Is praying enough?

     When Martin Luther set out on the work which shook the world his friend

Myconius expressed sympathy. “But,” he said, “I can best help where I am. I

will remain and pray while you toil.” Myconius prayed day by day, but as he

prayed he began to feel uncomfortable. One night he had a dream. He

thought the Saviour Himself approached and showed him his hands and feet.

     He saw the fountain in which he had been cleansed from sin. Then looking

earnestly into his eyes the Saviour said, “Follow me.” The Lord took him to a

lofty mountain and pointed eastward. Looking in that direction Myconius

saw a plain stretching away to the horizon. It was dotted with white

sheep–thousands and thousands of them. One man was trying to shepherd

them all. The man was Luther. The Saviour pointed westward. Myconius

saw a great field of standing corn. One reaper was trying to harvest it all.

     The lonely laborer was spent and exhausted, but still he persisted in his task.

Myconius recognized in the solitary reaper his old friend Luther. “It is not

enough,” said Myconius when he awakened, “that I should pray. The sheep

must be shepherded; the fields must be reaped. Here am I; send me.” And he

went out and shared his old friend’s labors. –From The Fiery Crags, by

Boreham

Second fiddles

     The man who won D. L. Moody to the Lord was a second fiddle, whose name

has been forgotten by most people. But what a marvelous work that was!

The man who won C. I. Scofield to the Lord was an individual whose name

seldom appears in print, but what a mighty work he did! The man who won

Spurgeon was an obscure fellow, but his work still bears fruit around the

world. There are times when God holds us in second place because there lies

the work which he has for us to do. –Gospel Herald

What is grace?

What is grace? It’s what someone gives us out of the goodness of his heart,

not out of the perfection of ours. The story of grace is the good news that

says that when we come, he gives. That’s what grace is…. Grace is

something you did not expect. It is something you certainly could never earn.

     But grace is something you’d never turn down. You know what happens

when someone sees the grace of God? When someone really tastes the

forgiving and liberating grace of God? Some one who tastes God’s grace is

the hardest worker, the most morally pure individual, and the person most

willing to forgive. –Max Lucado