"Why Revival Tarries" – Leonard Ravenhill
Written by Oct 27, 2004, 7:52 pm
2 Comments • Related Topics: revival
I read a book once four years ago that really rocked my world and hurt my feelings at the same time, and this book shaped me probably like nothing else did at that time. I recently book my own copy and am reading it again, and strongly encourage everyone reading this to go get your hands on a copy of it. Here are some excerpts.
“No man is greater than his prayer life.” P.25
“A sinning man will stop praying, a praying man will stop sinning.”p.26
“Where there is no vision, the people perish. Where there is no passion, the church perishes, even though she may be full to the doors.” P. 31
“To the question “Where is the God of Elijah?” we answer “Where He has always been – on the throne!” But where are the Elijahs of God? We know Elijah was “a man of like passions as we are,” but alas! We are not men of prayer like he was! One praying man stands as a majority with God! Today God is bypassing men—not because they are too ignorant, but because they are too self-sufficient. Brethren, our abilities are our handicaps and our talents our stumbling blocks!” p. 39
“Though it is wonderful indeed when God lays hold of a man, earth can know one greater wonder –when man lays a hold of God.” P. 40
“God never intended His Church to be a refrigerator in which to preserve perishable deity. He intended it to be an incubator in which to hatch out converts.” F. Lincicome
“If we could live every moment of every day under the eye of God, if we did every act in the light of the judgment seat, if we sold every article in the light of the judgment seat, if we prayed every prayer in the light of the judgment seat, if we tithed all our possessions in the light of the judgment seat, if we preachers prepared every sermon with one eye on damned humanity and the other on the judgment seat – then we would have a Holy Ghost revival that would shake this earth and that, in no time at all, would liberate millions of precious souls.” P. 58
“How shall I feel at the judgment, if multitudes of missed opportunities pass before me in full review, and all my excuses prove to be disguises of my cowardice and pride?” Dr. W.E. Sangster
“But tell me, today when we preach the everlasting gospel, does anybody think that we are “raving” or going “insane”? On the contrary, we have our love-offering in view, our big name to defend, our crowds to consider, and our extent of days to think about…” p. 78
“…we have not found an answer for the deep malady affecting the nation. Would it not be more correct to say that we have scorned the old-time method of proclaiming repentance and regeneration and sanctification?” p. 80-81
“Have we no modern Moses? Can we suffer this generation to perish in the slave camp of moral bondage—and sit idly by, doing nothing about it? Are we to be mesmerized spectators, while Lucifer, with millions chained to his infernal chariot, sweeps many souls down the “broad way” to everlasting darkness? We need to rediscover the secret of those blessed men of whom the Word says, “They subdued kingdoms, [and] stopped the mouths of lions –(that “lion” who goeth about today “seeking whom he may devour.”) For this day of doom our pale, pathetic, paralyzed Protestantism needs God-filled and God-guided men. Wanted prophets of God!” p. 82
“Men of prayer must be men of steel, for they will be assaulted by Satan even before they attempt to assault his kingdom.” P. 85
“The most efficient agents in disseminating the knowledge of God, in prosecuting His work upon the earth and in standing as a breakwater against the billows of evil, have been praying church leaders. God depends upon them, employs them, and blesses them.” E.M. Bounds
“Surely revival delays, because prayer decays” p.85
Good Book by Leonard Ravenhill:
Why Revival TarriesTags: holiness, leonard ravenhill, prayer, quote, repentance, revival
The Chocolate Soldier or Heroism – The Lost Chord of Christianity
Written by Oct 18, 2004, 4:51 pm
No Comment • Related Topics: christian life
Exerpts from the article by C.T. Studd (1860-1931) http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/msctserm.html
Who has not been stirred to scorn and mirth at the very thought of a Chocolate Soldier? In peace true soldiers are captive lions, fretting in their cages. War gives them their liberty and sends them, like boys bounding out of school, to obtain their heart’s desire or perish in the attempt. Battle is the soldier’s vital breath! Peace turns him into a stooping asthmatic. War makes him a whole man again, and gives him the heart, strength, and vigour of a hero.
EVERY TRUE CHRISTIAN IS A SOLDIER – of Christ – a hero “par excellence”! Braver than the bravest – scorning the soft seductions of peace and her oft repeated warnings against hardship, disease, danger and death, whom he counts among his bosom friends.
THE OTHERWISE CHRISTIAN IS A Chocolate Christian, dissolving in water and melting at the smell of fire. Sweeties they are! Bonbons, lollipops! Living their lives in a glass dish or in a cardboard box, each clad in his soft clothing, a little frilled white paper to preserve his dear little delicate constitution.
To the Chocolate Soldier the very thought of war brings a violent attack of ague, while the call to battle always finds him with the palsy. “I really cannot move,” he says. “I only wish I could, but I can sing, and here are some of my favorite lines:
“I must be carried to the skiesOn a flowery bed of ease,Let others fight to win the prize,Or sail through bloody seas.
Mark time, Christian heroes,Never go to war;Stop and mind the babiesPlaying on the floor.Wash and dress and feed themForty times a week,’Til they’re roly poly–Puddings so to speak.
Chorus:Round and round the nurseryLet us ambulate,Sugar and spice and all that’s niceMust be on our plate.”
Learn to scorn the praise of men,Learn to lose with God;Jesus won the world through shame!And beckons us His road.
Real Christians revel in desperate ventures for Christ, expecting from God great things and attempting the same with exhilaration. History cannot match this feat of Moses. How was it done? He consulted not with flesh and blood; he obeyed not men but God.
DAVID, the man after God’s own heart, was a man of war and a mighty man of valour. When all Israel was on the run, David faced Goliath – alone … with God – and he was only a youngster, and well-scolded, too, by his own brother for having come to see the battle. What a splendid fool brother Eliab must have been! As though David would go to see a battle and not stay to fight. They are chocolate soldiers who merely go to see battles and coolly urge others to fight them. They had better save their journey money and use it to send out real fighters instead. Soldiers don’t need dry nurses, and if they did the Holy Spirit is always on the spot and ready to undertake any case on simple application.
The Devil needs red-hot shot, fresh from the foundry of the Holy Spirit. He laughs at cold shot or tepid, and as for that made of half iron and half clay, half divine and half human, why you might just as well pelt him with snow balls.
In his simple, quick and full confession, David proved himself to be a man again. It takes a real man to make a true confession – a Chocolate Soldier will excuse or cloak his sin. He tumbles in the mud, flounders on, wipes his mouth to try and get the bad taste of his acted lie out of it, and then goes on his way saying, “I have done no wickedness.” A self-murdering fool! Killing his conscience to save his face, like Baalam beating the ass who sought to save his master’s life. Being a Chocolate Soldier nearly finished David. Beware!
NATHAN was another real Christian Soldier. He went to his king and rebuked him to his face, like Peter’s dealing with Ananias (only David embraced his opportunity and confessed), and unlike the Chocolate Soldiers of today who go whispering about and refusing either to judge, rebuke, or put away evil because of the entailed scandal. Forsooth! Veritable Soapy Sams! They say, “It is nothing, nothing at all! A mere misunderstanding!” As though God’s cause would suffer more through a bold declaration and defense of the truth and the use of the knife, than by the hiding up of sin, and the certain development of mortification in the member, involving death to the whole body. “He who does what is right is righteous;” and “he who does what is sinful is of the devil” and ought to be told so. He that is a second time led captive by the devil needs neither plaster nor treacle, but the brave rebuke and summons to repentance of a righteous man to effect his salvation. We are badly in need of ‘Nathans’ today, who fear God and nothing else, no, not even a scandal.
Yet Christ said, referring to His subsequent gift of the Holy Spirit to every believer. “He who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he,” intimating that even greater powers than those of John are at the disposal of every Christian. What John was, each one of us can be: good, straight, bold, unconquerable, heroic.
He trod in his Master’s footsteps, and so received the same splendid compliment that Jesus did, for God is always just in His favours. “All forsook him.” So there were some Chocolate Christians in those days too. Anyone who forsook Paul must have been made of Chocolate. Doubtless the ‘chocolates’ excused themselves as they do today. “Who could abide such a fanatical fiery fool, such an uncompromising character? Nobody could work with him, or he with them!” (What a lie! Jesus did, and they go on well together.) A tactless enthusiast, who considered it his business to tell every man the unvarnished truth, regardless of consequences! He won his degree hands down, without a touch of the spur, a first class one too – that of the headman’s axe – next best to that of the cross.
There are Chocolates à la Reuben, who have great searchings of heart, and make great resolves of heart too. But somehow they still sit among the sheepfolds, listening to the pipings of their much loved organs, or the strumming of their guitars. It is good to have great heart-searching. It is better to make a great heart resolve. But if, instead of obeying, we squat among the sheep, leaving our few hard-pressed brothers to tackle the wolves by themselves, we are only Chocolate Christians. You made a great resolve to go to Africa for Christ a year or two ago. Where are you now? Still in the West? In Britain? Yes! Yes! Lollipop! (Judges 5:16)
Many fine youngsters are turned into Chocolates by old prophets. Old prophets who have lost their fire, or who fire off words instead of deeds, usually become great Chocolate manufacturers. That poor young prophet! He did so well when he obeyed God only, but it was all over with him when he listened to another voice, even though it was that of an old prophet. Did not the old prophet say he was a prophet? And say that he had got the message straight from God? What a damnable lie! The floor of Christendom and elsewhere is littered with WRECKS made by old prophets. God won’t stand nonsense from any man. Every man has to choose between Christ and Barabbas, and every Christian between God and some old prophet. Better be a silly donkey in the estimation of an old prophet than to listen to his soft talk and flattery, and afterwards became a wreck. “This is My beloved Son, hear HIM.” “You have an anointing from God, and you do not need anyone to teach you.” You say you believe the Bible! Do your deeds give the lie to your words? (1 Kings 13).
THE TEN SPIES WERE CHOCOLATES. They melted and ran over the whole congregation of Israel, turning them into Chocolate Creams – softies, afraid to face the fire and water before them. God put them all into the saucepan again and boiled them for forty years in the desert, and left them there. He has no use for Chocolates. It is not small things that He despises, but ‘Chocolates’, for He said, “Your little ones shall inherit the promised land which you have forfeited through listening to men and despising Me.” (Numbers 13)
Chocolates are very fond of talking loud and long against some whom they call fanatics, as though there were any danger of Christians being fanatics nowadays! Why, fanatics among Christians are as rare as the dodo. Now, if they declaimed against tepidity, they would talk sense. God’s real people have always been called fanatics. Jesus was called mad, so was Paul; so were Whitefield, Wesley, Moody, Spurgeon. No one has graduated far in God’s school who has not been paid the compliment of being called a fanatic. We Christians of today are indeed a tepid crew. Had we but half the fire and enthusiasm of the Suffragettes of the past, we would have the world evangelized and Christ back amongst us in no time.
Alas! What stirs ordinary men’s blood and turns them into heroes makes most Christians run like a flock of frightened sheep. Militants daily risk their lives in furtherance of their particular cause, and subscribe with their means in a way that cries “Shame!” on us Christians, who generally brand the braving of risks and fighting against odds as “tempting God”.
The mischief today is the reluctance of the servants to do the outside work. They all want to serve indoors, wear smart clothes, listen to the conversation, and make a terrible lot of themselves in the butler’s pantry.
Come then, let us restore the ‘lost chord’ of Christianity – HEROISM – to the world, and the crown of the world to Christ. Christ Himself asks you, “Will you be a malingerer or a militant?”
To your knees, man! And to your Bible! Decide at once! Don’t hedge! Time flies! Cease your insults to God. Quit consulting flesh and blood. Stop your lame lying and cowardly excuses.
Tags: C.T. Studd, chocolate soldier, revolution
Song of Solomon and Praying in Tongues
Written by Oct 7, 2004, 12:33 pm
One Comment • Related Topics: enjoying god, prayer
The following is a revelation I received around New Years. I was going through my e-mail folder today, and found this e-mail dated Dec 30th/03. The following changed my life, and I had shared it with a professor at FIRE School who taught on praying in tongues and divine healing. He had made a suggestion to take a book of the Bible and study it every day for a month, and just go over it over and over again and meditate on it, as well as studying with commentaries, concordances, dictionaries, etc…
Well, I had been reading it over and over again, listening to audio Bible mp3s of it on my laptop over and over again on the Song of Solomon. The point of this is that while you’re doing that, your prayer life—specifically the praying in tongues part—will work together with your reading and go deeper into an understanding of what the Word says. I had been reading Song of Solomon for over 25 days, every day, sometimes more than once a day, and marking my Bible up, taking notes in a journal, and so on. And what I’m about to share came suddenly while I was in a conversation with a backslidden friend on MSN. I edited and changed it so it would flow better as a blog/journal entry type of reading, rather than an e-mail (for example, all “me” and “you” references removed so it’s easier for other readers of this teaching to benefit from it)
First, I need to qualify what happened.
I was on the internet that night trying to encourage a backslidden friend to come back to God his Lover and Savior, using the stuff I’d been getting revelation from the Song of Solomon about. Check out the following passage.
“My dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your VOICE; for your VOICE IS SWEET, and your face is lovely. Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.” Song of Solomon 2:14-15 (NIV)
Man, you have no idea how deep that passage is just from reading it at a first glance. After reading it like twenty times, God was showing me things, like going to the hiding place (place of privacy, intimacy with Him) and letting him hear our voice, hence re-enforcing that you can’t only think your prayer, but He wants/needs to hear it out of our mouths. Well, I looked up the Hebrew for the word “ruin” for where it says that the little foxes ruin the vineyard, and you know what the real word is? Châbal: A primitive root; to wind tightly (as a rope), that is, to bind; specifically by a pledge; figuratively to pervert, destroy; also to writhe in pain (especially of parturition).
To bind. The King James says spoil, which shows the same concept. So did you catch that? Key words in that definition include to bind, pervert and destroy, withhold. Wow.
The foxes represent or are symbolic of the devil or demons. Anyway, I knew other passages of Scripture that talked about vineyards, but I didn’t REALIZE I knew what other passages of Scripture said regarding vineyards.
Like, duh, what are vineyards for? Grapes–WINE!!!!
Here are some other passages talking about the vineyard God plants.
Luke 13:6-9 – Where Jesus talks of a man planting a vineyard, and expecting fruit to grow, and how after three years of not seeing any fruit he cuts it down because the owner is fed up with it not bearing any fruit. We can tell this is referring to the believer or the church of believers, because the vine dresser acts as a type of intercessor, like Jesus or a shepherd of sheep, pleading with the owner not to cut it down. This passage is rich on its own for tons of other topics. See as well, Isa 3:14 where God enters into judgement with the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem for not tending his vineyard (his people), and two chapters later, in 5:1-7 the song of the vineyard where God prophetically sings about what He expected of his vineyard.
Matthew 20 – the parable of the vineyard workers and some working only the last hour and being paid as ones that worked all day. Psalm 80:15. Deut 24:21 are other good references.
Anyway, the vineyard is a type or a symbol of the Church in the NT, Israel in the OT and just in general the people of God. The devil is always seeking to destroy us in anyway he can.
Ephesians 5:18, be not drunk on wine but be filled with the Spirit, and we know one symbol for the Holy Spirit is NEW WINE (fresh just picked grapes), and the passage here in SoS talks about how the foxes ruin the vineyards that are in bloom (young, tender or sensitive)!!!! Man!
So I didn’t put two and two together until the very moment I was trying to woo this friend with the heart of God towards him, that God was calling him through this passage to the hiding place in the rock (Jesus) and wanted to see his face and hear his voice, indicating prayer and definitely indicating intimacy. So put these two verses together, and you see that going and being alone with God and praying, you’ll wind up “catching those foxes” that ruin the Spirit’s work in your life because you’re bound to them instead of walking in freedom. And he says in v. 14 that he loves the sound of our voice, so what better thing to be offering up with our voices than tongues since according to Romans 8:26 we don’t know what we ought to be praying? When I told my friend Matt that I never ever noticed what it was saying about the vineyard and wine, and as a Holy Spirit symbol, he told me “I’m sure the praying in tongues a lot helps. ” Then it dawned on me just what it is to walk in that revelation knowledge from praying in tongues that causes the Holy Spirit to just enlighten us to things in God’s word that we never noticed before. So praying in tongues to build yourselves up in the inner man helps keep those foxes from spoiling the vine (the Holy Spirit’s producing wine in our lives). Ain’t that wild?
This goes along with Jude 20 also. Jude was writing to the early–which was young and still in formation like ‘tender grapes’–to contend for the faith because FALSE DOCTRINE (foxes) had gotten into the church and rendered it powerless. So the remedy to that is verse 20, praying in the Holy Ghost. Praying in the Spirit is our inoculation against false doctrine (the foxes) because it is how the Holy Spirit teaches us. That goes right along with what I saw in the Song of Solomon.
So the application of this teaching?
Pray a whole lot in tongues. Not only will it help with your understanding and revelation of the Word of God, but it will help crucify your flesh and overcome the foxes that are holding us back. So pray in tongues a lot. If you don’t and have never received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and would like to, then just let me know because it’s one of my favorite things to talk about.
Be blessed!
Click here to buy the best book I ever read on this subject, The Walk of The Spirit, The Walk of Power: The Vital Role of Praying in Tongues by Dave Roberson
Tags: bible study, edification, holy spirit, song of solomon, speaking in tongues, wine
Healing in the Atonement of Jesus Christ
Written by Oct 6, 2004, 10:44 am
No Comment • Related Topics: bible study, healing, theology
Here is a quick overview of healing in the Word of God, through the atonement of Jesus Christ. This is from a past journal entry on my laptop, that I felt led to put on my blog sometime for others to go over and meditate on for themselves wherever necessary in their lives.
It says in Isaiah 53:4-5: Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Christ died for both our sins and our sicknesses. Matthew 8:17 also says this as well. The concept of health and salvation is littered throughout both testaments. Deuteronomy 28 underscores the curses Israel would receive for their disobedience to God, and the blessings, including health and prosperity if they’d obey. The Passover lamb in Exodus 15 was both eaten (giving them strength for their journey) and the *blood*, put over their doorposts to keep from judgment God was bringing on the Egyptian firstborns. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases. Psalm 103:3
Also, at the Lord’s table, we both eat his flesh and drink his blood. By his stripes (on his body) we are healed, by his blood we are saved (from judgment, a type of Passover concept). This is underscored pretty clearly in 1 Cor 10:16 “Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Paul goes on to say in chapter 11 of this book “Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.”
There are two different things happening here. One pertaining to health/healing, the other salvation. Both are being remembered. This is underscored by how doing it improperly brought getting sick and weak, and falling asleep (dying). I don’t know if the falling sleep is due to judgment in terms of salvation or the consequences of bad health (not being healed).
Also, Jesus said to the man they lowered on the matt through the roof that He heals him AND that his sins are forgiven (Luke 5:18-25). And in James 5 “And the prayer offered in faith will (doesn’t say sometimes) make the sick person well; the Lord will (doesn’t say he might in certain circumstances) raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
So even throughout the New Testament the concept of forgiveness of sins, and healing of diseases is understood to be part of the same act of redemption on the cross.
The Greek word “sozo” for saved has to do with *complete* salvation, including healing of the body.
Here are few instances of it being translated as healed:
-Jairus and his daughter “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed (sozo) and live.” (Mark 5:23)
-The woman with the issue of blood “When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed. (sozo)” Mark 5:28
-”And wherever he went–into villages, towns or countryside–they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed. (sozo)” Mark 6:56 NIV, the King James says “made whole”.
Here are a few instances of it being translated saved
-The parable of the sower “Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.(sozo)” Luke 8:12
-”I am the gate, anyone who enters through me will be saved (sozo)” John 10:9
-”For it is by grace you have been saved (sozo), through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” Ephesians 2:9
-”But women will be saved (sozo) through childbearing–if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.” 1 Timothy 2:15 I include this example to show that obviously Paul isn’t saying women receive salvation by child bearing, but that this instance is maybe a bad translation or rendering of the word, able to underscore how interchangeable the concept of physical wholeness (healing/health) and spiritual wholeness (salvation) have the exact same word in the original Greek.
So I don’t see how if God is not willing that any should perish (not come to salvation, 2 Peter 3:9) that He’d feel differently about people receiving healing if he paid for it in the same act of atonement. It’s not that God doesn’t save someone, it’s because someone doesn’t receive it or they reject it. It’s not that God doesn’t heal people, it’s that someone doesn’t receive it or they can choose to reject God that would or will heal them. If he paid for it on the cross, then He doesn’t hold out on anyone that needs healing.
People not getting healed even though God is a Healing God–in fact that’s one of his names–do you think He’d be living up to it if He didn’t always heal? We’d have to call Him “Sometimes He heals” or something more appropriate–this is not the case, He is who He says He is. People not getting healed doesn’t change God’s nature anymore than people not getting saved doesn’t mean God doesn’t really save people. He died on the cross, it’s been paid for and it’s up to the recipient to receive healing/salvation.
