Reading is what I love. But whenever the author of a book is quoting hymns or lines of hymns, you can see them before you get to them, skipping comes to my mind and I don’t read the hymns.

“‘Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismay’d!

I, I am your God, and will give you aid.'”

Spurgeon quotes those two lines in his book MORNING AND EVENING Daily Readings (MORNING, January 16).

The text he is expounding on that day is from Isaiah and we find it in Isaiah 41:14: “I myself will help you, declares the LORD.”

Skipping came to my mind when I read the two lines, but those two lines are at the end of the page and I did not read them, but only glancing at the words was enough to make me pay attention.

What do I fear today? Is there something I am afraid of? Or are there even several things I am afraid of? What about making those phone calls and finding out how things are? And don’t forget to make that appointment. The sooner the better. Is that not our story?

It is so easy to get depressed and discouraged. Are you dismayed today? God is our heavenly Father and does not want us to fear. We are his children and he is with us.

In the second line it says twice “I”. Let us look to him and believe what he says. He will give us support. We want to remember that he is our foundation (First Corinthians 3:11). Let us encourage each other on our way.

And I know also that all that is easier said than done.

I am wondering now if I have learned to pay attention to the quoted hymns in the books I read. The author knows why he is putting the lines there.

“Smile More”

Having read a number of encouragements to smile, I asked myself some time ago the question, “Has our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ever smiled?” Not finding anything in my Bible concordance, I left it like that.

“A smile is a curve that puts a lot of things straight,” for example is written on one of our fridge magnets.

I know that “Smile! It improves your face value!” has been used as a church sign. “Smile if you love Jesus! Anyone can honk,” has also been used as a church sign.

I read also “Smile! It takes  72 muscles to frown and only 14 to smile.” But I don’t know if that is true.

My last one-liner is about laughter, “Laughter is a tranquiliser with no side effects.”

“There is no record anywhere of our Lord having laughed aloud, “says D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones almost at the end of his book on ROMANS. Exposition of Chapter 8:5-17, The Sons of God. I am reading that today in the last sermon of the book.

Does that not answer my question with which I started this post?

SMILE

ROMANS

Today I finished reading the book “The Sons of God”.

All I can say is, “GET HOLD OF THE BOOK AND READ IT!”

THE CROSS

“They

Revelation 12:11,12

Intr.:

overcame him

1.  by the blood of the Lamb and

2.  by the word of their testimony;

3.  they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

end:

Therefore rejoice, …”

Who know the name of the Flower?

“Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” – Matthew 24:12,13

Hearing Device

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