The Hand Of The LORD Hath Done This!

Job 12:9  Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?

Several years ago there was found in an African mine the most magnificent diamond in the world's history. 

It was presented to the King of England to blaze in his crown of state. 

The King sent it to Amsterdam to be cut. 

It was put into the hands of an expert lapidary. 

And what do you suppose he did with it?

He took the gem of priceless value, and cut a notch in it. 

Then he struck it a hard blow with his instrument, and lo! 

The superb jewel lay in his hand cleft in twain. What recklessness!  What wastefulness! What criminal carelessness!

Not so. 

For days and weeks that blow had been studied and planned. 

Drawings and models had been made of the gem. 

Its quality, its defects, its lines of cleavage had all been studied with minutest care. 

The man to whom it was committed was one of the most skillful lapidaries in the world.

Do you say that blow was a mistake? 

Nay. It was the most important part of the lapidary's skill. 

When he struck that blow, he did the one thing which would bring that gem to its most perfect shapeliness, radiance, and jeweled splendor. 

That blow which seemed to ruin the superb precious stone was, in fact, its perfect redemption. 

For, from those two halves were wrought the two magnificent gems which the skilled eye of the lapidary saw hidden in the rough, uncut stone as it came from the mine.

So, sometimes, God lets a stinging blow fall upon your life. 

The blood spurts. The nerves wince. The soul cries out in agony.

The blow seems to you an appalling mistake. 

But it is not, for you are the most priceless jewel in the world to God. 

And He is the most skilled lapidary in the universe.

Some day you are to blaze in the diadem of the King. 

As you lie in His hand now He knows just how to deal with you. 

Not a blow will be permitted to fall upon your shrinking soul but that the love of God permits it, and works out from its depths, blessing and spiritual enrichment unseen, and unthought of by you.

--J.H. McC. 

In one of George MacDonald's books occurs this fragment of conversation: "I wonder why God made me," said Mrs. Faber bitterly. "I'm sure I don't know what was the use of making me!"

"Perhaps not much yet," said Dorothy, "but then He hasn't done with you yet."

He is making you now, and you are quarreling with the process.

If men would but believe that they are in process of creation, and consent to be made...

Let the Maker handle them as the potter the clay, yielding themselves in resplendent motion and submissive, hopeful action with the turning of His wheel...

Then they would ere long find themselves able to welcome every pressure of that hand on them, even when it was felt in pain...

And sometimes not only to believe but to recognize the Divine end in view, the bringing of a son unto glory. 

Not a single shaft can hit, Till the God of love sees fit.

Walking In The Light Of Your Own Fire

Isa 50:11  Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.                                                       
What a solemn warning to those who walk in darkness and yet who try to help themselves out into the light. 

They are represented as kindling a fire, and compassing themselves with sparks. 

What does this mean?

Why, it means that when we are in darkness the temptation is to find a way without trusting in the Lord and relying upon Him. 

Instead of letting Him help us out, we try to help ourselves out. 

We seek the light of nature, and get the advice of our friends. 

We try the conclusions of our reason, and might almost be tempted to accept a way of deliverance which would not be of God at all.

All these are fires of our own kindling; rush-lights that will surely lead us onto the shoals. 

And God will let us walk in the light of those sparks, but the end will be sorrow.

Beloved, do not try to get out of a dark place, except, in God's time and in God's way. 

The time of trouble is meant to teach you lessons that you sorely need. 

Premature deliverance may frustrate God's work of grace in your life. 

Just commit the whole situation to Him. 

Be willing to abide in darkness so long as you have His presence.

Remember that it is better to walk in the dark with God than to walk alone in the light. 

~The Still Small Voice

Cease meddling with God's plans and will. 

You touch anything of His, and you mar the work. 

You may move the hands of a clock to suit you, but you do not change the time; so you may hurry the unfolding of God's will, but you harm and do not help the work. 

You can open a rosebud but you spoil the flower. 

Leave all to Him. 

Hands down. 

Thy will, not mine. 

~Stephen Merritt

HIS WAY

God bade me go when I would stay ('Twas cool within the wood); I did not know the reason why.

I heard a boulder crashing by Across the path where I stood. He bade me stay when I would go; "Thy will be done," I said.

They found one day at early dawn, Across the way I would have gone, A serpent with a mangled head.

No more I ask the reason why, Although I may not see The path ahead, His way I go;

For though I know not, He doth know, And He will choose safe paths for me. 

~The Sunday School Times

An Absolutely Committed Vessel

Committed. Surrendered. Abandoned. 

And when we say that, of course, the idea may catch on with us and we may agree, we might even desire it to be so in our case...

But I say to you, my dear friends, there is nothing more searching, more trying, and more exacting than this matter of being committed to the Holy Spirit. 

You look at Ezekiel's life and see what it meant to be committed to the Spirit. 

We shall see much of it if the Lord continues to lead us this way...

But just to remind you, Ezekiel, by being committed to the Spirit, had to do a great many things that the flesh completely revolts against, the natural man shrinks from doing. 

You're not going to make a fool of yourself if you can help it, and he was called upon to do that. 

People laugh at him, what he's doing; jeer and sneer. 

He's doing such ridiculous things from the standpoint of this world's common sense, but he had to do them.

Enough for the moment, but it's all very well to say, "I'm surrendered, I want to be surrendered. 

I'm going to be a surrendered man, a surrendered woman, surrender myself wholly to God.

Well, let's be quite frank and faithful about this. 

If you are, the whole, the whole thing is going to be taken out of your hands. 

You're going where you would never go naturally. 

You're going by ways that you would never choose, from which you would turn back or away with all the shrinking of your natural life. 

Other aspects, of course, are perhaps happier and better. 

But there it is.

Now, Ezekiel was a committed man, not in word alone, but day by day...

Day by day faced with some fresh challenge of the Spirit having laid upon him some fresh demand contrary to nature. 

His committal found him ready, so ready that the Spirit could just do as He liked with Ezekiel. 

Do as He liked with him! I say that's searching- that will find us out. 

But the realization of the full Divine purpose demands that there are men and women and companies of men and women who are committed in that way to the Holy Spirit. 

You may have a battle over some things, but you'll fight it through. 

You'll fight it through. 

You'll face it and realize what it implies, what it means, and you may shrink and you may hesitate. 

You may feel you cannot, but you'll fight it through; at least you'll not surrender on the spot, but face this thing and get through with it, however long it takes.

Committed! Our minds committed, our wills committed, our hearts committed, our bodies committed. 

Everything committed. 

It came, in Ezekiel's case, to his wife. 

And he had there to allow God to have His way even in taking his wife. 

Well, you see how he behaved. 

He was a committed man. 

That's the point. 

And we're talking about God's great purpose- everything being governed by purpose. 

It's the Spirit who is the custodian of the eternal purpose. 

It's the Spirit who has this in charge, but He must have vessels that are committed in this way.

There are, of course, counterparts in the New Testament. 

The book of the Acts is in one sense the counterpart of the prophecies of Ezekiel. 

Here you have the Spirit undoubtedly like the fiery chariot of God in Ezekiel, the wheels and the living ones moving with the Spirit in them, "withersoever the Spirit would go they went," it says. 

And Acts is undoubtedly the New Testament counterpart of Ezekiel in that sense. 

But here you sometimes come up against a hitch, even in an apostle, where he's challenged about something that naturally and religiously, and - as he thought scripturally - he would never do. 

He would never do! 

Peter had the Scripture on his side when he said, "No unclean thing has ever passed my lips. 

Not so, Lord, I've got Scripture for my position!" 

The eleventh chapter of the book of Leviticus supports him in that position apparently, but the Spirit thought otherwise.

The Cross had come in between Leviticus and Peter's time, to deal with all unclean things so that the Spirit could say now, because the Cross had accomplished what God had cleansed, "Call that not unclean", and Peter had to adjust. 

But there was a battle, there was a hitch. 

The Spirit came up against something in the clay. 

And it was a very desperate situation: his apostleship was at stake. 

The purpose of God through such a man was in the balances of that, "Peter, are you going to be committed to the Spirit and let the Spirit have His way, or are you going to stand on your traditional ground, your mental ground? 

What's it going to be?"

Well, thank God Peter got through that battle and proved his committal and the Spirit went on. 

I just put that in as an illustration of what I mean. 

The book of the Acts is like that, the Spirit has got the purpose in hand, but He must have committed instruments. 

Now, I said there were two things; that's one. 

We can enlarge much upon that, but what we have to say later is but the breaking up of that.

~T. Austin Sparks

                                                       

It's Not A Forced Surrender!

Mat 11:29  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
      
This, you observe, is not a forced surrender.

Our Lord says take My yoke upon you.

Our Lord is very fond of the word must, but He never uses it in this connection.

When the Roman legions smashed some savage tribe, that tribe was compelled to bear the yoke.

Often, on that account, they hated Rome, and served her with rebellion in their hearts.

But Christ wants nobody on terms like these.

Such terms are not in the program of His conquest.

Christ demands a surrender that is willing.

You can compel the dog to do your bidding.

You can force the slave to carry out your will.

But Christ, that mighty advocate of liberty, treats nobody as a dog or as a slave.

We are the Father's children, made in the Father's image, with an inalienable heritage of freedom...

And we may take or we may spurn the yoke.

There are so many who are waiting for something irresistible to happen...

Something to sweep them off their feet to Christ, as the breaker sweeps the log on to the shore.

That something is never going to happen.

Now is the accepted time.

The Master's word is "Take my yoke upon you."

~George H. Morrison

Jellyfish Christianity

Eighteen centuries ago the apostle Paul forewarned us, "The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. 

Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear!" 

2Ti 4:3  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

2Ti 4:4  And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

The natural man hates the Gospel and all its distinctive doctrines, and delights in any vain excuse for refusing it.

The plain truth is, that the root of the whole evil lies in the fallen nature of man, and his deeply-seated unbelief in God's infallible Word. 

I suspect we have no idea how little saving faith there is on earth, and how few people entirely believe Bible truths.

One man is proud--he dislikes the distinctive doctrines of Christianity, because they leave him no room to boast.

Another is lazy and indolent--he dislikes distinctive doctrine, because it summons him to troublesome thought, and self-inquiry, and mental self-exertion.

Another is grossly ignorant--he imagines that all distinctive doctrine is a mere matter of words and names, and that it does not matter a jot what we believe.

Another is thoroughly worldly--he shrinks from distinctive doctrine, because it condemns his darling world.

But in one form or another, I am satisfied that "original sin" is the cause of all the mischief. 

And the whole result is, that vast numbers of men greedily swallow down the seemingly new idea that doctrine is of no great importance. 

It supplies a convenient excuse for their sins.

The consequences of this widespread dislike to doctrine are very serious in the present day. 

Whether we like to allow it or not, it is an epidemic which is doing great harm. 

It creates, fosters, and keeps up an immense amount of instability in religion. 

It produces what I must venture to call, if I may coin the phrase, a jellyfish Christianity in the churches--that is, a Christianity without bone, or muscle, or power.

A jellyfish, as everyone knows who has been much by the sea-side, is a pretty and graceful object when it floats in the sea, contracting and expanding like a little, delicate, transparent umbrella. 

Yet the same jellyfish, when cast on the shore--is a mere helpless lump, without capacity for movement, self-defense, or self-preservation.

Alas! It is a vivid type of much of the religion of this day, of which the leading principle is, "No dogma, no distinct tenets, no positive doctrine."

We have hundreds of jellyfish clergymen, who seem not to have a single bone in their body of divinity. 

They have no definite opinions. They are so afraid of "extreme views"--that they have no views at all.

We have thousands of jellyfish sermons preached every year--sermons without an edge or a point. 

They are as smooth as billiard balls--awakening no sinner, and edifying no saint.

We have legions of jellyfish young men annually turned out from our seminaries, armed with a few scraps of second-hand philosophy, who think it a mark of cleverness and intellect to have no decided opinions about anything in religion, and to be utterly unable to make up their minds as to what Christian truth is. 

Their proud hearts are not satisfied with truths which satisfied the godly of former years. 

Their only creed is a kind of "Anythingism." They believe everything--and are sure and positive about nothing!

And last, and worst of all, we have myriads of jellyfish worshipers--respectable church-going people, who have no distinct and definite views about any point in theology. 

They cannot discern things that differ, any more than color-blind people can distinguish colors!  

They think that everybody is right-and nobody is wrong, everything is true-and nothing is false, all sermons are good-and none are bad, every minister is sound-and none are unsound.   

They are "tossed to and fro, like children, by every wind of doctrine!" 

They are often carried away by any new excitement and sensational movement. 

They are ever ready for new things, because they have no firm grasp on the old Scripture truths.

~J. C. Ryle

Why Standest Thou Afar Off, O LORD?

Psalm 10:1  Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?

God is "a very present help in trouble." 

But He permits trouble to pursue us, as though He were indifferent to its overwhelming pressure...

That we may be brought to the end of ourselves...

And led to discover the treasure of darkness, the unmeasurable gains of tribulation.

We may be sure that He who permits the suffering is with us in it. 

It may be that we shall see Him only when the trial is passing...

But we must dare to believe that He never leaves the crucible. 

Our eyes are holden; and we cannot behold Him whom our soul loveth. 

It is dark-the bandages blind us so that we cannot see the form of our High Priest; but He is there, deeply touched. 

Let us not rely on feeling, but on faith in His unswerving fidelity...

And though we see Him not, let us talk to Him. 

Directly we begin to speak to Jesus, as being literally present...

Though His presence is veiled, there comes an answering voice which shows that He is in the shadow...

Keeping watch upon His own. 

Your Father is as near when you journey through the dark tunnel as when under the open heaven! 

~Daily Devotional Commentary

What though the path be all unknown?

What though the way be drear?

Its shades I traverse not alone

When steps of Thine are near.

He Must Increase, But I Must Decrease!

What is spiritual growth? 

What is spiritual maturity? 

What is it to go on in the Lord? 

I fear we have got mixed ideas about this. 

Many think that spiritual maturity is a more comprehensive knowledge of Christian doctrine...

A larger grasp of scriptural truth...

A wider expanse of the knowledge of the things of God...

And many such features are recorded as marks of growth, development, and spiritual maturity. 

Beloved, it is nothing of the kind.

The hallmark of True Spiritual Development and maturity is this...

That we have grown so much less and the Lord Jesus has grown so much more. 

The mature soul is one who is small in his or her own eyes...

But in whose eyes the Lord Jesus is great. 

That is growth. 

We may know a very great deal...

Have a wonderful grasp of doctrine...

Of teaching...

Of truth,...

Even of the Scripture...

And yet be spiritually very smalL...

Very immature...

Very childish. 

There is all the difference between being childish and child-like.

Real spiritual growth is just this...

I decrease, He increases.

It is the Lord Jesus becoming more. 

You can test spiritual growth by that. 

~T. Austin Sparks

Walking Alone With GOD

John 16:32  Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

It need not be said that to carry out conviction into action is a costly sacrifice. 

It may make necessary renunciations and separations which leave one to feel a strange sense both of deprivation and loneliness. 

But he who will fly, as an eagle does, into the higher levels where cloudless day abides, and live in the sunshine of God, must be content to live a comparatively lonely life.

No bird is so solitary as the eagle. 

Eagles never fly in flocks; one, or at most two, ever being seen at once. 

But the life that is lived unto God, however it forfeits human companionships, knows Divine fellowship.

God seeks eagle-men. 

No man ever comes into a realization of the best things of God, who does not, upon the Godward side of his life, learn to walk alone with God. 

We find Abraham alone in Horeb upon the heights, but Lot, dwelling in Sodom. 

Moses, skilled in all the wisdom of Egypt must go forty years into the desert alone with God. 

Paul, who was filled with Greek learning and had also sat at the feet of Gamaliel, must go into Arabia and learn the desert life with God. 

Let God isolate us. 

I do not mean the isolation of a monastery. 

In this isolating experience He develops an independence of faith and life so that the soul needs no longer the constant help, prayer, faith or attention of his neighbor. 

Such assistance and inspiration from the other members are necessary and have their place in the Christian’s development, but there comes a time when they act as a direct hindrance to the individual’s faith and welfare. 

God knows how to change the circumstances in order to give us an isolating experience. 

We yield to God and He takes us through something, and when it is over, those about us, who are no less loved than before, are no longer depended upon. 

We realize that He has wrought some things in us, and that the wings of our souls have learned to beat the upper air.

Wholly Taken Up With Contriving Methods Of Amusing Themselves!

Concerning the performing of 'Handel's Messiah' John Newton wrote: 

How shall we view the people of our times? 

I see the great mass of people involved in one common charge of high treason against the omnipotent God!  

They are already in a state of guilt-but have not yet been brought to their trial. 

The evidence against them is so plain, strong and pointed, that there is not the least doubt of their guilt being fully proved-and that nothing but a free pardon from God can preserve them from their deserved eternal punishment!

In this situation, it would seem in their best interest to avail themselves of every expedient in their power for obtaining God's mercy. 

But they are entirely heedless of their imminent danger, and are wholly taken up with contriving methods of amusing themselves-that they may pass away their short time on earth with as much levity as possible!

Among other resources, they call in the assistance of music-and they are particularly pleased with the performing of 'Handel's Messiah'. 

They choose to make...the solemnities of their impending judgment, the character of their Judge, the methods of His procedure, and the dreadful punishment to which they are exposed, the themes of their musical entertainment!

And, as if they were quite unconcerned in their upcoming judgment-their attention is chiefly fixed upon the skill of the composer, in adapting the style of his music to the very solemn subjects with which they are trifling!

The offended King, however, unasked by them, and out of His great mercy and compassion towards those who have no pity for themselves-sends them a gracious message. 

He assures them that He is unwilling that they should eternally perish; and that He requires-yes, He entreats them to submit to Him! 

He points out a way in which He offers them a free and a full pardon!

But, instead of taking a single step towards a compliance with His undeserved and gracious offer-they set His message to music! 

And this, together with a description of their present hopeless state, and of the fearful doom awaiting them if they continue obstinate-is sung for their entertainment, and accompanied with every kind of music!

Surely, if such a case as I have supposed could be found in real life, though I might admire the musical taste of these people-I would certainly pity their stupidity and hardness of heart!

~John Newton

The Trial Of Your Faith

1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 

Trials and temptations are the means which God employs to manifest to the soul the reality and strength of the faith which he bestows upon it...

For there is in every trial and temptation opposition made to the faith that is in the heart; and every trial and temptation, so to speak, threaten the life of faith. 

And they threaten it in this way.... 

Under the trial God for the most part hides himself. 

He puts forth, indeed, a secret power whereby the soul is held up, or otherwise it would sink into utter despair, and be overcome and swallowed up by the power of unbelief. 

Hence comes the conflict between the trial that fights against the faith and the faith which fights against or rather under the trial. 

Now, when in this trial, in this sharp conflict, in this hot furnace, faith does not give way, is not burned up, is not destroyed...

But keeps its firm hold upon the promise and the faithfulness of him who has given it...

This trial of faith becomes very precious. 

It is precious to the soul when God again smiles upon it, and becomes thus manifest as genuine. 

It is precious in the sight of God's people, who see it and derive strength and comfort from what they witness in the experience of a saint thus tried and blessed...

And it is precious also in the sight of God himself, who crowns it with his own manifest approbation, and puts upon it the attesting seal of his own approving smile. 

But above all things, it will be found precious at the appearing of Jesus Christ...

And that not only in his various appearings in grace, but in his final appearance in glory...

For of that the Apostle mainly speaks when he says that "it may be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."

~J. C. Philpot

Who Can Wonder?

1Ti 4:12  Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 

 

Look into some families of professors...

 

Follow them through the history of only one week, and see...
 

Their worldly-mindedness, their gaiety, their frivolity...
 

Their unsanctified tempers, their worldly reading, their amusements...
 

Their homage to talent, their low esteem of holiness...
 

Their negligence of family prayer, their neglect of godly instruction to their children...
 

And who can wonder that young people brought up amidst such scenes, do not become religiously devoted-but go off into the world or into sin?

Too often the children are like their parents, and bring into the church no higher or better kind of religion than what they have learned at home! 

 

And thus a low tone of reverence, a lukewarm Laodicean spirit-is extended and perpetuated.

There must be a revival of reverence in the parents! 

 

It is vain to expect that a worldly-minded father, whose spirituality, if he ever had any, has been utterly evaporated by the exclusiveness of concern about business and politics. 

 

Or a frivolous, pleasure-loving mother, who thinks far more about adorning the bodies of her children, than about saving their souls-should be at all concerned about the God Fearing education of their children.

Recollect what a solemn thing it is to be a parent! 

 

What a weighty responsibility attaches to those who have the immortal souls of their children committed to their care!

 

Eph 6:4  And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Satan's Baits!

Luke 18:24  And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

Luke 18:25  For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Bring up your children with low notions of the importance of riches and worldly show, and of the power which these things have either to give respectability to the character, or to procure happiness.

Do not let them hear you magnify the value of wealth by your words-nor see you do it by your actions. 

Avoid a servile attention to the rich and great...

Do not point to them as the individuals most to be admired and envied. 

Do not have an undue solicitude about grandeur of abode or furniture. 

From the time that they are capable of receiving an idea or an impression, teach them that it is godly character that constitutes true respectability.

Remind them of the danger of riches, and that they are Satan's baits to tempt men to love the world and lose their souls!

Not that you should produce a cynical disposition towards either riches or the rich; much less repress industry, and foster indolence. No..., 

But encourage them to consider and seek wealth, rather as a means of usefulness, than a source of personal gratification.

1Ti 6:9  But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

1Ti 6:10  For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

~John Angell James

Fret Not Over Evil-Doers!

Do not get into a perilous heat about things. 

If ever heat were justified, it was surely justified in the circumstances outlined in the Psalm. 

Evil-doers were moving about clothed in purple and fine linen, and faring sumptuously every day.

"Workers of iniquity" were climbing into the supreme places of power, and were tyrannizing their less fortunate brethren. 

Sinful men and women were stalking through the land in the pride of life and basking in the light and comfort of great prosperity, and good men were becoming heated and fretful.

"Fret not thyself." Do not get unduly heated! Keep cool! 

Even in a good cause, fretfulness is not a wise help-meet. 

Fretting only heats the bearings; it does not generate the steam. 

It is no help to a train for the axles to get hot; their heat is only a hindrance. 

When the axles get heated, it is because of unnecessary friction; dry surfaces are grinding together, which ought to be kept in smooth co-operation by a delicate cushion of oil.

And is it not a suggestive fact that this word "fret" is closely akin to the word "friction," and is an indication of absence of the anointing oil of the grace of God?

In fretfulness, a little bit of grit gets into the bearings-some slight disappointment, some ingratitude, some discourtesy-and the smooth working of the life is checked. 

Friction begets heat; and with the heat, most dangerous conditions are created.

Do not let thy bearings get hot. 

Let the oil of the Lord keep thee cool, lest by reason of an unholy heat thou be reckoned among the evil-doers.

~The Silver Lining

Dear restless heart, be still; don't fret and worry so, God has a thousand ways His love and help to show...

Just trust, and trust, and trust, until His will you know.

Dear restless heart, be still, for peace is God's own smile, His love can every wrong and sorrow reconcile... 

Just love, and love, and love, and calmly wait awhile.

Dear restless heart, be brave; don't moan and sorrow so, He hath a meaning kind in chilly winds that blow...

Just hope, and hope, and hope, until you braver grow.

Dear restless heart, repose upon His breast this hour, His grace is strength and life, His love is bloom and flower...

Just rest, and rest, and rest, within His tender power.

Dear restless heart, be still! 

Don't struggle to be free; God's life is in your life, from Him you may not flee...

Just pray, and pray, and pray, till you have faith to see.

~Edith Willis Linn

A Test For Forsaking Selfishness

Another principle for the Death Of Selfishness is to seek in everything to be Child-like...

And extremely Simple in our manners, words, dress, tastes, and interior experiences. 

Self naturally Feeds on Complexity and things Grand and Large and Loud. 

Christ is the very embodiment of Divine and Eternal Simplicity. 

The more we become selfless...

The more we become Disappointing to the people. 

Our learning, or talents will not Show Off to such fine advantage. 

We talk less. 

We live more Quietly. 

Our labors are less designed to Impress or Attract notice.

We employ Prayer and Faith in God more than Showy methods. 

We love to live like God, a profound Hidden life, in which people think we don't amount to very much. 

This is one of the tests for forsaking selfishness. 

~G. D. Watson~