If God has called you to
be really like Jesus He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility,
and put upon you such demands of obedience, that you will not be able to follow
other people, or measure yourself by other Christians, and in many ways He will
seem to let other people do things which He will not let you do.
Other Christians and ministers who seem
very religious and useful, may push themselves, pull wires, and work schemes to
carry out their plans, but you cannot do it, and if you attempt it, you will
meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.
Others may boast of themselves, of their
work, of their successes, of their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow
you to do any such thing, and if you begin it, He will lead you into some deep
mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.
Others may be allowed to succeed in making
money, or may have a legacy left to them, but it is likely God will keep you
poor, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, namely, a
helpless dependence upon Him, that He may have the privilege of supplying your
needs day by day out of an unseen treasury.
The Lord may let others be
honored and put forward, and keep you hidden in obscurity, because He wants to
produce some choice fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be
produced in the shade. He may let others be great, but keep you small. He may
let others do a work for Him and get the credit for it, but He will make you
work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing; and then to make your
work still more precious He may let others get credit for the work which you
have done, and thus make YOUR REWARD TEN TIMES GREATER WHEN JESUS COMES.
The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch
over you, with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings
or for wasting your time, which other Christians never feel distressed over. So
make up your mind that God is an Infinitely Sovereign Being, and has a right to
do as He pleases with His own. He may not explain to you a thousand things which
puzzle your reason in His dealings with you, but if you absolutely sell yourself
to be His love slave, He will wrap you up in Jealous Love, and bestow upon you
many blessings which come only to those who are in the inner circle.
Settle it forever, then that you are to
DEAL DIRECTLY WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, and that He is to have the privilege of
tying your tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that He
does not seem to use with others. Now, when you are so possessed with the living
God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this
PECULIAR, PERSONAL, PRIVATE, JEALOUS GUARDIANSHIP AND MANAGEMENT OF THE HOLY
SPIRIT OVER YOUR LIFE, then you will have found the vestibule of Heaven.
_______________________________________
(-from Faith, Prayer, & Tract League:
Tract #76; Grand Rapids, MI 49504)