Seriously determine to find out [experientially] what it is to enjoy God, and to have communion with Him.

Long for it, that you shall never lose your longing. Pant after it; God understands the rhetoric of your breathing as well as your cry. “If,” says Augustine, “I desire nothing else but thee, I beseech thee Father, let me find thee; if I do desire anything superstitious, do thou thyself cleanse me, and make me fit to see thee.”

Christians, rouse up your spirits!

What is it that makes you so low spirited, as to have the least contentment in the greatest enjoyment this side of heaven? You have a promise that your knowledge shall increase, from the morning of regeneration to the noonday of glory.

What hinders you? Is it fears? … God the Father bids you to cast your cares on Him; “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness of it” (Ps 24:1), and He knows what things you need. Christ bids you to bring your doubts to Him. Do you have any doubt that Christ cannot answer? … Surely He has done and suffered enough to persuade you of His willingness.

Be persuaded to walk closely with God.

Act in faith, and strengthen it with obedience, that you may be able to say, “Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee” (Ps 73:25).

—Samuel Annesley

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