November 4

Morning

For my strength is made perfect in weakness. — 2 Cor 12:9

A primary qualification for serving God with any amount of success, and for doing God’s work well and triumphantly, is a sense of our own weakness.

When the Christian warrior marches forth to battle, strong in his own might, when he boasts, “I know that I shall conquer, my own right arm and my conquering sword shall get unto me the victory!” then defeat is not far distant. God will not go forth with that man who marches in his own strength. He who reckons on victory by his own strength—has reckoned wrongly, for “it is not by might, nor by power but by My Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.” They who go forth to fight, boasting of their prowess—shall return with their mirthful banners trailing in the dust, and their armor stained with disgrace.

Those who serve God—must serve Him in His own way, and in His strength, or He will never accept their service. God will never own that man who works, unaided by divine strength. The mere fruits of the earth—He casts away; He will only reap that grain, the seed of which was sown from heaven, watered by grace, and ripened by the sun of divine love. God will empty out all that you have—before He will put His own into you; He will first clean out your granaries—before He will fill them with the finest of the wheat. The river of God is full of water but not one drop of it flows from earthly springs. God will have no strength used in His battles but the strength which He Himself imparts.

Are you mourning over your own weakness? Take courage, for there must be a consciousness of weakness before the Lord will give you victory. Your emptiness—is but the preparation for your being filled; and your casting down—is but the making ready for your lifting up!

Evening

In thy light shall we see light. — Ps 36:9

“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man but by My Father in heaven!” Matthew 16:17

No lips can communicate the love of Christ to another—until Jesus Himself shall speak within. Descriptions all fall flat and bland—unless the Holy Spirit fills them with life and power. Until our Immanuel reveals Himself within—the soul cannot truly see Him. If you would see the sun—the sun must reveal itself, and only by its own blaze can that mighty lamp be seen. It is just so with Christ.

Purify your heart by any educational process you may select; elevate your mental faculties to the highest degree of intellectual power—yet this can never reveal Christ to your soul. The Spirit of God must come with power and then in that mystic holy of holies—the Lord Jesus will display Himself to the sanctified eye—as He does not unto blind unbelievers. Christ must be His own mirror!

The great mass of this blear-eyed world can see nothing of the ineffable glories of Immanuel. He stands before them . . . without beauty or loveliness, a root out of a dry ground, rejected by the vain, and despised by the proud.

Only where the Spirit has touched the eye with celestial eye-salve, quickened the heart with divine life, and educated the soul to a heavenly taste—only then is Jesus truly understood.

“To you who believe—He is precious!” To you, He is the chief corner-stone, the Rock of your salvation, your all in all; but to others He is “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.” Happy are those to whom our Lord manifests Himself, for His promise to such, is that He will make His abode with them.

O Jesus, show Yourself to me now! Favor me with a glimpse of Your all-conquering charms!