MARCH 3.

"Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous; nevertheless afterward" (Heb. xii. 11).

G.o.d seems to love to work by paradoxes and contraries. In the transformations of grace, the bitter is the base of the sweet, night is the mother of day, and death is the gate of life.

Many people are wanting power. Now, how is power produced? The other day we pa.s.sed the great works where the trolley engines are supplied with electricity. We heard the hum and roar of countless wheels, and we asked our friend, "How do they make the power?" "Why," he said, "just by the revolution of those wheels and the friction they produce. The rubbing creates the electric current."

It is very simple, and a trifling experiment will prove it to any one.

And so when G.o.d wants to bring more power into your life, He brings more pressure. He is generating spiritual force by hard rubbing. Some of us don't like it. Some of us don't understand, and we try to run away from the pressure, instead of getting the power and using it to rise above the painful cause.

MARCH 4.

"They were all filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts ii. 4).

Blessed secret of spiritual purity, victory and joy, of physical life and healing, and all power for service. Filled with the Spirit there is no room for self or sin, for fret or care. Filled with the Spirit we repel the elements of disease that are in the air as the red-hot iron repels the water that touches it. Filled with the Spirit we are always ready for service, and Satan turns away when he finds the Holy Ghost enrobing us in His garments of holy flame. Not half-filled, but filled with the Spirit is the place of victory and power.

This is not only a privilege; it is a command, and He who gave it will enable us to fulfill it if we bring it to Him with an empty, honest, trusting heart, and claim our privilege in the name of Jesus and for the glory of G.o.d.

Holy Ghost, I bid Thee welcome; Come and be my Holy Guest; Heavenly Dove within my bosom, Make Thy home and build Thy nest; Lead me on to all Thy fulness, Bring me to Thy Promised Rest, Holy Ghost, I bid Thee welcome, Come and be my Holy Guest.

MARCH 5.

"I have overcome the world" (John xvi. 33).

Christ has overcome for us every one of our four terrible foes-Sin, Sickness, Sorrow, Satan. He has borne our Sin, and we may lay all, even down to our sinfulness itself, on Him. "I have overcome for thee." He has borne our sickness, and we may detach ourselves from our old infirmities and rise into His glorious life and strength. He has borne our sorrows, and we must not even carry a care, but rejoice evermore, and even glory in tribulations also. And He has conquered Satan for us, too, and left him nailed to the cross, spoiled and dishonored and but a shadow of himself.

And now we have but to claim His full atonement and a.s.sert our victory, and so "overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony."

Beloved, are we overcoming sin? Are we overcoming sickness? Are we overcoming sorrow? Are we overcoming Satan?

Fear not, though the strife be long; Faint not, though the foe be strong; Trust thy glorious Captain's power; Watch with Him one little hour, Hear Him calling, "Follow me.

"I have overcome for thee."

MARCH 6.

"Lean not unto thine own understanding" (Prov. iii. 5).

Faith is hindered by reliance upon human wisdom, whether our own or the wisdom of others. The devil's first bait to Eve was an offer of wisdom, and for this she sold her faith. "Ye shall be as G.o.ds," he said, "knowing good and evil," and from the hour she began to know she ceased to trust.

It was the spies that lost the Land of Promise to Israel of old. It was their foolish proposition to search out the land, and find out by investigation whether G.o.d had told the truth or not, that led to the awful outbreak of unbelief that shut the doors of Canaan to a whole generation.

It is very significant that the names of these spies are nearly all suggestive of human wisdom, greatness and fame.

So in the days of Christ, it was the bondage of the Jews to the traditions of their fathers and the opinions of men, that kept them back from receiving Him. "How can ye believe," He asked, "which receive honor from men, and seek not that which cometh from G.o.d only?"

Let us trust Him with all our heart and lean not to our own understanding.

MARCH 7.

"It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts xx. 35).

How shall we know the difference between the earthly and the heavenly love? The one terminates on ourselves and is partly ourself seeking its own gratification. The other reaches out to G.o.d and others, and finds its joy in glorifying Him and blessing them. Love is unselfishness, and the love that is not unselfish is not divine. How much do we pray for others, and how much for ourselves? What is the center of our being? Ourselves, or our Lord and His people and work? The Lord help us to know more fully the meaning of that great truth, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

"He that saveth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for My sake and the Gospel, shall keep it unto life eternal."

Have you found some precious treasure, Pa.s.s it on.

Have You found some holy pleasure, Pa.s.s it on.

Giving out is twice possessing, Love will double every blessing, On to higher service pressing, Pa.s.s it on.

MARCH 8.

"Pray Ye therefore" (Luke x. 2).

Prayer is the mighty engine that is to move the missionary work. "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that He will send forth laborers into His harvest."

We are asking G.o.d to touch the hearts of men every day by the Holy Ghost, so that they shall be compelled to go abroad and preach the Gospel. We are asking Him to wake them up at night with the solemn conviction that the heathen are perishing, and that their blood will be upon their souls, and G.o.d is answering the prayer by sending persons to us every day who "feel that the King's business requireth haste."

Beloved, pray, pray, pray; and as the incense rises to the heavens, "there will be silence in heaven" by the s.p.a.ce of more than half an hour, and the coals of fire will be emptied out upon the earth, and the coming of the Lord will begin to draw nearer. Pray till the Lord of the harvest shall thrust forth laborers into His harvest.

Send the coals of heavenly fire, From the altar of the skies; Fill our hearts with strong desire, Till our pray'rs like incense rise.