In the early days of my personal relationship with Jesus Christ, I remember receiving this poem from a friend. It helped to challenge, shape, and encourage me for the journey ahead. Even as I review it today, it still carries the potency it had the day I read it for the first time. It’s a little long, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave any of it out. I pray you enjoy it and discover the treasure I received that day. It’s called “Others May You Cannot” and the Author is unknown.
If God has called you to be really like Jesus He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility, and put upon you such demands of obedience, that you will not be able to follow other people, or measure yourself by other Christians, and in many ways He will seem to let other people do things which He will not let you do.
Other Christians and ministers, who seem very religious and useful, may push themselves, pull wires, and work schemes to carry out their plans, but you cannot do it, and if you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.
Others may boast of themselves, of their work, of their successes, of their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing, and if you begin it, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.
Others may be allowed to succeed in making money, or may have a legacy left to them, but it is likely God will keep you poor, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, namely, a helpless dependence upon Him, that He may have the privilege of supplying your needs day by day out of an unseen treasury.
The Lord may let others be honored and put forward, and keep you hidden in obscurity, because He wants to produce some choice fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade. He may let others be great, but keep you small. He may let others do a work for Him and get the credit for it, but He will make you work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing; and then to make your work still more precious He may let others get credit for the work which you have done, and thus make your reward ten times greater when Jesus comes.
The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch over you, with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings or for wasting your time, which other Christians never feel distressed over. So make up your mind that God is an Infinitely Sovereign Being, and has a right to do as He pleases with His own. He may not explain to you a thousand things which puzzle your reason in His dealings with you, but if you absolutely sell yourself to be His love slave, He will wrap you up in Jealous Love, and bestow upon you many blessings which come only to those who are in the inner circle.
Settle it forever then, that you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, and that He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that He does not seem to use with others. Now, when you are so possessed with the living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous, guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, then you will have found the vestibule of Heaven.
Awesome poem!!!!! This blog will encourage others to follow Christ “at His Word” and you are the vehicle he will use. AWESOME!!!!!!
What about one “woman’s” voice? Just kidding!
This is wonderful and I thank God for giving you the courage to speak, because He has given you much to say. Thank you, my friend, great poem.
What a powerful poem! Thank you for sharing in its fullest form. I can see how this poem has shaped who you are and how you lead others. I’d be curious to learn which parts of the poem resonate more with you than others. Look forward to many future posts, Pastor David!
I want to thank your friend for giving you that poem, and I want to thank you for sharing it with all of us…It is so fitting that the author is listed as unknown….(smile)
If the poem is representative of what onemansvoice.org will proffer, i totally have anticipitory goosebumps, and will visit the sight in a quotidian fashion.
It is not about ego, or self. It is not about flesh, or pride.It is about letting go of all of that, and turning towards/drawing closer to a God that is so much greater than all the details we get caught up with.
I look forward to growing, and learning from this blog. Thank you for taking a risk, and acting out of love.
Amanda
Jenny, Thanks for your comments.
I guess the parts that resonate most would be the first and the last two paragraphs. There’s nothing more fulfilling than knowing you belong to God in your entirety and His love for you exceeds any love you can give Him in return. I especially like the last line – probably thought about that one the most.
Yes, finally Pastor Branker wisdom available to the public! I look forward to reading some more.
I remember you saying in one of your classes that “others may, but you cannot.” That phrase has stuck with me ever since and has been passed on to multiple people. And also John 17:4. I lost track of how many people I shared that with.
That was a really good nugget to the staff.
This post reminds me of something I got early on in my walk that has served as a good, periodic reminder.
Dying to Self
I’ve been struggling in the pass month with trusting God in an area of my life.
This morning in my prayer time I was studying on what faith is, and one of the scriptures I can across was the one that says, “We walk by faith”. after studying that out, I realized that God would help me one step at a time to trust him in that area of my life. That at each step I needed to trust him for the next step. So when i read this portion of the poem: “a helpless dependence upon Him, that He may have the privilege of supplying my needs day by day out of an unseen treasury.”
I cried for 5 minutes uncontrollably. It was such a sweet confirmation from God that it was overwhelming. And I knew that this trial I am in is about a helpless, total dependancy on Him.
Thank you