Everybody Wants Reformation......but who's willing to let "goods and kindred go?"

An Encore Presentation

A earnest plea for a day of prayer and fasting.
No fanfare; no programs; no religious leaders jockeying for media attention; no K-Street e-spin; no DVD's or MP3's to profit from; no books to promote; no CD's to sell; no reformation contests to judge; no personality focused better life agendas to publicize, etc. Just simply God's people taking leave of themselves and from the duties of their daily lives to humbly seek the Lord and His Word (read Isaiah 58) to bring revival, repentance, and reform to His church once again.

We need a new Reformation today beloved; we need another Great Awakening!

"O Christian, never be proud of things that are so transient, injurious, and uncertain as the riches of this evil world! But set your heart on the true and durable riches of grace in Christ Jesus." -ISAAC AMBROSE

TO A BAND OF BEREANS
October 31st is Reformation Day--the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door at Wittenberg calling a recalcitrant Roman church away from the gross sin of indulgences for legal tender to recapturing the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Today's evangelicalism needs another Reformation--a genuine move of God among His people that calls and returns His believers back to biblical Christianity and the gospel of sola fide once again.

A friend of mine yesterday (Brian H.) made an interesting comment in jest when talking about shopping--he said, "impulse buying is good; it always leads to happiness." Now, a part from the obvious hedonism of those words, here is where they strangely apply and ring true on the wanton state in evangelicalism today. Some foolishly promote the assertions that:

• Impulse faith is good; it always leads to a more happy life.
• Impulse contextualization of the gospel message is good, because it always leads to better and more effective evangelism.
• Impulse secular ownership of Christian music and publishing companies (Word, Sparrow, Zondervan, Thomas Nelson, etc.) is good, because it always leads to more market exposure to mainstream audiences, which means more opportunity for the gospel to be heard.
• Impulse Emerging Church Movements are good, because it always means that we can be "relevant and sensible" to seekers who don't know Jesus--by appealing to them through pragmatic tactics which result in significant church growth.
• Impulse Evangelical Co-Belligerence is good, because real morality and family values are sequestered through legislation not regeneration; and with an important election around the corner in our nation, nothing could be more important to deal with the ills plaguing our society than to Christianize the political process through turning the church into a religious PAC or lobbyist group.

What is the solution beloved to this plight?

"OPEN HEAVEN LORD": BRING REFORMATION, REVIVAL AND REPENTANCE TO YOUR CHURCH AGAIN
Beloved, this October 31st let's set out sights heavenward and off our own self-absorbed concerns and ministries to seek the Lord for another Reformation to sweep through His church once again.

Why don't we use our blogs, radio programs, websites, email lists, etc. on October 31st to lovingly, with brokenness, bathed in contrition, but yet with a holy boldness to sound the alarm and make a clarion call for true reformation to come to HIs church once again?
 
Would others that read COT here be willing to commit October 31st as a day of fasting and prayer and humbly ask the Lord Jesus to sovereignly move among His people by His Holy Spirit to revive us, cleanse us, reform us, and embolden us to proclaim His gospel of grace to lost souls right where we live?

 Wouldn't it be tremendous beloved, to be a spectator of God's grace, hear from heaven, and see yet another Great Awakening in our day if the Lord would make it so? It is time to "plow up the fallow ground" and entreat God to revive His people in such a time as this.

Listen to these powerful words from an uncompromised voice of his day. Unlike today's evangelical leaders, he was not for sale and couldn't be manipulated by pragmatic allurements for the advancement of his own name, fame or financial increase. If he were alive today, he would never be found putting his own name on a Bible, charging for the ministry, courting political powers, being part of the cultural chatter of the day, or taking the easy road. Oh for men of God like this to rise up from the ashes of evangelicalism who "do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24).

POUNDING ON WITTENBERG'S DOOR
“Everybody admires Luther! Yes, yes; but you do not want any one else to do the same today.

When you go to the Zoological Gardens you all admire the bear; but how would you like a bear at home, or a bear wandering loose about the street? You tell me that it would be unbearable and no doubt you are right. So, we admire a man who was firm in the faith, say four hundred years ago; the past ages are a sort of bear-pit or iron cage for him; but narrow-minded bigot, or give him a worse name if you can think of one.

Yet imagine that in those ages past, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and their composers had said, ‘The world is out of order; but if we try to set it right we shall only make a great row, and get ourselves into disgrace. Let us go to our chambers, put on our night-caps, and sleep over the bad times, and perhaps when we wake up things will have grown better.’ Such conduct on their part would have entailed upon us a heritage of error. Age after age would have gone down into the infernal deeps, and the pestiferous bogs of error would have swallowed all. These men loved the faith and the name of Jesus too well to see them trampled on. Note what we owe them, and let us pay to our sons the debt we owe our fathers. It is today as it was in the Reformers’ days.

Decision is needed.

Here is the day for the man, where is the man for the day? We who have had the gospel passed to us by martyr hands dare not trifle with it, nor sit by and hear it denied by traitors, who pretend to love it, but inwardly abhor every line of it. The faith I hold bears upon it marks of the blood of my ancestors. Shall I deny their faith, for which they left their native land to sojourn here? Shall I deny their faith, for which they left their native land to sojourn here? Shall we cast away the treasure which was handed to us through the bars of prisons, or came to us charred with the flames of Smithfield?….An ancestry of lovers of the faith ought to be a great plea with us to abide by the Lord God of our fathers, and the faith in which they lived.

As for me, I must hold the old gospel: I can do no other.... It is today as I was in the Reformers’ days. Decision is needed. Here is the day for the man, where is the man for the day? We who have had the gospel passed to us by martyr hands dare not trifle with it, nor sit by and hear it denied by traitors, who pretend to love it, but inwardly abhor every line of it…. Look you, sirs, there are ages to come. If the lord does not speedily appear, there will come another generation, and another, and all these generations will be tainted and injured if we are not faithful to God and to his truth today. We have come to a turning-point in the road. If we turn to the right, mayhap our children and our children’s children will go that way; but if we turn to the left, generations yet unborn will curse our names for having been unfaithful to God and to his Word. I charge you, not only by your ancestry, but by your posterity, that you seek to win the commendation of your Master, that though you dwell where Satan’s seat is, you yet hold fast his name, and do not deny his faith.

God grant us faithfulness, for the sake of the souls around us! How is the world to be saved if the church is false to her Lord? How are we to lift the masses if our fulcrum is removed? If our gospel is uncertain, what remains but increasing misery and despair? Stand fast, my beloved, in the name of God! I, your brother in Christ, entreat You to abide in the truth. Quit yourselves like men, be strong. The Lord sustain you for Jesus’ sake. Amen.” -C.H.S.

PRAYER...the most treasured and least attended to privilege as Christians

This is an encore presentation

There is an remarkable process, called plastination, which is a technique used in anatomy to conserve bodies or body parts. The water and fat are replaced by certain plastics, yielding specimens that can be touched, do not smell or decay, and even retain most microscopic properties of the original sample. The deceased body can then be viewed and studied in amazing detail, color, and wonder.

The process of plastination proceeds as follows: the sample is soaked in a solvent such as acetone and the sample's water (under freezing conditions) and fat are slowly replaced by the solvent. Then the sample is placed in a bath of liquid plastics, such as silicone rubber, polyester or epoxy resins. When a vacuum is generated, the acetone starts to boil, and the liquid plastic takes its place. It is then cured, either with gas, light or heat.

We have also seen in our day a plastination of the church. A series of techniques developed to “embalm” the church with artificial preservatives; rendering it only a colorful, lifeless cadaver—a church that had a name to be alive, but is now dead.

How do we guard against spiritual plastination? We must first begin by being a people of prayer. It is the most difficult and isolated of all spiritual disciplines; for we must go into the closet, shut the door, be alone with God, and on our knees in humility, be servants prostrate before the Lord. It is no small thing that the duty and calling of any pastor is “prayer and to the ministry of the Word” (Acts 6:4). It is a work of grace; it is heaven’s charge; it is the complete dependency upon God for all things. James was called after his death, “the camel-kneed” because of the thick calluses that covered his knees due to the long hours he spent in prayer before the Lord Jesus. It is no coincidence that he penned these most familiar words, “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

It’s been said that,

“before our salvation, we were Christless, stateless, covenantless, hopeless, and godless. Our minds were given to futility; our understanding was darkened. We were cut off from the life of God, ignorant, hardhearted, callous, immoral, impure, and greedy. The only thing we were qualified to receive from God was His wrath. And that is what we would have received, if not for God's mercy toward us.”

But now, because of our great salvation prayer is the driving privilege and the very life-breath of the believer. The church marches on her knees!

How are to pray? We are to pray "without ceasing." I don't know about you, but prayer is one of the hardest things for me to do and too easily forsaken in my life.

But we should never give up on praying; not even though Satan should tempt us that it is in vain for us to cry out to God for all of our needs no matter how small or great. Pray in his teeth - pray fervently!

• -Pray on, though devils attack you;
• -pray on, though trials overwhelm you and flood your soul;
• -pray on, when the heavens seem as brass to you;
• -pray on, when you think your prayers go unanswered and have been miscarried; continue on to draw near to God;
• -pray on, though others you love may wound you, hurt you, gossip about you, and abandon you;
• -pray on, though your heart be cold against spiritual things; pray until the Spirit of God warms it again;
• -pray on when the philosopher tells you all in life is a matter of chance and natural law; do not be discouraged, for God has given you a wonderful opportunity to show grace to that one through prayer;
• -pray on, when you are on the mountain top of blessing, the valley of suffering, or in the ease of worldly graces;
• -pray on, when all is taken from you and you are stripped of this earth's possessions and comforts;
• -pray on, though you only see a cloud in the shape of a tiny hand in the distance, pray until the clouds are full, black and pregnant; ready to burst their showers upon you;
• -pray on when you think you are too busy to pray--for this too is a great mistake for prayer is a saving of time. Remember the words of Luther when he said, "I have so much to do today, that I shall never get through it with less than three hours of prayer;"
• -and lastly, pray on, for no other reason than it brings glory and honor to God for us to be dependant upon Him and bow the knee in worship to Him in all things.

Pray with contrition- brokenness before the Lord never is unfruitful;

Pray with confession- for if we cherish iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will not even hear our prayer;

Pray with commendation- for the Lord is worthy to be praised;

Pray by commandment- for when we pray with an open Bible we are delighting in the things that the Lord has sovereignly designed for us;

And pray with communion- for He is our God, our Lord, our Savior who is not ashamed to call us His brethren

The beloved fourth century early church father, John Chrysostom of Antioch, wrote near the end of his life after being exiled by the Empress Eudoxia for confronting her extreme materialistic and opulent lifestyle these words of prayer and adoration,

"A monarch vested in gorgeous habiliments is far less illustrious than a knelling supplicant enabled and adorned by communion with his God. Consider how august a privilege it is when angels are present and archangels' throng around. Where Cherubim and Seraphim encircle with their blaze the throne of God that a mortal may approach with unrestrained confidence and converse with Heaven's dread Sovereign. Oh, what honor was ever conferred like that? How inestimable is the privilege of entering into the throne room of God surrounded by the hosts of His heavenly angels to commune in simplicity and with rapt attention with the One who is devoted to us. If prayer were nothing more than that, it would be the highest honor to pray without ceasing!"

In Colossians 1:9-14 through the superintending work of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul has given us the most comprehensive guide to prayer found anywhere in his epistles. May it be a faithful reminder of how we are to pray for God’s people and becoming people of prayer.

How To Pray for Others

1. Fervent in Prayer
”For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you” (v.9a)

2. Filled with His Word
“and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,” (v. 9b)

3. Faithful to Walk Worthy
“so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects,” (v. 10a)

a. fruit bearing
“bearing fruit in every good work” (v.10a)

b. fully increasing
“and increasing in the knowledge of God;” (v.10b)

c. fortified for longsuffering
“strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience;” (v.11a)

d. forever thankful to God
“joyously giving thanks to the Father,” (v.11b-12a)

4. Fit for the Inheritance
“who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.” (v.12b)

5. Free from the Penalty of Sin
“For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,” (v. 13)

6. Forgiven of Sin
“in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (v.14)

THE BURDEN FOR REFORMATION AND REVIVALprayer; contrition; and confession

Oh Lord, send a great awakening among your people again according to Your Word; by Your Holy Spirit, for the praise of Your glory, for the spread of Your gospel, for the holiness of Your people. Leave us not in the condition in which we awoke this morning, but conform us by Your grace to Christlikeness so that we may be vessels fit for the Master's use.

This only is a work of heaven--for no man can conjure up a genuine move of God; no man can transform the heart of another; no man can stir the conscience to repentance, convict the soul of sin, and invoke contrition over iniquity. All our ways are impotent before You; and even when we have done all to obey You, we are still "unprofitable servants."

But the true church marches on her knees; and so may we run into the prayer closet this very hour, shut the door and see what You by Your sovereign grace will accomplish. For "it is not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit" says the Lord.

Forgive us Lord for being consumed with the advancement of our own ministries at the expense of others, for measuring the effectiveness of Your work by the size of a church's yearly offerings, and for charging others for that which we have received freely by Your grace. Dash to the ground our paltry plans, our self-devised and promoted reputations, our carefully positioned and politically aligned agendas and alliances. As my friend once said, "How can we be so dead when we've been so well fed; Jesus rose from the grave, but we, we can't even get out of bed."

May The Swordsman, by His divine sword, whittle us down to size as You did Gideon of old, so that we may not find comfort, resolve, or hope in our own strength, wisdom or wealth. May all our lowly boasting turn to tears, all our pride turn to dust, all our vain exaltations of self turn to ash; may our "laughter turn to mourning and our joy to heaviness" until reformation comes... until revival comes to Your people. Break our stubborn hearts with the hammer of Your Word and humble us under Your reverential fear until our deepest longing, passion and joy is found only in Christ Jesus the Lord.

Glorify Yourself for Your names sake only...
Steve
Col. 1:9-14


"A true revival means nothing less than a revolution, casting out the spirit of worldliness, making God's love triumph in the heart." -Andrew Murray

“When God has something very great to accomplish for His Church, it is His will that there should precede it the extraordinary prayers of His people, as is manifest by Ezekiel 36:37... And it is revealed that, when God is about to accomplish great things for His Church, He will begin by a remarkable pouring out of the spirit of grace and supplication (Zechariah 12:10). If we are not to expect that the devil should go out of a particular person, under a bodily possession, without extraordinary prayer, or prayer and fasting, how much less should we expect to have him cast out of the land and the world without it!” -Jonathan Edwards

"God's quickening visitation of his people, touching their hearts and deepening his work of grace in their lives." -J. I. Packer



”I did then preach much upon original sin, repentance, the nature and necessity of conversion, in a close, examinatory and distinguished way; laboring in the meantime to sound the trumpet of God's judgments, and alarm the secure by the terrors of the Lord, as well as to affect them by other topics of persuasion: which method was sealed by the Holy Spirit in the conviction and conversion of a considerable number of persons, at various times and in different places in that part of the county." -George Whitefield


The Prayers of the Saints
To be clothed upon with the "righteousness of GOD," is to occupy a position of dignity and glory to which no other creature can aspire. Angels stand in the aphelion, saints in the center, of the Sun of Righteousness. Lord! let the infidel deny the character, and the worldling scorn the name, number me among your saints everlasting, upon whom is conferred the privilege of fellowship and nearness with You here, and glory, honor, and immortality with You hereafter!

But what is the incense?—"the prayers of saints." The emblem is exquisitely beautiful and expressive. It is one of the highest conceptions of poetry, in one of its most sacred forms. Prayer is holy incense. The margin of the passage so renders it, and David so employs the expression in connection with prayer: "Let my prayer come before You as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." We have but glanced at the truth that the saints of God are a praying people—that communion with the Triune Jehovah is an essential characteristic. The thought is so important, we propose in a few pages to amplify it. We have said that devotion is a symptom of life, an evidence of true piety, a characteristic of a saint of God. This remark holds good in its universal application. True prayer is that one vital principle that animates, energizes, and sanctifies the universal family of God. Whatever their differences of ecclesiastical polity, discipline, or worship—whatever their varied gifts, attainments, or position in society, prayer is the moral atmosphere of the one Church of God. "Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among those who call upon His name; they called upon the Lord, and He answered them."

No man is a saint of God who is not a praying man; and a praying man, find him where you may, is a saint of God. He may prefer the place and the mode of prayer which his conscience best approves; and whether that place be a cathedral or a barn, and the mode be liturgical or free, is of no essential moment. If, penetrating within the inner and hidden shrine, he waves before its altar the censer of a truly contrite, believing, adoring heart, drawing near to God in the name of Jesus, and holding fellowship with the Invisible, that man is a man of prayer, is a recognized saint of the Most High, and as such we should recognize and commune with him as a Christian brother beloved.

PRAYER must be the living, enshrouding atmosphere of a saint of God. Not one moment could we live without it. Prayer—either breathed from the believer's heart on earth, or from the lips of the Great Intercessor in heaven—sustains each moment the life of God in the soul of man. Ah, beloved! where could you go with those burdens, those wants, those chafings, those backslidings, those shortcomings, those sorrows, which compose so large a part of daily life, but to the throne of grace? Where could you resort for mercy, for strength, for fortitude, for patience, for comfort and soothing, but where the God of love and power meets you and talks with you through Jesus, as man communes with his friend? It is in this light we come to regard prayer, not merely as a divine command, or as a Christian duty, but as the holiest, sweetest, and most precious privilege God has given to us on earth. Look at its grandeur—a mortal, a sinful mortal, in audience with the God of heaven! And when we consider that mortal in the light of a child and that God in the character of a Father, the spectacle becomes one of unsurpassed beauty and tenderness. But look at its preciousness. It comprehends all the minutiae of our daily life.

• "Casting all your care upon Him."
• "Be careful for nothing; but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God."

What a tender, loving rebuke is this of that restraining of prayer, and limiting of God, which restricts our petitions to the major concerns of life, while it leaves unprovided for the minor ones. And yet, beloved, God is as deeply interested in your small cares as in your large ones. Those comparatively trivial events, those lesser circumstances of your history, are often those which you feel the most keenly, which chafe the most severely, and upon which so much that is important and momentous in your life depends. Learn, then, the blessedness, and appreciate the privilege, of hallowing with prayer the minute details of daily life. Infinite as Jehovah is, He stoops to our little trials, little cares, little wants, little sorrows. Nothing is too small for God that concerns you, His loved child. Study the life of Jesus when on earth. Was there a circumstance, or a want, or a temptation in the history of His disciples too mean or unimportant for His notice? He who, by similitude so significant and impressive, could vindicate and explain the particular providence of God in the affairs of His people, assuring those who the very hairs of their head were all numbered, was not likely to pass unnoticed and unmet the fasting and languor of His disciples, when on one occasion He said unto them, "Come you yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile."

He who created the minute things of nature, alike regards the minute things in providence, and despises not the "day of small things" in grace. God made the atoms that form the pyramids, the mote that dances in the sunbeam, the insect that swims in the ocean drop. Do you think, then, that He can be indifferent to, or regard as beneath His notice, the smallest care, the most delicate sorrow, the lowest want, the lowest interest, that relates to you? Impossible! Learn, then, to entwine with your petitions the small cares, the trifling sorrows, the little wants of daily life. Whatever affects you—be it a changed look, an altered tone, an unkind word, a slight, a wrong, a wound, a demand you cannot meet, a charge you cannot notice, a sorrow you cannot disclose—turn it into prayer, and send it up to God.

Disclosures you may not make to man you can make to the Lord. Man may be too little for your great matters, God is not too great for your small ones. Only give yourself to prayer, whatever be the occasion that calls for it. Send up your heart unto God just as it is. Send up a whole heart, and He will return it a broken heart. Send up a broken heart, and He will return it a healed heart. Send up a cold heart, and He will return it a loving heart. Send up an empty heart, and He will return it a full heart. Send up a praying heart, and He will return it a praising heart. Only send up your heart to heaven, whatever its frame or condition, its desires or wants, and your Heavenly Father's loving, gracious heart will descend and meet it when its pinions have scarce left the earth to sweep in faith and prayer the skies. "Trust in Him at all times. You people, pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us." "And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer: and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." Wonderful encouragement to prayer!" -Octavius Winslow

Three Prayers
to Encourage our Hearts Today

Heart Corruptions
"O God, may Thy Spirit speak in me that I may speak to thee. I have no merit, let the merit of Jesus stand for me. I am undeserving, but I look to Thy tender mercy. I am full of infirmities, wants, sin; Thou art full of grace.

I confess my sin, my frequent sin, my willful sin; all my powers of body and soul are defiled: a fountain of pollution is deep within my nature. There are chambers of foul images within my being; I have gone from one odious room to another, walked in a no-man's-land of dangerous imaginations, pried into the secrets of my fallen nature.

I am utterly ashamed that I am what I am in myself; I have no green shoot in me nor fruit, but thorns and thistles; I am a fading leaf that the wind drives away; I live bare and barren as a winter tree, unprofitable, fit to be hewn down and burnt. Lord, dost Thou have mercy on me?

Thou hast struck a heavy blow at my pride, at the false god of self, and I lie in pieces before Thee. But Thou hast given me another master and lord, Thy Son, Jesus, and now my heart is turned towards holiness, my life speeds as an arrow from a bow towards complete obedience to Thee. Help me in all my doings to put down sin and to humble pride. Save me from the love of the world and the pride of life, from everything that is natural to fallen man, and let Christ's nature be seen in me day by day. Grant me grace to bear Thy will without repining, and delight to be not only chiseled, squared, or fashioned, but separated from the old rock where I have been embedded so long, and lifted from the quarry to the upper air, where I may be built in Christ for ever."

Purification
"Lord Jesus, I sin. Grant that I may never cease grieving because of it, never be content with myself, and never think I can reach a point of perfection. Kill my envy, command my tongue, and trample down self. Give me grace to be holy, kind, gentle, pure, peaceable, to live for Thee and not for self, to copy Thy words, acts, spirit, to be transformed into Thy likeness, to be consecrated wholly to Thee, to live entirely to Thy glory.

Deliver me from attachment to things unclean, from wrong associations, from the predominance of evil passions, from the sugar of sin as well as its gap; that with self-loathing, deep contrition, earnest heart searching I may come to Thee, cast myself on Thee, trust in Thee, cry to Thee, be delivered by Thee.

O God, the Eternal All, help me to know that all things are shadows, but Thou art substance; all things are quicksand, but Thou art mountain; all things are shifting, but Thou art anchor; all things are ignorance, but Thou art wisdom.

If my life is to be a crucible amid burning heat, so be it, but do Thou sit at the furnace mouth to watch the ore that nothing be lost. If I sin willfully, grievously, tormentedly, in grace take away my mourning and give me music; remove my sackcloth and clothe me with beauty; still my sighs and fill my mouth with song, then give me summer weather as a Christian.”

Confession and Petition
"Holy Lord, I have sinned times without number, and been guilty of pride and unbelief, of failure to find Thy mind in Thy Word, of neglect to seek Thee in my daily life. My transgressions and shortcomings present me with a list of accusations, but I bless Thee that they will not stand against me, for all have been laid on Christ. Go on to subdue my corruptions, and grant me grace to live above them. Let not the passions of the flesh nor lustings of the mind bring my spirit into subjection, but do Thou rule over me in liberty and power.

I thank Thee that many of my prayers have been refused. I have asked amiss and do not have, I have prayed from lusts and been rejected, I have longed for Egypt and been given a wilderness. Go on with Thy patient work, answering 'no' to my wrongful prayers, and fitting me to accept it. Purge me from every false desire, every base aspiration, everything contrary to Thy rule. I thank Thee for Thy wisdom and Thy love, for all the acts of discipline to which I am subject, for sometimes putting me into the furnace to refine my gold and remove my dross.

No trial is so hard to bear as a sense of sin. If Thou should give me choice to live in pleasure and keep my sins, or to have them burnt away with trial, give me sanctified affliction. Deliver me from every evil habit, every accretion of former sins, everything that dims the brightness of Thy grace in me, everything that prevents me taking delight in Thee. Then I shall bless Thee, God of Jeshurun, for helping me to be upright."

THOUGHTS FOR YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN...words of wisdom and warning from a father to his children

Being a parent is not easy today.

There are many curve balls thrown our way that makes the daily investment in our children seem overwhelming. We do live in a very troubled world and it is only by God's grace that we see our children protected and equipped to meet it head on to God's glory.

I have five sons and daughters who are no longer kids, but teenagers or young adults. This time in their lives is very exciting, yet so unpredictable. Their bodies and emotions are changing at the speed of light; they are struggling to "find themselves"; wanting their freedom; and at the same time desiring to please their parents and live for the Lord. It is a crucible of grace we find ourselves in each day.

I pray for wisdom every day to give them the space they are wanting to discover new things in their world, but with the discipline and boundaries they so desperately need and may not recognize or desire.

To that end, I came across this powerful book by J.C. Ryle entitled, "Thoughts for Young Men." It is an excellent collection of practical biblical wisdom from the heart of a father to his sons (though in principle, they can be applied from "a mother to their daughters" as well). I offer it to you today that J.C. Ryle's words may encourage you as parents in the discipleship of your children.

I know that I certainly haven't arrived at this in my life; but what a great Lord we serve who knows the hearts, minds, dreams, desires, longings, struggles, frustrations and contentments of all our children. May we offer them afresh everyday to the Lord and His sovereign purpose for each of them.

From a father's heart,
Steve
Eph. 6:1-3

Thoughts for Young Men

By J.C. Ryle

DANGERS FACING YOUNG MEN



There are some special dangers that young men need to be warned against.



One danger to young men is PRIDE.


I know well that all souls are in fearful peril. Old or young, it doesn't matter; all have a race to run, a battle to fight, a heart to humble, a world to overcome, a body to keep under control, a devil to resist; and we may very well say, Who is sufficient for these things? But still every age and condition has its own peculiar snares and temptations, and it is well to know them. He that is forewarned is forearmed. If I can only persuade you to be on your guard against the dangers I am going to name, I am sure I shall do your souls an essential service.



Pride is the oldest sin in the world. Indeed, it was before the world. Satan and his angels fell by pride. They were not satisfied with their first situation and status. Thus pride stocked hell with its first inhabitants.



Pride threw Adam out of paradise. He was not content with the place God assigned him. He tried to raise himself, and fell. Thus sin, sorrow, and death entered in by pride.



Pride sits in all our hearts by nature. We are born proud. Pride makes us rest content with ourselves--think we are good enough as we are--keep us from taking advice--refuse the gospel of Christ--turn every one to his own way. But pride never reigns anywhere so powerfully as in the heart of a young man.



How common is it to see young men with big heads, high-minded, and impatient of any counsel! How often they are rude and uncourteous to all around them, thinking they are not valued and honored as they deserve! How often will they not stop to listen to a hint from an older person! They think that they know everything. They are full of conceit of their own wisdom. They think elderly people, and especially their relatives, are stupid, and dull, and slow. They want no teaching or instruction themselves: they understand all things. It almost makes them angry to be spoken to. Like young horses, they cannot bear the least control. They must be independent and have their own way. They seem to think, like those whom Job mentioned, "You are the people, and wisdom will die with you" (Job 12:2). And all this is pride.



Rehoboam was such a person, who despised the counsel of the old experienced men who stood before his father, and listened to the advice of the young men of his own generation. He lived to reap the consequences of his folly. There are many like him.



The prodigal son in the parable was also such a person, who needed to have his share of the inheritance so he could set himself up in the lifestyle that he desired. He could not submit to live quietly under his father's roof, but would go into a far country, and be his own master. Like the little child that will leave its mother's hand and walk alone, he soon feels the sting for his folly. He became wiser when he had to eat husks with the swine. But there are many like him.



Two things are said to be very

rare sights in the world-

one is a young man that is humble,

and the other is an old man that is content.

I fear that this is only too true.

Do not be proud of your own abilities, your own strength, your own knowledge, your own appearance, your own cleverness. Do not be proud of yourself, and your endowments of any kind. It all comes from not knowing yourself and the world. The older you grow, and the more you see, the less reason you will find for being proud. Ignorance and inexperience are the pedestal of pride; once the pedestal is removed--pride will soon come down.



Remember how often Scripture sets before us the excellence of a humble spirit. How strongly we are warned "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought" (Romans 12:3). How plainly we are told, "The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know!" (1 Corinthians 8:2). How strict is the command, "Clothe yourselves with humility" (Colossians 3:12). And again, "Clothe yourselves with humility" (1 Peter 5:5). This is the garment of which many seem not to have so much as a rag.



Think of the great example our Lord Jesus Christ leaves us in this respect.
He washed the feet of His disciples, saying, "You should do as I have done for you" (John 13:15). It is written, "Though he was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor" (2 Corinthians 8:9). And again, "He made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself" (Philippians 2:7, 8). Surely to be proud is to be more like the devil and fallen Adam, than like Christ.



Think of the wisest man that ever lived--I mean Solomon. See how he speaks of himself as a "little child," as one who "does not know how to carry out his duties" or manage for himself (1 Kings 3:7). That was a very different spirit from his brother Absalom's, who thought himself equal to anything: "If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that he gets justice" (2 Samuel 15:4). That was a very different spirit from his brother Adonijah's, who "exalted himself, saying, I will be king" (1 Kings 1:5). Humility was the beginning of Solomon's wisdom. He writes it down as his own experience, "Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him" (Proverbs 26:12).



Young men, take to heart the Scriptures just quoted.
Do not be too confident in your own judgment. Stop being so sure that you are always right, and others wrong. Don't trust your own opinion, when you find it contrary to that of older men, and especially to that of your own parents. Age gives experience, and therefore deserves respect. It is a mark of Elihu's wisdom, in the book of Job, that "Elihu had waited before speaking to Job because they were older than he" (Job 32:4). And afterwards he said, "I am young in years, and you are old; that is why I was fearful, not daring to tell you what I know. I thought, 'Age should speak; advanced years should teach wisdom" (Job 32:6-7). Humility and silence are beautiful graces in young people. Never be ashamed of being a learner: Jesus was one at twelve years; when He was found in the temple, He was "sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions" (Luke 2:46). The wisest men would tell you they are always learners, and are humbled to find after all how little they know. The great Sir Isaac Newton used to say that he felt himself no better than a little child, who had picked up a few precious stones on the shore of the sea of knowledge.



Young men, if you would be wise, if you would be happy, remember the warning I give you--Beware of pride.




this has been an encore presentation

LEARNING TO TRUST GOD EACH DAY...the gracious gift of humility in how the Lord meets our need

“Give us this day our daily bread.” –Matthew 6:11

When was the last time we really had to pray this humble prayer; asking the Lord to provide “daily bread” for our life? Seems almost insignificant in the times we live with a McDonald’s on almost every street corner and supermarkets overflowing. But the reality is that most of us are just one paycheck away before the well runs dry. The point of this prayer is simple and profound: we can never take God’s provision for granted; we are utterly dependent on Him for all things; and without Him, we can do nothing. Everything that we have is from His gracious hand.

Listen to what A.W. Pink says about this truth:

“By asking for our “daily bread” a tacit acknowledgment is made that “in Adam and by our own sins we have forfeited our right to all the outward blessings of this life, and deserve to be wholly deprived of them by God, and to have them cursed to us in the use of them; and that neither they of themselves are able to sustain us, nor we to merit, or by our own industry to procure them, but prone to desire, get and use them unlawfully; we pray for ourselves and others that they and we, waiting upon the providence of God from day to day, in the use of lawful means, may of His free gift, and as His Fatherly wisdom shall deem best, enjoy a competent portion of them, and have the same continued and blessed unto us in our holy and comfortable use of them and contentment in them” (Larger Cat.)

Beloved, is the cubbard bare today? Are funds scarce and the resources for daily living almost gone? Then take heart and may this day be filled with the wonderful opportunity to trust the Lord afresh for even the most basic necessities of life. Rejoice in His marvelous providential supply for you as He puts His sufficient grace on display; for our God shall"supply all our needs according to the riches in glory that are in Christ Jesus."

Feast on the Word of God: Jer. 15:16; Job 23:10-12; Isaiah 37; Psalm 103; Matt. 6:25-34; Phil. 4:13ff; Col. 1:9-14.

FROM THE HYMNBOOK OF HEAVEN...being daily dependent upon Christ and His provision for our lives

“Give us this day our daily bread.” –Matthew 6:11

During the Christmas season these are timely and humbling words to be remembered. All we have is from the Lord and His sovereign provision in our lives. "Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift." I hope these words will encourage you today to further dependency upon Christ and His Word even in the most basic things of life--our daily bread.

When was the last time we really had to pray this humble prayer; asking the Lord to provide “daily bread” for our life? Seems almost insignificant in the times we live with a McDonald’s on almost every street corner and supermarkets overflowing. But the reality is that most of us are just one paycheck away before the well runs dry. The point of this prayer is simple and profound: we can never take God’s provision for granted; we are utterly dependent on Him for all things; and without Him, we can do nothing (cp, John 15:5; Phil. 4:13, 19). Everything that we have is from His gracious hand alone.

Listen to what A.W. Pink says about this truth: “By asking for our “daily bread” a tacit acknowledgment is made that “in Adam and by our own sins we have forfeited our right to all the outward blessings of this life, and deserve to be wholly deprived of them by God, and to have them cursed to us in the use of them; and that neither they of themselves are able to sustain us, nor we to merit, or by our own industry to procure them, but prone to desire, get and use them unlawfully; we pray for ourselves and others that they and we, waiting upon the providence of God from day to day, in the use of lawful means, may of His free gift, and as His Fatherly wisdom shall deem best, enjoy a competent portion of them, and have the same continued and blessed unto us in our holy and comfortable use of them and contentment in them” (Larger Cat.)

When I was seventeen years old, I went through one of the most difficult times a teenager could... I lost my Dad. I was holding my father, John Camp, when he went home to be with the Lord. The last thing I remember him saying to me was, "Steve, Jesus will never be all that you need, until Jesus is all you have!" Last words are lasting words. Those words became profound endearing truth to me from that day until now. Christ is sufficient for all things, isn't He? So if in His sweet sovereignty we find ourselves in the winepress of His love without the material comforts of this present life, may we always remember: Christ is our portion; He is our all in all; He is enough; He is the Bread of Heaven; He is our life, our peace, our joy, our hope; He is all we need. Amen?

Beloved, is the cubbard bare today? Are funds scarce and the resources for daily living almost gone? Then take heart and may this day be filled with the wonderful opportunity to trust the Lord afresh for even the most basic necessities of life. Find rest in His marvelous providential supply for you as He puts His sufficient grace on display; for our God shall"supply all our needs according to the riches in glory that are in Christ Jesus."

From the crucible of grace,
Steve
Psalm 103

a timely and needed encore presentation

OUR REFUGE AND REST IN THE LORD...learning to put my trust in God each day

Out of my distress I called on the LORD;

the LORD answered me and set me free.

The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.

What can man do to me?

The LORD is on my side as my helper;

I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD

than to trust in man.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD

than to trust in princes.

-Psalm 118:5-9

C.H.S. from "The Treasury..."

Verse 5.

I called upon the LORD in distress, or, "out of anguish I invoked Jah." Nothing was left him but prayer, his agony was too great for aught beside; but having the heart and the privilege to pray he possessed all things. Prayers which come out of distress generally come out of the heart, and therefore they go to the heart of God. It is sweet to recollect our prayers, and often profitable to tell others of them after they are heard. Prayer may be bitter in the offering, but it will be sweet in the answering. The man of God had called upon the Lord when he was not in distress, and therefore he found it natural and easy to call upon him when he was in distress. He worshipped he praised, he prayed: for all this is included in calling upon God, even when he was in a straitened condition.

Some read the original "a narrow gorge"; and therefore it was the more joy to him when he could say "The Lord answered me, and set me in a large place." He passed out of the defile of distress into the well watered plain of delight. He says, "Jah heard me in a wide place, "for God is never shut up, or straitened. In God's case hearing means answering, hence the translators rightly put, "The Lord answered me, "though the original word is "heard." The answer was appropriate to the prayer, for he brought him out of his narrow and confined condition into a place of liberty where he could walk at large, free from obstruction and oppression. Many of us can join with the Psalmist in the declarations of this verse; deep was our distress on account of sin, and we were shut up as in a prison under the law, but in answer to the prayer of faith we obtained the liberty of full justification wherewith Christ makes men free, and we are free indeed. It was the Lord who did it, and unto his name we ascribe all the glory; we had no merits, no strength, no wisdom, all we could do was to call upon him, and even that was his gift; but the mercy which is to eternity came to our rescue, we were brought out of bondage, and we were made to delight ourselves in the length and breadth of a boundless inheritance. What a large place is that in which the great God has placed us! All things are ours, all times are ours, all places are ours, for God himself is ours; we have earth to lodge in and heaven to dwell in,—what larger place can be imagined? We need all Israel, the whole house of Aaron, and all them that fear the Lord, to assist us in the expression of our gratitude; and when they have aided us to the utmost, and we ourselves have done our best, all will fall short of the praises that are due to our gracious Lord.

Verse 6.

The LORD is on my side, or, he is "for me." Once his justice was against me, but now he is my reconciled God, and engaged on my behalf. The Psalmist naturally rejoiced in the divine help; all men turned against him, but God was his defender and advocate, accomplishing the divine purposes of his grace. The expression may also be translated "to me, "that is to say, Jehovah belongs to me, and is mine. What infinite wealth is here! If we do not magnify the Lord we are of all men most brutish.

I will not fear. He does not say that he should not suffer, but that he would not fear: the favour of God infinitely outweighed the hatred of men, therefore setting the one against the other he felt that he had no reason to be afraid. He was calm and confident, though surrounded with enemies, and so let all believers be, for thus they honour God.

What can man do unto me? He can do nothing more than God permits; at the very uttermost he can only kill the body, but he hath no more that he can do. God having purposed to set his servant upon the throne, the whole race of mankind could do nothing to thwart the divine decree: the settled purpose of Jehovah's heart could not be turned aside, nor its accomplishment delayed, much less prevented, by the most rancorous hostility of the most powerful of men. Saul sought to slay David, but David outlived Saul, and sat upon his throne. Scribe and Pharisee, priest and Herodian, united in opposing the Christ of God, but he is exalted on high none the less because of their enmity. The mightiest man is a puny thing when he stands in opposition to God, yea, he shrinks into utter nothingness. It were a pity to be afraid of such a pitiful, miserable, despicable object as a man opposed to the almighty God. The Psalmist here speaks like a champion throwing down the gauntlet to all comers, defying the universe in arms; a true Bayard, without fear and without reproach, he enjoys God's favour, and he defies every foe.

Verse 7.

The LORD taketh my part with them that help me. Jehovah condescended to be in alliance with the good man and his comrades; his God was not content to look on, but he took part in the struggle. What a consolatory fact it is that the Lord takes our part, and that when he raises up friends for us he does not leave them to fight for us alone, but he himself as our chief defender deigns to come into the battle and wage war on our behalf. David mentioned those that helped him, he was not unmindful of his followers; there is a long record of David's mighty men in the book of Chronicles, and this teaches us that we are not to disdain or think little of the generous friends who rally around us; but still our great dependence and our grand confidence must be fixed upon the Lord alone. Without him the strong helpers fail; indeed, apart from him in the sons of men there is no help; but when our gracious Jehovah is pleased to support and strengthen those who aid us, they become substantial helpers to us.

Therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. The words, "my desire, "are added by the translators; the Psalmist said, "I shall look upon my haters: I shall look upon them in the face, I shall make them cease from their contempt, I shall myself look down upon them instead of their looking down upon me. I shall see their defeat, I shall see the end of them." Our Lord Jesus does at this moment look down upon his adversaries, his enemies are his footstool; he shall look upon them at his second coming, and at the glance of his eyes they shall flee before him, not being able to endure that look with which he shall read them through and through.

Verse 8.

It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better in all ways, for first of all it is wiser: God is infinitely more able to help, and more likely to help, than man, and therefore prudence suggests that we put our confidence in him above all others. It is also morally better to do so, for it is the duty of the creature to trust in the Creator. God has a claim upon his creatures' faith, he deserves to be trusted; and to place our reliance upon another rather than upon himself, is a direct insult to his faithfulness. It is better in the sense of safer, since we can never be sure of our ground if we rely upon mortal man, but we are always secure in the hands of our God. It is better in its effect upon ourselves: to trust in man tends to make us mean, crouching, dependent; but confidence in God elevates, produces a sacred quiet of spirit, and sanctifies the soul. It is, moreover, much better to trust in God, as far as the result is concerned; for in many cases the human object of our trust fails from want of ability, from want of generosity, from want of affection, or from want of memory; but the Lord, so far from falling, does for us exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or even think. This verse is written out of the experience of many who have first of all found the broken reeds of the creature break under them, and have afterwards joyfully found the Lord to be a solid pillar sustaining all their weight.

Verse 9.

It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes. These should be the noblest of men, chivalrous in character, and true to the core. The royal word should be unquestionable. They are noblest in rank and mightiest in power, and yet as a rule princes are not one whit more reliable than the rest of mankind. A gilded vane turns with the wind as readily as a meaner weathercock. Princes are but men, and the best of men are poor creatures. In many troubles they cannot help us in the least degree: for instance, in sickness, bereavement, or death; neither can they assist us one jot in reference to our eternal state. In eternity a prince's smile goes for nothing; heaven and hell pay no homage to royal authority. The favour of princes is proverbially fickle, the testimonies of worldlings to this effect are abundant. All of us remember the words put by the world's great poet into the lips of the dying Wolsey; their power lies in their truth:

"O how wretched

Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favours!

There is betwixt that smile we would aspire to,

That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin,

More pangs and fears than wars or women have;

And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,

Never to hope again."

Yet a prince's smile has a strange witchery to many hearts, few are proof against that tuft hunting which is the index of a weak mind. Principle has been forgotten and character has been sacrificed to maintain position at court; yea, the manliness which the meanest slave retains has been basely bartered for the stars and garters of a profligate monarch. He who puts his confidence in God, the great King, is thereby made mentally and spiritually stronger, and rises to the highest dignity of manhood; in fact, the more he trusts the more is he free, but the fawning sycophant of greatness is meaner than the dirt he treads upon. For this reason and a thousand others it is infinitely better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.

THANKS TO GOD FOR HIS UNSPEAKABLE GIFT...Happy Thanksgiving from all of us COT and A1M

“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him

and given Him the name which is above every name.”

-PHILIPPIANS 2:9

• Jesus Christ is sufficient for creation (Col. 1:16-17), salvation (Heb. 10:10-12), sanctification (Eph. 5:26-27), and glorification (1 Jn. 3:2).

• So pure is He that there is no blemish, stain, spot of sin, defilement, lying, deception, corruption, or imperfection in Him (1 Pt. 1:18-20).

• There is no other God besides Him (Is. 45:5).

• He is the only begotten Son (Jn 1:14,18).

• All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Him (Col. 2:3), all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Him (Col. 2:3, 9).

• He is heir of all things (Heb. 1:2).

• He created all things and all things were made by Him, through Him and for Him (Col. 1:16-17).

• He upholds all things by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3).

• He is the first-born of all creation (Col. 1:15).

• He is the exact representation of God (Heb. 1:3).

• He is the only Mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 1:5).

• He is the Son that enlightens (Heb. 1:3), the Physician that heals (Lk. 4:23-24; 5:31), the Wall of Fire that defends (Ex. 13:21), the Friend that comforts (Jn. 15:14-15), the Pearl that enriches (Mt. 13:45-46), the Ark that supports (Gen. 6:18; Rev. 11:19) and the Rock to sustain under the heaviest of pressures (Deut. 32:18; 1 Cor. 10:4).

• He is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty on high (Acts 2:34; Heb. 1:3; 8:1).

• He is better than the angels (Heb. 1:4-14), better than Moses (Heb. 3:3); better than Aaron (5:1-10); better than Joshua (4:8); better than Melchizedek (7:1-3); better than all the prophets (Eph. 2:20; Heb. 1:1).

• He is greater than Satan (Lk. 4:1-12; Jn. 14:30), and stronger than death (1 Cor. 15:55; Heb. 2:14).

• He is the First and the Last (Rev. 1:17-18), the Lamb of God (Jn. 1:29), our peace (Eph. 2:14), our hope (1 Tim. 1:1), the Way, the Truth and the Life (Jn. 14:6).

• He is the Author and Finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:1-2), the Captain of our Salvation (2:10), the Champion (Is. 19:20), the Apostle and High Priest of our confession (Heb. 3:1).

• He is the Man of Sorrows (Is. 53:3).

• He is our song (Ex. 15:2; Ps. 40:3; Is. 12:2; Rev. 5:9,12; 15:3,4).

• He is the Light (Jn. 1:7; 1 Jn. 1:5).

• He is the Son of Man (Mt. 20:28).

• He is the Vine (Jn. 15:5).

• He is the Bread of Life (Jn. 6:48).

• He is the Door (Jn. 10:7).

• He is both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36; Phil. 2:10-13).

• He is Prophet, Priest and King (Heb. 1:1-3), our Sabbath rest (Heb. 4:9), our Righteousness (Jer. 23:6; 1 Cor. 1:30), the Rock of Salvation (Ps. 62:2; 89:26; 95:1), the Eternal Spirit (Heb. 9:14), the Ancient of Days (Dan. 7:9), the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace (Is. 9:6),

• and He is the great I AM (Jn. 8:58).

HOW TO BEGIN TO PRAY FOR PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA...let the Scriptures guide our thoughts

Proverbs 11:
11:1 A false balance is an abomination to the Lord,
but a just weight is his delight.

2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
but with the humble is wisdom.

3 The integrity of the upright guides them,
but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.

4 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath,
but righteousness delivers from death.

5 The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight,
but the wicked falls by his own wickedness.

6 The righteousness of the upright delivers them,
but the treacherous are taken captive by their lust.

7 When the wicked dies, his hope will perish,
and the expectation of wealth perishes too.

8 The righteous is delivered from trouble,
and the wicked walks into it instead.

9 With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor,
but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.

10 When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices,
and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness.

11 By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted,
but by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown.

12 Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense,
but a man of understanding remains silent.

13 Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets,
but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.

14 Where there is no guidance, a people falls,
but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.

15 Whoever puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer harm,
but he who hates striking hands in pledge is secure.

16 A gracious woman gets honor,
and violent men get riches.

17 A man who is kind benefits himself,
but a cruel man hurts himself.

18 The wicked earns deceptive wages,
but one who sows righteousness gets a sure reward.

19 Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live,
but he who pursues evil will die.

20 Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the Lord,
but those of blameless ways are his delight.

21 Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished,
but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.

22 Like a gold ring in a pig's snout
is a beautiful woman without discretion.

23 The desire of the righteous ends only in good;
the expectation of the wicked in wrath.

24 One gives freely, yet grows all the richer;
another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.

25 Whoever brings blessing will be enriched,
and one who waters will himself be watered.

26 The people curse him who holds back grain,
but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it.

27 Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor,
but evil comes to him who searches for it.

28 Whoever trusts in his riches will fall,
but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.

29 Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind,
and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.

30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
and whoever captures souls is wise.

31 If the righteous is repaid on earth,
how much more the wicked and the sinner!

NOW THIS IS A PASTORAL PRAYER BEFORE POLITICIANS THAT PLEASED GOD AND FEARED NO MAN

This event actually happened in the Kansas House (not Senate) in Topeka on January 23, 1996. Joe Wright is the pastor of Central Christian Church in Wichita and was guest chaplain that day. He prayed a prayer of repentance that was written by Bob Russell, pastor of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. According to an article in the Kansas City Star from January 24, 1996, his prayer did stir controversy and one member of the legislative body walked out. Others criticized the prayer. The controversy didn't end there. Later that year in the Colorado House, Republican representative Mark Paschall angered lawmakers by using Joe Wright's prayer as the invocation. Some members there also walked out in protest.

Paul Harvey did air the story and the prayer. He got such a large response that a phone number was set up to handle the calls. He's aired it a couple more times since.

A real example of the story as it has been circulated:

Thought you might enjoy this interesting prayer given in Kansas at the opening session of their Senate. It seems prayer still upsets some people. When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:

Heavenly Father,

We come before You today to ask Your Forgiveness and seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, ''Woe to those who call evil good,'' but that's what we've done. 

We've lost our Spiritual equilibrium. We've inverted our values. 

We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word in the name of moral pluralism. We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism. 

We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle. 

We have exploited the poor and called it a lottery. We have neglected the needy and called it self preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. In the name of choice, we have killed our unborn. In the name of right to life, we have killed abortionists. 

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it taxes. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. 

Search us, O God, and know our hearts today. Try us. Show us any wickedness within us. Cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of the State of Kansas, and that they have been ordained by You to govern this great state. 

Grant them your wisdom to rule. May their decisions direct us to the center of Your Will. And as we continue our prayer and as we come in out of the fog, give us clear minds to accomplish our goals as we begin this Legislature. For we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

The response was immediate. 

A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa, and Korea.

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on "The Rest of the Story" on the radio and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired.

UNITE MY HEART...bind the splintered cords of my divided heart so I might worship You with unfeigned praise and fear Thy holy name

For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.

Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.

I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore.

-Psalm 86:10-12

Commentary by Spurgeon

Verse 10. For thou art great.

He had before said, "thou art good"; it is a grand thing when greatness and goodness are united; it is only in the Divine Being that either of them exists absolutely, and essentially. Happy is it for us that they both exist in the Lord to an equal degree. To be great and not good might lead to tyranny in the King, and for him to be good and not great might involve countless calamities upon his subjects from foreign foes, so that either alternative would be terrible; let the two be blended, and we have a monarch in whom the nation may rest and rejoice.

And doest wondrous things.

Being good, he is said to be ready to forgive: being great, he works wonders: we may blend the two, for there is no wonder so wonderful as the pardon of our transgressions. All that God does or makes has wonder in it; he breathes, and the wind is mystery; he speaks, and the thunder astounds us; even the commonest daisy is a marvel, and a pebble enshrines wisdom. Only to fools is anything which God has made uninteresting: the world is a world of wonders. Note that the verb doest is in the present, the Lord is doing wondrous things, they are transpiring before our eyes. Where are they? Look upon the bursting buds of spring or the maturing fruits of autumn, gaze on the sky or skim the sea, mark the results of providence and the victories of grace, everywhere at all times the great Thaumaturge stretches forth his rod of power.

Thou art God alone.
Alone wast thou God before thy creatures were; alone in godhead still art thou now that thou hast given life to throngs of beings; alone for ever shalt thou be, for none can ever rival thee. True religion makes no compromises, it does not admit Baal or Dagon to be a god; it is exclusive and monopolizing, claiming for Jehovah nothing less than all. The vaunted liberality of certain professors of modern thought is not to be cultivated by believers in the truth. "Philosophic breadth" aims at building a Pantheon, and piles a Pandemonium; it is not for us to be helpers in such an evil work. Benevolently intolerant, we would, for the good of mankind, as well as for the glory of God, undeceive mankind as to the value of their compromises,—they are mere treason to truth. Our God is not to be worshipped as one among many good and true beings, but as God alone; and his gospel is not to be preached as one of several saving systems, but as the one sole way of salvation. Lies can face each other beneath one common dome; but in the temple of truth the worship is one and indivisible.

Verse 11. Teach me thy way, O LORD.

Instruct me thus at all times, let me live in thy school; but teach me now especially since I am in trouble and perplexity. Be pleased to shew me the way which thy wisdom and mercy have prepared for my escape; behold I lay aside all willfulness, and only desire to be informed as to thy holy and gracious mind. Not my way give me, but thy way teach me, I would follow thee and not be wilful.

I will walk in thy truth.

When taught I will practise what I know, truth shall not be a mere doctrine or sentiment to me, but a matter of daily life. The true servant of God regulates his walk by his master's will, and hence he never walks deceitfully, for God's way is ever truth. Providence has a way for us, and it is our wisdom to keep in it. We must not be as the bullock which needs to be driven and urged forward because it likes not the road, but be as men who voluntarily go where their trusted friend and helper appoints their path.

Unite my heart to fear thy name.

Having taught me one way, give me one heart to walk therein, for too often I feel a heart and a heart, two natures contending, two principles struggling for sovereignty. Our minds are apt to be divided between a variety of objects, like trickling streamlets which waste their force in a hundred runnels; our great desire should be to have all our life floods poured into one channel and to have that channel directed towards the Lord alone. A man of divided heart is weak, the man of one object is the man. God who created the bands of our nature can draw them together, tighten, strengthen, and fasten them, and so braced and inwardly knit by his uniting grace, we shall be powerful for good, but not otherwise. To fear God is both the beginning, the growth, and the maturity of wisdom, therefore should we be undividedly given up to it, heart, and soul.

Verse 12. I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart.

When my heart is one, I will give thee all of it. Praise should never be rendered with less than all our heart, and soul, and strength, or it will be both unreal and unacceptable. This is the second time in the psalm that David calls the Lord "my God", the first time he was in an agony of prayer (Ps 86:2), and now he is in an ecstacy of praise. If anything can make a man pray and praise, it is the knowledge into that the Lord is his God.

And I will glorify thy name for evermore,

eternity gratitude will prolong its praise. God has never done blessing us, let us never have done blessing him. As he ever gives us grace, let us ever render to him the glory of it.