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     1. Near to the Heart of God, verse 1   (1:18)
     2. Waiting on God   (27:27)

John 14:6.  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Psalm 46:10.  Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

John 17:24.  Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

I was glad for the things our sister from Canada said, because I went through that stage.  I know how it is to be tortured by a prayer meeting.  It’s something like happened to me when I was a boy.  I worked in a shop.  Every time we had a picnic—a church picnic—I would have picnic-itis the next day.  I was tortured: I thought I had rheumatism.  But it was nothing in the world but stretched muscles.  And one day I talked to a fellow that was working with me, and he said, “You see how badly you need exercise.  That’s your whole trouble.”  My muscles were not accustomed to working.

And when you’re tortured in the presence of God, and in the silence, it shows how greatly you need to practice the presence of God.  It is very, very, very strange to me that everybody talks about God, and nobody pays attention to Him.  The Bible says that “God is.”  And God says, “Be still, be still, be still.” 

I’m reminded of another sister from Canada who came to our meetings and she says, “Goodness, are these meetings dead!  Our preachers are on their feet all the time.”  In other words, there’s always something going.  Well, you might as well put a jack-in-the-box on the platform.  The preacher’s on his feet all the time!  Oh, if preachers would only get out of the way and let God.

…

When He tried to get still, oh, there were a thousand and one thoughts that clamored for attention.  Did you ever reflect, “Where do these thoughts come from?”  Where do they come from?  When you have a lot of pesky flies around you, there must be a pile manure someplace, excuse the expression…  Where do these thoughts come from?  They don’t come from the Lord, but they come from someplace.

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Isn’t it strange that we insist on abiding in the outer court, where we hear the crack of the whip of the slave driver, and the mooing of the oxen, and the doves, and the changers of money?  We’ve got to hear that all the time or we’re tortured.  Get into the Holiest of All, and there isn’t a sound, and there isn’t a sight—there isn’t a light there.  Only God is there.  Alone with Jesus.  Oh, what would happen if I got alone with Jesus?  But what will happen if I don’t get alone with Jesus?  Why, I miss Him.  I’m going to miss Him when He comes.  I tell you, I’m going to miss Him when He comes.

He says to the Father, “Father, I will that they whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am...  I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that Thou hast loved Me, and that Thou hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me.”  What a mystery! 

Jesus, are You in me now?  Not if I’m not alone with Thee, not if I let all kinds of idols roam around in my heart.  To be alone with Jesus doesn’t mean to be alone in a room, but it means to be alone with Him—it means to have no attention to anybody but Him, to have my heart so cleansed of every thought, and every affection—every affinity, every attitude, that Christ is All and in all.  We talk about it, we sing about it, but very seldom do you find a person that presses through.

…

I’ve got to go to Jesus every day and draw what I need.  Oh, how it keeps me united to Him.  That’s the secret of the inward life: “Without Me, ye can do nothing.”  Jesus binds you to Himself.  He is the Way.  And you no more think of planning or doing anything for God yourself.  You know you can’t.  Oh, that’s the secret of all wisdom: “I don’t know how to live.  I don’t have to live.  Christ liveth in me!”  Oh, the plan that God has is to fill you with “all the fullness of God.”  And your plan is to show God how spiritual you can make yourself, how you can jump straight up and down, how you can preach sermons.  And it’s all “wood, hay, and stubble” before the Lord.

I suggested to someone who wanted a name for his spiritual paper.  I said, “If you want a name that nobody ever has used for a spiritual paper, use that word: ‘Wood, Hay, and Stubble.’  It would be very different from all the religious press.”

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The words are wonderful that speak of Jesus, but they’re not like Himself.  Himself is the Way.  Himself speaks to me, Himself comes to me, Himself reveals Himself to me.  But it cannot be until I make that exchange—until I get still, until I get alone with Him.  Alone with Him, praise God! 

Oh, Jesus, I’m so glad you told me one day that I would never amount to anything in the kingdom of God until I got alone with You.  It was very strange.  It was a message that came right out of heaven, and He repeated it three times.  Four times He said, “Get alone with Me.”  I was spiritual, I was speaking in tongues, I was preaching.  People were blessed by my ministry.  And the Lord said, “I can’t do much with you until you give Me a chance to reveal Myself to you.”  He said, “I haven’t been able to make you see how you need to get down.”  Why, goodness, I could have told the Lord how to get down.  I knew all about it. 

Humility is perfect quietness of heart.  It is to have no troubles.  It’s to be at peace when nobody praises me, when I’m blamed and despised.

…

“Let’s keep the pot boiling.”  “What he meant was, ‘Let’s keep ministers jumping up and down.’”    (from 2:29)

Stories of the start of the work in Brooklyn.  “Somebody said, ‘What are you going to do in Brooklyn.  That’s a hopeless place, absolutely hopeless.’”    (at 4:08)

Waiting on God seems pointless to those not acquainted with it.  “She looked at me and she said, ‘My goodness, I thought they had an evangelist.  Here he sits with his eyes closed and does nothing.’  And then she looked to the right and somebody did nothing, they had their eyes closed.  To the left they had their eyes closed.  Nothing was going on.  Everybody was still…  And so she closed her eyes.  And then God got a chance.  She told us later how her heart began burning within her.”    (from 5:27)

The first of numerous references to Dr. A. B. Simpson, and his experience with stillness and the life of God.  “He was told that God was in his heart, waiting to manifest Himself to him, personally, if he would only get still enough to hear His voice…  Now, he somehow entered into that secret, sacred, holy place of the Lord.  And he made the exchange.  He said Jesus Christ became his All and in all.”    (at 7:50)

HRW comments on his ministry.  “I know that I cannot teach you.  I know that you cannot teach me.  But I know one thing: that when I speak in the will of God, God takes these words, and He makes them intelligible to somebody.”    (at 17:21)

Ridicule of Christian magazines.     (from 18:28)

An illustration of carnally-minded ministers.  “He said, ‘I’m going to Bob Jones College to get a doctor degree.’  Lord, have mercy upon us!  Jesus says, ‘I am the Truth.’”    (from 20:55)

A preacher who didn’t know Jesus.  “After the meeting, and after my sermon there came a wonderful presence of God…  Everybody recognized it but the preacher.  He paid no attention to Jesus.  He didn’t know Him, didn’t recognize Him.  What a terrible, terrible state of affairs.  He should have been the very first one to welcome the Lord.”    (from 24:33)

“Die Amanda, die hat sie runtergebracht.” — “It was Amanda, she brought them down here.”

The Power of Stillness, a tract by A. B. Simpson.

Himself, a tract by A. B. Simpson.

A Short and Easy Method of Prayer, by Madam Guyon.  The full compilation of books out of which this translation of Madam Guyon’s work is taken is available here.

The City of God, by St. Augustine.

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