353
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
June 1928
ashamed of the gospel of Christ” (Rom 1:16 ). If you try to hide your light, it will flicker and go out. Not to be out-and-out for Jesus, is to be down-and-out. Furthermore, we are called to be witnesses. Christ not diffused is Christ misused. W e cannot be true to Him and be silent about Him. W e cannot be square with our friends and withhold from them the best news in the world — the saving power o f Christ. “ Let the redeemed o f the Lord say so” (Psa. 107:2). Little sentences wisely spoken for Him, may save souls for eternity. 4. PERUSE His Word. “ Study to shozv thyself ap proved unto God” (2 Tim. 2 :15 ). D. L. Moody said: “ Learn to feed yourself. There are ■lots of people who all their lives have been fed out o f an • ecclesiastical spoon. Get your own food.” When you pray you speak to God. When you study His Word He speaks to you. The Author of this Book knows you. He knows what you need and has written you this letter through divinely inspired men to speak to your heart, your con science, your higher faculties. It will tell you what is the matter with you, how you can be victorious, how to be used in greater measure by the Holy Spirit. W ord and work make healthy Christians. All study and no ser vice, will give' you religious gout, but you never saw a fruit-bearing Christian who didn’t get his running orders from the Bible and His strength from the promises. (Read Psa. 1.) 5. P A Y— “ Freely ye, have received, freely give” (M t. 10:8). Did you ever hear a man remind the Lord in prayer o f His promise to “ open the windows o f heaven and pour out a blessing” ? But perhaps the windows didn’t open and the blessing didn’t come. Why ? He had the key to the windows and didn’t use it. Read Mai. 3 :10 sharply. “ Bring ye all the tithes [one-tenth] and prove me, saith the Lord, if I will not open the windows.” Fulfil the condition; He will fulfil His.promise. Rob God and you cheat yourself. The tithe is God’s cure for covetousness. The millionaires o f eternity are the givers of time. 6. PRA ISE— “ My lips shall praise thee continually” (Psa. 63 :3 ). A man owned a small estate and wished to sell it. He sent for a real estate agent who wrote up an advertisement- The owner read the description of the property and said, “ I don’t think I want to sell it. I have been looking for a place like that all my life and didn’t know I had it.” So it is with our blessings, W e have had them every day and taken them as a matter o f course. Praise is the rent we owe to God. Hem your blessings with praise and He will see that they do not unravel. 7. PART IC IPATE in the membership and activities of some evangelical church. The church provides many o f the means of grace by divine appointment. Belonging to the “ invisible church” does not relieve one o f obliga tions to the organized church. Through it God wills to carry on His work of evangelizing the world. There could! be no great missionary enterprises apart from the associa tion of believers for fellowship, prayer, planning, training and giving. “ Forsake not the assembling o f yourselves together” (Heb. 10:25). The church will help you to “ grow in grace and in the knowledge o f Him.” Dr. Parker wisely said: “ Be not led away by the foolish fantasy that a man can read the Bible at home and dispense with the joy o f kindred sympathy of soul.” Follow these seven rules and you will never backslide.
:: Heart to Heart ::
How Can a Christian Grow? “ g ig F T E R we become Christians there are two i p i l courses open to us. We may have peace and Jamm prosperity or we may have poverty and punish- 1pgf|| ment. The heavenly Father never allows His JL]jnS5& children to chum with the devil. If they do sb, they invite chastisement. This is a lesson young Christians should have early impressed upon them. To trifle with God is to be “ chas tened o f the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world” (1 Cor. 11:32). He, has an eye to His children. There is absolutely no peace for a Christian except in the center of His will. The only way to spiritual prosperity is to obey the laws o f spiritual growth. Let me suggest seven rules for a prosperous Christian life. The first is: ' 1. PERSEVERE—- “ Forgetting the things which are behind, press toward the mark fo r the prize o f the high calling o f God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3 :13 ). A little boy had a habit of falling out of bed every night. His mother asked him one day why it was he so often fell out o f bed. “ I don’t know,” he said, “ unless it’s because I fall asleep too near where I get in.” .That is exactly the trou ble with some Christians. They remain too near the line of the world which they professed to step over when they accepted Christ. Like Pet.er, they try sometimes to warm themselves at the enemy’s fire, only to suffer from spiritual chills afterward. The world’s smiles are more dangerous than its frowns. Seek them not. The nearer you live to the world, the less power you will have over it. “ Press forward.” All the devil’s dice are loaded. Don’t play with them. Keep “looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher o f your faith” (Heb. 12:2). 2. PR A Y— “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be macle known unto God,” (Phil. 4:6)'. Backsliding always begins in the knees. To be little with God is to be little .for God. If we fail to turn our thoughts to Him in the morning, He will be lost in our thoughts all day ., “M y voice shalt thou hear in the morning, 0 Lord ” said the Psalmist. “ In the morning will I cry unto thee and look up” (Psa. 5:3)'. Constantine was one day looking at some statues of noted persons, who were represented standing. “ I shall have mine taken kneeling,” he said, “ for that is how I have risen to power.” Thus it is with the Christian. If he would rise, he must kneel. To whip the devil, call to Christ. He has no office hours. "Pray without ceasing.” 3. PROCLA IM— “H e that believeth shall not be ashamed” (Rom. 10:9-11). Don’t be a “ guess so” Chris tian. Don’t be a “ silent partner.” Paul said :,“ / am not
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