Obedience or independence? “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Our Lord never insists on our obedience. He stresses very definitely what we ought to do, but He never forces us to do it. We have to obey Him out of oneness of spirit with Him. That is why whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He prefaced it with an “If,” meaning, “You do not need to do this unless you desire..

The trial of faith “If you have faith as a mustard seed … nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20). We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith, and it may be so in the initial stages. But we do not earn anything through faith – faith brings us into the right relationship with God and gives Him His opportunity to work. Yet God frequently has to knock the bottom out of your expe..

“Without faith it is impossible to please Him …” (Hebrews 11:6) Faith in active opposition to common sense is mistaken enthusiasm and narrow-mindedness, and common sense in opposition to faith demonstrates a mistaken reliance on reason on the basis for truth. The life of faith brings the two of these into the proper relationship. Common sense and faith are as different from each other as the nat..

The place of humiliation “If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us” (Mark 9:22) After every time of exaltation, we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they really are, where it is neither beautiful and poetic, nor thrilling. The height of the mountaintop is measured by the dismal drudgery of the valley, but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of..

Going through spiritual confusion “Jesus answered and said, ‘You do not know what you ask’ ” (Matthew 20:22). There are times in your spiritual life when there is confusion, and the way out of it is not simply to say that you should not be confused. It is not a matter of right and wrong, but a matter of God taking you through a way that you temporarily do not understand. And it is only by going ..

“When you were under the fig tree, I saw you” (John 1:48). Worshipping in everyday occasions. We presume that we would be ready for battle if confronted with a great crisis, but it is not the crisis that builds something within us-it simply reveals what we are made of already. Do you find yourself saying, “If God calls me to battle, of course I will rise to the occasion”? Yet you won’t rise to t..

Do it yourself “…bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ …” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Determinedly discipline other things. This is another difficult aspect of the strenuous nature of sainthood. Paul said, according to the Moffatt translation of this verse, “… I take every project prisoner to make it obey Christ ….” So much Christian work today has never been disciplined, bu..

Fountains of blessings “The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). The picture our Lord described here is not that of a simple stream of water, but an overflowing fountain. Continue to “be filled” (Ephesians 5:18) and the sweetness of your vital relationship to Jesus will flow as generously out of you as it has been giv..

The far-reaching rivers of life “He who believes in Me … out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). A river reaches places which its source never knows. And Jesus said that, if we have received His fullness, “rivers of living water” will flow out of us, reaching in blessing even “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8), regardless of how small the visible effects of our lives ma..

Prayer-battle in “the secret place” “When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly” (Matthew 6:6). Jesus did not say, “Dream about your Father who is in the secret place,” but He said, “… pray to your Father who is in the secret place ….” Prayer is an effort of the will..