July 21

He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30)

Doctor Bonar once remarked that he could tell when a Christian was growing. In proportion to his growth in grace he would elevate his Master, talk less of what he was doing, and become smaller and smaller in his own esteem, until, like the morning star, he faded away before the rising sun. Jonathan was willing to decrease that David might increase; and John the Baptist showed the same spirit of humility.

July 20

And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly

(Luke 22:61-62)

The Master might have turned and said to Peter, “Is it true, Peter, that you have forgotten Me so soon? Do you not remember when your wife’s mother lay sick of a fever that I rebuked the disease and it left her? Do you not call to mind your astonishment at the draught of fishes so that you exclaimed, ‘Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord’?

“Do you remember when in answer to your cry, ‘Lord, save me, or I perish,’ I stretched out My hand and kept you from drowning in the water? Have you forgotten when, on the Mount of Transfiguration, with James and John, you said to me, ‘Lord, it is good to be here: let us make three tabernacles.’

“Have you forgotten being with Me at the supper-table, and in Gethsemane? Is it true that you have forgotten Me so soon?” The Lord might have upbraided him with questions such as these; but He did nothing of the kind. He cast one look on Peter, and there was so much love in it that it broke that bold disciple’s heart, and he went out and wept bitterly.

July 19

I will set Him on high. (Psalm 91:14)

God is able to do it. Up above the angels, up above the archangels, up above the cherubims and seraphims, on the throne with His own Son.

We are called to be sons and daughters of the eternal God. Do you know, the Prince of Wales cannot sit on the throne with Queen Victoria? But it is not so yonder. Christ has gone up and taken His seat at the right hand of the Father, and every son and daughter of God is to be lifted up to the throne. Think of the promise. Isn’t it rich, isn’t it sweet? “I will set Him on high.”

July 18

God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent : hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good? (Numbers 23:19)

Suppose a man, in directing me to the post office, gives me ten landmarks, and that in my progress there I find nine of them to be as he told me. I should have good reason to believe that I was coming to the post office.

And if, by believing, I get a new life, and a hope, a peace, a joy, and a rest to my soul that I never had before; if I get self-control, and find that I have a power to resist evil and to do good, I have pretty good proof that I am on the right road to the “city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

And if things have taken place, and are now taking place, as recorded in God’s Word, I have good reason to conclude that what yet remains will be fulfilled. And yet people talk of doubting! Faith is to take God at His word, unconditionally.

July 17

Pray without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

It was in November or December when those men of Judah arrived at Sheeshan (Nehemiah 1:1-2), and Nehemiah prayed on until March or April before he spoke to the king. If a blessing doesn’t come to-night, pray harder to-morrow, and if it doesn’t come to-morrow, pray harder, and even then, if it doesn’t come, keep right on, and you will not be disappointed.

God in heaven will hear your prayers, and will answer them. He has never failed, if a man has been honest in his petitions and honest in his confessions. Let your faith beget patience. God is never in a hurry, said St. Augustine, because He has all eternity to work.

July 16

There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. (1 John 5:7)

By the Father is meant the first Person, Christ, the Word is the second, and the Holy Spirit, perfectly fulfilling His own office and work in union with the Father and the Son, is the third. I find clearly presented in my Bible, that the One God who demands my love, service and worship, has there revealed Himself, and that each of those three names of Father, Son and Holy Ghost has personality attached to them.

Therefore we find some things ascribed to God as Father, some to God as Saviour, and some to God as Comforter and Teacher. It has been remarked that the Father plans, the Son executes, and the Holy Spirit applies. But I also believe they plan and work together.

July 15

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. (1 Peter 3:18)

Here we see that Christ was raised up from the grave by the Spirit, and the power exercised to raise Christ’s dead body must raise our dead souls and quicken them. No other power on earth can quicken a dead soul but the same power that raised the body of Jesus Christ out of Joseph’s sepulcher.

And if we want that power to quicken our friends who are dead in sin, we must look to God, and not be looking to man to do it. If we look alone to ministers, if we look alone to Christ’s disciples to do this work, we shall be disappointed; but if we look to the Spirit of God and expect it to come from Him and Him alone, then we shall honor the Spirit, and the Spirit will do His work.