Daily Devotional

The Lord has promised to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. Shall we take God at His word? If we come to God in a humble and teachable spirit, not with our plans all formed before we ask Him, and shaped according to our own will, but in submission, in willingness to be taught in faith, it is our privilege to claim the promise every hour of the day. We may distrust ourselves, and we need to guard against our inclinations and strong tendencies, lest we shall follow our mind and plans, and think it is the way of the Lord; but let us never disbelieve the word of the promise.

True and abiding happiness can never be derived from any human being. We may have special, select friends that, all unperceived and unacknowledged by us, we place in the heart where God should be, and we can never perfect a round, full Christian experience until every earthly support is removed, and the soul centers its entire affections about God. "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it: Except the Lord keep the city, the watchmen waketh but in vain."

There is need of watching unceasingly the natural affections and tendencies of our own hearts, lest we become estranged from God, and place our affections on human beings to the dishonor of God; for our happiness will be imperiled unless we watch, and pray, and cherish the faith that works by love and purifies the soul. We must make God our trust.