Going Forward in Joy!

By JR Miller

While we live we must be moving on. When we stop we begin to die. Rest is necessary, but only to renew our strength that we may press on again. An anchor is needful for a ship, but anchoring is not a ship’s business ‒ it is built for sailing. We are made for struggle and effort, not for ease and loitering.
Yet, far more earnestly than we know, God wants us to be happy. It grieves a true human father to see his children unhappy. Our Heavenly Father is pained and disappointed when his children on the earth are discontented and anxious, or when they do not rejoice.
But joy is deeper than happiness. Happiness is the fruit of good fortune, of favorable circumstances. Joy is independent of circumstances. It dwells in the heart, a fountain which never fails. Happiness laughs when the sun shines but grows sad when clouds gather. Joy sings on in all weathers and in all experiences.
This book is a call to move forward in our faith and in our lives in joy, in Christian joy that will bring joy and encouragement in others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: White Tree Publishing
• Release date: Nov 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9781913950071

Book preview

About the Book

While we live we must be moving on. When we stop we begin to die. Rest is necessary, but only to renew our strength that we may press on again. An anchor is needful for a ship, but anchoring is not a ship’s business ‒ it is built for sailing. We are made for struggle and effort, not for ease and loitering.

Yet, far more earnestly than we know, God wants us to be happy. It grieves a true human father to see his children unhappy. Our Heavenly Father is pained and disappointed when his children on the earth are discontented and anxious, or when they do not rejoice.

But joy is deeper than happiness. Happiness is the fruit of good fortune, of favorable circumstances. Joy is independent of circumstances. It dwells in the heart, a fountain which never fails. Happiness laughs when the sun shines but grows sad when clouds gather. Joy sings on in all weathers and in all experiences.

This book is a call to move forward in our faith and in our lives in joy, in Christian joy that will bring joy and encouragement in others.

Going Forward in Joy!

JR Miller

(1840-1912)

eBook ISBN: 978-1-913950-07-1

Published by

White Tree Publishing

Bristol

UNITED KINGDOM

More books on www.whitetreepublishing.com

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Scripture quotations from American Standard Version (ASV) Public Domain

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this revised edition.

Table of Contents

Cover

About the Book

About the Author

White Tree Publishing Introduction

Publisher’s Note

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

About White Tree Publishing

More Books by JR Miller

Author Biography

James Russell Miller was an amazingly prolific Christian author. In addition to having the post of Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, he was the pastor of several Presbyterian churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois during his working life. He was born on March 20, 1840 near Frankfort Springs, Pennsylvania. His parents had a total of ten children, but his older sister died before he was born. When James was about fourteen years old, his father moved to a farm near Calcutta, Ohio. In the new home James was as popular among his schoolmates as he had been in his Pennsylvania home.

We can see when reading about James Miller’s early family life, how it is that he was able to write with great understanding and sympathy about the needs of individual Christians. His biographer, John T. Faris, (The Life of Dr. J. R. Miller: Jesus and I Are Friends 1912) tells us that, The young people of the neighbourhood delighted to gather at the Miller [James’s parents] fireside to enjoy one of the evenings of good fellowship for which the household was noted.

Faris also tells us that family prayers in Miller’s family home, when he was young, were given absolute priority over everything else. There was to be no reading of a single Bible verse and a brief prayer!

Miller married Louise King in 1870. They had three children. He died in Philadelphia at the age of seventy-two in July 1912, having been used by God to bring a great blessing to many thousands through his various pastorates, and to countless readers through more than thirty Christian periodicals, and through the sale of more than two million books in his lifetime.

According to Faris, Miller sold over two million copies of his books during his lifetime. He also edited Forward, a weekly newspaper for young people.

White Tree Publishing is publishing several eBook editions of Miller’s titles. In addition to checking out JR Miller’s books at the end of this book, please see our website for updates.

White Tree Publishing Introduction

J R Miller’s books give helpful and challenging thoughts for living a Christian life of genuine, unforced gladness and trust. Some words have been updated in