A Functioning Faith

BLJ: Believers need not delay is seeking a sanctified heart. Don't delay. Procrastination is the devil's weapon. Are you crucified with Christ? Have you gone outside the camp and died to self? The Holy Ghost is waiting for you. You need to consecrate all, ask specifically to be sanctified, ask urgently, and ask with expectation.

WHEN FAITH FUNCTIONS FERVENTLY

The Apostle Paul said: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me..." (Gal. 2:20). Words fail to express the blessedness of experiencing the death to self and the empowering of the sanctified man. Oh! the glory, as faith takes hold and becomes strong, and the soul experiences the great relief from carnal bondage. Some refer to it as "peace like a river"; others, "sweetly resting"; but all can say, "My ugly, old, carnal heart is purified; Christ is enthroned, and the Holy Ghost abides. Hallelujah!"

BLJ: What does your heart look like?

The Holy Ghost doesn't need to be begged or coerced into entering the heart which is utterly yielded and ready. The seeker will break through as naturally as drawing the next breath, when his faith takes hold and the fire falls. As he becomes conscious of the presence of the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, his faith grows stronger and operates freely, without drawing attention to itself. That is the reason that "altar nurses" are so entirely out of order when they press the unyielded seeker to "take it by faith."

BLJ: The Holy Ghost looks for a willing invitation to enter.

Rev. C. B. Jernigan tells of a Rev. J. D. Scott who prayed through "...down in the straw, at an old-time mourners' bench, when there was no thought of telling a fellow to take it by faith, but they were supposed to pray till something happened." [47] Dr. J. B. Chapman said, "Faith becomes as natural as breathing when we dethrone our Idols."

How many times have we seen someone struggling long at an altar, trying to believe, and finally giving up and confessing that they had been battling over something that they had not been willing to surrender to God. When the fire falls, it isn't necessary to prod the seeker to believe. And until God is ready to send the fire, it is foolhardy for any seeker to try to "work up" enough faith to try to make it happen. For the seeker of Holiness to "take it by faith" seems so much simpler and less painful, that it becomes very tempting, but it is dangerously misleading.

BLJ: Don't be deceived with the "take it by faith crowd." Pay the price, die out and as the old-timers would say, "like an old yellow dog under the back porch."

"Oh! Where am I drifting?
Oh! who can foretell me my doom!
Oh! Where am I drifting?
Out, out into eternity's gloom!"

PROCRASTINATION'S PAYDAY

The old-time holiness people used to urge their new converts to seek holiness without delay. True conversion should cause people to desire to press on into the sanctified experience until they know beyond a shadow of doubt that the work is done. It was unbelief that kept the carnally-rebellious Children of Israel from entering Canaan Land (Heb. 3:19). Unbelief will cause people of our day to feel that their need is not as great as God describes it, and that holiness is not entirely necessary, and that God's command: "Be ye holy" (I Peter 1:15-16), is not imperative. Such people will disregard the warnings of Heb. 3 and 4 and will die in the spiritual wilderness.

BLJ: Don't delay. The Holy Ghost is waiting for your invitation.

Any unnecessary delay in getting sanctified is alway a bad risk. When God convicts one of his carnality, that soul should start at once seeking to be sanctified. Any needles delay is dangerous because the sense of urgency will die down while the issue is cooling. In the meantime Satan will take every advantage of the carnality in one's heart, and use it to cause the converted one to feel defeated, become discouraged, and give up. Then the devil has him. Procrastination has its perilous payday.

The old-time holiness people used to talk about dying like a yellow dog under a back porch. By that expression they meant for the "dying to self" to be without delay, quickly accomplished, and with a finality akin to the death of a dog. The true holiness people have always believed in the crucifixion of self, and anyone who did not believe in it was considered a heretic.

God will never assume the controls of your life until you relinquish them unconditionally to Christ. That is what self hates to do. God would be pulling one way and self the other. God would never accept such mockery. God is a gentleman, and will not take anything away from you which you will not give up, nor will He force anything onto you which you don't want. The only safe course is to die out in full surrender, and do it without delay.