JULY 31
SUGGESTED READING: MATTHEW 9:35–38
And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people (Matt. 9:35).
What is a miracle? There is no such thing as a miracle to the soul who belongs to Jesus Christ. There is nothing unusual in the work that the Holy Spirit does, even though it seems out of the ordinary course of nature to our finite sense and judgment.
Jesus Christ can heal the body. He can deliver the tortured mind. God grant us the grace to know our ignorance and to get out of the way with our limited knowledge, so that we will let the Holy Spirit bring our majestic Christ face to face with the diseased, sick folk we have to face!
PRAYER THOUGHT: Holy Spirit of God, reveal the beauty of Christ to me and through me.
SUGGESTED READING: LUKE 4:16–32
And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power (Luke 4:32).
The majority of Christian workers are trying to serve the Lord with their own convictions about how God ought to work. Too often we do not have real reliance on the Holy Spirit. God grant that we may learn to allow the Holy Spirit to introduce, through the agony of our intercession, the living Christ!
Are you willing to allow Jesus Christ to tramp on your life on His way to another sick soul? Do you know anything about giving one costly drop of blood for intercession? There are no lasting results in answer to prayer, unless that prayer costs somebody something. And though we are intent upon helping the lost, I fear that the Lord would say, “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” (Heb. 12:4).
When you discover a sin-sick soul, do you cry awhile and then go home and sleep? Instead take that soul before God and vicariously intercede until, by reliance on the Spirit of God, Jesus Christ is presented to that darkened, difficult life. There is no case too hard for Jesus Christ!
PRAYER THOUGHT: I believe in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ and His redemptive provisions to save.
Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake (Ps. 79:9).
You have some things at home that are of no use to anybody on earth, but to you they are enormously valuable. Your emotions are like that: They may seem pointless to anyone else, but you know they are associated with something quite meaningful.
Let an experience derange your emotions, and what kind of world are you in? It would be a world from which suicide would seem the only escape.
Recall the anguished emotions of the Prodigal Son. Try to fathom one phrase of the Prodigal’s cry: “I have sinned against heaven” (Luke 15:21). Oh, the agony he must have felt! The gloom! The darkness! The shadow! No preaching of the “gospel of good cheer” will touch that. Only the great life-giving, life-imparting Christ can touch those pained emotions.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Dear Lord, bring healing to my wounded emotions.
SUGGESTED READING: 1 TIMOTHY 4:12–16
Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee (1 Tim. 4:16).
In this verse, the word heed means “to hold up, to concentrate, screw your mind down, fix it, limit it, curb it, confine it, and rivet it” on yourself and your teaching. It is a strong word, a powerful word, a rousing word, a word that grips us—body, mind, and spirit. We are to concentrate on God’s work, stick at it, fix the mind, be careful of our self-preparation, and take heed to reading. That is what we have to do if we are going to be workers approved unto God.
Notice who is talking and to whom he is talking. The apostle Paul is writing to Timothy; and notice that the apostle’s method was like the journeyman’s method with an apprentice. That is the method of God always.
Let me explain what I mean. A journeyman’s apprentice is a boy put in the charge of a skilled worker in order to learn a trade. That was God’s method of teaching this young man. Timothy had a good mother, and a godly grandmother, and then he had the apostle Paul. He was brought up in the journeyman apprentice’s style, spiritually.
God does not use anyone who is undisciplined. If you are a worker for the spiritual welfare of souls, God will help you to grow spiritually under masters, teachers, and other workers. Thank God for every worker who was ever placed under the apprentice!
PRAYER THOUGHT: Teach me to learn from the examples of others.
SUGGESTED READING: 2 TIMOTHY 2:15–18
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15).
When Jesus Christ said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,” He did not stop there. He said, “… And with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength …” (Mark 12:30). Oh, I wish I could kindle you to learn how some folks have lifted themselves out of the very gutter of ignominy and ignorance by sheer grind, in the secular callings of life! Would to God we had the same stick-to-it energy in God’s line!
Many a lad in Scotland has worked hard, day and night, to attain a scholarship in secular callings. Are we to be less disciplined in God’s calling?
PRAYER THOUGHT: Discipline my mind and body, Lord, so I can effectively serve You and the church.
SUGGESTED READING: 2 TIMOTHY 2:19–22
But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness (2 Tim. 2:16).
Paul told Timothy not to enter into controversy. And Paul was the arch-controversialist himself! Paul spent many of his days in controversy. Two solid years of his life were spent in the school of Tyrannus, controverting and arguing; and yet he says to Timothy, “The servant of the Lord must not strive” (2 Tim. 2:24).
Have you read of Paul’s method of arguing? Paul could put himself with amazing tenderness into the place of the person he was disputing. The reason Paul tells Timothy not to argue—and the reason he tells us not to argue—is that we tend to argue from our own point of view. We argue, not for the truth’s sake, but to prove we are right.
God grant that we may learn to take heed, lest we get switched off onto arguing instead of teaching the truth. Are you a worker for God who is likely turned aside by battling for the faith? Then let me read you some words that I have jotted down in my Bible beside this text: “Oh, the unmitigated curse of controversy!”
PRAYER THOUGHT: Deliver me, dear Lord, from arguing the gospel. Help me to share Your truth, not my opinions.
SUGGESTED READING: 2 TIMOTHY 2:23–26
But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes (2 Tim. 2:23).
Corrections and contradictions kindle fury in the proud heart! So avoid controversy, my friend, as you would avoid the entrance to hell itself.
Let others have it their way. Let them talk. Let them write. Let them correct you. Let them traduce you. Let them judge and condemn you. Let them slay you. Let the truth of God suffer rather than let His love suffer. You do not have enough of the divine nature in you to be a controversialist.
“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isa. 53:7).
“Heal me,” prays Augustine, “of this lust of always vindicating myself.” Take heed that you are not wheedled into controversy.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Oh, Lord, give me forbearance to avoid needless controversy!
SUGGESTED READING: 2 TIMOTHY 3:10–17
But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them (2 Tim. 3:14).
Let the Spirit of God wrestle with your dissenters.
One of my greatest weaknesses, ever since I was a Christian, has been the tendency to argue with others. I know the galling humiliation and agony of wanting intensely to argue a point. But I have learned that when any soul begins to discuss the baptism with the Holy Spirit, it is time I got out of the way. That person has a controversy with the Holy Spirit, not with me. Sanctification is not my term; baptism with the Holy Spirit is not my concept, it is God’s. When people begin to argue on that line, I must remember it is the Holy Spirit they are arguing with and the Word of God they are haggling with.
God grant that we may not hinder those who are battling their way slowly into spiritual light.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Bless those dear souls who are seeking the way into a clearer comprehension of You and Your Word.
SUGGESTED READING: 2 TIMOTHY 4:1–5
Woe to them that are at ease in Zion. … (Amos 6:1a).
Timothy was a feeble young man, physically; Paul was continually telling him how to take care of his body. Yet, the apostle told Timothy to preach the Word “in season and out.” What did he mean? to take every opportunity? No, I believe Paul meant he should preach in season or out of season, regarding himself. He seemed to say, “Never let your bodily condition hinder you, but preach in season or out of season.”
If you do not believe that is the correct reading, read it again. The apostle Paul is aiming his word at laziness.
Physical laziness and spiritual sloth are all too common among Christians. May God rouse you up to get you reading! and praying! and witnessing!
PRAYER THOUGHT: Awake us, O God, and strengthen us to be alert and active in Your kingdom.
SUGGESTED READING: PSALM 71:1–12
Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity (1 Tim. 4:12).
When Paul said, “Let no man despise thy youth,” he meant that Timothy should be an example to all who believe—in word, in manner of life, in love, in faith, and in purity. God grant that we too may be the pattern of what we teach!
The only way we can be saved from being despised is if our life is in keeping with the gospel and backed by our conversation, manner of life, purity, and upright behavior. The baptism with the Holy Spirit made the disciples the incarnation of what they taught. God grant that we may be the same—Christian workers “approved unto God, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).
PRAYER THOUGHT: I want to be helpful, not hurtful, to those who look to my life as an example of godliness.
But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble (James 4:6).
It is wrong to think that we must help only the people who deserve it. Sometimes I can almost hear the Spirit of God shout, “Who are you? Did you deserve the salvation of God? Did you deserve the sanctification that God has given you? Did you deserve to be filled with the Holy Spirit?” The answers are obvious. The work of God within our lives is done out of the sheer mercy of God.
For this reason, kindness and holiness always go together. Whenever harshness begins to creep into our actions toward one another, we may be certain that we are swerving from the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we stand in the fullness of God’s blessing, we stand there by the sheer grace of God. So let us have a spirit of humility in our dealings with one another.
PRAYER THOUGHT: I give You praise and glory, O God, for the mercy you have shown me. Let me express that mercy in my dealings with others.
SUGGESTED READING: GENESIS 4:1–16
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh (Heb. 11:4).
A point of special note about the sacrifice we make to the Lord: We must bind the sacrifice to the horns of the altar; we cannot place it on the altar. God does that. As soon as the sacrifice is presented to the altar and bound with cords of faith, God places the offering on the altar, so to speak. And then His own song begins.
No individual can be placed on the altar of self-sacrifice except he has been divinely born again of the Spirit of God. Yet many people are pleading, praying, and asking God to baptize them with the Holy Spirit and fire, who really need to be born again. The burnt offering—in the Old Testament figure and in the New Testament application—must have no disease about it.
The act of sacrifice simply changes the identity of the offering, from physical to spiritual. And when the burnt offering is reduced to ashes, God gives beauty for ashes!
PRAYER THOUGHT: I surrender all, Lord, to You and Your holy will.
And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away (Isa. 35:10).
In Galatians 2:20, Paul states, “… Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Paul is referring to a changed identity—or, more strictly speaking, to a changed disposition ruling in his human nature.
When I consecrate myself with an unreserved surrender to God, having made the moral decision that I shall no longer live for myself or for the pleasure of my own spiritual experience, God will share His beauty and joy in me forever. This martyr spirit is the only spirit the Lord Jesus Christ recognizes in a fully mature Christian.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank You, Lord, for the beauty of Your holy love and the thrill of Your joy.
SUGGESTED READING: ROMANS 14:17–23
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom. 14:17).
The only abiding fruit of entire sanctification is not my joy in God, but God’s joy in me.
The psalmist says in Psalm 43:4: “Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy.” Note that the emphasis is not on the joy we have as we come to God, which is a much shallower thing, but on God Himself as the mainspring of joy.
The consciousness of the Christian after entire sanctification is not simply one of blessing and benediction; that is characteristic of all those who are born again. But the sanctified believer has a consciousness of the inner presence of God and a complete absorption into God’s purposes, God’s plans, and God’s ideas.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Share with me, Father, the consciousness of Your joy within my life.
SUGGESTED READING: PHILIPPIANS 3:13–21
I must work the works of him that sent me (John 9:4a).
Our Lord said that He never worked from His own initiative. He let God the Father do His work through Him, and He obeyed Him. Has your life been thoroughly given over to God? Or are you still striving to create joy and peace and happiness? If so, turn to God, and let Him do His work.
The joy of the Lord is not dependent on our feelings or our circumstances. It is dependent entirely on God’s acceptance of us as burnt offerings, wholly consecrated to Him.
Jesus mentions in John 15:16, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you.” May God grant it!
The lives of the saints are songs for God, composed and rendered by the indwelling Holy Spirit.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Have Your own way, Lord Jesus, and direct my pathways.
SUGGESTED READING: JOHN 1:1–14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
Have you ever paused and thought about this astonishing revelation of our Lord? It would be well if you made an opportunity to get alone with God and reverently asked Him to take you to the threshold of understanding this declaration. It is a great moment when you lie, as it were, before Christ, saying by your very attitude,
I cannot soar into the heights you show,
Nor dive among the deeps that you reveal;
But it is much that High Things are—to know,
That Deep Things are—to feel!
This spirit is quite in contrast to the one that petulantly says, “Oh, I can’t know! Why does God make it so difficult to understand?” It is equally in contrast with the flippant impudence in which too many Christians say, “Oh, there is no mystery that I cannot understand.”
Jesus is truth—the truth—and we cannot know the truth apart from Him. To believe so is to experience a radical change in our lives.
PRAYER THOUGHT: I long to know the truth of God’s Word, the way of God’s will, and the completeness of life in Christ.
SUGGESTED READING: JOHN 18:28–40
What is truth? (John 18:38).
Our Lord made no attempt to proclaim all truth, so that we could go to His statements, as to a textbook, and verify things. Our Lord said nothing about what we call science, or art, or history; these are distinctly in the domain of human study. God never encourages laziness in the pursuit of such knowledge.
The boundaries of our knowledge must continually enlarge and alter. That is why no intelligent person would ever ask, “Does the Bible agree with the findings of modern science?” The question all enlightened persons should ask is, “Do the findings of modern science give us a better understanding of the scheme of things revealed in the Bible?”
Knowledge, for us, is difficult to gain —
Is difficult to gain, and hard to keep
As Virtue’s self; like Virtue is beset
With snares; tried, emptied, subject to decay.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Spirit of God, create within me a heart full of grace and a mind full of knowledge.
SUGGESTED READING: EPHESIANS 4:25–32
Speak every man truth with his neighbor (Eph. 4:25).
We should report things that happen in words as exact as we can find. But, even then, we should bear in mind that the human heart is subtle and deceitful. We do well to remember William Blake’s quaint words:
The truth that’s told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.
Scripture says that “lying lips are an abomination in the sight of the Lord” (Prov. 12:22). Even with good intentions to tell the truth, we shall grieve God if our motives distort the tenor of what we say.
Words are mighty, words are living —
Serpents with their venomous stings,
Or bright angels crowding round us,
With Heaven’s light upon their wings:
Every word has its own spirit,
True or false, that never dies:
Every word man’s lips have uttered
Echoes in God’s skies.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Lord, deliver me from speaking falsely, either consciously or unconsciously.
SUGGESTED READING: PSALM 139:1–10
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understan-dest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways (Ps. 139:2–3).
Always remember that God’s control is behind everything. His care encircles every incident and event of our lives. This means that we can maintain an attitude of perfect trust in Him and an eagerness to ask God for aid in our daily living.
If our minds are conditioned to think in this manner, when we are in difficulty it is easy to remember, “My Father knows all about it.” We need not exert an effort to do so; such a thought will come naturally. Rather than rushing to ask someone else what we should do about our problems, we realize the nearness of God and simply take the matter to Him.
Who is the first person you consult when you have a problem? What is the first thing you do?
Remember, nothing happens unless God’s will is behind it. Therefore, you can rest confident in the midst of your situation. Also remember that prayer is more than asking; it is an attitude of trust—an attitude that produces an atmosphere in which asking God for help is perfectly natural.
PRAYER THOUGHT: The comfort of Your nearness is my strength today, dear Lord.
SUGGESTED READING: JOHN 8:12–32
Ye shall know the truth; and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32).
God calls every Christian to be made part and parcel of the nature of our Lord Jesus Christ, being born of the Spirit and baptized into the mystical body of that new humanity, which are “in Christ.” This stands in contrast to the tragic condition of many Christians, who see the truth with the mind, while life and character lag woefully behind.
Who among us has not met with clearness—almost dictatorial clearness—wrong attitudes and actions in some Christians? This dichotomy was clearly manifested in the lives of Jesus’ disciples in the days of His flesh, when they forbade others’ doing good deeds because they did not follow Jesus with them. They wanted to call fire down from heaven to consume the inhabitants of some Samaritan villages that had a hostile attitude to Jesus because of racial prejudice.
Are you consistent in your attitudes and actions? If not, being “in the truth” can set you free from your old ways!
PRAYER THOUGHT: Free me from bondage to prejudice and fear.
SUGGESTED READING: EPHESIANS 5:25–33
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish (Eph. 5:27).
Our Lord is God’s truth incarnate, God’s ideal in the flesh. God gave His final revelation in Christ and then set processes at work to make His ideal a reality in the lives of many more people—in the character of Christians, who are His truth incorporated in flesh and blood.
You see, in pursuits such as art, music, and literature, the ideal is a great vague end toward which all the artisans evolve their work more or less blindly. But in spiritual pursuits, we have the ideal manifested in flesh and blood; and we can measure certainly our growing up into Him in all things (Eph. 4:12–13).
Being “in Christ” does not mean that somehow God pretends we are all right. It means that we are recreated by the Spirit of God, in regeneration and the mighty baptism with the Holy Spirit. In this way that glorious Spirit-baptized community is created, which is often called “the church.”
I believe, however, that such a usage of the term church is a misleading limitation of our Lord’s meaning. When He refers to the church in Matthew 16:18, for instance, we would be much nearer His meaning if we translated ekklçsia as “my new humanity,” against which death and time have no power.
Being “in Christ” means proclaiming, by my bodily life, what is easily discerned to be the life of Jesus. It means that I am undeserving of censure before God. It means that I am part of an innumerable host of the ekklçsia, the new people in Christ (Eph. 5:25–27).
PRAYER THOUGHT: Jesus, I am determined to live each day in Your fullness.
SUGGESTED READING: MATTHEW 17:1–13
While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him (Matt. 17:5).
We must not suppose that we are left with the great revelation of our Lord and the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit, without any interpretation of what they mean for our lives. The Bible is the interpretation, and our Lord’s work is never understood apart from the Bible.
A final court of appeal, in matters of the spirit, is given us in the Bible. It is not a question of the infallibility of the Bible; that is a side issue. What matters is the finality of the Bible.
Just as our Lord is the final revelation of God incarnate, so the Bible is the final revelation that interprets the meaning of God incarnate. I can understand the two by the gift of the Holy Spirit, who identifies me with both.
Such a revelation as our Lord Jesus Christ ought to have a corresponding revelation to interpret Him. In the Bible we have that corresponding revelation, and it is final.
PRAYER THOUGHT: I affirm my belief in the Bible as the Word of God.
SUGGESTED READING: 2 TIMOTHY 3:14–17
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16).
Every criticism that is brought against the Bible has been brought against our Lord Jesus Christ. The two cannot be parted.
“The truth” is our Lord Himself. “The whole truth” is the inspired Scripture, interpreting our Lord to us. And “nothing but the truth” is the gracious Holy Spirit, efficaciously regenerating and identifying us with our Lord in heaven. We cannot be parted from Him, either.
Ye wish, I know, we could as one unite,
And have a church as ample as the sky,
Whence every church might draw its whole of light,
And not divide—but only multiply.
Good is your purpose! But, ye English youth,
Mistake ye not the symbol for the Truth?
PRAYER THOUGHT: Instruct me, Holy Spirit, in the way of righteousness as I read and study the Scriptures.
SUGGESTED READING: JOHN 17:1–17
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth (John 17:17).
The work of our Lord Jesus Christ in the world is twofold. First, it is a work accomplished in our behalf, a reconciliation with God (Rom. 5:6, 8; Heb. 2:17). Second, it is a work accomplished in us, our entire sanctification (John 14:12, 17).
The first establishes a right relationship between God and us. The second is the fruit of that relationship (James 2:17–20; 1 John 5:1–5). The first work introduces the condemned sinner into a state of grace (Eph. 1:7). By the second work, the pardoned sinner is associated with the life and purposes of God (Gal. 2:20).
The first work is the means by which the latter is obtained; the second work is the Lord’s aim for our lives. The object of Christ’s work is to make us holy (1 Cor. 1:30).
Jesus Christ baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matt. 3:11); this is His pronouncement that His work is finished. He did this for the world at Pentecost (Acts 1:8; 2:1–4); and this He does personally for every man, woman, and child who enters by faith into His finished work (Acts 15:8–11).
PRAYER THOUGHT: Perfect Your work of grace in our hearts and lives, O Lord, according to the will of God.
SUGGESTED READING: HEBREWS 9:11–28
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us (Heb. 9:12).
The New Testament uses interchangeably the phrases “sanctified by the Spirit,” “sanctified by the blood,” and “sanctified by the Word.” Also, “being baptized with the Holy Spirit (and fire),” “receiving the Holy Spirit,” and “being filled with the Spirit” are used as interchangeable terms. Why? Because they all mean one thing—i.e., entire sanctification.
Entire sanctification is not primarily for service, but for the “praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:12). Our Lord told His disciples to rejoice, not over the fact that they had gifts to heal and to cast out demons or to do many wonderful things, but over the fact that “your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:17–20).
Seek this marvelous work of grace, not for what the Spirit will enable you to do, but for the glory that your transformed nature can reflect to the Lord.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Holy Spirit of God, guide me into all Your holy ways.
SUGGESTED READING: MATTHEW 7:15–23
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit (Matt. 7:18).
The results of the baptism with the Holy Spirit are not that you are gifted, but that you bear fruit (John 15:2, 8). The fruit of the Spirit become clearly manifested in your daily life. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance—these spring from one source, the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23).
The gifts of the Spirit are very diverse and are not necessarily the result of the indwelling Spirit. Paul distinctly says that a person may have gifts without having been entirely sanctified, without the fruit of the Spirit being there (1 Cor. 13:1–8). Such a person’s exercise of spiritual gifts amounts to nothing more than the clashing of a tambourine (1 Cor. 13:1)!
“Every good gift cometh from above,” but at times the Devil seems to use it. God’s Holy Spirit may give power for service, even to unsanctified souls. God may use as His instrument a person who is not His servant. This reminds us again of the importance of recognizing a person’s spiritual fruit.
Remember that our Lord told us to judge prophets, not by their words or works, but by their fruit.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Enable me, Lord Jesus, to manifest the beauty of holiness through the fruit of the Spirit.
SUGGESTED READING: 1 CORINTHIANS 12
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit (John 3:8).
Another important factor in our study of the Holy Spirit is the cosmic side of the Holy Spirit’s work. By that I mean the fact that the Holy Spirit may influence entire districts, as in the great revivals of John Wesley, Charles Finney, D. L. Moody, and the Welsh Revival.
This does not mean that those districts are sanctified, any more than the individuals in those districts (unless they definitely enter into a personal transaction with God). But it does mean that it is graciously easy, at those times, to enter into such transactions with God; and the souls who do not are more likely to increase their chances of being lost.
Cosmic visitations are all of the sovereignty of God. Nearly always, before one of these great “coming down” seasons of the Holy Spirit, God will burden His own sanctified and faithful ones to pray for souls. Of course, there are natural marvels in connection with the Lord’s mighty presence. But widespread prayer is the greatest marvel of all.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Spirit of God, hover over our community and nation until You pour out a revival of divine power.
SUGGESTED READING: PROVERBS 6:20–35
For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life (Prov. 6:23).
So many nowadays will study the Bible only inasfar as it illustrates a special doctrine they are fond of. But that is not reading the Word of God distinctly. That is distorting the whole truth of God for only one aspect of the truth.
It must ever be borne in mind by Scripture readers that “no Scripture is of private interpretation” (2 Pet. 1:20). And if we twist Scripture to suit one particular doctrine at the expense of others, we will not have God’s approval, because this does not enable us to understand properly the Word of God.
Satan does not switch Christians onto a sidetrack that is wrong; he switches them onto a track that is one-railed. Numbers of people today are enamored with one special doctrine, such as healing or holiness or the Second Coming (all magnificently glorious truths of God, when viewed in their proper setting in the full law of God). These hobbied Christians distort God’s truth so that His law is not distinctly understood.
Our Lord insisted that the only thing that would draw all people to Him was the uplifting of Himself. This should be our supreme spiritual attraction.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Forgive me, Lord, if I have tried to twist the meaning of Scripture to suit my selfish interpretations.
SUGGESTED READING: NEHEMIAH 8:9–18
And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them (Neh. 8:12).
This is always the result of rightly understanding the Word of God. Understanding the Bible makes us better fathers and mothers, better husbands and wives, better sons and daughters, better citizens, and better human beings.
One reason why the Bible is not read clearly is because we have the habit of teaching from isolated texts, and the teacher too often takes the text as a title. The way to get back to reading the whole Word of God, and to reading it with understanding, is to live in Bible territory—to regulate one’s life and experience in every detail by God’s revealed law.
We must rely on His Holy Spirit to interpret the Bible, of course, so that the commonplace moods are stripped from us as we listen.
PRAYER THOUGHT: As I understand the Word of God, help me to grow in personal holiness.
SUGGESTED READING: ISAIAH 55:1–5
Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David (Isa. 55:3).
After a time of drought, we are refreshed to hear the rain pattering through the leaves of the trees, to see it being drunk in by the thirsty earth, and to feel the whole air laden with the sweet moist aroma as earth rejoices at the downfalling rain. This has its spiritual counterpart in a time of spiritual awakening. When God’s Word is received, there is a melting of the whole life; the bands around the heart go; the spirit expands; and the whole grace and beauty of God come into sharp focus.
When Elijah was praying for rain, he told Ahab to get up and go, for there was the sound of an “abundance of rain.” But Elijah went to the top of Carmel, buried his face in his hands, and prayed. Likewise, when the abundance of the blessing of God comes, some people rise up to eat, drink, and be merry because of the blessing. Others get alone with God, to pray that the blessings of God may flow into the right channels.
How do you react?
PRAYER THOUGHT: Lord of the harvest, may the seed of Your Word blossom in the lives of the people around me.
SUGGESTED READING: ISAIAH 55:6–13
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt. 5:45).
During a rainy season, it is not only the flowers and the trees and the sweet-smelling grass and the wholesome vegetables and fruit that are watered, but also the noxious weeds, spiteful animals, vicious insects, and reptiles, which endanger human beings. During every religious awakening, the good and the bad, the right and the wrong, the false and the true are prospered. This is an aspect of God’s truth that we ought to remember.
We cannot guide God’s blessings so that they fall on our plot and leave our neighbor’s alone. That is the essence of the denominational spirit, and there is a denominational spirit in us all. (The person who says he belongs to no denomination is a denomination of one.) We tend to build up walls around ourselves and imagine that God’s blessings will only fall inside our plot and not on our brother’s; but that is not so.
Great freedom comes to the person who realizes that God sends His rain on the good and bad!
PRAYER THOUGHT: I praise You, Lord, for the sunshine and rain of Your blessing.