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." 

Our Children... Our Siblings... Our Selves

         "Alas, if our children lose the crown of life, it will be but a small consolation that they have won the laurels of literature or art. Many who ought to know better think themselves superlatively blessed in their children if they become rich, if they marry well, if they strike out into profitable enterprises in trade, or if they attain eminence in the profession which they have espoused. Their parents will go to their beds rejoicing, and awake perfectly satisfied, though their boys are hastening down to hell, if they are also making money by the bushel. They have no greater joy than that their children are having their portion in this life, and laying up treasure where rust corrupts it. Though neither their sons nor daughters show my signs of the new birth, give no evidence of being rich towards God, manifest no traces of electing love or redeeming grace, or the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, yet there are parents who are content with their condition." 
From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Parent's and Pastor's Joy," delivered December 21, 1873.


            Spurgeon talks about what it is worth from a parents perspective if their children gain all in this world yet forget to prepare for the next. But what of us who are not mothers or fathers? Is there not a lesson in this for us as well?
            I am an older sister 8 times over, and each of my younger brothers ands sisters are such blessings, I love to sit on their beds and read them stories or laugh as they tell me about their wild rabbit hunts. Because we are educated at home I get to help my sisters with their science experiments, and work through multiplication problems with my brothers. Yet when everything is boiled down, how much of what I do is to help them succeed in this world, and how much points them to their Creator? This bring a new question, do those around me see Christ in me? 
Can they tell I am a Christian by the books I read, the movies I watch or the music I listen to?
           To apply this a little further, do the thoughts that I feed my mind through books, movies, music, etc. draw me nearer to my Lord or do they push me backwards? Will they count for eternity or will they burn like dirty rags?

"Alas, if our children lose the crown of life, it will be but a small consolation that they have won the laurels of literature or art."


 "... the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know what makes them stumble...  Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life... Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left; Remove your foot from evil. " Proverbs 4: 18-27