When salvation came to the Gentiles, it was for the purpose of making the Children of Israel jealous - Romans 11:11. This is the reason why the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost, for until Pentecost the Spirit of God rested with the Children of Israel. It was the fact the Presence of God was now with those who were once enemies of God's people, that was to be the cause of Israel's jealousy. Looking back over the Church history there have not been many occasions for the Children of Israel to be jealous. The Holy Spirit has been imprisoned within the structure of man, only breaking free for short periods of time when men were found broken, in submission to God. Of greater concern to myself is the fact that those who claim to have broken free from the structure still struggle to give the Children of Israel, or those within the church structure for that matter, any reason to be jealous. I find that quite a sobering thought, and with this in mind you may like to give serious consideration to the following article. Ed.

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 good 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 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 on 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 honoured and put forward and keep you hidden in obscurity because He wants you 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 of it, but he will make you work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing; and then, to make your work more precious, He may let others get the credit for the work 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 words and feelings or wasting your time, which other Christians never seem distressed over. So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign and has the right to do as He pleases with His own. He may not explain to you a thousand things which puzzle your reasoning in His dealings with you, but if you absolutely sell yourself to be His love slave, He will wrap you in a jealous love and bestow upon you many blessings which only come to those who are fully His.

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, you will have found the vestibule of Heaven.

Maybe when God finds a people who are Fully His we will see His Glory among men; but until that time we fall short of the Glory of God, and it is His Glory in our lives that He most desires.