Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

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Persistent Prayer
      "Men ought always to pray and not to faint" (Luke18:1). "Go to the ant." Tammerlane used to relate to his friends an anecdote of his early life. "I once he said, "was forced to take shelter from my enemies in a ruined building, where I sat alone many hours. Desiring to divert my mind from my hopeless condition, I fixed my eyes on an ant th ...read

Picture of Rest
      "My own peace I give to you" (John 14:27, Weymouth). Two painters each painted a picture to illustrate his conception of rest. The first chose for his scene a still, lone lake among the far-off mountains. The second threw on his canvas a thundering waterfall, with a fragile birch tree bending over the foam; and at the fork of the branch, al ...read

Placed For a Purpose
      "It was noised that he was in the house" (Mark 2:1). The polyps which construct the coral reefs, work away under water, never dreaming that they are building the foundation of a new island on which, by-and-by, plants and animals will live and children of God be born and fitted for eternal glory as joint-heirs of Christ. If your place in God ...read

Polish Comes Through Trouble
      "He hath made me a polished shaft" (Isa. 49:2). There is a very famous "Pebble Beach" at Pescadero, on the California coast. The long line of white surf comes up with its everlasting roar, and rattles and thunders among the stones on the shore. They are caught in the arms of the pitiless waves, and tossed and rolled, and rubbed together, and ...read

Potent Prayers
      "Make thy petition deep" (Isa. 7:11, margin). Make thy petition deep, O heart of mine, Thy God can do much more Than thou canst ask; Launch out on the Divine, Draw from His love-filled store. Trust Him with everything; Begin today, And find the joy that comes When Jesus has His way! --Selected We must keep on praying and waiting up ...read

Praise in Advance
      "Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it" (Num. 21:17). This was a strange song and a strange well. They had been traveling over the desert's barren sands, no water was in sight and they were famishing with thirst. Then God spake to Moses and said: "Gather the people together, and I will give them water," and this is how it came. They gath ...read

Praise in the Midst of Trouble
      "Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually" (Heb. 13:15). A city missionary, stumbling through the dirt of a dark entry, heard a voice say, "Who's there, Honey?" Striking a match, he caught a vision of earthly want and suffering, of saintly trust and peace, "cut in ebony"--calm, appealing eyes set amid the wrinkles of a pinc ...read

Prayer Will Be Answered
      "My expectation is from him" (Ps. 62:5). Our too general neglect of looking for answers to what we ask, shows how little we are in earnest in our petitions. A husbandman is not content without the harvest; a marksman will observe whether the ball hits the target; a physician watches the effect of the medicine which he gives; and shall the Chri ...read

Preparation For Praise
      "Beloved, do not be surprised at the ordeal that has come to test you...you are sharing what Christ suffered; so rejoice in it" (1 Peter 4:12). Many a waiting hour was needful to enrich the harp of David, and many a waiting hour in the wilderness will gather for us a psalm of "thanksgiving, and the voice of melody," to cheer the hearts of fain ...read

Preparing His Heroes
      "And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer...who delivered them, even Othniel...Caleb's younger brother. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him" (Judges 3:9, 10). God is preparing His heroes; and when opportunity comes, He can fit them into their place in a moment, and the world will wonder where th ...read

Pressing Forward
      "I was crushed...so much so that I despaired even of life, but that was to make me rely not on myself, but on the God who raises the dead" (2 Cor. 1:8, 9). "Pressed out of measure and pressed to all length; Pressed so intensely it seems, beyond strength; Pressed in the body and pressed in the soul, Pressed in the mind till the dark surg ...read

Proclaim What You Have Learned
      "What I tell you in the darkness, speak ye in the light" (Matt. 10:27). Our Lord is constantly taking us into the dark, that He may tell us things. Into the dark of the shadowed home, where bereavement has drawn the blinds; into the dark of the lonely, desolate life, where some infirmity closes us in from the light and stir of life; into the d ...read

Promises Fulfilled
      "There shall be a performance" (Luke 1:45). "My words shall be fulfilled in their season" (their fixed appointed time) (Greek, Luke 1:20). There shall be a performance of those things That loving heart hath waited long to see; Those words shall be fulfilled to which she clings, Because her God hath promised faithfully; And, knowing Hi ...read

Providence of Loss
      "It came to pass . . . that the brook dried up" (1 Kings 17:7). The education of our faith is incomplete if we have not learned that there is a providence of loss, a ministry of failing and of fading things, a gift of emptiness. The material insecurities of life make for its spiritual establishment. The dwindling stream by which Elijah sat an ...read

Pruned to Yield Fruit
      "And every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit" (John 15:2). A child of God was dazed by the variety of afflictions which seemed to make her their target. Walking past a vineyard in the rich autumnal glow she noticed the untrimmed appearance and the luxuriant wealth of leaves on the vines, that the gro ...read

Put Forth
      "He putteth forth his own sheep" (John10:4). Oh, this is bitter work for Him and us--bitter for us to go, but equally bitter for Him to cause us pain; yet it must be done. It would not be conducive to our true welfare to stay always in one happy and comfortable lot. He therefore puts us forth. The fold is deserted, that the sheep may wander ov ...read

Quicken Us
      "Thou, who hast showed us many and sore troubles, wilt quicken us again" (Ps. 71:20, RV). God shows us the troubles. Sometimes, as this part of our education is being carried forward, we have to descend into "the lower parts of the earth," pass through subterranean passages, lie buried amongst the dead, but never for a moment is the cord of ...read

Quiet Time with God
      "And Isaac went out to meditate in the fields at eventide" (Gen. 24:63). We should be better Christians if we were more alone; we should do more if we attempted less, and spent more time in retirement, and quiet waiting upon God. The world is too much with us; we are afflicted with the idea that we are doing nothing unless we are fussily runni ...read

Quietness
      "He giveth quietness." (Job 34:29). Quietness amid the dash of the storm. We sail the lake with Him still; and as we reach its middle waters, far from land, under midnight skies, suddenly a great storm sweeps down. Earth and hell seem arrayed against us, and each billow threatens to overwhelm. Then He arises from His sleep, and rebukes the win ...read