God Calling

by Two Listeners

Edited by A. J. Russell

June 1 - 15

June 1 - Companionship

The way of the soul's transformation is the Way of Divine Companionship.

Not so much the asking Me to make you this or that but the living with Me, thinking of Me, talking to Me - thus you grow like Me.

Love Me. Rest in Me.

Joy in Me.

I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. Song of Solomon 6:3

June 2 - My Image

My Lord and my God, we praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship Thee. Make us like Thee.

You are willing to drink of the cup that I drink of - the wine of sorrow and disappointment.

You are Mine and will grow both of you more and more like Me, your Master.

True it is today as it was in the days of Moses that no man can see My face and live.

The self, the original Man, shrivels up and dies, and upon the soul becomes stamped My image.

For whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son. Romans 8:29

June 3 - Eject Sin With Love

Our Lord, we love and praise Thee.  Thou art our Joy and our exceeding great reward.

Remember that Love is the power which transforms the world. Love not only of Me, Love not only of the few dear to you, but Love of all - of the publicans, the sinners, the harlots - Love.

It is the only weapon with which sin can be driven out. Drive sin out with Love.

Drive fear and depression and despair and a sense of failure out with Praise.

Praise is the acknowledgement of that which I have sent you. Few men would send a further gift of payment until they had received the acknowledgement of the previous one. So praise, acknowledging, as it does, that My gift and blessing leaves the way open for Me to shower yet more on the thankful heart.

Learn as a child learns to say "Thank you" as a courtesy, with perhaps no real sense of gratitude at all. Do this until at last a thrill of joy, of thankful awe, will accompany the spoken word.

Do not expect for yourselves feeling that you know others have or have had. Just go on along the arid way of obedience, and persistence will be rewarded as you come to the Spring, the glad Spring of Water.

Oh, joy in Me, and, as far as in you lies, shed Joy on all around.

Owe no man any thing, but to love one another;
for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. Romans 12:8

June 4 - Divine Patience

Lord, make us like Thee. Mold us into Thy likeness.

Molding, My children, means cutting and chiseling. It means sacrifice of the personal to conform to type. It is not only My work but yours.

The swift recognition of the selfish in your desires and motives, actions, words and thoughts, and the instant appeal to Me for help to eradicate that.

It is a work that requires cooperation - Mine and yours. It is a work that brings much sense of failure and discouragement too, at times, because, as the work proceeds, you see more and more clearly all that yet remains to be done.

Shortcomings you had hardly recognized or at least for which you had had no sense of sorrow, now cause you trouble and dismay.

Courage. That is in itself a sign of progress.

Patience, not only with others, but each of you, with herself

As you see the slow progress upward made by you, in spite of your longing and struggle, you will gain a divine patience with others whose imperfections trouble you.

So on and up. Forward. Patience - Perseverance - Struggle. Remember that I am beside you, your Captain and your Helper. So tender, so patient, so strong.

Yes, we cooperate and as I share your troubles, failures, difficulties, heartaches, so as My friends, you share My patience, and My strength - beloved.

And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter,
so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jeremiah 18:4

June 5 - That Tender Voice

Very quietly I speak. Listen to My Voice. Never heed the voices of the world - only the tender Divine Voice.

Listen and you will never be disappointed. Listen, and anxious thoughts and tired nerves will become rested. The Voice Divine - not so much in strength as in tenderness. Not so much in power as in restfulness.

But the tenderness and the restfulness will heal your scars and make you strong, and then it must be your task to let all your power be My Power. Man's little power is as clay beside the granite rock of My Power.

You are My great care. Never feel at the mercy of the world. My angels guard you day and night and nothing can harm you. You would indeed thank Me if you knew the darts of fret and evil they turn from you.

Thank Me indeed for dangers unknown - unseen- but averted.

And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake;
And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire;
and after the fire a still small voice. 1 Kings 19:11, 12

June 6 -How Men See Me

I came to help a world. And according to the varying needs of each so does each man see Me.

It is not necessary that you see Me as others see Me - the world, even the Church, My disciples, My followers, but it is necessary that you see Me, each of you, as supplying all that you personally need.

The weak need My Strength. The strong need My Tenderness. The tempted and fallen need My Salvation. The righteous need My Pity for sinners. The lonely need a Friend. The fighters need a Leader.

No man could be all these to men - only a God could be. In each of these relations of Mine to man you must see the God. The God-Friend, the God-Leader, the God-Savior.

But my God shall supply all your need according to
his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:29

June 7 - True Beauty

Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear and your soul shall live.
- Isaiah 55:3

Not only live but grow in grace and power and beauty - the true Beauty, the Beauty of Holiness.

Reach ever forward after the things of My Kingdom.

In the animal world the very form of an animal alters to enable it to reach that upon which it delights to feed.

So reaching after the treasures of My Kingdom your whole nature becomes changed; so that you can best enjoy and receive the wonders of that Kingdom.

Dwell on these truths.

And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us;
and establish thou the work of our hands upon us
Psalm 90:17

June 8 - The Only Way

Down through the ages My Power alone has kept millions of souls brave and true and strong, who else would have fallen by the way.

The Faith has been kept alive and handed down, not by the dwellers in ease, but by those who struggled and suffered and died for Me.

This life is not for the body, it is for the soul, and man too often chooses the way of life that best suits the body. Not the way that best suits the soul. And I permit only what best suits the soul.

Accept this and a wonderful molding is the result, reject it and My Purpose is frustrated, your best prayer unanswered, progress (Spiritual progress) delayed, trouble and grief stored up.

Try, each of you, to picture your soul as a third being trained by us - by you, and Me - and then you will share, and rejoice in sharing, in the discipline and training.

Stand apart from your soul with Me and welcome training - rejoice at progress.

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly;
and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body
be preserved blameless unto the coming of
your Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23

June 9 - An Obstacle Race

Rise above your fears and fancies into My Joy. It will suffice to heal all your sores and wounds. Forget all sense of failure and shortcomings, all the painful jolts and jars, and trust Me, love Me, call upon Me.

Your discipleship is an obstacle race. "So run that ye may obtain." Obtain not only your hearts' desires, but obtain Me - your souls' Joy and Haven.

What would you think of the runner who threw himself on the ground in despondency at his first hurdle?

Over, and on and up. I am your Leader and your goal.

But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection;
lest that by any means, when I have preached to others,
I myself should be a castaway. 1 Corinthians 9:27

June 10 -The Day of Trouble

Offer unto Me the sacrifice of thanksgiving and pay your vows to the Most High,
and then call upon Me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you.

To praise and thank and steadily fulfill your promises (vows) to Me are then, as it were, the placing of coin in My Bank, upon which, in your time of need, you can draw with confidence and certainty. Remember that.

The world wonders when it sees the man who can so unexpectedly draw large and unsuspected sums from his bank for his own need, that of a friend, or for some charity.

But what the world has not seen are the countless small sums paid into that bank, earned by faithful work in many ways.

And so in My Kingdom. The world sees the man of faith make a sudden demand upon Me, upon My stores, and lo! that demand is met.

The world thinks the man has magic power – No! the world does not see that the man has been paying in, in thanks and praise, promises fulfilled—faithfully, steadily.

So with you, My children. "Offer to God the sacrifice of Thanksgiving and pay your vows to the Most High and call upon Me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you."

This is a promise for the seemingly dull days of little happenings, and a cheer for you, My children. When you seem not able to do big things you can be storing your little acts and words of faithfulness in My Great Storehouse, ready for the day of your big demand.

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually,
that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. Hebrews 13:15

June 11 - My Mark!

O Lord, we thank Thee for Thy great gift of Peace.

That is the Peace, that only I can give in the midst of a restless world and surrounded by trouble and difficulty. To know that Peace is to have received the stamp of the Kingdom - the mark of the Lord Jesus Christ. My Mark.

When you have learned that Peace you are fit to judge of true values, the values of the Kingdom, and the values of all the world has to offer.

That Peace is loving faith at rest.

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.
In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer;
I have overcome the world. John 16:33

June 12 - House On A Rock

Be watchful to hear My Voice and instantly to obey. Obedience is your great sign of faith. "Why call ye Me Lord, Lord and do not the things that I say" was My word when on earth to the many who followed and heard, but did not do.

I likened the man who heard and did not do to the man who built his house on the sand. In times of storm and trouble he is overthrown, his house falls.

I likened the man who obeyed Me implicitly to the man who built his house upon a rock. In times of storm he is steadfast, immovable.

Do not feel that by this I mean only the keeping of My Commandments, even the living My Sermon on the Mount. I mean more than that to those who know Me intimately. I mean the following, in all, the Inner Guiding that I give, the little injunctions I speak to each individual soul, the wish I express - and desire to have carried out.

The secure, steadfast, immovable life of My disciples, the Rock Home, is not built at a wish, in a moment, but is laid, stone by stone, foundations, walls, roof, by the acts of obedience, the daily following out of My wishes, the loving doing of My will.

He that heareth these sayings of Mine and doeth them is like unto a man who built his house upon a rock, and the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell not, for it was founded upon a Rock.

And it is in that Rock-Home, manmade but divinely inspired - the House of Obedience - the truest expression of a disciple's adoration and worship - it is there I come to dwell with My loved one.

Am I not giving you work, hope? Work for the gray days? Just little plain bricks of duties done and My Wishes carried out. All strengthening you and making of your character that steadfast, immovable Christian Character of which My servant Paul spoke and which he urged his followers to have.

Therefore, now amend your ways and your doings,
and obey the voice of the Lord your God. Jeremiah 26:13

June 13 - God-Inspired

You have entered now upon a mountain climb. Steep steps lead upward, but your power to help others will be truly marvelous.

Not alone will you arise. All towards whom you now send loving, pitying thoughts will be helped upward by you.

Looking to Me all your thoughts are God-inspired. Act on them and you will be led on. They are not your own impulses but the movement of My Spirit and, obeyed, will bring the answer to your prayers.

Love and Trust. Let no unkind thoughts of any dwell in your hearts, then I can act with all My Spirit-power, with nothing to hinder.

I will lift up mine eyes until the hills, from whence cometh my help. Psalm 121:1

June 14 - Face Today With Me

Our Lord and our God. Make us all Thou wouldst have us.

It is not circumstances that need altering first, but yourselves, and then the conditions will naturally alter. Spare no effort to become all I would have you. Follow every leading. I am your only Guide.

Endeavor to put from you every thought of trouble. Take each day, and with no backward look, face the day's problem with Me, and seek My Help and guidance as to what you can do.

Never look back and never leave until the morrow that on which you can get My Guidance for today.

Lead me in thy truth, and teach me; for thou art the
God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day. Psalm 25:5

June 15 - Glory, Glory Dawneth

I am planning for you. Wonderful are My Ways beyond your knowledge.

Oh! realize My Bounty and My Goodness more and more. The wonder of being led by Me! The beauty of a guided life!

These will enter your consciousness more and more, and bring you ever more and more Joy.

You are very nearly at the point when you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.

You have entered upon a wonderful era - your lives are planned and blessed by Me as never before.

You are overcoming. You are counting all things but loss if you can win Me. And the promises to him that overcometh are truly wonderful, and will always be fulfilled.

When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into
all truth ... he will show you things to come. John 16:13

Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
Jude 1:24-25

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