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“Be Not Silent to Me”

Public Domain (with exceptions)1

Unto You will I cry, O Lord my rock;
be not silent to me:
lest, if You be silent to me,
I become like them that go down into the pit.

—Psalm 28:1 kjv

PHoto of Isaiah Reid, circa 1905Isaiah Reid

Have you not gone oftentimes to the post office or waited anxiously for the postman, and failed to get the letter you anticipated? Your heart could not quit its sighing for hours. Perhaps this has lengthened out into weeks, till hope dropped exhausted, and the heart grew dazed and dead. Unexpected, undesired silence is awful. We can bear many other grievances better than silence where we expected speech. “She would not speak to me!” My! How the very thought wrenches the heart strings! How the very feet drag along the way, and the hands forget their skill2—so quickly does the physical respond to the spiritual.

The cold lips in [continue reading…]

Mother’s Legacy

Copyright © 20071

chapter 10 from the book
Boyhood Memories & Lessons
by
Isaiah Reid

Title image, text surrounded by a floral wreathA Mother’s Day Tribute2

Mother had a catechism which was called The Child’s Catechism. She used it for teaching us before we could read. She asked questions, and answered them either according to the book or with her own “Notes” and personal explanations and illustrations. The first question in the book was “Who created you?” The answer was in a monosyllable, “God.”

I have never been able to get away from that teaching. It was in harmony with the Lord’s Prayer she taught me a little later, beginning with the same Person, only the name was changed to “Our Father.” From that day I always believed that God was my Father in the creation sense, and that He was the Creator of all souls, and ruler of this world. I could never believe that I was a “child of the devil.” In sin I acted like a child of the devil, and was on his side, but all this while I was a prodigal from home. While in sin, and I read from the Bible, “All souls [continue reading…]

Up to Date (A Motto for the New Year)

Public Domain1

by
Isaiah Reid

Article banner showing a beautiful mountain-lake sceneIf you want a happy New Year,
be up to date!2

The word for the closing and opening years should be “Up to Date.” We need not sit down in tears over the past which is gone. We had better be on our feet for a move forward. We must some way bring our past up to date, settled, canceled, cleared up to the present, or we will not have a fair start for the New Year. The sooner we actually get our whole past under the blood, certainly, and surely, and have witness to the same, the sooner we will be ready for our tomorrow. We need to be paid up to date and prayed up, and forgiven up, and cleansed up to date, and consecrated up to the [continue reading…]

God’s Bounties Should Make Us Bountiful

Copyright 2007, 2019 by Jim Kerwin1

A chapter from the book
Sunnyside Papers: Inspirational Sketches
from God’s “Book of Nature”

by
Isaiah Reid

Title image with the words 'God's Bounties Should Make Us Bountiful' overlaid on a photo of many colorful vegetables.Bountiful, yes — and thankful!2

It is November.3 We have had an old-time Iowa fall. The charming weather has been just like a northern Florida winter, save the softness and balminess of the air. But doubtless for Iowa, the atmosphere we have had is better for us than that in Florida would have been. What is all right for one part of the country is not always the best thing for the other. Certainly, our fall has charmed everyone; and could it last, no one would care to go to California or to [continue reading…]

GWMM-04: Third Theory: “I Expect to Grow into It”

This entry is part 5 of 11 in the series God's Ways and Man's Methods

Public Domain
(with exceptions)1

God’s Ways and Man’s Methods
of Becoming Holy, Contrasted

Chapter 4:
Third Theory:
“I Expect to Grow into It.”

by
Isaiah Reid

This is a favorite theory of many people. It is to be noted that it contra­dicts the two methods already spoken of, for if people expect “to grow into it,” it is a plain confession that they neither received it by being “born so,” or at their “conversion.” It is hardly worthwhile to take space here to show the large percent of professed Christians who hold to this theory, when they can be met almost anywhere, if one commences talking about full salvation. Properly speaking, this theory should be defined as gradualism. [continue reading…]

“How They Grow”: Part 2

This entry is part 2 of 16 in the series How They Grow

Public Domain1

by
Isaiah Reid

Not by works of righteousness which we have done…
—Titus 3:5—

Sanctification Not Obtained by Growth

People who are not in the experience of holiness are often hindered and defeated in obtaining the blessing by seeking it in some impossible way. Satan helps them in this, for so long as he can so deceive them, he hinders them from having the experience. One of the most plausible of these deceptions is that one who is not holy may become holy by “growth.” [continue reading…]

The Danger of Standing Still

This entry is part 9 of 22 in the series Soul-Help Papers (Isaiah Reid)

Public Domain1

Chapter 8 of Soul-Help Papers
by
Isaiah Reid

“Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.”

— Exodus 14:15 —

Chapter title overlaid on a rayed-sunrise-behind-a-cloud image, a photo by Eberhard Grossgasteiger on Unsplash.comWe are not to pitch our tent
where we did last night,
but rather a day’s march nearer home.2

Go forward.” Death was behind Israel in the shape of the flower3 of the Egyptian army; or if not death, then slavery. They could not stand still.

The three disciples could not remain on the mountain of transfiguration;4 there was need for them at the foot, where the throngs of needy men were congregated.5

The eleven on the slopes of Olivet stood looking into the vacant heavens, where their blessed Lord had just swept through the clouds to His home at the throne. But they could not stay there, even while trying to retain the sweet memory of that wonderful vision. Jesus sent his angel to say to them, “Why stand ye gazing up into heaven?”6 Nothing wrong in the loving gaze so far as that is concerned. But neither could they stay there. [continue reading…]

The Holy Way: Part 1

This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series The Holy Way

A Word Beforehand,

'The Holy Way' is now available as an e-book from Amazon.com, BN.com, and Kobo.com.

The Holy Way is now available as an e-book in the Kindle, Nook, and Kobo formats.

That the reader may “know the way of God more perfectly”; 1 have “life more abundantly”; 2 ever go forth with Jesus “conquering and to conquer”; 3 walk with Him “in white”; 4 and perfect “holiness in the fear of the Lord,” 5 have these lines been written.

If only one inquiring soul shall be helped; a bewildered one led into the light; a hungry one fed; an uncertain one established; an opposer won; or any blessed with full salvation, the author, and his words in these few chapters, will be blessed indeed.

Let the blessed Christ, who giveth us all things richly to enjoy, 6 have all the glory. [continue reading…]

This entry is part 6 of 11 in the series God's Ways and Man's Methods

Public Domain
(with exceptions)1

God’s Ways and Man’s Methods
of Becoming Holy, Contrasted

Chapter 5:
Fourth Theory:
“I Am Made Holy in Christ
Without Being Holy in Myself”

by
Isaiah Reid

This is the theory of holiness by Imputation without Impartation. The unvarnished statement runs thus, “As a saint, he is now ‘not in the flesh,’ though the flesh is in him; but he is in the Spirit, and is responsible for the uprisings and sins of the old man.”2 At a glance it is evident that this at once denies the removal of the carnal mind, which is the very question at issue. It is a bold denial of the experience of entire sanctification, and yet at the same time positive claiming of it. But this is not all of the statement. It further declares,

He is henceforth pardoned as a son, according to the value of the blood presented before God for him; the person, the individual, now becomes a Christian, the man possessed of these two natures, who should be walking “in the Spirit,” though ever and anon he is made to stumble through the power of the “flesh.” Thus the saint does not advance in sanctification, by a change being effected in the character of either nature, but in the gradual development of “the new man” by means of the in-working of the Holy Ghost, and in the daily mortification of the members which are upon the earth. The man is thus gradually sanctified and made more like Christ. Grace and Truth p. 187.

[continue reading…]

“How They Grow”: Part 3

This entry is part 3 of 16 in the series How They Grow

Public Domain1

by
Isaiah Reid

The “Growth Method” Has No Witnesses

Another reason why we say this grace of sanctification is not reached by “growth” is because it cannot be proved by witnesses. The people who have this grace and who confess it are not ones who have come into possession of the experience by the method of gradualism. To the contrary, their universal testimony is that they did not come into it gradually or by growth, but that the work was instantaneous, and by grace, through consecration and faith. But people who believe in getting there by growth are always on a belated train. [continue reading…]

Departing Ravens and Drying Brooks

This entry is part 10 of 22 in the series Soul-Help Papers (Isaiah Reid)

Public Domain1

Chapter 9 of Soul-Help Papers
by
Isaiah Reid


When the gloomy shadows gather ‘round your way,
And the clouds of sorrow hide the sun’s bright ray,
Keep your faith unshaken, tho’ all ills combine;
When the days are darkest, That’s the time to shine.2
Chapter title overlaid on a rayed-sunrise-behind-a-cloud image, a photo by Eberhard Grossgasteiger on Unsplash.comHow often He finds it needful to “stir up our nest”
and make us try our wings for a new experience
and wider field of usefulness!3

Poor Elijah! The hot sun lay on all the plain burning with an oven-like heat. The grass was withered and dust covered. The fig-tree had cast her fruit. Animals and men hunted the springs for a few drops of water. The children cried piteously. The little lambs lay dead on the hills. The prophet’s retreat by the Cherith brook became besieged with thirsty men and furious animals, fighting for its fast-failing waters. The prophet’s refuge was being taken away. The famine was everywhere. That morning the ravens came no more with the miraculous supply of bread for the man of God. He went for a drink and lo! the waters had ceased to flow. In despairing mood he knelt at his accustomed place of prayer and looked to the hills. The early twilight diffused the cloudless sky, and all nature seemed again to be holding a prayer meeting in which petition was voiced in one word, “Rain, Rain, Rain.” As the rim of the red sun shone first over the east Jordanic hills, the mulberry trees above his head changed their usual “going” as they murmured their petition, and a voice clearly said, “Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there; behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.”4 [continue reading…]

The Holy Way: Part 2

This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series The Holy Way

How May I Enter In?

'The Holy Way' is now available as an e-book from Amazon.com, BN.com, and Kobo.com.

The Holy Way is now available as an e-book in the Kindle, Nook, and Kobo formats.

Every seeker after heart purity comes to a place where he asks, “How may I enter in?”  While no one can go through for another, nor step through the same line of circumstances, yet in outline the essential things to be done are the same, so that the way may be told theoretically with such definiteness that the inquirer may be directed safely and surely.  We wish to point out the steps briefly, so that burdened, anxious souls may find their way, mistaken souls may be corrected, and those who are seeking light on the doctrine may find it.  In the limited space we have there will not be room for much elaboration or discussion. [continue reading…]

GWMM-06: Fifth Theory: By Repressing of Indwelling Sin

This entry is part 7 of 11 in the series God's Ways and Man's Methods

Public Domain
(with exceptions)1

God’s Ways and Man’s Methods
of Becoming Holy, Contrasted

Chapter 6:
Fifth Theory:
By Repressing of Indwelling Sin

by
Isaiah Reid

Logically, the theory which equates holiness with the repression of indwelling sin is but a variety of the method of seeking holiness by growth, and yet there is distinction of features sufficient to be treated under a separate head. The fact of sin in believers, or indwelling sin, is generally admitted. [continue reading…]

“How They Grow”: Part 4

This entry is part 4 of 16 in the series How They Grow

Public Domain1

by
Isaiah Reid

The Nature of Spiritual Growth

It is not growing like a tree
In bulk, doth make man better be:
Or standing long an oak three hundred year,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald and sere:
A lily of a day
Is fairer far in May,
Although it fall and die that night—
It was the plant and flower of Light.
In small proportions we just beauty see:
And in short measures life may perfect be.
—B. Jonson—

God gave the increase.
—1 Corinthians 3:6—

Nor of the will of the flesh.
—John 1:13—

Not of works, lest any man should boast.
—Ephesians 2:9—

It is the gift of God.
—Ephesians 2:8—

While there is no growing into holiness, there is, praise the Lord, a blessed growth in it. [continue reading…]