They Found the Secret began as a series of twenty articles written for Christian Life magazine
Excerpts taken from "They Found the Secret"
By V. Raymond Edman
They Found the Secret began as a series
of twenty articles written for Christian Life magazine
that were gathered together in a book in 1960.
Introduction
Every now and then we come across a life
that is radiant, revealing a richness, a warmth, a triumph
that intrigues and challenges us. The details of their experiences
[in this book] are usually quite different yet as we listen
to their stories and watch their lives, either in our reading
or in our contact with them, we begin to see a pattern that
reveals their secret. Out of discouragement and defeat they
have come into victory. Out of weakness and weariness they
have been made strong. Out of ineffectiveness and apparent
uselessness they have become efficient and enthusiastic.
The pattern seems to be self-centeredness, self-effort, increasing inner dissatisfaction and outer discouragement, a temptation to give it all up because there is no better way, and then finding the Spirit of God to be their strength, their guide, their confidence and companion--in a word, their life.
The crisis of the deeper life is the key that unlocks the secret of their transformation. It is the beginning of the exchanged life.
What is the exchanged life? Really, it is not some thing, it is some One. It is the indwelling of the Lord Jesus Christ made real and rewarding by the Holy Spirit.
It is new life for old. It is rejoicing for weariness and radiance for dreariness. It is strength for weakness and steadiness for uncertainty. It is triumph even through tears and tenderness of heart instead of touchiness. It is lowliness of spirit instead of self-exaltation and loveliness of life because of the presence of the altogether Lovely One.
Said the Savior: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." We find newness of life in Christ by receiving Him as our own Savior from the penalty of sin. Abundance of that life we find by surrendering self and drawing on the unfailing resources of the Almighty. There is life and there is life more abundant. This is the exchanged life.
From a multitude of witnesses throughout the centuries I have chosen just a few by way of illustration. The pattern of their experiences is much the same. They had believed on the Savior, yet they were burdened and bewildered, unfaithful, and unfruitful, always yearning for a better way and never achieving by their efforts a better life. Then they came to a crisis of utter heart surrender to the Savior, a meeting with Him in the innermost depths of their spirit; and they found the Holy Spirit to be an unfailing fountain of life and refreshment. Thereafter life was never again the same, because in one way or another they had learned what the apostle Paul had testified: "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." New life had been exchanged for old.
I have deliberately chosen witnesses of diverse personalities and backgrounds. God is no respecter of persons! The details of their experience of the crisis of the deeper life are delightfully different; yet their testimony to the reality of the joy and power of the Spirit-filled life is unanimous. Nowhere in Scripture are we taught to seek experience. Rather, the Word says, "Seek ye the Lord." It is He who satisfies the longing soul. He is the secret of the exchanged life!
The pattern seems to be self-centeredness, self-effort, increasing inner dissatisfaction and outer discouragement, a temptation to give it all up because there is no better way, and then finding the Spirit of God to be their strength, their guide, their confidence and companion--in a word, their life.
The crisis of the deeper life is the key that unlocks the secret of their transformation. It is the beginning of the exchanged life.
What is the exchanged life? Really, it is not some thing, it is some One. It is the indwelling of the Lord Jesus Christ made real and rewarding by the Holy Spirit.
It is new life for old. It is rejoicing for weariness and radiance for dreariness. It is strength for weakness and steadiness for uncertainty. It is triumph even through tears and tenderness of heart instead of touchiness. It is lowliness of spirit instead of self-exaltation and loveliness of life because of the presence of the altogether Lovely One.
Said the Savior: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." We find newness of life in Christ by receiving Him as our own Savior from the penalty of sin. Abundance of that life we find by surrendering self and drawing on the unfailing resources of the Almighty. There is life and there is life more abundant. This is the exchanged life.
From a multitude of witnesses throughout the centuries I have chosen just a few by way of illustration. The pattern of their experiences is much the same. They had believed on the Savior, yet they were burdened and bewildered, unfaithful, and unfruitful, always yearning for a better way and never achieving by their efforts a better life. Then they came to a crisis of utter heart surrender to the Savior, a meeting with Him in the innermost depths of their spirit; and they found the Holy Spirit to be an unfailing fountain of life and refreshment. Thereafter life was never again the same, because in one way or another they had learned what the apostle Paul had testified: "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." New life had been exchanged for old.
I have deliberately chosen witnesses of diverse personalities and backgrounds. God is no respecter of persons! The details of their experience of the crisis of the deeper life are delightfully different; yet their testimony to the reality of the joy and power of the Spirit-filled life is unanimous. Nowhere in Scripture are we taught to seek experience. Rather, the Word says, "Seek ye the Lord." It is He who satisfies the longing soul. He is the secret of the exchanged life!
http://www.unityinchrist.com/ephesians/secrets.htm
