the real faith charles price

7/29/2019 The Real Faith Charles Price

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THE REALFAITH

CHARLES S. PRICE1940

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CONTENTS

FOREWORD...................................................................iiPREFACE ...................................................................... iii

IN WHICH I CONFESS...................................................1

TILL ALL OUR STRUGGLES CEASE..........................10THE BETTER ROAD....................................................27THE ORIGINS OF FAITH .............................................39STRENGTH FOR THY LABOR ....................................52

YOUR MOUNTAINS ARE MOVED ..............................66GOD WANTS TO MAKE IT EASY................................80IMPARTED FAITH........................................................93FAITH IS A GIFT.........................................................105FAITH IS A FRUIT ......................................................120

THE VESSEL MADE OF CLAY..................................132LIVING WATERS........................................................143

THE LIVING WORD....................................................158


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THE REAL FAITH ii

FOREWORD

The Persistent and ever-increasing demand foran understanding of Real Faith has made thePrinting of this seventh edition necessary.

The inspired simplicity of its message hasbrought new hope and understanding to itsmany, many readers. In desire of Purpose theyhave laid hold on the Promises, with the resultthat union with God through Christ was made,a restful confidence establishedand a fruitful

willing obedience followed. Lives have beenchanged, bodies healed, and for multitudesanew life has begun through the reading of thisamazing book.

With the struggles of misunderstanding gone,this new life in Christ can be experienced, andthe joy of the Lord made real. As He lives bythe Father, so we live by Him!

The faith OF GOD THE REAL FAITH can,and will operate in youfor your good andGods glory.

EVELYN CARVELL


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PREFACE

Charles S. Price was originally from Britain andtrained in law at Wesley College, Oxford. Hehad a conversion experience at a Free

Methodist Mission in Spokane, Washington,under the ministry of Amie Semple McPherson,when he went to her meeting to gather materialto expose her. At a later meeting, he was filledwith the Holy Spirit and spoke in other tongues,which was something he was determined not

to do. From that time on, he became a blazingflame of evangelism and a channel for divinehealing wherever he went. Often more than10,000 people attended his meetings to findout, though, he never wrote about His Restspecifically.

Yet for years Dr. Price was puzzled aboutsomething that has probably puzzled you also:Why were some healed and some were not?After a long and agonizing search he wascertain he had found the answer, and so hewrote his book, The Real Faith, to share what

he had found with those who needed healingbut had not been healed. And what he foundcould be the key to your healing or the healingof a loved one.


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Chapter OneIN WHICH I CONFESS

FOR YEARS I have known something waswrong. What that something was I have now

discovered, as the Holy Spirit Himself hasunfolded before my bewildered eyes a vision ofsurpassing loveliness; and for the first time Ihave beheld new beauty and glories of theLord in the heart of that grace we call FAITH. Icall it a grace, because that is just what it is. In

our blindness of heart and mind, we havetaken faith out of the realm of the spiritual and,without realizing just what we were doing, haveput it in the realm of the metaphysical. An armyof emotions and desires has driven Faith fromthe chambers of the heart into the cold and

unfruitful corridors of the mind.Why have our prayers gone unanswered? Whyare there so many sick, in spite of the fact thatfor them the so-called prayer of faith has beenoffered? Why are our churches filled with thelame and the halt, the deaf and the blind, who

sit listening to sermons on divine healing thatare true to the Word, and true to the promisesof our Lord, and yet are not healed.

More than once I have gone home from somemeeting with the shouts of victory ringing in my


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ears... but I have gone home to weep and cry,out of a disappointed heart, unto my Lord. Thecrowds were shouting because of some whowere healed; but I was weeping because ofthose people who dragged their tired, sickbodies back to their homesjust as needy asthey were before they came into the services.

Was there no balm in Gilead? Was there nocompassion or sympathy in the heart of theMan with the nail prints in His hands? Whywere some healed in such a miraculous way,and others dismissed with an appeal to keepon believing and return later, to go through theformula again?

We must face facts. It is not pleasing to theHoly Spirit to dismiss the evident discrepancybetween theology and experience with a shrugof the shoulders, and refuse to ask for light andguidance on this all-important problem. Only

the truth can make us free from the bondage offears and doubts, and the discouragement thatultimately comes at the end of the road ofdisappointments. The only way to get the truthis to come in sincerity and absolute honesty ofheart and mind to J esus. Our Lord said that HeHimself was the Truth, and as we open thedoor of the heart to Him we make possible thesweet revelations that only His presence canbring.

So I am going to be very, very frank.


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Sometimes, perhaps, almost painfully so. Icannot spread my heart out over these pagesand do otherwise; for never before in myministry as a writer have I been so stirred in myinnermost being as I am now. This gloriousand wonderful truth has flooded my soul, until ithas lifted me in spirit to the gates of the gloryworld. I believe and pray that ere you finish

these chapters, you too will see the gates ofGrace swing open, and your feet will walkdown the paths of Faith to the place where youwill meet your Savior in the garden ofanswered prayer.

I come not as a dogmatist, wearing the robesof infallibility; neither come I as a wielder of thepen of sarcasm dipped in the ink of criticism;but rather as a grateful child of God, to whomthe Holy Spirit has been giving Light on asubject which has been viewed through a glassdarkly in the years that are past. But now,

though the love of

The Giver Of Every Good And Perfect Gift,there has come to me an understanding, inpart at any rate, of the real and genuinemeaning of that beautiful faith of which J esusnot only spoke, but imparts to men.

The revelation has answered my questions.It has solved my problems. It has deepenedmy love for my Lord, and strengthened mysurrender of heart and life to Him. It has


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revolutionized my healing ministry, for it hasrevealed to me the helplessness of self; andthe need of the presence, the love, the grace,and the faith, ofJesus.

So, I want to confess. I want to confess that myheart has been heavy, even when the crowdswere shouting, singing, and declaring victory. I

could see the miraculous cases of the healingtouch of the hand of J esus that weremanifestations of His supernatural power. Howglad I have been for them. They stand today asimpregnable. There are thousands andthousands of these miracles; and they proveconclusively that J esus is really the sameyesterday, today, and forever. Not that weshould rely upon experience to prove theWord, but it is blessed indeed when we cansee manifestations of answered prayer. Yet,from those meetings, I have gone home withthe faces of poor supplicating people haunting

me. I have seen them do theirbest to rise fromthe wheel chair, only to sink back again insorrow and disappointment. I have beenmoved by the groans, cries, and intercessionsaround altars, until they have lingered with mefor days after the services were over.

You have also. In your church there is amultitude of sick and needy people. They lovethe Lordthey are consecrated to Him ... yetthere seems to be such need for a greaterlifting of the physical burdens of life in answer


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to prayer. Ministers of the Gospel have takenme aside scores of times and told me of theirdiscouragements because of their seeminginability to exercise active faith in God. If itwere not for the fact that every once in a whilesome suffering soul reaches though and bringsthe glory down, many of these ministers wouldfeel like running away when requests for

prayer are sent to them. Not that these menare not Gods menthey are! They aredevoted to their calling and to the Lord, butthey stand bewildered before what seems tobe a contradiction between word andexperience.

It does not seem quite right to sing, J esusnever fails, and then watch the sick go outwith their pains, their sicknesses and ailments,after the benediction. It is one thing to dismissthe suppliant with the words, Only Believe;but it is another thing entirely to dismiss that

case from your thought and heart, if you arereally sincerely honest before God. To testify tohealing on the basis of faith or promise, beforeit has happened, is generally unwise, andalways inexcusable, unless the faith is actuallythere. Even when it is there, it is better by far to

be able to testify with the double voice one thearticulate voice of praise and thanksgiving, andthe other the inarticulate voice of the physicalmanifestation itself.

Remember that faith .. . the weight of a grain of


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mustard seed . . . will do more than a ton ofwill, or a mind full of determination. Genuinefaith can no more manifest itself without result,than the sun shine without light and heat.Knowing this, and believing it to be true, whatis it that we have been mistakenly calling faith,because real faith never fails to bring about theresult? In my own heart, I am satisfied that

many of Gods children have failed to beholdthe difference between faith and belief. Tobelieve in healing is one thing; but to have faithforit is altogether something else.

That is why so many needy people, whobelieve, come to the Lord on the basis of Hispromises in the Word and try and try and try toaffirm that they are healed.

OUR DIFFICULTY

Therein has been our difficulty. We have madefaith a condition of mind, when it is a divinelyimparted grace of the heart. Brethren, we havebeen wrong in our attitude and practice overand over again. When the golden sunlight of

Gods great grace and truth floods our heartsand minds, and when by the power of theblessed Holy Spirit we behold the provisions ofHis love; there will be an end to our strugglingand striving, and these lives of ours will be


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wrapped around with the garments of Hispeace. In that happy hour, we shall come tothe realization that we can receive faith onlyas He gives it. No longer will we foolishlyattempt to struggle to believe. Instead of thestorm, on the Galilee of life, there will be asweet and a beautiful calm.

The disciples could have worked themselvesup into an emotional frenzy, trying to still theanger of the tempest. But three little wordsfrom J esus and the wind drops from a screamto a whisper, and the sea whimpers for amoment like a crying child in its mothers armsand then settles down to sleep on the breast ofnature. Three little words from J esus and thewinds and the seas obey Him! The tempestwould have laughed in the face of thedisciples-though they uttered a million words ofcommands and rebukes in the will to believe,for the tempest knew it was greater than they.

Three little words from J esus .. . one touchfrom His hand divine .. . and more isaccomplished in the time of a lightning flashthan all our struggles and mental endeavorscould work in a thousand years. We havemade it difficult, when He wanted to make itso easy. How my heart has bled as I haveseen some poor, needy soul struggling so veryhard to exercise what he thought was faith..,when deep down in my heart I knew it did notcome that way. Moreover, I knew faith did not


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operate in process or in results in the mannerin which he had struggled so long in hisyearning to obtain.

At moments like that it was so hard to sayanything, for it meant the overthrow ofestablished systems and methods. It meant theabolition of certain manifestations which for

years have been needlessly associated withthe exercise of faith. It meant that, havingarrived at the end of the road of honestendeavor without the thing for which we hadprayed and tried and tried to receive, we wouldbe forced to come to the conclusion that therewas something wrong in our attitude of souland mind, or else the victory would have beenwon.

Wherein have we been wrong? Why are thereso many who stand bewildered and perplexedin the midst of their own misgivings, until

perhaps doubt has entered and the gates havequietly closed to the trysting place with J esus,in the garden of the heart.

I think I know the answer! I am sure in my ownheart that I have discovered what has beenwrong. I can see now where so many missed

the way. The only thing to do is to ask theSpirit to lead us back to the fork in the roadwhere, because of our blindness, we left thetrail. Then once again can we walk on theKings Highway of grace and prove in heart


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and experience that the Book is true and thatour J esus never fails. Remember that! If therehave been disappointments and failure, it hasbeen on our part; and not the failure of Himwho today is our advocate before the Fathersthrone.


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Chapter Two

TILL ALL OUR STRUGGLESCEASE

ONE OF THEchief difficulties is our failure tosee that faith can be received only as it isimparted to the heart, by God Himself. Eitheryou have faith, or you do not. You cannotmanufacture it... you cannot work it up. Youcan believe a promise, and at the same time

not have the faith to appropriate it. But wehave formed the habit of trying to appropriateby belief; forgetting the while that belief is amental quality, and that when we try tobelieve ourselves into an experience, we aregetting into a metaphysical realm.

But faith is spiritual ... warm and vital ... it livesand throbs; and its power is irresistible, when itis imparted to the heart by the Lord. It is withthe heart that man believes untorighteousness. Heart belief opens the door ofcommunication between us and the Lord and adivinely imparted faith becomes possible.

Is it nota fact that with most of us ourconception of Faith has resulted in ourstruggling in an attempt to believe? It may bethat, with all our struggling, we have come at


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last to the place where we do believe; and thenwe have been bewildered by the fact that wedid not receive the thing for which we prayed.We must discern that such belief is notnecessarily what the inspired Word calls faith.In later chapters, we shall give you manyscriptures that prove beyond the shadow of adoubt the truth of this alarming statement.

According to the Word of God, all we need isfaith as a grain of mustard seed, and the thingswhich the world calls incredible and impossiblewill be brought to pass. How many timesduring the meetings we have conducted havewe seen the scripture stories of yesteryearenacted again before our eyes!

The seventeenth chapter of Matthew is achapter of contrasts. It climbs to the heights,and then goes down to the depths. It talks ofmustard seed and mountains of despair and

transfiguration; but what a lesson the HolySpirit would bring to you and me on this greatsubject of faith through its priceless words.Down from the mountain top of transfigurationcame our blessed Lord. Down from the gatesof heaven itself, where the glory breezeskissed His cheek and the angels wrappedaround His shoulders the robes that had beenwoven on the looms of light. Down from aplace of holy communion and encouragementto the place of human defeat and perhapsdespair; for at the foot of the Glory mountain


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was a valley, and through it wound a trail ofhuman bewilderment.

There was sickness there. A crushed andbleeding heart was there. A father who hadmet an obstacle that had crushed him in spiritand in heart was there. Preachers were there,too. They had gone through the formula. They

had rebuked the devil. They had shouted andgroaned just like we have done a hundredtimes, and yet the things for which they prayedhad never happened. Even as with you andme.

THEN J ESUS SPOKE

Then Jesus spoke! 0 glorious words ofomnipotence! Matchless words of authoritydivine! With Him there was no struggle. There

was no groaning, and no battle that was fierceand long, to bring about the answer to abroken fathers prayer. He spoke. The devilfled. A happy boy, cuddled in his fathers arms,sobbed his gratitude to God. A happy fatherembraced his boy and looked with tear-stained

eyes of love and adoration at the face of theMan before whom devils fled.

Then again J esus spoke! In answer to theirquestion regarding their defeat, he said:Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto


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you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustardseed, ye shall say unto this mountain,Remove hence to yonder place; and it shallremove; and nothing shall be impossible untoyou. What a statement! All we need is faith asa grain of mustard seed and mountains willtremble in fear as we approach.

Do you realize what J esus was saying? Hedeclared that the least amount of faith that Hecould give was greater and mightier than thelargest amount of the power of the devil. Herewas a David and Goliath experience in therealm of the soul. A mustard seed went tobattle against a mountain and slew it; but it hadrequired the faith that He alone could impart asa gift.

Did those disciples believe? Yes they did. Theybelieved in J esus. They believed in Hispromises. They believed in divine healing, or

never would they have held the healingmeeting that day. Believing just exactly like youand I have believed in healing services and inour church meetings, they prayed andimportuned; but nothing happened. What theyneeded, according to J esus, was faithnot acarload of it, but just a little faith as a grainof mustard seed. That would be enough! Thatwould be all that was necessary . . . if it wasreally faith.

When a woman in one of my congregations


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one night told me that she had all the faith inthe world for her healing, I regretted to have totell her that if I had faith as a grain of mustardseed .. . just that much of my Masters faith . ..what greater miracles would have beenwrought in the mighty name of J esus thatnight!

Let us face the issue squarely. Let us withopen, surrendered hearts ask the Holy Spirit tosend forth the Light and Truth to lead us tothat Holy Hill. Is it not evident that when wehave prayed what we thought was the prayerof faith and nothing happened, it must be thatwhat we thought was faith was not faith at all?Did J esus say that faith, as a grain of mustardseed, would work some times and not atothers? Did He declare that it would beoperative on occasions and inoperative atother times? Read the text. His declarationwas clear, concise, and plain. There was

nothing ambiguous about it. It was a plainstatement of fact from the lips and heart of theeternal God Himself; and who can speak withgreater authority than He?

Whenever and wherever this faith is inoperation, we shall no longer be standingaround poor, sick folk hour after hour,rebuking, commanding, demanding, struggling,and pleading as in the days of yore. There maybe a place for intercession, but it is not in theexercise of faith. Intercession and groaning of


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the heart may precede the operation of faith;but when Gods faith is imparted, the stormdies down and there is great calm and a deepsettled peace in the soul.The only sound willbe the voice of thanksgiving and praise. Thefull realizationthat it was not our ability tobelieve that made the sickness go, but ratherthat the faith which is of God was imparted

wilt steal over our soul. Then it is morning -glorious morning in our soul. We can believe inthe morning... we can love in the morning ...we can have confidence in the morning .. .butonly God can send the morning. Lie alone canmake it. We can believe in healing. . we can

believe in our blessed Redeemer and Hispower to heal .. . but only He, the Lord J esusChrist, can work the work which will lift us tothe mountain peaks of Victory.

THE TRUE WAY

The mistake with many people has been thatthey have confused their own ability to believefor the faith which is of God. To sit down andrepeat over and over, I am healed, I am

healed, I am healed, is not only unscriptural,but extremely dangerous spiritually. I admitthat such a spiritually unsound proceduremight help a few neurotics, but it would neverremove the mountains of which the Master


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spoke. How well do I remember the crippledman in a wheel chair, whose case would bestillustrate scores of others whom we havecontacted from time to time. Around him weregrouped a dozen people who were doingeverything in their power to get him out of thatchair. There were prayers and tears mixed withcommands and rebukes; and every sincere

effort was being put forward to get him to walk.

When I talked with him quietly, he told me withsuch deep sincerity that he had been trying sohard to believe. He informed me that he hadhad lots of faith but now was bewildered andperplexed as to what to do. I soon discoveredthat he had been entirely wrong as to whatfaith really is. He had thought that he would behealed if only he could believe that he washealed.That was what he was struggling andtrying to do.

He believed the promises of the Word. Hebelieved in the power of J esus to accomplishthe miracle. He believed so many, manythingswonderful and glorious to believe inthese days of doubt and fearbut he wastrying to do the impossible. He was staking theworking of the miracle on his ability tobelieve mentally that it was done.

I told him the story of a visit I once made to thehouse where J esus turned the water into wine.I told him of how the Holy Spirit spoke to this


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unworthy heart of mine as I stood before thosepots. I asked him if he believed the Bible storyof the miracle which the Master did in Cana ofGalilee. He told me that he did. As my thoughtsturned back to that afternoon in Cana, I felt thewarm glow of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

This is the lesson I received that day. Though

the mother of J esus, as well as the disciples,was there, would that water have turned intowine if they had merely believed that it waswine? It required the command which left thelips divine! It required the touch of the hand ofGod Himself. They could fill the pots withwater; they could fill them to the brim. Theycould carry them to the appointed place. Theycould do the things He told them to do; for

He never asks men to do the impossible. Thatpower He reserves for Himself.

All things are possible with God. But Mark

(9:23) tell us, If thou canst believe, all thingsare possible to him that believeth. The beliefthat J esus is speaking of here is not headbelief or mental acquiescence, but that heartbelief which is faith. This is proved by theaccount which Matthew gives of the story of

the lunatic boy, to which we have alreadyreferred. In the account by Matthew, J esussaid, If ye have faith as a grain of mustardseed; while in the narrative recorded by Mark,If ye believe. So the belief of Mark and the


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faith of Matthew are identical. That is mypoint. That is what the Spirit of God has beencausing my poor eyes to behold. That faith isnot intellectual, but spiritual. It is primarily ofheartnot of mind. Genuine, scriptural faith isnot our ability to count it done, but is the deepconsciousness divinely imparted to the heart ofman that it is done. It is the faith that only God

can give.

So I told my story to the old man in the wheelchair. Did you ever see a flower open to thesmile and kiss of the morning sun? I saw onethat day, as I looked into the face of the dearold man. Home he went to patiently wait untilsome angel voice would whisper in his soul thenews that J esus of Nazareth was passing byon the J ericho Road of his life.

A few nights later he was back in his wheelchair. I met him. I am going to walk tonight,

he declared. His eyes, there is no need of thedarkness, when the sun has come up over thehill; no need for the struggle between darknessand light, that we call the morning twilight, afterthe rays of sunshine have kissed the earth! Outof his wheel chair he got and walked the lengthof the altar; then down on his knees inadoration, praise and worship, to pour out hisgrateful heart in thanksgiving for the heartbelief, or faith, that comes only from God.


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THE MASTERS VISIT

The postman has just been to my door. He lefta letter that I want you to share with me. It isthe story of a woman who was crippled beyondany I have ever seen in the many years I havepresented my Lord as the Savior of the soul

and the Healer of the body. When first I sawher, she begged piteously for prayer. Sheasked me to heal her. I could not ... and I knewit. I might have gone through a series ofcommands, rebukes and pleadings ... but I didnot. I was just a disciple at the foot of the

mountain; and I knew that we both needed ourLord to come down.

I believed in J esus, and His power to raise thefallen. I believed His promise, and I stood onHis word. But as I looked into the face of awoman who had crawled on her hands for ten

years, and who was helpless from the waistdown, my heart told me that I needed morethan just to believe she was healed. I neededthe impartation of that faith which supersedesreason; I needed that spiritual quality of heartbelief, which no mental affirmations of mind

could ever bring about. I knew that was whatshe needed too.

So, I pleaded with her to contact J esus. Ibegged her to wait patiently for the Lord. Herhour would come. I felt it in my heart. I knew


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that J esus never fails. But, oh how many times,we prevent His working by our foolishendeavors to do what He alone has power toaccomplish. So day after day, her husband andfriends carried her to the meetings. Day afterday she sought the face of the Lord. Night afternight they picked up her helpless body andplaced it before the old wooden bench where

prayer was wont to be made.

The days passed. In spirit she climbed thetemple steps into the tabernacle of the Lord.She passed by the altars of surrender andsacrifice, and one night she entered into theHoly of Holies. What a night! It was Sunday.Healing was not on the program which hadbeen printed by human hands. But God workswonders when J esus of Nazareth passes by;and the Holy Spirit can make us rise above ourforms, rituals and plans.

A beautiful spirit pervaded that Sundayevening service. Down at the altar, where shehad been carried by her husband, she reclinedto pray, for she could not kneel. Then J esuscame. He gave her a vision of Himself. Shesaw Him at the end of a road. He smiled. Shewas conscious of faith flowing like a riveracross the fields of her heart. Before ithappened, she knew it! How, or why, she couldnot tell; but she knew that there had been adivine infusion of the Faith that is the Faith ofthe Son of God.


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At that very moment, the Savior imparted HisFaith to my heart too. I turned to the Methodistminister on the platform and said, Tonight weshall see the glory of the Lord. We did. As thehand of the Lord was laid upon her, shestraightened out. Her shriveled limbs grew tonormal size faster than it takes to tell it. Shestood to her feet! She walked! No need to be

carried now, except in the loving arms ofJ esus.

Down to the foot of the cross streamed sinnersto seek a Savior! The building rang with thepraises that come from happy hearts, and therafters resounded with the message:

Only J esus, only J esus,Only He can satisfy.Every burden becomes a blessing,When I know my Lord is nigh.

ONLY J ESUS

The reason for telling this story is that I wantyou to see the difference between human effortto believe, and the faith that is the gift of God.

How much better, and more scriptural, it is towait until J esus of Nazareth passes by andspeaks the word of faith to the needy heart,than to mistake our belief in healing f or thefaith which He alone can give.


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Frankly, the day they first brought that poor,helpless woman for prayer, I was aware ofthree things. I knew she did not have faith; Iknew I did not have the faith; and I knew thatonly J esus had. So quite evidently our missionwas to draw close to J esus. It is our privilege totake our troubles and our cares to Him inprayer; and within our heritage is the right to

draw apart from the world into the sacred placeof communion, where heaven comes down . . .our souls to greet ... and glory crowns theMercy-Seat.

That is what we did! We could have set ourminds and our wills to work right then andthere. We could have commanded, exhortedand entreated. .. and she could have struggledto rise, as others have done, in the Power ofwill instead of in faith. But no . . . there is abetter and sweeter way. It is Gods way! It isthe Bible way. It was a long way for the

nobleman to walk from Capernaum to Cana;but after he met J esus, he never regretted the

J ourney.

It may be that the trail will be steep overconsecration mountain and through the valleyof the yielded heart; but hope will give strengthto our feet and, as we walk with J esus in theway, the toils of the road will seem nothing; forHe and He alone is the giver and imparter ofthat faith which is able to remove mountains.


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I should like to share with you our sistersletter:

Dear Brother Price:

Laurel, Ontario October12, 1940

Christian greetings! Oh, hallelujah, the joy bellsare ringing in my heart because of Jesus!

As the time draws near to another anniversaryof the great miracle Performed upon my body,the thoughts and the warmth of my husbandsheart and mine, go out to you in a very specialway. Thank God, the blessed Christ came tous and manifested His Power and presence soPreciously to us, that evening, October 19,1924.

What good measure He gave us! He saved mysoul as well as healed my body, using you asHis disciple. Truly I was in a Pitiful condition,was I not, Brother Price? I was in great need

both spiritually and physically. Spiritually,1thought I was saved, but was really sort of onthe fence, having too much of the Lord to enjoythe world, and too much of the world to havereal joy in the Lord.

Through your Preaching the full gospel, the

real joy of the Lord came into my heart, alsomy husbands to abide with the assurancethat our many sins were washed away inJesus cleansing blood. Physically well, youpretty well know my condition in that respect,


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as you could see for yourself my helplessnesswhen I was taken into your meetings, not beingable to walk or stand, or even let my feet reston the floor in the usual way when sitting in mychair. Ten long years of helplessness, beingcarried in the arms of my faithful husband, withcontinual suffering; and then, Jesus againwalked the Jericho Road, and came my way in

your meetings. Oh yes, you have heard me tellof it many times, but I want to tell it to you yetagain. The story never becomes stale to myhusband or me, because you see it is Jesus.Dear Jesus!

My heart overflows as I talk to you of it, and thetears are flowing too, for Jesus love melts medown in praise and thankfulness before Him.Yes, Jesus heals sick bodies today! Keep ontelling the good news, Brother Price, for thereare so many sick and afflicted ones all aboutus. Gods word tells us that Jesus healed the

lame, the blind, the lepers, and all manner ofdiseases, when He walked this earth manyyears ago, and we do know that He does thevery same in the days in which we live. Hisflower has not lessened. Those bleeding,healing stripes He bore at Calvary are

Saturday, October 19, 1924, Jesus put meupon my helpless feet and enabled me to walkwithout an ache or a pain; and sent me on myway rejoicing, and truly my husband and I havebeen rejoicing ever sincein Jesus! Sixteen


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years of health, strength and activity. I havebad some real tests in my body during thoseyears, broken bones and different trials of faith,but I want to tell you once again, even thoughyou so well know it, the Promises of God holdfast and sure. Our God gets all the glory, forneither my husband nor I have ever used theslightest remedy of any kind since Jesus so

undertook for us at Paris, where we found thegreat Healer in those gospel meetings.

In thankfulness and praise to Jesus, we againwish to thank you, Brother Price, for the partyou had in the great work. Like Paul, you werenot disobedient to the heavenly vision, for youdid not compromise in any way, but declaredthe whole truth, not leaving out that Jesusheals the sick today.

My husband and I are so well in body, all gloryand p raise to Jesus our physician. Never any

need for pills or liniment flaw; the promises aresufficient. Hallelujah! Jesus never, never fails.

We continue to Pray for you. May you ever beguided by the Holy Spirit, and anointed fromabove for even greater service than in Pastyears, to proclaim the unsearchable riches of

Christ.How the Holy Spirit warms me as I write andthe power of God thrills and fills me. Hallelujah!Jesus lives! How do we know? Thank God,because He lives within.


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Cordial Christian love to you all, from your everthankful friends in Jesus.

Brother and Sister Johnson


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Chapter Three

THE BETTER ROAD

I BELIEVE there is a difference between the

faith of the Old Testament under law and thefaith of the New Testament under grace. Thekey word of Pauls epistle to the Hebrews isbetter, and this is particularly interesting inthe light of the fifth chapter of this remarkableletter. He is trying to get them to see the truthof Christianity by contrast. He does not

abrogate the past, but shows them thatChristianity grew out of J udaism just as theflower grows out of the root.

Hidden away in the ritual of the root was thecolor, the fragrance, and the beauty of theflower of grace that was to come later. Was notthe flower better than the root? Was not theend better than the beginning? Was not theblood of Christ better than the blood of thelamb on J ewish altars slain? Was not J esusbetter than the angels who had visited theirfathers from time to time in memorable days of

their national history? Was not the voice ofGods Son better than the voice of theprophets?

This then was the heart throb of the Epistle.


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When he comes to the faith chapter, is thereany reason for his departure from the purposeof the letter, and the motive of the epistle? Ithink not. The theme is still better, and thepurpose is to show the beauty of the faith of

J esus in comparison to those works and wordsof the patriarchs and prophets which werecounted unto them as faith. It was the faith of

that day. It was the faith for that time.Remember that Paul closes that faith chapterwith the words, God having provided somebetterthing for us, that they without us shouldnot be made perfect. In other words, the actsand testimonies of the ancients were held up

like pictures in a gallery for the Christian J ewsto behold and admire. There was the story ofAbel and Enoch. Noah, Abraham, Sara, Isaacand J acob were framed in a picture ofobedience to the divine word. Then there cameMoses and J oshua, followed by a grand

parade of the illustrious of the days of old,before J esus was born in the stable ofBethlehem. But J esus was born nowandFaith in the old days was manifested by wordand deed in obedience to command. But thereremains more. The word and deed are only apart, and a small one at that, of what the New

Testament teaches us that faith really is. Ofcourse, there will be work, and there will betestimony. But that alone is not faith. Not New

Testament faith, at any rate!


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In this connection, it is interesting to note that ifyou turn back to the Old Testament account ofthe lives of the men and women introduced inthe eleventh chapter of Hebrews, the wordfaith is never mentioned in connection withtheir lives at all. The word faith occurs in theOld Testament only twice, and in one of thoseinstances it is prophetic and in the other is

used in a negative way regarding the unbeliefof a wicked generation. The two passages areDeuteronomy 32:20 and Habakkuk 2:4.

So we must come then to the unmistakableconclusion that Paul is not holding up the livesof these illustrious Patriarchs as a pattern forthem to follow, but rather as the excellentbeginning in Gods will of some thing morewonderful which they were to discover in

J esus. The faith they were to possess was alltheir fathers had and more.Seeing that theywere surrounded by such a great cloud of

witnesses, they too were to lay aside weightsand sins and run with patience the new racewhich was set before them. They were to dowhat? Look to J esus who was theAuthor andFinisher of their faith.

If He was the Author and the Finisher of theirfaith, and the faith of Paul, then He is theAuthor and Finisher of my faith too. In otherwords, all true faith begins and ends in Him. Itdoes not say that He is the Author and theFinisher ofHis faith alone, but it states that He


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is the Author and Finisher ofmy faith and ofyours.

FAITH AND PRESUMPTION

There is nothing before the Alpha and nothing

after the Omega. He begins it, and it begins inHim. He ends it and it ends in Him. When Iwant it, I must seek His face! I cannot get itanywhere else, but from that matchless One ofwhom it is said, He is the Author and theFinisher of our faith. Not of His alone but of

yours and mine.Have we made the mistake, after looking at theeleventh chapter of Hebrews and seeing whatthey did then, of rolling up our sleeves to showand prove our faith by what we do? Have youever done that? If you have, then you have

stood in bewilderment at what seemed to beunanswered prayer and the inoperative powerof what you thought was faith! Remember thatfaith acts, but the act comes from the faith,rather than faith from the act. That is why it isvery easy to step over the border line from the

Faith God imparts into the realm ofpresumption. This was illustrated to me in avery clear and wonderful way some time ago.

In Victoria, B. C., some years ago, I wasentering the Metropolitan Methodist Church in


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company with a few ministers. At the door ofthe edifice we saw a kindly old lady beingtaken out of a truck in a wheel chair. I raisedmy hat and gave her a God bless you. Tearswelled up in her eyes as she replied, He hasbeen blessing me, Dr. Price. He is so kind andgracious, and I can feel His presence now.

Have you come for healing? I inquired.Yes, I have, she replied, and praise Hisname, I know the waters are troubled. J ustthen the truck driver leaned over and said,Shall I come back, lady, to take you homeafter the service?

She had traveled a good many miles, and theonly way to get her home in a wheel chair wasby truck, for the chair was too large for anautomobile. She hesitated. Then a light cameover her face as she replied, No, I am notgoing to need a truck. I will leave my wheel

chair behind and go home on the train. Thedriver scratched his bewildered head andgrinned at what he thought was a foolishwoman. Away he drove. And she did not needhim! She went to her house rejoicing, and shewent on the train!

I told that story in a meeting I conducted in theMiddle West. The next day a lady sent amessage that she would like to see me for amoment in her cottage. I found her lying on acouch with a group of people around her who


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were singing a hymn. She looked up at me andsaid, Brother Price, I have sent the wheel chairhome. She waited for a shout from me. Nonecame. Instead my heart fell. There was no faithand I knew it. She discerned I did not enthuseover her act, so she turned away from me andsaid, If God can do it for one woman, He cando it for another.

When I left the building that night she wasagain the center of a group who were insistingthat she arise and walk; but she went awaysorrowful. Of her the Lord could say, There isone thing thou lackest. The two acts were justthe same. Two wheel chairs were sent home.In one case it was faith; and in the other itwas presumption. In New Testament faith theact can be born of faith; but faith cannot beborn of the act. The act can come from faith,but the faith must come from God.

This, then, is the betterway of Pauls epistle tothe Hebrews. This is the purpose and themotive back of what we call the Faith Chapterof the Book. Have you not stood in amazementbefore the unfolding benevolence andgenerosity of the Lord? Do you not know thatno good thing will He withhold from them thatwalk uprightly? Have you a need? Take it to

J esus. Have you a problem? Lay it at theMasters feet. Begin to trust Him, and as yougive Him your confidence and trust, you willfind His Faith will become operative in you.


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Why play with the teacup of our struggles andendeavors when His faith is as boundless asthe ocean?

He is no respecter of persons. He loves theweakest and the simplest of us all, but webecome so important in our own eyes and soproud of our spiritual accomplishments that our

testimonies display only the righteousnesswhich is vainly of self. He looks at ittherighteousness which is filthy rags! We need tocome in the guileless spirit of little children:come with the bells of love pealing in the belfryof our hearts! It is useless to wait until we feelwe are worthy, for that we will never be. Comeas a little child to the One who in the days ofold set a little one in the midst of them and saidto the Pharisees, Except ... ye become as littlechildren, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom ofHeaven.

Steal away softly to J esus. In this day of grace,the faith for the Christian can be found only inChrist; but in our blessed Lord you will findsufficient for all your need. What Noah hadwas good, but what we have is better. Noahhad Gods Word, but we have Gods Son.Noah built on Gods Word, but our foundationis J esus Himself. So we find it in the whole ofthat remarkable chapter a recitation of Godsglory manifest in the acts of men who believedGod and who walked the walk of obediencewith Him. One of them, named Enoch, went for


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a walk with Him one day and forgot to comeback. When the faith which is of God came toearth in the form of the Son of God, Paul wasconstrained to say to the Hebrews, That wasthe old faith, but here is the new. That was thegood way, but this is the better.

A STORY OF MULLER

Christ was to be all in all. And the love of theFathers heart is shown in the fact that He isnot only able, but willing to meet our every

need. I have been reading the life of GeorgeMuller. Pastor Charles Parsons tells of anexperience with Muller in the following words:

A warm summer day found me slowly walkingup the shady groves of Ashley Hill, Bristol. Atthe top there met my gaze the immense

buildings which shelter over two thousandorphans, built by a man who has given theworld the most striking object lesson in faith ithas ever seen.

The first house is on the right, and here,among his own People, in Plain, unpretentious

apartments, lives a saintly Patriarch, GeorgeMuller. Passing through the lodge gate, Ipaused a moment to look at House No. 3before me, only one of the five erected at acost of$600,000.


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The bell is answered by an orphan, whoconducts me up a lofty stone staircase, andinto one of the Private rooms of the venerablefounder. Mr. Muller has attained theremarkable age of ninety-two. As I stand in his

He received me with a cordial handshake, andbade me welcome, it is something to see a

man by whom God has accomplished a mightywork; it is more to hear the tones of his voice;far more than either to be brought intoimmediate contact with his spirit, and feel thewarm breath of his soul breathed into onesown. The communion of that hour will beforever graven on my memory.

I have read your life, Mr. Muller, and noticedhow greatly, at times, your faith has been tried.Is it with you now as formerly? Most of thetime he leaned forward, his gaze directed onthe floor. But now he sat erect and looked for

several moments in my face, with anearnestness that seemed to penetrate my verysoul. There was grandeur and majestyabout those undimmed eyes, so accustomedto spiritual visions and to looking into the deepthings of God. I do not know whether thequestion seemed a sordid one, or whether it

touched a lingering remnant of the old self towhich he alludes in his discourses. Anyhow,there was no shadow of doubt that it rousedhis whole being. After a brief pause, duringwhich his face was a sermon, and the depths


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of his clear eyes flashed fire, he unbuttoned hiscoat, and drew from his pocket an old-fashioned purse, with rings in the middle,separating the character of the coins. Heplaced it in my hands, saying: All I ampossessed of is in that purseevery penny!Save for myself? Never! When money is sentto me for my own use, I pass it on to God. As

much as 1,000 has thus been sent at onetime; but I do not regard these gifts asbelonging to me; they belong to Him, whose Iam, and whom I serve. Save for myself? I darenot; it would dishonor my loving, gracious, allbountiful Father.

The great point is never to give up until theanswer comes. I have been praying for fifty-two years, every day, for two men, sons of afriend of my youth. They are not converted yet,but will be! How can it be otherwise? There isthe unchanging Promise of Jehovah, and on

that I rest. The great fault of the children ofGodis, they do not continue in Prayer; they donot persevere. If they desire anything for Godsglory, they should pray until they get it. Oh,how good, kind, gracious and condescendingis the One with whom we have to do! He has

given me, unworthy as I am, immeasurablyabove all I had asked or thought! I am only apoor frail, sinful man; but He has heard myPrayers tens of thousands of times, and usedme as the means of bringing tens of thousands


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into the way of Truth. I say tens of thousandsin this and other lands. These unworthy lipshave proclaimed salvation to great multitudes,and very many have believed unto eternal life.

Thus spoke George Muller. Thus spoke a manof our times, for I was in Bristol as a boy whileMuller was yet alive. Thus spoke a man who

had learned the lesson that waters come fromthe fountain and that flowers come from theroot. He had learned that the faith of Godcomes only from God and that nowhere elsecould it be found. He learned that He who wasso free in the grace of giving would teach Hisdisciples how to be efficient in the grace ofreceiving. When he needed money, he wentnot to the man who had it, but to the Christwho had the power to speak to the heart of theman who had it. His faith came because of hisdaily, vital contact with his Lord; and being inthe will of God, he was given more than

enough for every need.

Men used to call him the nineteenth centuryapostle of faith. I suppose he must have heardthat said about himself. I wonder if he everread the eleventh chapter Of Hebrews. Iwonder if he ever became conscious of the factthat men were adding his name to the roll ofthe heroes of faith. If he did, I think he musthave smiled when he came to the

last verse of that eleventh chapter of Hebrews


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and read,

God having provided something

better for us. And he must have found whatthat better was when only two short scriptureverses away he found the words, Lookingunto J esus, the author and finisher of ourfaith.

So go to J esus now. Learn to trust Him, that

He might impart His faith! Acquaint Him withyour need. Tell Him of your sorrows. Then, inthe sanctuary of His presence, you will find restand freedom from the noise and worries whichbeset you from without and within. The RealFaith

And His that gentle voice we hear,Soft as the breath of even,That checks each thought, that calms eachfear,

And speaks to us of Heaven.


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Chapter FourTHE ORIGINS OF FAITH

I HAVE A very decided dislike for negativepreaching and writing. It is not sufficient for a

speaker or author to discuss the disease, butto satisfy my soul and mind, he must give methe cure. It is easy to point out what is wrong,but I want to know what is right. Sometimesthat is a little more difficult than one wouldsuppose. However, when at last honest

mistakes have been rectified, and we are backon the paths of truth, it may be that in theprovidence of God the wrong trail will have leftus a heritage of blessing.

Many years ago I was on one of my periodicvisits to the mountain ranges which border on

the rocky coasts of Alaska. A visitor to this landof the Great White Silence had been lost, and Ihad told him of the trail which would take himback to a valley where he could get hisbearings. After a lapse of two hours he wasback at my camp. He told me he was confused

and completely turned around; and asked me ifI would kindly travel with him until he was sureof his direction. I did, for it is a dangerous placein which to wander alone, unless one has aknowledge of the country and its trails. Weeks


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later I received a letter from the grateful fellow,in which he said among other things, To knowyou are on the right road is a fine thing; but toreturn to it, after being on the wrong one,multiplies its blessing.

How true! It is after the rain that we appreciatethe bursting buds and delicate greens of the

early spring. After the storm clouds weappreciate the calm of a sky-blue day. Ifthrough these pages I can lead those dearchildren of God, who have not seen the full fruitof the victory of faith, back to the clear teachingof the Book and to ultimate victory, then thisheart of mine will be happy and these pages,written in prayer, will not fail in their mission.

The thing above all else I want you to see isthat you can not generate it; you can not workit up; you can not manufacture it. It is impartedand infused by God Himself. You can not sit in

your homes and struggle to have faith, andaffirm that something is; nor can you turn yourhope and desire into faith by your own power.

The only place you can get it is from the Lord,for the Word clearly and distinctly states thatfaith is one of two things. It is either a gift ofGod, or it is a fruit of the Spirit.

We are told in Pauls Epistle to the Corinthians,Now abides faith, hope, and love; but thegreatest of these is love. While love might bethe greatest, it certainly is not the first. It must


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be preceded by faith. Look out of your windowat yonder tree. What a thing of symmetry andloveliness it is! Only God can make a tree.

There is beauty in its twisted branches. Thereis loveliness in its trembling leaves. Every leafis a little world unto itself, with its tiny veinscarrying the life that God supplies, which givesit all it possesses in its native realm. Yet there

is something back of the tree. Beneath thesurface of the ground there is a great systemof roots hidden away. You never behold them;yet without them the tree would die. It wouldhave no life at all.

FAITH IS THE LIFE

The roots are ugly and hard in comparison tothe beautiful greenery above the ground. Yetthe greenery is there partly because of thoseroots. Now, let us call the top of the treeLove. You can see it. You can contact it. Youcan enjoy its fragrance. You behold its beauty.It is there because of something which is backof itsomething hidden away that causes it.

That something is the roots. Now you expect

me to say that those roots are the roots offaith. No! Faith is the life that flows into theroots. It is that mystical quality that only Godcan produce and give. There are roots youcould plant which will never, never grow.


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You, yourself, and your inner nature are thoseroots. Your senses, your avenues of approachto the expressions of life itself are buried belowthe surface where people cannot see them. Allthe world beholds is what you produce and notyou yourself. What did J esus mean when Hesaid, By their fruit ye shall know them? Yeshall know them.The fruit produced is an index

to what the tree really is.

Let me repeat. The roots of the tree are notfaith. The roots do not produce the life, but thelife produces the roots. It is the life that is faith.It is that wonderful and glorious quality which isa gift of the divine heart, and which sustainsus. This life, or faith, will be manifest to theworld by the fruit we bear; by the arms of loveoutstretched; by the things of grace and beautywhich through God are manifested day by dayon the tree of our lives.

How foolish it would be for that tree to strugglein an attempt to create the life which flows intoit. It need not struggle. All it needs to do is tofunction in obedience to the laws divine. As thelife is there, it simply manifests that life in thefruit it bears, and the beauty with which itendows the world.

So it is with faith. Love may be the greatestthing in the world, but faith must of necessitybe the first. Without faith it is impossible toplease God. But you tell me that you have


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faith. I ask you where you got it. I pick a rosyapple from a tree. I hear it testify from the coreof its little apple heart. It tells me it has rosycheeks. It whispers in my ear that it is so verygood to the taste. It invites me to taste itsflavor. It testifies that it has so many noble andbeautiful qualities. Then I ask it where it gotthem all.

From the branch? The shelter of the leaves,the rain and the sun? Yes, all true; but I knewthat way down in the hidden system, which youcan not see, the roots were receivingsomething from God that no tree on the face ofthe earth has ever been able to produce ofitself!

THE ATHEIST AND GOD

Some time ago an atheist sat in a meeting Iwas conducting. He was extremely hard andcynical. He lived alone in the room of a hotel,and his solitude had only added to his hard,critical, unbelieving nature. I preached thatnight on the subject Comprehending the

Incomprehensible. I declared that it waspossible to believe the unbelievable; to knowthe love of God that passes knowledge. Thefollowing morning he came to my room andasked for an interview. He was rather


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argumentative and I told him, while I did nothave time for argument, I would be glad toanswer any sincere, honest question which hemight put before me.

He said, I have no faith whatever. I do notbelieve the Bible, and I do not know if there bea God. I do see a law of order in nature and

the universe, but what causes it, or where itcame from, I do not know. Now, Dr. Price, yoursermon last night was a challenge to mythinking. What I want to know is this: How cana man spend a dollar when he does not haveone? How can you drive a car when you do notpossess one? How can you believe when youhave no belief? How can God expect a man toexercise faith when he does not have any(assuming there is a God)? Where is there

justice in a set-up like that?

Are you an honest man, and do you want to

know the truth?What is truth? was the reply. What brand ofit do you mean? I have never been able to findit, although I have spent a lifetime in search ofit.

On the wall of my apartment was hanging a

picture of J esus in the Garden of Gethsemane.His hands were clasped and His eyes wereraised toward heaven in prayer. I walked overto that picture and looked at it for a moment ortwo without speaking. I intuitively knew he


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would be looking at that picture too. When atlast I turned to face him, I said, He is Truth.He is the Way. He is your Life and Faith. Hehas in abundance what you say you do nothave. You have been trying to get it out ofmind, thought, and intellect. He can put itthere, as the river of His grace flows thoughyour heart. That is why He came. He came to

make men free. . . free from doubts like yours.. . free from fears and misgivings . . . free fromunbelief and free from sin...

Sounds like a fairy story to me, heinterrupted. Fine if you can believe it, but howcan man or God expect a man to believe whathe can not believe?

He went away. A week later he came to meand offered his hand. When I looked at hisface, I knew the miracle had happened. Intohis heart there had come not only the

conscious knowledge of sins forgiven, but amanifestation of the sweetness and love ofGod which had made him a new creation inChrist J esus. As in the Millennium, instead ofthe briar shall come up the myrtle tree, so inthis mans life there had sprung up theevidence of the Indwelling Presence of God.

Do you know what happened? he said. I toldthe Lord to manifest Himself, if He was there. Iasked Him to do something which would revealHis presence, if He was there at all. I became


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conscious that He was near me. I realizedthere was a Godthat there was a soul tosave. I did not understand it with my mind, but Iknew it in my heart. Then I told Him I had nofaith to believe, so He gave me His faith, and Ibelieved. The work was done.

Why not? That is Gods way of salvation. As

many as received Him, to them gave He powerto become the Sons of God, even to them thatbelieve on His name. When I give an altar call,I invite every man, and every woman, tosurrender his heart and life to Christ. If we aresaved by Faith, how do I know that all canhave the faith to receive? How do I know thatevery one whom I invite can find eternal life?Some might have faith, and others be entirelydevoid of it. The fact that people believe whatyou say does not mean that they have the faithto translate that belief, or even heart hunger,into an experimental knowledge of sins

forgiven.

Nevertheless, I cry, Whosoever will maycome, because I know that He will impart thefaith which is needful to every sincere heart. Ihave quoted the twelfth verse of the firstchapter of J ohn: But as many as receivedHim, to them gave He power to become theSons of God, even to them that believe on Hisname. Let me quote the next one. Thus doesit read:


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Who were born (that is, born again) not ofblood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the willof man, but of God.

The same Holy Ghost who convicts the sinnerof his sin will see to it that as the sinner wasgiven enough conviction to convince him of hissin, so he will now be given faith enough to

convince him of his salvation. But no man inhimself possesses that faith. Are we not toldBy grace are ye saved, through faith; and thatnot of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Poor,wretched, miserable, ignorant, unbelievinghumanity could nevergrow or develop in suchcorrupt hearts of unbelief faith enough tobelieve in a Savior, let alone receive Him. Sothe Holy Spirit not only imparts the convictionof the need of a Savior, but also imparts thefaith to receive Him.

Never think it was your faith that received

Christ as your Savior. Never say that any act ofyours was the basis of your redemption. It isJ esus who imparts the water of which Hespoke to the woman by Samarias waysidewell. It is J esus who puts His arms of lovebeneath the burden on your back and lifts itfrom your tired, weary body. It is J esus whopours into the lacerated, broken heart the oil ofheavens joy. It is J esus who smoothes thewrinkles of care with the gentle touch of amothers hand, and it is J esus who brings youout of the darkness of the night into the light of


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His own glorious and wonderful day.

Oh, it is Jesus; yes, it is Jesus;Yes, it is Jesus in my soul;For I have touched the hem of His garment,

And His blood has made me whole!

Sing it and shout it. Proclaim it and herald it

near and far. His bloodHis graceHispowerHis pardonHis faith!

A LIVING FAITH

When will we stop our foolish and needlessstruggles and begin to believe? When will weput an end to our unscriptural mental andintellectual gyrations in our attempt to find afaith we do not possess; for unless we get itfrom God, never will we possess that Faith! Weare capable of belief and at the same timeabsolutely incapable of the exercise of Biblefaith. Thousands have wandered into the errorof thinking that belief is faith. it is not.There isbelief in faith, without a doubt; but the devilsalso believe. Belief is coldintellectual. It

operates as far as the human goes in therealms of intellect. Many sinful men believe theBible, but such belief does not save them.

Faith is living. It moves and operates, and


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sweeps the enemies of the soul before itsirresistible march. All the faith in the world? No!

You need only as much as a grain of mustardseed, if it is Gods faith! Then mountains will beremoved. Your sin-sick soul will behold theglory of the Lord. But it must be Gods faith. Itmust come from Him. He must impart it. AndHe will. That is the Gospel of Grace which I

believe.

The J ericho Road withoutJ esus is the J erichoRoad. With Him it is the shining highway ofsalvation and healing. Its very rocks cry out Hisglory. Without Him its dust is sordid, its tearsare real, and its blindness is so dark; but withHim its dust begins to grow the flowers ofgrace and glory; its tears are turned to pearls;its blindness and darkness is turned to light. Ittakes the presence of J esus to work themiracle of the transformation of the J erichoRoad.

The blind man did not sit in the sand and sayto himself, I am healedI can seeI canseenow if only I can believe I am healed andcan see, then I will be! No. He heard that

J esus of Nazareth was passing by. He cried,J esus! J esus! Help me! Please help me, for Ican not help myself! Then do not forget thewords of J esus, What wilt thou that I shoulddo unto thee? Mark you, it was not What wiltthou that you should do, but What do youwant Me to do?


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True, He said. Go thy way; thy faith hathmade thee whole. Thy faith, said J esus.Where did the blind man get it? Who gave it tohim? If it was his faith all the time, why was henot healed before J esus came that way? If yougive me a watch, it is my watch. But I got itfrom you. There is faith in my heart as I write,but I know where I got it. Not affirmationnot

from willnot from beliefnot from mentalgrasps or understandingsbut from J esus. Heis the Author and Finisher of our faith. Oh,matchless grace! Oh, love divine, all loveexcelling! Thus has the joy of heaven to earthcome down!

Once upon a time there was a tiny little seedplanted in the ground. It was an acorn. After awhile it shed its little overcoat and cuddledaway in the arms of mother nature, so that itmight be fed and grow. All though the longwinter night she kept that little seed warm; and

when the springtime sun came out, its littleacorn heart burst open with joy and delight. Itstarted to grow. Then a man came along andput a big heavy rock over the little seed. Itcommenced to worry and to fret for fear itwould never be able to raise its little head to

where it could see the light of day. It wanted towear a garland of leaves for its hair, and togrow to be beautiful and strong.

One day its feeble hands touched the rock.They were such tiny, tender, little hands. The


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little growing tree felt so helpless. It did notstruggle or try to move the rock which was theenemy of its heart and life. It just grew. Oneday the rock was lifted. It was pushed out ofthe way; and the little leafy hands clapped for

joy. Who lifted the rock? The seed? No! It wassomething within the seed which no man in theworld has ever been able to reproduce. It was

Gods power that pushed over that rock.

My friend, you area little seed. You, too, cangrow into something noble and beautiful forGod. The power of faith can be manifested inyour life until men and angels will wonder.However, when the battle is over and thevictory has been won, do not say, Look atwhat I have done through the Lord, but ratherkneel at the foot of the cross and say, Is it notwonderful that His grace and His faith shouldbe manifested in me!


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Chapter Five

STRENGTH FOR THY LABOR

THE ONEoverpowering impulse which has led

me to write these words is the desire in myheart to show you the necessity of relying onand trusting in J esus for all the needs of yourlife. How many times in life we see the tragedyof the collapse of the Christian who has to bebrought low in order that he might once againrecognize his true position in the grace of God.

Self-righteousness is often born of continuedvictories. Because we overcome by Godspower and are sustained by His grace, thefeeling begins to develop in the heart that wehave reached a position of impregnability; andpride starts to feed the spirit of self-

righteousness. We become so sure ofourselves and our position that we are ondangerous ground indeed. Let him that thinkshe stands take heed lest he fall. (I Corinthians10:12).

At the disposal of the consecrated child of God

there has been placed the resources of thatstrength which God alone can provide. It is therecognition of the miracle of that vital contact,with its illimitable possibilities, that meansvictory over sin and self as we travel along the


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homeward trail. Lose that contact and you losenot only the hope, but also the possibility of avictorious life. You are dependent upon J esusfor everything. He gives freely. Whether or notyou avail yourself of the opportunities, whichHis presence offers, is dependent entirely uponwhether or not you have learned the secret ofdrawing on the masters strength

Go back in the pages of the Sacred Word andget a glimpse of this stupendous revelation inGods dealings with Abraham the faithful. Thefirst verse of the seventeenth of Genesis bringsus into an understanding of the faithful purposeof the divine heart in a lesson so beautiful thatmen must stand in awe, and angels mustwonder. The faith of Abraham was beingtested. God had made a promise. Never in allof time or eternity did He make one He wasunable to fulfill! From the loins of the ancientpatriarch was to come the seed through whose

life and service all the nations of the worldwere to be blessed. Numberless as the stars ofthe firmament was to be his progeny. Uponthat child was to be placed the hand of theLord in benediction and in power.

Night after night the old man dreamed of thehappy day when that promise would befulfilled. But the sands in the hour-glass on themantel measured the passing of time. The lazyyears drifted by and oh, how long andinterminable they seemed. The boy did not


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come. Old Abraham was ninety, but still nofulfillment of the promise divine. Ninety-five,and still Sara and her husband waited in vain.

Then came the year in which he lookedforward to the turning of the century. He wasninety-nine; and yet there was no boy. Reasoncommenced to whisper things of fear in his

ear. The ground began to tremble beneath theold mans feet. His faith began to slip. Up tothis time his walk had been perfectnot inselfbut in his Lord. He was getting miserablenow. I presume more than once he had lookedup at those same stars which he had seen onthe night in which God had given him thepromise; and the misty tears spreadthemselves like a film across his vision, untilthe

stars seemed to dissolve in a sea of sorrowand disappointment. Reason said, Abraham,

this thing is impossible. He thought of Sarasage. He pondered over his own advancedyears. How could this thing be? And yetandyet there was that promise! Long and fierceraged the battle in the old mans heart andmind. But there was the promisefrom GodHimself.


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EL-SHADDAI

One night a voice spoke to Abrahams heart.He knew that voice. He lifted up his eyes inweakness and listened with his failing ears tothe awesome intonation of the Voice which hadspoken to him years before. Then God spoke:

~I am the Almighty God; walk before me, andbe thou perfect. What words! I am told thatmany J ews refuse to mention that majesticname of God, El-Shaddai, but refer to thatword as The Name. What does it mean?

The word El means

God, or The StrongOne. Abraham might be weak, but God wasstrong. Men might be moved by the power ofcircumstance and the iniquitous forces of life.But God never. He is the Strong One. But whatgood does that do us? Suppose God is strongwhile we are so weak? To sit in our weakness,

misery, and The word Shad is the Hebrew forbreast. It is used invariably throughout theOld Testament for the breast of a woman. It isthe place from which baby lips derive the foodthat gives them strength. There is no sweeterpicture on earth than that of a little child in its

mothers arms. There is no symphony morebeautiful than her babys laugh. It is part of thatmothers life; flesh of her flesh and bone of herbone. The life of the mother flows into thebabe. Her strength, love, solicitude, and care


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all flow into the life and body of the sweet littlebundle that is a part of her. Thus an eternalGod wrapped up an infinite truth in thevocabulary of earth and gave it as a gift toAbraham and to you and to me.

What God meant was Draw from Me,Abraham. I am your strength. I am your

sustenance. I am El, the Strong One, but I amalso Shaddai, the Nourisher, and the Life-Giver. There is no need for you to falter,Abraham, no need to tremble and shake inyour faith. Draw for your weakness from thefountain of my strength, even as a babe drawsfrom his mothers breast the milk of life. Noneed to stumble over unbelief, Abraham, but~~walk before me and be thou perfect, thussaith the Lord.

That is the lesson. God is the source, theunfailing source, of the supply that is more

than sufficient for all our need; of grace tocover all our sin; love that pardons all ouriniquity, stripes that are sufficient for all ourhealing; strength for all our weakness. Webelieve that; but herein we have failed. Webelieve that God gives it, but we have notlearned how to receive it. The mother gives themilk to her babe, but the little one must receiveit. The infusion of the divine strength andnature is dependent upon two things: yourknowledge that God is willing to give, and yourlearning how to receive. As unfailing as the law


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of the seedtime and the harvest; as irrevocableas the marching of the days and nights in theirorder is the great truth that God is alwaysready to meet your every need, if only you areready to receive.

Praise His Name, He is still El-Shaddai! Doesnot Paul admonish us to become partakers of

the divine nature? Has God Himself not toldus, My grace is sufficient for thee? Back of allour vainglorying, our miserable spiritual prideand abhorrent self-righteousness is the Godwho loves us and gave Himself for us, and wholongs for us to learn the lesson of drawing fromHim all that we need for every moment ofevery passing day.

WHO?

Back yonder we see Elijah sitting in defeat andspiritual disgrace. He has quit. He of the lionheart has been beaten on the battlefield of thesoul; and that after he bad faced an army!

Then something happens. We watch him as hegoes for forty days and nights without food,

unto Horeb, the mount of God. In whosestrength did he go? Who told David to advancein his natural weakness against the giantGoliath of Gath? Who guided the stone whichsped unerringly on its way? Who gave his arm


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the strength, and his heart the courage? Whopushed down the walls of J ericho; and Whoslew the host of Sennacherib when the Syriancame down like a wolf on the fold?

Who delivered Israel, and Who led them in theexodus? Who opened the prison doors forPeter and Who pulled back the curtains of

glory for Stephen, and gave him grace to prayfor his murderers? Who dried the tears ofMartha and poured oil into the broken heart ofMary?

Who was it saved our guilty souls, when weknelt at the foot of the cross? Who turned our

darkness into day? Who stands by our sides atthis moment, ready and willing to give graceand glory? Who has strength for ourweakness healing for our sicknesspowerfor our trialsfreedom for our slaveryandgrace sufficient for every need? Who can it be,

but J esus?El-Shaddai still speaks to the hearts of menand, of a truth, we can still sing, Strength forthy labor the Lord will provide. Reader, drawupon His Life. Take the grace He so freely andgladly imparts. He is more than sufficient for

your need, and it is possible to walk beforeHim and be perfect, not in self, but in Christ. Iknow whereof I speak.

It has been my privilege to be called by myLord to preach His gospel over the earth. The


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greatest joy of my life is to win souls, as Heleads me and gives me strength for the task.Many of the campaigns run from eight to tenweeks, and sometimes the body gets veryweary. One night I was sitting in an office in acorner of the tabernacle, feeling tired and atthe end of my endurance. Out in the auditoriuma great crowd was waiting for the service to

begin, and through the thin boards I could hearthe murmur of people at prayer. Then the dooropened. A minister stood there and said,Brother Price, there are about five hundredpeople here tonight who expect to be anointedin the name of the Lord for healing.

Five hundredand I did not have the strength Ineeded to preach. Then there was thatmultitude to meet in the name of my Lord. Inmy heart I felt for a moment like running away.

Then I wondered if I could dismiss the sick andtell them to come back some other night. I

looked through a crack in the wall, and there Isaw the poor sufferers waiting for a poorhuman like me to come and tell them of J esus.Suddenly my nerves seemed to go to pieces. Idropped to my knees on the floor and wept.Oh, J esus, I cried, I cant. I have not the

strength. I am so weary and tired. I want to,Lord, but I am not equal to this task.

Then I heard that still, small voice in the depthsof my heart. You have no strength ... Why nottake mine? For a moment I thought, could


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this be real? Why not? Did not the Lord giveHis strength to people in the olden days? Whynot now. Thank you, Lord, I said as I waitedfor what He would do. Then I felt a warm glowcome over this body of mine. I walked out onthe platform. Many times I preach from notes,but not that night. There was no weariness, nofatigue; nothing but the conscious knowledge

of His strength.

In faith I assured the sufferers that all would bereached that night. When the midnight hourcame, I was still laying these unworthy handsof mine upon human heads, in the name of theLord J esus. The power of the Lord was presentto heal them, because the Lord Himself wasthere. Then came the last one. I prayed;pronounced the benediction; and went home.As I was about to retire, I became consciousagain of a great weariness. But I was not tootired to drop on my knees and thank Him for

what He had done that night. He was still El-Shaddai. I knew that He had imparted Hisstrength to meet my weakness. He will meetyour weakness too. He will meet your everyneed, and no good thing will He withhold fromthem that walk uprightly.

One great requisite for the reception of thestrength that He can give is that you feel yourneed of that strength. Our trust in Him ispersonal confidence; and when we come onthe basis of His merit, He gives to us His faith.


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We do not look at J esus, but unto Him. Somany follow Him afar off.They look at Him; butare not near enough to look unto Him. They lagbehind while they dissect creeds, handledogmas, contend with others aboutinterpretations, and lose thereby thesweetness of His presence.

Two men once came to me with a controversialquestion, and asked for my opinion regardingit. I listened to their statements; and when theyhad finished, I had to acknowledge that I didnot know the answer. So I said, Brethren, theimportant thing is not what you believe, but inwhom you believe. You will perhaps at first beinclined to disagree with that statement on theground that what you believe is of tremendousimportance. Yet, when at last you reach theportals of home, you will not tell the angelsthat you climbed to heaven on the rungs of theladder of creed, but you will testify that you are

at home because of the One who died for Youon the Cross of Calvary.

WHICH WOULD YOU BE?

Have you then learned the lesson of drawingon J esus for the needs of your life? Have youfound the sweetness of abiding in the Lord?Have you come to the realization that after all


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you area miserable failure? Have you come tothe place of the consciousness of your greatneed, and your pitiful lack of strength withwhich to overcome? Would you not rather be inthe shoes of the Publican on the temple stepsthan in the shoes worn by the Pharisee whofelt so strong in his righteousness and soproud of his deeds? Only as we decrease can

J esus increase.That means to decrease in ourself-life, in our self-esteem, and in our self-confidence.

The house which was built on the sand feltproud of itself, until the wind began to blow andthe tempest to rage.

Christ can be your all in all, not only in thepicture that is framed in the border of abeautiful theology, but also in practice andreality every moment in every day of thepassing years. He invites you to prove Him. He

admonishes you to test Him. Why be emptywhen you can be full to overflowing? Why behungry when you can be fed? Why wander likea lost child on the desert wastes of life, cryingbecause you know not the way of yourtomorrows? Better by far it is to put your handin His and hear the whisper of His voice divine,Follow me; Ill guide thee home.

Then the thing, undreamed of in any ArabianNights of fiction, becomes real in Christ. Thedesert turns into a trail of flowers; and the heart


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throbs pull at the bell ropes of heaven until themusic of the skies is heard again by mortalears. The rocky hills are but the paths whichlead upward to a transfiguration trysting place,together with the saints; as we love Him, wholeads and guides us, more and more withevery step of the way.

Ob, Soul of Mine, boast not nownor ineternity of your accomplishments in thoughtand deed. The star of feeble service seemsdim indeed in the light which streams from theCross. The labor of our human hands isforgotten as we look through our tears at thehands that were wounded on the Tree. Thetitles and degrees we bear in pride will hangtheir heads in shame, when they behold theinscription at the head of the Cross. The thingswe have done will seem so small incomparison with the things which He has done.How wonderful His leadership! How marvelous

His grace! How far beyond the reach of themind which has not been illumined by thepower of the Holy Spirit is the truth that hereand now He is willing to impart more thansufficient to meet our every need. He will do itnow. He is still El-Shaddai, the God Who is

Enough.Ata recent camp meeting an elderly ladylistened to the truth set forth on this printedpage. She was so very sick! Over and overagain she had been anointed; over and over


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again to no avail. At the end of the service Isaw her sitting quietly, but the expression onher face told me of the conflict within. Suddenlyshe clasped her hands in prayer and said soappealingly, Oh J esus, I have tried so longwith this poor faith of mine. Please give mesome of yours. He did!

That is the secret of Christian victory. That isthe secret of overcoming. Laying your burdensat His feet to leave them there and neveragain carry them around like an old worn-outgarmentis the confidence the Lord desiresthat we enjoy. That is the message of the GodWho is Enough. Enough for whom? Why, foryou, of course. Enough for when? For now, ofcourse. That is the provision of El-Shaddai!

Then as you march daily along the trail of timeto the portals of eternity, you will be consciousof heaven on earth. As you draw nearer andnearer to the day when you can tell the angels

you are coming, the songs of grace and glorywill resound throughout the country of thehomeward trailHis presenceHis strengthHis powerHis loveI-us faithHis graceand you will find yourself singing as onwardand upward you go

All the way my Savior leads me, Cheers eachwinding path I tread, Gives me grace for everytrial, Feeds me on the Living Bread.

When my spirit clothed immortal Wings its


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flight to realms of day, This my song throughendless ages, Jesus led me all the way.

Oh, the wonders of El-Shaddai, the Enough!God Who Is


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Chapter Six

YOUR MOUNTAINS ARE MOVED

THE BETHANY ROAD twists and winds

around the shoulders of the Hill, mounting inone direction higher and higher, until it comesalmost abruptly to the walls of J erusalem. Inthe other direction it coils downward toward thenarrow defile and the rocky, inhospitablecountry which stretches away to the plains ofGilgal and the Dead Sea. One day J esus and

His disciples were walking along that road ontheir way to J erusalem. J esus was hungry.

That hardly seems possible, and yet He was.

Imagine God being hungry in a world in whicheverything that grew was there because of Hisown creative genius and power. But J esus wasalso human. When He left His throne and Hiskingly crown, it was to share with men the joysand sorrows and even the problems ofeveryday life. He not only knows all about ourtroubles, but He shares them with us, too.

On the hillside was a fig tree full of leaves. TheMaster and His disciples approached that treeto see if there were any figs thereon. It hadnothing but leaves. No fruit hung on itsbranches. No figs presented themselves to the


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eyes. It was a fig tree without figs. So the Lordcursed it and declared that no man in thefuture would ever eat of its fruit, for never againwould it bear any. Now why did J esus do that?He knew there were no figs on it before everHe approached it. If He could see Nathanielunder the fig tree when he was out of sight,could He not see figs in the fig tree, if any had

been there?

J esus never did things without a purpose.There was a motive back of all His words andworks. There must have been a meaning in theincident. There was a lesson He wanted tobring to the disciples then, for

the real faith charles price

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