#16 The Devotional Use of the Bible

   Samuel Chadwick: Have we still got a Bible we can take into the Holy place? The most disastrous result of paganizing the Bible is that it has so largely fallen into disuse as a book of devotion.

   An honest man cannot pray through a discredited book. Truth is as essential to man as to God. If he is to worship, he must worship in spirit and in truth. (Google image, Woman reading the Bible)

#15 The Word of God and Prayer

   Samuel Chadwick: The Word of God quickens the soul and instructs it in prayer. The Psalmist speaks for all who pray when he confesses to seasons when the soul could not find its wings:

   "My soul cleaveth unto the dust; quicken Thou me according to Thy Word." It is always to the Word of God he turns for reviving and instruction. St. Paul links together the Word of God and Prayer. (Google image, The Word of God)

Why is Forgiveness Important?

Jean Oathout: "Forgiveness is not easy – but it is necessary if we want to experience peace and joy.

   Part of forgiveness is releasing the person from the debt we think they owe us. Refusing to do so extinguishes our joy. (Google image, I'm sowwy please forgive me). 

#14 The Word of God in Holy Presence

Samuel Chadwick: I never take any book but the Bible into the secret place. It is my prayer book. I seek no external aids to devotion, such as the Cross or Crucifix.

   I have no altar but the one within the veil. Other minds have other ways. Most people have some devotional classic, but I do not take even my hymn book. (Google image, Man reading Bible)

#13 How Can We Secure the Closed Door?

   Samuel Chadwick: How is it possible to keep the world from coming in and the mind from straying out? Concentration on any subject is a severe strain upon the mind, and nowhere is it so difficult as in the place and practice of private prayer.

   An enemy is there to raise bogies, excite conscience, jog memory, and direct invaders of the sacred hour. Some simple device will usually secure the secret place from intrusion. (Google image, Praying in secret)

True Humility

   Mrs. Frannie Erb- Humility is not an attitude, but a stern reality born out of deep, crushing, crucifying experiences that leave the soul without a single trace of bitterness, retaliation, or rebellion.

   On one hand it makes the soul bendable, teachable, leadable, submissive and passive in God's hands. On the other hand it makes it unbendable, uncompromising, solid, established and fixed for God and true holiness. (Google image, Good looking young man)

#12 The Inner Room and the Closed Door

Samuel Chadwick:  "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall recompense thee" (Matt. 6:6).

   There are two difficulties awaiting us at the threshold of this command. One is that many have no inner chamber. There is no place in their lives for privacy. 
(Google image, Time alone with God)

#11 The Hill of the Lord

Samuel Chadwick: The way into the Holy Presence is not a thoroughfare. The inner chamber into which a man goes is his own, but it is the Presence of God that makes it a holy place.

   To a secular mind there would be no Presence. It is the seeking soul that finds. There are some people to whom no audience is given. There are souls that cannot pray. (Google image, Light on hands of prayer)

Successful Families Don't Just Happen by Chance

Dr. James Dobson: Every spouse and parent knows it takes commitment, sacrifice, and great intentionality. 

At Family Talk, we want to help you make your family succeed. (Google image, Man and woman talking)

#10 The Silent Spaces of the Soul

   Samuel Chadwick: The soul needs its silent spaces. It is in them we learn to pray. There, alone, shut in with God, our Lord bids us pray to our Father who is in the secret place and who sees in secret.

   There is no test like solitude. Fear takes possession of most minds in the stillness of the solitary place. The heart shrinks from being alone with God who sees in secret! (Google image, Getting alone with God)

#9 The Secret Place

   Samuel Chadwick- Those who come to learn are disciples. They put themselves under the yoke of him from whom they seek to learn, and the first condition of learning is a teachable spirit.

   Our Lord has the authority to teach, and He Himself is Example as well as Instructor. There is no appeal beyond Him. Having besought Him to teach us how to pray, we surrender mind and heart to His teaching and yield all to the discipline of loyal and believing obedience. (Google image, Lord, teach us to pray )

My Rainbow in the the Cloud

"I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth" (Genesis 9:13). 

   It is the will of God that human beings should get into a right-standing relationship with Him, and His covenants are designed for this purpose. Why doesn’t God save me? (Google image, Real rainbow).