1. The first and chief need of our Christian life is, Fellowship with
God.
The Divine life within us comes from
God, and is entirely dependent upon Him. As I need every moment afresh the air
to breathe, as the s sun every moment afresh sends down its light, so it is
only in direct living communication with God that my soul can be strong.
The manna of one day was corrupt when the next
day came. I must every day have fresh grace from heaven, and I obtain it only
in direct waiting upon God Himself. Begin each day by tarrying before God, and
letting Him touch you. Take time to meet God.
2. To this end, let your first act in your
devotion be a setting yourself still before God. In prayer, or worship,
everything depends upon God taking the chief place. I must bow quietly before
Him in humble faith and adoration, speaking thus within my heart: "God is. God
is near. God is love, longing to communicate Himself to me. God the Almighty
One, Who worketh all in all, is even now waiting to work in me, and make
Himself known." Take time, till you know God is very near.
3. When you have given God His place of honor,
glory, and power, take your place of deepest lowliness, and seek to be filled
with the Spirit of humility. As a creature it is your blessedness to be
nothing, that God may be all in you. As a sinner you are not worthy to look up
to God; bow in self abasement. As a saint, let God's love overwhelm you, and
bow you still lower down. Sink down before Him in humility, meekness, patience,
and surrender to His goodness and mercy. He will exalt you. Oh! take time,
to get very low before God.
4. Then accept and value your place in Christ
Jesus. God delights in nothing but His beloved Son, and can be satisfied with
nothing else in those who draw nigh to Him. Enter deep into God's holy presence
in the boldness which the blood gives, and in the assurance that in Christ you
are most well-pleasing. In Christ you are within the veil. You have access into
the very heart and love of the Father. This is the great object of fellowship
with God, that I may have more of God in my life, and that God may see Christ
formed in me. Be silent before God and let Him bless you.
5. This Christ is a living Person. He loves you
with a personal love, and He looks every day for the personal response of your
love. Look into His face with trust, till His love really shines into your
heart. Make His heart glad by telling Him that you do love Him. He offers
Himself to you as a personal Saviour and Keeper from the power of sin. Do not
ask, can I be kept from sinning, if I keep close to Him? but ask, can I be kept
from sinning, if He always keeps close to me? and you see at once how
safe it is to trust Him.
6. We have not only Christ's life in us as a
power, and His presence with us as a person, but we have His likeness to be
wrought into us. He is to be formed in us, so that His form or figure, His
likeness, can be seen in us. Bow before God until you get some sense of the
greatness and blessedness of the work to be carried on by God in you this day.
Say to God, "Father, here am I for Thee to give as much in me of Christ's
likeness as I can receive." And wait to hear Him say, "My child, I give thee as
much of Christ as thy heart is open to receive." The God who revealed Jesus in
the flesh and perfected Him, will reveal Him in thee and perfect thee in Him.
The Father loves the Son, and delights to work out His image and likeness in
thee. Count upon it that this blessed work will be done in thee as thou waitest
on thy God, and holdest fellowship with Him.
7. The likeness to Christ consists chiefly in two
things--the likeness of His death and resurrection, (Rom. 6:5). The death of
Christ was the consummation of His humility and obedience, the entire giving up
of His life to God. In Him we are dead to sin. As we sink down in humility and
dependence and entire surrender to God, the power of His death works in us, and
we are made conformable to His death. And so we know Him in the power of His
resurrection, in the victory over sin, and all the joy and power of the risen
life. Therefore every morning, "present yourselves unto God as those that are
alive from the dead." He will maintain the life He gave, and bestow the grace
to live as risen ones.
8. All this can only be in the power of the Holy
Spirit, who dwells in you. Count upon Him to glorify Christ in you. Count upon
Christ to increase in you the inflowing of His Spirit. As you wait before God
to realize His presence, remember that the Spirit is in you to reveal the
things of God. Seek in God's presence to have the anointing of the Spirit of
Christ so truly that your whole life may every moment be spiritual.
9. As you meditate on this wondrous salvation and
seek full fellowship with the great and holy God, and wait on Him to reveal
Christ in you, you will feel how needful the giving up of all is to receive
Him. Seek grace to know what it means to live as wholly for God as Christ did.
Only the Holy Spirit Himself can teach you what an entire yielding of the whole
life to God can mean. Wait on God to show you in this what you do not know. Let
every approach to God, and every request for fellowship with Him be accompanied
by a new, very definite, and entire surrender to Him to work in you.
10. "By faith" must here, as through all
Scripture, and all the spiritual life, be the keynote. As you tarry before God,
let it be in a deep quiet faith in Him, the Invisible One, who is so near, so
holy, so mighty, so loving. In a deep, restful faith too, that all the
blessings and powers of the heavenly life are around you, and in you. Just
yield yourself in the faith of a perfect trust to the Ever Blessed Holy Trinity
to work out all God's purpose in you. Begin each day thus in fellowship with
God, and God will be all in all to you.