DAILY, WEEKEND, AND HOLIDAY INTERNET EVANGELIZE TO THE WORLD MINISTRY

  August 24th The spiritual index Or what man is there of you, whom, if his son asks for bread, will he give him a stone? Matthew 7:9. The illustration of prayer that Our Lord uses here is that of a good child asking for a good thing. We talk about prayer as if God heard us irrespective of the fact of our relationship with Him (cf. Matthew 5:45.) Never say it is not God’s will to give you what you ask; don’t sit down and faint, but find out the reason, turn up the index. Are you rightly related to your wife, husband, children, fellow students—are you a ‘good child’ there? ‘Oh, Lord, I have been irritable and cross, but I want a spiritual blessing.’ You cannot have it; you will have to do without it until you come into the attitude of a good child. We mistake defiance for devotion and arguing with God for abandonment. We will not look at the index. Have I been asking God to give me money for something I want when there is something I have not paid for? Have I been asking God fo...

  August 19th Self-consciousness Come unto Me. Matthew 11:28. God means that we live a fully-orbed life in Christ Jesus, but there are times when that life is attacked from the outside, and we tumble into a way of introspection that we thought had gone. Self-consciousness is the first thing that will upset the completeness of the life in God, and self-consciousness continually produces wrestling. Self-consciousness is not a sin; it may be made by a nervous temperament or a sudden dumping down into new circumstances. It is never God’s will that we should be anything less than absolutely complete in Him. Anything that disturbs rest in Him must be cured at once, and it is not cured by being ignored but by coming to Jesus Christ. If we go to Him and ask Him to produce Christ-consciousness, He will always do it until we learn to abide in Him. Never allow the dividing up of your life in Christ to remain without facing it. Beware of leakage, of the dividing up of your life by the inf...

  August 18th Have you ever been expressionless with sorrow? And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful, for he was wealthy. Luke 18:23. The rich young ruler went away expressionless with sorrow; he had not a word to say. He had no doubt as to what Jesus said, no debate as to what it meant, and it produced in him a sorrow that had not any words. Have you ever been there? Has God’s word come to you about something you are rich in—temperament, personal affinity, relationships of heart and mind? Then, you have often been expressionless with sorrow. The Lord will not go after you, He will not plead, but every time He meets you on that point, He will simply repeat—“If you mean what you say, those are the conditions.’ “Sell all that thou hast”—undress morally before God of everything that might be a possession until you are a mere conscious human being, and then give God that. That is where the battle is fought—in the domain of the will before God. Are you more devoted to your id...

  August 17th Are you discouraged in devotion? Yet lackest thou one thing; sell all that thou hast … and come, follow Me. Luke 18:22. "And when he heard this …" Have you ever heard the Master say a hard word? If you have not, I question whether you have heard Him say anything. Jesus Christ says a great deal that we listen to but do not hear; when we do hear, His words are harsh. Jesus did not seem solicitous that this man should do what He told him; he made no attempt to keep him with Him. He said, 'Sell all you have, and come, follow Me.' Our Lord never pleaded, He never cajoled, He never entrapped; He simply spoke the sternest words mortal ears ever listened to and then left it alone. Have I ever heard Jesus say a hard word? Has He said something personally to me to which I have deliberately listened? It is not something I can expound or say this and that about, but something I have heard Him say to me. This man understood what Jesus said, heard it, and sized ...

  August 16th Does He know me He calleth … by name. John 10:3. When I have sadly misunderstood Him? (John 20:17.) It is possible to know all about doctrine and yet not know Jesus. The soul is in danger when knowledge of doctrine steps out of intimate touch with Jesus. Why was Mary weeping? Doctrine was no more to Mary than the grass under her feet. Any Pharisee could have made a fool of Mary doctrinally, but one thing they could not ridicule out of her was the fact that Jesus had cast seven demons out of her, yet His blessings were nothing in comparison to Himself. Mary “saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus …” She immediately heard the voice and knew she had a history with the One who spoke. “Master!” When I have stubbornly doubted? (John 20:27.) Have I been doubting something about Jesus—an experience to which others testify but which I have not had? The other disciples told Thomas they had seen Jesus, but Thomas doubted—“Except I shall see …, I will not believe....

  August 15th Signs of the new birth Ye must be born again. John 3:7. The answer to the question “How can a man be born when he is old?” is—When he is old enough to die—to die right out to his ‘rag rights,’ to his virtues, to his religion, to everything, and to receive into himself the life which never was there before. The new life manifests itself in conscious repentance and unconscious holiness. “As many as received Him.” (John 1:12.) Is my knowledge of Jesus born of internal spiritual perception, or only what I have learned by listening to others? Have I something in my life that connects me with the Lord Jesus as my personal Saviour? All spiritual history must have personal knowledge for its bedrock. To be born again means that I see Jesus. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3.) Do I seek signs of the Kingdom or perceive God’s rule? The new birth gives me a new power of vision to discern God’s authority. His rule was always there bu...

  August 14th Chastening Despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him. Hebrews 12:5. It is straightforward to quench the Spirit; we do it by despising the Lord's chastening and fainting when He rebukes us. If we have only a shallow experience of sanctification, we mistake the shadow for the reality, and when the Spirit of God begins to check, we say, ‘Oh, that must be the devil.’ Never question SpiritSpirit, and do not despise Him when He says, ' Don’t be blind on this point anymore; you are not where you thought you were. Up to the present, I have not been able to reveal it to you, but I reveal it now.’ When the Lord chastens you like that, let Him have His way. Let Him relate you rightly to God. “Nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him.” We get into sulks with God and say—‘Oh well, I can’t help it; I did pray, and things did not turn out right, and I am going to give it all up.’ Think what would happen if we talked like this in any other...

  August 13th Quench not the Spirit Quench, not the Spirit. 1 Thess. 5:19. The voice of the Spirit is as gentle as a zephyr, so gentle that unless you are living in perfect communion with God, you never hear it. The checks of the Spirit come in the most extraordinarily gentle ways, and if you are not sensitive enough to detect His voice, you will quench it, and your personal spiritual life will be impaired. His checks always come as a still, small voice, so small that no one but the saint notices them. Beware if, in personal testimony, you have to hark back and say—‘Once, so many years ago, I was saved.’ If you are walking in the light, there is no harking back; the past is transfused into the present wonder of communion with God. If you get out of the light, you become a sentimental Christian and live on memories; your testimony has a complex, metallic note. Beware of trying to patch up a present refusal to walk in the light by recalling past experiences when you did walk in ...

  August 12th The theology of rest Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Matthew 8:26. When we are in fear, we can do nothing less than pray to God, but Our Lord has a right to expect those who name His Name to have an understanding and confidence in Him. God expects His children to be so confident in Him that in any crisis, they are the reliable ones. Our trust is in God up to a certain point, and then we go back to the elementary panic prayers of those who do not know God. We get to our wits’ end, showing that we do not have the slightest confidence in Him and His government of the world; He seems to be asleep, and we see nothing but breakers ahead. “O ye of little faith!” What a pang must have shot through the disciples—‘Missed it again!’ And what a pang will go through us when we suddenly realize that we might have produced downright joy in the heart of Jesus by remaining absolutely confident in Him, no matter what was ahead. There are stages in life when there is no ...

  August 10th The sacrament of the saint Let them suffer according to the will of God and commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing. 1 Peter 4:19. To choose to suffer means that there is something wrong; to determine God’s will, even if it means suffering, is a very different thing. No healthy saint ever chooses to suffer; he chooses God’s will, as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not. No saint dared interfere with the discipline of suffering in another saint. The saint who satisfies the heart of Jesus will make other saints strong and mature for God. The people who do us good are never those who sympathize with us, they always hinder, because sympathy enervates. No one understands a saint but the saint nearest to the Saviour. If we accept the sympathy of a saint, the reflex feeling is—‘Well, God is dealing hardly with me.’ That is why Jesus said self-pity was of the devil (see Matt. 16:23). Be merciful to God’s reputation. It is easy to blacken God’s char...

  August 9th Prayer in the Father’s hearing Father, I thank Thee that thou hast heard Me. John 11:41. When the Son of God prays, He has only one consciousness, and that consciousness is of His Father. God always hears the prayers of His Son, and if the Son of God is formed in me, the Father will always hear my prayers. I must see that the Son of God manifests in my mortal flesh. “Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost,” the ‘Bethlehem’ of the Son of God. Is the Son of God getting His chance in me? Is the direct simplicity of the life of God’s Son being worked out exactly as it was worked out in His historical life? When I come in contact with the occurrences of life as an ordinary human being, is the prayer of God’s Eternal Son to His Father being prayed in me? “In that day ye shall ask in My name.…” What day? The day the Holy Ghost came to me made me effectually one with my Lord. Is the Lord Jesus Christ abundantly satisfied, or do you have a spiritual ‘strut’? Never let c...

  August 8th Prayer in the Father’s honor That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Luke 1:35. If the Son of God is born into my mortal flesh, is His holy innocence, simplicity, and oneness with the Father getting a chance to manifest itself in me? What was true of the Virgin Mary in the historic introduction of God’s Son into this earth is true in every saint. The Son of God is born into me by the direct act of God; then I, as a child of God, have to exercise the right of a child, the right of being always face to face with my Father. Am I continually saying with amazement to my everyday life—‘Why do you want to turn me off here? Don’t you know I must be about my Father’s business?’ Whatever the circumstances, that Holy, Innocent, Eternal Child must be in contact with His Father. Am I simple enough to identify myself with my Lord in this way? Is He getting His excellent way in me? Is God realizing that His Son is formed in me, or have I caref...

  August 7th Prayer in the Father’s house Wist ye not that I must be in My Father’s house? Luke 2:49 (R.V.). Our Lord’s childhood was not immature manhood: our Lord’s childhood is an eternal fact. Am I a holy, innocent child of God by identification with my Lord and Saviour? Do I look upon life as being in my Father’s house? Is the Son of God living in His Father’s house in me? The abiding Reality is God, and His order comes through the moments. Am I always in contact with Reality, or do I only pray when things have gone wrong when there is a disturbance in my life? I have to learn to identify myself with my Lord in holy communion in ways some of us have yet to begin to understand. “I must be about My Father’s business,”—live the moments in My Father’s house. Narrow it down to your circumstances—are you so identified with the Lord’s life that you are simply a child of God, continually talking to Him and realizing that all things come from His hands? Is the Eternal Child in yo...

  August 6th The Cross in prayer On that day, you shall ask in my name. John 16:26. We are too much given to thinking of the Cross as something we have to get through; we get through it only to get into it. The Cross stands for one thing only for us—a complete and entire and absolute identification with the Lord Jesus Christ, and there is nothing in which this identification is realized more than in prayer. “Your Father knoweth what things ye need before ye ask Him.” Then why ask? The idea of prayer is not to get answers from God; prayer is perfect and complete oneness with God. If we pray because we want answers, we will get huffed with God. The answers come every time, but not always in the way we expect, and our spiritual huff shows a refusal to identify ourselves with Our Lord in prayer. We are not here to prove God answers prayer; we are here to be living monuments of God’s grace. “I say not that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father Himself loveth you.” Have y...

  August 5th The baffling call of God And all things the prophets write concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished.… And they understood none of these things. Luke 18:31, 34. God called Jesus Christ to what seemed an unmitigated disaster. Jesus Christ called His disciples to see Him put to death; He led every one of them to the place where their hearts were broken. Jesus Christ’s life was an absolute failure from every standpoint but God’s. But what seemed like a failure from man’s perspective was a tremendous triumph from God’s because God’s purpose is never man’s purpose. There comes the baffling call of God in our lives, also. The call of God can never be stated explicitly; it is implicit. The call of God is like the call of the sea; no one hears it but the one who has the nature of the sea in him. It cannot be stated what the call of God is because His call is to be in comradeship with Himself for His own purpose, and the test is to believe that God knows what He is a...

  August 4th The brave comradeship of God Then He took unto Him the twelve. Luke 18:31. The bravery of God in trusting us! You say—‘But He has been unwise to choose me, because there is nothing in me; I am not of any value.’ That is why He chose you. As long as you think there is something in you, God cannot choose you because you have ends of your own to serve; but if you have let Him bring you to the end of your self-sufficiency, then He can choose you to go with Him to Jerusalem, and that will mean the fulfilment of purposes which He does not discuss with you. We are apt to say that because a man has natural ability, therefore he will make a good Christian. It is not a question of our equipment but of our poverty; not of what we bring with us, but of what God puts into us; not a question of natural virtues, of strength of character, knowledge, and experience—all that is of no avail in this matter. The only thing that avails is that we are taken up into the big compelling of...

  July 30th The discipline of disillusionment Jesus did not commit Himself unto them … for He knew what was in man. John 2:24–25 . Disillusionment means that there are no more false judgments in life. To be undeceived by disillusionment may leave us cynical and unkindly severe in our judgment of others, but the disillusionment which comes from God brings us to the place where we see men and women as they really are, and yet there is no cynicism, we have no stinging, bitter things to say. Many of the cruel things in life spring from the fact that we suffer from illusions. We are not true to one another as facts; we are true only to our ideas of one another. Everything is either delightful and fine, or mean and dastardly, according to our idea. The refusal to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering in human life. It works in this way—if we love a human being and do not love God, we demand of him every perfection and every rectitude, and when we do not get it we...

  July 28th After obedience—what? And straightway He constrained His disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side.… Mark 6:45–52 . We are apt to imagine that if Jesus Christ constrains us, and we obey Him, He will lead us to great success. We must never put our dreams of success as God’s purpose for us; His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have an idea that God is leading us to a particular end, a desired goal; He is not. The question of getting to a particular end is a mere incident. What we call the process, God calls the end. What is my dream of God’s purpose? His purpose is that I depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay in the middle of the turmoil calm and unperplexed, that is the end of the purpose of God. God is not working towards a particular finish; His end is the process—that I see Him walking on the waves, no shore in sight, no success, no goal, just the absolute certainty that it is all right because I see Him walking on the sea. It...