King's Business - 1920-02

THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S

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Name if used against them in full as­ surance of faith? One evening Frances came to me in great distress. She said, “ There is something between my soul and God which baffles me at every turn, and yet I am fully surrendered.” ( “ Are you quite sure of that? ■ I asked. “ Yes; there is not anything which I would not give up if He required it of me, and I am clear of all entanglements. What can be wrong? I must find out; it is impossible to go on like this. How Deliverance Came “ Let us kneel down,” I said, “ and ask Him to show us what the hin­ drance is.” - -. '/■ We knelt, but my prayer for enlight­ enment was a very short one, for Frances suddenly raised herself and ex­ claimed, “ It is the Controls! I sprang to my feet, ¡and said in a loud voice, “ I defy all the powers of evil which are oppressing this soul. In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, depart from her at once!” “ Ah!” she cried, drawing a long breath of relief, “ they are gone!” She turned to me a radiant face, totally dif­ ferent from the clouded one of a few moments before. Thank God, the chain was broken. Frances was now at liberty; her'com­ munion with God was uninterrupted, and there was no cloud on her spirit. After a few weeks, however, she came to me in a fresh difficulty. Occasional­ ly she would be assailed by the Enemy and tempted to a line of thought or a course of action which she would never have entertained of herself, because the temptations were upon points quite for­ eign to her - character. She resisted bravely, yet the attacks recurred. We saw tha-t the Evil One was trying his utmost to regain the hold he had lost, but we were equally determined that he should not succeed. Then he tried another plan; h© would “ rush” the re-

Caught in the Toils “ It was all very well, Miss Drew, for me to make that vow, hut I found that my will was impotent, and my cry was that of the apostle, ‘To will is present with me, hut how to perform that which is good; I know not.’ Again and again the enemy assailed me upon the crucial point of the Divinity of Christ, and I doubted that which I had never ques­ tioned; but, of course, not permanently. Then I awoke to the fact that, instead of singing in public worship, I remained silent, and that I had not opened my piano for some time., And when I met you I became aware of a damping, dead­ ening influence which hindered that spiritual fellowship which .ought to have been perfect between us. At times I wished never to see you again, while my real self was drawing me just the other way.” This explained much that had per­ plexed me in my friend, for every now ,and then it was evident that her will was controlled by some evil power, mak­ ing her the exact reverse of her usual Self. The case gave me much deep con­ cern, and Frances was most unhappy, being tied and bound while she longed for liberty. “ I wish I had never touched Spiritualism,” she cried; “ shall I never be free from its power? No matter what I resolve, some control from the Evil One checks and thwarts me. I am paying dearly for having dab­ bled with the accursed thing. Do help me if you can!” After much prayer and reflection, God graciously cleared my way to do this, and my faith was strengthened. Was anything too hard for the Lord? If Christ had gained the victory over the Prince of Darkness when He rose again from the dead, was not the power of His Resurrection available for those who are filled with His Spirit? Might not the words of the hymn be taken ex-i actly as they stand, and would not “ devils fear and fly” before the Holy

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