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Master of the house

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Gospel of Mark 13:35–36 (ESV)

35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—
36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.

The great Dwight L. Moody used to say, “I never preached a sermon without thinking that possibly the Lord may come before I preach another.” Dr. G. Campbell Morgan, the distinguished British clergy-man, said, “I never begin my work in the morning without thinking that perhaps he may interrupt my work and begin His own. I am not looking for death. I am looking for Him.” That is the way a Christian should live his life—in the constant anticipation of the return of Christ! If we could live every day as though it may be the very last one before the final judgment, what a difference it would make here on earth! But we don’t like to think that way. We don’t like to think that our carefully made plans, our long range schemes may be interrupted by the trumpet of God. Too many people would rather say, “Oh, well, the end of the world hasn’t come yet, so why think about it—it’s probably a thousand years away.”

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Hidden mysteries | January 6

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January 6
“…thou canst do everything” (Job 42:2).
Job was a God-fearing man, honest and upright. Yet God allowed great sufferings and sorrow in his life.
Suddenly, within a period of twenty-four hours all his children died, he lost all his cattle, all his sheep and
all his camels. Soon after this his body became covered with sores. His wife mocked him for his piety and
his friends began to accuse him falsely.
In the midst of all these terrible calamities the Lord became real to Job. At times, when his sufferings were
unbearable he expressed his inability to understand why God was allowing all this to take place. But when
God appeared to Job face to face, he discovered God’s threefold purpose for him. First, God wanted to
give Job much more than he had at that time. Although he was already the wealthiest man in the East,
God wanted to give him twice as much. Secondly, through his sufferings, God wanted to give him true
wisdom. His friends counted him a fool, and they thought they were all wiser than he. When the Almighty
appeared before them, it was Job alone who recognised Him and worshipped Him. Thus theLord proved
that Job alone was wise and all his friends were foolish. God made Job wiser than he had ever been before.
Thirdly, God wanted to teach Job how to pray. He had prayed till now, only for his own family (Job 1:5).
Now he learnt to pray for others, even for his friends who had been cursing him (ch. 42:8,10).
When God allows painful experiences in your life do not be discouraged. He wants to give you a greater
blessing this year, a double portion of blessing: He wants to impart to you more wisdom; and He wants to
draw you nearer to Himself and to teach you to pray.
In the end, when Job began to understand God’s mind, he was able to say, “Lord, thou canst do
everything”. The Lord will take us through many trials and thus reveal to us many hidden mysteries, so
that in the end we also will be able to trust Him fully and say, “Lord, thou canst do everything!”


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January 5 | Will of God

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January 5
“I delight to do thy will, O my God” (Psa. 40:8).
When first we came to know the Lord, we did not know how to find the will of God, how to
hear His voice, how to recognise where and how He was working. But, as we begin to walk
with Him, and to live with Him more and more closely, we discover that ‘we are workers
together with God’ (2 Cor. 6:1). When we hear the Word of God preached and see the Name
of the Lord Jesus Christ being uplifted and received, and His work being done, then our hearts
leap with joy.
When the Lord is our delight, His Name, His goodness and His glory are our exceeding joy,
and we begin to long to know and to do His will. When we can say with joy: ‘Lord, keep me
here, or send me anywhere else’; when we can truly say with all our heart: ‘Thy will be done’,
then that joy will be our strength to do His will.
Do you want the joy of the Lord to be your strength? Then learn to take delight in doing God’s
will. Find time, make time, give time to discover His will, and then make it your delight to do
it. To do this, you may have to suffer hardships, and travel a long road, but the fact remains
that you will be doing His will, and it will bring you fullest joy and pleasure.

January 5 | My Lord is coming back!

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January 5
“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power…” (Rev. 4:11).
In Matt. 2:11 we see wise men at worship. They fell down and worshipped the young child. Then they
presented their costly gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. By coming from such a long distance they
acknowledged His worthiness. When they brought such precious gifts, they acknowledged in a symbolic
way that, the One Whom they had come to worship is God Who became man (Gold), the One Whom they
had come to worship had come to suffer for them (Myrrh), the One Whom they had come to worship was
going to save them (Frankincense).
In Luke 7:37, 38 we read about a woman in the city, a sinner. The Lord’s presence made her conscious of
sinful condition. She wept in brokenness over her sin, and washed His feet with her tears. Her love was
spontaneous, and her worship true. She had an inward revelation of her sins being forgiven and she
worshipped Him, by pouring the ointment on His feet.
In John 12:1-3 we find Mary worshipping the Lord. She had known the Lord before, but now she had a
new and a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and power of resurrection and she poured out her
worship to Him by anointing His feet with a very special ointment with sweet fragrance which filled the
house. When we see Him working in us, we also worship Him in a new way.
In Matt. 26:2,6,7 we see a similar scene of worship, and yet different in its significance. Here it was only 2
days before the Passover, and we see her anointing His head, because she realized that He was about to
die for the sins of the whole world.
Finally, we see a more glorious sight which is described in Rev. 5:11-12. It is the glorified Church of the
Lord Jesus Christ, with angelic hosts – all in oneness worshipping Him.”… Worthy is the Lamb that was
slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing”.
`
After worshipping the Lord we take part in the Lord’s Table, saying, “My Lord is coming back! When He
comes back, the work which He began will be perfected”. We declare by faith that we are waiting for that
Day. We believe it will be a wonderful Day when we shall be like Him, and reign with Him. In His broken
Body and shed Blood, we see every provision made to make us like Himself. In me, I see nothing but
infirmity, failures and shortcomings, nothing but iniquity; but in Him, I see perfection.
In Eph. 3:18 we notice the importance of being together. His love and purpose can never be
comprehended by us. We need the help of all the saints. There is a great mystery here. We find love
coming in a greater and fuller measure, when we are brought together as one family. In this family, there
is no Jew nor Gentile: male or female. All are ONE. People from different families, countries, nationalities,
all partake of the same Lord.

Fullness of joy

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January 3
“In thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm
16: 11).
Joy multiplies as we live in the presence of God, and it is only there that full joy is found.
Many can testify that their names are written in the Book of Life, but they cannot say that
they are living constantly in the presence of the Lord.

It is possible to live with the Lord’s
children, and to worship and work with them, and yet to be out of touch with the Lord. We
can even be in a prayer meeting and not feel the Lord’s presence – not be in conscious touch
with Him.

But if you do not feel His presence, then you do not have full joy. This may be due to various
things, but it may be your own fault. As a child of God your heart is pure and your conscience
right before Him, you can feel and know His presence.

Our prayer is that you may learn this secret of dwelling in the presence of the living and loving
God, for this is His intention and purpose for His people.

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