Our Cherith

God's servants must be taught the value of the hidden life. The man who is to take a high place before his fellows, must take a low place before his God. We must not be surprised if sometimes our Father says: "There, child, you have had enough of this hurry, and publicity, and excitement; get hence, and hide yourself by the brook; hide yourself in the Cherith of the sick chamber, or in the Cherith of bereavement, or in some solitude from which the crowds have ebbed away." 

Happy is he who can reply, "This Your will is also mine; I flee unto You to hide me. Hide me in the secret of Your tabernacle, and beneath the covert of Your wings!" Every saintly soul who would wield great power with men, must win it in some hidden Cherith. The acquisition of spiritual power is impossible, unless we can hide ourselves from men and from ourselves, in some deep gorge where we may absorb the power of the eternal God; as vegetation through long ages absorbed these qualities of sunshine, which it now gives back through burning coal. 

Passing back to the blessed age from which we date the centuries: Patmos; the seclusion of the Roman prisons; the Arabian desert; the hills and valleys of Palestine--are forever memorable as the holy Cheriths of the New Testament disciples. Our Lord found His Cheriths at Nazareth; in the wilderness of Judea; amid the olive groves of Bethany; and the solitude of Gadara. None of us, therefore, can dispense with some Cherith, where the sounds of human voices are exchanged for the waters of quietness, which are fed from the throne of God; and where we may taste the sweets and imbibe the power of a life hidden with Christ.

[F. B. Meyer]

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1 Kings 17:3 ... Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.

Psalm 91:1 ... He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.❤

Sign Here!!

Dear Christian reader, seek some quiet spot, some still hour, and yield yourself to God.

Make a definite consecration of yourselves to God. With most it would be sufficient to write out Miss Havergal's hymn, "Take my life, and let it be," and to sign your name at the bottom.

Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.

Take my moments and my days let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.

Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice and let me sing always, only, for my King.

Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from Thee.

Take my silver and my gold not a mite would I withhold.

Take my intellect and use every power as Thou shalt choose.

Take my will and make it Thine it shall be no longer mine.

Take my heart it is Thine own it shall be Thy royal throne.

Take my love my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store.

Take myself and I will be ever, only, all for Thee!

Sign here: __________________________

[F. B. Meyer]

Stooping Down

I used to think that God's gifts were on shelves one above the other and that the taller we grew in Christian character, the more easily we should reach them. I find now that God's gifts are on shelves one beneath the other and that is not a question of growing taller, but of stooping lower and that we have to go down, always down to get His best ones. 

[F. B. Meyer]

Psalm 95:6 ... O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.

Mark 1:40-41 ... And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.  And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.

Ephesians 3:14-16 ...  For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,  Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,  That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;❤

The Blessed Life

All that we have to do is to maintain this attitude of full surrender, by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Remember that Jesus Christ offered Himself to God, through the eternal Spirit, and He waits to do as much for you. Ask Him to maintain in you this attitude. Use regularly the means of meditation, private prayer, and Bible study. Seek forgiveness for any failure as soon as you are conscious of it, and ask to be restored. Practice the holy habit of the constant recollection of God. Do not be eager to work for God, but let God work through you. Accept everything that happens to you as being permitted, and therefore sent by the will of Him Who loves you infinitely. And there will roll in upon you wave on wave, tide on tide, ocean on ocean of an experience fitly called THE Blessed Life, because it is full of the happiness of the ever-blessed God Himself.

Dear reader, will you not take this step? There will be no further difficulty about money, dress, amusements, or similar questions which perplex some. Your heart will be filled and satisfied with the true riches. As the willing slave of Jesus Christ, you will only seek to do the will of your great and gentle Master- to spend every coin as He directs, to act as His steward, to dress so as to give Him pleasure, to spend the time only as He may approve, to do His will on earth as it is in heaven. All this will become easy and delightful.

You are, perhaps, far from this at present. But it is all within your reach. Do not be afraid of Christ. He needs to take nothing from you except that which you would give up at once if you could see, as clearly as He does, the harm it is inflicting. He will ask of you nothing inconsistent with the most perfect fitness and tenderness. He will give you grace enough to perform every duty He may demand. His "yoke is easy," His "burden is light."

Blessed Spirit of God, by Whom alone human words can be made to speak to the heart, deign to use these, to point many a longing soul the first step into the Blessed Life, for the exceeding glory of the Lord Jesus, and for the sake of a dying world.

 

[F.B. Meyer]

 

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Matthew 6:33 ... But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

 

 

Hebrews 13:21 ...  Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

 

 

John 1:12-13 ... But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

 

 

John 14:23 ... Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.  ❤

Open Heart

Let each of us learn to abide in Christ with the heart open to Him on the one hand, and open to men, women and children on the other.

[F. B. Meyer]

John 15:10 ... If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

1 John 2:10 ... He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

1 John 4:7 ... Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.❤

Poured Out

As we pour out our bitterness, God pours in his peace.

[F.B. Meyer]

1 Samuel 1:15 ... And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD.

Zechariah 12:10 ... And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

Philippians 4:6-7 ... Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. ❤