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
