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MaryJane
Member



Joined: 2006/7/31
Posts: 3057


 for real

If God has given us any power to do good, let’s do it! For this is a wicked, weary world. We should not even cover a glowworm’s light in such a darkness as this. We should not keep back a syllable of divine truth in a world that is so full of falsehood and error. However feeble our voices, let us lift them up for the cause of truth and righteousness. Do not let us be “void of understanding” because we have opportunities that we do not use, obligations that we do not fulfill, and capacities which we do not exercise.

As for a sluggard in soul matters, he is indeed void of understanding, for he trifles with matters which demand his most earnest heed. Man, have you never cultivated your heart? Has the plough share never broken up the clods of your soul? Have the seed of the Word never been sown in you? Or has it not taken root? Have you never watered the young plants of desire to worship Him? Have you never sought to pull up the weeds of sin that grow in your heart? Are you still a piece of the bare common or wild heathen?! Poor soul! You can trim your body, and spend many a minute at the glass; do you not care for your soul? How long you take to decorate your poor flesh, which is but worm’s meat! And yet all the while your soul is uncombed, unwashed, unclad, a poor neglected thing! Oh, it should not be so! You take care of the worse part, and leave the better to perish through neglect. This is the height of folly! He that is a sluggard as to the vineyard of his heart is a man void of understanding. If I must be idle, let it be seen in my field and my garden, but not in my soul.

Is there such a thing as a Christian man on half-time!? A Christian man working not at all for his Lord; how will I speak of him? Time does not tarry, death does not tarry, HELL does not tarry; satan is not lazy, all the powers of darkness are busy; how is it that you and I can be sluggish, if the Master has put us into His vineyard? Surely we must be void of understanding if, after being saved by the infinite of God, we do not spend and are spent in Him. The eternal fitness of things demands that a saved man should be an earnest man.

The land will produce “something.” As long as there is soil and it is alive, it will produce healthy crops that can produce more healthy crops for more life. Or it will yield its natural produce. And what does the flesh produce when left to itself? Weeds and thorns to be dug up and burned. By doing “nothing” there is more being done for the cultivation of the thorns and nettles than for anything else. What is the natural produce of your heart and mine? What would your 6 month, 12 month and 24 month old children, loose in a house, unmonitored for a day produce? Just imagine the results of that! The natural produce of our hearts is unpleasant, no one can rest on a pillow of thorns and nettles.

“O man, the garden put into your charge, if you waste your time in slumber, will reward you with all that is noisome and painful!”

“The very region which would have glorified God most if the grace of God were there to convert its inhabitants, will be that out of which the vilest enemies of the gospel will arise. Rest assured of that, the best will become the worse if we neglect it.” If you want to know the way to salvation, I must take some pains to tell you; but if you want to know the way to be lost, my reply is easy: for it is only a matter of negligence: “How will we escape if we neglect so great salvation?”

THEREFORE!

“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses?” (Jer. 12:5).

If running on a treadmill or training is boring to us, how will we be of any use when it is time to run down the highway to get help for others whose lives are in danger??!! How far can adrenaline take us if we have not trained and disciplined ourselves for months or years previous to the life and death critical moment. LIKEWISE, if we believe we will be able to be persuasive with God and be close enough to Him to hear His Voice, and for Him to hear ours, at a LIFE AND DEATH MOMENT, we had better TRAIN NOW! When it is time for us to participate in saving the lives spiritually or physically of our children or our friends—by persuading the Father to intervene, we had better have disciplined ourselves to pray aggressively daily, OFTEN WITH OTHERS, about other “less important” matters. If we won’t pray often now we are kidding ourselves about being able to gain His ear when it matters most. We won’t be able to run far enough and at high speed to save the lives of others, if the discipline of training is not attractive to us now. And we won’t be able to pray fervently, without ceasing, in a REAL way when it matters most—if we’re not willing to initiate praying about issues of life, often with others, now!

“Exercise yourself unto godliness.”

We need to each learn to labor in prayer with others frequently, whether we feel motivated or not. It’s the right thing. Let’s not be “too spiritual” to be willing to do it. Work at it. And persist in it!

“Substantial penalty for early withdrawal.”

“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses?”

These are important days that affect all of eternity for yourself and those you love. Please don’t be a sluggard in such matters.—chs (with others : ))

____________

Stumbled across this and have read it over several times now. This has been both encouraging and convicting to me. I pray it will bless any who read it and in turn bless those around you...

God bless
mj

 2013/1/27 20:57Profile
MaryJane
Member



Joined: 2006/7/31
Posts: 3057


 Is it prayer

Passing on something that has helped and encouraged, challenged and focused me in strong ways…. The most frequent word in the New Testament for “prayer” is the Greek word “proseuche”. I’ll keep this short, but THINK about the ramifications of this. The first part of the word, “pros,” means to “belong to” or “come near to” or “to pertain to” or “draw nigh.” It means “DRAWING VERY CLOSE” as if to speak something clear and intimate from very close proximity. How could God possibly view a “one way” relationship, with requests but no belonging or nearness? You know.

The second part of the most frequent word for prayer is “euche” (ooo-kay, or yoo-kay, depending on who taught the Greek class). This word means a desire, a passion, or a vow. It implies a surrender and capitulation, a sacrifice and a promise. Is it prayer, then, if there is no giving of who we are, in reality rather than generality?

When I pray, when you pray, do we view it in our hearts as DRAWING VERY NEAR TO OUR FATHER, IN A HEART-POSTURE OF SACRIFICE and exchanging our very life TO MAKE A VOW TO OUR GOD, as we present our case, our desires, our needs, our intercession for others? “Prayer is a place of decision, an altar where we freely vow to give our lives and desires to God, in exchange for His Life.” Prayer, proseuche, is not offering a wish list of our desires to a far away God. That would be BORING, and not very fruitful anyway. But, PROS-EUCHE is to draw very near, belonging to Father—to make our vow TO Him, as we present our requests, needs, and confessions, our worship and our intercessions for others.

Can it even BE “proseuche”—“prayer,” really, if it doesn’t involve “drawing near” and “vowing” in sacrifice and love? So, when I pray next time, will I be PRAYING? I want to. What will I say, how will I act, that will demonstrate to Him I am drawing near rather than drifting through shallow or ritualistic self-centered words? How can I show Him that this is TWO WAY, and I am paying near and dear attention to Him, as I desire and need from Him? What IS my “vow” to Him, specifically? What am I clearly offering Him and vowing of costly things to me, beyond vague generalities? When I pray next time, will I be PRAYING, PROS-EUCHE? Ooooo! Exciting stuff!

_____________

This morning I was reading over this that was shared and it gave me so much to consider also. As I reflect and seek GOD for deeper understanding I am seeing that my walk with HIM is to be relational...to have a relationship with my LORD. To speak with HIM but also to listen, to draw near to HIM but also to be in HIS presence. To come before HIM and surrender these are things I want to understand in HIM!

God bless
mj

 2013/1/28 8:20Profile
dougm1955
Member



Joined: 2007/1/28
Posts: 38
Black Mountain,N.C

 Re: for real

AMEN Maryjane .........PASSION.....lovinit!!


_________________
Doug

 2013/1/28 19:11Profile





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