In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst,
​let him come unto me, and drink. 
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly
shall flow rivers of living water. Joh 7:37-38

As 2025 comes to an end, I've asked the Lord for His heart on the coming year, and what He'd like me to focus on in prayer for the coming year of 2026. I received this devotion, because as I read it, the Holy Spirit came upon me in a peculiar way, full of the love of God, for his wandering, rebellious people, groping in the darkness. These verses are Jesus' heart cry for those in this world, who find themselves in various stations of anxiousness, blindness, looking for satisfaction, happiness, and fulfillment in things that cannot quench the thirst in their souls, that only Jesus can supply. Even though they may not be consciously aware of it, their soul longs for sincere, true love, a love that isn't fickle, for a love that will sustain them, in whatever they may be facing in life. To know the peace and stability, of knowing their souls are connected to the Eternal God, and their life has purpose, and a sure foundation.
 
Only a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ can supply these needs. It's not a religion, it's a relationship with the living God. Jesus promises that He's gone to prepare a place for us, but unless we are honest with Him, and come to Him as we are-sinners in need of a Savior, we continue to wander in darkness, and look for what the world offers, to fulfill the deepest needs of our hearts and souls. Many never come to the place that they can be honest with themselves, and admit, they cannot make themselves good enough to stand before a holy God, and be justified. Our hearts condemn us, because we know, we have no covering for our sins. When we stand before God-we are naked, and our sins are separating us from Him. Jesus stood and cried out of the deep compassion and love, this is why He came into the world. All who would come to Him, and simply admit their sin, and receive Him as their Savior, would receive everything their souls could need, and their sins would be forgiven, and covered. All who come to Him, He redeems, no one is rejected-no matter what you've done. When Jesus forgives, He washes you clean, you are born again. From the moment of your salvation, you now stand before God, robed in the righteousness of Christ, and free from sin. Nothing anyone may say or do, can change this. As soon as you turn to Christ, and receive Him into your heart and receive His forgiveness, now the Holy Spirit dwells within, and will guide you to walk with Jesus, and read His word, and learn what it teaches, and how to live for Christ in this world. You'll learn that trials and persecutions will come, but, His abiding presence, and guidance will grow in you, and you will find that Jesus is there, in every situation and will never leave you nor forsake you. His word will be a continuous source of direction, and comfort to you. In the increasing chaos, persecutions, and upheavals in the world, and the unknowns of the coming year-one thing never changes, Jesus Christ. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's promised us, that if we cling to Him, we will find Him to be more than sufficient for us, to be with us and carry us through whatever may come. 

The more you seek Jesus, and His presence in your life, the more you will find, there is no bottom to His love for you. When you look at the cross of Christ-meditate on the fact, that this is how much he loves you. He was willing to go to the cross, and suffer and die for you, to forgive you, and redeem you from your sins. There is no way you can repay Him, but, your love, and your desire to live for Him, is the glue that binds you to Him, for eternity. Remember, and read the gospel of John, especially chapter 14, He there tells us, He's gone back to heaven to prepare a place for us, that where He is, we will be with Him there. He keeps His promises. 
​
Joh 14:1  Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 
Joh 14:2  In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 
Joh 14:3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 

​But, remember, right after saying this, we are told:

​Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 
​
There is no other way to heaven, but through Jesus Christ. He is God the Father's only begotten Son, and God in the flesh-now risen from the grave and coming again.

May the devotions below, be a comfort and encouragement to you, as we face the coming year.
Lorna Couillard

​Patience had her perfect work in the Lord Jesus, and until the last day of the feast he pleaded with the Jews, even as on this last day of the year he pleads with us, and waits to be gracious to us. Admirable indeed is the longsuffering of the Savior in bearing with some of us year after year, notwithstanding our provocations, rebellions, and resistance of his Holy Spirit. Wonder of wonders that we are still in the land of mercy.
Pity expressed herself most plainly, for Jesus cried, which implies not only the loudness of his voice, but the tenderness of his tones. He entreats us to be reconciled. "We pray you," says the Apostle, "as though God did beseech you by us." What earnest, pathetic terms are these! How deep must be the love which makes the Lord weep over sinners, and like a mother woo his children to his bosom! Surely at the call of such a cry our willing hearts will come.
Provision is made most plenteously; all is provided that man can need to quench his soul's thirst. To his conscience the atonement brings peace; to his understanding the gospel brings the richest instruction; to his heart the person of Jesus is the noblest object of affection; to the whole man the truth as it is in Jesus supplies the purest nutriment. Thirst is terrible, but Jesus can remove it. Though the soul were utterly famished, Jesus could restore it.

​No waiting or preparation is so much as hinted at. Drinking represents a reception for which no fitness is required. A fool, a thief, a harlot can drink; and so sinfulness of character is no bar to the invitation to believe in Jesus. We want no golden cup, no bejeweled chalice, in which to convey the water to the thirsty; the mouth of poverty is welcome to stoop down and quaff the flowing flood. Blistered, leprous, filthy lips may touch the stream of divine love; they cannot pollute it, but shall themselves be purified. Jesus is the fount of hope. Dear reader, hear the dear Redeemer's loving voice as he cries to each of us,
"IF ANY MAN THIRST,
LET HIM
COME UNTO ME
AND DRINK."

Note, first, who are called. The invitation is to the thirsty. This thirst may be either general and unfixed, or it may be special and definite. It may be a thirst for something, many things, anything,—we scarcely know or care what; or it may be a thirst for some one precise thing, of which we have in part a distinct conception. To both kinds of thirst—but especially, as I think, to the latter—is our Lord’s invitation in the text intended to be applicable. (1) It applies to the first sort of thirst. To the many who say, "Who will show us any good?" is the invitation addressed. Your conscious uneasiness indicates something wrong. Do not hastily conclude that the wrong is irremediable. You have been seeking more from the world than it was ever fitted or intended to yield. It is the tabernacle of your pilgrimage; it cannot be a home for your hearts. Seek ye then the Lord, and let your souls thirst for the living God. (2) The thirst referred to in the invitation of our Lord may be regarded as somewhat more definite and precise—as the thirst of a guilty conscience, a heart estranged from God, seeking and needing peace. Here is Christ, having all blessings in store for you—pardon, peace, reconciliation, renewal, hope, joy, the water of life; come unto Him without hesitation, without delay, without fear, without doubt. Come unto Him, and drink freely, copiously, continually.

The invitation is as simple as it is suitable. "Come unto Me and drink." It is faith viewed (1) as the faith of application—"let him come unto Me"; (2) as the faith of appropriation—"Drink." Whatever you need, seek not to attain to it directly, as if by an effort of your own; but go to Christ, seek it through Christ, seek it in Christ, seek Christ Himself, and the thing you need and want will be yours. You cannot directly, by any exertion of your own, compass any spiritual achievement. If you complain of weak faith, by no wishing and working can you make it strong. If of a cold heart, no working in or upon the heart itself will warm it. Come to Christ; be ever coming to Christ to drink.
(R. S. Candlish, The Gospel of Forgiveness, p. 37)

Luk 24:45  Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, 
Luk 24:46  And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 
Luk 24:47  And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 

Rom 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 
Rom 1:17  For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. 

Gal 3:11  But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. 

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 
Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
​
​​2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 
​​2Co 5:21  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

1Jn 1:7  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 
1Jn 1:8  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 
1Jn 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
1Jn 1:10  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 
  +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Walking in the Spirit  ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
​​Col 3:1  If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 
Col 3:2  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 
Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 
Col 3:4  When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. 
Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 
Col 3:6  For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 
Col 3:7  In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. 
Col 3:8  But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 
Col 3:9  Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 
Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 
Col 3:11  Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. 

​ Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law,
but a judge. Jas 4:11
+++++++
​Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies,
​and all evil speakings, 1Pe 2:1

When as a young woman in the early 80's, and called by God into ministry in the realm of prayer and intercession, the Lord led me to several people in other ministries to learn from and gain knowledge and understanding of the scriptures in my service to the Lord. Among them were people such as Rees Howell's who's book was on intercession during the early and mid 20th century and WWII, Charles Spurgeon, Andrew Murray, Leonard Ravenhill, Corrie Ten Boom, Joy Dawson, and Derek Prince, among other's.

Derek Princes ministry was one I followed most and gained understanding from, because of his integrity in ministry. The page below gives an overview of his life, and there are links to videos of his life and ministry for anyone to research for themselves. His life and his ministry is an open book, and the results of his ministry speaks for itself. Many times over the years, the Lord has used Mr. Prince and his ministry to speak into my life, and give help and guidance to me, even when he didn't know it personally. God has confirmed his ministry to me over and over again, that God was with him.

This overview and the information is being posted to be a counter to some false accusations and slander I've encountered personally, when subscribed to a Youtube channel by a man in the UK, who was a doctor, who also does open-air preaching in various locations in England, his name is David Mackereth. While listening to one of his videos, he spoke of Derek Prince and accused him of being a false teacher, and of not having ability to preach the full gospel. Listening to this, he showed himself to be ignorant of Derek Princes life, or his ministry, or his credentials. I left a short comment of my years of following him, and that I had heard nothing but sound teaching, and integrity from his ministry. The reply I got was again "he had only a rudimentary, understanding of the gospel." This again revealed his lack knowledge of who Derek Prince was, who he was really talking about, and I unsubscribed to his channel, and decided to ignore him. Derek Prince has been in heaven for many years, and felt- "there's nothing anyone can do to him", and I left it at that.

However, the Lord has not allowed me to forget it, and has put this issue on my heart to deal with it once here, and then leave it to God. People like Mr. Mackereth can have an influence on people who've never known, or studied the work of Derek Prince, and he can cause a lot of damage with his slander, and accusations. As I've listened to him, I suspect there may be jealousy, and a spirit of competition-with a man who's now with the Lord, instead of being willing to listen, learn and compare Mr. Princes work with the word of God.

The word of God warns us of spreading false accusations and slander, and being an accuser of the brethren, without a cause. One of the greatest sins in the Body of Christ today, is slander and false accusations-that are rooted in the spirit of envy, jealousy, and competition.

I'll leave some scripture verses to make this point, and hope Mr. Mackereth will heed warnings I believe God may have tried to give him about this, and repent, and stop what he is doing. If not, he will stand before the Lord one day, and give an account for trying to accuse a fellow believer, and his ministry, and he will be sorely reprimanded. The Lord has let me know, this post is a public warning to him, and anyone else who may be doing this. I'm just obeying what I've been instructed to do. Now, it's up to those who read this, to do what they choose.

Exo 20:16  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 
Lev 19:16  Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.
Important point: Even if a person is guilty of a sin, or in error-what have you done?...prayed for them and gone to them alone first, or spread slander and talebearing? If so, your no better than them.
Pro 11:13  A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. 
Pro 14:5  A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies. 
Rev 12:10  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 

Derek Prince Sermons:
https://www.derekprince.com/sermons
Derek Prince:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Prince

Peter Derek Vaughan Prince
August  14, 1915 – September 24 2003 was a Bible teacher whose daily radio program, Derek Prince Legacy Radio, is broadcast around the world in various languages.

At university Derek Prince described himself as an atheist, but while serving with the British army in World War II, he began studying the Bible and became a Christian.

Mr. Prince married Danish missionary Lydia Christensen in 1946, becoming father to her eight adopted daughters before the couple adopted another daughter.

The family moved to the USA in 1963 and pastored a church in Seattle.[1] Prince worked at the Faith Tabernacle in Chicago, and then moved to Good News Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

In May 1971 Derek Prince Publications opened offices in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.[2] Derek Prince Publications became Derek Prince Ministries in December 1990.

Lydia died in 1975, and Prince married Ruth Baker (who had three adopted children) in 1978. They moved to Jerusalem in 1981.

The Princes traveled extensively in ministry until Ruth died on 29 December 1998. The following list of countries covers their ministry from 1993 to 1998. Some of these countries were visited more than once: Russia, Germany, Kazakhstan, Hungary, South Africa, Kenya, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey, Poland, Bahrain, Cuba, Colombia, Switzerland, France, Portugal, India and England.

He is the author of 51 books, 600 audio and 100 video teachings, many of which have been translated and published in more than 60 languages. Some of the subjects that are covered in his teachings are prayer and fasting,[5] foundations of the Christian faith,[6] spiritual warfare,[7] God's love[8] and marriage and family.[9] His daily radio is translated into Arabic, Chinese (Amoy, Cantonese, Mandarin, Shanghainese, Swatow), Croatian, German, Malagasy, Mongolian, Russian, Tamil, Samoan, Spanish, Bahasa Indonesia, Tongan, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi and many other languages. The radio program continues to reach many people around the world.

Derek Prince Ministries continued for the rest of his life to distribute his teachings and to train missionaries, church leaders, and congregations.  (Excerpt from Wikipedia)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Videos:

Derek's Conversion | Part 2 | 's Life Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVvxc_0fcfc

When Derek Received The Holy Spirit | Part 3 | 's Life Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmygKpPj0Dk

Appointment In Jerusalem | Derek Prince's Life Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gJN3VYmRSc

Escape From Jerusalem | Part 5 | Derek Prince's Life Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U-bqJWsI6w&pp=ugUHEgVlbi1VUw%3D%3D

Refugees & Africa | Part 6 | Derek Prince's Life Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=425vQWPC7yc&pp=ugUHEgVlbi1VU9IHCQlNCgGHKiGM7w%3D%3D

Deliverance | Part 7 | Derek Prince's Life Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gzK_dr-8is&pp=ugUHEgVlbi1VUw%3D%3D

Lydia & Ruth | Part 8 | Derek Prince's Life Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4SHrTBC9UM&t=541s

Home To Jerusalem | Part 9 | Derek Prince's Life Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEOtOkEPBII&t=2s

Derek and Lydia Prince's Daughters Kirstin and Johanna with Derek Prince Israel in Jerusalem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q22WPDpKxqY

Interview with Derek Prince (June 19 2000)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob0-Ygzr9f4

​ In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Gen 1:1

"When man looks out from himself upon the wonderful home in which he is placed, upon the various orders of living things around him, upon the solid earth which he treads, upon the heavens into which he gazes, with such ever-varying impressions, by day and by night; when he surveys the mechanism of his own bodily frame; when he turns his thought, as he can turn it, in upon itself, and takes to pieces by subtle analysis the beautiful instrument which places him in conscious relation to the universe around him; his first and last anxiety is to account for the existence of all that thus interests him; he must answer the question, How and why did this vast system of being come to be? Science may unveil in nature regular modes of working, and name their laws. But the great question still awaits her—the problem of the origin of the universe. This question is answered by the first verse in the Bible: “In the beginning - God created”. And that answer is accepted by every believer in the Christian Creed: “I believe in one God."   (Excerpt from Biblical Illustrator)

“By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which do appear.” The creation, then, was no operation wrought upon pre-existent matter, neither is it an emanation from a Divine substance. The Hebrew cosmogony has no tinge in it either of dualism or of pantheism. God is the eternal, self-subsistent Being; “He is before all things, and by him all things consist.” Moreover, on its first page the Hebrew Scripture asserts clearly the unity of the Godhead. There are no rival deities here, each exercising an independent power, and claiming separate worship: God is one." (Excerpt from Great Texts)
Heb 11:3  Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 

In Colossians 1:15-18 the Bible teaches us that it was Christ Himself who formed the worlds, and created all we see, and and exist in. The Father had given Him the power and authority to create all we see and know, up to this point. This is why the angels, and demons submit to Him, and give Him glory. We, who are also His creatures, differ in one point. He gave us the power of free will to either receive Him as our Lord and Savior, or reject Him. This world is a school house, for our learning, and our eternal decisions. What we choose here, will determine where we spend eternity. If you die rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ, you will have chosen your own destiny. You will find yourself in hell, with the devil and the demons. The choice is always ours, until the day we die.

Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 
Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 
Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 
Col 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 

​GENESIS MEANS Beginning. Here we discover the source of many streams, some crystal, some turbid, which are still flowing through the world. It tells us of the beginning of the heavens and the earth; of the human race; of sin and redemption; of marriage and the institution of the home; of the sciences and arts that have built up the fabric of our civilization; of the existence of the Hebrew race, and of the division of the human family into the various nationalities of the world. All of these cannot be attributed to the originating of God, for with regard to the sin and pain and sorrow of the world, it must be conceded that "an enemy hath done this."
In Hebrew the word for God is plural, the verb conjoined to it is singular, indicating that God is One, but the noun is plural, indicating the mystery of the Holy Trinity. In His earthly life, our Lord asked the Father to glorify Him with the glory that they had together before the world was.
Let us make God in Christ our beginning, the beginning of the book of our life, of our heaven, with its prayer, meditation, and devotion; of our earth, with its practical daily business; of our marriage and home; of our interests and pleasures. Here is the chief corner-stone in which alone the whole building of life can be fitly framed together. Here is the chord of harmony, with which the subsequent oratorio must be consistent. Here is the perfect circle of happiness, in which all that is fairest, sweetest, and strongest must be found.
God is a Faithful Creator. What He begins He finishes. He fainteth not, neither is weary. You may exhaust the dearest human love, but you can never wear out God. If you have never entered on the Divine life, begin with putting God in His right place, as Alpha, the First. If we cry, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." He will answer, "Behold I make all things new." Listen to the Divine assurance: "I am Alpha and Omega... the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. He that is athirst, let him come: he that will, let him take the water of life freely."  (Our Daily Walk)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 
The same was in the beginning with God. 
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. Joh 1:1-3

Christ the Eternal Word

"In the beginning was the Word." "In the beginning—of all things; farther back than the mind can conceive. For, form in your mind any image you will, however far back beyond the present state of things, of a definite point and a condition existing, and the beginning is beyond that. The expression is a simple one, but it baffles thought. We have here asserted, not that at some very remote period the world began to be, but that beyond the very remotest period which the mind can conceive, the Word was, was existing, not then brought into being, but then having His being and consequently, for such is the expression in which we take refuge when baffled by these things which stretch beyond the range of our ideas, "being from everlasting."

This Word, then, thus being in the beginning, is said also by the Evangelist to have been "with God." That is not with, in the sense of together with, or besides; but with in the sense of abiding with, as when we say, "I have it with me," or "He is abiding with us—with God, so as to be in that place where God especially was present, so as to be at home with Him and inseparable from Him. It is thus that the Word was with God as His beloved in whom He was well-pleased.

III. The next and concluding clause of our text now follows by an easy sequence. That which was in the beginning—that which was in the beginning with God and inseparable from Him—what was it? Could it be a created being? If so, a certain definite moment must have witnessed its calling into being; and before that moment it was not, and thus could not be in the beginning. With creation necessarily began the incidents and limitations of time. Created being is the channel, so to speak, in which the stream of time flows on. But the Word "was" in the beginning, and is therefore uncreated. Again, the Word was "with God." Could a created being accompany the Almighty in the inhabitation of eternity? Could it be said of the Jealous One, who giveth not His glory to another, that even the loftiest of His angelic ministers was, or could be, "with Him"—His assessor, His companion, the sharer of His glory, the impress of His substance? We are thus, you see, led on to the next declaration of our text, "the Word was God:" was no created being, no angelic intelligence, but partook of the nature and essence of God, equal with the Father, as indeed the very term itself implies. So that the Father in the beginning was not more, nor the Son less, Divine; but both were co-equal, and co-eternal. The Lord Jesus, in His humiliation, was the same Divine Person as before the worlds began; clothed in the garb of flesh, but not a different person. And if at that time we find Him performing acts of distinct personality, addressing the Father, speaking of the Father, so must it have been setting aside merely the difference made by His humiliation, in the beginning, when He was with God and was God. The fulness of the Father’s glory was upon, shone forth from, was expressed by, Him. "All that the Father hath," He says, "is Mine." You cannot exalt, cannot reverence, you cannot adore, the Son of God too much. There is no such thing as exaggerating His Divine majesty and glory. The worship which we owe to the Father, the same precisely we owe to Him. He Himself describes the purpose of His course to be, "that all men may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father."   (H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. vi., p. 1.)

​The titles of our Lord are set forth in royal fashion. As speech reveals the hidden thoughts of men, so does our Lord utter the unseen God. God spake and it was done. His words preceded the act of creation, but Christ was the Word or utterance of God. He who created time preceded time, and that which is before time is eternal and divine. Christ is the organ or medium by which God goes forth in creation, providence, and redemption. The life of God was stored in the human nature of Jesus, when the Word became flesh, that it might more readily pass into us. True life is always light, as the minute infusoria of the ocean are phosphorescent. When we receive Christ’s life, we shine.

Men are still sent from God, as John was, to bear witness to Jesus; but there is also a witness to Him in the breast of man. We call it conscience, or the inner light. The blinded world knew Him not. Indeed, Joh_9:1-41 is a parable of mankind’s condition, 2Co_4:4. Believing and receiving are the same thing. Let Christ in, and you have instantly the right to call yourself a child of God, Gal_3:26. Only God can impart to us the germ of that life, which we share with the Son Himself. (F.B. Meyer)
Joh 17:5  And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. 
Jas 1:18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray:
and when the evening was come, he was there alone. Mat 14:23

Closet Prayer

​Christ often proposed His own temper and actions as the model, after which all His disciples should copy. The multitude and variety of His public services neither prevented His spending a social hour among the families to which His disciples stood related, nor His finding opportunity for secret devotion. For this, Christ was singularly eminent. An old divine used to say three things were requisite to make a good minister: “meditation, temptation, and prayer.” If Jesus Christ found it needful and advantageous to engage in retired devotion, how much more so must it be for such weak and imperfect creatures as we are-not only ministers, but private Christians also.

I. The nature and grounds of this duty-
(a) Precepts of Scripture;
(b) Example of Jesus Christ;
(c) Practice of saints in every age;
(d) Important and indispensable part of Christian faith.

II. The manner and spirit in which it should be performed-
(a) Sense of God’s presence;
(b) Solemn and devout;
(c) Joined with reading the Scriptures, and meditation, and self-examination.

The particular objects in relation to which it is practiced, Our progress in knowledge, grace, and holiness, and the obtaining guidance and assistance from God in all seasons of peculiar need. There are some particular occasions in regard to which this duty may be practiced to advantage. There are some particular seasons in which Christians should be much in private prayer; such as times of affliction, public calamity, prevailing departure from the knowledge, experience, and practice of true religion; seasons of suspense and embarrassment; seasons of ease and prosperity.

The difficulty of a constant and successful attention to closet prayer. (J. Townsend)

One of the blessings of the old-time Sabbath was its calm, it’s restfulness, its holy peace. There is a strange strength conceived in solitude. Crows go in flocks and wolves in packs, but the lion and the eagle are solitaires.
Strength is not in bluster and noise. Strength is in quietness. The lake must be calm if the heavens are to be reflected on its surface. Our Lord loved the people, but how often we read of his going away from them for a brief season. He tried every little while to withdraw from the crowd. He was always stealing away at evening to the hills. Most of His ministry was carried on in the towns and cities by the seaside, but He loved the hills the best, and oftentimes when night fell He would plunge into their peaceful depths.
The one thing needed above all others today is that we shall be apart with our Lord, and sit at His feet in the sacred privacy of His blessed presence. Oh, for the lost art of meditation! Oh, for the culture of the secret place! Oh, for the tonic of waiting upon God?  (Anonymous)

​"It is well to live in the valley sweet,
Where the work of the world is done,
"Where the reapers sing in the fields of wheat,
As they toil till the set of sun.
But beyond the meadows, the hills I see
Where the noise of traffic cease,
And I follow a Voice that calleth to me
From the hilltop regions of peace.

"Aye, to live is sweet in the valley fair,
And to toil to the set of sun;
But my spirit yearns for the hilltop’s air
When the day and it’s work is done.
For a Presence breathes o’er the silent hills,
And its sweetness is living yet;
The same deep calm all the hillside fills,
As breathed over Olivet."

​"Every life that would be strong must have its Holy of Holies into which only God enters."
(Streams in the Desert)