say, with the beginnings of a feeble faith, even before you claim it, begin
even intellectually to say: "It is for me; I do believe that. God does not
disinherit any of His children. What He gives is for every one. I believe
that blessed life is waiting for me. It is meant for me. God is waiting to
bestow it, and to work it in me. Glory be to His blessed name! My soul says
it is for me, too." Oh, take that little word "me," and looking up in the
very face of God dare to say: "This inestimable treasure--it is for me, the
weakest and the unworthiest; it is for me." Have you said that? Say it now:
"This life is possible to me, too."

And then comes the next step, and that is: "I can never, by any effort of
mine, grasp it; it is God must bestow it on me." I want you to be very bold
in saying, "It is for me." But then I want you to fall down very low and
say, "I can not seize it; I can not take it to myself." And how can
you then get it? Praise God, if once He has brought you down in the
consciousness of utter helplessness and self-despair, then comes the time
that He can draw nigh and ask you, "Will you trust your God to work this
in you?" Dearly beloved Christians, say in your heart: "I never, by any
effort, can take hold of God, or seize this for myself; it is God must
give it." Cherish this blessed impotence. It is He who brought us out, who
Himself must bring us in. It is your greatest happiness to be impotent.
Pray God by the Holy Spirit to reveal to you this true impotence, and that
will open the way for your faith to say, "Lord, Thou must do it, or it
will never be done." God will do it. People wonder, when they hear so many
sermons about faith, and such earnest pleading to believe, and ask why it
is they can not believe. There is just one answer: It is self. Self is
working; is trying; is struggling, and self must fail. But when you come to
the end of self and can only cry, "Lord, help me! Lord, help me!"--then the
deliverance is nigh; believe that. It was God brought the people in. It is
God who will bring you in.