Firstly,
there are hindrances in the realm of the mind.
We have
been told that man is quite unable to cope mentally with
the spiritual and heavenly things of God.
For this reason
God has provided the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth,
of revelation and of spiritual knowledge.
So there will
obviously be hindrances to the free flow of the Spirit if
we try to reason things out for ourselves instead of
heeding the Spirit-inspired Scriptures.
If we try to
think things through ourselves, we become involved in all
sorts of problems and questions.
We are specifically told
that: But 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 spiritually discerned. 1Co 2:14...
A fact
which needs to be accepted and remembered by Christians
for themselves, as well as for the world around.
There
will always arise moments of crisis or experiences full
of perplexity and seeming contradiction, for which the
only answer is that we must trust God.
If we resolve that
we will reason the matter out, or if we turn to other men
for their explanations, we will never understand the ways
of God.
His Word is our only source of light.
It will, at
times, be hard to understand.
It will, perhaps, be
difficult or even impossible to explain.
But if we heed
its message we will be delivered from man's foolish
reasoning...
And we will have lifted off a load of rubbish
which was blocking up the well within.
There are bound to be matters which defy analysis or
argument, for the ways of God are past finding out.
The
real test is whether we will trust God when we cannot
fathom His ways...
Whether we will deliberately and
positively take up a position of faith reliance on His faithfulness.
Even that may not provide us with an answer
which satisfies our minds and solves all our intellectual
problems...
But it will bring us that blessed peace which
is promised to those whose minds are stayed on the Lord.
This is just the opposite of the mind of the man who is
stayed on himself and his difficulty.
Isa 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
It does
not say that his heart will be at peace because he knows
the answers to all the questions. No!
The basic thing is
a faith attitude towards God's faithfulness.
To act in
this way is to remove a big stone, and I venture to say
that it will clear the way for a new joy, and new peace
and a new strength.
The Holy Spirit has been pent up,
blocked, hindered, arrested, by incessant reasonings of
the natural mind.
He is released by the simple exercise
of a faith which feeds on God's Word and relies on His
faithfulness.
~T. Austin Sparks~
No one was more ready
than Jesus to detect the anxieties of those He loved.
We picture Him, as
He taught the twelve, watching intently the expression on their faces
to learn how far His words were understood.
Jesus had noted, then,
tokens of heart distress.
John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
The disciples felt His departure
like a torture.
And it was then that He consoled them with such simple
and glorious speech that all Christendom is the debtor to their agony.
They thought that His death was an unforeseen calamity.
Christ taught
them it was the path of His own planning.
They thought that heaven was
very far away.
Christ taught them it was but another room in the great
home of whose many mansions this beautiful world was one.
He was not
stepping out into the dark.
He was passing from one room to another in
the house.
But the mightiest encouragement of all came when He told
them, "I go to prepare a place for you."
This, then, was the purpose of
His going, that love might have all things ready when they arrived.
When
a child is born here, love has all things ready for it.
It will be the
same when we awaken in eternity.
When a boy or girl comes home from the
boarding-school, has not some heart at home been busy in preparation?
There is someone at the station, and the bedroom is arranged, and the
lights are lit, and the table is spread, and all day there has been
happy excitement in the home because James or Mary is coming home
tonight
So Jesus says, I go to prepare a place for you.
I go to have
all things ready for your coming.
And though there are depths in these
words we cannot fathom and mysteries we cannot understand, they mean at
least that love is getting ready to give the children a real welcome
home.
~George H. Morrison~
Gal
1:15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb, and called me by his grace,
Gal 1:16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might
preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and
blood:
Gal 1:17Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles
before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.
Paul went away from all human contact for several years, in
order to spend time alone with God in the Arabian wilderness.
The newborn soul needs solitude, that, apart from the strife of tongues and the din of the world,
it may meditate on those marvelous things which God has done
for it.
That it may frame a larger, deeper, more adequate
conception of what salvation really is.
That its gratitude may
become more precise and more profound.
That, with nothing and
no one to distract, it may dedicate itself quietly and fully
to its Lord.
The Bible teacher needs
solitude, that he may apprehend the breadth and length and
depth and height of that great, majestic, illimitable book he
is to proclaim.
That he may seize hold of the truth of God and
that the truth of God may seize hold of him.
That the truths
of Scripture may become, more than ever, his own possession
and exceeding joy.
And then, out of the abundance of his
heart, his mouth will speak.
Every saint needs solitude, that he may shake off the dust and grime of worldliness and sin.
That, waiting on the Lord, he may renew his strength.
That a
fresh unction from the Holy One may make him spiritually wise
and strong.
In Arabia, as he came forth from the cloud, the face of Moses shone.
In Arabia, the soul of Paul duly took and strongly kept the print of Heaven.
Ah, there are none of us who can venture to dispense with our Arabian wilderness!
Mar 6:31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart
into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and
going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.
Is it my custom and my delight to go by myself to a quiet place, and rest awhile with Jesus?
~Alexander Smellie~
There is no Heaven without holiness; for "without holiness no man shall see the LORD," Hebrews 12:14.
Will the gates of pearl be opened to let in dogs and swine?
NO! their place is outside, Rev
22:15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and
murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.Will GOD take the children of the devil, and permit them to sit with Him in His throne?
Or, will He bring the unclean into the city, whose street is pure gold?
Be not deceived; grace and glory are but two links of one chain which GOD has joined, which no man shall put asunder.
None are transplanted into the paradise of glory above but out of the nursery of grace below.
If you are unholy while in this world, you will be forever miserable in the world to come!
Rev
22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is
filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be
righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.Mat 25:30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.~Thomas Boston~
