Sound Words for Pilgrims

The LORD will give strength unto His people; the LORD will bless His people with peace. Psalm 29:11

Power and peace in the same breath. No doubt the psalmist had experienced the awesome strength of the Lord, perhaps in a fierce Palestinian storm, and yet he makes reference to the Lord’s peace in association with that strength. Today’s improvements in technology have revealed more of the infinite depths of space and impress upon  us even more the mind-boggling power of the Lord. However, for His own, the assurance of peace from such an awesome God is truly wonderful. 
--Garry Seale

Kept by His power, whatever dangers lower,
The strength of God’s almighty arm,
Doth shield my soul from every harm, kept by His power. --Wm. Blane

Jesus entered…He had looked round…He went out. Mark 11:11

Jesus “entered into” Jerusalem and into the temple. He “looked around upon all things” and probably saw nothing but barrenness and hypocrisy in the people and their formal worship. Finding nothing for God He “went out” and repaired to Bethany. There He would, as ever, find friends, fellowship and a genuine love for God. He still sees barrenness in the world today. It, and its empty religion, has no attraction for Him. But He still loves to be where His own are and there He gathers with them. Let us today welcome Him in from a cold and wicked world, where He is despised and rejected of men, to the warmth of our hearts. 
--Roy Hill

O Saviour, make these hearts of ours Thy Bethany, dear Bethany!
And grant to us the balmy showers of Bethany, dear Bethany!
--F. Crosby

They...are at their wits’ end . Ps. 107:27

And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. Jer. 45:5

We live in a day when it seems as never before many, even Christians, seek great things for themselves in one way or another. Baruch, a friend and sort of secretary to Jeremiah, sought great things for himself, but was told not to seek them. As for true greatness, J. N. Darby said, “Learn to grapple with souls. Aim at the conscience. Exalt Christ. Use a sharp knife with yourself. Say little, serve all, pass on. This is true greatness, to serve unnoticed and work unseen. Oh, the joy of having nothing and being nothing, seeing nothing but a living Christ in glory, and being careful for nothing but His interests down here.”  
--W. Ross Rainey

May the love of Jesus fill me, as the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self abasing, this is victory.
--Kate B. Wilkinson

Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. John 12:24

In answer to Philip, Andrew and certain Greeks who came for an interview, Jesus Himself spoke the above words. He knew how productive His death would be. An experiment in England was made with one kernel planted in good ground. Within two years it brought forth a harvest of 32,500 grains of wheat. Because the Saviour of the world gave His life at Calvary, there has been a bountiful harvest of believers from the uttermost parts of the earth. The harvest continues today. Are we reapers? 
--E. MacLelland

There’s surely somewhere a lowly place, in earth’s harvest field so wide,
Where I may labour through life’s short day, for Jesus the crucified.

Postings on web site this fall will be less frequent.  Please use http://www.choicegleanings.com/home.php for Choice Gleanings or else use http://www.backtothebible.org/devotions/devotion.php/streams for Streams in the Desert daily entries.

And He marvelled because of their unbelief. And He went round about the villages, teaching. Mark 6:6
Jesus…was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd. Mark 6:34

The emotional reaction of Christ to the various situations in which He was found is often noted in Mark’s gospel. Here, unbelief causes Him to “marvel,” while a little later, deep spiritual and physical needs cause Him to be “moved with compassion.” The Perfect Servant is never insensitive to human conditions! What is our response to today’s appalling conditions, both material and spiritual?
--G. Hall

Weep o’er the erring ones, lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.
--Fanny J. Crosby

Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable...that the man of God may be complete, unto all good works.
2 Timothy 3:16-17

Let us not prioritize one facet of Scripture above another; or fall into the error of thinking that some scriptural precepts are to be followed more faithfully than others. Certainly, we should rightly divide the Word of Truth. But let us seek to follow the entire body of divine Truth, with equal and full dedication; for all of it is profitable. And, unless we embrace it all, we shall not be well furnished for service to the Lord. 
--Doug Kazen

May the Word of God dwell richly in my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see, I triumph only through His power.
-Kate B. Wilkinson

The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour. Esther 8:16

Who would have believed such a reversal of fortune in the time of the Jewish remnant in Babylon. One moment under wicked Haman they were doomed to suffer and die. Through the intervention of Mordecai and Esther, the situation was totally reversed, virtually overnight. This is exactly what God can do. Never forget that He is almighty, and able to do all things, including turning our sad and difficult circumstances into times of light and joy. --Brian Russell

When langour and disease invade this trembling house of clay,
Tis sweet to look beyond my pains and long to fly away.
Sweet, in the confidence of faith to trust His firm decree,
Sweet to lie passive in His hand, and know no will but His.
--A. Toplady

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.    2 Corinthians 3:18

This month we change seasons. Time, temperature and colours will all change. It is a wondrous time, full of beauty and fruitfulness. There’s another change coming. The transformation has already begun! Little by little, from glory to glory, the Spirit is making us more and more like the Lord Jesus. When Jesus appears He’ll finish the work. How blessed we are to be a part of it!   
--Rex Trogdon

And is it so, I shall be like Thy Son?
Is this the grace which He for me has won?
Father of glory, thought beyond all thought!
In glory, to His own blest likeness brought
--J. N. Darby

Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? John 6:5
So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea. John 6:19
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent. John 6:29

It was nothing for Jesus to feed five thousand, or to walk on water, and do many other physical miracles. It was work, however, to get people to trust Him, for we are stiff-necked and slow of heart to believe. God is still working to draw lost souls to Himself, and we can be workers together with Him. Will you join Him in this glorious work today? --Tom Steere

Soldiers of the cross, arise!
Lo, your Leader from the skies
Waves before you glory’s prize,
the prize of victory.