May, 1934
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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
I want it for myself. But I do not want to say I will take this step until I really mean it.” The Spirit of God strove with him. For two nights, Jack Reno struggled with the burden of his own sin. “For two nights I have been trying to get right with God,” he told me in despair, “but I can’t.” Opening my Bible, I read: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteous ness ; and with the .mouth confession is made unto salva tion.” “Can God keep from saving you, if you do what He asks ?” I put the question squarely. “No!” he replied with joy, as in simple faith he laid hold of the promise of God. Later, he said, “Mr. Wilder, I don’t just think I am a changed man; I know it.” And his letters tell of the joy that comes to him through the reading of the Word and Christian literature. Within prison walls, a soul had passed from death unto life, and a mother’s prayer, long forgotten by the world, had been answered. The twofold petition of little children had been answered also, for not only was Jack Reno saved, as the Juniors had prayed he would be, but before he left for the state penitentiary, of his own accord he suggested "that several articles in his possession should be sold, and that the amount owing to the children—$2.54—be re turned to them. When the money was mailed to the mis sionaries, the story of Jack Reno went with it. The Juniors’ prayer was answered in thirty days, the mother’s in thirty years. God often waits; He never forgets. CAMOUFLAGED EVIL [Continued from page 175] Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God.” She knew Him, and that was enough. It is that implicit faith in Jesus Himself that satisfies the heart, and that trust also settles a great many questions that the natural man cannot understand. The words of Paul in the second chapter of First Corinthians explain why some very wise men and women are unable to grasp spiritual truths: “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spirit ually discerned” (v. 14). “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (v. 10). Not long ago, I read in the Life of Faith the testimony of the Princess Despina Karadja, daughter of a Greek dip lomat. Finding no rest in the round of social life which her position provided for her, nor in the views of those who sought to “convert” her to spiritualism or other modern cults, she attempted to withdraw into an attitude of indifference and unbelief. Then, one autumn day, a terrible disappointment came to' her, and the sun was blotted out of her sky. After hours of aimless walking, she drifted into a church whose doors stood open. No ser vice was being held, but within those sacred walls, God spoke to her aching heart.. Out of that time of silence and utter loneliness came her testimony: Hopeless, helpless, I sank to my knees; and from the depth of my heart rose its first real prayer: “O God, if there is a God, show me the way.” From that wonderful hour, I know that God answers prayer “above all that we ask or think.” The answer came swiftly, unexpectedly. Suddenly I realized beyond any shadow of doubt, that I was kneeling not only in the presence of God, but before Christ, the risen Lord. In the radiance of that holy Presence I saw my own sinfulness, and was utterly broken. I accepted the forgiveness offered, and felt a great peace entering my innermost being. With that, too, a lifelong
blindness fell from my eyes, and the great scriptural truths which had been mere words to me, gradually became clear and full of meaning. The princess had found “the way” ! Whoever cries to God in sincerity of heart, “Show me the way,” will find the Lord Himself coming in quick response to that soul’s deep est need. No man is forced to continue to travel in “the ways of death,” blindly deceived, when Christ, “the way, the truth, and the life;” is at hand. No life is required to bear corrupt fruit continually, when, by abiding in Christ, that life may bring forth good fruit. No soul is obliged to build upon shifting sands of human effort, when the Rock foundation may be chosen, and that Rock is Christ. But the line of demarcation continues, and by personal choice, every man takes his place on one side or the other—with Christ, or against Him. While the day of grace continues, “Therefore choose life.” of the log. The log could then be floated down the river; and, when wet, the imprint would be much more vivid than when the log had been struck with the initial seal. What a wonderful picture we have here of the fact that God has given to us His seal of our redemption until the day when the purchased possession shall be claimed! —E . L. M c C reery . The Living Sacrifice “/ beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1). W h en Paul speaks thus, he is not using empty words. He is not suggesting that we present ourselves a dead sacrifice, by the shedding of our own blood. On the contrary, he is urging a separation to a life of service. It is significant that among the sacrifices described under the Mosaic, law, there is that to which Paul refers in his plea. The presentation of living sacrifices was ordained for the service of the tabernacle: “And Aaron shall offer the Levites before Jehovah for a wave-offering, . . . And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for a wave-offering unto Jehovah . . . For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel” (Num. 8:11-16). The children of Israel were to lay their hands upon the Levites as upon the heads of the victims offered in sacri fice (Num. 8:10). But in this offering, the sacrifice was not siain. The men of the tribe of Levi were set apart-—- separated to the service of God. The child of God may find it more difficult to be offered as a living sacrifice than to be slain as a sacrifice. Yet our God has called us to be living sacrifices, and our separation unto Him is precious in His sight—E. L. M c C reery . “Arise, Cry Out in the Night” T he L ord seems to be repeating to the poor church tbday,the entreatywhich He once addressed to prostrate Israel, “Arise, cry out in the night” (Lam. 2:19). There is a Christian here and there, who sees things in their true light. What can he do but groan with the psalmist, “In the days of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased no t: my soul refused to be comforted” (Psa. 77 :2) ? If sleep could be banished from the pillows of the faithful few in the agony of their desire to see God make bare His mighty arm ; if they would plead like Abra ham, in Genesis 18; if they would hold on like Jacob, “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me” (Gen. 32:26); if with their Lord they “continued all night in prayer to God” (Lk. 6:12); then a bright wave of blessing would extend everywhere.—W. E. E dmonds . AROUND THE KING’S TABLE [Continued from page 171]
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