Frances Ridley Havergal

“ How are we to walk safely along such a path? We want a strong, kind hand to hold us up, and to hold us always; a hand that will hold ours so tightly and lovingly, that it will be as the old Scotchwoman said, "Not my grip of Christ, but Christ's grip of me!" Yes, Christ's loving hand is "able to keep you from falling;" only "let your hand be restfully in the hand of Jesus," and "then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble." But do not spoil the chime of this morning's bells by ringing only half a peal! ”

“ One way is by His covering you with the robe of Jesus Christ's righteousness, looking upon you not as you are in yourself, all sinful and unholy, but as if all the Saviour's beautiful and holy life were yours, reckoning it to you for His sake. In this way He can call us "perfect through my comeliness which I had put upon thee." The other way is by giving you the beauty of holiness, for that is His own beauty; and though we never can be quite like Him till we see Him as He is, He can begin to make us like Him even now. ”

“ It shows us that the salvation which the Lord Jesus came to bring is not only salvation at last, just escaping hell, but that it is salvation now, and salvation in everything Salvation does not only mean victory at last, but it is like a broad, shining shield, given to us in the midst of the battle, coming between us and the poisoned arrows and sharp sword-thrusts of the enemy. It is a shield not only to keep us from death, but to keep us from being hurt and wounded. ”

“ It is not beautiful at all; why should you stop to look at it? Stay till the sun has risen, and now look. It is sparkling like a diamond; and if you look at it from another side, it will be glowing like a ruby, and presently gleaming like an emerald. The poor little drop has become one of the brightest and loveliest things you ever saw. ”

“ Are you a soldier? You ought to be, for you have been chosen to be a soldier in the glorious army of Jesus Christ.
You ought to be, for you have been "received into the congregation of Christ's flock" at your baptism, and engaged "manfully to fight under His banner against sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant unto your life's end." You can never undo that, even if you are a deserter, and found in the enemy's ranks. The Captain of our salvation will not undo it, for He is ready to receive you, if you will but come and enlist now. ”

“ Our Lord Jesus Christ has given us opportunities of showing whether we love Him or not. He tells us that what we try to do for any one who is poor, or hungry, or sick, or a lonely stranger, is just the same as doing it to Him. And when the King says, "Come, ye blessed," He will remember these little things, and will say, "Ye have done it unto me." ”

“ They watched him, not as the wicked Pharisees watched the Lord Jesus that they might find something against Him; but with the watching of admiration and love, taking notice of the kind and gracious things he did and said. Do you thus take notice of what your King does? Does it please you to hear and read of what He has done and what He is doing? It must be so if He really is your King.
But the "whatsoever" is a little harder; and yet, if it is once really learnt, it makes everything easy. For if we learn to be pleased with whatsoever our King Jesus does, nothing can come wrong to us. ”

“ Every day, every moment, He careth, goes on caring, for you. Not only thinking of you and watching you, but working for you; making things come right, so that everything should be just the best that could happen to you. Not managing the great things, and leaving the little things to arrange themselves; but giving loving care to the least, the very least things that concern you. Even in some tiny little trouble which no one else seems to care about, "He careth;" or when every one else is too much taken up with other things to attend to you, "He careth for you." ”

“ Paul tells us one thing in which you may please Him: "Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord." But he prays too that the Colossians "might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing."
Shall this be your aim and your hope to-day? Will you look up to the Lord Jesus now, and ask Him first to give you the faith without which "it is impossible to please Him," and then to show you "how you ought to walk and to please God," and so to help you to "do those things that are pleasing in His sight;" ”

“ The new heart wants to be good; and is grieved when a temptation comes, and does not wish to yield to it; and would like to be always pleasing the Saviour.
The old heart is afraid of God, and does not love Him, and would much rather He were not always seeing us. And it does not care to hear about Jesus, but would rather be just let alone. The new heart loves God and trusts what He says, and likes to know that He is always watching it. And it is glad to hear about Jesus, and wants to come closer to Him.
The old heart is a little slave of Satan, taking his orders, and doing what he wishes. ”

“ When the wild snow-storms rage round the eyrie, and the mountain cold is felt, that is death to an unprotected sleeper, how warm the little eaglets are kept! Not an arrow of the keen blast reaches them, poor little featherless things, not a snowflake touches them. So warm shall you be kept "under His wings," when any cold and dark day of trouble comes, or even any sudden little blast of unkindness or loneliness. ”

“ Suppose something comes to-day which is not quite what you would have liked; heavy rain, for instance, when you wanted to go out,--recollect that your King Jesus has done it, and that will hush the little murmur, and make you quite content. Ask Him this morning to make you so loving and loyal to Him, that whatsoever He does, all day long, may please you, because it has pleased Him to do it. I think He loves us so much, that He always gives us as much happiness as He can possibly trust us with, and does what is pleasantest for His dear children whenever He sees it will not hurt them ”

“ Or are you trying to be a brave little standard-bearer of Jesus Christ, carrying His flag, so that the sweet breezes of His Spirit may lift its bright folds, and show its golden motto? That motto, I think, is "Love." For we are told that His banner over us is love. Are you displaying it, showing your love to Him by your love to others? showing the power of His love over you by your sweet, happy temper, and by trying to please Him always?
Carrying a banner means something. First, it means that you belong to or have to do with those whose banner you carry, and that you are not ashamed of them. ”

“ No one ever saw a single drop come down, and yet as soon as the sun rises, you see that it has come, and is sparkling all over the fields. It came long before you saw it, falling sweetly and silently in the twilight and in the dark. ”

“ It is so pleasant to be cared for; to have kind relations and friends who show that they love you by their care of you, and their care for you. What would you do if no one cared for you, like the poor little children in London who are turned out to "do for themselves" before they are as old as you are? ”

“ What would you do if there was no one to get anything for you to eat, or to see to your clothes, or to keep a home for you to live in? No one to take any notice if you hurt yourself ever so badly, or if you were ever so ill? You would feel then what a difference being cared for makes to your life. But all the earthly care for you comes because "He careth for you." He planned and arranged everything, without your having anything to do with it, so that you shall be cared for. And He did not arrange it once for all, and then leave things to go on as might happen. ”

“ You would know better than to say, "I will put down the parcels which I have in my hands, but nobody can see the one in my pocket, so that one won't matter!" You would "lay aside every weight."
You have a race to run to-day, a little piece of the great race that is set before you. God has set a splendid prize before you, "the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," a crown that is incorruptible.
Now what are you going to do about the weights, the things that hinder you from running this race? You know some things do seem to hinder you ”

“ One may be tempted to hurry over prayer and Bible, because there is something else that she very much wants to get done before breakfast, and she is afraid of not having time enough. Another shuts up her little purse when a call comes to give something for God's work, because she is afraid she will not have enough left for another purpose. Another is tempted to look at a key, or to glance over another's shoulder at a lesson, because without it he would not get the marks he is trying for. ”

“ Then pray this little prayer this morning with all your heart, "Teach me to do Thy will." For it is His will that is the happiest work above, and the very happiest thing to do here below.
What is His will? The Prayer-Book version of this Psalm tells you very simply and sweetly. It says, "Teach me to do the thing that pleaseth Thee." So doing God's will is just doing the things, one by one, that please Him.
Why did David ask this? He goes on to say why--"For Thou art my God." If God is really our God, we too shall wish to do the thing that pleaseth Him. ”

“ Paul offered to pay all, so that Onesimus might be received, "not now as a servant," but as a "brother beloved."
This is an exquisite picture of what the Lord Jesus Christ does. He not only intercedes for us with Him from whom we have departed, and against whom we have sinned; but, knowing to the full how much we have wronged God, and how much we owe Him, He says, "Put that on mine account."
And God has put it all on His account and the account has been paid, paid in blood. When "the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all," Jesus saw and knew all your sins ”

“ Can you think of anything pleasanter to do than what the very angels are full of delight in doing? Can you think of anything more beautiful to do than what is done in the "pleasant land," the beautiful home above? Can you fancy anything more interesting to do than what the dwellers there will never get tired of doing for thousands of millions of years? ”

“ Another is at school, and finds that he gets no good, but a little harm, when he goes much with a certain boy. Then he must lay that weight aside. Another takes a story-book up to bed, and reads it while nurse is brushing her hair, and up to the last minute, and then her head is so full of the story that she only says words when she kneels down, and can not really pray at all. ”

“ Pleasant Gifts.
"Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy."--I Tim. vi. 17.
Think a little this morning of God's great kindness to you. How very good He is to you! I know one of His dear children who looks up many, many times a day, and says, "Good Lord Jesus!" or "Kind Lord Jesus!" She does not set herself to say it, but it seems as if she could not help saying it, just because He is so good and kind. And then it seems only natural to look up again and say, "Dear Lord Jesus!" How can anybody go on all day long, and never see how good He is, and never look up and bless Him? ”

“ When you see some one doing with very great delight some beautiful and pleasant piece of work, have you not thought, "I should like to be able to do that!" and perhaps you have said, "Please, teach me how to do it." ”

“ For "the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore."
What about your Egyptians?--the angry tempers or sulky looks, the impatient words, the vain and foolish thoughts, the besetting sins that master you so often. Have you tried so often to fight against them, and failed, that it seems almost no use, and you do not see how to conquer them or to escape them? Are you very tired of fighting, and "sore afraid" of being always overcome just the same as ever? ”

“ Another is tempted not to tell the exact truth, or to conceal something which he ought to tell, because he would lose something by it. Oh, resist the devil, and do what you know is right, and trust God for all the rest! ”

“ Are you "faithful over a few things"? He has given every one, even the youngest, a few things to be faithful over, and so He has to you. Your "few things" may be very few, and very small things, but He expects you to be faithful over them.
What is being faithful over them? It means doing the very best you can with them; doing as much for Jesus as you can with your money, even if you have very little; doing as much for Him as you can with your time ”

“ When the little eaglets, that have not yet a feather to fly with, are under the great wings of the parent eagle, how safe they are! Who would dare touch them? If a bold climber put his hand into the nest then, those powerful wings would beat him in a minute from his hold, and he would fall down the rocks and be dashed to pieces. ”

“ The old heart likes to be naughty in some way or other; either it likes to be idle, or it likes to let out sharp words, or to go on being sulky or fretful instead of clearing up and saying, "I am sorry!" ”

“ Will you only lay aside something that every one can see is hindering you, so that you will get a little credit for putting it down, and keep something that your own little conscience knows is a real hindrance, though no one else knows anything at all about it? ”

“ Now be on the watch all to-day for little burdens to bear for others. See how many you can find out, and pick up, and carry away! Depend upon it, you will not only make it a brighter day for others, but for yourself too! ”

“ All the things you really need, and a great many more besides. All the things that will do you good, a great many more than you would ever have thought of. All the things that He can fill your little hands with, and trust you to carry without stumbling and falling. All things, everything that you have at all! ”