"We walk by faith, not by sight" 2 Corinthians 5:7.
"Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" John 20:29.
"Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God" John 11:40.
In connection with your conversion, there was no greater hindrance than your feelings. You thought, perhaps for years, that you must experience something, must feel and perceive something in yourselves. It seemed to you as if it were too hazardous to simply, and without some feeling, believe in the Word, and to be sure that God had received you--that your sins were forgiven. But finally you had to acknowledge that the way of faith, without feeling, was the way of the Word of God. And it has been the way to salvation for you. Through faith alone you have been saved, and your soul has found rest and peace.1
In the further life of the Christian, there is no temptation that is more persistent and more dangerous than this same feeling. We do not find the word "feeling" in Scripture. What we call "feeling" the Scripture calls "seeing." And it tells us without ceasing that not seeing yet still believing--believing in opposition to what we see--gives salvation."(Abraham), not being weak in faith, considered not his own body" (Romans 4:19). Faith simply adheres to what God says. Those who see, yet have no faith, will not partake of the glory of God. Those who have faith in God, but do not see, will witness His glory.2 The man who seeks for feeling and mourns about it will not find it. The man who does not care for feeling will have it overflowing. "He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it" (Matthew 10:39). Faith in the Word later on becomes sealed with true feeling by the Holy Spirit.3
Child of God, learn to live by faith. Let it be firmly implanted in you that faith is God's way to a blessed life. When there is no feeling of liveliness in prayer, when you feel cold and dull in the inner chamber, live by faith. Let your faith look upon Jesus as near and upon His power and faithfulness. Though you have nothing to bring to Him, believe that He will give you all. Feeling always seeks something in itself. Faith keeps itself occupied with what Jesus is.4 When you read the Word and have no feeling of interest or blessing, read it yet again in faith. The Word will work and bring blessing, "the word effectually worketh in those that believe" (1 Thessalonians 2:13). When you feel no love, believe in the love of Jesus, and say in faith that He knows that you still love Him. When you have no feeling of gladness, believe in the inexpressible joy that there is for you in Jesus. Faith is blessedness and will give joy to those who are not concerned about the self-sufficiency which springs from joy, but about the glorification of God which springs from faith.5 Jesus will surely fulfill His Word, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." "Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?"
Every day the Christian has to choose between the life of feeling and the life of faith. Happy is he who, once and for all, has made the firm choice. For every morning, he renews the choice not to seek or listen for feeling, but only to walk by faith, according to the will of God. The faith that occupies itself with the Word--with what God has said--and, through the Word--with God Himself and Jesus His Son--will taste the blessedness of a life in God above. Feeling seeks and aims at itself. Faith honours God and will be honoured by Him. Faith pleases God. Through faith the believer will receive from Him the witness in the heart that he is acceptable to God.
Lord God, the one, the only thing that You desire of Your children is that they should trust You, and that they should always hold conversation with You in that faith. Lord, let it be the one thing in which I seek my happiness, to honour and to please You by a faith that firmly holds You, the Invisible, and trusts You in all things. Amen.
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Andrew Murray (1828 - 1917)
Brother Andrew Murray was a well-known writer/preacher in South Africa who ministered amongst the Dutch Reformed churches. His writings now are widely accepted by modern evangelicals and he is published more than ever in his life-time.Some of his better known books titles are: "Abide In Christ", "Absolute Surrender," and "Humility." His burden for the body of Christ were teachings on the abiding Spirit of Christ in the believer, the life of faith with God daily, and the life of intercession and prayer in the Church.
Andrew Murray was possibly the strongest spokesman of the Philadelphian age to expound the Body's necessity to abide in Christ, like the Apostle John before him.
Murray was born into a family of four children in the then remote Graaff-Reinet region (near the Cape) of South Africa. Educated in Scotland, which was followed by theological studies in Holland, Andrew returned to his native land to work as a missionary and minister. Given the daunting task of ministering to Bloemfontein, a remote region of 50,000 square miles and 12,000 people beyond the Orange River, Murray already began to sense the need to for the "deeper Christian life".
Though successful in preaching and bringing many to Christ, Murray found many of his greatest lessons in the School of Suffering, as will all who follow in the path of obedience.
Andrew Murray was one of four children born to Pastor Andrew, Sr., and Maria Murray. He was raised in what was considered to be the most remote corner of the world - Graaff-Reinet, South Africa. Educated in Scotland and Holland, in 1848 Andrew, Jr., returned to South Africa as a missionary and minister with the Dutch Reformed Church. His first appointment was to Bloemfontein, a territory of nearly 50,000 square miles and 12,000 people.
Andrew and his brother John had been in close contact with a revival movement in Scotland, an evangelical extension of the ongoing Second Great Awakening in America. He prayed for the same sort of awakening for the church in South Africa and wrote, "My prayer is for revival, but I am held back by the increasing sense of my own unfitness for the work. I lament the awful pride and self complacency that have till now ruled my heart. O that I may be more and more a minister of the Spirit." (J. du Plessis, The Life of Andrew Murray)
In 1860, revival did come to the churches of Cape Town, South Africa, and subsequently spread to surrounding towns and villages. Even remote farms and plantations felt the impact as lives were changed. Where once the churches had not been able to find one man ready to be a leader for God, the revival raised up 50 in Murray's Cape Town parish alone. There were more conversions in one month in that parish than in the whole course of its previous history. (Leona Choy, Andrew Murray: Apostle of Abiding Love)
Greatly concerned for the spiritual guidance of new converts and renewed Christians, Andrew Murray wrote over 240 books. His writings reflect his own longing for a deeper life in Christ and his prayer that others would long for and experience that life as well.