Through the Cross, O Lord, I pray

B161 C227* CB279 D279 E279 G279 K227* LSM55 P152 R305 S135 T279
1
First the blood, and then the ointment,
  Cleansing, then anointing comes;
If we pass not thru Golgotha,
  Ne’er to Pentecost we’ll come.
If the blood has never cleansed us,
  Ne’er the Spirit’s pow’r we’ll know,
If for Christ we’d truly witness,
  Self-life to the Cross must go.
 
Through the Cross, O Lord, I pray,
Put my soul-life all away;
Make me any price to pay,
  Full anointing to receive.
2
Christ, the Rock, must first be smitten,
  That the living water flow;
Without death the Spirit’s fulness
  Ne’er could dwell in man below.
If with Christ we die completely,
  Willing thus our all to lose,
He will clothe us with His power
  And to win the world will use.
3
First the altar, then the fire,
  If no loss, there’ll be no gain;
If our all has not been offered,
  To the throne we’ll ne’er attain.
If to sacrifice we’re willing,
  All forsaking, God t’obey,
He to us will be committed
  And thru us His pow’r display.
4
First we must prepare the vessels
  That the Oil they may contain;
Dig the valley full of ditches
  That they may be filled with Rain.
First we must go thru the Jordan
  Ere anointed from above;
First in death we must be baptized,
  Then experience the Dove.
5
When we see the ripened harvest
  Of the golden countryside,
We may know that many seeds have
  Fallen to the earth and died.
Ere the fruit of life may blossom,
  We must surely suffer death;
If with Christ we’ve not been buried,
  We’ll not feel the Spirit’s breath.
6
Since it must be thus, I pray, Lord,
  Help me go the narrow way;
Deal with pride and make me willing
  Thus to suffer, Thee t’obey.
I for greater power pray not,
  Deeper death is what I need;
All the meaning of the Cross, Lord,
  Work in me—for this I plead.

Copyright Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.

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Nov 13 2017
Yohan Yosef

Philippines

"For I did not determine to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified. " 1 Cor 2:2

In His economy, God gives us one person-Christ , and one way—the cross.

The cross is both a narrow way and a highway. For those not willing to take the cross, the cross is a narrow way. But for those who are willing to take this way, the cross becomes a highway. oh! In everyway we turn may we see Jesus Christ, the Crucified. Trouble? Problems? Anxieties? Let Christ come as the cutting instrument to untangle. God's way is to supply us with Christ and to terminate us by the cross.

Oct 22 2017
Fred Northrup

Crescent City, CA, United States

Praise the Lord we are those who are being saved and the word of the cross has become the power of God to us! Thank You Lord for the blood! Thank You Lord for the anointing!!!!

Aug 16 2014
Rosaline Rowe-Taylor

Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom

I found myself singing this song repeatedly for over a month now and the more I sing the more meaningful it becomes and the deeper my consecration becomes too. As I continue to sing read, pray-read and ponder I realise how much I have frustrated the Lord and the urgency of going the narrow to gain the Lord and meet His urgent need. Lord I unreservedly give myself to you to go the narrow way.

Sep 10 2003
Lily Wong

Mississauga, ON, Canada

It really remind me once again that our God is the God of principle. Without the experience of blood, you will never have an experience of oilment. No skip steps! I listen to this song again and again this whole week, I really feel the spirit of the writer, how his experiences in the Lord, it is so deep so deep. And actually this is the way exactly how we can touch the Lord more and more and to be filled by Him.

To be an "information desk" in the church is very damaging. Because I have been learning the lesson of the cross and the Spirit for many years, no one receives any loose reports from me. Although I speak frankly, my speaking is by the cross and in the spirit. We must learn the lessons and consider whether or not it is merely we who are speaking. Hymns, #279 says, "First the blood, and then the ointment." The blood comes from the cross, and the ointment is the Spirit. We must first have the experience of the cross, and then we can have the anointing of the Spirit. Many brothers are gentlemen, being careful to behave themselves and keep the "constitution," the teachings of the Bible, in the way of keeping the law. However, they do this mostly in their natural life. In their relationship with the brothers, the co-workers, and the churches, they are still natural. We must all learn the lesson of the cross and the Spirit.

We know that the Holy Spirit is the reality of resurrection. When you are in the Holy Spirit, you are in resurrection. Although resurrection and the Holy Spirit are closely related, in our subjective experience resurrection is even more closely tied to death. Our natural being with its natural strength and natural views must pass through death before we can enter into resurrection. Hymns #279 says, "First the blood, and then the ointment, cleansing, then anointing comes; if we pass not thru Golgotha, ne'er to Pentecost we'll come." If we do not pass through the death on the cross, we can never receive the Spirit at Pentecost because the Spirit at Pentecost is the reality of resurrection. In order to have the reality of resurrection, we need to pass through Golgotha.

A stanza of a hymn in our hymnal says:

When we see the ripened harvest

Of the golden countryside,

We may know that many seeds have

Fallen to the earth and died.

Before there can be a harvest, many grains need to fall into the earth and die. But who is willing to die? Instead of dying, nearly everyone wants to receive glory. Thus, no life is imparted into others. It is easy to have a crowd, but difficult to impart life into others. To do this, we need to die. This is my burden in this message. In the Lord's recovery we do not need a crowd; we need the death that releases life. We need to experience this aspect of Christ's death.

The objective cross must become our subjective experience. We need to get into the cross and the cross must get into us. In this way we and the cross become one. Our oneness with the cross is our salvation. To be delivered from the self means to be saved from the self through becoming one with the cross. Every day we should be conformed to Christ's death by the power of His resurrection (Phil. 3:10). Without the oneness with the cross, we cannot be delivered from the self. I appreciate the chorus of the hymn which says, "Through the Cross, O Lord, I pray,/Put my soul-life all away;/Make me any price to pay,/Full anointing to receive" (Hymns, #279). We need to be willing to pay the price to enter into the subjective experience of the cross.

In our hymnal there is an excellent hymn with deep spiritual significance on the relationship between the cross and the Spirit (Hymns, #279). Stanza four of this hymn says that we must go through the Jordan before we can be anointed from above, that we must be baptized in death before we can experience the Dove. Here Jordan signifies death, and the Dove signifies the Spirit. If we pass through the river of death, we will receive the living Dove.

Piano Hymns

Details

Fulness of the Spirit
By the Cross
Watchman Nee (1903-1972) bio
Margaret Mae Simpson (1878-1958)
F Major
3/4
8.7.8.7.D. with chorus.
333232153322543

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