THE TRUE ENJOIMENT of Bible study is the great light of Himself—the light of Jesus—the finding of His presence as you study. Also, the truth of the Word is written to be DISCOVERED by the SOUL— when PRAYiNG over the Word rather than to be taught by a teacher, though both ways are scripturally appointed.”
“In our work, our desire has been to get the people not so much to have expositions and explanations of the Word from teachers as to be able to take their own Bibles and know them, having just enough guidance and suggestions from teachers to give them light how to so take up the Word. That is, to our mind, the true preparation for preaching.” Mrs. R. made this statement in a letter to someone who had asked her about Bible study and the advisability of attending a Bible school preparatory for Christian service.
“Most of the pupils from schools who come here and get the idea of this living, personal acquaintance with the Word and use of it for their daily life express themselves as advancing more under our methods, though some Bible schools are awake, no doubt, to these facts,” Mrs. R. continued in her reply.
“There are two sides for a young minister’s preparations. One is his service and ability to be among men and fill a minister’s place, preaching, etc. Another, and the important side, is the deep spiritual walk with God—the daily grace, the power to live in all places and under all conditions just for Jesus. Without this latter equipment, one had better not take the former service. The first is a necessity, of course, for a minister, and yet if he had that, and the second is lacking, he would fail.”
Then in discussing the subject of Bible schools Mrs. R. said: “We know something about some of the Pentecostal Bible Schools. Other schools, I suppose, I would not be a judge of. The question of attending a Bible school or taking courses depends both on the pupil’s state of experience and the kind of school. The result of Bible school work, etc., is a little disappointing sometimes, in this, the training seems to quench the originality and abandonment of the Holy Spirit, and the young preacher comes out stereotyped or, I might say, a little imitative, rather than in the power of the Holy Spirit. True preaching to bear fruit for souls should be living, abandoned, and original, in that the Holy Ghost guides and brings out the truth, and it is not something just received mentally.
“Sometimes another difficulty is that the pupils seem to know about the Bible just THOSE THINGS THEY HAVE BEEN TAUGHT, that is, they have not a sufficient grasp or knowledge of die Bible itself so they can go on independently without a teacher, and continue to grow in further knowledge and love of the Word. A minister cannot go on in God’s work depending upon past instruction—his Bible study has to keep pace with his experience and service. He must be advancing and deepening in Christ as lie preaches and serves. In fact, it isn’t just as one is taught. The best teacher and the best plan may fail unless the pupil is really a Holy Ghost student.
“Now, in your case, it, of course, depends upon your special experience and present knowledge of the Word, as to what is most needed in your Bible study. Once the Bible is a familiar book, and opened to you, and is your own, a Bible school or a course might then draw you on in your grasp, and would not press you to try to grasp mentally what you have not yet received in your experience. Otherwise, one’s knowledge of the Word is apt to be imitative rather than original, mental rather than guided by the Holy Spirit.
“Really a Bible school is apt to put you through a course not regarding your personal need. To take a student (who is unfamiliar with the Word, who has not himself lived in it) beyond his capacity and teach him things he is not yet in need of and cannot grasp spiritually is sometimes a great loss to him. It is necessary to first find out his need and add to his knowledge enough to make the Bible real. A pupil should have to get into the Bible on his own responsibility. I mean, in his own heart and love.
“Most large Bible scholars have taken training that way. Great men who do great things for God are taught of the Holy Ghost. Many Pentecostal preachers have not been trained men. They learn the Bible as they live and serve However, many pupils need some instruction to get started rightly....
“I would not like to be misunderstood as meaning study and education and opportunity of certain kinds of training are not useful and desirable if one is already abandoned in the Holy Spirit and able to keep subject to Him, and receive these instructions and training in the Spirit—and God does make use of them.”
(The fact is that Mrs. R. was used of the Lord to encourage more than one person to go to Bible school, for she knew that they would get the help there which they personally needed.)
“In reading this letter over,” added Mrs. R., “it seems to me it may sound as if I were giving a hint for you to come to this Home, as I speak of our undertaking to avoid some of these faults that come out of Bible courses and schools. I did not wish to convey the impression to you that I think we have a good system of Bible study. Instead, we feel ourselves lacking. Some of our young people are pretty good students, and some have gone on to the ministry from here. I just tried to write frankly. I do not know as I would have felt at liberty to write so fully myself, but the Lord gave me what to put in this letter.”
As has been indicated there were a number of young people in the Faith Homes who were training for Christian service. Much of the teaching which they received was given in the regular meetings. In addition, special Bible classes were held from time to time by various of the ministers and teachers.
Sometime in 1915 Mrs. R. began a weekly Bible class for the benefit of some of the senior students. Included in this group were those who had attended Bible school previously, and at least two had already been ordained and had had some experience in the ministry before the Lord had led them into the Homes, so that they might be instructed in “the way of God more perfectly.” All of these Mrs. R. taught in accordance with the principles enunciated in the letter just quoted. The pupils were not “stuffed” with information but were shown “how to go at things,” as one of the class expressed it.
“The Lord wants you to be independent Bible students,” Mrs. R. said in some of her introductory remarks. Fundamental to this type of study, it is essential for the student to be abandoned to the Holy Ghost. “Abandonment in Bible study is the complete, abject surrender of your lives to God.” The average person, the teacher explained, is apt to lay down what he has read and not use it, i.e., he is not apt to apply it to himself and to his daily life. But a real student should and will fasten himself to the truth God is giving him until he really gets hold of it and experiences it. For example, “You ought to take the commands in the New Testament, and never give up till you have obeyed every one of them.”
The same methods which are to be employed in one’s personal Bible study were to be used in the study of the assigned lesson for the weekly class which Mrs. R. was teaching. “You shouldn’t allow your approaching recitation to influence your study. If you study in order to make a good recitation, you lose your spiritual touch or your own good time with Jesus.” As one would seek for hid treasure, so one should study for the class. With this preparation, Mrs. R. instructed them: “Come to the class with the treasure in you, and bring out of that treasure what the Lord wants.”
One of the early assignments for the class was to study the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, the Love Chapter. From some notes which one of the students took of Mrs. R.’s teaching in the class period, one is given an idea of how she taught:
“Set your foot down on everything in your life contrary to that chapter.... Despise the workings of the flesh the chapter tells are in you.... Watch yourself in regard to carrying out the different phrases and clauses. . . . If somebody offends you, ask the Lord what kind of miserable flesh is left in you that gets offended. . . . Take real exception to anything in your life contrary to the Love Chapter.... Say, ‘I am going to put my own hand out to see my flesh crucified.’. . . You are exercising flesh when you don’t live up to that chapter.... No matter what the other one does, you live the love life.”
Then the Holy Spirit asked the class members a searching question with respect to their own personal fulfillment in love: “Are you going to get that victory in that wherein you failed last year?” At the same time Mrs. R. reminded them that it is “the life of the Son of God in you that will live this chapter out.”
Repeatedly Mrs. R. warned her students, as prospective preachers, against the tendency to study the Bible to teach it or to preach it to someone else. “You are dreadfully in need of what you are going to give out to others, yourself.” The husbandman must be first partaker of the fruit. The truths of the Word should be “drunk in” or eaten and assimilated so that they become a very part of one’s spiritual substance. Then, if a preacher is truly abandoned to the Holy Spirit, the Lord will bring out from within just what an audience needs at just the right time. “Unless you see that point, you will have a hard time with extemporaneous sermons.
“Your lives should be enriched and deepened every week,” Mrs. R. exhorted the class to believe. And so they were, as they studied in accordance with the instructions they had received.
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Martha Wing Robinson (1874 - 1936)
Martha held meetings which touched people to return to the work of the service of God. The Robinsons opened a "Faith Home" where people would come for teaching and prayer. Like George Muller they depended on God to provide what was needed for expenses. Thousands came through her home and healings were a regular occurrence. Her husband died in April of 1916, but Martha continued in her ministry. She had a very sharp gift of discernment and regularly told people the secrets of their hearts. She often had directive prophetic words for those under her care. Many young people came to the home for training and went into the mission fields and evangelistic endeavours.Martha Wing Robinson died June 26, 1936. Shortly before she died she stated her life's message "Nothing matters but Christ Jesus." Her whole life was spent in the service of God and for the Glory of His Son Jesus. She had seen many healed, saved, delivered, empowered and sent out. She was truly a mother in Israel. In 1962 Gordon P. Gardiner wrote a book about her life called "Radiant Glory" because that is how she lived her life.