June 28

Read: I John 2:3-6

Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected (I John 2:5).

Continuing Obedience

The sanctified life does not change God’s requirement for obedience. A true and satisfying life of Christian holiness always involves a careful and continuous endeavor to do the will of God. This is what we promised Him when we made our consecration and asked for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Since our consecration vows to God were made once for all, they do not need to be made again and again, but we do need to remember them and honestly to live by them. Rev. C. W. Ruth used to say, “Instead of consecration being merely an act, it must become an attitude, to be worked out in daily life: not an occasional matter but a daily practice.” It was in an hour of pledging our full obedience that God’s Holy Spirit came to dwell in us. It is in continuing full obedience that the glory of His presence is made real to us again and again.

It was by this continued obedience to the known will of God that Jesus asked His disciples to prove their love for Him. He said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). To maintain a satisfying sanctified life, the counsel of Dr. Dougan Clark cannot be improved upon. “If

at any time or in any thing you feel your will rising in opposition to God’s will or providence, check such a rising at once. ‘Thy will be done’ must be the continual attitude of your heart and the frequent utterance of your lips.”

Prayer For Today

Not my will, but Thine; not my will, but Thine; Not my will, but Thy will be done, Lord, in me. May Thy Spirit divine fill this being of mine. Not my will, but Thy will, be done, Lord, in me.*

— Hugh C. Benner

*Copyright 1951 by Lillenas Publishing Co. International copyright.