Wednesday 31 May 2023

Some of R. A. Torrey's thoughts on the topic of Prayer and the Bible

I'd heard the name often enough but I had only read one or two of his quotes. 

Here are a few that I thought are particularly worth sharing. 


"For eighteen centuries every engine of destruction that human science, philosophy, wit, reasoning or brutality could bring to bear against a book has been brought to bear against that book to stamp it out of the world, but it has a mightier hold on the world today than ever before. If that were man’s book it would have been annihilated and forgotten hundreds of years ago…  It stands absolutely unshaken today. At times almost all of the wise and great of the earth have been pitted against the Bible, and only an obscure few for it. Yet it has stood."


"The great need to-day in individuals, in churches and in preachers is that the Wind of God blow upon us." 


"God has not changed; and His ear is just as quick to hear the voice of real prayer, and His hand is just as strong to save, as it ever was." 


"There must be, in any complete revelation of God's mind and will and character and being, things hard for the beginner to understand, and the wisest and best of us are but beginners."


"The truly wise man is he who believes the Bible against the opinions of any man. If the Bible says one thing, and any body of men says another, the wise man will decide, "This book is the Word of Him who cannot lie."


"To have as one's ever-present friend, and to be conscious that one has as his ever-present friend, the Holy Spirit, and to surrender one's life in all it's departments entirely to His control - this is true Christian living."


"It is true that He does sometimes require of us things that to others seem hard. But when the will is once surrendered, the revolutionized life plans become just the plans that are most pleasant, and the things that to others seem hard, are just the things that are easiest and most delightful. Do not let Satan deceive you into being afraid of God's plans for your life."


"To win men to acceptance of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord is the only reason Christians are left in this world."

 

"A verse must be read often, and re-read and read again before the wondrous message of love and power that God has put into begins to appear. Words must be turned over and over in the mind before their full force and beauty takes possession of us. One must look a long time at the great masterpieces of art to appreciate their beauty and understand their meaning, and so one must look a long time at the great verses of the Bible to appreciate their beauty and understand their meaning."


"God's Word is pure and sure, in spite of the devil, in spite of your fear, in spite of everything." 


" The reason why many fail in battle is because they wait until the hour of battle. The reason why others succeed is because they have gained their victory on their knees long before the battle came… Anticipate your battles; fight them on your knees before temptation comes, and you will always have victory."


"Prayer that is born of meditation upon the Word of God is the prayer that soars upward most easily to God's listening ears." 


"If we then let the Words of Christ abide in us, they will stir us up in prayer."


"The chief purpose of prayer is that God may be glorified in the answer." 


" When Jesus died, He died as my representative, and I died in Him; when He arose, He rose as my representative, and I arose in Him; when He ascended up on high and took His place at the right hand of the Father in the glory, He ascended as my representative and I ascended in Him, and today I am seated in Christ with God in the heavenlies. I look at the cross of Christ, and I know that atonement has been made for my sins; I look at the open sepulcher and the risen and ascended Lord, and I know the atonement has been accepted. There no longer remains a single sin on me, no matter how many or how great my sins may have been. "


Hope you're blessed and encouraged as you ponder the Scriptural truth behind them. 

Friday 26 May 2023

Shavuot

As the Jewish people celebrate the giving of Torah on Shavuot, (and Christians celebrate Pentecost, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit) I thought it appropriate to share this: 

 " Hebrew names don’t just have a meaning and a numerical value; every letter also has a pictogram, so every name and word have pictures that tell another story and give another message. How incredible this is. 

All the law (Hebrew: Torah: instruction of God) points to Jesus of Nazareth. Even the very word Torah points to Jesus.

4 Hebrew letters: 1st letter is depicted by a cross, 2nd letter is “nails”, 3rd letter is the pictogram for “The Highest One” and the final letter’s pictogram means “Behold.”

So we have, “On the cross was nailed the Highest One. Behold!” Behold, the Highest One was nailed to a cross- for you. Torah. I hope every time you hear that word, you will remember to Behold the Highest one nailed to the cross.

"Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things out of your law." Psalm 119:18" (part transcript from a sermon I heard. ) 


(I find this fascinating!) 

"In Genesis 1:1, beginning with the first occurrence of the Hebrew letter tav {ת ,{counting 49 

letters the second letter of 'Torah' appears, counting 49 more letters the third letter appears, 

counting 49 more letters the fourth letter appears-- Torah {תורה {is spelled out using every 

50th letter of the text. 

Beginning with Exodus 1:1, Torah is spelled out the same way; every 50th letter beginning 

with the first appearance of the Hebrew letter tav {ת .{

Leviticus does not have 'Torah' encoded, but has YHVH {God's name,} {יהוה {spelled out 

beginning with the first appearance of the Hebrew letter yod {י {and counting forward every 

8th letter (Note: the number 8 

represents new life, resurrection) 

Numbers and Deuteronomy both have 'Torah' encoded in the initial verses of the books, but in

Numbers 'Torah' is spelled out in reverse order using 50 letter intervals. In Deuteronomy, 

'Torah' is also spelled out in reverse order at 49 letter intervals beginning in the 5th verse." (I've adapted this from a pdf I found.) 


So, the Law points to God. It is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The LORD Jesus is the only Man who ever lived who never broke God's laws, but He was crucified for our sins. His perfection has paid the price for you and I to be accepted by the Father when we turn away from our sins and choose wholeheartedly to follow and trust Him.

"He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy." Proverbs 28:13

"However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you." John 16:13-15.

If the law had not been given we wouldn't realise our need of the Saviour.