Our faith is the center of the target God aims at when He tests us, and if any gift escapes untested, it certainly will not be our faith.

There is nothing that pierces faith to its very marrow—to find whether or not it is the faith of those who are immortal—like shooting the arrow of the feeling of being deserted into it.

And only genuine faith will escape unharmed from the midst of the battle after having been stripped of its armor of earthly enjoyment and after having endured the circumstances coming against it that the powerful hand of God has allowed.

Faith must be tested, and the sense of feeling deserted is “the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual” (Daniel 3:19) into which it may be thrown.

Blessed is the person who endures such an ordeal! CHARLES H. SPURGEON

Paul said, “I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7), but his head was removed! They cut it off, but they could not touch his faith.

This great apostle to the Gentiles rejoiced in three things: he had “fought the good fight,” he had “finished the race,” and he had “kept the faith.”

So what was the value of everything else? The apostle Paul had won the race and gained the ultimate prize—he had won not only the admiration of those on earth today but also the admiration of heaven.

So why do we not live as if it pays to lose “all things . . . that [we] may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8)?

Why are we not as loyal to the truth as Paul was? It is because our math is different—he counted in a different way than we do.

What we count as gain, he counted as loss.

If we desire to ultimately wear the same crown, we must have his faith and live it.

Just as old soldiers compare their battle scars and stories of war when they get together, when we arrive at our heavenly home, we will tell of the goodness and faithfulness of God, who brought us through every trial along the way.

I would not like to stand with the multitude clothed in robes made “white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14) and hear these words: “ ‘These are they who have come out of the great tribulation’— all except you.”

How would you like to stand there and be pointed out as the only saint who never experienced sorrow? Never! You would feel like a stranger in the midst of a sacred fellowship. Therefore may we be content to share in the battle, for we will soon wear a crown of reward and wave a palm branch of praise. CHARLES H. SPURGEON

During the American Civil War, at the battle of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, a surgeon asked a soldier where he was hurt. The wounded soldier answered, “Right near the top of the mountain.” He was not thinking of his gaping wound but was only remembering that he had won the ground near the top of the mountain.

May we also go forth to higher endeavors for Christ, never resting until we can shout from the mountaintop, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Finish your work, then rest, Till then rest never; Since rest for you with God Is rest forever.

God will examine your life not for medals, diplomas, or degrees but for battle scars. A medieval singer once sang of his hero: With his trusty sword for aid; Ornament it carried none, But the notches on the blade.

What nobler medal of honor could any godly person seek than the scars of service, personal loss for the crown of reward, disgrace for the sake of Christ, and being worn out in the Master’s service!

There is a course prepared for each believer from the moment of his new birth, providing for the fullest maturity of the new life within him, and the highest which God can make of his life in the use of every faculty for His service.

To discover that course and fulfill it is the one duty of every soul.

Others cannot judge what that course is; God alone knows it.

And God can just as certainly make known and guide the believer into that course today, as He did with Jeremiah and other prophets, Paul and Timothy and other apostles. J. P. L.

Why do I drift on a storm-tossed sea, With neither compass, nor star, nor chart, When, as I drift, God’s own plan for me Waits at the door of my slow-trusting heart?

Down from the heavens it drops like a scroll, Each day a bit will the Master unroll, Each day a mite of the veil will He lift.

Why do I falter? Why wander, and drift? Drifting, while God’s at the helm to steer; Groping, when God lays the course so clear; Swerving, though straight into port I might sail; Wrecking, when heaven lies just within hail.

Help me, O God, in the plan to believe; Help me my fragment each day to receive.

Oh, that my will may with Thine have no strife! God-yielded wills find the God-planned life. JAMES H. MCCONKEY

Allow God to carry out His plans for you without anxiety or interference.

The sting of death is sin.—But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

As the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.

Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, . . . they . . . rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.—There the wicked cease from troubling; and the weary be at rest.—Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up?

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.—The dead praise not the Lord , neither any that go down into silence.

I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day.

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.

His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.—Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. I will; be thou clean.—Faith as a grain of mustard seed.

Cast not away . . . your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.—Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.—Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord .—The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.—So run, that ye may obtain.

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day.