I. DAILY FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD |
1. The first and chief need of our
Christian life is, Fellowship with God.
The Divine life within us comes from
God, and is entirely dependent upon Him. As I need every moment afresh
the air to breathe, as the s sun every moment afresh sends down its
light, so it is only in direct living communication with God that my
soul can be strong.
The manna of one day was corrupt when
the next day came. I must every day have fresh grace from heaven, and I
obtain it only in direct waiting upon God Himself. Begin each day by
tarrying before God, and letting Him touch you. Take time to meet God.
2. To this end, let your first act in
your devotion be a setting yourself still before God. In prayer, or
worship, everything depends upon God taking the chief place. I must bow
quietly before Him in humble faith and adoration, speaking thus within
my heart: "God is. God is near. God is love, longing to communicate
Himself to me. God the Almighty One, Who worketh all in all, is even now
waiting to work in me, and make Himself known." Take time, till you know
God is very near.
3. When you have given God His place of
honor, glory, and power, take your place of deepest lowliness, and seek
to be filled with the Spirit of humility. As a creature it is your
blessedness to be nothing, that God may be all in you. As a sinner you
are not worthy to look up to God; bow in self abasement. As a saint, let
God's love overwhelm you, and bow you still lower down. Sink down before
Him in humility, meekness, patience, and surrender to His goodness and
mercy. He will exalt you. Oh! take time, to get very low before God.
4. Then accept and value your place in
Christ Jesus. God delights in nothing but His beloved Son, and can be
satisfied with nothing else in those who draw nigh to Him. Enter deep
into God's holy presence in the boldness which the blood gives, and in
the assurance that in Christ you are most well-pleasing. In Christ you
are within the veil. You have access into the very heart and love of the
Father. This is the great object of fellowship with God, that I may have
more of God in my life, and that God may see Christ formed in me. Be
silent before God and let Him bless you.
5. This Christ is a living Person. He
loves you with a personal love, and He looks every day for the personal
response of your love. Look into His face with trust, till His love
really shines into your heart. Make His heart glad by telling Him that
you do love Him. He offers Himself to you as a personal Saviour and
Keeper from the power of sin. Do not ask, can I be kept from sinning, if
I keep close to Him? but ask, can I be kept from sinning, if He always
keeps close to me? and you see at once how safe it is to trust Him.
6. We have not only Christ's life in us
as a power, and His presence with us as a person, but we have His
likeness to be wrought into us. He is to be formed in us, so that His
form or figure, His likeness, can be seen in us. Bow before God until
you get some sense of the greatness and blessedness of the work to be
carried on by God in you this day. Say to God, "Father, here am I for
Thee to give as much in me of Christ's likeness as I can receive." And
wait to hear Him say, "My child, I give thee as much of Christ as thy
heart is open to receive." The God who revealed Jesus in the flesh and
perfected Him, will reveal Him in thee and perfect thee in Him. The
Father loves the Son, and delights to work out His image and likeness in
thee. Count upon it that this blessed work will be done in thee as thou
waitest on thy God, and holdest fellowship with Him.
7. The likeness to Christ consists
chiefly in two things--the likeness of His death and resurrection, (Rom.
6:5). The death of Christ was the consummation of His humility and
obedience, the entire giving up of His life to God. In Him we are dead
to sin. As we sink down in humility and dependence and entire surrender
to God, the power of His death works in us, and we are made conformable
to His death. And so we know Him in the power of His resurrection, in
the victory over sin, and all the joy and power of the risen life.
Therefore every morning, "present yourselves unto God as those that are
alive from the dead." He will maintain the life He gave, and bestow the
grace to live as risen ones.
8. All this can only be in the power of
the Holy Spirit, who dwells in you. Count upon Him to glorify Christ in
you. Count upon Christ to increase in you the inflowing of His Spirit.
As you wait before God to realize His presence, remember that the Spirit
is in you to reveal the things of God. Seek in God's presence to have
the anointing of the Spirit of Christ so truly that your whole life may
every moment be spiritual.
9. As you meditate on this wondrous
salvation and seek full fellowship with the great and holy God, and wait
on Him to reveal Christ in you, you will feel how needful the giving up
of all is to receive Him. Seek grace to know what it means to live as
wholly for God as Christ did. Only the Holy Spirit Himself can teach you
what an entire yielding of the whole life to God can mean. Wait on God
to show you in this what you do not know. Let every approach to God, and
every request for fellowship with Him be accompanied by a new, very
definite, and entire surrender to Him to work in you.
10. "By faith" must here, as through all Scripture, and all the spiritual life, be the keynote. As you tarry before God, let it be in a deep quiet faith in Him, the Invisible One, who is so near, so holy, so mighty, so loving. In a deep, restful faith too, that all the blessings and powers of the heavenly life are around you, and in you. Just yield yourself in the faith of a perfect trust to the Ever Blessed Holy Trinity to work out all God's purpose in you. Begin each day thus in fellowship with God, and God will be all in all to you. |