Hunger For Reality

HUNGER for REALITY
HUNGER for REALITY

How to escape from spiritual pretence and double-
living
George Verwer
(formerly published as Come! Live! Die!)
Hunger for Reality
by George Verwer
Copyright © 1972 by George Verwer
All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, or otherwise, without prior permission from the
publishers.
&217(176
Introduction 9
1. We Are Revolutionaries! 13
2. Hungry Disciples 17
3. The Prayer of Freedom 28
4. The Land of Rest 43
5. Front Line Perils 52
6. Love That Conquers 66
7. When I Am Weak . . . 75
8. Steps to Revolution! 81
'(',&$7('72
-2+1:$776DQG.(,7+%(&.:,7+
Members of Operation Mobilization who encouraged

me to put this message into print and who died in
an auto crash in Poland in 1965 while fulfilling the
Great Commission committed to them by the Lord
Jesus Christ.
INTRODUCTION
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No one could say in these days that we Christians are

spiritually starved. Through the care and faithfulness
of God’s servants, we are generously fed, taught,
encouraged, pampered, stimulated, supported, nursed
along. A religious world of sermons, discussions,
magazine articles, hymns, messages, books, meetings
and conferences surrounds us for our participation and
growth. Yet we know very well, if we are honest, that
these things have all too little effect on our lives. Why
is this so?
If we give the matter a little thought, we will
realize that most of us are living in “two worlds.” We
have split our convictions, activities and goals into
two categories. In the first we place our religious
experiences: what we believe; what we sing about; what
we pray about and what we defend in argument.
The second category contains our world of secular
9
10 Hunger for Reality
values and actions: our use of leisure time; our actions

taken to impress people; our attitude towards associates
who are better or worse at their job than we are; and
how we get our money and use it.
We keep these two worlds strictly apart and
though we may vaguely feel that something is wrong,
we don’t suspect we are suffering a major disorder—a
sort of spiritual schizophrenia. In church, occasionally
among Christian friends, we talk about dedication,
commitment, surrender, revival, a life on fire for God
and other expressions of loyalty and love for God.
But the words and their corresponding deeds get little
exposure outside church walls.
This evangelical dichotomy has had more serious
results than we admit. It has produced men who are
hard to get along with, women who rank themselves
by the furnishings of their house and the style of their
clothes and whole families that put on smiling faces
with their Sunday clothes for a few hours at church.
The late A. W. Tozer commented on this situation
in his book, Of God and Men.
“Evangelicalism as we know it today . . . does
produce some real Christians . . . but the spiritual
climate into which many modern Christians are
born does not make for vigorous spiritual growth.
Indeed, the whole evangelical world is to a large
Introduction 11
extent unfavorable to healthy Christianity. And

I am not thinking of modernism either. I mean
rather the Bible-believing crowd that bears the
name of orthodoxy . . . .
“We are making converts to an effete type
of Christianity that bears little resemblance to
that of the New Testament. The average so-called
Bible Christian in our times is but a wretched
parody of true sainthood. Yet we put millions
of dollars behind movements to perpetuate this
degenerate form of religion and attack the man
who dares challenge the wisdom of it.”
Everywhere I go I find young people who are aware
of this split of Christian and secular values. Many
have become atheists or agnostics because of it, while
others have skidded into pits of indifference. Many
Christians—leaders included—have admitted to me
that their beliefs do not control their everyday lives.
Yet many are hungry for reality and genuineness
in the Christian life. I met a student in an evangelical
seminary who was first in his class academically,
president of the campus mission group and chaplain
of the student body. In talking with me, he admitted
that he had very little heart-knowledge of God, but he
longed for a satisfying Christian experience.
Can this dichotomy be ended, this schizophrenia
cured? Can Christ really revolutionize your life so it is
consistent and productive? The answer is yes. I do not

offer a formula to achieve this result, but I can offer the
real Christ. I have seen him revolutionize people’s lives
all over the world.
These Christians once lived in spiritual barrenness,
then they honestly faced Christ and confessed their
besetting sins that clung from the old life. Jesus
transformed them and he can transform you. It is not
a life of perfection, but it is a life of reality. It does not
mean a life of ease, but it is a life of joy.
If you’re tired of split-level living, ask Jesus to
make you a whole person.
1
WE ARE REVOLUTIONARIES!
The Lord Jesus Christ was a revolutionary! Consider, if

you will, some of his most basic teachings: “Love your
enemies”; “Do good to them which hate you”; “Bless
them which persecute you”; “Whosoever will be chief
among you, let him be your servant”; “Lay not up for
yourselves treasures on earth”; “Except a man forsake
all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.”
Do you suppose that all these ideas fell in with
the cultural pattern of Christ’s day? Of course not! The
people of his day were just as enslaved by the material
aspect of living as the people of the twentieth century.
But the Lord Jesus broke with any cultural pattern
13
which interfered with the life of sacrificial love which

he came to give!
In the history of Christianity there have been
comparatively few who have lived according to the
literal teachings of Christ. The early apostles did,
of course. And the results for them were suffering,
persecution, imprisonment, exile and death! Does this
seem strange? No! These are the normal results of any
life based upon the principles set forth by Christ.
Why is this? The answer is simple: the individual
who would live this life is of necessity a revolutionary
individual, a cultural nonconformist, a “fanatic,” if
you please! Literal adherence to the principles laid
down by Jesus Christ would, without a doubt, result
in worldwide revolution—a revolution motivated by
love, a revolution executed by love and a revolution
culminating in love!
And we are revolutionaries! We are only a small
group of Christian young people in Operation
Mobilization, yet we have determined by God’s
grace to live our lives according to the revolutionary
teachings of our Master. Within the sphere of absolute,
literal obedience to his commands lies the power that
will evangelize the world. Outside this sphere is the
nauseating, insipid Christianity of our day.
We have committed ourselves in reckless
We Are Revolutionaries! 15
abandonment to the claims of Christ on our blood-

bought lives. We have no rights! Every petty, personal
desire must be subordinated to the supreme task of
reaching the world for Christ. We are debtors. We must
not allow ourselves to be swept into the soul-binding
curse of modern-day materialistic thinking and living.
Christians have been “willing” long enough to forsake
all—the time has come (and is passing) when we must
forsake all! Christ must have absolute control of our
time and money. We must yield possessions, comforts,
food and sleep; we must live on the barest essentials,
that his cause might be furthered. The propagation of
the faith we hold supreme! Christ is worthy of our all!
We must be ready to suffer for him and count it joy,
to die for him and count it gain. In the light of the
present spiritual warfare, anything less than absolute
dedication must be considered insubordination to our
Master and mockery of his cause!
This is our commitment and we will press forward
until every person has heard the gospel. We will soon
be in many different countries, engaged in combat
with all the forces of darkness. We look beyond the
thousands to the millions; beyond the cities to the
countries. The world is our goal! And our primary
targets are the seemingly impenetrable areas of the
Communist and Moslem countries which can only
receive freedom as they have opportunity to receive

the Truth. These countries will be reached for Christ
no matter what the cost. The ultimate victory is ours!
We must say to you, fellow Christian, that we
are risen with Christ; we seek those things which are
above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. We
have set our affections on things above, not on things
on the earth, for we are dead and our life is hid with
Christ in God. What blessed hope! What compelling
truth to lead us to total abandonment of self and unto
Christ! Without this, there is certain victory for the
enemy and disgrace to our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave
himself for us that he might be all things to us!
(This manifesto for world evangelism, with minor
changes here, was drawn up by twenty-five students
in 1961, the beginning of Operation Mobilization,
which the author now coordinates).
2
HUNGRY DISCIPLES
Anyone who claims to be a disciple of Jesus Christ

should be experiencing the reality of 1 John 2:6—“He
that saith be abideth in him [Christ] ought himself
also to walk even as he walked.” Without question, it
is God’s will for Christian disciples to live as Christ
lived. This is not dry theory or a casual observation
about Christian living; it is the dynamic standard
which produces a vital witness for Christ to lost men
and women.
Sometimes the men of the world are wiser in
human affairs than the men of God. The agnostic
H. G. Wells said in his Outline of History: “Not long
17
after Jesus Christ died, those who claimed to follow

him gave up practicing his revolutionary principles.”
Yes, “revolutionary” was his description and how right
he was! The church has held on to structures and many
of the doctrines, but it has lost the core of truth that
Jesus taught.
Today you can meet more and more “say-
evangelicals” as distinct from “be-evangelicals.” As
I have visited Bible school after Bible school and
Christian institution after Christian institution, I
have found many “talkers” of Christianity—but few
walkers! Not only I, but many Christian young people
are acutely aware of this discrepancy. Many have been
disillusioned by this contradiction between faith
and life.
If we are informed, we realize that many of the
young people who grow up in evangelical churches
deny the faith before they are twenty-five. We wonder
why and some say, “It must be the latter days”—the
days of apostasy and doom. That may be true, but that
would not be sufficient explanation of our tragic losses
to Satan.
Some Christians say the answer is in “good, sound,
Bible teaching.” But that is not enough, either. Never
in the history of the church have there been so many
Bible conferences, radio Bible studies and Bible study
Hungry Disciples 19
books. Did you know there are more than a thousand

books available in the English language on the Pauline
epistles? And today we have excellent recorded Bible
studies as well. You can hear outstanding Bible teachers
in your home by the turn of a radio knob.
We have every opportunity for learning of the life
and teachings of Paul, but where are the Pauls of the
twentieth century? Where are the men prepared like
him and his companions to face cold and shipwreck
and robbers for the gospel’s sake and to thank God for
the stripes that tore their backs? We have many sincere
servants of God and many great preachers. But where
are those who can say with Paul that he ceased not to
warn men and women night and day with tears? Such
men are difficult to find, if not impossible. Why? The
reason, I believe, is that we have separated our Bible
beliefs from our daily living. Paul never did this.
We want to serve the Lord and we say, “I am ready to
serve the Lord if only I can find my place in his service!”
Not finding it, we are frustrated. What is wrong?
God is far more concerned about your finding
your place in Christ himself than your place in his
service. The essential thing in Christian living is not
where you are going or what you are doing, but in
whose strength you are living. You may go behind
the Iron Curtain or just across the street to serve the
Lord, but in whose strength are you going? Let us see

how the Apostle Paul went about it. In Acts 20:19 we
read of his “serving the Lord with all humility of mind
and with many tears and temptations (trials) which
befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews. I kept back
nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed
you and have taught you publicly and from house
to house.”
Notice the words: “with all humility of mind.”
The apostle does not say he is serving the Lord with
great preaching, literature distribution, tremendous
campaigns behind the Iron Curtain and great exploits
in Turkey and India. He says that he served the Lord
with many tears and trials. Discipleship is first of all a
matter of the heart. Unless the heart is right, everything
else is wrong. Our hearts need to experience a deep
hunger and longing for God.
Hunger for God is the genuine mark of a disciple.
It confirms to me that I am his child and that he is
working in me. What I do for God does not prove that
I am a disciple. I may try to fulfill the terms of the
Sermon on the Mount or of church creeds; I may live
ruggedly and sleep on the floor; but these things do
not mark me as a disciple. The way I may know I am a
disciple is my having an intense, insatiable hunger for
the crucified Lord of Glory. If this is your experience—if
Hungry Disciples 21
you yearn for deep fellowship with your Creator, if you

desire to know him intimately and to walk with him
and to breathe with him—though you may look like a
failure and have made innumerable blunders, then you
are well on the road to discipleship.
David was an Old Testament individual who knew
God and walked with him. Did God say: “David was
a man who lived in purity all the days of his life”? No,
God said that David was “a man after my own heart.”
As we see in the Psalms, David had a hunger for
God. “My heart longeth, yea, fainteth for the living
God.” “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so
panteth my soul after thee, O God.” Despite David’s
failures and backsliding, he was hungry and thirsty for
God. In church history right back to the beginning, we
find that the mark of a true disciple, a man of God, is a
hunger to know God and his righteousness.
The man after God’s heart is described in Psalm 34.
He can praise God for all his experiences. “I will bless
the Lord at all times! His praise shall continually be
in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the
Lord: the humble shall hear thereof and be glad.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his
name together. I sought the Lord and he heard me
and delivered me from all my fears” (vv. 1–4). And
verse 10:“The young lions do lack and suffer hunger;
but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good
thing.” They that seek the Lord: to seek and hunger for
him; to praise him continually; these are the marks of
a true disciple of Jesus Christ.
Outward marks are often deceptive. The clever
Christian, the one who excels in fluent praying or
vigorous preaching, or the one who can answer all the
theological questions, is not necessarily a disciple. Nor
is it necessarily the one who has sold everything, down
to the last shirt, in an act of “true discipleship.” These
things of themselves do not draw us close to God. But
God draws near, the Scripture says, “Unto them that
are of a broken heart and saveth them that are of a
contrite spirit.” No discovery of Christian truth has
brought more encouragement to me than this one.
Do you remember Jesus’ parable of the two men
who came to the temple to pray? The first one went
to the front and, surveying his audience, exulted, “O
God, how thankful I am that I am not like that other
man!” He may have remembered the rich man who
turned away from Jesus because he had too many
possessions and then prayed: “God, I thank you that
I am not like him, either. No Pharisee would do that!”
Perhaps he thought of a young fellow who had never
gone on a Pharisee Crusade, inspiring him to declaim:
“Thank God I am not like that!” And then he unrolled
Hungry Disciples 23
a beautiful prayer that he learned in the Pharisee Bible

College and arranged himself gracefully round the
microphone to pray it to his public. But the second
fellow, away off in the distance, bent over abjectly and
beat his breast in agony, imploring: “God, have mercy
on me.”
To whom did God draw near? To the theological
discourser, tossing out weightless words? Certainly not!
As he strode off in his robes of self-righteousness, he
knew nothing of God’s justification or blessing.
God drew near to the one who came with a
broken heart and contrite spirit. He heard the cry:
“God, you know I am a failure. You know I am a
phony. You know that I am worthless. I am a sinner!
Have mercy on me.” That man acknowledged his sins
and God justified him. This conflicts with our human
understanding, yet it is one reason why I believe the
Bible: no man would originate this way of salvation.
This shows us the heart of God.
Except for Christianity, every religion offers a
combination of service and reward: Do this and you
will get that. So the average person would reason that
if you are a good disciple of Jesus and live according to
the Sermon on the Mount, or if you join evangelistic
campaigns and hand out tracts, or perhaps if you shine
the shoes of some person to prove how humble you
are, then you will be rewarded with great blessing. But

blessing comes only by God’s way, not man’s.
You, by yourself, can never shine anyone’s shoes
without false motives. You will not even distribute
tracts without some personal ambition. Paul asked the
Galatians: “Having begun in the Spirit, will you now
continue in the flesh?” Many Christians are trying to
do that. “I am saved by grace,” they might say, “but
now I must work my way through the Christian life.”
This is a serious mistake. You are saved by God’s
grace and by his grace you must serve. The Lord is
near—not to the successful but to those who are of a
broken heart. He saves—not the energetic but those
who have a contrite spirit.
“Delight yourself in the Lord,” says the psalmist,
“and he will give you the desires of your heart”
(Psalm 37:4 ). The reason we often fail to find the will
of God is that we delight in other things. Christians
engaged in evangelism are tempted to delight in the
adventure of it. Or we delight in the fellowship of the
gospel and the enthusiasm we share. I assure you that if
you delight in any work for God or in any organization
or movement, discouragement will sooner or later
catch up with you. Our God is a jealous God and
he will not share his glory with an organization or a
personality or movement, however spiritual.
Hungry Disciples 25
This is so clear in John 5:44, when Jesus says

to disbelieving Jews: “How can you believe, which
receive honor one of another and seek not the honor
that comes from God alone?” How can you believe
God for great things—for laborers, for finances, for
conversions, for victories in the lives of Christians—
when you seek honor from other humans?
While we seek honor for ourselves, or try to
advance the program or reputation of a movement or a
preacher, we are building on the fragile merit of men.
As the mark of a true disciple is his hunger for God,
his goal is God’s approval. When the work is done,
he wants to hear God say, “Well done, thou good and
faithful servant.” Day after day he lives for God and
his glory, seeking it as the deer that craves the water of
the brook.
Despite the weaknesses of Christ’s people, there
are many today who are hungry for God. This hunger
must be cultivated both by feeding and by developing
its capacity. God wants all of our being, not just our
labor for the Lord, or our problem-solving, or our
serving behind the scenes. We can get so caught up in
activities, even Christian ones, that we lose conscious
contact with God himself. He waits, close but silent,
ready to remind us: “My child, you are too busy to
receive any strength from me.”
His counsel remains: “Be still and know that

I am God” (Psalm 46:10). The only way to find the
necessary power and resources for each day is to quietly
wait on God. Plan for time to be alone with him; learn
to delight in him; cultivate a hunger for his infinite
being. Without this, your work will be superficial;
with it, your deepest desires will be filled and your
discipleship will glorify him.
Our situation today is described well in these
words by A. W. Tozer:
“In this hour of all-but-universal darkness, one
cheering gleam appears—within the fold of
conservative Christianity there are to be found
increasing numbers of persons whose religious
lives are marked by a growing hunger after God
himself. They are eager for spiritual realities and
will not be put oft with words, nor will they be
content with correct interpretations of the truth.
They are athirst for God and will not be satisfied
until they have drunk deep at the Fountain of
Living Water.”
Many things have blinded our eyes; a multitude of
theological distinctions and religious traditions have
made a dichotomy between the doctrines of God and
an intimate relationship with him. But there is hope
wherever Christians are hungering for God. They are
Hungry Disciples 27
joined in a crusade to know God. This is the only

cause that ultimately counts, the only link that will not
be bent and broken by the ignorance and selfishness
of men. Our real link is not with any organization,
but with the living God. As we humble ourselves at
the cross, we shall learn the reality of Jesus’ power
that conquered sin and death. We will receive the
promise: “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after
righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
3
THE PRAYER OF FREEDOM
“Litany” is a word that describes a formal prayer read by

church people the same way each time. A great deal of
litany was abandoned by the Protestant churches after the
Reformation and almost everything of Roman Catholic
origin was rejected by the new churches. This resulted in
some spiritual losses that we couldn’t really afford, because
some of the devout Roman Catholics can teach us vital
truths. The power of the gospel and the presence of the
Lord Jesus Christ infiltrate even somnolent churches
and some people come to know him and love him just
28
The Prayer of Freedom 29
as Martin Luther did within the Roman Church. If

we Protestants possessed some of the spiritual depth
evidenced by men such as Francis of Assisi, I believe we
would accomplish far more for the Lord.
I do not know the name of the Roman Catholic
who wrote the following litany, but it speaks of a life
that all disciples of Christ need to experience:
“O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, hear me.
Deliver me, Jesus,
from the desire of being loved,
from the desire of being extolled,
from the desire of being honored,
from the desire of being praised,
from the desire of being preferred to others,
from the desire of being consulted,
from the desire of being approved,
from the fear of being humiliated,
from the fear of being despised,
from the fear of suffering rebuke,
from the fear of being forgotten,
from the fear of being wronged,
from the fear of being suspected.
And, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire
that others might be loved more than I,
that others may be esteemed more than I,
that in the opinion of the world others may increase
and I may decrease,
that others may be chosen and I set aside,
that others may be praised and I unnoticed,

that others may be preferred to me in everything,
that others may become holier than I, provided
that I become as holy as I should.”
If we sincerely prayed like this every day, I am sure
the Holy Spirit would marvelously change our lives.
I believe the qualities spoken of in this prayer can
become ours today. This should be our goal, not the
accomplishment of any particular task for God.
There are many cheap substitutes and secondary
roads for genuine holiness. We can tramp down one
false route after another clutching the counterfeit of
New Testament discipleship instead of possessing the
real thing.
When I was a student, I was hungry to know
what Christian holiness was and I searched the
Scriptures to find out the heart of the New Testament
message. I came to the profound conviction that the
Holy Spirit wants to produce Christlike individuals—
not religious robots, not doctrinal champions, not
evangelistic whirlwinds, but men who are like Jesus
Christ. That is basically what this prayer is about.
These attributes are characteristics of Jesus. He
was the One who was not esteemed, who was unloved,
who was unextolled. He would not accept honor nor
any of the things that ambitious men crave. He was
the One who finally was completely despised and
consequently executed. This prayer was written by a

person who knew God intimately.
The work that God wants to do supremely in our
hearts is to produce Christlikeness. It is a work that will
take all our lives—there are no shortcuts to this kind of
spiritual growth. There is no organization, no activity
that can substitute for it. We need a constant hunger
and thirst for the nature of Christ to be reproduced
in us. We need, too, an awareness of the unending
spiritual warfare surrounding us.
Men at war have to be ready to die any day. They
may not know Christ, but they are ready to lose their
lives as they go out to fight, or they are poor soldiers.
We need something of the same spirit in spiritual
warfare. We who have Christ’s eternal life need to
throw away our own lives. This readiness can come as
we pray and live in the direction of this prayer.
It begins, “Deliver me, Jesus, from the desire of
being esteemed.” We all have an innate desire to be
esteemed. However undistinguished we are, we like
to be recognized. When we meet a new group of
Christians and someone says, “Good to have you with
us, brother! Would you like to share what God is doing
in your life?” we feel gratified. But if we are ignored
or slighted, we feel hurt. Whether we are extroverted
or introverted, we selfishly desire attention and so we
all need to pray: “Lord, deliver me from the desire of
being esteemed.” In Philippians Paul warns against

the product of inordinate self-esteem: “Let nothing be
done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of
mind let each esteem the other better than himself ”
(2:3 ). This requires the love-power of Jesus Christ.
The second petition of the prayer asks: “Deliver
me, Jesus, from the desire of being loved.” To be loved
is our basic psychological need. Children cannot
develop normally without love and adults cannot
function happily without the security of love. God
met these needs supremely by giving his Son in love
for us. “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because
he laid down his life for us” (1 John 3:16). The greatest
way God could demonstrate his love was to give his
beloved, perfect Son to redeem us from sin. And his
desire for us is that we should minister that same love
to one another, for the same Scripture continues: “We
ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
I believe that some Christians strive anxiously
for manifestations of God’s love because we do not
experience the love of fellow Christians which Christ
commanded to be given. When there is little love
flowing between us, we may feel impelled to seek
special favors and blessings from God as confirmation
that we are loved.
God’s plan, according to the Scriptures, is for
Christians to love one another, even as Christ loved
the Church and gave himself for it. The revolution of

love is caught and passed on horizontally as well as
vertically.
Most men who are on fire for God caught the spark
from another man on fire. Great men of God grew to
be like Christ because they had been with a man of
God as well as with God himself in communion. God
meets us in prayer and in his Word, but he also meets
us through the person and example of another brother.
I owe more than I can tell to the love and
encouragement of other Christians. One of them is
Billy Graham, though I do not know him personally.
I have read his life story and followed his progress and
once I shook his hand in a crowd and I felt his love
even there.
I had gone to his office in London on business
and many people were there ahead of me. The whole
office force was caught up in the pace of an evangelistic
crusade and nobody had spoken to my friend and me
except the receptionist. Then Graham came in and
immediately started shaking hands with everybody. He
came straight to us and greeted us and said something
very kind. Here is a famous man who is fifty times
busier than most people, but he had time to shake
hands with the nobodies in his outer office. This was
especially heartening to me, because I had found Christ
as my Savior through Graham’s preaching.
People will come to know Jesus if we go where

they are and love them in this way, but the revolution
of love cannot spread if we are intent on gaining
love from others. We all need love, but the Christian
disciple concentrates on giving love because he has
received abundant love from God. A severe test comes
when we feel unloved and rejected, as Jesus was. But at
that crisis we may prove how wonderful the Lord’s love
is by giving ourselves for others.
The next snare we must be delivered from is “the
desire of being extolled.” I define “extol” as flattering
or praising. How much we enjoy this! It is almost like
feasting at a banquet. Jesus, we are told in Philippians,
was just the opposite. He was “everything” in heaven
and he became as a criminal on earth. The Bible says:
“Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone.” In order to be fruitful, the disciple
must die to himself. Do not seek to be lifted up; be
submerged.
This may be practiced every time we are
overlooked or not given credit for our deeds. It is hard
on the ego—which is just what the ego needs. This
prayer helps to cut us off from the cancerous craving
to be somebody, to gain a status superior to others.
It checks the treacherous invasion of Satan among
Christian workers.
Very close to this is the next plea: “Deliver
me from the desire of being honored.” God said:

“How can you believe which receive honor one
of another and seek not the honor that cometh
from God only?” (John 5:44) Jesus’ testimony
was: “I receive not honor from men.” Often when
a Christian has accomplished something for God,
he is tempted to exploit it for heightened personal
honor. This temptation is from Satan. Some honors
and recognitions are very subtly harmful. They
come from well-intentioned people or Christian
organizations and the commendations become food
for self-exaltation. Sometimes we can receive more
honor from fellow Christians than from the world
system and the “sanctified” source makes the praise
all the more insidious.
There is even a danger of our seeking spiritual
experiences for self-aggrandizement. We are tempted
to testify of deliverance from sin, or answered prayer,
or some other experience of God’s grace in a way that
brings vast satisfaction to ourselves rather than honor
to God. His grace is to be prized, but it is not to be
flaunted as a sign of our merit.
I sometimes get letters from young people seeking
training, who write recommending themselves. They
tell me how great they are and how many qualifications
they have. Can you imagine getting a letter like that
from the Apostle John? There was of course a time
when, like the others, John sought credit and even

precedence for having followed Jesus, but that was
before the cross brought about a revolution in all
their lives. It is not wrong to be encouraged. What is
wrong is the seeking of praise and commendation from
others. Do we praise God as much when we are alone
as when we’re with others? Do we continue our work
alone with as much enthusiasm as we did when we were
being observed? I dislike working alone and believe in
working two by two. But sometimes we are alone and
then we are tested as to whether we are concerned for
our honor or for God’s.
The next prayer is very close in meaning: “Deliver
me from the desire of being praised.” This is related
to everyday associations and deeds. If we are hungry
for praise, we eagerly accept crumbs of approval from
anyone, whether they are sincere and honest or not.
Such praise turns rotten on the tongue of fickle and
unprincipled men.
We also pray: “Deliver me from the desire of
being preferred to others.” How do we feel when we
are qualified and someone else is chosen? Do we rejoice
when a fellow Christian receives honor? This blessing to
another may cut us deeply. A. W. Tozer said, “The cross
will cut into our lives where it hurts the worst, sparing
neither us nor our carefully cultivated reputations.”
Worldly men put great stock in their ranking, but John
the Baptist easily declared: “He that cometh after me is

preferred before me.”
“Deliver me, too, from the desire of being
consulted.” Our experience and knowledge are
hindrances when we expect others to defer to us
and acknowledge our wisdom. Being overlooked
is especially trying when our advice seems to be so
obviously right. But this is another form of self-serving,
as we can trust God to employ our advice if it is needed
for his glory.
Most of us need deliverance also from “the desire
of being approved”—of being assured by others that
we were right, after all. Disciples must continue to be
learners in God’s school of life. When people ask me
what degree I am studying for, I reply “The A.U.G.—
Approved Unto God.” It will not be awarded in this
life, but it is the only one that matters eternally.
A common burden we carry is “the fear of being
humiliated.” We want to “look good” to others, even
desiring to make favorable impressions “for God.” But
God does not have this problem—in his perfection and
power, he is never humbled. And his Son did not shrink
from the humiliations of men when he was on earth.
God often takes us the same way his Son went.
The humiliations dramatize the contrast between God’s
ways and man’s,and point the way to safety. Records
show that swimmers who have practiced life-saving are
vulnerable to drowning because they are overconfident

in the water. God would save us from overconfidence
in self and so he humbles us. He undermines and
weakens our naturally strong points for our good and
our growth in him. Let us not fear the humiliation that
can bring this valuable benefit.
Deliver us, too, Lord, from “the fear of being
despised.” Oh, how we need this fearlessness for
witnessing. So many people scorn the Christian who
witnesses for Christ. The distributor of tracts may be
despised, but we who know their value should give
them out as though they were bank notes. Some people
resent the “invasion of their privacy” concerning
spiritual matters, but the Christian witness is investing
in eternity. May God’s love fully cast out this fear.
The “fear of suffering rebuke” clutches at most
Christians, yet we need correction to avoid lagging
in our discipleship. Christians must learn to speak to
one another both in love and rebuke. Though we learn
primarily from the Spirit of God, he may use a brother
or sister to teach us. Earnest disciples can expect God to
speak through his Word, through prayer and through
the exhortations of a brother.
God has given me, I believe, increasing grace to
take rebukes, but it has taken years. I reacted like a
rattlesnake to the first rebukes I got as a Christian.
There’s a great difference between a rattlesnake and
a worm. The Bible compares Jesus to a worm in the

treatment he received (Psalm 22:6). If you strike a
worm, it wriggles or dies, but if you strike a rattlesnake,
you are struck in return. How significant it is that
Satan is described as a serpent!
Our twenty-five reasons why the other fellow
is wrong and we are right are always near the tip of
our tongue. But our readiness or reluctance to defend
ourselves is a measure of our spirituality. Let us implore
God to make us unafraid to receive rebukes.
Then there is the almost universal “fear of being
forgotten.” In India, where living conditions are
so poor, some people hoard money to make sure a
beautiful memorial over their grave will remind the
living of their name. Some Christian churches also are
filled with memorials that perpetuate the names and
prestige of the dead.
Most of us fear being forgotten by friends. If we
don’t struggle to prove our worthiness or helpfulness,
our past contributions may be forgotten—and us too.
But life is not lived in the past. Service, satisfaction
and sharing are experienced in the present. Forgetting
the things that are past—though we can never forget
the people—we press on for today’s goal. Let us fear
being remembered only for the past. God remembers
every good thing we do and that’s sufficient.
“Deliver me, Jesus, from the fear of being
ridiculed.” Wise is the person who can laugh at himself!

Sometimes there is such good cause! Sometimes the
ridicule is malicious and is intended to hurt. It may
be difficult to realize at such times that the ridicule is a
boomerang, injuring the source. The Bible says: “The
Lord looks on the heart,” and if my heart is right I may
be filled with peace. As we bare our hearts to him, he is
quick to reassure when man is quick to ridicule.
“The fear of being wronged” may keep us from
trusting people. This fear can be crippling, preventing
us from taking a step of faith immediately before us.
The closely related “fear of being suspected”
immobilizes some Christians. But we are always going
to be misunderstood by someone, no matter what we
do. Praying often in meetings will cause some to think
you are trying to display your spirituality. We cannot
afford to be bound by fear of what others may think.
“Rejoice,” said Jesus, “when men shall say all manner of
evil against you falsely for my sake.” We can come to that
place of liberty where, because we love the Lord Jesus
and act in faith, we are not anxious about what other
people think or suspect.
The second section of this prayer deals with
worthy desires. “Jesus, grant me the grace to desire
that others be loved more than I.” This reminds us
of the need people have for love which I can help to
supply. Wherever I go I meet people who need love
and attention—to be visited, listened to, written to,

prayed with. How can this enormous need be met?
Only by God’s grace working in me that others may be
esteemed more than I.
“Grant me the desire that in the opinion of the
world others may increase and I may decrease.” The
testimony of John the Baptist is unequivocal: “I must
decrease.” The following phrases of the prayer: “That
others may be chosen and I set aside; that others may
be preferred to me in everything; that others may
be praised and I unnoticed” are summed up in this
principle that Jesus Christ must increase, but I must
decrease. I must hide behind the cross, that my Lord
may be seen and worshiped. I must recognize myself as
nobody, so Jesus will be my All.
The final clause is revolutionary: “That others may
become holier than I, provided that I become as holy as
I should.” There is always a danger that Christians may
have such a hunger for spiritual reality that we tread
on other people in our search for it. The Christian life
is not a competition with others; we have a common
goal and we grow together in the strength and grace of
the body of believers. We must drink together at the
Fountain of Living Water.
Can we honestly pray this amazing prayer? I am
reminded of some words of A. W. Tozer that I have
written in the front of my Bible:
“The Church at this moment needs men who

feel themselves expendable in the warfare of the
soul. Such men will be free from the compulsions
that control weaker men, the lust of the eyes,
the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. They
will not be forced to do things by the squeeze
of circumstances. Their only compulsion will
come from within and from above. This kind
of freedom is necessary if we are going to have
prophets in our pulpits again instead of mascots.
These free men will serve God and men from
motives too high to be understood by the rank
and file who today shuffle in and out of the
sanctuary. They will make no decision out of fear,
they will take no course out of a desire to please,
accept no service for financial consideration.
They will perform no religious act out of mere
custom. Nor will they allow themselves to be
influenced by the love of publicity, or by the
desire for reputation.”
The link between this passage and the prayer is clearly
etched. It is as though these two spokesmen, the earlier
Catholic and the modem evangelical, learned in the
same school. And they have, for they both studied at
the feet of Jesus.
4
THE LAND OF REST
If the Promised Land was a country to conquer under

the leadership of Joshua, it was also a place of rest
and victory for the Israelites. A “Promised Land” also
awaits the Christian who is willing to move from the
wilderness wanderings of self-effort and frustration.
“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us
of entering into his rest, any of you should seem
to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel
preached, as well as unto them: but the word
preached did not profit them, not being mixed
43
with faith in them that heard it. For we which

have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I
have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into
my rest: although the works were finished from
the foundation of the world. For he spake in a
certain place of the seventh day in this wise and
God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
“And in this place again, If they shall enter
into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that
some must enter therein and they to whom it was
first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David,
Today, after so long a time; as it is said, Today
if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he
not afterward have spoken of another day. There
remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath
ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest
any man fall after the same example of unbelief ”
(Hebrews 4:1–11).
So many Christians are carrying burdens. Though we
try to drop them or run away from them, they cling
like mud on our feet and fear on our mind. These
burdens are carryovers from our pre-Christian days
and God intends Christians to be rid of them.
The account of Israel’s coming out of Egypt and
The Land of Rest 45
entering the Promised Land, Canaan, is a graphic

picture of the full redemption we have in Jesus Christ.
It vividly describes God’s intervention into human
affairs as well as the variety and complexity of problems
encountered by God’s people. Paul reminds us that
“these things were written for our example.”
Moses, the man who received from God the
Ten Commandments, inscribed on stone, did not
understand God’s ways in his earlier years. He did
forsake prestige and privilege in the Egyptian hierarchy
to identify himself with God’s people, but he recklessly
asserted himself on behalf of the Israelites instead of
acting by God’s direction. The result was a forty-year
exile in the Sinai wilderness. There, from a burning
bush, God called and commissioned Moses to return
to Egypt and deliver Israel.
Moses was afraid, so keenly was he aware of his
past failure. When God told him to go, he said, “They
won’t listen to me.” He pleaded, “I can’t speak . . . .”
Moses was like so many ambassadors of God who have
begun with: “I’ll never be a witness for Christ; I can
hardly speak. I’ll never be a missionary; I don’t like
spiders and snakes; I can’t sleep on the floor. I’ll never
do this because I am afraid of that.” Yet God did such
stupendous things through Moses.
Israel’s exit from slavery in Egypt is a picture of
the Christian’s deliverance from sin’s bondage. God’s
judgment fell on the unrepentant Egyptians but not

upon the people who were marked by the blood of the
Passover lamb. After the angel of death struck Egyptian
homes, Pharaoh capitulated and ordered: “Let them
go,” and the nation of slaves started for the Promised
Land.
They had not gone far before Pharaoh changed
his mind and started after them. If Moses thought
his troubles were over after getting out of Egypt, his
education was just beginning.
Leading one of the largest mobilization operations
in history, Moses was doing quite well shepherding a
million people and innumerable animals toward the
open spaces and safety. Then billowing dust from the
fast-moving war chariots of Egypt signalled the pursuit
of a vengeful army and fear swept through the refugees.
“Moses,” they cried, “you’ve brought us out here to be
killed. Why didn’t you let us stay back there? Things in
Egypt weren’t that bad!”
Hedged in by grumbling people, advancing
Egyptian soldiers bent on slaughtering or recapturing
them and rolling waves that blocked their flight, Moses
appeared in a desperate strait. But the appearance was
deceiving.
Moses cried to God for help and then obeyed
God’s command to wait for deliverance. Another
miracle took place as the waters of the Red Sea parted
The Land of Rest 47
and the wind made a dry path for the Israelites to walk
over. They hurried across, hardly able to believe their
eyes and the chariots of Pharaoh raced to overtake
them. All at once the waters swept back and chariots,
Egyptians and Pharaoh were gone!
Satan is not finished when Christ first delivers
us from his clutches. The night I was converted, I
stepped out of Madison Square Garden in New York
where I had accepted Christ and bumped into solid
opposition. It was in the form of a belligerent youth
anxious to demonstrate his masculinity. I objected to a
crude remark made about girls and this street pugilist
deposited me on the concrete with one blow. That was
my introduction to the Christian life—I learned early
that it’s a warfare!
The problems Moses faced in the wilderness
were problems every Christian leader has. The people
complained about the arrangements, questioned Moses’
motives and wistfully recalled the few pleasures they’d
left behind. Somewhat like the twentieth-century
church, they whined, “Of course, we want to be free,
but can’t we take a little of Egypt with us? We don’t want
to live back there, but some Egyptian styles can’t hurt!”
But God had promised them a place of rest, a land
overflowing with milk and honey. He never intends
his people to subsist indefinitely on manna rations.
The wilderness crossing to Canaan was short and they
could have entered directly. But the advance scouts

saw only hazards and enemies in the Promised Land.
“There are giants over there,” they stammered. “We are
like insects in their eyes. We can never possess such a
land.” And they were immobilized by distrust of God.
Today we hear and see the same disbelief. “It
cannot be done!” “There are giants in the land—
Buddhism, Islam, Communism.” “We must forget the
countries closed to the gospel.” Like Israel, the church
often does not see that the place of challenge is also the
place of rest.
There were two “fools for Christ” in Israel: Caleb
and Joshua. They were prepared to believe God and act
and they later entered the Promised Land. The great
majority were doomed to wander, struggle and die in
the wilderness. How many men of faith and vision in
our generation have pointed to the place of spiritual
rest and gone unheeded? Still the Promised Land waits.
We cannot live a life of victory in the “wilderness”
of unbelief and disobedience. If we go to serve the Lord
in Asia or Europe or America—or wherever—and we
go in doubt, burdened with problems and wrestling
opposition in our own strength, we shall experience
steady failure and discouragement.
Hebrews 4:10 declares that “He that is entered
into his rest, he has ceased from his own works as
God did from his.” Any work for God that depends
The Land of Rest 49
on our own efforts, our own zeal, our own ability and
resources, will fail. The place of victory and rest is
the place of God’s works, not ours. We are active and
completely involved, but the victory does not depend
on us and the cause for anxiety is gone.
We can enter into God’s rest now because Christ
has entered it for us. When we contemplate what
Christ did for us on the cross, we realize that God has
genuinely identified us with Christ. Through our faith
in the One who died for us, we have been “crucified
with Christ”—identified with him in his death. If you
are a Christian, you have been crucified with Christ!
It is not something that can occur in the future if we
trust enough, or pray effectively, or memorize another
seventy-eight Scripture verses. No, we are to see
ourselves dying to sin with Christ on his cross and as
the truth dawns we can find ourselves entering into
his spiritual rest just as the people of Israel found the
Jordan parted and their inheritance open to them as
they crossed over. This entrance takes place when we
recognize that Christ is our All—our strength, our
guidance, our hope, our victory—and although the
battle is not over, the anxiety and fear are.
Some people know the exact day on which they
were born again. For me it happened on March 5, 1955.
Others have just as real an experience, but cannot tell
the date of it. They do know it happened. It is the same
when we enter this experience of victory—we may not

be able to explain it or tell when it happened, but we
know that we are in a new relationship to God.
No man can offer truly effective service to the
Lord unless he has entered this life of restful trust in
God, this victory of the risen Christ. Because then,
just as we are truly identified with Christ in his
vanquishing of sin and death, so we are identified
with him in his risen life. We cease our struggle in self-
centered accomplishments and live by the power of
Jesus’ resurrection. That is real victory.
This is the only way to success in Christian
living. It is the way of faith, the same kind of faith
that brought us salvation. “The just shall live by faith”
(Romans 1:17). “As you have therefore received Christ
Jesus the Lord, so walk in him” (Colossians 2:6). Then
we shall say with Paul, “I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20). When we have entered
God’s place of rest, we cease from our selfish strivings
and the worries that accompany them.
There are times when I have a hundred letters
on my desk, many of them about problems. Where
should evangelism teams go? Where is the money to
support them? How shall we find the vehicles to move
teams and literature to their destination? I have learned
from 1 Peter 5:7 what to do with them: “Casting all
your care upon him, for he careth for you.” Sometimes
The Land of Rest 51
I can say, “Lord, those letters, those telegrams, are all

yours. I’m going to bed.”
Sleep is a wonderful blessing and we must not let
worry rob us of it. I do not believe in worry because I
believe in God’s place of rest. I believe that Jesus Christ
was crucified for all the worries of the world and if
the Lord Jesus did that, then why should I be anxious
about them? This applies to every area of life, every
frustration, every inferiority feeling, everything that
bothers me. All these things cannot defeat me unless I
leave the place of rest—my security in Christ.
As Christians we know that we walk daily in a
wilderness world, but the attractions of the wilderness
need not walk in us. Whenever they intrude through our
eyes or ears or mind, the citizen in the Promised Land
must pray: “Lord, I used to enjoy that diversion in slavery,
but I have died to that in Christ; hold me in your rest and
resurrection life.” It is ours for the asking and the trusting.
The Promised Land of rest on this earth is not for
sleeping; it is for fighting—but it is the place where
you hear God say: “I shall fight for you.” Opposition,
danger, temptations and hardships surround you, but
your spirit rests in the fortress of God’s love and power.
Will you choose this sanctuary instead of trying to
straddle the Jordan and keep one foot in the world?
It’s the most important thing you can do in response
to this book.
5
FRONT LINE PERILS
Have you decided to walk the road of discipleship? Are

you determined to follow Christ wherever he leads?
Then be prepared for obstructions, washouts and
falling rocks! For it is absolutely certain that you have
a rough road ahead of you.
One of the ways God helps the disciple is to give
a glimpse in Scripture of the perils encountered on the
way to a victorious Christian life.
“Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should
be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under
52
Front Line Perils 53
the cloud and all passed through the sea; and

were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in
the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat;
and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for
they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed
them: and that Rock was Christ.
“But with many of them God was not
well pleased: for they were overthrown in the
wilderness. Now these things were our examples,
to the intent we should not lust after evil things,
as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as
were some of them; as it is written, The people
sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
Neither let us commit fornication, as some of
them committed and fell in one day three and
twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as
some of them also tempted and were destroyed
of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of
them also murmured and were destroyed of the
destroyer.
“Now all these things happened unto them
for ensamples: and they are written for our
admonition, upon whom the ends of the world
are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he
standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no
temptation taken you but such as is common
to man: but God is faithful, who will not
suffer you to be tempted above that ye are
able; but will with the temptation also make a

way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it”
(1 Corinthians 10:1– 13).
Notice particularly that Paul says these experiences are
examples “for our admonition.” He is warning about
the many hazards that beset Christians. Although these
Israelites shared in God’s revelation of power to Moses
in the pillar cloud and the retreating sea and though
they received the same spiritual sustenance, they
failed to pass the stem tests that Moses overcame. In a
similar way, the Christian leaves Egypt—the world—
and crosses the Red Sea—which speaks, I believe, of
salvation. He begins to sing of his liberation, just as the
Israelites did when they saw the Red Sea rolled back
and the enemy wiped out behind them. But he fails to
realize that mighty enemies are still ahead.
Ancient Simeon Stylites lived on top of a flag
pole for thirty years, yet he did not escape trials. You
may isolate yourself anywhere and still face conflicts.
Why? Because the enemy roves within you. The people
of Israel fled from the giants of Canaan, but suffered
defeat after defeat in the deserted wilderness. Only
Joshua and Caleb survived of the pioneer travelers,
because they trusted in God.
These two men illustrate the reality of heart
commitment to God. They could easily have differed
with each other, but their hearts were right with God.
Caleb, for example, said, “Let us go up at once and
occupy it; for we are well able to overcome it.” Some
observers might have accused him of self-confidence,
but God knew his faithful intention. Joshua focused
his words on God: “If the Lord delights in us, he will
bring us into this land and give it to us.”
What thrills me is that both men walked with
God, both entered the Promised Land and both were
richly blessed. They did not judge the others’ motives
by a variation in terminology. And neither should
we. A young Christian with wrong vocabulary and
ill-expressed doctrine may actually be trusting in the
work of Christ more than Mr. Deeper-Life who has it
all turned out to the last syllable. Caleb’s and Joshua’s
key to entry into Canaan was the same: their sincere,
persevering response to God’s promise.
I believe the land of Canaan speaks of the
Christian’s victorious life. The salvation of God has
taken us across “Jordan,” but most Christians languish
on the border of the Promised Land. We stubbornly
disbelieve the mountain ascent will bring us to our
inheritance and we hide among the rocks in the valley.
We must go on, though we are not entering a
picnic ground or holiday camp when we cross Jordan.
Battles, struggles, trials and defeats are ahead in the
Promised Land, but so are victory and joy and power.

After truly entering this land, you will know more of
God’s fullness and power, thrilling answers to prayer
and intimacy of true discipleship. Yet you will be
amazed that the battle can be so fierce. At times there
may be no more than bare necessities supplied. Here
we realize we are in a fight to the finish with sin, self
and Satan.
The realization that we are involved in a constant
spiritual warfare can be a great source of strength and
comfort. When some difficult situation arises or fiery
darts from Satan pierce us, we realize that this is part of
God’s wonderful plan for us. My wife and I can testify
that it is doing wonders for us in our married life.
Friends often give advice: “You should do this . . .”;
“All parents do that . . .”; but we are able to go on our
knees and say, “That’s right, Lord, in times of peace,
but this is war!”
We are helped when we reflect on this century’s
two world wars. Think of the demands made upon
young men; think of the anxieties suffered by wives
and children. And we have been given the privilege of
fighting in the battlefield alongside the Lord of glory,
the Captain of our salvation. What sacrifice can be too
great for him? Compared with what Christ did on the
cross for us, our service for God is nothing.
Someone has said, “The devil doesn’t waste his

fiery darts on nominal Christians.” The history of
war confirms that armies make opposing leaders their
targets. Satan uses the same tactics. He does not waste
time on those who are not counting for God; he aims
for the active disciple.
When the devil sees someone steadfastly following
Christ, he goes into a strategy meeting with the demons
of hell and together they plan a full-scale attack. If
we understand something of the enemy’s movements
and are armed against them, we shall not be caught
unawares.
Two tactics we are told to use against the devil
are to resist and to run. I have always been a better
“runner” than “resister,” but I want to learn more about
resisting in God’s strength. The Word of God tells us to
“flee” Satan’s temptations (2 Timothy 2:22). It says to
resist him, not in our own power, but in the power of
the cross of Christ (James 4:7). The atoning blood of
Jesus Christ removes the guilt of our sin and the cross
severs Satan’s control over us. The crucified life of a
disciple is maintained only as other camouflaged perils
are recognized and avoided.
The first is pride. The Word of God says, “Pride
goeth before destruction” (Proverbs 16:18). We need
to ask God to search our hearts and root out this subtle
peril that has time and again ruined Christian men. I

have seen young men, dedicated, zealous, filled with
the Spirit and seemingly being used by God, become
totally ineffective because of pride. They have seen
answers to prayer and are sure they are getting through
to God. Or they have been greatly used by God in the
salvation of souls. Or they have been told that they
are exceptionally gifted in some way. Then spiritual
conceit invades and takes over.
One mark of spiritual and emotional stability is
to remain unaffected by commendation. Such a person
can take the praise and honor of men realistically. He
knows where the true honor is due.
The unstable person receives praise and clutches
it protectively. If he is told he is weak in a particular
area, he will nurse the memory of someone telling him
this was his strong point! A balanced Christian knows
how to accept the praise of men with diffidence and
to welcome their criticism with concern. When you
begin to accomplish something for God, watch for
pride to follow and repent of it before the cross.
There is a kind of pride that elevates us while
debasing others. We must be careful of criticizing
Christians for not having attained something spiritual
which we believe we have gained. But we have not
gained it if we indeed do possess it; we have received
it from God.
It helps me sometimes to think what I will be

like forty years from now: will I preach with as much
zeal, as much urgency, as much exercise of spirit as
now? I can’t know and I must be careful what I say
about others.
Someone has pointed out to me that the defects
which we sometimes see and judge in others may
be battle-scars suffered in faithful service to Christ.
Perhaps the Christian has seen more and harder battles
than we. He may have won many battles, but not
without scars and wounds in the process.
We might consider older men of God old-
fashioned and short on zeal. Younger Christians must
show mercy to the older generation and I ask them
in return to have mercy in their dealings with us.
God wants both the older and younger generations to
realize neither would be anything without Christ and
his grace.
The kindred peril to pride is a critical spirit. It seems
easy to see distinctly everything that is wrong with other
people. But psychologists tell us that the things we most
readily criticize in others are sometimes things which are
wrong in our own lives. This is called projection and
some Christians unwittingly specialize in it.
When I tested myself on this, the results scared
me. If, day in and day out, I was seeing something
wrong in other people, was it really a reflection of

some weakness in my own personality or habits? I saw
others’ inconsistencies so readily. One man tended to
be superficial; another seemed to say things that he
did not mean; a third was weak on economizing time.
But could it be true that these weaknesses supposedly
contrasted with my strengths, but the comparison was
neither fair nor kind.
Paul instructed Christians in Philippians 4 to
think positively:
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are
just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are
lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there
be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on
these things.”
I believe this represents part of the revolution
in men’s lives that Christ came to bring. It is a
revolution that replaces complaint with wholesome
and affirmative thinking, a revolution that passes over
people’s mistakes and follies to bring God’s light and
love on the scene.
One time I was running to catch a train in
Stockholm and hot criticism welled up within me
against the brother who had mixed up the schedule
and got me to the station ten minutes after the train
was due to leave. “Why cannot people who have lived

in Stockholm all their lives read their timetables?” I
thought to myself. I wanted to get to Gothenberg the
next morning in order to investigate a ship that might
serve our goal of world evangelism.
I left the station, battling with myself, until the
Lord brought Romans 8:28 to my mind. Some might
say that this verse is a “crutch” for the crippled, but I
was feeling crippled as I sought victory over the feelings
in my heart. I leaned on the promise: “All things work
together for good to them that love God, to those who
are the called according to his purpose.” And in faith
I was able to praise God that I did not catch the train.
That night the train I had missed, crashed. I offer
no explanation for the crash, but I learned to be more
careful about concluding that disappointing events are
mistakes. We make mistakes, but our God does not.
And with infinite patience and foresight, he specializes
in over- ruling ours.
The Bible tells us God has entrusted the treasures
of the Holy Spirit to the clay pots of our bodies as
containers. In our work for the Lord we often mess
up his purpose. There are times when I could weep
for marring the wonder of his truth with my corroded
personality, my beat-up pot. But God’s sovereign
power overrules and makes the crudest, weakest,
lowliest, most out- of-place testimony for him count

for eternity.
If we have a greater vision of our sovereign God,
our negativeness and criticism would diminish or
vanish. When we fully realize that our human leaders
are learners like the rest of us, we can concentrate on
God and be delivered from a critical spirit.
Another peril to the victorious Christian is
becoming accustomed to spiritual things. As we see
the power of God at work, answering prayer and
accomplishing the impossible in people’s lives, we may
find ourselves being callous about the miraculous.
A team working in Operation Mobilization met
for prayer in Zaventem, Belgium and quite a few
stayed to pray until 3 A.M. The financial needs of the
work were acute and God stirred us to a great exercise
of faith. When we went to bed, we had a thrilling
consciousness that God was going to work. The next
morning I had to phone our central office in England
for some other business. On the phone someone asked
me if I had heard about the large gift which had come
from another country. The telegram announcing the
gift had come into our office that very day. The amount
was some $6,000. The money did not come from
someone who was stirred up in the prayer meeting,
but from someone thousands of miles away, who had
sent it sometime earlier. We have seen things like this

happen for over a decade and we simply praise God
for his answers to prayer. But there is a grave danger of
becoming familiar with the miraculous, casual about
God moving in wonderful ways.
The Bible says that there is rejoicing in the presence
of the angels over one soul that repents, but sometimes
we do not rejoice unless it is a dozen. I remember at
Bible college when I went out and was able to help
someone find Christ. I really got excited and would
barge into a fellow student’s room bubbling with
joy. “Come on, drop your work. Let’s have a prayer
meeting, brother. Let’s give up some time to praise the
Lord.” A week later, another brother would come to
see me. He was not as loudmouthed as I: “Praise the
Lord, George; a fellow down the street accepted Christ
tonight.” What was my reaction? “Oh, praise God;
that’s good. Amen.” And back I went to my studies.
May God forgive us for letting ourselves become over-
familiar with holy things, or rejoice over our victory
and not over that of the other fellow.
Such familiarity can be heartbreaking in gatherings
of God’s people. Sometimes we meet around the Lord’s
Table to remember his death and there is less praise
among us than if we shared a meal of ham and eggs
after a long night. The Israelites in the wilderness took
God’s miracles for granted: they became accustomed to

manna and craved meat. God gave them the meat they
desired and leanness filled their souls. It can happen
to us, too.
Another peril of the Christian life is asceticism. If
we seek hardship because it builds our reputation, we
are not suffering for Christ’s sake. An example of this
was a young man on a witnessing tour who was invited
to stay overnight at a Christian home where the hostess
went to a lot of trouble to prepare a comfortable bed.
The young man stiffened proudly and announced
that he no longer slept in beds. He had forgotten—or
had never learned—that Paul knew how both to be
abased and to abound. This balance is difficult, but it is
possible as we make love our way and Christ our goal.
Asceticism is not nearly such a problem as its
opposite—laziness and the love of ease. This is one of
the most deadly perils for a Christian in the position
of independent responsibility. Discipline is good for us
and laziness is a great sin. One reason the Church lacks
foot soldiers is that it lacks people who want to work
hard. Nehemiah’s men finished their task because they
had a “mind to work.” When the pressures of duties
relax, laziness becomes a tremendous danger to many
Christians.
Then there is the serious peril of disqualification.
When God begins to use you significantly, the devil

closes in to discover some flaw that he can exploit and
scandalize. Evangelist Alan Redpath has pointed out
that King David’s sin with Bathsheba was preceded
by his sinful withdrawal from battle. While his troops
were fighting the enemy, he was at leisure and his
relaxation physically and spiritually opened him to the
whirlwind of temptation that swept him into sinful
lust and God’s judgment.
This illustrates the peril of being away from the
place God has called us to, of breaking communion
with the Lord Jesus Christ, of self-indulgence and
of arrogant criticism. These give Satan his chance to
invade our spirit and inflame sin that will dishonor
God and ruin our testimony. Though the sin can be
forgiven, the consequences may hinder the gospel
for years.
Perils still beset the Christian living in the
Promised Land and we must be aware of them. We
must remember the warning in 1 Corinthians 10:12:
“Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest
he fall.” God’s provision for us amid the dangers is
constant: “There hath no temptation taken you but
such as is common to man; but God is faithful . . .
he will make a way of escape” (10:13). Choose it and
God’s grace will bring victory.
6
LOVE THAT CONQUERS
In John 13:34, 35 we read these words of Jesus: “A

new commandment I give unto you, That you love
one another; as I have loved you, that you also love
one another. By this shall all men know that you are
my disciples, if you have love one to another.” This is
the touchstone of Christianity and the dynamic of the
revolution that was begun by Jesus Christ himself.
Some Christians seem to have misread this verse.
They apparently see: “By this shall all men know that
you are my disciples, that you have no possessions”; Or
66
Love That Conquers 67
“. . . that you read and carry your Bibles.” Or perhaps

“. . . that you have sound doctrine.” Or maybe that
“. . . you traverse land and sea to win converts to
Christ.”
But Jesus said none of those things. He said that
there is one major thing that will convince the world
we are his disciples and that is the love we have for one
another. We are not the disciples of a theory or doctrine
or institution, but disciples of the loving Jesus! His love
led Jesus to give his life for us and that kind of love is
commanded between Jesus’ followers.
People sometimes ask me, “How do you
conceive of the love of God?” My answer is found in
1 John 3:16—“In this we perceive the love of God, in
that he laid down his life for us.” As a consequence,
says John, “So we ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren.” This is the supreme love, Jesus told us, for
“greater love has no man than this, that a man lay
down his life for his friends” (John 15:13 ).
Love is the essence of discipleship: it is the wall
that surrounds a disciple, the roof that protects him
and the ground which supports him. The Bible says
emphatically that though I speak with tongues of men
and of angels, have all wisdom, make tremendous
sacrifices, give my body to be burned and relinquish
all I own, I am worth nothing if I have not done them
in love.
Most of us have to admit that we know very little

about actually loving people. We know that we have
often loved because of the benefits that come to us.
Divine love is impartial; it loves the repulsive and the
attractive, the beggar and the merchant prince.
Is this love really possible? And does it work?
When I give myself for the sake of another, when I “fall
into the ground and die” in order to bear fruit, when I
deny myself and take up the cross and follow Jesus—
does it make a revolutionary difference? Or would it
turn me into a blind fanatic rushing from one good
deed to another and getting trampled by the strong?
This love is possible and it is very practical. It
does not come naturally, nor does it come instantly in
a rededication service or some particular experience.
Real love comes from God, who is love and it is
developed in the hard school of life over many years.
There may be a crisis of appropriating God’s love, but
a process of expressing love follows or it all becomes
an abscess.
The Bible speaks clearly on how to acquire and
develop God’s love. The first thing it tells me is that
love is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). As every
Christian has the Spirit, every Christian may have this
love. Ephesians 5:18 gives one of the few commands
about the Holy Spirit in the New Testament: “Be
not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled
with the Spirit.” The filling produces an overflow that

touches other people.
What are evidences of the filling of the Spirit?
“. . . Speaking to [among] yourselves in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs.” This is joy and
encouragement shared with other Christians. And it
also communicates with God: “. . . singing and making
melody in your hearts to the Lord; giving thanks
always for all things.” These signs accompany the love
given by the Holy Spirit.
The Scriptures also teaches that prayer will develop
this love. Paul is our example: “I bow my knees unto
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . that he would
grant you . . . to be strengthened by his Spirit . . . and
to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge”
(Ephesians 3:14,16,19).
As the Lord blesses the person prayed for, he
will also work in your heart. We are sometimes partly
responsible for others’ weaknesses and weaknesses in
a brothers’ life may reflect weaknesses in our own.
If I have been spiritually discerning of something
wrong, through prayer I can help to change it. Let
us pray earnestly for the people we do not like or do
not understand and God will make changes in the
situation. We have many examples of this in Scriptures
and we are exhorted to pray for all men, even our
enemies, said the Lord Jesus.
Another helpful step is to pray with the person

concerned. If you are having trouble with someone in
your church or group, try to pray with him about various
needs and joys. This effort to share and understand will
be rewarded by fellowship and a growing love.
The love of God believes the best about people
and discounts adverse reports and rumors. Love
sympathizes and assists. Perhaps there are intense
problems handicapping the person. Poor health may
be dragging him down. Background environment
or heredity may still control the individual. Prayer
together can open the channel of love and wisdom
from God to both.
Belief in the sovereignty of God enables us to rest
in the confidence that he is in charge of all that is going
on in the earth. Sometimes the devil seems menacingly
near, but he is weak in comparison with the God who
is in charge of our lives. Though Satan makes headway,
he cannot overcome the Christian who is trusting
God. He can say, “The Lord is in this,” and look for
the Lord’s way out. Philippians 1:6 assures us that God
has begun his work in us and he will complete it.
Another step that develops love is personal
interest in the welfare of others. This is shown by both
words and deeds. Sincere attention builds a bond that
involves us in others’ lives. If someone’s personality
rubs against yours, ask questions about your common
concerns and look for things to compliment. You’ll

find love sprouting from the interest and you may
receive love in return.
Some of us find it easy to make fun of people:
the shape of their ears, the style of clothes, or the odd
mannerisms. Jokes about others are good fun unless
they wound the victim. Amy Carmichael said:
“If I enjoy a joke at the expense of another, if I
can in any way slight another in conversation or
even in thought, then I know nothing of Calvary
love. If I belittle those whom I am called to serve,
talk of their weak points in contrast to what I
think are my strong points; if I adopt a superior
attitude, forgetting ‘Who made thee to differ?
What hast thou that thou didst not receive?’ then
I know nothing of Calvary love.”
Another stimulus to love is to give something to
another. There is a story of a husband and wife
whose marriage was on the rocks. The husband never
remembered anniversaries or birthdays and he was
always complaining. She became more and more
discouraged. One day he inexplicably decided to bring
her some flowers. It was so unusual that when he
came to the door and held out the flowers she wept
hysterically. “What a miserable day!” she moaned.
“I’ve been having trouble with the children all day,
the clothes washer broke, I burned the supper and

now you’ve come home drunk!” Don’t wait so long to
rebuild a relationship that your gift can’t be believed!
Give something of practical help or a memento that
shows you care.
How blind we sometimes are to the plain words
of Scripture! Jesus commanded the help of his people
to one another by saying: “Inasmuch as ye have done it
unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done
it unto me” (Matthew 25:40). This is a revolutionary
passage of Scripture and if we let it penetrate our minds
daily, it would change our lives. Our attitude toward
the weak and the needy, God says, reveals our attitude
to his Son. This should lead us to repentance. “He who
loves not his brother whom he has seen, how can he
love God whom he has not seen?” (1 John 4:20)
And have we forgotten what is called the Golden
Rule? “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that
men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them:
for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12).
This verse offers us a simple check on our speaking or
acting: Would I enjoy this if it were directed at me?
This would eliminate cruel gossip and destructive
criticism and would spare us from future judgment.
The Bible tells us we are to correct someone in
the spirit of love when it is necessary. “Brethren, if a
man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual”—
which excludes quite a few Christians—“restore

such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering
thyself, lest thou also be tempted” (Galatians 6:1 ).
Amy Carmichael wrote: “If we can go to someone to
correct them without a pang in our hearts, then we
know nothing of Calvary love.” The love depicted in
1 Corinthians 13 allows no rejoicing hearts over the
failure of another person. Love never speaks with the
attitude: “I told you so; you should have listened to
me!” It sorrows with those who mourn and lifts up
those who fall.
In his love, God can transform sorrows and failure
so we can help and comfort others. God, says Paul,
“comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be
able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the
comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God”
(2 Corinthians 1:4 ). How can a woman who has had
four children, with no complications at birth and no
problems as they have grown up, help a woman who
has had three still births and now has a handicapped
child? She has not been prepared for this opportunity.
But a woman who has lost a child herself or has suffered
deeply in some other way can communicate the love of
God that she has experienced. She may speak directly,
but with compassion, to the sufferer.
To rebuke and exhort another Christian is one
of the hardest things to do properly. It is easier to
overlook the fault, but love must correct at times.

Amy Carmichael comments: “If I’m afraid to speak
the truth lest I lose affection or lest the one concerned
should say, ‘You do not understand,’ or because I fear
to lose my reputation for kindness; if I put my own
name before the others’ highest good, then I know
nothing of Calvary love.”
Love acts. When I see a little child running toward
a busy street, I do not just stand there and suggest:
“Wouldn’t it be better to stay on the pavement?” I
move into action. I grab the child back from the street
in order that its life may be saved. The Bible says that
we are to snatch men from the fire of hell. To think
such action too drastic is a misconception of love.
The love of Jesus was not of the Hollywood variety.
His love led him to serve. I believe it was also love that
sent Jesus into the Temple to clean up the mercenary
mess there and to chase out the greedy merchants with
violence. It was love for righteousness; it was love for
those who were being cheated. His love led to action
all through his life.
Love grows—when it is exercised. Supplying all-
conquering love is God’s part; expressing love is our
part. As we walk with God, he will make us confident
“of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good
work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ” (Philippians 1:6). And God will work in the
lives of others by love, for his perfect love never fails.
7
WHEN I AM WEAK . . .
Many young people begin Christian service believing

that they are dedicated and keen Christians. They have
been encouraged to think so by their complimentary
friends or church officers. And perhaps they did rise
above the average Christian in their surroundings. But
service on the firing line makes them more and more
conscious of Jesus’ words: “Without me you can do
nothing” (John 15:5).
All Christian workers come eventually—if they are
honest—to the place where they can no longer casually
affirm their dedication to the Lord. They realize only
75
too well that they are not Hudson Taylor or George

Mueller or C. T. Studd. The result may be extreme
depression: since great exploits constantly elude them,
they may conclude that there is no hope for them.
There is an antidote for this. Robert Murray
M’Cheyne once said that for every look he took at
himself, he took ten looks at the Lord Jesus. He had
abandoned hope in himself, but his hope in Christ
was boundless! For M’Cheyne and for us, total failure
may be necessary to bring us to the realization our
only hope is in Jesus! And it is not Jesus plus money,
or Jesus plus an efficient organization, or the proper
equipment, but only Jesus!
Thanks to the Apostle Paul, we have an example
who has proved this way to victory. “And he said to me,
My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made
perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather
glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
When you are in a tight situation, when the
demons of discord, criticism, misunderstanding and
confusion maul you in a pressure cooker, remember
those words: “My grace is sufficient for thee.” Without
this knowledge and confidence, you cannot survive the
warfare that awaits the disciple of Christ.
Can the cost of Christian warfare be less than
When I Am Weak . . . 77
that of nations in conflict? If it is, it is not warfare.

Alexander Duff, the Scottish saint of God, knew the
cost. Weeping as he faced a crowd, he asked if Scotland
had any more sons to give. “When Queen Victoria
calls for volunteers for India, hundreds respond,” he
reminded them. “But when King Jesus calls, no one
goes.” The silence was deafening. “If there is no one
who will go,” he continued, “then I will return. I will
return and lay my bones by the Ganges, that India may
know that Scotland has at least one who cares.”
Whether we remain at home or go abroad, Christ’s
claim upon our lives is a call to battle. The enemy is
powerful; he is dragging and tricking souls into hell;
he is devastating the hopes and plans of men on earth.
Yet Jesus can defeat him through any Christian who
puts on the spiritual armor (Ephesians 6:11–18). Our
hope, then, is in the all-sufficient Lord Jesus, not in
ourselves. Whatever the circumstances: “My grace is
sufficient for thee,” promised God.
Someone has said that “grace is God’s riches at
Christ’s expense.” This definition underlines the
great gift imparted to us by Christ. It is the riches
of the infinite God, inherited through the death and
resurrection of his Son. It is all too easy to become
indifferent to what Jesus did on the cross. It is all too
possible to gather thoughtlessly around the Lord’s
Table. When this happens, we void the riches of the

grace of God!
There is another way of voiding God’s grace: we
do this by underrating it. If we get to the point of
desperation and say, “O God, what’s the use? I can’t
go any further—and you can’t help me, either,” we
deny the grace of God. And just at that moment, we
could discover his grace, his sufficiency, his life and his
power are available to take us through. This is tragic
and sinful.
The demands and standards of Christ are
admittedly extreme—in fact, impossible. But Jesus
does not ask us to live the Christian life; he asks us to
let him live it in us. There was no grace for the self-
righteous man who prayed, “Thank you, Lord, that I’m
not like the rest.” But there was grace for the man who
wept, “I’m a sinner; Lord, have mercy on me!” The
complete sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ makes up
for our deficiency. We cannot earn his grace; we can get
it only by coming empty to the cross.
Paul speaks an amazing truth in Colossians 2:9–10:
“For in him (Christ) dwelleth all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily. And you are complete in him.”
Complete! Do we realize this when we strive to build
a reputation? Do we realize it when someone deprives
us of recognition? Do we realize it when we feel
When I Am Weak . . . 79
uncomfortable in a group? Perhaps we feel worse when

we suffer persecution or ill health for serving God. Or
we may languish in jail for righteousness’ sake. Our
plans fail; our witness is rejected. How do we feel then?
You are complete in Christ! Our completeness is
not in Christ plus friends, Christ plus service, Christ
plus position, Christ plus converts. We are complete
only in Jesus! In him is all the fullness, so Jesus is all
that we need. Everything else may fail us; Jesus will
never leave nor forsake us.
Whatever arises that might discourage us, we can
echo with the conviction of Paul: Jesus is sufficient for
that, too. The question is not in his sufficiency, but
only in our trusting him. We cannot go on, we just
will not make it! We may want to quit: the Lord is
asking too much of us! Each time, he is sufficient. He
says to us, “You are complete in me.” We have been
made acceptable to God in Christ the Beloved One.
We all seek acceptance; all of us want to be
needed, liked, cared for. If we expect we are going to
meet the ideal husband or wife to meet those needs, we
are going to be disappointed. Not even a husband or
wife can fulfill our heart’s deepest longings, because we
were made for God. Only he can reach down and fill
that deep void; only he can satisfy.
In Jesus Christ, we have been accepted by God
now. We have been accepted, not by some social group,

but by the infinite God. We have been accepted, not
in our spotted virtue, but in the perfect Lord Jesus
Christ. With this confidence motivating us, nothing
in the heights or depths, in life or death, nor in the
whole universe can stop us, for nothing can withstand
him. His grace, abundant and overflowing, is ours—if
we will receive it.
8
STEPS TO REVOLUTION!
Having read these pages, you might be asking yourself:

“What do I do next?” To read about the all-sufficiency
of Jesus Christ is one thing; to obtain and experience it
in your own life is another.
More than anything, this book is a plea and a
guide for reality in the Christian life. The standard of
vital Christianity described in these pages will not be
reached easily. It will not occur through a short prayer
of commitment or by any kind of crisis experience.
God may use a crisis to jolt a Christian into action, but
81
a crisis plus a process is necessary to keep him moving as

a revolutionary disciple of Jesus Christ.
If this book is to be significant to you, you must
“declare a personal revolution.” This will take all your
dedication and the application of every means of
grace offered in the Word of God. There cannot be a
revolution for those who merely “play the game” or go
through the motions. Nor is revolution possible for the
Christian who is not willing to deny self, take up his
cross daily and follow Jesus.
We are not ready for revolution if we have not
yet seen the spiritual schizophrenia within and around
us. God must convince us that “the heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked.” Spiritual fog
seeps into our hearts from the world and only God can
dispel it in response to earnest prayer.
To be ready for revolution, we must accept the
blame for not living a dynamic Christian life. Christ
lives within the Christian and he is the revolutionary.
We must be willing to die to self-interests and self-
determination and let Christ live his life through us.
Many Christians are entering the ministry and
the mission fields and other places of Christian service
without being spiritually prepared. We must realize
that we are in dangerous territory if our service for
God is taking us beyond our experience of God. Satan
Steps to Revolution! 83
waits there to attack us—and we are very vulnerable.

The revolutionary spiritual life issues from a deep
relationship and experience with God, who makes the
disciple a faithful soldier of Christ.
I am absolutely convinced that Christians who
take the following steps to revolution will find that
they “work.” They work because Christianity works.
These steps are basic biblical principles which Jesus
Christ and the apostles repeatedly emphasized to those
who wanted to be disciples of Jesus.
1. A revolution in our prayer life. One of the
most depressing signs in the church today is the lack
of prayer, both in private and in groups. It is almost
incredible to see how little the average evangelical
church relies on prayer for doing God’s work. When
there is a prayer meeting, a small minority of the people
are involved. Nights of prayer, home prayer meetings,
days of prayer and fasting—so much a part of the early
church—seem nothing more than Christian relics
today. Because people are busy, they think they are
too busy to pray. The church has sought innumerable
substitutes for prayer to accomplish work that can be
done only through prayer.
If we are serious about being spiritual
revolutionaries, we must determine to learn how to
pray! There are many excellent books on the subject,
but there is no substitute for getting on our knees

and starting to pray. Samuel Chadwick said, “The one
concern of the devil is to keep the saints from prayer.
He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless
work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks
at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.”
The mountain peak of our prayer life will be
worship. Specific times should be given each day to
climbing the summit of spiritual reality through
worship, praise and thanksgiving. King David declared,
“I will praise the name of God with a song and will
magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall please
the Lord better than an ox or bullock that hath horns
and hoofs” (Psalm 69:30, 31).
Reality in worship will create a spiritual revolution
in the inner man, the likes of which few people seem
to have experienced in the twentieth century. It will
not be attained in a year or two, nor perhaps in ten
or twenty years. However, since this is the highest
calling of the Christian, it is worth any number of
years to learn reality in daily worship. There is no more
important aspect of spiritual revolution than this.
There is a sense in which we can “pray without
ceasing” and offer prayer and praise to God at any
time of the day. Yet there is also a need for separating
ourselves from other humans and being alone with God.
The entire church and the cause of Christ around the

world is suffering for lack of this kind of prayer. If the
only response made to this book were a determination
to take a definite time each day for prayer, praise and
feasting on God’s Word, the book would be eminently
successful. For through prayer, we can come to see the
other principles of spiritual revolution which will lead
us from victory to victory as God’s Word is mixed with
our faith.
2. A revolution in our Bible study. At any cost,
spiritual revolutionaries must become “men of the
Book.” D. L. Moody declared, “Either sin will keep
you from this Book, or this Book will keep you from
sin.” Most Christians place a low value on memorizing
and meditating on the Word of God. In contrast,
Muslims by the thousands leave their universities with
the whole Koran memorized. Actors and actresses
memorize thousands of lines to earn fame and wealth.
Despite the spiritual rewards promised for students
of God’s Word, few Christians seek them. The result
is churches peopled by spiritual dwarfs, some having
been “growing” ten or twenty years in the faith.
In some cases spiritual dwarfs become leaders of
the congregation and the contrast with New Testament
churches is shocking. If anyone points this out, he is
regarded as a fanatic, an extremist, or a meddler.
On the other hand, I have found increasing

numbers of believers around the world who are tired
of eating spiritual breadcrumbs and want to get into
God’s Word in a new and revolutionary way. The
important thing however, is not so much our “getting
into the Word of God” as “the Word of God getting
into us”! This means we must engage in more than
Bible reading; we must meditate intensively on the
Word of God, as the psalmist instructs in 119:9,11.
Our Bible study must be as honest and
un-prejudiced as possible. We cannot come to the
Word of God with our favorite viewpoint and expect
the Bible to shed new light. We must come to the
Scriptures in humility and openness and attempt to
obey in our daily living each truth we find there.
An evangelist has warned: “We have taken the
Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit and used it to
carve one another up instead of going forth in a great
offensive in the name of Christ.” How much easier it
is to go to war over pet doctrines and favorite verses
rather than continuing to receive the whole counsel of
God and advancing against the enemy.
We must not only determine to obey those verses
we enjoy, or that strike us as being important, but we
must be ready to obey verses that sometimes strike us
in the opposite way.
We are sometimes eager to accept those verses

that speak about blessing and to neglect verses that
speak about suffering. We welcome the first part of
1 John 3:16, “Hereby perceive we the love of God,
because he laid down his life for us”—and the rest
trails through and out of our consciousness: “. . . and
we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” The
next admonition also gets scant attention: “But whoso
hath this world’s good and seeth his brother have need
and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him,
how dwelleth the love of God in him?”
This is also God’s Word! What excuse do we have
for our failure to “love not merely in word but in deed
and in truth”? Obedience here is revolution!
3. A revolution of discipline. For many, discipline
is an unpleasant word. Yet church history shows no
undisciplined man or woman who amounted to
much for Christ. The basic support of discipline is
motivation and the best motivation is the constraining
love of Christ.
Christ said, “If ye love me, keep my
commandments.” He also said, “If ye continue in my
words, then are ye my disciples indeed.” This is critical,
as we can realize from Paul’s concern in 1 Corinthians
9:26,27: “I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so
fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under
my body and bring it into subjection: lest that by any

means, when I have preached to others, I myself should
be a castaway.” Paul was disciplined but he recognized
the danger of slipping and falling into sin.
True discipline is possible only because of the
promises of God. We find ourselves unable to keep
a particular commandment or engage in a form of
self-discipline, but we can be sustained by such a
promise as: “I can do all things through Christ which
strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13). For every battle
and difficulty in life, there is an assurance of God’s
grace and sufficiency we can claim.
We are hearing more and more in Christian
circles about a victorious life being attained through
a particular sanctification theory or crisis experience
which launches an effortless joyride with God. But for
every Bible verse that speaks of rest, abiding, trusting
and allowing God to work through you there is another
word nearby that speaks of battle, testing, obedience
and the need to present our bodies as a living sacrifice
to do God’s will. These are complementary and
essential for the balanced life.
We do not pit Joshua against Caleb because they
used different terminology and concepts to challenge
the people to enter the Promised Land. The spiritual
revolutionary learns the balance between God’s action
and his own. He depends on God’s strength and

wisdom to work out the salvation life within him.
For example, if you lie in bed tomorrow morning
and pray that the Lord will lift you out of bed, you are
likely to have a very late breakfast! The recital of “Not
I, but Christ” will bring about few changes unless you
move. But when you move, the recognition of “Not I,
but Christ” will produce eternal results by God’s Spirit.
One of the important disciplines is repentance.
When we sin or fail, we can recover and go on if we
immediately find forgiveness at the cross. Many a
Christian has languished in depression and defeat
because he hadn’t learned the discipline of repentance.
Not even Jesus Christ “felt” like going to the cross, but
he went because he loved us and was obedient to the
will of God. We may not “feel” like going to the cross,
but we will because of our love for Christ. There we
receive total forgiveness and joyous renewal that will
enable us to live in discipline.
4. A revolution of love. Jesus Christ said that people
would know Christians were his disciples because of
their love for one another. The greatest indictment of
evangelical Christianity is that Christians have failed to
have this kind of love. Yet when I have seen this love in
a few Christians, it has impressed me as the expression
of genuine Christianity.
It is amazing to see how the Lord Jesus Christ

can change an unloving, lost soul. In country after
country I have seen the power of this revolution of
love. If more of us would enter in and fan the flames
of this love, I believe we would see spiritual revolution
around the world in our generation. This does not
necessarily mean the conversion of masses of people,
but rather individuals everywhere transformed by the
revolutionary principles of the New Testament and
living them before others.
Unless we “declare a revolution” in the areas of
life already mentioned, however, we will not see a
revolution of love. For it is only as we get to know
God at a deep level and trust Christ to work through
us that we can receive and demonstrate revolutionary
love. Until we do experience this love, the spiritual
revolution will not reach very far.
Nothing obstructs revolutionary Christianity like
the opposite of love: resentment, envy, anger, fear,
jealousy and hatred. The mutual toleration evidenced
in handshakes after the typical Sunday morning
church service also falls far short of the revolutionary
love that unites brethren in dynamic fellowship. Yet a
greater display of interest in one another is not the real
answer; revolutionary love is the outcome of obedience
to and communion with Christ.
The greatest possible impact on the world would

be made if Christians of many races, backgrounds,
churches and temperaments were working together
in love and harmony with Jesus as King and Lord.
The Bible says, “Love casteth out fear,” and we could
move forward on that promise, finding that divine
love would cast fear out of our hearts—the fear of
people we do not understand, who are from a different
race, or who worship differently. We must break out
of our cliques and work with all of God’s people. We
must unite under the banner of Christ’s love and the
cardinal doctrines and principles of New Testament
Christianity. The pride that scorns Christians outside
“our group” will have to die at the cross before we can
join in revolution. If any of us has received more light,
exercised more gifts, or been granted more recognition,
it should be demonstrated by more humility and
more love.
This is the essential principle of Christian living
and spiritual revolution; without it, there is no power.
5. A revolution of honesty. Spiritual honesty is one
of our greatest needs. We evangelicals have grown
accustomed to our religious masks, pretending to be
one thing while living quite another. It has continued
so long that we hardly know now where reality is. Can
you imagine what a revolution of honesty would do
in our churches? If we were honest, many of us would

have to change the words of “Onward Christian
Soldiers” in somewhat the following manner:
Backward Christian soldiers, fleeing from the fight,
With the cross of Jesus nearly out of sight:
Christ our rightful Master stands against the foe,
But forward into battle we are loathe to go.
Like a mighty tortoise moves the Church of God;
Brothers, we are treading where we’ve often trod,
We are much divided, many bodies we,
Having different doctrines, not much charity.
Crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and
wane,
But the Church of Jesus hidden does remain;
Gates of hell should never ’gainst that Church
prevail,
We have Christ’s own promise, but think that it
will fail.
Sit here, then, ye people, join our useless throngs;
Blend with ours your voices in a feeble song.
Blessings, ease and comfort, ask from Christ the
King,
With our modern thinking, we won’t do a thing.
These words might seem harsh, but you will find
stronger words in the New Testament. “I know thy
works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou
wert cold or hot. So, then, because thou art lukewarm
and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my
mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased

with goods and have need of nothing; and knowest
not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and
blind and naked” (Revelation 3:15– 17).
We must declare war on that kind of self-
deception described in these verses. To do this, we must
determine to become spiritually honest. We must face
ourselves as we are and we must allow God to begin
to bring revolutionary changes. Many of us are trying
to live at a particular spiritual level when we know we
are nowhere near it! This leads to all kinds of unreality,
confusion and sometimes even to nervous breakdown.
Sometimes the Christian most anxious to improve
his spiritual life ends up with the greatest problems—
because he tries to make the changes himself. The
need is not for spiritual extremists, but for spiritual
revolutionaries who know the reality of spiritual
balance. The spiritual revolutionary knows that
according to Ephesians 1:6 he is fully accepted in the
Beloved and therefore he ceases striving to gain merit
through his spiritual activity. He recognizes that he is a
sinner, but in Christ he is a victor.
Christian leaders may fall into this trap quicker
than the average Christian. When Christians make
heroes of leaders, they may feel forced to act out
their roles while despising their hypocrisy. It is a very
unhealthy and precarious route to follow.
One of the reasons many Christian young people

forsake the church and their parents is widespread
spiritual pretense. A normal young person understands
failures are inevitable, but continual inconsistency and
spiritual dishonesty deeply confuse him. Some are so
repelled by the double life that they “drop out.” They
would rather befriend an “honest” agnostic than live
in the shadow of spiritual schizophrenia. A spiritual
revolution may be necessary to recall these rebels to
fellowship in the church. I challenge the rebels to
follow Christ and help spring this revolution.
6. A revolution of witness. When the revolution
takes place in the areas described, it will spontaneously
bring a revolution of witness. Half the world still
remains in spiritual darkness as far as a knowledge of
Jesus Christ is concerned.
When we have gone forth, we have often taken
the nonrevolutionary form of Christianity. A. W. Tozer
wrote: “The popular notion that the first obligation of
the church is to spread the gospel to the uttermost
parts of the earth is false. Her first obligation is to be
spiritually worthy to spread it. . . . To spread an effete,
degenerate brand of Christianity to pagan lands is not
to fulfill the commandments of the Lord.”
Tozer was a twentieth-century prophet who spoke
for God from the pulpit and through his books. If we
put into practice the principles he set forth (allowing

for human error), we would see a spiritual revolution.
This in turn would lead to witnessing in every form
which would gather many people into the Church of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Down through history, men who
had different theological perspectives have lived out the
same kind of dynamic, revolutionary Christianity and
we should be able to lay down our doctrinal pop-guns
and work together in world evangelism and spiritual
revolution.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses, with all their false
doctrines, boast of being ninety percent mobile. That
is, ninety percent of their membership is involved in
definite outreach and witness. What can we say of our
evangelical churches’ mobility? In some churches it
seems that only the pastor and perhaps a few others
know how to win others to Christ. But the New
Testament clearly teaches that each believer in Christ
is a witness. The fact that people have come to Christ
just through reading a piece of Christian literature
should show us that no Christian need arrive in heaven
without helping someone else get there.
There are many ways to witness and though
some ways may be better than others, the teaching
of Scripture is that we primarily witness through life
and through word. Far more than a crusade, a special
project, or outreach program, true witnessing is a

spontaneous outflowing of the indwelling Christ.
Let’s stop clutching our weaknesses, shyness,
lack of training, fear, or any other excuse and start
believing the God of the impossible who specializes in
using weak vessels. There is not a single Christian who
cannot become an effective, revolutionary witness for
Jesus Christ if he really wants to.
In conclusion, I have two requests. The first is by
far the more important. I request you to unite with me
in repentance at the foot of the cross and believe God
to bring into our lives and the lives of other Christians
a spiritual revolution. Let us bow in daily repentance,
recognizing our failures and believing God for great
and dynamic changes in the days to come.
Second, I ask you to take a few minutes and write
to me, care of the publisher, expressing what you feel
after reading these pages. Perhaps this could be your
first act of discipline after reading this book. I have a
tremendous desire to pray for anyone who truly wants
a spiritual revolution in his own heart and life. Those
of us who want spiritual revolution in the twentieth
century must unite and work together toward this
goal. God is on our side—and if he is for us who can
be against us!

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HUNGER for REALITY

HUNGER for REALITY

Copyright © 1972 by George Verwer

All Rights Reserved.

Members of Operation Mobilization who encouraged

No one could say in these days that we Christians are

values and actions: our use of leisure time; our actions

extent unfavorable to healthy Christianity. And

consistent and productive? The answer is yes. I do not

The Lord Jesus Christ was a revolutionary! Consider, if

which interfered with the life of sacrificial love which

abandonment to the claims of Christ on our blood-

receive freedom as they have opportunity to receive

Anyone who claims to be a disciple of Jesus Christ

after Jesus Christ died, those who claimed to follow

books. Did you know there are more than a thousand

Lord, but in whose strength are you going? Let us see

you yearn for deep fellowship with your Creator, if you

a beautiful prayer that he learned in the Pharisee Bible

are, then you will be rewarded with great blessing. But

This is so clear in John 5:44, when Jesus says

His counsel remains: “Be still and know that

joined in a crusade to know God. This is the only

“Litany” is a word that describes a formal prayer read by

as Martin Luther did within the Roman Church. If

that others may be praised and I unnoticed,

consequently executed. This prayer was written by a

being esteemed.” In Philippians Paul warns against

the Church and gave himself for it. The revolution of

People will come to know Jesus if we go where

me from the desire of being honored.” God said:

when, like the others, John sought credit and even

the Baptist easily declared: “He that cometh after me is

vulnerable to drowning because they are overconfident

a worm. The Bible compares Jesus to a worm in the

ridiculed.” Wise is the person who can laugh at himself!

and attention—to be visited, listened to, written to,

“The Church at this moment needs men who

If the Promised Land was a country to conquer under

with faith in them that heard it. For we which

entering the Promised Land, Canaan, is a graphic

judgment fell on the unrepentant Egyptians but not

could have entered directly. But the advance scouts

when we enter this experience of victory—we may not

I can say, “Lord, those letters, those telegrams, are all

Have you decided to walk the road of discipleship? Are

the cloud and all passed through the sea; and

able; but will with the temptation also make a

Promised Land, but so are victory and joy and power.

Someone has said, “The devil doesn’t waste his

peril that has time and again ruined Christian men. I

It helps me sometimes to think what I will be

wrong in other people, was it really a reflection of

was due to leave. “Why cannot people who have lived

lowliest, most out- of-place testimony for him count

sent it sometime earlier. We have seen things like this

God’s miracles for granted: they became accustomed to

When God begins to use you significantly, the devil

In John 13:34, 35 we read these words of Jesus: “A