EXPERIENCING CHRIST

The wisdom of the fathers

EXPERIENCING CHRIST

...As the indwelling Christ, He will overcome sin in you. What, then, is required on our side? When the soul sees it to be true that Jesus will carry out this work, it will then open the door before Him and receive Him into the heart as Lord and King. Yes, this can be done at once. A house that has remained closely shut for twenty years can be penetrated by the light in a moment if the doors and windows are thrown open. In like manner, a heart that has remained enveloped in darkness and powerlessness for twenty years, because it did not know that Jesus was willing to take the victory over sin into His own hands, can have its whole experience changed in a moment.

When I acknowledge my sinful condition, yield myself to God, and trust the Lord to do this work, then I may firmly believe that it is done and that Jesus takes all that is in me into His own hands. This is an act of faith that must be held fast. When doors and windows are thrown open and the light streaming in drives out the darkness, we discover at once how much dust and impurity there is in the house.

But the light shines in order that we may see how to take it away. When we receive Christ into the heart, everything is not yet perfected. Light and gladness are not seen and experienced at once, but by faith the soul knows that He who is faithful will keep His Word and will surely do His work.

The faith that has, up to this moment, only sought and wrestled, now rests in the Lord and His Word. It knows that what was begun by faith must be carried forward only by faith. It says, ―I abide in Jesus; I know that He abides in me and that He will manifest Himself to me. As Jesus cleansed the lepers with a word, so He cleanses us by His Word. He who firmly holds to this fact in faith will see the proof of it.

(from "Experiencing the Holy Spirit" by Andrew Murray)