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He Gave His Only Son

"Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

John 21:29

• There should be less talk. A preaching point is not a meeting point.


• The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unwanted, the unloved-- they are Jesus in disguise.


• In the West there is loneliness, which I call the leprosy of the West. In many ways it is worse than our poor in Calcutta. (Commonweal, Dec 19, 1997)


• It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.


• The poor give us much more than we give them. They're such strong people, living day to day with no food. and they never curse, never complain. We don't have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so much to learn from them.


• I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?


• I do not pray for success. I ask for faithfulness.


• Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.


• If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

~Mother Teresa~

Who is God? He is the fountain of lfe, the only soure of existence and power and goodness. Throughout the universe there is nothing good but what God works. God has created the sun, the moon, the stars, the flowers, the trees, and the grasses. Are they not all absolutely surrendered to God? Do they not allow God to work in them and do just as He pleases? When God clothes the rose bush with it's beauty, is it not yielded up, surrendered, given over to God as He works in it's beauty? As God's redeemed children, do you think that God can do His work if there is only half or a part of them surrendered?

I am sure there are many hearts that say "Absolute surrender implies so much!" Someone says "I have passed through so much trial and suffering, and there is so much of the self life still remaining. I dare not face entirely giving it up, because I know it will cause so much trouble and agony." I've come with a message to those who are fearful and anxious. God does not ask you to give the perfect surrender in your strength, or by the power of your will; God is willing to work it in you! He will conquer what is evil, and work what is well pleasing in His blessed sight. God Himself will work it in you.

Look at the men in the Old Testament, like Abraham. Do y ou think it was by accident that God found that man the father of the faithful and the friend of God? Do you think that it was Abraham himself, apart from God, who had such faith and such obedience and such devotion? You know it's not so. God raised him up and prepared him as an instrument for His glory.

Did God not say to the Pharaoh "For t his cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power." And if God said that to him, will God not say it far more of every child of His?

I want to encourage you, and I want you to cast away every fear. I implore you, learn to know and trust your God now. Say "My God, I am willing that you should make me willing." Do not be afraid that He will command from you what He will not bestow.

God works it in the secret of our heart; God urges us by the hidden power of His Holy Spirit, to come and speak it out and we have to bring and yield to Him that absolute surrender. Just remember, when you come and bring God that absolute surrender, it may, as far as your feelings or your consciousness goes, be a thing of great imperfection. You may doubt and hesitate and say "Is it absolute?" Remember, there was once a man to whom Christ had said "All things are possible to him that believes." and his heart was afraid and he cried out "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief."

To me, that was a faith that triumphed over Satan, and the evil spirit was cast out. And if you come and say "Lord, I yield myself in absolute surrender to my God." even though you do so with a trembling heart and with the consciousness of "I do not feel the power. I do not deel the determination. I do not feel the assurance." it will succeed. Do not be afraid, but come just as you are. Even in the midst of your trembling the power of the Holy Spirit will work.

When you do yield yourself in absolute surrender, let it be with the faith that God does now accept it. That is the great point, and that is what we so often miss, that believers should be thus occupied with God in this matter of surrender. We want to get help, every one of us, so that in our daily life God will be clearer to us.

That seems to be a great difficulty with many. People often say "I have often been stirred at work or school and I have consecrated myself to God, but it has passed away. I know it may last for a week or even am a month, but it fades away. After a time it is all gone."

But listen. It's because you don't believe what has been said. When it has begun the work of absolute surrender in you, and when God has accepted your surrender, then God holds Himself bound to care for it and to keep it. You need to believe that. Moment by moment we're kept in His love, moment by moment we live life from above. If God allows the sun to shine on you moment by moment, without intermission, will God not let His life shine on you every moment?

This absolute surrender to God brings wonderful blessings. What Ahab said to his enemy King Benhadad "My lord, oh king, according to they word I am thine, and all that I have." Will we not say to our God and loving Father this same thing? If we do say it, Gods blessing will come upon us. God wants us to be separate from the world. Come out for God and say "Lord, anything for you." If you say that with prayer, and speak in Gods ear, He will accept it, and He will teach you what it means.

I say again, God will bless you. Let us believe God has wonderful blessings for us. If we will but stand up for God and say "Oh God, I accept Your demands. I am Yours and all that I have. Absolute surrender is what my soul yields to You by divine grace."

God the Father loves to give us the power of the Spirit. We have the Spirit of God dwelling within us. We come to God confessing that, and praising God for it. We should bow to our knees before the Father and ask that He would strengthen us with all His might with the Spirit in the inner man, and that He would fill us with His mighty power. And as the Spirit reveals Christ to us, Christ comes to live in our hearts forever, and the self-life is cast out.

Join me and cast this self-life and flesh-life at the feet of Jesus. Then trust Him. Do not worry yourselves with trying to understand all about it, but come into the living faith that Christ will come into you with the power of His death and the power of His life. Then the Holy Spirit will bring the whole Christ...Christ crucified and risen and living in glory into our hearts.

"In Thy strong hand I lay me down
So shall the work be done;
For who can work so wonderously As the Almighty One?"

URLVD

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