THE BLESSED LIFE by F. B. Meyer

THE BLESSED LIFE by F. B. Meyer

There is a Christian life which, on comparison with that experienced by the
majority of Christians, is as summer to winter; or, as the mature fruitfulness of a
golden autumn to the struggling promise of a cold and late  spring. And the
blessedness of this blessed life lies in this: that we trust the Lord to do in us and
for us what we could not do. And we find that He does not belie His Word, but
that, according to our faith, so it is done to us. The weary spirit, which has vainly
sought to realize its ideal by its own strivings and efforts, now gives itself over to
the strong and tender hands of the Lord Jesus, and He accepts the task, and at
once begins to work in it to will and to do of His own good pleasure, delivering it
from the tyranny of besetting sin, and fulfilling in it His own perfect ideal. The
Blessed Life should be the normal life of every Christian– in work and rest, in
the building up of the inner life, and in the working out of the  life-plan. It is
God's thought not for a few, but for all His children. The youngest and weakest
may lay claim to it equally with the strongest and oldest. We should step into it at
the moment of conversion without wandering with blistered feet for forty years
in the desert, or lying for thirty-eight years, with disappointed hopes, in the porch
of the House of Mercy. 

THE NEW BIRTH 

The first chamber in the King's holy palace is the Chamber of the New Birth. By
nature we are destitute of life- dead in trespasses and sins. We need, therefore,
not a new creed, but a new life. The prophet's staff is well enough where there is
life, but it is useless on the face of a dead babe. The first requisite is LIFE. This is
what the Holy Spirit gives us at the moment of conversion. 
We may remember the day and place of our new birth, or we may be as ignorant
of them as of the circumstances of our natural birth. But what does it matter that
a man cannot recall his birthday, so long as he knows that he is alive? 
As an outstretched hand has two sides- the upper, called the back, the  under,
called the palm- so there are two sides and names for the act of entrance into the
Chamber of the New Birth. Angels, looking at it from the  heaven side, call it
Being Born Again. Man, looking at it from the earth side, calls it Trusting Jesus.
Those that believe in His name are born again; those that receive Him have the
right to become the sons of God (John 1:12,13). If you are born again, you will
trust. And if you are trusting Jesus, however many your doubts and fears, you are
certainly born again and have entered the palace. If you go no further, you will be
saved, but you will miss untold blessedness. 
Jesus Christ has bought us with His blood, but, alas, He has not had His money's
worth! He paid for ALL, and He has had but a fragment of our energy, time and
earnings. By an act of consecration, let us ask Him to forgive the robbery of the
past, and let us profess our desire to be henceforth utterly and only for Him- His
slaves, owning no master other than Himself. 
As soon as we say this He will test our sincerity, as He did the young ruler's, by
asking something of us. He will lay His finger on something within us which He
needs us to alter, obeying some command, or abstaining from some indulgence.
If we instantly give up our will and way to Him, we pass the narrow doorway
into the CHAMBER OF SURRENDER, which has a southern aspect and is ever
warm and radiant with His presence because obedience is  the condition 
of manifested love (John 14:23). 

This doorway is very narrow, and entrance is only possible for those who will lay
aside weights as well as sins. A weight is anything which, without  being
essentially wrong or hurtful to others, is yet a hindrance to ourselves. We may
always know a weight by three signs: first, we are uneasy about it; second, we
argue for it against our conscience; third, we go about  asking people's advice
whether we may not keep it without harm. All these things must be laid aside in
the strength which Jesus waits to give. Ask Him to deal with them for you, that
you may be set in joint in every good work to do His will (Hebrews 13:21). 
That consecration is the stepping stone to blessedness is clearly established in the
experience of God's children. For instance, Frances  Havergal has left us this
record: "It was on Sunday, December, 1873, that I  first saw clearly the
blessedness of true consecration. I saw it as a flash of electric light, and what you
see you can never unsee. There must be full surrender before there can be full
blessedness. God admits you by the one into the other. First, I was shown that the
blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses from all sin; and then it was made plain
to me that He who had thus cleansed me had power to keep me clean; so I utterly
yielded myself to Him and utterly trusted Him to keep me." 

CONSECRATION 

The act of consecration is recognizing Christ's ownership and accepting it, saying
to Him, with the whole heart, "Lord, I am Your by right, and I wish to be Your
by choice." Of old the mighty men of Israel were willing to swim the flooded
rivers to come to David, their uncrowned, but God-appointed  king. And when
they met him, they cried, "We are yours, and on your side, David, son of Jesse."
They were his because God had given them to him, but  they could not rest
content until they were his also by their glad choice. Why then should we not say
the same to Jesus Christ? "Lord Jesus, I am Your by right; forgive me that I have
lived so long as if I were my own. And now I gladly recognize that You have a
rightful claim on all I have and am. I want to live as Yours from henceforth, and I
do solemnly at this hour give myself to You to be Yours in life and death, Yours
absolutely and forever." 
Do not try to make a covenant with God, lest you should break it and be
discouraged. But quietly fall into your right attitude as one who belongs to
Christ. Take as your motto the noble confession, "Whose I am and Whom I
serve." Breathe the grand old simple lines: 
Just as I am, Your love unknown 
Has broken every barrier down, 
Now to be Your, yes, Your alone, 
O Lamb of God, I come. 

AN ACT OF THE WILL 
Consecration is not the act of our feelings but of our WILL. Do not try to feel
anything; do not try to make yourself fit or good or earnest enough for Christ.
God is working in you to will, whether you feel it or not. He is giving you power,
at this moment, to will and do His good pleasure. Believe  this, act upon it at
once, and say, "Lord Jesus, I am willing to be Yours"; or, if you cannot say as
much as that, say, "Lord Jesus, I am willing to be  made willing to be Yours
forevermore." 

Consecration is only possible when we give up our will about EVERYTHING.
As soon as we come to the point of giving ourselves to God, we are almost
certain to become aware of the presence of one thing, if not of more, out of
harmony with His will. And while we feel able to surrender ourselves in all other
points, here we exercise reserve. Every room and cupboard in the house, with the
exception of this, is thrown open to the new Occupant; every limb in the body,
but one, submitted to the practiced hand of the Good Physician. But that small
reserve spoils the whole. To give ninety-nine parts and to withhold the hundredth
undoes the whole transaction. Jesus will have all or none. And He is wise. Who
would live in a fever-stricken house, so long as one room was not exposed to
disinfectants, air and sun? Who would  undertake a case so long as the patient
refused to submit one part of his  body to examination? Who would become
responsible for a bankruptcy so long  as one ledger was kept back? The reason
that so many fail to attain the Blessed Life is that there is some one point in
which they hold back from God, and concerning which they prefer to have their
own way and will rather than His. In this one thing they will not yield their will
and accept God's; and this one little thing mars the whole, robs them of peace,
and compels them to wander in the desert. 
If you cannot GIVE all, ask the Lord Jesus to TAKE all, and especially that
which seems so hard to give. Many have been helped by hearing it put thus. Tell
them to GIVE, and they shake their heads despondently. They are like the little
child who told her mother that she had been trying to give Jesus her heart, but it
wouldn't go. But ask them if they are willing for Him to come into their hearts
and TAKE all, and they will joyfully assent. 
Tennyson says, "Our wills are ours to make them Yours." But sometimes it
seems impossible to shape them out so as to match every corner and angle of the
will of God. What a relief it is at such a moment to hand the will over to Christ,
telling Him that we are willing to be made willing to have His will in all things,
and asking Him to melt our stubborn waywardness, to fashion our wills upon His
anvil, and to bring us into perfect accord with Himself. 

AN ACT OF FAITH 

When we are willing that the Lord Jesus should take all, we must believe that He
does take all. He does not wait for us to free ourselves from evil  habits, or to
make ourselves good, or to feel glad and happy. His one desire is that we should
put our will on His side in everything. When this is done, He instantly enters the
surrendered heart and begins His blessed work of renovation and renewal. From
the very moment of consecration, though it be done in much feebleness and with
slender appreciation of its entire meaning. The spirit may begin to say with new
emphasis, "I am His, Glory to God, I am His!" As soon as the gift is laid on the
altar, the fire fails. 
It is well to make the act of consecration a definite one in our spiritual history.
George Whitefield did it in the ordination service. "I can call heaven and earth to
witness that when the Bishop laid his hand upon me, I gave myself up to be a
martyr for Him who hung upon the cross for me. Known unto Him are all the
future events and contingencies. I have thrown myself blindfolded and without
reserve into His almighty hands." 
Christmas Evans did it as he was climbing a lonely and mountainous road toward
Cader Idris. "I was weary of a cold heart toward Christ, and began to pray, and
soon felt the fetters loosening. Tears fell copiously, and I was constrained to cry
out for the gracious visits of God. Then I resigned myself to Christ, body andsoul, gifts 
and labors, all my life, every day and every hour that remained to me;
and all my cares I committed to Christ." 
The visit of Stanley Smith and C. T. Studd to Melbourne Hall will always mark
an epoch in my own life. Before then my Christian life had been spasmodic and
fitful, now flaming up with enthusiasm, and then pacing weariedly over leagues
of gray ashes and cold cinders. I saw that these young men had something which
I had not, but which was within them a constant source of rest and strength and
joy. At seven a.m. on that gray November morning, daylight flickered into the
bedroom, paling the dwindled  candles which from a very early hour had been
lighting up the page of Scripture, and revealed the figures of these devoted Bible
students. The talk we held then was one of the formative influences of my life.
Why should I not yield my whole nature to God, working out day by day that
which He would will and work within? Why should not I be a vessel, though
only of earthenware, meet for the Master's use, because purged and sanctified? 
There was nothing new in what they told me. They said that a man must not only
believe in Christ for final salvation, but must trust Him for victory over every sin
and for deliverance from every care. They said that the Lord Jesus was willing to
abide in the heart which was wholly yielded up to Him. They said that if there
were some things in our lives that made it difficult for us to surrender our whole
nature to Christ, yet if we were willing to be made willing to surrender them, He
would make us not only willing but glad. They said that as soon as we give or
attempt to give ourselves to Him, He  takes us. All this was simple enough; I
could have said it myself. But they urged me to take the definite step and I shall
be forever thankful that they did. 
Very memorable was the night when I came to close quarters with God. The
Angel that wrestled with Jacob had found me, eager to make me a prince. There
were things in my heart and life which I felt were questionable, if not worse. I
knew that God had a controversy with respect to them. I saw that my very dislike
to probe or touch them was a clear indication that  there was mischief lurking
beneath. It is the diseased joint that shrinks from the touch, the tender eye that
shudders at the light. At the same time, I did not feel willing to give these things
up. It was a long struggle. At last I said feebly, "Lord, I am willing to be made
willing. I am desirous that Your will should be done in me and through me as
thoroughly as it is done in heaven. Come and take me and break me and make
me." 
That was the hour of crisis; and when it had passed, I felt able at once to add,
"And now I give myself to You: body, soul and spirit; in sorrow or in joy; in the
dark or in the light; in life or in death; to be Yours only, wholly, and forever.
Make the most of me that can be made for Your glory." 
No rapture or rush of joy came to assure me that the gift was accepted. I left the
place with almost a heavy heart. I simply assured myself that He must have taken
that which I had given, and at the moment of my giving it. And to that belief I
clung in all the days that followed, constantly repeating to myself the words, "I
am His." And thus at last the joy and rest, victory and freedom from burdening
care, entered my heart, and I found that He was molding my will and making it
easy to do what I thought impossible. I felt that He was leading me into the paths
of righteousness for His name's sake, but so gently as to be almost imperceptible
to my weak sight. Out of my own experience, I would suggest these seven rules to fellow
Christians. 
1. Make a definite consecration of yourselves to God. 
Doddridge has left in his diary a very beautiful form of self-consecration. But
you need not wait for anything so elaborate or minute as that. With most it would
be sufficient to write out Miss Havergal's hymn, "Take my life, and let it be," and
to sign your name at the bottom. But in any case it is well to write down some
record of the act to keep for future reference. Of  course, when we have really
given ourselves once, we cannot give ourselves a second time. We may renew
the consecration vows; we may review the deed or gift; we may insert any new
clauses we like. And if we have gone astray, we may ask the Lord to forgive the
foul wrong and robbery which we have done Him, and to restore our souls into
the position from which we have fallen. Oh, how sweet the promise, "He restores
my soul"! Dear Christian reader, seek some quiet spot, some still hour, and yield
yourself to God. 
2. Tell God that you are willing to be made willing about all. 
A lady was once in great difficulties about certain things which she felt eager to
keep under her own control. Her friend, wishful to press her into the better life of
consecration, placed before her a blank sheet of paper, and pressed her to write
her name at the foot and then to lay it before God in prayer. Are you willing to do
this? Are you prepared to sign your name to a blank sheet of paper and then hand
it over to God for Him to fill in as He  pleases? If not, ask Him to make you
willing and able to do this and all things else. You never will be happy until you
let the Lord Jesus keep the  house of your nature, closely scrutinizing every
visitor and admitting only His friends. He must reign. He must have all or none.
He must have the key of every closet, of every cupboard, and of every room. Do
not try to make them fit for Him. Simply give Him the key, and He will cleanse
and renovate and make beautiful. 
3. Reckon on Christ to do His part perfectly. 
As you give, He takes. As you open the door, He enters. As you roll back the
floodgates, He pours in a glorious tide of fullness- fullness of spiritual wealth, of
power, of joy. The clay has only to be plastic in the hand of a Palissy; the marble
has only to be pliant to the chisel of a Michelangelo; the organ has only to be
responsive to the slightest touch of a Handel; and  there will be no failure in
results. Oh, to be equally susceptible to the molding influences of Christ! We
shall not fail in realizing the highest ideal of which we are capable if only we will
let Him do His work unhindered. 
4. Confess sin instantly. 
If you allow acid to drop and remain on your steel fenders, it will corrode them;
and if you allow sin to remain on your heart unconfessed, it will eat out all peace
and rest. Do not wait for the evening to come, or until you  can get alone, but
there in the midst of the crowd, in the very rush of life, with the footprints of sin
still fresh, lift up your heart to your merciful and ever-present Savior, and say,
"Lord Jesus, wash me now from that sin, in Your precious blood, and I shall be
whiter than snow." The  blood of Jesus is ever at work, cleansing us from
unconscious sin; but it is our part to apply for it to cleanse from conscious and
known sins as soon as we are aware of their presence in our lives. 
5. Hand over to Christ every temptation and care. 
When you feel temptation approaching you, as a bird by some quick instinct is
aware that the hawk is hovering near, then instantly lift your heart to Christ for 
deliverance. 
He cannot rebuff or fail you. He will gather you under His feathers,
and under His wings shall you trust. And when any petty annoyance or heavier
worry threatens to mar your peace, in the flash of a  moment, hand it over to
Jesus, saying, "Lord, I am oppressed; undertake this for me." "Ah," you sigh, "I
wish indeed I could live like this, but in the moment of need I forget to look."
Then do this. Trust in Christ to keep you trusting. Look to Him so to abide in you
as to keep your abiding. In the early morning entrust to Him the keeping of your
soul, and then, as hour succeeds hour, expect Him to keep that which you have
committed unto Him. 
6. Keep in touch with Christ. 
Avoid the spirit of faultfinding, criticism, uncharitableness, and anything
inconsistent with His perfect love. Go where He is most likely to be found, either
where two or three of His children are gathered, or where the lost  sheep is
straying. Ask Him to wake you morning by morning for communion and Bible
study. Make other times in the day, especially in the still hour of  evening
twilight, between the work of the day and the avocations of the evening, when
you shall get alone with Him, telling Him all things, and reviewing the past under
the gentle light which streams from His eyes. 
7. Expect the Holy Spirit to work in, with, and for you. 
When a man is right with God, God will freely use him. There will rise up within
him impulses, inspirations, strong strivings, strange resolves. These  must be
tested by Scripture and prayer; and if evidently of God, they must be obeyed. But
there is this perennial source of comfort: God's commands are His enablings. He
will never give us a work to do without showing exactly how and when to do it,
or without giving us the precise strength and wisdom we need. Do not dread to
enter this life because you fear that God will ask you to do something you cannot
do. He will never do that. If He lays  anything on your heart, He will do so
irresistibly; and as you pray about it, the impression will continue to grow, so
that presently, as you look up to know what He wills you to say or do, the way
will suddenly open, and you will probably have said the word or done the deed
almost unconsciously. Rely  on the Holy Spirit to go before you, to make the
crooked places straight and the rough places smooth. Do not bring the legal spirit
of "must" into God's  free service. "Consider the lilies of the field, how they
grow." Let your life be as effortless as theirs, because your faith shall constantly
hand over all difficulties and responsibilities to your ever-present Lord. There is
no effort to the branch in putting forth the swelling clusters of grapes; the effort
would be to keep them back. 
SOMEONE says, "I have tried to live a consistent Christian life, and yet I am not
what I wish." Perhaps you live too much in your feelings, too little in your will.
We have no direct control over our feelings, but we have over our will. God does
not hold us responsible for what we feel, but for what we will. Let us, therefore,
not live in the summer house of emotion, but in the  central citadel of the will,
wholly yielded and devoted to the will of God. 
At the table of the Lord the soul is often suffused with holy emotion; the tides
rise high; the tumultuous torrents of joy knock loudly against the floodgates as if
to beat them down, and every element in the nature joins in the choral hymn of
rapturous praise. But the morrow comes and life has to be  faced in the grim
office, the dingy shop, the noisy factory, the godless workroom; and as the soul
compares the joy of yesterday with the difficulty experienced in walking humbly
with the Lord, it is inclined to question  whether it is quite so devoted and consecrated 
as it was. 

But at such a time, how fair a thing it is to remark that the will has not altered its
position by a hair's breadth, and to look up and say, "My God, the springtide of
emotion has passed away like a summer brook; but in my heart of hearts, in my
will, You know I am as devoted, as loyal, as desirous to be only for You as in the
blessed moment of unbroken retirement at Your feet." This is an offering with
which God is well pleased. And thus we may live a calm, peaceful life. 

DISOBEDIENCE 

Perhaps you have disobeyed some clear command. Sometimes a soul comes to its
spiritual adviser, speaking thus: "I have no conscious joy, and have had but little
for years." 
"Did you once have it?" 
"Yes, for some time after my conversion to God." 
"Are you conscious of having refused obedience to some distinct command
which came into your life, but from which you shrank?" 
Then the face is cast down, and the eyes film with tears, and the answer comes
with difficulty. 
"Yes, years ago I used to think that God required a certain thing of me; but I felt I
could not do what He wished. I was uneasy for some time about it, but after a
while it seemed to fade from my mind, and now it does not often trouble me." 
"Ah, soul, that is where you have gone wrong, and you will never get right until
you go right back through the weary years to the point where you dropped the
thread of obedience, and perform that one thing which God demanded of you so
long ago, but on account of which you did leave the  narrow track of implicit
obedience." 
Is not this the cause of depression to thousands of Christian people? They  are
God's children, but they are disobedient children. The Bible rings with one long
demand for obedience. The keyword of the book of Deuteronomy is observe and
do. The theme of the Farewell Discourse is, If you love me, keep  my
commandments. We must not question or reply or excuse ourselves. We must not
pick and choose our way. We must not take some commands and reject others.
We must not think that obedience in other directions will compensate  for
disobedience in some one particular. God gives one command at a time, borne in
upon us, not in one way only, but in many. By this He tests us. If we obey in this,
He will flood our souls with blessing and lead us forward into new paths and
pastures. But if we refuse in this, we shall remain stagnant and waterlogged, we
shall make no progress in Christian experience, and we shall lack both power and
joy. 

KNOWN EVIL 

Perhaps you are permitting some known evil. When water is left to stand, the
particles of silt betray themselves as they fall one by one to the bottom. So if you
are quiet, you may become aware of the presence in your soul of permitted evil.
Dare to consider it. Do not avoid the sight as the bankrupt man avoids his telltale
ledgers, or as the consumptive patient the  stethoscope. Compel yourself to
consider quietly whatever evil the Spirit of God discovers in your soul. It may
have lurked in the cupboards and cloisters of your being for years, suspected but
unjudged. But whatever it be, whatever its history, be sure that it has brought the
shadow over your life which is your daily sorrow. 
Does your will refuse to relinquish a practice or habit which is alien to the will ofGod? Do you permit some secret sin to have its unhindered way in the house of
your life? Do your affections roam unrestrained after forbidden objects? Do you
cherish any resentment or hatred toward another, to whom you  refuse to be
reconciled? Is there some injustice which you refuse to  forgive, some charge
which you refuse to pay, some wrong which you refuse to  confess? Are you
allowing something in yourself which you would be the first  to condemn in
others, but which you argue may be permitted in your own case  because of
certain reasons with which you attempt to smother the  remonstrances of
conscience? 

WEIGHTS 

In some cases the hindrance to the conscious blessedness lies not in sins, but in
weights which hang around the soul. Sin is that which is always and everywhere
wrong, but a weight is anything which may hinder or impede the Christian life
without being positively sin. And thus a thing may be a weight to one which is
not so to another. Each must be fully persuaded in his own mind. And wherever
the soul is aware of its life being hindered by the presence of any one thing, then,
however harmless in itself, and however  innocently permitted by others, there
can be no alternative; it must be cast aside. 
Perhaps you are unwilling to take some public step that may be necessary. It is
not enough to confess to God; you must also confess to man, supposing that you
have sinned against him. Leave your gift at the altar and go to be reconciled to
your brother. If you have done him a wrong, go and tell him so. If you have
defrauded him, whether he knows it or not, send him the amount you have taken
or kept back and add to it something to compensate him for his loss. Under the
Levitical law it was enacted that the delinquent should restore that which he took
violently away, or that about which he had dealt falsely, and should add one-fifth
part thereto, and only then might he come with his trespass offering to the priest
and be forgiven. This principle holds good today. You never will be happy until
you have made restitution. Write the letter or make the call at once; and if the one
whom you defrauded is no longer alive, then make the debt right with his heirs
and representatives. You must roll away this stone from the grave, or the dead
joy can never arise, however loudly you may call it to come forth. I do  not
believe in a repentance which is not noble enough to make amends for the past,
so far as they may lie within your reach. 

SELF-SCRUTINY 

Perhaps you look too much inwards on self, instead of outwards on the Lord
Jesus. The healthiest people do not think about their health; the weak  induce
disease by morbid introspection. If you begin to count your heartbeats, you will
disturb the rhythmic action of the heart. If you  continually imagine a pain
anywhere, you will produce it. And there are some  true children of God who
induce their own darkness by morbid self-scrutiny. They are always going back
on themselves, analyzing their motives, reconsidering past acts of consecration,
comparing themselves with themselves. In one form or another self is the pivot
of their life, albeit  that is undoubtedly a religious life. What but darkness can
result from such a course? There are certainly times in our lives when we must
look within and judge ourselves, that we do not be judged. But this is only done
that we may turn with fuller purpose of heart to the Lord. And when once done, it
needs not to be repeated. Leaving "those things which are behind" is the  only
safe motto. The question is, not whether we did as well as we might, but whether
we did as well as we could at the time. We must not spend all our lives in cleaning our 
windows or in considering
whether they are clean, but in sunning ourselves in God's blessed light. That light
will soon show us what still needs to be cleansed away, and will  enable us to
cleanse it with unerring accuracy. Our Lord Jesus is a perfect  reservoir of
everything the soul of man requires for a blessed and holy life. To make much of
Him, to abide in Him, to draw from Him, to receive  each moment from His
fullness is therefore the only condition of soul health. But to be more concerned
with self than with Him is like spending much time and thought over the senses
of the body and never using them for the purpose of receiving impressions from
the world outside. Look off unto Jesus. "Delight yourself also in the Lord." "My
soul, wait only upon God." 

LACK OF COMMUNION 

Perhaps you spend too little time in communion with God through His Word. It
is not necessary to make long prayers, but it is essential to be much alone with
God, waiting at His door, hearkening for His voice, lingering in the  garden of
Scripture for the coming of the Lord God in the dawn or cool of the day. No
number of meetings, no fellowship with Christian friends, no  amount of
Christian activity can compensate for the neglect of 'the still hour'. 
When you feel least inclined for it, there is most need to make for your  closet
with the shut door. Do for duty's sake what you cannot do as a pleasure, and you
will find it become delightful. You can better thrive without nourishment than
become happy or strong in the Christian life without fellowship with God. 
When you cannot pray for yourself, begin to pray for others. When your desires
wane, take the Bible in hand and begin to turn each text into petition; or take up
the tale of your mercies and begin to translate each of them into praise. When the
Bible itself becomes irksome, inquire if you have not been spoiling your appetite
by 'sweet foods', and renounce them; and  believe that the Word of God is the
wire along which the voice of God will  certainly come to you if the heart is
hushed and the attention fixed. I will hear what God the Lord shall speak. 
More Christians than we can count are suffering from a lack of prayer and Bible
study, and no revival is more to be desired than that of systematic private Bible
study. There is no short and easy method of godliness which can dispense with
this. 

LACK OF YIELDEDNESS 

Perhaps you have never given yourself over entirely to the Mastership of the
Lord Jesus. We are His by many ties and rights. But too few of us recognize His
lordship. We are willing enough to take Him as Savior; we hesitate to make Him
King. We forget that God has exalted Him to be Prince as well as Savior. And
the divine order is irreversible. Those who ignore the Lordship of Jesus cannot
build up a strong or happy life. 
Put the sun in its central throne, and all the motions of the planets assume  a
beautiful order. Put Jesus on the throne of life, and all things fall into harmony
and peace. Seek first the kingdom of God, and all things are yours. Consecration
is the indispensable condition of blessedness. 
So shall light break on your path such as has not shone there for many days. Yes,
"your sun shall no more go down; neither shall your moon withdraw itself; for
the Lord shall be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall beended." 
THE WHOLE of Christian living, in my opinion, hinges on the way in which
Christian people read the Bible for themselves. All sermons and addresses,  all
Bible readings and classes, all religious magazines and books, can never take the
place of our own quiet study of God's precious Word. We may measure  our
growth in grace by the growth of our love for private Bible study. And we may
be sure there is something seriously wrong when we lose our appetite for the
Bread of Life. Perhaps we have been eating too many sweets, or taking too little
exercise, or breathing too briefly in the bracing air,  which sweeps over the
uplands of spiritual communion with God. 
There are a few simple rules which may help many more to acquire this holy art,
and I venture to note them down. May the Holy Spirit Himself own and  use
them! 
1. Make time for Bible study. 
The Divine Teacher must have fixed and uninterrupted hours for meeting His
scholars. His Word must have our freshest and brightest thoughts. We must give
Him our best, the first fruits of our days. Hence there is no time for Bible study
like the early morning, for we cannot give such undivided attention to the holy
thoughts that glisten like diamonds on its pages after we have opened our letters,
glanced through the paper, and joined in the prattle of the breakfast table. The
manna had to be gathered before the dew was off and the sun up; otherwise it
melted. 
We ought, therefore, to aim at securing at least half an hour before breakfast for
the leisurely and loving study of the Bible. To some this may seem a long time in
comparison with what they now give. But it will soon seem all too short. The
more you read the Bible, the more you will want to read it. It is an appetite which
grows as it is fed. And you will be well repaid. The Bible seldom speaks, and
certainly never its deepest, sweetest words, to those who always read in a hurry. 
2. Look up for the teaching of the Holy Spirit. 
No one can so well explain the meaning of his words as he who wrote them. If,
then, you want to read the Bible as you should, make much of the Holy Spirit,
Who inspired it through holy men. As you open the Book, lift up your heart and
say, "Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your  law."
"Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears." 
3. Read the Bible methodically. 
On the whole, there is probably no better way than to read the Bible through once
every year. 
4. Read your Bible with your pen in your hand. 
Writing of Frances Havergal, her sister says: "She read her Bible by the study
table by seven o'clock in the summer, and eight o'clock in winter. Sometimes, on
bitterly cold mornings, I begged that she would read with her feet comfortably to
the fire, and received the reply: 'But then, Marie, I can't rule my lines neatly; just
see what a find I've got!' If only one searches, there are such extraordinary things
in the Bible. She resolutely refrained from late hours and frittering talks at night
in place of Bible  searchings and holy communings. Early rising and early
studying were her rule through life." None, in my judgment, have learned the secret of enjoying the Bible until they
have commenced to mark it, neatly underlining and dating special verses which
have cast a light upon their path on special days, drawing railway  connections
across the page between verses which repeat the same message or ring with the
same note, jotting down new references of the catchwords of helpful thoughts.
All these methods find plenty of employment for the pen, and fix our treasures
for us permanently. Our Bible, then, becomes the precious memento of bygone
hours, and records the history of our inner life. 
5. Seek eagerly your personal profit. 
Do not read the Bible for others, for class or congregation, but for yourself. Bring
all its rays to a focus on your own heart. While you are reading, often ask that
some verse or verses may start out from the printed page as God's message to
yourself. And never close the Book until you feel  that you are carrying away
your portion of food from that Hand which satisfies the desire of every living
thing. It is well, sometimes, to stop reading, and seriously ask, What does the
Holy Spirit mean ME to learn by this? What bearing should this have on MY
life? How can I work this into the fabric of MY character? 
6. Above all, turn from the printed page to prayer. 
If a cluster of heavenly fruit hangs within reach, gather it. If a promise lies upon
the page as a blank check, cash it. If a prayer is recorded, appropriate it, launch it
as a feathered arrow from the bow of your desire.  If an example of holiness
gleams before you, ask God to do as much for you. If a truth is revealed in all its
intrinsic splendor, entreat that its brilliance may ever irradiate the hemisphere of
your life like a star. Entwine the climbing creepers of holy desire about the lattice
work of Scripture. So shall you come to say with the Psalmist: "O how I love
your law! it is my meditation all the day." 
The longer I live and learn the experience of most Christian people, the more I
long to help them and unfold glimpses of this life of peace and power and victory
over sin which our heavenly Father has made possible for us. There are blessed
secrets in the Bible, hidden from the wise and prudent,  but revealed to babes;
things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, or the heart of man conceived, but
which God reveals by His Spirit to those who love Him; and if these were once
understood and accepted, they would wipe away many a tear and shed sunshine
on many a darkened pathway. 
The bitterest experience with most believers is the presence and power of sin.
They long to walk through this grimy world with pure hearts and  stainless
garments. But when they would do good, evil is present with them. They consent
to God's law that it is good; they approve it; they even delight in it after the inner
man; they endeavor to keep it; but, notwithstanding all, they seem as helpless to
perform it as a man whose brain has been smitten with paralysis to walk straight.
What rivers of briny  tears have fallen upon the open pages of the Penitent's
Psalm (51), shed by those who could repeat it every word from the heart! And
what regiments of weary feet have trodden the Bridge of Sighs, if we may so call
Romans seven, which sets forth, in vivid force, the experience of a man who has
not learned God's secret. 
Surely our God must have provided for all this. It would not have been like Him
to fill us with hatred to sin and longings for holiness if there were no escape from
the tyranny of the one and no possibility of attaining the  other. It would be a
small matter to save us from sinning on the other side of the pearly gate; we needto be saved from sinning now, and in this dark world. We want it for the sake of
the world, that it may be attracted and convinced. We want it for our own peace,
which cannot be perfected while we groan under a worse than Egyptian bondage.
We want it for the glory of God, which would be then reflected from us with
undimming brightness, as sunshine from burnished metal. 

WE MUST NOT EXPECT TO BE FREE FROM TEMPTATION. 

Our adversary, the devil, is always going about as a roaring lion, seeking whom
he may devour. He tempted our Lord, and he will tempt us. He will entice us to
do wrong by every avenue of sense, and will pour his evil suggestions through
eye, ear, touch, mouth, and mind. If he does not attack us himself, he can set on
us any one of his myriad agents, who will get  behind us and whisperingly
suggest many grievous blasphemies, which we shall think have proceeded from
our own mind. 
But temptation is not sin. A man may ask me to share with him the spoils of a
burglary, but no one can accuse me of receiving stolen property if I indignantly
refuse and keep my doors tightly shut against him. Our Lord was tempted in all
points as we are, yet without sin. You might go through Hell itself, teeming with
all manner of awful suggestions, and yet not sin. God would not allow Satan to
tempt us if temptation necessarily led to sin. But  temptation does not do so.
There is no sin so long as the will refuses to consent to the solicitation or catch at
the bait. 
Temptation may even be a blessing to a man when it reveals to him his weakness
and drives him to the almighty Savior. Do not be surprised, then, dear child of
God, if you are tempted at every step of your earthly journey, and almost beyond
endurance; but you will not be tempted beyond what you are able to bear, and
with every temptation there will be a way of escape. 

WE MUST NOT EXPECT TO LOSE OUR SINFUL NATURE 

When we are born again, a new life- the life of God- is put into us by the Holy
Spirit. But the old self-life, which is called in Scripture THE FLESH, is not taken
away. The two may coexist in the same heart. "The flesh lusts against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh." (Galatians 5:17) The presence of this old selflife within our heart may be detected by its  risings, rufflings, chafings, and
movings towards sin when temptation calls to it from without. It may be still as
death before the increasing power of the new life, but it will still be present in the
depths of our nature, as a Samson in the dark dungeons of Philistia, and there
will always be a possibility and a fear of its strength growing again to our shame
and our hurt. 

WE MUST NOT EXPECT TO BE FREE FROM LIABILITY TO SIN 

What is sin? It is the "Yes of the will" to temptation. It is very difficult to express
the delicate workings of our hearts, but does not something like this happen to us
when we are tempted? A temptation is suddenly presented to  us and makes a
strong appeal. Immediately there may be a tremulous movement  of the old
nature, as the strings of a violin or piano vibrate in answer to  any sounds that
may be thrilling the air around. Some do not feel this tremulous response; others
do, though I believe it will get fainter and fainter as they treat it with continued
respect, so that at last, in the matured saint, it will become almost inaudible. This
response indicates the presence of the evil nature within, which is in itself hateful
in the sight of our Holy God, and should be bemoaned and confessed, and ever
needs the  presence of the Blood of Jesus to counteract and atone. But thattremulous movement has not, as yet, developed into a natural overt sin, for which
we are responsible, and of which we need to repent. 
Sin is the act of the will, and is only possible when the will assents to some
unholy influence. The tempter, presenting his temptations through the sense and
emotions, makes an appeal to the will, which is our real self. If that will instantly
shudders, as chicks when the hawk is hovering in the sky above them, and cries,
"How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" and looks at once to
Jesus, there are, so far as I can understand, no sins. If, on the other hand, the will
begins to hesitate with temptation, to dally with it and yield to it, then we have
stepped out of the light into  the dark; we have broken God's laws, soiled our
white robes, and brought ourselves into condemnation. To this we are liable as
long as we are in this world. We may live a godly, righteous, sober life for years;
but if we look  away from God for only a moment, our will may be suddenly
mastered, and we  may, like David, be hurried into a sin which will blast our
peace and blacken our character for all coming time. 
RECKON YOURSELF DEAD TO THE APPEALS OF SIN 
Sin has no power over a dead man. Dress it in its most bewitching guise, yet it
stirs him not. Tears and smiles and words and blows alike fail to awaken  a
response from that cold corpse. No appeal will stir it now until it hears the voice
of the Son of God. This is our position in respect to the appeals of sin. God looks
on us as having been crucified with Christ and being dead with Him. In Him we
have passed out of the world of sin and death into the world of resurrection glory.
This is our position in the mind of God; it is for us to take it up and make it real
by faith. We may not feel any great difference, but we must believe that there is;
we must act as if there were. Our children sometimes play 'make believe'. We,
too, are to make believe, and we shall soon come to feel as we believe. When,
then, a temptation solicits you, say, "I am dead to you; spend not your energies
on one that is oblivious to your spells and callous to your charms. You have no
more power over me than over my Lord and Head." "Reckon you also yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord"
(Romans 6:11). 

AS SOON AS YOU ARE AWARE OF TEMPTATION, LOOK INSTANTLY
TO JESUS 

Flee to Him quicker than a chick runs beneath the shelter of its mother's wing
when the falcon is in the air. In the morning, before you leave your room, put
yourself definitely into His hands, persuaded that He is able to keep that which
you commit unto Him. Go from your room with the assurance that He will cover
you with His feathers, and under His wings shall you trust. And when the tempter
comes, look instantly up and say, "Jesus, I am trusting You to keep me." This is
what the apostle Paul calls using the shield of faith. The upward glance of faith
puts Jesus as a Shield between the tempter and yourself. You may go through
life, saying a hundred times a day, "Jesus save me," and He will never let those
that trust in Him be ashamed. He is able even to guard you from stumbling (Jude
24). 
There is something better even than that. It was first taught me by a gray-haired
clergyman, in the study of the Deanery at Southampton. Once, when tempted to
feel great irritation, he told us that he looked up and  claimed the patience and
gentleness of Christ, and since then it had become the practice of his life to claim
from Him the virtue of which he felt the deficiency in himself. In hours of unrest,
Your peace, Lord. In hours of  irritation, Your patience, Lord. In hours oftemptation, Your purity, Lord. In hours of weakness, Your strength, Lord. It was
to me a message straight from the throne. Until then I had been content with
ridding myself of  burdens; now I began to reach forth to positive blessing,
making each temptation the occasion for a new acquisition of gold leaf. 
All that we have to do is to maintain this attitude of full surrender, by the grace
of the Holy Spirit. Remember that Jesus Christ offered Himself to God, through
the eternal Spirit, and He waits to do as much for you. Ask Him to maintain in
you this attitude. Use regularly the means of meditation, private prayer, and Bible
study. Seek forgiveness for any failure as soon as you are conscious of it, and ask
to be restored. Practice the holy habit of the constant recollection of God. Do not
be eager to work for God, but let God work through you. Accept everything that
happens to you as being permitted, and therefore sent by the will of Him Who
loves you infinitely. And there will roll in upon you wave on wave, tide on tide,
ocean on ocean of an experience fitly called THE Blessed Life, because it is full
of the happiness of the ever-blessed God Himself. 
Dear reader, will you not take this step? There will be no further difficulty about
money, dress, amusements, or similar questions which perplex some. Your heart
will be filled and satisfied with the true riches.  As the willing slave of Jesus
Christ, you will only seek to do the will of your great and gentle Master- to spend
every coin as He directs, to act as  His steward, to dress so as to give Him
pleasure, to spend the time only as He may approve, to do His will on earth as it
is in heaven. All this will become easy and delightful. 
You are, perhaps, far from this at present. But it is all within your reach. Do not
be afraid of Christ. He needs to take nothing from you except that which you
would give up at once if you could see, as clearly as He does, the  harm it is
inflicting. He will ask of you nothing inconsistent with the most perfect fitness
and tenderness. He will give you grace enough to perform  every duty He may
demand. His "yoke is easy," His "burden is light." 
Blessed Spirit of God, by Whom alone human words can be made to speak to the
heart, deign to use these, to point many a longing soul the first step into  the
Blessed Life, for the exceeding glory of the Lord Jesus, and for the sake of a
dying world.