DAILY

H. Jensen

Acts 17: 11; Proverbs 8: 34–36; Matthew 6: 7–13; Luke 9: 21–24

Brethren will note that each of these scriptures refers to what is daily. You will recall that during the reading meeting Mr. Widtfeldt referred to the side of what goes on with us daily, every day, in connection with what we had been speaking of, our consecrating ourselves and devoting ourselves to be here for the pleasure of God. This matter of making a vow to commit ourselves to the testimony of God and to the will of God, and to the pleasure of our Lord Jesus Christ, is really based on daily entering into the blessings that are ours; daily entering into the exercises which are vital for us to have, as Christians, and daily being dependent on God for all that we need and all that is to be obtained through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So I have read these scriptures, which all refer to things going on daily, in view of encouraging our hearts that christianity is a daily matter. I know that it has been said that christianity is a weekly matter. That is true, too, from the standpoint of the weekly cycle of things in the assembly. In the days of the Israelites it tended to be more of a monthly matter.

Things were done by months, certain months being the time for certain feasts. Christianity has become more of a weekly matter. Things are carried out through the week with other believers, as we assemble together to carry out what we call the weekly calendar. But as to myself, as a christian, having committed myself to the testimony for carrying it through, having committed myself to the will of God, to see that I am moving in His will, and having committed myself to be here for the pleasure of my Lord and Saviour, christianity becomes a daily matter. That is, you and I and all christians are to take up our responsibilities, our exercises and our privileges every day. So I read these scriptures trusting that a few words relating to them will just help us to see how certain aspects of daily christianity are involved in our individual pathways.

A great deal is being made by some of what is individual, and this is quite all right if held properly in relation to God’s thoughts about the assembly. There is the individual side of things which must go on with us each day, and at the same time there is what is true of us in a collective sense. So we must see that God is working to the end of having the assembly as a collective entity, for His glory eternally. We were speaking at the end of the last meeting of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus as really connected with what is collective. But there is the high calling connected with us as individuals, as called into christianity to be individually linked with God. Individually, on the basis of the blood of Christ, each of us is linked with God and that eternally. Eternally I am called to sonship, a wonderful thing, for no greater calling could be conferred on a man than to be called a son of God. If your calling was that of a nobleman or you were chosen to be in the cabinet of the President of this country it would be a very high calling, but there is no calling equal to that of the believer.

The cabinet members of the President may serve for four years, some will have served longer than that at the end of their term. Their calling has been high, in time, but our calling, beloved brethren, as christians, into the glorious privilege and place of sonship, is eternal. It is not to end in four years, because our King is in power for ever. His place, as enthroned, is never to be taken away from Him, nor will He be voted out of power. You and I have the place of noblemen, called to that place in sonship, to be associated with Christ for ever. Oh what a high calling that is!

The high calling also is collective. It is wonderful that God has called us to have part in the assembly, where, as the collective totality of His work. His glory will be enshrined and be radiant for ever. How wonderful that is! Think of that, God’s glory shining in the saints for ever! Oh, what a calling that is, and we have been called into that. I know that there are many who are discouraged at the present time, so many have a tendency to turn away back from the rigours and exercises that are involved in the testimony. But oh, if we could all get the vision before our souls of what the calling on high of God is and what our future is, as christians, and what it involves for us eternally, I believe none would ever pull back or go away. I believe that. I believe if we had that vision soberly and permanently in our souls “the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”, involving these great and eternal realities, we would never go away. And, dear brethren, let us take courage from these things. If anyone is discouraged with the smallness of things at the present time, with the trial of jealousy that the Lord has brought in to refine things, oh, take courage from the calling which you have been brought into, the calling of God in Christ Jesus, for you as an individual and for you as having part in the assembly.

Well, the scriptures read do not exactly relate to what I have just been saying, except that we take up these things individually, on a daily basis, and apart from that I believe there will be something lacking with us. Apart from daily being involved in the exercises and privileges of being a christian, we will be lacking something and God also will be lacking something. Because if I lack in my response to God, if I lack in my testimony amongst men, if I lack in my living response which is due to God in the assembly, then God misses out. He lacks, because that is robbing God of what is due to Him from me as an individual.

So these persons in Acts 17 are said to be noble, which is a very interesting thing, as it links on with what we were saying as to the calling; but these persons were said to be noble by reason of what they were doing, not just noble by reason of the calling which was theirs.

They were called by the glad tidings that Paul preached amongst them, called to be christians, called into sonship, called into the favour of being in the family of God. But that is not just what the nobility of the Bereans relates to. They were noble from the standpoint of God’s calling, and no greater nobility could have been conferred upon them; but they were more noble than others because every day they were searching out the scriptures to see if christianity was a substantial reality. That, I believe, beloved brethren, is needed by all of us.

If we have made any kind of a committal to God, any, kind of a vow to God, this searching of the scriptures is a vital matter, every day. I think it is a need among us, because I see more and more that there are those who get discouraged and turn away from the truth and the rigours of the testimony, because of a lack in their souls. You may say; “Oh yes, they have this to complain about and that to complain about”. That may be true, for you can always find things to complain about. If you look very carefully at me, you will find a lot to complain about, because there is much of the flesh still residing in me, I know that, so if you watch me constantly you will find that to complain about; the way I do things, the way I say things, the way I carry myself amongst the brethren or in the testimony. Complain and complain as the Israelites did, but the truth usually is that if I become a complainer, there is a lack in my soul of links rightly held with Christ. If I continue as a complainer the enemy has a handle and will use it to get me soon to become a ridiculer, and soon to become a railer, and then the devil has won the day.

Well, these Bereans evidently were not occupied too much with one another or with complaints, because they took up the scriptures with readiness of mind and searched out the truth every day, to see that the things spoken by Paul were realities. Let us be on this line, beloved brethren, because it is a secret to soul progress. Take up the scriptures on a daily basis. It does not indicate that they just read them in a casual way, as you might read a newspaper, or perhaps your studies at school. It means that they were really looking for the truth of the scriptures, to see what Paul was preaching to them and that what Paul was teaching them was verily so, “searching the scriptures if these things were so”, searching them. Well, this is needed amongst us, to search things out. I had to search to find the scriptures I read, which relate to this word “daily”. We need to search things out and the Spirit of God helps us to do that. You will find that there are the depths of God in the Scriptures. What is said of the Spirit Himself is that He “searches all things, even the depths, of God” (1 Corinthians 2: 10). How does He do it? He knows the depths of God; the Spirit of God is God, so He knows them fully. Then how does He search them out? I believe He searches them out as you and I are exercised to go in for the truth and He reveals to us some of the deepest things of God’s treasure house.

That is what made these persons noble, and I believe it is what will make all of us noble, if we pursue this exercise on a regular, daily basis. Taking up the scriptures, not reading them in a casual way, but with readiness of mind, as is indicated with these Bereans “receiving the word with all readiness of mind”. It does not say they had little reserves about certain things which Paul said. We may do that; we may have little reserves about what a certain brother says; but they were receiving it with readiness of mind. Now I know that we got caught in erroneous things in the last 10 or 12 years by being on the line of receiving, as subject to persons, but that is not normal. The normal thing is that you are receiving what comes to you in the way of testimony and then you search it out to see that these things are so. That could be where we failed, in that period of time, by not searching out to see if what was ministered was the truth.

Then I have read in Proverbs about a man who was blessed. This relates to Mr. Hunziker’s reference in the reading meeting to Psalm 1, “Blessed is the man”. These are scriptures which we ought to search out as to what God says about a man that is blessed. Psalm 1 is one of them and here in Proverbs 8 is another, “Blessed is the man”, which includes woman also.

That does not just mean the masculine side, but blessed any person “that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors”. Now I know this scripture is concerning wisdom. It is all about wisdom and how to get wisdom and it is wisdom speaking, wisdom personified speaking, as to how a man is blessed, watching at wisdom’s gates, waiting at the posts of wisdom’s doors, to get wisdom. But I want to apply it to Christ personally, although I know it has been said that you cannot exactly apply this great matter of wisdom as being Christ specifically, but I believe that through this scripture He would speak to us. Through this scripture the Lord Jesus would say to us by the Holy Spirit, ‘Blessed is the man who heareth Me’. I believe it is very true that a man is blessed as he is at the gates of wisdom day by day, looking to see how he can become wiser. But I think for a Christian it involves being daily at the gates, looking for a way of entering into the things of God as associated with Christ Himself. “My gates”, it says, “Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates”. Those are Christ’s gates, that open up into a sphere where Christ is, as exalted, where He is known. There is such a sphere where He is exalted, where everything bows in homage to Jesus. There are gates into that sphere. Are we exercised to be at those gates every day, not just a few times a week?

Some people tend just to live on the meetings. This you cannot do successfully in a spiritual way. This matter is for everyone, individually in their own exercises, to get to the gates where Christ is known, where there is an entrance into a sphere where He is exalted. “Blessed is the man that heareth me”. Well, how do you hear the Lord? How do you get any communication from the Lord at the present time? Is it not by taking time to read the scriptures, as we were saying, on a daily basis and to meditate and to give time for the Spirit of God to give impressions as to the voice of the Son of God? Is that not the way we hear His voice, through our meditations, through our thinking on lines connected with divine things, is that not how we hear Christ speaking? We do not have the opportunity to sit at Jesus’ feet in a literal way, as Mary did. We do not have the wondrous privilege which she had literally, but we do have that privilege spiritually, by the Spirit. Just taking time out, whatever your busy routine is each day, taking time out at the beginning of the day, in the middle of the day, or at the end of the day. Whenever you can find time, take a few moments, just to sit and meditate on divine things. This is being at His gates, that gives opportunity to hear His voice, to hear His words, and I believe none will be disappointed. I believe the Holy Spirit will always give you something. Make up your mind that you are going to use a little time, it may be only a few moments, in which you hunt for something that relates to the glory of Christ, in the sphere where He is honoured, where He is made much of. Oh what a sphere that is! We shall soon be there actually, beloved brethren: We shall soon be in that sphere for ever, where Christ is made much of in everything and in all.

“For whoso findeth me findeth life”. Have we found that in our own experience? Just to find Christ as our Saviour is a great matter. You have found life if you have found Jesus as your Saviour; you have found life already. What happens to so many Christians is that they settle down with that assurance; but the man that is blessed of Jehovah is the man that is daily at the gates, seeking His words and finding there something that refreshes his soul, so that he is a living person, day by day. Not only that he has the promise of life eternally, but that he is living every day in relation to God. Well, that is what this scripture contemplates, persons daily involved in finding resource and sustenance at the gates where all the resource comes from. You know, we tend to find resource in things of this life. There is a day coming soon when everything of this life will be finished. Your job will be finished, your schooling will be finished, everything you are connected with now, even the mercies which God gives us to enjoy, your family, your children, your parents, friends, etc. There will be no more resource from those things at all in the eternal day. No one will go to jobs in the day of eternity and find resource there, no one will go back to their own family and find resource, comfort and encouragement. All our resource will flow from Christ personally. Are we living on that resource now? Let us do it daily, for this source of refreshment, source of encouragement, source of strength for the journey, will be found as we hear His words.

Now I read the other two scriptures, in Matthew and Luke, because they are the Lord’s own words. In Matthew 6 the Lord is instructing His disciples on how to pray. They asked Him how to pray and that was a good desire, to learn how to pray. So the Lord is very explicit with His disciples as to how to pray. I am not going to go into the detail here. What I want to concentrate on is what He says in verses 9, 10 and 11, “Thus therefore pray ye—Our Father who art in the heavens, let thy name be sanctified, let thy kingdom come, let thy will be done as in heaven so upon the earth; give us today our needed bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors”. I think that little word in there, “today”, “give us today our needed bread”, indicates that the Lord is contemplating that we would be praying every day.

It shows that I am to pray for today. Tomorrow as it may come, through mercy, I shall pray for tomorrow, and the next day I shall pray for that day. “Give us today” shows that the Lord is looking for this, a daily kind of dependence on the part of His people. It becomes a test, therefore, Am I depending on God, depending on the Father? Wonderful how the Lord Jesus speaks of your Father (verse 8); not My Father here, but your Father. He is saying to His disciples, and He wants to impress us, I believe, with the fact that God is our Father. So the prayer begins that way, “Our Father who art in the heavens”.

It is very striking, as has been often pointed out, that the Lord is really indicating that the first thing that should be in our minds is how God is to be glorified in everything. So He says that the prayer should begin, “Our Father … let thy name be sanctified … let thy will be done”. Is that the way we start our prayers, beloved brethren? I do not mean just saying these words. I know that there are many christians who read this as a text, and this becomes their prayer.

Well, they do not realise that they are guilty of the very thing which the Lord says should not be done, vain repetition. So if you just read a prayer it becomes vain repetition. Even this fine prayer, this exalted matter which the Lord is teaching them, if you just read it every day, is vain repetition; that is all it is. But we are thinking of God first in our prayers, of His glory, that His Name may be sanctified, that His will may be done. This is to show that the believer thinks first for God and His rights, what is due unto Him, every day. Think of what is due to God right today. Every breath should be praising God, every breath, because every breath that a man breathes is given by God. So every person in the world ought to be praising and thanking God today. The rain which came down last night was for everyone; it rains on the just and the unjust alike. The crops that grow as a result of the rain are for everyone; so thanksgiving is due to God from every man. What if God withheld the rain, for two or three years? What if He withheld it for five years all over this continent? What would happen? Think of that! God is due thanksgiving from every man, just or unjust. Well, let us render to God what is due to Him every day.

“Let thy will be done” shows we are submitting to God’s will. Whatever happens today, we are submissive to it, we are prepared for God’s will. Whether peace comes in Viet Nam, or whether it does not, God’s will is involved. We know that the President of this country is striving for peace, but it is not depending on his will. It is the same with every matter, with national or international affairs, and with matters that relate to God’s people, it is all connected with God’s will. Whatever is done, we know for God’s people that is the best, “Let thy will be done”.

Then He says, “Give us today our needed bread”. Oh what a matter that is—It shows that we just must be dependent in everything. You know God could take the life or health of any of us at any moment. You might say, I have plenty of money, I have a good job, and I have no problem in getting food for my family. Well I meet people every week who do not work every day, and they cannot work every day because their health is gone. Some do not know where the next meal is going to come from. Now that is a solemn thing to think about, because that could be true of any one of us. “Give us today our needed bread” shows we are depending on the Father for what we have every day.

More than that, I believe the Lord would have in mind our depending on Him for our spiritual needs, food from heaven to fill our souls. Are we doing that? You know, as the children of Israel walked through the wilderness, every day there was some bread that came down from heaven. It covered the wilderness every morning. And it says in Exodus 16 they were to go out daily and gather the manna and they were to eat that day what they gathered. They were not to store it up, they were to live on it that day. It shows that daily exercise is needed by the christian to get as a resource what will feed his soul. Am I counting on God for it? Have I some impressions today of His wondrous grace, of divine love, some impression of Christ, His beloved Son, to feed my soul as a resource today?

We will not go into further details of the prayer, as I want to refer to Luke chapter 9, where we read. This is a very testing matter. I do not believe any of us will be prepared for what the Lord is saying here in Luke 9 unless we have been daily pursuing the scriptures and daily seeking a word from the Lord to engage us, and daily found in dependence on God.

Otherwise we will not be prepared for the test that is put to us here. I wonder how many christians are prepared for this, “If anyone will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me”. We all in this room ought to be prepared for this test, because of the greatness of the truth that is available to us, the fulness of the ministry under which we have sat for years; but yet, perhaps we are not. Now we sing that hymn, “Saviour we long to follow Thee”, and I believe we all mean that. The hymn was written by a very spiritual man, and I believe this would show what a spiritual test this is, really to follow Jesus.

It says, “If anyone will come after me”. Whenever you get this in scripture, “anyone”, it is a general divine principle applying to everyone. So, if anyone follows Jesus, this is what he must do. He must take up his cross daily. People speak about divine principles and sometimes they do not know what they are, but here is one divine principle. The Lord was just telling His disciples where He was going, to the cross, to be rejected of the elders, chief priests and scribes, and to be killed. He knew what His cross involved and He is able to speak about it, with a fulness that none other knew. Then He says, “Let him deny himself and take up his cross”. Does this just mean every week when you remember the Lord, or once a year when you might make a new year’s resolution? No, daily, every day; take up your cross daily. It means that I am prepared for the same kind of reproach, prepared to be rejected in this world; because He goes on to say, “Whosoever shall desire to save his life shall lose it”.

That means, I believe, simply, if I am prepared to follow Jesus, I am prepared to give up my life in this world, give up my reputation, give up the honour that I might think is due to me, prepared to be reproached for His Name, prepared to be rejected of men around, relatives, whoever it might be, for Jesus’ sake. That is what taking up my cross involves, and that is what Jesus is saying to His own here, not once a year, but daily. Are we prepared for that every day? I believe we can be prepared for that, on the basis of committing ourselves, devotedly, as we have had in the reading meeting today, in a consecrated way, as Nazarites, to read the scriptures, search them daily; to be at wisdom’s gates where Christ is and to hear His words, and to be daily depending on God the Father for every resource, material and spiritual. Then we will be prepared to take up the cross daily and follow Jesus. Whether it involves rejection and sorrow today, whether tomorrow it involves reproach from others, whether it involves that some of the persons nearest and dearest to me say, “Oh he is just too devoted”, or whatever it is, I am prepared for that, to take up my cross.

I do not believe the Lord is here referring to deprivation and suffering which the saints might go through in their bodies. Sometimes it is referred to in this way. People go through suffering in their bodies and it is a cross they bear; but I do not believe the Lord is at that matter here. I believe He is at the matter of our being like Himself, prepared for sacrifice, prepared for reproach and rejection in the world, prepared to lose our life in this world, so that we might gain life in Christ’s world.

Well, may these things encourage our hearts. They are very testing; they are very testing to me, for christianity is testing, but it has its wondrous reward in fruit for our souls, and that will be for eternity. All that we enjoy now we will enjoy in fulness for eternity. But the Lord would compensate us now. Every person holding himself energetically for the testimony of our Lord Jesus, and in relation to divine interests, the Lord will compensate. When I read Mr. J. N. Darby’s letters I wonder at what that man went through, and yet there is such an evidence of the compensation which he received in his links with divine Persons. There was such fulness of impressions, and glorious living realities were there in his soul as a result of all that he was prepared to deny himself of. Daily he took up his cross, faithfully to the end.

So let us be encouraged, beloved brethren, as we have our links together. Though the path is rigorous, let us be prepared for going in for divine things, for Christ’s name’s sake.

San Francisco
16th December 1972