All through His life He had been "in all points tempted like as we are".... In this last hour of the powers of darkness they make one great assault on the very citadel of His being, and seek to tempt Him with the sorest of all temptations... the assertion of our self-will.

A great many... have only an intellectual understanding without an actual experience in the soul. They... are often received as the children of God by those who do not discern between the "fellowship of the Spirit" and a mere fellowship of doctrine.

If we only knew God and His love, how we would look upon every person we see as one... for whom [He] longs. We would begin to wonder at the mystery of grace that has taken the Church... as a partner in the great work of making that love known.

God's face should be the first we see in the morning when we open our eyes. His voice should be the first we hear with its benediction of love and grace. He should be the first to whom we speak, lifting up our hearts in praise and in supplication.

We say we want to be like Christ.... But what do we mean by being like Christ? Are we not in danger of getting into our vision of it, merely an easy kind of life, a gentle piety, a dainty charity, a fashionable holiness, a pleasing service?

When Jesus said, "My Father is the husbandman," He was communicating to His disciples that the care of their lives is in the hands of God, whose name is Love.... There is no "chance"—all things are under control of God's infinite wisdom and love.

Would it be better if we could direct all our own affairs?... If we could do so, no doubt many of our circumstances would be quite different.... We would have only prosperities, with no adversities; only joys, with no sorrows. We would exclude all pain and trouble from our life.

Many people suffer from the ignorance of those whom they trust as guides. But in Jesus Christ we have a Leader who never errs in wisdom. He never gives wrong advice. He is never mistaken in His decision as to what we ought to do.

In regenerating and sanctifying the believing soul, the Holy Spirit pursues this same great law of grafting the life of Christ into the believing heart, and the graces and fruit of the Spirit upon the natural faculties and functions of the human spirit.

We have the privilege to pray, "Show me the way I should go," and expect to be answered. There will be a Hand extended to guide us, to open the path for us, and to help us over the hard pinches of the road.

If in our hearts the great master purpose is to live for Christ only, we will grow continually away from all that is worldly and unworthy, toward things which are spiritual and Divine. Paul describes himself as "...stretching forward to the things which are before."

Christ in heaven sympathizes with His friends on the earth in all their experiences.... We believe all this as a doctrine, but what meaning has it for us in our own lives? What is Christ in heaven to us in a personal, practical way?

The most triumphant word anyone can say at the end of his life is, "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." And it is the only way to receive the approving verdict, "Well done, good and faithful servant... enter thou into the joy of thy lord."

I am satisfied many do not appreciate the promises of God as they ought. There are promises in the good old Bible that apply themselves to our every need. He has promised to "supply all our needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

What is the secret? When does the song begin? What is it that gives to the believer in God this quenchless joy? In the record of the opening of the temple by Hezekiah we find a sentence which suggests the answer.

There is always danger that we become contented with our routine, and indisposed to go beyond it.... But, besides this monotonous round... there should always be something larger going on. "You have gone around this mountain long enough: turn northward."

How great and wise God is—and how vast are the affairs He controls!... Could we expect to understand all the reasons for His actions, and always to see in advance the wisdom and beauty in His vast and complex purposes?