Apr 20, 2026 – Assistance
Streams – Zechariah 4:6 – “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty. Cowman shares this “great truth” from a story told in The Life of Fuller Purpose by John Stuart Holden (1913): “Once as I walked along the road on a steep hill, I caught sight of a boy on a bicycle near the bottom. He was pedaling uphill against the wind…. Just as he was exerting the greatest effort…a streetcar, also going up the hill, approached him. It was not traveling too fast for the boy to grab hold of a rail at the rear and…. He went up the hill as effortlessly as a bird gliding through the sky. This thought then flashed through my mind: ‘I am like that boy…. pedaling uphill against all kinds of opposition…. But nearby there is a great power available – the strength of the Lord Jesus. All I must do is get in touch with Him and maintain communication with Him.”
Power – Philippians 1:6 – He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you. Joyce knows about uphill battles so she points out that, “God wants us to be encouraged, not discouraged. When discouragement and condemnation try to overtake you, examine your thought life. What kind of thoughts are you thinking? Remember, you become what you think…. I recommend that you not only purposely think right thoughts, but that you go the extra mile and speak them aloud as your confession.”
JC – “Do not be afraid, for I am with you. Hear Me saying, Peace, be still to your restless heart. No matter what happens, I will never leave you or forsake you…. Instead of focusing on fickle, ever-changing news broadcasts, tune in to the living Word – the One who is always the same. Let Scripture saturate your mind and heart…. I hold you by your right hand, and afterward I will take you into Glory.” See Mark 4:39, Deuteronomy 31:6, Psalm 46:2, and Psalm 73:23-24.
Prevail #110 – Larson focuses on Nehemiah 8:10 telling us that, “Repentance restores intimacy with God whereas dejection assumes we’re still a long way from Him. He’s always only one prayer away.” Sort of like being at the bottom of a hill on a bicycle and being only one reach out away from much needed help.
Days – Simpson adds to the uphill imagery, “It is easy for water to run down from the upper springs, but it requires a divine impulse to flow up from the valley in the nether springs. There is nothing that tells more of Christ than to see a Christian rejoicing and cheerful in the humdrum and routine of commonplace work…. No one has a sweeter or higher ministry for Christ than a business man or a serving woman who can carry the light of heaven in their faces all day long.”
Max reminds us that “Christ will not remove all the pain this side of heaven. Did someone tell you otherwise? …They misspoke. Read the Bible from the table of contents to the maps in the back, and you will not find any promise of a pain-free life on this side of death. But you will find this assurance: ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’…. Perhaps the answer will come this side of heaven. Or perhaps it awaits you on the other side.”
