Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Hebrews 10:22.
There can be no true prayer without true faith. “Without faith it is impossible to please him” (Hebrews 11:6). Prayer and faith are the arms by which the soul hangs upon the neck of infinite love, and grasps the hand of infinite power. God does not recognize dumb children, as far as experience in His truth is concerned. Faith is an active, working power. The newborn faith in Christ is revealed by prayer and praise. Prayer is a relief and a comfort to the troubled soul. The sincere, humble suppliant at the throne of grace may know that he is communing with God, through the divinely appointed means, and that it is his privilege to understand what God is to the believing soul. We must have a realization of our needs. We must hunger and thirst after life in Christ and through Christ. Then we shall come to Him in humility and sincerity, and He will give us the faith that works by love and purifies the soul....
Christ gave Himself willingly and cheerfully to the carrying out the will of God. “He ... became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8). In view of all that He has done, should we feel it a hardship to deny ourselves? Shall we draw back from being partakers of Christ's sufferings? His death ought to stir every fiber of our beings, making us willing to consecrate to His work all that we have and are.
As we think of what He has done for us, our hearts should be filled with gratitude and love, and we should renounce all selfishness and sin. What duty could the heart refuse to perform, under the constraining influence of the love of God and Christ? “I am crucified with Christ,” the apostle Paul declared: “nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
Let us relate ourselves to God in self-denying, self-sacrificing obedience. Faith in Christ always leads to willing, cheerful obedience. He died to redeem us from all iniquity, and to purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. There is to be perfect conformity, in thought, word, and deed, to the will of God. Heaven is only for those who have purified their souls through obedience to the truth.25This Day With God, 315.
From Our Father Cares - Page 280
Our Father Cares