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Stay Close to Jesus, January 24
Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my
right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward
receive me to glory.
Psalm 73:23, 24
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Before you engage in any important work, remember that Jesus is your
counselor, and that it is your privilege to cast all your care upon Him....
Do not keep Jesus in the background and never mention His name, never
call the attention of your friends to Him who is at your side to be your
counselor. Would not your friends look upon you as disrespectful were
they at your side, and you never spoke to them or of them? ...
Many complain that Jesus seems a long way off. Who has placed
Him a long way off? Has it not been your own course of action that has
separated you from Jesus? He has not forsaken you, but you have forsaken
Him for other lovers.... It is when you wander from His side, and are
charmed with the voice of the seducer, and fasten your affections upon
some trifling thing, that you are in danger of losing your peace and trust
and confidence in God.... Then it is that Satan presents to you the thought
that Jesus has forsaken you; but is it not that you have forsaken Jesus? ...
We dare not let His name languish on our lips, and His love and memory
die out of our hearts.
“Well,” says the cold, formal professor, “this is making Christ too
much like a human being”; but the Word of God warrants us to have
these very ideas. It is the want of these practical, definite views of Christ,
that hinders so many from having a genuine experience in the knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This is the reason that many are
fearing and doubting and mourning. Their ideas of Christ and the plan
of salvation are vague, dreary, and confused. If they had, like David, set
the Lord ever before them,... their feet would be upon solid rock. Behold
Jesus crucified for you. Behold Him grieved with your sins; and when
you pray, repent, and earnestly desire to see Him as your sin-pardoning
Redeemer, ready to bless you, and to hear your acknowledgment of Him.
Keep close to His side.
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