Christ
is Victor
May/June 1999
Vol. 12, No.3
Torn
In Half
(A Story from
Some years ago a colporteur might have been seen wending his way through the
forest to the door of a country cottage in
Jeanne hesitated. Would the priest approve? That was the question. Still she
wistfully eyed the neat little volume.
"Do not be troubled, Madame," urged the colporteur. "The
priest would sin against God if he prevented you reading of the love of the
good Christ."
At last she produced 50 centimes, and, taking the book, said, "I cannot
refuse, Monsieur, but may I be pardoned if I sin."
Presently in came Jacques the charcoal burner, her husband. After his tea
Jeanne rather timidly produced her book for his inspection. As she rather
feared, he was tired and cross, and upbraided her for
spending his money in this fashion.
"But", said she, "the money is not all yours, Jacques. I
brought money from my home when we married. The half franc was as much mine as
yours."
"Give me the book," shouted Jacques in a temper. He snatched it
from her hands. "The money was half yours and half mine, you say. Very
well, the book is the same Viola!" He opened the book roughly, tore it in
two pieces, dropping one into his blouse and throwing the other to Jeanne.
Several days later, Jacques sat in the forest by his charcoal fires. He felt
lonely. Suddenly he remembered the torn book. He would investigate it. His
rough fingers had divided it in Luke’s Gospel. He began at the very
beginning: "And will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven
and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son."
Spellbound he read to the end of the story, and then a dozen questions
presented themselves. What had he done—the poor lost son? Why was he
exiled? Where had he been? What induced him to return? The questions haunted
him. "I wish I had the beginning of the story," he sighed. At first,
pride prevented him asking Jeanne for her part of the book.
Meanwhile Jeanne lived her monotonous days and used her leisure moments
poring over her part and spelling out its contents. She began to delight in it,
but when she reached the end, her interest was doubly quickened. That younger
son, his waywardness, his journey, his sin, his misery, and the wonderful
change in his thoughts: "I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my
father." There the story stopped.
But what happened? Did the father welcome him? Her tender heart longed for a
satisfactory answer. She even cried over the story, but she could not pick up
her courage to consult Jacques.
The days passed. On one, however, the rain poured down with extra vigour, and Jacques came home feeling specially
weary. He ate his soup and bread for supper as usual, and at last he blurted
out, "Jeanne, you remember the book I tore in two?"
"Oh, yes", said she, half-fearing.
"My part had in it a wonderful story, but only the end of it. I cannot
rest until I know the beginning of it. Bring me your piece."
"Oh, Jacques! How
wonderful!"
"Why?"
"The same story is ever in my mind, only I lack the ending. Did the
father receive the wilful son?"
"He did. But what was it that separated them?"
She brought her piece and knelt by his chair. Together they read the whole
of the beautiful parable, and the Spirit of God, who had been working in both
their hearts, caused its hidden meaning to dawn on them. That was the first of
many Bible readings by the firelight after the soup and bread were eaten, and
both have yielded their hearts and lives to the Lord Jesus Christ.
To them the parable of the prodigal son was an absolute novelty. To you it
is probably quite familiar, but has it ever raised in your mind the questions
that it did in theirs?
"How
Long Shall I Cry?"
"O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! Even cry out
unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? For
spoiling and violence are before me: And there are that raise
up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never
go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong
judgment proceedeth." (Habakkuk 1:2-4)
Habakkuk also saw some of the things that we see now in the present days. It
is very hard for anybody whose heart is turned from sin to righteousness to see
these things. Habakkuk began his prayer in a note of spiritual complaint—"How
long shall I cry and Thou wilt not hear! Why should you cause me to behold
grievance."
Some times when we see such things, we tend to get used to these things.
What is the general response of ordinary people? ‘Oh, we are only men,
how can we expect righteousness? This is the way of the world.’ But
God’s children respond in a different way. They bring their complaints
before the Lord. Why do they do so? They have a burden and the hope for a
better life. They know things need not continue like that. If we are faithful,
our prayers will be heard and conditions will change.
"But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence
before him" (Hab.
We have the great statement in the second chapter—"…the
just shall live by faith" (Vs.4) . This faith
makes us a loving force. Many people know the theory. They pick up some phrases
from the prayers of great men of God and pray wonderful prayers without knowing
what they mean. Are we going to be only those who know the theories?
We have got the potential to do mighty things. God has given us
enlightenment, the vision and the promises. But have we got the faith and the
persistence? In Habakkuk, we see that kind of faith. He did not give up. He did
not say, "This is hopeless, this country is hopeless." He still cried
for revival. He wanted to see the work of God renewed.
It is not right to be talking only of what took place ten years ago. That is
not real Christianity. You must be talking of what happens today. "Revive
your work in the midst of the years" (Hab. 3:2).
I feel so sad, that some people are becoming good intellectual Christians.
Christian habits are there: Bible reading is there; going alone for prayers is
there. But there is no vital faith. Overcoming life is not there. Is it not a
very serious situation? If I had settled down to a defeated Christianity I
would never have grown in the Lord. If you are excusing yourself in defeat,
that is not vital faith at all. Vital faith breaks through. God must create
changes.
There may not be even a palm of man’s hand in the sky. But the showers
must come. The blessing must come. That is faith. How many times Elijah sent
his servant to look at the sky! There is no cloud. "Oh, no, you must go
and see again." He sent his servant seven times. Suppose you were that
servant, you might have stopped after the third time murmuring about having to
give the same answer. Then Elijah’s prayer would have been interrupted.
He would have gone himself to see the horizon.
But the servant went seven times and came back with the message. "I see
a cloud as the palm of a man’s hand on the horizon." Elijah said,
"That is enough. Let us warn Ahab. I hear the sound of abundance of
rain." How can a little cloud bring such a deluge?
Let us look at practical things. Every one has to learn to overcome. There
is no exception. God will teach us to overcome. But we should not short-circuit
our own prayers by allowing sin in our lives. We must be very careful. We must
put away sin. There must not be anything in our lives that hinders prayer and
faith.
My main work in the early retreats was prayer. Not a minute was wasted. Not
an unnecessary word was spoken. A retreat was so precious. When we heard the
Word, it brought great inspiration. Much prayer went up for the work. Evidences
of revival began as a result of reviving in our hearts. We never had such
situations, where some young people sat under a shady tree and talked something
else. But people used to gather together for prayer. Soon there was revival and
God’s works were manifested amongst us. It must be so always with us.
- Joshua Daniel
Say What?
"He that covereth
his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy."
Proverbs 28:13
Causes
Of Confusion
"Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand
of the unrighteous and cruel man" (Psalm 71: 4).
The unrighteous men are cruel men. One need not kill us but he can stab us
with his ideas --- ideas that contradict the Word of God. Anyone that
contradicts the Word of God is an enemy of the Word and of God’s
children.
"My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy
hand with a stranger, Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth. Do this now,
my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go
humble thyself, and make sure thy friend" (Proverbs 6:1-3). We are not to
sell ourselves to our friends nor should we borrow their appealing ideas. And
sometimes even our parents may give us wrong ideas. Then we must show them the
Word of God. The Word of God alone should guide us.
Sometimes we are so friendly with people that we cannot easily break away
from them. Samson could not deliver himself till sudden destruction came upon
him.
It is a very sad thing to be brought into confusion in our lives. We come
into confusion when we accept thoughts contrary to the Word of God. We must be
careful about every knowledge that exalts itself
against God’s word. The aim of the evil one is to destroy your
personality by bringing in wrong ideas. Do not lend yourselves to friends that
are not truly Christians.
Your service can be limitless if you are entirely in the hands of your
loving God. God has a plan for you, a very loving plan. Do not sink your
personality in the pleasures of this world. God is pleading with you.
Sometimes confusion comes into us when we go down in prayer. Do not accept
too much responsibility which will interfere with your prayer life. Confusion
also comes when we accept spiritual responsibilities more than we can bear. The
clear will of God must be before you. Take part in the work of God. We are all
working as a team. Your oneness with us in the spirit is a great help. If all
of us do not take our due share in the work, some will be over-burdened and
they will come to confusion.
Let us pray for some of our friends who are far away and struggling to keep
their heads above the waters. We should also pray that we ourselves may not
come into confusion.
Do you under value your life? God has set a great value on your personality.
There is no one among you whom He cannot use in a mighty way. In your official
hours, when the stress of work is upon you, you must be able to go to the great
Rock for refuge. Let nothing come between you and God. Do not throw away your
usefulness. How carefully we bring up our own children! God also is careful to
teach and train us.
"Thou which hast shewed me great and sore
troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth"
(Psalm 71:20). However sore your troubles may be, God will keep your life out
of confusion.
Let us be careful about flattery. One who rebukes us and one who corrects us
is a true friend. The Word of God never flatters us. Tears are shed by the
watching angels when you deliberately reject the counsel of God and plunge
yourself into the hands of the wicked.
In Jesus’ life there was no confusion--- even on the Cross. Your
service to God will bring ten-fold returns to your own home and life.
- Late Mr. N. Daniel
Billy’s
Marbles
All the children were bringing gifts to put into the missionary box. A
missionary in far off
Billy had heard that others were sacrificing some of their most prized
possessions to put into the box. "What could a little boy like me send to
"Which of all these toys do I like best?" Billy asked himself,
picking up one after another. Then he came to his bag of marbles---marbles of
all colors. There were colored glass balls, and big ones with patterns like
twisted ribbons. "Ah," said Billy,
"wouldn’t the Missionary like these? And I would love to give them
to him because Jesus has done so much for me."
Running to his mother, Billy told her that he had decided his marbles should
go into the missionary box for
So she took the bag of marbles and put a note in the top, explaining that
they were Billy’s gift to Jesus. Then the box was packed by a man in the
church and finally was carried aboard a big ship to start its journey to
About this time the missionary was feeling downhearted. His message was not
being received by the natives, although he had prayed much and worked hard. Then
one day he heard that the headman of the village was coming to tell him he must
go away.
All unexpectedly the box came from
Then he came to Billy’s bag of marbles. "Marbles!" he
exclaimed aloud. "What do they think I want with marbles?" But in top
of the bag he found the little note Billy’s mother had written: Little
Billy wanted to send you his marbles," he read, "because he prized
them above all his other toys and wanted to give his best to Jesus."
"Well, well" exclaimed the missionary, "God bless little Billy
for sending me his precious marbles! Surely God has not forgotten."
What was that? Footsteps outside the missionary’s
small house. Then someone banged noisily on the door. "Who’s
there?" called the missionary. "The headman," came
the angry reply. "Lord, help me," Prayed the missionary quietly as he
went to the door. "I’ve come to tell you that you are to get out of
my village. We won’t have your teaching any more," said the headman.
You must go at once!"
Just then a Voice seemed to say to the missionary. "Show him the little
boy’s marbles." So hurrying back into the house, he brought out the
bag of marbles. "Look at what I received this morning, all the way from
The headman took them in his hand and rolled them across his palms.
"Wait," he said suddenly. "I will come back." And off he
dashed. In a few minutes he returned with several other village men. Before
long there were thirty men in the missionary’s house, all eager to see
Billy’s marbles.
"Now," said the missionary, "let me tell you a story about
Billy, the little boy in England, who loved Jesus so much that he wanted to
give the very best he had in order to help others to come to know Jesus
too."
The men listened with wide-open eyes. "Tell us more about your
God," they said. So then and there the missionary did. After that he had a
chance to teach them more and more about God. And as the people heard the
Gospel, how that Jesus suffered and died for their sins, and rose again the
third day, and lives to save all who put their trust in Him, they turned from their
heathen worship to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.
And all this happened because one little boy loved Jesus so much that he
gave his very best to Him.
-Selected