Always Tell the Truth in Prayer and Life

Tip! The person who prays, has a belief that they will receive an answer. The prayer is intended to inculcate certain attitudes in the one who prays, rather than to influence the recipient.

Truthfulness is a mark of Christianity. The nonbeliever goes astray, speaking lies as soon as they are born. In China a mother will give her boy a reward for the best falsehood that he can tell. Beginning so early, and regarding it such a fine thing to tell wrong stories, they become skillful in falsehoods.

Some parents in Christian America are very careless in this matter. It made my heart ache one day when I saw a lady in a street car trying to keep her little boy awake by telling him that, if he went to sleep, that man who had all those teeth in his window (referring to a dentist's office they had passed) would come into the car and pull every tooth out of his mouth.

The little fellow looked up dreadfully scared, and did his best to keep awake: but I thought to myself, when he finds out what a wrong story his mother has told, he will not believe her even when she tells the truth.

He will be like a little fellow of whom I heard once, whose mother told him that if he went to play in a sand bank from which the workmen had been drawing sand for a building, a bear would come out and eat him up.

One day another boy tried to coax him to go there and play, but he said, no, he was afraid of the bears.

Tip! It opens the door for salvations. (Act 2:42) “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers”.

The other boy said there were no bears. "But there be bears cause my mother said there be bears." While they were disputing, the minister happened to come along, and they asked him if there were bears in the sand-bank. He told them there were none.

"But," said the first little boy, "My mother said there be bears there."

"I am sorry she said so," said the minister, "but the truth is, there are none."

The child began to cry, and started for home as fast as he could go. "O Mama!" he said, "Did you tell me a wrong story? Did you tell me there be bears down at the sand-bank when there aren't any?"

Tip! An effective prayer life can have a huge impact on not only our own individual life, but on the lives of those around us. Through prayer we can have an impact on our local community, our country and the world.

She saw what a dreadful sin she had committed, and she told him that she was sorry; but she was afraid that if he played there he would get buried in the sand, and she told him that to keep him away.

"But, Mama, it is such an awful thing to tell a wrong story."

"I know it Tommy, I know it," she said, tears coming into her eyes; "and we will ask Jesus to forgive me and I will never do it again."

They knelt down, and she was just about to pray when he said, "Wait, Mama, let me ask Him; maybe you won't tell Him truly."

That pierced her heart like a dagger. She saw that her little boy had lost confidence in her truthfulness even when she prayed.

Life Brought Back Again in the Midst of Death

Tip! Let us always be aware of the fact that the power that is achieved to do the greater works that are required for Christ, is only gained through fervent prayer and faith in Jesus Christ.

The following instance, when death itself was made to give back the life it claimed, is personally known to us to be true: A mother, in this city, sent a request for prayer to the Fulton street prayer-meeting, asking the Lord for the recovery of her daughter, who was sinking rapidly, and who she felt was almost dying.

Her husband, an eminent physician, and others, also, the most skilled physicians of the city, gave up the case as hopeless. The mother felt that now none but God could or would help; that in the Fulton street prayer-meeting were sympathizing friends, and to it sent her request.

She came to the meeting herself, to join in their prayers and testify her faith. The moments of the meeting passed on. One request after another was read, but hers was not touched. She was sadly disappointed. Her child was so weak and almost dying, it could not live the day through, perhaps. The time was within a few minutes, less than three, of the close of the meeting.

She, at last, with faltering steps and palpitating heart, pressed her way to the desk and asked if her request was there. After a search, it was found that it had been overlooked. Too late, said the leader, to read it to-day. See, the clock is at its last moment; but it will be read first thing at 12 o'clock, to-morrow, and special prayer will be offered immediately.

Tip! “Asking of God” and “receiving” from the Lord - direct request to God, immediate connection with God - that is true prayer.

With what heavy heart the mother went away, back to the bedroom of the dying one, no one can ever know the feeling. All night the waiting ones watched, with their ceaseless attentions and silent prayers.

A few minutes before 12 o'clock the body sank, the eyes closed, pallor came over the features, the spirit seemed gone, and all was still; not a breath, not a motion--death had come.

The mother had taken her watch, hung it on the pillow of the bed, and with streaming eyes, yet ceaseless prayer, they watched the slow finger move to 12 o'clock. At precisely twelve, all joined in prayer, lifting their hearts to God.

Tip! “Supplication” is the very soul of prayer in the way of pleading for some one thing, very much needed, and the need intensely felt.

At fifteen minutes past twelve, the daughter opened her eyes, saying, "Mother, I feel better," then sank into sleep, breathing steadily; after three hours awoke to consciousness and sat up in bed, and before night was able to walk the floor of her bedroom.

Prayer brought that life back, even when death had taken it. At the very moment when that precious prayer was offered in the meeting, the Lord came and touched the dying one, and gave it new life.

The mother's faith and prayer was honored, and the Lord remembered His promise, "If ye believe, ye shall see the glory of God." The same Lord who raised Lazarus and bade him come forth, also came and bade this precious life come back again to earth.

He Could Not Flee from the Power of the Holy Spirit

Tip! So when we ask Christ to carry out His works in our hearts we are fervently praying that our Father may be glorified in His Son.

A preacher of honor gives this occurrence of the worthlessness of all attempts to flee from the Power of the Spirit.

"I looked out of my window one morning, while it was yet dark, and saw a lady standing at my gate, leaning against a post, and evidently weeping bitterly. I knew her. She was a member of the church, and was an earnest, consistent Christian. She was married to one of the bitterest Universalism I ever knew. I stepped down the steps to her, and asked, 'What is the matter?' She replied, 'Oh, my poor husband! I had so hoped and prayed that he might be converted in this revival! and now he has rode away, and says that he will not come back till this religious flurry is over. What shall I do to bear up under this?'

"I said, 'It is near the time for prayer. We will go and lay his case before the Lord, and make special request that God will bring him back again under the power of the Spirit. The Lord can bring him home, and I believe He will do it. We must pray for him.'

"She dried her tears in a moment, and seemed to seize hold of this 'strong hope,' as we walked to the place of prayer. We found the room crowded. I was to lead the meeting.

Tip! “Asking of God” and “receiving” from the Lord - direct request to God, immediate connection with God - that is true prayer.

"At the opening, I stated the case of this Universalism husband, who had undertaken to run away from the influence of the Spirit, by running off into the country. I said that we must all pray that the Holy Spirit may follow him, overtake him, and bring him back again, show him his sins, and lead him to Jesus.

"The meeting took up the case with great earnestness, and I could not but feel that prayer would in some way be answered.

"But can you imagine our surprise when, at our evening prayer meeting, this same Universalistic man came in?

"After standing a few minutes, till the opportunity offered, he said:

"'I went away this morning, and told my wife I was going into the country to stay till this flurry was over. I rode right over the hills, back from the river, into the country, till I had got many miles away. There, on the top of a hill, I was stopped as Paul was, and just as suddenly, and made to feel what a horrible sinner I am. I am one of the worst sinners that ever lived. I have lost my Universalism and I know I must be born again, or I can never see the kingdom of Heaven. Oh, pray for me that I may be converted; nothing else will do for me.'

Tip! In order to accomplish His high purpose, Jesus showed us His purpose in answering our prayers when He said, “...That the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

"He took his seat amid the tears and sobs of the whole assembly. The hour was full of prayer for that man's conversion.

"This strong and intelligent man, once one of the bitterest Universalistic person I ever knew, is now an elder in a Presbyterian church, and one of the most joyous, happy, energetic men of God you will meet in many a day. He believes he was 'converted on the spot in that prayer meeting.'"

Almost a Bankrupt

A known Christian had just entered a merchant's place of business, when the owner of the store said to him, "Let us kneel and ask God to help me through, for without His help, I will be a bankrupt before the end of the day." So they knelt and prayed. That man went through the pressure, but did not become a bankrupt.

A Wonderful Answer to Prayer and Proof of the Existence of the Holy Spirit

Tip! Seeking God's will for our life – This type of prayer requires us to really open up our spirit and seek to hear what God is saying to us. We need to come humbly before him, asking him to use us as a tool for his work – and praying for guidance and wisdom as we seek to follow where his is leading us.

A trustful Christian, whose heart had been deeply touched with thoughts of religion, was one day thinking and pondering and wishing that he might be more truly convinced of the actual existence of the Holy Spirit.

"If," thought he, "there is a Holy Spirit, a Superior Mind and Will, I reverently and sincerely wish that I may be convinced of it beyond all doubt; that I may indeed know God is a living reality and daily guide and mighty among the plans and ways of men."

Though having all the needed mental, historic and heart belief and trust in God--still there was desired that special satisfaction which can only come by personal evidence.

With reverent feeling one morning, he asked the Lord humbly, in Prayer, "What can thy servant, do for thee this day? Teach him, that he may gladly minister to any one in thy name."

In the course of the day there came to him the thought of the revival services then proceeding in Brooklyn, and feeling a cordial sympathy, he sat down and wrote a letter to Mr. Moody, with these words:

"I know not how you are supported, or anything of your needs; but I feel like helping you in your good work. Enclosed find check for $25; take it and use it if you need it for yourself; if not, then do some good with it."

The circumstance was almost forgotten, when the day after there came this wonderful reply from Mr. Moody:

"Your letter came to hand in the SAME MAIL, at the SAME INSTANT of TIME, with a letter from a brother in distress WANTING THE SAME AMOUNT. And now you have made him happy, and my heart glad, and the Lord will bless you for it."

D.L. MOODY.

Had there been a direct revelation from heaven, it could not have been more astounding than this, to the heart of that Christian. His own prayer was answered, as to his search for the evidences of the Holy Spirit, but oh, how wonderfully!

None but a Superior, Higher, Overruling Spirit, could have known the thoughts and desires of each heart. Nothing but an Omnipotent hand of Power and Wisdom could have brought these two letters together at that identical instant of time. None but an All-knowing Father could have fixed the amount of money which the one was to give and the other was to pray for.

This was a wonderful conjuncture of time, desire and amount, and could never have happened by any chance operation of Nature or the natural heart and will. Strangest of all, neither of the parties had ever met, known or corresponded with each other before. Neither did Mr. Moody know of the desire of the one, nor the necessity of the other, until in the act of opening the two letters side by side. In the one envelope was the prayer; in the other the answer.

A Fresh Start in Christ

WE CAN all start afresh in 2008! However far we have climbed, there is something higher; and however far we have fallen, it is always possible to make a fresh start. We need to take our place in the School of Christ and be taught by Him how to pray.

“But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:” (Ephesians 4:20-21 NKJV)

The March of God's Progress

Tip! THE possibilities of prayer are gauged by faith in God's ability to do. Faith is the one prime condition by which God works.

Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. (1 Corinthians 15:24 NKJV)

To what state, condition, outcome or degree is God moving today? When we speak of the eternal progress of the Almighty, we must remember that we are using human speech, because God lives in the eternal present. He is Jehovah--"I AM!"

God does not live in time with its past and future; the distinctions of time have no reference to Him who lives in Eternity. And Eternity is an ever-present NOW, in which the past is never past, and the future is always present.

God is moving to the supreme pleasure of our Savior. Christ must and will reign, and the Father's power is even now engaged in putting all things under His feet. He has given Him the heathen for His inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession.

It is true that we can not see all the things put under Him, but God is even now engaged in hurrying the fulfillment of His eternal plan. Look at the rise and fall of rulers and kingdoms within the last few years; the clamor for new methods of government has threatened the ancient order; the whirlpool of elections; the babble of voices; the rivalry of political leaders and parties!

Tip! So when we ask Christ to carry out His works in our hearts we are fervently praying that our Father may be glorified in His Son.

What about these things? They are the clouds of His feet, the movement of His pieces on the game board of life, the successive stages in the unfolding of His plan. Watch the Divine strategy! God raises up one, and puts down another; there is not an item in the newspaper, TV or the Internet, not even a change on the map, nor a revolution among the people, however obscure, that is not contributing to that final scene, when the Son of Man shall come to the Ancient of Days, and there shall be given to Him dominion and glory, and a Kingdom, that all people, and nations, and languages shall serve Him!

All of us need to understand God's movements, especially in this momentous era, because only then can we enter into His Rest. We can look out calmly on a world in confusion when once we have learned to understand the Divine program of gathering up all things in Christ, who is the Head.

To the careless world His way is in the sea, and His paths in the deep waters, and His footsteps are not known, but to those who love and follow Him. The heavens may depart, the hills be removed; but His kindness shall not depart; neither shall the covenant of His peace be removed.

PRAYER:

Hurry the coming of Your Kingdom, O Lord, the fulfillment of Your purpose. Keep us watchful and alert that at any moment we may discern the movement of Your hand, and detect Your will and guidance in the external circumstances of the little things in our lives. In Jesus' name AMEN

OUR LORD REIGNS!

Clouds and darkness surround Him;
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.

A fire goes before Him,
And burns up His enemies round about.

His lightnings light the world;
The earth sees and trembles.

The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the LORD,
At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.

The heavens declare His righteousness,
And all the peoples see His glory.

Let all be put to shame who serve carved images,
Who boast of idols. Worship Him, all you gods.

Zion hears and is glad,
And the daughters of Judah rejoice
Because of Your judgments, O LORD.

For You, LORD, are most high above all the earth;
You are exalted far above all gods.

You, who love the LORD, hate evil!
He preserves the souls of His saints;
He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.

Light is sown for the righteous,
And gladness for the upright in heart.

Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.

(Psalms 97:2-12 NKJV)


BEHIND ALL clouds is the clear pure air of God's love. We are not dismayed by the storms that sweep the earth's surface, for beneath them are immeasurable depths of stillness. God sees His way through them, and is using them to fulfill His great purpose.

Difficulties are nothing to Him. He weighs the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance. He is our Father, and we need not fear. The children who are cozily comfortable in the car which their father is driving are not afraid of the hail-storm that rattles on the window and the wild winds that sweep the earth. It is enough for them that their father is with them, and knows his way, and is making quickly for home. And if we are following hard after God, then His right hand will uphold us, and we can leave all the rest with Him.

None of the children that wait for Him will be ashamed. Revolution and anarchy may devastate the land. Storms of deluge may sweep the world. The savings of a life-time may disappear, but we will be kept in perfect peace; because our Lord reigns and He will always be mindful of His covenant to us.

We will not be in need for sustaining grace. If we cleave unto God, we will be upheld by His right hand, and no person will be able to pluck us from our Father's hand.

God, not selfish ease, nor human confederacies, is our end and aim; and He will not, cannot fail those who have left all for His companionship. Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, and the labor of the olive shall fail, and the flock shall be cut off from the fold, yet we will rejoice in the Lord; for the Lord God shall supply all our need, and will make our feet, like hind's feet, to walk even on the edge of the precipice.

The world is full of tumult. The floods have lifted up their voice, but above the noise of this world, our Lord on high is mighty; and He must reign till He has put all enemies beneath His feet.

Remember that when He was mocked in Pilate's hall, His enemies placed a reed in His hand. They were nearer the truth than they knew, for He who opens the sealed book of destiny, is the Lamb that was slain. He rules with the reed as the symbol of His government.

PRAYER

Our Father, let us hear You say to us, as we step out into the new day, that You are with us, holding our right hand. Keep us in the midst of the storm, and guide us in the path You have for us. In Jesus’ name AMEN.

Prayer for a New Year

Lord, I confess before You that:

I have had longings and nudges from You which I did not translate into action.

I have made decisions without consulting You, then have blamed You when things went wrong.

I have said that I trusted You, yet have not turned my affairs over to You.

I have been greedy for present delights and pleasures, unwilling to wait for those joys which time and discipline alone can give.

I have often sought the easy way and have consistently drawn back from the road that is hard.

I have been fond of giving myself to dreams of which I am going to do sometime, yet have been so slow in getting started to do them.

Forgive me for all the intentions that were born and somehow never lived.

And now I claim Your promise to change me.
Do for me what I cannot do for myself.
Lead me into a new tomorrow with a new spirit.
Cleanse my heart; create within me new attitudes and new ideas, as only You can.

In Jesus' name Amen.

He has Made with Me an Everlasting Covenant

Tip! Jesus never taught His followers to expect justice. Paul did not receive justice. Even great leaders in history did not always receive justice here and now.

(2 Samuel 23:5) "Although my house is not so with God, Yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant, Ordered in all things and secure. For this is all my salvation and all my desire; will He not make it increase?"

This covenant is divine in its origin. "HE has made with me an everlasting covenant." Oh that great word "HE"! Stop right here and think about this my soul. God, the everlasting Father, has positively made a covenant with you; yes, the very same God who spoke the world into existence by a word; He, stooping from His majesty, takes hold of your hand and makes a covenant with you.

This action, this awesome everlasting covenant might overwhelm our hearts if we could really understand it. "HE has made with me a covenant." A king has not made a covenant with me-that would be somewhat good; but the Prince of the kings of the earth, Shaddai, the Lord All-sufficient, the Jehovah of ages, the everlasting Elohim, "He has made with me an everlasting covenant."

But notice it is particular in its application. "Yet He has made with ME an everlasting covenant." Here lies the sweetness of this covenant to each of us believers. Was it for me that He was born, died and rose up for the world; I want to know whether He has made peace for me! It is of little concern to me that He has made a covenant, what I want to know is whether He has made a covenant with me!

Tip! Trouble, if correctly used, will bring you great peace and a deep surrender of spirit which nothing else can work in you.

Blessed is the assurance that He has made a covenant with me! If God the Holy Spirit gives me assurance of this, then His salvation is mine, His heart is mine, He himself is mine-He is my God!

This covenant is everlasting in its duration; an everlasting covenant means a covenant that had no beginning and will never, ever end. How sweet amidst all the uncertainties of life, to know that "the foundation of the Lord stands sure," and to have God's own promise, "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips." Then we can be like dying David, I will sing of this covenant, "Although my house is not so with God" as my heart so desires.

Trouble — Could We make it Our Servant? Part 1

Tip! Some live as though life and the Christian experience were some kind of slot machine: you put in a dime’s worth of kindness and pull out three yards of blessing; then five cents’ worth of charity and you think God must bless you next Saturday night.

Did you ever test yourself as to how you react to trouble or tragedy? In life's school we often find that God uses trouble or misfortune to prove our faith or to test our character. Trouble has a way of stalking down the road and meeting us so many times when we least expect it.

I am sure we all know that such proving or testing can happen to us without our being personally or directly the cause of it. Many, many times it is beyond our control. If it were otherwise possible we would probably avoid all such testing and keep to an easy, smooth path. But we should remember that trouble, as well as the hours of sunshine and music is a part of the divine arrangement and has a place in our program. Trouble and severe testing is not necessarily a sign of sin, failure, or lack of spirituality. They are often a sign of spirituality and growth which God must test and prove, because we are His workmanship.

Many people have the notion that the life of the Christian is, or should be somewhat charmed, void of trouble, testing, tribulation and suffering. Such people have shaped up for themselves, or hold this as an ideal of real Christian living, but this is an impossible or unscriptural conception of the Christian life.

Where in the world have these people, so bewitched, been living all these years, or what books or TV shows have they been watching or reading is beyond me! Surely they do not know history, Christian experience or the every least the Holy Bible. Because the truth is this -

"Yet man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward." (Job 5:7)

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous; But the LORD delivers him out of them all." (Psalms 34:19)

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory," (2 Corinthians 4:17)

"Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." (2 Timothy 3:12).

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

"And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;" (Romans 5:3)

Surely on the basis of all these Scriptures, we as Christians know better than to pray for exemption from trouble, and since we know that in God's plan it is a part of our inheritance, we should not avoid its special place of work in our lives.

Tip! Surely on the basis of all these Scriptures, we as Christians know better than to pray for exemption from trouble, and since we know that in God’s plan it is a part of our inheritance, we should not avoid its special place of work in our lives.

History is full of examples of lives wrecked because of ungraceful reaction to trouble. In spite of all the collected experiences of people over the ages, and the wisdom and the philosophy of the prophets, many still fail to recognize that behind her mask, trouble is a servant to assist us. Any other view is due to lack of vision and outlook in that range. Too many of us only see the immediate, or the local, and interpret our lives and family members questions from a limited viewpoint. The Scriptures say, "While we look not at the things which are seen."

As Christians, after we are convinced in our hearts that trouble is not designed to defeat us and is not a mere nuisance or cruelty, but is one of the corrective elements in great living, we must learn how to use it the way God wants us to use it.

How many problems would be solved and shipwrecks of faith be avoided could we take a positive, constructive attitude and see that trouble is one of the agents and mighty instruments placed in our hands for the shaping of character and the releasing of potential power for correct and glorious building!

Trouble — Could We make it Our Servant? Part 2

Tip! As Christians, after we are convinced in our hearts that trouble is not designed to defeat us and is not a mere nuisance or cruelty, but is one of the corrective elements in great living, we must learn how to use it the way God wants us to use it.

How do you use trouble? Naturally, because of physical and fundamental elements in our make-up, we shun pain, discomfort and trouble. But that is because we relate them purely to their action on the physical or on our present mood. Many times we will spend hours in praying away trouble, the great servant. At times we take long, circuitous journeys to avoid meeting her. Finally, when we are compelled to meet her, we spend a long, long time telling her or God that we do not like her and we wonder and wonder why we ever had to meet her. But trouble is not to be reasoned with; she is utterly unreasonable. She is to be used.

Please remove from your minds the incorrect thought that if you are a good or a real spiritual Christian totally yielded and holy then your life will be a charmed life and that God will spare you from trouble or disappointment. No! To reach such a fine place of devotion and surrender is only to make you a fit candidate for tribulation.

Tribulation is a word God uses in relation to saints. The etymology of the word means threshing. The farmer does not thresh weeds; he threshes the golden wheat that the grain may be separated from the chaff and the sticks. He is after grain, not trying to pound out some straw. For this reason God says, Tribulation works patience; that is, the golden grain of patience, long-suffering and kindness, comes by way of threshing or tribulation. Think of the splendid spiritual grain of character and noble living produced only through the tribulation process. The spiritual tone and quality of the mighty people of God came only through trouble and suffering.

In the world about us, in the fields of fine music, art and literature, the artist never reaches the pinnacle of their labors and gives to the world the best in creative beauty and strength until they have known the sad touch of personal sorrow or grief or trouble. Oftentimes it is like a divine chemist turning the ordinary and dull life into a glorious display of divine power, fortitude and beauty. It is the use of trouble that releases the deeper springs of our lives and sets allow the streams of mercy and understanding of which our perishing world needs today.

Tip! Trouble will make you either bitter or better. Notice how very much alike these words are, and how very little is needed to change them; just the letter “I.” Yes, dear ones, it is the “I” that changes the whole matter.

Do not misunderstand me; I am not saying that trouble alone makes us strong or noble or that it alone has a transforming power. I am dealing with you as Christians who believe Romans 8:28, and that text, as you see, is never to be applied to lives which are not fully surrendered. That is why many unsaved people never understand the outworking of the Scriptures in the daily walk, but if the Christian has anything remotely approaching the Spirit of Christ; they can make trouble a servant to bring out the best in them.

Tip! What are you seeking in your trouble today? Is it deliverance or development? You may have the one and not grow, or you may have both and grow. Get the development first and the deliverance will be yours, too.

But trouble in itself is neutral or passive; the whole matter depends upon how we use it. One may take an inactive attitude and lose the benefit of the trial; justify themselves, and trouble will make them bitter or resentful, or it can make them hard, cruel and cynical. People who have no faith, no perspective of thought or vision, let trouble do all sorts of harmful and cruel things to them, but thanks be to God there are many wonderful people on whom trouble has fallen who were able to see and to discern behind its mask a servant at their beck and call, to build them, lives of strength and beauty.

In a simple study of such lives we find a certain creative power which makes out of their calamity a magnificent privilege. You may have noticed that in our lives there are two types reaction to trouble or tragedy: either it will break us in spirit, melting the hardness and bringing us in our helplessness to God, or it will throw us on our feeble resources and human reasoning, and this in turn at times hardens us in spirit, makes us critical and often cynical. It robs our hearts of the great privilege of trusting God and the developing of our life into rich and helpful avenues.

Trouble — Could We make it Our Servant? Part 3

Tip! It takes a quiet heart, peace of spirit, and clear vision (long range, if you please), to interpret trouble in terms of strength and high living.

Trouble will make you either bitter or better. Notice how very much alike these words are, and how very little is needed to change them; just the letter "I." Yes, dear ones, it is the "I" that changes the whole matter. When the "I" keeps out of the question, out of the difficulty, life will be better; but when the "I" is introduced and we get mixed in the trouble, life will become bitter and we harden. Too many times this "I" gets in the way; the poor, little, hurt ego gets a slap and down the street it runs, screaming for attention. The dear little ego sits in its doorway and weeps tears of self-pity until its eyes are so red and inflamed that it just cannot see things as they are or should be.

It takes a quiet heart, peace of spirit, and clear vision (long range, if you please), to interpret trouble in terms of strength and high living. Little souls, small people, are usually hurt all the time; the ego within is unduly important and consequently is easily hurt or flattered. Such souls have too small a world and hence everything relates directly to the self within. They will have a very difficult time, to say the least.

Frequently such souls are persons who are seeking justice, fairness, and a proper adjustment of life. They never seem to learn. We are not here for justice; we are here to live. If you expect to be a spiritual and victorious Christian, you may as well learn here and now to drop justice out of your vocabulary as far as it may relate to your life. We do not get justice now. God's Saturday night of settlement has not yet come.

Tip! As Christians, after we are convinced in our hearts that trouble is not designed to defeat us and is not a mere nuisance or cruelty, but is one of the corrective elements in great living, we must learn how to use it the way God wants us to use it.

Some live as though life and the Christian experience were some kind of slot machine: you put in a dime's worth of kindness and pull out three yards of blessing; then five cents' worth of charity and you think God must bless you next Saturday night. Be very good, kind or generous and next week the winds will blow you a fortune. It is true that what we sow that shall we also reap, and bread cast upon the waters shall return, but God is not too clear on the time element. So we will not always receive our justice here and now.

Jesus never taught His followers to expect justice. Paul did not receive justice. Even great leaders in history did not always receive justice here and now. Do not misunderstand me; I do not mean that the Christian or the spiritually-minded one is not conscious of the hurt or the trouble of the injustice. Believe me, dear souls, the Holy Spirit makes one all the more sensitive to the pain, the hurt and the wrong, but the victorious soul has found the gift of grace and the love of God sufficient to hinder the trouble from marring his spirit.

The closer one gets to Christ the more sensitive they will be to pain, to little, petty, mean ways and all the train of unkind and unlovely things which would vex the heart and tarnish the spirit. The eyes are now anointed and they see in them privileges of overcoming and high living. I am sure we have all lived long enough to have had some injustice done us. Yet today God has given us grace not to harbor any resentment or hard feelings. To have trouble or injustice and know the feeling of it, and yet live above and far from its damaging power, is a sign of real spirituality, a sign of Christian character that He has fashioned in the life.

Trouble — Could We make it Our Servant? Part 4

Tip! The closer one gets to Christ the more sensitive he will be to pain, to little, petty, mean ways and all the train of unkind and unlovely things which would vex the heart and tarnish the spirit.

Someone learned of a real injustice done me in material things one time, and he was horrified to know it came from a Christian source. Such treatment as that," he said, "is absolutely wrong. I would not stand for it."

Of course it was wrong and very unfair, and at times I was amazed and tried, but I kept my heart and life open for justice and the right thing to be done by me; however, I was neglected and seemingly forgotten. But God had taken me quite a long distance on the road and I knew He would take care of the matter; so I took of His grace and love and stood it. It never caused me a resentful spirit, nor did I allow the hurt and the disappointment to fester into a sore. And today I praise God for the realities of His life in my heart to keep it sweet when trouble and unfair dealings would chill it to indifference and hardness.

Had we time we could trace through history, both sacred and secular, scores of noble men and women who were not spared the hard places in life. They were good, moral, kind, noble, and yet came under the disciplinary measures of trouble. Certainly Paul knew trouble or he never could have written, "In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck" (2 Cor. 11:23-25). Yet out of it all he comes purified and strengthened, a noble expression of God's grace and an example for the ages to come that trouble may be used to build a Christian character.

In the Old Testament we find Joseph and Job and many others demonstrating the same truth. Surely Joseph might have said, "All these things are against me. Where is God? Why do "I" have to put up with all this confusion and trouble when He promised me great victory and triumph?" Yet listen to him after in faith he comes through, "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good" (Gen. 50:20). We are following in the steps of Christ, who said that the servant was not above his lord. And we read of Him, "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered."

Tip! As Christians, after we are convinced in our hearts that trouble is not designed to defeat us and is not a mere nuisance or cruelty, but is one of the corrective elements in great living, we must learn how to use it the way God wants us to use it.

What are you seeking in your trouble today? Is it deliverance or development? You may have the one and not grow, or you may have both and grow. Get the development first and the deliverance will be yours, too. Let this servant minister to you in a way no other servant can. Take the positive attitude and use your trouble as one of the most skillful and wonderful instruments God ever placed into your hands for the working out of the character of Christ to be duplicated in you.

Trouble, if correctly used, will bring you great peace and a deep surrender of spirit which nothing else can work in you. I have not gone far on the way but I can give as my personal testimony that these deeper revelations of truth and clear understanding of the things of God have come only through suffering. I cannot offer you any other method. May God grant you grace to take your share of "trouble". Don't pray for exemption, but may He teach you and use this strange servant to build your life into noble proportions of strength and beauty, and from your life healing streams of understanding and love will flow to broken lives and timid, fearful hearts "For he who suffers most has most to give."

The Power of Persevering Prayer

Tip! The entire principle of Bible teaching is to illustrate the great truth that God hears and answers prayer. One of the great purposes of God in His book is to impress on us permanently the great importance, the priceless value, and the absolute necessity of asking God for the things that we need for our time on earth and eternity.

"Then He spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.... Then the Lord said, "Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" —Luke 18:1, 6-8

OF all the mysteries of prayer, the need for persevering prayer is one of the greatest and most important. We do not understand why our Lord, who so loves and longs to bless us, should have to be pleaded with time after time, sometimes year after year, before the answer comes.

It is also one of the greatest practical difficulties in the exercise of believing prayer. When, after we have persevered in prayer, our prayer remains unanswered. It is often easiest for our lazy human nature, and it has all the appearance of devout obedience, to think that we must now stop praying for what it is we so desperately want, 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 our faith has taken its stand on God's word, and in the Name of Jesus, and we have yielded ourselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit to seek God's will and honor alone in our prayer, we do not need to be discouraged by any delay.

We know from Scripture that the power of believing prayer is simply irresistible; real faith can never be disappointed.

We know how, 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, there must often be a heaping up of prayer, until God sees that the measure is full, and the answer comes.

We know how, just as the farmer has to take his ten thousand steps, and sow his ten thousand seeds, each one a part of the preparation for the final harvest, so there is a need for often repeated persevering prayer, all for working out some desired blessing from God.

We know for certain that not a single believing prayer can fail in its effect in heaven, but has its influence, and is treasured up to work out an answer in due time to us who perseveres to the end.

Tip! Prayer is no little thing, no selfish and small matter. It does not concern the selfish insignificant interests of one person. The littlest prayer expands out by the will of God till it touches all words, preserves all interests, and develops man’s greatest wealth, and God’s greatest good.

We know that our faith has nothing to do with our human thoughts or possibilities, but with the Word of the living God. And so even as Abraham through so many years ‘in hope believed against hope,' and then ‘through faith and patience inherited the promise,' it counts that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation, waiting and hasting unto the coming of its Lord to fulfill His promise.

Faith is 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 specially try to understand the two words in which our Lord sets up the character and conduct, not the way of the unjust judge, but of our God and Father towards those whom He allows to cry day and night to Him: ‘He is long-suffering over them; He will avenge them speedily.'

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

Tip! If I will give myself up to the inspiration of the Spirit of God, who commands me to pray, the details and the petitions of that praying will all fall into harmony with the will of Him who wills that I should pray.

Prayer:

O Lord my God! Teach me now to know Your way, and in faith to apprehend what Your Beloved Son has taught: ‘He will avenge them speedily.' Let Your tender love, and the delight You have in hearing and blessing Your children, lead me implicitly to accept Your promise, that we receive what we believe, that we have the petitions we ask, and that the answer will in due time be seen. Lord! We understand the seasons in nature, and know to wait with patience for the fruit we long for—O fill us with the assurance that not one moment longer than is needed will You delay, and that faith will hasten the answer. In Jesus' name Amen

The Grace of Gratitude

Tip! Let us always be aware of the fact that the power that is achieved to do the greater works that are required for Christ, is only gained through fervent prayer and faith in Jesus Christ.

"What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?"—Psalms 116:12

GOD'S BENEFITS are here compared to a cup or trophy brimming with salvation. It seems natural to speak of our destiny, either full of sorrow or joy, as the cup of which we drink. The cup or lot of our life brims with examples of God's saving help---"my cup is running over," and we ask, how may we thank Him enough? What shall we give to Him, for all His gracious help?

There are many answers, and the first is, that we will "take". In other words, as one has truly said, "taking" from God is the best giving to God, for God loves to give. St. James says; "He is the giving God, who gives not only liberally, but with no thought of personal advantage, and for the mere joy of giving?'

What, then, will please Him more than to trust Him, to find receivers for His gifts and to know that we are prepared to be His poor debtors; owing Him ten thousand talents, with nothing to pay, but we keep receiving and receiving from His great heart of Love. Nothing hurts God more than when we do not take what He offers--"God so loved that He gave," and when we refuse to take His greatest gift, we cause the deepest disgrace and dishonor that we are capable of doing.

Then what should we do? We must call upon His Name (Psalms 116:13-17). "Take" the Name of the Lord as a test. Friendships, plans, profits, amusements, studies---all these cups of life should be tested by this one mighty Talisman.

Tip! The Master will not expect more from anyone than a person is capable of doing for Him. Jesus wants us to understand that each person will be rewarded according to their faithfulness in doing their given task.

We also must be sure to pay our vows (Psalms 116:14-18; Ecclesiastes 5:4-5). We make vows in our trouble, which we sometimes forget when it is past. Surely, it is the height of ingratitude not to redeem our promissory notes. All devoted things, which are laid on God's altar, are absolutely His, and the giver forfeits all rights to their disposal.

Then our gratitude demands the gift of ourselves (Psalms 116:16). When Robinson Crusoe freed the poor captive, the man knelt before his deliverer, and put his foot on his neck, in token of his desire to be his slave, and the love of Christ, who loosed us from our bonds, obliges us to live not to ourselves but to Him (Revelation 1:5). Loosed from the cords of sin, we become bound to the service of love.

PRAYER:

Father, we would thank You for all the benefits that we have received from Your goodness. The best thanksgiving we can offer to You is to live according to Your holy will; grant us every day to offer it more perfectly, and to grow in the knowledge of Your will and the love thereof. In Jesus' name AMEN.

The Leading of the Spirit

"Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness. “– Psalms 143:10

“TEACH ME to do Your Will”, i.e. throw the responsibility of your life back on God. The one important thing for you to be absolutely sure about is that you desire, at all costs, to do God's Will. If you do not want God’s will in your life, at least you must be willing to be made willing. Heave this burden of making you willing on God, and believe that He will take it upon Himself.

His people shall be made willing in the day of His power. When this point is settled, then God by His Holy Spirit will sooner or later teach you what He wants to be done, and enable you to do it.

Like Samuel, if you say: Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears, you will hear the Voice behind you saying, This is the way, walk in it; this must be said, say it; this needs to be done, do it; and as you endeavor to obey the gentle promptings of the Spirit, you will discover that adequate strength and grace are being poured into your soul.

"Your Spirit is good." This is our only hope. Because if it were not for the infinite goodness, the patient gentleness and the loving tolerance of the Holy Spirit, we would have no chance for nothing but infinite Goodness can put up with our weaknesses and backslidings, our lapses into coldness and indifference, our unreasonableness and stubbornness. But because God's Spirit is good, we may consider that He will saturate us with His holy influence until our evil nature is defeated by His goodness, and we also in our measure become good because He is in us completely. It is said of Barnabas that he was a "good man," because he was full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.

"Lead me." David the Psalmist's prayer is--Teach me, lead me, correct me. We must make this prayer our own. What better guarantee of being led the right way than for us to yield ourselves to our gentle and gracious Guide. We are like little children that require to be led, as the mother or father takes the child by the hand and leads them to school, and then goes and gets them again. Some of us are blind, and need a kindly hand to guide us as we grope in the dark.

Let us walk in the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, and be very sensitive to the Spirit. Then we will instinctively know God's Will, and do it naturally.

PRAYER

I need a hand to lead me through the darkness,
For I am weak and helpless as a child;
And if alone I have to take my journey,
My feet will stumble on mountains wild.

I need to hear Your silent voice out loud,
For I am weak and helpless as a cloud;
And if alone I have to take my journey,
I will be blown away by earthly winds wild.

I need You Holy Spirit in

Jesus’ Name AMEN.

May it be Impossible for Us to be Disobedient

The Father in heaven asks, and requires, and actually expects, that every child of His yield to Him their whole-hearted and entire obedience, day by day, and all the day. To enable His child to do this, He has made a most abundant and altogether sufficient provision in the promise of the New Covenant, and in the gift of His Son and Spirit.

This provision can alone, but can most certainly, be enjoyed, and these promises fulfilled, in the soul that gives itself up to a life in the abiding communion with the Three-One God, so that His presence and power work in it all the day. The very entrance into this life demands the vow of absolute obedience, or the surrender of the whole being, to be, think, speak, do, every moment, nothing but what is according to the will of God, and well-pleasing to Him.

If these things be indeed true, it is not enough to assent to them: we need the Holy Spirit to give us such a vision of their glory and divine power, and the demand they make on our immediate and unconditional submission, that there may be no rest till we accept all that God is willing to do for us.

Let us all pray that God may, by the light of His Spirit, so show His loving and almighty will concerning us, that it may be impossible for us to be disobedient to the heavenly vision.

Working for God

What are YOU doing for the kingdom of GOD?

Waiting and Working

Tip! Every one cannot go abroad, or give his whole time to direct work; but everyone, whatever his calling or circumstances, can give his whole heart to live for souls and the spread of the kingdom.

‘They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, which works for him that waits for Him.'— Isaiah 40:31, 64:4

Here we have two texts in which the connection between waiting and working is made clear. In the first we see that waiting brings the needed strength for working—that it fits for joyful and enduring work. ‘They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up on eagles' wings; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.' Waiting on God has its value in this: it makes us strong in the work for God.

The second shows the secret of this strength. ‘God works for Him that waits for Him.' The waiting on God secures the working of God for us and in us, out of which our work must come from. These two passages teach the great lesson that as waiting on God lies at the root of all true working for God, so working for God must be the fruit of all true waiting on Him. So the great need is for us to hold the two sides of this truth in perfect combination and harmony.

There are some who say that they wait on God, but who do not work for Him and there may be various reasons for this. One example is a person who confuses this true waiting on God (in living in direct interaction with Him as the Living One), and the devotion to Him for the energy of their whole being, with a laziness, helpless waiting that excuses itself from all work until God, by some special impulse, has made this work easy.

Here is another person who waits on God more truly, regarding it as one of the highest exercises of the Christian life, but yet has never understood that at the root of all true waiting there must lay the surrender and the readiness to be completely fitted for God's use in the service of people.

And here is still another who is ready to work as well as wait, but is looking for some great inflow of the Spirit's power to enable him to do mighty works, while they forget that as a believer they already have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them. That more grace is only given to those who are faithful in the little; and that it is only in working that we can be taught by the Spirit how to do the greater works.

Tip! Of all the mysteries that surround us in the world, is not one of the strangest and most incomprehensible this—that after 2000 years the very name of the Son of God should be unknown to the larger half of the human race.

All such, and all Christians, need to learn that waiting has working for its object, that it is only in working that waiting can attain its full perfection and blessedness. It is as we elevate working for God to its true place, as the highest exercise of spiritual privilege and power, that the absolute need and the divine blessing of waiting on God can be fully known.

But then on the other hand, there are some, no, I should say there are many, who work for God, but know very little of what it means to wait on Him. They have been led to take up Christian work, under the impulse of natural or religious feelings, at the request of a pastor or an organization, with only very little sense of what a holy thing it is to work for God.

Tip! Isaiah 64:4 says: ‘God works for Him that waits for Him.’ The waiting on God secures the working of God for us and in us, out of which our work must come from.

They do not know that God's work can only be done in God's strength, by God Himself working in us. They have never learned that, just as the Son of God could do nothing of Himself, but that the Father in Him did the work, as He lived in continual dependence before God, so, and so very much more, we the believer can do nothing but as God works in us. They do not understand that it is only as in utter weakness that we depend on Him, and only then can His power rest on us.

And so they have no conception of a continual waiting on God as being one of the first and essential conditions of successful work. So as a result it is Christ's Church and the world that are the sufferers today, oh, so dreadful! Not only because so many of its members are not working for God, but because so much working for God is done without waiting on God.

Among the members of the body of Christ there is a great diversity of gifts and operations. Some, who are confined to their homes by reason of sickness or other duties, may have more time for waiting on God than opportunity of direct working for Him. Others, who are over pressed by work, find it very difficult to find time and quiet for waiting on Him. These two may mutually supply each other's lack. Let those who have time for waiting on God definitely link themselves to some who are working. Let those who are working as definitely claim the aid of those to whom the special ministry of waiting on God has been entrusted. This way the unity and the health of the body will be maintained; so will those who wait know that the outcome will be power for work, and those who work, will know as will that their only strength is the grace obtained by waiting. This is one way that God can work for His Church that waits on Him.

Tip! Isaiah 40:31 says: ‘They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up on eagles’ wings; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.’ Waiting on God has its value in this: it makes us strong in the work for God.

Let us pray that as we proceed in this study on working for God that the Holy Spirit may show us how sacred and how urgent our calling is to work. How absolute our dependence must be on God's strength to work in us. How sure it is that those who wait on Him shall renew their strength, and how we will find waiting on God and working for God to be indeed inseparably one.

1. It is only as God works for me, and in me, that I can work for Him.

2. All His work for me is through His life in me.

3. He will most surely work, if I wait on Him.

Tip! God’s work must be done in God’s way, and in God’s power. It is spiritual work, to be done by spiritual people, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

4. All His working for me, and my waiting on Him, has but one aim, to fit me for His work of saving people.