TFTD - July 2014

[Resource Manager]

01 July 2014

"In our natural state we cannot walk with God because the mind of the flesh is not in agreement with Him; there is enmity. God’s ways are not man’s ways, and as God cannot change, we must change if we would agree with God and walk with Him. Only His word can change us. When we take it in our hands day by day, let us not look upon it as merely doing the readings, but as God talking to us by the way, and so we will by His great mercy become more and more like Him, more and more in agreement."

- George Jarvis
Walking (1957)

[Resource Manager]

02 July 2014

"How spiritually rewarding it is in these turbulent, climactic days of our probation to be able to labour together in the vineyard of the Lord, knowing that the signs all about us presage the imminent return to this troubled earth of the One who is the True Vine. In this we are guided and fortified by the unfathomable love and mercy of our heavenly Father. May we, as the "children of God by faith in Christ Jesus" continue to wait and watch and work as faithful disciples of him who is our Lord and Master, whose saving name we bear and cherish: "So shall ye be my disciples."

- D.M. Elliott
So Shall Ye Be My Disciples (1997)

[Resource Manager]

03 July 2014

"By the power of God the "Kingdom of God came" (Matthew 16:28; Luke 9:27) ... "Thus was the power of the Kingdom seen in its King as the first of all the "righteous who shall shine": first in time and first in eminence. The manifestation of that glory was no mere appearance: in one moment’s transformation Jesus had a foretaste of that state of life which was to be his beyond the Cross; and the three who were eyewitnesses saw the Kingdom of God come with power."

- L.G. Sargent
The Gospel of the Son of God

[Resource Manager]

04 July 2014

"John in his first epistle uses the term "God whom we have not seen". Yet Christ said, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father". We have not seen Christ personally, but we can get to know him intimately by studying closely his life and words as portrayed in the New Testament writings. And by knowing him we can know God. The value of this is shown by Christ when he said, "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."

- Charles Blagburn
Fellowship (1961)

[Resource Manager]

05 July 2014

"One thing is needful. Get the spiritual side of life right, and no matter what comes your way, good or 'bad', you’ll see that it has God in it, and so it can’t really be bad. You’ll be able to handle it. It may not go away, but you’ll be able to handle it. You’ll be rightly exercised by it. And you’ll discover you have all you need for a satisfying life. Keep in mind that the Bible says "all things work together for good" in the life of a believer, not that all things are good."

- Colin Attridge
The Fruit of the Spirit

[Resource Manager]

06 July 2014

"By its very nature this world is abidingly hostile to the Being and love of God, thus man has to be born again before he can be liberated from it. Worldliness is, however, not necessarily eradicated from our lives by our baptism into Christ. Whether we are truly liberated from it will depend upon our attitude and affections. If we are worldlings we live according to the standards of the world, and accept its values; if we are born of God we delight to do God’s will and abide in His temple."

- Melva Purkis
First Epistle of John

[Resource Manager]

07 July 2014

"True wisdom is bringing the human spirit into conformity with the Spirit of Christ, who is the Wisdom of God. The Wisdom of God is realised in righteousness, sanctification and redemption, each perfectly revealed in the King and Saviour. The foundation is righteousness, the method is sanctification, the outcome is redemption. The Wisdom of God fastens upon the broken and the bruised and the spoiled and remakes them for His high purpose."

- Dennis Gillett
The Genius of Discipleship 

[Resource Manager]

08 July 2014

"The authority of the Bible is in itself, because it is God’s word. There is no satisfactory middle ground between full acceptance and complete rejection. If it is God’s word its witness concerning itself is of primary importance: that witness we have seen to be consistent and uncompromising. We decide our attitude to it, and so doing determine whether we will accept infallible divine guidance, or set up a standard of our own by which to guide our lives."

- John Carter
The Oracles of God

[Resource Manager]

09 July 2014

"God is a jealous God. He demands all our love and attention. But because we love God the more, do we love our brethren less? Our love for God is different from our love for another person. If we truly love God, we will show our love for Him in practical expressions of love for others. True divine love does not exclude human love; rather, it enhances it."

- George Booker
A New Creation 

[Resource Manager]

10 July 2014

"Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord and it ends with obedience to all His commandments. It can make use of knowledge on this mortal, material plane, while recognizing that there are other planes unknowable to us now. "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom, and with all thy getting get understanding" (Proverbs 4:7)."

- Islip Collyer
Principles and Proverbs

[Resource Manager]

11 July 2014

"God is the Supreme Architect, the Designer of the great plan of the ages. In His written Word He graciously permits us to view the splendid blue-print of His grand redemptive scheme. Don’t let men’s deeds hide from your mental view this wondrous plan of God. The works of men will pass away; God’s purpose will stand. Nothing that men may do can cause that plan to fail."

- Harold Wright
God's Plan with Man

[Resource Manager]

12 July 2014

"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever." He will never change. In Luke 12 we have a delightful picture which shows this and is of interest to you and myself. To those servants of his whose loins are girt and lights burning and who open the door as soon as their Lord knocks, Christ says: "Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them" (Luke 12:37)."

- T.J. Barling
Our Reasonable Service (1979)

[Resource Manager]

13 July 2014

"God is never late. He will never let us down. Jesus knew how to differentiate between "my time is not yet" and "when his hour was come". He was patient with the will of His Father. We have to learn to synchronise our timetable with God’s."

- Philip Vyse
Practical Living (1990)

[Resource Manager]

14 July 2014

"The dry bones of Israel are as vibrant with promise as were the original words of Ezekiel who prophesied concerning them. The desert sands of the world are as pregnant with hope as the living water which flowed from the rock in the wilderness. God has spoken and His word shall surely prevail. It will overarch the millennia, sweep aside the ignorance and godlessness of an age which worships the achievements and freedoms of man, and will bring an astonished world face to face with the law of the Lord going forth from Zion."

- Harry Tennant
The Man David

[Resource Manager]

15 July 2014

"This strange conversation (John 4:7-26) is more than a passing incident in Christ's journey through Samaria. It discloses the nature of the intercourse which takes place between God and every true seeker after Him. Our relationship begins with a demand from our Father to do something for Him. Our natural feeling is that there is nothing we can possibly do. He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things, we are puny creatures of His handiwork utterly dependent and unworthy. Yet the demand persists, and with it comes the understanding that our service conceals a far greater gift from Him. As the nature of that gift is unfolded in His word, so our desire for it grows, and although we can never appreciate it in its fullness, we plead for it. But it has its own demands. It requires us to expose all those things that are unworthy and demands that we share the gift with those around us. We cannot effectively accomplish the second without deliberately facing anything in our life which will impede our communion with God ... This is all brought to a focus in the person of Jesus Christ, and our surrender is complete when we truly believe his saying: "I that speak unto thee am he."

- Melva Purkis
A Life of Jesus

[Resource Manager]

16 July 2014

"Salvation comes not by believing about God, but by believing God and no one else. The only way in which we can believe God is to take Him at His word: and for that purpose we must first find what the word is, and gain assurance that it is His word. Belief does not so much matter because it is desirable to know the facts, to be philosophically correct or theologically sound: it matters because if a man is to live he must know and believe God. He may believe in a god evolved in his own mind; he can only believe God by knowing God as He has revealed Himself. That is something a man can only do through God’s words and acts; but they must be God’s words, and no one else’s."

- L.G. Sargent
Why Belief Matters (1958)

[Resource Manager]

17 July 2014

"It can be truthfully said that Jesus wants men and women more than they want him. He loves them more than they can ever love him. It is a love more persistent than man’s search for evil, a love more determined than man’s intent to enjoy the pleasures of sin, a love that knows no limit other than man’s refusal to respond. It is a love that extends to the most wayward that goes on living when everything seems hopeless. It is a love that calls with unwearied voice, pleading with the sinner to forsake his ways and live."

- W.G. Higginson
The Love of Christ (1952)

[Resource Manager]

18 July 2014

"Soon the Lord will be in the earth. Will he find us in the Way? Or will he find that our feet have strayed from the Way of Truth that leads to life? The lessons are simple, but their application requires focus, free of the distractions of the world around us, so that we can be truly found following Jesus in the Way and bearing his cross."

- Allan Baird
The Way (1996)

[Resource Manager]

19 July 2014

"Let us remember at all times that we are God’s people, not of the world; we are sojourners and strangers in it for a little time and must not imitate its modes of thought and life, but rather live as citizens of the heavenly country. Let us not love the unchristian, unsatisfying and perishing world around us, but rather let us seek to love the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ with all our hearts, remembering the solemn declaration: "the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."

- Anthony Higginson
Love Not the World (1976)

[Resource Manager]

20 July 2014

"There is a wholeness about Christ’s work of redemption. It began with his birth: "Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins." There was completion in the last breath, when he said: "It is finished": and he bowed his head, and gave up his spirit. And all was sealed and assured forever when: "He was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead."

- Harry Tennant
Watford Easter Gathering, March 26, 1967

[Resource Manager]

21 July 2014

"To him that overcometh will I give power over the nations," said the Lord Jesus. It is not a matter of overcoming human foes either with sword or tongue, but the more difficult task of overcoming self. The fact is that all the prophets have spoken will be fulfilled and "the Lord shall be king over all the earth." When he "comes in glory he will sit on the throne of his glory." Those who will be his friends then will be those who have followed his precept and example in the day of weakness. This involves cultivating all the virtues mentioned by the prophets and so emphasised, extended and completely fulfilled by our Lord."

- Islip Collyer
Our Lord and Master (1925)

[Resource Manager]

22 July 2014

"Action is easier to control than thought or speech. Just as we do not say all we think, neither do we do all we say. This may be a good thing, because we can often improve on our words. We recall the short parable of the Master of the vineyard and his two sons, both of whom were asked to work in the vineyard, the one replying, “I go, Sir”, and the other, “I go not.” The first was not as good as his word, for he did not go. The second improved upon his word, and went. We should have the reputation of being as good as our word, but privately try to be better than our speech."

- H. Smalley
Christian Living (1960)

[Resource Manager]

23 July 2014

"Belief is a must! At this present moment we are required to walk by faith, and not by sight. We are not given the external evidences which were given to Jesus and to the Apostles, as when the Spirit of God descended in bodily form like unto a dove, or as cloven tongues of fire. Yet we have a profound consciousness in our hearts that our belief in God is being rewarded day by day. We may point to our desires after godliness; our rejoicing in His revelation; the peace we have found; and our hope."

- William Woodley
He That Cometh to God (1951)

[Resource Manager]

24 July 2014

"Christ is for us the stairway that connects earth with heaven and brings God into touch with men. He ascended high above all principalities and powers from the lowliest place. We must follow, for as Peter says, “Hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps.” His life was like ours in all but our failings. His death was for us if we are among his little ones."

- C.A. Ladson
God’s Care for His Own (1927)

[Resource Manager]

25 July 2014

"Truth and righteousness, the foundation; readiness to preach the gospel with joy and eagerness. Paul himself was so deeply grateful that he had been chosen as the servant of Jesus that he could say, “If I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of; for necessity is laid upon me; for woe is me, if I preach not the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:16). How many of us feel the same way as Paul? How many of us realize that every saint is a priest (1 Peter 2:9) and that his work is to minister the gospel to the nations? Every saint: it is your job and mine; it must not be left to the few."

- John Marshall
Portrait of the Saint