Consecration & Faith Pledge

CONSECRATION AND FAITH PLEDGE

CONSECRATION PLEDGE.

         Dear Lord; I present myself unreservedly to Thee.

         My time.

         My talents.

         My tongue.

         My will.

         My property.

         My reputation.

         My entire being.

         To be, and to do, anything that Thou requires of me.

PLEDGE OF FAITH.

         Now as I have given myself away, I am no longer my own, but all the Lord’s.

         I believe Thou dost accept the offering I bring.

         I trust Thee to work in me all the good pleasure of Thy will.

         “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and I will receive you.”

                  As I do give myself to Thee, I believe Thou dost receive me now.

Ministry - Carrie F. Judd (Triumphs of Faith 11.2)

MINISTRY.

BY CARRIE F. JUDD

To obtain great spiritual blessings for ourselves we must pour out our souls for others. There is a form of spiritual selfishness which keeps us so conscious of our own needs that, in seeking spiritual supplies for ourselves, we become almost oblivious of the needs of others, and forget the apostle’s injunction, “Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth.”-(I Cor. x:24.)

We often feel justified in this selfishness by the argument that we cannot help others without first being filled ourselves. While in one sense this is true, yet as those who walk by faith and not by sight, we must take by faith our position in Christ, claiming that He is to us each moment all we need, for in Him are “hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” and then out of His abundant wealth, which we thus claim because He has given Himself to us, we must by faith dispense to others. God tells us in His Word that if we draw out our soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall our light rise in obscurity and our darkness be as the noon-day.-(Isa. lviii:10.) Human wisdom would tell us to first fill ourselves before we try to fill others; Divine wisdom takes her stand as already filled, by faith in Christ’s fullness, and realizes that as she gives to others of this hidden wealth it shall be made manifest. The promise goes on, “An the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden and like a spring of waters, whose waters fail not.” –(Isa. lviii:11.) Guided, as, by faith in our Guide, we guide others; satisfied, as, by faith, we satisfy the afflicted souls around us; made fat, as we give of Christ’s overflowing fullness to those who seem even less needy than ourselves, until at last we are no longer conscious of receiving the former, and latter rains moderately, but our souls become like watered gardens and like springs of never-failing water. Filled continually, as by faith we pour out continually. Beloved, let us in all our service, in the ministry of prayer as well as in work or exhortation, be like the Son of Man Who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many. Then shall we stand with Him, our great High Priest, in our office of royal priesthood, “consecrated for evermore.”

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WAITING AND GUIDANCE

By T.C. Upham.

Wait on the Lord, to learn the time

            And circumstance of every deed;

He loves to bow his thought sublime

            To those who wait, and feel their need.

He know the time, He knows the way,

            And he alone can give the light,

Which will not lead our steps astray,

            But teach and guide them in the right.

Oh, then recollection wait,

            In calmness look, till light is given;

And thus thou shall not miss the straight

            And narrow way that leas us to heaven.

                        -Selected.

Beloved (Triumphs of Faith 11.2)

BELOVED

O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock,

In the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance.

-Cant. ii:14.

Safely hi in the rock’s deep cleft,

            I sing as the hours pass by;

Sweet is the shelter, and cool and strong,

            And I look at the cloudless sky;

Fair is the world in its opal hues,

            And smooth is the sparkling sea,

And every leaf on the forest trees

            Has a message of love to me.

I hear a whisper! The songs are loud

            Which the singers sing all day;

But I hush my breath, for I long the most

            To hear what the whispers say-

Sweet are the voices of those who sing,

            But it is the “still, small voice”

That thrills me through with its lightest word,

            Making my soul rejoice.

“Let Me see thee!” Oh, strange it seems

            That He says such words to me;

Scarcely are angels fair enough

            For the Holiest eyes to see.

How can He care for a sin-soiled face,

            For eyes that are dimmed with tears,

For a world-worn brow that is furrowed o’er

            With the ploughings of the years.

Ah, well He knows me, but knowing all,

            Still great are His love and grace,

And a tender pleading is in His voice

            When he asks to see my face.

Love covers a multitude of faults,

            Does it matter how small I be?

Since He loves me so well that long ago

            He gave His life for me!

So I answer back from the rock’s recess-

            I will hide me away no more,

I will dare to look in Thine eyes of love,

            I will let myself adore.

I will venture to open my heart to Thee,

            O Thou, who my soul hast moved;

Happy, indeed, in this world are they

            Whom Thou ownest as Thy beloved.

                        -Selected.

The Witness of the Spirit - Anna Shipton (Triumphs of Faith 11.2)

THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT

BY ANNA SHIPTON.

In what manner is the witness of the Spirit manifested? I would be a vain task to endeavor to explain to any, one of the mysteries of faith; to understand it, it must be known experimentally.

When the wild tempest of affliction has rolled over the soul, that still, small voice has claimed the storm, even as when Christ walked on the foaming billows. But who, that lives in habitual fellowship with God, does not recognize it in familiar household language, throwing a sweetness over common joys, daily toil, and daily trouble? Who has not known its power of consolation in the day of weeping? And even its very silence has said at last: “Great is thy faith! Be not afraid; only believe.” For never did the Good Shepherd permit a sincere and single-eyed follower to be snared by the voice of a stranger. –John x:4,5.)… Communion does not consist in a mere ecstatic emotion; there may be communion almost imperceptible under some circumstance. We cannot discern Him if entangled or encumbered with objects in which He can have no delight; and we cannot trace Him on ordinary occasions if we are not accustomed to see His hand everywhere.-(2 Tim. ii:4.) So that communion does not consist in any abstraction of the mind from daily life and service, but in having the mind of Christ, the desire of the soul always toward Him…The kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom, and therefore we look for spiritual manifestations of the Father and the Son. I hear the voice of God in my soul, and I perceive the finger of God in my path, and the hand of God in my life, in chastening, in guidance, in blessing, in warning, I dare almost say in judgment. You ask how it is so? I cannot explain the manner to all who cavil at the dealings of God with the soul He has called to light and life. I can only say, you must yourself understand experimentally the secret of the Lord God of the whole earth, and this brings to naught the understanding of the wise!

Who can describe the voice of God in the heart; the whisper of love that thrills the whole being with rapture; that has sustained martyrs in the flames, and strengthened them to sing as they mounted the fiery chariot; that has upheld the persecuted and oppressed; has made of a trembling coward a brace, undaunted soldier of the cross, and nerved the timid and uninstructed with power and wisdom and courage?...To assert that the Lord never speaks to His people but through the medium of the written Word, is to exalt the medium above the Spirit, which can alone render it efficacious. We know that He does constantly use the sweet, familiar language of the household of faith. God speaks to His servants and directs them on matters which do not form the subject of divine revelation in the scriptures. For example, He says: “Send relief to such a one.” Indeed, it is plain that there was only a partial revelation of Himself through the patriarchs and prophets, all must originally have been spoken to them. So also in the Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the apostles are guided and taught, not only by the words of the former dispensation, but by the Spirit Himself. The Spirit, however, never alters the doctrine of the Word of God already given: “To the law and testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa. viii:20); and everything at variance with this revealed Word is not of God but is of the devil.

But who shall describe the witnesses of the Spirit to those who know it not? The child Samuel, girded with a linen ephod, could hear the voice of the Living God and deliver His message; and God lets none of His words fall to the ground, according to His promise. The word of God was there, not with the man of years, but with the young child, and every word was true; for there is not unrighteousness in Him. Thus the Lord revealed Himself again in a Shiloh. A child-like mind received His word. So it is today: if a soul is willing and obedient, if the child-like heart delight itself in Him, He gives it to eat manna from Heaven, and with honey out of the smitten rock He satisfies it.-From “The Promise and the Promiser.”