Come out for God, and say: "Lord, anything for Thee."
If you say that with prayer, and speak that into God's ear, He will accept it, and He will teach you what it means.
✦ Lord, Anything for You
Murray gives the prayer in five words: Lord, anything for You. No conditions. No reservations. No list of exceptions. Anything. And the promise is twofold: God will accept it — and God will teach what it means. The soul does not need to understand the full cost of the surrender before making it. The acceptance comes first. The teaching follows. 🙏
Humble yourselves in His sight, and acknowledge that you have grieved the Holy Spirit by your self-will, self-confidence, and self-effort.
Accept God's teaching that in your flesh "there dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:18), and that nothing will help you except another life which must come in.
Denying self must every moment be the power of your life, and then Christ will come in and take possession of you.
I'm totally honest when I say this transition placed me in a renewal of heart and mind. I feel like I'm walking in a new space in my life.
I thought I knew all there was to know about God, but I was wrong. More than you can ask or think. 🙏
✦ More Than You Can Ask or Think
Murray names the three enemies of surrender: self-will, self-confidence, self-effort. The self that wills its own way. The self that trusts its own strength. The self that tries to produce by effort what only grace can give. And the remedy: another life must come in. Not the improvement of the old life. Not the refinement of the self. Replacement. Christ coming in. Taking possession. The self-life cast out — not by self-effort but by the indwelling of another.
And Le names what is happening — with the honesty that has marked every entry in this journal: I thought I knew all there was to know about God, but I was wrong. After decades of faith. After years of morning devotions. After eighty-nine entries. A new space. A renewal of heart and mind. The discovery that God is larger than the map the soul had drawn of Him. Ephesians 3:20 — more than you can ask or think. The God who is always previous is also always more. More than the theology captured. More than the experience contained. More. 🙏
We come to God confessing and praising God, and yet confessing how we have grieved the Spirit. And then we bow our knees to the Father to ask that He would strengthen us with all might by the Spirit in the inner man.
And as the Spirit reveals Christ to us, Christ comes to live in our hearts forever, and the self-life is cast out.
✦ The Self-Life Cast Out
Murray traces the sequence: the Spirit strengthens. The Spirit reveals Christ. Christ comes to live in the heart. And the self-life — without struggle, without tinkering, without human effort — is cast out. Not suppressed. Not managed. Not negotiated with. Cast out. The way light casts out darkness — not by fighting it but by filling the room.
The casting out is the natural result of the coming in. When Christ takes possession, the self-life has no room. When the Spirit fills the inner man, the old tenants are evicted — not by force but by fullness. 🙏
When I speak of progress, it is in descending, not in mounting. As when we charge a vessel, the more ballast we put in, the lower it sinks, so the more love we have in the soul, the lower we are abased in self.
The side of the scales which is elevated, is empty; so the soul is elated only when it is void of love.
"Love is our weight," says St. Augustine. Let us so charge ourselves with the weight of love, as to bring down self to its just level.
Love is our weight. Let us so charge ourselves with the weight of love, as to bring down self to its just level.
This is the only way to experience the freedom of Christ in the inner man. 🙏
✦ Love Is Our Weight
Augustine said it. Murray received it. And tonight in Cognac, Le recognized it as the key to everything.
The image is perfect: a vessel charged with ballast. The more weight inside, the lower it sinks. The more love in the soul, the lower the self descends. Not crushed — settled. Brought to its just level. The self is not destroyed by love. It is placed where it belongs — below, not above. Serving, not ruling. Quiet, not loud.
And the reverse: the side of the scales which is elevated is empty. The soul that is elated — puffed up, proud, self-important — is the soul that is void of love. The elevation is not a sign of fullness. It is a sign of emptiness. The higher the self rises, the less love is present. The lower the self sinks, the more love has filled it.
Progress in the kingdom is descending, not mounting. Bernard said: the measure of love is to love immeasurably. Augustine says: love is our weight. And Le names the fruit of the descending: this is the only way to experience the freedom of Christ in the inner man. The freedom comes not by rising above but by sinking below. The freedom is in the weight of love — heavy enough to bring self to its just level. 🙏
"Love is our weight. Let us so charge ourselves with the weight of love, as to bring down self to its just level."
St. Augustine · via Andrew Murray · The freedom is in the descendingLet the depths of our humility be manifested by our readiness to bear the cross, the humiliations, the sufferings, which are necessary to the purification of the soul.
Our humiliation is our exaltation. "Whosoever is least among you shall be the greatest," says our Lord.
Let us bow before God in humility and love.
The world doesn't understand that when we are weak, we are strong. I am not able to express this truth in words, but recognize it in my heart.
Jesus, You are my Savior. 🙏
✦ Recognized in the Heart
Murray closes with the paradox that Paul stated and the world has never understood: our humiliation is our exaltation. The least is the greatest. The weakest is the strongest. The one who descends is the one who is lifted.
And Le — in Cognac, in the evening, at the end of a week that has renewed her heart and mind — says: I am not able to express this truth in words, but recognize it in my heart.
Some truths are too deep for language. They live below the place where words can reach. The heart knows what the mouth cannot say. The spirit recognizes what the mind cannot define. And the confession that follows — Jesus, You are my Savior — is not an idea. It is the deepest recognition of the deepest truth. Known in the heart. Beyond words. Beyond explanation. Recognized.
That is enough. 🙏
A New Space
A renewal of heart and mind. I thought I knew all there was to know about God, but I was wrong. More than you can ask or think. God is always larger than the map.
Love Is Our Weight
The more love in the soul, the lower self descends. The elevated side of the scales is the empty side. Love is our weight. The freedom of Christ is found in the descending.
When We Are Weak
The world doesn't understand: when we are weak, we are strong. Our humiliation is our exaltation. Not expressible in words. Recognized in the heart. That is enough.
Another Life Comes In
Nothing will help except another life which must come in. Christ takes possession. The self-life is cast out — not by effort but by fullness. Light displaces darkness by filling the room.