“Christ's blood draws us near to God and others”
His blood paid for our sins!

“But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13).

Made nigh by the Blood of Christ! Is this an easy matter? Gone are the days when people earnestly sought God. And particularly in India, to what remote regions they went, executing dangerous journeys in order to meet with God! I saw many pilgrims going to Kashmir. It was said that in one of the caves, there was a kind of replica or a kind of image of God formed in ice and it was drawing thousands of people into an atmosphere which was fraught with danger, because the people of Kashmir did not want to have anything to do with Hinduism. But quite amusingly, that summer proved to be exceeding warm and that god melted away! My dear people, superstition always has its hold on people. But truth frees us from all bondages. Superstition fills us with fears. Superstition does not bring us to God. It is only the Blood of Jesus which brings us nigh unto God.

Change of government is not going to bring change of heart. Certain new administrative laws will replace the old ones. Being brought nigh to God is quite another matter. People talk of enlightenment. But can all your culture and education bring you nigh to God? No. We had a cook in my boyhood home. Oh, how he would pray! He had a little room next to the kitchen and the voice of prayer would rise from there. He was a Hindu and had driven away his wife, but did not know the injustice he was guilty of. The Lord Jesus met him and told him: “Send away this woman who is not your wife and take back your real wife.” Without the Blood, righteousness will not be there to cleanse us from all our sins.

The Bible says: “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another” (1 John 1:7). The Blood of Christ which brings us nigh to God brings us nigh to our brothers too. The Blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sins and then we have fellowship with one another.

This Fellowship [which publishes this magazine] began way back in 1935, and it was called the Laymen’s Evangelical Fellowship, meaning it is a common man’s fellowship. It was a strange name in those days. Today after 79 years, we see men of so many languages and from across the globe, having fellowship with one another. If you don’t have any fellowship with people around you, you are not cleansed by the Blood and you are not walking in the light. What an evil thing you are doing!

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). That is our Saviour—a cleanser, one who creates in us love for each other. The devil’s mission is to create some cleavage by some useless talk. I don’t know how many of you have summoned enough courage to rebuke such people: “Why do you talk wasteful and negative things here?” Please do so. Children, I tell you, when there is useless talk in your home, especially criticism against God’s children, say to your parents lovingly and respectfully, “What you are doing is not right.” When the devil comes into the house through such negative talk against God’s children, you must not keep quiet. One paralytic man, when he was seated on his chair, saw a big cobra entering the house. Though he was a paralytic, he could not keep his seat and attempted to rise up to kill the snake. That is how one reacts when one sees a cobra. But when the cobra of negative talk enters your heart or house, what should you do? You should rise up and kill the cobra, i.e., kill that negative or evil talk by rebuking such people and thus get rid of the poison quickly. When we are brought nigh to God, we are brought nigh to each other and all negativity and evil talk disappear.

“… for thou [Jesus] wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Revelation 5:9). Yes, we are redeemed by His Blood. From the beginning of this Fellowship, we have depended on God’s promises. My father would sing:

Sin shall not have dominion over you.
Oh! What a blessed word, and it is true
Sin shall not have dominion over you.

We are redeemed by the Blood and we should not allow sin to have dominion over us.

We read in Revelation 12:10: “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” Some people continue the work of the devil today. They say, “He is wrong, she is wrong.” In their eyes, everybody is wrong. Well, does it mean you are the only one who is right with God? People write some long letters to me. They write about the sins of others. Rarely do I find one admission of their own wrongdoing in that letter. Is that honesty? No. Such people should not be allowed to take our time. They are accusers of brothers and sisters like the devil. “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death” (Revelation 12:11).

We overcome Satan by the Blood of the Lamb. It is not just yoga or some self-reformed system or just the exercise of the will power. All these will fail. But they overcame Satan by the Blood and by the word of their testimony. So it is the Blood of Jesus that brings us nigh to God. It is the Blood that cleanses us and brings freedom between brother and brother. It is the Blood that redeems. It is the Blood by which we overcome. We must go forward claiming the victory of the Blood.

—Joshua Daniel

“Drawing close to God”

Exodus 24:2: "And Moses alone shall come near the LORD…" Moses by virtue of his obedience to the call of God and the word of God qualified himself to draw near God. Man is given opportunities to obey God and understand the truth of God. The natural rebellious nature of man questions the truth of God and postpones obeying it. When his pride leaves him, he will pray for obedience. Psalm 119:5, "O that my ways were directed to keep Thy statutes!" Some of us are so used to disobedience that the vital and fruitful and dynamic life of God which comes only when we know the truth and obey the truth cannot come into us. We are all given chances to know and obey the truth. To the extent you know the truth and obey it, the dynamic power of God will operate in you. Man is made in the likeness of God. Man in the likeness of God has the power to comprehend the deep truth needed to change men around him. But he must first know the truth and then obey it. Otherwise his life will be ineffective. Psalm 119:133, "Order my steps in Thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me." David understood that only if he could walk according to the word of God and not allow any evil to have dominion over him, his life would be an effective testimony.

It is a wrong thing to go on asking God to bless you and bless you. It is a much better thing to ask God to teach you and give you the Spirit of obedience. Why was Moses asked to come up alone? He had learnt obedience. He had accepted the call and submitted himself to the obedience required. Why did he go to God for every little thing asking, "What shall I do?" and "What shall I say?" He understood that his wisdom was inadequate. Those who ask God about every detail of their life make Him truly God of their lives. God’s intention is to make you as capable a personality as He is. It is a grief to God that He is not able to teach us and make us obey Him.

Do not go on asking God’s blessing on others without telling them the truth they should know. First to know and then to obey makes you a part of God, so that he that touches you will be actually touching Him. To work out this plan, God has found a way of cleansing the past and injecting into us a power to overcome the evil that once ruled us. A new law of the Spirit of Life in Christ, which makes you rise above sin, begins to operate in us through His resurrection. There is cleansing through the death of Jesus and a new positive attitude comes into us through the resurrection.

Pray always! Thus you will become a part of that infinite wisdom of God. It is only when you humble yourself in His presence [that] He has a chance of putting [...] His thoughts into you. He gives you a new knowledge based on the written Word. As you are praying for grace to obey that knowledge, you are getting into you the power that Jesus wielded in His ministry. He that always does the will of God is continually in harmony with God. Absolute obedience to His perfect wisdom and will is required. Doing this, you may lose the favour of man and worldly pleasures. But we take the highest pleasure when we can effectively help others. When you cannot effectively help your brother, a very real sorrow envelopes you. It makes you feel utterly helpless and dejected. Are we building our lives in order to enrich others and make them happy? Moses alone was asked to come right into the nearest presence of God. He obeyed God entirely so that he could be of help to his people in every aspect of their lives. When men were dying in their destructive philosophies of life, God could hand over His law to Moses, God knew he would obey it. He was 40 days in the presence of God in order to receive the Law. God says He will write His law on your heart [and] make you His mouthpiece so that rivers of living water will flow out of you. Have you prepared yourself? If we get accustomed to disobedience, God can do nothing with us. Moses, I believe, would have died in great peace. His youthful longings to deliver his people were gloriously fulfilled. There was the whole nation delivered from bondage and walking hopefully towards the promised land. What an achievement! Exodus 24:7-8: ^“And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.” Moses was the precursor of the perfect truth that was going to come through Christ. Great are the possibilities of your life too. Enrich your life with the knowledge of the Word and obedience to it. Some have such a knowledge which helps them to excuse their faulty life. The knowledge that makes you humble before the cross is what you need. Moses was able to help 250,000 people. According to your knowledge and according to your obedience you have the measure of Christ in you. According to the measure of Christ in you, there will be fruitfulness of your service. Your being in the Fellowship should mean obedience to God. Man may fail you but never God! God wants your mind and body to be perfectly obedient to His perfect will.

—N. Daniel

“Reality Check”

“I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (John 6:35)—Jesus Christ.

“Call upon Me”

Rosalind Goforth was a Christian missionary to China in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The below stories are examples of how God answered prayer in providing for needs during a furlough in Canada (1908-1910).
__________

"Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me" (Psalm 50:15).

When busy in my home one day, the thought of two dear friends of the China Inland Mission [a Christian missionary organisation] kept coming constantly to mind, and I began to wonder if I should not send them some money. Looking into my purse, I found I had only fifty cents on hand. I put the matter out of my mind, with the thought that if the Lord wanted me to send them anything He would provide a way. That afternoon's mail brought a letter from a distant place in Ontario where, a year before, I had visited and spoken for a friend. The letter was from the treasurer of the Christian Endeavor Society for which I had spoken. He enclosed five dollars, and said the money was to have been given me at the time I spoke for them, but had been overlooked.

My first thought was to return it, as it would be dishonoring my friend to accept money for such a service; and then I remembered my friends for whom I wanted money, and I decided to send the five dollars to them. My husband, returning the following morning, handed me another five to put with it, and the ten dollars was sent off.

In due course a reply came from my friends, saying that the very morning my letter arrived they both had been given assurance that a certain sum would come, for which they had been praying. This was to meet a need which they did not wish to bring before their board. My letter brought the ten dollars; and another letter in the afternoon's mail contained a sum which, with mine, exactly made the amount they had been asking for.

Say not my soul, "Can God relieve my care?"
Remember that Omnipotence hath servants everywhere!

[...]

Once more we planned to leave Canada for China, and a serious problem faced me. Our eldest son could be left to face the world alone, but not our daughter of sixteen. It was necessary that a suitable guardian be found for her. I called on three different ones whom I thought would feel some responsibility toward the missionary's daughter, but all three declined to accept the responsibility. I then saw that it was not for me to try to open doors, but for this also I must look to the Lord. I prayed that, if He wished me to return to China, He would send me one to whom I could commit her.

A short time passed; then a lady called, whose life had been devoted to the training of young women. Her beautiful Christian character made her the one above all others in whose care I could gladly leave my daughter. This lady told me that in her early years she had hoped to give her life for service in China, but the way had been closed. She now felt that the Lord had laid it upon her heart to offer to take charge of my child. Years have passed since then, and she has fulfilled my highest expectations of her. Rarely has a more definite answer come from a loving Father, nor one that brought greater relief and help; for this offer, coming as it did in answer to my prayers, seemed to be unmistakable proof that the Lord would keep my child as I gave her up.

The time had almost arrived for beginning the last preparations for the long journey to China, when one day Ruth came in from her play with her heavy coat almost in shreds, she having in some way torn it on a barbed wire fence. [...] I tried to find a new one in the stores, but the season was past and I could not; and I had no time to make another. I just took the need to the Lord and left it there, believing that in some way He would provide. A few days later a friend telephoned me that her mother had recently returned from a visit to Chicago, and wished me to come over to see a parcel she had brought for me. Oh, the relief that came when I found that the parcel contained, among many other things, a handsome red cloth coat, which fitted Ruth perfectly. This fresh evidence of the Lord's overshadowing care touched me deeply. Those who have never known such tokens of the Lord's loving care in the little things of life can scarcely understand the blessedness that such experiences bring.

Whether it be so heavy that others cannot bear
To know the heavy burden they cannot come and share;
Whether it be so tiny that others cannot see
Why it should be a burden, and seem so real to me,
Either and both I lay them down at the Master's feet
And find them alone with Jesus mysteriously sweet.

As I attempt to recall the answers to prayer on this furlough, so many come to mind it is impossible to record them all—help in keeping my appointments, courage and power for public speaking, physical strength, and guidance in facing many difficult problems.

It was at this time I formed a habit of getting a message for a meeting on my knees [the author spoke at such meetings about the work in China]. It often seemed to me very wonderful how, as in a flash, sometimes, an outline for a talk on China would come. Never having kept notes, nor even outlines of addresses, I have frequently been placed in circumstances [...] when I have felt utterly cast on the Lord. And I can testify that He never failed to give the needed help, and the realized divine power. Yet sad, sad is it that often at just such times, no sooner would the address be ended than the Satan-inspired whispered thought would come, "I have done really well today."

Oh, is not the goodness and forbearance of our God wonderful—wonderful that He ever again would deign to give help when asked for it?

A short time since I asked a dear friend whose writings have reached and inspired multitudes throughout the Christian world: "How did you do it?"

Softly [...] she replied: "It has been done all in and through prayer!"

With deepest gratitude and praise to our ever faithful God, I too can testify that any little service I have been able to do has been done by His grace in answer to prayer.

I stood amazed and whispered, "Can it be
That He hath granted all the boon I sought,
How wonderful that He for me hath wrought!"

Oh, faithless heart! He said that He would hear,
And proved His promise, wherefore didst thou fear?
How wonderful if He should fail to bless
Expectant prayer with good success!

* * * * * *

—Rosalind Goforth, How I Know God Answers Prayer: the personal testimony of one lifetime (1921)


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