JANUARY January 1. MY presence shall go with Thee, and I shall give Thee rest. -EXODUS 33:14. Where is my road going to lead? Will it be green lane or stony steep? Will it be clear and legible as a turnpike, or faint and doubtful like an uncertain track across the moor? I do not know. But our text entwines the gracious offer of a great Companion for the unknown and changing road. It promises the destruction of loneliness but not the dispersal of the mist. My Father God, Thy Presence makes everywhere a royal road. Thy companionship always leads to the Holy City. Every day's journey is a day's march nearer home. Help me to trust and not be afraid. For Christ's sake. Amen. 7 January 2. AND you, being dead in your sins -COLOSSIANS 2:13. This is the resurrection of the soul, It is her spiritual spring-time. The Lord Jesus visits us in our deadness, and lo, the winter is over, and God makes the flowers appear on the earth, and the time of the singing of birds has come. Heavenly Father, I pray that I may rise in Christ Jesus into newness of life. If I am already risen let me rise into loftier glory. Give me an eager spirit which will not rest until I awake in the likeness of Christ. For His sake. Amen. STAND with truth. January 3. having your loins girt about -EPHESIANS 6:14. It is truth that is like the girdle that us into unity and makes us masters of Holy Father, may my life be girt about with Thy truth. Let not my life be broken up by untruth and spiritual indolence. Gather my energies into obedience to Thy holy will. Let all that is within me bless Thy holy name. For Christ's sake. Amen. January 4. GROW in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. -2 PETER 3:18. Were we to live on our yesterdays our growth would be arrested. We cannot live on yesterday's manna; we are to gather fresh bread to-day. There is a perilous contentment which is the harbinger of death. When we cease to grow we begin to decline. Our safety is in increase. O Lord my God, make me wise unto salvation. Save me from being drugged by my attainments. Let not the little which I know send my soul asleep. Keep me awake, and active, and progressive, and let me put on strength from day to day. For the Saviour's sake. Amen. January 5. THIS kind goeth not out but by prayer and -MATTHEW 17:21. fasting. There are some things which cannot be done except as a result of the sternest spiritual discipline. If we are to do marvellous things we must be marvellously open to the incoming of God. And prayer and fasting are two of the appointed means of grace. Fasting covers everything that detaches the soul from the world. Prayer covers everything that attaches the soul to God. My Father in Heaven, I pray that I may have this detachment from the world and this attachment to Thee. Mercifully grant that by discipline of body and soul I may be open to the energies of Thy grace. Graciously do Thy work in me this day. For Christ's sake. Amen. January 6. I HAVE chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain. -JOHN 15: 16. It is a wonderful thought that God has thought upon me. He has a plan for my life. I am not like some drifting boat on the high seas without compass or chart. My way is appointed |