How To Enter In

Entering the Higher Christian Life is a gift from God, not something we earn. It begins with total surrender to God’s will, trusting Him completely, just as a patient follows a doctor’s instructions for healing. Faith is essential, as we must believe God will deliver us not only from sin's guilt but also from its power. The key steps to this life are complete abandonment and faith, leading to peace and victory over life's challenges.

Ihave tried to settle the question of the scripturalness of the experience of this life of full trust. I have also shown a little of what it is. The next point is how to reach and realize it. And first, I would say that we must not look upon this blessed life in any sense as an attainment but as an obtainment. We cannot earn it, we cannot climb up to it, we cannot win it; we can do nothing but ask for it and receive it. It is the gift of God in Christ Jesus. And where a thing is a gift, the only course left for the receiver is to take it and thank the giver. We never say of a gift, "See what I have attained," and boast of our skill in gaining it. Instead, we say, "See what the giver has given me," and we boast of the giver's love and generosity.

And everything in our salvation is a gift. From beginning to end, God is the giver and we are the receivers. The richest promises are not for those who do great things. They are for those who "receive plenty of grace, and of the gift of righteousness." To know this inner life, the soul must be receptive. It must recognize completely that it is to be God's gift in Christ Jesus. We cannot gain it through any efforts or works of our own. This will make things much simpler. The only question left is who will receive this gift from God, and how to accept it. I would answer that He grants it only to the soul that is completely consecrated. You must receive it by faith.

Consecration is the first thing. Not in any legal sense, nor to buy or deserve it. But, to remove the obstacles and allow God to give it. To create a beautiful vessel from a lump of clay, the potter must have complete control over it. It must lie passive in his hands. To make a soul a vessel for God's honor, it must be "sanctified and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work." It must be completely abandoned to Him and remain passive in His hands. This is manifest at the first glance.

I once tried to explain to a hospital doctor the meaning and need for consecration. But, he seemed unable to understand. At last, I said to him, "Suppose, in your rounds, you meet a man who begs you to cure him. But, he won't tell you all his symptoms or take your remedies.

He'd say, 'I'm willing to follow your directions on some things, as they seem good to me. But, in other matters, I prefer to follow my own judgment.' What would you do?" I asked.

“Do!” he replied with indignation, “do! I would soon leave such a man as that to his own care. "Of course," he added. "I could do nothing for him. He must obey my directions." "So, patients must obey doctors to be cured?" "Implicitly obeyed!” was his emphatic reply. “And that is 20 consecration,” I continued. "God must have the whole case, without reserves. His directions must be followed implicitly.” “I see it,” he exclaimed, -- “I see it! And I will do it. God must have His own way with me from henceforth.”

Some may think "abandonment" is a better word. But whatever we use, we mean a total surrender to God. We give Him our spirit, soul, and body. We want Him to do with us as He pleases. We mean that our soul's language in all things should express, "Your will be done. “We mean giving up all choice.

We mean a life of inevitable obedience. To a soul ignorant of God, this may look hard. But to those who know Him, it is the happiest and most restful of lives. He is our Father. He loves us and knows what is best. So, His will is the most blessed thing that can come to us, no matter the circumstances. I do not understand how it is that Satan has succeeded in blinding the eyes of the Church to this fact. But it seems God's children fear His will more than anything. His lovely, lovable will means only good for their souls. It brings loving-kindness, tender mercies, and great blessings.

I wish I could only show everyone the unfathomable sweetness of the will of God. Heaven is a place of infinite bliss. His will is perfectly done there. Our lives share in this bliss as His will is done in them.

He loves us, loves us, and the will of love is always a blessing for its loved one. Some of us know love.

If we could, we would bless our beloved ones. We would shower them with all that is good and lovely in life if we had the power to fulfill our wish for them.

And if this is the way of love with us, how much more must it be so with our God, who is love itself.

If we could see, even for a moment, the depths of His love, we would rush to embrace His will as our greatest treasure. We would abandon ourselves to it, filled with joy and gratitude for such a privilege.

Many Christians believe their Father in heaven wants to make them miserable and take their blessings.

They imagine, poor souls, that if they cling to their own will, they can stop Him from doing this. I am ashamed to write the words, and yet we must face a fact which is making wretched hundreds of lives.

A Christian lady, feeling this way, told a friend how hard it was to say, "Your will be done," and how afraid she was to do it. She was the mother of one only little boy, who was the heir to a great fortune, and the idol of her heart. After she shared her troubles, her friend said, "What if your little Charley runs to you tomorrow?" He says, 'Mother, I have decided to let you have your way with me from now on.'

I'm always going to obey you. "I want you to do what you think is best with me."

I know you love me, and I will trust your love. How would you feel towards him? Would you say to yourself, ‘Ah, now I shall have a chance to make Charley miserable?

I will take away all his pleasures, and fill his life with every hard and disagreeable thing I can find. I will force him to do the hardest things. Then, I w ill give him all sorts of impossible commands.” “Oh, no, no, no!” exclaimed the indignant mother. “You know I would not. I would hug him to my heart and cover him with kisses. I would fill his life with the sweetest, best things.” “And are you more tender and more loving than God?” asked her friend. "Ah, no," was the reply. "I see my mistake. I will not fear saying 'Your will be done,' to my Heavenly Father, any more than I'd want my Charley to fear saying it to me."”

Better and sweeter than health, or friends, or money, or fame, or ease, or prosperity, is the adorable will of our God. It brightens the dark hours with a divine halo. It sheds bright sunshine on the gloomiest paths. He always reigns who has made it his kingdom; and nothing can go amiss to him. A glorious privilege is opening before you. The first step to enter the life hidden with Christ in God is complete consecration. I cannot have you look at it as a hard and stern demand. You must do it with joy, appreciation, and enthusiasm. You must enter what I call the privilege side of consecration. I assure you, from a blessed experience, it is the happiest place you will ever find.

Faith is the next thing. Faith is essential to receiving any gift. Our friends may give us something in its entirety, but we do not own it until we believe they have given it and we claim it. This is especially true for gifts that are purely mental or spiritual. Another may love us without limit. But, until we believe it, it never becomes ours. I suppose most Christians know this about their forgiveness.

They know that the preaching of Jesus' forgiveness of sins might have gone on forever. But, it would never be theirs until they claimed the forgiveness. They had to believe it first. But, in living the Christian life, they lose sight of this. They think, having been saved by faith, they must now live by works. Instead of continuing to receive, they now must begin to do. This makes our declaration that the life hid with Christ in God is to be entered by faith, seem perfectly unintelligible to them.

And yet it is plainly declared, that “as we have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so we are to walk in Him.” We received Him by faith, and by faith alone; so we are to walk in Him by faith, and by faith alone. Our faith in this hidden life is the same as the faith that moved us from the kingdom of darkness to God's Son. It just relies on a different thing. Then we believed that Jesus was our Saviour from sin's guilt. Our faith made it so. Now, we must believe He is our Saviour from sin's power. Our faith will make it so. We trusted Him for our justification, and it became ours. Now, we must trust Him for our sanctification, and it shall be ours, too. Then we took Him as a Saviour in the future from our sins' penalties. Now, we must take Him as a Saviour in the present from our sins' bondage.

Then He was our Redeemer, now He is to be our Life. Then He lifted us from the pit. Now, He is to seat us in heavenly places with Himself. I mean this based on both experimental and practical evidence.

I know, theologically and judicially, that every believer has everything at conversion. But experimentally, nothing is his until by faith he claims it. “ Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon me have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. “Joshua 1:3. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,"Ephesians1:3. But, until we have faith in them, they are not ours. “According to our faith,” is always the limit and the rule.

But this faith of which I am speaking must be a present faith. No faith that people exercise in the future tense amounts to anything. A man may believe forever that some future time will forgive his sins, and he will never find peace. He has to come to the now belief, and say by faith, “My sins are now forgiven,” before he can live the new life. Also, no faith that seeks future rescue from sin will lead a soul into the life we describe. The enemy delights in this future faith. He knows it is powerless to achieve any results.

But he trembles and flees when a believer claims to be free from his power. In short: to enter this blessed life of rest and triumph, you must take two steps. First, abandon all.

Second, have absolute faith.

Whatever your troubles, these two steps will help you. If you take them, and stick to them, they will lead you to a better Christian life. You may be sure of this. If you will set aside all else, and focus on these two points, your progress will be swift. You will reach your soul's desired haven sooner than you now think possible.

Must I repeat the steps, that there may be no mistake? You are a child of God, and long to please Him.

You love your precious Saviour, and are sick and weary of the sin that grieves Him. You long for someone to deliver you from its power. All you've tried has failed. In despair, you now wonder if, as these happy people say, the Lord can and will save you. You know in your soul that He can. To save you from all your enemies is His purpose.

Then trust Him. Commit your case to Him. Abandon all else and believe He will take it. Knowing what He is and what He has said, claim that He provides complete salvation for you now. At first, you believed He freed you from sin's guilt because He said so. Now, believe that He frees you from sin's power because He says so. Let your faith now lay hold of a new power in Christ. You have trusted Him as your dying Saviour, now trust Him as your living Saviour. Just as much as He came to deliver you from future punishment, didn’t He also come to deliver you from present bondage. As He came to bear your sins for you, He has come to live His life within you.

You are completely powerless in both cases. You could rid yourself of your own sins with the same effort. As you could now achieve practical righteousness. Christ, and Christ only, must do both for you.

Your part is to give the thing to Him, and then believe He does it.

A now eminent lady, in a great darkness, sought to enter in. She said to a friend trying to help her, "You all say, 'Abandon yourself, and trust.' But I do not know how." I wish you would just do it out loud, so that I may see how you do it.”Must I do it out loud for you?

"Lord Jesus, You can and will deliver me from all the cares and troubles of my Christian life. You died to set me free, not in the future, but now and here." you are stronger than Satan. You can keep me, even in my weakness, from falling into his traps or obeying him. And, Lord, I am going to trust thee to keep me. I have tried to maintain my composure, and I have failed, suffering a significant setback. I am completely helpless; so, I will trust you now. I will give myself to thee; I hold nothing back. Body, soul, and spirit, I present myself, a worthless lump of clay. Make me into whatever thy love and wisdom choose. And now, I am thine.

You accept what I present. Your power has taken my weak, foolish heart. You have begun to work in me to will and to do of your good pleasure. I trust you completely, and I trust you now! Are you afraid to take this step? Does it seem too sudden, too much like a leap in the dark? Do you not know that the steps of faith always “fall on the seeming void, but find the rock beneath”? A man, having to descen d a well by a rope, found, to his horror, when he was a great way down, that it was too short. He had reached the end, and yet was, he estimated, about thirty feet from the bottom of the well. He knew not what to do. He lacked the strength or skill to climb up the rope, and letting go would dash him to pieces.

His arms began to fail. He decided to let go and meet his fate. He resigned himself to destruction, and loosened his grasp. He fell! To the bottom of the well it was -- three inches! If ever your feet are to touch the "rock beneath," you must let go of every hold and drop into God. For, there is no other way.

And to do it now may save you months and even years of strain and weariness. In all the old castles of England there used to be a place called the keep. It was the castle's strongest, best-protected place. It hid the weak and helpless in times of danger. If you were a timid, helpless woman in a castle under siege, would you have dared to hide there?

Would you have been afraid to do it? Must we fear to hide in the keeping power of our Divine Keeper?

He neither slumbers nor sleeps. He has promised to preserve our going out and coming in, now and forever.