Reflections
Our Resources In Christ.
  Let us take s look at our resources in Christ. This is very necessary, for in looking at problems we can, unless we are careful, allow those problems to get inside us, and then we become a problem both to ourselves and to others. We must gaze at Christ full-faced until His divine resources fill and flood our whole being, and until we are wholly and entirely possessed by His life-sustaining power.
  Someone has said, "The early Christians did not say in dismay, 'Look what the world has come to', but rather, 'Look what has come to the world'". They saw their problems as possibilities and their setbacks as springboards. They were realists, of course, and faced the fact that sin abounded, yet as true realists they also recognised that "where sin abounded grace did much more abound". On that assurance the early Christians went out and turned the world upside down, and this same attitude must possess you and I as we turn to consider the things which seek to destroy and invalidate our abundant life in Christ.
  I must explain that this positive attitude is not simply self-hypnosis (a fool's paradise) nor even
positive thinking,  but rather the confidence that comes from realising that our lives are linked to the God who created and sustains this vast universe. Someone has said that the whole secret of abundant living can be summed up in this sentence, "Not your responsibility, but your response to His ability".

Reflections

 Dealing with Guilt

Reflections
Getting the Best Out of Our Quiet Time
We look now at how to get the best out of our daily Quiet Time so that we develop an intimacy with the Almighty and that our souls may become sensitised to His guidance. It is important to fence off a part of our day so that we may commune with God, but we ask ourselves now: How should our devotional time be spent?
It should begin with the Bible. George Mueller regarded this simple fact as one of the most important discoveries he had made in fifty years. For the first ten years of his Christian experience he went straight to prayer, but the results were disappointing. He says: "I often spent a quarter of an hour, or half hour or even an hour on my knees before being conscious to myself  of having derived comfort, encouragement or humbling of soul; and often, after having suffered much from wandering of mind for the first ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, or even half an hour, I only then began really to pray. I scarcely ever suffer now in that way." Beginning with the Bible brings us swiftly into the Presence of the Lord. It prevents mind- wandering  and makes prayer that much easier. When you pray remember three aspects of drawing nigh to God, namely, confession, adoration and intercession. Prayer is not complete, however, unless having talked to God you let God talk to you. This is when you quietly wait upon God for the gentle impression of His Will to be imprinted on your mind. Remember, the Book first, prayer second, and listening third.

Reflections

Difficult Circumstances

Difficult circumstances  present no real problem to the man and woman in whom the life of Jesus Christ resides. Of these Edwin Markham says:
Defeat may serve as well as victory
To shake the soul and let glory out.
When the great oak is straining in the wind,
The boughs drink in new beauty and the trunk
Sends down a deeper root on the windward side.
Only the soul that knows the mighty grief, 

Can know the mighty rapture. Sorrows come

To stretch out spaces in the heart of joy.

Hudson Taylor knew this more than anyone. One day seated with a new missionary in a home in China he filled a glass full of water and then struck the table heavily with his fist. As the water splashed over he said to the young missionary. 'You will be stuck by the blows of many sorrows and troubles in China, but remember, they will only splash out of you what is in you'.

It was said of the quaint Cornish preacher Billy Bray that the more troubles he had the more he would shout 'Glory'. On one occasion he is reported to have said. "If you put me in a barrel I will shout 'Glory' through the bunghole." Troubles and difficulties bring out what is inside us. An old Christian travelling in a train stood up to get his suitcase as the train pulled into the station. It came to a sudden stop causing him to lurch from one side to the other. When he hit one side the passengers heard him say "Glory", and when he hit the other side, "Hallelujah"! The jolting shook the Glory out. Does it do the same in you?

Reflections
Victors-Not Victims
The question of God's abundant life flowing into our attitudes is extremely important. Those who have learned the secret of turning setbacks into springboards and stumbling blocks into stepping stones are those who have learned how to truly live. If you do not learn it then life will be frustrating, and you will become a victim rather that a victor.
Look at this illustration: Jesus has just learned that His friend John the Baptist  had been beheaded and the account continues, "As soon as Jesus heard the news He went by Himself in a boat to a remote area to be alone . But the crowds saw where He was headed and followed by land from many villages. So... He pitied them and healed their sick." ( Matt. 14:13-14). Jesus must have felt keenly the death of John the Baptist and quite naturally wanted to be alone to express His grief to God, His Father. The wound in His heart, however, did not deter Him from looking out on the multitude that had followed Him with great pity and compassion. The
Scripture says, "He pitied them and healed their sick". Christ did not allow the wound in His own heart to block His love and concern for others, but it became the prelude not only the healing of the multitude, but the miracle of the Feeding of the Five Thousand.
A nightingale, I am told, sings much more sweetly when a torn presses into its side. And so can you. If you have to work with a thorn in your side then let it bring out, by God's Grace, the sweetest note your life has ever sounded.