TFTD - February 2013

[Resource Manager]

01 February 2013

"Our lives are just not given us to do what we like with. Even our material possessions, our comfortable homes and cars, for instance, are not really ours, neither are our abilities and positions and qualities: they are only ours on trust, to help us in our service as “workers together with him”, and if we always regard them in that light, they can only be a blessing to ourselves and others, and we shall have thus escaped from the perils of prosperity."

- Cyril Cooper
Reflections (1958)

[Resource Manager]

02 February 2013

"Just as, on a summer’s morn, the sun shines upon each droplet of dew and there are refracted from it all the colours of the rainbow, so shall we, if we are faithful, reflect the whole spectrum of the glory of God. And that will be perfection at last, and indeed."

- John Mitchell
Be Ye Perfect ... (1997)

[Resource Manager]

03 February 2013

"'Who is worthy to open the book?' Why, no one. It is a book for the unworthy that they may be purified and made white. God’s law is perfect—and converts; is sure—and makes wise; is right—and rejoices the heart; is pure—and enlightens the eyes. To such the Lord will come both now and in the age to come. He will come with the book, the book of remembrance of those who feared the Lord and thought upon His name. Then shall we see the holiness and infallibility of the word of God in the Word of God. Then shall we know what manner of man it was who told us these words."

 

- Harry Tennant

A Word in Your Ear (1963)

[Resource Manager]

04 February 2013

"Forget Not All His Benefits.—We are too slow to cultivate a spirit and habit of praise, and, like David, we need to stir up the depths of our souls to this delightful and essential service. Twice the Psalmist repeats the words, 'Bless the Lord, O my soul.' It is not a vain repetition, but shows us that we have need, again and again, to bestir ourselves to worship God in spirit and in truth. Memory is very treacherous, and it is a needful exercise to recall the heaven-sent benefits, and with 'all that is within us, bless His holy Name.'"

- Selected (1943)

[Resource Manager]

05 February 2013

"God is creating a new heaven and a new earth; the first man has been created, and now a help meet is being formed for him. For this bride he has already given his life, 'that they might be with me where I am'. The bride is no ordinary woman, she bears a remarkable likeness to her husband. One member of the bride has said, 'We shall be like him'."

- David Rowe
The Marriage Feast (1951)

[Resource Manager]

06 February 2013

"There is always a danger that our ears may become dull of hearing and we may fail to recognize the difference between the voice of Jesus and the sounds that come from another. The voice of the true shepherd brings words of wondrous grace; no saying is more attractive than one recorded by Matthew; 'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest'."

- W.H. Boulton
Reflections (1956)

[Resource Manager]

07 February 2013

"Jesus himself promised his disciples that he would be with them to the end, and we share their faith and their privileges in him. Paul reminded the Hebrews that God had said 'I will never leave thee nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper'."

- C.A. Ladson
Guided by the Star (1939)

[Resource Manager]

08 February 2013

"There is a world full of Bibles: it is the most multiplied book in existence, but we might say one of the least read or understood ... It pleased God to reveal Himself unto babes and hide His wisdom from the wise and prudent, so the Lord Jesus himself tells us ... Speaking of the blessedness in store for those who will obey his commandments he says: "Blessed are the poor in spirit ... blessed are they that mourn ... the meek ... they that hunger and thirst after righteousness." [Matthew 5:3-10]"

- J.J. Mills
Genesis and the End (1944)

[Resource Manager]

09 February 2013

"Preserving the way of the saints is central to our remembrance of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He, whose death we commemorate in bread and wine, not only "pondered the path of his feet" but fulfilled all that His Father asked of him, to such an extent that he became the very Way itself. He is the one of whom Peter wrote, "For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps" (1 Peter 2:21). These are the steps to watch and follow."

- John Parry
Watch Your Step (2000)

[Resource Manager]

10 February 2013

"How real is our vision of the Kingdom? Do we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness? If we do not, we have little hope of sharing it. Let us thank God that we still have time to prepare ourselves for that great Day so that in God’s mercy we "may have right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city" (Revelation 22:14).

- Joan P. Thomas
Pictures of the Kingdom (1979)

[Resource Manager]

11 February 2013

"If Jesus could rejoice in the goodness of God in his day, how much more should we, who have been called and whose "lines have fallen in pleasant places"? How much more should we come in the spirit of remembrance and in the spirit of rejoicing before the Lord, praising with united voice together, because of the high calling and the great things that lie before us, even eternal glory through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

- G. Folwell
Remembering and Rejoicing (1930)

[Resource Manager]

12 February 2013

"Paul asks "Where is the wise? Where is the scribe?" and we might add, Where is the politician, and the philosopher? If ever we are tempted to exchange our cross for what appears a "worldly crown", think what crowns they can offer; they are only heavier crosses disguised as crowns."

- Graham Smith
Take up the Cross (1968)

[Resource Manager]

13 February 2013

"I am the Light of the world; he that followeth me shall have the light of life" (John 8:12).

"Perhaps the most important word in this quotation is the word life, because, as the verse implies, life depends on light. When Jesus said, "I am the light of the world" no one knew better than he all that was contained in those few words."

- D. Martindale
The Light of the World (1933)

[Resource Manager]

14 February 2013

"I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you" (John 14:18).

"This comfort of God meets every need of man, because it operates on the mental plane. And make no mistake, the battle is taking place in the mind, all the time. Whatever the trials, whatever the pain, or griefs, it is right thinking that gets the victory. Nothing else really matters but that we shall see our afflictions Christ-wise. And that is where God’s word comes in as the great comforter. For the man of faith is consoled by the word in his mind, as the body is soothed by the gentle touch of loving hands."

- L.W. Richardson
Comfort (1962)

[Resource Manager]

15 February 2013   

"If we stand at the beginning of our probation and look right to the end, seeing Christ in his perfection, it may seem an impossible task! But even a marathon is the sum total of so many single steps, and God has commanded us to follow His Son, promising us strength all along the way."

- George Booker
A New Creation

[Resource Manager]

16 February 2013

"Biblical teaching on the question of fellowship is clear, as concerns the principles to be followed; the right way to put them into practice in any given case is often less evident, in view of the weakness of all the members of the body without exception and the need to show humility and mercy. The call to discipleship is a call to separation. If we answer it, we become members of the church, the ‘ecclesia’ (in Greek), the community of those who are “called … out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9)"

- H.A. Twelves
Christian Discipleship

[Resource Manager]

17 February 2013

"Sacrifice is worthless unless it is an act of faith; hence the demand for obedience in observing the form of offering which God prescribes. To offer to God a gift of one’s own choice in a way of one’s own devising is a failure to acknowledge God’s majesty; it is therefore not faith but presumption; not submission to God but the assertion of self. It is to make God secondary to our own feelings about Him, and therefore less real than ourselves."

- L.G. Sargent
Drawing Near Before God (1948)

[Resource Manager]

18 February 2013

"There was no hesitation on the part of Zacchaeus; he scrambled down as quickly as he could and led Jesus to his house. He received him joyfully, while the crowd murmured, saying that Jesus had gone to lodge in the house of a sinner.

Zacchaeus heard the murmuring, and he knew that it was because of him. But he was already a changed man, changed by the graciousness of the man who had invited himself to be his guest. Speaking to Jesus, he said, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have wrongfully exacted ought of any man, I restore fourfold". Jesus ignored the murmuring of the crowd, and addressing his words to Zacchaeus, said, "Today is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost". Thus did Jesus sum up in a single short sentence the mission to which his life was devoted."

- W.H. Boulton
On the Way to Jerusalem (1950)

[Resource Manager]

19 February 2013

"'Salvation' says it all. God has called man to seek salvation. There can be no better definition of the gospel, no more concise summary of the purpose of God, than simply to say, He wants us to be saved. "He will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). He cannot compel us to seek salvation, but in His love and mercy He has offered us the best of all possible gifts, a gift which saves us, and which redounds in honour to Him and to His Son, through whom this saving work has come about."

- John Morris
Mine Eyes Have Seen Thy Salvation (1999)

[Resource Manager]

20 February 2013

"It’s true, isn’t it? Great waters have gone over us, but we are not destroyed. In the midst of trouble we have found a hiding place. Nearer to us than all the harm of circumstances is the care of God. We have listened to the whisper of His Word, and have taken courage. We have yielded to the constraint of His guidance, and are preserved."

- Dennis Gillett
Blessed is He ... Whose Sin is Covered (1995)

[Resource Manager]

21 February 2013

"He showed his disciples exactly what his Father was like. He displayed the character of his Father perfectly by his own choice. He fought the lonely battle against temptation (Hebrews 4:15). He, and he alone, was the victor. Here truly is the perfect Son of God. Think of his words to Philip, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9)."

- Trevor Pritchard
What Think Ye of Christ?

[Resource Manager]

22 February 2013

"If we follow the people of God in their affliction we shall follow them into the joy of the Lord promised to those who overcome. Then shall we eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life and it will be sweet to the taste with no after bitterness. "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain for the former things have passed away." The bitterness of death has passed."

- C.A. Ladson
Bitterness and Sweetness (1931)

[Resource Manager]

23 February 2013

"He who would be the servant of Christ, and the friend of the Son of Man, who "came not to be ministered unto but to minister" (Mark 10:45), must be courteous to all: if we are courteous to everyone at all times we are thereby serving our Master. And who serves Christ does to himself the best of service. "A gracious woman retaineth honour. A merciful man doeth good to his own soul" (Proverbs 11:16-17)."

- Claud Lamb
Be Courteous (1993)
 

[Resource Manager]

24 February 2013

"... let us remember to be incessantly thankful for the character of God, that He is "a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness" (Exodus 34:6). His love abounds, and we are mystified and bewildered; for we know that we are unworthy. His love is pervasive like the daily sunshine. "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22-23)."

- Arthur Armstrong
Love and Thanksgiving (1958)

[Resource Manager]

25 February 2013

“We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father” (1 Thessalonians 1:2-3).
 

"Faith works; no man can have a living faith unless it finds expression in work. There is a work that springs from faith and there is also a labour of love, or a toil of love. That is what is meant,—love toils. We wonder why, under some difficult circumstances, a woman is able patiently to continue in some work in connection with the welfare of her child. Love toils, and that is one expression of its toils, but love toils in all the manifold activities appertaining to the Christian life. Hope gives endurance; for the word “patience” is not a passive word; it expresses a very active quality which we might express by endurance; that which gives us that holding-on quality is a brightly burning hope. Endurance springs from hope."

 

- John Carter
Love and Wrath (1929)