54 lines
3.0 KiB
Plaintext
54 lines
3.0 KiB
Plaintext
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OTHERS CAN .. BUT YOU CAN'T
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. If God has called you to be really like Jesus, He will draw you
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into a life of crucifixion and humility, and put upon you such demands
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of obedience, that you will not be able to follow other people, or
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measure yourself by other Christians, and in many ways He will seem to
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let other good people do things which He will not let you do.
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. Other Christians and ministers who seem very religious and
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useful, may push themselves, pull wires, and work schemes to carry out
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their plans, but you cannot do it; and if you attempt it, you will
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meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely
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penitent.
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. Others may boast of themselves, of their work, of their success,
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of their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any
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such thing, and if you begin it, He will lead you into some deep
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mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good
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works.
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. Others may be allowed to succeed in making money, or may have a
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legacy left to them, but it is likely God will keep you poor, because
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He wants you to have something far better than gold, namely a helpless
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dependence on Him, that He may have the privilege of supplying your
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needs day by day out of an unseen treasury.
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. The Lord may let others be honored and put forward, and keep you
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hidden in obscurity, because He wants you to produce some choice,
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fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the
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shade. He may let others be great, but keep you small. He may let
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others do a work for Him and get the credit for it, but He will make
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you work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing; and then
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to make your work still more precious, He may let others get credit
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for the work you have done, and thus make your reward ten times
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greater when Jesus comes.
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. The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch over you, with a jealous
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love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings, or wasting
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your time, which other Christians never seem to get distressed over.
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So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign, and has a
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right to do as He pleases with His own. He may not explain to you a
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thousand things which puzzle your reason in His dealings with you, but
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if you absolutely sell yourself to be His love slave, He will wrap you
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in a jealous love, and bestow upon you many blessings which come only
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to those who are in the inner circle.
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. Settle it forever, then, that you are to deal directly with the
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Holy Spirit, and that He is to have the privilege of tying your
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tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that He
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does not seem to use with others. Now when you are so possessed with
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the living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and
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delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship
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and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found
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the vestibule of heaven.
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G. D. Watson, in Living Words
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Computers for Christ - Chicago
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