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the Master. The merchant who sells merchandise expects to make sales and to increase h is volume. The farmer who raises crops expects that the seed will produce and that he will have a harvest at the end of the summer. The surgeon who operates expects to see the wound cleanly healed and the difficulty removed. So in our Christian activity we should expect to see the results from our labors and our testimony. If they are lacking, we should search our hearts to find the reason. We should not be content just to carry on a re ligious life with no results for eterni ty. Let us desire to know how to serve in such a way that hearts will respond and the Lord will be glori fied. SEPTEMBER 29, 1946 W A Y S OF ACH IEV ING OUR GOALS M att . 7:17-27; 1 C or . 12:27-30 rpHERE is no short cut to efficiency. It must be developed by careful attention and close application. There is no substitute for knowing the Scriptures, knowing God’s ways, or for being Spiritfilled. Only the Spirit of God can achieve the goals which have been described. The Saviour entered His public ministry o f usefulness after the Spirit descended upon Him. The disciples were told to tarry in Jerusalem until that blessed Person, the Spirit, should publicly identify Himself with them. Ar.anias was sent to Paul before he began his preach ing ministry with the admonition, “Be filled with the Spirit.” The Spirit takes the Word and mingles it with our personalities to enable us to serve effectively. Bezaleel had that ex perience for his tasks (Ex. 31:2, 3). For Those Who Hove Topics 1. WE ACHIEVE BY BIBLE, STUDY. 2 Tim. 2:15.' ' Man’s remedies are transient and evanescent. God’s remedies are per manent. Man’s medicines are pallia tive while God’s medicines are cura tive. Man’s provisions give temporary relief while God’s give permanent restoration. It is necessary to know the Word of God in order to under stand His will and then to apply these precious truths to human lives. Thus the problems are solved, the doubts are dissipated and the ques- tibns are answered. Human expedi ents are very poor at best The stream of time is littered on both banks with the wreckage of man’s programs for human betterment. Nothing has been found yet that would overcome the wickedness of the human heart except the.message in the Word which came from God’s
heart. This produces permanent re sults. 2. WE ACHIEVE BY PRAYER AND MEDITATION. Acts. 6:4. When we walk with God, we take on the ways of God. When we speak with Him in real prayer and meditate on Him in the night hours, He directs our thinking and guides our decisions. In Psalm 63, David stated, “When I ... meditate on thee in the night watches.” At the time he thus ex pressed himself he was greatly dis tressed because Saul was pursuing him through the woods. He had noth ing but trouble. He did not use his wits to get out of trouble, but waited on the Lord in prayer and meditation on God’s ways of deliverance. This gave him peace. David also said in Psalm 104:34, “My meditation of him shall be sweet,” and again in Psalm 19:14, “Let the. . . meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight.” He achieved by prayer and meditation what he could never have secured by human striving. 3. WE ACHIEVE BY PRACTICING CHRISTIAN ACTIVITY. 1 Thess. 1:8. Someone has said that practice makes perfect. Certainly it is true that, as we seek to reach certain goals, we become more proficient and more ef ficient in the path that leads to vic tory. We never learn to swim sitting on the bank. We learn to operate on the human body by performing sur gery. We learn to sing by vocalizing. This is true as well in the sphere of the soul. As we seek to apply our selves actively toward the goal, we find ourselves approaching it more nearly and we thereby increase in ability. He who would win souls must be at the soul-winning business. He who would learn to preach must go and preach wherever there is an opening. He who would teach the Bible to others must first learn it himself. He who would become a leader of men must practice leader ship according to his ability. Let us give to the service of our Lord the best that we have. 4. WE ACHIEVE BY STUDYING THE LIVES OF OTHERS. James 5:10. Through studying the lives of suc cessful men, we learn the ways and means by which they reached their goals. Of course, we must admit that success is not measured by money in every case. Hitler achieved his goal and then fell. Caesar, and Henry VIII as well, had the same experience. Success cannot be measured by hu man standards which are temporary, but by God’s standards which are eternal. We learn by the mistakes that others have made and we may thereby avoid them. We learn by the
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