Intimacy Is Nourished by Worship By J. Oswald Sanders

Intimacy Is Nourished by Worship

By J. Oswald Sanders

      What is worship? 

Worship is to feel in your heart and express in some appropriate manner a humbling but delightful sense of admiring awe and astonished wonder and overpowering love in the presence of that most ancient Mystery, that Majesty which philosophers call the First Cause, but which we call Our Father Which Art in Heaven.1

            - A. W. Tozer J. Oswald Sanders

In the act of worship, God communicates His presence to His people. That is borne out by the experience of Dr. R.A. Torrey, who girdled the globe with his revival-kindling evangelistic missions. He testified that a transformation came into his experience when he learned not only to give thanks and make petition, but also to worship--asking nothing from God, occupied and satisfied with Him alone. In that new experience, he realized a new intimacy with God.

      

As His disciples heard the Master pray, they could not help but discern the depth of intimacy that existed between Him and His Father. Aspiration after a similar experience was kindled in their hearts, and they asked Him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples" (Luke 11:1). He gladly responded, for was not this the very road along which He had been leading them?

      

In replying to their request, Jesus said, "When you pray, say: 'Father' (Luke 11:2, italics added). A sense of the true fatherhood of God in all the richness of that relationship cannot but kindle worship-- the loving ascription of praise to God for all that He is, both in His person and providence.

      

Jesus thus impressed upon His students the important principle that in prayer God must occupy the supreme place, not we ourselves, or even our urgent needs. 

What a wealth of meaning was compressed into that single word, "Father," as it fell from the lips of Jesus. If God is not accorded the chief place in our prayer life, our prayers will be tepid and pallid. It is significant that in the pattern prayer, it is half com pleted before Jesus instructed them to mention their own personal needs. 

When God is given His rightful place, faith will be stimulated.

      The idea of worship is endemic in the human race, for man is essentially a worshiping being. But the term as commonly used seldom conveys its true scriptural content. Its old English form, "worthship," provides an interesting sidelight on its meaning. It implies worthiness on the part of the one who receives it.

Have You Ever Been Expressionless With Sorrow? By Oswald Chambers

 

Have You Ever Been Expressionless With Sorrow?

By Oswald Chambers

      'And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.'
      Luke 18:23

    

  The rich young ruler went away expressionless with sorrow; he had not a word to say. He had no doubt as to what Jesus said, no debate as to what it meant, and it produced in him a sorrow that had not any words. Have you ever been there? Has God's word come to you about something you are very rich in - temperament, personal affinity, relationships of heart and mind? Then you have often been expressionless with sorrow. The Lord will not go after you, He will not plead, but every time He meets you on that point He will simply repeat - If you mean what you say, those are the conditions.

      "Sell all that thou hast," undress yourself morally before God of everything that might be a possession until you are a mere conscious human being, and then give God that. That is where the battle is fought - in the domain of the will before God. Are you more devoted to your idea of what Jesus wants than to Himself? If so, you are likely to hear one of His hard sayings that will produce sorrow in you. What Jesus says is hard, it is only easy when it is heard by those who have His disposition. Beware of allowing anything to soften a hard word of Jesus Christ's.

      I can be so rich in poverty, so rich in the consciousness that I am nobody, that I shall never be a disciple of Jesus; and I can be so rich in the consciousness that I am somebody that I shall never be a disciple. Am I willing to be destitute of the sense that I am destitute? This is where discouragement comes in. Discouragement is disenchanted self-love, and self-love may be love of my devotion to Jesus.

A Simple Prayer

 

A Simple Prayer

By Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

     "I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me" (Acts 27:25).

      I went to America some years ago with the captain of a steamer, who was a very devoted Christian. When off the coast of Newfoundland he said to me, "The last time I crossed here, five weeks ago, something happened which revolutionized the whole of my Christian life. We had George Mueller of Bristol on board. I had been on the bridge twenty-four hours and never left it. George Mueller came to me, and said, "Captain I have come to tell you that I must be in Quebec Saturday afternoon." "It is impossible," I said. "Very well, if your ship cannot take me, God will find some other way. I have never broken an engagement for fifty-seven years. Let us go down into the chart-room and pray."

      I looked at that man of God, and thought to myself, what lunatic asylum can that man have come from? I never heard of such a thing as this. "Mr. Mueller," I said, "do you know how dense this fog is?" "No," he replied, "my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God, who controls every circumstance of my life."

      He knelt down and prayed one of the most simple prayers, and when he had finished I was going to pray; but he put his hand on my shoulder, and told me not to pray. "First, you do not believe He will answer; and second I BELIEVE HE HAS, and there is no need whatever for you to pray about it."

      I looked at him, and he said, "Captain, I have known my Lord for fifty-seven years, and there has never been a single day that I have failed to get audience with the King. Get up, Captain and open the door, and you will find the fog gone." I got up, and the fog was indeed gone. On Saturday afternoon, George Mueller was in Quebec for his engagement.--Selected

      "If our love were but more simple,
      We should take Him at His word;
      And our lives would be all sunshine,
      In the sweetness of our Lord."

Patience to Wait

 

Patience to Wait By William Graham Scroggie       "...what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him"       (Isa. 64:4).       I suppose most people find it difficult to wait. The grace of patience is not common.  "In a little room sat two children, each one in his own chair. The name of the eldest was Passion, and the name of the other Patience. Passion seemed to be much discontented, but Patience was very quiet. Then Christian asked, What is the reason of the discontent of Passion? The Interpreter answered, The Governor of them would have him stay for his best things till the beginning of next year, but he will have all now. But Patience is willing to wait."  Milton was of the same mind as Bunyan, when of the angels he said, "They also serve who only stand and wait." Such waiting does not imply indolence or indifference, but is an evidence of spiritual faith and confidence, of true insight, and forsight, and of self-discipline also.  While in this worthy way we are passive, our God is active. He works for those who wait for Him. There are some things which He can do for us only as we wait.  Blessed passivity, which calls forth such activity! Of course, it is also true that in other things God will wait while we work. He will not do for us what He has bidden us do for ourselves, even as we cannot do for ourselves what He has undertaken to do for us. Thus we become "workers together with God."  Are you waiting at His bidding? "Ye shall not need to fight in this battle; set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you; fear not, nor be dismayed."

. The Personality of the Holy Ghost [Spirit] - Charles Spurgeon - Sermon

Agape Love

Agape Love

By A.W. Tozer

      "Love," said Meister Eckhart, "is the will to, the intention." By that definition, it is possible to obey the divine command to love our neighbor.

 We may not in a thousand years be able to feel a surge of emotion toward certain "neighbors," but we can go before God and solemnly will to love them, and the love will come. 

By prayer and an application of the inworking power of God, we may set our faces to will the good of our neighbor and not his evil all the days of our lives, and that is love. 

The emotion may follow, or there may be no appreciable change in our feelings toward him, but the intention is what matters. We will his peace and prosperity and put ourselves at his disposal to help him in every way possible, even to the laying down of our lives for his sake.

      Love, then, is a principle of good will and is to a large extent under our control. That it can be fanned into a blazing fire is not denied here. Certainly God's love for us has a mighty charge of feeling in it, but beneath it all is a set principle that wills our peace. 

Probably the love of God for mankind was never more beautifully stated than by the angel at the birth of Christ: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to man on whom his favor rests."

Fascinated with Jesus

 

Fascinated with Jesus

By Wesley L. Duewel

      The goal of Scripture is an intensely personal love for Jesus possessing you whole being. The goal of redemption is your love-relationship, your love-life with Jesus. Christian living is living in love with Jesus. Prayer communion is looking lovingly into Jesus' eyes, thrilling to Jesus' voice, resting in Jesus' arms.

      Christ's passionate lovers have bejeweled the history and heritage of the church. No Christian is greater than his love. Few today realize the intense devotion to Christ in the early church and in our sainted martyrs. The Holy Spirit can develop in us just as ardent devotion as He did in those days.

      A. W. Tozer once said, "The great of the kingdom has been those who loved God more than others did." Those who have really looked into the face of Jesus cannot but be captivate by His love. 

Too often our love for Jesus is sadly impersonal. We believe in His Person, we worship His Person, but we relate to Him far too impersonally. There is too much distance, a tragic remoteness in our fellowship. 

True, He is our infinitely holy God and we are but sin-deformed creatures before Him. He is our Sovereign King, and we bow before His majesty. 

But He is also our Savior who loved us with such everlasting love that He forsook heaven's throne to become the incarnate Son of Man, to die for us, to redeem us for Himself and make us the special and eternal object of His love. Indeed, He came to make us collectively His bride and personally His beloved. 

Let's humble ourselves before Him. Let's confess how cool and casual we too often have been in our expression of love to Him. Let's ask the Holy Spirit to give us a new baptism of love for Jesus. We need the Spirit's help to love, Jesus as we should. Perhaps we have had too little of the Spirit's fullness to enable us to love with the personal ardor Jesus desires.

      All other passions build upon or flow from your passion for Jesus. A passion for souls grows out of a passion for Christ. A passion for missions builds upon a passion for Christ. 

When Hudson Taylor was once asked what was the greatest incentive to missionary work, he instantly replied, "Love of Christ." William Booth's passion for helping the underprivileged, the derelicts of society, and for world evangelization was built upon his passion for Christ. 

The most crucial danger to a Christian, whatever his role, is to lack a passion of Christ. The most direct route to personal renewal and new effectiveness is a new all-consuming passion for Jesus.

 Lord, give us this passion, whatever the cost!

The Guidance of Scripture

 

The Guidance of Scripture

By William Graham Scroggie

      "The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way"

      (Ps. 25:9).

      We recognize that it is only as God guides us that we can know what our duty is, which is another way of saying that, God guides His people by His Word, interpreted and applied by His Spirit.

 If therefore, we neglect the Bible, we cannot but remain in ignorance of the Divine will. The shrewdest calculation and the keenest foresight can never be adequate for our supreme need, nor be a substitute for the knowledge of the Divine mind. 

Just because life is related to truth, and the highest revelation of truth is preserved in the Scriptures, we must discover from them what is the will of God for us, and having discovered it, we must do it, with a glad and trustful heart.

      "The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach His way." God will not fail on His part, but we may fail on ours. If we listen at all, "our ears shall hear a word behind us saying, 'This is the way, walk ye in it,' when we turn to the right hand, and when we turn to the left," but if we heed not that voice, we shall continue to wander in perilous by-paths. 

The mere reading of the Scriptures will not give us guidance for the way; we must obediently seek therein, for our personal need, the will of God and this is done by prayer.

 If we ask, He will answer, but if His guidance of us is to be continuous, our asking must be the reflection of an attitude towards Him, on our part, of dependence and trust.

Total Commitment to Christ | A. W. Tozer | Christian Audiobook

The Bible — Spurgeon Sermon — Hosea 8:12

Advertizing Our Imperfections

 

Advertizing Our Imperfections

By A.W. Tozer

      Our Lofty Idealism would argue that all Christians should be perfect, but a blunt realism forces us to admit that perfection is rare even among the saints. The part of wisdom is to accept our Christian brothers and sisters for what they are rather than for what they should be.

We do not wish to excuse the laziness of the saints or to provide carnality with a place to hide, but it is necessary that we face facts. And the plain fact is that the average Christian--even true Christian--is yet a long way from being like Christ in character and life. There is much that is imperfect about us, and it is fitting that we recognize it and call upon God for charity to put up with one another. The perfect church is not on this earth. The most spiritual church is sure to have in it some who are still bothered by the flesh.

      An old Italian proverb says, "He that will have none but a perfect brother must resign himself to remain brotherless." However earnestly we may desire that our Christian brother go on toward perfection, we must accept him as he is and learn to get along with him. To treat an imperfect brother impatiently is to advertise our own imperfections.

Meek and Lowly Saviour

Meek and Lowly Saviour By William Mason       William Mason (1719-1791) authored a number of practical, devotional volumes for Christians and was highly respected in England for his legal service as a justice of the peace and later as a magistrate. These next two selections are taken from his daily devotional: A Spiritual Treasury for the Children of God.       Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls. (Matthew 11:29)       Thus, with tender affection, speaks Jesus our Prophet to the lambs of his flock. He well knows we stand in need of daily instruction from him.  He teaches us in the truth, as we are able to bear it. He knows the weakness of our understandings. He is "touched with a feeling of our infirmities." Therefore, lest our poor hearts should at any time conceive thoughts of him contrary to his nature and office, he says, "I am meek and lowly in heart."  You find you are poor sinners; ignorant of many truths; exercised with many conflicts, trials, and temptations: do not think of me only as "the High and Lofty One, who inhabiteth eternity," but as dwelling also with humble hearts. Look not on me as an austere master, a terrible lawgiver, a severe judge, who watches over you for evil, and is ever ready to take all advantages against you. No: I am your condescending, meek, and lowly Saviour; your loving Friend and kind Instructor; therefore come and listen to my words. "Learn of me."       What sweet encouragement is this! Art thou, O soul, tossed with temptations? harassed with corruptions? beset with sinful passions? Do these bring disquiet upon thy mind, distress to thy conscience, and prove a wearisome burden to thy spirits, so that thou dost not enjoy settled ease and rest? Remember thy Saviour's lowly character and kind advice. He hath an ear of grace for thy complaints, a heart of love to pity thee, a powerful arm to relieve thee.  With sweet familiarity pour out thy heart to him. As a bosom friend tell him of thy sorrows, complaints, and fears. Always bear in mind his kind invitation, the loving meekness and lowliness of his heart, and the blessedness of his promise.

David encouraging himself in God (1 Samuel 30:6-8) - C.H. Spurgeon Sermon

Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled - Comforting Charles Spurgeon Sermons