God, and effectual for its work on souls,
and to be a joy and a strength to ourselves, we must be holy. The will
of God must first live in us, if it is to be done by us.

How many faithful workers there are, mourning the want of power; longing
and praying for it, and yet not obtaining it! They have spent their
strength more in the outer court of work and service, than in the inner
life of fellowship and faith. They truly have never understood that
only as the Master gets possession of them, as the Holy Spirit has them
at His disposal, can He use them, can they have true power. They often
long and cry for what they call a baptism of power. They forget that the
way to have God's power in us is for ourselves to be in His power. Put
yourself into the power of God; let His holy will live in you; live in
it and in obedience to it, as one who has no power to dispose of
himself; let the Holy Spirit dwell within, as in His Holy Temple,
revealing the Holy One on the throne, ruling all; He will without fail
use you as a vessel of honour, sanctified and meet for the Master's use.
Holiness is essential to effectual service.

_And service is no less essential to true holiness._ We have repeated it
so often: Holiness is an energy, an intense energy of desire and
self-sacrifice, to make others partakers of its own purity and
perfection. Christ sacrificed Himself--wherein did that sacrifice
consist, and what was its aim? He sanctified Himself that we might be
sanctified too. A holiness that is selfish is a delusion. True holiness,
God's holiness in us, works itself out in love, in seeking and loving
the unholy, that they may become holy too. Self-sacrificing love is of
the very essence of holiness. The Holy One of Israel is its Redeemer.
The Holy One of God is the dying Saviour. The Holy Spirit of God makes
holy. There is no holiness in God but what is most actively engaged in
loving and saving and blessing. It must be so in us too. Let every
thought of holiness, every act of faith or prayer, every effort in
pursuit of it, be animated by the desire and the surrender to the
Holiness of God for use in the attaining of its object. Let your whole
life be one distinctly and definitely given up to God for His use and
service. Your circumstances may appear to be unfavourable. God may
appear to keep the door closed against your working for Him in the way
you would wish; your sense of unfitness may be painful. Still, let it be
a matter settled