A.B. Simpson

Chapter 29 – Our Boldness in Prayer

“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him”(1 John 5:14-15).

One of the greatest hindrances to believing prayer is undoubtedly this: Many don’t know if what they ask is according to the will of God. As long as they are in doubt on this point, they cannot have the boldness to ask in the assurance that they will certainly receive. They soon begin to think that, once they have made known their requests and receive no answer, it is best to leave it to God to do according to His good pleasure. The words of John, “If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us,” as they understand them, make certainty as to an answer to prayer impossible, because they cannot be sure of what the will of God really may be. They think of God’s will as His hidden counsel: How can man fathom the purpose of a God Who is wise in all things?

This is the very opposite of John’s purpose writing this. He wanted to stir boldness and confidence in us, until we had the full assurance of faith in prayer. He says that we should have the boldness to the Father that we know we are asking according to His will, and we know that He hears us. With such boldness, He will hear us no matter what we ask for, as long as it is according to His will. In faith we should know that we have the answer. And even as we are praying, we should be able to receive what we have asked.

John supposes that when we pray, we first find if our prayers are according to the will of God. They may be according to God’s will, and yet not answered at once, or without the persevering prayer of faith. It is to give us courage to persevere and to be strong in faith that He tells us we can have boldness or confidence in prayer, because if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. It is evident that if we are uncertain whether our petitions are according to His will, we cannot have the comfort of His promise, “We know that we have the petitions which we have asked of Him.”

But this is just the difficulty. More than one believer says, “I do not know if what I desire is according to the will of God. God’s will is the purpose of His infinite wisdom. It is impossible for me to know whether He considers something else better for me than what I desire. He may have reasons for holding what I asked.” Everyone should understand that with such thoughts the prayer of faith becomes an impossibility. There may still be a prayer of submission or of trust in God’s wisdom. But there cannot be a prayer of faith.

The great mistake here is that God’s children do not really believe that it is possible to know God’s will. Or if they believe this, they do not take the time and trouble to find it out. What we need is to see clearly how the Father leads His waiting, teachable child to know that his petition is according to His will. Through God’s holy Word-taken up and kept in the heart, the life, and the will-and through God’s Holy Spirit accepted in His dwelling and leading we will learn to know that our petitions are according to His will.

First, let us consider the Word. There is a secret will of God, with which we often fear that our prayers may be at variance. But this is not the will of God that we should be concerned with in our prayers. His will as revealed in His Word should be our concern. Our notions of a secret will that makes decrees, rendering the answers to our prayers impossible, are erroneous. Childlike faith in what He is willing to do for His children simply accepts the Father’s assurance that it is His will to hear prayer and to do what faith in His Word desires and accepts. In the Word, the Father has revealed in general promises the great principles of His will with His people. The child has to take the promise and apply it to the special circumstances in His life to which it has reference. Whatever he asks within the limits of that revealed will, he may confidently expect, knowing it to be according to the will of God.

In His Word, God has given us the revelation of His will. He shows us His plans for us, His people, and for the world. With the most precious promises of grace and power, He carries out these plans through His people. As faith becomes strong and bold enough to claim the fulfillment of the general promise in the special case, we may have the assurance that our prayers are heard, because they are according to God’s will. Take the words of John the verse following our text as an illustration: “If any man sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask and God will give him life.” This is the general promise. The believer who pleads on the grounds of this promise, prays according to the will of God, and John wants him to feel the boldness to know that he has the petition for which he asks.

God’s will is something spiritual and must be spiritually discerned. It is not a matter of logic that we can argue about. Not every Christian has the same gift or calling. While the general will revealed in the promises is the same for everyone, each person has a specific, individual role to fulfill in God’s purpose. The wisdom of the saints is in knowing the specific will of God according to the measure of grace given us, and to ask in prayer just what God has prepared and made possible for each. The Holy Spirit dwells in us to communicate this widsom. The personal application of the general promises of the Word to our specific personal needs is given to us by the leading of the Holy Spirit.

It is this union of the teaching of the Word and the Spirit that many do not understand. This causes a twofold difficulty in knowing what God’s will may be. Some seek the will of God in an inner feeling or conviction, and expect the Spirit to lead them without the Word. Others seek it in the Word, without the living leading of the Holy Spirit. The two must be united. Only in the Word and in the Spirit can we know the will of God and learn to pray according to it. In the heart, the Word and Spirit must meet. Only by indwelling can we experience their teaching. The Word must abide in us; our heart and life must be under its influence daily.

The quickening of the Word by the Spirit comes from within, not from without. Only he who yields himself entirely, in his whole life, to the supremacy of the Word and the will of God can expect to discern what that Word and will permit him to ask boldly in specific cases. The same is true of the Spirit. If I desire His leading in prayer to assure me what God’s will is, my whole life must be yielded to that leading. Only in this way can mind and heart become spiritual and capable of knowing God’s holy will. He who through Word and Spirit lives in the will of God by doing it; will know to pray according to that will in the confidence that He hears.

If only Christians could see what incalculable harm they do themselves by thinking that because their prayer is possibly not according to God’s will, they must be content without an answer. God’s Word tells us that the great reason for unanswered prayer is that we do not pray right: Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss.” In not granting an answer, the Father tells us that there is something wrong in our praying. He wants us to discover it and confess it, and so to teach us true believing and effective prayer. He can only attain this object when He brings us to the place where we see that we are to blame for the withholding of the answer. Our aims, our faith, or our lives are not what they should be. God is frustrated as long as we are content to say “Perhaps it is because my prayer is not according to His will that He does not hear me.”

O let us no longer throw the blame for our unanswered prayers on the secret will of God, but on our own faulty praying! Let that word, “Ye receive not because ye ask amiss,” be a lantern of the Lord, searching heart and life to prove that we are indeed those to whom Christ gave His promises of certain answers! Let us believe that we can know if our prayers are according to God’s will! Let us yield our hearts to the indwelling of the Word of the Father to have Christ’s Word abiding in us. We should live day by day with the anointing that teaches all things. If we yield ourselves unreservedly to the Holy Spirit as He teaches us to abide in Christ and to dwell in the Father’s presence, we will soon understand how the Father’s love longs for the child to know His will. In the confidence that that will includes every thing His power and love have promised to do, we should know, too, that He hears all of our prayers. “This is the boldness which we have, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us.”

Lord, teach us to pray.

Blessed Master! With my whole heart I thank You for the blessed lesson that the path to a life full of answers to prayer is through the will of God. Lord! Teach me to know this blessed will by living it, loving it, and always doing it. In this way, I will learn to offer prayers according to that will. In their harmony with God’s blessed will, I will find boldness in prayer and confidence in accepting the answer.

Father! It is Your will that Your child should enjoy Your presence and blessing. It is Your will that everything in Your child’s life should be in accordance with Your will, and that the Holy Spirit should work this in him. It is Your will that Your child should live in the daily experience of distinct answers to prayer, in order to enjoy living and direct fellowship with Yourself. It is Your will that Your Name should be glorified in and through Your children, and that it will be in those who trust You. O my Father! Let this will of Yours be my confidence in everything I ask.

Blessed Savior! Teach me to believe in the glory of this will. That will is the eternal love that, with Divine power, works out its purpose in each human will that yields itself to it. Lord! Teach me this! You can make me see how every promise and every command of the Word is indeed the will of God, and that its fulfillment is given to me by God Himself. Let His will become the sure rock on which prayer and my assurance of an answer always rest Amen.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

There is often great confusion as to the will of God. People think that what God wills must inevitably take place. This is by no means the case. God wills a great deal of blessing to His people which never comes to them. He wills it most earnestly, but they do not will it. Hence, it cannot come to them. This is the great mystery of man’s creation with a free will and the renewal of his will in redemption. God has made the execution of His will dependent on the will of man. God’s will as revealed in His promises will be fulfilled as much as our faith allow. Prayer is the power by which something comes to pass which otherwise would not have taken place. And faith the power which determines how much of God’s will is done in us. Once God reveals to a soul what He is willing to do for it, the responsibility for the execution of that will rests with us.

Some are afraid that this is putting too much power into the hands of man. But all power is put into the hands of man through Christ Jesus (Luke 10:19). The key to prayer and all power is His. When we learn to understand that He is just as much one with us as with the Father, see how natural, right, and safe it is that such power is given. Christ the Son has the right to ask whatever I chooses. Through our abiding in Him and His abiding in us, His Spirit breathes in us what He wants to ask and obtain through us. We pray in His Name. The prayers are as much ours as they are His.

Others fear that to believe that prayer has such power limits the liberty and the love of God. O if we only knew how we are limiting His liberty and His love by not allowing Him to act in the only way in which He chooses to act, now that He has taken us up into fellowship with Himself! Our prayer is like pipes, though which water is carried from a large mountain stream to a town some distance away. Such water pipes don’t make the water willing to flow down from the hills, nor do they give it its power of blessing and refreshment. This is its very nature. All they do is to determine its direction.

In the same way, the very nature of God is to love and to bless. His love longs to come down to us with its quickening and refreshing streams. But He has left it to prayer to say where the blessing is channeled. He has committed it to His believing people to bring the living water to the desert places. The will of God to bless is dependent on the will of man to say where the blessing goes.



Chapter 30 – The Ministry of Intercession

“A holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (I Peter 2:5)

“Ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord.” (Isaiah 61:6).

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me: because the Lord hath anointed me.” These are the words of Jesus in Isaiah, chapter sixty-one. As the fruit of His work, all redeemed ones are priests-fellow-partakers with Him of His anointing with the Spirit as High Priest. This anointing is “Like the precious ointment upon the beard of Aaron, that went down to the skirts of his garments” (Psalm 133:2). Like every son of Aaron, every member of Jesus’ Body has a right to the priesthood. But not everyone exercises it.Many are still entirely ignorant of it. And yet it is the highest privilege of a child of God, the mark of greatest nearness and likeness to Him “Whoever liveth to pray.” Do you doubt this? Think of what constitutes priesthood.

There is, first, the work of the priesthood. This has two sides: one Godward, the other manward. “Every priest is ordained for men in things pertaining to God” (Hebrews 5:1). Or, as it is said by Moses (Deuteronomy 10:8, 21:5, 33:10; Malachi 2:6): “The Lord separated the tribe of Levi, to stand before the Lord to minister unto Him, and to bless His Name. ” On the one hand, the priest had the power to draw nigh to God, to dwell with Him in His house, and to present Him with the blood of the sacrifice or the burning incense. This work he did not do, however, on his own behalf, but for the sake of the people whose representative he was. This is the other side of his work. He received people’s sacrifices, presented them to God, and then came out to bless in His Name, giving the assurance of His favor and teaching them His law.

A priest is thus a man who does not live for himself. He lives with God and for God. His work as God’s servant is to care for His house, His honor,and His worship, making known to men His love and His will. He lives with men and for men (Hebrews 5:2). His work is to find out their sins and needs, bring these before God, offer sacrifice and incense in their names, obtain forgiveness and blessing for them, and then to come out and bless them in His Name.

This is the high calling of every believer. They have been redeemed with the one purpose of being God’s priests in the midst of the perishing millions around them. In conformity to Jesus, the Great High Priest, they are to be the ministers and stewards of the grace of God.

Secondly, there is the walk of the priesthood, harmony with its work. As God is holy, so the priest was to be especially holy. This means not only separated from everything unclean, but holy unto God-being set apart and given up to God for His use. Separation from the world and being given to God were indicated in many ways.

It was seen in the clothing. The holy garment made according to God’s own orders, marked the priests as His (Exodus 28). It was seen in the command as to their special purity and freedom from contact with death and defilement. Much that was allowed to an ordinary Israelite was forbidden them. Priests could have no bodily defects or blemishes. Bodily perfection was to be the model wholeness and holiness in God’s service. The priestly tribes were to have no inheritance with the other tribes. God was to be their inheritance. Their life was to be one of faith-set apart unto God; they were to live on Him as well as for Him. All this symbolic of what the character of the New Testament priest is to be. Our priestly power with God depends on our personal life and walk. Jesus must be able to say of our walk on earth, “They have not defiled their garments.”

In our separation from the world, we must prove that our desire to be holy to the Lord is whole-hearted and entire. The bodily perfection of the priest must have its counterpart in our also being “without spot or blemish.” We must be “the man of God, perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works,” “perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (Leviticus 21:17-21; Ephesians 5:27; 2 Timothy 3:17; James 1:4). Above all, we must consent to give up all inheritance on earth. We must forsake everything and like Christ have need only of God and keep everything for Him alone. This marks the true priest, the man who only lives for God and his fellow-men.

Thirdly, there is the way to the priesthood. God had chosen all of Aaron’s sons to be priests. Each of them was a priest by birth. Yet he could not begin his work without a special act of ordinance-his consecration. Every child of God is a priest by right of his birth-his blood relationship to the Great High Priest. But he can exercise his power only as he accepts and realizes his consecration.

With Aaron and his sons it took place thus (Exodus 29): After being washed and clothed, they were anointed with the holy oil. Sacrifices were then offered, and the right ear, the right hand, and the right foot were touched with the blood. They and their garments were then sprinkled with the blood and the oil together. In the same way, as the blood and the Spirit work more fully in the child of God, the power of the Holy Priesthood will also work in him. The blood will take away all sense of unworthiness; the Spirit will take away all sense of unfitness.

Notice what was new in the application of the blood to the priest. If he had ever as a penitent sought forgiveness by bringing a sacrifice for his sin, the blood was sprinkled on the altar, but not on his person. But now, for priestly consecration, there was to be closer contact with the blood. The ear, hand and foot were by a special act brought under its power, and the whole being sanctified for God. When the believer is led to seek full priestly access God, he feels the need of a fuller and more enduring experience of the power of the blood. Where he had previously been content to have the blood sprinkled only on the mercy seat as what he needed for pardon, he now needs a more personal sprinkling a cleansing of his heart from an evil conscience. Through this, he has “no more conscience of sin” (Hebrews 10:2); he is cleansed from all sin. As he gets to enjoy this, his consciousness is awakened to his wonderful right of intimate access to God, and the full assurance that his intercessions are acceptable.

As the blood gives the right, the Spirit gives the power for believing intercession. He breathes into the priestly spirit a burning love for God’s honor and the saving of souls. He makes us one with Jesus to the extent that prayer in His Name is reality. The more the Christian is truly filled with the Spirit of Christ, the more spontaneous will be his giving himself up to the life of priestly intercession.

Beloved fellow-Christians! God needs priests who can draw close to Him, live in His presence, and by their intercession draw down the blessings of His grace on others. And the world needs priests who will bear the burden of the perishing ones and intercede on their behalf.

Are you willing to offer yourself for this holy work? You know the surrender it demands-nothing less than the Christ-like giving up of everything, so that the salvation of God’s love may be accomplished among men. Don’t be one of those who are content with being saved, just doing enough work to keep themselves warm and lively! Let nothing keep you back from giving yourselves to be wholly and only priests of the Most High God!

The thought of unworthiness or of unfitness need not keep you back. In the blood, the objective power of the perfect redemption works in you. In the Spirit, the full, subjective, personal experience of a Divine life is secured. The blood provides an infinite worthiness to make your prayers acceptable. The Spirit provides a Divine fitness, teaching you to pray exactly according to the will of God.

Every priest knew that when he presented a sacrifice according to the law of the sanctuary, it was accepted. Under the covering of the blood and the Spirit, you have the assurance that all the wonderful promises of prayer in the Name of Jesus will be fulfilled in you. Abiding in union with the Great High Priest, “You shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.” You will have power to pray the effective prayer of the righteous man that accomplishes a great deal. You will not only join in the general prayer of the Church for the world, but be able in your own sphere to take up your own special work in prayer. As priests, you will work on a personal basis with God to receive and know the answer, and so to bless in His Name.

Come, brother, come! Be a priest, only a priest, and all priest! Walk before the Lord in the full consciousness that you have been set apart for the holy ministry of intercession. This is the true blessedness of conformity to the image of God’s Son.

Lord, teach us to pray.

O my blessed High Priest! Accept the consecration in which my soul responds to Your message! I believe in the holy priesthood of Your saints I believe that I am a priest, having the power to appear before the Father in prayer that will bring down many blessings on the perishing souls around me.

I believe in the power of Your precious blood to cleanse me from all sin. It gives me perfect confidence in God and brings me near to Him in the full assurance of faith that my intercession will be heard.

I believe in the anointing of the Spirit. It comes down to me daily from You, my Great High Priest, to sanctify me. It fills me with the consciousness my priestly calling and with the love of souls. It also teaches me what is according to God’s will and how to pray the prayer of faith.

I believe that, just as You are in all things in life, You are in my prayer life, drawing me up in it the fellowship of Your wondrous work of intercession.

In this faith, I yield myself today to my God as one of His anointed priests. I stand before Him to intercede on behalf of sinners, and then return to bless them in His Name.

Holy Lord Jesus! Accept and seal my consecration. Lay Your hands on me and consecrate me Yourself to this holy work. Let me walk among men with the consciousness and the character of a priest or the Most High God.

And to Him Who loved us-Who washed us from our sins in His own blood, and Who made us kings and priests before God, His Father-to Him be glory and power forever! Amen.



Chapter 31 – A Life of Prayer

“Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks” (I Thessalonians 5:16-18).

Our Lord told the parable of the widow and the unjust judge to teach us that men ought to pray without ceasing. The widow persevered in seeking one definite thing. The parable appears to refer to persevering in prayer for some special blessing, when God delays or appears to refuse. The Epistles, which speak of continuing in prayer, watching for the answer, and praying always in the Spirit, appear to refer to something different-the whole life being one of prayer. As the soul longs for the manifestation of God’s glory to us, in us, through us, and around us, the inmost life of the soul is continually rising upward in dependence, faith, longing desire, and trustful expectation.

What is needed to live such a life of prayer? The first thing is undoubtedly an entire sacrifice of one’s life to God’s Kingdom and glory. If you try to pray without ceasing because you want to be very pious and good, you will never succeed. Yielding ourselves to live for God and His honor enlarges the heart and teaches us to regard everything in the light of God and His will. We instinctively recognize in everything around us the need for God’s help and blessing, and an opportunity for His being glorified.

Everything is weighed and tested by the one thing that fills the heart: the glory of God. The soul has learned that only what is of God can really glorify Him. Through the heart and soul, the whole life becomes a looking up, a crying from the inmost heart, for God to prove His power and love, and reveal His glory. The believer awakes to the consciousness that he is one of the watchmen on Zion’s walls, whose call really does touch and move the King in heaven to do what would otherwise not be done. He understands how real Paul’s exhortation was: “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit for all the saints and for me,” and “continue in prayer, with all praying also for us.” To forget oneself-to live for God and His Kingdom among men-is the way to learn to pray without ceasing.

This life devoted to God must be accompanied by the deep confidence that our prayer is effective. In His prayer lessons, our Blessed Lord insisted on faith in the Father as a God Who most certainly does what we ask. “Ask and ye shall receive.” To count confidently on an answer is the beginning and the end of His teaching. (Compare Matthew 7:8 and John 16:24.)

As we gain the assurance that our prayers are effective and that God does what we ask, we dare not neglect the use of this wonderful power. Our souls should turn wholly to God, and our lives should become prayer. The Lord needs and takes time, because we and everyone around us are creatures of time, subject to the law of growth. But know that not one single prayer of faith can possibly be lost, and that sometimes there is a necessity for accumulating prayer. Know that persevering prayer pleases God. Prayer becomes the quiet, persistent living of our life of desire and faith in the presence of our God.

Don’t limit such free and sure promises of the living God with your reasoning any longer! Don’t rob them of their power, and ourselves of the wonderful confidence they are meant to inspire! The hindrance is not in God, not in His secret will, and not in the limitations of His promises. It is in us. We are not what we should be to obtain the promise. Open your whole heart to God’s words of promise in all their simplicity and truth! They will search us and humble us. They will lift us up and make us glad and strong. To the faith that knows it gets what it asks for, prayer is not a work or a burden, but a joy and a triumph. It becomes a necessity and a second nature.

This union of strong desire and firm confidence is nothing but the life of the Holy Spirit within us. The Holy Spirit dwells in us, hides Himself in the depths of our being, and stirs our desire for the Unseen and the Divine-God Himself. It is always the Holy Spirit Who draws out the heart to thirst for God and to long for His being recognized and glorified. Sometimes He speaks through us in groanings that cannot be uttered, sometimes in clear and conscious assurance, sometimes in distinct petitions for the deeper revelation of Christ to ourselves, and sometimes in pleas for a soul, a work, the Church or the world. Where the child of God really lives and walks in the Spirit-where he is not content to remain carnal, but tries to be a fit, spiritual organ for the Divine Spirit to reveal the life of Christ and Christ Himself-there the neverceasing life of intercession of the Blessed Son must reveal and repeat itself. Because it is the Spirit of Christ Who prays in us, our prayers must be heard. Because it is we who pray in the Spirit, there is need of time, patience, and continual renewing of the prayer until every obstacle is conquered, and the harmony between God’s Spirit and ours is perfect.

The chief thing we need for a life of unceasing prayer is to know that Jesus teaches us to pray. We have begun to understand a little of what His teaching is. It isn’t the communication of new thoughts or views, the discovery of failure or error, nor the arousal of desire and faith, however important all this may be. Jesus’ teaching takes us up into the fellowship of His own prayer-life before the Father. This is how Jesus really teaches. It was the sight of Jesus praying that made the disciples ask to be taught to pray. The faith of Jesus’ continuous prayer truly teaches us to pray.

We know why: He Who prays is our Head and our life. All He has is ours and is given to us when we give ourselves completely to Him. By His blood, He leads us into the immediate presence of God. The inner sanctuary is our home; we live there. Living so close to God and knowing we have been taken there to bless those who are far away, we cannot help but pray.

Christ makes us partakers with Himself of His prayer-power and prayer-life. Our true aim must not be to work a great deal and pray just enough to keep the work right. We should pray a great deal and then work enough for the power and blessing obtained in prayer to find its way through us to men. Christ lives to pray eternally; He saves and reigns. He communicates His prayer-life to us and maintains it in us if we trust Him. He is responsible for our praying without ceasing. Christ teaches us to pray by showing us how He does it, by doing it in us, and by leading us to do it in Him and like Him. Christ is everything-the life and the strength-for a neverceasing prayer-life. Seeing Christ’s continuous praying as our life enables us to pray without ceasing. Because His priesthood is the power of an endless life-that resurrection life that never fades and never fails-and because His life is our life, praying without ceasing can become the joy of heaven here on earth. The Apostle says, “Rejoice evermore: pray without ceasing: in everything give thanks.” Supported by never-ceasing joy and neverceasing praise, never-ceasing prayer is the manifestation of the power of the eternal life where Jesus always prays.

The union between the Vine and the branch is indeed a prayer union. The highest conformity to Christ-the most blessed participation in the glory of His heavenly life-is that we take part in His work of intercession. He and we live forever to pray. In union with Him, praying without ceasing becomes a possibility-a reality, the holiest and most blessed part of our holy and blessed fellowship with God. We abide within the veil in the presence of the Father. What the Father says, we do. What the Son asks, the Father does. Praying without ceasing is the earthly manifestation of heaven, a foretaste of the life where they rest neither day nor night in their song of worship and adoration.

Lord, teach us to pray.

O my Father! With my whole heart I praise You for this wondrous life of continuous prayer, continuous fellowship, continuous answers, and continuous oneness with Him Who lives to pray forever! O my God! Keep me abiding and walking in the presence of Your glory, so that prayer may be the spontaneous expression of my life with You.

Blessed Savior! With my whole heart I praise You for coming from heaven to share my needs and my pleas, so that I could share Your all- powerful intercession. Thank You for taking me into Your school of prayer, teaching me the blessedness and the power of a life that is totally comprised of prayer. And most of all, thank You for taking me up into the fellowship of Your life of intercession. Now through me, too, Your blessings can be dispensed to those around me.

Holy Spirit! With deep reverence I thank You for Your work in me. Through You I am lifted up into communication with the Son and the Father, entering the fellowship of the life and love of the Holy Trinity.

Spirit of God! Perfect Your work in me! Bring me into perfect union with Christ, My Intercessor! Let Your unceasing indwelling make my life one of unceasing intercession. And let my life unceasingly glorify the Father and bless those around me. Amen.



Preface

In speaking with young converts, I have very frequently longed for a suitable book in which the most important truths concerning the new life were presented briefly and simply. I could not find anything that entirely corresponded to what I desired. During the services in which I have been permitted to take part, I felt this need even more keenly. There I spoke with so many who professed to have found the Lord yet were still very weak in knowledge and faith. In the course of my journey, I have felt myself pressed to take my pen in hand.

Under a vivid impression of the infirmities and the distorted thoughts concerning the new life, with which almost all young Christians have to wrestle, I wished to offer them words of instruction and encouragement. I wanted to let them see what a glorious life of power and joy is prepared for them in their Lord Jesus, and how simple the way is to enjoy all this blessing.

I have confined myself in these reflections to some of the most important topics. The first is the Word of God as the glorious and sure guide, even for the simplest souls who will surrender themselves to it. Then, as the chief element in the Word, there is the Son, the gift of the Father, to do all for us. Then follows what the Scriptures teach concerning sin as the only thing that we have to bring to Jesus, as that which we must give to Him, and from which He will set us free. Further, there is faith, the great word in which our inability to bring or to do anything is expressed, and that teaches us that all our salvation must be received every day of our lives as a gift from above. The young Christian must also make acquaintance with the Holy Spirit as the Person through whom the Word and Jesus–With all His work and faith in Him–can become power and truth. Then there is the holy life of obedience and fruitfulness, in which the Spirit teaches us to walk.

It is to these six leading thoughts of the new life that I have confined myself. In ceaseless prayer, I have asked that God use what I have written to make His young children understand what a glorious and mighty life they have received from their Father. It was often very unwillingly that I took leave of the young converts who had to go back to lonely places, where they could have little counsel or help, and seldom mingle in the preaching of the Word. It is my sure and confident expectation that what the Lord has given me to write will prove a blessing to many of these young confessors.

While writing this book, I have had a second wish abiding with me. I have wondered what I could possibly do to insure that my book would not draw attention away from the Word of God, but rather, help to make the Word more precious. I resolved to furnish the work with footnotes, so that, on every point that was referred to, the reader might be stirred up still to listen to the Word itself, to God Himself.

I am hopeful that this arrangement will yield a double benefit. Many a one does not know, and has nobody to teach him, how to examine the Scriptures properly. This book may help him in his loneliness. If he will only meditate on one point or another and then look up the texts that are quoted, he will get

into the habit of consulting God’s Word itself on whatever topic he wishes to understand. But, this book may just as readily be of service in prayer meetings or social gatherings for the study of the Word. Let each person read the chosen chapter at home and review the scripture verses that seem to be the most important to him. Let the leader of the meeting read the chapter aloud once. He should then invite each person who desires to, to share the verse or point which has meant the most to him.

We have found in my congregation that the benefit of such meetings for bringing and reading aloud verses on a point previously announced is very great. This practice leads to the searching of God’s Word as even preaching does not. It stirs up the members of the congregation, especially the young people, to independent dealing with the Word. It leads to a more living fellowship among the members of Christ’s body and also helps their upbuilding in love. It prepares the way for a social recognition of the Word as the living communication of the thoughts of God which, with divine power, will work in us what is pleasing to God.

I am persuaded that there are many believing men and women who ask what they can accomplish for the Lord– who along this path could become the channel of great blessing. Let them once a week bring together some of their neighbors and friends to read aloud the texts for which they have been previously searching. The Lord will certainly give His blessing there.

With respect to the use of this book in private, I would like to request one more thing. I hope that no one will think it strange. Let every portion be read

over at least three times. The great poison of our conversation with divine things is superficiality. When we read anything and understand it somewhat, we think that this is enough. No, we must give it time so that it may make an impression and exercise its influence on us.

Read every portion the first time with consideration, to understand the good that is in it, and then see if you receive benefit from the thoughts that are expressed there.

Read it the second time to see if it is really in accordance with God’s Word. Take some, if not all, of the texts that are cited on each point and ponder them in order to come under the full force of what God has said on the point. Let your God, through His Word, teach you what you must think and believe concerning Him and His will.

Read it the third time to find out the corresponding place, not in the Bible, but in your own life, in order to know if your life has been in harmony with the new life, and to direct your life in the future entirely according to God’s Word. I am fully persuaded that the time and effort spent on such personal contact with the Word of God under the teaching of this or some other book that helps you in dealing with it, will be rewarded tenfold.

I conclude with a cordial, brotherly greeting to all with whom I have been permitted to mingle during the past year, in speaking about the precious Savior and His glorious salvation. Greetings also to all in other congregations, who in this last season have learned to know the beloved Lord Jesus as their Redeemer. With a heart full of peace and love, I think of all of you, and I pray that the Lord may confirm His work in you. I have not become weary of crying out to you: the blessedness and the power of the new life that is in you are greater than you know–are wonderfully great. Only, learn to trust in Jesus, the gift of God, and to know aright the Scriptures, the Word of God. Only give Him time to hold communion with you and to work in you, and your heart will overflow with the blessedness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly more than we can ask or think, to Him be glory in the Church to all eternity.

Andrew Murray

Wellington, August 12, 1885



Chapter 1 – The New Life

—For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotton Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” John 3:16.

“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Christ is our life” Colossians 3:3,4.

—We declare unto you the life, eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. God hath given us eternal life; and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life” 1 John 1:2; 5:11,12.

A glorious blessing is given to all who believe in the Lord Jesus. Along with a change in his disposition and manner of living, he also receives an entirely new life from God. He is born anew. Born of God. He has passed from death into life. 1

This new life is nothing less than eternal life. 2 This does not mean, as many suppose, that our life will no longer die, enduring into eternity. No, eternal life is nothing else than the very life of God. It is the life that He has had in Himself from eternity and that has been visibly revealed in Christ. This life is now the inheritance of every child of God. 3

This life is a life of inconceivable power. Whenever God gives life to a young plant or animal, that life has within itself the power to grow. The plant or animal as of itself becomes large. Life is power. In a new life–in your heart–there is the power of eternity. 4 More certain than the healthful growth of any tree or animal is the growth and increase of the child of God who surrenders himself to the working of the new life.

Two things hinder this power and the reception of the new spiritual life. The one is ignorance of its nature–its laws and workings. Man, even the Christian, cannot conceive of the new life which comes from God. It surpasses all of his thoughts. His own distorted thoughts of the way to serve and to please God–namely, by what he does and is–are deeply rooted in him. Although he believes that he understands and receives God’s Word, he still thinks humanly and carnally on divine things. 5 God must give salvation and life. He must also give the Spirit to make us understand what He gives. He must point out the way to the land of Canaan. We must also, like the blind, be led by Him every day.

The young Christian must try to cherish a deep conviction of his ignorance concerning the new life, and of his inability to form correct thoughts about it. This will bring him to the meekness and to the childlike spirit of humility, to which the Lord will make His secret known. 6

There is a second hindrance in the way of faith. In the life of every plant and every animal and every child of God, there lies sufficient power by which it can become big. In the new life, God has made the most glorious provision of a sufficient power. With this power His child can grow and become all that he must be. Christ Himself is his life and his power of life.8 Yet, because this mighty life is not visible or cannot be felt, the young Christian often becomes doubtful. He then fails to believe that he will grow with divine power and certainty. He does not understand that the believing life is a life of faith. He must depend on the life that is in Christ for him, although he neither sees, feels, nor experiences anything. 9

Let everyone then that has received this new life cultivate these great convictions. It is eternal life that works in me. It works with divine power. I can and will become what God will have me be. Christ Himself is my life. I have to receive Him every day as my life, given to me by God, and He will be my life in full power.

Father, You have given me Your Son so that I may have life in Him. I thank You for the glorious new life that is now in me. I pray that You will teach me to properly know this new life. I will acknowledge my ignorance and the distorted thoughts which are in me concerning Your service. I will believe in the heavenly power of the new life that is in me. I will believe that my Lord Jesus, who Himself is my life, will, by His Spirit, teach me to know how I can walk in that life. Amen.

Footnotes:

1) John 1:12,13; 3:5,7; 5:24; 1 John 3:14; 5:1

2) John 3:15,16,36; 6:40,51; 11:25,26; Rom. 6:11,23;8:2; 1 John 5:12,13

3) 1 John 1:3; 3:1; 5:11

4) John 10:10,28; Heb. 7:16,28; 11:25,26; 2 Cor. 12:9; 13:4; Col. 3:3,4; Phil. 4:13

5) Josh. 3:4; Isa. 4:5,6; Matt. 16:23

6) Ps. 25:5,8,9; 143:8; Isa. 42:16; 64:4; Matt. 11:25; 1 Cor. 1:18,19; 2:7,10,12; Heb. 11:8

7) Ps. 18:2; 27:1; 36:8,9; John 14:19; Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:3,4

8) Hab. 2:4; Matt. 6:27; Rom. 1: 17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10: 38

Notes

Try to understand and plant the following lessons in your heart:

1. It is eternal life, the very life of God, that you have now received through faith.

2. This new life is in Christ, and the Holy Spirit is in you to convey to you all that is in Christ. Christ lives in you through the Holy Spirit.

3. This life is a life of wonderful power. However weak you may feel, you must believe in the divine power of the life that is in you.

4. This life needs time to grow in you and to take possession of you. Give it time, it will surely increase.

5. Do not forget that all the laws and rules of this new life are in conflict with all human thoughts of the way to please God. Be very much in dread of your own thoughts. Let Christ, who is your life and also your wisdom, teach you all things.



Chapter 2 – The Milk of the Word

“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby unto salvation” 1 Peter 2:2.

Beloved young Christians, hear what your Father has to say in this word. You have just recently given yourselves to the Lord and have believed that He has received you. You have received the new life from God. You are now as newborn infants. He will teach you in this word what is necessary so that you may grow strong.

The first point is: you must know that you are God’s children. Hear how distinctly Peter says this to those just converted: “You have been born again,” “you are newborn infants,” “you are now converted,” “you are now the people of God.”1 A Christian, however young and weak, must know that he is God’s child. Only then can he have the courage to believe that he will make progress and the boldness to use the food provided in the Word. All Scripture teaches us that we must know and can know that we are children of God.2 The assurance of faith is indispensable for a healthy, powerful growth in the Lord.3

The second point which this word teaches you is: you are still very weak, weak as newborn children. The joy and love which a new convert sometimes experiences do indeed make him think that he is very strong. He runs the risk of exalting himself and of trusting in what he experiences. He should nevertheless learn much about how he should become strong in his Lord Jesus. Endeavor to deeply feel that you are still young and weak.4 Out of this sense of weakness comes the humility which has nothing in itself.5 It therefore expects all from its Lord.6

The third lesson is: the young Christian must not remain weak. He must make progress and become strong. He must grow and increase in grace. God lays it upon us as a command. Concerning this point, His Word gives us the most glorious promises. It lies in the nature of the thing–a child of God must and can make progress. The new life is a life that is healthy and strong. When a disciple surrenders himself to it, the growth certainly follows.7

The fourth and principal lesson, the lesson which young disciples of Christ have the most need of, is: it is through the milk of the Word that God’s newborn infants can grow. The new life from the Spirit of God can be sustained only by the Word of God. Your life, my young brothers and sisters, will largely depend on whether you learn to deal wisely and well with God’s Word, whether you learn to use the Word from the beginning as your milk.8

See what a charming parable the Lord has given us here in the mother’s milk. Out of her own life does the mother give food and life to her child. The feeding of the child is the work of the tenderest love. The child is pressed to the breast and is held in the closest fellowship with the mother. The milk is just what the weak child requires, food–gentle and yet strong.

Even so, the very life and power of God is found in His Word.9 Through the Word, His tender love will receive us into the gentlest and most intimate fellowship with Himself.10 From the Word, His love will give us what is needed for our weakness. Let no one suppose that the Word is too high or too hard for him. For the disciple who receives the Word and trustfully relies on Jesus to teach him by the Spirit, the Word of God will prove to be as gentle, sweet milk for newborn infants.11

Dear young Christians, would you continue standing, would you become strong, would you always live for the Lord? Then hear this day the voice of your Father-“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word.” Receive this Word into your heart and hold it firmly as the voice of your Father. Your spiritual life will depend on your use of the Word of God. Let the Word of God be precious to you above everything.12

Above all, do not forget, the Word is the milk. The sucking or drinking on the part of the little child is the inner, living, blessed fellowship with the mother’s love. Through the Holy Spirit, your use of the milk of the Word can become warm, living fellowship with the living love of your God. Long very eagerly for the milk. Do not consider the Word something hard and troublesome to understand-in that way you lose all delight in it. Receive it with trust in the love of the living God. With a tender motherly love, the Spirit of God will teach and help you in your weakness. Always believe that the Spirit will make the Word in you life and joy-a blessed fellowship with your God.

Precious Savior, You have taught me to believe Your Word, and You have made me a child of God by that faith. Through that Word, as the milk of the newborn babes, You will also feed me. Lord, for this milk I will be very eager. I will long after it everyday.

Teach me, through the Holy Spirit and the Word,to walk and converse everyday in living fellowship with the love of the Father. Teach me to always believe that the Spirit has been given to me with the Word. Amen.

Footnotes:

1) 1 Pet. 1:23; 2:2,10,25

2) Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 3:1,16; Gal. 4:6,7; 1 John 3:2,14,24; 4:13; 5:10,13 .

3) Eph. 5:8; Col. 2:6; 1 Pet. 1:14,18,19

4) 1 Cor. 3:1,13; Heb. 5:13,14

5) Matt. 5:3; Rom. 12:3,10; Eph. 4:2; Phil. 2:3,4; Col. 3:12; 4:14; 1 Thess. 4:1; 2 Pet. 3:18

6) Matt. 8:8,15,27,28

7) Judg. 5:31; Ps. 84:7; 92:13,14; Prov.4:18;Isa.40:31; Eph. 4:14; I Thess. 4:1; II Pet. 3:18

8) Ps. 19:8,11; 119:97,100; Isa. 55:2,3; 1 Cor. 12:11

9) John 6:63; I Thess. 2:13; Heb. 4:12

10) John 10:4

11) Ps. 119:18; John 14:26; Eph.1:17,18

12) Ps. 119:14,47,48,111,127

Notes

1. What texts do you consider the best for proving that the Scriptures teach us that we must know we are children of God?

2. What are the three points in which the sucking child is to us an example of the young child in Christ in his dealing with the Word?

3. What must the young Christian do when he has little blessing in the reading of God’s Word? He must set himself down through faith in fellowship with Jesus Himself and believe that Jesus will teach him through the Spirit, and so trustfully continue in the reading.

4. One verse chosen to meet our needs, read ten times and then laid up in the heart, is better than ten verses read once. Only as much of the Word as I actually receive and inwardly appropriate for myself is food for my soul.

5. Choose for yourselves what you consider one of the most glorious promises about making progress and becoming strong, and learn it by heart. Repeat it continually as the language of your positive expectation.

6. Have you learned to understand well what the great means for growth in grace is?



Chapter 3 – God’s Word in Our Heart

“Therefore shall ye lay up these My words in your heart and in your soul” Deuteronomy 11:18.

“Son of man, all My words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart” Ezekiel 3:10.

“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee” Psalm 119:11.

“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby”(1 Peter 2:2). Every young Christian is taught that he must receive the Word of God as milk–as the living participation of the life and vine of God–if he is to grow. On this account it is of great importance to know how we must deal with the Word. The Lord says that we must receive it and lay it up in our heart.1 The Word must possess and fill the heart. What does that mean?

The heart is the temple of God. In the temple there was an outer court and an inner sanctuary. So it is in the heart. The gate of the court is understanding. What I do not understand cannot enter into the heart. The Word enters into the court through the outer gate of understanding.2 There it is kept by memory and reflection.3 Still it is not properly in the heart. From the court there is an entrance into the innermost sanctuary. The entrance of the door is faith. What I believe, that will I receive into my heart.4 Here it becomes secure in love and in the surrender of the will. Where this takes place, there the heart becomes the sanctuary of God. His law is there, as in the ark, and the soul cries out, “Thy law is within my heart.”5

Young Christian, God has asked for your heart, your love, your whole self. You have given yourself to Him. He has received you and would have you and your heart entirely for Himself. He will make your heart full of His Word. What lies in the heart is dear because it is filled with joyful thoughts. God would have the Word in the heart. The Lord and His might are where His Word is. He considers Himself bound to fulfill His Word. When you have the Word, you have God Himself at work in you.6 He wills that you would receive and lay up His words in your heart. Then He will greatly bless you.7

How I wish that I could bring all young Christians to simply receive that Word of their Father, “Lay up these My words in your heart.” I wish they would give their whole heart to become full of God’s Word. Resolve then to do this. Take pains to understand what you read. When you understand it, always take one or another word to remember and consider. Learn the words of God by heart. Repeat them to yourself in the course of the day. The Word is seed and the seed must have time, must be kept in the ground. Likewise, the Word must be carried in the heart. Give the best powers of your heart, your love, your desire, the willing and joyful activity of your will, to God’s Word.

“Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night” (Psalm 1:1,2). Let the heart be a temple–not for the world and its thoughts but for God and His thoughts.8 If you faithfully open your heart to God’s voice, hear His Word and carry it with you, you will discover how faithfully God will open His heart to you and hear your prayer.

Dear Christian, read once again the words at the beginning of this section. Receive them as God’s Word to you–the Word of the Father who has received you as a child, of Jesus who has made you God’s child. God asks of you, as His child, that you give your heart to become filled with His Word. Will you do this? What do you say? In this manner of power, the Lord Jesus will complete His holy work in you.9 Let your answer be distinct and continuous, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart.” “How love I Thy law! it is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:97). Even if it appears difficult for you to understand the Word, continue to read it. The Father has promised to make it a blessing in your heart. But you must take it into your heart first. Believe that God will then, by the Holy Spirit, make the Word living and powerful in you.

My Father who has said to me, “My son, give Me your heart,” I will give You my heart. Now that You charge me to lay up and keep Your Word in that heart, I answer, “I keep Your commands with my whole heart. ” Father, teach me to receive Your Word in my heart everyday so that it can exercise its blessed influence there. Strengthen me in the deep conviction that even though I do not yet fully understand its meaning and power, I can still depend on You to make the Word living and powerful in me. Amen.

Footnotes:

1) Deut.30:14; Ps.1:2; 119:34,36; Isa. 51:7; John 5:38; 8:31; 15:7; Rom.10:8,9; Col. 3:16

2)Ps. 119:34; Matt. 13:19; Acts 8:30

3)Ps. 119:15,16

4) John 5:38; Acts 8:37; Rom. 10:10,17

5) Ex. 25:16; Ps. 37:31; 40:8; Col. 3:16

6) Gen. 21:1; Josh. 23:14

7) Deut. 11:10; 28:1,2; Ps.1:2,3;119:14,45,98,165; John 17:6,8,17

8) Ps. 119:69; John 15:3,7; 17:6,8,17

9) John 14:21,23; 1 John 2:14,24; Rev. 3:8,10

Notes:

1. What is the difference between the reading of the Word to increase knowledge and the receiving of it in faith?

2. The Word is as a seed. Seed requires time before it springs up. During this time it must be kept silently and constantly in the earth. I must not only read God’s Word, but ponder it and reflect on it. Then it will work in me. The Word must be with me the whole day, must abide in me, must live in me.

3. What are the reasons that the Word of God sometimes has so little power in those who read it and really long for blessing? One of the principal reasons is surely that they do not give the Word time to grow. They do not keep it and reflect on it in the believing assurance that the Word itself will have its working.

4. What is the first characteristic of His disciples that Jesus mentions in the high-priestly prayer (John 17)?

5. What are the blessings of a heart filled with the Word of God?



Chapter 4 – Faith

“Blessed is she that believed; for there shall be a performance of the things which were told her from the Lord” Luke 1:45.

“I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me” Acts 27:25.

“Abraham was strong in faith, being fully persuaded that what He had promised, He was able also to perform” Romans 4:20,21.

God has asked you to take and lay up His Word in your heart. The Word is taken and received into the innermost depths of your heart through the avenue of faith. Let the young Christian take pains to better understand what faith is. He will, then gain an insight into the reasons why such great things are connected to faith. He will have a perfect belief in the idea that full salvation is dependent upon faith.1

Let me now ask my reader to read over the three texts which stand above. Find out what the principal thought is that they teach about faith. Please, do not read beyond them. First read these words of God and ask yourself what they teach you about faith.

They help us to see that faith always attaches itself to what God has said or promised. When an honorable man says anything, he also does it. So it is with God. Before He does anything, He reveals it through His Word. When the Christian becomes possessed with this conviction-established in it-God always does what He has said. With God, speaking and doing always go together. The deed always follows the Word. “Hath He said, and shall He not do it?” (Numbers 23:19).2 When I have a Word of God in which He promises to do something, I can always be sure that He will do it. I simply have to believe the Word and wait upon God. God will fulfill His Word to me. Before I feel or experience anything, I hold onto that promise. I know by faith that God will make it good to me.3

What then is faith? Nothing other than the certainty that what God says is true. When God says that something exists, then faith rejoices although it sees nothing of it.4 When God says that He has given me something, that something in heaven is mine, I know by faith that it truly is mine.5 With faith, I am able to believe God when He says that something will come to pass, or that He will do something for me.6 Faith secures those things that are, but that I have not yet seen, and that are not yet, but will come. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Faith always asks only for what God has said, and then relies on His faithfulness and power to fulfill His Word.

Let us review again the words of Scripture. Of Mary we read, “Blessed is she that believed; for there shall be a performance of the things which were told her from the Lord.” All things that have been spoken in the Word will be fulfilled for me. Therefore, I believe them.

It is reported that Abraham was fully assured that God would fulfill what He had promised him. This is the assurance of faith–to be assured that God will do what He has promised.

It is written in the Word about Paul, “I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.” It stood fixed with him that God would do what He had spoken.

Young disciples in Christ, the new and eternal life in you is a life of faith. And do you not see how simple and blessed that life of faith is? Every day I go to the Word and hear what God has said that He has done and will do.7 I take time to house in my heart the Word in which God says that. I hold it firmly, entirely assured that what God has promised He is able to perform. And then, in a childlike spirit, I await the fulfillment of all the promises of His Word. And my soul experiences–Blessed is she that believed, for the things that have been spoken to her from the Lord will be fulfilled. God promises-I believe-God fulfills. That is the secret of the new life.

Father, Your child thanks You for this blessed life of faith in which we have to walk. I can do nothing, but You can do all. All that You can do has been spoken in Your Word. Every Word that I take and trustfully bring to You is fulfilled. Father, in this life of faith, so simple, so glorious, I will walk with You. Amen.

Footnotes:

1) 2 Chron.20:20; Mark 9:23; Heb. 11:33,35; 1 John 5:4,5

2) Gen. 21:1; 32:12; Num. 14:17,18,20; Josh. 21:45; 23:14; 2 Sam. 7:25,29; Ps. 119:49

3) Luke 1:38,45; John 3:33; 4:50; 11:40; 20:29; Heb. 11:11,18

4) Rom. 1:17; 4:5; 5:1; Gal. 3:27; Eph. 1:19; 3:17

5) John 3:16,17,36; 1 John 5:12,13

6) Rom. 8:38; Phil. 3:21; 1 Thess. 5:24; 1 Pet. 1:4,5

7) Gal. 2:20; 3:2,5; 5:5,6, Heb. 10:35; 1 Pet. 1:3

Notes

1. The Christian must read and search the Scriptures to increase his knowledge. For this reason, he reads one or more principal passages daily. He reads the Scriptures to also strengthen his faith. To achieve this he must take one or two verses and make them the subject of special reflection.

2. Do not allow yourselves to be led astray by those who speak of faith as something great and unintelligible. Faith is nothing more than the certainty that God speaks the truth. Take some promises of God and say to Him, “I know for certain that this promise is truth, and that You will fulfill it.” He will do it.

3. Never mourn over unbelief as if it were a weakness which you cannot help. As God’s child, however weak you may be, you have the power to believe because the Spirit of God is in you. Keep this in mind–no one understands anything unless he has the power to believe. He must simply begin and continue to say to the Lord that he is sure that His Word is truth. He must securely hold the promise and trust God for the fulfillment.



Chapter 5 – The Power of God’s Word

“Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).

“Receive with meekness the implanted, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21).

“We also thank God without ceasing, because when ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but, as it ‘is in truth, the word of God, which effectively worketh also in you that believe” (I Thessalonians 2:13).

“For the word of God is living and active” (Hebrews 4:12).

The new life of a child of God depends so much on the correct usage of God’s Word, that I will once again speak of it with my young brothers and sisters in the Lord.

It is a great thing when the Christian realizes that he can receive and accomplish all only through faith. He has to believe. God will look to the fulfilling of what is promised. Every morning the Christian must trust in Jesus and in the new life given to him. Jesus will see to it that the new life works in him.

But now he runs the risk of another error. He thinks that the faith that does such great things must be something great–that he must have a great power in order to exercise such a great faith.1 And, because he does not feel this power, he thinks that he cannot believe as he should. This error may prove to be a loss to him throughout his life.

Hear how distorted this thought is. You must not bring this mighty faith to get the Word fulfilled. Instead, the Word comes and brings you this faith which you must have. “The word is quick and powerful.” The Word works faith in you. The Scripture says, “Faith is by the word.”

Think on what we have said of the heart as a temple-of its two divisions. There is the outer court, with understanding as its gate or entrance. There is the innermost sanctuary, with the faith of the heart as its entrance. There is a natural faith–the historic faith-which every man has. It is with this that I must first receive the Word into my keeping and my consideration. I must say to myself, “The Word of God is certainly true. I can stand upon it.” In this way, I bring the Word into the outer court. From within the heart, desire reaches out to the Word, seeking to receive it into the heart. The Word now exercises its divine power of life. It begins to grow and shoot out roots. As a seed in the earth sends forth roots and presses still deeper into the soil, the Word presses inwardly into the holy place. The Word thus works true saving faith.2

Young Christian, please understand this-the Word is living and powerful. Through the Word you are born again. The Word works faith in you. Through the Word comes faith. Receive the Word simply, with the thought that it will work in you. Keep yourselves occupied with the Word and give it time. The Word has a divine life in itself. Carry it in your innermost parts, and it will work life in you. It will work in you a strong faith, able for anything.

Be resolved never to say, I cannot believe. You can believe. You have the Spirit of God in you. Even the natural man can say, “This Word of God is certainly true or certainly not true.” If, with desire in your soul, you say, “It is true. I will believe it,” the living Spirit-through whom the Word is living and powerful will work this living faith. Besides, the Spirit is not only in the Word, but is also in you. Although you do not feel as if you were believing, know for certain that you can believe.3 Begin to actually receive the Word. It will work a mighty faith in you. Depend on God’s Word, it can surely be trusted to work faith in you as you receive it.

And not only the promises, but also the commands, have this living power. When I first receive a command from God, I do not feel the power to accomplish it. If I simply receive the Word as God’s Word, and trust in its workings, the commandment will work in me the desire and power for obedience. God’s Word works for those who believe. When I weigh and firmly hold the command, it works the desire and the will to obey. It strongly urges me toward the conviction that I can certainly do what my Father says. The Word works both faith and obedience. The obedience of the Christian is the obedience of faith. I must believe that through the Spirit I have the power to do what God wills. In the Word, the power of God works in me. The Word, as the command of the living God who loves me, is my power.4

Therefore, my young disciples in Christ, learn to receive God’s Word trustfully. Even though at first you do not understand it, continue to meditate on it. It has a living power in it, and it will glorify itself. Although you feel no power to believe or to obey, the Word is living and powerful. Take it and hold it fast. It will accomplish its work with divine power, The Word inspires and strengthens our faith and obedience.

Lord God, I begin to conceive how You are in Your Word with Your life and power, and how that Word itself works faith and obedience in the heart that receives and keeps it. Lord, teach me to carry Your every Word as a living seed in my heart, in the assurance that it will work in me all Your good pleasure. Amen.

Footnotes:

1) Luke 17:5,6; Rom. 10:6-8

2) I Thess. 2:13; Jas. 1:21; 1 Pet. 1:23

3) Deut. 32:46,47; Josh. 1:7,9

4) Gal. 6:6; 1 Thess. 1:3; Jas. 1:21

Notes

1. Do not forget that it is one and the same to believe in the Word, or in the person who speaks the Word, or in the thing which is promised in the Word. The very same faith that receives the promises also receives the Father who promises, and the Son with the salvation that is given in the promises. Please see to it that you never separate the Word and the living God from each other.

2. Also, see to it that you thoroughly understand the distinction between the reception of the Word as the “word of man” and as the “Word of God, which works in you that believe.”

3. I think you now know what is necessary to become strong in faith. Exercise as much faith as you have. Take a promise of God. Say to yourself that it is certainly true. Go to God and say to Him that you rely on Him for the fulfillment. Ponder the promise, and cleave to it in conversation with God. Rely on Him to do for you what He says. He will surely do it.

4. The Spirit and the Word always go together. I can be sure concerning all of what the Word says that I must do it and can do it through the Spirit. I must receive the Word, and also the command, in the confidence that it is the living Word of the living God which works in us who believe.



Chapter 6 – God’s Gift of His Son

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” John 3:16.

“Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift” II Corinthians 9:15.

God held the world so dear that He gave His only begotten Son for everyone who will trust in Him. And how did He give Him? He gave Him in His birth as man, in order to be forever one with us. He gave Him in His death on the cross as surety, in order to take away our sin and curse. He gave Him on the throne of heaven, in order to arrange for our welfare, as our Representative and Intercessor over all the powers of heaven. He gave Him in the outpouring of the Spirit, in order to dwell in us–to be entirely and altogether our own.1 Yes, that is the love of God. He gave His Son to us, for us, and in us.

Nothing less than His Son Himself. This is the love of God. It is not that He gives us something, but that He gives us Someone–a living person-not one or another blessing, but Him, who is all life and blessing–Jesus Himself. He does not simply give us forgiveness, revival, sanctification, or glory–He gives us His own Son, Jesus. The Lord Jesus is the beloved, the equal, the bosom friend, the eternal blessedness of the Father. And it is the will of God that we should have Jesus as ours, even as He has Him.2 For this reason He gave Him to us. The whole of salvation consists of this–to have, to possess, to enjoy Jesus. God has given His Son, given Him wholly to become ours.3

What do we have to do? To take Him, to receive and to take possession of the gift–to enjoy Jesus as our own. This is eternal life. “He that hath the Son hath life.”4

How I wish that all young Christians would understand this. The one great work of God’s love for us is, He gives us His Son. In Him we have all. Therefore, the one great work of our heart must be to receive this Jesus who has been given to us, and to consider and use Him as ours. I must begin every day anew with the thought, l have Jesus to do all for me.5 In all weakness or darkness or danger–in the case of every desire or need–let your first thought always be, I have Jesus to make everything right for me. God has given Him to me for this purpose. Whether your need is forgiveness, consolation, or confirmation, remember, the Father gave you Jesus to care for you. Whether you have fallen, or are tempted to fall, into danger, remember, Jesus has been given to you for your care. Whether you do not know the will of God in one matter or another, or whether you are unsure of your strength and courage to do His will, remember, Jesus will care for you.

For this reason, rely every day on this gift from God. It has been presented to you in the Word. Appropriate the Son by faith in the Word. Take Him again every day. Through faith you have the Son.6 The love of God has given the Son. Take Him and hold Him steadily in the love of your heart.7 It is to bring life, eternal life, to you that God has given Jesus. Take Him up into your life. Let your heart and tongue and whole walk be under the might and guidance of Jesus.8

Young Christian, so weak and so sinful, please listen to that word. God has given you Jesus. He is yours. Taking is nothing else but the fruit of faith. The gift is for you. He will do all for you.

Lord Jesus, today and every day, I take You. In all Your fullness and in all Your relations, without ceasing, I take You for myself. You are my Wisdom, my Light, my Leader. I take You as my Prophet. You, who perfectly reconciles me and brings me near to God, who purifies and sanctifies me and prays for me, I take as my Priest. You, who guides and keeps and blesses me, I take as my King. You, Lord, are all, and You are wholly mine. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift. Amen.

Footnotes:

1) John 1:14,16; 14:23; Rom. 5:8; 8:32,34; Eph. 1:22; 3:17; Col. 2:9,10; Heb. 7:24,26; 1 John 4:9,10

2) Matt. 11:27; John 17:23,25; Rom. 8:38,39; Heb. 2:11,Tim. 1:12

3) Psalms 73:24; 142:6; John 20:28; Heb. 3:14

4) John 1:12; 2 Cor. 3:5; Col. 2:6; 1 John 5:12

5) John 15:5; Rom. 8:37; I Cor. 1:30; Eph. 1:3,2:10; Phil. 4:13

6) John 1:12; 1 John 5:9,13

7) 1 John 4:4,19

8) 2 Cor. 5:15; Phil. 3:8

Notes

1. Often ponder the word “give.” God gives in a wonderful way–from the heart, completely and for nothing–to the unworthy. And He gives effectively. What He gives He will truly make our possession, inwardly and entirely. Believe this, and you will have the certainty that Jesus will come into your possession with all that He brings.

2. Also ponder the word “take.” Our great work is to take Jesus, to hold Him firmly, and to appropriate Him when received. That taking is nothing but trusting. He is mine with all that He has. The secret of the life of faith is to take Jesus–the full Jesus-as yours every day.

3. Let the word “have” weigh heavily with you. “He that hath the Son hath life” (1 John 5:12). What I have is mine, for my use and service. I can have the full enjoyment of it.

4. Especially notice what God gives and what you take. What you have now is nothing less than the living Son of God. Do you receive this?