"In thinking of and dealing with others realize that whatever their sin, you would be as they are but for My protection, but for My tender forgiveness. Remember, too, that My command of "Judge not" was as explicit as that of "Thou shalt do no murder," "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Obey Me in all."
"And in that word "sins" read not only vice and degradation, but doubts, fears, tempers, despondencies, impatience, lack of love in big and little things. Jesus. "He shall save His people from their sins." The very uttering of the Name lifts the soul away from petty valley-irritations to mountain heights."
What does it matter what I feel? Sometimes I feel that the Lord is near, sometimes I feel that He is so far away from me, depending upon my passing mood, a change of circumstances, upon a mere trifle. My Lord is uninfluenced by circumstances, He is always with me, regardless of how I feel.
"Heaven, or the Kingdom of God, begins in the lives of all true believers in this world. Their hearts are always filled with peace and joy, no matter what persecutions and troubles they may have to endure; for God, who is the source of all peace and life, dwells in them. Death is no death for them, but a door by which they enter forever into their eternal home. Or we may say that though they have already been born again into their eternal kingdom, yet when they leave the body, it is for them, not the day of their death, but their day of birth into the spiritual world, and it is for them a time of superlative joy......."
"Our relatives and dear ones, and at times the saints as well often come from the unseen world to help and protect us, but the angels always do. Yet they have never been allowed to make themselves visible to us, except at a few times of very special need. By ways unrecognized by us they influence us towards holy thoughts, and incline us towards God and towards good conduct, and God's Spirit, dwelling in our hearts, completes that work for the perfecting of our spiritual life, which they have been unable to accomplish.
"A man is as great as he can be useful to others, and the usefulness of his life to others depends on his service to them. Hence, in so far as a man can serve others in love, just so far is he great."
"Once in my presence a man of evil life entered at death into the world of spirits. When the angel and saints wished to help him he at once began to curse and revile them, and say, "God is altogether unjust. He has prepared heaven for such flattering slaves as you are, and casts the rest of mankind into hell. Yet you call Him Love!" The angels replied, "God certainly is Love. He created men that they might live forever in happy fellowship with Him, but men, by their own obstinacy, and by abuse of their free will have turned their faces away from Him, and have made hell for themselves. God neither casts any one into hell, nor will He ever do so, but man himself, by being entangled in sin, creates hell for himself. God never created any hell."
"........and I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the Love of Christ, and to know this Love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
"But I taught that Divine Sympathy includes responsibility ............ I taught that pity, without a remedy for the evil, or the need, is worthless."
"Share your love, your joy, your happiness, your time, your food, gladly with all."
"Joy is the sovereign balm for all the ills of the world, the spirit-cure for every ailment. There is nothing that Joy and Love cannot do."
'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
"Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God."
"Do not let a difficulty conquer you. You must conquer it. My strength will be there awaiting you........"
"Dwelling with Me, desiring only My will and to do My work, My Spirit cannot fail to pass through the channel of your life into the lives of others."
"This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; He saved him out of all his troubles."
"Remember that life's difficulties and troubles are not intended to arrest your progress, but to increase your speed."
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter - when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"
"I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed."
"Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits - who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases."
"See the good in everybody. Love the good in them. See your unworthiness compared with their worth. Love, laugh, make the world, your little world, happy."
"Nothing is small to God. In His sight a sparrow is of greater value than a palace, one kindly word of more importance than a statesman's speech."
"Then did I know that man's heart is the very throne and citadel of God, and that when He enters there to abide, heaven begins."
"If you forget not the sins of others, and I bear them, then you add to My sorrows."
"But the prayer of faith is the prayer of joy, that sees and know the Heart of Love it rises to greet, and that is so sure of a glad response."
Many think it is humility to say they do little, and are of little value to My world. To think that is pride. What if the pipe were to say, "I do so little, I wish I could be more use." The reply would be "It is not you, but the water that passes through you, that saves and blesses. All you have to do is to see there is nothing to block the way so that the water cannot flow through."
"Power is just God in action. Therefore whenever a servant of Mine, however weak he humanly may be, allows God to work through him, then all he does is powerful."
"Many, many in the world cry to Me, but oh! How few wait to hear me speak to them and yet to the soul, My speaking to it matters so much."
"To hear, with God, is to answer."
"Do not expect a perfect church, but find in a church the means of coming very near to Me."
"Why do you fret and worry so? I wait to give you all that is lovely, but your lives are soiled with worry and fret. You would crush my treasures. I can only bless glad, thankful hearts. You must be glad and joyful."
"It is not passionate appeal that gains the Divine Ear so much as the quiet placing of the difficulty and worry in the Divine Hands."
"Look for beauty and joy in the world around. Look at a flower until its beauty becomes part of your very soul. It will be given back to the world again by you in the form of a smile or a loving word or a kind thought or a prayer."
"When I wanted to express a beautiful thought, I made a lovely flower........when I want to express to man what I am -- what My Father is -- I strive to make a very beautiful character."
"Live outside whenever possible. Sun and air are My great healing forces, and that inward joy that changes poisoned blood to a pure healthy life-giving flow."
".....use all for Me, and give all you cannot use. How poor die those who leave wealth!"
"Remember no day is lost on which some Spiritual Truth becomes clearer. No day is lost which you have given to Me to use. My use of it may not have been apparent to you. Leave that to Me. Dwell in Me, and I in you, so shall ye bear much fruit. The fruit is not the work of the branches, though proudly the branches may bear it. It is the work of the Vine, that sends its life-giving sap through those branches. I am the Vine and ye are the branches."
Recently I read in the news about a man who, out of anger, poured acid on his sleeping wife and daughter. As a result his wife died and his daughter was seriously burnt and permanently blinded. How senseless, how tragic. No wonder the Word of God tells us:
"The secret of true discipleship is service and little things. So rarely do Mine understand this. They are ready to die for Me, but not to live for Me, in all the small details of this life. Is not this the way of men, so often, towards those they love in the world? They are ready to make the big sacrifices, but not the little ones. Guard against this in service for Me. Suffer little hardships gladly, overcome little proud impulses, little selfishnesses, and little difficulties. Serve Me in the little things. Be My servants of the little ways.
To whom the Scholar said again:
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'. For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
"In your unrest behold My Calm, My Rest. In your impatience, My unfailing patience. In your lack and limitations, My Perfection. Looking at Me you will grow like Me, until men say to you, too, that you have been with Jesus."
Yes! Praise. That moment, in the most difficult place, your sorrow is turned to joy, your fret to praise, the outward circumstances change from those of disorder to order, of chaos to calm.
"Everyone who ceases to trust in his own righteousness and follows Me shall receive from Me true peace and everlasting life."
"In the bitter cold of winter the trees stand bare of leaves, and it seems as if their life, too, had departed forever, yet in the spring time they put forth new leaves and beautiful flowers, and the fruit begins to show itself. So was it with Me in My crucifixion and resurrection, and so it is with my faithful cross-bearers. Though they seem to be crushed and dead beneath their cross they still put forth beautiful flowers and glorious fruits of eternal life which abide for ever."
