lfishness, by unfaithfulness to His voice in conscience.
Do not think grieving Him a necessity: that cuts away the very sinews of
your strength. Do not consider it impossible to obey the command,
"Grieve not the Holy Spirit." He Himself is the very power of God to
make you obedient. The sin that comes up in you against your will, the
tendency to sloth, or pride, or self-will, or passion that rises in the
flesh, your will can, in the power of the Spirit, at once reject, and
cast upon Christ and His blood, and your communion with God is
immediately restored. Accept each day the Holy Spirit as your Leader and
Life and Strength; you can count upon Him to do in your heart all that
ought to be done there. He, the Unseen and Unfelt One, but known by
faith, gives there, unseen and unfelt, the love and the faith and the
power of obedience you need, because He reveals Christ unseen within
you, as actually your Life and Strength. Grieve not the Holy Spirit by
distrusting Him, because you do not feel His presence in you.

Especially in the matter of prayer grieve Him not. Do not expect, when
you trust Christ to bring you into a new, healthy prayer-life, that you
will be able all at once to pray as easily and powerfully and joyfully
as you fain would. No; it may not come at once. But just bow quietly
before God in your ignorance and weakness. That is the best and truest
prayer, to put yourself before God just as you are, and to count on the
hidden Spirit praying in you. "We know not what to pray as we ought";
ignorance, difficulty, struggle, marks our prayer all along. But, "the
Spirit helpeth our infirmities." How? "The Spirit Himself," deeper down
than our thoughts or feelings, "maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered." When you cannot find words, when
your words appear cold and feeble, just believe: The Holy Spirit is
praying in me. Be quiet before God, and give Him time and opportunity;
in due season you will learn to pray. Beware of grieving the Spirit of
prayer, by not honouring Him in patient, trustful surrender to His
intercession in you.

The third lesson: "_Be filled with the Spirit_" (Eph. v. 18). I think
that we have seen the meaning of the great truth: It is only the healthy
spiritual life that can pray aright. The command comes to each of us:
"Be filled with the Spirit." That implies that while some rest content
with the beginning, with a small measure of the Spirit's working, it is
God's wil