Another excerpt from James Smith

 The world's politics, pleasures, and pursuits!

The world and the Church are essentially and eternally distinct — and they ought to be distinguishable. The Church ought not to mix with the world — but to bear a practical testimony against it, that its works and ways are evil. All through our Lord's prayer, He keeps up the distinction, and twice over He asserts of His disciples, "They are not of the world — even as I am not of the world!"

Believers are not of the world. They are born from above, and possess a nature far superior to that of the world — which unfits them for its pleasures and pursuits, and qualifies them for the enjoyments and employments of the Heavenly world.

They are delivered from the thraldom of the world — and are raised above its pursuits and its joys.

They will not be conquered by the world — but overcome it by faith.

They will not be judged with it — but with Christ will sit in judgment upon it.

They will not be punished like it — neither in the present nor in the future state.

True believers are not of the world!

Look at the world's state — condemned; and theirs, justified!

Look at its condition — wretched; and theirs, happy!

Look at its character — enemies to God; and theirs, the friends of God!

Look at its course — sin; and theirs, holiness!

Look at its god — Satan, the most degraded, depraved, and despicable being in existence; and theirs, Jehovah, the high and lofty one, the holy and happy one, the great and glorious one!

Look at its end — destruction; and theirs, salvation.

The world is darkness — they are light.
The world is corrupt — they are purified.
The world is in chains — they are free.

We are not of the world, even as Christ is not of the world!

If we are poor — let us not, then, envy the world.

A saint in rags — is preferable to a sinner in robes!

A believer in a hovel — is happier than a worldling in a palace!

A Christian at the worst — is far better off than a worldling at the best!

Whatever we have — we have with God's blessing!
Whatever the world has — it has with God's curse!

We are training for greatness and grandeur!
The world is preparing for shame and everlasting contempt!

The world is no model for a Christian! We should . . .
  not dress so expensively,
  nor furnish our homes so extravagantly,
  nor live so luxuriously — as the world does!
But as strangers and pilgrims in the world — we should abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.

Let us not be dejected — if we are stripped of what we now have. We are not of the world — we do not have our portion here. We need but little of this world's goods, and our Heavenly Father will see to it that we have enough. He will not allow us to lose anything that is essential to our holiness or happiness. As our lives are insured by our Heavenly Father — so all our needs are anticipated, and provided for. Lose what we may — we shall never lose . . .
  our God,
  our title deed to our glorious inheritance, or
  our place at the marriage supper of the Lamb!

Let us not be much troubled about the world. As we are . . .
  chosen out of it,
  redeemed from it, and
  shall soon leave it —
we should not allow ourselves to be very much affected by any of its affairs. The world's politics, pleasures, and pursuits — should be looked upon by us with the eye of a foreigner — for we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth, as all our fathers were. We arrived in the world but yesterday — and we leave tomorrow!

Let us not, therefore, mix up with the world, or be much taken up with its schemes and cares, its speculations or its prospects.

Let us always keep up our distinction from the world. Not in a spirit of pride or self-righteousness, as if conscious of some supposed superiority in ourselves. But in a meek, lowly, and loving spirit — let us avoid all that is really evil, and abstain from what has the appearance of evil.

Heavenly Father, as You have chosen us out of the world — give us grace to live above the world, and enable us to glorify You in the world! Make us like your beloved Son, who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Oh, to live in this world as strangers and pilgrims — as those whose treasure is above — and whose hearts are there also!

Alan Redpath quotes

I searched some sites and found all these quotes from Alan Redpath.

I know very little about him but nearly all of these greatly encouraged me in some way. 

I hope you are also blessed, challenged and encouraged. 

(This first one is abridged to make it more personal.) 

"God expects nothing from (insert your name here) but failure. We are no different today from the day before we were converted. We would be capable of committing any sin imaginable but for the grace of God. We are no different as people from what we were as youngsters. And the sins that beset us then beset us now, were it not for a constant, continual dependence upon the blood of Jesus, and the grace of God, and the power of the Holy Ghost to keep us.

 As long as I seek by His grace to maintain the attitude of committal and surrender to Him, then every demand, however unexpected or grim, hard, tough; every decision, however difficult; every temptation, every fierce dart of the Enemy of my soul is an attack upon the life of Christ within me. And He is always greater than Satan himself. For every situation in life God has implanted within me One who is altogether perfect, if only I let Him have His own way. How urgent therefore is this need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

I believe that the discovery of God's will for your career is dependent upon the acceptance of God's will for your character. Far too often in seeking to know God's will for our lives we're at the wrong end of the line. Our concern should never be our relationship to the problem of a career, but our relationship to the person of Jesus Christ. Then He will look after the career. What we are is much more important to Him than what we do for Him. We mean far more to God than the work we do.

Faith is two empty hands held open to receive all of the Lord.  

God's mercy with a sinner is only equalled and perhaps outmatched by His patience with the saints, with you and me.  

Before we can pray, "Lord, Thy Kingdom come," we must be willing to pray, "My Kingdom go."  

The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment, but the manufacture of a saint is the task of a lifetime.  

If you look up into His face and say, "Yes, Lord, whatever it costs," at that moment He'll flood your Life with His presence and power. 

When I think of that story (of David and Jonathan) , my heart is stirred by a desire not only that I might have a Jonathan in my life—that is surely very wonderful, but very selfish—but also that I might find a David somewhere to whom I could be a Jonathan. Would you ask the Holy Spirit to make you a friend like that, to help you to cultivate in your life sanctifying disinterested, steadfast friendships? Oh, that the Lord might let us play a part in shaping and fashioning another life in the image of Jesus Christ!

He died for the ungodly, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. There wasn’t one lovely or good thing in any of us that could draw out love from the heart of a holy Savior—there was everything to repel. Yet the infinite God, the altogether lovely One, whose ideal of love surely is far beyond anything we could ever imagine, whose capacity for love is beyond our understanding altogether, He loved us and gave Himself for us.

This is the Lord of glory, dying amidst the scorn of the people He came to redeem. Think of Him in heaven with all authority in His hands and the angelic host around Him. Then look at Him hanging on a cross with the riff-raff of humanity sneering and gaping at him. When I realize that there He took my sin, the pollution and filthiness of my life, as if it were His very own, and then poured it into oblivion as far as the east is from the west, I say, “Lord Jesus, Thy love to me was wonderful!

I want to make the issue crystal clear. There can be no possible doubt, according to the Word of God: either Jesus must be King, or He cannot be your Savior.

The best place any Christian can ever be in is to be totally destitute and totally dependent upon God, and know it.

The condition of an enlightened mind is a surrendered heart... If a man in his heart is right with God, God will deal with the problem.

Any battle for victory, power, and deliverance - from ourselves and from sin - which is not based constantly upon the gazing and the beholding of the Lord Jesus, with the heart and life lifted up to Him, is doomed to failure.

The man who gazes upon and contemplates day by day the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, and who has caught the glow of the reality that the Lord is not a theory but an indwelling power and force in his life, is as a mirror reflecting the glory of the Lord.

No sin which we are capable of committing has ever taken God by surprise for He knew we were just like that.

Return to the battle again, no longer trusting in the false and insufficient human resources which so foolishly we had taken into the battle, but now trusting in the limitless resources of our risen Lord.

When God wants to do an impossible task He takes an impossible man and crushes him.

I refuse to become panicky, as I lift up my eyes to Him and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart.

There's some task which the God of all the universe, the great Creator, your redeemer in Jesus Christ has for you to do, and which will remain undone and incomplete until by faith and obedience you step into the will of God.

Obey God in all things today! Drive out the enemy! Lay the ax to the root of the tree, and the capacity for Jesus Christ will be increased tomorrow.

Circumstances which we have resented, situations which we have found desperately difficult, have all been the means in the hands of God of driving the nails into the self-life which so easily complains.

Alan Redpath

How many bananas?

 Someone recently shared an account of how the Lord showed His faithfulness to one American Missionary to Indonesia who was imprisoned during World War Two.

Here’s the blurb from the book “Evidence Not Seen”:

“As a new bride, Darlene Deibler followed her veteran missionary husband to the jungles of New Guinea, where the two worked to spread the word of the gospel to tribes who had never before seen a white woman. When World War II erupted, Darlene and her husband, Russell, were forced to go to separate internment camps where both endured countless horrors and degradations. Never to see her husband again, Darlene’s faith never wavered despite test after test. “

(While she was in solitary confinement, Darlene found a small window overlooking the courtyard where other women were permitted to take air and exercise.)

This is how events unfolded as told by Darlene herself:

“The actions of one woman in particular fascinated me. Every time the sentry on duty turned his back to her and marched to the other side of the courtyard, she inched over toward a fence covered with Honolulu Creeper. When the guard clicked his heels, turned about, and began to stroll in her direction, she stopped. There he went, and there she went.

“Aha, intrigue. She’s going to make contact with someone who’s hidden in those vines. Isn’t this exciting! Oh, do be careful. With no books to read, I’ll watch the drama taking place here before my very eyes!” I empathised with her. I wanted her to succeed, and not to be caught. Finally, reaching the vine-covered fence, the woman stood very still. The guard clicked his heels and went off again. At that moment, I saw a hand shoot through the tangle of vine. It held a big bunch of bananas. Quickly she grabbed the bananas, slipped them into the folds of her sarong, and strolled nonchalantly back to join the other women. Nobody knew she had those bananas. But I did- bananas!

I dropped to the floor of my cell. Exhausted from my efforts, I shook all over. Worse still, I began to crave bananas. Everything in me wanted one. I could see them; I could smell them; I could taste them. I got down on my knees and said, “Lord, I’m not asking you for a whole bunch like that woman has. I just want one banana.” I looked up and pleaded, “Lord, just one banana.”

Then I began to rationalize- how could God possibly get a banana to me through these prison walls? I would never ask the guard. If he helped me and was discovered, it would mean retaliation. I would certainly never ask a favor of the Interrogator! There was more chance of the moon falling out of the sky than one of them bringing me a banana. Then I ran out of people. These three were the only ones. Of course, there was the old Indonesian night watchman. “Don’t let it even enter his thinking to bring me a banana. He’d be shot if caught.”

I bowed my head again and prayed, “Lord, there’s no one here who could get a banana to me. There’s no way for You to do it. Please don’t think I’m not thankful for the rice porridge. It’s just that- well, those bananas looked so delicious!”

What I needed to do was link my impotence to God’s omnipotence, but I couldn’t see how God could get a banana to me through these prison walls, even after the knife episode and my healing.

When the Japanese officers from the ships docked in Macassar Harbor visited the prison, great hardships were inflicted upon the prisoners. We were laughed at, scorned, and insulted. When the cells were opened, we were expected to bow low at a perfect 90-degree angle. If we didn’t perform to their satisfaction, we were struck across the back with a cane. These were humiliating and desperate experiences.

The morning after the banana drama, I heard the click of officer’s leather heels on the concrete walkway. The thought of getting to my feet and having to execute a bow was onerous, to say the least. My weight had dropped during those months in the converted insane asylum, until now I was skin drawn over bones. One nice thing about my streamlined proportions was that the thinner I got, the longer my dress became, so I had more covering at night. I stretched out my hands often and laughed at my “bird’s claws”. The meagre daily meals were not designed for putting on weight. I had been healed, but I needed food for strength. I wondered if I could manage to get to my feet and remain upright, but I was determined that when that door opened, they would find me on my feet.

The officers were almost at the door. I reached up, grabbed the window ledge, and pulled myself upright. “Now, Lord,” I prayed, “officers are coming. Give me strength to make a proper bow.” I heard the guard slip a key into the door, but he had the wrong one and ran back to the office to get the right key. I dropped to the floor to rest, then came to my feet again when I heard his tennis shoe-shod feet moving quickly down the walkway. My legs were trembling, and I clutched the bars of the window to steady myself. “Lord, please help me to bow correctly.”

Finally, the door opened, and I looked into the smiling face of Mr. Yamaji, the Kampili camp commander. This was early July, and it had been so long since I had seen a smiling or a familiar face. I clapped my hands and exclaimed, Tuan Yamaji, seperti lihat sobat jan lama, “Mr. Yamaji, it’s just like seeing an old friend!”

Tears filled his eyes. He didn’t say a word but turned and walked out into the courtyard and began to talk with the two officers who had conducted my interrogations. At roll call in Kampili, I had had to give certain commands in Japanese, but I had made a deliberate effort to learn as little of the Japanese language as possible. It was better not to know it. I couldn’t understand what Yamaji was saying – but he spoke with them for a long time. What had happened to the hauteur and belligerence with which those two always conducted themselves toward me? I could see their heads hanging lower and lower. Perhaps he spoke to them of my work as a missionary, or maybe he shared with them concerning that afternoon in his office after I had learned of my husband’s death, when I spoke of Christ, my Saviour, Who gives us love for others- even for our enemies, those who use us badly.

Finally, Mr, Yamaji came back to my cell.

“You’re very ill, aren’t you?” he asked sympathetically.

“Yes, sir, Mr. Yamaji, I am.”

“I’m going back to the camp now. Have you any word for the women?”

The Lord gave me confidence to answer, “Yes, sir, when you go back, please tell them for me that I’m all right. I’m still trusting the Lord. They’ll understand what I mean, and I believe you do.”

“All right,” he replied; then, turning on his heels, he left. When Mr. Yamaji and the Kempeitai officers had gone and the guard had closed the door, it hit me – I didn’t bow to those men! “Oh Lord,” I cried, “why didn’t You help me remember? They’ll come back and beat me (for not bowing). Lord, please, not back to the hearing room again. Not now, Lord, I can’t; I just can’t.” I heard the guard coming back and knew he was coming for me. Struggling to my feet, I stood ready to go. He opened the door, walked in, and with a sweeping gesture laid at my feet – bananas! “They’re yours,” he said, “and they’re all from Mr. Yamaji.” I sat down in stunned silence and counted them. There were ninety-two bananas!

In all my spiritual experience, I’ve never known such shame before my Lord. I pushed the bananas into a corner and wept before Him. “Lord, forgive me; I’m so ashamed. I couldn’t trust You enough to get even one banana for me. Just look at them – there are almost a hundred.”

In the quiet of the shadowed cell, He answered back within my heart: “That’s what I delight to do, the exceeding abundant above anything you ask or think.” I knew in those moments that nothing is impossible to my God.

After God assured me it was His delight to send me those bananas, my heart was salved, and it took all the character I possessed not to eat all ninety-two in one sitting. After months of meagre rations of rice porridge, I knew that to gorge could make me deathly ill, so I portioned out so many bananas per day, saving the greener ones for last. This was God’s provision, and strength began to flow into my body.

“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.” (Psalm 23:5)

I hope you are as challenged and blessed as I have been by this. 

Something a little bit different...

Years ago, I heard the Bible Alphabet song. I'm using some of those verses for this project, but some different ones too.

I will be aiming to post one verse every few days going through the Alphabet. The X and Z verses are definitely stretching it, but it had to be done. :)

I was challenged to learn this one at JAM club quite a lot of years ago!

If you're up for a bit of a challenge too, you can memorise these with me. Ok?
Or perhaps you already know all of the ones I'll share. In that case, find another starting with that letter and memorise that one instead. :)

Some more challenging quotes from Samuel Rutherford

“Come, warm your hearts, all intellectual capacities, at this fire; O come, all ye created faculties, and smell the precious ointments of Christ; O come, sit down under this shadow, taste and eat the apples of life. O that angels would come, and generations of men, and wonder, admire, adore, fall down before the unsearchable wisdom of this gospel art of the unsearchable riches of Christ!” 

“I pray God that I may never find my will again. Oh, that Christ would subject my will to His, and trample it under His feet.”

“Our fair morning is at hand, the day-star is near the rising, and we are not many miles from home; what matters the ill entertainment in the smoky inns of this miserable life? We are not to stay here, and we will be dearly welcome to him whom we go to.”

“We may sing beforehand, even in our winter storm, in the expectation of a summer sun at the turn of the year; no created powers can mar our Lord Jesus' music, nor spill our song of joy. Let us then be glad and rejoice in the salvation of our Lord; for faith had never yet cause to have wet cheeks, and hanging-down brows, or to droop or die.”

“Since He looked upon me my heart is not my own. He has run away to heaven with it.”

“I never knew Christ ebb or flow, wax or wane; when he seemeth to change it is but we who turn our faces from him. Surely he hath borne with strange ways in me.  I was before at variance with Christ because I believed His outward look rather than His faithful promise, Yet He hath in patience waited for me till I have come to myself, and hath not taken advantage 'of my weak apprehensions of His goodness.'”

“You remember, ‘your summer days would have clouds, and your rose a prickly thorn beside it.’ In heaven alone is Christ enjoyed without alloy; here we must share His cross, yet I know no tree beareth sweeter fruit than Christ’s cross.”

"Christ and His cross are not separable in this life; howbeit Christ and His cross part at heaven's door, for there is no house-room for crosses in heaven. One tear, one sigh, one sad heart, one fear, one loss, one thought of trouble cannot find lodging there."

“Your heart is not the compass that God steers by.”

“All the saints have their own measure of winter before their eternal summer. O! for the long day, and the high sun, and the fair garden, and the King's great city up above these visible heavens!”

“Of all created comforts, God is the leader; you are the borrower, not the owner.”

“When the Lord's blessed will bloweth cross your desires, it is best, in humility, to strike sail to Him, and to be willing to be led any way our Lord pleaseth.”

“Oh, thrice fools are we, who like new-born princes weeping in the cradle, know not that there is a kingdom before them; then, let our Lord's sweet hand square us, and hammer us, and strike off the knots of pride, self-love, and world-worship, and infidelity, that He may make us stones and pillars in His Father's house.”

“You will not be carried to Heaven lying at ease upon a feather bed.”

“See that you buy the field where the Pearl is; sell all, and make a purchase of salvation. Think it not easy: for it is a steep ascent to eternal glory: many are lying dead by the way, slain with security.”

“Were there ten thousand millions of heavens created above these highest heavens, and again as many above them, and as many above them, till angels were wearied with counting, it were but too low a seat to fix the princely throne of that Lord Jesus (whose ye are) above them all.”

“Faint not; the miles to heaven are but few and short.”

“Set no time to the Lord the creator of time, for His time is always best.”

“ I will charge my soul to believe and wait for Him, and will follow His providence, and not go before it, nor stay behind it.”

“But the way to overcome is by patience, forgiving and praying for your enemies, in doing whereof you heap coals upon their heads, and your Lord shall open a door to you in your trouble: wait upon Him, as the night watch waiteth for the morning. He will not tarry. Go up to your watch-tower, and come not down, but by prayer, and faith, and hope, wait on.”

“You shall by faith sustain yourself and comfort yourself in your Lord, and be strong in His power; for you are in the beaten and common way to heaven, when you are under our Lord's crosses. You have reason to rejoice in it, more than in a crown of gold; and rejoice and be glad to bear the reproaches of Christ.”

“ Think it not hard if you get not your will, nor your delights in this life; God will have you to rejoice in nothing but himself.”

“Believe God's love and power more than you believe your own feelings and experiences. Your rock is Christ, and it is not the rock that ebbs and flows but the sea.”

“We are as near to heaven as we are far from self, and far from the love of a sinful world.”

“Keep God's covenant in your trials; hold you by His blessed word, and sin not; flee anger, wrath, grudging, envying, fretting; forgive a hundred pence to your fellow-servant, because your Lord hath forgiven you ten thousand talents: for, I assure you by the Lord, your adversaries shall get no advantage against you, except you sin, and offend your Lord, in your sufferings.”

“Grace tried is better than grace, and more than grace; it is glory in its infancy.”

I've been looking up some more quotes by Samuel Rutherford, the Scottish Covenanter.

He was born in 1600 and died in 1661.

He is thought to have been a major influence in the formation of the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

What I love about his quotes, is that you can tell He really loved the Lord Jesus Christ.

He must have had a very close personal relationship with Him to have penned these.

As I gathered each quote, I was challenged yet again.

Do I act like I believe this?

Am I keeping my focus on Heaven and the things of Jesus?

Am I patient and forbearing?

Am I submitted and yielded to the "blessed will of the Lord"?

When was the last time I wondered, admired, adored, fell down before the unsearchable wisdom of this gospel art of the unsearchable riches of Christ?

I hope you're also challenged.

Let me know in the comments section and if you'd like to discuss them, please feel free.

Excerpt from today's Tozer

"Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. 1 Peter 1:8
The people of God ought to be the happiest people in all the wide world!
People should be coming to us constantly and asking the source of our joy and delight -- redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, our yesterdays behind us, our sin under the blood forever and a day, to be remembered against us no more forever. God is our Father, Christ is our Brother, the Holy Spirit our Advocate and Comforter. Our Brother has gone to the Father's house to prepare a place for us, leaving us with the promise that He will come again!"

Quite a challenge.
Hopefully you find it encouraging too.

Separate always? "Nobody" Susan Warner quote

Yes, it is time for another little quote by Susan Warner from her book, "Nobody".
A girl and her grandmother are discussing being separate from the world and I love the response here.

"How can one be separate always, Grandma, in the midst of other people?"

"Take care that you keep nearest God. Walk with Him; and you'll be pretty sure
to be separate from the most o' folks."


It's very simple, direct and to the point, and exactly what we need to do.
How do we take care to keep nearest God?
Spending time in prayer and reading the Bible would seem to be the obvious ones.

#Jesus matters!

I attended a funeral today where the minister made a statement similar to the above, and it's been on my mind ever since. The world tells us everything matters; polar bears, global warming, pollution etc., 

But this is a refreshing challenge to have our priorities right. 

It really is the most important decision you'll ever have to make. 

Another challenging quote

Attributed to Amy Carmichael (but I came across a couple of variations, so I don't know which one is most authentic.)

3 challenging reminders from the message I heard this morning.

Strong Word of Challenge from A W Tozer

Written in the 20th century, but for today....??? Aiden Wilson Tozer 1897 - 1963 "This frightening hour calls aloud for men with the gift of prophetic insight. Instead we have men who conduct surveys, polls and panel discussions. We need men with the gift of knowledge. In their place we have men with scholarship---nothing more. If the church in the second half of this century is to recover from the injuries she suffered in the first half, there must appear a new type of preacher. The proper, ruler-of-the-synagogue type will never do. Neither will the priestly type of man who carries out his duties, takes his pay and asks no questions, nor the smooth-talking pastoral type who knows how to make the Christian religion acceptable to everyone. All these have been tried and found wanting. Another kind of religious leader must arise among us. He must be of the old prophet type, a man who has seen visions of God and has heard a voice from the Throne. When he comes (and I pray God there will be not one but many) he will stand in flat contradiction to everything our smirking, smooth civilization holds dear. He will contradict, denounce and protest in the name of God and will earn the hatred and opposition of a large segment of Christendom. We desperately need seers who can see through the mist---Christian leaders with prophetic vision. Unless they come soon it will be too late for this generation. And if they do come we will no doubt crucify a few of them in the name of our worldly orthodoxy. Christianity is so entangled with the world that millions never guess how radically they have missed the New Testament pattern. Compromise is everywhere. Keep your feet on the ground, but let your heart soar as high as it will. Refuse to be average or to surrender to the chill of your spiritual environment. Perhaps our greatest present need may be the coming of a prophet to dash the stones at the foot of the mountain and call the Church out to repentance or to judgment. For a man to understand revealed truth requires an act of God equal to the original act which inspired the text. We need to learn that truth consists not in correct doctrine, but in correct doctrine plus the inward enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. Men who have been used of God in any generation from Calvary down to this hour have not invented and preached new truths. They have simply had the anointed vision to discover truths that had been obscured by the overemphasis of certain other truths. The church has lost her testimony. She has no longer anything to say to the world. Her once robust shout of assurance has faded away to an apologetic whisper. She who one time went out to declare now goes out to inquire. Her dogmatic declaration has become a respectful suggestion, a word of religious advice, given with the understanding that it is after all only an opinion and not meant to sound bigoted. Pure Christianity, instead of being shaped by its environment, actually stands in sharp opposition to it. Could it be that too many of God's true children, and especially the preachers, are sinning against God by guilty silence?...I for one am waiting to hear the loud voices of the prophets and reformers sounding once more over a sluggish and drowsy church. They'll pay a price for their boldness, but the results will be worth it. To be right with God has often meant to be in trouble with men. This is such a common truth that one hesitates to mention it, yet it appears to have been overlooked by the majority of Christians today. Apart from God nothing matters. We think that health matters, that freedom matters, or knowledge or art or civilization. And but for one insistent word they would matter indeed. That word is eternity. We are in real need of a reformation that will lead to revival among the churches. The man who has been taught by the Holy Spirit will be a seer rather than a scholar. The difference is that the scholar sees and the seer sees through; and that is a mighty difference indeed. The apostles went to jail, and that is not too revealing because they went against their will; but when they got out of jail and could go where they would they immediately went to the praying company. The choices of life, not the compulsions, reveal character. Moral power has always accompanied definitive beliefs. Great saints have always been dogmatic. We need right now a return to a gentle dogmatism that smiles while it stands stubborn and firm on the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever. The unsatisfied longings of the prophets for human understanding caused them to cry out in their complaint, and even our Lord Himself suffered in the same way. The man who has passed on into the divine Presence in actual inner experience will not find many who understand him. I believe that the imperative need of the day is not simply revival, but a radical reformation that will go to the root of our moral and spiritual maladies and deal with causes rather than with consequences, with the disease rather than with symptoms. When the children of God accept the world's values it is time some Christians spoke up. Babylon may have her gods, her own way of life and moral standards. It is when Israel begins to adopt them that the prophet of God becomes responsible to rise and cry out against them. Truth consists not merely in correct doctrine but in correct doctrine to which is added the inward enlightenment of the Holy Spirit...John the Baptist said, "A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven" (John 3:27). He was not referring to men's gifts. He was speaking of spiritual truth. The radical element in testimony and life that once made Christians hated by the world is missing from present-day evangelicalism. It is useless for large companies of believers to spend long hours begging God to send revival. Unless we intend to reform we may as well not pray. Unless praying men have the insight and faith to amend their whole way of life to conform to the New Testament pattern there can be no true revival. The fact is that we are not today producing saints. We are making converts to an effete type of Christianity that bears little resemblance to that of the New Testament. The average so-called Bible Christian in our times is but a wretched parody on true sainthood. Yet we put millions of dollars behind movements to perpetuate this degenerate form of religion and attack the man who dares to challenge the wisdom of it. And when the deliverers come---reformers, revivalists, prophets---they will be men of God and men of courage. They will have God on their side because they will be careful to stay on God's side. They will be co-workers with Christ and instruments in the hand of the Holy Ghost. Such men will be baptized with the Spirit indeed... Our only hope is that renewed spiritual pressure will be exerted increasingly by self-effacing and courageous men who desire nothing but the glory of God and the purity of the church. May God send us many of them. Today we need prophetic preachers; not preachers of prophecy merely, but preachers with a gift of prophecy. The word of wisdom is missing. We need the gift of discernment again in our pulpits. What is needed desperately today is prophetic insight. Scholars can interpret the past; it takes prophets to interpret the present. Any spirit that permits compromise with the world is a false spirit. Any religious movement that imitates the world in any of its manifestations is false to the cross of Christ and on the side of the devil. The popular notion that the first obligation of the church is to spread the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth is false. Her first obligation is to be spiritually worthy of it. Some who desire to be teachers of the Word, but who understand neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm, insist upon "naked" faith as the only way to know spiritual things. By this they mean a conviction of the trustworthiness of the Word of God (a conviction, it may be noted, which the devils share with them). But the man who has been taught even slightly by the Spirit of Truth will rebel at this perversion. His language will be, "I have heard Him and observed Him. What have I to do any more with idols?" For he cannot love a God who is no more than a deduction from a text. The man who preaches truth and applies it to the lives of his hearers will feel the nails and the thorns. He will lead a hard life, but a glorious one. May God raise up many such prophets. The church needs them badly. The truly spiritual man is indeed something of an oddity. He lives not for himself but to promote the interests of Another...He finds few who care to talk about that which is the supreme object of his interest, so he is often silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious shoptalk. For this he earns the reputation of being dull and over-serious, so he is avoided and the gulf between him and society widens."   found here:  https://www.christianstogether.net/Articles/101379/Christians_Together_in/Christian_Life/Is_there_any/A_word_for.aspx

A couple of challenges.

Last week, I was challenged by these words, spoken by a local preacher.

I think they're a good reminder.

Have I fully surrendered to Jesus? Has He cleansed and filled me so He can use me?
Am I truly satisfied with Him? and is He satisfied with me?

Yield not to temptation; a hymn and some stories about it.

The other day I was introduced to this challenging and encouraging hymn which was written by Horatio Richmond Palmer in 1868.

Mr. Palmer said, ”This song was an inspiration. I was at work on the dry subject of ' Theory' when the complete idea flashed upon me, and I laid aside the theoretical work and hurriedly penned both words and music as fast as I could write them. I submitted them to the criticism of a friend afterward, and some changes were made in the third stanza, but the first two are exactly as they came to me. The music was first written in A flat; but I soon saw that B flat was better, and for many years it has appeared in that key. I am reverently thankful it has been a power for good."

A friend contributes this incident: ”Twenty years ago, when the State prison at Sing Sing, New York, had women as well as men within its walls, a lady used to visit the women's department. Every Sunday afternoon the inmates were permitted to come out and sit in the corridor to hear her talk, and to sing hymns with her. One day some of the women rebelled against an order of the matron, and a terrible scene followed. Screams, threats, ribaldry and profanity filled the air. It was said, by those who knew, that an uprising among the women prisoners was worse and more difficult to quell than one among the men. The matron hastily sent to the men's department for help. Suddenly a voice rose clear and strong above the tumult, singing a favourite song of the prisoners,


'Yield not to temptation,
For yielding is sin;
Each victory will help you
Some other to win.
Fight manfully onward,
Dark passions subdue;
Look ever to Jesus,
He'll carry you through.' There was a lull; then one after another joined in the sacred song; and presently, with one accord, all formed into line and marched quietly to their cells."

A minister who at the time was laboring there, writes me that when Dr. Somerville, of Scotland, and Mr. Varley, of England, were in New Zealand, in the 1870’s, in connection with Young Men's Christian Association work, many young men found strength for life's temptations in the first lines of this hymn, which was sung at every meeting for months.

“Some twenty-four years ago, ”writes James A. Watson, of Blackburn, England,” the Presbyterian church of England was preparing to issue a new book of praise, ' The Church Praise,' now in use. I was asked to send in a suitable list of hymns for the young. Among the number I sent ' Yield not to temptation,' but to my regret, when I got a draft copy of the proposed hymn-book, that hymn was not in it. Three or four Sundays afterward I was requested by the teacher of the infant class in the St. George's School, where I have been superintendent for over forty years, to visit a dying boy. I found him unconscious. All that his widowed mother could tell me about him was that he had kept saying: 'He'll carry me through.' When I asked her if she knew what he meant, she told me that she did not. She did not attend church or school. I told her that it was the chorus of a hymn, and pointed out how the good Shepherd was carrying her little boy through the valley; how he was gathering her lamb in his loving arms. I also told her that the Saviour would carry her through her trouble, would comfort, strengthen and keep her, and at last bring her to the happy land where death-divided ones will meet to part no more. I was so much impressed by the incident that I wrote to the convener of the hymn-book committee, and pleaded for the insertion of the hymn in the new book. The committee put it in, and for twenty-three years the young people of our Presbyterian church have been able to sing it when wanted, all through the comfort it had been to a little dying boy, the only son of a widow, on a back street of Blackburn."

Found here:  http://breadsite.org/hymnstories/yieldnottotemptation.htm


Rest of the hymn:

1. • Refrain:
     Ask the Saviour to help you,
     Comfort, strengthen, and keep you;
     He is willing to aid you,
     He will carry you through.
2. Shun evil companions, bad language disdain,
   God’s name hold in reverence, nor take it in vain;
   Be thoughtful and earnest, kindhearted and true;
   Look ever to Jesus, He’ll carry you through.
3. To him that o’ercometh, God giveth a crown,
   Through faith we will conquer, though often cast down;
   He who is our Saviour, our strength will renew;
   Look ever to Jesus, He’ll carry you through.

Challenging message on Forgiveness

Last month, I attended this conference; I found it encouraging and challenging.

Today's excerpt from "In Green Pastures" by J R Miller D.D.

June 10

Power of the Tongue

The tongue's power of blessing is simply incalculable. It can impart valuable knowledge, making others wiser. It can utter kindly words, which will comfort sorrow or cheer despondency. It can breathe thoughts which will arouse, inspire, and quicken heedless souls, and even call up dead souls to life. It can sing songs which will live forever in blessed influence and ministry. Such power we should consecrate to God, and hold ever pure for him. The lips which speak God's name in prayer and Christian song, and that utter vows of fidelity to Christ, should never defile themselves with any forms of corrupt speech. They should be kept only for Christ.

(found here: http://gracegems.org/Miller/in_green_pastures2.htm)

Quite a challenge isn't it! (Especially when you take it a step further like Jesus does when He judges the thoughts and intentions of our hearts, not just our words!!!)

Epicenter 2013 - Pastor Joe Focht | Epicenter Conference

Epicenter 2013 - Pastor Joe Focht | Epicenter Conference

This is an amazingly challenging message!!!!!

Let me not sink

Here is a poem I heard years ago, and then I read it again the other day. It's a challenging one.

Make Me Thy Fuel

From prayer that asks that I may be
Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher,
From silken self, O Captain, free
Thy soldier who would follow Thee.

From subtle love of softening things,
From easy choices, weakenings,
(Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went the crucified)
From all that dims Thy Calvary,
O Lamb of God, deliver me.

Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay,
The hope no disappointments tire,
The passion that will burn like fire;
Let me not sink to be a clod:
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.        

by Amy Carmichael

180 movie trailer

Here's another challenging clip. I'd be interested to know your thoughts on this topic!
I'm looking forward to watching the movie soon! (It is released on 26th!)

A couple of challenges from Philippians

"Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world." Philippians 2:14+15

So as well as thinking of ways to encourage each other, lets try stopping ourselves complaining!
(Well, that's a challenge to me even if it isn't to anyone else!)

"But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to His death, if by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.¹² Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. ¹³ Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, ¹⁴ I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
¹⁵ Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. ¹⁶ Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule,^[a] let us be of the same mind." Philippians 3:7-16

Is knowing Christ our consuming desire? Do we long to know Him better? Can any of us say with Paul that we count "all things as rubbish" that we may gain Christ?

Just thought I'd share these challenges. :) In fact, the whole book is full of challenges. (I'll leave you to decide whether you think I mean the book of Philippians or the Book of the Bible. Or maybe I mean both?)