Most Blessed God! I beseech Thee to reveal to me and to all Thy children
the secret of rejoicing in Thee, the Holy One of Israel.
Thou seest how much of the service of Thine own dear children is still
in the spirit of bondage, and how many have never yet believed that the
Highway of Holiness is one on which they may walk with singing, and
shall obtain joy and gladness. O Father! teach Thy children to rejoice
in Thee.
I ask Thee especially to teach us that, in deep poverty of spirit, in
humility and contrition and utter emptiness, in the consciousness that
there is no holiness in us, we can sing all the day of Thy Holiness as
ours, of Thy glory which Thou layest upon us, and which yet all the time
is Thine alone. O Father! open wide to Thy children the blessed mystery
of the Kingdom, even the faith which sees all in Christ and nothing in
itself; which indeed has and rejoices in all in Him; which never has or
rejoices in ought in itself.
Blessed God, in Thy Word Thou hast said, 'The meek shall increase their
joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of
Israel.' Oh, give us, by Thy Holy Spirit, in meekness and poverty of
spirit, to live so in Christ, that His Holiness may be our
ever-increasing joy, and that in Thyself, the Holy One of Israel, we may
rejoice all the day. And may all see in us what blessedness it is to
live as God's holy ones. Amen.
1. The great hindrance to joy in God is expecting to find
something in ourselves to rejoice over. At the commencement of
this pursuit of holiness we always expect to see a great change
wrought in ourselves. As we are led deeper into what faith, and
the faith-life is, we understand how, though we do not see the
change as we expected, we may yet rejoice with joy unspeakable
in what Jesus is. This is the secret of holiness.
2. Joy must be cultivated. To rejoice is a command more frequently
given than we know. It is part of the obedience of faith, to
rejoice when we do not feel like doing so. Faith rejoices and
sings, because God is holy.
3. 'Filled with joy and the Holy Ghost,' 'The Kingdom is joy in
the Holy Ghost.' The Holy Spirit, the Blessed Spirit of Jesus
is within thee, a very fountain of living water, of joy and
gladness. Oh, seek to know Him, who dwells in thee, to work all
that Jesus has for thee: He will be in thee the Spirit of faith
and of joy.
4. Love and joy ever keep company. Love, denying and forgetting
itself for the brethren and the lost, living in them, finds the
joy of God. 'The kingdom of God is joy in the Holy Ghost.'
Twenty-second Day.