The apostle Paul prayed, “That I may know Him . . .” (Philippians 3:10).
The late missionary to South Africa Andrew Murray was a holy man. At one point in his life he was going through a painful experience. Murray was quiet for some time before the Lord and then he wrote these words for himself: “First, He brought me here, it is by His will I am in this strait place: in that fact I will rest. Next, He will keep me here in His love, and give me grace to behave as His child. Then, He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons He intends me to learn, and working in me the grace He means to bestow. Last, in His good time He can bring me out again—how and when He knows.”
The Christian is here:
By God’s appointment,
In His keeping,
Under His training,
For His time.
No natural man can produce that kind of life. It comes as a by-product of a Spirit-filled life. It is the fruit of patient submission to the perfect will of God.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8).
Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “One’s will must always be abandoned to the divine will, that one’s own will must be given up, if the divine will is to be manifested.”
Of course, the key to everything in the Christian life is the “in Him.” All that we might rightly expect from God, and ask Him for, is to be found in an intimate personal love relationship with Jesus Christ.
Such a life is the manifestation of a life lived close to God and in the light of His holy presence. That is the new life in Christ.
How do you experience such a holy walk?
“No man has a right to be so immersed in active life as to neglect the contemplation of God,” said Augustine of Hippo.
Have you gone before God and asked Him to enlarge your soul, to give you an intense hungering and thirsting for God? Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matt. 5:6).
Has the richness of God’s fellowship overwhelmed you? May God enlarge your soul that we contain more of Him and be a fit mansion for our Lord.
Have you a habit of continually conversing with God? Do you talk to Him as you would a faithful companion throughout the day? Go for a long walk in a park or in the woods and talk out loud to God. Grow daily in that kind of fellowship with Him.
“Lord, I cannot do what You are telling me to do unless You go with me.” “Lord, this is impossible. Only You can do that. You will have to do this through me. I make myself available to all Your availability.”
Nothing on the face of this earth can touch the believer without God’s will, and that situation however evil it may be can only drive us closer to Him.
Have you learned to journey inward and go into the deeper life to the secret dwelling places of your soul to find the deep joy of your vital union with Christ? It is there we commune with Him in quietness and listen to His voice. We give Him the freedom to break in upon us and make us aware of Him at any moment (Eph. 1:15-23).
God is seeking us even before we think we are seeking Him. He is always there in the shadows waiting, watching, and listening for us to call upon Him so He can answer with the fullness of His glory.
It is by quiet, persistent practice in turning of all our being, day and night in prayer and inward worship and surrender, toward Him who calls in the depths of our souls that we know the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. An inner, secret turning to God can be made fairly steady, after weeks and months and years of practice and lapses and failures and returns. It is a growing, learning experience of daily trust. We can have “the eyes of our understanding enlightened and know the hope of His calling in our lives.” We can begin to enjoy the riches of the glory of His inheritance even now.
Take time now to offer Jesus your whole self in utter joyful selfless abandonment.
Do you know that quiet, blessed surrender and abandonment to Him who secretly dwells within?
Take time today to begin to recover a sense of awareness of the presence of God.Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
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