RENUNCIATION BEFORE ENJOYMENT

^[p. 425] RENUNCIATION BEFORE ENJOYMENT

The end of the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. He has the end ever before Him. I conclude that you have now returned to your own house; every day has its cares, and as the heart is simply waiting on the Lord, each day reveals more of His solicitude and grace to help us along. I believe the more we use the power which is ours, the more we live in the Spirit, the more shall we break from everything which would mar the enjoyment into which He leads. Renunciation before enjoyment, otherwise the old clothes, or hindering things, would mar our enjoyment. Put off the old man that you may enjoy the new. It has been put off for you in the cross, or you could not do either. In every advance, I believe the Spirit, the bond of union with Christ, indicates to us the hindrance to our enjoyment of Christ, by the thing which He severs us from. Paul had to be severed from Jerusalem before his heart thoroughly rested in the heavenly places. The Spirit severs me from one thing after another; but the severance, as I understand it, indicates to me not only the hindrances, but the character and nature of the enjoyment is foreshadowed in contrast, and as compensation for the thing renounced. If it be Jerusalem, then it is for heaven. If it be one’s own clothes (habits, feelings, tempers), then it is for new ones. If it be leaving the ship, like Peter, it is for a vastly higher security, in the presence and company of Christ.