Sound Words for Pilgrims

"As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." John 20:21

From the glory and the gladness  From His secret place,

From the rapture of His presence,  From the radiance of His face,

Christ, the Son of God, hath sent me  Through the midnight lands;

Mine the mighty ordination  Of the pierced hands.

(pp. 61-64, Footprints for Pilgrims)

You must be in present dependence in preaching. There is no power unless we are receiving while we speak. What you need is a living connection with the heart of God, and then what flows out of the heart of God into your heart will come with power to the hearts of those you speak to.

To hold ourselves at the Lord's disposal secures for us opened doors when He has work for us to do.

We are left here to display Christ; if we are not doing this we are no use to Him or to the world.

The qualification for service is a deeper acquaintance with the heart of Christ.

The more you honour God by keeping man in the background the more blessing you will have in the work.

The Holy Spirit is always ready to work when we exalt Christ, "He shall glorify me."

The great danger is the presentation of any truth apart from Christ.

What will become of those cut flowers tomorrow ?  They will fade.  So truth that is separated from Christ will fade away.

Nothing can justify a lack of tenderness in the presentation of the truth.

We have to labour in faith, and in proportion to our confidence in God will be our expectation of blessing.

I suppose we shall never know the full result of our service until we appear before the judgment seat of Christ.  And it may be then that what we esteemed the least at the time will there be shown to have been richest in results.

If you feel "I can do this or that service," you are not the vessel God can use.

The Lord always sought to deepen exercises of soul, as He did in the case of the Syrophenician woman, refusing to grant her request till she was in the state to receive it.  We seek to shorten them, as, for example, when we press souls to an immediate decision for Christ, without considering whether they have been brought to that point by the work of the Holy Ghost.

When there are few gathered together at a meeting, remember there may be really as much blessing as with larger numbers.  God will bring together those whom He purposes to bless, and if we remember this it will keep our eyes up to Him, and that is one condition of blessing.

If any of us look for power or acceptance from anything that is of man, from manner, learning, fervour or eloquence ... we are at once off the ground of dependence upon the power of the Holy Ghost, because we are calling in to our aid that which has its source in man and natural abilities.

A preacher has never to be anxious about results; that is God's concern.  He has only to be anxious about three things: (1) the state of his own soul; (2) being in communion with the mind of God as to those to whom he is speaking; and (3) fidelity in delivering the message.

--- E.D. 

"Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you". Acts 1:8

Do Thou, the very God of peace, Us wholly sanctify,

And grant us such a rich increase of power from on high,

That spirit, soul, and body may, Preserved free from stain,

Be blameless until that great day; Lord Jesus Christ, Amen !

(pp. 49-52, Footprints for Pilgrims)

It is a mistake to suppose that we can be endowed, so to speak, with spiritual power.  God never gives a fund of strength to any of His servants on which they can draw from time to time until the whole is used.  The power is always in Himself, and not in them, and only supplied moment by moment to those who are walking with and in dependence upon Him.

Bear in mind that we must not expect consciousness of power.  It is on this point that so many stumble.  They want to feel power, and failing to do so they conclude that they are in the wrong condition of soul for its exercise.  No mistake could be greater.  On the other hand, the Lord has to break down His servants ... in order to reduce them to the sense of their own utter impotence, that they may learn the lesson that His strength is made perfect in weakness.

Human arrangements interfere with divine power.

At conferences people often find more pleasure in meeting one another than in waiting upon God, and then there is a lack of power.  For many years I have noticed that when God is about to work He produces stillness -- a solemn hush -- and expectation.  And the moment He does this Satan counterworks and seeks to divert the attention of the saints.  We ought not to be ignorant of his devices.

Unbelief is a barrier that shuts out the inflow of divine power. 

A lady once called to me and said, "I want you to tell me the secret of power." I replied, "It is being broken to pieces and the consciousness of that."

J.N.D. has somewhere said that when we are occupied with past manifestations of the power of the Holy Ghost we are seldom in the current of His working at the present moment.

It is only by the Lord's own power that the smallest of His precepts can be translated into practice; while it is equally true that His largest behests are as easy of performance as the smallest, inasmuch as adequate power is always at the service of faith.

Unconscious testimony is always the most powerful.  I often think that at the judgment seat of Christ we shall find a word we have spoken casually, a little sentence dropped, has been more used than all our preaching and lectures.

The humblest believer walking in obedience to the Lord and dependence upon Him is displaying the greatest spiritual power.  Power is displayed by the coming out of Christ in daily life.

To be full of the Holy Ghost is the normal state of the believer, and if this is not so with us we should humble ourselves before God.

There is no power except in the Spirit of God, yet how often we depend on human power -- eloquence, learning, etc.  It is so easy to resort to human expediency when not in a right state of soul.

--- E.D.

"Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. ... God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able." 1 Cor. 10:12, 13

Oh, wondrous Love ! that ne'er forgets  The objects of its tender care:

May chasten still, while sin besets,  To warn and guard them where they are.

But ne'er forgets; but feeds them still With tokens of His tender love;

Will keep, till freed from every ill, They find their rest with Him above !

J.N.D.

(pp. 21-24, Footprints for Pilgrims)

What we have to do, whether to Christians, to backsliders, or to sinners is to maintain the attitude of God towards each of these classes.  He never gives up one of His own, nor diminishes His love, though He does change His manner.  As someone has said, we do not cease to love, but we do not caress a naughty child.

The perfection of the christian life is absolute trust in God.  All roads lead to this, and the one who reaches it in any measure will never be confounded.

Waiting before the Lord is the sure means of qualification for obedience to His bidding.

The fear of God can lift the feeblest and humblest above the fear of man.

Sympathy is the rarest of all ministries, as it is also the sweetest; it makes no show in the world, but it leaves its mark.

In praying for the sick I once heard a brother use this expression: "May those who are too weak to pray be able to lean."

Until the soul is at peace and in liberty divine things cannot be communicated.

We get rest by a revelation of the Father's love through Christ.

The one alleviation which always presents itself to my mind in cases of lunacy is that, even when reason has been dethroned, the spirit may be in conscious and intelligent communion with God.  I formed this judgment many years ago.

There is no pillow like love, and we have the Lord's perfect love to rest upon.

"The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want" (Psalm 23:1)  "I shall not want" This conclusion flows, not from what we are to Him, but from what He is to us.

To desire blessing is easy, but the path to blessing is through waves and clouds and storms -- that is, through the deepest exercises.

The secret of many of our sicknesses and sorrows is that our hearts have not been true to the Lord. ... We assume too much when we are sick; we take it for granted that all is well with us, and forget the hand of the Lord may be in the sickness to recover the hearts of His people.

What is true of us is not always true to us.  Is is true of every believer that he is in Christ, but in order to be true to him he must reach that position in his own soul experimentally.

Whoever goeth to warfare at his own charges ? No; He who calls, equips and sustains; and the servant has only to learn how to avail himself of what is provided.  The Lord expects nothing from us, except looking to Him, and even for that He will give the power.

Let me put you a simple question: How many of you have said today in your hearts, "The Lord Jesus Christ may be here before the day closes" ?

We are so apt to look for deliverance in suffering, but I suspect that God's object with each of us is to teach us to expect a fresh revelation of Christ and to learn His mind in the trial.

--- E.D.

"Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 2 Cor. 4:17

Though thy way be long and dreary,  Eagle strength He'll still renew;

Garments fresh and foot unweary  Tell how God hath brought thee through.

J.N.D.

(pp. 9-12, Footprints for Pilgrims)

Ah ! it is blessed to be at the feet of Jesus in our sorrows, for there divine light shines upon them, and though we may suffer, and even be oppressed with our trials, we shall not, while there, doubt His love.

"Jesus wept." All know that the verses of our Bible are merely a human arrangement, and yet who can doubt that the Spirit of God controlled the one who made it in putting these two words into one verse ? They indeed should stand alone, inasmuch as they afford such an inlet into the recesses of the Lord's heart.  They have been the comfort of mourners in all ages, and they will continue to minister consolation to His people until God Himself shall wipe away all tears from their faces.

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Untold sorrows characterize the human race, and this invitation is not confined to those who are laden with sin.  Jesus addresses any one who is bowed with any possible sorrow, and possible bereavement.  Whatever the burden upon you, the Lord speaks to you.

Your whole responsibility at the present moment is to "rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him."  And what a blessing it is that you may and can rest, whatever your suffering, on the Lord's breast.

It is indeed an immense thing to be in communion with His mind in His object in our sufferings.

God chooses my circumstances, my sicknesses, my sorrows, in view of what He is accomplishing. "We do know that all things work together for good to those who love God. ...  Because whom He has foreknown, He has also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son. (Romans 8:28, 29 N.T.)  He thus chooses the circumstances for us that will best accomplish His purpose of conforming us to the image of His Son.  The consequence is that, if in the line of His purpose, I will never seek to change my circumstances.  In fellowship with the heart of God I will gratefully leave that to Him.

How merciful it is in the ways of God that it is only gradually we approach our sorrows, and that we find when they come upon us that they are "lustred with His love" !

He alone who has made the blank in your life can fill it, and He will.  When all the blanks of earth are filled with His presence we gain infinitely more than we have lost. 

When the Lord returns we shall lose all bodily weakness, so that it will take a little time, as it often seems to me, before we find ourselves at home in our new circumstances.  How we shall rejoice when "In soul and body perfect."  For this deliverance we have still to wait, but the blessed hope of it cheers us in the midst of our pilgrimage.

--- E.D.

 

"The God of all encouragement" 2 Cor. 1:3 (J.N.D.)

Though distant from the heavenly way

The souls you love, for whom you pray,

Ah ! why need ye despair ?

Plead on -- and ye shall live to prove

That God is power, that God is love,

And loves to answer prayer.

Sir E. Denny

(pp. 129-132, Footprints for Pilgrims)

"We have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand." It is not attainments, it is not watchfulness, it is not services or duties which ... give the soul entrance into that wealthy place of divine favour -- "By faith we have access into this grace wherein we stand."

If we find our souls under pressure of the spirit of fear or bondage or uncertainty we may be sure that they have let go the gentle hand of faith ... This ought not to be so.  We are to know that we have ever to do with love !

"Father" -- a name that may give abiding calmness and strength and liberty to the soul.

The tempter would lead us to judge of God by the dark shadings of many a passage of our history here.  But the Spirit of God would have us acquaint ourselves with Him in the beauteous light of the gospels, the glory that shines now in the face of Jesus Christ.

David ... when a stripling in the fight could say even to a giant, "This day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand," but afterwards said in his heart, "I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul." ... Saul's hand which David feared was not so big as Goliath's hand which David despised; but then Christ was not so large and full before the eye of David's faith afterwards as He had been before in the valley of Elah.

"Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." Nothing peculiar ushered forth that glorious hour.  No big expectations or strange events gave token of its coming.  It was the natural, heavenly close of an undeviating heavenly journey.

Faith is never too bold to please Him.  In the days of His flesh He often rebuked the reserves and suspicions of little faith, but never the strength and decision of faith that aimed as at everything and would not go without a blessing.

Would that we knew our God as He is to be known, for His praise and our comfort ! Love delights to be used.  Love is wearied with ceremoniousness ... The intimacy of faith is according to His grace, and ceremony is but a weariness to Him.

The hand of God can do the business of God, though it have but a sling and a stone, or the jaw-bone of a donkey, or lamps and pitchers; and the Spirit of God can do the business of God with souls, though He use but a word, or a look, or a groan.

The simpler we are, the more like children, who learn their lesson rather than discuss it ...  the more surely shall we find Him, and reach Him, and know Him.

Ah ! it is hard to believe that God is doing your business in this world.  It is much easier to us to do Christ's work than to believe He has done ours.

--- J.G.B.

"Him whom my soul loveth".  Song of Solomon 3:4

Marvel not that Christ in glory  All my inmost heart hath won;

Not a star to cheer my darkness  But a light beyond the sun.

All below lies dark and shadowed,  Nothing there to claim my heart,

Save the lonely track of sorrow  Where of old He walked apart.

I have seen the Face of Jesus -- Tell me not of aught beside;

I have heard the Voice of Jesus -- All my soul is satisfied.

T.P.

(pp. 65-68, Footprints for Pilgrims)

We do not read scripture with sufficient intimacy of heart.  We read it as if we were aquainting ourselves with words and sentences.  If I do not get by scripture into nearness to God in heart and conscience I have not learned the lesson it would teach me.

Christ is your lesson as well as your teacher ... Is any book so worthy of reading as the book that we call Jesus ?

(Luke 19:12-27) I am never really in the spirit of service if I do not remember that Christ is an absent and rejected Lord.  I am ... a servant who has to recognize the sorrowful fact that His Master has been rejected and insulted here.  Is it not a tender thought that the very sorrows and insults which have been heaped upon Him here are so many fresh claims on one's affections ?

The heart, not the head, is the parent of eloquence.

It is to make much of Christ that we want --- much of Himself and His glorious achievements for poor sinners.  We want ... the breathings of a soul content with Him, and the peace of a conscience for ever at rest in His unaided sufficiency.

"And when He rose up from prayer, and was come to His disciples, He found them sleeping." (Luke 22:45) They were His thought, not He theirs.  He their thought !  They could not watch with Him one hour.  So it is now."He ever liveth to make intercession for us"; do we ever live to love Him, to serve Him ?  He ever lives for you; do you live ever for Him ?

Our power in drawing others after the Lord mainly rests in our joy and communion with Him ourselves.

Is there not a fear lest familiarity with the things of Christ be much more than the soul's aquaintance with Himself ? ... I may be reading the books which tell of Him ... I may speak, nay, write about Him, while others ... may be a good deal withdrawn from this, but their growth in divine knowledge and living understanding of Him may be far more advancing.

It is one thing to render to Jesus the tribute of admiration, or even tears, and another to join one's self with Him for better or for worse, through good and evil ...  One thing to speak well of Him, another to give up all for Him.

"O fools, and slow of heart to believe" What ? "ALL that the prophets hath spoken." Oh, how that should bind round your heart and mine every jot and syllable of God's word !

It is worth a world to have an intimate eternity with Christ.

Oh, how poorly has the soul learnt ... the living practical lesson of a scorned and rejected Jesus ... though the mind and pen can trace the form of it without doubt or difficulty ! Lord, give us to know the honour of witnessing Thy rejection in this proud world !

--- J.G.B.

"The love of Christ constraineth us" 2 Corinthians 5:14

Dear suffering Lamb !  Thy bleeding woulds,

With cords of love divine.

Have drawn our willing hearts to Thee,

And linked our life with Thine.

Sir E. Denny

(pp. 133-136, Footprints for Pilgrims)

What was the power that made Levi leave all and follow Christ ? Not the command:  the power did lie in the word itself, but it was the presentation of Christ Himself to Levi.  You cannot get separation apart from the presenting of the Person.  This is the reason of failure in separation -- it must begin with the heart.  If you want to help souls you must present Christ to them.  How should I separate a quantity of steel filings from a heap of dust ? By picking them out ? No, I should only defile my hand.  By holding a powerful magnet to them, and all would instantly be attracted and drawn out of the dust.  It is Christ revealed to us that detaches us from this world.

There is many a Christian who has not reached Christ, and there is the weakness.  There is a larger blessing than forgiveness -- that is, HIMSELF.  Nothing will satisfy Christ but revealing His heart to you, and you will never grow until you know Him.  It is impossible to grow unless you are under the power of His love.

"I have against thee that thou hast left thy first love" (Rev. 2:4, J.N.D.) Nothing can compensate for want of heart for Christ.

"And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught." (Mark 6:30) Surely we could not do better than follow the example of the apostles in this respect.  How much we should learn if we did so, and how gently He would remind us of many a failure to present the truth, or if we presented it correctly, how much we have failed to preach it in the power of the Spirit.  But we have to do with One who loves us, and this gives us confidence in telling Him everything.  It is even so in human relationships, for when we are assured of one another's love we do not hesitate to tell everything.  Much more should it be so when we speak to the Lord.

If we would wash another's feet aright our motive, like that of Jesus, must spring from love.  (See John 13:1, etc.)

The measure of our love indicates the measure of our usefulness.  As the apostle teaches us -- we may spend the whole of our substance in philanthropic work, and yet without love it is of no avail.

"Knowledge puffeth up, but love edifyeth." (1 Cor. 13:1)  I have noticed in small meetings, when love is strongly developed in the Christians, they grow, though there is not gifted teacher among them.

"And whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee." (Luke 10:35)  Spend anything you like on a child of God, and He will undertake to repay you.

In proportion as death works in us, the divine nature is in activity, and God is love.

Love to Christ is the mainspring of holiness.

--- E.D.

"That He might have the first place in all things." Colossians 1:18 (J.N.D.)

Of the vast universe of bless, The centre Thou, and Sun;

The eternal them of praise is this, To heaven's beloved One;

Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou,

That every knee to Thee should bow !

E. Conder

(pp. 81-84, Footprints for Pilgrims)

Christ is everything.  He is everything to the heart of God, and He desires to be everything to the hearts of His people.  That it may be so with you is the highest blessedness I can desire for you.

There is never any difficulty about guidance when the eye is on Christ, but if other considerations come in then you miss His leadings.

"According to my earnest expectation and hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body."  Is it our desire to be able to adopt Paul's language ? Do we hold our bodies as vessels for the display of Christ ?  As we rise in the morning do we look upon the coming day as another opportunity of making Christ great ?

We can present Christ to the hearts of men in our lives as well as by our words.  We may not be able to explain a single passage of scripture, but we can live Christ.  You may teach a Sunday school, or visit among the poor, and that is all right and good, but there is something far better -- live Christ, present Christ.

May the Lord teach us this lesson -- that He is the only thing that is indispensable to us.

There is always a response to the ministry of Christ.

Christ in some aspect is suited to the need of every soul.

The only object of the preacher is to exalt and make much of Christ.  The Spirit's testimony is Christ, and His work is to glorify Christ, and I desire to be in the line of the Spirit, otherwise one could not count upon being used in blessing.

Half the preaching in the world today might be done away with to advantage.  Nothing can meet the need of the people but Christ.  There is nothing worth ministering but Christ.

The truth is not Christ, but Christ is the truth.  You can have the truth without having Christ, but if you have Christ you must have the truth -- all the influences that flow from the truth -- because He is THE TRUTH.

The larger our thoughts of Christ the larger our communion with the heart of God ... The glory of Christ is the one subject that fills the heart of God, and filling His heart it should also fill ours.

A real revival in our hearts is always the revival of the place of Christ in our hearts.

The least bit of allowed self obscures the presentation of Christ.

It always appeals to me that the last sight the disciples had of our blessed Lord was His passing into heaven with His outstretched arms of blessing.  That indeed is His perpetual attitude towards us.  No less striking is their response to what they had seen.  It was, in one word, perpetual worship.  Ah, if we did but worship more we should have far higher conceptions of who He is, and what He had done for us.

--- E.D.

"Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father ... comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work."

2 Thessalonians 2:16, 17

Let us our feebleness recline On that Eternal love of Thine,

And human thoughts forget; Childlike, attend what Thou wilt say,

Go forth and serve Thee while 'tis day, Nor leave our sweet retreat.

(pp. 41-44, Footprints for Pilgrims)

"Who hath despised the day of small things ?"  We are slow to learn that the importance of any service depends upon God's estimate of it ... that the meanest service ... is worthy of all our devotedness and zeal if the mind and heart of God are upon it, and if He has put it into our hand.

We cannot have power with men if we have not power with God.  The greatest mistake any of us can make is to seek to have power before men without having been in the presence of God.

We are dependent upon God when we speak to one soul as when we preach to a thousand.  I have learnt this by experience; I have gone to see a sick person in great self-confidence and found I had nothing to say.  And then the Lord taught me I must wait upon Him for the message for a single soul as much as when I was going to preach.  May we ever remember this, that there may be no trace of self-confidence remaining in the heart.

The wonder is that the Lord condescends to use anything which He gives one to say, seeing that we so often adulterate it with our own thoughts.

It is so gracious of Him to give us any encouragement in our service, but I am convinced that, in the issue, the fruit of our labours which we have not seen will be far more abundant than that which we have been permitted to know of, and hence it is that we have to scatter the seed in faith.

I am certain that we must leave results until the judgment seat of Christ.  In the meantime our one desire must be to gain His approbation and be content with that.  Nothing else is worth seeking for.

I suspect that we shall see in the future that the meetings we thought the least of were among the best.  We may therefore take courage and go forward in the knowledge that He who can appraise them at their true value is the One who will praise us most for what we have really done for Him.

I am coming to this conclusion, that the more one ministers Christ Himself the more you can count upon divine assistance.  To exalt Christ is to be in communion with the mind of God.  This will be our sole employment in heaven.

One lesson I am learning of late is our absolute dependence upon the power of God every time we speak; it is not our liberty nor our words, but it is the power of God that affects the souls to whom we speak.

A preacher will be so conscious that only divine power can touch a soul that he will rest in God about it.

--- E.D.

"Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live ?"  Hebrews 12:9

A heart resigned, submissive, meek, My great Redeemer's throne,

Where only Christ is heart to speak, Where Jesus reigns alone.

(pp. 29-32, Footprints for Pilgrims)

Faith is a divine plant that only grows out of the soil of a broken will.

Two lessons I have been learning: first, to expect nothing but from the Lord; and, secondly, to take nothing, even though it be that on which you have set your heart, and even if it be brought to you, but to wait on the Lord until He puts it into your hands.  If ripe fruit, for example (I use "ripe fruit" figuratively), be hanging on a branch close to you, do not pluck it, but let the Lord, if it be His will, put it into your lips, and then you may enjoy it.

You are of no use to God until your will is broken.

The calm of a soul which reposes in the will of God is unspeakable.

When you have learnt that your only home is God's presence, and your only happiness is in doing God's will, there is nothing more that I can teach you.

The more subject we are to the will of God the more we shall grow in holiness.

(Luke 22:42, etc.) You cannot expect an answer from God unless your will is gone.  You shut out answers to prayer because you have a will about the thing for which you are praying.

A sister used to say that the only difference she knew in places was where she realized most of the presence of God; so it will be with ourselves when we have no will of our own, and when we have no home but God's presence.

If we knew the heart of God we would never question any of His dealings with us, nor should we ever desire His hand lifted off us till we had learnt all He would teach us.

Paul says, "Through evil report and good report," he did not stop to explain; a true servant of God has not time for that, and to defend yourself only leads to further charges.

We are never to seek to vindicate ourselves when it is a personal matter, but when the Lord's name is dishonoured for His glory we may speak.

You never find the Lord defending Himself.

Your character may not be vindicated down here.  Jesus died under a cloud.

He was never cleared in this world of the false accusations that had been made against Him.

The will of God was the only law of Christ's life.  He was never governed by human considerations or affections. Are we set upon this -- that the will of God should be our only law ?

A soul who is in the secret of the divine mind must be content to be unappreciated and to walk alone.

If we are not in the path of God's will we are not in the path of power.

Our true wisdom is in subjection to the will of the Lord.  To human eyes no plan of taking Jericho could have been more foolish than that which Joshua adopted; but it was God's plan, and hence its complete success.

--- E.D.