“Happy the heart that can see itself at its worst, without, on the one hand attempting to excuse its failure, or on the other, giving up in despair. For such a soul the Holy Spirit waits to bring the next stage of His blessed work of sanctification namely: The revelation of Jesus Christ Himself as our sanctification.

It is the purpose of God that the person of Jesus shall be to us the embodiment of all that there is in God and salvation. Therefore, sanctification is not a mere human experience or state, but is the reception of the person of Christ as the very substance of our spiritual life. For He “is made unto us of God, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption.” 

It is not a wealthy friend advancing us the money to pay our debts, but it is the friend coming into our business and assuming it Himself, with all its burdens and liabilities, while we simply become subordinate and receive all our needs henceforth from Him. 

This was the glad cry which Paul sent back the moment he had reached the depths of self-despair: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” It is the Holy Spirit’s function to reveal Him. “He shall take of the things of Christ and show them to us.”

And so in the light of His revealing we behold Christ, the perfect One, who walked in sinless perfection through the world in His incarnation, waiting to come and enter our hearts, and dwell in us, and walk in us, as the very substance of our new life, while we simply abide in Him, and walk in His very steppings. 

It is not merely imitating an example, but it is living in the very life of another. 

It is to have the very person of Christ possessing our being:

the thoughts of Christ, the desires of Christ, the will of Christ, the faith of Christ, the purity of Christ, the love of Christ, the unselfishness of Christ, the single aim of Christ, the obedience of Christ, the humility of Christ, the submission of Christ, the meekness of Christ, the patience of Christ, the gentleness of Christ, the zeal of Christ, the works of Christ, manifest in our mortal flesh, so that we shall say, “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” When the Holy Spirit thus reveals Him to the heart we can surely say, as a saint once said after such a vision, “I have had such a sight of Christ that I never can be discouraged again.”

But the Spirit not only reveals Christ, but He actually brings him to occupy and abide in the heart. It is not enough to see, we must receive Him and become personally united to Him through the Holy Ghost…Through His gracious influence we present our bodies a living sacrifice, yield ourselves unto God in unreserved consecration, hand over to Him the old life of self and sin to be slain and buried forever, and offer ourselves to His absolute ownership, possession, and disposition, unconditionally and irrevocably. 

The more definite and thorough this act of surrender, then the more complete and permanent will be the result.

It is true that, at the best, it will be an imperfect consecration, and will need His merits to make it acceptable, but He will accept a sincere and single desire, and will add His own perfect consecration to our imperfect act, thus making it acceptable to the Father through His grace.

It is most blessed to know that in the very first act of a consecrated life we are not alone, but He Himself becomes our consecration, as He will afterwards become our obedience, and our strength step by step to the end.”

— A.B. Simpson

“We need Jesus! We cannot do without Him! We must have Him, for He is our joy, our exceeding joy, our life, and our all. Without Him, the world and all it calls good, is poverty, wretchedness, and woe! With Him, a wilderness is a paradise, a cottage a palace, and the lowliest spot of earth a little heaven below…

Who can subdue sin in us but Jesus? I might as well attempt to remove mountains as to reason away one corruption of my fallen nature. But if we, the moment we detect it, carry it to Jesus, He will do it all for us. This is one of the most difficult lessons to learn in the school of Christ. I am but just beginning to learn it, and therefore I am placed in the youngest class, traveling to Jesus more as a little helpless child, for Him to do all for and all in me. 

My imagined strength is all vanished, my boasted reason turned into folly, and now, thus living on Christ in childlike simplicity, my peace, joy, and consolation are past expression. Oh, the love, the matchless love of Jesus to a poor sinner lying thus at His dear feet, waiting to receive a welcoming smile beaming from His countenance. Dear friend, keep close to Him. Let not the world or its cares come between you and Christ.”

— Mary Winslow

“Let us be satisfied to be but strangers and pilgrims here in a strange land; looking and longing for the time when He will say to us, “Arise, My love, My fair one, and come away!” We do not know how soon our journey may terminate. Let us be ready; our lamps trimmed, and brightly burning. 

I am fully persuaded that formality is the bane of spiritual religion; religion of form without power; of possession, without recognition; satisfied with the performance of a duty, without the sweet enjoyment of a privilege…

How sweet is close, confidential communion with Jesus! How fully we can then unveil all our hearts to Him; disclosing every secret; making known every need; and bringing our hidden enemies, our corruptions, to Him, that He might slay them before our eyes!“

— Mary Winslow

“We can all say that we started off life, to use an illustration, with a ball of string neatly rolled up. But, through the years that string we have tied up into ten thousand or ten million knots. And now, as we look at this ball of string, tied into ten thousand or ten million knots, we’re frustrated, we’re discouraged, we’re wondering what we can do. And then comes to us this wonderful message of the Bible: that Jesus Christ can untie every knot. 

I don’t know how many knots you’ve got your life tied up into friend, but I want to tell you the good news: every single knot Jesus can untie. He can give you back a whole roll of string, with your whole life just as if you were born now. And you can start life all over again, if you’ll turn to Jesus Christ, call upon His name and say, ‘Lord Jesus, you came to destroy the works of the devil–destroy those works in my life.'” – Zac Poonen

“O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. 

Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, so that I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, ‘Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.’ Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long…

I want to know Thee, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shalt Thou make the place of Thy feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no night there…

Lord, how excellent are Thy ways, and how devious and dark are the ways of man. Show us how to die, that we may rise again to newness of life. Rend the veil of our self-life from the top down as Thou didst rend the veil of the Temple. We would draw near in full assurance of faith. We would dwell with Thee in daily experience here on this earth…

O God, quicken to life every power within me, that I may lay hold on eternal things. Open my eyes that I may see; give me acute spiritual perception; enable me to taste Thee and know that Thou art good. Make heaven more real to me than any earthly thing has ever been…

O God, be Thou exalted over my possessions. Nothing of earth’s treasures shall seem dear unto me if only Thou art glorified in my life. 

Be Thou exalted over my friendships. I am determined that Thou shalt be above all, though I must stand deserted and alone in the midst of the earth. 

Be Thou exalted above my comforts. Though it mean the loss of bodily comforts and the carrying of heavy crosses..

Be Thou exalted over my reputation. Make me ambitious to please Thee even if as a result I must sink into obscurity and my name be forgotten as a dream. 

Rise, O Lord, into Thy proper place of honor, above my ambitions, above my likes and dislikes, above my family, my health and even my life itself. Let me decrease that Thou mayest increase, let me sink that Thou mayest rise!”

– A.W. Tozer

“Every now and then we come across a life that is radiant, …revealing a richness, a warmth, a triumph that intrigues and challenges us. We typically find these lives in biographies out of the past. But, just when we begin to think that such people lived only in other days, we meet one in real life! …right in our own time!

The details of their experiences may vary greatly. As we listen to their stories and observe their lives, either in our reading or in our contact with them, we begin to see a pattern emerge that reveals their secret. Out of discouragement and defeat they have come into victory. Out of weakness and weariness they have been made strong. Out of ineffectiveness and apparent uselessness they have become efficient and enthusiastic.

The pattern seems to be: self-centeredness, …self-effort, …increasing inner dissatisfaction and outer discouragement,… a temptation to give it all up, because there seems to be no better way; …and then, finding the Spirit of God to be their strength, their guide, their confidence and companion — in a word, their life.

The crisis of the deeper life is the key that unlocks the secret of their transformation. It is the beginning of the exchanged life.

What is the exchanged life? Really, it is not some thing; it is some One. It is the indwelling of the Lord Jesus Christ made real and rewarding by the Holy Spirit.

There is no more glorious reality in all the world. It is life with a capital “L”. It is new life in exchange for old. It is rejoicing for weariness, ….and radiance for dreariness. It is strength for weakness, and steadiness for uncertainty. It is triumph, even through tears. It is tenderness of heart, instead of touchiness. It is humility, instead of self-exaltation. It is loveliness of life because of the presence of the altogether Lovely One.

Adjectives can be multiplied to describe it: …abundant, …overflowing, …overcoming, …all-pervading, …satisfying, …joyous, …victorious; and each describes only one aspect of a life that can be experienced, but not fully-explained.

The Savior said: “I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (Jn. 10:10). We find newness of life in Christ by receiving Him as our own Savior from the penalty of sin. We can find abundance of that life by surrendering self and drawing on the unfailing resources of the Almighty. There is life; and then there is life more abundant. This is the exchanged life.”

— V. Raymond Edman

“These eyes have never seen the Saviour, but this heart hath seen him; these lips have never kissed his cheek, for that they might do and I might be a Judas; but the soul hath kissed him and he hath kissed me with the kisses of his mouth, for his love is better than wine. Think me not enthusiastic or fanatical when I say that the children of God have as near access to Christ today in the Spirit, as ever John had after the flesh; so that there is to this day a rich enjoyment to be obtained by those who seek it, in having actual fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. Oh, it is a joy worth worlds!” – C.H. Spurgeon

“In 2 Kings Chapter 2, we see the persistence of Elisha when Elijah tested him. When Elijah was about to be taken up to heaven, Elisha went along with him to Gilgal. Elijah told Elisha to stay in Gilgal, as he was going to Bethel. Elisha said, “No. I am coming with you.” At Bethel, Elijah again told Elisha to stay there, since he was going to Jericho. Elisha again replied, “No. I am going with you.” At Jericho, the same scene was repeated. Elijah then went to Jordan. When they came to the river Jordan, Elijah struck the water, opened up the river and both of them walked across. Then Elijah asked Elisha, “Why have you been following me? What do you want?” 

What about you? What do you want? Are you looking for a better income, or for a car or a new house?  Elisha however said, “I want a double portion of your spirit.” He did not want anything else in the world. He wanted the anointing of the Spirit that rested on Elijah. That’s why he had followed after Elijah.

God will test us too, before He commits a ministry to us. He will give us a certain experience – bring us to Gilgal – and see if we are content with that. Some Christians are content, but others will say, “No, Lord. I am not satisfied.” God will lead these people further and give them a deeper experience – Bethel. He may give you some visions. Some will be content with that. Others will say, “No, Lord. I want more of You.” Maybe He will do a miracle through you. Some will now be content. Others will say, “Lord, I want the Spirit that rested on You to rest on me too to transform me into Your likeness. I won’t be satisfied with anything less than that.” Do you have such a longing? If so, then let me assure you that God will not disappoint you.”

— Zac Poonen

“How can we get ready for the persecution?…we need to feed on the word of God, digest it, make it a part of our being…we need to develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Not just the Jesus of yesterday, the Jesus of History, but the life-changing Jesus of today who is still alive and sitting at the right hand of God.

We must be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is no optional command of the Bible, it is absolutely necessary. Those earthly disciples could never have stood up under the persecution of the Jews and Romans had they not waited for Pentecost. Each of us needs our own personal Pentecost, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We will never be able to stand in the tribulation without it.”  – Corrie Ten Boom

“What a glorious building, what a spiritual edifice. A body, His body, a body of Spirit-filled saints, fitly joined together, and framed by His will, in which God Himself dwells in the Spirit. And in which glorious body the manifestations of His divine presence and power are continually seen. A body in which there is operated every gift of the Spirit, a body that because of the power of the divine manifested in the human will be able to accomplish the work He has called us to do. That is the church which is His body.”  – Charles S. Price