Basic HTML Version
The Secret of Progress, March 19
Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him:
God is a refuge for us.
Psalm 62:8
.
We must be much in prayer if we would make progress in the divine
life. When the message of truth was first proclaimed, how much we prayed.
How often was the voice of intercession heard in the chamber, in the barn,
in the orchard, or the grove. Frequently we spent hours in earnest prayer,
two or three together claiming the promise; often the sound of weeping was
heard and then the voice of thanksgiving and the song of praise. Now the
day of God is nearer than when we first believed, and we should be more
earnest, more zealous, and fervent than in those early days. Our perils are
greater now than then.
It was in hours of solitary prayer that Jesus in His earth-life received
wisdom and power. Let the youth follow His example in finding at dawn
and twilight a quiet season for communion with their Father in heaven. And
throughout the day let them lift up their hearts to God. At every step of our
way He says, “I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand; ... fear not; I
will help thee.”
Isaiah 41:13
. Could our children learn this lesson in the
morning of their years, what freshness and power, what joy and sweetness,
would be brought into their lives!
Let your heart break for the longing it has for God, for the living God.
The life of Christ has shown what humanity can do by being partaker of the
divine nature. All that Christ received from God we too may have. Then
ask and receive. With the persevering faith of Jacob, with the unyielding
persistence of Elijah, claim for yourself all that God has promised.
Let the glorious conceptions of God possess your mind. Let your life
be knit by hidden links to the life of Jesus. He who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness is willing to shine in your heart, to give the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The Holy
Spirit will take the things of God and show them unto you.... Christ will
lead you to the threshold of the Infinite. You may behold the glory beyond
the veil, and reveal to men the sufficiency of Him who ever liveth to make
intercession for us.
[87]
86