dom delivered up, the Son made subject, and God all in
all! I shall have a part in it, and in adoring worship share the glory and
the blessedness.
Let us take this home to our hearts, that it may rule in our lives--this
one thought, this one faith, this one aim, this one joy: Christ lived, and
died, and reigns; I live and die and in His power I reign; only for this
one thing, "that God may be all in all." Let it possess our whole heart,
and life. How can we do this? It is a serious question, to which I wish to
give you a few simple answers. And I say, first of all: Allow God to take
His place in your heart and life. Luther often said to people, when they
came troubling him about difficulties, "Do let God be God." Oh, give God
His place. And what is that place? "That God may be all in all." Let God be
all in all every day, from morning to evening. God to rule and I to obey.
Ah, the blessedness of saying, "God and I!" What a privilege that I have
such a partner! God first, and then I! And yet there might be secret
self-exaltation in associating God with myself. And I find in the Bible a
more precious word still. It is, "God and not I." It is not, "God first,
and I second;" God is all, and I am nothing. Paul said, "I labored more
abundantly than they all; though I be nothing." Let us try to give God His
place--begin in our closet, in our worship, in our prayer. The power of
prayer depends almost entirely upon our apprehension of who it is with whom
I speak. It is of the greatest consequence, if we have but half an hour in
which to pray, that we take time to get a sight of this great God, in His
power, in His love, in His nearness, just waiting to bless us. This is
of far more consequence than spending the whole half hour in pouring out
numberless petitions, and pleading numberless promises. The great thing is
to feel that we are putting our supplications into the bosom of omnipotent
Love. Before and above everything, let us take time ere we pray to realize
the glory and presence of God. Give God His place in every prayer. I
say, allow God to have His place. I can not give God His place upon the
throne--in a certain sense I can, and I ought to try. The great thing,
however, is for me to feel that I can not realize what that place is, but
God will increasingly reveal Himself and the place He holds. How do I know
anything about the sun? Because the sun shines, and in its light I see what
the sun is. The sun is its own evidence
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