Have we thus begun the battle and in the strength of Christ planted our feet on our own necks, and thus victorious over the enemy in the citadel of the heart been set at liberty for the battle of the Lord and the service of others? It was the lack of this that hindered the life of Saul and it has wrecked many a promising career. One enemy in the heart is stronger than ten thousand in the field. May the Lord lead us all into Joshua’s first triumph, and show us the secret of self-crucifixion through the greater Joshua, who alone can lead us on to holiness and victory! JUNE 26. “When He saw the multitudes He was moved” (Matt. ix. 36). He is able to be “touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” The word “touched” expresses a great deal. It means that our troubles are His troubles, and that in all our afflictions He is afflicted. It is not a sympathy of sentiment, but a sympathy of suffering. There is much help in this for the tired heart. It is the foundation of His Priesthood, and God meant that it should be to us a source of unceasing consolation. Let us realize, more fully, our oneness with our Great High Priest, and cast all our burdens on His great heart of love. If we know what it is to ache in every nerve with the responsive pain of our suffering child, we can form some idea of how our sorrows touch His heart, and thrill His exalted frame. As the mother feels her babe’s pain, as the heart of friendship echoes every cry from another’s woe, so in heaven, our exalted Saviour, even amid the raptures of that happy world, is suffering in His Spirit and even in His flesh with all His children bear. “Seeing then we have such a great high Priest, let us come boldly to the throne of grace,” and let us come to our great High Priest. JUNE 27. “Be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. v. 18). Some of the effects of being filled with the Spirit are: 1. Holiness of heart and life. This is not the perfection of the human nature, but the holiness of the divine nature dwelling within. 2. Fulness of joy so that the heart is constantly radiant. This does not depend on circumstances, but fills the spirit with holy laughter in the midst of the most trying surroundings. 3. Fulness of wisdom, light and knowledge, causing us to see things as He sees them. 4. An elevation, improvement and quickening of the mind by an ability to receive the fulfilment of the promise, “We have the mind of Christ.” 5. An equal quickening of the physical life. The body was made for the Holy Ghost, as well as the mind and soul. 6. An ability to pray the prayer of the Holy Ghost. If He is in us there will be a strange accordance with God’s working in the world around us. There is a divine harmony between the Spirit and Providence. JUNE 28. “Leaning upon her beloved” (Songs of Solomon viii. 5).