The Life of Faith

Cornelia Nuzum

• Publisher: Gospel Publishing House
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781607314233
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Imagine a woman in the early 1900s who is passionate about Pentecost. Now imagine her spunk and determination when she chooses to move to Mexico as a missionary when this was highly unconventional for a woman. Blessed with a healing ministry and a heart for the lost, Cornelia Nuzum was not only a minister but also a prolific writer. Her collection of compelling devotionals The Life of Faith is a Spirit-empowered classic that has remained in print for almost eighty years. With an emphasis on faith and the blood of Jesus, she shares her exciting experiences on the mission field as she relied on God's Word to help others overcome temptation, find strength, and experience the joy of living in God's will. This timeless account will inspire you to seek a refreshing of your faith and a deeper experience of Pentecostal faith.

CHAPTER 1

“I AM COME THAT YE MIGHT HAVE LIFE”

A Testimony

I was born sick. My mother said that when I was a baby I cried most of the time. I never had any real childhood. While other children ran and played, I sat and talked to the older people. I had rheumatism all my life until the Lord healed me. My arm was so crippled that I could not put it back or up, but it is now free. My knee was so stiff that I could not straighten it, nor go up or down stairs. I can now run a block to catch a car, and my limbs are as supple as those of a girl of sixteen. My heart beat sometimes as though it would leave my body and at other times it seemed to stand still. Again it would tremble so it would cause a profuse perspiration. It pained me as though knives were being thrust through it. I can now go to the top of a mountain and not know I have a heart. I have been completely delivered from paralysis of the left side, and can now walk eight miles and feel fine the next day. I have been entirely delivered from constant fever and pain in the head, and from extreme nervous prostration. In my young womanhood, I was reported dead several times, and when I was graduated from school I had to sit down and rest while reading my thesis.

For twenty-seven years I was never one moment free from pain. I would gaze like a charmed bird at a healthy-looking face, and would gladly have given all that I owned if I could have felt for ten minutes as well people seemed to feel. My sufferings were such that I would rather have died than live. I was treated by the best doctors money could secure, and all concluded by saying the same thing, “There is not a sound spot in her to build health upon.” My last doctor was a specialist who had been used to raise people from death’s door to health. After a long, careful examination he said, “No doctor or medicine can cure you. You will have to die very soon. If you have any preparations to make, do it quickly.”

What a shame to me that I had to be forced to take God as my physician instead of choosing Him. But, oh, how gracious He was to receive me and heal me, so that now at the age of seventy-one, I am doing the work of three women and have not lain in bed from sickness for so long that I cannot remember when I did so last. From having no strength, I have come to have the Lord’s strength; from constant sickness to have His health; from forcing food just as I did the bitter medicine, I have come to have an excellent appetite, so that I can eat even the plainest food and enjoy it and never fail to eat a hearty meal, and every bite is sweet. Catarrh had destroyed my sense of smell. Now I can enjoy the perfume of the flowers. I wore glasses all the time. Now I use only a little reading glass, but thread my needle and sew without a glass. My sense of taste was so lost that both sugar and salt were as sand. Now, how good all food tastes! My hearing was so nearly gone that people were passing me before I heard them coming. Now I have ordinary hearing. For two years I scarcely slept at all; now I sleep like a baby. Then I could enjoy nothing; now I have the deepest enjoyment of all the things God gives me and especially Himself, His fellowship, communion, and Word. Truly, “old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new; and all things are of God.” God did it all, and blessed be His name forever. I might add that I have worked strenuously three hundred and sixty-five days a year for thirteen years, with only two little vacations, and am in good condition now. When I look back at what I was, and see what I am, it seems incredible.

God protects as well as heals. I used to have a cold frequently. Now I go for years without a cold even when greatly exposed. I used to take every disease to which I was exposed. Now He keeps me from taking disease even when praying for the sick in close rooms, and when my hand is laid on those who have the most contagious diseases. Is not His name rightly called, “Wonderful”? My tongue cannot express the greatness of my deliverance, but my heart goes out to my great Deliverer in adoration, worship, praise, loyalty and thanksgiving. Who would not desire to be fully yielded to such an almighty, gracious loving One? My desire is to be one with Jesus in all things. How far we come short of this! How sweet are the words, “Conformed to the image of Christ.” Oh, to so live that we may not hinder God, but let Him do this for each one of us.

CHAPTER 2

IN HIM IS REDEMPTION

Are you redeemed? I suppose you would answer, “Yes.” Well, from what are you redeemed? You answer, “From hell, from sin, from Satan, etc.” That is true. All these are blessed parts of redemption; but are you redeemed in the full sense of the Word? Redeem means to buy back—to bring back to its former place. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse,” all of it, not some, nor even much of it, but all of it. Christ, the Redeemer, came to buy man back to the image of God, and to the place where He again walks and talks with God, and has none of the curse on him. Are you there? Does none of the curse cling to you? All that is not of life, health, strength, soundness, comfort, purity, and holiness, is of the curse. God says there is a place where the curse cannot come or stay—“Redemption … in Christ Jesus,” and nowhere else. In Prov. 26:2 we read, “The curse causeless shall not come.” Then, according to God’s Word, if the curse, in any form or degree, clings to us there is a cause for it. To find the cause is necessary that we may be able to remedy it.

Does not the new birth put people in Christ? Yes, but hear God say, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.” Col. 2:6. This is written to people who have been born again, who have received Christ. Why exhort them to walk in Him, if there be no danger that they will not do this? How often we are exhorted to abide in Him, and assured that we shall bear much fruit and have all our prayers answered if we abide in Him. But we are also told what it means to abide in Christ. “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked” (1 John 2:6)—live as He lived. “But,” one may say, “man cannot live as the Son of God lived.” Well, that is God’s “high calling in Christ Jesus,” and it is the only place where there is full redemption. God sent Jesus to show us how to live, and Jesus said, “Follow Me,” which means to live as He lived. The Bible tells us that we are sent by the Lord as the Father sent Him, that we are to keep Jesus’ commandments just as Jesus kept His Father’s commandments.

We are to overcome just as Jesus overcame. We are not to be of the world, as truly as He was not of the world. In all things we are to follow His example, and we are told that He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are to be one, even as Jesus and His Father are one. Because people have thought this standard too high for them, and have not sought to attain to it, they have fallen short of full redemption. How seldom we find a child of God to whom some form of the curse is not clinging, but God says His people are to be without spot, wrinkle, or blame. Paul said, “Let us go on unto perfection.” Heb. 6:1. Full redemption is perfection for spirit, soul, and body. The way to have this is to walk in Him. We are not merely to say that Jesus did it for us, but that Jesus will do it in us. If I sin by even a small transgression or neglect, therein I do not walk in Him, for “in Him is no sin.” If I displease God, I am not then walking in Him. Jesus said, “For I do always those things that please Him.” If I fail to obey, I do not walk in Him, for “He became obedient unto death.” If I fail to love, I do not walk in Him, for “He is love.” If I judge or condemn others I do not walk in Him, for He said, “I judge no man,” and “Neither do I condemn thee.” If I seek reputation, I do not walk in Him: “He made Himself of no reputation.” He said, “I seek not honor from men. I seek not Mine own glory.” “Even Christ pleased not Himself.” He said, “I am meek and lowly.” “He humbled Himself.” “He answered not a word,” even when they lied about Him and spoke evil of Him. He never resisted evil done to Himself, but let men do to Him as they chose. Can we say that we daily, hourly walk in Him in all these things? It is only in Him that we can have full, complete redemption.

Jesus said, “Without Me ye can do nothing,” but the Bible also says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”Phil. 4:13. He always strengthens us to obey His commandments—so it is all of grace and He gets all the glory. In Psalm ninety-one, God tells us how He will protect, deliver, and work for those who abide in Him, those who make Him their habitation, their constant dwelling place. The ninth and tenth verses of this Psalm tell us that because of this full, perfect abiding in the Lord, He will let no evil befall us. Verse fourteen says He will deliver us; that means, He will set us free from all the curse, and set us on high above the power of Satan. He says He does this because we have known His name, and we can only know His name by living as He lived day by day. If any of the curse, whether it is disease, weakness, pain, sorrow, depression, or sadness, clings to us, it is because the old things are not all passed away, and we still live in some of the old things of the natural man instead of abiding in Christ.

God wants us to resist the devil and rise above temptation and live in daily victory through walking in Him. “Therefore if any man be in Christ … old things are passed away”—we are no longer to live in them. 2 Cor. 5:17. It was on these old things that Satan could work, and while one of them is left, he can annoy us, but he can put nothing on Christ, nor on us as we fully abide in Him. “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” 1 John 5:18. “Put off the old man”; “put on the new man.” “The name (what Christ is) of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” Prov. 18:10. “No evil shall befall thee.” God will enable us to abide fully, wholly in Him, and remain there if we will set our wills to get there at any cost. “Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power” (Ps. 110:3), means that when you set your will to have God’s whole will done constantly in you, He will put His mighty power back of your will and bring it to pass.

CHAPTER 3

REMEMBER THY CREATOR

This is a positive command and therefore very important. But, why did not God say remember your keeper, provider, preserver, benefactor, or God? He is to us all these blessed names signify, but He bids us remember Him as Creator because we need to be created in Christ. One says—“I was created in Christ when I was born again.” True, but have you all of Christ that you desire to have? Can you not see things in Christ that you lack? If you cannot, perhaps others do and by a careful, honest comparison of yourself with Christ, I believe you will find things in Him that you lack. God took great pains to tell us how He created natural things so that we might have great confidence in His creating in us the needed spiritual things.

He tells us how He just spoke the word and material things came into existence and He will do the same in spiritual things. When we first come to Christ, we have nothing in us like Him, but in the new birth God creates in us the nature of Christ. Ezekiel 36:26 tells us He cleanses us, puts a new spirit and a new heart within us and a desire to obey God. But, as we go on we find people that are so different from all that we think they ought to be, that it seems impossible to love them. God commands us to love everybody and we long to obey, but the love for them does not seem to be in us. “Remember thy Creator.” The Creator does not have to have a love in you to work on. No, He makes love to exist where before there was none. Cry out to Him to create in you a real true love for that repulsive person; believe that He wants to be remembered as Creator and that He will now create love within you. You will be surprised to find how interested you become in that person and how you desire to do love services for him.

Has someone done you so great a wrong as to cause you loss and sufferings and does the memory of all you have borne press you so sorely that it seems impossible to fully forgive and forget and be as if the wrong had never been done? “Remember thy Creator.” Cry out to Him in real faith and see how pity and compassion will rise up in your heart and see how the memory of the wrong will be swallowed up in a desire to help and better the offending one. Is there a lack of meekness, so that you rebel against undeserved criticism, talk back when falsely accused? Do you resist faultfinding and grumbling, and dislike? Do you resent slights, injuries, and evils thrust upon you, chafe under ingratitude and evil done you in return for the good you have done? “The Creator … fainteth not, neither is weary.” Isa. 40:28. Ask Him to create in you Christ’s meekness so that like Him you will not open your mouth nor resist a thing done to you, but like Him, pray God to forgive the doer. Is what you need a humility that will make you never desire to be seen or heard or known as one who is used of God, or who is able in prayer, testimony, teaching the word, or in holy living—glad to do and be these things, but having no desire to be known because of them? “Remember that the Almighty Creator” just waits and longs to create this also in you and can do it, even if you have had great pride because of all these things. “He taketh away the first that He may establish the second.”

Is it a spirit of prayer and communion, or a spirit of praise and worship, or a spirit of intercession and supplication, or a passion for lost souls, of which you stand in need? “Remember thy Creator.” Hear Him say, “Created unto good works,” that we should “walk therein.” Do you desire to speak for Him? He says, “I create the fruit of the lips.” Isa. 57:19. No matter what your lack, shortage, or need is, the great Creator stands ready, able and willing—yea more—He longs to create in you whatever you need to make you like Christ and an able, successful worker for Him. “My God shall supply all your need,” and it is so easy for Him to create within you all that will fit you to be what Jesus was and to do the works He did. But remember the new spiritual creation is “created in Christ Jesus.” We must obey—“looking unto Jesus” until we see what we need in Him. God gave Him to us and chose us in Him. We must by an act of faith “run into His name” (this thing that is in Him), know we are in it, for no other reason than that we ran i...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Chapter 1: “I am Come that Ye Might Have Life”
• Chapter 2: In Him is Redemption
• Chapter 3: Remember Thy Creator
• Chapter 4: Lay them Aside
• Chapter 5: A Pure and Holy Life
• Chapter 6: Strength
• Chapter 7: Hold Fast that Which Thou Hast
• Chapter 8: God’s Will
• Chapter 9: “Endure”
• Chapter 10: The Power of the Blood of Jesus Christ
• Chapter 11: Resisting the Devil
• Chapter 12: Whatsoever We Ask
• Chapter 13: Head Faith and Heart Faith
• Chapter 14: The Faith that Takes
• Chapter 15: Things that be Not
• Chapter 16: Faith and Love
• Chapter 17: Does Your Faith Grow?
• Chapter 18: Great Reward