There is no fear in trust; the two are opposites. When we really fear, we are not fully trusting. When we trust, fear gives way to assurance. Fear is tormenting. How many there are who are constantly agitated by fear! They fear the devil, trials, temptations, the wind, lightning, burglars and a thousand other things. Their days are haunted by fear of this thing or that. Their peace is marred and their hearts are troubled. For all this, trust is the cure. I do not mean to say that if you, trust nothing will ever startle you or frighten you or that you will never feel physical fear in time of danger, but in such times trust will bring to us a consciousness that the Lord knows and cares and that His helping presence is with us.
When John Wesley was crossing the Atlantic, from England to America, to become a missionary to the Indians, the ship on which he was sailing encountered a terrible storm. It seemed that those on board would be lost. Many were much alarmed and were in deep distress. Wesley himself was one of this number. In the midst of the storm, his attention was attracted to some Moravians who sat calm and undisturbed by the dangers about them. Wesley greatly wondered at their untroubled appearance. He inquired why it was. Their reply was that they were trusting in the Lord and that they had in their souls the consciousness of His protecting presence and care. They felt no fear because there was nothing threatening that a Christian had need to fear. Mr. Wesley did not have such an experience, but what he learned from those simple-hearted people caused him to seek a similar experience.
Heart Talks by C. W. Naylor
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Throughout the Bible we are exhorted again and again to trust in the Lord. We are warned against trusting in princes, in riches or in ourselves, for all such trust is vain. Trusting in the Lord is represented as being safe, as blessed and as producing very desirable results. In it is our hope, our strength, our safety and our help.
But what does trust mean? It does not mean carelessness or indifference. Just to let things go and say, “Oh, I guess it will come out all right,” is not trusting. Just drifting heedlessly with the tide is not trust. Neglect is not trust. Trust is something positive. It is a real something, not a mere happen-so or maybe-so. It is a definite attitude of soul and mind, a realization of our own need and of God’s sufficiency. It is the reaching out and anchoring of ourselves in God.
The soul who really trusts is not driven about by every wind. The waves beat against him as they beat against the anchored ship, but they cannot dash him upon the rocks, for he who trusts in God is strong because he has the strength of God.
Trust does not mean shutting our eyes to facts. There is no such thing as “blind faith.” Trust looks at things as they are. It sees the dangers that threaten and assesses them at their true value. It sees the need and does not try to disguise it. It sees the difficulties and does not discount them. But seeing all this it looks beyond and sees God, its all-sufficient help. It sees Him greater than the needs or the dangers or the difficulties, and it does not shrink before them.
Heart Talks by C. W. Naylor
Link for book in bio.
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We should pray every day the prayer of faith for some definite thing. We cannot do this if we scatter our prayers too much. We cannot concentrate faith on many things at one time. We can have a general faith that takes in all our needs, and this we can exercise daily, but we need a particular exercise of faith to receive particular things, particular help and particular grace. We should pray for many things, but there are some things on which we should specialize. We should make them a special object of prayer. We should choose something that we feel to be the will of God for us. Then we should pray for that thing until it is granted, until faith grasps its object and makes it a reality.
There are times in life when we can only hold still and wait. At such times, that is all God requires of us. That is all that is necessary. If God does not speak when we wait to hear Him speak, we may be sure that He will speak when it is needful for Him to speak; and when He speaks He will cause our hearts to rejoice.
The Secret of the Singing Heart consists in learning to be what we ought to be and to hold the attitude we ought to hold toward life. It consists in learning to adjust ourselves to our circumstances and to be happy in those circumstances. It means to take advantage of those favorable things that come in life, to make the best of the here and now and to look forward to the future with confident expectation of success and with determination to have success. It consists in walking with God, believing in Him, and acting out that belief day by day. Doing this, we shall be ever blessed and ever happy. We shall have joy and happiness, and “sorrow and sighing shall flee away."
The Secret of the Singing Heart by C. W. Naylor
Link for book in bio.
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We shall not all have such experiences to cause us to realize the presence of God and our safety therein. God has other ways of bringing this about. We may greatly help by continually assuring ourselves that God is with us. If we should say to ourselves in our times of difficulty or danger, “God is with me; I am safe,” we would presently come to feel safe no matter what the circumstances. If we should repeat over and over to ourselves in our times of need, “God is with me: God will help me,” it would come to be a reality with us. It is real whether or not we realize it, but it profits us in our consciousness only when we realize it.
We need the sense of God most when we need His help and sustaining grace. It is in the times of storm that we appreciate shelter. So we need to realize the sheltering presence of God in life’s storms. We can do much toward cultivating a state of mind that recognizes God’s presence in our darkest times. We must not wait for the dark times to begin this development. We should develop it under favorable circumstances, then bring the consciousness of God’s presence into the unfavorable time until it becomes as real in the unfavorable time as in the more favorable time.
The sense of God’s presence sometimes comes from our emotions. This is only in the favorable seasons. In the unfavorable seasons, it can come to us only through faith. Therefore the need of cultivating a sense of His presence through our faith. Our faith will be tested with respect to this, as with other things. The more faith is tested and tried, when it meets and endures, the more it grows.
The Secret of the Singing Heart by C. W. Naylor
Link for book in bio.
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Contentment is a structure we build ourselves. It is a state of mind we develop. It is an attitude toward things that comes to us through careful cultivation. It is something that lives inside us, not something that circumstances and conditions create.
Contentment is a lesson to be learned. Paul said, “...I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” Philippians 4:11. He goes on to tell some of the things he has learned. “I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Philippians 4:12-13. He had learned a great secret. It was the secret of adapting himself to conditions and being at rest in those conditions. He could enjoy to the full the things that afforded him enjoyment. He could suffer patiently the things that came upon him to suffer.
The basis of contentment is simplicity of desire. One of the things that is ruining more happiness than anything else is the desire to excel others. “We must keep up with the Joneses," is an attitude of mind fatal to contentment. It has caused more heartaches, destroyed more happiness, ruined more homes, produced more divorces, perhaps than any other one thing. This strife to excel often leads people into sin.
Contentment is not built of gold or of precious stones. It is not constructed of honors or fame or the applause of the multitude. It does not come from outshining others. These may bring a sort of satisfaction but not a satisfaction which is contentment. Contentment belongs to the meek and lowly in spirit. Pride is destructive to it. Arrogance annihilates it. Covetousness curses it. Hatred poisons it. Malice thrusts a sword through it. Contentment can thrive only with the virtues. Faith, hope and charity abide with it. Peace broods over its domicile. Blessed forevermore is he who has a contented spirit.
The Secret of the Singing Heart by C. W. Naylor
Link for book in bio.
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It is better to face the sunrise. Even in the darkness, we may face the east with the assurance that dawn will presently come. There shall be new friends for the old friends that are gone. There shall be new hopes for the perished hopes. There shall be new opportunities instead of the vanished ones. Let us resolutely look away from the sunset to where the dawn shall break again and the glorious light shine anew upon us.
Facing the sunrise must be learned. The natural tendency, especially with very many, is to face the sunset. It is the hopeful Christian who is the joyous Christian. He looks ahead for better things. He is not disappointed. The good things are never all in the past. The things that have been lost may be replaced. What the future brings us will in a great measure depend upon the way we meet it, the outlook we have toward it and the faith with which we respond to it.
A bright sunrise may be succeeded by a cloudy day. It is important that we know how to have sunshine on these cloudy days. There is just one way to do it. That is faith’s way. Faith runs a shaft up through the clouds and lets the sunshine come down on the heart.
Faith may work in another way. There may be some things in life of such a nature that we cannot bring them into the sunshine. There is one thing we can do. We can put up a reflector to throw light into the dark places of life.
There are many sunbeams in life that we do not see. This is because we have our attention so focused upon things that trouble us that we do not observe the sunbeams. God’s sunbeams are ever breaking through the clouds, but often we shall not see them unless we look for them and look for them with the right attitude of heart.
The Secret of the Singing Heart by C. W. Naylor
Link for book in bio.
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We shall not have fellowship with Jesus merely in His joyfulness and victory, but in “...the fellowship of his sufferings...” Philippians 3:10. “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake.” He had His periods of heaviness and mental distress. It is our privilege to go with Him through the valley of humiliation, through the garden of Gethsemane to Calvary. It is our privilege to fellowship His sufferings from rejected love, from unjust condemnation, from neglect and hatred. Christ was still in the heavenlies as He passed through these things, and we may be in the heavenlies with Him, yet walk with Him through such things. We have the promise that if we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him. Let us not shrink back from whatever suffering comes to us because we are true to Christ and walk with Him.
God has promised to withhold no good thing from them that walk uprightly.
Since it is our privilege to sit in the heavenly places with Christ let us draw near in full assurance of faith. Let us become heavenly minded. Let us set about realizing our privileges. We must draw near to God. We must dwell in His presence. This is not such a hard thing to do. It takes some time. It takes some effort. But this time and effort are largely to free ourselves from our sense of earthly things. We are close to them, so absorbed with them, so busy with them that we do not take time for many things. We do not give God an opportunity to talk to us. We fill our minds with trivial things instead of with thoughts of the high and holy and blessed things that so fill God’s will for us.
The Secret of the Singing Heart by C. W. Naylor
Link for book in bio.
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What does it mean to dwell in heaven, to sit in the heavenlies in Christ? First, it means to be raised up above the low and evil elements of this world into a heavenly atmosphere. It means to have our affections set upon heavenly things, not upon things on the earth. It means that heavenly things, that is, the things of righteousness, purity, love and all kindred elements, will have more importance to us than do earthly things. Living in the heavenlies means to live in the element of love, to be actuated by love, to be filled with love—love that is begotten in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." I John 4:16. Love, instead of selfishness, becomes the mainspring of life. It banishes hatred, jealousy, envy, malice and all similar things that blight life.
In the heavenly place, we are in an atmosphere of peace. We are at peace with God, at peace with our fellow men and peaceably disposed. Those who live in heaven are heavenly minded, as it is written, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Philippians 2:3-5.
We must be godlike in the characteristics of our souls, if we would dwell with God either in eternity or in the heavenlies, in this life. There must therefore be inner purity of desire and purpose, of affection and will.
Inward purity manifests itself in outward purity, that is, purity of life. Our conduct will be the fruit of love. We shall not only love our neighbor as ourselves but even love our enemies and do good to those that despitefully use us and persecute us.
The Secret of the Singing Heart by C. W. Naylor
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