Text: Matthew 6; Psalm 18

Hannah Tatum Whitall Smith (February 7, 1832–May 1, 1911) was a lay speaker and author in the Holiness movement in the United States. Today we quote from her book The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life (1875) which became an extremely popular book of Christian principles and practical Holiness theology.

“It seems somehow as though I have never been allowed to learn lessons in any way but by an actual experience of the whole process. Things that others have learned from their parents or friends without going through the processes themselves, have come to me only as the result of an actual working out of the whole subject from its initial steps upward. Before I could be a believer I had to go down into absolute heathenism; before I could learn the broadness of God’s love, I had to embrace the narrowest Calvinism; before I had a sight of dependence on God, I realized the extremes of self dependence” (September 13).

Whether your prayer today is depending on the Father for daily bread or depending on Him for a deliverance from the enemy, renounce the inherent practice of self-dependence and desire to lean totally on His sustaining arm. Remind yourself of the many times God has come through for you.