HOW TO KEEP THE BLESSING Part 3

The wisdom of the fathers

HOW TO KEEP THE BLESSING     Part 3

Many of those who have lost the blessing make the confession, "I got to doubting." Who wonders at the loss? As Faith is the condition of the reception and retention of grace, then, of course, doubt, which is its opposite, is the way to lose all we have. All sin and spiritual lapse is preceded by doubt. It opens the door to Satan and he rushes in to sow tares in the wheat, and possess the house again which had been swept and garnished. But faith keeps the door of the heart; faith retains the grace and presence of God, and makes it impossible for the devil to do his work. And so the just not only shall, but do, live by faith.

...It is wonderful how quickly the lesson of faith is learned which retains the experience of [complete] holiness. At first it may be an effort to exercise the belief and go on repeating the Word of God, especially when the joy of the soul may have run low or departed. But in a few hours or days one becomes established in the grace, there is a spirit or whisper of trust in the heart, and the soul settles down with a delightful sense of rest upon the love, power and protecting care of the Son of God.

It is now that the man sees the tremendous force of faith as by it he retains the greatest experience of the Christian life. He can now mentally exercise it. It seems to be the breath of his soul and is exhaled like breath. Instead of words being the thought itself is uppermost, ''The Blood cleanses me," "Jesus sanctifies me."

 Still, while it may be hard at times to repeat those passages of God's Word which bear upon the soul-cleansing power of the blood, yet there is peculiar blessedness in such oral testimony and confession of the lips. In our own experience we have never had to repeat such words as "The blood cleanses me," "The altar sanctifies me," " Jesus saves me now," more than the third time before feeling the sense of Victory in the soul, and hearing an inward hallelujah voiced by the answering Spirit who thus assured us that all was well.

(from "The Sanctified Life" by Rev. Carradine)