EXTRACTS
If we do not go to Gilgal, if we do not go back to the utter annihilation of self in God’s presence, we cannot come out in power. If a servant’s intercourse with God does not surmount his testimony to men, he will break down and fail; he must renew his strength. The great secret of Christian life is, that our intercourse with God should make nothing of ourselves.
J. N. Darby (‘Notes and Jottings’, p.75)
It is a great thing to see, and it ought to be in our minds in preaching, that it is not a judged world we are preaching to. “Go into all the world”—that is a moral thought—“and preach the glad tidings to all the creation”—the latter thought is that there is a link with God in all the creation. That is the attitude of our minds in preaching. Paul says, “In him we live and move and exist” (Acts 17: 28); that is a world that is in favour provisionally.
J. Taylor (N.S. Vol. 85, p.49)
A booklet “On the Operation of the Spirit of God” (the author’s name is not given) published by the Tract Depot, 5 Cornwall St., Plymouth in 1838 concludes: ‘Such are the operations, as fully developed, of this blessed Agent of divine power in us and towards the world. The chief topics, I believe, are noticed—I pretend to nothing more. Those who seek to search Him out must do so by His own aid in the word itself; and may they, while dwelling on it here as a subject of thought, be led to dwell in and refer to that Holy One Himself in His presence and personal power, as One who is with the church—the Comforter sent—not merely resting in thoughts about Him, but led, actuated, directed by Him and honouring Him as energised by Him in all things. This is specially the church’s need’.
You must learn what God is for you before you can learn what you can be for God. In the new covenant I learn what God is for me, but in the ministry of reconciliation I learn what I am for God.
F. E. Raven (N.S. Vol. 19, p.487)
Published by F. C. Mutton, 22 Christchurch Road, Ilford, Essex, IG1 4QY, England Printed by C. Ellis, Billericay, Essex, England