The Object of Our Faith

The following is from A Lamp for My Feet by Elisabeth Elliot:

“Faith…makes us certain of realities we do not see (Heb 11:1 NEB).

What realities can we be sure of? There is a popular notion about prayer which assumes that the thing asked for ought to be the object of faith–“Lord, give me this or that,” wherefore “this” and “that” become the realities. No. The Bible states the absolutes that we can be certain of: the character of God, his love, his will that we be conformed to his Son’s likeness, his sovereign control of all the universe. When faith latches on to those realities which we do not see with our eyes, it can never be confounded. If it makes the thing asked for its object, faith itself will dissolve if the Lord’s answer is no, or not yet, or wait.

“In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. Let me never be put to confusion” (Ps. 71:1 AV).

Quotes about love

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Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired. ~Robert Frost

To do him any wrong was to beget
A kindness from him for his heart was rich-
Of such fine mould that if you sowed therein
The seed of Hate, it blossomed Charity.
Tennyson


“The gratification of the senses soon becomes a very small part of that profound and complicated sentiment which we call Love. Love, on the contrary, is a universal thirst for a communion, not merely of the senses, but of our whole nature, intellectual, imaginative and sensitive. He who finds his antitype, enjoys a love perfect and enduring; time cannot change it, distance cannot remove it; the sympathy is complete.”
Benjamin Disraeli 1804-1881 from “Henrietta Temple”

Lovng can cost a lot but not loving always costs more, and those who fear to love often find that want of love is an emptiness that robs the joy from life.
Merie Shain

You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have really lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.
Henry Drummond

Love means to love that which is unlovable; or it is no virtue at all.
G K Chesterton

Love is a gift. You can’t buy it, you can’t find it, someone has to give it to you. Learn to be receptive of that gift.
Kurt Langner

The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved – loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.
Victor Hugo

Love gives itself; it is not bought.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get. Only with what you are expected to give … Which is everything.
Katherine Hepburn

Never part without loving words to think of during your absence. It may be that you will not meet again in this life.
Jean Paul Richter


We should measure affection, not like youngers by the ardour of its passion, but by its strength and constancy.
Cicero

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(Graphics courtesy of Antique Clipart

Christian quotes about love

(Friday’s Feast post is below this one.)

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The springs of love are in God, not in us. It is absurd to look for the love of God in our hearts naturally; it is only there when it has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

— Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, April 30

The labor of self-love is a heavy one indeed. Think whether much of your sorrow has not arisen from someone speaking slightingly of you. As long as you set yourself up as a little god to which you must be loyal, how can you hope to find inward peace?
– A.W. Tozer

How many of you will join me in reading this chapter (I Corinthians 13) once a week for the next three months? A man did that once and it changed his whole life. Will you do it? It is for the greatest thing in the world. You might begin by reading it every day, especially the verses which describe the perfect character. “Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself.” Get these ingredients into your life. Then everything that you do is eternal. It is worth doing. It is worth giving time to. No man can become a saint in his sleep; and to fulfill the condition required demands a certain amount of prayer and meditation and time, just as improvement in any direction, bodily or mental, requites preparation and care. Address yourselves to that one thing; at any cost have this transcendent character exchanged for yours.
—Henry Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World

To love those whom we do not like means that we treat them as if we did like them — to choose to act kindly toward them even though we do not like them….The Bible does not ask us to like the brethren, it asks us to love them, and that means, therefore, something like this: we may not like certain Christians. I mean by that, there is none of this instinctive, elemental attraction; they are not the people whom we naturally like; yet what we are told is that to love them means that we treat them exactly as if we did like them. Now, the men and women of the world do not do that; if they do not like people, they treat them accordingly and have nothing to do with them. But Christian love means that we look beyond that. We see the Christian in them, the brother or sister, and we even go beyond what we do not like, and we help that person. Love your brethren — that is the exhortation with which we are concerned.
— Martyn Lloyd-Jones on I John 3:16-18 in his book Children of God

True love ennobles and dignifies the material labors of life; and homely services rendered for love’s sake have in them a poetry that is immortal.
~ Harriet Beecher Stowe

Let the wife make the husband glad to come home.
Let the husband make the wide sorry to see him leave.
— Martin Luther

(Photo courtesy of the stock.xchng

Quotes for the new year

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There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. Joshua 13:1

Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12

From Joy and Strength compiled by Mary Wilder Tileston:

Be strong and of good courage … fear not, nor be dismayed; for the Lord God, even my God, will be with thee; He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. 1 Chronicles 28:20:

That we should serve in newness of spirit.. Romans 7:6:

Help us, O Lord! behold we enter
Upon another year today;
In Thee our hopes and thoughts now centre,
Renew our courage for the way;
New life, new strength, new happiness,
We ask of Thee; oh, hear, and bless!

— Johann Rist

The year begins; and all its pages are as blank… Let us begin it with high resolution; then let us take all its limitations, all its hindrances, its disappointments, its narrow and common-place conditions, and meet them as the Master did in Nazareth, with patience, with obedience, putting ourselves in cheerful subjection, serving our apprenticeship. Who knows what opportunity may come to us this year? Let us live in a great spirit, then we shall be ready for a great occasion.

— George Hodges

From Our Daily Walk by F. B. Meyer:

We can all start afresh! However far we have ascended, there is something higher; and however far we have fallen, it is always possible to make a fresh start. We need to take our place in the School of Christ and be taught by Him (Eph. 4:20-21). If the Holy Spirit be ungrieved, He will witness to our sonship. He will enthrone Christ as King of our life; He will keep the self-life in the place of death; He will give us a hunger for the things of God; He will give power in witness-bearing. In order to have a strong and blessed Christian experience, the one thing is to see that we do not grieve the Spirit. I do not think that we can grieve Him away, but we may greatly limit and restrain His gracious work by insincerity of speech, the nursing of an unforgiving spirit, any kind of over-reaching or fraudulent dealing, impurity of speech, or failure in love. We may be bound, so as not to move our arms, by a number of cotton threads, quite as tightly as by a strong rope…Let us take care not to grieve Him by such inconsistencies.

From Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman:

Today, dear friends, we stand upon the verge of the unknown. There lies before us the new year and we are going forth to possess it. Who can tell what we shall find? What new experiences, what changes will come, what new needs shall arise?
All our supply is to come from the Lord. Here are springs that shall never dry; here are fountains and streams that shall never be cut off. Here, anxious one, is the gracious pledge of the Heavenly Father. If He be the Source of our mercies they can never fail us. No heat, no draught can parch that river, “the streams whereof make glad the city of God.”
We cannot tell what loss and sorrow and trial are doing. Trust only. The Father comes near to take our hand and lead us on our way today. It shall be a good, a blessed new year!

From My Daily Meditation by John Henry Jowett:

He went out not knowing whither he went (Heb. 11:6-10). Abraham took “one step” and he did not “ask to see the distant scene.” And that is faith. Faith is not concerned with the entire chain; its devoted attention is fixed upon the immediate link. Faith is not knowledge of a moral process; it is fidelity in a moral act. Faith leaves something to the Lord; it obeys His immediate commandment and leaves to Him direction and destiny.
And so faith is accompanied by serenity. “He that believeth shall not make haste ‘ — or, more literally, “shall not get into a fuss.” He shall not get into a panic, neither fetching fears from his yesterdays nor from his tomorrows. Concerning his yesterdays faith says, “Thou hast beset me behind.” Concerning his tomorrows faith says, “Thou hast laid Thine hand upon me.” That is enough, just to feel the pressure of the guiding hand.

Face the New Year with the Old Book.
Face the new needs with the old promises.
Face the new problems with the old Gospel.

–Author Unknown

(Graphic courtesy of Antique Clipart)

Christmas quotes

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When therefore the first spark of a desire after God arises in thy soul, cherish it with all thy care, give all thy heart into it; it is nothing less than a touch of the divine loadstone, that is to draw thee out of the vanity of time, into the riches of eternity. Get up therefore, and follow it as gladly as the wise men of the east followed the star from heaven that appeared to them. It will do for thee as the star did for them, it will lead thee to the birth of Jesus, not in a stable at Bethlehem in Judea, but to the birth of Jesus in the dark centre of thine own soul.
—William Law

Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles.
~Author Unknown

The message of Christmas is that the visible material world is bound to the invisible spiritual world. ~Author Unknown

Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.–Washington Irving

It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.
— Charles Dickens

How many observe Christ’s birthday! How few, his precepts! O! `tis easier to keep Holidays than Commandments.
—Benjamin Franklin

The Church does not superstitiously observe days, merely as days, but as memorials of important facts. Christmas might be kept as well upon one day of the year as another; but there should be a stated day for commemorating the birth of our Saviour, because there is danger that what may be done on any day, will be neglected. ~Samuel Johnson

The hinge of history is on the door of a Bethlehem stable. —Ralph W. Sockman

Fail not to call to mind, in the course of the twenty-fifth of this month, that the Divinest Heart that ever walked the earth was born on that day; and then smile and enjoy yourselves for the rest of it; for mirth is also of Heaven’s making. ~Leigh Hunt

Great little One! whose all-embracing birth
Lifts Earth to Heaven, stoops Heaven to Earth.

~Richard Crashaw

(Graphics copyright ©2006 Julia Bettencourt. Used with permission.)

Missions poems and quotes

A few weeks ago our church had its missions conference, and I had planned some time since then to post some favorite missions quotes and poems. For various reasons I hadn’t done it yet — and decided to do so today:

Away in foreign lands they wondered how
Their simple words had power.
At home the Christians, two or three,
Had met to pray an hour.
Yes, we are always wondering, wondering how–
Because we do not see
Someone — perhaps unknown and faraway —
On bended knee.

–Author unknown

The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions, and the nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become.
—Henry Martyn – Missionary to the Muslims of Persia and
India

I have seen, at different times, the smoke of a thousand villages — villages whose people are without Christ, without God, and without hope in the world. — Robert Moffat

I am ready to burn out for God. I am ready to endure any hardship, if by any means I might save some. The longing of my heart is to make known my glorious Redeemer to those who have never heard. — William Burns

Scores of casks! And only one missionary!;
Mary Slessor, (1848-1915)Pioneer Scottish missionary to Calabar, part of what is now
Nigeria. She made this observation in August, 1876 while boarding a ship at Liverpool that was busy loading casks of spirits for West Africa.

When you think of the woman’s power, you forget the power of the woman’s God. I shall go on.
Mary Slessor, upon being told by a local African chief that it was foolish and dangerous for her, a woman, to travel inland to intervene between warring tribes.

We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God — John Stott

It is the whole business of the whole church to preach the whole gospel to the whole world.– Charles H. Spurgeon

God’s part is to put forth power; our part is to put forth faith. — Andrew A. Bonar

The church that does not evangelize will fossilize.– Oswald J. Smith

God is not looking for a certain IQ.
He is looking for a certain “I Will”.
– Sid Messer

When I came to see that Jesus Christ had died for me, it didn’t seem hard to give up all for Him. It seemed just common, ordinary honesty.
—C. T. Studd (1860-1931)

Send us people with initiative, who can carry themselves and others too; such as need to be carried hamper the work and weaken those who should be spending their strength on the heathen. Weaklings should be nursed at home! If any have jealousy, prides, or talebearing traits lurking about them, do not send them, nor any who are prone to criticize. Send only Pauls and Timothys; men who are full of zeal, holiness and power. All others are hindrances. If you send us ten such men the work will be done. Quantity is nothing; quality is what matters.
FORWARD EVER;
BACKWARD,NEVER!
—C.T. Studd – Missionary to
China, India, and Africa

Don’t send a lamp to the mission field that will not burn at home.—Unknown

Not one person in the world needs Jesus Christ less than you do.– Unknown

Sympathy is no substitute for service.—Unknown

If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for. — Charles Spurgeon

Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you are alive, it isn’t.— Richard Bach

How often do we attempt to work for God to the level of our incompetency rather than to the limit of God’s omnipotency.—Hudson Taylor

We have a base man-pleasing disposition, which will make us let men perish lest we lose their love, and let them go quietly to hell, lest we should make them angry with us for seeking their salvation: and we are ready to venture on the displeasure of God, and risk the everlasting misery of our people, rather than draw on ourselves their ill-will.—Richard Baxter

I marvel…how I can let men alone in their sins, and that I do not go to them, and beseech them, for the Lord’s sake, to repent, however they may take it, and whatever pains or trouble it may cost me!— Richard Baxter

A Missionary Appeal

There are times when the enemy seems to prevail
And faintness creeps over the heart,

When courage and confidence quiver and quail
At the glance if his fiery dart.

There are times when, exhausted, we can but stand still,
The sword-arm hangs nerveless and numb;

Oh, then to the soul comes a whisper so chill;
“Are they weary of praying back home?”

Thanksgiving Quotes

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Before you go out into the world, wash your face in the clear crystal of praise. Bury each yesterday in the fine linen and spices of thankfulness.
—Charles Spurgeon

The unthankful heart… discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!
–Henry Ward Beecher

Who does not thank for little will not thank for much. –Estonian proverb

On Thanksgiving Day we acknowledge our dependence.
–William Jennings Bryan

It is therefore recommended… to set apart Thursday the eighteenth day of December next, for solemn thanksgiving and praise, that with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts and consecrate themselves to the service of their divine benefactor…
—Samuel Adams

The following is from Joy and Strength, compiled by Mary Wilder Tileston

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O most High: to show forth Thy lovingkindness in the morning, and Thy faithfulness every night. –Psalm 92: 1-2

IF our hearts were tuned to praise, we should see causes unnumbered, which we had never seen before, for thanking God. Thanksgiving is spoken of as a “sacrifice well pleasing unto God.” It is a far higher offering than prayer. When we pray we ask for things which we want; or we tell out our sorrows. We pray, in order to bring down blessings upon ourselves; we praise, because our hearts overflow with love to God, and we must speak it out to Him. It flows out of pure love, and then the love goes back to our hearts, and warms them anew, and revives and quickens them.
–Priscilla Maurice

Learn the lesson of thanksgiving. It is due to God, it is due to ourselves. Thanksgiving for the past makes us trustful in the present and hopeful for the future. What He has done is the pledge of what He will do.
–A. C. A. Hall

(Graphic courtesy of Anne’s Place.)

More Thanksgiving -related content on this blog:

Thanksgiving Bible Study
Thanksgiving devotionals and readings are here.
More Thanksgiving quotes are here.
Thanksgiving “funnies” are here and A “Redneck Thanksgiving” is here.
Thanksgiving poems are here and More Thanksgiving Poems are here.

What we wanted all the time…

The following was written by Amy Carmichael and included in Amy Carmichael of Dohnavur by Frank Houghton. It is a wonderful picture of our ultimate need and desire: our Father’s fellowship:

It was the hour between lights, and five little people under two years old were waiting for their food. Sometimes the cows belonging to the adjoining village from which part of our milk comes saunter home with more than their usual leisureliness, and then the milk is late. The babies, who do not understand the weary ways of cows, disapprove of having to wait, and that evening they were all very fractious. To add to their woes the boy whose duty it is to light the lamps had been detained, and the quickly gathering twilight fell upon us unawares as we sat together on the nursery veranda. The five fretful babies made discouraging remarks to each other and threw themselves in that exasperated fashion which tells the experienced that the limits of patience have been passed. And the more depressed began to whimper.

At this point a lamp was brought and set behind me so that its light fell upon their toys — a china head long since parted from its body, a tin with small stones in it which when shaken makes a charming noise, several rattles and other sundries. If anything will comfort them their toys will, I thought, as these illuminated treasures caught my attention. But the babies only looked disgusted. One of the most sweet-tempered seized the china head and flung it as far as ever she could. Not one of them would find consolation in toys.

Then a small child endowed with a vivid imagination and a timid disposition was sure she heard something dangerous moving in the bushes outside and she wailed a wail of most infectious misery and terror, and the quick panic which comes upon birds when they hear their own particular warning call, suddenly filled the babies’ hearts, and they howled.

Then I took the lamp and set it in front so that its light did not fall upon the toys but upon myself, and in a moment the whole five were tumbling over me cuddling and caressing — and content.

Are there not evenings in life when our toys have no power to please or soothe? There is not any rest in them or any comfort. Then the one Whom we love best takes the lamp and puts it so that the toys are in the shadow, but His face is in the light. And then we know that that is what we wanted all the time. And He makes His face to shine upon us and gives us peace.

Autumn

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Photo by Christopher Potter.

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.
Stanley Horowitz

I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. So I spend almost all
the daylight hours in the open air.

– Nathaniel Hawthorne

Autumn is the eternal corrective. It is ripeness and color and a time of maturity; but it is also breadth, and depth, and distance. What man can stand with autumn on a hilltop and fail to see the span of his world and the meaning of the rolling hills that reach to the far horizon?
– Hal Borland

No Spring nor Summer Beauty hath such grace
As I have seen in one Autumnal face.

– John Donne

Leaf afloat

Come, said the wind to the leaves one day,
Come o’re the meadows and we will play.
Put on your dresses scarlet and gold,
For summer is gone and the days grow cold.

Soon as the leaves heard the wind’s loud call,
Down they came fluttering, one and all;
Over the brown fields they danced and flew,
Singing the glad little songs they knew.

–George Cooper

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Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.

— From “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” by Thomas O. Chisholm

Autumn tree

Photo by Vocaris.

Photos courtesy of stock.xchng.

Deep Joy

OUR Christianity is apt to be of a very “dutiful” kind. We mean to do our duty, we attend church and go to our communions. But our hearts are full of the difficulties, the hardships, the obstacles which the situation presents, and we go on our way sadly, downhearted and despondent. We need to learn that true Christianity is inseparable from deep joy; and the secret of that joy lies in a continual looking away from all else–away from sin and its ways, and from the manifold hindrances to the good we would do–up to God, His love, His purpose, His will. In proportion as we do look up to Him we shall rejoice, and in proportion as we rejoice in the Lord will our religion have tone and power and attractiveness.
–CHARLES GORE

From the September 8 reading of Joy and Strength, compiled by  Mary Wilder Tileston.