On a rough estimate, I would say that I have read perhaps fifty books written by men of God from long ago over the past four or five years, and I can maybe quote two or three sentences from all of them verbatim.
I have been blessed to excel in several different employment fields, created different forms of artwork proficiently, even played guitar fairly well, and today if you set anyone of those tasks before me, I would not have a clue how to begin any of them.
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” (Prov. 3:5)
Through willful desires of the flesh and inadvertent circumstances, I do not have what could be considered an effectual memory, the capacity to retain and recall knowledge at will is not something I have been blessed with.
So, how have over three thousand letters, all meant to lift up the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to the glory of God, flowed from my pen?
My beautiful wife was not the type of person that you would have called compassionate, now her compassion excels mine and many others by far. How does the junkie get off the street and remain away from it, the drunk from the bottle with all desires gone.
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Rev. 3:20)
There is personal effort required in serving the Lord our God, it is expected by Him, because He is Sovereign, Holy, righteous, true and just. Because we love Him. But no matter all of your efforts, your desires to be profitable for His Kingdom, no matter how much you want to glorify His name, if you do not give freely of your own free will to the leading, the prompting if you so desire to call it that, of the Holy Spirit, all your work will be in vain.
“In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Prov. 3:6)
Complete and total submission to “Thy will be done” requires more than love my friends, it requires dying to self, to every desire outside of His will for us. It means giving in, giving up, listening intently and then following.
“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)
That cross is something we are to carry in this life, when you reach that strait gate it will be removed, no different than when the burden of the guilt of our sins were removed at the cross by our Savior. That cross is more than inhibiting and rejecting every facet of the flesh, our old sinful nature, it is relinquishing our right to choose for ourselves the path to His Kingdom.
It is, in a way that cannot be framed properly in the mind of man, the removal of our free will by our own free will and offering ourselves to His will in our lives.
“Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” (Luke 22:42)
I have no training as a writer, that much is easily seen, no courses on composition, literature or any other form of linguistics. But I have the Word of God, I have been blessed to read works written by men of God, and I have a desire, a driving compulsion to be profitable for His glory.
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” (2nd Cor. 4:7)
That’s all I have for you, that is the only way I know and is possibly the only path available to you if your main desire in this life is to see the Lord Jesus Christ lifted up to the glory of God, listen and adhere to what the Holy Spirit is telling you.
Do not be overly concerned with how many people listen, be very concerned with hearing properly.
With as many of these Letters of Truth that have been written and the very few views they get, you can probably understand why I reference Jeremiah so much.
Follow the Lord wherever He leads you, let everything else be His will.
