Hannah Whitall Smith

Although the fig-tree shall not blossom... YET I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

The kingdom of God cometh not with observation... for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Take each thing that is wrong in your lives as God’s chariot for you.

Without me ye can do nothing.

With Him present, what could I have to fear?

There is no place in the whole universe where He is not present; neither heaven, nor hell, nor the uttermost parts of the sea.

If God be for us, it matters not who may be against us; nothing can disturb or harm us, except He shall see that it is best for us, and shall stand aside to let it pass.

The Dual Nature of Sanctification: Trust and Work

Hannah Whitall Smith emphasizes that sanctification involves both God's part and man's part. Man's role is to trust, while God's role is to work. Smith illustrates this with the analogy of a potter and clay: 'The clay is put into the potter’s hands, and then lies passive there, submitting itself to all the turnings and overturnings of the potter’s hands upon it.' This duality is crucial for understanding the process of spiritual growth. Trusting God means surrendering oneself entirely to His will, allowing Him to mold and shape one's life. This trust is not passive but active, requiring continuous faith and surrender.

The Primacy of the Will Over Emotions

Smith emphasizes that True spiritual experience is determined by the will rather than emotions. She argues that many people experience confusion because they allow their feelings to govern their actions instead of their will. Smith asserts, 'The real thing in your experience is what your will decides, and not the verdict of your emotions.' This idea is illustrated through the example of a Presbyterian minister who, despite feeling unchanged after consecrating himself to God, chose to believe in God's acceptance and presence. This decision, made by his will, eventually led to a steady victory over sin and a deeper spiritual life.

There is absolutely only one thing that can hinder Him, and that is, if the sheep will not trust Him and refuse to let Him take care of them.

Faith is the only door into the kingdom of Heaven, and there is no other.

In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

I never supposes. De Lord is my shepherd, and I knows I shall not want.

The Necessity of Consecration

A life of full trust in God requires complete consecration, which means surrendering all aspects of one's life to God, allowing Him to manage and mold it. Smith uses the analogy of a patient needing to fully trust and obey a doctor to be cured. She states, 'In order for a soul to be made into a vessel unto God’s honor, 'sanctified and meet for the Master’s use,' it must be entirely abandoned to Him, and must lie passive in His hands.' This underscores the importance of relinquishing control and trusting in God's plan.

Faith as Simple Belief

Smith emphasizes that faith is not a complex or mystical concept but simply believing in God. She argues that many Christians struggle with faith because they misunderstand it as a tangible entity or a special religious exercise. Instead, faith is akin to sight—just as seeing confirms sight, believing confirms faith. Smith writes, 'Faith is simply believing God, and, like sight, it is nothing apart from its object.' She uses practical examples, such as trusting a cook or a railway conductor, to illustrate how naturally we place our trust in people and how we should similarly trust God.

Seeing God in Everything

Smith discusses the importance of recognizing God's hand in all aspects of life, including trials and challenges that come through human actions. She explains that many people struggle with trusting God because they see their difficulties as coming from other people rather than from God. Smith writes, 'What is needed, then, is to see God in everything, and to receive everything directly from His hands, with no intervention of second causes.' She uses the biblical story of Joseph, who saw his being sold into slavery not as an act of his brothers' malice but as God's plan for his life, to illustrate this point.

Growth in Grace Requires Being Planted in Grace

True spiritual growth can only occur when one is firmly rooted in grace. Smith argues that many Christians struggle with growth because they attempt to grow into grace rather than growing within it. She uses the analogy of a rosebush planted in a stony path, which cannot thrive until it is transplanted into fertile soil. She writes, 'In order to grow in grace, it is necessary first to be planted in grace.' This idea is vividly illustrated by comparing the Israelites' wanderings in the wilderness to a Christian's futile efforts to grow without being rooted in grace.

Our trials may be our chariots. We long for some victory over sin and self, and we ask God to grant it to us. His answer comes in the form of a trial which He means shall be the chariot to bear us to the longed-for triumph.

The proper thing to do was not to abandon themselves thus to utter discouragement... but at once to face the evil and get rid of it.

Any root of bitterness cherished towards another, any self-seeking and harsh judgments indulged in... will effectually cripple and paralyze our spiritual life.

A great many Christians are slaves to the habit of doubting. No drunkard was ever more utterly bound by the chains of his fatal habit than they are by theirs.

The same moment which brings the consciousness of having sinned, ought to bring also the consciousness of being forgiven.

Our fight is to be a fight of faith, and the moment we doubt, our fight ceases and our rebellion begins.

Perfect obedience would be perfect happiness, if only we had perfect confidence in the power we were obeying.

Love gives all, and must have all in return.

The perfect happiness of perfect obedience will dawn upon your soul, and you will begin to know something of what Jesus meant when He said, 'I delight to do thy will, O my God.

To be truly one with another, we must have the same likes and dislikes, the same joys and sorrows, the same hopes and fears.

Unless we are Christ-like in our thoughts and our ways, we are not one with Him, no matter how we feel.

The Lord is in thy heart. Since the day of thy conversion He has been dwelling there, but thou hast lived on in ignorance of it.

Immediate Forgiveness and Restoration

Smith emphasizes the importance of seeking immediate forgiveness and restoration after sinning. She argues that believers often fall into the trap of thinking they must endure a period of guilt and remorse before approaching God for forgiveness. This is contrary to God's desire for immediate reconciliation. Smith illustrates this with the story of Joshua and the Israelites' defeat at Ai, where God commands Joshua to 'Get thee up' and address the sin immediately rather than wallowing in despair. She writes, 'The proper thing to do was not to abandon themselves thus to utter discouragement... but at once to face the evil and get rid of it.'

Continuous Surrender

Regularly practice surrendering your will and desires to God. This means actively trusting Him with every aspect of your life, even when His ways differ from your expectations.

Hold onto God's Promises

Make a habit of reading and meditating on biblical promises of deliverance and victory. Let these promises strengthen your faith and remind you of God's ability to save you fully.

Embrace the Process

Accept that spiritual growth is a gradual process. Be patient with yourself and trust that God is working in you through every trial and circumstance to mold you into His image.

Trust God with Your Concerns

Whenever you find yourself worrying, remind yourself that worry and trust cannot coexist. Consciously hand over your worries to God and trust Him to handle them.

Seek Harmonious Guidance

When seeking God's guidance, ensure that your impressions align with Scripture, your higher judgment, and providential circumstances. Wait for this harmony before taking action.

Man’s part is to trust and God’s part is to work.

God is able to save unto the uttermost, and He means to do it.

The clay is put into the potter’s hands, and then lies passive there, submitting itself to all the turnings and overturnings of the potter’s hands upon it.

We are to be delivered from the power of sin, and are to be made perfect in every good work to do the will of God.

The maturity of Christian experience cannot be reached in a moment, but is the result of the work of God’s Holy Spirit.

In order for a soul to be made into a vessel unto God’s honor, 'sanctified and meet for the Master’s use,' it must be entirely abandoned to Him, and must lie passive in His hands.

Let the ways of childish confidence and freedom from care, which so please you and win your hearts in your own little ones, teach you what should be your ways with God.

Christ Jesus hath entered so deeply into the root of the nature of man that He hath received power to destroy the devil and his works, and to recover and redeem man into righteousness and holiness.

Faith is simply believing God, and, like sight, it is nothing apart from its object.

When a believer really trusts anything, he ceases to worry about that thing which he has trusted.

The will is like a wise mother in a nursery; the feelings are like a set of clamoring, crying children.

Put your will then over on to the believing side. Say, 'Lord I will believe, I do believe,' and continue to say it.

The real thing in your experience is what your will decides, and not the verdict of your emotions.

What is needed, then, is to see God in everything, and to receive everything directly from His hands, with no intervention of second causes.

If we are one with Him, then of course in the very nature of things we can do nothing without Him.

Entrust Loved Ones to God's Care

Place your family and friends into God's hands through prayer. Release anxious thoughts about them, trusting that God loves them even more than you do and is capable of caring for their needs.

If you Christians want to make us agnostics inclined to look into your religion, you must try to be more comfortable in the possession of it yourselves.

It is impossible for anyone who really knows God to have such uncomfortable thoughts about Him.

He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?

God says that He is our dwelling place, and the Bible contains all the necessary papers, duly attested and signed... You must move in.

We have been slaves where we ought to have been kings. We have found our reigning to be 'much less' rather than 'much more.

One look at Christ is worth more for salvation than a million looks at self.

Our part in this fight is to hand the battle over to the Lord, and to trust Him for the victory.

No matter how affairs may look, we may be sure of this that because God is good no promise of His has ever failed, or can ever fail. Heaven and earth may pass away, but His Word never.

Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.

Comfort and peace never come from anything we know about ourselves, but only and always from what we know about Him.

What Christ was on earth, that God is in Heaven.

If the Lord is good... it must be because He always under every circumstance acts up to the highest ideal of that which He Himself has taught us is goodness.

Comfort must follow faith, and can never precede it.

Faith is the only door into the kingdom of Heaven, and there is no other. If we will not go in by that door, we cannot get in at all.

Let nothing shake your faith. While you believe, you have it. It is not an arbitrary law; it is inherent in the nature of things.

We can only be strong in Him when we are weak in ourselves, and our weakness, therefore, is in reality our greatest strength.

As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted.

God says that He is our dwelling place, and now you must say it too. 'I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

For one look at self, take ten looks at Christ.

Where we prayed that the Lord would save us, we must make now the assertion that He does save us, and that He saves us now.

If Christ is dwelling in my heart I must necessarily be Christlike.

Surely we must see that the examining of the Lord is the only kind of examination that is of any use.

A wavering faith is calculated to convey just such an impression [that God is untrustworthy]; and it really is, therefore, in its essence disloyalty to a trustworthy God, and should be mourned over as a grievous sin.

More than anything else, more even than sin, wrong thoughts about God sap the foundations of our spiritual life, and grieve His heart of love.

I am he who sees thy need, and therefore provides for it.

The God who can make circumstances can surely control circumstances, and can, even in the wilderness, 'furnish a table' for all who trust in Him.

It is not because things are good that we are to thank the Lord, but because He is good.

Thanksgiving is the key that opens these gates more quickly than anything else.

Knowing God’s True Character Brings Comfort

Understanding God's true nature is the foundation of experiencing true comfort and peace. Hannah Whitall Smith emphasizes that many Christians live in discomfort because they do not fully grasp who God is—a loving, caring Father revealed through Jesus Christ. By knowing God's character—not just intellectually but through a genuine relationship—we shift from fear and doubt to trust and rest. Smith writes, "Comfort and peace never come from anything we know about ourselves, but only and always from what we know about Him." For instance, when Moses asked God for His name, God replied, "I AM," an open-ended declaration of His sufficiency for every need. Recognizing that God is exactly what we need in every situation transforms our lives from anxiety to comfort.

Faith Precedes Comfort

Before we can experience God's comfort, we must have unwavering faith in His promises and character. Smith argues that faith is not a feeling but a choice to trust God despite our circumstances. She states, "Comfort must follow faith, and can never precede it." Like trusting a trustworthy friend, we must believe in God's word to experience the peace He offers. When we place our faith in Him, even life's deserts become "green pastures." For example, Smith recounts how embracing Psalm 23—"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want"—brought her profound comfort during a difficult time. Faith opens the door to divine comfort.

Trust God’s Goodness Over Circumstances

Even when life’s circumstances seem to contradict God's promises, we are called to trust in His unchanging goodness. Smith emphasizes that God is genuinely good in every sense, and His actions are always rooted in perfect love. She notes, "The Lord is good... it must be because He always under every circumstance acts up to the highest ideal of that which He Himself has taught us is goodness." Doubts about His goodness, especially during hardships, are the real barriers to experiencing His comfort. By trusting God's character over our fluctuating circumstances, we find stability and peace. Just as Joseph realized that what others meant for harm, God used for good, we too can trust that God's goodness prevails in every situation.

Let Go and Let God

True faith involves surrendering our battles and burdens to God, allowing Him to work on our behalf. Smith illustrates that trying to fight our own spiritual battles leads to exhaustion and failure. She writes, "Our interference hinders His working." Instead, we are encouraged to let go and trust God entirely, much like a drowning person ceases to struggle and lets the rescuer save them. By relinquishing control, we allow God's power to manifest fully in our lives. For instance, when the Israelites faced overwhelming enemies, God reminded them, "The battle is not yours, but God's." Letting go frees us to experience God's victory.

Look to Christ, Not Self

Transformation comes not from fixating on our flaws but by focusing on Christ. Smith warns that excessive self-examination leads to despair or pride, hindering spiritual growth. She advises, "For one look at self, take ten looks at Christ." By turning our gaze to Jesus—His love, sufficiency, and power—we are changed into His likeness. This shift from self-centeredness to Christ-centeredness brings freedom and joy. For example, believers who dwell on their weaknesses remain stuck, but those who focus on Christ's strength find their burdens lifted and their lives transformed.

Weakness Becomes Strength Through Faith

Our weaknesses are not obstacles but opportunities for God's power to be displayed. Smith emphasizes that admitting our helplessness allows God's strength to flow through us. She states, "We can only be strong in Him when we are weak in ourselves." Instead of striving in our own strength, we acknowledge our limitations and trust God to empower us. The Apostle Paul echoes this truth: "When I am weak, then I am strong." By embracing our weakness and relying on God's strength, we overcome challenges that seemed insurmountable.

Gratitude Unlocks God's Abundance

A heart of gratitude transforms our perspective and opens the door to God's blessings. Smith highlights that thanksgiving is the key to experiencing God's presence and joy. She writes, "Thanksgiving is the key that opens these gates more quickly than anything else." Complaining focuses on what we lack, while gratitude highlights God's continual goodness. She recounts the story of individuals who found joy by counting their blessings, even in difficult circumstances. By cultivating gratitude, we align ourselves with God's will and unlock His abundance in our lives.

Actively Affirm Your Trust in God

When doubts arise, consciously affirm God's promises through prayer, spoken words, or writing. Remind yourself of His faithfulness by declaring truths like "God is my refuge and strength," strengthening your faith and dispelling uncertainty.

Practice Letting Go and Trusting God

Deliberately surrender your worries and struggles to God. Instead of trying to control every situation, entrust your battles to Him, recognizing that "the battle is not yours, but God's," and allow Him to work on your behalf.

Shift Focus from Self to Christ

Redirect your thoughts from self-examination to contemplating Christ's love, power, and sufficiency. When tempted to dwell on personal flaws, choose to "take ten looks at Christ" for every look at yourself, fostering transformation and peace.

Cultivate a Habit of Gratitude

Develop a daily practice of expressing thanks. Keep a gratitude journal, list blessings each day, or verbally thank God for His goodness. Embracing gratitude changes your outlook and opens your heart to God's presence.

Although the fig-tree shall not blossom... YET I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

The kingdom of God cometh not with observation... for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Take each thing that is wrong in your lives as God’s chariot for you.

Without me ye can do nothing.

With Him present, what could I have to fear?

There is no place in the whole universe where He is not present; neither heaven, nor hell, nor the uttermost parts of the sea.

If God be for us, it matters not who may be against us; nothing can disturb or harm us, except He shall see that it is best for us, and shall stand aside to let it pass.

I never supposes. De Lord is my shepherd, and I knows I shall not want.

Our trials may be our chariots. We long for some victory over sin and self, and we ask God to grant it to us. His answer comes in the form of a trial which He means shall be the chariot to bear us to the longed-for triumph.

The proper thing to do was not to abandon themselves thus to utter discouragement... but at once to face the evil and get rid of it.

Any root of bitterness cherished towards another, any self-seeking and harsh judgments indulged in... will effectually cripple and paralyze our spiritual life.

A great many Christians are slaves to the habit of doubting. No drunkard was ever more utterly bound by the chains of his fatal habit than they are by theirs.

The same moment which brings the consciousness of having sinned, ought to bring also the consciousness of being forgiven.

Our fight is to be a fight of faith, and the moment we doubt, our fight ceases and our rebellion begins.

Perfect obedience would be perfect happiness, if only we had perfect confidence in the power we were obeying.

Love gives all, and must have all in return.

The perfect happiness of perfect obedience will dawn upon your soul, and you will begin to know something of what Jesus meant when He said, 'I delight to do thy will, O my God.

To be truly one with another, we must have the same likes and dislikes, the same joys and sorrows, the same hopes and fears.

Unless we are Christ-like in our thoughts and our ways, we are not one with Him, no matter how we feel.

The Lord is in thy heart. Since the day of thy conversion He has been dwelling there, but thou hast lived on in ignorance of it.

Man’s part is to trust and God’s part is to work.

God is able to save unto the uttermost, and He means to do it.

The clay is put into the potter’s hands, and then lies passive there, submitting itself to all the turnings and overturnings of the potter’s hands upon it.

We are to be delivered from the power of sin, and are to be made perfect in every good work to do the will of God.

The maturity of Christian experience cannot be reached in a moment, but is the result of the work of God’s Holy Spirit.

In order for a soul to be made into a vessel unto God’s honor, 'sanctified and meet for the Master’s use,' it must be entirely abandoned to Him, and must lie passive in His hands.

Let the ways of childish confidence and freedom from care, which so please you and win your hearts in your own little ones, teach you what should be your ways with God.

Christ Jesus hath entered so deeply into the root of the nature of man that He hath received power to destroy the devil and his works, and to recover and redeem man into righteousness and holiness.

Faith is simply believing God, and, like sight, it is nothing apart from its object.

When a believer really trusts anything, he ceases to worry about that thing which he has trusted.

The will is like a wise mother in a nursery; the feelings are like a set of clamoring, crying children.

Put your will then over on to the believing side. Say, 'Lord I will believe, I do believe,' and continue to say it.

The real thing in your experience is what your will decides, and not the verdict of your emotions.

What is needed, then, is to see God in everything, and to receive everything directly from His hands, with no intervention of second causes.

If we are one with Him, then of course in the very nature of things we can do nothing without Him.

There is absolutely only one thing that can hinder Him, and that is, if the sheep will not trust Him and refuse to let Him take care of them.

Faith is the only door into the kingdom of Heaven, and there is no other.

In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

If you Christians want to make us agnostics inclined to look into your religion, you must try to be more comfortable in the possession of it yourselves.

It is impossible for anyone who really knows God to have such uncomfortable thoughts about Him.

He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?

God says that He is our dwelling place, and the Bible contains all the necessary papers, duly attested and signed... You must move in.

We have been slaves where we ought to have been kings. We have found our reigning to be 'much less' rather than 'much more.

One look at Christ is worth more for salvation than a million looks at self.

Our part in this fight is to hand the battle over to the Lord, and to trust Him for the victory.

No matter how affairs may look, we may be sure of this that because God is good no promise of His has ever failed, or can ever fail. Heaven and earth may pass away, but His Word never.

Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.

Comfort and peace never come from anything we know about ourselves, but only and always from what we know about Him.

What Christ was on earth, that God is in Heaven.

If the Lord is good... it must be because He always under every circumstance acts up to the highest ideal of that which He Himself has taught us is goodness.

Comfort must follow faith, and can never precede it.

Faith is the only door into the kingdom of Heaven, and there is no other. If we will not go in by that door, we cannot get in at all.

Let nothing shake your faith. While you believe, you have it. It is not an arbitrary law; it is inherent in the nature of things.

We can only be strong in Him when we are weak in ourselves, and our weakness, therefore, is in reality our greatest strength.

As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted.

God says that He is our dwelling place, and now you must say it too. 'I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

For one look at self, take ten looks at Christ.

Where we prayed that the Lord would save us, we must make now the assertion that He does save us, and that He saves us now.

If Christ is dwelling in my heart I must necessarily be Christlike.

Surely we must see that the examining of the Lord is the only kind of examination that is of any use.

A wavering faith is calculated to convey just such an impression [that God is untrustworthy]; and it really is, therefore, in its essence disloyalty to a trustworthy God, and should be mourned over as a grievous sin.

More than anything else, more even than sin, wrong thoughts about God sap the foundations of our spiritual life, and grieve His heart of love.

I am he who sees thy need, and therefore provides for it.

The God who can make circumstances can surely control circumstances, and can, even in the wilderness, 'furnish a table' for all who trust in Him.

It is not because things are good that we are to thank the Lord, but because He is good.

Thanksgiving is the key that opens these gates more quickly than anything else.