O bless our God, ye people,
and make the voice of His praise to be heard: which holdeth our
soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved.
Psalm 66:8,9
THANKS be to God that His grace has preserved us, "kept us from falling," through another year:--that so many of us are still of one heart and of one mind in respect to His Word and its service! When we remember that the Adversary is to be permitted to bring "strong delusions" upon the Lord's people for the very purpose of sifting out all not truly His (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12), it should surely call forth our thanks to God that the opening of another year finds us still standing fast,--appreciating the Truth, and in full accord with all the divine appointments by which He has kept us from falling.
Z.'03-3 R3125:2
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Ye are not your own. For ye
are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and
in your spirit, which are God's.
1 Corinthians 6:19,20
AT the opening of the new year, what lesson could be more important to us than this one, that we are not our own, but belong to another; that we are not therefore, to seek to please ourselves, but to please Him; nor to seek to serve self, but to serve Him; nor to seek to obey self-will, but on the contrary His will? This means holiness in the most absolute and comprehensive sense of the word (not only separation from sin to righteousness, but separation from "self" to the will of God in Christ).
Z.'97-35 R2099:4
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Pray without ceasing.
1 Thessalonians 5:17
WHATEVER might be our natural inclinations with reference to definiteness and persistency in prayer, we must take our instructions from the Scriptures; and overcoming our natural predilections, we must as "little children" and as "dear children" conform our views and conduct to the instruction which is from above. Let us all, therefore, remember the words, "ask (in My name), and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full."--John 16:24. The Heavenly Father has multiplied mercies, blessings and providences in store for His obedient and faithful children who will ask for them.
Z.'96-162 R2005:5
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Wait on the Lord: be of good
courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the
Lord.
Psalm 27:14
TIME is an important element in all God's plans: we are not, therefore, to be disappointed when the test of endurance is applied while the blessings we crave tarry long. God took time to frame the world and to fit it for human habitation; time to give the world its necessary experience with evil; time to prepare for the advent of Christ as the world's Redeemer; time for the preparation of the Church to share in His glorious reign; and time must be allowed for the shaping and adjusting of the individual affairs of His people. God has not forgotten when the answers to our prayers seem to tarry long. He who heeds the sparrow's fall and numbers the very hairs of our heads is not indifferent to the faintest call or the smallest necessity of His humblest child.
Z.'95-20 R1760:1
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The reproaches of them that
reproached Thee fell on Me.
Romans 15:3
LET us see to it that we bear the reproaches of Christ as He bore them,--with pity and prayer for the erring and depraved, if perchance God may grant them repentance; and with humble fortitude esteeming it a privilege to prove our devotion to the Lord by enduring hardness in His service as good soldiers. He was not surprised by the exhibitions of human depravity: He knew that He was in an unfriendly world bound by sin and largely under the dominion of the prince of darkness, and therefore He expected reproaches, taunts and persecutions, all of which He endured patiently while His great loving heart, almost unmindful of its own sufferings, was full of pity and loving concern for others.
Z.'96-83 R1964:5
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So teach us to number our
days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Psalm 90:12
THE Christian, in numbering his days, does not do so with a doleful or disconsolate sentiment, although he does so with sobriety. He counts the days as they go as so many blessings, so many privileges, so many opportunities to "show forth the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light," to render assistance to others in the pilgrim journey, and to develop in himself more and more of the character pleasing in the sight of God,--to become more and more a copy of God's dear Son.
Z.'01-333 R2896:6
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Speak evil of no man.
Titus 3:2
IF once the soldiers of the cross would get the proper thought, that slander and evil speaking are assassinations of the character of another, and that defamation is robbery of another's good name, the sooner they will see this matter in its truly awful light as it must appear in the Lord's sight; and once seeing the matter from this true, divine standpoint must awaken the new creature to the greatest activity possible in the overcoming of such works of the flesh and of the devil. Each will seek to purge out the old leaven of malice and envy and strife and crookedness and evil speaking, that he may be pure in heart, a copy of the Lord.
Z.'03-425 R3275:5
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See that none render evil for
evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among
yourselves, and to all men.
1 Thessalonians 5:15
ACCORDING to the Scriptural standard, the elect church of Christ should be the most polished, the most refined, the most polite, the most generous, the most kind of all the people in the world;--and should be all these in the most absolute sense; not in the mere sense of an outward form and appearance of kindness, gentleness, etc., so common in the world; but a gentleness, a kindness, proceeding from the heart, proceeding from an appreciation of the Lord's spirit and the spirit of the Truth, the spirit of love, and the spirit of justice, also.
Z.'01-297 R2879:3
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Who maketh thee to differ from
another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive?
1 Corinthians 4:7
ALL of the Lord's consecrated people should realize that they have come into the present grace and truth, not by their own wisdom nor by the wisdom of others, but through the wisdom and grace of the Lord. The same thought should be entertained by all who serve the Church of God as ministers, servants in any department, in any manner responsible to the Lord for their position in the household of faith, and their opportunities to serve as the Lord's mouthpieces should be felt and confessed. But failure to confess it implies a failure rightly to appreciate it.
Z.'03-430 R3278:2
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Take, my brethren, the
prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example
of suffering affliction, and of patience.
James 5:10
THE right path is still the "narrow path" of self-abasement and self-denial--the path of meekness and humility: and it will require as much effort and grace to walk it this year as last, or possibly more; for the more we grow in grace and knowledge, the stronger will be the temptations to be boastful, puffed up, heady, high-minded; and the higher we climb in faith and hope and love and activity in the Lord's service, the more the great Adversary will oppose our progress, and the more his emissaries will slander, backbite, and generally seek to injure us.
Z.'95-3 R1751:3
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His Word was in mine heart as
a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with
forbearing, and I could not stay.
Jeremiah 20:9
LET us who are privileged to remain to this time of favor, blessing and enlightenment give glory to the Lord, and see to it that the loving disposition of John is manifested in us, and also his energy, his zeal; for while he is called the loving disciple we are to remember also that he was, because of his impetuous zeal, styled, with his brother, Boanerges--son of thunder. Let us be full of energy, full of sacrifices which love prompts, that we may glorify the Lord in our bodies and spirits which are His.
Z.'01-151 R2808:5
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Brethren, if a man be
overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one
in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be
tempted.
Galatians 6:1
LET us learn well this lesson of reproving others very gently, very considerately, kindly, by a hint rather than a direct charge and detail of the wrong--by an inquiry respecting the present condition of their hearts rather than respecting a former condition, in which we know they have erred. We are to be less careful for the punishments that will follow wrongdoings than for the recovery of the erring one out of the error of his way. We are not to attempt to judge and punish one another for misdeeds, but rather to remember that all this is in the hands of the Lord;--we are not in any sense of the word to avenge ourselves or to give chastisement or recompense for evil.
Z.'01-150 R2807:6
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My little children, these
things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we
have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
1 John 2:1
IF we find that through lack of faith or weakness of the flesh a wrong step has been taken, contrary to the Lord's will and our best spiritual interests, no time should be lost in retracing the steps and in calling upon the Lord. We have an altar consecrated with the precious blood of Christ, far superior every way to that which Abraham consecrated with the blood of typical animals, and the apostle exhorts us, "Let us come boldly [courageously--full of faith] to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in every time of need."--Hebrews 4:16
Z.'01-233 R2848:3
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I therefore so run, not as
uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air.
1 Corinthians 9:26
IT will be found a great help to the weaknesses of the fallen nature to have understandingly made a full consecration of the will,--a full enlistment of every power and talent of mind and of body. He who takes this proper view of his consecration to the Lord and enlistment in the Lord's army, realizes that he has nothing more to give to the Lord, and hence, whatever struggle of the will he may have is all ended when he has finally decided--"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." How important it is, therefore, that all the soldiers realize that the term of the enlistment is until death, and that there is no room for even considering any suggestion to withdraw from the battle and cease even for an hour to fight the good fight of faith.
Z.'03-421 R3273:4
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What doth the Lord require of
thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with thy God?
Micah 6:8
THAT these are very reasonable requirements will be conceded by all. That God could not require less from those whom He is educating for the future judging of the world, is evident: and yet, all three of these qualities specified through the prophet, are comprehended in the one word Love. Love requires that we shall deal justly with our neighbors, with the brethren, with our families, with ourselves; that we shall seek to cultivate our appreciation of the rights of others,--their physical rights, their moral and intellectual rights, their liberties; and that, appreciating these, we shall in no sense of the word seek to abridge or deny them.
Z.'02-172 R3020:6
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Instant in prayer.
Romans 12:12
WHAT a blessed privilege, dear fellow-disciples of the Lord, is ours, to be instant in prayer, to pray always--to lift up our hearts and minds to God at any time and in any place and to realize thus daily and hourly that the Father and our dear Lord Jesus continually abide with us. And then, when the active duties of the day have been performed under His eye and supervision, or at any time when the soul realizes its necessity, how precious is the privilege of entering into our closets and there, alone with God, unburdening our hearts.
Z.'95-215 R1866:1
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Keep yourselves in the love of
God.
Jude 21
WE may daily and hourly keep ourselves in the Lord's love by obedience to, and a growing love for, the principles of righteousness. And we are to rejoice in every experience of life,--its trials, difficulties, sorrows, disappointments, etc., no less than in its pleasures, if by any or all of these means the Lord shall instruct us and give us clearer insight into our own deficiencies, and a still clearer insight into that perfect law of liberty and love which He has established, and to which He requires our full and loyal heart-submission.
Z.'02-173 R3021:6
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Not slothful in business;
fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.
Romans 12:11
LET all who would run the race successfully look well to their zeal and activity in the Lord's work. If we bury our one or many talents un