The New Life

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The New Life.
righteous before God, and just so in Him are we
strong against our enemies.
In this light we can read and take home to ourselves
all the noble passages in the Old Testament,
especially in the Psalms, where the glorious conflict
of God in behalf of His people is spoken of. Fear,
or spiritlessness, or uncertainty, makes weak, and
cannot overcome : faith in the living God is equal to
everything.^ In Christ this truth is now still more
real. God has come near. His power works in us
who believe ; it is really He that fights for us.
Lord Jesus, who art the Prince of the army of
the Lord, the Hero, the Victor, teach me to be strong
in Thee my stronghold, and in the power of Thy
might. Teach me to understand what the good fight
of faith is, and how the one thing that I have need
of is, always to look to Thee, to Thee, the supreme
Guide of faith. And, consequently, in me, too, let
this be the victory that overcometh the world,
namely, my faith. Amen.
I. The conflict of faith is no civil war, in which one half of
,
the kingdom is divided against the other. This would be insurrection.
This is the one conflict that many Christians know
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the unrest of the conscience, and the powerless wrestling of a
will which consents to that which is good, but does not perform
it. The Christian has not to overcome himself This his Lord
does when he surrenders himself. Then he is free and strong
1 Ps. xliv. 4, 9 ; Isa. xlv. 24.
« Deut. XX. 3, 8 ;
Josh. vi. 20 ;
Judges vii. 3 Ps. xviii. 32-40 ;
^
Heb. xi. 23.
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