Others May, You Cannot
By G.D. Watson
If
anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his
cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it;
but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. (Matthew 16:24-25)
If
God has called you to be truly like Jesus in all your spirit, He will
draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility. He will put on you
such demands of obedience that you will not be allowed to follow other
Christians. In many ways, He seems to let other good people do things
which He will not let you do.
Others
who seem to be very religious and useful may push themselves, pull
wires, and scheme to carry out their plans, but you cannot. If you
attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as
to make you sorely penitent.
Others
can brag about themselves, their work, their successes, their writings,
but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing. If you
begin to do so, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will
make you despise yourself and all your good works.
Others
will be allowed to succeed in making great sums of money, or having a
legacy left to them, or in having luxuries, but God may supply you only
on a day-to-day basis, because He wants you to have something far better
than gold, a helpless dependence on Him and His unseen treasury.
The
Lord may let others be honored and put forward while keeping you hidden
in obscurity because He wants to produce some choice, fragrant fruit
for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade.
God
may let others be great, but keep you small. He will let others do a
work for Him and get the credit, but He will make you work and toil
without knowing how much you are doing. Then, to make your work still
more precious, He will let others get the credit for the work which you
have done; this to teach you the message of the Cross, humility, and
something of the value of being cloaked with His nature.
The
Holy Spirit will put a strict watch on you, and with a jealous love
rebuke you for careless words and feelings, or for wasting your time,
which other Christians never seem distressed over.
So
make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign and has a right to
do as He pleases with His own, and that He may not explain to you a
thousand things which may puzzle your reason in His dealings with you.
God
will take you at your word. If you absolutely sell yourself to be His
slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love and let other people say
and do many things that you cannot. Settle it forever; you are to deal
directly with the Holy Spirit, He is to have the privilege of tying your
tongue or chaining your hand or closing your eyes in ways which others
are not dealt with. However, know this great secret of the Kingdom: When
you are so completely possessed with the Living God that you are, in
your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal,
private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over
your life, you will have found the vestibule of heaven, the high calling
of God.
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