~ LEONARD RAVENHILL ~

“Revival is the act of the Spirit upon believers who have lost their first love. Revival is the restoration of true doctrine. Revival is the rekindling of the power of prayer in individuals and in groups. Revival is seeing that God must be vindicated either by His mercy in pardoning - or by judgment! Revival is the ascendancy of the spiritual over the material. Revival is the Spirit's passion within the believer to know and to obey the total will of God. Revival is the willingness to forsake all, that God might be all in all to the individual and to the Church. Revival is the "no-time-limit" operation of God on the saints, resulting in a moving of God among the sinners. Revival is the redeemed sobbing with broken hearts over a nation of broken lives from breaking the commandments of God. Revival is not a luxury, but a necessity for our nation; not an alternative, but an imperative.

I am bombarded with talk or letters about the coming shortages in our national life: bread, fuel, energy. I read between the lines from people not practiced in scaring folk. They feel that the "seven years of plenty" are over for us. The "seven years of famine" are ahead. But the greatest famine of all in the nation at this given moment is a FAMINE OF THE HEARING OF THE WORDS OF GOD (AMOS 8:11). WHAT IS REVIVAL?”

Fathers Heart ..

John Hutchinson, a wonderful teacher who passionately teaches on the Fathers heart..the first few minutes are just introduction so just be patient..its a message worth listening to:

http://www.uchurch.ca/media/messages/public/week_24_message.mp3

God is Amazing..

Check out this amazing story from The Sentinel Group - Prayer Tranformation Ministries about a small town in Brazil:


http://www.prayertransformation.com/pdf_files/stories/Report%20-%20Transformation%20of%20Algodao%20de%20Jandaira.pdf

fasting..

Do you have a hunger for God? If we don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because we have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because we have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Our soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great. If we are full of what the world offers, then perhaps a fast might express, or even increase, our soul’s appetite for God. Between the dangers of self-denial and self-indulgence is the path of pleasant pain called fasting.

- John Piper -

Timely Word..

I was on a tele-conference prayer call the other day and want to pass along a very timely word that was delivered:

THE HOUR OF OPPORTUNITY Marie Chapian Nov 24, 2008

This is the hour of opportunity for you. The Lord wants you to know that He has put a door of great opportunity before you. He is urging you to be unafraid, to be courageous even if you can’t foretell the consequences of your faith-filled actions.

If you hold back you will bring the Lord no pleasure (Hebrews 10:38). In the past you’ve been afraid to make certain great and noble steps of faith, afraid you might fail, afraid maybe you might be acting in presumption.

Now the doors of opportunity are open for you as heaven’s angels murmur around you encouraging you. Have you not recognized the Holy Spirit whispering to you in the night hours? He has awakened you before dawn to draw you to the Word of God and prayer.

He is eager and delighted to show you great and mighty things in the Spirit. Answer. Respond. The hour is now.

Added note:

I feel this word very strongly that this is your hour of opportunity. It requires a response in faith. It requires we step out and take risks. Risks of what? Rejection? Failure? Loss? I want to remind you that you are intelligent, sound and wise in the Lord. We don’t act irrationally (we’ve learned from experience) -- we seek first the Kingdom of God in this life. We are brave, strong and Spirit-filled. Our souls are meant to prosper (3John 2). In fact, whatsoever we do prospers! (Psalm 1:3)

The Gift of Woundedness

This is an excellent article by Francis Frangipane:

The world and all it contains was created for one purpose: to showcase the grandeur of God's Son. In Jesus, the nature of God is magnificently and perfectly revealed; He is the "express image" of God (Heb. 1:3 KJV). Yet to gaze upon Christ is also to see God's pattern for man. As we seek to be like Him, we discover that our need was created for His sufficiency. We also see that, once the redemptive nature of Christ begins to triumph in our lives, mercy begins to triumph in the world around us.

How will we recognize revival when it comes? Behold, here is the awakening we seek: men and women, young and old, all conformed to Jesus. When will revival begin? It starts the moment we say yes to becoming like Him; it spreads to others as Christ is revealed through us.

Yet to embrace Christ's attitude toward mercy is but a first step in our spiritual growth. The process of being truly conformed to Christ compels us into deeper degrees of transformation. Indeed, just as Jesus learned obedience through the things that He suffered (see Heb. 5:8), so also must we. And it is here, even while we stand in intercession or service to God, that Christ gives us the gift of woundedness.

"Gift?" you ask. Yes, to be wounded in the service of mercy and, instead of closing our hearts, allow woundedness to crown love, is to release God's power in redemption. The steadfast prayer of the wounded intercessor holds great sway upon the heart of God.

We cannot become Christlike without being wounded. You see, even after we come to Christ, we carry encoded within us preset limits concerning how far we will go for love, and how much we are willing to suffer for redemption. When God allows us to be wounded, He exposes those human boundaries and reveals what we lack of His nature.

The path narrows as we seek true transformation. Indeed, many Christians fall short of Christ's stature because they have been hurt and offended by people. They leave churches discouraged, vowing never again to serve or lead or contribute because, when they offered themselves, their gift was marred by unloving people. To be struck or rejected in the administration of our service can become a great offense to us, especially as we are waiting for, and even expecting, a reward for our good efforts.

Yet wounding is inevitable if we are following Christ. Jesus was both "marred" (Isa. 52:14) and "wounded" (Zech. 13:6), and if we are sincere in our pursuit of His nature, we will suffer as well. How else will love be perfected?

Yet, let us beware. We will either become Christlike and forgive the offenders or we will enter a spiritual time warp where we abide continually in the memory of our wounding. Like a systemic disease, the hurtful memories infect every aspect of our existence. In truth, apart from God, the wounding that life inflicts is incurable. God has decreed that only Christ in us can survive.

The Wounds of a Prayer Warrior
Intercessors live on the frontier of change. We are positioned to stand between the needs of man and the provision of God. Because we are the agents of redemption, Satan will always seek the means to offend, discourage, silence, or otherwise steal the strength of our prayers. The wounding we receive must be interpreted in light of God's promise to reverse the effects of evil and make injustice work for our good (see Rom. 8:28). Since spiritual assaults are inevitable, we must discover how God uses our wounds as the means to greater power. This was exactly how Christ brought redemption to the world.

Jesus knew that maintaining love and forgiveness in the midst of suffering was the key that unlocked the power of redemption. Isaiah 53:11 tells us, "By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities."

Jesus possessed revelation knowledge into the mystery of God. He knew that the secret to unleashing world-transforming power was found at the cross, in suffering. At the cross, payment for sin was made. As Christ forgave His enemies, heaven's power rent the temple veil in two. Christ's stripes purchased our healing. I am not just talking about suffering, but the suffering of love.

The terrible offense of the cross became the place of redemption for the world. Yet, remember, Jesus calls us to a cross as well (see Matt. 16:24). Wounding is simply an altar upon which our sacrifice to God is prepared.

Listen again to Isaiah's prophetic description of Jesus' life. His words at first seem startling, but as we read, we discover a most profound truth concerning the power of woundedness. He wrote, "But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand" (Isa. 53:10).

How did the power of God's pleasure prosper in Christ's hand? During His times of crushing, woundedness and devastation, instead of retaliating, Jesus rendered Himself "as a guilt offering."

The crushing is not a disaster; it is an opportunity. You see, our purposeful love may or may not touch the sinner's heart, but it always touches the heart of God. We are crushed by people, but we need to allow the crushing to ascend as an offering to God. The greatest benefit of all is the effect our mercy has on the Father. If we truly want to be instruments of God's good pleasure, then it is redemption, not wrath, that must prosper in our hands. If we are Christ-followers, we must offer ourselves as an offering for the guilt of others.

Conformed to the Lamb
When Christ encounters conflict, though He is the Lion of Judah, He comes as the Lamb of God. Even when He is outwardly stern, His heart is always mindful that He is the "guilt offering." Thus, Jesus not only asks the Father to forgive those who have wounded Him, but also numbers Himself with the transgressors and intercedes for them (see Isa. 53:12). He does this because the Father takes "no pleasure in the death of the wicked" (Ezek. 33:11), and it is the pleasure of God that Jesus seeks.

Is this not the wonder and mystery, yes, and the power, of Christ's cross? In anguish and sorrow, wounded in heart and soul, still He offered Himself for His executioners' sins. Without visible evidence of success, deemed a sinner and a failure before man, He courageously held true to mercy. In the depth of terrible crushing, He let love attain its most glorious perfection. He uttered the immortal words, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34).

Christ could have escaped. He told Peter as the Romans came to arrest Him, "Do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matt. 26:53). In less than a heartbeat, the skies would have been flooded with thousands of warring angels. Yes, Jesus could have escaped, but mankind would have perished. Christ chose to go to hell for us rather than return to heaven without us. Instead of condemning mankind, He rendered "Himself as a guilt offering" (Isa. 53:10, italics mine). He prayed the mercy prayer, "Father, forgive them" (Luke 23:34).

Jesus said, "He who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also" (John 14:12). We assume He meant that we would work His miracles, but Jesus did not limit His definition of "works" to the miraculous. The works He did---the redemptive life, the mercy cry, the identification with sinners, rendering Himself a guilt offering---all the works He did, we will "do also."

Thus, because He lives within us, we see that Isaiah 53 does not apply exclusively to Jesus; it also becomes the blueprint for Christ in us. Indeed, was this not part of His reward, that He would see His offspring? (see Isa.. 53:10) Beloved, we are the progeny of Christ!

Read these words from Paul's heart:

"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions" (Col. 1:24).

What did the apostle mean? Did not Christ fully pay mankind's debts once and for all? Did Paul imply that we now take Jesus' place? No, we will never take Jesus' place. It means that Jesus has come to take our place. The Son of God manifests all the aspects of His redemptive, sacrificial life through us. Indeed, "as He is, so also are we in this world" (1 John 4:17).

Paul not only identified with Christ in his personal salvation, but he was also consumed with Christ's purpose. He wrote, "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death" (Phil. 3:10).

For those who blame others for the decline of our nation, to be a follower of the Lamb, you must render yourself as an offering for their sin. By your wounds they shall be healed.

What a wondrous reality is the "fellowship of His sufferings." Here, in choosing to yoke our existence with Christ's purpose, we find true friendship with Jesus. This is intimacy with Christ. The sufferings of Christ are not the sorrows typically endured by mankind; they are the afflictions of love. They bring us closer to Jesus. We learn how precious is the gift of woundedness.

Let's pray: Father, I see You have had no other purpose in my life but to manifest through me the nature of Your Son. I receive the gift of woundedness. In response, in surrender to Christ, I render myself an offering for those You've used to crush me. May the fragrance of my worship remind You of Jesus, and may You forgive, sprinkle and cleanse the world around me.

Awesome Testimony!

I found this article here- THANKS RANDY!!:
http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001897.cfm

Chased, Caught
by Randy Thomas
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. (Psalm 68:5)

Four-year-old Isaac, with a flash of his bright eyes and curly blond hair, can pretty much convince you to do just about anything. That boy is going to be trouble and all you can do is smile as you pull him off the next piece of furniture.

The staff were all gathered together for lunch one day when Isaac came by the office, along with his mother and sister, to visit his dad. After the meal was over, Isaac ran around the conference table and taunting his father, "Catch me Daddy!" Every time he passed one of the guys that had gathered around for lunch we would growl and try to hook him with our arms. He giggled that 4-year-old sunshine of a giggle, eluding our scary traps as he playfully derided us, "I passed you!"
"Lately, he likes to be chased and get caught," his dad later explained to me.

One of my delights in life, as a single man, is watching good parents love their children, and seeing those children flourish in that loving environment. I love watching little Isaac's eyes when his daddy "catches" him and he no longer wants to escape the embrace and just smiles and rests.
Rests, that is, for about two minutes and then is off to the races again. I like that part too.

A Different Kind of Chase
I only remember brief encounters with my Bio Dad when I was Isaac's age. And then there are a few brief drunken snapshots of him when I was in fifth and sixth grades in Nashville. That's pretty much it.

My dad did all the running then and there was no catching him.

One fateful day, during the "snapshot" time-frame, he got in a fight with my mom and her new boyfriend, Wallace, a man who would eventually become my stepfather. I stood at the screen door, watching this mystery called "Daddy" go huffing out to his car. I called after him, "Are you going to come back?" He jumped in his car, rolled down the window and said, "I'll call you tomorrow."

He never called.

He never knew I wanted to be chased and caught by a loving father. He never knew I wanted him to roughhouse with me, to throw me up in the air or spin me around the room. He didn't know that the only attention I did get was abusive. The arms that reached for me were usually scary, and I didn't have anyone to rescue me. I wanted to chase after my Bio Dad, but my young heart knew that he didn't want me too.

I found my Bio Dad eight years later. I had become a drug addict and he was an alcoholic. Six more years passed; six tumultuous years.

Still Not Accepted
Eventually, I discovered Narcotics Anonymous, got myself clean, and found myself on a very odd spiritual quest that led to a saving knowledge of Christ.

In time, my head cleared. I found myself unable to ignore the fact that my Bio Dad's solitary goal was to live out a narcissistic projection, one that did not allow for anyone to disagree with him or challenge his view of life. He'd try to coerce me to repeat his version of our past and his views of life, and if I didn't play along, he would become furious and verbally lash out at me.

During our last phone call, 14 years ago, six years after finding him, he complained that at first he had to "deal with" a son who used to [insert graphic homosexual act here]. He followed that with, "and now he's a &*@! Christian!" He said he liked me better as a flaming faggot than a bleeping Christian. I was stunned. He ended the phone call with a blasphemous joke about Christ.

He'll Pay For His Sins
I hung up the phone, angry at how selfish and awful my father was. Instead of going to a bar and getting wasted, as I might have done a few years earlier, I directed all of it toward my imagination.

I imagined my father hanging over an abyss. The only thing keeping him from falling was his fingers on the edge of a cliff. In my mind's eye, I crouched down to glare at him. He didn't see me. I didn't necessarily want him to fall, but inside I was getting an evil pleasure imagining him squirming in terror.

Then I felt the Lord remind me that He was now my Father, and not my Bio Dad. And then I felt Him say something unexpected: "Randy, you know that if your dad asked me for forgiveness, I would forgive him, without hesitation and without your permission."

I was conflicted. In my head I knew why God would forgive my Dad. He would forgive him because Christ paid the price for all sin, including my dad's sins against me. Yet my heart was angry. I wanted ... but didn't want ... my dad to pay for the abuse he had committed against me as a child and never apologized for. I wanted him to hurt for every bruise and strike that had been dealt to me in his absence, pain from which he should have protected me. I wanted him to hurt ... and yet I knew that this is not what God, our Heavenly Father, would want.

It was the most painful ambivalence I had ever experienced to that point.

At that point I believe the Holy Spirit reminded me of a litany of abusive words and violent acts my Bio Dad had committed against me. Each memory was followed by a vision of Jesus being tortured, scoured, crucified. My father's sins against me were sins that Christ absorbed into Himself.

Convicted of the malice I felt toward my dad, I wept so hard and for so long that I lost track of time. Something in my spirit clicked and I started begging God to lead my dad to repentance. I even found myself repeating a paraphrase of the words of Jesus Himself as He hung on the cross: "Please forgive Dad! He has no idea what he has done!"

My True Father Caught Me
From that point on I no longer hated my Bio Dad. Anger over specific events and situations still took time to diminish, but I no longer hated him.

This is the part of a testimony where you normally hear the "good stuff." You might expect to hear about how my dad came to know Christ and today we are best buds. Well, that didn't happen. I can't find him. I haven't heard from him in years.

If he does show up, I'd probably still want to maintain some boundaries, but my love would be unconditional. I would hope to be more gracious and forgiving, but forgiveness doesn't require one to be a needless martyr. I just want to hold my Bio Dad's hand and ask him to tell me about his life. Instead of sneering as he waivers perilously over an abyss of my own creating, or perhaps even his, I'll extend a hand and simply listen. My hope is that he'd see Christ in me and be drawn out of the pit and to the foot of the Cross.

I can't relive my life; I can't start over again, hoping for a better home life; the carefree blond 4-year-old has grown up. And the truth is that my Bio Dad blew it; I've had to grieve this reality and let it go.

Yet, where my Bio Dad failed as a father, God my Father has more than compensated. Where my Bio Dad failed to be a daily part of my life and constant influence of wisdom and good, my Heavenly Father often steps in before I even know what to ask. And just like many earthly dads, He seems always ready to give advice, warnings, challenges. And not in a patronizing way; I'm no longer a little boy, after all, I am His son.

Back to That Blond Kid
When I watch my friend look at his son's silly antics with absolute delight, I notice that Isaac is oftentimes not even aware of his dad's pleasure. When I see that dynamic at work, I think of how unaware I am of my heavenly Father's countenance. I wonder if He has enjoyed watching me as I walk out my faith.

I was a tow-head like Isaac until I was 4 years old. I was and am very extroverted just like little Isaac. And when I see my friend love on his son it makes me think of how my heavenly Father viewed me when I was that young. Though I was unaware of Him, He's chased me my whole life. As I rode my "Green Machine," He pursued me. As I cried myself to sleep at night during the awful times, He sang softly over me. Through my hellacious teen years, He chased me. He sought me through gay bars as a young confused man, and trailed me across state lines and relationship after relationship.

Though I did a lot of running, in my heart I wanted to be caught by unconditional love; I just didn't know what that looked like until I was apprehended by Christ. And like little Isaac, now that I'm caught, in my Father's embrace I am content.

"Alive In This Moment"

It's been so long since I have met You here
Since I have said these words or cried these tears
And like a child would come I run into our secret place
And as the music fades, the tears are rolling down my face

I am alive in this moment
In this moment I am found
I am alive in this moment
In this moment I belong

It's been so long since I have met You here
Since I have heard You speak or let You near
And like a wayward son I've come with nothing left to hide
Here in this moment I have come to offer up my life

Here only one fire burns, it burns
Here only one melody is heard
Once again for the very first time

My eyes are opening

~Starfield

Lifehouse - Broken

Dedicated to all those twenty somethings, the ones I know, and the ones I have not met yet....


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The broken clock is a comfort
It helps me sleep tonight
Maybe it can stop tomorrow
From stealing all my time

And I am here still waiting
Though I still have my doubts
I am damaged at best
Like you've already figured out

I'm falling apart
I'm barely breathing
With a broken heart
That's still beating
In the pain
There is healing
In your name
I find meaning
So I'm holding on
I'm holding on
I'm holding on
I'm barely holding on to you

The broken locks were a warning
You got inside my head
I tried my best to be guarded
I'm an open book instead
And I still see your reflection
Inside of my eyes
That are looking for purpose
They're still looking for life

I'm falling apart
I'm barely breathing
With a broken heart
That's still beating
In the pain
Is there healing

In your name
I find meaning
So I'm holding on
I'm holding on
I'm holding on
I'm holding on
I'm barely holding on to you

I'm hanging on another day
Just to see what you will throw my way
*And*I'm hanging on to the words you say
You said that I will
I will be okay

Broken lights on the freeway
Left me here alone
I may have lost my way now
I haven't forgotten my way home

I'm falling apart
I'm barely breathing
With a broken heart
That's still beating
In the pain
There is healing
In your name
I find meaning
So I'm holding on
I'm holding on
I'm holding on
I'm barely holding on to you

I'm holding on
I'm holding on
I'm barely holding on to you

Litany of Humility

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, deliver me, O Jesus
From the desire of being extolled, deliver me, O Jesus
From the desire of being honored, deliver me O Jesus
From the desire of being praised, deliver me O Jesus
From the desire of being preferred to others, deliver me O Jesus
From the desire of being consulted, deliver me O Jesus
From the desire of being approved, deliver me O Jesus

From the fear of being humiliated, deliver me, O Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, deliver me, O Jesus
From the fear of suffering rebukes, deliver me, O Jesus
From the fear of being calumniated, deliver me, O Jesus
From the fear of being forgotten, deliver me, O Jesus
From the fear of being ridiculed, deliver me, O Jesus
From the fear of being wronged, deliver me, O Jesus
From the fear of being suspected, deliver me, O Jesus

That others may be loved more than I, O Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I, O Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, others may, increase and I may decrease, O Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside, O Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed, O Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything, O Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should,
O Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

O Jesus, deliver us from pride and grant us the grace to desire true humility

This prayer was written by Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930), the secretary of state for Pope Saint Pius X.

May All Your Expectations Be Frustrated

I heard his little prayer a few weeks ago while at a talk on Spritual Authenticity and thought I'd post it on the blog. I realize this can be a slap in the face to someone in great pain, but for folks on the other side of it, it is a powerful affirmation of what God does in his people. Only as we lose our agenda to put our lives together the way we think best, can we enjoy Father in the midst of our trials and tragedies…

This ‘blessing’ was prayed over Henri Nouwen by his spiritual mentor:

May all your expectations be frustrated.
May all your plans be thwarted.
May all your desires be withered into nothingness.
That you may experience the powerlessness and the poverty of a child and sing and dance in the love of God the Father, the Son and the Spirit.

Take Up Your Cross

Your pain is deep and it won't just go away. It is also uniquely yours, because it is linked to some of your earliest life experiences. Your call is to bring that pain home. As long as your wounded part remains foreign to your adult self, your pain will injure you as well as others. Yes, you have to incorporate your pain into yourself and let it bear fruit in your heart and the hearts of others.

This is what Jesus means when he asks you to take up your cross. He encourages you to recognize and embrace your unique suffering and to trust that your way to salvation lies therein. Taking up your cross means, first of all, befriending your wounds and letting them reveal to you your own truth....

.... Once you have taken up that cross, you will be able to see clearly the crosses that others have to bear, and you will be able to reveal to them their own ways to joy, peace, and freedom.

~ Henri Nouwen

Suffering and Worship

Several months ago, I started a new series of messages in my church on worship. As I looked at Scriptures and all the books on worship, I thought maybe I would speak on how to give thanks to God, how to worship God, how to love him, how to praise him, how to sing, how to pray, how to wait upon him—all the different elements of worship. But I sensed that the Lord wanted me to speak first on the connection between suffering and worship.

Usually, when we reflect on worship, when we think about worship, we do not put suffering and worship together. Some of us have a certain idea about worship. We think that it is so esthetic, that it is a very deep spiritual experience with God. And so it is. But I believe that if we are to understand what worship is all about, if we are to be moved by the Spirit of God deeper into the very core and heart of God himself, we have to understand that, as fallen human beings, we live in a fallen, sinful world.

We all know theologically that the Kingdom has come—but that it is not fully come as yet. We have glimpses of heaven to come, but heaven has not fully come on earth yet. We long for heaven to come. We long for that day when we shall see the Lord face to face. Then there shall be no more pain, no more sorrow, no more tears, no more suffering. But until then, we are living in a fallen world.

We Christians too, even if we are redeemed, are fallen people. So in order to understand and to know God in a deeper way, in order to worship him, we need to understand the place of suffering in our lives.

I have only one main point today. (The homileticians will say that this is not good homiletics, I know.) The one point I want to share with you from our text in First Peter is this: Jesus himself suffered in the flesh, not in terms of the sinful nature, but in the body (see the NIV translation). He suffered in human suffering when he was on earth. And First Peter tells us we are to arm ourselves with the same attitude toward suffering. We are to understand that there is a special place for suffering in our lives that enables us to move deeper into worship of God. If we are open to the place of suffering in our lives, our suffering will enable us to cease more and more from sin and to obey more and more the will of God. Then, ultimately, we will come to know him the way that he wants us to know him. Than we will find our deepest satisfaction in God.

John Piper wrote that God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him. As human beings, we derive our deepest satisfaction and fulfillment in God himself. We are to have no other gods, no other idols, no other substitutes before us.

So my point is this: We must learn to embrace suffering, whether allowed—or even appointed by God. Whether we understand that such suffering is sent by God, or allowed by God, we are to yield to God and embrace our suffering and cooperate with the Holy Spirit's work in our school of life. Then our suffering will enable us to become more purified, more purged from sin, and we will be able to live more within the will of God. Then we can be driven (in a good sense of the word) deeper into the very heart of God and his love—into deeper worship of God.

As a psychologist, of course I would be one of the last people on earth to try to glorify suffering. We must not misunderstand the text and the point I am trying to share with you. If we know anything about pain in human hearts and human beings, we know that we do not want to wish suffering on anyone. I am not trying to glorify suffering.

We know that there is some suffering that needs to be healed. And there is some suffering that God will give us grace to overcome. Our text, however, is talking about suffering that comes after we have chosen to follow Jesus—and then suffering happens. Trials and tribulations. The ups and downs of life. Suffering that is there, given, allowed, or appointed by God. What do we do about such suffering? Is there a place for suffering in our lives? Can suffering help us in our worship of God?

In chapter 1 of the book of James, in verses 2 to 4, we read: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

In the school of life, this is not an elective course. Chuck Swindoll pointed out one time that "suffering is a required course." And we will move from suffering 101 to 201 to 301 and beyond. As long as we are on earth, suffering will exist. But there is something about suffering that can purify us and drive us deeper into the very heart of God that nothing else can do.

As I visit with people (especially the terminally ill) and as you face illness in your own life, or as I face illness in my own life, or my family's life, or in other people's lives—there is something about suffering from physical disability or illness or infirmity that reminds us that life is frail, that life is fragile, that life is not going to last forever on this side of the Kingdom.

There's something about physical suffering that enables us to realize that we are 100 percent dependent upon God. And all the things that we hold so dearly, all the things in life that can become idols, that can become false gods in our lives, will tend to fade into mere insignificance. For example, the idols of money, sex, pleasure, or power oftentime become gods in our lives. Only a certain amount of suffering in our lives can help us let go of those false gods and idols in our lives. Suffering will make us realize that those things are not what ultimately satisfy us. And suffering will enable us, as we respond appropriately to God, to be driven deeper into the heart of God, into deeper worship of him.

I want to share just a few thoughts that John Piper has written in Let the Nations Be Glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions. In chapter 3 he says:

"We need to make the call even more clear. Peter says, 'Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same thought' (1 Peter 4:1). The suffering of Christ is a call for a certain mindset towards suffering. Namely, that it is normal and that the path of love will often require it. Thus Peter says, 'Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you' (1 Peter 4:12). Suffering with Christ is not strange. It is your calling, your vocation. It is the 'same experience of suffering required of your brotherhood throughout the world' (1 Peter 5:9). This is the 'thought' that we need to put on like armor, lest we be vulnerable to suffering as something strange."

This is why suffering is so central to the mission of the church. The goal of our mission is that people from all the nations worship the true God. But worship means cherishing the preciousness of God above all else, including life itself. It will be very hard to bring the nations to love God from a lifestyle that communicates a love of things. Therefore, God ordains in the lives of his messengers that suffering will sever our bondage to the world. When joy and love survive this severing, then we are fit to say to the nations with authenticity and power: Hope in God.

I believe that these words are powerful and true. And based on First Peter, and on James, and many other passages in Scripture, we know that the Bible does teach us that there is a place for appropriate suffering and trials in our lives from time to time. Because God knows that there is no other way to prune us, to purge us, to purify us to the point where we love God for who he is, and not just for the gifts that he gives us.

Roger Helland, senior pastor of a New Life Vineyard Fellowship in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, wrote in The Revived Church:

"The key to pure spiritual power is humility. As Jim Cymbala declares: 'God is attracted to weakness. He can't resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need him.' The Bible says, 'Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life' (Proverbs 22:4). As in Saul's case, we can be filled with the Spirit and still be no good. We can look for God's power, but not his presence. We can seek his hand, but not his face. God doesn't build revived churches with powerful people. He builds them with pure people. Again, Gene Edwards says: 'What does this world need? Gifted men [and women] outwardly empowered? Or broken men [and women] inwardly transformed?'"

And so suffering and worship are connected. Because suffering, if we cooperate with God in the process, enables us to become purer people—and humbler people. It is the pure and humble who have truly learned to love God for who he is and to worship him most deeply.

I want to share with you a true story, published in Leadership Magazine recently, in an article titled, "Taking Care of Busyness" (Fall, 1998). It is about a friend of mine that many of you know. He is on our Board of Trustees at Fuller Seminary—Dr. John Ortberg. He is also a graduate from our School of Psychology. Dr. Ortberg is a pastor. A few years ago, he and I wrote a couple of books together on depression. And shortly after we finished one manuscript, he accepted a call from Bill Hybels to become an associate pastor at Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago. Every Wednesday night he teaches the Bible to thousands of people. That's lot of people to minister to! So, one day, John called one of his spiritual mentors long distance, and this is what he asked his spiritual mentor:

"What do I need to do to be spiritually healthy?" There was a long pause. This very wise mentor told John, "You must ruthlessly eliminate hurriedness from your life." John then asked, "What else should I do?" There was another long pause. And then this very wise spiritual man said to John, "There is nothing else that you should do. You must only ruthlessly eliminate hurriedness from your life."

John Piper emphasized that missions is not ultimate—worship is ultimate. Missions exists because worship doesn't. Once we are all worshipers, missions will be over, and we will be in heaven worshiping God forever. But in order to learn to worship like that, we must have time and solitude to be with God. We therefore need to ruthlessly eliminate hurriedness from our lives.

I'm going to close with two "S's" for us to consider. The first S refers to the spiritual discipline of solitude--to take time, long periods of time, to just bask in the presence of God, to be in the wilderness alone with him. There's no other way to really know God and worship him except to practice the discipline of solitude. So we need to make time for God, and ruthlessly eliminate hurriedness from our lives.

Solitude alone, however, is not going to cut it. The second "S" is the S of suffering. Embrace it. Thank God for the trials and tribulations that come from time to time. And thank God that they do not come all the time. God is gracious; God is merciful. But go through that suffering. Let us ask the Spirit of God to help us become better people, not bitter people, through all of our suffering, with a deeper and more purified worship of God himself.

We tend to have two other S's in our church life here in America. We tend to go after self-esteem, and satisfaction. But God is calling us to embrace solitude and suffering, so we can come to know him and worship him more deeply, Then satisfaction and appropriate self-esteem will come to us as side effects.

May God bless us and help us, by his Spirit, to learn to grow in redemptive suffering and worship of him.

SIANG-YANG TAN, Ph.D.

Exchanging the Glory of God

These sermon notes written by John Piper are a very good expository on Homosexualtity..Part 1 and Part 2

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TopicIndex/80_Homosexuality/1053_The_Other_Dark_Exchange__Homosexuality_Part_1/

Help Here…Help Now! - Tom Barnard

“He heals the brokenhearted, binding up their wounds.
He counts the stars and calls them all by name.
How great is our Lord! His power is absolute!
His understanding is beyond comprehension.”
(Psalm 147:3-5)

“Only an Infinite God can be equal to the infinite needs of individual men.
But a limitless love can be a refuge for the least and lowliest.”
(James Reid, in The Springs of Life. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1936)

Someone has said, “When we really think about God, we have our hand on a door which will lead us out into a new world.” If this is true (and I believe it is), why is God the second or third or even fourth source to whom we look in times of trouble? It doesn’t make sense to me. If you knew someone whose understanding was “beyond comprehension,” why wouldn’t you turn to him at the first hint of a problem? If you knew someone who was willing to “heal the brokenhearted, binding up their wounds”—and he was willing to do it now, why wouldn’t you turn to him when you are hurting? If you knew someone who was so infinite that he not only knows how many stars there are in the universe but also calls them by name, why would you read a horoscope to discover what good or bad things might (or might not) happen to you today?

The fact is that we tend to trust our stockbroker more than we trust our future to God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. I wonder if the timing might be right to dig out one of Isaac Watts’ old hymns and sing it today. You start, and I’ll join you on the second stanza.

O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home!

Under the shadow of Thy throne, Still may we dwell secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone, And our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood, Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God, To endless years the same.

Heavenly Father, I have been listening to news commentators far too much this week. Their “spin” on the events of the day is depressing. They are so persuasive; their views are so reasonable; their reputations are so solid; they are so easy to believe. But they don’t know one galaxy from the next. Their words have never healed anybody. They have no clue about what the future holds. And they don’t care one bit about me. I need help here, and I need it now! Please listen to my heart’s cry, and whisper confidence in my ear. Point me in the right direction, and lead me there. I’m ready to follow you wherever you take me. Amen.

The aim of gospel ministry

“To cut off the sinner from all reliance upon himself, his merits and his powers; and throw him, naked and helpless, into the hands of the Holy Spirit to lead him to Christ in faith; should be the one great aim of the ministry.”

- Ichabod S. Spencer

A new song..can you hear it?

Shine - Shannon Noil

Get up, get up, get up, get up, lift your head
Come on, come on, get up out of bed
Today's the day you hold the world with your song
Go now, go now, go now, help escalate
Angels come down, help with this parade
To hear your voice ring out
Come on and shout it
Let your song be heard

This is the time
This is the day that we've been waiting for
All the world will stop to watch you shine

Hey now, hey now, hey now, hey now sing your hymn
This is the new national anthem
We will all stand on guard to let you be heard
Let go, let go, let go all the cannons
How beautiful this world has become
Now everyone will see what I believe
That these words should be sung

This is the time
This is the day that we've been waiting for
All the world will stop to watch you shine
This is the time
This is the day that we've been waiting for
All the world believes that you will shine

And if you fall
And if you fall
And if you trust and
Yes it will come true

Hey, hey Yeah!

This is the time
This is the day that we've been waiting for
All the world will stop to watch you shine
This is the time
This is the day that we've been waiting for
When all the world will stop to watch you shine

Another good quote:

“God’s clean up operations are very strange.”

“A deep spiritual walk with God does not usually happen immediately after conversion. When the Holy Spirit invades the enemy territory of our lives and sets up Jesus Christ as King in the capital city of our heart, his strategy for conquering the rebel forces of the flesh that keep up their guerrilla warfare is different for each person. It may be fast or slow. God’s clean up operations are very strange.”

- John Piper, “The Danger of Being Merely Human“

The Vision for The Warriors

The vision is Jesus- obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus. The vision is an army of people, intergenerational, all ages all races. You see bones? I see an army. And they are FREE from materialism. They laugh at 9-5 little prisons. They could eat caviar on Monday and crust on Tuesday. They wouldn't even notice. They are mobile like the wind; they belong to the nations. They need no passport. People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence. They are free yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying.

What is the Vision? The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes. It makes children laugh and adults angry. It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars. It scorns the good and strains for the best. It is dangerously pure. Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation. It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games. This is am army that will lay down its life for the cause. A million times a day its soldiers choose to lose that they might one day win the great 'Well done' faithful sons and daughters. Such heroes are as radical on Monday mornings as Sunday night. They don't need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again "COME ON!" And this is the sound of the underground. The whisper of history in the making. Foundations shaking. Revolutionaries dreaming once again. Mystery is scheming in whispers. Conspiracy is breathing…

And the army is disciplined. People who beat their bodies into submission. Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms. The tattoo on their back boasts for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes, Winners, Martyrs. Who can stop them? Can hormones hold them back? Can failure succeed? Can fear scare them or death kill them? And the generation PRAYS like a dying man with groans beyond talking, with warrior cries, sulphurous tears and with great barrow loads of laughter! Whatever it takes they will give. Breaking the rules. Shaking the mediocrity from its cozy little hide. Laying down their rights and their precious little wrings, laughing at labels, fasting essentials. The advertisers cannot mould them. Hollywood cannot hold them. Peer pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late night parties before the cockerel cries. They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive inside.

On the outside? They hardly care. They wear clothes like a costume to communicate and celebrate but never to hide. Would they surrender their image or popularity? They would lay down their very lives- swap seats with the man on death row- guilty as hell. A throne for an electric chair. With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days, they pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them. Their DNA chooses Jesus. (He breathes out, they breathe in). Their subconscious sings. They had a blood transfusion with Jesus. Their words make the demons scream in shopping centers. DON"T you hear them coming? Heralds the weirdo's! Summons the losers and the freaks. Here comes the frightened and forgotten with the fire in their eyes. They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension. Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden.

And this vision will be. It will come to pass; it will come easily; it will come soon. How do I know? Because this is the longing of creation itself, the groaning of the Spirit, the very dream of God. My tomorrow is his today. My distant hope is his 3D. And my feeble whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking 'AMEN!' from countless angels, from hero's of the faith, from Christ himself. And he is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner. Guaranteed!

Date: January 01, 2000 Author: Kim Clement

QUOTE

"Watch out when the music of your nation changes. A new kind of music upsets every department of living—both public and private. The beat of the music changes first and everything else falls in line with the beat—fashions, language, customs and morals."

The character, Fred Fisher, "quoting" Plato in the movie "O You Beautiful Doll" (1949).