Beloved Lord! again have I seen, with adoring wonder, what Thou art
willing to be to me. It is in Thyself, and a life of living fellowship
with Thyself, that I am to become holy. It is in the simple life of
personal attachment, of trust and love, of surrender and consecration,
that Thou dost become my all, and make me partaker of Thyself and Thy
Holiness.
Blessed Lord Jesus! I do believe in Thee, help Thou mine unbelief. I
confess what still remains of unbelief, and count on Thy presence to
conquer and cast it out. My soul is opening up continually to see more
how Thou Thyself art my Life and my Holiness. Thou art enlarging my
heart to rejoice in Thyself as my all, and to be assured that Thou dost
Thyself take possession and fill the temple of my being with Thy glory.
Thou art teaching me to understand that, however feeble and human and
disappointing experiences may be, Thy Holy Spirit is the strength of my
faith, leading me on to grow up into a stronger and a larger confidence
in Thee in whom I am holy. O my Saviour! I take Thy word this day,
'Sanctified by faith in me,' as a new revelation of Thy love and its
purpose with me. In Thee Thyself is the Power of my holiness; in Thee is
the Power of my faith. Blessed be Thy name that Thou hast given me too a
place among them of whom Thou speakest: 'Sanctified by faith in me.'
Amen.
1. Let us remember that it is not only the faith that is dealing
specially with Christ for sanctification, but all living faith,
that has the power to sanctify. Anything that casts the soul wholly
on Jesus, that calls forth intense and simple trust, be it the
trial of faith, or the prayer of faith, or the work of faith, helps
to make us holy, because it brings us into living contact with the
Holy One.
2. It is only through the Holy Spirit that Christ and His Holiness
are day by day revealed and made ours in actual possession. And so
the faith which receives Him is of the Spirit too. Yield yourself
in simplicity and trust to His working. Do not be afraid, as if you
cannot believe: you have 'the Spirit of faith' within you: you have
the power to believe. And you may ask God to strengthen you
mightily by His Spirit in the inner man, for the faith that
receives Christ in the indwelling that knows no break.
3. I have only so much of faith as I have of the Spirit. Is not
this then what I most need--to live entirely under the influence of
the Spirit?
4. Just as the eye in seeing is receptive, and yields to let the
object placed before it make its impression, so faith is the
impression God makes on the soul when He draws nigh. Was not the
faith of Abraham the fruit of God's drawing near and speaking to
him, the impression God made on him? Let us be still to gaze on the
Divine mystery of Christ our holiness: His Presence, waited for and
worshipped, will work the faith. That is, the Spirit that proceeds
from Him into those who cling to Him, will be faith.
5. _Holiness by faith in Jesus_, not by effort of thine own,
Sin's dominion crushed and broken _by the power of grace alone_,--
_God's own holiness_ within thee, His own beauty on thy brow,--
This shall be thy pilgrim brightness, this _thy blessed portion now_.