This is from Lord, Teach us to Pray by Andrew Murray
And the first thing the Lord teaches His disciples is that they must have a secret place for prayer; everyone must have some solitary spot where he can be alone with his God. Every teacher must have a school room. We have learnt to know and accept Jesus as our only teacher in the school of prayer. He has already taught us at Samaria that worship is no longer confined to times and places; that worship, spiritual true worship, is a thing of the spirit and the life; the whole man must in his whole life be worship in spirit and truth. And yet He wants each one to choose for himself the fixed spot where He can daily meet him. That inner chamber, that solitary place, is Jesus’ schoolroom. That spot may be anywhere; that spot may change from day to day if we have to change our abode, but that secret place there must be, with the quiet time in which the pupil places himself in the Master’s presence, to be by Him prepared to worship the Father. There alone, but there most surely, Jesus comes to us to teach us to pray.
For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Psalm 32:6 (KJV)
This is from the book The Quest for Character by Charles Swindoll
Marbles or grapes, which will it be? Every congregation has a choice. You can choose to be a bag of marbles….independent, hard, loud, unmarked, and unaffected by others. Or you can be a bag of grapes….fragrant, soft, blending, mingling, flowing into one another’s lives. Marbles are made to be counted and kept. Grapes are made to be bruised and used. Marbles scar and clank. Grapes yield and cling.
Not everyone will try to be a grape or agree. Do not let that discourage you today. You can be a grape and from that others will be grapes with you. You can shape the congregation and have the body become what Christ wants the body of the church to be.
And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
The church, and so every saved soul, is Christ’s love even when loveless.
Christ’s love is without a cause.
Christ’s love has been hated by the world.
Christ’s love continues when under temptation and desertion.
Christ’s love is from first to last.
I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Psalm 23:5 (KJV)
He showed a little thing, the quantity of a hazel-nut, lying in the palm of my hand, as meseemed, and it was as round as a ball. I looked theron with the eye of my understanding, and thought, “What may this be?” and it was answered generally thus, “It is all that is made.” I marvelled how it might last; for methought it might suddenly have fallen to naught for littleness. And I was answered in my understanding, “It lasteth, and ever shall: For God loveth it. And so hath all things being by the Love of God.” In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it. The second is, that God loveth it. The third is, that God keepeth it. For this is the cause which we be not all in ease of heart and soul: for we seek here rest in this thing which is so little, where no rest is in: and we know not our God that is all Mighty, all Wise, and all Good, for He is very rest.
Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. Psalm 32:2 (KJV)
Thou wilt keep in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee. Trust in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength. (KJV)
Me: Your being more stubborn than a two-headed mule.
Prodigal: Maybe, I am, but I believe in what I am doing.
This is from the book God’s Generals by Roberts Liardon
The lesson here is this: Do what God says to do, nothing more and nothing less. There is no game here. There is one move, and it belongs to God. Your job is to follow it.
In this generation, heaven must determine the timing of your life and your church as a whole. You are either in the will of God, or out of it. Your call must stay with the timing of heaven.
Why is God’s timing important? It is because you are not the only player in this game. He is moving several pieces together and at times we are waiting on other pieces to move. We have to stay tuned to the chess master as He figures out the board in front of him. We may not understand or be able to see all He sees. We can trust His plan. Stretch the faith muscles today and trust Him to guide you.
Psalms 18:1-2
I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliver, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.