Recently I was able to finish reading the book Kept for the Master's Use, and what a book! I found it to be so encouraging, convicting and uplifting. A book that I will definitely be recommending to others and one that I will be reading again and again.
(And just as a little disclaimer . . . while there were a few things in it that I did not agree with [which seems to be pretty typical with most books other than the Bible :)] overall, it is an excellent book.)
When the last page of the last chapter was finished, I went back and read through all of the quotes that I had written down (and the large sections that I had written down page numbers for) . . . so many gems of wisdom that yet again, spoke to my heart. It is interesting to look back and see which chapters I gleaned the most from, and I wasn't surprised that "My Lips Kept for Him" was one of those!
Reading this chapter really spoke to my heart as being a person who is more of a 'talker' and who loves to visit with others, to have deep, thought provoking discussions, and more, and yet also one who has weaknesses in this area such as sometimes not thinking before I speak and times of being too passionate and/or not having my words be with grace, there was just so much encouragement and wisdom for me in these pages! Another aspect of it that was so applicable is with having a heart for evangelism and a desire to share about the Lord with others, there was much in this chapter that encouraged that.
Anyway, I hope that these selected portions from several of the chapters will be a blessing to you as they have been to me . . . .
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"'How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things!' [Romans 10:15]. . . if we want to have these beautiful feet, we must have the tidings ready which they are to bear. Let us ask Him to keep our hearts so freshly full of His good news of salvation, that our mouths may speak out of their abundance." (pg. 63)
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"And this is the way the Master keeps the lips of His servants, by so filling their hearts with His love that the outflow cannot be unloving, by so filling their thoughts that the utterance can not be un-Christlike. There must be filling before there can be pouring out; and if there is filling, there must be pouring out, for He hath said, 'Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.' (pg. 91-92; emphasis in the original)
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"Not one sentence that passes these lips of ours but must be an invisibly prolonged influence, not dying away into silence, but living away into the words and deeds of others." (pg. 95)
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"Literally, a consecrated life is and must be a life of denial of self. But all the effort and pain of it is changed into very delight. We love our Master; we know, surely and absolutely, that He is listening and watching our every word and way, and that He has called us to the privilege of walking 'worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.' And in so far as this is a reality to us, the identical things which are still self-denial in one sense, become actual self-delight in another." (pg. 115-116; emphasis in the original)
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"The love of Christ is not an absorbing, but a radiating, love. The more we love Him, the more we shall certainly love others." (pg. 154-155)
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"'For Thee!' That is the beginning and the end of the whole matter of consecration." (pg. 159)
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"For the Lord is our Keeper, and He is the Almighty and the Everlasting God, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. He will never change His mind about keeping us, and no man is able to pluck us out of His hand. Neither will Christ let us pluck us out of His hand . . . He that keepeth us will not slumber. Once having undertaken His vineyard, He will keep it night and day, till all the days and nights are over, and we know the full meaning of the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, unto which we are kept by His power.
And then, forever for Him! passing from the gracious keeping by faith for this little while to the glorious keeping in His presence for all eternity! . . . we showing forth His praise, and He showing the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us in the ages to come! He for us, and we for Him forever!"
(pg. 168-169; emphasis in the original)
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" . . . . henceforth it must be, shall be, and by His grace will be our true-hearted, whole-hearted cry -
Take myself, and I will be
Ever, ONLY, ALL for Thee!"
(pg. 185; emphasis in the original.)
-Posted by Sarah
