| If God has called you to be really
like Jesus, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility, and
put upon you such demands of obedience that you will not be able to follow
other people or measure yourself by other Christians, and in many ways
He will seem to let other people do things which He will not let you do.
Other Christians and ministers who seem very religious and useful may push
themselves, pull wires, and work schemes to carry out their plans, but
you cannot do it, and if you attempt it, you will meet with such failure
and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.
Others may boast of themselves, of their works, of their
successes, of their writings, but the Holy spirit will not allow you to
do any such thing. And if you begin it, He will lead you into some
deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good
works.
Others may be allowed to succeed making money,
or may have a legacy left to them, but it is likely God will not do so
for you, because He wants to have something far better than gold for you,
namely, a helpless dependence upon Him, that He may have the privilege
of supplying your needs, day by day, out of unseen treasure.
The Lord may let others be honored and put forward and
keep you hidden in obscurity because He wants to produce some choice fragrant
fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade. He
may let others be great, but keep you small. He may let others do a work
for Him and get the credit for it, but He will make you work and toil along
without knowing how much you're doing, and then to make your work still
more precious, He may let others get credit for the work which you have
done and thus make your reward 10 times greater when Jesus comes.
The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch over you with
a jealous love and will rebuke you for little words and feelings or for
wasting your time which other Christians never feel distressed over.
So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign
and has a right to do as He pleases with His own. He may not explain to
you a thousand things which puzzle your reason in His dealings with You,
but if you absolutely sell yourself to be His love slave, He will wrap
you up in a jealous love and bestow upon you many blessings which come
only to those who are in the inner circle.
Settle it forever, then, that you're to deal directly
with the Holy Spirit, and that He is to have the privilege of tying your
tongue or chaining your hands or closing your eyes in ways He does not
seem to use with others.
Now when you're so possessed with the living God that
you're in your secret heart pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal,
private jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your
life, you will have found the vestibule of heaven.
Anonymous
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