A Selection of Short Thoughts

Greetings All!

     Sometimes you can say a lot in very few words!  Therefore,  today, instead of one longer thought, I offer you many short thoughts -- all which struck me as worthy of sharing.  I trust one or more may hit home for you as well!   Enjoy!

     “Prosperity cannot be a proof of God’s favor, since it is what the devil promises to those who worship him.”

John Piper

     “When we deal seriously with our sins, God will deal gently with us.”

Charles Spurgeon

     “Evangelism must start with the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, the demands of the law, and the eternal consequences of evil.”

Martin Lloyd-Jones

     “I frequently hear persons exhorted to give their hearts to Christ, which is a very proper exhortation. But that is not the Gospel. Salvation comes from something that Christ gives you, not something you give to Christ.  The giving of your heart to Christ follows after receiving from Christ the gift of eternal life by faith.”

Charles Spurgeon

“I’m just a nobody telling everybody about somebody who can save anybody.”

Anonymous

“Your personal testimony, however meaningful to you, is not the Gospel.”

R. C. Sproul

     “In our day it is considered worse to judge evil than to do evil.”

Os Guiness

     “Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible.  Faith begins where man’s power ends.” 

George Muller

     “Worry is believing God will not get it right, and bitterness is believing God got it wrong.”

 Tim Keller

     “You will derive far more benefit from a single verse of Scripture read slowly and prayerfully and duly meditated on than you will from ten chapters read through quickly.”

A. W. Pink

     “I must listen to the gospel. It tells me not what I must do, but what Christ the Son of God has done for me.”

Martin Luther

     “If you are really saved, brethren, not a hair of your heads belongs to yourselves. Christ’s blood has either bought you or it has not. And if it has, then you are altogether Christ’s – every bit of you – and you are neither to eat nor drink, nor sleep, but for Christ.”

Charles Spurgeon

     “The doctrine of grace and redemption keeps us from seeing any person or situation as hopeless.”

Tim Keller

     “God has given me everything, forgiven me everything, promised me everything, and I lack nothing except the faith to believe it.” 

Martin Luther

     “The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.”

Elisabeth Elliot

     “You have become blind when you see nothing wrong with something God has called sin.”

Anonymous

Many blessings in Christ, Pastor Jeff

Church Revival

Greetings All,

     This week's 'thoughts' are about revival. It is what the church needs, what we as individuals need, and what we all need to be in earnest prayer for, not allowing our busyness, as R. A. Torrey points out in the first 'thought,' to keep us from investing the time in prayer needed to call down such power.

     I send these collected thoughts to spur you to set aside such time, for the one thing the church needs more than anything else is not new programs, more ministries, or a revised vision statement. What she needs (what we all need) is the power and presence of the Spirit in renewing or reviving us as His people. May these thoughts spur you to pray in that way.

     "How little time the average Christian spends in prayer! We are too busy to pray, and so we too busy to have power. We have a great deal of activity, but we accomplish little; there are many services, but few conversions. The power of God is lacking in our lives and in our work. We have not because we ask not.   R. A. Torrey

Here are some brief descriptions of revival from various Christian leaders:

“Revival is God breaking in and upon and over His church like ocean waves upon the shoreline rocks.” (Jonathan Edwards)

“Revival is the Church falling in love with Jesus all over again.” (Vance Havner)

“Revival is a community saturated with God.” (Duncan Campbell)

“A revival means days of heaven upon earth.” (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)

“Revival is ultimately Christ Himself, seen, felt, heard, living, active, moving in and through His Body on earth.” (Stephen Olford)

“Revival is that strange and sovereign work of God in which He visits His own people, restoring, re-animating, and releasing them into the fullness of His blessings.” (Robert Coleman)

“A true revival means nothing less than a revolution, casting out the spirit of worldliness and selfishness, and making God and His love triumph in the heart and life.” (Andrew Murray)

“Revival is God revealing Himself to man in awful holiness and irresistible power. It is God’s method to counteract spiritual decline and to create spiritual momentum in order that His redemptive purposes might be accomplished on earth” (Arthur Wallis)

“Revival comes to the church when we are thoroughly possessed by the hope held out in the gospel—and that hope is Christ Himself.” (David Bryant)

“Revival is an extraordinary work of the Spirit that invades the church to re-energize us with God’s eternal purposes in Christ Jesus.” (David Bryant)

     No matter how one says it, or who says it, we could use prayer for it -- be it praying that the church would fall in love with Jesus all over again, or that we would be saturated with God, or experience days of heaven on earth, or have Christ Himself seen, felt, heard, living, active and moving in His Body on earth to re-energize us with a sense of God's eternal purposes in Jesus. No matter how we say it, may God touch us to spend time praying for it.  In Him, Pastor Jeff

Suffering and God's Presence

Greetings All,

 

     This week's 'thoughts' come to you from four different authors  --  J. C. Ryle, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Jean-Nicholas Grou and Morton Kelsey (I believe). The first two have to do with God's purpose in our struggles, difficulties and sufferings.  The last two have to do with nurturing the health of our inward lives by finding consistent, ongoing contact with the God who is always there.  Enjoy.

 

      J. C. Ryle -  "We live in such a fair and pleasant world -- we are surrounded with so much that is smiling and joyful -- that if we were not frequently obliged to taste of sickness and trial or disappointments, we should forget our heavenly home and pitch our tents here on the outskirts of Sodom. 

 

     Therefore it is that God's people pass through great tribulations; therefore it is they are often called upon to suffer the sting of affliction and anxiety, or weep over the grave of those whom they have loved as their own soul. It is their Father's hand that chasten's them, and it is thus that He weans their affection from the things below and fixes them on Himself. It is thus He trains them for eternity, and cuts the threads one by one that bind their wavering hearts to earth.

 

    No doubt such chastening is grevious for the time, but still it brings many a hidden grace to light, and cuts down many a secret sprout of evil.  We shall see those who have suffered most shining among the brightest stars in the assembly of heaven. The purest gold is that which has been longest in the refiner's furnace.  The brightest diamond is often that which has required the most grinding and polishing. Yet our light affliction endureth but for a moment, and it works in us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (II Cor. 4:17)."  

 

 

    D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones  -  "We have to be humbled.  So [God] puts us in the fire of affliction, in the crucible of purification.  God has only one object: to get rid of the dross and to refine the gold.  But in our childishness we listen to the devil and we grumble and complain. 'Why is this happening to me? I am trying to be a good Christian; look at those other people.'  

 

    I trust that we shall never speak in that way again, thus falling victim to the wiles of the devil. Cannot you see that in all this, God, as your Father, is manifesting His love to you and revealing His great and gracious and glorious purpose with respect to you?  He intends to make you perfect, 'without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing' (Eph. 5:27).  But first he must rid you of very much rubbish."      

 

 

    Jean-Nicolas Grou  -  "We know in general that prayer is a religious act, but when it comes to actually praying, we easily forget that it is a supernatural act which is therefore beyond our own strength and can only be performed by the inspiration and help of grace. As St. Paul says: 'Not that we are competent to claim anything for ourselves, but our competency comes from God' (II Cor. 3:5)...

 

     Why do people try so hard to enflame their imagination as if prayer depended on their own efforts, as if it were not necessary that God's action should govern and direct their prayer? Since prayer is a supernatural act, we must earnestly ask God to produce it in us, and then we must perform it tranquilly under his guidance. We must draw down divine grace... and then co-operate with it, without interfering with its effects. If God does not teach us, we shall never know thoroughly the nature of prayer...

 

     Prayer is a wholly spiritual act, addressed to God who is the Supreme Spirit, the Spirit who sees all things and is present in all things.  As St. Augustine says, 'God is closer to us than we are to ourselves.'  Knowing this is the essence of prayer.  The posture of our body and the words we use have little significance in themselves, and are only pleasing to God as they express the feelings of the heart.  For it is the heart that prays, it is to the voice of the heart that God listens, and it is the heart that he answers...  Why do we pray so much with our lips and so little with our heart?... Why do we not lay open our heart to God and beg him to put in it whatever is most pleasing to him? Who could call it a bad method [of prayer] if it springs from humility, from a deep sense of our own inability, and from a lively faith and trust in God?  Such is the method suggested by the Holy Spirit to those souls who ask him to teach them how to pray."    

 

 

      The following 'thought' was scribbled on a note I found in my files (I believe it may be by Morton Kelsey)  - "Unless the members of a church are finding some encounter of their own with God, their act of joining together for religious services usually becomes one more meaningless activity, merely the ritual indulgence of a nice habit. 

 

      One can sense the immense difference in a congregation where a considerable number of the people are finding consistent personal contact with God on their own, apart from the group.  

 

 

     The first step in finding such contact with God is learning to be alone and quiet.  Most of modern life is a studied attempt to avoid ever being alone. Yet constant activity, without time for reflection and prayer, is spiritual suicide."  

     

                      In the Bonds of Christian Affection,  

 

Pastor Jeff

Exercise your Faith

Greetings All,

I can always tell the books I brought with me to Honduras. Most of them have one or two termite holes eaten all the way through! Such is true of today's book - except it has three holes!

The book from which today's 'thought' comes is Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones book, "Spiritual Depression." I send it out because so many people -- even earnest believers -- wrestle with bouts of depression from time to time (20,000,000 people in America alone if the current statistics are accurate). It was not much different back when he wrote the book in 1965, and one of the main reasons he wrote it.

Lloyd-Jones was a medical doctor and one of the best preachers in the last century, ministering at the Westminster Chapel in London, England, for almost 30 years, until his death in 1981. Thus he speaks as both an M.D. and a theologian as he shares these thoughts on how faith plays a part in the cure of depressive feelings. His thoughts are good even if you don't wrestle with depression, yet I pray that if you do struggle with such emotions, or know anyone who does, these words may be of some help. Enjoy.

"Many people seem to think that faith operates automatically. They assume that it does not matter what happens to them, that faith will operate and all will be well. Faith, however, is not something that acts magically or automatically. If it did these [disciples in the boat with Jesus during the storm] would never have been frightened. Faith would have come into quiet operation and they would have been calm and quiet and all would have been well. But faith is not like that.

What is faith? Faith is an activity. It is something that has to be exercised. It does not come into operation itself, you and I have to put it into operation. It is a form of activity -- something you and I have to bring into operation. That is exactly what our Lord said to these men. He said: 'Where is your faith?' which means, 'Why are you not taking your faith and applying it to this situation?' You see, it was because they did not do so, because they did not put their faith into operation, that the disciples had become unhappy and were in this state of consternation.

How then does one put faith into operation? The first thing I must do when I find myself in a difficult position is to refuse to allow myself to be controlled by the situation. The disciples were in the boat, the Master was asleep, the water was coming in, and they could not bale it out fast enough. It looked like they were going to sink, and their trouble was that they were controlled by the situation. They should have applied their faith and taken charge of it, and said: 'No, we are not going to panic.' They should have started in that way, but they did not do so...

Faith is a refusal to panic, come what may. Browning, I think had that idea when he defined faith like this: 'With me, faith means perpetual unbelief kept quiet, like the snake 'neath Michael's foot.' Here is Michael and there is the snake beneath his foot, and he just keeps it quiet under the pressure of his foot. Faith is unbelief kept quiet, kept down. That is what these men did not do. They allowed this situation to grip them, and they became panicky. Faith, however, is a refusal to allow that. It says, 'I am not going to be controlled by these circumstances--I am in control.' By faith you take charge of yourself, pull yourself up, control yourself. You do not let yourself get swept away, you assert yourself.

Yet that is not the whole of faith. Having taken that first step, you then remind yourself of what you believe and what you know. That again is something these foolish disciples did not do. If only they had stopped a moment and said: 'Now then, is it possible that we are going to drown with Him in the boat? Is there anything He cannot do? We have seen His miracles, He turned the water into wine, He can heal the blind and the lame, He can even raise the dead, is it likely that He is going to allow us and Himself to be drowned in this way? Impossible! In any case He loves us, He cares for us, He has told us that the very hairs of our head are numbered!' That is the way faith reasons. It says: 'All right, I see the waves and the wind, but...' It always puts up this, 'but...' That is faith. It holds on to truth and reasons from what it knows to be fact...

Very well, then, faith says: 'I cannot believe that He who has brought me so far is going to let me down at this point. It is impossible. It would be inconsistent with the character of God.' So faith, having refused to be controlled by circumstances, reminds itself of what it believes and what it knows... You may not have a full explanation of what is happening, but you will know for certain that God is not unconcerned. That is impossible. The One who has done the greatest thing of all for you, must be concerned about you in everything, and though the clouds are thick and you cannot see His face, you know He is there. 'Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.'

These earthborn clouds prevent my seeing Him, but He is there and He will never allow anything finally harmful to take place. Nothing can happen to you but what He allows, I do not care what it may be -- some great disappointment, perhaps, or it may be an illness, it may be a tragedy of some sort, I do not know what it is, but you can be certain of this -- that God permits that thing to happen to you because it is ultimately for your good. 'Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grevious; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness...' (Heb. 12:11)

That is the way faith works, but you have to exercise it... If you find yourself is this position of trial and trouble and testing, take it as a wonderful opportunity of proving your faith, of showing your faith, of manifesting your faith, and bringing glory to His great and Holy Name. But even if you should fail to do that, if you should be too weak to apply your faith; if you are being besieged and attacked by the devil, and by hell, and by the world, well, then, I say, just fly to Him at once and He will receive you and bless you. He will give you deliverance. He will give you peace. 'Where is your faith?' Let us make certain it is always at the place of need and testing."

As one man put it, "Faith is a verb, not a noun." It's an activity, not a commodity. It's something we do or put into practice, not something we simply hold on to or possess. It is active trust. "When I am afraid, I will trust in You." (Ps. 56:3-4) It is looking, seeing, leaning, clinging, believing, standing firm, refusing to let go, and refusing to allow doubt to persude us of anything contrary to the promises of God.

It is not the absence of doubt, but trusting God in spite of our doubts. It is preaching the truth to ourselves when our feelings, or the little voice of doubt in our heads, seeks to convince us to give up -- "Why are you so downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me. Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God." (Ps. 42:5 and 11) That's what the person of faith does -- he or she preaches to their own soul and tells their soul what to do -- like David, who tells his own downcast soul to put its hope in God! And as one who has taken David's advice, I can tell you it works.

In the Bonds of Christian Charity, Pastor Jeff