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Hudson Taylor was the 19th Century founder of China Inland Mission, which later became Overseas Missionary Fellowship. Following are excerpts from a letter to his sister following his discovery of the Indwelling Christ and the "exchanged life." "I strove for faith, but it would not come, I tried to exercise it, but in vain....When the agony of my soul was at its height, a sentence in a letter from dear McCarthy was used to remove the scales from my eyes, and the Spirit of God revealed to me the truth of our oneness ith Jesus as I had never known it before....(I quote from memory) 'But how to get faith strengthened? Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the Faithful One.' As I read, I saw it all! If we believe not, he abith faithful.' I looked to Jesus and saw (and when I saw, oh how joy flowed!) that He said, 'I will never leave thee. 'Ah, there is rest!' I thought. 'I have striven in vain to rest in Him. I'll strive no more. For has He not promised to abide with me--never to leave me, never to fail me?'.... And since Christ has thus dwelt in my heart by faith, how happy I have been!...I am no better than before. In a sense, I do not wish to be nor am I striving to be. But I am dead and buried with Christ--ay, and risen too! --Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret
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Raising teenagers is not easy. it wasn’t for me. On
Fathers’ day my daughter presented me with a plaque about “What
a Father is.” It portrays the ideal: “A Father is patient and kind. I cried. I could not hang it on the wall as asked by my daughter because at the time the Lord was revealing to me my impatience and quickness to judge before I knew the whole story. Instead, I hid it in my bottom dresser drawer. It’s amazing how God uses our children like a mirror to reveal what’s in our hearts. Why does He do this? It’s because He is jealous for His own life. He doesn’t want a counterfeit. He knows that we can’t make it in our own strength, even as Christians. Christ who is living in us, by His Spirit, and in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells, wants to live His life through us. It’s not just a matter of “What would Jesus do?” It’s a matter of allowing Jesus to be Jesus. Our "job" is to rest and abide in Him as the branches abide in the vine. Does this mean that we don’t sin? No, definitely not! We still fall short lots of times, but that’s what we have the blood for. If we confess our sin, He is faithful to forgive and cleanse us [I John 1:7,9]. I love these verses: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” [Matt. 11:28-30 KJV] Also, in Galatians 2:20 [KJV] , “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Today, by His Grace I am experiencing more of His patience
and understanding toward others. Is it because of Christian articles
I have read? Is it because I have finally arrived and am more spiritual
now? NO! NO! NO! It’s because I have finally come to the realization
that it is not me, but Him. Now, can I take the glory and credit for this?
Of course not. How can I take the credit for something I know that I
can’t do and that He is doing through me? He gets all the Glory. |