(1) Prayer-Meeting Hill
moved the throne of God!
“Whatsoever…that the Father may be glorified
in the Son” (John
Do we pray for HIS glory?
This is the privilege and possibility for every man who even speak to God “in His Name”
In the Lone Star Mission at
Dr.Jowett
and his wife took with them that famous old Hindu woman, Julia, nearly one
hundred years of age, and ascended the hills above Ongole
to ask God so save the Lone Star Mission and the lost souls of
They all prayed, and they all
believed!...They talked and then they prayed
again! They wrestled before heaven’s
throne and in the face of a heathen world, like Elijah on
His faith grasped and gripped the great fact! He claimed the promise and challenged God to answer a prayer that was entirely for His own glory and the salvation of men!
The money came immediately, and clearly from God’s hand!
The man – God’s choice, came immediately! Clearly it was of God that Dr.Clough was called to put new life and hope into the almost abandoned mission.
Today on that very cactus field stands the Christian church with the largest membership of any church on earth – 20,000 members! If it had not been divided by necessity there world now be 50,000 members – the great miracle of the modern missionary world.
On that well nigh abandoned field, Dr.Clough baptized 10,000 persons in one year; 2,222 in one day!
Prayer-Meeting Hill moved the throne of God, and made the world to tremble! The battlements of heaven must have been crowded to watch these many workings of a prayer for His glory!”
(2) It was the good woman 60
miles away, whose prayers brought the breath-touch of God!
“He breathed on them, and saith unto them,
receive ye the Holy Ghost.” (John 20:22)
I had an opportunity to preach in a little school-house two miles from my first pastorate – an afternoon meeting. After the morning church service, the rain was pouring in torrents. It seemed useless to go two miles through such a storm, for who would venture out in such weather? But a young woman had come for me in her buggy, and I went with her rather reluctantly.
There were seven men present; the young woman went home to get out of the rain. My first impression was that it was hardly worth while to preach a sermon to so small an audience, but I repented of that and gave them the best I had. The dew of heaven was upon us: we were conscious of God’s presence, and two of the seven men, who were not Christians, expressed a desire to be saved.
An old farmer arose and said: “My young brother, God is working in our midst. Will you not preach tonight? The clouds are clearing away and we will go out and tell the people about the meeting.” I consented, though it rather upset my plans for the following day. That night about twenty-five persons came, and there were six or seven inquirers and two or three decisions for Christ.
The meetings went on from day to day for two weeks. There were over seventy conversions, and on Sunday morning I baptized forty new members of my church. I could not explain it; no one seemed to be expecting a revival, or praying for it. It seemed like a case of God’s sovereignty in giving His breath-touch without demanding that any one should pray for it.
The last day of the meetings solved the mystery. At the close of the service a plainly dressed, grey-haired, motherly woman grasped my hand and said: “This is my home, though I spend most of my time teaching school sixty miles from here. When my niece wrote that you were preaching at three in the afternoon and at seven-thirty in the evening, I dismissed my school a half-hour earlier than usual, that I might spend in prayer every minute that you preached. And, sir, I have come to see what God has been doing. Those you baptized this morning were all my neighbors and friends, and among them my brother, nephew and niece.”
Neither my preaching nor praying brought that revival. It was the good woman sixty miles away, whose
prayers brought the breath-touch of God upon dead souls that community. Let no day
pass without a prayer to God for His breath-touch upon the spiritual dry bones
of your community.
“Breath on me, Breath
of God,
‘Till I am wholly Thine,
Till all this earthly
part of me
Glows with Thy fire
Divine.”
In
(3) If Alexander gave like a
King, shall not Jehovah give like a God?
“Hitherto have ye asked nothing in MY NAME: ask, and ye shall receive,
that your joy may be full.” (John 16:24)
Alexander the Great had a famous, but indigent, philosopher in his court. This adept in science was once particularly straightened in his circumstances. To whom should he apply for to his patron, the conqueror of the world? His request was no sooner made than granted. Alexander gave him a commission to receive of his treasury whatever he wanted. He immediately demanded in his sovereign’s name ten thousand pounds. The treasurer, surprised at so large a demand, refused to comply, but waited upon the king and represented to him the affair, adding withal how unreasonable he thought the petition and how exorbitant the sum. Alexander listened with patience, but as soon as he heard the remonstrance replied, “Let the money be instantly paid. I am delighted with this philosopher’s way of thinking; he has done me a singular honor: by the largeness of his request he shows the high idea he has conceived both of my superior wealth and my royal munificence.”
Saints have never yet reached the limit to the possibilities of prayer. Whatever has been attained or achieved has touched but the fringe of the garment of a prayer-hearing God. We honor the riches both of His power and love only by large demands.”- Dr.A.T.Pierson
You cannot think of prayer so large that God, in answering it, will not wish that you had made it larger. Pray not for crutches, but for wings! – Philips Brooks.
“Make thy petition deep.
It is thy God Who speaks with love
overflowing,
Thy God Who claims the rapture of bestowing,
Thy God Who whispers, all thy weakness
knowing,
“Wouldst thou in full reap?
Make thy petition deep.’
“Make thy petition deep.
Now to the fountain head thy vessel bringing,
Claim all the fullness of its glad up springing;
Al Calvary was proclaimed its boundless measure;
Who spared not then, withholds from thee no treasure;
This word – His token, keep:
Make thy petition deep.”
If Alexander gave like a King, shall not Jehovah Yireh give like a God?
(4) A curious conflict between
a little quadruped and a poisonous reptile of great size!
- A.B.Simpson
“Unto you that fear My Name,
shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings.” (Malachi 4:2)
A South American traveler tells of a curious conflict which he once witnessed between a little quadruped and a poisonous reptile of great size. The little creature seemed no match for its antagonist that threatened to destroy it by a blow, as well as its helpless young, but it fearlessly faced its mighty enemy and rushing at him, struck him with a succession of fierce and telling blows, but received at the onset a deep and apparently fatal wound from the poisonous fangs, which flashed for a moment with an angry fire, and then fastened themselves deep into the flesh of the daring little assailant.
For a moment it seemed as if all were over, but the wise little creature immediately retired into the forest, and hastening to the plantain tree eagerly devoured some of its leaves, and then hurried back, seemingly fresh and restored, to renew the fray with vigor and determination. Again and again this strange spectacle was repeated: the serpent; but the little creature each time repaired to its simple prescription, and returned to renewed victory. In the course of an hour or two the battle was over – the mammoth reptile lay still and dead and the little victor was unharmed, in the midst of the nest and the helpless little ones.
How often we are wounded by the dragon’s sting – wounded it would seem to death! And if we had to go through some long ceremony to reach the source of life, we must faint and die. But blessed be his Name! as near at hand as that which the forest holds in its shade, there is ever for us a Plant of Healing to which we may continually repair and come back refreshed, invigorated, transfigured – like Him Who shone with the brightness of celestial light as He prayed in the mount; Who, as He prayed in the garden, arose triumphant over the fear of death, strengthened from on high to accomplish the mighty battle of our redemption.
“It is His wings that heal our pains,
And sooth the serpent’s poisoned stings;
Close to His bosom we must press
To
feel His healing wings.”
(5) I have a key in my bosom called PROMISE”
“For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and
in Him Amen.” (2 Corinthians 1:20)
Sometimes Christians go for a good while in trouble not realizing that riches are laid up for them in a familiar promise.
When Christian and Hopeful
strayed out of the path upon forbidden ground, and found themselves locked up
in
-Bunyan’s Pilgrim Progress.
(6) The fruit tree throws no
stone back but gives me fruit..”
“Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col.1:27)
The greatest thing that any of us can do is not to live for Christ but to live Christ. What is holy living? It is Christ life. It is not to be Christians, but Christ-ones. It is not to try to do or be some great thing but simply to have Him and let Him live His own life in us; abiding in Him and He in us, and letting Him reflect His own graces, His own faith, His own consecration, His own love, His own patience, His own gentleness, His own works in us, while we “show forth the virtues of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.” This is at once the sublimest and the simplest life that it is possible to live. It is a higher standard than human perfection, land yet it is possible for a poor, sinful, imperfect man to realize it through the perfect Christ who comes to live within us.
God help us so to live, and thus to make real to those around us the simplicity, the beauty, the glory and the power of the Christ life.
“I cannot tell,” said the humble shepherd’s wife, “what sermon it was that led me into a life of victory. I cannot even explain the creed or the catechism, but I know that something has changed me entirely. Last summer John and I washed the sheep in yonder stream. I cannot tell you where the water went, but I can show you the clean white fleece of the sheep. And so, I may forget the doctrine, but I have its blessed fruit in my heart and life.”
Two of us were chatting with Sadhu Sundar Singh in my office
one morning. The Sadhu
had just arrived in
“Does he understand?” asked my friend, turning to me.
The Sadhu smiled and quietly said: “When I throw a stone at the fruit tree, the fruit tree throws no stone back, but gives me fruit. Is it that?” Then he went on to ask: “Should not we, who love the Lord Jesus, be like sandal-wood, which imparts its fragrance to the axe which cuts it?”
(7) “One lonely soul on fire
with the love of God may set the whole universe ablaze”
“I called him alone, and blessed him.” (Is.51:2)
A celebrated Scottish nobleman and statesman once replied to a correspondent that he was “ploughing his lonely furrow.” Whenever God has required some one to do a big thing for Him, He has sent him to a lonely furrow. He has called him to go alone.
You may have to become the loneliest person on earth, but if you do you will be able always to see around you the chariots of God, even twenty thousand, and thousands of thousands, and then you will forget your loneliness.
“The soil is hard,
And the plough goes
heavily.
The wind is fierce
And I toil on wearily
–
But His hands made the
yoke!
Ah wonder – that I
should bear His yoke –
It is enough, if I may
but plough the furrow,
For
the Sower to sow the seed.”
If you have taken
hold of the plough, hold on until the field is finished.
“Let us not cave in”
(fall out and leave a gap) – Galt.6:9
Says Theodore L.Cuyler, “After long and painful perplexities about accepting a certain attractive call, I opened the Book and read:”
Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? (Jer.2:36)
“Your present field may be limited, but you are not limited by your field. Great men have sprung from the furrows. Great men have ploughed and harrowed, and leaving these things, have written their names deep in history. There are heights undreamed of, ecstasies unthought of, for the one who follows on. So follow on in the valley, looking for hills. One day you will look back with surprise, and then turning go forward with fresh courage.”
You were made to MOUNT and not crawl!
“One lonely soul on fire with the love of God may set the whole
universe ablaze.” (Acts
(8) Can you count God
faithful when only the still small voice speaks?
“There is nothing”
(I Kings
Elijah was a man who hoped perfectly; hoped against hope until the abundant answer came. He continued in the very face of darkness and perplexity; to expect, because the very God of hope lived in him and expected through him. And he was not ashamed, for it came to pass the seventh time his servant said, “Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea about the size of a man’s hand,” and in a little while the heaven was black with clouds and there was a great rain!
Can you count God faithful when only the still small voice speaks? When there is neither wind, nor earthquake, nor fire? Can you start when you see the cloud no bigger than a man’s hand? Can you say: “There is nothing, but I wait on Thee. My mind is peculiarly in the dark regarding the way I am to take, but Thou knowest. Unto Thee do I look up!”
“There is nothing” –
though the raindrops needed sorely land so long
Have been promised by
Jehovah, by the Father true and strong,
And the sky is blue
and cloudless, and the earth is parched and dry,
Yet no showers are
forthcoming from the reservoir on high.
“There is nothing” –
but the prophet knows and trusts his Master’s word;
He is not a senseless
idol, but the mighty, powerful God.
He has seen His
wondrous working, he believes Him faithful still;
So he humbly waits in
patience for Jehovah’s perfect will.
“There is nothing” –
oh, how often doth the enemy declare,
Nothing
for your constant wrestlings; nothing for your cries
and tears.
And the little cloud
so longed, at the seventh time is seen.
“There is nothing” –
but there shall be: God is still the Great “I AM”
He is NOW Almighty,
faithful, and forevermore the same;
And the tears, and
cries, and wrestlings, have recorded been on high;
Not forgotten, nor
neglected, to be answered by and by – James Boobbyer.
“Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain!”
(9) “Step out on the waves
that could crush you!”
“Go forth, and stand
upon the mount before the Lord”
(I Kings
A rebuke is often a blessing in disguise. Elijah needed this form of address in order to arouse him to an understanding of his causeless fear. Such a one as he has no right to be fitful and repining. If he will go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord, instead of hiding away in a cave, he will find new inspiration in a new vision of His power! When we are living on earth’s low levels we fail to catch the inspiring visions of God which are the true support of the prophetic life. We must come out into the sunshine and make the ascent of the mountain if we would discern those evidences of God’s power which are always available for the recreation of faith and courage.
The golden-crested wren is one of the tiniest of birds; it is said to weight only the fifth part of an ounce; and yet, on frailest pinions, it braves hurricanes and crosses northern seas.
It often seems in nature as though Omnipotence works but through frailest organisms; certainly the Omnipotence of grace is seen to the greatest advantage in the trembling but resolute saint.
On the American prairies the butterflies start westward in their migrations and make steady progress though the wind is against them and the sea in front. The delicate butterflies rebuke me.
“Step out on the waves
That could crush you!
Step out in the storm
That would hush you!
And you will find,
As you touch the crest
You feared so much,
And walk on its
breast,
There was One walking there,
The whole night
through,
Walking, watching,
Waiting – For you!
(10) Miracle of dry well being filled with 83’ deep water!
“Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob” (Is.41:21)
Over in
“I will open….fountains in the midst of valleys; I will make the dry land springs of water.” “Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons.”
These words struck Holy Ann, and she produced her cause before the Lord. She told Him how badly they needed the water and how hard it was for her to carry the water up the steep hill; then she lay down and fell asleep. She had pleaded her cause and brought forth her strong reasons. The next morning early she was seen to take a bucket and start for the well. Someone asked her whether she was going, and she replied, “I am going to draw water from the well.” “Why, it is dry,” was the answer. But that did not stop Holy Ann. She knew whom she had believed, and as she went; and, lo and behold, there in the well was eighty-three feet of pure, cold water, and she told me that the well never did run dry! That is the way the Lord can fulfill His promises. “Produce your cause, bring forth your strong reasons,” and see Him work in your behalf.
How little we use this method of holy argument in prayer; and yet there are many examples of it in Scripture: Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Elijah, Daniel – all used arguments in prayer, and claimed the divine interposition on the ground of the pleas which they presented.
“And the chief priests accused Him of many things. And Pilate again asked Him saying, Answerest thou nothing? Behold, how many things they accuse thee of. But Jesus no more answered anything; insomuch that Pilate marveled.” (Mark 15:3-5)
The apostle writes years afterwards of this wonderful silence of the God-Man.
“When He was reviled, He reviled not again,
When He suffered, He threatened not.”
His silence was Divine. No mere human could thus remain dumb, and innocent and guiltless allow Himself to be “led as a lamb to the slaughter;” to be as a sheep dumb in the hand of the shearers. This silence before Pilate, and then the silence on the Cross in the midst of untold agony – silence, broken only seven times, with brief words of wondrous meaning – this silence of Jesus was the climax to a life of God-like silence in circumstances when men must speak; a life of silent waiting until He was thirty years of age ere He entered on public ministry, and made His lamb-like way to the cross; a life of silence over glory unspeakable with His Father, and suffering untold at the hands of men; of tender silence over blessing to others, and over Judas’ traitor path.
This is the pattern for all who would follow His steps; the pattern for the One who would walk as He walked by His walking again in them. And how can it be? Only by seeing the calling and accepting it (1 Pet.1:15). And by taking His Cross as our Cross, “we having died…” in Him and with Him can thus live unto God, and then the silence of Jesus can be known in truth, and we shall be:
SILENT in our lowly service among others, not seeking to be seen of men.
SILENT over the glory of the hours on the Mount, let others think of us above that which is written.
SILENT over the
depths of the
SILENT over the human instruments permitted of God to hand us over to the judgment hall, and the forsaking of our nearest and our dearest.
SILENT whilst we stoop to serve the very ones who have betrayed us.
SILENT over the deep things of God revealed in the secret places of the Most High, impossible to utter to those who have not yet been baptized with the baptism without which they will be straitened in spiritual perception until it be accomplished.
SILENT over questions only to be answered by God, when that day dawns for the questioning heart and silences all doubt by the glorious revelation of Him Who is the answer to all our needs.
SILENT when forced by others to some position where apparent rivalry with another much-used servant of God seems imminent, only to be hushed by utter self-effacement, and our silent withdrawal without explanation, irrespective of our rights.
SILENT – yea, silent in the judgment hall of our co-religionists, when criticized and falsely accused of many things.