"Be imitators of God, therefore as dearly beloved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God". -
Ephesians 5:1-2
God can do such a work in us by His Spirit, that all that He commands us to do will come about naturally, and not because we feel we ought to do it. To make up our mind to praise God is good, but it is very much better to be so filled with the Holy Spirit that you cannot help praising! What God wants out of us He will first put in. The secret of power for living and service is to go to the Cross and get rid of the obstacles to the outflow of the spirit of God, and then ask God for the new life that will bring forth the new fruit.
I often hear of things God's children say and do which most grieve Him - and it seems hopeless to speak to them about it. The best thing is to ask God to put a new life and new spirit into them so that they will not do these things.
If you have a little child and are constantly saying, " You must not, you must not," you will soon crush the personality of that child. You need to show him how to have a new life within, so that he will want to do what is right. God does not expect to get out of us one thing but what He has put into us! Do let us toil, dear fellow-workers, to lead His children into a life, and then let that Life manifest itself through their personalities. God does not want us to be all of the same pattern. He will express Himself through each individual in a different way. Just as there are not two faces alike, so He has not made two of us alike in any way, and we must take care that we do not try to mould ourselves or others after the pattern of any other human being.
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Jessie Penn Lewis (1861 - 1927)
was a Welsh evangelical speaker and author of a number of Christian evangelical works. Penn-Lewis was close to Evan Roberts and there is some controversy associated with her influence over him. After the breakdown by Roberts cut the revival short, he stayed with the Penn-Lewises for a couple of years, but never fully recovered.Penn-Lewis was influenced by the Dutch Reformed, South African writer Andrew Murray among others, and her books contain quotes from him and references to his works. Frank Buchman, the founder of the Oxford Group, credits Penn-Lewis with helping him to turn his life around from depression when he heard her speak at a Keswick Convention.[5] She also influenced Johan Oscar Smith, the founder of Brunstad Christian Church[6] and the missionary statesman Norman Grubb.
Born in 1861 in South Wales, this daughter of a mining engineer was nurtured in the "lap of Calvinistic Methodism," as she put it. Surrounded by love and a large library, she ventured into a life of learning and activity which always seemed far beyond the capability of her persistently frail body. Strong-willed and independent, she walked at the age of nine months, and by the age of four could read the Bible freely, without having been taught to read.
She married at the age of eighteen, was converted to Christ eighteen months later, and set about to learn to follow God.
At the age of thirty-one she was baptized with the Spirit, and her simple motto became, ''Keep free to follow the will of God." God gave her remarkable insight into the Scriptures, and it became obvious that He had fashioned her to be a teacher.
Her ministry took her to Sweden, Russia, Finland, India, Canada and the United States. Her life became linked to the spiritual giants of her generation- F. B. Meyer, Andrew Murray, D. L. Moody .
She founded The Overcomer, a serious journal on the pursuit of the deeper Christian life. For many years she addressed great audiences at vast conventions of Christians. Finally, after one such series of talks she arrived home obviously ill. Her strength waned rapidly and she slipped into the presence of Christ in 1927 at the age of sixty-six.
Few women in modern times have left so profound an impression on their generation, and few have so boldly and biblically stated the value of their gender. Jessie Penn-Lewis was the embodiment of Women's Liberation in its best and noblest sense.