The March of God's Progress

Tip! THE possibilities of prayer are gauged by faith in God's ability to do. Faith is the one prime condition by which God works.

Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. (1 Corinthians 15:24 NKJV)

To what state, condition, outcome or degree is God moving today? When we speak of the eternal progress of the Almighty, we must remember that we are using human speech, because God lives in the eternal present. He is Jehovah--"I AM!"

God does not live in time with its past and future; the distinctions of time have no reference to Him who lives in Eternity. And Eternity is an ever-present NOW, in which the past is never past, and the future is always present.

God is moving to the supreme pleasure of our Savior. Christ must and will reign, and the Father's power is even now engaged in putting all things under His feet. He has given Him the heathen for His inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession.

It is true that we can not see all the things put under Him, but God is even now engaged in hurrying the fulfillment of His eternal plan. Look at the rise and fall of rulers and kingdoms within the last few years; the clamor for new methods of government has threatened the ancient order; the whirlpool of elections; the babble of voices; the rivalry of political leaders and parties!

Tip! So when we ask Christ to carry out His works in our hearts we are fervently praying that our Father may be glorified in His Son.

What about these things? They are the clouds of His feet, the movement of His pieces on the game board of life, the successive stages in the unfolding of His plan. Watch the Divine strategy! God raises up one, and puts down another; there is not an item in the newspaper, TV or the Internet, not even a change on the map, nor a revolution among the people, however obscure, that is not contributing to that final scene, when the Son of Man shall come to the Ancient of Days, and there shall be given to Him dominion and glory, and a Kingdom, that all people, and nations, and languages shall serve Him!

All of us need to understand God's movements, especially in this momentous era, because only then can we enter into His Rest. We can look out calmly on a world in confusion when once we have learned to understand the Divine program of gathering up all things in Christ, who is the Head.

To the careless world His way is in the sea, and His paths in the deep waters, and His footsteps are not known, but to those who love and follow Him. The heavens may depart, the hills be removed; but His kindness shall not depart; neither shall the covenant of His peace be removed.

PRAYER:

Hurry the coming of Your Kingdom, O Lord, the fulfillment of Your purpose. Keep us watchful and alert that at any moment we may discern the movement of Your hand, and detect Your will and guidance in the external circumstances of the little things in our lives. In Jesus' name AMEN

OUR LORD REIGNS!

Clouds and darkness surround Him;
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.

A fire goes before Him,
And burns up His enemies round about.

His lightnings light the world;
The earth sees and trembles.

The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the LORD,
At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.

The heavens declare His righteousness,
And all the peoples see His glory.

Let all be put to shame who serve carved images,
Who boast of idols. Worship Him, all you gods.

Zion hears and is glad,
And the daughters of Judah rejoice
Because of Your judgments, O LORD.

For You, LORD, are most high above all the earth;
You are exalted far above all gods.

You, who love the LORD, hate evil!
He preserves the souls of His saints;
He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.

Light is sown for the righteous,
And gladness for the upright in heart.

Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.

(Psalms 97:2-12 NKJV)


BEHIND ALL clouds is the clear pure air of God's love. We are not dismayed by the storms that sweep the earth's surface, for beneath them are immeasurable depths of stillness. God sees His way through them, and is using them to fulfill His great purpose.

Difficulties are nothing to Him. He weighs the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance. He is our Father, and we need not fear. The children who are cozily comfortable in the car which their father is driving are not afraid of the hail-storm that rattles on the window and the wild winds that sweep the earth. It is enough for them that their father is with them, and knows his way, and is making quickly for home. And if we are following hard after God, then His right hand will uphold us, and we can leave all the rest with Him.

None of the children that wait for Him will be ashamed. Revolution and anarchy may devastate the land. Storms of deluge may sweep the world. The savings of a life-time may disappear, but we will be kept in perfect peace; because our Lord reigns and He will always be mindful of His covenant to us.

We will not be in need for sustaining grace. If we cleave unto God, we will be upheld by His right hand, and no person will be able to pluck us from our Father's hand.

God, not selfish ease, nor human confederacies, is our end and aim; and He will not, cannot fail those who have left all for His companionship. Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, and the labor of the olive shall fail, and the flock shall be cut off from the fold, yet we will rejoice in the Lord; for the Lord God shall supply all our need, and will make our feet, like hind's feet, to walk even on the edge of the precipice.

The world is full of tumult. The floods have lifted up their voice, but above the noise of this world, our Lord on high is mighty; and He must reign till He has put all enemies beneath His feet.

Remember that when He was mocked in Pilate's hall, His enemies placed a reed in His hand. They were nearer the truth than they knew, for He who opens the sealed book of destiny, is the Lamb that was slain. He rules with the reed as the symbol of His government.

PRAYER

Our Father, let us hear You say to us, as we step out into the new day, that You are with us, holding our right hand. Keep us in the midst of the storm, and guide us in the path You have for us. In Jesus’ name AMEN.

Prayer for a New Year

Lord, I confess before You that:

I have had longings and nudges from You which I did not translate into action.

I have made decisions without consulting You, then have blamed You when things went wrong.

I have said that I trusted You, yet have not turned my affairs over to You.

I have been greedy for present delights and pleasures, unwilling to wait for those joys which time and discipline alone can give.

I have often sought the easy way and have consistently drawn back from the road that is hard.

I have been fond of giving myself to dreams of which I am going to do sometime, yet have been so slow in getting started to do them.

Forgive me for all the intentions that were born and somehow never lived.

And now I claim Your promise to change me.
Do for me what I cannot do for myself.
Lead me into a new tomorrow with a new spirit.
Cleanse my heart; create within me new attitudes and new ideas, as only You can.

In Jesus' name Amen.

He has Made with Me an Everlasting Covenant

Tip! Jesus never taught His followers to expect justice. Paul did not receive justice. Even great leaders in history did not always receive justice here and now.

(2 Samuel 23:5) "Although my house is not so with God, Yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant, Ordered in all things and secure. For this is all my salvation and all my desire; will He not make it increase?"

This covenant is divine in its origin. "HE has made with me an everlasting covenant." Oh that great word "HE"! Stop right here and think about this my soul. God, the everlasting Father, has positively made a covenant with you; yes, the very same God who spoke the world into existence by a word; He, stooping from His majesty, takes hold of your hand and makes a covenant with you.

This action, this awesome everlasting covenant might overwhelm our hearts if we could really understand it. "HE has made with me a covenant." A king has not made a covenant with me-that would be somewhat good; but the Prince of the kings of the earth, Shaddai, the Lord All-sufficient, the Jehovah of ages, the everlasting Elohim, "He has made with me an everlasting covenant."

But notice it is particular in its application. "Yet He has made with ME an everlasting covenant." Here lies the sweetness of this covenant to each of us believers. Was it for me that He was born, died and rose up for the world; I want to know whether He has made peace for me! It is of little concern to me that He has made a covenant, what I want to know is whether He has made a covenant with me!

Tip! Trouble, if correctly used, will bring you great peace and a deep surrender of spirit which nothing else can work in you.

Blessed is the assurance that He has made a covenant with me! If God the Holy Spirit gives me assurance of this, then His salvation is mine, His heart is mine, He himself is mine-He is my God!

This covenant is everlasting in its duration; an everlasting covenant means a covenant that had no beginning and will never, ever end. How sweet amidst all the uncertainties of life, to know that "the foundation of the Lord stands sure," and to have God's own promise, "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips." Then we can be like dying David, I will sing of this covenant, "Although my house is not so with God" as my heart so desires.

Trouble — Could We make it Our Servant? Part 1

Tip! Some live as though life and the Christian experience were some kind of slot machine: you put in a dime’s worth of kindness and pull out three yards of blessing; then five cents’ worth of charity and you think God must bless you next Saturday night.

Did you ever test yourself as to how you react to trouble or tragedy? In life's school we often find that God uses trouble or misfortune to prove our faith or to test our character. Trouble has a way of stalking down the road and meeting us so many times when we least expect it.

I am sure we all know that such proving or testing can happen to us without our being personally or directly the cause of it. Many, many times it is beyond our control. If it were otherwise possible we would probably avoid all such testing and keep to an easy, smooth path. But we should remember that trouble, as well as the hours of sunshine and music is a part of the divine arrangement and has a place in our program. Trouble and severe testing is not necessarily a sign of sin, failure, or lack of spirituality. They are often a sign of spirituality and growth which God must test and prove, because we are His workmanship.

Many people have the notion that the life of the Christian is, or should be somewhat charmed, void of trouble, testing, tribulation and suffering. Such people have shaped up for themselves, or hold this as an ideal of real Christian living, but this is an impossible or unscriptural conception of the Christian life.

Where in the world have these people, so bewitched, been living all these years, or what books or TV shows have they been watching or reading is beyond me! Surely they do not know history, Christian experience or the every least the Holy Bible. Because the truth is this -

"Yet man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward." (Job 5:7)

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous; But the LORD delivers him out of them all." (Psalms 34:19)

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory," (2 Corinthians 4:17)

"Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." (2 Timothy 3:12).

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

"And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;" (Romans 5:3)

Surely on the basis of all these Scriptures, we as Christians know better than to pray for exemption from trouble, and since we know that in God's plan it is a part of our inheritance, we should not avoid its special place of work in our lives.

Tip! Surely on the basis of all these Scriptures, we as Christians know better than to pray for exemption from trouble, and since we know that in God’s plan it is a part of our inheritance, we should not avoid its special place of work in our lives.

History is full of examples of lives wrecked because of ungraceful reaction to trouble. In spite of all the collected experiences of people over the ages, and the wisdom and the philosophy of the prophets, many still fail to recognize that behind her mask, trouble is a servant to assist us. Any other view is due to lack of vision and outlook in that range. Too many of us only see the immediate, or the local, and interpret our lives and family members questions from a limited viewpoint. The Scriptures say, "While we look not at the things which are seen."

As Christians, after we are convinced in our hearts that trouble is not designed to defeat us and is not a mere nuisance or cruelty, but is one of the corrective elements in great living, we must learn how to use it the way God wants us to use it.

How many problems would be solved and shipwrecks of faith be avoided could we take a positive, constructive attitude and see that trouble is one of the agents and mighty instruments placed in our hands for the shaping of character and the releasing of potential power for correct and glorious building!

Trouble — Could We make it Our Servant? Part 2

Tip! As Christians, after we are convinced in our hearts that trouble is not designed to defeat us and is not a mere nuisance or cruelty, but is one of the corrective elements in great living, we must learn how to use it the way God wants us to use it.

How do you use trouble? Naturally, because of physical and fundamental elements in our make-up, we shun pain, discomfort and trouble. But that is because we relate them purely to their action on the physical or on our present mood. Many times we will spend hours in praying away trouble, the great servant. At times we take long, circuitous journeys to avoid meeting her. Finally, when we are compelled to meet her, we spend a long, long time telling her or God that we do not like her and we wonder and wonder why we ever had to meet her. But trouble is not to be reasoned with; she is utterly unreasonable. She is to be used.

Please remove from your minds the incorrect thought that if you are a good or a real spiritual Christian totally yielded and holy then your life will be a charmed life and that God will spare you from trouble or disappointment. No! To reach such a fine place of devotion and surrender is only to make you a fit candidate for tribulation.

Tribulation is a word God uses in relation to saints. The etymology of the word means threshing. The farmer does not thresh weeds; he threshes the golden wheat that the grain may be separated from the chaff and the sticks. He is after grain, not trying to pound out some straw. For this reason God says, Tribulation works patience; that is, the golden grain of patience, long-suffering and kindness, comes by way of threshing or tribulation. Think of the splendid spiritual grain of character and noble living produced only through the tribulation process. The spiritual tone and quality of the mighty people of God came only through trouble and suffering.

In the world about us, in the fields of fine music, art and literature, the artist never reaches the pinnacle of their labors and gives to the world the best in creative beauty and strength until they have known the sad touch of personal sorrow or grief or trouble. Oftentimes it is like a divine chemist turning the ordinary and dull life into a glorious display of divine power, fortitude and beauty. It is the use of trouble that releases the deeper springs of our lives and sets allow the streams of mercy and understanding of which our perishing world needs today.

Tip! Trouble will make you either bitter or better. Notice how very much alike these words are, and how very little is needed to change them; just the letter “I.” Yes, dear ones, it is the “I” that changes the whole matter.

Do not misunderstand me; I am not saying that trouble alone makes us strong or noble or that it alone has a transforming power. I am dealing with you as Christians who believe Romans 8:28, and that text, as you see, is never to be applied to lives which are not fully surrendered. That is why many unsaved people never understand the outworking of the Scriptures in the daily walk, but if the Christian has anything remotely approaching the Spirit of Christ; they can make trouble a servant to bring out the best in them.

Tip! What are you seeking in your trouble today? Is it deliverance or development? You may have the one and not grow, or you may have both and grow. Get the development first and the deliverance will be yours, too.

But trouble in itself is neutral or passive; the whole matter depends upon how we use it. One may take an inactive attitude and lose the benefit of the trial; justify themselves, and trouble will make them bitter or resentful, or it can make them hard, cruel and cynical. People who have no faith, no perspective of thought or vision, let trouble do all sorts of harmful and cruel things to them, but thanks be to God there are many wonderful people on whom trouble has fallen who were able to see and to discern behind its mask a servant at their beck and call, to build them, lives of strength and beauty.

In a simple study of such lives we find a certain creative power which makes out of their calamity a magnificent privilege. You may have noticed that in our lives there are two types reaction to trouble or tragedy: either it will break us in spirit, melting the hardness and bringing us in our helplessness to God, or it will throw us on our feeble resources and human reasoning, and this in turn at times hardens us in spirit, makes us critical and often cynical. It robs our hearts of the great privilege of trusting God and the developing of our life into rich and helpful avenues.

Trouble — Could We make it Our Servant? Part 3

Tip! It takes a quiet heart, peace of spirit, and clear vision (long range, if you please), to interpret trouble in terms of strength and high living.

Trouble will make you either bitter or better. Notice how very much alike these words are, and how very little is needed to change them; just the letter "I." Yes, dear ones, it is the "I" that changes the whole matter. When the "I" keeps out of the question, out of the difficulty, life will be better; but when the "I" is introduced and we get mixed in the trouble, life will become bitter and we harden. Too many times this "I" gets in the way; the poor, little, hurt ego gets a slap and down the street it runs, screaming for attention. The dear little ego sits in its doorway and weeps tears of self-pity until its eyes are so red and inflamed that it just cannot see things as they are or should be.

It takes a quiet heart, peace of spirit, and clear vision (long range, if you please), to interpret trouble in terms of strength and high living. Little souls, small people, are usually hurt all the time; the ego within is unduly important and consequently is easily hurt or flattered. Such souls have too small a world and hence everything relates directly to the self within. They will have a very difficult time, to say the least.

Frequently such souls are persons who are seeking justice, fairness, and a proper adjustment of life. They never seem to learn. We are not here for justice; we are here to live. If you expect to be a spiritual and victorious Christian, you may as well learn here and now to drop justice out of your vocabulary as far as it may relate to your life. We do not get justice now. God's Saturday night of settlement has not yet come.

Tip! As Christians, after we are convinced in our hearts that trouble is not designed to defeat us and is not a mere nuisance or cruelty, but is one of the corrective elements in great living, we must learn how to use it the way God wants us to use it.

Some live as though life and the Christian experience were some kind of slot machine: you put in a dime's worth of kindness and pull out three yards of blessing; then five cents' worth of charity and you think God must bless you next Saturday night. Be very good, kind or generous and next week the winds will blow you a fortune. It is true that what we sow that shall we also reap, and bread cast upon the waters shall return, but God is not too clear on the time element. So we will not always receive our justice here and now.

Jesus never taught His followers to expect justice. Paul did not receive justice. Even great leaders in history did not always receive justice here and now. Do not misunderstand me; I do not mean that the Christian or the spiritually-minded one is not conscious of the hurt or the trouble of the injustice. Believe me, dear souls, the Holy Spirit makes one all the more sensitive to the pain, the hurt and the wrong, but the victorious soul has found the gift of grace and the love of God sufficient to hinder the trouble from marring his spirit.

The closer one gets to Christ the more sensitive they will be to pain, to little, petty, mean ways and all the train of unkind and unlovely things which would vex the heart and tarnish the spirit. The eyes are now anointed and they see in them privileges of overcoming and high living. I am sure we have all lived long enough to have had some injustice done us. Yet today God has given us grace not to harbor any resentment or hard feelings. To have trouble or injustice and know the feeling of it, and yet live above and far from its damaging power, is a sign of real spirituality, a sign of Christian character that He has fashioned in the life.

Trouble — Could We make it Our Servant? Part 4

Tip! The closer one gets to Christ the more sensitive he will be to pain, to little, petty, mean ways and all the train of unkind and unlovely things which would vex the heart and tarnish the spirit.

Someone learned of a real injustice done me in material things one time, and he was horrified to know it came from a Christian source. Such treatment as that," he said, "is absolutely wrong. I would not stand for it."

Of course it was wrong and very unfair, and at times I was amazed and tried, but I kept my heart and life open for justice and the right thing to be done by me; however, I was neglected and seemingly forgotten. But God had taken me quite a long distance on the road and I knew He would take care of the matter; so I took of His grace and love and stood it. It never caused me a resentful spirit, nor did I allow the hurt and the disappointment to fester into a sore. And today I praise God for the realities of His life in my heart to keep it sweet when trouble and unfair dealings would chill it to indifference and hardness.

Had we time we could trace through history, both sacred and secular, scores of noble men and women who were not spared the hard places in life. They were good, moral, kind, noble, and yet came under the disciplinary measures of trouble. Certainly Paul knew trouble or he never could have written, "In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck" (2 Cor. 11:23-25). Yet out of it all he comes purified and strengthened, a noble expression of God's grace and an example for the ages to come that trouble may be used to build a Christian character.

In the Old Testament we find Joseph and Job and many others demonstrating the same truth. Surely Joseph might have said, "All these things are against me. Where is God? Why do "I" have to put up with all this confusion and trouble when He promised me great victory and triumph?" Yet listen to him after in faith he comes through, "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good" (Gen. 50:20). We are following in the steps of Christ, who said that the servant was not above his lord. And we read of Him, "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered."

Tip! As Christians, after we are convinced in our hearts that trouble is not designed to defeat us and is not a mere nuisance or cruelty, but is one of the corrective elements in great living, we must learn how to use it the way God wants us to use it.

What are you seeking in your trouble today? Is it deliverance or development? You may have the one and not grow, or you may have both and grow. Get the development first and the deliverance will be yours, too. Let this servant minister to you in a way no other servant can. Take the positive attitude and use your trouble as one of the most skillful and wonderful instruments God ever placed into your hands for the working out of the character of Christ to be duplicated in you.

Trouble, if correctly used, will bring you great peace and a deep surrender of spirit which nothing else can work in you. I have not gone far on the way but I can give as my personal testimony that these deeper revelations of truth and clear understanding of the things of God have come only through suffering. I cannot offer you any other method. May God grant you grace to take your share of "trouble". Don't pray for exemption, but may He teach you and use this strange servant to build your life into noble proportions of strength and beauty, and from your life healing streams of understanding and love will flow to broken lives and timid, fearful hearts "For he who suffers most has most to give."

The Power of Persevering Prayer

Tip! The entire principle of Bible teaching is to illustrate the great truth that God hears and answers prayer. One of the great purposes of God in His book is to impress on us permanently the great importance, the priceless value, and the absolute necessity of asking God for the things that we need for our time on earth and eternity.

"Then He spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.... Then the Lord said, "Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" —Luke 18:1, 6-8

OF all the mysteries of prayer, the need for persevering prayer is one of the greatest and most important. We do not understand why our Lord, who so loves and longs to bless us, should have to be pleaded with time after time, sometimes year after year, before the answer comes.

It is also one of the greatest practical difficulties in the exercise of believing prayer. When, after we have persevered in prayer, our prayer remains unanswered. It is often easiest for our lazy human nature, and it has all the appearance of devout obedience, to think that we must now stop praying for what it is we so desperately want, because God may have His secret reason for withholding His answer to our request.

It is by faith alone that the difficulty is overcome. When once our faith has taken its stand on God's word, and in the Name of Jesus, and we have yielded ourselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit to seek God's will and honor alone in our prayer, we do not need to be discouraged by any delay.

We know from Scripture that the power of believing prayer is simply irresistible; real faith can never be disappointed.

We know how, just as water, to exercise the irresistible power it can have, must be gathered up and accumulated, until the stream can come down in full force, there must often be a heaping up of prayer, until God sees that the measure is full, and the answer comes.

We know how, just as the farmer has to take his ten thousand steps, and sow his ten thousand seeds, each one a part of the preparation for the final harvest, so there is a need for often repeated persevering prayer, all for working out some desired blessing from God.

We know for certain that not a single believing prayer can fail in its effect in heaven, but has its influence, and is treasured up to work out an answer in due time to us who perseveres to the end.

Tip! Prayer is no little thing, no selfish and small matter. It does not concern the selfish insignificant interests of one person. The littlest prayer expands out by the will of God till it touches all words, preserves all interests, and develops man’s greatest wealth, and God’s greatest good.

We know that our faith has nothing to do with our human thoughts or possibilities, but with the Word of the living God. And so even as Abraham through so many years ‘in hope believed against hope,' and then ‘through faith and patience inherited the promise,' it counts that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation, waiting and hasting unto the coming of its Lord to fulfill His promise.

Faith is to enable us, when the answer to our prayer does not come at once, to combine quiet patience and joyful confidence in our persevering prayer, we must specially try to understand the two words in which our Lord sets up the character and conduct, not the way of the unjust judge, but of our God and Father towards those whom He allows to cry day and night to Him: ‘He is long-suffering over them; He will avenge them speedily.'

He will avenge them speedily, the Master says. The blessing is all prepared; He is not only willing but most anxious to give us what we ask for; everlasting love burns with the longing desire to reveal itself fully to its beloved, and to satisfy our needs. God will not delay one moment longer than what is absolutely necessary; He will do all in His power to hurry and speed the answer to us.

Tip! If I will give myself up to the inspiration of the Spirit of God, who commands me to pray, the details and the petitions of that praying will all fall into harmony with the will of Him who wills that I should pray.

Prayer:

O Lord my God! Teach me now to know Your way, and in faith to apprehend what Your Beloved Son has taught: ‘He will avenge them speedily.' Let Your tender love, and the delight You have in hearing and blessing Your children, lead me implicitly to accept Your promise, that we receive what we believe, that we have the petitions we ask, and that the answer will in due time be seen. Lord! We understand the seasons in nature, and know to wait with patience for the fruit we long for—O fill us with the assurance that not one moment longer than is needed will You delay, and that faith will hasten the answer. In Jesus' name Amen

The Grace of Gratitude

Tip! Let us always be aware of the fact that the power that is achieved to do the greater works that are required for Christ, is only gained through fervent prayer and faith in Jesus Christ.

"What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?"—Psalms 116:12

GOD'S BENEFITS are here compared to a cup or trophy brimming with salvation. It seems natural to speak of our destiny, either full of sorrow or joy, as the cup of which we drink. The cup or lot of our life brims with examples of God's saving help---"my cup is running over," and we ask, how may we thank Him enough? What shall we give to Him, for all His gracious help?

There are many answers, and the first is, that we will "take". In other words, as one has truly said, "taking" from God is the best giving to God, for God loves to give. St. James says; "He is the giving God, who gives not only liberally, but with no thought of personal advantage, and for the mere joy of giving?'

What, then, will please Him more than to trust Him, to find receivers for His gifts and to know that we are prepared to be His poor debtors; owing Him ten thousand talents, with nothing to pay, but we keep receiving and receiving from His great heart of Love. Nothing hurts God more than when we do not take what He offers--"God so loved that He gave," and when we refuse to take His greatest gift, we cause the deepest disgrace and dishonor that we are capable of doing.

Then what should we do? We must call upon His Name (Psalms 116:13-17). "Take" the Name of the Lord as a test. Friendships, plans, profits, amusements, studies---all these cups of life should be tested by this one mighty Talisman.

Tip! The Master will not expect more from anyone than a person is capable of doing for Him. Jesus wants us to understand that each person will be rewarded according to their faithfulness in doing their given task.

We also must be sure to pay our vows (Psalms 116:14-18; Ecclesiastes 5:4-5). We make vows in our trouble, which we sometimes forget when it is past. Surely, it is the height of ingratitude not to redeem our promissory notes. All devoted things, which are laid on God's altar, are absolutely His, and the giver forfeits all rights to their disposal.

Then our gratitude demands the gift of ourselves (Psalms 116:16). When Robinson Crusoe freed the poor captive, the man knelt before his deliverer, and put his foot on his neck, in token of his desire to be his slave, and the love of Christ, who loosed us from our bonds, obliges us to live not to ourselves but to Him (Revelation 1:5). Loosed from the cords of sin, we become bound to the service of love.

PRAYER:

Father, we would thank You for all the benefits that we have received from Your goodness. The best thanksgiving we can offer to You is to live according to Your holy will; grant us every day to offer it more perfectly, and to grow in the knowledge of Your will and the love thereof. In Jesus' name AMEN.

The Leading of the Spirit

"Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness. “– Psalms 143:10

“TEACH ME to do Your Will”, i.e. throw the responsibility of your life back on God. The one important thing for you to be absolutely sure about is that you desire, at all costs, to do God's Will. If you do not want God’s will in your life, at least you must be willing to be made willing. Heave this burden of making you willing on God, and believe that He will take it upon Himself.

His people shall be made willing in the day of His power. When this point is settled, then God by His Holy Spirit will sooner or later teach you what He wants to be done, and enable you to do it.

Like Samuel, if you say: Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears, you will hear the Voice behind you saying, This is the way, walk in it; this must be said, say it; this needs to be done, do it; and as you endeavor to obey the gentle promptings of the Spirit, you will discover that adequate strength and grace are being poured into your soul.

"Your Spirit is good." This is our only hope. Because if it were not for the infinite goodness, the patient gentleness and the loving tolerance of the Holy Spirit, we would have no chance for nothing but infinite Goodness can put up with our weaknesses and backslidings, our lapses into coldness and indifference, our unreasonableness and stubbornness. But because God's Spirit is good, we may consider that He will saturate us with His holy influence until our evil nature is defeated by His goodness, and we also in our measure become good because He is in us completely. It is said of Barnabas that he was a "good man," because he was full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.

"Lead me." David the Psalmist's prayer is--Teach me, lead me, correct me. We must make this prayer our own. What better guarantee of being led the right way than for us to yield ourselves to our gentle and gracious Guide. We are like little children that require to be led, as the mother or father takes the child by the hand and leads them to school, and then goes and gets them again. Some of us are blind, and need a kindly hand to guide us as we grope in the dark.

Let us walk in the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, and be very sensitive to the Spirit. Then we will instinctively know God's Will, and do it naturally.

PRAYER

I need a hand to lead me through the darkness,
For I am weak and helpless as a child;
And if alone I have to take my journey,
My feet will stumble on mountains wild.

I need to hear Your silent voice out loud,
For I am weak and helpless as a cloud;
And if alone I have to take my journey,
I will be blown away by earthly winds wild.

I need You Holy Spirit in

Jesus’ Name AMEN.

May it be Impossible for Us to be Disobedient

The Father in heaven asks, and requires, and actually expects, that every child of His yield to Him their whole-hearted and entire obedience, day by day, and all the day. To enable His child to do this, He has made a most abundant and altogether sufficient provision in the promise of the New Covenant, and in the gift of His Son and Spirit.

This provision can alone, but can most certainly, be enjoyed, and these promises fulfilled, in the soul that gives itself up to a life in the abiding communion with the Three-One God, so that His presence and power work in it all the day. The very entrance into this life demands the vow of absolute obedience, or the surrender of the whole being, to be, think, speak, do, every moment, nothing but what is according to the will of God, and well-pleasing to Him.

If these things be indeed true, it is not enough to assent to them: we need the Holy Spirit to give us such a vision of their glory and divine power, and the demand they make on our immediate and unconditional submission, that there may be no rest till we accept all that God is willing to do for us.

Let us all pray that God may, by the light of His Spirit, so show His loving and almighty will concerning us, that it may be impossible for us to be disobedient to the heavenly vision.

Working for God

What are YOU doing for the kingdom of GOD?

Waiting and Working

Tip! Every one cannot go abroad, or give his whole time to direct work; but everyone, whatever his calling or circumstances, can give his whole heart to live for souls and the spread of the kingdom.

‘They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, which works for him that waits for Him.'— Isaiah 40:31, 64:4

Here we have two texts in which the connection between waiting and working is made clear. In the first we see that waiting brings the needed strength for working—that it fits for joyful and enduring work. ‘They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up on eagles' wings; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.' Waiting on God has its value in this: it makes us strong in the work for God.

The second shows the secret of this strength. ‘God works for Him that waits for Him.' The waiting on God secures the working of God for us and in us, out of which our work must come from. These two passages teach the great lesson that as waiting on God lies at the root of all true working for God, so working for God must be the fruit of all true waiting on Him. So the great need is for us to hold the two sides of this truth in perfect combination and harmony.

There are some who say that they wait on God, but who do not work for Him and there may be various reasons for this. One example is a person who confuses this true waiting on God (in living in direct interaction with Him as the Living One), and the devotion to Him for the energy of their whole being, with a laziness, helpless waiting that excuses itself from all work until God, by some special impulse, has made this work easy.

Here is another person who waits on God more truly, regarding it as one of the highest exercises of the Christian life, but yet has never understood that at the root of all true waiting there must lay the surrender and the readiness to be completely fitted for God's use in the service of people.

And here is still another who is ready to work as well as wait, but is looking for some great inflow of the Spirit's power to enable him to do mighty works, while they forget that as a believer they already have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them. That more grace is only given to those who are faithful in the little; and that it is only in working that we can be taught by the Spirit how to do the greater works.

Tip! Of all the mysteries that surround us in the world, is not one of the strangest and most incomprehensible this—that after 2000 years the very name of the Son of God should be unknown to the larger half of the human race.

All such, and all Christians, need to learn that waiting has working for its object, that it is only in working that waiting can attain its full perfection and blessedness. It is as we elevate working for God to its true place, as the highest exercise of spiritual privilege and power, that the absolute need and the divine blessing of waiting on God can be fully known.

But then on the other hand, there are some, no, I should say there are many, who work for God, but know very little of what it means to wait on Him. They have been led to take up Christian work, under the impulse of natural or religious feelings, at the request of a pastor or an organization, with only very little sense of what a holy thing it is to work for God.

Tip! Isaiah 64:4 says: ‘God works for Him that waits for Him.’ The waiting on God secures the working of God for us and in us, out of which our work must come from.

They do not know that God's work can only be done in God's strength, by God Himself working in us. They have never learned that, just as the Son of God could do nothing of Himself, but that the Father in Him did the work, as He lived in continual dependence before God, so, and so very much more, we the believer can do nothing but as God works in us. They do not understand that it is only as in utter weakness that we depend on Him, and only then can His power rest on us.

And so they have no conception of a continual waiting on God as being one of the first and essential conditions of successful work. So as a result it is Christ's Church and the world that are the sufferers today, oh, so dreadful! Not only because so many of its members are not working for God, but because so much working for God is done without waiting on God.

Among the members of the body of Christ there is a great diversity of gifts and operations. Some, who are confined to their homes by reason of sickness or other duties, may have more time for waiting on God than opportunity of direct working for Him. Others, who are over pressed by work, find it very difficult to find time and quiet for waiting on Him. These two may mutually supply each other's lack. Let those who have time for waiting on God definitely link themselves to some who are working. Let those who are working as definitely claim the aid of those to whom the special ministry of waiting on God has been entrusted. This way the unity and the health of the body will be maintained; so will those who wait know that the outcome will be power for work, and those who work, will know as will that their only strength is the grace obtained by waiting. This is one way that God can work for His Church that waits on Him.

Tip! Isaiah 40:31 says: ‘They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up on eagles’ wings; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.’ Waiting on God has its value in this: it makes us strong in the work for God.

Let us pray that as we proceed in this study on working for God that the Holy Spirit may show us how sacred and how urgent our calling is to work. How absolute our dependence must be on God's strength to work in us. How sure it is that those who wait on Him shall renew their strength, and how we will find waiting on God and working for God to be indeed inseparably one.

1. It is only as God works for me, and in me, that I can work for Him.

2. All His work for me is through His life in me.

3. He will most surely work, if I wait on Him.

Tip! God’s work must be done in God’s way, and in God’s power. It is spiritual work, to be done by spiritual people, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

4. All His working for me, and my waiting on Him, has but one aim, to fit me for His work of saving people.

The Names of Jesus Movie

Holy One - Acts 3:14
God With Us - Isaiah 9:6, Matthew 1:22-23
Immanuel - Isaiah 9:6, Matthew 1:22-23
The Good Shepherd - John 10:11, 14
The Lamb of God - John 1:29,36
The Bread of Life - John 6:35
The Way - John 14:6
The Truth - John 1:14, 14:6
The Life - John 14:6
The Light of the World - John 8:1
The Morning Star - Revelation 22:16
The Author of Eternal Salvation - Hebrews 5:9
Son of God - Matthew 2:15
Son of Man - Daniel 7:13, John 6:53,62, Matthew 16:27, Luke 19:10, Philippians 2:7
Redeemer - Job 19:25
Deliverer - Romans 11:26
Savior - Luke 1:69, 2:11, John 3:17, Titus 3:6
The Prince of Peace - Isaiah 9:6
The Alpha and Omega - Revelation 1:17, 22:13

Prayer

Is there Any Real Need for Christ to Return?

Tip! “Intercession” is amplification in prayer; it is going out in broadness and fullness from ones self for others. Primarily, it does not center in praying for others, but refers to the freeness, boldness and childlike confidence in praying. It is the completeness of trusting influence in the soul’s approach to God, unlimited and unhesitating in its access and its demands. This influence and confident trust is to be used in prayer for others.

In regard to the Second Coming, the true believer does not need the external signs such as the Jew returning to Israel. Those are for the ones who need to be aroused by great signs—but the true believer is looking for these spiritual signs:

1. When the cup of iniquity is full. (That's the negative sign.)

2. When the Bride has made herself ready. (That's the positive sign.)

"Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." (Revelation 3:11) "I come quickly" —not in the sense of time, but in the manner of coming—like a flash; "That no man take thy crown"—in the sense of a bird snatching the seed (Truth) as in the parable of the sower; (Mark 4:4) "Hold fast the Truth—keep and guard My Word and message; hold; grasp the deposit of Truth, for it relates to a crown ("That no man take thy crown").

To sum this up quickly, there are at least ten reasons that require Jesus Christ to come back again.

1. the declarations of Old Testament prophecy;

2. the affirmations of our Lord Himself;

3. the ratification of the Holy Spirit through the writers of the New Testament Epistles;

4. the humiliation of the Cross, requiring a corresponding vindication of Christ in power and glory;

5. the present disorganization of Israel;

6. the exaltation of Satan and the powerlessness of man to depose him;

7. the degradation and desolation of the world;

8. the lamentations of a Creation waiting to be delivered from its bondage of corruption;

9. the supplications of the Church crying "Even so, come, Lord Jesus;"

10. and the expectation of the dead in Christ waiting for their glorification,

Singly and collectively all or one of these reasons necessitate and demand the personal Return of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Is there any real need for Christ to return? So far as God's children are concerned only one answer is possible to this question. YES! Christians of every shade of religious belief are agreed that there is an imperative need for our Lord to come back again. As to the precise character of that need, as to the particular urgency of that need, opinions may vary, but concerning the need itself this is universally admitted. I hope to show that the need for His return is much deeper and much wider than the reasons that most people, even Christians believe Jesus Christ is coming again, in a new book I am working on, called "Our Redeemer Is Coming for Us"

Tip! THE word “Prayer” expresses the largest and most comprehensive way to approach God. It gives importance to the ingredient of devotion. It is a relationship and interaction with God. It is enjoyment of God. It is access to God.

Suppose Christ never returns' then what? Has this option been considered as it deserves? The present order of things cannot continue indefinitely; such a idea is unthinkable. No one is satisfied with present conditions. Even those who hate the teachings of God's Word, hope for a better day, a Golden Age, an era of blessedness such as this earth has never yet witnessed. And we believe that this Golden Age can be ushered in by nothing short of the personal return of Christ Himself. Here then, in general, is the reason why we believe the Redeemer must come back again. So if you want the Second Coming explained in detail, look for my new book "Our Redeemer Is Coming for Us".

There Are All Kinds of Prayer - The Best Prayers Never Have Words

Tip! Prayer, as taught by Jesus in its principal expression, enters into all the relations of life. It purifies fellowship.

Touch Him when you don't know how to read the Bible, but touch the Word—touch Him; know His will; know God; know His purpose. Keep up a wonderful fellowship with the Son of God.

You can read a lot of books on prayer, some of which are quite materialistic, but no one has a form of prayer which is adequate for you. Every soul has to develop, and work out their own technique and method of prayer. Don't try to work it out by somebody else's method—it is good only for suggestions. We learn to pray by praying.—we can't change God by prayer. Prayer never made God do anything. Prayer helps us become more adjusted to His will.

Look at Jesus; talk to Him; if you dare to, be informal with Him. Don't be stilted and pray, "Oh, Thou, My God!" You can't get very far that way. How many know He is very real; very tender. Do you know that the best prayers you ever prayed never had words in them? They are so clumsy; they don't have words, because there is an understanding there; a deep, lovely, rich, inner fellowship that needs no words.

We don't know prayer: the vocal prayers, and prayers of contemplation, all the different types of prayers. It is such a vast field! We just go clattering along, saying the best we can..."for Jesus' sake, Amen!" To me it's such a lovely, open field we need to get into it.

He loves His children, but some don't know who they are, or what He is doing; they .don't seem to know the basic, simple things that He is doing. These people know that prayer does things, so they use that as a weapon for everything under the sun, but there are a lot of things that just prayer won't do. It means a terrific lot of intelligent cooperation with Him. We can pray our heads off, but if we don't have the prayers channeled properly, with correct motivation, prayers are just like a lot of wings.

What prayers are answered? Prayers that fall into the category of the will of God; we can pray all we want to, but John says, "When we pray according to the will of God He hears us."

Tip! Non-praying is the same as disorder, discord, anarchy. Prayer, in the moral government of God, is as strong and far-reaching as the law of gravitation in this material world, and it is as necessary as gravitation to hold things in their proper place and life.

Now there is this: if we will persist, God has a permissive will which He will allow. If we keep teasing, and teasing, there is a permissive will of God which He will let us have if we persist, but He will send leanness to our souls. We have no growth; no blessing; no reward, but we will have our desire, and as a result, we will have leanness in our souls. So, we have the will of God; the permissive will of God; the good will of God; the good and perfect will of God. These are all degrees of the will of God in this operation. The best thing to do is to submit it to Him. (Romans 12:2)

In the end, all that great big prayer has to be covered up in the will of God. The Holy Spirit prays according to His will.

Jesus said, "Peter, Satan hath desired to sift you..." This should actually read: "Satan hath obtained permission of God to sift you—all of you, but I'll stay over here and pray for you:"—Don't pray now, and ask the Lord to kill the devil. He is going to use him. On the power of Jesus' prayer, Peter got through.

Tip! God is so concerned that people pray that He has promised to answer prayer. He has not promised to do something general if we pray, but He has promised to do the very thing for which we pray.

Prayer is never wrestling with God, but wrestling with the powers of darkness. The "unjust judge" is not a picture of God. Our heavenly Father wants to answer us; His whole heart wants to bless us. He is not the "unjust judge". (Luke 18:1-8)

Another prayer pattern we find is the man asking for bread at midnight. (Luke 11:5-10) Sometimes we have to ask many times before the answer comes, but we must ask in faith. Are you hungry? He doesn't tease us; He feeds us.

Jesus prayed because He had to, to keep that contact with the Father.

"I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine." (John 17:9) I said, "Why Lord, your great intercessory work is not for all those sinners out there!" He said, "No, for this reason. The sinner must come under the power of My redemption before they are a fit subject for My intercessions. My intercession covers those who have already been brought through the redeeming processes. Those who have not yet accepted My redemption, have no access to My prayer, but as soon as they have come through My redeeming processes, they become a subject of My intercessions."

Tip! Prayer is no little thing, no selfish and small matter. It does not concern the selfish insignificant interests of one person. The littlest prayer expands out by the will of God till it touches all words, preserves all interests, and develops man’s greatest wealth, and God’s greatest good.

That is why He said those strange words: "I pray not for the world—I have died for them—and if they can't come in under My death, what do My prayers mean for them? I can't do more than die! If they will come under My death purposes, then they will become subject to My prayers. So, I pray not for them—let them take the good of My death; then they will be accepted for My prayers, and I will intercede for them."

Think of Jesus interceding for us this morning before we got out of our beds! He said to me, "You have faith that I am your Savior, so if you have faith in Me as your High Priest, My intercessory prayer will carry you through this day."

There is no prayer just like intercessory prayer. It is not saying prayers; nor is it just weeping, but He says, "With groanings that we can't utter." It is past words. Why? Because the Holy Spirit makes intercession in us and through us according to the will of God; and we can't make Him do anything more than that. We are yielded as an instrument; the Holy Spirit is praying—we aren't praying. He has a vehicle that is pliable, surrendered, and He comes in and takes possession of us. Isn't it sweet how He dares to do that? Very costly, and terrifying at times, but it's real. How is this intercessory prayer formed? It is formed according to the will of God, "with groanings which cannot be uttered"; it cannot be expressed in our language; not even with tongues, because it becomes too intense. For who is this intercession made? It is made for us who are the children of God.

Did you ever have the Holy Spirit moving through you? What did He say? I haven't the slightest idea. He speaks secrets to the Lord. That's scriptural. I don't have to have an interpretation of what the Holy Spirit is saying to God through me. We don't have to have an interpretation every time He speaks through us. It is to the Lord.

Tip! “Intercession” is amplification in prayer; it is going out in broadness and fullness from ones self for others. Primarily, it does not center in praying for others, but refers to the freeness, boldness and childlike confidence in praying. It is the completeness of trusting influence in the soul’s approach to God, unlimited and unhesitating in its access and its demands. This influence and confident trust is to be used in prayer for others.

PRAYER:

In the next age You, Father will give us a new name; help us to spell it now, Lord. Oh, grant that, by Your Holy Spirit, You shall find it etched on our immortal spirits, long after these fading, little bodies have gone, and we move into a new age with You; for what You have accomplished here, will reflect through the ages to come. We pray this in Jesus' name: Amen.

Did you ever try to put yourself in somebody else's place to get their reactions? You haven't lived long in God unless you can dare to do that with Him. Most people are too egocentric; tied within the confines of their own little life, and it's impossible for them to sense how another person might feel, because they are wrapped up in the big I, ME, and MY.

If they would get out of themselves and over in the other person's situation, and feel what they feel for a little while, there would be some charity released; some love would flow. But when people haven't any sense when the love should flow; there is none. When we become identified with that awful, desperate need over there, the love of God flows right to it. In Hebrews 13:3, it says: "When ye pray, (real prayer), pray as though you were bound with the one you are praying for." But we pray only ‘nice' prayers! Prayers that make us feel good!

Tip! What is God’s will about prayer? First of all, it is God’s will that we pray. Jesus Christ “spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint”

Did you ever get into the agony of prayer when you were identified with another's need? That is intercessory prayer. We, in the Holy Spirit, become identified with a need until we are united with it, or with a soul, or with a condition. No one in the flesh can pray a prayer like that. This is where intercessory prayer comes in. The Holy Spirit can pray prayers like that, because we can't. He wants the vehicle; He wants the instrument tied up with the condition. That is real intercessory prayer.

Tip! Prayer is always and everywhere an immediate and confiding approach to, and a request of, God the Father.

There are all kinds of prayer. The best prayers never have words.

Are you Going to Learn to Overcome?

Tip! “Supplication” is a more controlled and more intense form of prayer, accompanied by a sense of personal need, limited to the seeking in an urgent manner the supply for a pressing need.

An over-comer is one that comes over and not around the difficulty.

I want the theory that disciplines me most thoroughly, and demands of me all that it possibly can; not one that makes it all so easy that there is no overcoming necessary on my part; that does not accomplish anything in me.

There is a time to resist evil; that makes us strong in faith. There is a time, though, when He says to resist not evil, because He has permitted it to teach us how to overcome.

You say, "I want to be a real strong Christian for the Lord! I want to be all God would have me to be, I want to be an over-comer for Him in this world!"

The Lord says, "That's good, I'll accept you as a candidate."

Well then what happens? He is going to send you to the school of the Holy Spirit. He sends us to the school for our training and education. He does all that for our welfare, for our education, for our well-being.

Now we have to learn to overcome. Well then, do I have to overcome something big? No, you have to overcome something small. The Holy Spirit takes you in hand and through a process of discipline and training and education you are going to learn to overcome. If you can't get the victory over something mundane, you need not worry about being a great over-comer and knowing the things of God and a deep relationship with Him.

If God Wants Me to Know Some Things, He Will Tell Me

Tip! Prayer is no little thing, no selfish and small matter. It does not concern the selfish insignificant interests of one person. The littlest prayer expands out by the will of God till it touches all words, preserves all interests, and develops man’s greatest wealth, and God’s greatest good.

We go home under the overshadowing of His wings, and when the pressures come, remember that the overshadowing is where He works His miracle. It is not in the open. How will these things be of bringing forth the Christ Child? How will these things be that a new creation is birthed in us to its fullness? It will be birthed under the shadow of the Almighty. Shadows are rather dark, but if Jesus puts us in the shadows, say, "Lord, work a miracle".

"In the beginning God" Now we don't know how many million years have gone by between that and the next verse in Genesis. We don't know. "In the beginning He created the heavens and the earth," but it "BECAME" a chaotic wreck through some cataclysm. "And the earth was (became) without form and void." (Genesis 1:2) We don't know what judgment ever came on the earth to bring it to the chaos that God started with.

God doesn't start, and make crazy things. They become crazy, ugly, and disturbed through sin. He never makes a thing imperfect. What He does is perfect. He made, in the beginning, a perfect world; marvelous; beautiful; and some cataclysm, which He is not pleased to tell us, took place. I never snoop to find out; I keep my nose out of business that He doesn't want to talk to me about. I don't tease God. If God wants me to know some things, He will tell me.

The earth BECAME that chaotic mass; that great chasm; that terrifying chasm and darkness, through some judgment of God. Millions of ages passed, and there was an upheaval between the two forces of right and wrong; good and bad.

Tip! “Intercession” is amplification in prayer; it is going out in broadness and fullness from ones self for others. Primarily, it does not center in praying for others, but refers to the freeness, boldness and childlike confidence in praying. It is the completeness of trusting influence in the soul’s approach to God, unlimited and unhesitating in its access and its demands. This influence and confident trust is to be used in prayer for others.

The sea is always the consuming, rasping, restless thing that would consume, but the earth becomes victorious. God blesses the EARTH. He brings the EARTH out of that chaotic mass. When He brings forth creation, the Word says the "Holy Spirit moved upon the deep". The Holy Spirit "BROODED" (in Hebrew) over the deep. It is the same word that carries the thought of incubation, and brings life. This brooding is like to a hen setting on her eggs. The Holy Spirit "BROODED" over the deep and God's creative Word brought forth the glorious creation that we have through the power of the Spirit. This Holy Spirit has been brooding over this universe long before we had the world. The eternal urge of the Spirit, the consuming urge of the Spirit, is the pulse of God.

Even though God saves us, how many of us know He doesn't throw away the old nature. That's left intact, because He said, "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." The fact that I am to reckon myself out of that old creation is evidence that it is still there. We don't have to live under its power. We have one personality, but we have two fields for its demonstration: (1) an old creation in which we can move if we want to; and (2) a brand new creation, and a new nature in which we may move into. The old creation is still intact, but we have the victory of the Holy Spirit to keep identifying ourselves as a new creature in Christ Jesus, independent of the old creation, it's still there, however.

Tip! God is so concerned that people pray that He has promised to answer prayer. He has not promised to do something general if we pray, but He has promised to do the very thing for which we pray.

As to my new creation, He says, "Walk in newness of life; reckon; count yourself dead unto the old nature, even though it's still there." How many of us have ever heard of a Christian stepping back into the old creation? If it isn't there, what did they step into? We don't have to step there; we don't have to live there. We have a new creation. How many ever have some haunting memories of what lived in that old creation? Even in the new creation, however, we aren't born complete in all its perfection. We are born with all the glorious potential.

We are creatures of an entirely different world. Don't fuddle with this old person. This new creature is only built under the dynamic of the power of the Holy Spirit.

Detach yourself from the things you were, and attach yourself to the new creation.

The "mixed multitude" which tagged along with the Israelites out of Egypt, and murmured in the wilderness, represents all the entanglements that impede our progress in the Holy Spirit, and should be dropping off and left behind!

Oh, The Persistency of the Love of God in Seeking Us

Tip! Prayer is always and everywhere an immediate and confiding approach to, and a request of, God the Father.

The first vocation of personality is expression; it is basic. We are to love; to live; then to get out; we are made with potential powers. Out in the world, people have never found the proper avenue through which they can express themselves, to really live.—No Christ—no essential element of Life. He came to bring Life.

Oh, the persistency of the love of God in seeking us; this is the social instinct of God! We see it in the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. There is an interchanging, reciprocating, oneness relationship among them. We see the social God in creation; He is always after us. He is interested in us; He persists after us. Note the first question in the Bible: "Adam, where art thou?" He is still asking our lost, broken down, alienated Adam, "Oh, heart, where are you? Oh, soul, where are you?" Oh, the persistency of the love of God!

In Genesis He is a seeking God, and in Revelation He is still pursuing, seeking: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock..." Oh, the persistency of the heart of God in seeking us! God is not defeated, even though people may fail.—He comes and visits Abraham—still comes to him. He comes to Moses; the longing, loving heart of God. As well He comes to us - His children today.

Then He comes to the Tabernacle. The purpose of the Tabernacle in the wilderness was, as God said, "Let them make Me a Sanctuary that I may dwell among them." (Exodus 25:8) God gets a little bit nearer to us; He tries to get just as near to broken humanity as He can. He desires to bring us back to our original purpose, and glorious destiny. We were made for the purpose of glorifying Him, and having communion and fellowship with Him. By and by, there is a temple—a place where God shows Himself.

Then comes Jesus; the Son from the Father's heart—God showing Himself in the flesh. "The Word became flesh and tabernacles among us." (John 1:14) He walks again with people on earth, and comes oh, so near! And again we see the persistency of the love of God.

God, in the power of the Spirit, will come even closer to our heart, and live in the very body of the individual who will let Him. The sweet Spirit of God; the breath of God; the Third Member of the Trinity, has only your body and mine. I had to apologize to Him for it.

Tip! Prayer is no little thing, no selfish and small matter. It does not concern the selfish insignificant interests of one person. The littlest prayer expands out by the will of God till it touches all words, preserves all interests, and develops man’s greatest wealth, and God’s greatest good.

Have you ever apologized to Him? Jesus had a body given Him: "A body Thou hast prepared for Me." But the Holy Spirit has none but ours to live in.

Now it is the Body, the Church that becomes the spiritual house of God, built of living stones. (Ephesians 2:22; 1 Peter 2:5)—It is the individual heart that is the present dwelling place of God on earth. "He dwells not in temples made with hands."

Oh, the persistency of the love of God to come, and touch a life; to get hold of a person! The love of God comes to this poor, distorted, human being, and says, "I can save; cleanse; fill you, bring you back to coordination, and live in you, if you will let Me." Think of Him living in our bodies today! Some day the Holy Spirit will have our glorified bodies to live in!

The Kingdom of God

Tip! THE word “Prayer” expresses the largest and most comprehensive way to approach God. It gives importance to the ingredient of devotion. It is a relationship and interaction with God. It is enjoyment of God. It is access to God.

In Luke 17:20-21, where He speaks of "the kingdom of God"—this kingdom realm that we live in—Jesus didn't call it "the kingdom." He called it "the realm" and I like it much better; Many of our translators are using the word "realm" now, and they should, because our word "kingdom" has these suggestions of bugles, banners, horses, chariots, and thrones. He isn't talking about that. He is talking about a vast realm of spiritual reality. All spiritual reality is in this one realm called the kingdom of the Spirit, which is the new realm into which we are born again. We have to live in this realm, just the same as in the world into which we are born. We have to learn to adjust ourselves to it.

When He introduces us to this kingdom, He introduces us to a vast realm. In that realm He has angels, paradise, and all that world; a domain; a kingdom over which God rules; over which there is jurisdiction and purpose. In creation, God said man should reign or rule over a great domain. In that kingdom are various kingdoms—mineral, animal, vegetable.

When He made a man, He made a vast new realm consisting of the human concept of life. He made us human beings with capacities and potentials that we don't know anything about. God was to be glorified in this vast field or realm. The realm remained after man became a sinner, but there was no King; no authority that the realm was designed for. That kingdom, without a King, waited for a King. This realm is in every heart, waiting for the King to come in to possess it. Jesus said to the Pharisees, "The kingdom of God is resting within you." He seeks to possess that kingdom, and He longs to get power over it. It is waiting for Him to possess.

The Scofield Bible translates the kingdom as, "salvation" which is wrong. God brings a spiritual thing in. He is enthroned in our hearts. We enter this spiritual kingdom through a new birth. He is reclaiming that kingdom every time He comes into a heart. "He came to seek and save that which was lost."—His redemption not only includes man, but all creation. This Whole universe, because of sin, has to be redeemed. On the cross, the blood touched the earth first; "Cursed be the ground." That is the first thing that was brought under judgment.

"Unless you are born of the Spirit, you cannot see (understand) the kingdom of God." (John 3:3)

"And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force." (Matthew 11:12) "Taking the kingdom of heaven by violence" means stress, and suffering on our part in order to possess this realm into which He has birthed us. We have great joy and all that, but that is sort of a sideline. To me, the life of the Spirit is, in a sense, the most tragic thing I can get into. It's the opposite of what I think it is. It takes all my struggle, power, and strength to possess it.

When God told the Children of Israel to go into Canaan, He said, "I have given it to you." In a little while He said also, "Go in to possess it." This was a potential term. They were not qualified yet to possess it. The land was full of giants, and walled cities, which required a struggle for its possession.

I never have known more about the power of the devil than when I got the baptism. It was then that I found I couldn't make possession in there (Canaan) without a terrific struggle. "Whatsoever your foot (faith) possesses," that is yours. Possessing your land is Truth, which becomes personalized. "He will not suffer thy foot to be moved." (Psa. 121:3) We have to get into the realm of God through many a trouble. The Children of Israel got into the land by a gift, but they didn't get possession of that land except by force. It is grasped by force.

Tip! “Intercession” is amplification in prayer; it is going out in broadness and fullness from ones self for others. Primarily, it does not center in praying for others, but refers to the freeness, boldness and childlike confidence in praying. It is the completeness of trusting influence in the soul’s approach to God, unlimited and unhesitating in its access and its demands. This influence and confident trust is to be used in prayer for others.

". . . We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." (Acts 14:22b) Through great distress, trouble, and suffering, we enter the kingdom, this realm of spiritual reality and living. That kingdom is entered through much tribulation, trouble and discipline. Why? Because that is necessary to release you and me from the bondages which would hinder and wreck the lovely design and objective that God has for your life and for mine. God's objective for people is to glorify Him and to give Him pleasure. How can one person glorify God? By bearing a cross that is almost impossible to share. How can another glorify God? Only by bearing that suffering with Him, which nobody knows but that person and our Lord Jesus. In the end we will see that we have glorified God.

Tip! Prayer is always and everywhere an immediate and confiding approach to, and a request of, God the Father.

"Though He slay me," yet God's grace is holding me; the Holy Spirit is holding me. "Though He slay me," yet will I hold on to Him, and move with Him. Life, if you want to know, is the most tragic thing; at least I found it to be. You can love the will of God, but you can't always enjoy everything that is in the will of God. No, it says, "Jesus ENDURED" things. He endured how? "For the joy that was set before Him." He endured this life, the cross, and all for what? "For the JOY that was set BEFORE Him;" not the joy which He experienced.