Conclusion of Chapter vi, Part I
4. Remember next what the point of vantage is, from which we are to pray and watch that He who keeps us “will not suffer our feet to be moved.” The tenth verse of our chapter informs us; all-important information! It is nothing less than “the Lord.” “Stand fast in (not only near, but in) the Lord, and in the power of His might.” Weigh the words well. Let them not pass as a mere sacred phrase, a mere formula of the religious dialect. They are concerned with the central facts of our spiritual life and power. “In the Lord” lies your secret, our secret, of love, and peace, and joy; of victory and progress; of heavenly temper in earthly duty; of all we need for life and work in His name. Union with our glorious Redeemer and Head, wrought in us by that Holy Spirit through whom we were born again; communion with Christ Jesus, wrought in us by that same Spirit as He leads us on; all this lies hidden “in the Lord.”
The phrase, in the present connexion, speaks specially of the life of communion with Him, union realized and put into use; communion not only at His sacred and happy Table, but in all ways and at all times of definite spiritual contact with Jesus Christ. This contact, this “keeping in touch,” this abiding in Him is practically, our strength and vantage-ground; and to draw us from it, into the plain, into the vale of Siddim full of slime pits, is the strength and advantage of the enemy. Let him drive us or entice us thence, let him meet us out of contact with our Lord, and he will have the victory, whether it be on a day of persecuting terror or on a day of amplest home comfort and charming surroundings. Let us stand then, and be strong, in the Lord. Let us keep our communion with Jesus Christ clear and full. Let us, not now and then, but in a blessed growth of habit, carry all our needs to Him and draw all our power from Him. Let us remember the power of the little word “now,” and do this now. Nothing is too great for our Maker’s strength; nothing is too small for His attention.
Keep the vantage-ground, and “put on” – what lies always ready upon it – “the whole armour of God.” Every piece of that panoply means, in effect, Jesus Christ believed in and brought to bear upon the foe. Observe this not least in the case of the soldier’s shoes; “the preparation,” that is, the equipment, “of the Gospel of peace;” the arming of the Christian’s feet with that strong appropriation of “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” which gives foothold indeed as we stand upon the Rock. But against every variety of need array yourself with Jesus Christ. He is both fort and armour. And He has overcome, and we in Him. The enemy who surges around us is real, is fierce; but he is only fighting on after defeat; a beaten, a broken, army. Let us stand where we are already set, and use what we wear, and be calmly confident of success, with glory for its end.
The phrase, in the present connexion, speaks specially of the life of communion with Him, union realized and put into use; communion not only at His sacred and happy Table, but in all ways and at all times of definite spiritual contact with Jesus Christ. This contact, this “keeping in touch,” this abiding in Him is practically, our strength and vantage-ground; and to draw us from it, into the plain, into the vale of Siddim full of slime pits, is the strength and advantage of the enemy. Let him drive us or entice us thence, let him meet us out of contact with our Lord, and he will have the victory, whether it be on a day of persecuting terror or on a day of amplest home comfort and charming surroundings. Let us stand then, and be strong, in the Lord. Let us keep our communion with Jesus Christ clear and full. Let us, not now and then, but in a blessed growth of habit, carry all our needs to Him and draw all our power from Him. Let us remember the power of the little word “now,” and do this now. Nothing is too great for our Maker’s strength; nothing is too small for His attention.
Keep the vantage-ground, and “put on” – what lies always ready upon it – “the whole armour of God.” Every piece of that panoply means, in effect, Jesus Christ believed in and brought to bear upon the foe. Observe this not least in the case of the soldier’s shoes; “the preparation,” that is, the equipment, “of the Gospel of peace;” the arming of the Christian’s feet with that strong appropriation of “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” which gives foothold indeed as we stand upon the Rock. But against every variety of need array yourself with Jesus Christ. He is both fort and armour. And He has overcome, and we in Him. The enemy who surges around us is real, is fierce; but he is only fighting on after defeat; a beaten, a broken, army. Let us stand where we are already set, and use what we wear, and be calmly confident of success, with glory for its end.
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