Thoughts for each day from the Scriptures and the eight volumes of the writings of George Fox
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| In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. | ||
| (Genesis 1:1) | ||
| Be ye as strangers to all things visible and created, but be acquainted with the Creator, your Maker, the Lord God almighty; for outward things are not durable riches, nor durable substance, nor durable habitations, nor durable possessions, for they have wings and will fly away; and so therefore be as pilgrims and strangers to the world, and all worldly, created and visible things, and witness redemption from the earth. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| Riches and honor are with me; yea, durable riches. | ||
| (Prov. 8:18) | ||
| Be acquainted with the heavenly and certain riches, the durable substance, and the everlasting possession and inheritance of life, through which you may be acquainted with your Maker and Creator, the Lord God almighty. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| Buy the truth, and sell it not. | ||
| (Prov. 23:23) | ||
| Be valiant for the Lord's truth upon the earth, and dwell in love, and in humility, and meekness, and patience, and righteousness, in which the love of the Lord is manifested. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right. | ||
| (Proverbs 20:11) | ||
| When I came to eleven years of age, I knew pureness and righteousness; for while I was a child I was taught how to walk so as to keep pure. The Lord taught me to be faithful in all things, and to act faithfully two ways...inwardly to God, and outwardly to man... | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. | ||
| (Phil. 1:6) | ||
| ....But my troubles continued, and I was often under great temptations. I fasted much, walked abroad in solitary places many days, and often took my Bible, and sat in hollow trees and lonesome places till night came on; and frequently in the night walked mournfully about by myself: for I was a man of sorrows in the time of the first workings of the Lord in me. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. | ||
| (Ephesians 2:4) | ||
| Oh! The everlasting love of God to my soul, when I was in great distress! When my troubles and torments were great, then was his love exceeding great. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| Look unto me. | ||
| (Isa. 45:22) | ||
| ...I kept much as a stranger, seeking heavenly wisdom, and getting knowledge from the Lord; and was brought off from outward things, to rely on the Lord alone. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| He bringeth low, and lifteth up. | ||
| (I Samuel 2:7) | ||
| Thou, Lord, makest a fruitful field a barren wilderness, and a barren wilderness a fruitful field! Thou bringest down and settest up! Thou killest and maketh alive! All honour and glory be to thee. O Lord of glory. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. | ||
| (I Timothy 2:5) | ||
| And when....I had nothing outwardly to keep me, nor could tell what to do; then, Oh! then I heard a voice which said, "There is one even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition." When I heard it, my heart did leap for joy. Then the Lord let me see why there was none upon the earth that could speak to my condition, namely, that I might give Him all the glory. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. | ||
| (Jeremiah 31:3) | ||
| Then the Lord gently led me along, and let me see his love, which was endless and eternal, surpassing all the knowledge that men have in the natural state, or can get by history or books: That love let me see myself, as I was without him... | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| [He] was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. | ||
| (Heb. 4:15) | ||
| When I was in the deep, under all shut up, I could not believe that I should ever overcome; my troubles, my sorrows, and my temptations were so great, that I often thought I should have despaired, I was so tempted. But when Christ opened to me how he was tempted by the same devil, and had overcome him, and had bruised his head; and that through him and his power, light, grace, and spirit, I should overcome also, I had confidence in him. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| Hope thou in God. | ||
| (Psalm 42:5) | ||
| Christ, who had enlightened me, gave me his light to believe in, and gave me hope, which is himself, revealed himself in me, and gave me his spirit and grace, which I found sufficient in the deeps and in weakness. Thus in the deepest miseries, and in the greatest sorrows and temptations that beset me, the Lord in his mercy did keep me. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| My soul thirsteth for thee. | ||
| (Psalm 63:1) | ||
| I found two thirsts in me; the one after the creatures, to have got help and strength there; and the other after the Creator, and his son Jesus Christ; and I saw all the world could do me no good. If I had a king's diet, place, and attendance, all would have been as nothing; for nothing gave me comfort but the Lord by his power. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| After he patiently endured, he obtained the promise. | ||
| (Heb. 6:15) | ||
| But the Lord did stay my desires upon himself, from whom my help came, and my care was cast upon him alone. Therefore, all wait patiently upon the Lord, whatsoever condition you be in; wait in the grace and truth that comes by Jesus; for it ye do, there is a promise to you, and the Lord God will fulfil it in you. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| He will keep the feet of his saints. | ||
| (I Sam. 2:9) | ||
| Jesus Christ...is the way to the Father; who in all my troubles preserved me by his spirit and power: praised be his holy name for ever! | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. | ||
| (I John 3:1) | ||
| I was in great perplexity and trouble for many days; yet I gave up myself to the Lord still. One day, when I had been walking solitarily abroad, and was come home, I was taken up in the love of God, so that I could not but admire the greatness of his love... | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast . | ||
| (Heb. 6:19) | ||
| The Lord opened me that I saw through all these troubles and temptations. My living faith was raised, that I saw all was done by Christ the life, and my belief was in him. When at any time my condition was veiled, my secret belief was stayed firm, and hope underneath held me as an anchor in the bottom of the sea, and anchored my immortal soul to its Bishop, causing it to swim above the sea, the world where all the raging waves, foul weathers, tempests, and temptations are. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| I am crucified with Christ. | ||
| (Gal. 2:20) | ||
| That which could not abide in the patience, nor endure the fire, in the light I found to be the groans of the flesh, that could not give up to the will of God; which had so veiled me, that I could not be patient in all trials, troubles, anguishes, and perplexities; could not give up self to die by the cross, the power of God, that the living and quickened might follow him. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehendeth it not. | ||
| (John 1:5) | ||
| I also saw that there was an ocean of darkness and death; but an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness. In that also I saw the infinite love of God. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| A broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. | ||
| (Ps. 51:17) | ||
| Yet the work of the Lord went on in some, and my sorrows and troubles began to wear off, and tears of joy dropped from me, so that I could have wept night and day with tears of joy to the Lord, in humility and brokenness of heart. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few. | ||
| (Matthew 9:37) | ||
| And I saw the harvest white, and the seed of God lying thick in the ground, as ever did wheat that was sown outwardly, and none to gather it; and for this I mourned with tears. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| Fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God. | ||
| (Daniel 6:26) | ||
| One morning, as I was sitting by the fire, a great cloud came over me, and a temptation beset me; and I sat still. And it was said, "All things come by nature." And the elements and stars came over me, as that I was in a manner quite clouded with it. But as I sat still and said nothing, the people of the house perceived nothing. And as I sat under it and let it alone, a living hope and a true voice arose in me which said, "There is a living God who made all things." Immediately the cloud and temptation vanished away, and life rose over it all; my heart was glad, and I praised the living God. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only. | ||
| (James 1:22) | ||
| I saw also how people read the scriptures without a right sense of them, and without duly applying them to their own states...they read these things without them...but they did not turn in to find the truth of these things in themselves. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine. | ||
| (II Timothy 3:16) | ||
| But as a man comes through by the Spirit and power of God to Christ, (who fulfils the types, figures, shadows, promises, and prophecies that were of him,) and is led by the Holy Ghost into the truth and substance of the Scriptures, sitting down in him who is the author and end of them, then they are read and understood with profit and great delight. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. | ||
| (Luke 10:20) | ||
| On a certain time, as I was walking in the fields, the Lord said unto me, "Thy name is written in the Lamb's book of life, which was before the foundation of the world:" and as the Lord spoke it, I believed and saw it in the new birth. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him. | ||
| (Eph. 4:21) | ||
| I was to direct people to the spirit, that gave forth the scriptures, by which they might be led into all truth...I was to turn them to the grace of God, and to the truth in the heart, which came by Jesus; that by this grace they might be taught. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. | ||
| (Gal. 6:14) | ||
| Love the cross; satisfy not your own minds in the flesh; but prize your time while you have it, and walk up to that you know, in obedience to God. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| Let us put on the armour of light. | ||
| (Romans 13:12) | ||
| Now is the day for the exercise of your gifts, of your patience, and of your faith. Now is the time to be armed with patience, with the light, with righteousness, and with the helmet of salvation. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| These are they that follow the Lamb. | ||
| (Rev. 14:4) | ||
| ...Keep cool and quiet in the power of the Lord God; and all that is contrary will be subjected; the Lamb hath the victory, in the seed, through the patience. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| The Lord is the strength of my life. | ||
| (Ps. 27:1) | ||
| Be still and cool in thy own mind and spirit from thy own thoughts, and then thou wilt feel the principle of God to turn thy mind to the Lord God, from whom life comes; whereby thou mayest receive his strength and power to allay all blusterings, storms, and tempests. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
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| Trust in him at all times. | ||
| (Ps. 62:8) | ||
| Keep in the fear of the Lord God; that is the word of the Lord unto thee. For all these things happen to thee for thy good, and for the good of those concerned for thee, to make you know yourselves and your own weakness, and that ye may know the Lord's strength and power, and may trust in him. | ||
| (George Fox) | ||
Compiled by Gary Bowell
Copyright 1989 by Gary Bowell
All Rights Reserved