Daily Reading for Saturday, August 31, 2024
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 2:13
"For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe."
Meditation:
Reference(s):
1The Medical Missionary, June 1, 1892.
"Never think that even when you do your best you are of yourself capable of winning souls to Christ. You must cultivate the habit of discerning a power beyond that which you can see with human vision a power that is constantly at work upon the hearts and minds of men. When you approach the stranger, when you stand face to face with the impenitent, with the afflicted, the soul needy, the Lord is by your side if you have indeed surrendered yourself to Him. Through the living agent He makes the impression on the heart. Your words must not be a mere parrot like speech, but the expression of a living, personal experience. If you cheer hearts with words of courage and hope, it is because the grace of Christ is to you a living reality. It is God’s likeness, not your own, that is to be impressed on the heart. But if you have not yourself been sanctified, refined, transformed, you cannot present the truths of God’s word with a freshness, a power, that awakens responsive feelings in those who hear the word of life. The advocates of truth must hide in Jesus. He is their greatness, their power and efficiency."1