Audio： Delight Thyself in the Lord — Hans R. Waldvogel

Delight in the Lord Rather Than in Self

Delight thyself also in the Lord. We might be surprised to find out how much we delight ourselves in ourselves. It might be surprising, but we hear it in our testimonies, in our preaching often. And when we don't delight ourselves in ourselves, then we're disgusted with ourselves.

Everything revolves around this old washboard we have been rubbing our knuckles through now for centuries, and we're bleeding, and the wash machine is standing in the corner because we don't know what it'll do.

We don't get acquainted with it. We don't read the directions. I liken it to a woman who got a wash machine, and she thought she had to do the wash just like formerly. She opened and took the lid off, and there were these wings on the inside like they used to have.

And she put the wash in there, and she began to rub the wash around the sides of that. And she couldn't manage. She finally got so disgusted with the thing that she went back to her washboard until somebody came to her and showed her the directions and showed her what to do with it and how simple it was.

Now, in comparison to her former method of washing, instead of rubbing her knuckles bloody, she could just put the suds in the wash machine and put the dirty wash in there and put the lid on and then sit in the rocking chair and read Ripley's Believe It or Not while the wash was doing itself, hanging itself on the line and ironing itself after a while and folding itself and putting itself into the drawers.

It was so different. Now she began to delight herself in her wash machine. Now this is my version of it. Excuse me. You have to enlarge things so people can see it. But anyway, delight thyself also in the Lord.

From the Law of Moses to the Grace of Christ

The old law, the Bible says, was given by Moses, and that showed us how bad off we were. And grace and truth came by Jesus Christ and out of his wholeness. We'll never get through throughout the ages of eternity to take out of his wholeness.

Grace upon grace. Not only what we need, but the desires of our heart. And when you get acquainted with him, you desire to be like him. That desire, oh, I delight in the law of God after the inner man, but I can't rise to keep it.

But now thank God in Christ Jesus. We're a new creature. Christ lives in me. I live no more. Christ liveth in me. And that entire New Testament is the direction of what God has provided for us by not sparing his own son.

Not just to make us happy, but to make us sons of God, like unto Jesus Christ. Thank God. That's the fullness that we enjoy. That's the great desire that rises in the heart. And now my whole job is to delight myself in this newfound treasury.

And piece by piece it becomes mine as I delight myself not in myself. I don't say, oh, I'm so bad off. I don't know what the Lord ever saw in me. Well, he saw in you the great emptiness. And so now he comes to make his blessing flow far as the curse is found.

And Jesus Christ says when the Holy Ghost comes, he will convict the world of sin. Why doesn't he say of sins? There are millions of sins that men commit, but there's only one sin that condemns me by not believing on him whom God has sent.

Leaving the Old Washboard for Christ's Grace

By not leaving the old washboard and delighting myself in the wash machine. When we got a new wash machine at the faith home, you should have seen the change that came over our women. Up to that time, they all had leadings to go somewhere else on wash day.

And now, now everybody wanted to do the wash. I remember how Mashoudi came into my room. Haven't you got some dirty handkerchiefs? Haven't you got some underwear, some shirts to wash? He couldn't get enough.

It was such a joy to see that wash machine devour the dirt. And that's what it means when the Bible says, delight thyself in the Lord. Whatever the curse is found, the bigger the curse is, the bigger your nothingness and your weakness is, the greater is his grace.

All sufficient. Paul says, that's the reason I obtained mercy. I who am the chief of sinners, that in me Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering and patience. So that others who are perhaps not as bad as I am will be courageous and receive faith to know what God will do.

If God did it for me, he'll do it for all of you. Beloved, I live no more. What a rest. What restfulness. My life is now consumed by drinking in his life, in that moment by moment. I think God has done wonderful things for us.

I always enjoy testimony meetings in Pentecost. I enjoyed it in Formosa very greatly, in South Africa, in India. People have something to say about Jesus. They don't talk about themselves anymore. They talk about this abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness which they receive of him.

Knowing Jesus as the Fountain of Every Blessing

That's only the beginning. My whole job is to get acquainted with my Jesus because he is the fountain from which every blessing flows. And rivers of living water will flow from within you. Oh, to delight myself also in the Lord.

Not in the things that he can do for me. Not in the desires of my heart. But in him. Oh, to get acquainted with Jesus because in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him.

He is your life. He is the life of your body. That's all we need to know about divine healing. I think the reason we don't get healed is because we fish around some place. Maybe in our own faith or in our own worthiness or something.

Christ is my health. Christ is my life. The resurrection power of the Son of God is ministered to me as in my heart I believe that God raised him from the dead. And when he raised him from the dead, he raised me from the dead.

Because I'm part of him and he's part of me. No, he's my all and in all. And the wonder is this, that the Holy Spirit has come for one purpose. To communicate this life to me. He shall receive of mine and show it unto you.

Means really to communicate unto you. Here is the displacement. Far as the curse is found. He makes his blessing to flow. And I'm so thankful that on the 24th of January 1924, the Lord said to me, If you had any idea of the wonderful things that lie in store for those that get a larger vision of me, You'd cry day and night to know me.

And the whole occupation of your life ought to be to seek for me until you find me in my fullness. Paul did that. Counted everything but refuse. For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.

Faith Growing Through Trials and Temptations

And the wonderful thing is this, that we learn to know him in our testings and in our trials. All things work together for good to them that love God. He says, If need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptation that the trial of your faith.

That's where faith thrives. That's where I receive the blessing instead of my curse. The curse makes me heavy or wants to make me heavy. But it turns me to the fountain of life. Thank God. I have an account in the bank of heaven.

And when some bill is presented to me, I can draw out of that account. Praise the Lord. Like Mrs. Gump when she was receiving notice from the bank that she had overdrawn her account. She simply wrote them a check for the amount, a woman.

Well, you can't do that. Your checks will bounce. But these checks don't bounce. Thank God. Oh, no wonder he says, Delight thyself in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. All the way and again I say, Rejoice.

Not in myself, but in the Lord. And you cannot rejoice in something you don't know. Takes me back to my childhood days. I had a neighbor. I was three years old. I visited this neighbor woman and she had a whole box full of Sunday school pictures.

And she says, Now, you can go through that box and pick out all the pictures you like and keep them, take them home with me. Well, I liked them all. I emptied the whole box. I remember that so well. There wasn't a single picture that I didn't want.

Receiving from Christ's Fullness

And so it is with Jesus. In the New Testament. All these pictures. You can help yourself and have all you want. I was so glad when I heard the Lord say one day, God, the Father, lets us have all that we accept.

Strange. Well, that's Scripture. Out of his fullness. And when he teaches us about prayer. Why, everyone that asketh receiveth. Wonderful. Which of you shall have a friend at midnight? Midnight expresses all the need that you can ever have for body, soul or spirit.

He doesn't say, Which of you shall have an empty pocketbook at midnight? Or a stomachache or some other. He says, Which has a friend? Which of you can say, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

If you have him for a father, how much more shall your heavenly father give who spared not his own son? And that's what our prayer time comes in. That's why when we have a week of prayer, we're changed.

God gets a chance to get us interested in Jesus himself. And Jesus himself comes and draws so near. Takes all the anxiety out of us. All the fidgetiness brings us into that wonderful rest of faith. Oh, how wonderful, wonderful Jesus is.

And God sends the Holy Ghost. He says, The spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Oh, spirit of the living God. Who searcheth the deep things of God. He has come to be your light. To guide you into all truth.

The Holy Spirit Reveals the Son of God

People say, Brother Walford doesn't believe in Bible schools. I do. But the real Bible school is the church. There is room for Bible school, sure. If the teachers are teachers gifted by the Holy Ghost.

They won't feed the giraffes. They'll feed the lambs. But most teachers, they just talk out of their heads. But the Holy Ghost doesn't. He comes and he enlightens you. Jesus Christ within. Rises within you to make you know him.

In the very hour of need. He is the one that fights your battles. Answers your questions. Solves your problems. And you don't take glory to yourself. You don't say, Now I'm a doctor of philosophy. Or a doctor of some Kazuma's.

Christ becomes your all and in all. And the Holy Ghost gives you that revelation of the Son of God. Which you need. He means nothing to me if he's not my all and in all. Jesus doesn't mean anything to me if he is not my righteousness.

And live the righteousness of God within me. The holiness. The humility. The purity. The loveliness. The tenderness. The gentleness. Of Christ. Is the fruit of the Spirit. And as I refer to him. And get acquainted with him in all my trials.

And all my need. And as I wait upon the Lord in my faint heartedness. He gives me strength. Oh, the fullness of the Son of God is stupendously marvelous. And my God, I'm so thankful for a work like this.

Making Jesus the Center of the Church

I've been dragged through all kinds of churches. And I've always longed to belong to a church like this. Where Jesus would be the center of attraction. Where we would seek him. And find him. And love him.

And worship him. And get acquainted with him. And it takes a long time. Because we're so much in love with ourselves. We're constantly stirring up in this mud puddle. To see if there ain't some life pollywogs kicking around there somewhere.

And here's a life giving spirit waiting to be my portion. Waiting to fill my nothingness with himself. Delight thyself also in the Lord. Isn't he wonderful? And he shall give you the desires of your heart.

He can't help himself. Oh dear Lord, you are the great gift of God. And if you knew the gift of God. A gift that keeps giving. A gift that is forever yours. And you don't need to be jealous of somebody else's blessing.

Because he is the fullness of the Godhead. And you are complete in him. Dear Lord, do we need more time? Somebody said, you're wasting your time here. Spending two weeks doing nothing. Just hanging around church.

Well, I didn't waste my time. God. God does wonders when we learn to bring our empty vessels to him. And really come in faith. Receiving out of his fullness. Grace upon grace.