by
G. D. Watson
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If God has called you to be really
like Jesus He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility, and put
upon you such demands of obedience, that you will not be able to follow other
people, or measure yourself by other Christians, and in many ways He will seem
to let other 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 boast of themselves, of
their work, of their successes, of 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 may be allowed to succeed
in making money, or may have a legacy left to them, but it is likely God will
keep you poor, because He wants you to have something far better than gold,
namely, a helpless dependence upon Him, that He may have the privilege of
supplying your needs day by day out of an unseen treasury.
The Lord may let others be honored
and put forward, and keep you hidden in obscurity, because He wants to produce
some choice fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in
the shade. He may let others be great,
but keep you small. He may 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 may let others get credit for the work which you have done,
and thus 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 feel distressed
over. So make up your mind that God is an Infinitely Sovereign Being, and has a
right to do as He pleases with His own.
He may not explain to you a thousand things which 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 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, then you
will have found the vestibule of Heaven.