Coconut
Member
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2005
- Messages
- 4,663
The Lord is concerned for one thing, and that is that we learn to be occupied with His lovely self. It is not a striving to express the Lord Jesus, but when I am occupied with His face something happens to my face. You can tell what people look at continually. When people are looking at the dark, dangerous and fearful side of life, the lines are written all over their faces, but you can always tell when someone has been occupied with the joyful, the bright and the living side.
Have you ever noticed that when a husband and wife look at one another for fifty years across the table they begin to look more and more alike? I wish I could say that they always look like the prettier of the two! Really, you would be surprised how many of you here are beginning to look alike. It is the law, for it says in the Bible: "As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man" (Proverbs 27:19).
Seriously, now, I have met some who have really reflected the loveliness of the Lord Jesus. John says: "We shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2).
Several years ago I was privileged to meet an elderly saint, who was then about eighty-seven. For over fifty years she had been an invalid and confined to her room, but if ever I saw anyone who lived face to face with the Lord, she did. Dozens of pastors throughout that whole valley made their way to this humble little cottage. The first time I went into her room, I had only been there about ten minutes when I fell on my face on the floor, for the glory of the Lord was so real and all I could say was: 'Lord, I am unclean!' It seemed that every other phrase that she spoke was praise to the Lord. She adopted me as one of her sons.
It was strange how, when she read something from the Word of God, things that I had known so well suddenly became piercing. She kept reading from a special book when I went to visit her, and one day I said: 'Mother, you may not be here too much longer. Would you give me this book when you are gone?' Every time she read from it it seemed that God just cut my heart open. One day when I went into her room I said: 'Mother, it is a shame that you sit here like this. Don't you know that God heals people?' She looked up at me with such sympathy, and replied: 'Oh, yes, my boy, I know God would have healed me a long time ago,' and then in her broken English she said: 'And den I would have runned around like all de oder womans!' She had no desire to be in any other place, but just dwelling with God and seeking His face, and I believe she had a ministry that touched more people than many others I have known.
One day a package came to my home by mail, and when I looked at the 'return address' in the corner I knew what had happened. I was sorry that she had gone, but my heart leaped: at last I had this wonderful book! I got alone by myself and started to read - and I am ashamed to admit this. I discovered that it was not the book, but the person who made the difference. I read the book, but it does not speak to me as it did.
Let me just say in closing, dear friends: God wants to stretch our inner life, but it will only be as we learn to wait, and wait... and wait. It will only begin with a living relationship, through confirmation, by new priority, a real balance, and preoccupation with Himself. If you go away from here with more than an experience, with a living relationship, then my heart shall rejoice.
-excerpt from Wait On The Lord"
"Wait on the Lord"
Have you ever noticed that when a husband and wife look at one another for fifty years across the table they begin to look more and more alike? I wish I could say that they always look like the prettier of the two! Really, you would be surprised how many of you here are beginning to look alike. It is the law, for it says in the Bible: "As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man" (Proverbs 27:19).
Seriously, now, I have met some who have really reflected the loveliness of the Lord Jesus. John says: "We shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2).
Several years ago I was privileged to meet an elderly saint, who was then about eighty-seven. For over fifty years she had been an invalid and confined to her room, but if ever I saw anyone who lived face to face with the Lord, she did. Dozens of pastors throughout that whole valley made their way to this humble little cottage. The first time I went into her room, I had only been there about ten minutes when I fell on my face on the floor, for the glory of the Lord was so real and all I could say was: 'Lord, I am unclean!' It seemed that every other phrase that she spoke was praise to the Lord. She adopted me as one of her sons.
It was strange how, when she read something from the Word of God, things that I had known so well suddenly became piercing. She kept reading from a special book when I went to visit her, and one day I said: 'Mother, you may not be here too much longer. Would you give me this book when you are gone?' Every time she read from it it seemed that God just cut my heart open. One day when I went into her room I said: 'Mother, it is a shame that you sit here like this. Don't you know that God heals people?' She looked up at me with such sympathy, and replied: 'Oh, yes, my boy, I know God would have healed me a long time ago,' and then in her broken English she said: 'And den I would have runned around like all de oder womans!' She had no desire to be in any other place, but just dwelling with God and seeking His face, and I believe she had a ministry that touched more people than many others I have known.
One day a package came to my home by mail, and when I looked at the 'return address' in the corner I knew what had happened. I was sorry that she had gone, but my heart leaped: at last I had this wonderful book! I got alone by myself and started to read - and I am ashamed to admit this. I discovered that it was not the book, but the person who made the difference. I read the book, but it does not speak to me as it did.
Let me just say in closing, dear friends: God wants to stretch our inner life, but it will only be as we learn to wait, and wait... and wait. It will only begin with a living relationship, through confirmation, by new priority, a real balance, and preoccupation with Himself. If you go away from here with more than an experience, with a living relationship, then my heart shall rejoice.
-excerpt from Wait On The Lord"
"Wait on the Lord"
