Days of Heaven Upon Earth Part 23

xviii. 4).

You will never get a humble heart until it is born from above, from the heart of Christ. For man has lost his own humanity and alas, too often has a demon heart. G.o.d wants us, as Christians, to be simple, human, approachable and childlike. The Christians that we know and love best, and that are nearest to the Lord, are the most simple. Whenever we grow stilted we are only fit for a picture gallery, and we are only good on a pedestal; but, if we are going to live among men and love and save them, we must be approachable and human. All stiffness is but another form of self-consciousness. Ask Christ for a human heart, for a smile that will be as natural as your little child's in your presence. Oh, how much Christ did by little touches! He never would have got at the woman of Samaria if He had come to her as the prophet. He sat down, a tired man, and said: "Give me a drink of water." And so, all through His life, it was His simple humanness and love that led Him to others, and led them to Him and to His great salvation.

JUNE 1.

"That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us" (Rom. viii.

4).

Beloved friends, do you know the mistake some of you are making? Some of you say: "It is not possible for me to be good; no man ever was perfect, and it is no use for me to try." That is the mistake many of you are making. I agree with the first sentence, "No man ever was perfect"; but I don't agree with the second, "There is no use trying." There is a divine righteousness that we may have. I don't mean merely that which pardons your sins-I believe that, too-but I mean far more; I mean that which comes into your soul and unites itself with the fibers of your being; I mean Christ; your life, your purity, making you feel as Christ feels; think as Christ thinks, love as Christ loves, hate as Christ hates, and be "partakers of the divine nature." That is G.o.d's righteousness; "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfiled in us," not by us, but in us; not our hands and feet merely, but our very instincts, our very desires, our very nature springing up in harmony with His own. Have you got Him, dear friends? He will come and fulfil all right things in you if to-day you will open your heart.

JUNE 2.

"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in Him"

(Col. ii. 6).

Here is the very core of spiritual life. It is not a subjective state so much as a life in the heart. Christ for us is the ground of our salvation and the source of our justification; Christ in us of our sanctification.

When this becomes real, "Ye are dead"; your own condition, states and resources are no longer counted upon any more than a dead man's, but "your life is hid with Christ in G.o.d." It is not even always manifest to you. It is hid and so wrapped up and enfolded in Him that only as you abide in Him does it appear and abide. Nay, "Christ who is your life," must Himself ever maintain it, and be made unto you of G.o.d all you need. Therefore, Christian life is not to come to Christ to save you, and then go on and work out your sanctification yourself, but "as ye have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so to walk in Him," just as dependent and as simply trusting as for your pardon and salvation.

Ah friends, how much it would ease our tasks For the day that's just begun, To live our life a step at a time And our moments one by one.

JUNE 3.

"Ye shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost" (Acts i. 8).

There is power for us if we have the Holy Ghost. G.o.d wants us to speak to men so that they will feel it, so that they will never forget it. G.o.d means every Christian to be effective, to count in the actual records and results of Christian work. Dear friends, G.o.d sent you here to be a power yourself. There is not one of you but is an essential wheel of the machinery, and can accomplish all that G.o.d calls you to. I solemnly believe that there is not a thing that G.o.d expects of man but that G.o.d will give the man power to do. There is not a claim G.o.d makes on you or me but G.o.d will stand up to, and will give what He commands. I believe when Christ Jesus lived and died and sent down the Holy Ghost, He sent resources for all our need, and that there is no place for failure in Christian life if we will take G.o.d's resources. Jesus, the ascended One, and the Holy Ghost, the indwelling energy, life and efficiency of G.o.d, are sufficient for all possible emergencies. Do you believe this? If you believe it, let Him into your heart, without reserve and allow Him to control and work through you to-day by His power.

JUNE 4.

"Looking unto Jesus" (Heb. xii. 2).

There must be a constant looking unto Jesus, or, as the German Bible gives it, an off-looking upon Jesus; that is, looking off from the evil, refusing to see it, not letting the mind dwell upon it for a second. We should have mental eyelashes as well as physical ones, which can be used like s.h.i.+elds, and let no evil thing in; or, like a stockade camp in the woods, which repels the first a.s.sault of the enemy. This is the use of the fringes to our eyes, and so it should be with the soul. Many do not seem to know that they have spiritual eyes. They go through the world as if somebody had cut off their eyelashes, and they stare away on the good and evil alike. The devil comes along with his evil pictures and bids them look. We cannot look upon evil without being defiled. Sometimes, in going down the street, the sight of some of the pictures on the way will cast their filth upon the soul so that we shall feel the need of being bathed in Jesus' blood for hours for cleansing. There has been no consent unto sin, but the sight of it has defiled. There is no help for it but in the resolute, steady, inner view of Christ.

JUNE 5.

"My heart is fixed, O G.o.d" (Ps. lvii. 7).

We do not always feel joyful, but we are always to count it joy. This word _reckon_ is one of the keywords of Scripture. It is the same word used about our being dead. We are painfully conscious of something which would gladly return to life. But we are to treat ourselves as dead, and neither fear nor obey the old nature. So we are to reckon the thing that comes a blessing; we are determined to rejoice, to say, "My heart is fixed, Lord; I will sing and give praises." This rejoicing by faith will soon become a habit, and will ever bring speedily the spirit of gladness and the spontaneous overflow of praise.

Then, although the fig tree may wither and no fruit appear in the vines, the labor of the olive fail, and the field yield no increase, the herd be cut off from the stall, and the cattle from the field, yet will we rejoice in the Lord and joy in the G.o.d of our salvation.

Though the everlasting mountains And the earth itself remove, Naught can change His loving kindness Or His everlasting love.

JUNE 6.

"He emptied Himself" (Phil. ii. 8, R. V.).

The first step to the righteousness of the kingdom is "poor in spirit."

Then the next is a little deeper, "they that mourn." Because now you must get plastic, you must get broken, you must get like the metal in the fire, which the Master can mould; and so, it is not enough to see your unrighteousness, but deeply to feel it, deeply to regret it, deeply to mourn over it, to own it not a little thing that sin has come into your life. And so G.o.d leads a soul unto His righteousness. He usually leads it through some testings and trials. This generally comes after conversion. I do not think it necessary for a soul to have deep and great suffering before it is saved. I think He will put it into the fire when He knows it is saved; when it realizes it is accepted; when it is not afraid of the discipline; when it is not the hand of wrath, but the hand of love. Oh, then, G.o.d, takes you down and makes you poor in spirit, and makes you mourn until you get to the third step, which is to be meek, broken, yielded, submissive, willing, surrendered, and laid low at His feet, crying: "What wilt Thou have me to do?"

JUNE 7.

"When ye go; ye shall not go empty" (Ex. iii. 21).

When we are really emptied He would have us filled with Himself and the Holy Spirit. It is very precious to be conscious of nothing good in ourselves; but, oh, are we also conscious of His great goodness? We may be ready to admit our own disability, but are we as ready to admit His ability? There are many Christians who can say, "We are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves"; but the number I fear is very small who can say, "Our sufficiency is of G.o.d."

Are you sure that He is able to provide every want in you, or do you feel that you must supply it yourself? Are you believing that G.o.d does now supply every lack in your heart and your life, so that all stumbling is taken away, and you are endowed with power for His service, as Elisha took the empty vessels and filled them before they were set aside to be used?

Our Saviour, at Cana, ordered the water-pots to be filled to the brim.

Then the water was made into wine, but not until the vessels were full.

G.o.d wants His children to have always a full heart.