5-26. Good Ground

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.” (John 1:48)

“And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bore fruit an hundredfold” (Luke 8:8). The more fully and thoroughly hearts are cultivated before conversion the more healthy and fruitful they will be after conversion. Many Christians hurriedly seek to plant the seed in unprepared soil, and then wonder why it is so soon withered, choked, or snatched away. “Good ground are they who. . . having heard the Word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15).

“I believe that a work of God sometimes goes on behind a particular man or family, village or district before the knowledge of the truth ever reaches them. It is a silent, unsuspected work, not in mind and heart, but in the unseen realm behind these. Then, when the light of the Gospel is brought, there is no difficulty, no conflict. The battle has been won.

“It is, then, simply a case of ‘stand still and see the salvation of God.’ This should give us confidence in praying intelligently for those who are far from Gospel light. The longer the preparation, the deeper the work. The deeper the root, the firmer the plant when once it springs above the ground. I do not believe that any deep work of God takes root without long preparation somewhere.” –J.O.F.

“Concentrate your prayers on behalf of some soul or souls and pray for such, night and day, until they come to Christ. Then continue to pray for them until Christ is formed in them!” (Galatians 4:19).

“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me.” (Malachi 3:1)

5-25. Stand Where You Are

“God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love with which He loved us . . . hath made us alive together with Christ . . . and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4-6)

Believers are not occupying their position! At best, most are trying to attain a victorious position by means of prayer, Bible study, commitment, reconsecration, surrender, and so forth. But the answer is simply to abide where we have already been placed – in our risen Lord Jesus Christ. Abide above, and keep looking down!

“Our Father has taken us over Jordan and placed us in Canaan, but the reality of it is never known until by faith we accept the fact on the basis of having died with Christ, and that therefore heaven is our place, and we know it to be our place now; and that this side is not our place, and we know that it is not.

“The more we abide in the Lord on the other side, the less disappointed we will be here, for when we are there we import new joys and new hopes into this old world, from an entirely new one, and we therefore in every way surpass the inhabitants of this lost world.” –J.B.S.

“You must abide in Christ in heaven before you can descend with heavenly ability to act for Him down here. The great secret of all blessing is to come from the Lord. Most Christians go to Him.”

“Christian experience is our measure of apprehension of that which is already true of us in the Lord Jesus Christ.” –A.J.

“Stand fast in the Lord.” (Philippians 4:7)

5-24. Grace Crown

“The God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect (mature), establish, strengthen, settle you.” (1 Peter 5:10)

At first, the old nature hides from us. Then, we try to hide from it. But when we begin to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, we are able to face up to the awful facts concerning the old man and his condemnation at the Cross. As the Holy Spirit reveals the old man (Colossians 3:9), we count upon death; as He reveals the new man (Colossians 3:10), we count upon life (Romans 6:11).

“The believer, at the opening of his course, never knows his own heart; indeed, he could not bear the full knowledge of it; he would be overwhelmed thereby. ‘The Lord leads us not by the way of the Philistines lest we should see war, and so be plunged into despair. But He graciously leads us by a circuitous route, in order that our apprehension of His grace may keep pace with our growing self-knowledge.” –C.H.M.

“It was not for nothing that God let Satan loose upon His dear servant, Job. God loved Job with a perfect love; a love that could take account of everything, and, looking below the surface, could see the deep moral roots in the heart of His servant – roots which Job had never seen, and, therefore, never judged. What a mercy to have to do with such a God! to be in the hands of One who will spare no pains in order to subdue everything in us which is contrary to Himself, and to bring out in us His own blessed image!”

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.” (1 Peter 5:6, 7)

5-23. God Will Do It

“For it is God who works in you both will and deed.” (Philippians 2:13, Cony.)

As we mature we come to see more and more clearly that our Father just as fully controls our lives as He does the universe. As C.A. Fox said, “Climb on, and you will find the correcting, the chastening, the cleansing, the calming of the deep affection of God.”

“All the testing and trying is to first deal with, by the Cross, that which can never stand the stress and which must be forever failure to the Lord, and then to develop that which is Christ within us. That is the spiritual life – Christ in us in all His fullness. ‘I will make him a pillar.’ ‘I will write upon him the name of my God.’ He is going to do it. All the striving will never bring that end about, but He will do it.

“The great majority of us would say, ‘If it all depends on me, then it is a bad lookout!’ Well, of course, that is true, but let us look at the blessing of Joseph – ‘The arms of his hands were made strong, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob . . . even by the God of thy father’ (Genesis 49:24, 25).” –C.O.

“Let a man renounce himself, and see himself as crucified with Christ, and soon another Himself – the Lord Jesus Christ – will take the central place in the heart, and quietly bring all things under His sway.”

“It is a great thing to offer the Lord Jesus Christ as the Saviour to sinful man, but it is still greater to express Him in a world where He is rejected.” –J.B.S.

“According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” (2 Peter 1:3)

5-22. From Milk to Meat

“By people who live on milk I mean those who are imperfectly acquainted with the teaching concerning righteousness. Such persons are mere babes.” (Hebrews 5:13, Wey.)

Promises and blessings have mainly to do with the milk of the Word. In order for a believer to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, he must fellowship with Him in the Word. There is general Bible study, and there is feeding upon the Lord Jesus in the Word of life. The former serves for foundation, the latter is needed for growth.

“People may receive ‘blessings’ and temporary ‘deliverances’ in answer to prayer, for God is merciful to His children and His Spirit refreshes and blesses us even apart from the real walk of faith. But it is of greater benefit finally to us, and much greater glory to God, if we simply accept His Word and learn to walk in the power of it by naked faith; which asks no longer certain ecstasies, but being sure of God’s truth because it is His truth, maintains an attitude of faith therein; attitude – a fixed heart.

“Faith, when once we see the truth, consists of a believing attitude of the will toward God. This involves a negative attitude toward all doubt of His promises or anything that would raise a doubt; and it also involves a continued refusal to rest upon appearances or feelings, even though these may come in great abundance. It is God’s written Word that supplies strength to the heart of faith.” –W.R.N.

“It is an easy thing to set sail and get fairly out into the ocean; but when many days have passed and no land is in sight, one is apt to weary. If the heart is not fully occupied with the Lord in the Word, something is taken on board to fill up the void.”

“Nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine.” (1 Timothy 4:6)

5-21. Fullness of Life

“To know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:19)

Our Father’s fullness of supply infinitely exceeds the sum of our needs. Positionally it is so: “For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him.” Conditionally it is so: “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Colossians 2:9, 10; Romans 8:32).

“As to the Gospel and the work of the Lord Jesus, I do not find that it is adequately apprehended that the benefit conferred by the Father is far beyond the need of the sinner. You cannot measure the benefit by the need. You may ask, ‘Does it not cover the need?’ It does; but you get no clue to the benefit from the measure of the need. You cannot find it in your own thoughts or expectations; it cannot be found anywhere save in our Father’s heart. It is ‘above all that we ask or think. . . . ‘

“How little, indeed, do we enter into the fullness of the benefits of the Gospel! The elder brother in Luke 15 did not object to his brother being forgiven, but it was unwelcome to him to see the wonderful excess of grace bestowed on him by the Father. ‘Thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.’ Many have the sense of forgiveness without the knowledge of His abundance.” –J.B.S.

“We shall never be able to glorify God, if we only take what we need.”

“Now unto Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory.” (Ephesians 3:20, 21)

5-20. Spirit-Motivated Surrender

“Keep on seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” (Colossians 3:7, Wms.)

When the Spirit of Christ has the hungry heart prepared, there will be surrender. No struggle; no questions. “We reason when we ought to repose; we doubt when we ought to depend. Confidence in our Father’s love is the true corrective in all things.” “For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him” (2 Timothy 1:12).

“If a believer surrenders or lays aside anything without an adequate divine motive, he will either secretly hanker after it, and probably long to return to it, or he will take credit to himself for having given it up, and will thus reveal self-righteousness and spiritual pride.

“A certain school of religious teachers make much of ‘surrender’ as the way to attain blessing, but it ends in self-sufficiency, because the only motive that is presented for it is the acquisition of a better spiritual state, or power for service, or something of that kind. A divine motive and attraction is needed if souls are to be drawn into the race and prepared to surrender in a truly spiritual way, and this divine motive and attraction is our risen Lord in Glory.” –C.A.C.

“Communion with the Lord Jesus requires our coming to Him in the Word. Meditating upon His person and His work requires the prayerful study of His Word. Many fail to abide in Him because they habitually fast instead of feast.” –J.H.T.

“Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us; for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us. O Lord our God, other lords beside Thee have had dominion over us; but by Thee only will we make mention of Thy name.” (Isaiah 26:12, 13)