Go, figure!

“Every great movement of God can be traced to a kneeling figure.”
D. L. Moody

 

I came upon this quote this morning and thought it was profound and so true. All of the great revivals we have seen in America and abroad came about because somebody was praying. Last night at church a young lady who has been receiving a home Bible study was baptized in Jesus’ name. When she came up out of the water, she was speaking in other tongues! I know why. It was an answer to some earnest prayer that has gone up on her behalf. I’m thankful that God honors our prayers and what we do for Him when it is backed up by our prayers.

Do you want to see God do great things? Keep on praying.

Go, figure!

 

The Habit

“Don’t pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees.” Corrie ten Boom

 

Do you have the habit? I am talking of course, about the habit of prayer. Over the years, I have heard it stressed through many different preachers the importance of having a regular prayer time. When we were at West Coast Conference in November, Elder Morton was talking about the importance of having a regular time and place where you pray daily. He mentioned that when you start doing this, after a while that time of prayer will call to you. I have found that to be so. I like to pray in the morning because at that time, I am generally the most alert. I find that most of the time, I just wake up on my own without the aid of an alarm clock when it’s about time to pray. Actually, I know it is the Lord helping me to wake up, so I can keep that special appointment.

 

Sometimes we will have days where our prayer time may be interrupted by something unexpected, and we may not be able to keep our special appointment, but that should be the exception and not the norm.

Do you have a habit of brushing your teeth or showering daily? Have you ever had to go for a day or two or longer without being able to do one of these? I have, and it felt downright nasty especially not to be able to shower. It felt so good when I could finally get back into that habit again.

Do you feel grimy in your spirit if you start missing your prayer time? Does it seem you lose your temper more quickly or are more easily agitated or worse yet don’t feel like reading your Bible or going to church? Those are sure signs that we need to pray.

May God help us to continually cultivate this most important habit of prayer!

 

What Should I Pray For?

The Third Petition of the Lord’s Prayer is repeated daily by millions who have not the slightest intention of letting anyone’s will be done but their own.–Aldous Huxley

 

This is a powerful quote. I was raised Catholic and remember being taught to say the Lord’s prayer, but I had no understanding of the words that I was repeating and continued going about doing my own will.

What are some things that we can pray that are definitely the will of God? We need to look to the Bible, the infallible Word of God to answer this question.

Here are a few I found in searching the Scripture. This is by no means an exhaustive list.

2Peter 3:9

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”

We can pray for people that we know to be lead to truly repent before God. Repentance is the very first step we make in coming to God, so to pray for others to be lead to repentance is definitely in the will of God. Baptism is void without repentance, and one can definitely not be filled with the Holy Ghost until they repent, so repentance is vital!

 

Romans 12:1,2

 

 

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

 

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

 

1Thessalonians 4:3,4

 

For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:

 

 

That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;”

Once we are saved and on the road to living for God, we need to pray that He will help us to be holy and pleasing to Him and that we would keep ourselves from the immorality that is so rampant in this world.

 

1Thessalonians 5:18

 

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

We need to regularly pray prayers of thanksgiving to God, whether we are going through good times or not so good times. Wherever we are at in life, there are always things for which we can be thankful, if we will but look for them. Ask God to help you to have a thankful heart.

 

The Only Prayer Request Jesus Ever Made

 

 

Mat 9:35-38

 

And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

 

 

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

 

Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest trulyisplenteous, but the labourersarefew;

 

 

Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

In verse 38,  the man, Christ Jesus, tells us to pray that the Lord would send labourers into His harvest. We can pray and ask God to raise up more pastors, missionaries, evangelists, teachers and good strong saints in the church that have a burden to share the gospel with those who have not heard. This is something I need to give more attention to in prayer. 

Besides praying for our own needs which is something Jesus instructs us to do in what has come to be known as The Lord’s prayer, these are just a few other things that we should make matters of prayer. 

 

 

 

 

 

Are You Running On Empty?

Make time to pray.  “The great freight and passenger trains are never too busy to stop for fuel. No matter how congested the yards may be, no matter how crowded the schedules are, no matter how many things demand the attention of the trainmen, those trains always stop for fuel.”  M.E. Andross

 

When Less Is More

Today, my brother Tom texted me the following verses.

Mar 10:21

Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

Mar 10:22

And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.

 

I got to thinking about this story and wrote the following poem. May God help us to “let go” when He asks us to do so!

 

 

When Less Is More

 

 

 

 

 

One day a rich young ruler came to Jesus, for to see,

 

what needed to be done to have life eternally.

 

But the answer Jesus gave, this man chose to reject,

 

for the Master offered a choice that he did not expect.

 

“Go sell what you have, and give it to the poor.”

 

To the ruler, it sounded like less, but in reality it was more.

 

This fellow had so many possessions, that he could not clearly see,

 

what Jesus wanted to offer, was life more abundantly.

 

Though the Lord looked on the man, with love in His eyes that day

 

the rich young ruler’s face was sad, his decision, to walk away.

 

 

 

 

 

Perhaps it’s not possessions, to which you tightly cling;

 

it may be a person, ambition or some other worldly thing.

 

Will you choose to go away dejected, or scowl, wear a frown,

 

if the Master, knowing what’s best, would ask you to lay it down?

 

The things that we hold on to, thinking that they make us whole

 

may be the very reason God sends leanness to our soul.

 

Learn a lesson from this rich man, of his error don’t partake.

 

To hang on, when God says, “Let go”, is always a mistake.

 

If you come in true surrender, you’ll be better than before.

 

For in God’s economy, sometimes less is really more!

 

 

 

Written 10-6-11

 

 

 

 

I Love This Poem!

My husband recently posted this poem on our bulletin board at church.  I am so thankful for the preachers I know who are not afraid to declare what the Word of God says!

THE PREACHER ON THE FENCE

From out of the millions on the earth
God often calls a man
To Preach the word and for the truth
To take a royal stand.

‘Tis sad to see him shun the cross,
Nor stand in its defense
Between the fields of right and wrong:
A preacher on the fence

Before him are the souls of men
Bound for Heaven or Hell;
An open Bible in his hand,
And yet he will not tell

All the truth thats written there,
it haveth an offense
The joys of heaven, the horrors of hell
A preacher on the fence

Now surely God has called the man
To battle for the right.
‘Tis his to ferret out of the wrong
and turn on us the light.

And yet he dare not tell the truth,
He fears the consequence,
The most disgusting thing on earth
A preacher on the fence.

If he should stand up for the wrong,
The right he’d not defend;
If he should stand up for the right,
the wrong he would offend.

His mouth is closed, he cannot speak
For freedom or against.
Oh Great God deliver us from
A preacher on the fence

But soon both sides will find him out
And brand him as a fraud,
A coward who dares not to please
The devil or his God.

Oh God free us from fear of man,
From cowardly preference;
cleanse out the dross and fear of loss,
and keep us off the fence.

Author unknown

 

Real Repentance

Yesterday, I was reading in 2 Kings about King Josiah, I was stunned by the level of this man’s repentance. After hearing from the book of the law about how his nation had sinned and how God was going to bring judgment upon Judah, we can read of Josiah’s reaction and God’s response to him.

2Kings 22:19

Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.

Josiah had a tender heart and ripped his garment and cried tears as a sign of his mourning, but he did not stop there. In 2 Kings 23:2,3, we read how King Josiah gathered all the people together and read to them from the book of the law and then made a covenant before the Lord, that him and his people would walk after the Lord and keep his commandments. In the rest of this chapter, we can read of the many things Josiah did to show that he was serious about not only confessing but forsaking sin and living to please God.

-He took the vessels out of the house of God that had been used to worship Baal and other false gods and had them burnt – 2Ki. 23:4

-Got rid of the idolatrous priests – v. 5

-He took out the grove(I researched this some, and it was an idol called Asherah that the people had worshipped), burnt it and stamped it down to powder and sprinkled it on the graves of the common people. -v.6

-He broke down the houses of the sodomites that were by the house of the Lord – v. 7

-Got rid of the high places(where idol worship also went on) – v.8

-He defiled Topeth(a place where people would go to offer human sacrifices to the god Molech)-v.10

-He took away the horses that the kings of Judah had used in worshipping the sun. (From what I read, these hours were used for men to mount and meet the sun each morning.) v. 11

-Beat and broke down altars that were used in the worship of false deities. -v. 12

-Defiled the high places that had been used in the worship of Ashteroth, Chemosh and Milcom – v. 13

-Broke the images in pieces and cut down the groves – v. 14

-Broke down the altar and high places in Bethel – v. 15

-Broked down the high places in Samaria – v. 19

-Slew all the priests of the high places – v. 20

-Got rid of all those in Judah and Jerusalem that practiced witchcraft. Got rid of all idols and images. -v. 24

It’s interesting to me what the Lord has to say after this list of things that Josiah did.

2 Kings 23:25

And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

As I read about Josiah a Scipture from the New Testament came to my mind. It was something that John the Baptist said to the Pharisees and Saducees that had come out to see him baptizing. He told them to

Matthew 3:8 – “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance.”

In other words, “If you are coming to me to be baptized, show me some evidence that you have truly repented.

I believe Josiah’s actions clearly showed that he had repented and was serious about living for God. His actions not only affected himself but also a whole nation. May we have the kind of repentance that is truly pleasing to God, a Proverbs 28:13 repentance.

Proverbs 28:13

He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

 

If You Think You’ve Arrived….Think Again

 

No matter how long we have been living for God, we will never get to the place where “we have arrived” or “we have it all down.” There will always be:

• room for improvement
• room to grow(2 Peter 3:18)
• the need to keep ourselves in the love of God(Proverbs 4:23, Jude 1:21)
• the possibility that we could lose our salvation (Hebrews 6:4-6; 10:39

 

This was brought home to me again today when I had the following texting conversation with a friend. We started out talking about the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22, 23.

Me – I would say meekness and longsuffering are the hardest fruits to see produced in our lives, just because they are so contrary to our human nature.

Friend -Yeah, but I think you have them down.

Me -I don’t think anyone will ever have them all down. It takes constant work to bear fruit, just like it takes work to have a nice garden. All I have to do is slack up on my devotional life, and I can feel the “weeds”(bad attitudes, etc.) spring up.

Friend -Ahhh! I understand. So living for the Lord really is something that we have to work on every single day for the rest of our lives?

Me-Yes, it is. God gives us a new nature when He fills us with the Holy Ghost, but we still have our old human nature to contend with, and if we don’t “crucify” it daily, it will take over in the same way that weeds can overtake and ruin a beautiful garden.

Friend – That makes sense.

I remember a time in my life when  I felt the same way about my pastor’s wife as my friend felt about me. (before this conversation) It seemed like my pastor’s wife really knew how to live for God. Surely she never struggled with bad attitudes, a lack of self-control or any evil thoughts. She had lived for God long enough to where she had gained mastery over these things. The truth is, nothing could have been further from the truth. As long as we are alive, there will always be attitudes and issues in our hearts that need work. Regardless of how long we have been living for the Lord or what “position” we may have in the church, we still have a stinking, sinful human nature with which to contend. It’s true that God gives us a new nature, His nature, when He fills us with the Holy Ghost, but that does not take away our human nature anymore than having a pristine, lovely garden takes away weeds.

That’s why we need to consistently

-Pray

-read and study the Word of God

-fast (ooh, that one’s a toughie)

-be faithful to church

-hear an anointed man of God preach the Word

These are things that God uses to help us “root out” the bad things that seek to flourish in our hearts. As we do our part to “keep ourselves in the love of God”(Jude 1:21), He will do His part to “keep us from falling”(Jude 1:24) until the day He presents us faultless before His presence. Only then will we have arrived.

 

Love This Quote

“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do
something. What I can do, I should do and, with the help of God, I
will do.”

Edward Everett Hale

 

Staccato #1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Staccato # 1

 

Some think it’s wise to just ride with the flow,

but compromise is not the way to go.

Take care! Take care! The path you trod

must line up with the Word of God.

Consider what voice leads you on your way.

Take care, your heart must not be lead astray.

*******************************************

Dissenters, they might say you preach too hard,

but preachers, this I pray, “Don’t drop your guard.”

Stand strong! Stand strong! The truth declare,

for men are searching everywhere.

They need illumination, God’s true light.

Stand strong, although it surely is a fight.

******************************************************

Though some would urge, “You should tear down that fence.”

Resist the surge, in spite of their offense.

Hold on! Hold on! There is a need.

To old landmarks, we must take heed.

The door will one day close for you and me.

Hold on, the prize to win – eternity!

3-24-11

 

This type of poem is called a staccato. You can learn how to write one here.

Proverbs 16:25  There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Proverbs 4:26  Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.

2Timothy 4:2-5  Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

Proverbs 2:20  That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the

righteous.

Psalm 119:130  The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

Proverbs 22:28  Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.

1Corinthians 9:24-27  Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:

But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.