TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I NE S S
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we are! In the very fact that we are afraid we are out of His will for “ God hath not given us the spirit of fear.” The Adversary can bedevil a sensitive' nature until one is completely occupied with sticking pins into himself— taking his ^spiritual pulse and temperature. If you have a tender conscience, learn to distinguish between the voice of the Spirit and the whisperings of the Mock Angel. Square your impressions with the Word and look out for that trick of Satan’s that would lead you to occupy your time and thoughts with yourself. The Lord wants us to cheek up on ourselves, but He would not have us make it our occupation. The Enemy approaches through the advice of friends who sometimes speak out of love, but without under standing. Now indeed “in a multitude of counselors there is safety” but there have been times when if a man had taken the counsel of those dearest and nearest, he would have gone far wrong. Advice, like all other means of guidance must be squared with the Word and steeped in prayer. The majority rule is often a poor rule as when, on the voyage to Rome, “the more part” advised to set sail and get going in the face of Paul’s warning. So ever more we must keep a lookout for the Mock Angel lest we mistake the voice of many for the voice of the Master. j Satan would defeat us by making us stilted and un- natural. Many a David has fared forth to defeat in the armor of Saul when sling and stones would have thrown the giant, Preachers must beware of well-meaning souls Who would load them down with the panoply of another, the standard paraphernalia instead of his own peculiar endowments. Of course, his own style can get him into a World of trouble but if it is owned and operated by the Spirit, let him use it. with liberty, “Better a thousand times effective peculiarity than-ineffective ordinariness.” Concerning Billy Sunday, a great seminary president said: “I like polished sermons but I like polished souls better.. ..I am willing for the preacher to break grammar if he will in doing so break hearts. At the judgment day I. don’t believe God will ask Billy Sunday to pass an examination on literary style or rhetorical correctness in use of metaphors, but on his fidelity to the souls of men, I .believe the great good God is far more interested in the man who converts men from sin in rough language than in the man who leaves sinners self-complacent with polished sermons.” In one way or another, the Mock Angel gets his work done, .Our weakness is that we think of his activities only in. terms of vicious and filthy sins, drunkenness and immorality, the indecent and vile. But his worst work is not done in brothels and gambling places. Some of it is carried on in places and performances that seem so good it may appear outrageous to suggest that they are of the devil. Some of his worst work is done in churches. If to men who prophesy and cast out devils the Lord must say “Depart, I never knew you,” surely it is evident that a lot of Satan’s work goes on in church. The Mock Angel may sing in the choir, teach in Sunday School, preach from the pulpit! Sardis had a name to be alive but was dead: evidently there was a lot of activity there which was not of the Lord. Look out for Satan as an angel of light. Put on the whole armor, watch and pray, be not deceived. The devil is a liar from the beginning and we so often see his bait but not his hook. Above all, get better acquainted with Christ. The best way to spot counterfeit money is to know the genuine so well that you can readily identify the-false. We waste time trying to find out what is wrong with this and that “ism,” movement, suggestion. We had better walk so close to’ the Lord that we know His voice. Thten we will be able to instantly detect the voice of the stranger.
unforgiveness, worry, unbelief, depression, backbiting, unlove, lying, hypocrisy, impurity, dwell with us unto this day? Why can we not drive out these sons of Anak? There is but one answer. Somewhere there is a flaw in our consecration. There is some secret reservation in our yielding. Somewhere we yet “give place to the devil.” Some member of the body is still yielded to sin as an instrument. In something we do not “wholly follow the Lord.” Dispossession is the other side of possession. To be filled with the Spirit implies yielding no place to Satan. They are two parts of one experience. It is impossible to be filled with the Spirit if by our consent Satan controls even one small area in mind, heart, or will. Thé Spirit can and will drive out Satan from every high mountain as well as every low valley. Do you possess the fullness of the Spirit? Has he dispossessed Satan of even standing room in your life? It not, is any time better to obtain that victory through such fullness than just this moment? It Was a Life of Blessing From Caleb’s life rivers of living water flowed, bring ing, enrichment to his own family, to hiS tribe, and to the whole congregation. Caleb had leisure from himself to bless and help others; The blessing through him was felt first in his own family as it should be. The promise of God had been to Caleb and to his seed. God definitely said that Caleb’s children would profit by their father’s consecration and godliness Ccf. Deut. 1:36). . There is still one other lesson to be learned from this grand old man. It was his willingness to share respon sibility and work with a younger man. He had possessed the land and dispossessed his enemies. The land rested from war. Now he must keep what was his. But Caleb had no desire to be an overlord. He does not talk of "my Hebron” or “my Debir.” What a magnanimous spirit-he has! No wonder he is called “Great Heart!” So he offers his nephew the opportunity for such service and promises him his daughter if he succeeds. How very difficult it often is for an older person to lay down work or even to share a bit of the responsibility with younger ones! The current of human life often be comes narrower rather than broader as it approaches the end. With Caleb a magnanimous generosity characterizes his old age. How clearly God shows us in Caleb that the overcoming life is both the enriched and the enriching life. Rivers of living water flowed from his life to refresh many another pilgrim on the journey into the promised land. The Mock Angel [ Continued from Page 123] be true but, through too much emphasis on it we become lopsided and fail to witness to a full Gospel. Sometimes the Mock Angel gets in through im pressions that seem so good we conclude they must be of the Lord. Failing to “try the spirits,” we ascribe the work of the devil to God. There is a false humility'that keeps many a Christian from holy boldness in the Lord. Many a minister, before giving his message, has felt the presence of the Accuser saying, “Who are you to be condemning sin and exhorting these people?” Now a proper self-abasement we should know, but beware lest the Mock Angel takes advantage of that fact to send us out limp and uncertain when we need to speak with authority. He besets us with over-conscientiousness that we become so afraid that w» mav be out of God’s will that
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