Verses to Read 1. Someone Notices! 2. Under God's Eye 3. Who Is Afraid? 4. Wet-Weather Verses 5. Cold-Weather Verses 6. Bad Marks 7. Stories We Would Love to Hear 8. A Dream That Came True 9. A Verse About Your Hair 10. When It Will Be Safe to Play in the Streets 11. Do You Push? 12. Clamoring Voices 13. Joyful Music 14. Prisoner Words 15. When God Stoops Down 16. The Most Beautiful Cloud 17. Like Father and Mother 18. Going Astray 19. When the Animals Will Not 20. Chase One Another 21. Words That Build 22. The Little Psalm With the Big Message 23. A Great Chorus of Praise 24. Worth While 25. Contentment Someone Notices! EVERY DAY you do some kind little deeds that apparently are not noticed much, and perhaps you are a little disappointed if no one seems to notice or say anything about them, but Someone is watching and noticing; and what is more, Jesus tells us that one day a reward will be given for those deeds. Mark 9:41. Prayer.-Dear Jesus, help me to do good and kind deeds every day, whether anyone says thank you or not. I thank Thee that Thou hast promised one day to give a reward for all we do here. Amen. Under God's Eye WE CAN HIDE from our friends, but we cannot hide from God. He is watching us all the time when we get up, where we lie down, in the dark everywhere. Isn't it lovely to think that we can be in God's sight all the time, everywhere. We shall always be safe. Psalms 139:1.12. Prayer.-Dear Father, I thank Thee for looking after me, for having Thine eye on me all the time. Help me to remember always that Thou art watching. Help me to please Thee. Amen. Who Is Afraid? SOME LITTLE GIRLS and even some boys-are a little bit afraid of the dark when mother turns out the light and goes out of the bedroom. But these verses tell us that if we do right we don't need to be afraid. Proverbs 3:21-26.
Prayer.-Jesus, I thank Thee that Thou canst see in the darkness as well as in the light, and that I need never feel lonely or afraid. Help me to think of Thee and tb be brave like Thee. Amen. Wet-Weather Verses WE ALWAYS PRAISE and thank God for the sunshine, but let's not forget to thank Him too for the good rain, which helps things to grow and gives us water. Here are some verses about what the rain does. Psalms 65:9-13. Prayer.-Dear Jesus, I thank Thee for the sweet and soft rain that Thou sendest to refresh the earth and make things grow. Amen. Cold-Weather Verses HOW COLD it gets in winter! In the Bible there are some beautiful thoughts about cold weather-snow and frost and ice and wind. Psalms 147:16.19. Prayer.-Dear Father, we thank Thee for the beauty of snow and frost and ice. We thank Thee that Thou art so strong and powerful that Thou canst make these things. Amen. Bad Marks Do YOU GET good marks at school when you get your problems and spelling right? We all like good marks. But perhaps you get some bad marks that teacher or mother gives when you do wrong. Do you like them? Read the three verses. Psalms 130:3-5. Yes, if God gave us bad marks every time we did wrong, where would we stand? All our bad marks are rubbed out every time we pray, "Forgive us our trespasses." How glad we are that God, through Jesus, takes away our bad marks! Prayer.-Jesus, my Saviour, I thank Thee for dying on the cross, so that all my bad sin marks can be rubbed out. Help me to be good so that I shall get no bad marks. Amen. Stories We Would Love to Hear IF you were to think very hard now, you would not be able to count all the stories you know about Jesus-there are so many. But even though four men-matthew, Mark, Luke, and John-all wrote about Jesus and the things He did and told, they did not tell everything. There are many more stories of Jesus that we shall not hear on this earth. John 21:25; 20:30. Perhaps we shall hear them when Jesus takes us to the home He is getting ready for us. Won't that be lovely? Prayer.-Dear Jesus, I thank Thee for all the wonderful stories about Thy life on earth. May I one day hear all the other stories when I go to Thy kingdom. Amen. A Dream That Came True IF you were told to ask for any gift that you liked, what would you choose? Once God asked a young king what he would like, and do you know what he wanted most of all? You will find what it was if you read 1 Kings 3:9. 1 Kings 3:5.15. God will give us that gift, too, if we want it enough and ask for it. Prayer.-Dear Father, grant that I too may have the gift of being wise in knowing Thee and serving others. Amen. A Verse About Your Hair COULD YOU count how many hairs you have on your head? I am sure I couldn't, and I am sure even a nearly bald man couldn't. Just think, Jesus tells us that even the hairs of
our head are counted. How wonderful that is when we are always losing old ones and growing new ones! Luke 12:7. Prayer.-Jesus, I thank Thee that Thou knowest everything about me and all Thine other children-even how many hairs I have. I thank Thee for loving me all the time. May I see Thy face someday soon. Amen. When It Will Be Safe to Play in the Streets Do you like to play in the streets? Mothers don't like their children to play in the streets, especially the busy streets, for they are not safe. But in the beautiful city that Jesus is going to make for us on the earth made new the streets will be so safe that boys and girls will be able to play in them. Read about that time in our text. Zechariah 8:3.5. Prayer.-Help me to be good, dear Jesus, so that one day we can all be in that beautiful city Thou hast promised, and so that my friends and I may play in the beautiful streets there. Amen. Do You Push? I AM SURE you have seen children who always push their way through when there is anything to see or get. The child of Jesus always lets others have the best things. Read the little parable Jesus told once when He was on earth about those who look for the best places. Luke 14:8.11. Prayer.-Dear. Father, help me to stand unselfishly aside and let others have the best, and be glad that they can. Amen. Clamoring Voices SOMETIMES you hear children's voices shouting angrily as they say bad things to one another. I hope your voice is never heard like that! Read what God says about such voices. Ephesians 4:31. And the next verses tell us what the child of God should be like. Ephesians 4:32; 5:1. Prayer.-Take my voice, dear God, and make it gentle and kind. Help me to love others as Thou dost love me. Amen. Joyful Music Do YOU LIKE singing hymns and songs to God? Maybe you can play hymn tunes on the piano, the violin, the cornet, or some other instrument. How God loves us to sing and play to Him! Psalms 92:1.3. We must be careful to sing and play to God, and not just to move our lips and sing words or make tunes without thinking of Him we praise. Prayer.-Dear Jesus, I love Thee and love to sing to Thee. Help me to think of Thee all the time when I sing Thy songs. Amen. Prisoner Words ISN'T IT HARD sometimes to stop the angry or the untruthful, the unkind or the fretful, words coming out? Psalms 141:3, 4. Here is a lovely little prayer that will keep those words prisoner when they clamor to get out, so that they can't escape and hurt anyone. Let us make it our prayer every day, for we all need it. When God Stoops Down HAVE you ever seen a shy little child saying something so quietly and softly that you or some bigger person had to stoop right down and almost put an ear to his mouth to hear what he says?
Sometimes we are like that when we talk to God. We don't seem to know how to pray properly. But our Father wants to hear us, and He will stoop down and listen, as these verses tell us. Psalms 86:1, 6, 7. Prayer.-Dear Jesus, I thank Thee that Thou dost stoop down to listen to us talking to Thee. May I trust Thee wherever I am, knowing that Thou wilt hear every prayer. Amen. The Most Beautiful Cloud WE ARE NOT always glad to see clouds in the sky, especially if we are having a particularly good time outdoors, but there is one cloud we all look forward to seeing sometime. We read of it in Matthew 24:30. This is a cloud, not of rain, but of angels, and in its midst will be our Lord Jesus, coming to take us to His heavenly home. Won't it be wonderful to see that cloud get bigger and nearer? Prayer.-Dear Father, make that day come soon when Jesus will come in a cloud of angels. Help me to be without sins, so that I with all those I love may be taken with Thee to Thy home above. Amen. Like Father and Mother WHEN you are hurt or ill, or when something unpleasant happens to you, your mother and father feel so sorry for you and do their best to comfort you. God feels even more sorry for us than our fathers and mothers do, and here are two verses for you to turn to and read that tell us how He feels when we are in trouble: Psalms 103:13; Isaiah 66:13. Let us tell Him all our troubles, and He will listen and comfort better than anyone else can. Prayer.-Dear God, I thank Thee for my good father and mother. Most of all I thank Thee that Thou art my heavenly Father, watching over and caring for us all. Help me to remember this all the time, and to talk to Thee as to a father every day. Amen. Going Astray PERHAPS you have seen a cow or a chicken that had got out of the field where it belonged and had wandered away. You would help to get it back to its proper place, wouldn't you? That is what God tells us to do, even if the one to whom the animal belongs is not a friend of ours. Read the rule He made. Exodus 23:4, 5. If we see someone's lost ball or toy or wallet, we must do the same thing, even if the owner is not one of our friends. Prayer.-Father in heaven, help me to love all people alike, as Thou dost love us all, and to help others in the way I would like them to help me. Amen. When the Animals Will Not Chase One Another THE SPARROW is afraid of the cat, and the cat fears the dog. The deer runs from the leopard, and the sheep must be protected from the lion. But there is coming a time when this earth and all the creatures on it will be changed. Then there will be no startled glances as the animals feed, no wild cries of fear as one animal is pursued by another. All will live together in peace. Isaiah the prophet has drawn a beautiful word picture for us of that happy time. Read it for yourself. Isaiah 11:6-9. Prayer.-Dear Father, I thank Thee for the beautiful animals and birds, the lovely fishes and insects, that Thou hast made and put on the earth for us. Help me to be good, that I may live on that earth made new, when no evil will spoil the good Thou hast made. For Jesus' sake. Amen, Words That Build
How OUR FACES light up when someone comes up to us as we are trying hard to do our work, and says, "You're doing that very nicely. It will soon be done." We say he has encouraged us. You will like to read two little verses in Isaiah that tell about people who encouraged each other to do their work. Isaiah 41:6, 7. Prayer. Dear Father, because Thou dost encourage me to do things well, help me to encourage others, to speak words of cheer to them, that we all may be builders together for eternity. For Jesus' sake. Amen. The Little Psalm With the Big Message WOULD You think you could read a chapter in seven seconds you can! Separated by only one psalm from the longest chapter in the Bible is the shortest chapter. Although it has only two verses, this little psalm is big in its subject God's merciful kindness and the truth of the Lord that endures forever. Psalms 117. Read this little praise gem. How long does it take you to read it? Prayer. O Father, I want to praise Thee, as this psalm tells us to praise Thee, for Thy merciful kindness which sent Thy Son Jesus to die for us, and for Thy great truth which saves us. For Jesus' sake. Amen. A Great Chorus of Praise THE LAST FIVE PSALMS all begin with the word praise. They are grand songs of praise. Find the following psalm in your Bible: Psalms 148. This psalm calls on the whole universe to praise God. The first six verses call on the things in the heavens, the things "celestial." The seventh to the tenth verses tell the things on the earth, the things "terrestrial," to praise Him. And the last four verses tell those people to praise Him who are "rational," that is, those who can think. So we who belong to those in the last part of the psalm have to join our voices in the grand chorus of praise. Prayer.-Dear God, I thank Thee that Thou dost want in Thy great choir the voices of children. May my voice never be missing when it should be praising Thee. For Jesus' sake. Amen. Worth While SOMETIMES SATAN suggests to us that it is too hard to be a Christian, that there are too many difficulties and troubles, and too little pleasure along the narrow path-too much tribulation, as the Bible calls it. He does not want us to remember that Jesus will be beside us in our tribulations. One day soon all those who are faithful will stand around God's throne and will hear the conversation John tells us about in his book. Revelation 7:13-17. Won't it be worth everything to be there? Prayer.-Dear Father, I thank Thee for the beautiful descriptions of the things that we shall enjoy around Thy throne and in the earth made new if we are faithful. Help me to be ready when Thou shalt come to take us to live with Thee. For Jesus' sake. Amen. Contentment I WANT," and, "I don't want to" how often we hear those phrases! Paul knew how to do without things, for on his long missionary journeys he had to go without many things he would like to have had, and he had to put up with many things he would rather have gone without; but he was able to write the words of our text. Philippians 4:11-13. The secret lies in verse 13. Prayer.-Dear Father, I thank Thee for the many, many things Thou hast given me. Help me to be content with what I have, knowing that Thou dost give me the things that Thou seest are best for me. For Jesus' sake. Amen.