Chapter 199—Received by Naked Faith
The just shall live by his faith.
Habakkuk 2:4
.
Many do not exercise that faith which it is their privilege and duty to
exercise, often waiting for that feeling which faith alone can bring. Feeling
is not faith; the two are distinct. Faith is ours to exercise, but joyful feeling
and the blessing are God’s to give. The grace of God comes to us through
the channel of living faith, and that faith it is in our power to exercise.
True faith lays hold of and claims the promised blessing before it is
realized and felt. We must send up our petitions in faith within the second
vail, and let our faith take hold of the promised blessing, and claim it as ours.
We are then to believe that we receive the blessing, because our faith has
hold of it, and according to the Word it is ours. “What things soever ye desire
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (
Mark
11:24
). Here is faith, naked faith, to believe that we receive the blessing,
even before we realize it.... But many suppose ... that they cannot have
faith unless they feel the power of the Spirit. Such confound faith with the
blessing that comes through faith. The very time to exercise faith is when we
feel destitute of the Spirit. When thick clouds of darkness seem to hover over
the mind, then is the time to let living faith pierce the darkness and scatter
the clouds. True faith rests on the promises contained in the Word of God,
and those only who obey that Word can claim its glorious promises.
Should anyone dishonor God by imagining that He would not respond
to the appeals of His children? ... The Holy Spirit, the representative of
Himself, is the greatest of all gifts. All “good things” are comprised in this.
The Creator Himself can give us nothing greater, nothing better. When we
beseech the Lord to pity us in our distress, and to guide us by His Holy Spirit,
He will never turn away our prayer.
The measure of the Holy Spirit we receive will be proportioned to the
measure of our desire and the faith exercised for it.... We can be assured
that we shall receive the Holy Spirit if we individually try the experiment of
testing God’s word.
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