Thirsting For Life?

“Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the Water…”
(Isaiah 55:1)

A year or so ago I read the biography of George Whitfield (1714-1770) and just loved the progression of his coming to Christ. When he was a young clergy student at Oxford, George believed one needed to earn God’s favor and salvation through works. He did anything to buy God’s acceptance: fasting, endless praying in the cold with little clothing, abandoning friends and family for the Church or swearing off the “frivolity of laughter.”

One day, young George was asked to say prayers over a prisoner about to be executed. The man was walking to the gallows astride of his wife as Whitfield read to him from John 3. Instantly, the condemned husband and his wife declared, “We believe! We believe!” and from the look of things, their countenances changed from hopeless sorrow to heavenly hope and they were instantly saved!

George was astonished. “He had labored for years and yet these two notorious sinners seemed to have been forgiven in a second.” (John Pollock). Soon after, the young cleric remembered how Jesus said from the Cross, “I thirst!” and earler in the Gospel: “If any man thirst, let him come to Me…” The words were quickened in his heart and he broke. “I thirst! I thirst!” he cried to the Heavens. He discovered in that day that favor isn’t worked for or earned but it is free to anyone who thirsts. And he learned this from a hopelessly condemned man.

In his first “post-conversion” sermon, twenty-two year old Whitfield preached these words to the shocked listeners at St. Peter in Chains Chapel in the Tower of London:

“To think that God the Father should yearn in His bowels towards us His fallen, His apostate creatures! And because nothing but an infinite ransom could satisfy an infinitely offended Justice, should send His only and dear Son Jesus Christ to die a cursed, painful, ignominious death for us and for our salvation!

“Look on His Hands, bored with pins of iron. Look on His side, pierced with a cruel spear, on purpose, to loose the sluices of His blood and open a fountain for sin and uncleanness!” Of course, Whitfield’s days of speaking inside England’s chapels were over. Labeled a heretic, he took the message of salvation to the outdoors where thousands of thirsty souls flocked to hear the words of Life.

When that criminal and that preacher-boy opened their hearts to Christ, the astounding truth of Ezekiel 36:26-27 came alive in them and for all who turn in faith to the all-encompassing grace of the Savior:

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”

In simple terms, here is what gloriously occurs at the moment of conversion:

• The spirit, once dead and unresponsive to God’s Life, is now REGENERATED. The newly redeemed soul can now commune with God, relate to Him and enjoy His Life
• The ABIDING Presence of Christ in the Person of the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within. The Spirit indwells to show the converted soul the Father and the Son. While the Cross performs the NEGATIVE work of destroying all that comes from Adam, the indwelling Holy Spirit does the POSITIVE work of building within all that comes from Christ!

This truth is illustrated by the Temple in Solomon’s day. In 2 Chronicles 5:1 we read about the ribbon-cutting ceremony that punctuated his seven-year building project: “…all the work…was finished.” This is what REGENERATION does. It takes a condemned building and remakes it into a building fit for God’s habitation! The old is gone, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

But that is not the end of the work. At the baseline of Second Chronicles 5, God moves in.

“…the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.”
(vv13,14)

Solomon’s Temple was not built for relics or statues or monuments but for the living God to abide within. What other nation had such? The best they could offer were graven images to represent their god who would only relate to them through intimidation, oppression and fear. But not the God of the Scriptures! He comes Himself to abide in the believer.

Templed within the spirit of every redeemed person is the Presence of the Almighty. There is a glory-cloud much like the cloud that filled Solomon’s Temple where no flesh could abide. A holy place—no, a MOST Holy Place! The word Paul uses for the inner sanctum of the believer in 1 Corinthians 3:16 is the same word ‘naos’ that is found in the LXX (Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament) for the Most Holy Place in Solomon’s Temple. The pagans of Paul’s day set up and displayed their prized deities in the ‘naos’ of their heathen temples.

The work of the Cross has been fulfilled by Jesus and is available to every thirsty heart who desires forgiveness and entrance into the way of Life in Christ Jesus. And while it is left to the Holy Spirit to apply this finished work to our hearts, our part is not to sit idly by when all of this happens. No, we must agree with all the Spirit is doing in us and yield to Him so that the Life of Jesus can flow in and out of us to others. In short, the Spirit indwells the believer to make us holy. It is God’s desire to perfect us completely in our souls and bodies (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

At conversion, the believer is saved from sin and mercifully reconciled to a holy God. But is that the end? How, in the name of all that is holy, are we saved from our self? While there is life for those who are thirsty, there is power, fulfillment and victory for those who will die. But that’s next…

Praying The Price Of Prayer

“Lord, teach us to pray…”
(Luke 11:1)

In a Texas church, a large consortium of its members wipe the sleep from their eyes, grab a cup of java and gather for prayer every Monday through Friday at 5:00 a.m. The church has grown from 13 to over 1,000 in just eight years. When asked about the tremendous growth, the pastor said, “I didn’t start a church, I started a prayer meeting.”

Just like Jerusalem, circa AD30.

In South Korea today is a church that has swelled to nearly 50% of its country’s population. Each month, 12,000 people are added to its membership through conversion growth. How, you ask? Pastor David Yongii Cho informs the curious that it is due in large part to ceaseless prayer. The church members typically go to bed early so they can rise at 4:00 a.m. for united prayer. Every Friday night is also devoted to all-night prayer.

J. Sidlow Baxter, renowned pastor in England, said at age 85: “I have pastored only three churches in my more than 60 years in ministry. We had revival in every one. And not one of them came as a result of my preaching. They came as a result of the membership entering into a covenant to pray until revival came. And it did come. Every time.”

In the Book of Acts there are 36 references to the church growing. Twenty-one of those times—58%—it is directly attributable to prayer.

Over a hundred years ago, John R. Mott led a student revival known as the “Student Christian Movement” where college students surrendered all they were and had to the mission of God for their lives. In thirty years, this little prayer movement supplied 20,000 career missionaries!

Hudson Taylor told of a missionary couple who had ten mission stations in China and none of them were growing and seeing conversions. They wrote to their sending church and asked for intercessors for their ten stations. In a short while, seven of the ten stations saw opposition wane, strongholds fall and conversions spread like wildfire. When the couple went home to England on furlough, they discovered that only SEVEN intercessors were recruited for their endeavors!

Matthew Henry wrote, “When God intends great mercy for His people, He first sets them to praying.”

In the 1700s, a wealthy German by the name of Zinzendorf was moved greatly by a painting of Christ’s crucifixion bearing the caption: “All this I have done for thee; what have you done for Me?” This seminal moment compelled him to give his entire estate and life for the purpose of prayer and to raise up a generation of intercessors for the Lord’s glory. Many came and lived on his estate and prayed every day of the week, twenty-four hours a day. Over time, succeeding generations took up the call and the prayer movement lasted 125 years—the longest sustained prayer meeting in history.

In modern times—our time—a couple of college grads were camping off the coast of Portugal and seeking the Lord together for His plan and purpose in their lives. One man, Pete Greig, was praying for the nations one night when the Lord visited him with a vision of faceless throngs of young people, like an army from every nation, rising up awaiting orders from their Commander on High.

For nine years, nothing happened. Greig began to question God, “Where is that army, Lord?” Some days later he was speaking to a thousand young people gathered for prayer and it dawned on him as they sent up collective war cries for the nations, this was the very city he had earlier expressed doubts as he asked “Where is that army, Lord?” His spirit emboldened, he was witnessing the calling forth of that very army!

Out of that has grown a revival of prayer unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Right now in every nation is an army of young folk devoted to praying for souls in a 24/7 movement of intercession (read “Red Moon Rising” by Pete Greig and Dave Roberts for more…)!

We can never, ever, underestimate the supreme power of prayer when it bleeds and pleads the very heart of God. God’s people, once having been set to prayer for their social conditions, have witnessed the changing of the tide in many of their social blights:

• Abolition of slavery
• Prison reform
• Exploitation of women and children in coal mines
• Improved nursing care
• Raising up charitable endeavors for the poor
• Rescuing the working poor from 16-hour, 7-day workweeks
• Persecutions
• Removal of despots and raising up of godly leaders

All this is to say that we cannot expect a visitation from God until we are willing to “pray the price of prayer”, unless our thirst for God through prayer exceeds all other appetites, and we are first known as a praying people (1 Timothy 2:1). How much is lost to the enemy because we do not look first, last and in-between to the Face of our Lord as our Shield, Portion and Deliverer? Oh, Mighty Man of War, move in us to seek You…

“You said, ‘Seek My Face’…Your Face, Lord, will I seek.”
(Palm 27:8)

R.A. Torrey, successor to D.L. Moody, said a hundred years ago:

“We live in a day characterized by the multiplication of man’s machinery and the diminution of God’s power. The great cry of the day is work! work! work! organize! organize! organize! Give us some new society! Tell us some new methods! But the great need of our day is prayer, more prayer and better prayer.”

We hear the same stuff today, don’t we? And then some. Even more looking to government and human genius to deliver us from our woes. Our churches, too, have joined the fellowship of the disinterested and have let the coals fade into graying ash. God, stir us! Ignite us! Raise up Your intercessors who will give all and look only to You as their satisfaction and supply. Lord, teach us to pray? No! Lord, MOVE us to pray. We already know how. Shake us until we are willing to pray the price.

The Fellowship of the Unashamed

“Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.”
(Matthew 4:20)

The following is often attributed to an anonymous source but its origin can be traced to a Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) retreat in Black Mountain, NC in 1966. This confession found wider circulation after it was found in the home of an African pastor who had been martyred for his commitment to Christ some years ago. Read it. Confess it. Live it.

“I am part of the ‘fellowship of the unashamed.’ I have Holy Spirit power. The dye has been cast. I’ve stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of His. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions, mundane talking, chintzy giving and dwarfed goals.

“I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits or popularity. I don’t have to be right, tops, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded. I now live by Presence, lean by faith, love by patience, lift by prayer and labor by power.

“My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, diluted or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

“I won’t give up, shut up, let up or burn up till I’ve preached up, prayed up, paid up, stored up and stayed up or the cause of Christ.

“I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till He comes, give till I drop and preach till everyone knows. And when He comes to get His own, He’ll have no problem recognizing me…my colors will be clear!”

Will mine? Will yours?

Peter began to say to Him,
“Behold, we have left everything and followed You.”
Jesus said,
“Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.”
(Mark 10:28-31)

God, move in Your people to press into Your Kingdom (Luke 16:16)…

Parenting (And Childhood) Is For The Dogs

I’m going back through my prayer journals and just tonight I found a gem. Seems I was crying out to God for our son (ad nauseum) a year and a half ago, asking our Father to have and show mercy in his life. On the particular morning I was scribing, Graham had spent considerable time two nights prior, screaming that God was a “nowhere God, not real, and never speaks—at least not to me.”

Turns out, while he was ranting and indicting God for lack of evidence, some children in a wholly different household were praying with tears that the Lord “would get someone to help us get our dog back.” These children had lost their puppy, a mini Doberman, and were sorrowful beyond consolation. They prayed by their bedside that God would show up for them and, in typical God fashion, the Father was already answering their prayer through the unlikely means of a boy who was sick to death of a God who was “nowhere.”

The next day, my son finds a dog roaming our neighborhood and calls the number on the tag. The owners are elated. They tell their kids and Graham can hear their screams of delight in the background. “We’ll come get it right away!” they said. “Thank you and God bless you!” they said, and told him a reward was coming his way. Shortly afterward, a car came down the main street of our subdivision and Graham senses its riders, unknown to him, were the happy family coming for their missing dog.

“Are you the ones I just talked to on the phone?” he asked.

“Why, yes! Yes we are!” They seemed elated. And why not? Their dog, once lost, now was found. The kids would be jubilant!

But something didn’t set right with Graham. There was a sense, a subtle quake, his internal moral compass jerking to and resting upon true north. Then, yellow flags, turning fiery red. “That’s not your dog,” he spoke flatly.

“Uh, sure it is,” the passenger said, pulling the dog into the back seat by its chain. The dog, meanwhile, wasn’t exactly thrilled about going for a ride. Where were the kids? Graham thought. Why wasn’t the dog excited to see its masters?

The couple fabricated some story, thanked Graham for being a good citizen and drove away with the dog. Amazingly, he saw them drive on down the road and pull into the driveway of one of the neighborhood homes! When the real owners drove up, Graham told them what had happened, but not to worry. He knew where their puppy was and helped them get it. That’s when he found out he was the answer to some little tykes’ prayers. Think of it, at the very moment Graham was calling God out, complaining that he’d never witnessed Him do anything miraculous, some youngsters were asking God to be gracious to them and send someone to “help” them find their pet. And an insolent, skeptical, critical teenage boy was the one He commissioned. Talk about Win-Win! These children got their Fido back and the Lord trumped a crestfallen boy’s doubtings. Truthfully, far more than just that happened: God kept my son from falling a long way from mercy and grace. There were two rescues that evening.

Take heart, struggling parent. God will honor all your faithful prayers for your prodigals or for the one-step-away-froms, and He will get their attention. Sometimes he uses bushes, sometimes whales, sometimes Nathans, sometimes donkeys. And sometimes He might even resort to using a lost puppy.

Someone who obviously knew a little about the science of parenting, has these wise words to share:

“Every autumn I have a spate of letters from fond parents, teachers, guardians, and monitors, appealing to me to follow up on such and such a youngster who is away from home at college for the first time, and who has to be hunted, followed, shadowed, intercepted and driven to Christian meetings. I have scarcely ever known this desperate technique to work. I understand the panic of parents and guardians, but it is too late then to try high pressure tactics. Prayer, example and precept, in that order, are the means of bringing up children and young folk in the faith. Nor will high pressure tactics and brainwashing techniques avail when young folk have gone off on their own. Some young folk, alas, will have their fling and sow their wild oats, and come at last to heel, sadly, like the prodigal son.

It is where Christians pathetically put their trust in external techniques and artificial stratagems that young folk go astray. Nothing takes the place of the realism of holy living and secret wrestling before God in prayer for our youngsters. We must commit them to God so utterly that we dare not interfere or tamper with their precious souls.”

(William Still, late Pastor of Gilcomston South Church, Aberdeen, Scotland)

God bless, and with all due respect, parenting isn’t just for cowards. Sometimes it can just plain be for the dogs. And that’s a good thing…