Wayne Christian Assembly

10/16/2024

In some way or other we will have to learn the difference between trusting in the gift and trusting in the Giver. The gift may be good for a while, but the Giver is the Eternal Love.

F.B.Meyer

10/07/2024

Awake, my soul, and with the sun
thy daily stage of duty run;
shake off dull sloth, and early rise
to pay thy morning sacrifice.

Lord, I my vows to Thee renew.
Disperse my sins as morning dew;
guard my first springs of thought and will;
and with Thyself my spirit fill.

Direct, control, suggest, this day,
all I design or do or say,
that all my pow'rs, with all their might,
in Thy sole glory may unite.

Thomas Ken

09/25/2024

Still, still with Thee, when purple morning breaketh,
When the bird waketh, and the shadows flee;
Fairer than morning, lovelier than daylight,
Dawns the sweet consciousness I am with Thee.

Alone with Thee amid the mystic shadows,
The solemn hush of nature newly born;
Alone with Thee in breathless adoration,
In the calm dew and freshness of the morn.

Still, still with Thee! as to each newborn morning
A fresh and solemn splendor still is given,
So does this blessed consciousness, awaking,
Breathe each day nearness unto Thee and heaven.

When sinks the soul, subdued by toil, to slumber,
Its closing eyes look up to Thee in prayer;
Sweet the repose beneath Thy wings o'ershading,
But sweeter still, to wake and find Thee there.

So shall it be at last, in that bright morning,
When the soul waketh, and life's shadows flee;
O in that hour, fairer than daylight dawning,
Shall rise the glorious thought, I am with Thee.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Hymnary.org: A comprehensive index of over 1 million hymn texts, hymn tunes, and hymnals, with information on authors and composers, lyrics and scores of many hymns, and various media files. Hymnary.org also incorporates the Dictionary of North American Hymnology, an extensive collection of hymnals....

09/23/2024

To those with a burden:

Surely you have heard of Jesus Christ . At the least, you may have heard his name spoken. Or perhaps you may have some vague, imprecise sense of who he is. Maybe to you he was a wise, kind teacher. Or just a babe in a manger. But do you know he loves you and died for you? Do you know he can be your Savior and shepherd? Do you know he is your maker and is the Lord of all? Come to him today!

"Casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you" 1 Peter 5:7

"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved" Acts 16:31

"I know thy burden, child; I shaped it, poised in Mine own hand, made no proportion in its weight to thine unaided strength; for even as I laid it on I said,

‘I shall be near, and while he leans on Me, this burden shall be Mine, not his; so shall I keep My child within the circling arms of Mine own love.’

“Here lay it down, nor fear to impose it on a shoulder which upholds the government of the worlds. Yet closer come, thou art not near enough; I would embrace thy care, so I might feel My child reposing on My breast."

“Thou lovest Me? I know it. Doubt not, then, but, loving Me, lean hard.”

-Octavius Wilson

08/12/2024

My grace IS sufficient for thee (2 Corinthians 12:9).

It had pleased God to remove my youngest child under circumstances of peculiar trial and pain; and as I had just laid my little one's body in the churchyard, on return home, I felt it my duty to preach to my people on the meaning of trial.

Finding that this text was in the lesson for the following Sabbath, I chose it as my Master's message to them and myself; but on trying to prepare the notes, I found that in honesty I could not say that the words were true; and therefore I knelt down and asked God to let His grace be sufficient for me. While I was thus pleading, I opened my eyes and saw a framed illuminated text, which my mother had given me only a few days before, and which I had told my servant to place upon the wall during my absence at the holiday resort where my little one was taken away from us. I did not notice the words on returning to my house; but as I looked up and wiped my eyes, the words met my gaze, "My grace is sufficient for thee."

The "is" was picked out in bright green while the "My" and the "thee" were painted in another color. In one moment the message came straight to my soul, as a rebuke for offering such a prayer as, "Lord, let Thy grace be sufficient for me"; for the answer was almost as an audible voice, "How dare you ask that which is?"

God cannot make it any more sufficient than He has made it; get up and believe it, and you will find it true, because the Lord says it in the simplest way: "My grace is (not shall be or may be) sufficient for thee." "My," "is," and "thee" were from that moment, I hope, indelibly fixed upon my heart; and I (thank God) have been trying to live in the reality of the message from that day forward to the present time.

The lesson that came to me, and which I seek to convey to others, is, Never turn God's facts into hopes, or prayers, but simply use them as realities, and you will find them powerful as you believe them.
--Prebendary H. W. Webb Peploe

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
To added affliction He addeth His mercies,
To multiplied trials His multiplied peace.
When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father's full giving is only begun.
His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth and giveth and giveth again.
--Annie Johnson Flint

04/28/2024

" 'Tis paradise if thou art mine"

Should famine o’er the mourning field
Extend her desolating reign,
Nor spring her blooming beauties yield,
Nor autumn swell the fruitful grain:

Should lowing herds, and bleating sheep,
Around their famish’d master die;
And hope itself despairing weep,
While life deplores its last supply:

Amid the dark, the deathful scene,
If I can say, the Lord is mine!
The joy shall triumph o’er the pain,
And glory dawn, though life decline.

The God of my salvation lives;
My nobler life he will sustain;
His word immortal vigor gives,
Nor shall my glorious hopes be vain.

5Thy presence, Lord, can cheer my heart,
Though ev’ry earthly comfort die;
Thy smile can bid my pains depart,
And raise my sacred pleasures high.

O let me hear thy blissful voice,
Inspiring life and joys divine!
The barren desert shall rejoice;
‘Tis paradise, if thou art mine.

-Anne Steele

03/27/2024

"When obstacles and trials seem
Like prison walls to be,
I do the little I can do
And leave the rest to Thee.
And when there seems no chance, no change,
From grief can set me free.
Hope finds its strength in helplessness, And calmly waits for Thee."

-Frederick Faber

03/06/2024

"...somewhere, beyond the stars, is a love that is better than fate" ❤️

In the bitter waves of woe,
Beaten and tossed about
By the sullen winds that blow
From the desolate shores of doubt,­­

When the anchors that faith had cast
Are dragging in the gale,
I am quietly holding fast
To the things that cannot fail:

In the darkest night of the year,
When the stars have all gone out, That courage is better than fear, That faith is truer than doubt;

And fierce though the fiends may fight, And long though the angels hide,
I know that Truth and Right
Have the universe on their side;

And somewhere, beyond the stars,
Is a Love that is better than fate;
When the night unlocks her bars
I shall see Him, and I will wait.

Washington Gladden

02/26/2024

God's grace is great enough to meet the great things,
The crashing waves that overwhelm the soul,
The roaring winds that leave us stunned and breathless,
The sudden storms beyond our life's control.

His grace is great enough to meet the small things,
The little pin-prick troubles that annoy,
The insect worries, buzzing and persistent,
The squeaking wheels that grate upon our joy.

Annie Johnson Flint

02/08/2024

"For I shall yet praise Him." More prayer, more exercise of faith, more patient waiting, and the result will be blessing, abundant blessing. Thus I have found it many hundreds of times, and therefore I continually say to myself, "Hope thou in God."-Geo. Mueller.

01/25/2024

Streams in the Desert, 1/24. Another gem...

"And even if the heaven seem brass, without a sound?
He hears each prayer and even notes the sparrow's fall."

But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him... And the dove came to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf (Genesis 8:9-11).

God knows just when to withhold from us any visible sign of encouragement, and when to grant us such a sign. How good it is that we may trust Him anyway! When all visible evidences that He is remembering us are withheld, that is best; He wants us to realize that His Word, His promise of remembrance, is more substantial and dependable than any evidence of our senses. When He sends the visible evidence, that is well also; we appreciate it all the more after we have trusted Him without it. Those who are readiest to trust God without other evidence than His Word always receive the greatest number of visible evidences of His love.
--C. G. Trumbull

Believing Him; if storm-clouds gather darkly 'round,
And even if the heaven seem brass, without a sound?
He hears each prayer and even notes the sparrow's fall.
And praising Him; when sorrow, grief, and pain are near,
And even when we lose the thing that seems most dear?
Our loss is gain. Praise Him; in Him we have our All.
Our hand in His; e'en though the path seems long and drear
We scarcely see a step ahead, and almost fear?
He guides aright. He has it thus to keep us near.
And satisfied; when every path is blocked and bare,
And worldly things are gone and dead which were so fair?
Believe and rest and trust in Him, He comes to stay.

Delays are not refusals; many a prayer is registered, and underneath it the words: "My time is not yet come." God has a set time as well as a set purpose, and He who orders the bounds of our habitation orders also the time of our deliverance.
--Selected