Exchanged Life
By J. Hudson Taylor

      "When my agony of soul was at its height a sentence in a letter was used to remove the scales from my eyes, and the Spirit of God revealed the truth of our oneness with Jesus as I had never known it before . . . ‘But how do you get faith strengthened? Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the Faithful One.' As I read I saw it all! ‘If we believe not, He abideth faithful.' I looked to Jesus and saw (and when I saw, oh, how the joy flowed!) that He had said, ‘I will never leave you.' ‘Ah, there is rest!' I thought. I'll strive in vain to rest in Him. I'll strive no more. For has He not promised to abide with me--never to leave me, never to fail me? And, He never will!"

      How do we get this strength? We get it by fixing our eyes on Jesus. Hebrews 12:1-3 Amplified Bible reads:

      Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony of the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance--unnecessary weight--and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher, [bringing it] to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. [Ps. 110:1]. Just think on Him Who endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself--reckon up and consider it all in comparison with your trials--so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds.