What Smith Wigglesworth Taught Me About Loving God
The following quotes were taken from my personal studies of the life and ministry of Smith Wigglesworth. They speak of the deep personal love and devotion that this choice servant of God possessed for the Lord. These quotes define what it really means to love the Lord with all our hearts.
“Move into a greater hunger for holiness and purity. The moment you look up when you are in the place of affection with the Lord Jesus, the heavens are opened.”
“If you can be fascinated by anything else in the world you don’t have what God wants you to have.”
“To hunger and thirst after righteousness means that nothing fascinates us so much as being near to God.”
“Worldliness is anything which cools my affection toward God.”
“When a child of God ceases to hunger after righteousness and purity, Satan gets in.”
There are many things that will rob, steal, and plunder our love and affection for the Lord Jesus. It is not just obvious sin and acts of carnality and disobedience which spoil us of the nearness of His presence, but it is the good and acceptable things, which while having their proper place in the Christian life, have a tendency to make one devoid of the real mind of Christ. Such things as meetings, communions, baptisms, buildings, programs, doctrines, finances, or other things that concern the church system, apart from the mind of Christ, will dry up the real heart of the Christian life. Often it’s these very things which rob us of the hallowing intimacy which we are to experience with God’s throne of grace and seat of mercy.
Here is the question you must ask yourself in evaluating your love and devotion to God: What are you doing on the inside? Where do your innermost energies flow? Toward what are you directing your will and desire? That is what marks your life in relation to God.
“Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.” (John 5:21 LB)
We are admonished in scripture to guard our hearts (Pr 4:23), to seek God with our whole heart (Ps 119:2), to sanctify the Lord in our hearts (1 Pet 3:15), to return to our first love (Rev 2:4-5), and to beware of being cheated in our relationship to Christ (Col 2:8). There are a lot of things we can do in this life to gain success, wealth, prestige, a name and reputation, a church and a ministry, but there’s nothing more fulfilling to the human heart than having an intimate, personal, and growing relationship with the Lord Jesus. Spiritual hunger and thirst is the place of affection with the Lord Jesus.
The following utterance was received during a time of ministering to the Lord. Let it speak to you and edify your inner man.
“I love you, son. How could you think for one minute that I would even fail you? Take time always to praise and to love Me this way in song. For this is the entrance into My treasures, the most precious treasures hidden in My divine nature. This nature shall be manifest in thee as a result of your praise and worship to Me. A well of life, a fountain of life, and waves of glory shall flood your heart and soul as you pull away from life’s turbulences, and concentrate on Me. There you will find rest and refreshing, pleasure satisfying to thee, and peace. Then direction shall spring forth even in the minor details of life as you wait on Me. I AM your Source of all you need. The wisdom of men is foolishness to Me, and their days are shortened because they do not take time to wait on Me. But if you will continue this delightful practice, it shall not be so for you. No, I say instead that your days shall be lengthened, your revelation of Me shall be wider, and your wisdom deeper.”
God has made it real simple for us, hasn’t He? See the simplicity of the greatest secret of the Christian life. Love the Lord with all your heart. That’s it. But love is not just words. Neither is it just deeds. Love is the very motive of your life. It’s not only what you say and do, but who you are in your heart of hearts that reflects your love for Jesus.
May He multiply His grace in your life to hunger and thirst for Him, to know Him, to love Him, and to seek Him until you come to abide …
In His place of affection.
Bert M. Farias, revivalist and founder of Holy Fire Ministries, is the author of several books including The Real Spirit of Revival and the newly released My Son, My Son—a beautiful father-son book co-written with his son Daniel for the purpose of parenting and training up a holy generation. He is also the co-host of the New England Holy Ghost Forum, a school of the Spirit. Follow him at Bert Farias and Holy Fire Ministrieson Facebook or @Bertfarias1 on Twitter.
