“The saving love of God ”

“She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more” (John 8:11).

Children of God do not condemn but correct. Condemnation and correction are two different things. The natural man condemns every man but himself. A spiritual man condemns himself and gives a very favorable interpretation to the actions of others. Jesus said he did not come to condemn the world. The world is already condemned. There is no need for further condemnation.

“He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18). Jesus Christ has not come to judge the world but to save the world. “And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47). It is a saving love—not a condemning or accusing love. The Word is established in heaven. The eternal Word is equal to God. The world is judged and condemned by that Word. Jesus understood the fallen nature of man, which could fall into different temptations. But if it comes under the alchemy of the Cross, then his mind will be turned from sin into holiness.

Who is then the accuser of the world? “…[F]or the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night” (Revelation 12:10). The accusing attitude is not the Christian attitude. Sometimes we commit mistakes because of our great zeal for the Word. We must then be careful in the words we choose. Our words must not be accusing like the natural man’s words. The devil is the accuser. The moment we sin, he accuses us before God. When we sin, he says we are his. The devil disputed for the body of Moses. “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee” (Jude v. 9). Note the language of the angel!

When we are converted we want to bring everybody to God, especially our relatives. But our loved ones may resist. The more zealous we are, the more they resist, and we are sadly disappointed. But your life and the change that has come over you have a great effect. The more patient you are, the most powerful a sermon your life will be. The Lord told me when I was a young man that I was not to point out all the errors which I was able to see in people. He said, “You will make enemies of them.”

“If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth” (1 Peter 4:11). When we follow the instructions of the Holy Spirit, we become the oracles of God. Our advice becomes a driving force to change people. The peculiar purity and holiness of Jesus were not repelling to sinners but attractive. The natural man’s righteousness is repelling but the spiritual man’s righteousness is attractive. If you have Christ in you, you attract sinners and the power in you is able to neutralize their evil and impart holiness to them.

— N. Daniel

“If two of you agree ”

“Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven”—Jesus Christ (Matthew 18:19).

Men seem to think that unless they gather a whole crowd to support their cause, no one will listen to them or be impressed. To focus the attention of the public or the government upon their project or plan, they crank up a mass rally with their supporters or stage noisy demonstrations.

In industry, thousands of valuable man-hours are lost by strikes for every conceivable reason. . . . These striking men are certain that their strength lies in numbers. Politicians too stick to this principle. Take the crowd away from them and they look so sheepish and imbecile.

It is numbers, numbers, numbers; we are brainwashed into thinking that numbers mean everything. But the Lord Jesus said that “if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 18:19).

“If two of you shall agree”: it seems a simple enough thing to achieve, but in reality it is difficult to find two people who will agree on unselfish projects.

Gather two businessmen and say to them, “Look, there are too many broken homes in this city. The children of these homes are neglected and love-lorn; in time they will become a danger to society, unless we find some way to shower love upon them. Perhaps you must build a special home for them and set aside part of your money for their care.” They may agree that this would be nice and even necessary to do; but one or the other or both of them will find excuses. . . . How many great plans die at the committee stage itself!

Two men can’t agree; two women rarely agree; two sisters, but they have diametrically opposed views; two leaders, but they use completely different methods. So we have a babel of voices, one crying one thing and another the opposite.

But when a man repents of his sins and receives the New Life in Christ, there comes a great longing in him to do good to his neighbours. It is not an aimless and haphazard scattering of money I am talking about, but a strong, fixed, benevolent longing, to sacrifice, to serve, and to save others. So it is not hard for two young men who are transformed by Jesus’ power to put their hearts and heads together, to launch some great movement which will transform the lives of thousands.

True conversion means renouncing self and reaching out to Christ. When self is still strongly entrenched in you, you cannot say you are truly converted. A person who has come to the Cross of Jesus and seen that irresistible love which claims his all—his will, mind, ambitions, and whole personality—truly turns away from doing his own will and begins to do God’s will. Turning from self-will to God’s will is true conversion.

Such a man wants to glorify God, and live a self-denying life. Pleasing the Saviour is his greatest delight. Now for two converted people to pray together and think alike is nothing astonishing. They have the Word of God to unify them. When two people thus pray together with unified hearts and minds, great power is generated; miracles take place; God is right there amongst them. It has been said that the Church is where the Holy Spirit works.

When we pray in Jesus’ Name, it is hardly possible to ask selfish little things from God. Jesus our Lord teaches us to pray for great things, things that build His kingdom.

“If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done . . .” God rarely likes to deny His children. Unless it is absolutely injurious to you, God does not want to withhold a request which comes from united hearts.

I meet many young couples who have been married several years but don’t pray together. Living together and yet not praying together! You can reduce your marriage to the purely animal level, but be sure, dire consequences will stem from the neglect of praying together.

From the time I was a child I saw my father and mother praying together daily. Their prayer resulted in our home being a lovely place, full of harmony and peace. In that atmosphere there was health and hardly any painful disease. We enjoyed great security as children. Fear had no place in our home. We knew that when our father prayed God did miracles. So nothing worried us unduly. Mother was gentle on the one hand and firm on the other and taught us implicit obedience.

My father and mother made a wonderful team. We children never heard them fighting or arguing about money, but we often heard their voices in prayer. We had many opportunities to see the efficacy of prayer made from clean hearts.

There was a very cultured old lady who lived in our home for a long period. She had held very high government positions and as she desired the fellowship of God’s children, my father let her stay with us.

One day, however, she was taken ill with severe abdominal pain. It was an emergency case of intestinal obstruction. But doctors would not operate on her as she was very old and frail. . . . But the suffering became unbearable. We children who had never known our parents’ prayer to fail, were watching the worsening condition with some concern. Whatever was to be done needed to be done quickly.

That night, father and mother spent nearly the whole night in prayer. And the Lord who said, “Whatsoever you agree on earth and pray for, it shall be done,” heard their prayer. By the morning the agony ceased and the gentle old lady was healed. Never again did she suffer in that way.

Our motives are very important in prayer. If you want your prayer to be answered purely because it will add to your comfort and prosperity, God is in no way obliged to hear you. Nor should you ask for your prayer to be heard in order that your importance should be enhanced, or that you should gain a reputation among your acquaintances as a man of piety. There should be nothing selfish in your asking.

Why do you want your health to be restored? Is it to rise up and glorify God and be His true disciple? Why do you ask for promotion? Is it that in that higher post, you want to wield a stronger influence for Jesus and for righteousness, such that all evil or unrighteousness should be banished from your office? If so, God will grant you your desire. I always rejoice when men whom Jesus has transformed—righteous men—come to positions of great responsibility.

Get yourself a new heart and begin to pray with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart.

—Joshua Daniel

“Reality Check”

Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit - (Jeremiah 17:7-8).

“ Remarkable Providence ”

God never gave me what I wanted. He always gave me more. As a proof, I will tell you the following anecdote:

When I married, I was a working man, and consequently, I had not much money to spare. In about three months after my marriage, I fell ill, and my illness continued for more than nine months.

At that period, I was in great distress. I owed a sum of money, and had no means to pay it. It must be paid on a certain day, or I must go to jail. I had no food for myself nor my wife; and, in this distress, I went up to my room, and took my Bible. I got down on my knees, and opened it, laid my fingers on several of the promises, and claimed them as mine. I said: “Lord, this is Thine own word of promise: I claim Thy promises.” I endeavoured to lay hold of them by faith. I wrestled with God for some time in this way. I got up off my knees, and walked about some time. I then went to bed, and took my Bible, and opened it on these words: “Call upon me in the time of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” I said: “It is enough, Lord.”

I knew deliverance would come, and I praised God with my whole heart.

Whilst in this frame of mind I heard a knock at the door. I went and opened it, and a man handed me a letter. I turned to look at the letter; and when I looked up again, the man was gone. The letter contained the sum I wanted, and five shillings over. It is now eighteen years ago: and I never knew who sent it: God only knows. Thus God delivered me out of all my distress! To Him be all the praise!

I would also like to narrate another similar incidence that took place in one of my friend’s life.

He had been out of employment for a considerable time, and was, in consequence, so circumstanced as only to be enabled to keep himself from dying of hunger; in fact, he was left with but eight pence half penny in the world. Nor had he one friend, but the Friend that “sticketh closer than a brother.”

He went to chapel, thanking God for that which was past, and trusting Him for that which was to come, and heard Dr. Newton preach a sermon in aid of a missionary society that was under perplexing circumstances. Sensibly feeling the solemn appeal which the Rev. Doctor made to the liberality of the audience on behalf of the society, he at once gave the whole of his eight pence half penny. But he still trusted in Him who delivered the Israelites out of the hands of Pharaoh.

He rose next morning penniless. But very soon after terminating the duties of his closet, a message came to him, saying that he was to commence work that morning. He has been in constant employment ever since; and God, in His infinite goodness and mercy, has raised him to a state of respectability. Truly the words of the Lord were verified in this man: “Them that honor me I will honor.”

—W. Robinson

“Delivered from sin ”

In “Praying Hyde” was a godly, loving, exceptionally prayerful Christian who spent many years in India. On one of his first few days there, a missionary spoke out in the open air, and Hyde was told that was speaking about Jesus Christ as the real Saviour from sin. When he had finished, a man asked the missionary if he had been saved in this way himself. The question went home to Hyde’s heart—had he been asked that question, he would have had to confess that Christ had not fully saved him, because he knew that there was a sin in his life that had not been taken away. He realized what a dishonour it would be on the Name of Christ to have to confess that he was preaching a Christ who had not delivered him from sin, though he would be telling others that He was a perfect Saviour.

Hyde went back to his room and shut himself in. He told the Lord that it must be one of two things: either He had to give him victory over all his sins, and especially over the sin that so easily beset him, or he must return to America and look for some other work. He said that he could not stand up to preach the Gospel until he could testify of its power in his own life. The Lord assured him that He was able and willing to deliver him from all sin, that He had planned work for him in India. And He did deliver him! Hyde could testify thereafter that the Lord had given him victory, and he loved to witness to this and tell all of the wonderful faithfulness of Christ his Lord, his Saviour.

—See Captain E. G. Carré (ed.), Praying Hyde, Apostle of Prayer: The Life Story of John Hyde (Bridge-Logos, 1992)

“Moving man, through God, by prayer alone ”

Hudson Taylor was a missionary to China in the nineteenth century. He realised that before leaving England, the most important preparation must take place in his own soul. In China he would have to depend utterly upon his Lord for everything. Lest a dismal failure befall him later on, he determined to test thoroughly the Saviour's promise: “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do” (John 14:13). He resolved to learn, as he said, “before leaving England, to move man, through God, by prayer alone.”

He made the test in a specific situation relative to his salary. His employer had asked Hudson to remind him whenever his salary became due. This he determined to leave wholly in the hands of the Lord, and the time came to be paid.

On settling up his accounts one Saturday night he found himself possessed of only one coin. God tested him the next day. He sought to comfort a couple in need by saying that there was a kind and loving Father looking down from Heaven. Yet when he knelt down to pray for them and said, “Our Father,” he heard a voice within saying, “Dare you mock God? Dare you kneel down and call Him Father with that half crown in your pocket?” Finishing the prayer, he arose and gave them the coin. Now he could testify to them that God really was a Father and may be trusted—and joy came in full flood-tide into his heart!

The next morning his landlady brought him a letter—containing a coin of higher value. “Praise the Lord!” he exclaimed. “Four hundred percent for a twelve hours' investment!” He learned that the bank of Heaven is always dependable and pays good dividends.

His faith in the power of prayer was greatly strengthened, but in the course of two weeks his money was spent and still no salary. He devoted much time to wrestling with God in prayer. Then after a disappointment, Taylor went to a quiet place and poured out his heart to the Lord—and that night was miraculously paid. Without showing his feelings, he went back to his little closet and praised the Lord with a joyful heart that after all he might go to China.

The latter was the consuming obsession of his being. He sailed there in 1853 to be Christ’s ambassador. John 14:13 would be as true there as in England!

—See Heroes of Faith on Pioneer Trails by E. Myers Harrison


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