Author: Gospel Folio Press

DAILY?READINGS: 2 Chronicles 35; Daniel 2:24-49; 1 John 5

 

Be still and know that I am God.    Psalm 46:10

 

We live in such a busy world. We hardly catch our breath before we are off to the next thing. We so need to stop and look unto Jesus, to be still and listen to our Lord. Too many days we read, we pray, and then we run. We do need to read His precious Word and we do need to pray. But we also need to stop and be still and listen. Today take even a little time to be still and hear what He has to say to you. Tell Him, Lord, I am here; speak to me. He will bring His Scriptures to your heart.
—V. Gaynier

 

O, give me Samuel’s ear, the open ear,
O Lord, alive and quick to hear.
Like him to answer at Thy call,
And to obey Thee first of all. —J. D. Burns

DAILY?READINGS: 2 Chronicles 34; Daniel 2:1-23; 1 John 4

 

And I John, saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship.    Revelation 22:8

 

The purpose of things revealed to us from God’s Word, is not to puff us up with pride, but to lay us low with gratitude and adoration. As it was with John, the Christian also has these holy moments. When alone with the Lord, a circumstance of life drives us to His Word, and He speaks to our need beyond what we had hoped for. This humbling yet uplifting experience awaits you at His feet today. Will you go?
—Rick Morse

 

Into the heart of Jesus, deeper and deeper I go,
Seeking to know the reason; why He should love me so,
Why He should stoop to lift me, up from the miry clay,
Saving my soul, making me whole, though I had wandered away.
—Oswald Jeffrey Smith

DAILY?READINGS: 2 Chronicles 33; Daniel 1; 1 John 3

 

For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.    Job 19:25-26

 

What an incredible declaration! What a faith-affirming proclamation—that trials and sufferings and tragedies don’t determine our destiny. God does! In the midst of the most trying circumstances the converted soul can exclaim, “My Redeemer liveth!” What a testimony to those looking on. May we cultivate such a relationship with God that our hope in Him defines our outlook on life—past, present and for the life to come!    —Deborah Manera

 

Jesus, my Redeemer, lives; I, too, unto life shall waken.
Endless joy my Saviour gives; shall my courage, then, be shaken?
Shall I fear, or could the Head, rise and leave His members dead?
— Luise Hen­ri­et­te of Bran­den­burg

DAILY?READINGS: 2 Chronicles 32; Ezekiel 48; 1 John 2:12-29

 

The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.    Jeremiah 31:3

 

All human love must have a beginning and an end, but not the love of God. Just like the ring given to the prodigal son, it has no beginning or end. It is everlasting. Before the world was created, before you were born, God thought of you. He foresaw the sins which you would commit, and which should have kept you forever out of heaven. In spite of it all, He planned a way of escape and salvation through the death and resurrection of His Son. He longs for you to draw near to Him today. Will you come?    —Jim Pizzulli

He can save; He can keep; He can cleanse and He will.
God can do anything but fail! —Ira Stanphill

DAILY?READINGS: 2 Chronicles 31; Ezekiel 47; 1 John 1 to 2:11

 

The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
John 3:35

 

From eternity past, God the Father loved the Son. This love is the standard by which all other loves are measured. It is also the demonstration of divine generosity towards sinful man. Christ is uniquely “the Son of His love” (Col. 1:13, NKJV). John 3:16 points out the breadth and depth of this love, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.” Romans 8:32 agrees: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” God’s grace to saints is secured and defined by the worth of the Son to the Father.    —Keith Keyser

God wrought by weight and measure, and I was with Him then:
Myself the Father’s pleasure, and mine, the sons of men.
—W. Cowper

DAILY?READINGS: 2 Chronicles 30; Ezekiel 46; John 21

 

And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof.    1 John 2:17

 

The simplest and best definition of worldiness I have come across is: “the love for passing things.” Another has defined it as “sharing the spirit of the age in which one lives.” By this standard the Church today is worldly. If we desire the worldly fashions, styles, toys and trinkets of the times, our spiritual reason eventually wavers, judgement is distorted, and modesty is abandoned. In contrast, “He that doeth the will of God abideth forever” (1 John 2:17).    —W. Ross Rainey

 

Take the world, but give me Jesus,
All its joys are but a name;
But His love abideth ever,
Thro’ eternal years the same.
—Fanny J. Crosby

DAILY?READINGS: 2 Chronicles 29; Ezekiel 45; John 20:19-31

 

A wise man will hear and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels.    Proverbs 1:5

 

Solomon’s desire was to pass on the wisdom that God had given to him. But this wisdom would do no good unless there was a willingness for the hearers to receive it and obey it. Wisdom must be taken and used. The Bible says that we lack because we don’t ask! Ask for God’s wisdom but remember that there is no such thing as instant spirituality. Salvation is immediate, but God’s wisdom comes by asking and seeking for it, then obeying and acting on it.    —G. Frear

 

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.
—Author Unknown

DAILY?READINGS: 2 Chronicles 27-28; Ezekiel 44; John 20:1-18

 

But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.    Luke 1:20 (NKJV)

 

Zacharias doubted God’s message and this resulted in his mouth being stopped. What happened to Zacharias in the first century still happens to us today. We may not be physically mute but if we doubt God’s Word and fail to believe what it says we will be unable to open our mouth in either praise or testimony. Our lips are sealed. David said “I believed, therefore have I spoken” (Psalm 116:10). Also “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so” (Psalm 107:2).     —Sid Halsband

 

I believe the Bible, O it is divine!
Heaven’s golden sunlight in its pages shine.
—E. S. Ufford

DAILY?READINGS: 2 Chronicles 26; Ezekiel 43; John 19:17-42

 

Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.    Jeremiah 15:16

 

The work that God called Jeremiah to do was a discouraging work. There were times when he, like Job, blamed God for his troubles. However he found great comfort in God’s Word. There it was affirmed that he belonged to God and was called by His name. What an honour to be called a Christian. It means a Christ-one. One that is united with Christ. As Jeremiah found his strength and joy in the Word of the Lord and his identify in the Name of the Lord, so should we in the evil days in which we live.    —Harold G. Smith

 

There is a name I love to hear, I love to sing its worth;
It sounds like music in mine ear, the sweetest name on earth.
—F. Whitfield

 

DAILY?READINGS: 2 Chronicles 25; Ezekiel 42; John 18:28 to 19:16

 

They crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.    John 19:18

 

For the two thieves, the moment of parting had come. Never again, either in this world, or in that to come, would they be together. Separating them is the final Divider of us all. This division was much more than physical, for one had repented and was forgiven, whereas the other persisted in his impenitence and unbelief (see Luke 23:39-43). All the evidence points to one being “saved” and one being “lost.” Eternally, on which side of the Saviour will I be?    —George Hall

 

Because the sinless Saviour died,
My sinful soul is counted free,
For God, the Just, is satisfied,
To look on Him and pardon me.
—C. L. Bancroft