MANY PEOPLE ENDEAVOR TO APPROPRIATE THIS BLESSING BY A GREAT VARIETY OF EFFORTS. THEY DO NOT SUCCEED AND ARE NOT ABLE TO DISCOVER THE REASON WHY. They forget that self-will can never cast out self-will and that self can never really mortify itself. Happy is the man who is brought to the point of acknowledging his helplessness and impotence. HE WILL ESPECIALLY NEED TO DENY HIMSELF [people don't want to hear that] here and cease to expect anything from his own life and strength. He will rather lay himself down in the presence of the Lord as one who is impotent and dead, that he may really receive the blessing from Him. "It is your part, believer, to deny yourself, to lose your own life, and in the presence of the Lord to sink down in your nothingness and impotence. ACCUSTOM YOURSELF TO SET YOUR HEART BEFORE HIM IN DEEP HUMILITY, SILENT PATIENCE, AND CHILDLIKE SUBMISSION. The humility that is prepared to be nothing, THE PATIENCE THAT WILL WAIT FOR HIM AND HIS TIME, AND THE SUBMISSION THAT WILL YIELD ITSELF WHOLLY THAT HE MAY DO WHAT SEEMS GOOD IS ALL THAT YOU CAN DO TO SHOW THAT YOU ARE READY TO LOSE YOUR LIFE. [be obedient and wait until He comes] "Jesus summons you to follow Him. Remember how He first sacrificed His will. He laid down His life into the hands of the Father, went down into the grave, AND WAITED until God raised Him to life again. IN LIKE MANNER, YOU ARE TO BE READY TO LAY DOWN YOUR LIFE IN WEAKNESS, ASSURED THAT GOD WILL RAISE IT UP AGAIN IN POWER WITH THE FULLNESS OF THE SPIRIT. FORFEIT THE STRENGTH OF MERE PERSONAL EFFORTS... " Regard, THE DENYING OF YOURSELF as the first and most necessary work of every day... THE GREAT HINDRANCE IN THE WAY OF THE LIFE OF PENTECOST IS THE SELF-LIFE. BELIEVE IN THE SINFULNESS OF THAT LIFE, NOT BECAUSE OF ITS GROSS EXTERNAL SINS, BUT BECAUSE IT SETS ITSELF IN THE PLACE OF GOD. [making your own decisions about what "you" want to do, instead of God ruling you] It seeks, pleases, and honors itself MORE THAN GOD. "Recognize your own life as your own WORST enemy and as the enemy of God. Begin to see what the full blessing is that Jesus has prepared for you and which He bestowed at Pentecost; namely, His own indwelling. COUNT NOTHING TO PRECIOUS OR TOO COSTLY TO GIVE AS AN EXCHANGE FOR THIS PEARL OF GREAT PRICE. "Believer are you REALLY sincere about being filled with the Spirit of God? Is it your great desire to know what hinders you from obtaining it? Take the word of our Lord and keep it in your heart. Go with it to Him. He is able to make you understand and experience it. It is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. "...DENY YOURSELF AND FOLLOW HIM. LOSE YOUR OWN LIFE AND FIND HIS. LET HIM IMPART HIMSELF IN THE PLACE YOU HAVE UP TO THIS TIME RETAINED FOR YOURSELF. From Him there will flow rivers of living water." (Experiencing, pp. 56-59) |
(Experiencing, p. 120) |
"Light drives out darkness. The Spirit of heaven EXPELS the spirit of the world. Where a man does not surrender himself to be filled with the Spirit of Jesus...Christian though he may be, he must come under the power of the spirit of the world. Listen to the piercing cry that rises from the whole Church, 'Who will rescue us from the power of the this spirit of the world?' Your answer should be: 'Nothing, no one, save the Spirit of God. I must be filled with the Spirit.'" (Experiencing, pp. 44-45) |
(Experiencing, pp. 34-35) |
(Experiencing, pp. 51-53) |
(Matthew 16:24).
"A DEEP CONVICTION OF THE ENTIRE CORRUPTION OF OUR NATURE IS AN EXPERIENCE THAT IS STILL LACKING IN MANY PEOPLE. IT APPEARS TO THEM BOTH STRANGE AND HARSH WHEN WE STAY THAT IN NOTHING IS THE CHRISTIAN FREE TO FOLLOW HIS OWN FEELING. Self-denial is a requirement that MUST PREVAIL in EVERY sphere of life and without ANY exceptions. The Lord has never withdrawn His words: 'Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he CANNOT be my disciple.' "At the time of his conversion, the young Christian has little understanding of this requirement. He receives the seed of the new life into his heart while the natural life is still strong. It was this way with Peter when the Lord addressed to him the above words. He was a disciple but an incomplete one. When his Lord was to die, instead of denying himself, he denied his Lord. But that grievous failure brought him at last to despair of himself and prepared him for losing his own life entirely and for being wholly filled with the life of Jesus. "We must all eventually come to this point. AS LONG AS A CHRISTIAN IMAGINES THAT IN SOME THINGS; for example, in his eating and drinking, in the spending of his time or money, or in his thinking and speaking about others; HE HAS THE RIGHT AND THE LIBERTY TO FOLLOW HIS OWN WISHES, TO PLEASE HIMSELF, AND TO MAINTAIN HIS OWN LIFE, HE CANNOT POSSIBLY ATTAIN TO THE FULL BLESSING OF PENTECOST. "My brethren, IT IS AN UNSPEAKABLY HOLY AND GLORIOUS THING THAT A MAN CAN BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD. It DEMANDS inevitably THAT the present occupant and governor of the heart, our individual SELF, be CAST OUT and everything be surrendered into the hands of the new inhabitant, the Spirit of God. IF ONLY WE COULD UNDERSTAND THAT THE JOY AND POWER OF BEING FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT WILL COME ONCE WE COMPLY WITH THE FIRST AND PRINCIPAL CONDITION; NAMELY, THAT HE ALONE BE ACKNOWLEDGED AS OUR LIFE AND OUR LEADER." (Experiencing, p. 54-56) |
Deception Series 1-10 Courtesy of Sister Tracy
Permission hereby granted to copy - provided;
No changes are made & no money solicited.