Dear Friends,
Wouldn’t it be nice if we never got weary, never were wounded? But that is our lot in glory, not our lot here. We must suffer first and then gain the reward. That is what today’s devotional helps us live up to. God bless you.

Because of Calvary,
John Janney

• II Timothy 2:3 (ESV)

  3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

SWORDS DRAWN 

“For us swords drawn, up to the gates of heaven,

Oh may no coward spirit seek to leaven

The warrior code, the calling that is ours;

Forbid that we should sheathe our sword in flowers.

Swords drawn,

Swords drawn,

Up to the gates of heaven ―

For us swords drawn

Up to the gates of heaven.

Captain beloved, battle wounds were Thine,

Let me not wonder if some hurt be mine;

Rather, O Lord, let my deep wonder be

That I may share a battle-wound with Thee.

O golden joy that Thou, Lord, givest them

Who follow Thee to far Jerusalem;

O joy immortal, when the trumpets sound,

And all the world is hushed to see Thee crowned.”

[Amy Carmichael, Rose From Brier, (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1973), p. 32]