others may...you cannot!

Back in the 80's when I knew that God had called me into service for Him, I ran across this paper (author unknown) that impacted my life so much, the message I have saved and held onto for over 20 years now and have tried at best to live what I felt was a call to a consecrated life with Christ. I knew the Lord had His hand upon me, but being young in the Lord at the time I didn't know really what that meant, nor did I know where the Lord was leading me. Today, I'm still not completely sure, but I do know He has continued pressing this message into my life.

"Others may...you cannot"

If God has called you to be really like Jesus in all your spirit, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility, and put on you such demands of obedience, that He will not allow you to follow other Christians, and in many ways He will seem to let other good people do things which He will not let you do.

Other Christians and ministers who seem very religious and useful may push themselves, pull wires, and work schemes to carry out their plans, but you cannot do it; and if you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.

Others may brag on themselves, on their work, on their success, on their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing, and if you begin it, he will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.

Others will be allowed to succeed in making money, or having a legacy left to them, or in having luxuries. But it's likely God will keep you poor, because He wants you to have something better than gold, and this is a helpless dependence on Him, that He may have the privilege of supplying your needs day by day out of an unseen treasury.

The Lord will let others be honored, and put forward, and keep you hid away in obscurity, because He wants to produce some choice, fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade. He will let others be great, but keep you small. He will let others do a work for Him, and get the credit for it, but He will make you work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing: and then to make your work still more precious, He will let others get the credit for the work you have done, and this will make your reward ten times greater when Jesus comes.

The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch over you, with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings or for wasting your time, which other Christians never seem distressed over. So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign God, and has a right to do as He pleases with His own, and He will not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle your reason in His dealings with you, but if you absolutely sell yourself to be his love slave, he will wrap you up in a jealous love, and bestow upon you many blessings which come only to those who are in the inner circle.

Settle it forever, then, that you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, and that He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that He does not seem to use with others. Now, when you are so possessed with the living God, that you are in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of Heaven." (End of quote).

While eating dinner last evening with my wife of 27 years I mentioned to her that so many times in this season of my life I am overwhelmed with God and His presence in me. He is so real, almost tangible at times. The bible says in Hebrews 12:29 "For our God is a consuming fire". I feel at times consumed by His love, His mercy, and His grace. It is in these times when I know that He speaks to those who will take the time to listen. The one lost component of prayer, the listening side. We've been good at speaking, praying, giving our request, proclaiming, taking dominion, casting out this and that, but are we listening? God desires a people of fellowship. Many people today in the church cry out for fellowship, something their lacking in their lives that only others can fulfill. What about the Lord? What about fellowship with God? We were created for His good pleasure, may we never lose sight of that fact.