The Deeper Christian Life # 13

The Deeper Christian Life # 13

Dear Friends, are you going to say, "I will have this blessing?" What does that mean? It means, first of all, of course, that you are going to give up every sin, you are going to look around into your life, and if you see anything wrong there, it means that you are going to confess it to Jesus, and say, "Lord, I cast it at Thy feet; it may be rooted in my heart, but I will give it up to Thee. I cannot take it out, but Jesus, Thou cleanser of sin, I give it to Thee." Let it be temper, or pride,k let it be money, or lust, or pleasure; let it be the fear of man, let it be anything; - but, oh, say to Christ at once, "I will have this blessing at any cost." Oh, give up every sin to Jesus.

And it means not only giving up every sin, but - what is deeper than sin, and more difficult to get at - it means giving up yourself - "self", with your will, and your pleasure, and your honor, and all you have, and saying, "Jesus, I am from this moment going to give myself up, that by the Holy Spirit Thou mayest take possession of me, and that Thou mayest by Thy Spirit turn out whatever is sinful, and take entire command of me." This looks difficult so long as satan blinds, and makes us think it would be a hard thing to give up all that; but if God opens our eyes for one minute to see what a heavenly blessedness, and what heavenly riches and heavenly glory it is to be filled with the Spirit out of the heart of Jesus, then we will say, "I will give anything, anything, anything, but I will have the blessing!"

And then, it means that you are just to cast yourself at His feet and to say, 'Lord, I will have the blessing."

Ah, satan often tempts us, and says, "Suppose God were to ask that of you, would you be willing to give it?" - and he makes us afraid. But how many have found, and have been able to tell about it, that when once they have said, "Lord, anything and everything!" the light and the joy of heaven filled their hearts!

Last year at Johannesburg, the gold fields of South Africa, at an afternoon meeting we had one day testimony, and a woman rose up and told us how her pastor two months ago had held a consecration service in a tent, and he had spoken strongly about consecration, and had said, "Now if God were to send your husband away to China, or if God were to ask you to go away to America, would you be willing for it? You must give yourself up entirely." And the woman said - and her face beamed with brightness when she spoke, - when, at the close of the meeting he asked those to rise who were will to give up all to be filled with the Spirit, she said, "The struggle was terrible; God may take away my husband or my children from me, and am I ready for it? Oh, Jesus is very precious, but I cannot say I will give up all, but I will tell Him I do want to do it." - and at last she stood up. She said she went home that night in a terrible struggle, and she could not sleep, for the thought was, "i said to Jesus everything, and could I give up husband or child?" The struggle continued till midnight, "but," she said, "I would not let go; I said to Jesus, "everything, but fill me with Thyself." And the joy of the Holy Spirit came down upon her, and her minister who sat there told me afterwards that the testimony was a true one, and for the two months her life had been one of exceeding brightness and of heavenly joy. Oh, is any reader tempted to say, "I cannot give up all." I take you by the hand, my brother and sister, and I bring you to the crucified Jesus, and I say, "Just look at Him, how He loved you on Calvary; just look at Him." Just look at Jesus! he offers actually to fill your heart with His Holy Spirit, with the Spirit of His love and of His fullness, and of His power, actually to make your heart full of the Holy Spirit; and do you dare to say, "I am afraid," - do you dare to say, "I cannot do that for Jesus?" or will your heart rapt at His feet, cry out, "Lord Jesus, anything, but I must be filled with Thy Spirit!" Haven't you often prayed for the presence and the abiding nearness and the love of Jesus to fill you? - but that cannot be until you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Oh, come and say, in view of any sacrifice, "I will have it, by God's help! Not in my strength, but by the help of God, I will have it!"

And then comes my last point. Say, "I shall have it." Praise God that a man dare say that, "I shall have it." Yes, when a man has made up his mind; when  a man has been brought to a conviction and a sorrow for his sinful life; when a man, like Peter, has wept bitterly or has sighed deeply before God." Oh, my Lord, what a life I have been living!" - when a man begins to feel that, and when he comes and makes surrender, and casts himself upon God and claims the promise, "Lord, I may have it; it is for me," - what think you? Hasn't he a right to say, "I shall have it?" Yes, and I give to every one of you that message from God, that if you are willing, and if you are ready, God is willing and ready to close the bargain at once. Yes, you can have it now, Now! without any outburst of feeling, without any flooding of the heart with light, you may have it. To some it comes in that way, but to many not. As a quiet transaction of the surrendered will, you can lift up your heart in faith and say, "O God, here I do give myself as an empty vessel to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I give myself up once for all and forever!" Tis done, the great transaction's done. You can say it now if you will take your place before God.

Oh, ministers of the gospel, have you never felt the need of being filled with the Holy Spirit? Your heart perhaps tells you that you know nothing of that blessing. Oh, workers for Christ, have you never felt a need, "I must be filled with the Holy Spirit?" Oh, children of God, have you never felt a hope rise within you, "I may have this blessing. I hear it from others?" Will you not take the step and say, "I will have it?" Say it, not in our own strength, but in self-despair. Never mind though it appears as if the heart is all cold and closed up, never mind; but as an act of obedience and of surrender, as an act of the will, cast yourself before Jesus and trust Him. "I shall have it, for I now give up myself into the arms of my Lord Jesus, I shall have it, for it is the delight of Jesus to give the Holy Spirit from the Father into the heart of everyone. I shall have it, for I do believe in Jesus, and He promised me that out of Him that believeth shall flow rivers of living water. I shall have it! I shall have it! I will cling to the feet of Jesus, I will stay at the throne of God; I shall have it, for God is faithful, and God has promised."

~Andrew Murray~

(continued with # 14)