Walk in My Way.
My Way is that of doing, not only of accepting, the Father’s Will.
Submitting to that Will, however gladly you may do so, is not enough.
Your work and influence for Me are hindered if your life is not one of complete obedience. “By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”
Where would your salvation have been had I faltered and wavered in MY task?
It was by the obedience of My earth-life I saved; and so must it be with you.
The prophet realized the Truth of My later saying “He that hath ears to hear let him hear” which might be rendered “he that hath eyes to see let him see.”
The God who was to be born upon earth was not to be housed in a body so beautiful that men would follow and adore for the beauty of His Countenance.
No! He was to be as one whom the world would despise, but to the seeing eye, the Spirit that dwelt in that body should be so beautiful as to lack nothing. “Yet when we shall see Him, there is no Beauty that we should desire Him.”
Pray for the seeing eye, to see the Beauty of My Character, of My Spirit. Nay, more, as faith saw the Beauty of the Godhead in One who had no form or comeliness, so pray to have that faith to see the Beauty of My Love in My dealings with you, in My actions. Till, in what the world will distort into cruelty and harshness, you, with the eyes of faith, will see all that you could desire.
Know Me. Talk to Me. Let Me talk to you, so that I may make clear to your loving hearts what seems mysterious now and purposeless (“having no form nor comeliness.”)
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root
out of a dry ground … and when we shall see him, there is no
beauty that we should desire him. Isaiah 53:2
Walk in My Pastures. The eye will be rested and the spirit restored by the soft green of their verdure. The ear soothed and then enchanted by the sound of My Waters of Comfort.
No stones will impede your progress.
The soft haze over all will speak of unrevealed mysteries, while the wonder of life about you will tell of My ever-active, creative, and protective Power, and you will be filled with a content that will merge into a strange yearning for a spirit-oneness with Me.
Then — you will know I am there.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Revelation 3:20
Oh, ponder again these words and learn from them My great humility.
There is that gracious invitation, too, for those who yearn to realize a happiness, a rest, a satisfaction they have never found in the world and its pursuits. To them, the pleading answer to their quest is “Come to Me and I will give you rest.”
But to those who do not feel their need of Me, who obstinately reject Me, who shut the doors of their hearts so that I may not enter, to these I go, in tender, humble longing. Even when I find all closed, all barred, I stand a Beggar, knocking, knocking. The Heavenly Beggar in His Great Humility.
Never think of those who have shut you out, or forgotten you, that now they must wait, you have no need of them. No! remember that, the Heavenly Beggar, and learn of Me, humility.
Learn too the value of each man’s happiness, and peace and rest, to Me, his God; and learn, and learning, pray to copy the Divine Unrest until a soul finds rest and peace in Me.
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved,
and shall go in and out, and find pasture. John 10:9
Remember that you live in Eternity, not time. Let there be no rush to do this or that.
It follows that for each task Eternity is yours.
How often, and how sadly, impotent haste has hindered, not hastened, the work of My Kingdom.
Live more quietly, bathed in the calm of Eternity. Feel this before you leave My Presence.
No fevered haste to work My Will. You must go forth in God’s Great Calm.
There was no haste in His Creative Plan. Do you not feel the Strength of Calmness that lies behind God’s work in Nature? Rest and know.
Take each day’s happenings as work you can do for Me. In that Spirit a blessing will attend all you do. Offering your day’s service, thus to Me, you are sharing in My Life-work, and therefore helping Me to save My world.
You may not see it, but the power of vicarious sacrifice is redemptive beyond man’s power of understanding here on earth.
And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance:
for ye serve the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23-24
Wait upon Me.
Wait until My strength has filled your being, and you are no longer weak, petty, “misunderstood.”
Rise above any fret as to how others may judge you. Leave Me to explain what I will of you and your actions.
Would you seek to follow a Christ Who had wasted His God-Power on fruitless explanations?
So with you. Leave Me to vindicate you, and to be your Advocate, or trust My silence in this as in all else.
In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer;
I have overcome the world. John 16:33
Then you may ask why have you, My children, to have tribulation if I have overcome the world.
My overcoming was never, you know, for Myself, but for you, for My children. Each temptation, each difficulty, I overcame as it presented itself.
The powers of evil were strained to their utmost to devise means to break Me. They failed, but how they failed was known only to Me, and to My Father, who could read My undaunted spirit. The world, even My own followers, would see a Lost Cause. Reviled, spat upon, scourged, they would deem Me conquered. How could they know My Spirit was free, unbroken, unharmed?
And so, as I had come to show man God, I must show him God unconquered, unharmed, untouched by evil and its power. Man could not see My Spirit untouched, risen above these earth furies and hates, into the Secret Place of the Father. But man could see My Risen Body and learn by that, that even the last attempt of man had been powerless to touch Me.
Take heart from that, for you must share My tribulations.
And in My conquering Power you walk unharmed today.
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested,
that he might destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8
How few wait on Me.
Many pray to Me.
They come into My Presence feverish with wants and distress, but few wait there for that calm and strength that contact with Me would give.
Look unto Me and be ye saved. But the look was not meant to be a hurried glance. It was to be the look into My face of the lover beholding the Beloved.
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a a tinkling cymbal. 1 Corinthians 13:1
SEE that only Love tells. Only what is done in Love lasts, for God is Love, and only the work of God remains.
The fame of the world, the applause given to the one who speaks with the tongues of men and of angels, who attracts admiration and compels attention, it is all given to what is passing, is really worthless, if it lacks that God-quality, Love.
Think how a smile, or word of Love, goes winged on its way, a God-Power, simple though it may seem, while the mighty words of an orator can fall fruitless to the ground. The test of all true work and words is – are they inspired by Love?
If man only saw how vain is so much of his activity! So much work done in My Name is not acknowledged by Me. As for Love. Turn out from your hearts and lives all that is not loving, so shall ye bear much fruit, and by this shall all men know ye are My disciples, because ye have Love one toward another.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but
the greatest of these is charity. 1 Corinthians 13:13
