Colossians 3:16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
3:17. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Living a Christian life gets misunderstood as having to give up things, but it is a life that frees from the burdens that would otherwise make us miserable. This entire passage is all about living a life of richness. A Christian life is one of emotional and spiritual well being. It is the kind of rich living that never depends on how big your bank account is. It all starts with having Jesus fill your life.

Get more of the details by reading the entire chapter of Colossians 3. Verses 16 and 17 sum up the whole thing in a nutshell. Abide in Jesus. Let his teachings, ways, and attitude sink in.

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2 Peter 3:8-9

3:8. But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
3:9. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

This is a message that is being written to a group of believers who are growing a little complacent. They are letting some of the doubts of the world creep in, and having their patience stretched. Their minds need to be stirred up. Take time to remember the words of the prophets of old, the words of the apostles, the commandments, even the words of the savior himself.

It’s easy to say to ourselves that God spoke to early, ancient people, but they are long dead and the world keeps plugging along without much change. Seasons come and go, years come and go, and miracles seem to not happen anymore. Where are the things promised, When is the last days going to be? Don’t rush things. The earth was created long ago, and was designed to endure for a long, long time. In fact the promise is that seasons will continue for as long as it takes. the earth will continue, just as it has, preserved, until God destroys it with fire, when he comes to judge all people.

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Statistically, most people will become married in their lifetime. Being married is how we pass on the family name and traditions, and leave a legacy behind us. Before a person gets married though, it takes getting to know that special person to share in your lifestyle. Maybe you are reading this and in a relationship, that’s a place to start.

The main purpose behind this writing today is for those who are not in a relationship, not dating anybody, and maybe have no clue about whether there is even anybody out there for you. No prospects at all, or know how to even get started in that direction.

You know who you are. You’re not married? Not even dating, or in a relationship? But you want to be? No garantees but here’s some tips and questions to ask yourself to help you focus.

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Colossians 1:15-17

1:15. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
1:16. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
1:17. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
–NKJ

The great thing we have about the Bible is that we can read God’s word in human language. The trouble with it is that human language is sometimes barely adequate to describe things in this world, and has trouble describing things on a spiritual, or Godly level. The Bible teaches that there is only one God, God is one. Christian teaching claims that Jesus is God. In describing such things words are used to describe, as best as possible, images and concepts that humans can understand. There are people who stumble over the language of calling Jesus a “firstborn”, or if he is his own person, how can he also be God. It can be hard to understand. Teachings like this have their root in the things that Jesus taught, and what the Old Testament hints at.

In verse 15 we find that Jesus is the image, or icon of God. God is spirit and invisible. Moses was told that nobody has ever seen the face of God, and nobody can and live. Have you ever wondered what God looked like? old testament prophets did. I’ve wondered that many times, and I’m sure most people have. If God had a tangible form that we could see, if God was to let people see him face to face, he would look like Jesus. The image of God that we can touch, taste, smell, see and hear.

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Leviticus 6:2-5

6:2. “If a person sins and commits a trespass against the Lord by lying to his neighbor about what was delivered to him for safekeeping, or about a pledge, or about a robbery, or if he has extorted from his neighbor,
6:3. “or if he has found what was lost and lies concerning it, and swears falsely in any one of these things that a man may do in which he sins:
6:4. “then it shall be, because he has sinned and is guilty, that he shall restore what he has stolen, or the thing which he has extorted, or what was delivered to him for safekeeping, or the lost thing which he found,
6:5. “or all that about which he has sworn falsely. He shall restore its full value, add one-fifth more to it, and give it to whomever it belongs, on the day of his trespass offering.
–NKJ

In this key passage, the key point is in the last two verses. In the first part we have an outline of some finer points of doing things that defraud your fellow man. It contains a nasty mixture of lies, theft, trust, extortion, and other such things. The main point of these few verses is to point out that there are consequences for our actions. Sometimes the punishment for breaking a law are serious, and get the death penalty. Most have a lesser punishment such as this one about lieing and stealing Crime and sin have consequences, and deserves punishment.

We are told of these harsh things because unfortunately, in our society there are some people out there who just don’t abide by the ethical and moral teachings of either God’s law, or any law. The punishments need to be fair and fit the crime. The punishments also serve to protect the guilty party to a degree. Maybe the person will consider it a wake up call and learn to reform his ways. It should at least be fair based on the extent of the crime that was done. From the victim’s point of view, there might be a large amount of emotional sentiment attached to the item lost, or devastation at being violated. The punishment is to regulate the punishment and not punish the guilty person beyond the real weight of the crime.

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Exodus 17:12. But Moses’ hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
–NKJ

Let’s look at this in backward steps. It’s a snapshot of cooperation. Two men supported the hands of moses so he could hold them up all day. “Until the going down of the sun.” They even gave Moses a stone to sit on to be comfortable. Hey, it’s pretty hard to hold up your hands all day without help. But why were the hands of Moses heavy anyway? What was he doing, and why? Look at the earlier part of the chapter.

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Genesis 14:20  and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Abram gave him a tenth of all.
–NKJ

Stewardship is taking care of the things God has given us, and managing them well. Here Abraham gives money, a tythe back to God. OK, question time, but first read the entire chapter of Genesis 14.

What happened here? Abram is in conversation with a local priest of God named Melchisidek. The first phrase is the tale end of the words being spoken by this high priest. “blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” The short answer is that we give back to God not only for what he has given but also for the protection he offers to us.

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Galatians 1:6-10

1:6. I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel,
1:7. which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.
1:8. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
1:9. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
1:10. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
–NKJ

This passage picks up right after Pauls opening greeting to the Galatian church, and where he has come to them with Jesus as the sole authority behind his message. He cuts right to the problem the people were having with falling away from their faith.

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Deuteronomy 4:1-14

4:1. “Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you.
4:2. “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take anything from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.
–NKJ

Let’s look at some keywords in this passage. Listen, observe, live, possess, given, add, take, keep, and command. If you notice, these are all verbs. All but two are things that we humans are to do. The others are A promise from God and his command that this is true, and the right things he wants for us.

God is speaking to the nation of Israel as they are about to enter the promised land. They have been wandering in their sins in the desert, and are on the threshold of something good. It is a message that we can still experience in our own parallel lives. We get into a rut of daily drudgery, but that isn’t what God wants for us. At some point he gets our attention. Are you out there, blaming God, or going through thoughts of doubt. Good, that means that thoughts of God are going through your mind. He has blessings and promises he wants to give.

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Exodus 19:5-6

19:5. `Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.
19:6. `And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
–NKJ

To evangelize comes from a word that means “a good message.” It is the word behind the word “gospel.” To evangelize is to spread the good message. In the closing chapter of Matthew, Christians are directed to spread the good word to the ends of the earth. But before we can take that message to anybody, it has to start somewhere. Take a long look in the mirror and start with that person looking back at you.

Nobody is perfect, and we don’t have to understand all that the Gospel has to say before we tell others. A witness in a courtroom doesn’t have to study law, mechanics, engineering, forensics, or any number of specialties before they testify. All they do is tell what they witnessed. That’s all it takes to spread the word. Tell the part that you do know.

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Isaiah 2:4. He shall judge between the nations, and shall rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into

plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they

learn war anymore.
–NKJ

Here’s a well known verse that speaks to a future time when a worldwide peace will occur. Swords and lances being remanufactured and beaten into garden implements. Nations will no longer rise up against each other. and even the skills of the battlefield won’t be taught because that peace will be so secure.

What will it take to have all the diverse types of humans and nations to come together? What common ground will be needed for people to put away their differences? It will have to be a time when they all find a common ground. Not just any common ground, but one so powerful that all people of all nations will feel secure enough in it to lay down the tools of war, make them into tools of peace, and feel comfortable enough to not even teach about war. You know… just in case.

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Isaiah 9:6-7

9:6. For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
9:7. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
–NKJ

Isaiah talks about a king who will come in the future. One that we know as the person of Jesus Christ. He will arrive as a child who is born in the usual way. A gift of joy and pleasure to his parents. He will be a son who is to carry the weight and burden of governmental authority.

He will be the kind of person deserving of the names listed here. I looked up the original words and the list reads like this:

Miraculous, Counselor, Strong, Warrior, Father being Forever, Prince of Peace.

The comma’s (,) separate the individual words of his name.

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Exodus 20:8-11

20:8. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
20:9. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
20:10. but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.
20:11. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
–NKJ

This is a very straightforward command that we are to follow. One that can be a real inconvenience in our busy society. The words in verse 8 says it all. Concerning the Sabbath, we are to do two things. Remember the day itself, and keep it holy, or honor it.

As humans we need plenty of rest. Each day is typically spent with a third of it sleeping. We are asked to give up ond, or one seventh of our week to rest.

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Matthew 3:13-17

3:13. Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.
3:14. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”
3:15. But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.
3:16. Then Jesus, when He had been baptized, came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.
3:17. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
–NKJ

One of the few sacraments of the Christian church is Baptism. What is a sacrament? It is an action that has deep religious meaning attached to it. The act should be considered an act of worship, and an expression that demonstrates our faith.

Baptism completes our faith. The word complete can also be said as finish, or perfection, or fulfillment. It puts the final touch to our coming to terms with who Jesus is, and the acceptance of his payment for us, and our salvation into his kingdom. It marks the moment of the time when we begin our life, dedicated to his service. It is a personal statement, and is why Baptists don’t believe in baptizing babies. How can you put a seal of completion on a work that hasn’t been done yet? Babies can and should be dedicated, but that is a commitment that is more for the parents to dedicate themselves to raise their child according to the teachings of the Bible.

How important is Baptism? Even Jesus went to be baptized as he left his former life as a carpenter and began his service of teaching and healing. John the Baptist recognized Jesus as more than being just a regular man. He was surprised and even reluctant to baptize him.

Baptism is a matter of putting the seal on your faith. It isn’t a matter of being worthy. It isn’t a magical ritual that washes you any cleaner than another. It isn’t a magical charm against falling into evil. In fact, as soon as Jesus came up from his Baptism, the next passage tells about how he faced temptation.

John’s preaching had brought the message to the people to, “repent and be baptized to prepare the way of the Lord.” Baptism comes at that moment when we turn our backs on our former lifestyle. It marks the time when we have discovered our wrong doing, face towards God, and begin a life where we do things to honor God. Jesus may have been a special man, one without sin, but at this moment he turned away from his work, family, and lifestyle to turn entirely towards God and live according to the mission that God had for him.

God is pleased to see believers make this statement of faith. He had a special message for Jesus when he was baptized. Some people have a fear of water, or of the ordeal of beingplaced under water, and having faith they will be brought up without problem. God knows those concerns and to overcome those kinds of obstacles is all that much more a demonstration of faith and symbol of the dedication to him that a person has.

Why not sprinkle? Does a person have to be emmerwsed in water? The word Baptize itself means to dip. Discriptions of baptisms in the Bible all indicate being emmersed under water. I won’t debate the merits of sprinkling over emmersion, or the other way around. There is nothing magical about the water. It doesn’t have to be holy water, any water will do. With that in mind, the important thing is that once a believer wants to complete the demonstration of their faith, don’t hold them back. Baptize them with what ever water is handy. The attitude of worship is the important thing, not the ceremony, water, or method.

If I’m Baptized do I need to leave my life behind and become a preacher or teacher? Not necessarily. It means that all sinful elements of our life need to be put behind us. Replace those activities with ones that please God. If God is calling you to a particular work, then by all means, drop any activity that might keep you from it.

Use Jesus as your model. Whether you feel worthy to be baptized or not, it is the sacrament that is right to do in worship, and to let others know of your changed life.

Matthew 16:15-19

16:15. He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16:16. And Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
16:17. Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
16:18. “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
16:19. “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
–NKJ

The events leading up to this passage has Jesus talking to his disciples and asking them what others are saying about him. The disciples named off a few prophets. Most people, even today will concede that Jesus was at least a great teacher and prophet. Jesus doesn’t stop there, next he gets personal.

Deciding who Jesus is, and what he is all about is a personal decision. You can’t take what others are saying and claim it as your own. At some point you have to turn to him face to face, and decide for yourself. Who is Jesus to you? He is who he is, and you can’t mold him into your own convenient god. Until you come to understand who he is, as Peter did, the rest of this passage can hold no meaning to you.

Now, in this passage Peter steps up as the spokesmen for the disciples. I’m sure they were silently deciding the matter and arriving at their own, similar conclusions. In simple terms, Peter claimed that he believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the Christ. Also that Jesus was the son of God. Doesn’t that seem like such a no brainer? But is it? Think about all those times when the disciples had to pull Jesus aside to explain a parable. Even as late as the day Jesus ascended to heaven, ten days before Pentecost they were unsure of what would happen next.

Jesus knew all about the thick heads of his students and acknowledged that this revelation of truth could only be known because it came from God. Look at what Jesus does. He addresses Peter directly. He answered him, not he answered them. Each individual has to come to make his own decision. Each individual gets a personal responce.

Due to his desire to seek after Jesus, and his new discovery by God, Peter is given his new name which means rock. Though he might only be just a little rock, he would be the beginnings of the foundation that the rest of the house of Jesus will be built upon.

The shape and strength of a building’s foundation determine the shape the building will take. Peter was being given the keys of the kingdom to unlock a little of what heaven is like here on earth. The traditions he started are to continue their patterns all through the building that would come. The things that he restricted would become the taboos of the church that would later come.

Ask that God will reveal Jesus to you so you can believe and be a part of his kingdom. As believers, we have our own part of the building. Much of the shape of the building has already been set in place. There’s still room to fit in and be part of the finished structure. The rocks of the foundation are way different from the shingles that cover the top of the roof, but all parts of the building are needed and important. There’s a place that is empty and waiting for you to fill it in.

Come face to face with Jesus. Ask God to reveal the secret of who Jesus is as his son and savior of the human race. He has a key for you as well to unlock your part of his kingdom. Get involved and be part of his building, his church, his body of believers. Through fellowship in a body of believers, start today to discover what the keys of the kingdom will unlock.

Genesis 12:1-3

12:1. Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.
12:2. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.
12:3. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
–NKJ

God is good. He has a plan. Maybe Abram didn’t fully know what it was to be, but he knew that God was about to use him, and bless him in a big way. I like the way it appears in the original Hebrew grammar. Using double words to show the emphasis on the actions that Abram is to do, and the actions that God will do.

GEN 12:1 And said, Yahweh to Abram, “to walk to walk from your land, and from your birthplace,
and from house of your father, unto the land which I show you.
GEN 12:2 And I’ll make you into a nation great, and I’ll bless you,
and I’ll enlarge you, your name, and you’ll be a prosperity.
GEN 12:3 And I’ll bless you, and from blessing you, and from you acutely curse,
and please to bless them, in you, all, families, of the earth.

Now you can appreciate your nifty, easy to read, English translation a little better.

Because of the context that this incident takes place, and the grammar style, the English version comes out slightly different. Here’s why. Abram was told to leave, or walk and walk, away from his country and family. Literally the word can mean birthplace, but the land where Abram was living was not the place where he was born. Several years earlier, he and his entire family transplanted themselves there. So the correct sense this word means is to leave the country that he was living, and to leave the family who he was born among. Abram was being commanded to strike out on his own. Abram was to leave his father’s household because God wanted his entire blessing to be channeled through Abram alone.

For that total dedication, God would do a few things for Abram. He would be made into a great nation. The word nation is actually a borrowed word. It was normally used to indicate a foreign nation, because the Hebrew people at the time were so small, it was inconceivable that they might have numbers so large as some of the neighboring, foreign nations. Abram was to become a great name, and be blessed. The words for great and enlarge come from similar root words. Also the words for bless and prosperity come from similar root words. But wait, there’s more words about blessing.

Although the actual phrase reads, “And I’ll bless you, and from blessing you, and from you acutely curse,” the thing that God is really saying here is that he is bestowing a tremendous blessing on Abram, one that will spill out from him and bless all those around him. Then if anybody should hold a grudge and deserve a curse poured out on their head, it is given to Abram to have authority to do so. The follow up phrase, “and please to bless them,” shows that it is actually Gods pleasure and desire to bless all the families of the earth.

When we follow the will of God, we also are granted blessings, even to the point of being a blessing to those around us. The source of those blessings come from God.

Have you ever been in a situation where your world seemed to be falling apart, yet your life reflected joy? So much so that other people noticed and had to stop and ask, “How do you do it? With all that is happening to you, you don’t seem to let it ruffle you. I’d be falling to pieces if it were me?” Maybe you have never been the joyful person in that scene. Maybe it’s been you who have asked that question to someone else. The answer is simple. That joyful person isn’t doing it. They aren’t strong. There is no joy except what comes from God. You follow and do his will, and he carries you. You focus on him and he outshines the troubles of the world. It’s his joy pouring into you, and overflowing out of you to others.

There’s one more concept here. I’ll be as brief as possible. In English versions it seems to state that God will bless any others who bless Abram, and curse any who would curse him. The original language seems to be saying that God is a one way channel of blessing. A source from where only blessings can come. The mention of cursing others seems to make Abram the source of the curse that might come. It is almost as if God is saying, “I’m going to bless and bless, and there will be so much overflow that others will be blessed. But if in all this blessing, if somebody crosses your path who you feel deserves a sharply bitter curse, go ahead and I’ll back you up.” The source of curses towards other humans comes from other humans.

Using Abram’s example, he found himself in various conflicts. After traveling to his promised lands he continued to Egypt where his wife was taken from him. He never broke down and claimed a curse upon the land or people. He had conflict with his nephew Lot and between their shepherds. Abram chose to resolve the conflict in a peaceable way and not to place curses. Take time to look for other events in Abram’s life and notice the lack of curses when he might easily have done so. God gives us that same set of blessings, curses, and the choice to make our own decisions.

Just because a power is within our ability, doesn’t mean we have to act that way. Show grace and choose to not curse others. God’s preference is to be a blessing to all the wworld, keep his preference and keep extending grace and blessing to others.

Andrew Murray

XIII.

1 Corinthians 15: 24-28.–”Then cometh the end, when He shall have
delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put
down all rule, and all authority and power. For He must reign till He hath
put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is
death. For He hath put all things under His feet. But when He saith, All
things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted, which did put
all things under Him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then
shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him, that God may be all in
all.”

This will be the grand conclusion of the great drama of the world’s
history, and of Christ’s redemption. There will come a day–the glory is
such we can form no Read More…

Andrew Murray

XII.

Romans 8: 26-27.–Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for
we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself
maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he
that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because
he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Here we have the teaching of God regarding the help the Holy Spirit will
give us in prayer. The first half of this chapter is of much importance in
connection with the teaching of God’s word regarding the Spirit. In Romans
vi. we read about being dead to sin and alive to God, and in Romans vii.,
about being dead to the law and married to Christ, and also about the
impotency of the unregenerate man to do God’s will. This is only a
preparation to show us how helpless we are; and then in the eighth chapter
comes the blessed work of the Spirit, expressed chiefly in the following
words: “The Spirit hath made us free from the law of sin and death.” The
Spirit makes us free from the power of sin, and teaches and leads us so
that we walk after the Spirit. In our inner disposition we may become
spiritually minded, and enabled to mortify the deeds of the body. The Holy
Spirit helps our infirmities. Prayer is the most necessary thing in the
spiritual life. Yet we do not know how to pray nor what to pray for as we
ought. The Spirit, Paul tells us, prays with groanings unutterable. And
again he tells us that we ourselves often do not know what the Spirit is
doing within us, but there is one, God, who searches the hearts. Words
often reveal my thought and my wishes, but not what is deep in my heart,
and God comes and searches my heart, and deep down, hidden, what I can not
see and what was to me an unutterable longing, God finds.

Powerful prayer! The confession of ignorance! Ah, friends, I am often
afraid for myself as a minister that I pray too easily. I have been praying
for these forty or fifty years and it becomes, as far as man is concerned,
an easy thing to pray. We all have been taught to pray, and when we are
called upon we can pray, but it gets far too easy, and I am afraid we think
we are praying often when there is little real prayer. Now if we are to
have the praying of the Holy Ghost in us one thing is needed; we must begin
by feeling, “I can not pray.” When a man breaks down and can not pray, and
there is a fire burning in his heart, and a burden resting upon him, there
is something drawing him to God. “I know not what to pray,”–oh, blessed
ignorance! We are not ignorant enough. Abraham went out not knowing whither
he went; in that was an element of ignorance and also an element of faith.
Jesus said to His disciples when they came with their prayer for the throne,
“You know not what you ask.” Paul says, “No man knoweth the things of God
but the Spirit of God.” You say, “If I am not to pray the old prayers
I learned from my mother or from my professor in college or from my
experience yesterday and the day before, what am I to pray?” I answer, pray
new prayers, rise higher into the riches of God. You must begin to feel
your ignorance. You know what we think of a student who goes to college
fancying he knows everything. He will not learn much. Sir Isaac Newton
said, “I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem
to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself
in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than
ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”
When I see a man who can not pray glibly and smoothly and readily, I say
that is a mark of the Holy Spirit. When he begins in his prayers to say,
“Oh, God, I want more, I want to be led deeper in. I have prayed for the
heathen, but I want to feel the burden of the heathen in a new way,” it is
an indication of the presence of the Holy Spirit. I tell you, beloved, if
you will take time and let God lay the burden of the heathen heavier upon
you until you begin to feel, “I have never prayed,” it will be the most
blessed thing in your life. And so with regard to the church: We want to
take up our position as members of the church of Christ in this land; and
as belonging to that great body, to say, “Lord God, is there nothing that
can be done to bless the church of this land and to revive it and bring it
out of its worldliness and out of its feebleness?” We may confer together
and conclude faithlessly, “No, we do not know what is to be done; we have
no influence and power over all these ministers and their churches.” But on
the other hand, how blessed to come to God and say, “Lord, we know not what
to ask. Thou knowest what to grant.” The Holy Spirit could pray a hundred
fold more in us if we were only conscious of our ignorance, because we
would then feel our dependence upon Him. May God teach us our ignorance in
prayer and our impotence, and may God bring us to say, “Lord, we can not
pray; we do not know what prayer is.” Of course some of us do know in a
measure what prayer is, many of us, and we thank God for what he has been
to us in answer to prayer, but oh, it is only a little beginning compared
to what the Holy Spirit of God teaches.

There is the first thought: our ignorance. “We know not what we should pray
for as we ought;” but “the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered.” We often hear about the work of God the
Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost in working out and completing the
great redemption, and we know that when God worked in the creation of the
world, He was not weary, and yet we read that wonderful expression in the
book of Exodus about the Sabbath day, “God rested and was refreshed.” He
was refreshed, the Sabbath day was a refreshment to Him. God had to work
and Christ had to work, and now the Holy Spirit works, and His secret
working place, the place where all work must begin, is in the heart where
He comes to teach a man how to pray. When a man begins to get an insight
into that which is needed and that which is promised and that which God
waits to perform, he feels it to be beyond his conception; then is the time
he will be ready to say, “I can not limit the holy one of Israel by my
thoughts; I give myself up in the faith that the Holy Spirit can be praying
for me with groanings, with longings, that can not be expressed.” Apply
that to your prayers.

There are different phases of prayer. There is worship, when a man just
bows down to adore the great God. We do not take time to worship. We
need to worship in secret, just to get ourselves face to face with the
everlasting God, that He may overshadow us and cover us and fill us with
His love and His glory. It is the Holy Spirit that can work in us such a
yearning that we will give up our pleasures and even part of our business,
that we may the oftener meet our God.

The next phase of prayer is fellowship. In prayer there is not only the
worship of a king, but fellowship as of a child with God. Christians take
far too little time in fellowship. They think prayer is just coming with
their petitions. If Christ is to make me what I am to be, I must tarry in
fellowship with God. If God is to let his love enter in and shine and burn
through my heart, I must take time to be with Him. The smith puts his rod
of iron into the fire. If he leaves it there but a short time it does not
become red hot. He may take it out to do something with it and after a time
put it back again for a few minutes, but this time it does not become red
hot. In the course of the day he may put the rod into the fire a great
many times and leave it there two or three minutes each time, but it never
becomes thoroughly heated. If he takes time and leaves the rod ten or
fifteen minutes in the fire the whole iron will become red hot with the
heat that is in the fire. So if we are to get the fire of God’s holiness
and love and power we must take more time with God in fellowship. That was
what gave men like Abraham and Moses their strength. They were men who were
separated to a fellowship with God, and the living God made them strong.
Oh, if we did but realize what prayer can do!

Another, and a most important phase of prayer is intercession. What a work
God has set open for those who are His priests–intercessors! We find a
wonderful expression in the prophecy of Isaiah; God says, “Let him take
hold of me;” and again, “There is none that stirreth up himself to take
hold of thee.” In other passages God refers to the intercessors for Israel.
Have you ever taken hold of God? Thank God, some of us have; but oh,
friends, representatives of the church of Christ in the United States,
if God were to show us how much there is of intense prayer for a revival
through the church, how much of sincere confession of the sins of the
church, how much of pleading with God and giving Him no rest till He make
Jerusalem a glory in the earth, I think we should all be ashamed. We need
to give up our hearts to the Holy Spirit, that He may pray for us and in us
with groanings that can not be uttered.

What am I to do if I am to have this Holy Spirit within me? The Spirit
wants time and room in the heart; He wants the whole being. He wants all
my interest and influence going out for the honor and the glory of God; He
wants me to give myself up. Beloved friend, you do not know what you could
do if you would give yourself up to intercession. It is a work that a sick
one lying on a bed year by year may do in power. It is a work that a poor
one who has hardly a penny to give to a missionary society can do day by
day. It is a work that a young girl who is in her father’s house and has to
help in the housekeeping can do by the Holy Spirit. People often ask: What
does the Church of our day do to reach the masses? They ask, though they
ask it tremblingly, for they feel so helpless: What can we do against the
materialism and infidelity in places like London and Berlin and New York
and Paris? We have given it up as hopeless. Ah, if men and women could be
called out to band themselves together to take hold upon God! I am not
speaking of any prayer union or any prayer time statedly set apart, but if
the Spirit could find men and women who would give up their lives to cry to
God, the Spirit would most surely come. It is not selfishness and it is not
mere happiness that we seek when we talk about the peace and the rest and
the blessing Christ can give. God wants us, Christ wants us, because He has
to do a work; the work of Calvary is to be done in our hearts, we are
to sacrifice our lives to pleading with God for men. Oh, let us yield
ourselves day by day and ask God that it may please Him to let His Holy
Spirit work in us.

Then comes the last thought, that God Himself comes to look with
complacency upon the attitude of His child. Perhaps that poor man does not
know that he is praying; perhaps he is ashamed of his prayers. So much
the better. Perhaps he feels burdened and restless, but God hears, God
discovers what is the mind of the Spirit, and will answer. Oh, think of
this wonderful mystery, God the Father on the throne ready to grant unto
us His blessings according to the riches of His glory; Christ the almighty
high priest pleading day and night. His whole person is one intercession,
and there goes up from Him without ceasing the pleading to the Father,
“Bless thy church,” and the answer comes from the Father to the Son, and
from the Son down to the church, and if it does not reach us, it is because
our hearts are closed. Let us open and enlarge our hearts and say to God,
“Oh that I might be a priest, to enter God’s presence continually and to
take hold of God and to bring down a blessing to my perishing fellowmen!”
God longs to find the intercession of Jesus reflected in the hearts of His
children, and where He finds it, it is a delight. And He that searcheth the
hearts knoweth the mind of the Spirit, because he prayeth for the saints,
according to the will of God. Some one has spoken of that word, “for the
saints,” as meaning the spirit of praise in the believer for the saints
throughout the world. God’s word continually comes to us to pray for all
not to be content with ourselves. Think upon the hundreds of church members
in this land, multitudes unconverted, multitudes just converted, but
yet worldly and careless. Think of the thousands of nominal
Christians–Christians in name, but robbing God! and can we be happy? If
we bear the burden of souls, can we have this peace and joy? God gives you
peace and joy with no other object than that you should be strong to bear
the burden of souls in the joy of Christ’s salvation.

We do not wish to say, “I am trying to be as holy as I can; what have I to
do with those worldly people about me?” If there is a terrible disease in
my hand, my body can not say, “I have nothing to do with it.” When the
people had sinned Ezra rent his garments and bowed in the dust and made
confession. He repented on the part of the people. And Nehemiah, when the
nation sinned, made confession, and cast himself before God, deploring
their disobedience to the God of their fathers. Daniel did the very same.
And think you that we as believers have not a great work to do? Suppose we
were each, persons without a single sin; just suppose it; could we then
make confession? Look at Christ, without sin! He went down into the waters
of baptism with sinners; He made Himself one with them. God has spoken to
us to ask us if we realize what we are. He now asks us whether we belong to
the church of this land, whether we have borne the burden of sin around
us. Let us go to God and may He by the Holy Spirit fill our hearts with
unutterable sorrow at the state of the church, and may God give us grace to
mourn before Him. And when we begin to confess the sins of the church, we
will begin to feel our own sins as never before. In five of the epistles
to the seven churches in Asia the keynote was “Repent;” there was to be no
idea of overcoming and getting a blessing unless they repented. Let us on
behalf of the church of Christ repent, and God will give us courage to feel
that He will revive His work.

Andrew Murray

XI.

John 4: 50.–And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto
him.

Let me quote from the Gospel according to St. John, the 4th chapter,
beginning at the 46th verse: “So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee,
where He made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son
was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was come up out of Judea
into Galilee, he went unto Him, and besought Him that He would come down
and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. Then said Jesus unto
him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.” There you have
the word “believe” the first time. “The nobleman saith unto Him, Sir, come
down ere my child die. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth.
And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went
his way.” There you have that word the second time. “And as he was now
going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth.
Then inquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said
unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. So the father
knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy
son liveth; and himself believed, and his whole house.” There you have the
word “faith”.

This story has often been used to illustrate the different steps of faith
in the spiritual life. It was this use made of it in an address that
brought the sainted Canon Battersby into the full enjoyment of rest. He had
been a most godly man, but had lived the life of failure. He saw in the
story what it was to rest on the Word and trust the saving power of Jesus,
and from that night he was a changed man. He went home to testify of it,
and under God, he was allowed to originate the Keswick Convention.

Let me point out to you the three aspects of faith which we have here:
first, faith seeking; then, faith finding; and then, faith enjoying. Or,
still better: faith struggling; faith resting; faith triumphing. First of
all, faith struggling. Here is a man, a heathen, a nobleman, who has heard
about Christ. He has a dying son at Capernaum, and in his extremity leaves
his home, and walks some six or seven hours away to Cana of Galilee. He
has heard of the Prophet, possibly, as one who has made water wine; he has
heard of His other miracles round Capernaum, and he has a certain trust
that Jesus will be able to help him. He goes to Him, and his prayer is that
the Lord will come down to Capernaum and heal his son. Christ said to him,
“Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.” He saw that the
nobleman wanted Him to come and stand beside the child. This man had not
the faith of the centurion–”Only speak a word.” He had faith. It was faith
that came from hearsay, and it was faith that did, to a certain extent,
hope in Christ; but it was not the faith in Christ’s power such as Christ
desired. Still Christ accepted and met this faith. After the Lord had thus
told him what He wished–a faith that could fully trust Him–the nobleman
cried the second time, “Sir, come down ere my child die.” Seeing his
earnestness and his trust, Christ said, “Go thy way; thy son liveth.” And
then we read that the nobleman believed. He believed, and he went his way.
He believed the word that Jesus had spoken. In that he rested and was
content. And he went away without having any other pledge than the word of
Jesus. As he was walking homeward, the servants met him, to tell him his
son lived. He asked at what hour he began to amend. And when they told him,
he knew it was at the very hour that Jesus had been speaking to him. He
had at first a faith that was seeking, and struggling, and searching for
blessing; then he had a faith that accepted the blessing simply as it was
contained in the word of Jesus. When Christ said, “Thy son liveth,” he was
content, and went home, and found the blessing–the son restored.

Then came the third step in his faith. He believed with his whole house.
That is to say, he did not only believe that Christ could do just this one
thing, the healing of his son; but he believed in Christ as his Lord. He
gave himself up entirely to be a disciple of Jesus. And that not only
alone, but with his whole house. Many Christians are like the nobleman.
They have heard about a better life. They have met certain individuals by
whose Christian lives they have been impressed, and consequently have felt
that Christ can do wonderful things for a man. Many Christians say in their
heart, “I am sure there is a better life for me to live; how I wish I could
be brought to that blessed state!” But they have not much hope about it.
They have read, and prayed, but they have found everything so difficult, If
you ask them, “Do you believe Jesus can help you to live this higher life?”
they say, “Yes; He is omnipotent.” If you ask, “Do you believe Jesus wishes
to do it?” they say, “Yes, I know He is loving.” And if you say, “Do you
believe that He will do it for you?” they at once say, “I know He is
willing, but whether He will actually do it for me I do not know. I am not
sure that I am prepared. I do not know if I am advanced enough. I do
not know if I have enough grace for that.” And so they are hungering,
struggling, wrestling, and often remain unblessed. This state of things
sometimes goes on for years–they are expecting to see signs and wonders,
and hoping that God, by a miracle, will put them all right. They are just
like the Israelites; they limit the Holy One of Israel. Have you ever
noticed that it is the very people whom God has blessed so wonderfully
who do that? What did the Israelites say? “God hath provided water in the
wilderness. But can He provide the table in the wilderness? We do not think
He can.” And so we find believers who say, “Yes, God has done wonders. The
whole of redemption is a wonder, and God has done wonders for some whom I
know. But will God take one so feeble as I, and put me entirely right?” The
struggling and wrestling and seeking are the beginnings of faith in you–a
faith that desires and hopes. But it must go on further. And how can that
faith advance? Look at the second step. There is the nobleman, and Christ
speaks to him this wonderful word: “Go thy way; thy son liveth;” and the
nobleman simply rests upon that word of the living Jesus. He rests on it,
and without any proof of what he is to get, and without one man in the
world to encourage him. He goes away home with the thought, “I have
received the blessing I sought; I have got life from the dead for my son.
The living Christ promised it me, and on that I rest.” The struggling,
seeking faith has become a resting faith. The man has entered into rest
about his son.

And now, dear believers, this is the one thing God asks you to do: God has
said that in Christ you have eternal life, the more abundant life; Christ
has said to you, “I live, and ye shall live also.” The Word says to us that
Christ is our Peace, our Victory over every enemy, who leads us into the
rest of God. These are the words of God, and His message has come to us
that Christ can do for us what Moses could not have done. Moses had no
Christ to live in him. But it is told you that you can have what Moses had
not; you can have a living Christ within you. And are you going to believe
that, apart from any experience, and apart from any consciousness of
strength? If the peace of God is to rule in your heart, it is the God of
peace Himself must be there to do it. The peace is inseparable from the
God. The light of the sun–can I separate that from the sun? Utterly
impossible. As long as I have the sun I have the light. If I lose the sun;
I lose the light. Take care! Do not seek the peace of God or the peace of
Christ apart from God and Christ. But how does Christ come to me? He comes
to me in this precious Word; and just as He said to the nobleman, “Go thy
way home; thy son liveth,” so Christ comes to me to-day, and He says, “Go
thy way; thy Saviour liveth.” “Lo, I am with you alway.” “I live, and ye
shall live also.” “I wait to take charge of your whole life. Will you have
me do this? Trust to me all that is evil and feeble; your whole sinful and
perverse nature–give it up to Me; that dying, sin-sick soul–give it up to
Me, and I will take care of it.” Will you not listen and hear Him speak to
your soul? “Child, go forward into all the circumstances of life that have
tempted you; into all the difficulties that threaten you.” Your soul lives
with the life of God; your soul lives in the power of God; your soul lives
in Christ Jesus. Will you not, like the nobleman, take the simple step of
faith, and believe the word Jesus hath spoken? Will you not say, “Lord
Jesus, Thou hast spoken: I can rest on Thy Word. I have seen that Christ
is willing to be more to me than I ever knew; I have seen that Christ is
willing to be my life in the most actual and intense meaning of the words.”
All that we know about the Holy Ghost sums itself up in this one thing:
The Holy Ghost comes to make Christ an actual, indwelling, always-abiding
Saviour.

Lastly, comes the triumphant faith. The man went home holding fast the
promise. He had only one promise, but he held it fast. When God gives me
a promise, He is just as near me as when He fulfills it. That is a great
comfort. When I have the promise I have also the pledge of the fulfillment.
But the whole heart of God is in His promise, just as much as in the
fulfillment of it, and sometimes God, the promiser, is more precious
because I am compelled to cling more to Him, and to come closer, and to
live by simple faith, and to adore His love. Do not think this is a hard
life, to be living upon a promise. It means living upon the everlasting
God. Who is going to say that is hard? It means living upon the crucified,
the loving Christ. Be ashamed to say that is a difficult thing. It is a
blessed thing.

The nobleman went home and found the child living. And what happened then?
Two things. First: he gave up his whole life to be a believer in Jesus. If
there had been a division among the people of Capernaum, and thousands of
them had hated Christ, this man would still have stood on His side. He
believed in the Lord. This is what must take place with us. Let us go
forward with our trust in the living Christ, knowing that He will keep us.
Then we will get grace to carry the life of Christ into our whole conduct,
into all our walk and conversation. The faith that rests in Jesus, is the
faith that trusts all to Him, with all we have. Do we not read that when
God had finished His work, and rested, it was only to begin new work? Yes;
the great work was to be carried on–watching over and ruling His world and
His church. And is it not so with the Lord Jesus? When He had finished His
work, He sat upon the throne to do His work of perfecting the body, through
the Holy Spirit. And now, the Holy Spirit is carrying on that blessed work,
teaching us to rest in Christ, and in the strength of that rest to go on,
and to cover our whole life with the power, and the obedience, and the
will, and the likeness of the Lord Jesus. The nobleman gave up his whole
life to be a believer in Christ; and from that day it was a believer in
Jesus who walked about the streets of Capernaum; not only a man who could
say, “Once He helped me,” but, “I believe in Him with my whole life.” Let
that be so with us everywhere; let Christ be the one object of our trust.

One thought more,–he believed with his whole house. That was triumphant
faith. He took up his position as a believer in Christ; and his wife, his
children, his servants–he gathered them all together, and laid them at the
feet of Christ. And if you want power in your own house, if you want power
in your Bible-class, if you want power in your social circle, if you want
power to influence the nation and if you want power to influence the Church
of Christ, see where it begins. Come into contact with Jesus in this rest
of faith that accepts His life fully, that trusts Him fully, and the power
will come by faith to overcome the world; by faith to bless others; by
faith to live a life to the glory of God. Go thy way, thy soul liveth; for
it is Jesus Christ who liveth within you. Go thy way; be not trembling and
fearful, but rest in the word and the power of the Son of God. “Lo, I am
with you alway.” Go thy way, with the heart open to welcome Him, and the
heart believing He has come in. Surely we have not prayed in vain. Christ
has listened to the yearnings of our hearts and has entered in. Let us
go our way quietly, restfully, full of praise, and joy, and trust; ever
hearing the words of our Master, “Go thy way, thy soul liveth;” and ever
saying, “I have trusted Christ to reveal His abundant life in my soul; by
His grace I will wait upon Him to fulfill His promise.” Amen.

Andrew Murray

X.

Romans 14: 17.–For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

In this text we have the earthly revelation of the work of the Trinity. The
Kingdom of God is righteousness; that represents the work of the Father.
The foundations of His throne are justice and judgment. Then comes the work
of the Son: He is our peace, our Shiloh, our rest. The Kingdom of God is
peace; not only the peace of pardon for the past, but the peace of perfect
assurance as to the future. Not only the work of atonement is finished, but
the work of sanctification is finished in Christ, and I may receive and
enjoy what is prepared for me. The new man has been created, and I may in
Him live out my life; if a kingdom is established in righteousness, if the
rule is perfect, there can be perfect rest. If there be peace, no war
from without, and no civil dissension within, a nation can be happy and
prosperous. And so there comes here, after righteousness and peace, the
joy, the blessed happiness in which a man can live; “The Kingdom of God is
righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” May we regard this joy
of the Holy Ghost, not only as a beautiful thing to admire, not only as a
thing to have beautiful thoughts about, but as a blessing that we are going
to claim.

We often see a fruiterer’s or confectioner’s shop, with beautiful fruit or
cake temptingly displayed in the window. There is a great pane of plate
glass before it, and the hungry little boys stand there and look, and long,
but they cannot reach it. If you were to say to one, “Now, little boy, take
that fruit,” he would look at you in surprise. He has learned that there is
something between. If he had never known of glass he might attempt it. The
plate glass is sometimes so clear that even a grown man might for a moment
be deceived and stretch out his hand. But he soon finds there is something
invisible between him and the fruit. This represents exactly the life of
many Christians; they see, but they cannot take. And what now is this
invisible pane of plate glass, that hinders my taking the beautiful things
I see? It is nothing but the self-life; I see divine things but cannot
reach them, the self-life is the invisible plate glass. We are willing, we
are working, we are striving, and yet we are holding back something; we are
afraid to give up everything to God. We do not know what the consequences
may be. We have not yet comprehended that God and Christ Jesus are worth
everything. Whatever is told us of the blessed life of peace and joy, we
say, “Praise God; God’s Word is true; I believe the Word;” and yet, day by
day, we stand back. When some one says, “Take it,” we say, “I can’t take
it; there is something between.” Would we were willing to give up the
self-life; would we had the courage to give up to-day, and let the joy of
the Holy Ghost be our religion. That is the religion God has prepared for
us; that is the religion we can claim; not only righteousness, not only
peace, but the joy of the Holy Ghost. That is the Kingdom of God.

What is this joy? First of all, it is the joy of the presence of Jesus.
We are often inclined to speak most of two other things, the power for
sanctification, and the power for service. But I find there is a thing more
important than either of those two, and that is that the Holy Ghost came
from Heaven to be the abiding presence of Christ in His disciples, in the
Church, and in the heart of every believer. The Lord Jesus was going away,
and His disciples were very sad; their hearts was sorrowful; but He said to
them, “I will come back again, and I will come to you. Your hearts shall
rejoice, and your joy no man shall take from you.” What took place with
them, may take place with us too. The Holy Spirit is given to make the
presence of Jesus an abiding reality, a continual experience. And what was
that joy that no man could ever touch? It was the joy of Pentecost. And
what was Pentecost? The coming of the Lord Jesus in the Holy Ghost to dwell
with His disciples. While Jesus was with His disciples on earth, He could
not get into their hearts in the right way. They loved Him, but they could
not take in His teaching, they could not partake of His disposition, and
they could not receive His very spirit into their being. But when He had
ascended to Heaven, He came back in the Spirit to dwell in their hearts.
It is this alone that will help us to go, the minister to his congregation
with its difficulties, the business man to his counter, the mother to her
large family with its care, the worker to her Bible class. It is this only
that will help us to feel, “I can conquer, I can live in the rest of God.”
Why? “Because I have the almighty Jesus with me every day.” With God’s
people, there seems to be one hindrance, they do not know their Saviour.
They do not realize that this blessed Christ is an ever present,
all-pervading, in-dwelling Christ, who wants to take charge of their entire
lives. They do not know, they do not believe that He is an Almighty Christ,
and ready in the midst of any difficulties and any circumstances to be
their keeper and their God. This is absolutely true. Many Christians are
asked as to how one may have the joy unspeakable, the joy that nothing can
take away, the joy of the friendship and nearness and love of Jesus filling
his heart. We complain that the rush of competition is so terrible that we
can not get time for private prayer. Brother, the Lord Jesus Christ, if He
comes to you as a brother and a friend and an abiding guest, can give your
heart the joy of the Holy Ghost, so that business will take its right place
under your feet. Your heart is too holy to have it filled with business;
let the business be in the head and under the feet, but let Christ have
the whole heart, and He will keep the whole life. Our glorious, exalted,
almighty, ever present Christ! why is it that you and I can not trust Him
fully, perfectly to do His work? Shall we not say before God that we do
trust Him, that we will trust Christ to be to us every moment all that we
can desire? On the Cross of Calvary Christ was all alone, and you believe
He did a perfect and a blessed work; and Christ in Heaven is all alone, as
high priest and intercessor, and you trust Him for His work there. But,
praise God! it is equally true, Christ in the heart is able all alone to
keep it all the days. May it please God to reveal to His children the
nearness of Christ standing and knocking at the door of every heart, ready
to come in and rest forever there and to lead the soul into His rest.

We all know what the power of joy is; we know there is nothing so
attractive as joy, there is nothing can help a man to bear and endure so
much as joy; we know that the Lord Jesus Himself for the joy that was set
before Him endured the cross. One is not living aright if he is living a
sighing, trembling, doubting life. Come to-day and believe the joy of the
Holy Ghost is meant for you. Does not the Scripture say, “Whom not having
seen we love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing ye rejoice
with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Do you not believe that this
blessed, adorable, inconceivably beautiful Son of God, the delight of the
Father,–do you not believe that this Son of God could fill your heart with
delight day and night, if He were always present? And do you not believe
that He loves you more than a bridegroom loves his bride? Do you not
believe that, having bought you with His blood, Jesus is longing for you?
He needs you to satisfy His heart of love. Begin to believe with your
whole heart, “The joy of the Holy Ghost is my portion,” for the Holy Ghost
secures to me without interruption the presence and the love of Jesus.

But secondly, there is the joy of deliverance from sin. The Holy Ghost
comes to sanctify us. Christ is our sanctification, and the Holy Ghost
comes to communicate Him to us, to work out all that is in Christ and to
reproduce it in us. Let us remember that in the sight of God there is
something more than work. There is Christlikeness–the likeness and the
life of Christ in us. That is what God wants; that will fit us for work.
God asks not that Christ should live in us as separate persons; temples
full of filthy, impure, foul creatures, with Christ hidden away somewhere
there,–that is not the intention of God, but He wants Christ so formed
in us that we are one with Christ, and that in our thinking, feeling and
living, the image of His blessed Son is manifest before Him. The Holy
Spirit is given to sanctify us. My brother, are you willing to be
sanctified from every sin, be that sin great or small? I am not asking, do
you feel that you have the power to conquer it? I am not even asking, do
you feel the power to cast it out? It may be that you feel no power; that
won’t hinder if you are willing. I can not cast out sin, but I can get the
Almighty Christ by the Holy Spirit to do it, and it is my work to say to
Christ, “There is the sin, there is the evil thing, I lay it at Thy feet, I
cast it there, I cast it into Thy very bosom. Lord, I am ready to cut off
the right hand, anything, only deliver me from it.” Then Christ will cast
out the evil spirit and give deliverance. The Spirit of God is a holy
spirit and His work is to make free from the power of sin and death. And if
you want to live in the joy of the Holy Ghost, the question comes: “Are
you willing to surrender everything that is sinful, even what appears
good,–but has the stain of sin on it?” You may be involved in
relationships that make your life very difficult. A pastor with his people
maybe brought into very difficult relationships; or a business man with his
partner or those with whom he has to associate, may be in an exceedingly
trying position. But is not the blessed Lamb of God worth it all? What is
the Christ worth to you? The question was once asked the disciples, “What
think ye of Christ?” I ask, “What is Christ worth to you?” And I beseech
you, whatever prospective difficulties there may be, and whatever
perplexities surround you, take the whole world to-day and cast it at His
feet. To have Him is worth any difficulty; to have Him will be the
solution of every difficulty. There are not only such external, manifest
difficulties and perplexities, there are a thousand little things that come
in our life and that often disturb us, temptations to unloving feelings,
and sharp words, and hasty judgments. Oh, come, and believe that the Holy
Spirit, the sanctifier, can come in and rule, and give grace to pass
through all without sinning, and you shall know what the joy of the Holy
Ghost is. Our body, we read in 1st Corinthians, is the temple of the Holy
Ghost. It is to be holy in things like eating and drinking. How often
a Christian comes to the consciousness that he takes or seeks too much
enjoyment in that eating, eating for pleasure, with no self-denial or
self-sacrifice in his feeding the body! How often we tempt one another to
eat, and how often the believer forgets that this body is the very secret
temple of the Holy Ghost and that every mouthful we eat and drink must be
for the glory of God in such a way as to be perfectly well pleasing to Him!
Beloved, I bring you a message: There is access for you into the rest of
God, and the Holy Spirit is given to bring you in, and the Holy Spirit will
fill your heart with the unutterable joy of Christ’s presence; and with the
joy of deliverance from sin, of victory over sin; the unutterable joy of
knowing that you are doing God’s will and are pleasing in His sight; the
unutterable joy of knowing that He is sanctifying and keeping the temple
for Christ to dwell in. Believers, the joy of the Holy Ghost, the joy of
that holiness of God, is His blessedness, His purity, His perfection, that
nothing can mar or stain or disturb. The Holy Ghost waits to bring and to
manifest it in our lives. He wants to come so into our hearts that we shall
live, as Holy Ghost men, the sanctified life, with the sanctifying power of
Jesus running through our whole beings.

My third thought is: the joy of the Holy Ghost is the joy of the love of
the saints. The Holy Ghost was not given to any man on the day of Pentecost
separate from the others; He came and filled the whole company. We know how
much division and separation and pride there had been among them, but
on that day the Holy Ghost so filled their hearts that we find it was
afterward said: “Behold how these men love one another.” There was a love
in the primitive church that the very heathen noticed, and could not
understand. Why was that? The Holy Spirit is the bond of union between the
Father and Son; and that bond is love. The Holy Spirit is just the love of
God come to dwell in the heart. When He dwells with me and my brother we
learn to love each other. Though I be unloving naturally, and though I have
very little grace, if the heart of my brother is full of the Holy Spirit he
loves me through it all. You know love is a wonderful thing. As long as a
man tries to love it is not real love, but when real love comes, the more
opposition it meets the more it triumphs, for the more it can exercise
itself and perfect itself, the more it rejoices. Take a mother with a son
dishonoring her. How her love follows him! When she sees that he has fallen
deeper than ever before, how the dear mother heart only loves him the more
intensely through all the wretchedness! Does not the Scripture say, “If He
gave His life for us, we are bound to give our life for the brethren?” The
Holy Spirit comes as a spirit of love, and if you want to know the joy of
the Holy Ghost, and want Him to lead you into the rest of God and keep you
there, beware above everything on earth or in hell of being unloving. One
sharp word to your brother or sister brings a cloud upon you without your
knowing it. People are so accustomed to talk just as they like about each
other that they say sharp and unkind and unloving things, and when a cloud
comes in consequence they cannot understand it. If there is one thing that
grieves God, if there is one thing that hinders the Spirit–the fruit of
the Spirit is love–it is the want of lovingness. If you want to live in
the joy of the Holy Ghost make your covenant with God. “But,” you say,
“there is a Christian man who makes me so impatient; he does trouble me and
vex me so with his stupidity. And there are those worldly men; how they
have tempted me in times past and done me harm! And there is that business
man who is trying to ruin me.” Take them all, and your own wife and
children and every one around you and say, “I understand it, love is rest,
and rest is love. God resteth in His love. Love is rest and rest is love,
and where there is no love the rest must be disturbed.” And let us say
to-day, “I see what the joy is; it is the joy of always loving, it is the
joy of losing my own life in love to others.” In connection with humility,
some one asks, “How about that text, ‘In honor preferring one another?’”
When a soul comes into perfect humility before God it becomes nothing, and
God becomes all in all. I am nothing. There is no self to be affronted; I
have said before God: “I am nothing; it is only Thy life and light that
shines. The honor is Thine, and nothing may touch me but what is against
the glory of my God.”

Beloved, are you living in the joy of the Holy Ghost? Come and accept a
blessing and give yourself up to live a life of humility in which you are
nothing, and a life of love like Christ’s in which you only live for your
fellow-men, for the kingdom of God is the joy of the Holy Ghost.

My last thought is that the joy of the Holy Ghost is the joy of working for
God. The joy of the presence of Jesus, the joy of deliverance from sin, the
joy of love for the brethren, and then the joy of working for God. Some
of us have at times felt what an incomprehensible thing it is that the
everlasting God should work through us; and we have said, “Lord, what is
this, that Thou the Almighty One dost work in me and through me, a vile
worm by nature?” It is a mystery that passeth knowledge, and yet it is so
true. The joy of the Holy Ghost comes when a man gives himself up to
the Christlike work of carrying the love of God to men. Let us seek the
perishing, let us live and die for souls, let us live and die that our
fellow-men may be reclaimed and brought back to their God. There is no joy
like hearing the joy-song of a new-born soul. But yes, there is another joy
that may be as deep. Even if God does not give me the blessing of hearing
the newborn soul sing its song, I may have the joy, the sympathy with Jesus
in His rejected life, and the assurance that the Father looks with good
pleasure on me. When I think of the thousands of believers in the Christian
world and then think of the heathen world, the cry comes up in my heart:
“What are we doing?” Ah, we need to be crying to God day and night, “Lord
God, wake us up. Lord God, let the Holy Spirit burn within us.” Are we the
true successors of Jesus Christ? Are we indeed the followers and successors
of Christ who went all the way to Calvary to give His blood for men? Do
let us remember the joy of the Holy Ghost is the joy of working for God in
Christ. I believe that God has new ways and new leadings and new power for
His people, if they will only wait on Him. But what most of us do is this:
we thank God for all He has given, we look at all the ways of working we
have, and we say that we will try to do our work better. But oh, if we had
a sense of the need, if we had any sense, by the vision of the Holy Ghost,
of the state of the millions around us, I am sure we would fall on our
faces before God and say, “God help me to something new. Oh that every
fiber of my being may be taken possession of for this great work with God!”
The great need is that all Christians should consecrate themselves wholly
to God for His work. May God help us to know what is the joy of the Holy
Ghost.

Concluding, I ask again: “Do you believe that it is possible for the Lord
Jesus, our Shiloh, of whom Jacob prophesied, our Joshua, our glorious King
and High Priest,–do you believe it is possible for Christ Jesus to bring
you to-day into the rest of God?” Remember that word in Hebrews, “Even as
the Holy Ghost saith, to-day.” To-day, summon up courage and take up your
ministry, and take up your business, and take up your surroundings, and
take up your natural temperament, and take up your home, and take up your
life for the days to come upon earth, and say, “I do not understand it,
I know not what will come, but one thing I know, I do absolutely give
everything into the hands of the crucified Lamb of God; He shall have me in
my entirety.” And oh, remember, beloved, that Christ will be to you more
than you can think or understand, more than you can ask or desire.

Come, let us cast ourselves into those blessed, loving arms, and let us
believe even now that our Joshua leads us into the rest of God, the rest in
which we are saved from self-care and self-seeking and self-trusting and
self-loving, the rest in which we do not think of ourselves, but where He
who is almighty and omnipresent is always going to be with us and is always
going to work within us. And let us when we have done that, claim the
promise, that as we have sought first the kingdom and God’s righteousness,
all things shall be added unto us. Beloved, the kingdom of God is within
you, and it is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Come, let
us claim it even now in simple, childlike, humble faith.