If we sit in strict judgment on ourselves we shall not be judged. Failing in this holy self-judgment we are chastened by the Lord. In your public and private life, do you do everything as sincerely as if no eye but the Omniscient gazed upon you?
Do you condemn in others what you find in yourself? Would you bear from others what they have borne from you?
The very fact that you occasionally speak lightly of those who have injured you, or did not fully agree with you, proves that in your heart you have not freely forgiven them. The fact that sudden interruptions, inconveniences and disappointments frustrate and worry you is still proof that you are not wholly detached from earthly pleasures and surroundings.
Depth of experience is not to be measured by the amount of hallelujahs and shouts while in meeting and when everything is favorable, but by the power to endure with unwearied patience all that God can permit, or men and devils inflict.
It is simply impossible to give a sharp, sarcastic answer or manifest an independent spirit, until there has first been a disunion of spirit within. Long before a person acts touchy outwardly, he has been nursing a sore feeling inwardly.
Have you gotten to the place where you can be imposed upon? Have you reached the place where you will let God defend you and your opinions rather than hold out for your point of rights and thus accomplish your end at the expense of grieving the Holy Spirit? Rejoice not because you are opposed or set at naught, but rather rejoice because God’s wondrous grace saves you from feeling the least tinge of bitterness toward those who do it; they may consider it their duty to oppose you on some point of belief or practice.
How to be on intimate terms with Jesus: Get alone in secret, and after you have talked your heart out, then ask Him to speak freely and tell you whatsoever He thinks, yea, whatsoever He fears, concerning you and your heart. Carnality cannot bear such intimacy very long.
Under the Omniscient Gaze
Have you the clear witness that the blood makes your heart so clean that the Omniscient gaze can scan you through and through and find nothing more that He sees ought to be removed? It is your privilege to have just such a definite assurance to heart cleansing. Hallelujah!
Thoughts are bigger than words. "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7). Yes, this is the real man. He is no better than his thoughts. Long before he is known as a good man or a rascal, he has been thinking along that line. Watch your thoughts! You can control them now; later they will largely control you!
True manliness implies courtesy, gentleness and thoughtfulness, and this will produce in the minds of the most intimate friends, including the wife, a high regard and appreciation for your presence. You can depend upon it that there is something wrong when there is lack of appreciation on either side of the house.
Does a timidity steal over your spirit when you are about to make a decision? Something that is not willing to wait and let the thing be tested? Something that is afraid of God’s decisions? Such a feeling should be sufficient proof that you are taking things in your own hands and are about to get out of Divine order.
If God holds you to a certain line of eating, dressing, or keeping the Sabbath, do it silently, but do not think you are called to compel others to do the same (Rom. 14:22). If you feel you must tell your convictions, do it meekly, and if they are of God, He will carry them home and rivet them on hearts.
Is your eye always single to the glory of God – in every letter, in every transaction, in all your conversation, in your private and public devotions? In short, do you do everything just as naturally and sincerely as if you were a thousand miles away from any living creature and no eye but the Omniscient gazed upon you? This is what it means to be without guile.
What is the standard of your joy? What is it that affords you the most pleasure? What is it that you look forward to with the most delight? Is it eating, sleeping, talking, making money, becoming famous, or some lower form of sensual gratification?
Just to the extent that you find consolation in anything but God, you become an idolater and worship the creature more than the Creator. "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col. 3:2). "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25).
from: http://www.heraldofhiscoming.com/other/home.htm
_________________ SI Moderator - Greg Gordon
|