"A Light Shining out of Darkness"

by William Cowper God moves in a mysterious way,      His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea,      And rides upon the storm. Deep in unfathomable mines      Of never failing skill, He treasures up His bright designs,      And works His sovereign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,      The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy, and shall break      In blessings on your head. Judge not the LORD by feeble sense,      But trust Him for His grace; Behind a frowning providence,      He hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast,      Unfolding ev'ry hour; The bud may have a bitter taste,      But sweet will be the flow'r. Blind unbelief is sure to err,      And scan his work in vain; GOD is his own interpreter,      And he will make it plain.

[Guest Speaker] The Secret Place

I am re-posting this again today, because no one watched the video. 

This is not posted lightly. 

Listen hard.

Listen open.

Meet David Gibbs:

An unrelated 'Something' : 
As the year comes to a rapid close, Becca-Ellen and I would like to set a precedent for the up coming year. We want to introduce you to people and places that have changed our thinking and shoved us a couple steps forward in our walk with the Lord. As we introduce these people to you, we want you to research them, their life, their words. Listen to their videos. Read their books. Meet them. Talk to them. Write to them.
These are not just people. These are Christians who are closely following in the steps of the Lord Jesus.

So far, you have met:

Preachers:
Voddie Baucham
Eric Ludy

K.P. Yohannan
Micah Currado
Ray Comfort
Doug Philips

From the Past:
Amy Carmichael
Andrew Murray

Faithful Christian Women:
Anna Sofia and Elisabeth Botkin
Leslie Ludy
Jasmine Baucham
 Lady Lydia
An we can't wait to introduce you to hundreds more from the past and present!

Don't just skim the post as it lands in your inbox!

 

[Guest Post] Persevering Prayer

Andrew Murray


And the Lord said, "Men ought always to pray, and not to faint."

There was in a city a judge, a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?"(Luke 18:1-8)

Of all the mysteries of the prayer world the need of persevering prayer is one of the greatest. That the Lord, who is so loving and longing to bless, should have to be asked, time after time, sometimes year after year, before the answer comes, we cannot easily understand. It is also one of the greatest practical difficulties in the exercise of believing prayer. When, after persevering pleading, our prayer remains unanswered, it is often easiest for our lazy flesh, and it has all the appearance of pious submission, to think that we must now cease praying, because God may have His secret reason for withholding His answer to our request.It is by faith alone that the difficulty is overcome. When once faith has taken its stand on God's word and the Name of Jesus, and has yielded itself to the leading of the Spirit to seek God's will and honor alone in its prayer, it need not be discouraged by delay. It knows from Scripture that the power of believing prayer is simply irresistible; real faith can never be disappointed. It knows that just as water, to exercise the irresistible power it can have, must be gathered up and accumulated until the stream can come down in full force, so there must often be a heaping up of prayer until God sees that the measure is full, when the answer comes. It knows that just as the peasant farmer has to take his ten thousand steps to sow his tens of thousands seeds, each one a part of the preparation for the final harvest, so there is a need for often repeated persevering prayer, all working out some desired blessing. It knows for certain that not a single believing prayer can fail of its effect in heaven, but has its influence, and is treasured up to work out an answer in due time to him who perseveres to the end. It knows that it has to do, not with human thoughts or possibilities, but with the word of the living God. And so, even as Abraham through so many years "who against hope believed in hope" (Romans 4:18), and then "followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises."(Hebrews 6:12)

To enable us, when the answer to our prayer does not come at once, to combine quiet patience and joyful confidence in our persevering prayer, we must especially try to understand the words in which our Lord sets forth the character and conduct, not of the unjust judge, but of our God and Father, toward those whom He allows to cry day and night to Him: "I tell you that He will avenge them speedily." (Luke 18:8)

He will avenge them quickly, the Master says. The blessing is all prepared; He is not only willing, but most anxious, to give them what they ask; everlasting love burns with the longing desire to reveal itself fully to its beloved and to satisfy their needs. God will not delay one moment longer than is absolutely necessary; He will do all in His power to expedite and rush the answer.

But why, if this is true and His power is infinite, does it often take so long for the answer to prayer to come? And why must God's own elect so often, in the middle of suffering and conflict, cry day and night? He is waiting patiently while He listens to them. "Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain." (James 5:7) The farmer does, indeed, long for his harvest, but knows that it must have its full amount of sunshine and rain, and he has long patience. A child so often wants to pick the half-ripe fruit; the farmer knows how to wait until the proper time. Man, in his spiritual nature too, is under the law of gradual growth that reigns in all created life. It is only in the path of development that he can reach his divine destiny. And it is the Father, in whose hand are the times and seasons, who knows the moment when the soul or the Church is ripened to that fullness of faith in which it can really take and keep the blessing. Like a father who longs to have his only child home from school, and yet waits patiently until the time of training is completed, so it is with God and His children: He is the patient One, and answers quickly.

The insight into this truth leads the believer to cultivate the corresponding dispositions: patience and faith, waiting and anticipating, are the secret of his perseverance. By faith in the promise of God, we know that we have the petitions we have asked of Him. Faith takes and holds the answer in the promise as an unseen spiritual possession, rejoices in it, and praises for it. But there is a difference between the faith that thus holds the word and knows that it has the answer and the clearer, fuller, riper faith that obtains the promise as a present experience. It is in persevering, not unbelieving, but confident and praising prayer, that the soul grows up into that full union with its Lord in which it can enter upon the possession of the blessing in Him. There may be in these around us, there may be in that great system of being of which we are part, there may be in God's government, things that have to be put right through our prayer before the answer can fully come: the faith that has, according to the command, believed that it has received, can allow God to take His time; it knows it has prevailed and must prevail. In quiet, persistent, and determined perseverance it continues in prayer and thanksgiving until the blessing comes. And so we see combined what at first sight appears contradictory--the faith that rejoices in the answer of the unseen God as a present possession and the patience that cries day and night until it be revealed. The quickness of God's patience is met by the triumphant but patient faith of His waiting child.

Our great danger, in this school of the answer delayed, is the temptation to think that, after all, it may not be God's will to give us what we ask. If our prayer be according to God's word, and under the leading of the Spirit, let us not give way to these fears. Let us learn to give God time. God needs time with us. If only we give Him time, that is, time in the daily fellowship with Himself, for Him to exercise the full influence of His presence on us, and time, day by day, in the course of our being kept waiting, for faith to prove its reality and to fill our whole being, He Himself will lead us from faith to vision; we shall see the glory of God. Let no delay shake our faith. Of faith it holds good: first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. Each believing prayer brings a step nearer the final victory. Each believing prayer helps to ripen the fruit and bring us nearer to it; it fills up the measure of prayer and faith known to God alone; it conquers the hindrances in the unseen world; it hastens the end. Child of God, give the Father time. He is patiently listening to you. He wants the blessing to be rich, and full, and sure; give Him time, while you cry day and night. Only remember the word: "I tell you that He will avenge them speedily." (Luke 18:8)

The blessing of such persevering prayer is unspeakable. There is nothing so heart-searching as the prayer of faith. It teaches you to discover and confess, and to give up everything that hinders the coming of the blessing, everything there may not be in accordance with the Father's will. It leads to closer fellowship with Him who alone can teach us to pray, to a more entire surrender to draw near under no covering but that of the blood and the Spirit. It calls for a closer and more simple abiding in Christ alone. Christian, give God time. He will perfect that which concerns you.

Let it be thus whether you pray for yourself or for others. All labor, bodily or mental, needs time and effort: we must give up ourselves up to it. Nature discovers her secrets and yields her treasures only to diligent and thoughtful labor. However little we can understand it, in the spiritual farming it is the same: the seed we sow in the soil of heaven, the efforts we put forth, and the influence we seek to exert in the world above, need our whole being: we must give ourselves to prayer. But let us hold firm the great confidence that in due season we will reap if we don't give up.
And let us especially learn the lesson as we pray for the Christ's Church. She is, indeed, like the poor widow, in the absence of her Lord, apparently at the mercy of her adversary, helpless to obtain restitution. Let us, when we pray for His Church or any portion of it, under the power of the world, asking Him to visit her with the mighty workings of His Spirit and to prepare her for His coming-- let us pray in the assured faith: prayer does help, praying always and not stopping will bring the answer. Only give God time. And then keep crying out day and night. "And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?" (Luke 18:6-7)
 

Standing in the Gap

Do not watch this is if you do not want to be challenged.

Are you ready to give your life to Christ?

"Here am I! Send me!"

Walking With God

Oh! for a closer walk with God, 

A calm and heavenly frame;

 A light to shine upon the road 

That leads me to the Lamb! 

Where is the blessedness 

I knew When first I saw the Lord?

 Where is the soul-refreshing view 

Of Jesus and His Word? 

What peaceful hours I once enjoyed! 

How sweet their memory still! 

But they have left an aching void, 

The world can never fill. 

Return, O holy Dove, return! 

Sweet the messenger of rest! 

I hate the sins that made thee mourn 

And drove thee from my breast. 

The dearest idol I have known, 

Whate'er that idol be, 

Help me to tear it from thy throne, 

And worship only thee. 

So shall my walk be close with God,

 Calm and serene my frame; 

So purer light shall mark the road 

That leads me to the Lamb.

 

William Cowper, Olney Hymns

Becoming a Proverbs 31 Woman

^{As christian girls we spend a lot of time talking about "The Proverbs 31 Woman."}
 

<sup>We 'learn a lot from her' 'want to be like her' 'think she is the epitome of christian womanhood' and much more.
What are we doing about it?


Honestly?
God has called us to do more that just talk.
He has called us to ACTION.


Father,</sup>

^{Make us willing to go and do what we know is right.}

^{Make me willing.}

^"10Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies." 

I purpose to be devoted to You and Your Word before my own projects, activities, and ideas.

 ^"11The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil."

I purpose to ask You what you want me to do in a given situation and not to rely on my own wisdom.

  ^"12She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life."

 I purpose to take the time to show Your love to others with my tongue and with my actions even when I don't feel like I have the time.

^"13She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands."  
^"14She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar." 

 ^"15She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens."

 ^"16She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard."

 I purpose to be willing to do whatever I see needs doing and to do it with all my might, regardless of looks, inconvenience, and self-denial required . 


  "¹⁷She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms."

I purpose to avoid books, movies, thoughts, activities, possessions, and clothing that distract me from You, and tempt me to think, act, and speak in a way that does not please you.   

 ^"18She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night."  

^"19She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff."

I purpose to use my talents for Your glory, and not to boost my pride. 

 ^"20She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy."

I purpose to talk to others when You prompt me, even if I don't want to, and to look for ways I can meet other's needs.

 ^"21She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet."

^"22She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. "

I purpose to be available to my mother, to be her helper, and to learn with a servant's attitude, even if I think I know it already.

 ^"23Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land."

 I purpose to treat each person around me as if they were you.

 ^"24She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant." 

I purpose to look around me for ways to be creative, to think outside the box, and use Your ingenuity instead of giving up, saying it can't be done, or throwing my responsibility on someone else because I don't want to figure it out. 

 ^"25Strength and honor are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come."

I purpose to look at my desires, goals, and role models through Your eyes and weed out those which do not please you.

 "²⁶She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness."

I purpose to spread your joy with my smile and tongue, even if I am  tired and/or want to grump.

" ²⁷She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness."
 I purpose to be diligent do the things that you give me to do, like or dislike, big or small, hard or easy, to Your standard.

^"28Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her."

 ^"29Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all."

 ^"30Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised."

I purpose to look forward to Your reward in heaven, to look at life around me from Your eternal perspective, and to choose to focus on those things which are of eternal value. 

" ³¹Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates."

 I purpose to find out what God commands and to do it, taking full responsibility for my diligence in application.

This is something that God has called me to. Will you hold me accountable? 

 

 

Oh, to Long!

You have seen a dog after a long run; how he stands with opened mouth panting for life and breath. Oh, that we had desires after God and divine things strong enough to make us thus open our mouth and pant! We may never have seen a stag in extremis, but I dare say David had. He had seen it in the fierce hunt, when it longed to have its smoking sides in the water brooks and to drink long draughts, and he said, “As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.” 

Nothing puts such energy into prayer as intense anguish of desire. Desire comes out of a sense of want; and in proportion as the necessity is overwhelming, the fervency of the desire will be vehement. My brethren, we have not, because, although we ask, we use a kind of asking which is as though we asked not.

An old Puritan says, “He that prays to God without fervor asks to be denied.” There is a way of asking for a thing in which the person to whom the request is made finds it very easy to decline the request, but persons in dire necessity understand how to put the case, so that only a very hard-hearted person could say “no.” They know how to place their petition in such a way that the request wins, not merely because of the rightness of the petition, but also because of the very style in which it is put. We must learn how to pray with strong crying and tears, for there are mercies which cannot be gained by any other mode of supplicating. 
From a sermon by Charles H. Spurgeon entitled "Opening The Mouth."

Earnest Prayer [Guest Post]

"Many a prayer is too long by twenty lines. It is smothered under a bed-full of words. There are times when a Christian man can pray from hour to hour; but it is a great mistake when brethren measure their supplications by the clock. The great matter is not how long you pray, but how earnestly you pray. Consider the life of the prayer rather than the length of the prayer. If your prayer reaches to heaven it is long enough. What longer can it need to be? If it does not reach the Lord, though it occupied you for a week, it would not be long enough to be of use." The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.(James 5:16)  
 Charles Spurgeon, "To Souls In Agony."