Catharine Shaw

“ Ask that Jesus may be close to us in every trial, and conquer Satan for us, when he tries to make us fall.
"For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, for ever. Amen." God is our King, we are His subjects; He has all power, so that we can rely on His help; He has all glory, and will share it with us by and by, if we will yield ourselves to Him and obey Him. ”

“ So Jesus said, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow."
Who makes them grow? How do they get those delicate roots, those graceful green leaves, those sweet-smelling lovely flowers?
Every spring we see the daisies and the buttercups, the wild geraniums, the primroses and bluebells, and hundreds of other flowers, which come up in the fields and hedges, without our knowing that they were there! ”

“ They may be too much pleasure, too much enjoyment, too many toys, love of money, love of our own way—heaps of things in our hearts may choke God's good seed, and it may not grow up and bear fruit. Oh, how sad, if this should be so with our hearts! Let us ask God not to let them be overgrown with "thorns."
But at last the seed falls on to good ground. The Word of God comes to a heart which is ready to receive it. A heart which is longing for the Lord Jesus to live in it. Longing that His seed may grow and bear fruit, and that people may know that we love Jesus and want to please God. ”

“ Seven hundred years before our Lord Jesus was born, in Bethlehem, the Prophet Isaiah foretold that a man would live in the wilderness, and would cry aloud, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord! Make straight in the desert a highway for our God! . . . The grass withereth and the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand for ever! . . . O Jerusalem that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!" That was the prophecy, and we read the fulfilment in the Gospels of Matthew and John. ”

“ But still the sower goes on sowing. And the next seeds fall among the bushes that grow by the path; and the little seeds get choked with the big, thorny bushes, and never grow up to be good plants, or to be of any use to anyone!
But at last the sower comes to a part of the field where the ground is good and soft.
He throws the handfuls now with joy! He knows there will be a harvest by and by! The seed sinks into the good ground, it takes root, and when the time of harvest comes, and the reapers come to gather the beautiful corn, there are heaps of sheaves ”

“ For the sheep He bled;
Every lamb is sprinkled
With the blood He shed;
Then on each He setteth
His own secret sign;
"They that have My Spirit,
These," saith He, "are Mine."
Jesus is our Shepherd:
Guarded by His arm,
Though the wolves may raven,
None can do us harm;
When we tread death's valley,
Dark with fearful gloom,
We will fear no evil,
Victors o'er the tomb.
XIX. "In My Father's House are Many Mansions"
The very last evening that our dear Lord was on earth before His death, He and His twelve disciples were gathered together in that upper room to eat the Passover. ”

“ Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians: "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children."
It is only as we strive day by day to remember to be loving and peaceful, that we shall attain to the honour of being called a "Peacemaker."
The Eighth "Blessed."
"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." ”

“ And inside the master's house there is a storehouse of blessings! More than the needy man can ask or think.
And the master showers warmth, and love, and food, and riches upon him, so that he goes on his way with every want supplied, and with promises of an endless supply.
How to enter in.
The answer comes back to us, like sweet chimes from afar, in our Lord's own words—
"I am the Door: by Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved."
And Jesus shows us what to do and what to avoid, if we want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. ”

“ Now you must picture to yourselves an Eastern shepherd sitting among his sheep on the mountains.
He loves them! He knows every one of them; and in return they know him, and love him. They will not follow a stranger, nor come to him if he calls them.
I heard Mr. Moody say years ago that, when he was visiting at a farm in America, he asked his friend the farmer if he might go out to see his sheep.
He remembered those words in the tenth of St. John's Gospel: "And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers." ”

“ Some of the servants of the Lord of the Harvest have very hard and toilsome work to do. He has given them that to do, and He will surely give them their pay!
What is that pay? Not a Roman penny; not any earthly coins or rewards; but they are promised that if they are wise, and turn many to righteousness, they shall shine as the stars for ever and ever! ”

“ For we must have the Holy Spirit in our hearts if we want to go in with Jesus to the Marriage supper, in Heaven.
When Jesus was baptized in Jordan, John saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove, and resting upon Him.
Perhaps you ask, "Could those foolish virgins have had the oil?" Ah! Indeed they might! Evidently they could have bought the oil.
The Holy Spirit is given to us "without money and without price," for our Lord says, "How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him." ”

“ You find it hard to be loving; you want so much to do something you have been forbidden to do; you are sure no one will see you if you do wrong, and you say to yourself, "After all, it is such a little thing," or "It is only this once!"
Ah! Those are the tares sown in your heart!
"How did they get there?" the servants asked the Master.
And He answered, "An enemy has done this."
Satan is our enemy. It is true we cannot see him, but he is near us all the same.
Like the enemy in the Parable, he creeps out when men are asleep—when you are off your guard—when you have forgotten to watch and to pray ”

“ At length the rain stopped and the waters began to go down, and at last the Lord told Noah to come out of the Ark. So he and his family and all the living creatures came out; and Noah built an Altar, and the Lord accepted his sacrifice.
Then God gave a beautiful Promise and a beautiful Prophecy, and of both we see the constant fulfilment now.
The Promise was, that He would never send a Flood again: and the Prophecy was—"While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." ”

“ When the Lord had done talking to the multitude, the disciples gathered round Him and asked Him why He had told them that story of the seeds—called a Parable.
Then Jesus explained to them that the seed that He had been talking about was the Word of God.
Those who try to tell other people about God, are like the Sower. And the ground is like our hearts.
Then Satan our great Enemy, like those birds in the Parable, watches eagerly where the seed falls, and tries to pick it up and carry it away! That is the "seed by the wayside." ”

“ This is a story, as I said, of "The Kingdom of Heaven." And it is important to all of us, because we all live in that Kingdom. Our hearts ought to be God's throne here, we ought to be growing up as His Good Seed, to be gathered into His eternal Home when the Harvest comes! ”

“ He loves his sheep, as I told you; he calls them by name; he leads them out to green pastures.
If enemies come, he is ready to give his life to protect them!
If, in his absence, a hired man has to take care of them, the hireling runs away if he hears the roar of the wild beast, or sees a sudden storm coming up!
But the shepherd thinks first of his sheep. He leads them into a place of safety to escape the storm; he defends them against the wild beast with his own hand, and his own life!
Jesus is the Good Shepherd—all these good things of which I have told you belong to Him in fullness. ”

“ Do not let our dear Lord, Who died for us, come and look into our hearts and find no fruit, but only leaves!
How He must long to have us all we should be!
Do not let us be like the cracked and useless cup! But let us go to the great Healer and Mender and Cleanser of our poor characters, and ask Him to make us what He would like to see us.
The only way to get "mended" and to bear fruit instead of only leaves, is to go to Him Who died on the Cross to save us, and to find in Him forgiveness, strength, and peace.
XXXII. The Parable of the Talents
"What is a Talent?" ”

“ You have a brother who is a Scout! Is not he always looking out for opportunities to help others? Cannot you be a "Scout" for Jesus our King? Cannot you, whether you are boy or girl, do at least one kindness a day? ”

“ So when our Lord Jesus Christ, from that rocky eminence raised above the multitude, spoke to them and said—
"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven—"
It seems to me that there is hidden in His words a Promise; and also a Way made plain, to obtain the Prize.
So the first "Blessed" is:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit" ”

“ So the Pharisee began to pray. And when the Lord Jesus told us this story about him, He said "he stood and prayed thus with himself."
But he began his prayer like this:—
"God! I thank thee that I am not like other men! I am not one who exacts more than I should from others; I am not unjust or impure; or even like this Publican. I fast twice in every week, and I give tithes of everything I have." ”

“ All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
Jesus Himself said: "I lay down My life for the sheep . . . No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This Commandment have I received of My Father."
Isaiah tells us "He was despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." ”

“ To each one, when the day is ended, the Lord will give His own reward. If the worker has been faithful in what has been given him to do, the Lord of the Harvest will say: "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord."
Little children can work for this Heavenly Lord. They can do little kindnesses for Christ's sake; they can try to be like Jesus. They can listen for God's commands like little Samuel, and obey Him when He speaks to them.
These may be like the one hour servants, but they will get their full rewards! ”

“ If the Kingdom of Heaven is hidden in our hearts, then it ought to pervade our whole lives.
I have seen an untidy woman, and an untidy home, perfectly transformed by the love of God, and her desire to please Him. ”

“ The rain reminds us of the Flood; but the sunshine reminds us of God's love: and the rainbow itself reminds us that in that great love He gave His beloved Son. He is our rainbow of Promise.
VIII. Prophecy of the Jews: A Separate People
Numb. ”

“ The Children of Israel, who are now called the Jews, travelled from Canaan into Egypt to their brother Joseph, because, of the great famine, and lived in Egypt for four hundred and twenty years.
But when Joseph came to die, he called his brothers to his side and uttered this prophecy: "I die; and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." And Joseph took an oath of his brothers, saying: "God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence." ”

“ If we are God's servants, if we have taken Jesus Christ as our own Blessed Saviour, God expects us to try to get others to trust Him too, and so to multiply the Talents which He has given into our charge. ”

“ The Lord Jesus taught the people numbers of lessons about Himself, or His Heavenly Father, or about the Kingdom of Heaven, by drawing word-pictures: and we can learn the deepest truths that concern ourselves by reading them and thinking about them. ”

“ While she was gone, the disciples returned and quickly offered food to their Lord.
But His reply astonished them. He said: "I have food to eat that you do not know of. My food is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work!"
While they had been away, wearied and hungry as He was, He had brought a sinful soul to realize her sin, and to find in Him her Saviour!
And then He said to them: "Are there not four months before the harvest? But lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. ”

“ This is a little picture of how it is Jesus, the Good Shepherd, can call Himself the Door of the Sheep.
I think He wanted His people—His sheep and His lambs—to understand that if He is the Door, that is their safety.
If they have entered by Him; if they have come to Him to be saved, and washed and made His own sheep, then they have entered by the door into the sheepfold, and are safe within it!
Jesus says, no man shall pluck them out of His hands. ”

“ Paul says "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, shall give me at that day."
Shall we not accept Him Who is Himself the Way? He is the Way, all along the path, let it be smooth or rough. He is the Truth, and will never deceive us. He is the Life, and in Jesus Christ it is reserved in Heaven for us.
V. The Last Supper
The Jewish Feast of the Passover drew near, and our dear Lord sent two of His disciples to prepare for it. ”

“ Ask Him to wash you clean and white in "the Blood of Jesus Christ, which cleanseth from all sin," and then you will be at peace, and life will be a different thing to you.
Then our Lord goes on to say, "Seek, and ye shall find."
A woman who loses a piece of silver sweeps diligently till she finds it! A merchant seeking goodly pearls sells all he possesses to obtain Pearl of Great Price!
And then comes the third thought and the third promise.
"Knock!" Do not just go to the door of God's storehouse of blessings and give a careless knock, and then turn away without even expecting an answer! ”

“ But, children, if we feel our hearts are hard, let us turn to God quickly, and ask Him to send us His Holy Spirit to help us to love Him, and to make us grow up to bear fruit; and He will, if we ask Him. ”