Milo

November 3rd

A bond-slave of Jesus

I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Gal. 2:20.

These words mean the breaking of my independence with my own hand and surrendering to the supremacy of the Lord Jesus. No one can do this for me, I must do it myself. God may bring me to the point three hundred and sixty-five times a year, but He cannot put me through it. It means breaking the husk of my individual independence of God, and the emancipation of my personality into oneness with Himself, not for my own ideas, but for absolute loyalty to Jesus. There is no possibility of dispute when once I am there. Very few of us know anything about loyalty to Christ—“For my sake.” It is that which makes the iron saint.
Has that break come? All the rest is pious fraud. The one point to decide is—Will I give up, will I surrender to Jesus Christ, and make no conditions whatever as to how the break comes? I must be broken from my self-realization, and immediately that point is reached, the reality of the supernatural identification takes place at once, and the witness of the Spirit of God is unmistakable—“I have been crucified with Christ.”
The passion of Christianity is that I deliberately sign away my own rights and become a bond-slave of Jesus Christ. Until I do that, I do not begin to be a saint.
One student a year who hears God’s call would be sufficient for God to have called this College into existence. This College as an organization is not worth anything, it is not academic; it is for nothing else but for God to help Himself to lives. Is he going to help Himself to us, or are we taken up with our conception of what we are going to be?

November 3

“On all bare heights shall be their pasture.” (Isa. 49:9, R.V.)

TOYS and trinkets are easily won, but the greatest things are greatly bought. The top-most place of power is always bought with blood. You may have the pinnacles if you have enough blood to pay. That is the conquest condition of the holy heights everywhere. The story of real heroisms is the story of sacrificial blood. The chiefest values in life and character are not blown across our way by vagrant winds. Great souls have great sorrows.

“Great truths are dearly bought, the common truths,
  Such as men give and take from day to day,
Come in the common walk of easy life,
  Blown by the careless wind across our way.

“Great truths are greatly won, not found by chance,
  Nor wafted on the breath of summer dream;
But grasped in the great struggle of the soul,
  Hard buffeting with adverse wind and stream.

“But in the day of conflict, fear and grief,
  When the strong hand of God, put forth in might,
Plows up the subsoil of the stagnant heart,
  And brings the imprisoned truth seed to the light.

“Wrung from the troubled spirit, in hard hours
  Of weakness, solitude, perchance of pain,
Truth springs like harvest from the well-plowed field,
  And the soul feels it has not wept in vain.”

The capacity for knowing God enlarges as we are brought by Him into circumstances which oblige us to exercise faith; so, when difficulties beset our path let us thank God that He is taking trouble with us, and lean hard upon Him.

3 NOVEMBER

These miracles

‘… For no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.’ John 3:2
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Luke 7:11–23

Some of these works our Lord sums up as evidence of his mission to John’s disciples (Luke 7:22).
(i) The blind see. This was a proof of the power of God, and so acknowledged in John 10:21. His ministers cannot indeed give bodily sight, but they are his instruments to open the eyes of the mind. All men are blind till the gospel gives them sight—stark blind to the things of God. They know not where they are going, they are insensible to danger, though they stand upon the brink of it. They know not God or themselves. But this foolishness of preaching opens the eyes of many. And they can say, Whereas I was blind, now I see [John 9:25]. Where this preaching is applied to the heart by the Spirit, those who were before ignorant are made wise. Yea, though they are of moderate capacities and of the lowest ranks in life, they soon outstrip such as have the greatest natural advantages, if they have not this likewise.
(ii) The deaf hear. God is often speaking to sinners—to their consciences by his Spirit, to their eyes and their ears by his providence—but they are deaf. Though his voice is in the city there is no man of wisdom to understand it, till the preaching of the gospel comes, then the ears of the deaf are unstopped, and …
(iii) The dumb speak. Men indeed are not dumb wholly. They have tongues which they think are their own. Words of blasphemy, cursing, lying and vanity they are free to speak, but with respect to the best use and purpose of speech they are as dumb as fishes, till the knowledge of sin and of a Saviour opens their mouths. Then they speak to God’s praise and say, Come and I will tell you what he hath done [Psalm 66:16] [contd in 5/6].
FOR MEDITATION:
Sight, hearing, feeling, taste and smell,
It hears the mighty voice of GOD,
Are gifts we highly prize;
And ponders what he saith;
But faith does singly each excel,
His word and works, his gifts and rod,
And all the five comprise.
Have each a voice to faith.

SERMON SERIES: JOHN 3:1–2, NO. 2 [4/6]

November 2nd

Authority and independence

If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments. John 14:15 (R.V.).

Our Lord never insists upon obedience; He tells us very emphatically what we ought to do, but He never takes means to make us do it. We have to obey Him out of oneness of spirit. That is why when Our Lord talked about discipleship, He prefaced it with an IF—you do not need to unless you like. “If any man will be My disciple, let him deny himself”; let him give up his right to himself to Me. Our Lord is not talking of eternal positions, but of being of value to Himself in this order of things, that is why He sounds so stern (cf. Luke 14:26). Never interpret these words apart from the One who uttered them.
The Lord does not give me rules, He makes His standard very clear, and if my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without any hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone else in competition with Him, viz., myself. Jesus Christ will not help me to obey Him, I must obey Him; and when I do obey Him, I fulfil my spiritual destiny. My personal life may be crowded with small petty incidents, altogether unnoticeable and mean, but if I obey Jesus Christ in the haphazard circumstances, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God, and when I stand face to face with God I shall discover that through my obedience thousands were blessed. When once God’s Redemption comes to the point of obedience in a human soul, it always creates. If I obey Jesus Christ, the Redemption of God will rush through me to other lives, because behind the deed of obedience is the Reality of Almighty God.

November 2

“But prayer…” (Acts 12:5.)

BUT prayer is the link that connects us with God. This is the bridge that spans every gulf and bears us over every abyss of danger or of need.
How significant the picture of the Apostolic Church: Peter in prison, the Jews triumphant, Herod supreme the arena of martyrdom awaiting the dawning of the morning to drink up the apostle’s blood, and everything else against it. “But prayer was made unto God without ceasing.” And what was the sequel? The prison open, the apostle free, the Jews baffled, the wicked king eaten of worms, a spectacle of hidden retribution, and the Word of God rolling on in greater victory.
Do we know the power of our supernatural weapon? Do we dare to use it with the authority of a faith that commands as well as asks? God baptize us with holy audacity and Divine confidence! He is not wanting great men, but He is wanting men who will dare to prove the greatness of their God. But God! But prayer!—A. B. Simpson.
Beware in your prayer, above everything, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, above all that we ask or think. Each time you intercede, be quiet first and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, of how He delights to hear Christ, of your place in Christ; and expect great things.
—Andrew Murray.
Our prayers are God’s opportunities.
Are you in sorrow? Prayer can make your affliction sweet and strengthening. Are you in gladness? Prayer can add to your joy a celestial perfume. Are you in extreme danger from outward or inward enemies? Prayer can set at your right hand an angel whose touch could shatter a millstone into smaller dust than the flour it grinds, and whose glance could lay an army low. What will prayer do for you? I answer: All that God can do for you. “Ask what I shall give thee.”—Farrar.

“Wrestling prayer can wonders do,
  Bring relief in deepest straits;
Prayer can force a passage through
  Iron bars and brazen gates.”