duty prescribed by already recognized truth cannot but destroy, or at least impair most seriously, the clearness of our mental vision. A single act may thus involve grave inward deterioration; it may land the soul upon a lower level of moral life, where passion is more imperious, and principle is weaker; where a man is less his own master, and more readily enslaved to the circumstances and beings around him.
--H. P. LIDDON

It is a strange but inflexible spiritual law, that those who aim at anything short of the best according to their conception, as God has given them light, will sooner or later come to grief. It is merely a matter of time.
--CHARLES H. BRENT

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Psalms 34:7


Beyond Your Faults


Fret not thyself, it tendeth only to evil-doing.
--PSALMS 37:8 (R. V.)

To anxious, prying thought,
And weary, fretting care,
The Highest yieldeth nought;
He giveth all to prayer.
--PAUL GERHARDT

DO not be disquieted about your faults. Love without ceasing, and much will be forgiven you, because you have loved much. Faults perceived in peace, in the spirit of love, are immediately consumed by love itself; but faults perceived in a pettish fit of self-love disturb peace, interrupt the presence of God, and the exercise of perfect love. Vexation at a fault is generally more of a fault than the fault itself.
--FRANCOIS DE LA MOTHE FÉNELON

Fight like a good soldier; and if thou sometimes fall through frailty, take again greater strength than before, trusting in my more abundant grace.
--THOMAS À KEMPIS

This alone is thy concern, to fight manfully, and never, however manifold thy wounds, to lay down thine arms, or to take to flight.
--LORENZO SCUPOLI

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Jeremiah 9:23-24


His Wisdom is Sufficient


Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.
--JEREMIAH 9:23, 24

WHAT dost thou fear? His wisdom reigns
Supreme confessed;
His power is infinite; His love
Thy deepest, fondest dreams above;--
So trust and rest.
--ADELAIDE A. PROCTER

THE firm belief of, and resting on, His power and wisdom, and love, gives a clear, satisfying answer to all doubts and fears. It suffers us not to stand to jangle with each trifling, grumbling objection, but carries all before it, makes day in the soul, and so chases away those fears that vex us only in the dark.
--ROBERT LEIGHTON

I feel that goodness, and truth, and righteousness are realities, eternal realities, and that they cannot be abstractions, or vapors floating in a spiritual atmosphere, but that they necessarily imply a living, personal Will, a good, loving, righteous God, in whose hands we are perfectly safe, and who is guiding us by unfailing wisdom.
--THOMAS ERSKINE

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Galatians 2:20 Ezekiel 34:12


Loving Every One


As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
--EZEKIEL 34:12

The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.
--GALATIANS 2:20

PERVERSE and foolish, oft I strayed,
But yet in love He sought me,
And on His shoulder gently laid,
And home rejoicing brought me.
--SIR HENRY W. BAKER

TRY to feel, by imagining what the lonely Syrian shepherd must feel towards the helpless things which are the companions of his daily life, for whose safety he stands in jeopardy every hour, and whose value is measured to him not by price, but by his own jeopardy, and then we have reached some notion of the love which Jesus meant to represent; that Eternal tenderness which bends over us, and knows the name of each and the trials of each, and thinks for each with a separate solicitude, and gave itself for each with a sacrifice as special, and a love as personal, as if in the whole world's wilderness there were none other but that one.
--FREDERICK WM. ROBERTSON

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference Philippians 2:2-5


Inner Change


Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. . . . Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
--PHILIPPIANS 2:2, 5

JESUS, Thy all-victorious love
Shed in my heart abroad;
Then shall my feet no longer rove,
Rooted and fixed in God.
My steadfast soul, from falling free,
Shall then no longer move,
While Christ is all the world to me,
And all my heart is love.
--CHARLES WESLEY

LET our temper be under the rule of the love of Jesus: He can not alone curb it,--He can make us gentle and patient. Let the vow, that not an unkind word of others shall ever be heard from our lips, be laid trustingly at His feet. Let the gentleness that refuses to take offence, that is always ready to excuse, to think and hope the best, mark our intercourse with all. Let our life be one of self-sacrifice, always studying the welfare of others, finding our highest joy in blessing others. And let us, in studying the Divine art of doing good, yield ourselves as obedient learners to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. By His grace, the most common-place life can be transfigured with the brightness of a heavenly beauty, as the infinite love of the Divine nature shines out through our frail humanity.
--ANDREW MURRAY

Author: Mary Wilder Tileston
Source: Joy and Strength
Scripture Reference 1 Thessalonians 4:9 1 John 4:12


Resisting the Everyday Temptations


Ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
--1 THESSALONIANS 4:9

If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us.
--1 JOHN 4:12

THIS is the great business and meaning of our life on earth: that we should more and more yield up our hearts to God's great grace of love; that we should let it enter ever more fully and more freely into us, so that it may even fill our whole heart and life. We must day after day be driving back, in His strength, the sin that doth so easily beset us, and the selfishness that sin has fastened in our hearts; and then His love will day by day increase in us. Prayer will win and keep it; work will strengthen and exercise it; the Bible will teach us how to know and prize it, how to praise God for it; the Holy Eucharist will ever renew and quicken its power in our hearts. And so (blessed be God!), love and joy and peace will grow in us, beyond all that we can ask or think; and He will forgive us, for love's sake, all the failures, all the faults in whatever work He has given us to do; and will bring us at last into the fulness of that life which even here He has suffered us to know; into that one Eternal Home, where Love is perfect, and unwearied, and unending; and where nothing ever can part us from one another or from Him.
--FRANCIS PAGET