Quote - Charles Hadden Spurgeon

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Matthew 6:9-13

This prayer begins where all true prayer must commence, with the spirit of adoption, Our Father

There is no acceptable prayer until we can say, “I will arise, and go unto my Father.”  This child-like spirit soon perceives the grandeur of the Father “which art in heaven,” and ascends to devout adoration, “hallowed be Thy Name.”

The child lisping, “Abba, Father,” grows into the cherub crying, “Holy, Holy, Holy.”  There is but a step from rapturous worship to the glowing missionary spirit, which is a sure outgrowth of filial love and reverent adoration--- “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”

Next follows the heartfelt expression of dependence upon God --- “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Being further illuminated by the Spirit, he discovers that he is not only  dependent, but sinful, hence he entreats for mercy.

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”

And being pardoned, having the righteousness of Christ imputed, and knowing his acceptance with God, he humbly supplicates for holy    perseverance, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

That is sanctification in its negative and positive forms.  As the result of all this, there follows a triumphant ascription of praise, “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”

We rejoice that our King reigns in providence and shall reign in grace, from the river even to the ends of the earth, and of His Kingdom there shall be no end. Thus from a sense of adoption, up to fellowship with our reigning Lord, this short model of prayer conducts the soul.  Lord, teach us thus to pray.

Quote - Bessie A. Stanley

WHAT IS SUCCESS?

          He has achieved success, who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who had gained respect of intelligent men and the love of little children, who has filled his niche and accomplished his task, whether by an improved poppy, perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth’s beauty, or failed to express it, who has always looked for the best in others and gives the best he had; whose life was an inspiration and whose memory is benediction.

Poem by John Greenleaf Whittier - Eternal Goodness

I know not what the future hath

Of marvel or surprise

Assured alone that life and death

His mercy underlies.

And if my heart and flesh are weak

To bear an untried pain,

The bruised reed He will not break

But strengthen and sustain.

No offerings of my own I have,

No works my faith to prove;

But I but can give the gifts He gave,

And plead His love for love.

And so, beside the silent sea,

I wait the muffled oar;

No harm from Him can come to me

On ocean or on shore.

I know not where His islands lift

Their fronded palms in air;

I only know I cannot drift

Beyond His love and care.

Quote - Unknown

THE BIBLE ----GOD’ HOLY BOOK

            This Book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions immutable

            Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword, and the Christian’s charter.

            Christ is its subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently and prayerfully.

            It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure. It is given to you in life, will be open in the judgment, and be remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibility, rewards the greatest labor, and condemns all who trifle with its holy precepts.

Poem by Diane Paddeu

Keep me close to you, Lord,

Keep hold upon my heart.

Teach me words each day, Lord

To help to show your part

The world and all things in it, Lord

Were made and formed by you

Help me see and feel and hear

All things good and true

Fill me with your wisdom, Lord

To do the rightful thing

Help me shine with love, Lord

So others know you’re King

Be my light in darkness, Lord,

Don’t let me hid away

Guide and love, and fill me Lord

And be with me, always.

Quote - Charles Swindoll

           Our culture is constantly sending the message that big boys done cry; they are to be tough, no tender. The mistake our cultu8re makes is seeing toughness and tenderness as mutually exclusive qualities.  Two of history’s “manliest” men, David and Jesus, displayed moments of great tenderness. David weeps openly with Jonathan in 1 Samuel 20:41 (And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded.) and repeatedly throughout the Psalms (Ps 6:6 I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears. And  Ps 69:10  When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.)

            Jesus weeps over the death of His friend Lazarus (John 11:35 - Jesus wept) and over the unrepentant city of Jerusalem (Luke 19:41 - And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,) How often do your children see you being vulnerable and tender? If they don’t see those qualities in you, where will they learn them?

Direct from Our Daily Bread - Prepared and Waiting

            While on one of his expeditions to the Antarctic, Sir Earnest Shackleton found it necessary to leave some of his men on Elephant Island. It was his intention to go back for them, but he was unavoidably delayed and could not return as he had planned. When he finally set out, the water had frozen over, and he was cut off from those he had lefty behind. Three times he tried to reach them, but was blocked by the cold, unyielding sea. In his final attempt he located a small, narrow channel through the ice. Skillfully guiding the vessel to the island, he was overjoyed and yet somewhat surprised to find his men alive and well. Since all of them had their belonging packed and were ready to get on board, the soon were on their way home. When they were out of the dangerous waters, Shackleton inquired how it was that each man was fully prepared to depart on a moment’s notice. He was told that every morning the leader of the group rolled up hi sleeping back and shouted,”Get your things together boys. The boss may come today.”

            Are we prepared and waiting for the Lord’s return?

Poem by Martha Snell Nicholson - I Shall be Like Him

1 John 3:2 - Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

There is a verse of Scripture

Which grips my very soul,

And lights earth’s dingy pathway, ---

A gleaming, shining goal.

So long I have been wearied

Of this weak self of mine,

This sinning, faltering nature,

So different, Lord, from Thine.

And so with utter rapture

I read the words which say

I shall be changed entirely

And be like Thee some day.

Like Thee, like Thee, My Saviour?

I cannot understand.

The vessel like the Potter

Who made it with His hand?

The lost lamb like the Shepherd,

The branches like the Vine?

Help me, I am bewildered

With riches poured like wine.

I cannot understand, dear Lord,

I only trust and know

That when at last I am like thee

My cup will overflow.

Poem by Martha Snell Nicholson - The Other Side

You ask how you learn to trust Him?

Dear child, you must just let go!

Let go of your frantic worry,

And the fears which plague so;

Let go of each black tomorrow

Which you try to live today;

Let go of your fevered planning,

He knoweth all your way.

Fear not lest your slipping fingers

Let go of your Saviour too,---

Trusting is only knowing

He’ll not let go of you!

**Martha Snell Nicholson spent many years in 

bed suffering from tuberculosis and her 

testimony was displayed by her poems.

Poem by Martha Snell Nicholson - The Other Side

This isn’t death, it’s glory!

It isn’t dark, it’s light;

It isn’t stumbling, groping

Or even faith, ---- it’s sight!

This isn’t grief, it’s having.

My last tear wiped away.

It’s sunrise, it’s the morning

Of my eternal day!

This isn’t even praying,

It’s speaking face to face;

It’s listening, and it’s glimpsing

The wonders of His grace.

This is the end of pleading

For strength to bear the pain;

Not even pain’s dark memory

Will ever live again.

How did I bear the earth life

Before I came up higher,

Before my soul was granted

It’s every deep desire.

Before I knew this rapture

Of meeting face to face

The One who sought me, saved me,

And kept me by His grace!

Story by Dorothy Canfield Fisher

          Dorothy Canfield Fisher once wrote a poignant story about a physically powerful but dimwitted farm hand named Lem who lived in a Vermont valley.  His mother resented him from the day he was born.  She often ridiculed him with harsh and demeaning words.  Even so, the boy served her till she died.

          Lem was the target of village jokes. But then one night he came upon a huge dog killing some farmer’s sheep. Using his bare hands as his only weapon, he strangled the dog to death. When morning came, the villagers discovered the dog was really a giant timber wolf. Lem quickly earned the villagers’ silent admiration.

          Later, an unwed village girl falsely accused Lem of being the father of her baby. Even though he was innocent, he married to girl so the baby would have a father. Unfortunately, the mother died within a year, so Lem raised the little girl. After she was grown and married, he own baby became desperately ill and Lem sold all his sheep to pay for the baby’s medical care.

          Confronted with meanness, misunderstanding, and loneliness all his life, Lem had no recourse in professing the true nature of his own life . . . other than to live it out in serving others. And that he did!

          The loudest message you speak . . . is your life.

Quote - James M. Pullman

"Never say, “It’s nobody’s business but my own what I do with my life.” It is not true. Your life is put into your hands as a trust, for many others besides yourself. If you use it well, it will make many others happy; if you abuse it, you will harm many others besides yourself."

Inspiration by Ernestine Schuman-Heink

A home is...

A roof to keep out the rain

Four walls to keep out the wind.

Yes, but a home is more than that.

It is the laugh of a baby, the song of a mother, the strength of a father.

Warmth of loving hearts, light from happy eyes, kindness, loyalty, comradeship.

Home is the first school and the first church for young ones, where they learn what is right, what is good, and what is kind.

Where they go for comfort when they are hurt or sick.

Where joy is shared and sorrow eased.

Where fathers and mothers are respected and loved.

Where children are wanted.

Where the simplest food is good enough for kings because it is earned.

Where money is not so important as loving kindness.

Where even the teakettle sings from happiness.

That is home. God bless it.

Quote - Abraham Lincoln

Before leaving for Washington, D.C. to serve

as the sixteenth President of the United States,

Abraham Lincoln gave this Farewell Address to the people of Illinois.

"My friends, no one not in my situation can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of the Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell." Abraham Lincoln Springfield, Illinois February 11, 1861

Quote - George Matheson

"Am I to thank God for everything?    Am I to thank Him for bereavement, for pain, for poverty, for toil? . . . . . Be still, my soul thou hast missed the message. It is not to give thanks for everything, but to give thanks in everything."

Quote - Charles Wagner

"It is not sad to grow old? Say rather that it is a very difficult art, and one which few men have ever acquired. . . . To grow old, is sad indeed if what you want is to hold back the receding years, to keep your hair from growing white, your eyes from becoming dim, and the wrinkles from chiseling their way around your brow.  One of the most beautiful things in the world is an old person who, made better by experience, more indulgent, more charitable, loves mankind in spite of its wretchedness and adores youth without the slightest tendency to mimic it. Such a person is like an old Stradivarius whose tone has become so sweet that its virtue is increased a hundred fold, and it seems almost to have a soul."

Poem by Irma Harem - Mary Had a Little Prayer

Mary had a little prayer,

She said it every day,

But when she has her lunch at school,

Her prayer she must not say.

It makes some grown-ups much disturbed

When children pray at school,

The highest court in all the land

Was asked to make a rule.

And so in Mary’s fine, new school,

No prayers shall be said;

Why, there are some who boldly say

That Mary’s God is dead!

But Mary, wiser than them all,

Believes God knows and cares;

She bows her head and silently

Still offers Him her prayers.

                             Irma Harem

Quote - Daniel Webster

“If religious books are not widely circulated among the masses in this country, and the people do not become religious, I do not know what is to become of us as a nation.

            And the thought is one to cause solemn reflection on the part of every patriot and Christian. If truth be diffused, error will be if God and His Word are not known and received, the devil and his works will gain the ascendancy; if evangelical volume does not reach every hamlet, the pages of a corrupt and licentious literature will; if the power of the Gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of the land, anarchy and misrule, degradation and misery, corruption and darkness, will reign without mitigation or end.”

Stories and Anecdotes - Dad Turns Out Alright in Time

An article printed in a Dutch magazine reflects the transition which most of us have gone or are going through in our assessment of fathers.

 4 years      My daddy can do anything.

 7 years      My dad knows a lot, a whole lot.

10 years     Dad doesn’t quite know everything.

12 years      Oh well, naturally father doesn’t understand.

14 years      Father? Hopelessly old-fashioned!

21 years      Oh, that man is out-of-date, what would you expect?

25 years     He comes up with a good idea now and then.

30 years     Must find out what Dad thinks about it.

35 years     A little patience; let’s get Dad’s input first.

50 years     What would Dad have thought about it?

60 years     I wish I could talk it over with Dad once more.

Stories and Anecdotes - Whose Side You're On

            Grandfather would tuck his Bible under his arm and walk through the small town he lived in to Sunday school and church services.  For the last five years of his life he could not hear, and he never heard a word of any sermon, yet he continued to go.

          One day I asked him, “Grandpa, why do you keep on going to Sunday school and church when you can’t hear a word that the preacher says?”

          “I keep on going,” he replied, “even if I don’t hear, because I want people to know whose side I’m on.”

          Do people know whose side you’re on? Do you want them to know? It is time for Christians to take a stand for Christ. We must be different from the world if we are to help it. Until we make it clear who it is we serve, no one will ever pay attention to us.

          An evaluation of some Christians’ lives would lead one to believe that God “really isn’t that big a deal.” Make sure the world knows who side you’re on.”

          “. . . as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

But Father, I am well aware

I can’t make it on my own.

So take my hand and hold it tight,

For I can’t walk alone.

Quote - Minot J. Salvage

          We go through  life as some tourists go through Europe, --- so anxious to see the next sight, the next cathedral, the next picture, the next mountain peak, that we never stop to fill our sense with the beauty of the present one.  Along all our pathways sweet flowers are blossoming, if we will only stop to pluck them and smell their fragrance. In every meadow, birds are warbling, calling to their mates, and soaring into the blue, if we will only stop our grumbling long enough to hear them.

Quote - Martin Luther

          First, when I feel that I am become cold and indisposed to prayer, by reason of other business and thoughts, I take my Psalter and run into my chamber, or, if day and season serve, into the church to the multitude, and begin to repeat to myself---just as children used----the ten commandments, the creed, and according as I have time, some sayings of Christ or of Paul, or some Psalms.  Therefore it is will to let prayer be the first employment to the early morning, and the last in the evening.  Avoid diligently those false and deceptive thoughts which say, Wait a little, I will pray and hour hence; I must first perform this or that.  For with such thoughts a man quits prayer for business that lays hold of and entangles him, so that he comes not to pray the whole day long.

Stories and Anecdotes - Anonymous

A German allegory tells of two little girls.  They had been playing together in a strange garden, and one ran to her mother full of disappointment, “The garden‘s a sad place mother.” “Why, my child?” “I’ve been all around, and every rose-tree has cruel, long thorns upon it!” Then the second child came in breathless. “O Mother, the garden’s a beautiful place!” “How to, my child?”  “Why, I’ve been all around, and every thorn-bush has lovely roses growing on it!” And the mother wondered at the difference in the two children.

Stories and Anecdotes - Do You See

       One day a 6 year old girl was sitting in a classroom, The teacher asked a little, boy, “Tommy, do you see the tree outside?”” the boy responded “Yes.”

          “Tommy, do you see the grass outside?” “Yes.” “Go outside and look up and see if you see the sky.” Tommy returned a few minutes later. “Yes, I saw the sky.” Did you see God?” “No.” The teacher then said, “That’s my point. We can’t see God because he isn’t there. He doesn’t exist.”

          A little girl classmate spoke up and wanted to ask Tommy some questions. She started, “Tommy, do you see the tree outside?” “Yes.” Do you see the grass outside?” The boy, getting tired of the questions, answered, “Yesss!” “Tommy do you see the teacher? “Yes!”

          “Do you see her brain?” “No!” “Then according to what we were taught today, she must not have one!!!”

Story and Anecdotes - Drug Problem

I had a “drug“ problem when I was a young person and teenager.

I was “drug” to Church on Sunday morning.

I was “drug” to Church on Sunday night

I was “drug” to Church on Wednesday night

I was “drug” to Sunday School every week

I was “drug” to Vacation Bible School

I was “drug” to the family altar to read the Bible and pray.

I was also “drug” to the woodshed when I disobeyed my parents.

These “drugs” are still in my veins, 

and they affect my behavior in everything I do and say, and think.

They are stronger than cocaine, crack and heroin.

If our children had this “drug” problem, America would certainly be a better place.

Poem by Grace E. Troy - Hedged In

Ps 55:17

17 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.

Hedged by walls I cannot scale

I would not if I could.

For God Himself, has placed them there

And only wills me good.

Bound by strong cords I cannot break

A prisoner of the Lords---

But my dear Keeper is so kind

And love tied all the cords.

Yet though I cannot walk abroad

I still may travel far---

By way of God’s own Throne of Grace

To where the needy are.

Where millions wait in heathen lands

Bound by the chain of sin

Lost in the blackness of the night

Whom only Christ can win.

So, grant me grace and strength each day

To labor here in prayer---

That others there in distant lands

May God’s salvation share.

Poem by Grace E. Troy - I Know Not, He Knows

Job 23:10

But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

I know not what the Home is like

Which He went to prepare

It is enough for me to know

My Savior will be there.

He’s promised that He’ll come for me;

It may not now be very long

Till we together meet.

I know not what a day may bring

Into this world’s long night

I know the Judge of all the earth

Will only do what’s right.

Tho thru this life’s mysterious ways

The heart may often quail

My hope is anchored safe and sound

In Him eho cannot fail.

And when He comes to bring me home

And whispers low to me

One look from Him ill satisfy

Thru all eternity.