Chapter One
JANUARY
Between the Years January 1
Our Lord and our God. We joy in Thee.
Without Thy Help we could not face unafraid
the year before us.
I stand between the years. The Light of My Presence
is flung across the year to come-the radiance of the
Sun of Righteousness. Backward, over the past year, is
My Shadow thrown, hiding trouble and sorrow and
disappointment.
Dwell not on the past-only on the present Only
use the past as the trees use My Sunlight to absorb it,
to make from it in after days the warming fire-rays. So
store only the blessings from Me, the Light of the
World. Encourage yourselves by the thought of these.
Bury every fear of the future, of poverty for those
dear to you, of suffering, of loss. Bury all thought of
unkindness and bitterness, all your dislikes, your resentments,
your sense of failure, your disappointment
in others and in yourselves, your gloom, your despondency,
and let us leave them all, buried, and go forward
to a new and risen life.
Remember that you must not see as the world sees.
I hold the year in My Hands-in trust for you. But I
shall guide you one day at a time.
Leave the rest with Me. You must not anticipate the
gift by fears or thoughts of the days ahead.
And for each day I shall supply the wisdom and the
strength.
Arm of Love January 2
You are to help to save others. Never let one day pass
when you have not reached out an arm of Love to
someone outside your home-a note, a letter, a visit,
help in some way.
Be full of Joy. Joy saves. Joy cures. Joy in Me. In
every ray of sunlight, every smile, every act of kindness,
or love, every trifling service-joy.
Each day do something to lift another soul out of
the sea of sin, or disease or doubt into which man has
fallen. I still walk to-day by the lakeside and call My
Disciples to follow Me and to become fishers of men.
The helping hand is needed that raises the helpless
to courage, to struggle, to faith, to health. Love and
laugh. Love and laughter are the beckoners to faith
and courage and success. Trust on, love on, joy on.
Refuse to be downcast. Refuse to be checked in
your upward climb. Love and laugh. I am with you. I
bear your burdens. Cast your burden upon Me and I
will sustain thee. And then in very lightheartedness
you turn and help another with the burden that is
pressing too heavily upon him or her.
How many burdens can you lighten this year? How
many hearts can you cheer? How many souls can you
help?
And in giving you gain: "Good measure, pressed
down and running over." I your Lord have said it.
The Way Will Open January 3
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength.
Isa. xl 31.
You must be renewed, remade. Christ, Christ, Christ.
Everything must rest on Me. Force is born of rest.
Only Love is a conquering force. Be not afraid, I will
help you.
Be channels both of you. My Spirit shall flow
through and My Spirit shall, in flowing through, sweep
away all the bitter past.
Take heart, God loves, God helps, Cod fights, Cod
wins. You shall see. You shah know. The way will
open. All My Love has ever planned, all My Love has
ever thought, you shall see each day unfold. Only be
taught. Just be a child. A child never questions plans.
It accepts gladly.
Do Hot Plan January 4
Shew us The! Way, O Lord, and let us walk
in Thy Paths. Lead us in Thy Truth and
teach us.
All is well. Wonderful things are happening. Do not
limit God at all. He cares and provides.
Uproot self-the channel-blocker. Do not plan ahead,
the way will unfold step by step. Leave to-morrows
burden. Christ is the Great Burden-bearer. You
cannot bear His load and He only expects you to carry
a little day-share.
Hoard Nothing January 5
Love Me and do My Will. No evil shall befall you.
Take no thought for to-morrow. Rest in My Presence
brings Peace. God will help you. Desire brings fulfilment.
Peace like a quiet flowing river cleanses, sweeps
all irritants away.
You shall be taught, continue these prayer-times,
even if they seem fruitless. The devil will try by any
means to stop them. Heed him not. He will say evil
spirits may enter in. Heed him not.
Rest your nerves. Tired nerves are a reflection on,
not of, God's Power. Hope all the time.
Do not be afraid of poverty. Let money flow freely.
I will let it flow in but you must let it flow out. I never
send money to stagnate-only to those who pass it on.
Keep nothing for yourself. Hoard nothing. Only have
what you need and use. This is My Law of Discipleship.
Sharp and Ready January 6
Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah, Pilgrim through this foreign land.
I am weak but Thou art mighty, Guide me with Thy powerful Hand.
You must pray. The way will open. God cares and His
plans unfold. Just love and wait.
Love is the Key. No door is too difficult for it to
open.
What cause have you to fear? Has He not cared for
and protected you? Hope on. Hope gladly. Hope with
certainty. Be calm, calm in My Power.
Never neglect these times, pray and read your Bible
and train and discipline yourself. That is your work-Mine
to use you. But My instruments must be sharp
and ready. Then I use them.
Discipline and perfect yourselves at all costs. Do
this for soon every fleeting thought will be answered,
every wish gratified, every deed used. It is a fearful
Power, a mighty Power. Oh! be careful that you ask
nothing amiss-nothing that is not according to My
Spirit.
All thoughts harmful must be turned out. Miracle-working
power can become witchery in wrong hands.
See how necessary I have made the purity and goodness
of your own lives to you. That is why. Soon, very
soon, you shall ask and at onto it will come. Welcome
the training. Without it I dare not give you this Power.
It would do harm.
Do not worry about others lives. That will all come
right. You must perfect yourselves first in My
Strength.
The Secret Pearl January 7
Look upon us with Thy favour, O Lord, while we behold "the land that is very far
off" and yet so near to the seeing eye and the
listening ear.
Wait. Wonders are unfolding. Tremble with awe. No
man can stand upon the threshold of Eternity unshaken.
I give unto you Eternal Life. A free gift, a wonderful
gift-the Life of the Ages.
Silently comes the Kingdom. No man can Judge
when It enters the heart of man, only in results. Listen
quietly. Sometimes you may get no message. Meet
thus all the same. You will absorb an atmosphere.
Cultivate silence. "God speaks in silences." A silence,
a soft wind. Each can be a message to convey
My meaning to the heart, though by no voice, or even
word.
Each word or thought of yours can be like a pearl
that you drop into the secret place of another heart,
and in some hour of need, lo! the recipient finds the
treasure and realizes for the first time its value.
* * *
Do not be too ready to do, just be. I said, "Be ye
therefore perfect" not "do" perfect things. Try and
grasp this. Individual efforts avail nothing. It is only
the work of the Universal Spirit-My Spirit, that
counts.
Dwell in thought on this, more and more, saints
have taken a life-time to grasp it.
Love Bangs the Door January 8
Life with Me is not immunity from difficulties, but
peace in difficulties. My guidance is often by shut
doors. Love bangs as well as opens.
Joy is the result of faithful trusting acceptance of
My Will, when It seems not joyous.
St. Paul, my servant, learnt this lesson of the banged
doors when he said "our light affliction, which is but
for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory." Expect rebuffs until this
is learned-it is the only way.
Joy is the daughter of calm.
No Strain January 9
Be calm, no matter what may befall you. Rest in Me.
Be patient, and let patience have her perfect work.
Never think things overwhelming. How can you be
overwhelmed when I am with you?
Do not feel the strain of life. There is no strain for
My children. Do you not see I am a Master Instrument-maker?
Have I not fashioned each part? Do I not
know just what it can bear without a strain? Would I,
the maker of so delicate an instrument, ask of it anything
that could destroy or strain?
No! The Strain is only when you are serving another
master, the world, fame, the good opinion of men-or
carrying two days' burden on the one day.
Remember that it must not be.
Influence January 10
When you come to Me, and I give you that Eternal
Life I give to all who believe in Me, it alters your
whole existence, the words you speak, the influences
you have.
These are all eternal. They must be. They spring
from the life within you, My Life, Eternal Life, so that
they too live for ever. Now, you see how vast, how stupendous,
is the work of any soul that has Eternal life.
The words, the influence, go on down the ages for
ever.
You must ponder on these truths I give you. They
are not surface facts, but the secrets of My Kingdom,
the hidden pearls of rare price.
Meditate upon them. Work at them in your minds
and hearts.
The Ache of Love January 11
Cry unto Me, and I will hear you and bless you. Use
My unlimited stores for your needs and those of others.
Seek My wonderful truths and you shall find.
There may come times when you sit in silence,
when it seems as if you wore left alone. Then, I command-command-you
to remember I have spoken to
you, as I spoke at Emmaus.
But there was the time in the Upper Room, after My
Ascension, when My disciples had to comfort themselves
by saying "Did He not speak to us by the
way?"
You will have the consciousness of My Presence
when you hear no voice. Abide in that Presence. "I am
the light of the world," but sometimes in tender pity, I
withhold too glaring a light, lest, in its dazzling brightness,
you should miss your daily path and work.
Not until Heaven is reached, do souls sit and drink
in the ecstasy of God's revelation to His Own. At the
moment you are pilgrims and need only your daily
marching orders, and strength and guidance for the
day.
Oh! Listen to My Voice, eagerly, joyfully. Never
crowd it out. I have no rival claimants and if men seek
the babble of the world, then I withdraw.
Life has hurt you. Only scarred lives can really save.
* * *
You cannot escape the discipline. It is the hallmark
of discipleship. My children, trust Me always. Never
rebel.
The trust given to Me to-day, takes away the ache
of rejection of My love, that I suffered on earth, and
have suffered through the ages. "I died for you, My
children, and could ye treat Me so?"
Thanks for Trials January 12
You must say "Thank You" for everything, even
seeming trials and worries.
Joy is the whole being's attitude of "Thank You" to
Me. Be glad. Rejoice. A father loves to see his children
happy.
I am revealing so much to you. Pass it on. Each
Truth is a jewel. Some poor spirit-impoverished friend
will be glad of it. Drop one here and there.
Seek to find a heart-home for each Truth I have imparted
to you. More Truths will flow in. Use all I give
you. Help others. I ache to find a way into each life
and heart, for all to cry expectantly, "Even so, come
Lord Jesus."
Friends Unseen January 13
Never despair, never despond. Be just a channel of
helpfulness for others.
Have more sympathy. Feel more tenderness towards
others. Your lives shall not be all care. Gold
does not stay in the crucible-only until it is refined.
Already I hear the music and the marching of the unseen
host, rejoicing at your victory.
No follower of Mine would ever err or fal1, if once
the veil were withdrawn which prevents him seeing
how these slips delight the evil spirits, and the pain
and disappointment of those who long for him to conquer
in My Strength and Name, and the ecstasy of rejoicing
when victory is won.
My Strength is the same as that in which I conquered
Satan in the Wilderness-depression and sorrow
in the Garden, and even Death on Calvary.
Think of that.
Mighty and Marvellous January 14
Glad indeed are the souls with whom I walk. Walking
with Me is security. The coming of My Spirit into
a life, and Its working are imperceptible, but the result
is mighty.
Learn of Me. Kill the self. Every blow to self is used
to shape the real, eternal, imperishable you.
Be very candid and rigorous with yourselves. "Didself prompt that?" and if it did, oust it at all costs.
When I died on the Cross, I died embodying all the
human self. Once that was crucified, I could conquer
even death.
When I bore your sins in My own body on the Tree
I bore the self-human nature of the world. As you too
kill self, you gain the overwhelming power I released
for a weary world, and you too will be victorious.
It is not life and its difficulties you have to conquer,
only the self in you. As I said to My disciples, "I have
many things to say to you but you cannot bear them
now." You could not understand them. But as you go
on obeying Me and walking with Me, and listening to
Me, you will, and then you will see how glorious, how
marvellous My revelations are, and My teachings.
Relax January 15
Relax, do not get tense, have no fear. All is for the
best. How can you fear change when your life is hid
with Me in God, who changeth not-and I am the
same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
You must learn poise, soul-balance and poise, in a
vacillating, changing world.
Claim My power. The same power with which I cast
out devils is yours to-day. Use it. H not, I withdraw it.
Use it ceaselessly.
You cannot ask too much. Never think you are too
busy. As long as you get back to Me and replenish
after each task no work can be too much. My Joy I
give you. Live in it. Bathe your Spirit in it. Reflect it.
Friend in Drudgery January 16
It is the daily strivings that count, not the momentary
heights. The obeying of My Will day in, day out, in
the wilderness plains, rather than the occasional
Mount of Transfiguration.
Perseverance is nowhere needed so much as in the
religious life. The drudgery of the Kingdom it is that
secures My intimate Friendship.
Continues.
