A Book of Daily Meditation

Thomas Parker Boyd, D.D., PhD

Table of Contents

Foreword

"Thou givest me this day my daily bread." Shall we eat today? Certainly if we would conserve strength. It is said that once Elijah went on the strength of a meal forty days, but to ordinary mortals under ordinary conditions we can do better with three meals per day at regular hours.

The purpose of this little book is to help the reader to cultivate the habit of regular feeding on the Word of Truth. There are "crumbs" for one in haste, "crackers" for a light repast, "biscuits" for a more leisurely meal, and full "loaves" for those who find time for, and delight in, the sustenance found in the eternal Truth. The Truth is "milk" for babes, "bread" for children, "meat" for strong men and women of mature digestive power, "honey" for those who like sweets, "jewels" for those who love adornment, "treasure" for those who desire riches.

There are single thoughts to be carried through the day as a motto to be repeated mentally and audibly when convenient. Many full meditations will richly repay regular study and practice, for in so doing they will feed and instruct the reader in the right way of meditation. There is something in this little volume that will help you, no matter what your need may be.

The arrangement of these meditations is in line with the title, a quotation from the "Law of the Spirit of Life," as found in the Scriptures, followed by the testimony of the human heart in all ages. Make the testimony your own by feeding upon it.

"To the Law and to the Testimony, if they speak not according to this Word, surely there is no morning for them." Isaiah 8:20.

The Silent Places

We learn by precept and example. We know things by putting them into practice. A theory remains a theory if no one puts it to the acid test of experience. The things we believe are so many useless pieces of junk. The things we know because we have proved them, are transmuted into the pure gold of experience, the highest standard of value.

We have all wondered at the glorious attainment of illumined souls and wished that we too might know the secret by which they climbed to the heights. For be sure that they climbed. If we knew the silent years, the patient waiting, the misunderstanding of friends, the crushing burdens, the Alpine barriers, they should disillusion us. We thought they had mounted up as the chosen of the gods, having everything in their favor.

Their pathway led far from the valleys of ease. Far from the noise and, strife of the daily turmoil they found the secret of attainment. In the silences! The desert, the mountain, the closet, the inner silence of the soul! These are the birthplaces of power. When some splendid soul begins to write a brilliant path of light on the sky to cheer and help the world, the hidden and silent years of waiting, and temptation, and buffeting come, until they cleansed his soul, toughened his moral muscles, and perfected his spiritual balance for his dizzy careering on the heights.

"Be still and know," is the formula of old. There is none other. "Enter into thy closet and shut the door, and pray in secret" is the way to find power to achieve openly. It took Moses forty years at the lonesome and onerous task of herding sheep to become still enough to hear what the Lord had been saying to him. Good and gracious God! Has our humanity been making such a racket that we could not hear what our divinity has been saying?! It took forty days in the desert to get ready to meet and vanquish the devil of that time. It took the Mount of Transfiguration to show the secret of mastery over disease. It took a night in Gethsemane to get ready to meet a cross. It took a death and burial to prove that we cannot die!

These are the silent places where we learn the secrets of life. It does not matter so much what our special trials are as does the manner in which we meet them. Nevertheless, we may be sure that we will find the secret of how to meet them in the Silence. The greater the task, the deeper is the need of repose to find and touch the secret of strength. The more life is beset with cares the greater the need to find the "still waters" where the soul’s divine poise is restored.

Every great soul has his or her way of going into the Silence. Sometimes it is in a place apart, and more often it is within. Meditation is carrying your problem into the Silence and holding it in the light of some word of wisdom from the Lord. As your mind atmospheres itself in His word, your problem is dissolved and its dross is melted away in the refinery of the spirit, and the pure gold of truth and right is left in your hand.

Practice entering the Silence until you learn that you carry the Silence with you always, and it is available even when life outwardly is thundering at you like a boiler shop. Have a system for the practice of meditation. At least until you have learned where the secret place of the Lord is. Have a time and place most favorable. Take that position in which your body is most comfortable. Relax both in body and mind. Breathe deeply for a few times. Turn your thoughts to God by thinking some word of His, such as are given in the exercises in the following chapters. Do not try to think of anything, but just hold to the text you have chosen, and soon the Spirit of Truth will begin to make Light and Truth arise within. Sometimes it will be a clear definite statement, and other times it will be a sense of peace or joy or strength. Then take the thought following the text or one that may come to you while in the Silence, and go forth with it as a motto for the day, to which your mind can turn at any moment.

Remember that it is not the act of going into the Silence, nor the form of words you use, nor the motto that you hold, but the state of consciousness attained. Remember that all words and phrases are but symbols, and if we do not get the reality symbolized, the repeating them is no more availing than the "sounding brass."

Your whole purpose is to touch the spirit of things rather than the things themselves. Prayer is much vain repetition unless the spirit of the prayer rises into communion with God. The cross itself is a fetish unless we perceive and partake of the spirit of service that it symbolizes. The matchless name of Jesus is powerless to help unless we see beyond the name to that which was embodied in Jesus Christ.

You, as a separate and independent life, are helpless, but in the realization that you are one and inseparable with God is the secret of all power. Your ills and evils grow as you notice them, but as you keep your face steadfastly beholding Him, they fade out into nothingness in the presence of His Reality. Heaven, as somewhere to go after you die, is a vain hope unless you have the kingdom of heaven within you. Why put off heaven? It is here and now within you and you within it.

The possession of material things is not wealth. Riches of consciousness are the abiding wealth, and may always be found expressing itself in material symbols. Poverty is a state of consciousness. The result of our wrong thinking. There wasn’t a poorhouse in the universe when God finished making it.

Sickness is the result of a state of consciousness. The real self within you is not sick nor can be. It is spirit, and spirit is never sick. Live in the realization that you are not body and soul, but you are Spirit. Your spirit is in the image of God, and that whatever is in the Divine Original is in the divine image. Get your bearings right as to the nature of your being, and you will shed your sickness and disease.

These meditations are to help you to this realization. Use them and they will help you as they have helped millions of earth’s children. They will disclose to you "the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus which makes us free from the law of sin and death." They will help you to live in the daily realization of your oneness with God.

The Mind of Christ

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." This state of consciousness, this realization of truth, the fact that the real mind within, is the same as the Mind of God. To be "like him" is the highest ideal attainment, yet it is steadily held before us as a possible realization. When we shall fully realize him in our consciousness, then we shall be like him. Identity in life and nature with him is set forth in a sevenfold personal symbolism in which the same illustrative names are used.

In Genesis 1:27 and 5:1 is given the clear statement that we were made in the image and likeness of God. In Genesis 5:3 the same terms are used concerning the generation of human beings as were used concerning the first human. The likeness of a child to its parent depends upon the child bearing certain characteristics of face and form that are found in the parent. If we are made in the image of God, then it follows that whatever is in the divine original is in some degree expressed in the divine image. Whatever God is in Reality, we, His image, are potentially.

Because God is we are. What God is we are. We have our being in God. We live our life in God. We are partakers of the Divine Nature. Because God is Love, the basic impulse in us is love. Because God is Absolute health, our very substance partakes of the health of God. Because God is infinite peace and we live in Him, we dwell in the very midst of perfect peace. Because God is the Universal Abundance, being all that there is, we partake of His abundance and our every need is supplied. To dwell upon these considerations is the best way to enter into the state of consciousness called, "the mind of Christ."

We have but to meditate on the long years of patient teaching by a devout mother, and the steady practice of the religious exercises of the time, and absorption of truth through familiarity with the Scriptures, and doubtless the habit of prayer and attendance on the public worship of Jehovah for a period of something like thirty years, to understand how such a wondrous spiritual consciousness could be realized.

Even after Christ began his public teaching, a steady evolution of his mind in its perception of the highest truth is apparent, as it applied to the lives of himself and others.

Let this mind then be in you – this steady and regular turning the attention to the higher things of life. Find time in the busiest day to lift your thoughts to the world of Absolute Truth. Turn your face frequently to the sun who rises in your consciousness with healing in his wings.

The presence of the Christ-mind in you will appear when you find yourself loving the things of nature–the birds, the flowers, the fields, the forests, the sea and all the forces about you.

You will know it when you are touched with the feeling of others infirmities, and find yourself trying to help them.

You will know it when you cease to lay emphasis on the sins and mistakes and diseases and sufferings of men, and talk and think and act in the light of God’s goodness and health and happiness in them.

You will know, because when you do the things that go with the Christ-mind, then the powers of the Christ-life will rest upon you. And when you have, within yourself, become like him, then "all power in heaven and earth will be given you" to use for blessing.

Meditation is an investment. The more you put into it the more you will get out of it.

Meditation Outline

If possible be in a quiet place.

Assume a position of perfect repose.

Relax in body and mind.

Breathe deeply a few times.

Be still, be still, be still.

Pray by thinking a thought of God.

Use the text and thought for the day.

Ask for illumination, that thoughts may come.

Let your imagination picture scenes, voices, words.

As you grow accustomed to meditation make notes of ideas that rise up in your mind.

Seek understanding–the perception of Reality.

Use your will to awaken hope, gratitude, joy, love.

Then be still, holding the best idea that has come to you.

Then give thanks. Use the gloria in excelsis: "Glory be to God on high, etc."

"We praise thee, we bless thee, we worship thee, we glorify thee, we give thanks to thee for thy great glory."

"We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life, etc."

And having been with thy Father who sees in secret, go forth, and thy Father who sees in secret shall demonstrate in thee openly.

A Prayer

"Acquaint now thyself with God and be at peace" Job 22:21.

Our Father, we come to Thee, seeking thy peace. We need thee today and every day. Help us to realize that we have thee always. We would acquaint ourselves with thee by becoming conscious always of thine indwelling presence.

We would know thee better by more clearly understanding thy Word. We would know thee better as thou art revealed in Nature. Give us the clearness of vision that sees thy wisdom and majesty in all created things. May the beauty, wonder and mystery be new every morning and fresh at eventide.

We would know thee better by association with those who are nearest to thee. Help us to recognize thee as revealed in every act of love and kindness among thy friends.

We would know thee better when we assemble in thy house to worship. Teach us to perceive the spirit back of the form. Give us the praying heart and the singing soul. Let thy harmony be heaven within us. Let our hearts truly say, "I was glad when they said, we will go into the house of the Lord."

We would learn some truth each day wherewith to illumine that day’s living. For we realize that to know thee and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent is Life Eternal.

O, Thou who art infinite in love, wisdom and power! We thank thee that we have found thee and with thee have found peace. Evermore thou art with us and in us. Amen.

Daily Meditations for a Week: Health

Sunday

"I am the Lord that heals thee" Exodus 15:26.

God is love, power, peace, health, wisdom, plenty, and righteousness. Every mental, material, or spiritual agent is merely a channel through which the divine agency flows for our welfare, or they are byways along which we travel up to the fountain head of all things. There is no place where he is not. We are not to look to him above the heavens for wonder-working power, but look to him within us where he abides with all power. "He works within us both to will and to do," while we are working out our salvation. Abide in this fact and "ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done." His divine power waits the action of your will. You may be well if you will. You may be happy and have success if you will. You are at one with him and all that he is and has is at your service. "Be it unto thee as thou wilt." The first half of all theology is in the sentence, "It shall come to pass." The second half is in the sentence, "And it came to pass."

Monday

"He sent His word and healed them" Psalm 107:20.

"But speak the word and my servant shall be healed" Matthew 8:8.

"The tongue of the wise is health" Proverbs 12:28.

"No word of God shall be void of power" Luke 1:37.

Let us learn anew today that "man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. " Marvelous words spoken through the experiences of his children in all ages and organized into human words. We read it again and again with new meaning and comfort. We hear it spoken in the great within and we are strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner soul. In that word sent out from God there is both food and medicine. It is milk for babes, bread for children, meat for those of strong powers of digestion, honey for those who love sweets, jewels for those who care for adornment, treasure for those who desire riches. Feed upon it and thy soul shall be strong to endure, wise to speak the word of health, and pure to reflect the image of the heavenly.

Tuesday

"The power of the Lord worked unto the healing of them" Luke 5:19.

"I have read once, yea twice, that power belongs to God" Psalm 62-11.

All power in heaven and earth is pledged and given for the welfare of His people. Power is the title of the greatest anthem of the universe. Every breeze that blows; every brook that ripples on its way to the sea; every star that burns in the sky; every tide-throb of the ocean’s heart; all these are but strains of the anthem that reaches its climax in the still small voice with which God whispers in the ear of the soul. Over the front door of all there is hung the sign, "power to let." We have only to furnish it a channel in which to flow, step in and be healed. Maybe we shall find it in the sermon, song, lecture, quiet meditation, or strenuous action, or in the touch of a trained and potent hand, or the word of a master, or the ministry of a sympathetic physician, or a skilled surgeon. These are among the powers ordained of God, and through them the power of the Lord still works to the healing of men.

Wednesday

"Take some food for this is for your health" Acts 27:34.

"The sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings" Malachi 4:2.

"Who is the health of thy countenance and thy God" Psalm 42:11.

Here are three things which add much to health: Food, sunshine, cheerfulness. Proper food, correctly eaten, is essential. A study of dietetics reveals to us the fact that our food contains the very same elements of which our bodies are made. Too much of anyone item of food may destroy the harmony of the body. Bacon and bile are responsible for a lot of the meanness in the world. Study your diet. Eat simpler foods, more fruits and vegetables, less meats. Chew well. Take your time; Think while you eat that you are furnishing materials to make the body strong. Breathe deeply of the air on which the sun is shining. It is antiseptic to all germs, both material and mental. Face the sun. Don’t stand in your own light. Keep the windows open toward Jerusalem. Cultivate a cheerful countenance, Let your face shine. Keep smiling. These three things will end tuberculosis and all other wasting forms of disease. And for the doing of them God will "lift up the light of His countenance and give you peace."

Thursday

"And be converted and I should heal them" John 12:40.

Health and an uneasy conscience are incompatible. Divine forgiveness and health for the whole person seem to act as cause and effect. "Which is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or Take up thy bed and walk?" Disease is one form in which violation of the law takes expression. Evil of any sort arises from this cause. "Cease to do evil. Learn to do well." Learn to eat, drink, breathe, sleep, and act in harmony with the law that applies to that part of your nature, and "thy peace shall flow as a river," and "it shall be health to thy navel."

Friday

"Virtue went out of him and healed them all" Luke 6:10.

Wonderful hands of Jesus in which the power of the eternal Christ wrought to heal all manner of sickness and disease. Hands that touched life at every possible point of expression, and it became luminous with health. Think what it meant to look in his face, to feel the touch of his hands, to hear the music of his voice. and even to "touch the hem of his garment." And then think that the same eternal Christ that empowered him will so work in any human life that will learn to say, "I live and yet not I but Christ lives in me." He said, "The work that I do shall ye do, and greater works shall ye do." You know that such power still dwells with men. Remember the power of a mother’s kiss to heal her child’s hurts. Or the touch of some friend whose virile hand soothes your frazzled nerves, and calms your vexed soul. Let "Christ dwell in you," and let every contact of your life be with the intention of health and comfort, and the power of the "Christ in you" will go out to heal.

Saturday

"Thy faith hath made thee whole" Mark 10:52.

"All things are possible to him who believes" Mark 10:52.

Faith is the first of the cardinal virtues. To it we are to add power, and to that power, understanding, and to that, self-control. Faith is the bed-rock principle when we start to build a well body, a calm, strong mentality, or a conquering spirit. Faith is just intelligent confidence in something or somebody. It is invincible in connection with action. Without works it is dead. It must believe the God of health, and then do the things that make for health. In this way it faces the impossible and cries, it shall be done, and it is. There are no limitations. All things are possible to this combination. We usually do what we believe we can do. We get what we believe we shall get. We become what we believe we shall become. Cultivate your faith by getting it into action. Believe and keep right on believing and doing, and all things are yours.

Daily Meditations for a Week: Prayer

Sunday

"If thou bring thy gift to the altar and there remember that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift, go first and be reconciled with thy brother and then come and offer thy gift" Matthew 5:23-4.

As you enter the temple today, be sure to prepare for the service that you are about to offer. It is not that you have something against your brother, but that he has something against you. You are not supposed to hold anything against him if you are going to pray. But he may hold something against you. Go to him first alone, then with another. If you fail you have at least cleared your own mind and heart, and have added strength so that his ill feeling will not harm you. There are some people you can’t get along happily together with, in any relation, and when you can’t you’d better get along happily apart. The only attitude toward some people is, "Father forgive them, they know not what they do."

Monday

"Shall not God avenge His own elect though He bear long with them?" Luke 18:7.

Vindication and not vengeance is the idea here. Wait for God’s vindication though it be long in coming. Importunity does not change God’s purpose, but it strengthens the purpose of God in you until it ceases to be a guess and becomes a certainty. Importunity steadily builds up faith and will-power and concentrates the psychic energies until they attract into the soul the Divine blessing, as the magnet draws iron.

Tuesday

"Lifting up holy hands without wrath, and without doubting" 1 Timothy 2:8.

The attitude of the hands is not enough; they must be hands which have not defrauded a neighbor in goods, or reputation, by word or thought. Wrath has no place in a praying spirit. Doubting binds the wings of inspiration. Love and trust alone can help the soul to an audience with the most High. Clean hands and a pure heart are the passwords at the gateway of prayer.

Wednesday

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" John 1:9.

Confession clears the soul of its fog and miasmas, so that the sunshine of heaven may lighten it. Confession gets the debris out of the channels 0f life so that the tides of health and righteousness may flow in, bringing everlasting peace, and comfort, and content. Confession is the golden stairway at whose every step the soul sheds the garments of gloom, and the leaden weights of misdoing, and opens up an highway along which we may run and not be weary, walk and not faint, and with patience and joy realize the goal.

Thursday

"If ye abide in me and my words abide in you ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you" John 15:7.

Here is a double abiding. Something of us must abide in God and something of God must abide in us. Abiding in Him is to live in the Spirit of the Christ in whom was no evil, nor was guile found in his mouth; who could challenge his enemies with "which of you convinces me of sin?"; whose life was epitomized in the words of a single sentence, "He went about doing good." His words all proceed from the one basic truth of the oneness of humanity with God. To so abide in Him and let this truth fully abide in us will enable us to ask according to His will and in His name, and know the answer to prayer.

Friday

"If you believe, all things are possible to him who believes" Mark 9:23.

Why couldn’t the disciples cast out the epileptic devil? They didn’t believe that they could. Why didn’t they remove mountains, etc.? They didn’t believe they could. Why do we ever fail? Because we do not believe that we can do or be the thing we seek. And that lack of faith leaves the boundless forces of God within us unused. Get acquainted with God. Know His boundless resources, His perfect character, His matchless grace, and you can’t help having faith. Then you shall ask what you will and it shall be done.

Saturday

"If two of you shall agree as touching anything it shall be done" Matthew 18:19.

Sometimes the trouble is so real and so firmly planted in our consciousness that we are unable to turn the thoughts away from it to the spiritual fact that God who dwells in us is perfect health. Then the Master said that we might properly call to our aid someone who clearly sees the healing truth, but does not stand in the atmosphere of the trouble, and so is able with undimmed vision to help hold our minds and hearts on the healing truth till we become fully conscious of it, and unconscious of the trouble.

Daily Meditations for a Week: Good Cheer

Sunday

"Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee" Matthew 9:2.

He was not looking for spiritual blessing, but rather for physical health. but he found the two bound up together. It was as easy to say one as the other. The fact that He could say one gave him authority to say the other, and he could not say one without including the other. Get all of your birthright. Claim all that is coming to you as a son of God.

Monday

"Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer, for I believe God that it shall be as it was told me" Acts 27:25.

An angel, a messenger of God whose he was and whom he served, had stood by him during the night. So often they are standing by but we are not aware of it. They speak and we do not hear, at least do not heed. There is good cheer in knowing that His messengers are always near to help; there is more cheer in the fact that most of God’s angels are human angels, and that we may stand with them and serve. Believe the messenger and it shall be as it was told you.

Tuesday

"Then were they all of good cheer" Acts 27:36.

Long fasting, arduous toils, and exhausting tasks will drain the most opulent nervous resources. Power goes out at every touch of real helpfulness. Sometimes we find a quiet spot on the mountains, or in the desert. We have the Master’s example for it. We need nourishing food at proper intervals. We must have rest in sleep and change of occupation. The mind must be fed with the truth, and the spirit must be illuminated through prayer, meditation, and praise. Then our blues will vanish, our doubts dissolve, our fears and ghosts of worry will be laid, and we shall be of good cheer.

Wednesday

"He that shows mercy let him do it with cheerfulness" Romans 12:8.

A good Samaritan with a scowling face is hard to conceive. A merciful man with a grouch, or a snarl in his voice, or disposition will be called upon to wonder why people do not understand him. Show mercy with cheerfulness. All such shall obtain mercy. Those who show mercy because it is "good business" or "politics" will find that it isn’t counted in the mercy column.

Thursday

"The Lord loves a hilarious giver" 2 Corinthians 9:7.

In all other service cheerfulness is in the positive degree, but when it comes to giving as the Lord prospers cheerfulness reaches the superlative degree and if he reaches the standard he must be cheerful to the point of being hilarious, for so the text reads. I have always wanted to hear some one shout when the missionary offering was taken, when the subscription was taken for the widow and the fatherless. But such hilarity does not seem to be fashionable. Get the hilarious spirit in your giving.

Friday

"Stephen’s face shone as it had been the face of an angel" Acts 6:15.

Consider my brother, Stephen, whose face shone when he was called on to die for his Lord. How the light within shined out and they beheld the light of heaven on his face. A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, and does good like a medicine. Keep cheerful within. Whistle rather than whine. Smile rather than frown. Shorten up your face and widen it out, for there is health in the process.

Saturday

"Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" John 16:33.

It is enough that you be like your Lord, who did not escape the ills that the world could do to him, but who overcame them and so triumphed over them that even his death was regarded a triumph over evil. Paul gloried in tribulations. He found power to serve through the very trials he endured. Cheerfulness puts a glove on the iron hand of trouble.

Daily Meditations for a Week: Trust

Sunday

"They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved" Psalm 125-1.

Trust puts your feet on the bed rock; rests your life on immovable strength; here you can face any condition and say "I shall not be greatly moved."

Monday

"Thou art my trust from my youth" Psalm 71:5.

Trust is the habit of life in a normal Christian. His first and last impulse is to trust. He begins by trusting and repetition of the act of trust produces the habit of trust, so that it is the normal state for him to say "I will trust and not be afraid."

Tuesday

"Trust in the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed" Psalm 37:3.

Trust and work go hand in hand. There is a time to be still and hear the word of God, and there is a time to hustle and do the works of God. One without the other is dead, at least ineffective. The law of business prosperity is "Diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord."

Wednesday

"Though he slay me yet will I trust Him" Job 13:15.

Shall we trust only when we receive the good things of life? Trust is adjusted to the ills of life. In fact it does not become real trust until we get where we cannot see the outcome, then trust becomes a triumphant force in our lives. No matter what comes, I will trust that it is the Father’s good purpose to give me the kingdom.

Thursday

"Put not your trust in princes, men, Egypt, riches, yourselves" Psalm 146:3, et al.

How true all this record is. Most of us have proved it. We have trusted in friends – they have failed us. We have trusted in people in position (princes) – they have failed us. We have trusted in money – it has vanished away. There remains God, the same always. All other trust proves vain. He never fails.

Friday

"The bow shall be seen in the cloud" Genesis 9:14.

The rainbow of trust has seven colors; they are defense, deliverance, security, guidance, prosperity, perfect peace, a joyful heart. You will find them in the Bible, and you ought to find them in your own life. The old fable of a pot of gold at the foot of the rainbow is fulfilled in this rainbow of trust.

Saturday

"Go, and Jehovah shall be with thee" 1 Samuel 17:37.

Consider David as exemplifying trust. Facing the giant whom no man in Israel dared engage in combat. Declaring that he went forth trusting in the arm of the Lord his God. The giant believed that the Lord was on the side of the strongest man. David said that trust made him the victor. The giant confessed that such a thing never entered his head before. Consider Jehosaphat, and Shadrach, and Joseph, and all those who have trusted in God’s vindication, and you will not be greatly moved.

Daily Meditations for a Week: Fear Cure

Sunday

"Fear not for I am with thee, be not dismayed for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, I will help thee, yea I will uphold thee" Isaiah 41:10.

"The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear" Psalm 27:1.

God is the remedy for fear. Dwell upon the fact of your oneness with Him. Ascend into the consciousness of a divine life, meditate upon this truth. Affirm it until you pass from objective affirmation into subjective experience, and you will find yourself living above the fogs. Calm and secure from the menace of the specters of fear, safe behind this mighty breakwater, "I-I-I" against which the waves of danger and adversity dash in vain.

Monday

"Fear not Paul, for thou must be brought before Caesar" Acts 27:24.

A person with a destiny has naught to fear. Nothing can thwart God’s far-reaching purpose to manifest Himself in the human life. And He has some good purpose in your life. Find out what it is. Move forward to its accomplishment, and neither perils of land, nor sea, nor false brethren, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature can separate you from His loving purpose.

Tuesday

"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him." Psalm 25:14.

The secret of mathematics is with the mathematician. The secret of wisdom is with the understanding heart. The secret of the Lord is with them that reverently learn of Him. Be still and know Him. Let Him speak, or rather get still enough to hear what He is already saying. Maybe your humanness is making such a racket that you cannot hear the divine voice. Enter the Silence and He will teach thee His own secrets.

Wednesday

"Fear not Joseph – Fear not Mary" Matthew 1-20; Luke 1-30.

Find here the cure for the terrors of maternity. Who knows what manner of child this shall be. Know you not, shrinking one, that all generations may call you blessed; You are to give the world a new incarnation of God’s life. And for this joy you can endure your cross, despise the shame, and reign as a co-worker with God.

Thursday

"The fear of man brings a snare" Proverbs 29:25.

"The thing which I greatly feared is come upon me." Job 3-25.

Fear paralyzes the nerve center of achievement. Fear gives hostages to the enemy, and opens the gates to the citadel of the soul. It invites all evil to come in, and offers a cup of tea and wafers as a bid to come again. The question of the Old Testament is – "Where art thou?" Fear – hiding from God. The first question of the New Testament is – "Where is He?" Love – returning to God to worship.

Friday

"God so loved the world that He gave" John 3-16.

"How shall He not freely give us all things" Romans 8-32.

"Perfect Love casts out fear" 1 John 4-18.

Every poison has its antidote. Every poisonous moral idea has its antidote. Love is the antidote for fear. Grasp the greatness of a love that includes all things for its object. Get the language of loving which is giving. Think of Infinite love pouring into your life freely of all things needful, and ask yourself where there is room for fear or anxiety as to food, raiment, safety or aught else. Perfect love casts out fear.

Saturday

"Might serve Him without fear" Luke 1:74.

Think of the people who all their lives are in bondage to fear – when the Magna Charta of the Christian faith guarantees the right to live free from fear. One fears for the order of things – God lives. Another fears for the faith – Truth never dies. One fears for the Church – The gates of hell cannot prevail against the real Church of Christ, for He ever lives in it. "Lo, I am with you always" – and that is enough.

Daily Meditations for a Week: Comfort

Sunday

"Thy merciful kindness is for my comfort" Psalm 119-76.

"For as high as the heavens is above the earth. So great is His mercy toward them that fear Him." Psalm 103:11.

Our hope is in His mercy. It is a great hope. And it reaches to that hidden heart of things within the veil where only the eye of the spirit sees. His mercy and kindness are bounded by the heavens above, all depths beneath, and by the East and West on either side. Travel which way you will there are no bounds. Topless, bottomless. boundless is the spiritual geography of God’s mercy and kindness. It cannot fail, and it cannot miss you.

Monday

"The Father of Mercies and the God of all comfort" 2 Corinthians 1:3.

"I, even I, am He that comforts you" Isaiah 51:12.

"As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort thee" Isaiah 66:13.

The Comforter Himself, a person with all the insignia of personality, Consciousness, Character and Will. The God of the true faith of all ages. And not a blind, heartless, soulless, purposeless principle. "I, even I." You have to do with somebody, and he cares, and great is the comfort.

Tuesday

"In the comfort of the Holy Ghost" Acts 9:3.

"He shalt give you another comforter" John 14:16.

"But the Comforter the Holy Ghost" John 14:25.

"When the Comforter is come" John 15:26.

The official comforter. The need of the world is so great that we are given an official manifestation of the person of God whose supreme work is to comfort His people. He does it by guiding us into all truth and the truth makes us free. He takes the things of Jesus and shows them to us, specially revealing our oneness with the Father which guarantees us the inheritance of all things now. The comforter abides with us forever. We read of the wrath of God and of the Lamb, but never of the Comforter. He is never angry. He never fails. His gentleness shall make thee great.

Wednesday

"The comfort of the Scriptures" Romans 15:4.

"Thy rod and staff, they comfort me" Psalm 23:4.

"Comfort one another with these words" 1 Thessalonians 4:15.

"This is my comfort –Thy word" Psalm 119:50.

His word is our comfort. It is the organized experiences of His people. It is the story of His unfolding in the consciousness of the race. And with one voice they bid us hope in Him for comfort. Even the rod of affliction turns out to be the staff of strength. The darkest night rejoices in the outgoings of the morning. Sorrow so deep that it hides between soul and spirit, and the joints and marrow is pierced and illumined by His word of comfort. It is not alone His word to Isaiah or Daniel but His word to thee.

Thursday

"Daughter, be of good comfort, thy Faith hath saved thee" Matthew 9:22.

"And to comfort you concerning your faith" 1 Thessalonians 3:2.

Comfort is according to your faith. Ye believe in God, believe ye also in His indwelling in flesh in you. Repeat the incarnation in yourself. Translate it put of creeds into daily life. Express today something of the love, peace, patience of God. You can do it if you only believe you can, and get busy, and you will find one of the great surprises of life. The language of faith is–"It shall be done;" And your experience shall answer, "It is."

Friday

"Comfort ye – my people" Isaiah 40:1.

"We were comforted in your comfort" 2 Corinthians 7:13.

The best way to find comfort is to find someone who is in greater need of it than yourself, and comfort them. You can find them, plenty of them in whose presence you will say, "my trouble is nothing compared to this." And as you speak the comforting word it reacts upon yourself. The heart of the wise person is in the house of mourning. It is a grand central station on the trunk line of comfort.

Saturday

"The servants of David came to comfort him" 1 Chronicles 19:2.

"To comfort them concerning their brother" John 11:19.

"His sons rose up to comfort him" Genesis 37:35.

The noblest ministry of this life is to be a comforter. To this are we all called. To speak the helpful word; to press with strength the weak hand; to bear up the faltering step; to sing the inspiring song; to be calm in the presence of trouble; to send out over turbulent wind and wave the thought, "peace, be still." Do this and you will fulfill the mission of a comforter , and great will be your own comfort.

Daily Meditations for a Week: Peace

Sunday

"Acquaint now thyself with Him and be at peace." Job 22-21.

Today is a day of peace. The sound of toil is hushed. Business reposes. The Social whirl gives respite. Tired Nature whispers peace. Ten thousand sanctuaries breathe "peace on earth." Remember the Sanctuary. Turn thither thy footsteps, be glad when they say "Let us enter the house of the Lord." Or, lacking that, turn thy thought into the temple of the Holy Ghost–thy body. Entering either say, "The Lord is in His Holy temple." Yes, he is there. "Keep silence before him." Learn to be still before him, so that you may hear the "still, small voice," and receive "those things which are requisite and necessary as well for the body as the soul." Get acquainted by hearing of Him out of the Bible, the record of his character and resources as unfolded to and through his people. Learn of him by this volume of organized experiences of the race. Catch the spirit of Praise and triumph in the Gloria, the Sanctus, and the Hallelujahs! Count yourself in, and one with them; one with Him. Come forth to walk with Him, and the "Peace of God that passes all understanding" shall go with you and keep you.

Monday

"Great peace have they that love thy Law" Psalm 119:165.

Today the wheels of industry start again. How shall we do the most with the least wear and tear? By respect to the law of cause and effect. Love of His law is the cause. Great peace is the effect. To know his law is to love it and keep it. Know the law for thy body–regular habits religiously followed, plain, wholesome food, pure water, fresh air, vigorous exercise, rest, and sound sleep. Incline thy heart to keep this law, and so shall you "live, move and have your being in Him," and you will have great peace in your body. Know and keep the law of prosperity, viz: "Be diligent in business, fervent in Spirit, serving the Lord," "for it is the Lord that teaches thee to get money." "Honor the Lord with thy Substance and so shall thy presses break forth with new wine." Count thyself the Steward of God’s riches and he shall prosper thee. Keep the law of thy mind, by bringing every thought into subjection unto Christ. Keep thy mind free from hurry by remembering that sufficient unto the day is the task thereof. Do your duties like the clock–a tick at a time. Keep your heart free from worry by knowing that "no man by worrying can add a cubit to his stature." What have you of duty or possession that is not from him, and will be returned to him when you are done with it. He does not demand success. He only asks faithfulness, and gives the success as effect follows cause.

Tuesday

"Peace I leave with you" John 14:27.

Don’t wait for some rich relative to die! Here is a bequest, the greatest thing in the world. And it is yours. Claim it as yours by right. Make it yours by choice. Claim it in full. Move in and take full possession with all that you are and have. Rise to the height of a great decision. Say with Moses "there shall not be a hoof left behind." Begin now to think and to act as the heir, the inheritor, the possessor. Do it now.

Wednesday

"My peace I give unto you" John 14:27.

Today a great gift is yours. You don’t have to work for it, nor earn it, nor pay for it, nor persuade the Master to give it. It is already given. It is yours. Receive it and say "thank you." You always do that don’t you when a gift is bestowed? Begin to enjoy it. "My peace." What matters now if pharisees deride; if enemies criticize; or even friends find fault? Calmly shall you move through it all, kept in the same peace that kept Him. Friends fail and desert. Critics are harsh and say you are crazy. Religious authorities call you a heretic, earthly tribunals are unjust. He held his peace. And his peace shall hold you.

Thursday

"Peace be multiplied unto you by the knowledge of God" 2 Pet. 1-2.

The mathematics of peace. The size of the product of the two numbers depends on the size of the multiplier and the character depends on the multiplicand. Glorious Beatitude – peace. Tremendous multiplier – the Knowledge of God. Mark you, it is multiplied not by God, but by the knowledge of God – your knowledge of Him. What do you know of Him, His character as read in the experiences of his people? His resources as seen in those who are his? Be still, and let him speak to thee: or rather be still and hear what he has so long been speaking. Hear the whispers of fathomless love; catch the theme of his matchless Grace – feel the uplift of Infinite strength; note the pathos of endless patience; join in the Te Deum of his excellent Glory. The power is within you to know these, and then watch the sum of peace being magnified in your life.

Friday

"Peace, be still" Mark 4-39.

Say you it is the day of trouble? Things go wrong. Nerves are unstrung. Bad day for journeys, business undertakings? All the venerable hoodoos of superstition walk today and make it Black Friday. Nay rather call it Good Friday – a day on which long ago unselfish life was glorified. Meet Friday superstitions, which lash into foam the surface of things and hurl breakers against your frail craft threatening to engulf it, with the mighty, authoritative command of the Christ within you – "Peace" be still" – and there will be a great calm in your tempestuous life and the poise of your soul will be undisturbed.

Saturday

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusts in Thee" Isaiah 26-3.

Today the tangled ends of the week’s undertakings must be gathered and woven into some permanence. That which is done or undone we must leave under lock and key. Out of it the treasures of other weeks shall grow, with all its good or otherwise. Good Master, I must leave it with thee, trusting that "all things work together for good to them that love God." My imagination is stayed on perfection. My trust lays hold of the rock of ages and on this tree of trust grows the fruit of peace. Perfect trust brings perfect peace. Trust and keep right on trusting. It is a habit. Get the habit and peace shall clothe thee as a garment. And all life’s Saturdays shall close in peace.

Daily Meditation for a Month: The Unity of Life

(Begin the day with a silent prayer, and take the verse for the day with the thought for affirmation, and let the mind return to it many times during the day. At night offer a prayer of thanks for the help received.)

Daily Meditation for a Month: The Ever Present Friend

(Begin the day with a silent prayer, and take the verse for the day with the thought for affirmation, and let the mind return to it many times during the day. At night offer a prayer of thanks for the help received.)

Daily Meditation for a Month: Help