The ministry of the interior - Chambers, Oswald

I have set watchmen upon thy walls, o Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that are the lord s remembrancers, take ye no rest, and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make jerusalem a praise in the earth. Isaiah 62:67 (rv )

and the lord said unto him, go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. Ezekiel 9:4

do i know anything experimentally about this aspect of things? Have i ever spent one minute before god in intercessory importunity over the sins of other people? If we take these statements of the prophets and turn the searchlight on ourselves, we will be covered with shame and confusion because of our miser- ably selfish, self-centred Christianity.

How many of us have ever entered into this ministry of the interior where we become identified with our lord and with the holy spirit in interces- sion? It is a threefold intercession: at the throne of god, Jesus Christ; within the saint, the holy ghost; outside the saint, common-sense circumstances and common-sense people, and as these are brought before god in prayer the holy spirit gets a chance to make intercession according to the will of god. That is the meaning of personal sanctification, and that is why the barriers of personal testimony must be broken away and effaced by the realisation of why we are sanctified not to be fussy workers for god, but to be his servants, and this is the work, vicarious intercession.

One of the first lessons learnt in the ministry of the interior is to talk things out before god in soliloquy tell him what you know he knows in order that you may get to know it as he does. All the harshness will go and the suffering sadness of gods spirit will take its place, and gradually you will be brought into sympathy with his point of view.

There is an advocacy of holiness which was never born at Calvary, it is the resuscitation of the pharisaic spirit dressed in the garb of pentecostan insufferable superiority. The spirit of god must have a deep indignation at the preaching of holiness that is not the holiness of Jesus. The holiness of jesus is the most humble thing on earth.

When god puts a weight on you for intercession for a soul don’t shirk it by talking to him. It is much easier to talk to him than to talk to god about him much easier to talk to him than to take it before god and let the weight crush the life out of you until gradually and patiently god lifts the life out of the mire. That is where very few of us go.

When god brings a burden to you never allow it to develop into carnal suspicion. In the ministry of the interior all we have to do is simply to take the matter before god and be made crushed grapes until the holy spirit produces such an atmosphere that the one who is wrong cannot endure it. That is gods method, and we interfere by using our own discernment. The knowledge of where people are wrong is a hindrance to prayer, not an assistance. I want to tell you of the difficulties so that you may pray intelligently. The more you know the less intelligently you pray because you forget to believe that god can alter the difficulties. Howbeit when the son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? (rv). Which one of us would god stop at and say, that one is my remembrancer (rv )? Or would he have to say, that one is serving a conviction of his own, he is not my servant at all?

. . . Greater works than these shall he do; because i go unto the father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will i do.