Hindrances In The Realm Of The Heart

Gal 5:13  For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

There is another possible realm of hindrances to the up-welling of the Spirit, and this is the realm of the heart. 

The Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of love. 

If there is coldness towards the Lord, a lack of true devotion to Him, then this is like a heavy stone which makes the life more like a quagmire than a fresh spring. 

Any reserve which we have, not in the knowing of God's will but in the willingness to do it, will inevitably stem the flow of the Spirit's power. 

It is always the work of God's enemy to clog up our lives by introducing love of self or love of the world...

And it needs ruthless determination to remove the accumulated rubbish and re-dig the well in purity of devotion to Christ.

It may well be, though, that the hindrances arise from lack of love to our fellow believers. 

We must remember that the Holy Spirit can never have free course in us and through us if we harbor unloving thoughts concerning other of God's children, let alone put those thoughts into actions. 

He is the Spirit of fellowship, so that if we fail in that realm then we fail in the matter of love. 

It is so easy to allow unworthy considerations to quench brotherly love, to be clogged up with resentment or to be wrongly influenced by our susceptibilities or hurt feelings. 

What is more, we find it the easiest thing in the world to say or hear unkind things about others, things which put them in a bad light and somehow make us feel self-righteous. 

We must not dismiss such matters as unimportant, for although they may seem small in themselves, they become the deposits which unite to clog up the well of the Spirit.

This matter of personal relationships is one in which we have to set ourselves definitely to digging out the earthiness which stops up the wells of the Spirit.

We must refuse to speak and refuse to listen to those critical accounts of other believers which would grieve them if they heard and do grieve the Spirit who is always present and who always hears. 

More than that, we have to be active in positive cultivation of fellowship. 

To some it is quite natural to be independent. 

For them deference to others represents a major difficulty. 

Sometimes they may deliberately ignore or despise others, but sometimes they just prefer to do it alone and never seriously think of inter-relatedness and inter-dependence.

The Word of God, however, is most explicit in ordering us to esteem one another, to submit to one another and to live and work together. 

The Holy Spirit demands that the people of God live according to a team order of things, that they should be governed by a family spirit. 

Anything which is of an isolated or detached nature, which fails to recognize and fully accept the family thought of God, is a check on Him. 

By failing to observe fellowship we quench the Spirit. 

Some may be wondering why there is so little up-springing from the inner well, when they are sitting back in a wrong kind of modesty, failing to bring in their own personal contribution to fellowship life and ministry. 

Unkindness is not the only obstacle in this realm. 

Shyness and diffidence can equally rest like a stone on the flow of life. 

The only thing to do is to dig it up and move it away. 

Get in, get right in, and let yourself go! 

Do not always choose the back seat because you like to be left alone, but come forward in the Lord's name and give the Holy Spirit a free course in your lives. 

He is well able to check you if you become too self-assertive, but there is little He can do if your well is all stopped up with fears and inhibitions.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Broken Things

Job 41:25  When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves.

God uses most for His glory those people and things which are most perfectly broken.

The sacrifices He accepts are broken and contrite hearts.

It was the breaking down of Jacob's natural strength at Peniel that got him where God could clothe him with spiritual power.

It was breaking the surface of the rock at Horeb, by the stroke of Moses' rod that let out the cool waters to thirsty people.
     
It was when the 300 elect soldiers under Gideon broke their pitchers, a type of breaking themselves, that the hidden lights shone forth to the consternation of their adversaries.

It was when the poor widow broke the seal of the little pot of oil, and poured it forth, that God multiplied it to pay her debts and supply means of support.
     
It was when Esther risked her life and broke through the rigid etiquette of a heathen court, that she obtained favor to rescue her people from death.

It was when Jesus took the five loaves and broke them,that the bread was multiplied in the very act of breaking, sufficient to feed five thousand.

It was when Mary broke her beautiful alabaster box, rendering it henceforth useless, that the pent-up perfume filled the house.

It was when Jesus allowed His precious body to be broken to pieces by thorns and nails and spear, that His inner life was poured out, like a crystal ocean, for thirsty sinners to drink and live.
     
It is when a beautiful grain of corn is broken up in the earth by DEATH, that its inner heart sprouts forth and bears hundreds of other grains.

And thus, on and on, through all history, and all biography, and all vegetation, and all spiritual life, God must have BROKEN THINGS.
     
Those who are broken in wealth, and broken in self-will, and broken in their ambitions, and broken in their beautiful ideals, and broken in worldly reputation, and broken in their affections, and broken ofttimes in health; those who are despised and seem utterly forlorn and helpless, the Holy Ghost is seizing upon, and using for God's glory.

The lame take the prey, Isaiah tells us.
     
O break my heart; but break it as a field
Is by the plough up-broken for the corn;

O break it as the buds, by green leaf seated,
Are, to unloose the golden blossom, torn;

Love would I offer unto Love's great Master,
Set free the odor, break the alabaster.
     
O break my heart; break it victorious God,
That life's eternal well may flash abroad;

O let it break as when the captive trees,
Breaking cold bonds, regain their liberties;

And as thought's sacred grove to life is springing,
Be joys, like birds, their hope, Thy victory singing.

~Thomas Toke Bunch~

What Have You Sacrificed For Jesus?

Beloved, are you ministering to Christ? Are you doing it with your hands?

Are you doing it with your substance and with what you have?

Is He getting the best of what is most real to you?

Has He a place at your table? 

And when He does not come to fill the chair, is it free to His representative, His poor and humble children?

Your words and wishes are cheap if they do not find expression in your actual gifts.
     
Even Mary did not put Him off with the incense of her heart, but laid her costliest gifts at His feet.
     
Ye busy women, who work so hard to dress your children and furnish your houses and tables, what have your hands earned for the Master, what have you done or sacrificed for Jesus?

Can you afford it? was asked of a noble woman, as she promised a costly offering for the Master's work.

No, was her noble reply, "but I can sacrifice it."

Let us to-day look around us and see, what we do and give more to the loving Saviour, who gave up His whole life for us.

~A. B. Simpson~

Lest Madam Bubble Bewitch Them With Her Vile Suggestions!

Gen 39:12  And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.

In contending with certain sins, there remains no mode of victory, but by flight.

He who would be safe from acts of evil...must hasten away from occasions of it.

A covenant must be made with our eyes...not even to look upon the cause of temptation; for such sins only need a spark to begin with-and a blaze follows in an instant!

Who would wantonly enter the leper's hut and sleep amid its horrible corruption? 

He alone who desires to be leprous himself would thus court contagion.

If the mariner knew how to avoid a storm, he would do anything rather than run the risk of weathering it.

Cautious navigators have no desire to try how near the quicksand they can sail, or how often they may touch a rock without springing a leak; their aim is to keep as nearly as possible in the midst of a safe channel.

Today I may be exposed to great peril...let me have wisdom to keep out of it and avoid it. 

The wings of a dove may be of more use to me than the jaws of a lion. 

I may be an apparent loser by declining evil company...But I had better leave my cloak, than lose my character!

It is not needful that I should be rich...but it is imperative upon me to be pure. 

No ties of friendship, no chains of beauty, no flashings of talent, no shafts of ridicule...must turn me from the wise resolve to flee from sin.

I am to resist the devil and he will flee from me.
 
But the lusts of the flesh, I must flee or they will surely overcome me!

O God of holiness, preserve your Josephs, lest Madam Bubble bewitch them with her vile suggestions.

May the horrible trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil...Never overcome us!

~Charles Spurgeon~