[Lieut.-Gen. Sir W. G. S. Dobbie, K. C. B., C. M. G., D. S. O., as quoted in the Colonist, Victoria, Canada]

"I gladly give my testimony to the saving and keeping power of God in Christ. I came to know Him as my Saviour forty-seven years ago, and all through my military service to the present day ... that realization has given me a profound peace which none of the circumstances of army life in peace or war has been able to disturb.

"I should also like to testify that to serve God and to follow Him is a very real and practical thing in the Army. The help that He gives is also real and practical, as I have proved times without number. I have made it a habit to bring all my problems to Him, both great and small, both professional and private, and I can testify that the help He gives is certain and convincing.

"I have known Him now for forty-seven years, and I could not face life without Him.... It is no small thing to know that all the past has been forgiven, that help from the hands of Almighty God is available for the present, and that the whole future for eternity is assured.

"I am not presumptuous when I say I know that, because it has all been given to me by His grace—apart from my own deserts. I commend such a Saviour to all."

[Rev. Dr. Allan Knight Chalmers, as quoted in The New York Times]

The Roman soldier who said to Peter, "Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewerayeth thee," was talking about his accent, but in a symbolic sense he was saying also that people who have really been with Jesus are different. Somehow he felt that Peter's language revealed the company he kept.

This is a high goal most of us do not attain—that we should so live that people seeing us would think of the Christ, whose company we keep. But if our lives do not in fact begin that high, we can still be known as Christ [Jesus] himself was, by more humane standards. Remember how Christ [Jesus] was called a friend of publicans and sinners; and that the poor heard him gladly; and the sick and demon-possessed crowded around him. He became known as the Shepherd of the lost. It is well for us who bear his name to check on our own company.

What thoughts fill your mind? What causes strain your heart? What people catch your attention? It is by the answers to such questions that the observing world makes judgment. Surely thou also art one of the Christians—your speech, your manner of life, the company you keep betrays you.

[Calvin C. Rittenhouse, in the Hancock-Coloma News, Hancock, Wisconsin]

Religion is a thing of free will and so it must continue if it is to be true religion. Men, women, and children must come because they want to, and because they love to, then great things will be done in the kingdom of God....

We can fight and drive and hammer until doomsday and we cannot escape the law of truth. We shall, of our force toward others, reap force toward ourselves.

Whether or not we like it all depends on which side of the force we happen to be. Jesus in the garden prayed, "Not my will, but thine, be done." He was ready and willing to listen to reason and let his own will become a part of God's plan. Out of that willingness has grown all the freedom this world knows today. Are we willing to pray that simple prayer? Will we accept our garden of Gethsemane, and are we ready to tarry in Jerusalem until we are honestly and truly filled with wisdom from on high?

[From the Williamsport (Indiana) Pioneer]

In these days of trying times, when every peace-loving individual is wont to turn to some other means of support than mere human conjecture and speculation, we find incalculable numbers turning to the Giver of all good for guidance and deliverance from the fear of oppression and future enslavement.

Even as this higher expectation grips human thinking and the struggle for light and understanding broadens into earnest and courageous endeavor, many misleading reports creep into unguarded minds, and exaggeration and false conclusions infest the atmosphere to such a degree that a belief in the reality of these subtle enemies greatly reduces the faith that should and must ultimately guide all into right thinking and living.

In his endeavor to awaken the Hebrew people from their belief in strange gods and worldly things, Paul wrote: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.... Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear," and then the great apostle referred to a number of Biblical accounts of the fruits of faith as proof of his convictions.

We of today have the same opportunity to establish an unshakable foundation of living through the same absolute faith that saved Enoch from the pangs of death, Isaac from the altar of sacrifice, and opened the sepulcher for the man Jesus. God's law is as operative today as it was when the great Way-shower said to his disciples, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest."

Aroused to more serious thinking, many are seeking a renewed faith in God and through that unity of spiritual growth the omnipotence of divine protection is becoming a law of life, and strict adherence to this law not only will but ultimately shall establish "on earth peace, good will toward men."

[Herbert Barnes, in the Evening Chronicle, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Northumberland, England]

The biggest thing a man can tell another man is how to know God; it is how to get into living relation with the spiritual power of the universe.

I am not speaking now of beliefs about God—though I am realizing more and more how important such beliefs are. But the practical experience of God as "a very present help in trouble" is the need. That men and women in all ages have found this help, there is abundant testimony; but the experiences out of which this awareness of God comes are so profound that only rarely can one tell of them so that others may understand and benefit. All that such persons can tell us, for the most part, is the simple fact that they have found the help they needed....

From the widest possible range of thought and feeling, the same word comes—"God is a very present help in trouble." As I look into the testing times of my own little life, I can only say, "I have found it so."

There is a power that lifts men from the night of despair into the light of faith. If we are to travel the rough road bravely and with honor, we must not neglect any possible chance of winning the alliance of this power.

There is no need for us to walk alone through the dark valleys of either life or death. There is a road and staff on which to lean. The lifting power of God is still in the world. There is a help for those who truly seek it. Yes! I have found it so. I need neither hymnist nor psalmist to tell me. I have found it so!

It must be made very plain that this help is not to be had for the mere asking, or for the casual praying. Of a certainty we must learn to distinguish between those things that are spiritual and those that are material—how to set the spiritual values above all the rest. Only as we seek to deepen our spiritual life in honesty and loyalty, can we grow in our power to know and experience God.

This involves self-discipline, patiently and sincerely carried out. But the effort is rewarding. To find God and come to know His companionship is to discover the strength and faith that cannot be overthrown even by the challenge of despair.

[Rev. Walter E. Cole, as quoted in the Boston (Massachusetts) Herald]

By our united reverence we help keep the great values of religion alive. Unless the great words of religion—peace, justice, mercy, compassion, reverence, faith, hope, love—are stressed now, the words of turmoil—hate, fight, fear, avenge, destroy—will make it all but impossible to write an enduring peace after victory is achieved.

If we are to receive the benefits which come from worship we must stop being mere spectators and become active, interested, disciplined participants. Through worship, the eternal becomes real and God is seen as the great fact about the universe. Through shared religious experience, we can discover and retain the inner peace that comes from ethical illumination, philosophical meaning, and adequate power for living.

[From the Journal-Herald, Dayton, Ohio]

There is no strength like the strength of God. A tempest is strong. It can level a forest as though century pines were brittle sticks. It gather great in its fists. But Jesus of Nazareth, imbued with the strengh of God, spoke to a tempest and it lost all force and boasting.

The hate expressed by human beings seems a powerful thing. It crucified Jesus of Nazareth, but the strength which was of God moved away a stone and he who was given to a tomb rose and walked among men.

The storms of evil ride high at the moment. They strike the towers of cities and abase them. They tear at the foundation of governments and governments drop into the abyss of time. Man seems at the mercy of destructive forces. But he is not at their mercy. The power which stilled the Sea of Galilee, the might which calmed the surging waters, is with mankind. It remains for man to accept this aid.

[Henry Geerlings, as quoted in the Evening Sentinel, Holland, Michigan]

If our prayers are to be effective there must be a belief in a God who is able to answer prayer. It may seem to be unnecessary to state this fact, but it deserves to be emphasized. Faith in Him is essential. We must believe that an answer to our request is possible. His arm is not shortened that He cannot save.

Our prayers should be marked by the utmost unselfishness. Only after our prayers represent more than selfish desires can we anticipate the response of God to them.