The Inner Chamber and the Inner Life

From the earliest ages God's servants have thought of the morning as the time specially fitted for the worship of God. It is still regarded by all Christians both as a duty and a privilege to devote some portion of the beginning of the day to seeking retirement and fellowship with God.

"Next to receiving Christ as Saviour, and claiming the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, we know of no act attended with larger good to ourselves or others, than the formation of a diligent resolution to keep the morning watch, and spend the first hour of the day alone with God."

At first sight the statement appears too strong. The act of receiving Christ as Saviour is one of such infinite consequences for eternity, the act of claiming the Holy Spirit is one that works such a revolution in the Christian life, that such a simple thing as the firm determination to keep the morning watch hardly appears sufficiently important to be placed next to them.

If, however, we think how impossible it is to live out our daily life in Christ as our Saviour from sin, or to maintain a walk in the leading and power of the Holy Spirit, without daily, close fellowship with God, we soon shall see the truth of the sentiment. Because it simply means the fixed determination that Christ shall have the whole life, that the Holy Spirit shall in everything be fully obeyed.

The morning watch is the key to the position in which the surrender to Christ and the Holy Spirit can be unceasingly and fully maintained.