Waiting brings us near to God in prayer, as nothing else does. Sometimes our hearts grow lukewarm, and our prayers cold. Then, if we are led to desire some blessing, which brings us often to Him in earnest supplication, we learn anew the power of prayer. Like Abraham, in intercession for Sodom, we draw near to God (Gen. xviii. 23). Waiting brings us into union and fellowship with Christ. Let us remember this to our comfort when we are waiting for answers to prayer, concerning those we love. In interceding for them, we are engaged in the same work as our Great High Priest above, who "ever liveth to make intercession" (Heb. vii. 25). God waits that He may be gracious (Isa. xxx. 18). Thus we wait with Him as well as for Him. We are all naturally so impatient, and God, knowing what a difficult lesson waiting would be for us, has not only enforced it by commands, but encouraged us by promises of what the result shall be. "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart" (Ps. xxvii. 14); "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength" (Isa. xl. 31); "He shall exalt thee (Ps. xxxvii. 34): and as to the certainty of the blessing coming, we have the promise, "Though it tarry wait for it, because it will surely come; it will not tarry" (Hab. ii. 3). If we are This is a condition of successful prayer. We are to wait hopefully. Hope is a stepping- And what firm foundations we have for our hope; the promises of God; the character of God, who withholds no good thing from them that walk uprightly (Ps. lxxxiv. 11); and the experience of His people. With this hope we may even wait joyfully, "rejoicing in hope" (Rom. xii. 12), as the disciples who, when waiting for the promise of the Holy Ghost, had "great joy, and were continually praising and blessing God" (Luke xxiv. 52, 53). So we may rejoice as we look forward to promised blessing, which, though it may "tarry long," must come. We cannot tell when; God may not give us the desire of our hearts in this world, yet He may have a "surprise of joy" for us in a very short time. Meanwhile we can praise Him for His faithfulness, who will give it us at the right time, knowing that in due time we shall reap in joy the tears (Ps. cxxvii. 5). seeds of prayer, which we have sown amid many Can we According to your faith be it unto you." answer "Yea," to the question "Believe ye that I am able to do this?" (Matt. ix. 28, 29). Our attitude in waiting should therefore be rest. ful. "It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord" While we are waiting, God is preparing us for the (Lam. iii. 26). We are so fond of clinging to our blessing. We read of certain villages, that Jesus burdens when God would have us cast them on could do there no mighty works because of their Him (Ps. lv. 22) and rest (Ps. xxxvii. 7). He unbelief.' Unbelief hinders. Let us limit God no longer, but open our mouths wide that He would have us treat Him as a Friend, in giving may fill them' (Ps. lxxxi. 10). Let us beware of them to Him. Who does not know the sad hap-retarding the blessing. God may be saying to us, piness of being allowed to share a sorrow with a friend. It is one of the privileges of Friendship. If we have "cast our burden" on God, do not let us rob Him by taking back what we have given Him, but sit still until we "know how the matter will fall" (Ruth iii. 18); like Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing His words (Luke x. 39). Some times, when called to wait, we restlessly long to do something which we think may bring about the desired result; but generally our "strength is to sit still" (Isa. xxx. 7), though always in readiness to follow Him, if He shows us the way. We are to wait "abiding in Christ" (John xv. 7). Meanwhile God is also preparing the blessing for us, and will give it directly it is ready for us, and we for it. "Since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him" (Isa. lxiv. 4). We know not God's dealings now, bat we shall know hereafter (John xiii. 7): and when we see "face to face' we shall doubtless praise Him, not only for blessings bestowed, but for lessons learned in hours of waiting. A. M. V. THOUGHTS ON CONSECRATION MEETINGS. BY MRS. STEPHEN MENZIES. THE object of meetings upon this subject is to gain help by looking into God's Word to see that the Lord Jesus Christ not only came to bear our sins on the Cross, and deliver us judicially from their penalty, but that He is willing to be to His people a Saviour from sin, and is prepared, if they will trust Him, to keep them from sin, and give them the victory over habits, temptations, failures, by which perhaps, hitherto, they have been continually overcome. Ps. lvi. 13: "Thou hast delivered my soul from death, wilt Thou not deliver my feet from falling?" Ps. cxix. 94: "I am Thine, save me." Just as the unconverted, but seeking, soul thinks that it must work and labour in order to obtain salvation, but finds in God's Word that it is pardoned by simply resting on the finished work of Another, so the believer, who after conversion desires to be kept from daily sin, is perplexed until he sees that he also is to obtain deliverance in a similar way; and that God calls upon him for a second definite act of faith, in order to obtain this deliverance; just as definite an act of faith as at first brought him into the enjoyment of pardon and peace. From the Scripture quoted above, it is clear that we may expect to be thus kept, and God confirms this by Prov. iii. 26: "The Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken." Ps. xxv. 15: "Mine eyes are ever unto the Lord, for He shall pluck my feet out of the net." 2 Thess. iii. 3: "The Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil." Also Jer. xxxi. 10: "He... will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd doth his flock." And Isa. xxvii. 3: "I, the Lord, do keep it. I will water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." And Matt. i. 21: "He shall save His people from their sins." But God only gives, what the hand of faith will claim. "According to your faith be it unto you." Peter says, "Commit the keeping of your soul unto Him." Paul said, "I know whom I have trusted, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him." David says (Ps. xxxvii. 5), "Commit thy way unto the Lord." "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee" (Isa. xxvi. 3). So we would again repeat, it is "according to your faith" (Matt. ix. 29). What is the great need of a soul after conversion? It is still-Salvation. But have I not got salvation already? Yes! Salvation from the sentence of the broken law is yours; but not salvation from the threefold enemy-the world, the flesh and the devil. Now,it is at this point, you will find the battle begins. The believer longs to live for Him who has given. His life for him; but unseen enemies, hitherto slumbering, now appear, tempting from within and from without. How is salvation from them to be obtained, and how are they to be overcome? By the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked" (Eph. vi. 16). What do you mean by the shield of faith? Faith becomes my shield, when it claims from God what He offers, viz., power to keep me from sin. God says, "I will keep thee." Faith says, "I thank Thee, Lord; then now I will expect to be kept;" and thus, forthwith, faith commits the keeping of the soul to God, and claims from Him the victory. We know that nothing God offers becomes ours until the hand of faith grasps and appropriates it It is so with salvation at first; we are saved from the sentence of condemnation, when we appropriate the death of Christ in our stead. In the same way, we obtain deliverance from our after-foes," when by faith we accept the victory of Christ over them as our victory, and trust in Him for continual triumph. 6: your feet." Eph. v. 18" Be filled with the Spirit." Luke xxiv. 49: "Ye shall be endued with power." Gen. xxxii. 28: "Thou shalt have power with God and with man." Before getting this power, we must have the purity; but when we have purity, power for His service immediately follows. Thus it is purity, power. Have we seen this before? follow" - peace, Isa. lii. If I am thus to reap through Christ all the advantage of His finished work and accomplished victory, does He not then demand something from me? Yes, indeed. After appropriation, comes consecration. Nothing less than the entire surrender of my all, my will, and my self to Him. At first, with His victories, and my gain in view, this God cannot use an unclean instrument. surrender may appear easy. But soon, I begin to 2: "Be ye clean that bear the vessels." When we discover a multitude of idols, dearer to me than I have got a NEW heart, our prayer must be, "Create had realised, and secret sins now shine out in the in me a CLEAN heart." 2 Tim. ii. 21: "A vessel light of His countenance. All must go; I may not meet for the Master's use." flinch nor draw back. Heart-searching work this! "There's more to ALL for Jesus? Yes! All. Count the cost. Each thing we know that can come between us and Him, and so break our communion, must, one by one, be brought out and openly surrendered; not abandoned merely-abandonment may be to remain an enemy -full surrender means giving up to Him, on the same principle as, "Cast all your care on Him," not cast all your care away. Some would forsake sins only, not also bring them to Him, and confess them. God says (Prov. xxviii. 13), "Whoso confesseth and forsaketh." "If we confess our sins," &c. (1 John i. 9.) When this searching process has thoroughly done its work, when all has been surrendered, and the precious blood has purged the heart, then the Lord by His Spirit comes in to dwell. "The Lord whom you seek, shall suddenly come to His temple." Then we find we can say (Ps. cxvi. 8): "Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling." Thus, God's order seems to be peace, then purity. New birth, conversion, forgiveness-this is peace. Surrender, consecration-this is purity. When these two are ours, we are fitted for His use, and for such use He will add power (Acts i. 8), "Ye shall receive power" (see margin), the power of the Holy Ghost." The To be very practical: take the case of my quick temper. Something aroused it. Over and over again it has conquered How shall I become continuously victorious? moment I am conscious of my foe, I at once lift my heart to the Lord. I present my shield of faith and say, "Lord, THIS me. temper is one of the foes Thou hast conquered. I CLAIM from Thee power to overcome. I trust THEE to keep me from being surprised into one hasty word." Thus, trusting Jesus, I am kept, I am victorious. Surely this is a very practical way of dealing with a foe. And if the Lord can thus keep us victorious for five minutes, He can keep us for half an hour; and if for half an hour, can He not for the whole day? Thus our daily life becomes a continual path of victory instead of defcat. Do we possess this deliverance from self and sin, and the gift of power for service? HAVE WE GOT IT? With some, so great has been the salvation thus received, that they have called it a second conversion. This is impossible, as there can be but one new birth; yet it is no less a definite act of faith to claim Christ as your Saviour-deliverer from the power of present daily sin, than it is to claim Him as your Saviour-the Substitute who suffered in your stead. He wants to be your present daily deliverer, as well as your past deliverer. Now to the point. Will you let Him be this? It is a case of "only let Him." He wants to be. He will be. He asks you for but one thing, a definite act of faith to claim Him as such. You understand it now;-if you have not had this transaction with Him He waits, He has done His part, He now waits for you to do yours. A definite act of claiming Him as your Deliverer. Perhaps this blessing is yours. You may have found Him to be a deliverer from daily sin, but you in some way lack a very full enjoyment of your possession. Too many are in this position. We think we can show you the cause of this lack. When God by His Son, reveals any truth to us, He wants us to tell it out to others to openly How often acknowledge what He has done for us. we find when an unbeliever is brought to Christ, that there is no full realisation of forgiveness or assurance of possession of Eternal Life, UNTIL an open confession is made before men; but after this act of confession, God seems to give a full rest, peace, and assurance. When we obtain a blessing, unless we own it before men, we are likely to lose it or the enjoyment of it. What we give, we keep; what we keep, we lose. "Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven" (Matt. x. 32). "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Rom. x. 10). It is evident, therefore, that when God gives anything to His children, He calls for a definite open act of acknowledgment to confess it. There is no such thing as concealed blessing. God does not conceal His blessings; nor would He have His children conceal what they have received from Him. If you have found Christ to be a deliverer from self and daily sin, through just handing all over to Him, confess this blessing before men, and you will have a full enjoyment and realisation of it such as you have never had before, and God will use your life and testimony as a means of blessing to others. UNION OF ALL FOR JESUS' DISCIPLES. MONTHLY NOTICE. November, 1882. 1. TEXT: He... sat down under a juniper-tree; and he requested for himself that he might die' (1 Kings xix. 4). This is Elijah! One is startled, perplexed, disappointed. Awhile ago we saw him on Mount Carmel surrounded by the thronging thousands of Israel, undismayed by the bold audacity of the worshippers of Baal, and confidently appealing to God to vindicate His own honour and confound Baalim. We saw him, too, immediately after the grand demonstration of the supreme majesty of God which followed his appeal, taking God's hand and earnestly pleading for the sorely-needed rain,—yea, refusing to be denied the request of his lips. We saw him entering Jezreel-the chariot of Ahab closely following-while the heavens above grew black with clouds and the welcome deluge began to descend. 'Great, grand man! God has stood by thee; has responded to thy appeal, heard thy prayer, established thy word! Thou art going to sing thy "Alleluia" now, and wilt go forward in greater strength of devotion than ever to serve thy God!' Ah, how quickly may eager expectations be brought low! We look for still further proofs of all. courageous trust, and unfailing, unflattering confidence in those whom God has greatly honoured. But alas, we are often disappointed. Instead of invincible courage we see depression. Instead of the impetuous advance, as of a warrior flushed with victory, we hear doleful laments and expressions of despair. Thus it was with Elijah. Possibly he was in danger of being exalted above measure by the great events at Carmel, and God may have seen fit to leave him to himself for a season. Elijah was nothing without God. See: there he is, filled with craven fear, fleeing from the face of an angry woman! On and on he speeds, on and on, still further and further away from the scene of danger, out of reach of Jezebel's furious rage. Samaria is traversed, Judea is entered, Beersheba in the long distance from Jezreel is reached. Still the fugitive presses on; until at length, footsore and weary and dejected to the last degree, he sits down under a juniper-tree in the wilderness, and wishes for himself that he may die. This is Elijah! Here he is, the prey of deep depression; forgetful of the past, giving all up, wanting God to take away his life. God has not once failed him. Not to any extent at all has one single foe prevailed against him. And God has given no intimation or indication of withdrawing His hand, or ceasing to stand by him. And yet he is utterly prostrate under this juniper-tree, in sheer despair! Elijah's trust is gone! Like Peter, long after, he sees only' waves' and 'billows' in which he feels himself beginning to sink.' Awhile ago, Elijah saw in the giant waves' only scope for the exercise of the almighty controlling power of Him in whom he trusted. 'Waves !' (he might have exclaimed), 'what are waves to God-my God?' Now, the wrath of an angry woman is to him utterly overwhelming: there is no standing against it: fear paralyses him,-yea, he tells God he does not wish to live any longer, he would rather die at once! Ah, his trust is gone! 6 I ask: Ought the child of God ever to be depressed? His privilege is to trust always. Can trust and depression coexist? Do they not mutually exclude each other? If I am trusting, can I be depressed? If I am depressed, can I be trusting? Is not trust preventive of depression, as well as its antidote; and its far more excellent use? Perhaps the people of God of all times have known much of this 'juniper-tree' experience. Was not Jacob beneath its dark shade when he exclaimed, All these things are against me'? And Job, when he opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth'? And David, when he so lost heart as to cry, Oh that I had wings like a dove, for then would I fly away and be at rest'? And Jeremiah, when he said, 'Cursed be the day wherein I was born'? And Jonah, when he wished in himself to die' because his gourd had withered? And in how many instances from their days until now have God's people, forgetful of their privilege, given way to a similar spirit of deep depression and despondency. 'Father,' said a little boy, who had climbed upon his parent's knee, and got within his arms, when he beheld him in a paroxysm of overwhelming grief, ' Father, Is God dead?' Oh that a similar startling inquiry might reach the ear of every one of God's children when, alas, they make the juniper-tree their refuge in times of trouble! 'When'? But why should it ever be their resort? It grows in the wilderness :' but the Land of Promise' is for them, where they may restfully rejoice in the Lord' all the day long.' We mark Elijah's great mistake. He should not have lost heart, should not have fled, should not have asked God to take away his life; all this was wrong. He should have remembered how wonderfully God bad stood by him in the past, and have firmly trusted Him still. Is not his privilege ours also? May not God's people trust Him firmly, fully, under all circumstances, and at all times ? God is not dead'; no, nor afar off'; neither has He'forgotten to be gracious'; and that which He has pro be replied, although the alway trusting plan is the best and happiest, as well as the most honouring to God; yet, nevertheless, so many Christians have "juniper-trees," that, practically, they may perhaps be regarded as a sort of necessary evil.' This is how we allow ourselves to be robbed of many a precious privilege, and kept in the wretched 'wilderness' of doubt and fear, murmuring and despondency. 'The Land' is only a lovely theory; the wilderness' is the practical reality. We may sing of the sunny scenes, the precious fruits, the abounding blessings, of the promised inheritance; but 'practically' we remain in the wilderness, and within easy reach of our 'juniper-tree.' Is this God's will? On the other hand, would He not have us know a far brighter and happier experience; and does He not invite us to trust Him, even in darkest hours and most perplexing circumstances? Are we not always in His hands and under His care? Should we ever have a single fear? Why should we be 'cast down' or 'disquieted'?-Where is an axe? Who will be the first to fell to the ground, yea to root up, his own 'juniper-tree'? God has said, 'I will not fail thee'; is not this enough? But why remain in the region of junipertrees' any longer? Surely the land' is ours; why should we not go in and possess it'? There,' says God, 'I will greatly bless thee.' 2. FULL CONSECRATION: RIGHT! (Rom. viii. 28.) Not a cloud in all thy sky But thy heart befriendeth; But the Lord doth share it; Not a crook in all thy lot If His love could spare it; 'Neath His kind protection; Not a spot of sin remains Where His blood availeth; Not a battle can be lost When His power prevaileth; No good thing will He withhold, Not a promise faileth. Thou for evermore art His, Living, His-or dying; Grace and glory He will give All thy need supplying; From His love's exhaustless store Ever satisfying. Through the darkness trust Him still, In the calm conviction Everything subserves His will, Each severe affliction He will sanctify and change All who love the Lord shall know. 'Myself and my friend, that God may remove every hindrance to continuing, conscious communion with Himself.' 'Me, that I may have more power for service, for which I am longing.' 'My adult class of grandmothers, mothers, widows and servants, that the unsaved ones may be convinced of sin and led to Jesus.' 'My sister, that she may give up seeking satisfaction in outward forms, and may find rest for her soul in Christ.' 'One in the evening of life, that-if it be His will-her days may be prolonged, and she may be filled with all the fulness of God.' 'My Bible-class for servants, that the seeking ones may find Christ, and the others be led on.' 'Me; that, in uncertainty as to my future path, I may trust Him fully and follow His guidance.' 'Me; that, in resuming work with my Bible-classes, &c., I may be anointed with fresh oil.' |