If the path I travel

We need to see that the Lord Jesus led the way to the throne. He was the Pioneer, the Forerunner (Heb. 6:20), cutting the path to the throne (2:10). This indicates that He is not the only man destined for the throne. He has cut the path and has taken the lead so that we may follow. He was the first one to the throne, and we will come after Him. Now we are marching to the throne, for God intends to bring us into glory and to set us on the throne. When we overcome, we will sit with Christ on His throne and have authority to reign with the Lord and rule over the nations.

The Conclusion of the New Testament: Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ,

Message 414 Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ in Revelation (LSM)

THE ESSENCE AND THE PATH

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The first kind of walk by the Spirit is for the second—that of taking the Spirit as the path for our way. We all must walk along a certain way. The path of this way should be the Spirit Himself. For the first kind of walk, the Spirit is our essence; for the second kind, the Spirit is our way.

Galatians 5:25 says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. ” Here Paul seems to be telling the Galatians, “Not only have you been living by the law, taking it as the essence of your life, but your goal has been established according to the law. The law has become the path for your way. Now you are not merely living under the law, but you are walking according to it. Dear Galatians, you must come back to the Spirit and leave the law on the cross. Take the Spirit as the essence of your daily life in place of the law. If you live by the Spirit as your essence, you should also take the Spirit as your pathway to reach God’s goal. Taking the Spirit as your essence and pathway excludes law, doctrine, religion, tradition, and regulations. None of these things should be your way toward God’s goal. The unique pathway is the Triune God as the life-giving Spirit. He alone should be the principle, the rule, the path, according to which you walk. ”

The underlying thought in 5:25 is very deep. By uttering such a word concerning walking by the Spirit as our rule or principle, Paul eliminated law, religion, tradition, doctrine, and regulations as the rule. The governing principle, the directing rule, of our walk must be the Spirit. We should do certain things and refrain from doing other things not because of regulations, but because we take the Spirit as the essence of our life, the essence of our new being. If you ask me why I would not do a particular thing, my answer would be that I am walking by taking the Spirit as the essence of my being. However, should I answer that I would not do that thing because it wastes time or because it damages the Lord’s testimony, my answer would be religious and traditional. Our only reason for doing things or for not doing things should be that we take the Spirit as our essence and thereby live Christ.

When we have the first kind of walk, that of taking the Spirit as our essence, we shall be able to have the second kind of walk toward God’s goal. Day by day, the Spirit will be our pathway. Then we shall walk according to the Spirit, not according to doctrine, theology, religion, tradition, or organization. The wonderful processed Triune God will be our pathway, and we shall walk in Him. Walking by the Spirit as our way, we shall be able to reach the goal and gain the prize, which is Christ Himself.

Life-study of Galatians

Message 40 Walking by the Spirit as the Essence of Our Life and as the Path for our way (LSM)

You can obtain ALL of M. E. Barber’s poems in both Spanish and English at buendeposito.com. . Look under OTROS. then click on Libro de poemas M. E. Barber en PDF. We printed it without copyrights so it can be freely distributed. May the Body be blessed and built up!

Whenever I sing such songs of Margaret, I own a hymn book which contains some of her hymns. but what I keep wondering is that there is no one who has such deeper experience of God like her. and it keeps me praying to the Lord to make me like her, because some people are so accupied with service than the Lord.

Matt. 7:13 Enter in through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter through it.

Matt. 7:14 Because narrow is the gate and constricted is the way that leads to life, and few are those who find it

The Christian life is a life and a living on the pathway of life; as followers of the Lord Jesus we need to enter through the narrow gate and walk on the constricted way which leads to life. The Bible shows us that the way of life is the way of death – when the death of Christ is operating in us, there’s a way for the life of Christ to come out of us. Praise the Lord!

Alongwith every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, I cetrainly love: “NEVERTHELESS THE FOUNDATION OF GOD STANDETH SURE HAVING THIS SEAL: the Lord knoweth them that are his and Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and OF silver, but, also of wood and OF earth… If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the master’s use; prepared unto every good work. ” -II. Timothy 2. 19-21

Today is August 13th, my mom passed away and I played this hymn by her bedside. It reminded me of her life full of difficulties but her faith never waining.

Margaret Emma Barber was a British missionary in China. She was born in 1866 in Suffolk, England, the daughter of Louis (a wheelwright—one who repairs or makes wooden wheels), and Martha (née Gibbs) Barber.

Miss Barber was an Anglican missionary sent by the Church Missionary Society to the city of Fujian, China, where she taught in the Tau Su Girls High School (a school founded and operated by the Church of England) for seven years. She became a peerless missionary so her co-missionaries became jealous of her and fabricated a serious charge against her which caused her to be recalled from the field. Barber was known for her faith. For this reason, Miss Barber decided not to vindicate herself concerning the charges made against her. She remained at home in Great Britain until years later when the chairman of the mission board became aware of the case against her and that it was misrepresented. Persuading her to tell the truth, Miss Barber told him the whole story. She was fully vindicated before the mission board.

While she remained in England, Barber came in contact with D. M. Panton, the editor of the Christian Magazine, the Dawn. Panton was both a student of the Bible and one who began to see that denominationalism was offensive in the sight of God. During 1907, Miss Barber became a member of Surrey Chapel, Norwich, and was also baptized at Surrey Chapel by full immersion. Through her relationship with Panton, Barber also began to see the denominations as something not approved in God’s eyes.

Before the board could send her back to China, Barber resigned from the mission, considering that it was the right time to do so, even though she felt led by God to return to China. She returned in 1909 along with Miss Ballord, another congregant member of Surrey Chapel, not in connection with any mission, settling in a suburb of Fuzhou, with the spiritual support of Panton and the Surrey Chapel Mission Board, Norwich, where Panton ministered. The two women rented a house in Pagoda, Anchorage where Barber lived until her death in 1930. Ballord continued to work in Pagoda Anchorage until 1950 when she returned to England.

Barber lived with little traveling, and no publicity, rather, she was content just to remain at home and pray. She helped those who sought her counseling in seeking after the Lord. One of them was Watchman Nee. Furthermore, Barber lived by faith. She was not guaranteed regular funds from the Surrey Chapel Mission Board and had no outward means of support. One of Barber’s well-known characteristics was her anticipation of the second coming of Jesus Christ. This is evident in the many poems she wrote on waiting for Christ’s return, some of which were later adapted into hymns.

In one account given by Watchman Nee concerning the eve of 1925:

Lord, would you really let the year 1925 pass away? Although it is the last day of the year, I still ask you to come today.

Barber died in 1930, in Anchorage Pagoda of Crohn’s disease. All of her belongings which include a little more than her old Bible with all her notes were left a to Watchman Nee. In the March 1930 issue of Watchman Nee’s periodical, “The Present Testimony, ” they made the following remarks concerning Miss Barber’s departure:

We feel most horrible concerning the news of Miss Barber’s passing away. She was one who was very deep in the Lord and in my opinion, the kind of fellowship she had with the Lord and the kind of faithfulness she expressed to the Lord, are rarely found on the earth.

Her small volume of poems (later changed into hymns) were published later by Miss BalLord (Miss BalLord was her niece) in China. These compositions demonstrate her striving to live “in the Lord‘s presence, “ as well as her eager anticipation of Christ’s coming back.

The first stanza of this hymn shows how she lived her life in the presence of the Lord.

(Angus Kinear ; James Reetzke; Watchman Nee)

This is an example of a very good hymn. The expressions and wording are very poetic, and the feeling is very deep. Everything about it belongs to a higher realm and is lofty and mature. It is rare for a hymn on fellowship to reach such a standard. There is not a tint of unnaturalness or extreme. It is a genuine expression of a genuine lover of the Lord towards Him. It is perfect submission borne out of perfect consecration. It is the voice of submission that comes from the heart of one who has no resistance towards the Lord.

Stanza two is the best stanza in the whole hymn. Here the feeling ascends still higher. “If there’s less of earth’s joy”— the writer is contemplating—“Give, Lord, more of heaven. ”She is praying to God, not for deliverance or for change, but for more fellowship. “Let the spirit praise Thee, / Though the heart be riven. “ Here is a person who can differentiate between the heart and the spirit. The heart may be broken, but the spirit can praise. The heart may be riven, but the spirit is still fresh before God. She knows the difference between the heart and spirit. She does not ask for enjoyment of the heart but for compensation of the spirit. She has begun the ascent, but the next line is still higher. The first line says, “If there’s less of earth’s joy, ” while the fifth line says “If sweet earthly ties, Lord, —break…”These two lines are linked by the word earth. This is poetry. “If sweet earthly ties, Lord, / Break at Thy decree/ let the tie that binds us, / Closer sweeter, be. ” She seeks neither compromise nor escape. She asks only for better fellowship. She jumps from the “sweet earthly ties“ in the fifth line to “the tie that binds us. ” This is lovely. The feeling is fine, the words are right, and the structure is wonderful.

Since stanza two reaches the climax, stanza three turns into a prayer: “Lonely though the pathway, /Cheer it with Thy smile. ”—this is so spiritual and poetic. Selfless may I live, Lord, / By Thy grace to be/ Just a cleansed channel/ For Thy life through me. ” This means that she asks for nothing else except that she would be a selfless and holy vessel to carry on God’s will. This is a prayerful finale of a consecrated person in suffering. If we read this hymn carefully, we will see that this is truly a fine hymn. We have to come to God to learn these hymns and the spirit of these hymns. (Christian Hymns and the Producing of a Hymnbook for Use in the Lord’s Recovery. Lesson 65.)

Today, 92 years ago, Margaret E. Barber passed away in China. This particular hymn shows her utter consecration and love for the Lord. In an excerpt titled “Yes Father” from a biography, it testifies of her ministry while living in a remote village in the South of China.

Why did the Lord so use Sister Barber? What was the secret of her work? Clearly her ministry corresponded to her life. Brother Watchman Nee later explained, “The Lord’s work is only the outflow of life. It is not a matter of working for the Lord, but of letting the Lord work in you. ” She could work for the Lord because she allowed the Lord to work on her and mold her.

She had a heart to love the Lord and live unto Him. Once she was facing a situation that was difficult because the price it demanded involved everything she had. In this situation she lifted up her eyes with tears and said, “Lord! in order to satisfy Your heart I am willing to have my heart broken. “

Another time, Brother Nee asked her about her experiences of obeying and doing the will of God. She said, “Whenever God delays in telling me His will, I find that I still have a disobedient heart and an improper motive within me. ” She learned this through many, many experiences. She often asked Brother Nee “Do you love God’s will? ” She did not ask, “Do you obey His will? ”

One time Sister Barber was disputing with the Lord concerning a certain matter. She knew what the Lord wanted, and in her heart she truly wanted the same thing, but it was too difficult for her. Brother Nee heard her pray, “Lord, I admit that I am not willing to learn this lesson. But please do not surrender to me. Lord, please wait! I will surrender to You. ”

She did not want the Lord to surrender to her and lessen His demands on her. She did not want anything other than to please the Lord. Several months after Sister Barber passed away, someone sent Brother Nee a box of her possessions. Among them was a note with the words: “Lord, thank you for this commandment: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind! ’”

She once said: “The secret to understanding the will of God is that 95% is a matter of submitting to the will of God, and only 5% is a matter of understanding. ” She herself proved to be a person who truly understood the will of God and knew God.

Once Brother Nee brought this question to her. “All in all, did the Lord request more from His disciples than they requested from Him? ” Brother Nee thought that the Lord requested more. Sister Barber answered, “No! we see the outward failures of men; the Lord sees their hidden victories. ” This kind of understanding must have been learned lesson by lesson before the Lord. No wonder she could be so confident and believe in God and could stand so firmly in rejecting the enemy!

One time she was sick for four days in a row. She had no coworkers with her and no money, and even the cook had gone home. She asked God why she was sick. The Lord showed her clearly that the sickness was not from God, but it was an attack from Satan. She told the Lord, “If I am wrong, then the sickness will continue. But if this is Satan‘s attack, then I shall not continue to be sick. “ She had already suffered with a high fever for four days, but she rose up immediately and wrote a hymn whose first line reads, “To the foe my word is always, “No. ” After finishing the hymn she went out to work; the sickness was gone. However God did not only teacher lessons through sickness; He also arranged many other environments to test whether she could always say “yes” to the Father.

Christian Website: The Story (p. 8)

If the path I travel
Lead me to the cross,
If the way Thou choosest
Lead to pain and loss,
Let the compensation
Daily, hourly, be
Shadowless communion,
Blessed Lord, with Thee.