Lean On Him

Photo by Laura Jostes

The hill was steep, but cheered along the way

By converse  sweet, I mounted on the thought

That so it might be till the height was reached;

But suddenly a narrow winding path

Appeared, and then the Master  said, “My child,

Here thou wilt safest walk with Me alone.”

* * * * *

I trembled, yet my heart’s deep trust replied,

“So be it, Lord.”  He took,

my feeble hand

In His, accepting thus my will to yield Him

All, and to find all in Him.

One long, dark moment

and no friend I saw, save Jesus only.

* * * * *

But oh! so tenderly He led me on

And up, and spoke to me such words of cheer,

Such secret whisperings of His wondrous love,

That soon I told Him all my grief and fear,

And leaned on His strong arm confidingly.

And then I found my footsteps quickened,

And light ineffable, the rugged way

Illumined, such light as only can be seen

In close companionship with God.

* * * * *

A little while, and we shall meet again

The loved and lost; but in the rapturous joy

Of greetings, such as here we cannot know,

And happy song, and heavenly embraces,

And tender recollections rushing back

Of pilgrim life, methinks one memory

More dear and sacred than the rest, shall rise

And we who gather in the golden streets,

Shall oft be stirred to speak with grateful love

Of that dark day when Jesus bade us climb

Some narrow steep, leaning on Him alone.

From Streams In the Desert

~ Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;  in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.”  Proverbs 3:5-6

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My Eye Is On…..

Image by Lauren Boebinger

This devotion is from Streams In The Desert by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

“I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.”  Acts 27:25

I went to America some years ago with the captain of a steamer, who was a very devoted Christian.  When off the coast of Newfoundland he said to me, “The last time I crossed here, five weeks ago, something happened to me that revolutionized the whole of my Christian life.  We had George Mueller of Bristol on board.  I had been on the bridge twenty-four hours and never left it.  George Mueller came to me and said, “Captain, I have come to tell you that I must be in Quebec Saturday afternoon.”

“It is impossible,” I said.

“Very well, if your ship cannot take me, God will find some other way.  I have never broken an engagement for fifty-seven years.  Let us go down into the chartroom and pray.”

I looked at that man of God, and thought to myself, what lunatic asylum can that man have come from?  I never heard of such a thing as this.  “Mr. Mueller,” I said, “do you know how dense this fog is?”

“No,” he replied, “my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God, who controls every circumstance of my life.”

He knelt down and prayed one of the most simple prayers, an when he had finished I was going to pray: but he put his hand on my shoulder, and told me not to pray. “First, you do not believe He will answer, and second I BELIEVE HE HAS, and there is no need whatever for you to pray about it.”

I looked at him, and he said, “Captain, I have known my Lord for fifty-seven years, and there has never been a single day that I have failed to get an audience with the King.  Get up, Captain and open the door, and you will find the fog gone.”  I got up, and the fog was indeed gone.  On Saturday afternoon  George Mueller was in Quebec for his engagement.

If our love were but more simple,

We should take Him at His word;

And our lives would be all sunshine,

In the sweetness of our Lord.

Lord God, thank you for the faith of George Mueller who trusted you with all his heart and for the encouragement his testimony gives to Your faithfulness above all else.  Whatever is on our hearts and mind this day, Lord, may we come to you in humble faith trusting You to hear and answer our prayers for Jesus’ sake.  May your name be glorified!  In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!

Walking On Water

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Devotion taken from Streams In The Desert compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

“When Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.  But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, “Lord, save me.”  Matthew 14:29,30

* * * * *

Peter had a little faith in the midst of his doubts, says Bunyan; and so with crying and coming he was brought to Christ.

But here you see that sight was a hindrance;  the waves were none of his business when once he had set out; all Peter had any concern with was the pathway of light that came gleaming across the darkness from where Christ stood.  If it was tenfold Egypt beyond that, Peter had no call to look and see.

When the Lord shall call to you over the waters, “Come,” step gladly forth.  Look not for a moment away from Him.

Not by measuring the waves can you prevail; not by gauging the wind will you grow strong; to scan the danger may be to fall before it; to pause at the difficulties is to have them break above your head.  Lift up your eyes unto the hills, and go forward–there is no other way.

Dost thou fear to launch away?

Faith lets go to swim!

Never will He let thee go;

‘Tis by trusting thou shalt know

Fellowship with Him.

Lord God, I hear your call to me to come and walk on the water; to follow You where I have not yet been; to trust in Your power to sustain, protect, and provide.  Gracious Lord, grant that I gladly hear your call and accept your invitation to work alongside You this day.  Help me to keep my eyes steadily focused on You and to disregard the “what ifs” that come my way.  Thank you, Lord, for your steadfast example of love and obedience–even as you walked to Calvary’s Cross, for it was a walk that led to my deliverance.  Praise you Lord Jesus!  In Your name I pray, Amen.

May 27 Unending Needs Met In Christ’s Unendless Riches

Photo by Laura Jostes

“Bring them hither to me.”

Matthew 14:18

Are you encompassed with needs at this very moment, and almost overwhelmed with difficulties, trials, and emergencies?  These are all divinely provided vessels for the Holy Spirit to fill, and if you but rightly understood their meaning, they would become opportunities for receiving new blessings and deliverances which you can get in no other way.

Bring these vessels to God.  Hold them steadily before Him in faith and prayer.  Keep still, and stop your own restless working until He begins to work, and He will surely do so;  and the very trials that threatened to overcome you with discouragement and disaster will become God’s opportunity for the revelation of His Grace and glory in your life, as you have known Him before.  “Bring them [all needs] to me.”  ~ A.B. Simpson

“My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 4:19

What a source–“God!”  What a supply–“His riches in glory!”  What a channel–“Christ Jesus!”  It is your sweet privilege to place all your needs over against His riches, and lose sight of the former in the presence of the latter.  His exhaustless treasury is thrown open to you, in all the love of His heart; go and draw upon it, in the artless simplicity of faith, and you will never have occasion to look to a creature-stream, or lean on a creature-prop. ~C.H.M.

Devotion taken from Streams In The Desert compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

Lord God, today I pray for a dear friend whose life seems to be filled with undending needs, trials, and crises of health, of home and car woes, of the unknown.  Please shower upon her your peace that passes all understanding and bring her to a place of complete rest and trust in your promises.  Lord, you know all of her needs in mind, body and spirit and I give you thanks and praise that you will meet her needs in Christ Jesus.  Lord, I pray that you will give her eyes of faith to see you working in her life.   Strengthen her faith and keep her from falling.  Wrap your everlasting arms of love around her this day.  For Jesus’ sake, I pray, Amen.

May 13 How Shall We Pray?

Photo by Laura Jostes

Devotion taken from Streams In The Desert compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

“We know not what we should pray for as we ought.”  Romans 8:26

* * * * *

I prayed for strength, and then I lost awhile

All sense of nearness, human and divine;

The love I leaned on failed and pierced my heart,

The hands I clung to loosed themselves from mine;

But while I swayed, weak, trembling, and alone,

The everlasting arms upheld my own.

* * * * *

I prayed for light; the sun went down in clouds

The moon was darkened by a misty doubt,

The stars of heaven were dimmed by earthly fears,

And all my little candle flames burned out;

But while I sat in shadow, wrapped in night,

The face of Christ made all the darkness light.

* * * * *

I prayed for peace, and dreamed of restful ease,

A slumber drugged from pain, a hushed repose;

Above my head the skies were black with storm,

And fiercer grew the onslaught of my foes;

But while the battle raged, and wild winds blew,

I heard His voice and perfect peace I knew.

* * * * *

I thank Thee, Lord, Thou wert too wise to heed

My feeble prayers, and answers as I sought,

Since these rich gifts Thy bounty has bestowed

Have brought me more than all I asked or thought;

Giver of good, so answer each request

With Thine own giving, better than my best.

~Annie Johnson Flint

Lord God, you have taught us to pray:  Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name.  Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.  For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever, Amen.

May 8 Sweet Is The Road

Photo by Laura Jostes

Devotion taken from Streams In The Desert compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

“Walking in the midst of the fire.”

Daniel 3:25

The fire did not arrest their motion; they walked in the midst of it.  It was one of the streets through which they moved to their destiny.  The comfort of Christ’s revelation is not that it teaches emancipation from sorrow, but emancipation through sorrow.

O my God, teach me, when the shadows have gathered, that I am only in a tunnel.  It is enough for me to know that it will be all right some day.

They tell me that I shall stand upon the peaks of Olivet, the heights of resurrection glory.  But I want more, O my Father; I want Calvary to lead up to it.  I want to know the shadows of this world are the shades to an avenue–the avenue to the house of my Father.  Tell me I am only forced to climb them because Thy house is on the hill!  I shall receive no hurt from sorrow if I shall walk  in the midst of the fire.  ~George Matheson

“The road is too rough,” I said;

“It is uphill all the way;

No flowers, but thorns instead;

And the skies over head are grey.”

But One took my hand at the entrance dim,

And sweet is the road that I walk with Him.

* * * *

“The cross is too great,” I cried–

“More than the back can bear,

So rough and heavy and wide,

And nobody by to care.”

And One stooped softly and touched my hand:

“I know. I care.  And I understand.”

* * * * *

Then why do we fret and sigh;

Cross-bearers all we go;

But the road ends by-and-by

In the dearest place we know,

And every step in the journey we

May take in the Lord’s own company.

Lord, hand in hand we walk with you through sunny days and dark.  You have promised to never leaves us nor forsake us.  Your compassion comforts us and gives us strength to carry on.  Thank Lord God!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

May 7 Prayer Life

Photo by Laura Jostes

Devotion taken from Streams In The Desert compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

“He spake a parable unto them…that men ought to pray,

and not to faint.”  Luke 18:1

No temptation in the life of intercession is more common than this of failure to persevere.  We begin to pray for a certain thing; we put up our petitions for a day, a week, a month; and then, receiving as yet no definite answer, straightway we faint, and cease altogether from prayer concerning it.

This is a deadly fault.  It is simply the snare of many beginnings with no completions.  It is ruinous in all spheres of life.

The man who forms the habit of beginning without finishing has simply formed the habit of failure.  The man who begins to pray about a thing and does not pray it through to a successful issue of answer has formed the same habit in prayer.

To faint is to fail; then defeat begets disheartenment, and unfaith in the reality of prayer,which is fatal to all success.

But someone says, “How long shall we pray?  Do we not come to a place where we may cease from our petitions and rest the matter in God’s hands?”

There is but one answer.  Pray until the thing you pray for as actually been granted, or you have the assurance in your heart that it will be.

Only at one of these two places dare we stay our importunity, for prayer is not only a calling upon God, but also a conflict with Satan.  And inasmuch as God is using our intercession as a mighty factor of victory in that conflict, He alone, and not we, must decide when we dare cease from our petitioning.  So we dare not stay our prayer until the answer itself has come, or until we receive the assurance that it will come.

In the first case, we stop because we see.  In the other, we stop because we believe, and the faith of our hearts is just as sure as the sight of our eyes;  for it is faith from, yes, the faith of God, within us.

More and more, as we live the prayer life, shall we come to experience and recognize this God-given assurance and know when to rest quietly in it, or when to continue our petitioning until we receive it. ~ FROM THE PRACTICE OF PRAYER

Tarry at the promise till God meets you there.

He always returns by way of His promises.

~ Selected

* * * * *

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,

by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,

present your requests to God.

And the peace of God which transcends

all understanding, will guard your hearts

and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:6-7

Lord God, on this Day of Prayer we give you thanks for the gift of prayer;  for being able to call out to you in Heaven and know that we are heard.  We thank for you for Jesus whose death paid the penalty for our sin and whose blood now clothes us with his righteousness allowing us to come presentable in your sight.  Lord, hear the many prayers coming to you this day as believers across this nation lift hearts and hands to you on its behalf.  Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

May 6 Under The Wrappings

Tapestry by Martha Christian

Devotion taken from Streams In The Desert compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman   (This has always been a favorite of mine–especially the verse that is included.)

“The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.”

Psalm 25:14

There are secrets of providence which God’s dear children may learn.  His dealings with them often seem, to the outward eye, dark and terrible.  Faith looks deeper and says, “This is God’s secret.  You look only on the outside; I can look deeper and see the hidden meaning.”

Sometimes diamonds are done up in rough packages, so that their value cannot be seen.  When the tabernacle was built in the wilderness there was nothing rich in its outside appearance.  The costly things were all within, and its outward covering of rough badger skin gave no hint of the valuable things which it contained.

God may send you, dear friends, some costly packages.  Do not worry if they are done up in rough wrappings.  You may be sure there are treasures of love, and kindness, and wisdom hidden within.  If we take what He sends, and trust Him for the goodness in it, even in the dark, we shall learn the meaning of the secrets of providence. ~ A.B. Simpson

Not until each loom is silent,

And the shuttles cease to fly,

Will God unroll the pattern

And explain the reason why

The dark threads are as needful

In the Weaver’s skillful hand,

As the threads of gold and silver

For the pattern which He planned.

He that is mastered by Christ is the master of every circumstance.  Does the circumstances press hard against you?  Do not push it away.  It is the Potter’s hand.  Your mastery will come, not by arresting its progress, but by enduring its discipline, for it is not only shaping you into a vessel of beauty and honor, but it is making your resources available.

Lord God, we trust You today to mold and shape us into a vessel of beauty and honor.  May we bear witness to the truth that is in us–that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world–that His love and forgiveness that has so changed our lives is meant for all people.  Help us to be faithful to You no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in and to give You glory and praise.  In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

May 5 Don’t Let The Song Go Out of Your Life

Found on mrenhrtsdelite.blogspot.com

Devotion taken from Streams In The Desert compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

“When they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushments…and they were smitten.” (Chronicles 20:22)

Oh, that we could reason less about our troubles, and sing and praise more!  There are thousands of things that we wear as shackles which we might use as instruments with music in them, if we only knew how.

Those men that ponder, and meditate, and weigh the affairs of life, and study the mysterious developments of God’s providence, and wonder why they should be burdened and thwarted and hampered–how different and how much more joyful would be their lives, if, instead of forever indulging in self-revolving and inward thinking, they would take their experiences, day by day, and lift them up, and praise God for them.

We can sing our cares away easier than we can reason them away.  Sing in the morning.  The birds are the earliest to sing, and birds are more without care than anything else I can think of.

Sing in the evening.  Singing is the last thing that robins do.  When they have done their daily work; when they have flown their last flight, and picked up their last morsel of food, then on a topmost twig, they sing one song of praise.

Oh, that we might sing morning and evening, and let song touch all the way through.

Don’t let the son go out of your life

Though it chance sometimes to flow

In a minor strain; it will blend again

With the major tone you know.

* * * * *

What though shadows rise to obscure life’s skies,

And hide for a time the sun,

The sooner they’ll lift and reveal the rift,

If you let the melody run.

* * * * *

Don’t let the song go out of your life;

Though the voice may have lost its trill,

Though the tremulous notes may die in your throat,

Let it sing in your spirit still.

* * * * *

Don’t let the song go out of your life;

Let it ring in the soul while here;

And when you go hence, ’twill follow you thence,

And live on in another sphere.

* * * * *

“Sing to Him, sing praise to Him;

tell of all His wonderful acts.

Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek

the Lord rejoice!

Look to the Lord and his strength;

seek His face always.”

Psalm 105:2-3

Lord God, You are the song that fills my heart with joy and peace and love.  May it flow through me this day yielding in kind words and in loving deeds towards those around me.  In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

May 1 Just Resting

Photo by Laura Jostes

Devotion taken from Streams In The Desert compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

“God that cannot lie.”  Titus 1:2

Faith is not working up by willpower a sort of certainty that something is coming to pass, but it is seeing as an actual fact that God has said that this thing shall come to pass, and that it is true, and then rejoicing to know that it is true, and just resting because God has said it.

Faith turns the promise into a prophecy.  While it is merely a promise it is contingent upon our cooperation.  But when faith claims it, it becomes a prophecy, and we go forth feeling that it is something that must be done because God cannot lie. ~ From Days of Heaven Upon Earth.

* * * * * 

I hear men praying everywhere for more faith, but when I listen to them carefully, and get at the real heart of their prayer, very often it is not more faith at all that they are wanting, but a change from faith to sight.

Faith says not, “”I see that it is good for me, so God must have sent it, but, “God sent it, and so it must be good for me.”

Faith, walking in the dark with God, only prays Him to clasp its hand more closely.  ~Phillips Brooks

* * * * *

The Shepherd does not ask of thee

Faith in thy faith, but only faith in Him;

And this He meant in saying, “Come to me.”

In light or darkness seek to do His will,

And leave the work of faith to Jesus still.

* * * * *

“Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida.  Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote–Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

“Nazareth!  Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip.

When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching he said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.”

“How do you know me?”  Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God;  you are the King of Israel.”

Jesus answered, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree.  You shall see greater things than that.”

John 1:44-50

Lord God, help us to walk this day by faith.  May we see Your Word as a light unto our path illuminating each step of the way, trusting in your promises.  There is nothing that can separate us from your great love.  We give you thanks and praise!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.