Daily Devotional

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew
11:28.

Many who hear this invitation, while sighing for rest, yet press on the rugged path, hugging
their burdens close to their heart. Jesus loves them, and longs to bear their burdens and
themselves also in His strong arms. He would remove the fears and uncertainties that rob them
of peace and rest; but they must first come to Him, and tell Him the secret woes of their heart....

Sometimes we pour our troubles into human ears, and tell our afflictions to those who cannot
help us, and neglect to confide all to Jesus, who is able to change the sorrowful way to paths of
joy and peace....

He proposes to be our friend, to walk with us through all the rough pathways of life. He
says to us, I am the Lord thy God; walk with me, and I will fill thy path with light. Jesus, the
Majesty of Heaven, proposes to elevate to companionship with Himself those who come to Him
with their burdens, their weaknesses, and their cares....

His invitation to us is a call to a pure, holy, and happy life—a life of peace and rest, of liberty
and love—and to a rich inheritance in the future, immortal life.... It is our privilege to have daily
a calm, close, happy walk with Jesus.

Rest is found when all self-justification, all reasoning from a selfish standpoint, is put away.
Entire self-surrender, an acceptance of His ways, is the secret of perfect rest in His love....
Do just what He has told you to do, and be assured that God will do all that He has said He
would do.... Have you come to Him, renouncing all your makeshifts, all your unbelief, all your

But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
Psalm 1:2.

Your last thought at night, your first thought in the morning, should be of Him in whom is
centered your hope of eternal life.

Many seem to begrudge moments spent in meditation, and the searching of the Scriptures,
and prayer, as though the time thus occupied was lost. I wish you could all view these things
in the light God would have you; for you would then make the kingdom of heaven of the first
importance.... As exercise increases the appetite, and gives strength and healthy vigor to the
body, so will devotional exercises bring an increase of grace and spiritual vigor.

The affections should center upon God. Contemplate His greatness, His mercy and
excellences. Let His goodness and love and perfection of character captivate your heart.
Converse upon His divine charms, and the heavenly mansions He is preparing for the faithful.
He whose conversation is in heaven, is the most profitable Christian to all around him. His words
are useful and refreshing. They have a transforming power upon those who hear them.

There is constant need of private communion with God. We must take in the spirit of Christ
if we would impart it to others. We cannot meet satanic and human agencies combined unless
we spend much time in intercourse with the Source of all strength. There are times when we
should get away from the sounds of earthly toil and human voices, and in retired places listen
to the voice of Jesus. Thus we may taste of His love and imbibe His spirit. Thus we shall learn
to crucify self. This course of action may seem impossible to the human mind. “I have not
time,” you may say. But when you consider the matter as it really is, you lose no time; for when
you secure the power and grace that come alone from God,

Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will
render double unto thee. Zechariah 9:12.

We need to educate the soul to lay hold, and hold fast the rich promises of Christ. The Lord
Jesus knows that it is not possible for us to resist the many temptations of Satan, only as we shall
have divine power given us from God. He well knows that in our own human strength we should
surely fail. Therefore every provision has been made, that in every emergency and trial we shall
flee to the Stronghold.... We have the word of promise from lips that will not lie.... We must
individually cherish the faith that we receive of Him the things He hath promised.

God will be to us everything we will let Him be. Our languid, half-hearted prayers will not
bring us returns from heaven. Oh, we need to press our petitions! Ask in faith, wait in faith,
receive in faith, rejoice in hope, for everyone that seeketh findeth. Be in earnest in the matter.
Seek God with all the heart. People put soul and earnestness into everything they undertake
in temporal things, until their efforts are crowned with success. With intense earnestness learn
the trade of seeking the rich blessings that God has promised, and with persevering, determined
effort you shall have His light and His truth and His rich grace.

In sincerity, in soul hunger, cry after God. Wrestle with the heavenly agencies until you have
the victory. Put your whole being into the Lord’s hands, soul, body, and spirit, and resolve to
be His loving, consecrated agency, moved by His will, controlled by His mind, infused by His
Spirit.

Tell Jesus your wants in the sincerity of your soul. You are not required to hold a long
controversy with, or preach a sermon to, God, but with a heart of sorrow for your sins, say, “Save
me, Lord, or I perish.” There is hope for such souls. They will seek, they will ask, they will
knock, and they will find. When Jesus has taken away the burden of sin that is crushing the soul,

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23.

Diligent heart-keeping is essential to a healthy growth in grace. The heart in its natural state
is a habitation for unholy thoughts and sinful passions. When brought into subjection to Christ,
it must be cleansed by the Spirit from all defilement. This can not be done without the consent
of the individual.

When the soul has been cleansed, it is the duty of the Christian to keep it undefiled. Many
seem to think that the religion of Christ does not call for the abandonment of daily sins, the
breaking loose from habits which have held the soul in bondage. They renounce some things
condemned by the conscience, but they fail to represent Christ in the daily life. They do not
bring Christlikeness into the home. They do not show a thoughtful care in their choice of words.
Too often, fretful, impatient words are spoken, words which stir the worst passions of the human
heart. Such ones need the abiding presence of Christ in the soul. Only in His strength can they
keep guard over the words and actions.

In the work of heart-keeping we must be instant in prayer, unwearied in petitioning the throne
of grace for assistance. Those who take the name of Christian should come to God in earnestness
and humility, pleading for help.... The Christian cannot always be in the position of prayer, but
his thoughts and desires can always be upward.

To keep your heart in heaven will give vigor to all your graces and put life into all your duties.
To discipline the mind to dwell upon heavenly things will put life and earnestness into all our
endeavors. Our efforts are languid, and we run the Christian race slowly, and manifest indolence
and sloth, because we so little value the heavenly prize. We are dwarfs in spiritual attainments.
It is the privilege and duty of the Christian to be increasing in the knowledge of the Son of God,

The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. Proverbs
10:22.

Nothing can do us real good without the blessing of God. What God blesses is blessed.
Therefore “a little that a righteous man hath is better that the riches of many wicked.” Psalm
37:16. The little with the blessing of God is more efficient, and it will extend farther. The grace
of God will make a little go a great ways. When we devote ourselves to the affairs of the kingdom
of God, He will mind our affairs.”

The Lord has given us precious blessings in the simple flowers of the field, in the fragrance
so grateful to our senses. He has tinted every flower with beauty; for He is the great Master
Artist. He who has created the beautiful things in nature will do far greater things for the soul.
God is a lover of the beautiful, and He would adorn our characters with His own rich graces. He
would have our words as fragrant as the flowers of the field. He has given us blessings in daily
provision for our physical needs. The very bread we are has upon it the image and superscription
of the cross.

They only are truly blessed whose chief concern is to secure those blessings which will
nourish the soul and endure forever. Our Saviour says to us, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33. God has a
care for us, even to bestow His temporal blessings upon us. Our earthly good is not
beneath the notice of our heavenly Father. He knoweth that we have need of these things.... When
God smiles upon our efforts it is worth more than any earthly income.

“How sweet our daily comforts prove
When they are seasoned with His love.”

Every deliverance, every blessing, that God in the past has granted to His people, should be
kept fresh in memory’s hall as a sure pledge of further and richer, increasing blessings that He
will bestow.

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope
of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. Ephesians
1:18.

The highest qualification of the mind will not, cannot, supply the place of true simplicity, of
genuine piety. The Bible may be studied as a branch of human science would be; but its beauty,
the evidence of its power to save the soul that believes, is a lesson that is never thus learned. If the
practice of theWord is not brought into the life, then the sword of the Spirit has not wounded the
natural heart. It has been shielded in poetic fancy. Sentimentalism has so wrapped it about that
the heart has not sufficiently felt the keenness of its edge, piercing and cutting away the sinful
shrines where self is worshipped....

The eyes of the understanding must be enlightened, and the heart and mind brought into
harmony with God, who is truth. He who beholds Jesus with the eye of faith sees no glory in
himself, for the glory of the Redeemer is reflected into the mind and heart. The atonement of His
blood is realized, and the taking away of sin stirs the heart with gratitude.

Being justified by Christ, the receiver of truth is constrained to make an entire surrender to
God, and is admitted into the school of Christ, that he may learn of Him who is meek and lowly
of heart. A knowledge of the love of God is shed abroad in his heart. He exclaims, Oh, what
love! What condescension! Grasping the rich promises by faith, he becomes a partaker of the
divine nature. His heart being emptied of self, the waters of life flow in; the glory of the Lord
shines forth. Perpetually looking unto Jesus, the human is assimilated by the divine. The believer
is changed into His likeness.... The human character is changed into the divine.

Christ looks upon His people in their purity and perfection as the reward of all His sufferings,
His humiliation, and His love, and the supplement of His glory—Christ the great center, from whom radiates all glory.

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him
be glory both now and for ever. Amen. 2 Peter 3:18.

How is it possible that we may grow in grace? It is possible to us only as we empty our
hearts of self, and present them to Heaven, to be molded after the Divine Pattern. We may have
a connection with the living channel of light; we may be refreshed with the heavenly dew, and
have the showers of heaven descend upon us. As we appropriate the blessing of God, we shall
be able to receive greater measures of His grace.

As little children we are to sit at the feet of Christ, learning of Him.... We should not allow
a day to pass without gaining an increase of knowledge in temporal and spiritual things. We are
to plant no stakes that we are not willing to take up and plant further on, nearer the heights we
hope to ascend. The highest education is to be found in training the mind to advance day by day.

The close of each day should find us a day’s march nearer the overcomer’s reward. Day by day
our understanding is to ripen. Day by day we are to work out conclusions that will bring a rich
reward in this life and in the life to come. Looking daily to Jesus, instead of to what we ourselves
have done, we shall make decided advancement in temporal as well as spiritual knowledge.
The end of all things is at hand. What we have done must not be allowed to place the period
to our work. The Captain of our salvation says, “Advance. The night cometh, in which no man
can work.” Constantly we are to increase in usefulness. Our lives are always to be under the
power of Christ. Our lamps are to be kept burning brightly.... He who places himself where God
can enlighten him, advances, as it were, from the partial obscurity of dawn to the full radiance of
noonday.

We must put to the stretch every spiritual nerve and muscle.... God ... does not desire you to
remain novices. He wants you to reach the very highest round of the ladder, and then step from