y the pure gold remain. The will
must be exercised in rejecting and accepting that its fiber may be
toughened. No man knows how deep is his conviction until the test comes.
God will test for love's sake to strengthen. Satan will tempt for hate's
sake to trip up and weaken. God's testings will give strength for
Satan's temptings. And out of this double furnace the gold comes doubly
purified.

Some circumstance arises involving a decision. There is a clear
conviction of what the inner One prefers but it runs against our plans
in which friends or loved ones are concerned who may not see eye-to-eye
with us. To follow the conviction means misunderstanding and some
sacrifice. And so the test is on. To be tactful, and gentle in following
rigidly the clear conviction will take grace, _and_, will bring a
refining of life's strength and fabric.

To run through this old Book and call the names is to bring to mind the
men who have gone through just such testings and temptings; some with
splendid victory, and some with shameful defeat.

So it comes to pass that surrender is not simply the initial _act_ into
this life of power. It must become the continuous _habit_. There must be
a habitual living up to the act. Surrender comes to be an attitude of
the will affecting every act and event of life. And by and by the
instinctive measuring of everything by its relation to Jesus comes to be
the involuntary habit of the life.

Friends with God.

_The second thing_ upon which fresh supplies of power hinge is _the
cultivation of personal friendship with God_. This is the positive side
of the new life. This is the true natural life. It is the living
constantly in the atmosphere of the Spirit's presence.

The highest and closest relation possible between any two is friendship.
The basis of friendship is sympathy, that is, fellow-feeling. The
atmosphere of friendship is mutual unquestioning trust. In the original
meaning of the word, a friend is a lover. A friend is one who loves you
for your sake alone, and steadfastly loves, regardless of any return,
even return-love. Friendship hungers for a closer knowledge, and for a
deeper intimacy. Friendship grows with exchange of confidences. Friends
are confidants.

"As in a double solitude, ye think in each other's hearing."

A man's friendships shape his life more than aught else, or all
else.

Now this is the tender relation which God Himself desires with each of
us. Did Jesus eve