HOW TO USE VICTORY

HOW TO USE VICTORY

"And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out,
and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed." Mark 1:35

"This incident in the life of our Lord occurred AFTER what one would
call a most successful day. He had endured the fierce onslaught in the
wilderness, driven there for the devil to do his worst, and had come off
MORE THAN A CONQUEREOR, for we read that 'angels came and ministered to
Him.' If after a season of temptation a saint retains the power that
draws the purest spirits to him, he may feel assured that the temptation
has been gone through with successfully.

Our Lord call the men who were to be His disciples, and they had
promptly left all and followed Him; He had had a triumphant time in
Capernaum, casting out demons and setting men and women free. The fame
and success of this mysterious Being grew, and we read that 'all the
city was gathered together at the door.' It was after this time of
eminent success in relieving men and blessing them that Jesus departed
into a solitary place and spent the night in prayer.

"And in the morning, rising up A GREAT WHILE BEFORE THE DAY, He went
out, and departed into a solitary place, and there He prayed!' I wonder
what that night and early dawn hid? Our Lord went through HIS days with
such easy power; what did He do in this solitary moments alone with God?
Did He go back, in mind at least, to the glory which He had with the
Father before the world was? Did He recline on the bosom of the Father
and hear unspeakable words bit lawful to utter? Such thoughts as these
are not presumptuous but the mediations of the heart that knows what
communion with God means.

If that communion means so much to a HUMAN heart that has been saved and
sanctified through the Atonement, what must it have meant to the Son of
God? What is was OUR LORD experienced is hidden from us, yet we too in
our measure have had the unspeakable experience, if rare, when the dark
night of Nature gives place to the dawn, when the huge and thoughtful
silence of the night makes every that is petty and trifling fall away,
and lifts us into the larger isolation, which is no isolation but the
realization of the PRESENCE OF GOD!

Where do we place the night of prayer and the dawn of intercession in
our "soul's" calendar? Do we place it AFTER a day of marvelous success
in work for God? If we do not, our souls are in peril. When our souls
have been lifted into the presence of God and we have grasped some truth
with new illumination, how much time have we spent in prayer for those
servants whom God has used us to bless? We allow ourselves to imagine
that it would be presumptuous on our part to pray for the 'Paul's'; but
it is a snare of Satan.

"He departed into a SOLITARY place ...' And notice He tells us to do the
same ... "But when YOU pray, enter into your closet, and when you have
shut the door, pray to the Father which is in secret.' Any soul who has
not this solitary place alone with God is in supreme peril spiritually.
Let us ask ourselves if we have allowed the solitary places to be broken
down our built over with altars that look beautiful, and people passing
by saying 'How spiritual that man or woman must be!' Such an altar, if
there is no other in the solitary place, is an insult to the deep work
of God in our souls. God grant that we may learn more and more of the
profound joy of getting alone with God in the dark of the night and
toward the early dawn." Adapted from THE COMPLETE WORKS OF OSWALD
CHAMBERS (He Shall Glorify Me) Published by Discovery House

Great quote: To be much for God, we must be much with God. Jesus, that
lone figure in the wilderness, knew strong crying, along with tears. Can
one be moved with compassion and not know tears? Jeremiah was a sobbing
saint. Jesus wept! So did Paul. So did John...Though there are some
tearful intercessors behind the scenes, I grant you that to our modern
Christianity, praying is foreign. Leonard Ravenhill

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