by Dale Shumaker
Spirit Savvy Network
www.spiritsavvy.net
Finding your mission, Empowering your life through prayer,
Becoming a Missionary in the Marketplace
Leading others to be Missionaries in the Marketplace
An
all-time Christian Classic on prayer which is a foundational study on
prayer that anyone interested in Prayer should read. So, I decided to
summarize it chapter by chapter. With Christ in the School of Prayer is a
classroom on the Power of Prayer in your Life.
With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray,
Chapter 16, the Power of Persevering Prayer:
Of all the mysteries of the prayer world, the need of persevering prayer is one of the greatest.
That
the Lord, who is so loving and longing to bless, should have to be petitioned time after time, sometimes year after year, before the
answer comes, we cannot easily understand. It is also one of the
greatest practical difficulties in the exercise of believing prayer.
When, after persevering supplication, our prayer remains unanswered, it
is often easiest to think that we must now cease praying, because God
may have His secret reason for withholding His answer to our request.
It
knows for certain that not a single believing prayer can fail of its
effect in heaven, but has its influence, and is treasured up to work out
an answer in due time to him who persevereth to the end. It knows that
it has to do not with human thoughts or possibilities, but with the
word of the living God.
To enable us to combine quiet patience and joyful confidence in our persevering prayer,He will avenge them speedily,
the Master says. The blessing is all prepared; He is not only willing
but most anxious to give them what they ask; everlasting love burns with
the longing desire to reveal itself fully to its beloved, and to
satisfy their needs.
Why must God’s own elect so often, in the midst of suffering and conflict, cry day and night? ‘He is long-suffering over them.’
A child so often wants to pick the half-ripe fruit; the husbandman knows to wait till the proper time.
In
quiet, persistent, and determined perseverance it continues in prayer
and thanksgiving until the blessing come. With the patience that cries
day and night until it be revealed. The speedily of God’s long-suffering is met by the triumphant but patient faith of His waiting child.
The
blessing of such persevering prayer is unspeakable. There is nothing
so heart-searching as the prayer of faith. It teaches you to discover
and confess, and give up everything that hinders the coming of the
blessing; everything there may be not in accordance with the Father’s
will. It leads to closer fellowship with Him who alone can teach to
pray, to a more entire surrender to draw nigh under no covering but that
of the blood, and the Spirit. It calls to a closer and more simple
abiding in Christ alone.
Christian! give God time.
The
seed we sow in the soil of heaven, the efforts we put forth, and the
influence we seek to exert in the world above, need our whole being: we
must give ourselves to prayer.
Prayer does help, praying always and not fainting will bring the answer. Only give God time.
More on the Power of Persevering Prayer at
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/murray/prayer.XVI.html
The Christian Classics Ethereal Library has many classic works on prayer and living a Spirit-filled life.
Saturday, December 08, 2012
Sunday, December 02, 2012
With Christ in the School of Prayer (15) ... Power of United Prayer
by Dale Shumaker
Spirit Savvy Network
www.spiritsavvy.net
Finding your mission, Empowering your life through prayer,
Becoming a Missionary in the Marketplace
Leading others to be Missionaries in the Marketplace
An all-time Christian Classic on prayer which is a foundational study on prayer that anyone interested in Prayer should read. So, I decided to summarize it chapter by chapter. With Christ in the School of Prayer is a classroom on the Power of Prayer in your Life.
With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray,
Chapter 15, the Power of United Prayer:
“The meaning of prayer is personal individual contact with God. It also of public united prayer. And He gives us a very special promise for the united prayer of two or three who agree in what they ask. So prayer needs the public fellowship with those who find in the name of Jesus their common meeting-place.
The bond that unites a man to his fellow-men is no less real and close than that which unites him to God: He is one with them.
Christians cannot reach the full blessing God is ready to bestow through His Spirit, but only as they seek and receive it in fellowship with each other.
It is in the union and fellowship of believers that the Spirit can manifest His full power.
It was to the hundred and twenty continuing
in one place together,
and praying with one accord,
that the Spirit came from the throne of the glorified Lord.
The marks of true united prayer is agreement as to the thing asked. There must not only be generally the consent to agree with anything another may ask: there must be some special thing, matter of distinct united desire; the agreement must be, as all prayer, in spirit and in truth.
The second mark is the gathering in, or into, the Name of Jesus. The Name must be the centre of union to which believers gather, the bond of union that makes them one ... ‘The Name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and escape.’ That Name is to meet within it is to have Himself present. ‘Where two or three are gathered in my Name, there am I in the midst of them.’ It is the living presence of Jesus, in the fellowship of His loving praying disciples, that gives united prayer its power.
The third mark is, the sure answer: ‘It shall be done for them of my Father.’ He meant it as a means of securing special answer to prayer. A prayer meeting without recognized answer to prayer ought to be an anomaly. The mark of true united prayer is the fruit, the answer, the receiving of the thing we have asked: ‘I say unto you, It shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.’
What an unspeakable privilege of united prayer :
--if the believing husband and wife knew that they were joined together in the Name of Jesus to experience His presence and power in united prayer (1 Peter);
--if friends believed what mighty help two or three praying in concert could give each other; --if in every prayer meeting the coming together in the Name, the faith in the Presence,
-- if in every Church united effectual prayer were regarded as one of the chief purposes for which they are banded together, the highest exercise of their power as a Church;
--if in the Church universal the coming of the kingdom, the coming of the King Himself, first in the mighty outpouring of His Holy Spirit, then in His own glorious person, were really matter of unceasing united crying to God.
Who can say what power a Church could develop and exercise, if it gave itself to the work of prayer day and night for the coming of the kingdom, for God’s power on His servants and His word, for the glorifying of God in the salvation of souls? God rules the world by the prayers of His saints; that prayer is the power by which Satan is conquered; that by prayer the Church on earth has disposal of the powers of the heavenly world.
Union in prayer in the smaller circles, its blessing has been great.
And it will become even greater, as God’s people recognize what it is,
all to meet as one in the Name of Jesus
to have His presence in the midst of a body all united in the Holy Spirit,
and boldly to claim the promise that it shall be done of the Father what they agree to ask.”
More on the Power of United Prayer
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/murray/prayer.XV.html
The Christian Classics Ethereal Library has many classic works on prayer and living a Spirit-filled life.
Spirit Savvy Network
www.spiritsavvy.net
Finding your mission, Empowering your life through prayer,
Becoming a Missionary in the Marketplace
Leading others to be Missionaries in the Marketplace
An all-time Christian Classic on prayer which is a foundational study on prayer that anyone interested in Prayer should read. So, I decided to summarize it chapter by chapter. With Christ in the School of Prayer is a classroom on the Power of Prayer in your Life.
With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray,
Chapter 15, the Power of United Prayer:
“The meaning of prayer is personal individual contact with God. It also of public united prayer. And He gives us a very special promise for the united prayer of two or three who agree in what they ask. So prayer needs the public fellowship with those who find in the name of Jesus their common meeting-place.
The bond that unites a man to his fellow-men is no less real and close than that which unites him to God: He is one with them.
Christians cannot reach the full blessing God is ready to bestow through His Spirit, but only as they seek and receive it in fellowship with each other.
It is in the union and fellowship of believers that the Spirit can manifest His full power.
It was to the hundred and twenty continuing
in one place together,
and praying with one accord,
that the Spirit came from the throne of the glorified Lord.
The marks of true united prayer is agreement as to the thing asked. There must not only be generally the consent to agree with anything another may ask: there must be some special thing, matter of distinct united desire; the agreement must be, as all prayer, in spirit and in truth.
The second mark is the gathering in, or into, the Name of Jesus. The Name must be the centre of union to which believers gather, the bond of union that makes them one ... ‘The Name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and escape.’ That Name is to meet within it is to have Himself present. ‘Where two or three are gathered in my Name, there am I in the midst of them.’ It is the living presence of Jesus, in the fellowship of His loving praying disciples, that gives united prayer its power.
The third mark is, the sure answer: ‘It shall be done for them of my Father.’ He meant it as a means of securing special answer to prayer. A prayer meeting without recognized answer to prayer ought to be an anomaly. The mark of true united prayer is the fruit, the answer, the receiving of the thing we have asked: ‘I say unto you, It shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.’
What an unspeakable privilege of united prayer :
--if the believing husband and wife knew that they were joined together in the Name of Jesus to experience His presence and power in united prayer (1 Peter);
--if friends believed what mighty help two or three praying in concert could give each other; --if in every prayer meeting the coming together in the Name, the faith in the Presence,
-- if in every Church united effectual prayer were regarded as one of the chief purposes for which they are banded together, the highest exercise of their power as a Church;
--if in the Church universal the coming of the kingdom, the coming of the King Himself, first in the mighty outpouring of His Holy Spirit, then in His own glorious person, were really matter of unceasing united crying to God.
Who can say what power a Church could develop and exercise, if it gave itself to the work of prayer day and night for the coming of the kingdom, for God’s power on His servants and His word, for the glorifying of God in the salvation of souls? God rules the world by the prayers of His saints; that prayer is the power by which Satan is conquered; that by prayer the Church on earth has disposal of the powers of the heavenly world.
Union in prayer in the smaller circles, its blessing has been great.
And it will become even greater, as God’s people recognize what it is,
all to meet as one in the Name of Jesus
to have His presence in the midst of a body all united in the Holy Spirit,
and boldly to claim the promise that it shall be done of the Father what they agree to ask.”
More on the Power of United Prayer
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/murray/prayer.XV.html
The Christian Classics Ethereal Library has many classic works on prayer and living a Spirit-filled life.
Saturday, December 01, 2012
With Christ in the School of Prayer (14) ... Prayer and Love
by Dale Shumaker
Spirit Savvy Network
www.spiritsavvy.net
Finding your mission, Empowering your life through prayer,
Becoming a Missionary in the Marketplace
Leading others to be Missionaries in the Marketplace
An all-time Christian Classic on prayer which is a foundational study on prayer that anyone interested in Prayer should read. So, I decided to summarize it chapter by chapter. With Christ in the School of Prayer is a classroom on the Power of Prayer in your Life.
With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray,
Chapter 14, Prayer and Love.
The first lesson taught here is that of a forgiving disposition. We pray, ‘Forgive, even as we have forgiven.’ Scripture says, ‘Forgive one another, even as God also in Christ forgave you.’ God’s full and free forgiveness is to be the rule of ours with men.
Pardon opens the door to all God’s love and blessing: because God has pardoned all our sin, our prayer can prevail to obtain all we need.
Our forgiving love to men is the evidence of the reality of God’s forgiving love in us, and so the condition of the prayer of faith.
There is a second, more general lesson: our daily life in the world is made the test of our intercourse with God in prayer. How often the Christian, when he comes to pray, does his utmost to cultivate certain frames of mind which he thinks will be pleasing.
The hour of prayer is but a small part. It is not about the feeling I call up. What matters is the tone of my life during the day. This is God’s criterion of what I really am and desire. My drawing nigh to God is of one piece with my intercourse with men and earth: failure here will cause failure in our prayer life.
The unloving thoughts and words I allow to pass unnoticed, can hinder my prayer. The effectual prayer of faith comes out from a life given up to the will and the love of God. Not according to what I try to be when praying, but what I am when not praying, is what God responds to in prayer.
We may gather these thoughts into a third lesson: In our life with men the one thing on which everything depends is love. The spirit of forgiveness is the spirit of love. Because God is love, He forgives: it is only when we are dwelling in love that we can forgive as God forgives. In love to the brethren we have the evidence of love to the Father, the ground of confidence before God, and the assurance that our prayer will be heard, (1 John iv. 20, iii. 18-21, 23.).
Neither faith nor work will profit if we have not love; it is love that unites with God, it is love that proves the reality of faith. The right relations to the living God above me, and the living men around me, are the conditions of effectual prayer.
To look on each wretched one, however unlovable he be, in the light of the tender love of Jesus the Shepherd seeking the lost; to see Jesus Christ in him, and to take him up, for Jesus’ sake, in a heart that really loves, —this, this is the secret of believing prayer and successful effort.
Let us ask whether our prayer be indeed the expression of a life wholly given over to the will of God and the love of man. Love is the only soil in which faith can strike its roots and thrive.
It is suffering and forbearing love that prevails with God in prayer. The merciful shall obtain mercy; the meek shall inherit the earth.
More on Prayer and Love...
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/murray/prayer.XIV.html
The Christian Classics Ethereal Library has many classic works on prayer and living a Spirit-filled life.
Spirit Savvy Network
www.spiritsavvy.net
Finding your mission, Empowering your life through prayer,
Becoming a Missionary in the Marketplace
Leading others to be Missionaries in the Marketplace
An all-time Christian Classic on prayer which is a foundational study on prayer that anyone interested in Prayer should read. So, I decided to summarize it chapter by chapter. With Christ in the School of Prayer is a classroom on the Power of Prayer in your Life.
With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray,
Chapter 14, Prayer and Love.
The first lesson taught here is that of a forgiving disposition. We pray, ‘Forgive, even as we have forgiven.’ Scripture says, ‘Forgive one another, even as God also in Christ forgave you.’ God’s full and free forgiveness is to be the rule of ours with men.
Pardon opens the door to all God’s love and blessing: because God has pardoned all our sin, our prayer can prevail to obtain all we need.
Our forgiving love to men is the evidence of the reality of God’s forgiving love in us, and so the condition of the prayer of faith.
There is a second, more general lesson: our daily life in the world is made the test of our intercourse with God in prayer. How often the Christian, when he comes to pray, does his utmost to cultivate certain frames of mind which he thinks will be pleasing.
The hour of prayer is but a small part. It is not about the feeling I call up. What matters is the tone of my life during the day. This is God’s criterion of what I really am and desire. My drawing nigh to God is of one piece with my intercourse with men and earth: failure here will cause failure in our prayer life.
The unloving thoughts and words I allow to pass unnoticed, can hinder my prayer. The effectual prayer of faith comes out from a life given up to the will and the love of God. Not according to what I try to be when praying, but what I am when not praying, is what God responds to in prayer.
We may gather these thoughts into a third lesson: In our life with men the one thing on which everything depends is love. The spirit of forgiveness is the spirit of love. Because God is love, He forgives: it is only when we are dwelling in love that we can forgive as God forgives. In love to the brethren we have the evidence of love to the Father, the ground of confidence before God, and the assurance that our prayer will be heard, (1 John iv. 20, iii. 18-21, 23.).
Neither faith nor work will profit if we have not love; it is love that unites with God, it is love that proves the reality of faith. The right relations to the living God above me, and the living men around me, are the conditions of effectual prayer.
To look on each wretched one, however unlovable he be, in the light of the tender love of Jesus the Shepherd seeking the lost; to see Jesus Christ in him, and to take him up, for Jesus’ sake, in a heart that really loves, —this, this is the secret of believing prayer and successful effort.
Let us ask whether our prayer be indeed the expression of a life wholly given over to the will of God and the love of man. Love is the only soil in which faith can strike its roots and thrive.
It is suffering and forbearing love that prevails with God in prayer. The merciful shall obtain mercy; the meek shall inherit the earth.
More on Prayer and Love...
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/murray/prayer.XIV.html
The Christian Classics Ethereal Library has many classic works on prayer and living a Spirit-filled life.
Monday, November 26, 2012
With Christ in the School of Prayer (13) ... Prayer and Fasting, the power erupts
by Dale Shumaker
Spirit Savvy Network
www.spiritsavvy.net
Finding your mission, Empowering your life through prayer,
Becoming a Missionary in the Marketplace
Leading others to be Missionaries in the Marketplace
An all-time Christian Classic on prayer which is a foundational study on prayer that anyone interested in Prayer should read. So, I decided to summarize it chapter by chapter. With Christ in the School of Prayer is a classroom on the Power of Prayer in your Life.
With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray,
Chapter 13, Prayer and Fasting … the power erupts.
“He had given them ‘power and authority over all devils, and to cure all diseases.’
The power they had received to cast out devils, they did not hold in themselves as a permanent gift or possession; the power was in Christ, to be received, and held, and used by faith alone, living faith in Himself. Had they been full of faith in Him as Lord and Conqueror in the spirit-world, had they been full of faith in Him as having given them authority to cast out in His name, this faith would have given them the victory. ‘Because of your unbelief’ was, for all time, the Master’s explanation and reproof of impotence and failure in His Church.
Our faith has cast out devils before this: why not this time? ‘The Master proceeds to tell them: ‘This kind goes out only by fasting and prayer.’
He teaches us two lessons in regard to prayer of deep importance. The one, that faith needs a life of prayer in which to grow and keep strong. The other, that prayer needs fasting for its full and perfect development.
And the first thought suggested by Jesus’ words in regard to fasting and prayer, is, that it is only in a life of moderation and temperance and self-denial that there will be the heart or the strength to pray much.
Prayer is the reaching out after God and the unseen;
fasting, the letting go of all that is of the seen and temporal.
While ordinary Christians imagine that all that is not positively forbidden and sinful is lawful to them, and seek to retain as much as possible of this world, with its property, its literature, its enjoyments, the truly consecrated soul is as the soldier who carries only what he needs for the warfare.
Laying aside every weight, as well as the easily besetting sin, afraid of entangling himself with the affairs of this life. Without such voluntary separation, even from what is lawful, no one will attain power in prayer: this kind goes out only by fasting and prayer.
Is the prize not worth the price?
Shall we not give up all to follow Jesus in the path He opens to us here; shall we not, if need be, fast? Shall we not do anything that neither the body nor the world around hinder us in our great life-work,—having intercourse with our God in prayer, that we may become men of faith, whom He can use in His work of saving the world.”
More on Prayer and Fasting and seeing power erupt in your life:
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/murray/prayer.XIII.html
The Christian Classics Ethereal Library has many classic works on prayer and living a Spirit-filled life.
Spirit Savvy Network
www.spiritsavvy.net
Finding your mission, Empowering your life through prayer,
Becoming a Missionary in the Marketplace
Leading others to be Missionaries in the Marketplace
An all-time Christian Classic on prayer which is a foundational study on prayer that anyone interested in Prayer should read. So, I decided to summarize it chapter by chapter. With Christ in the School of Prayer is a classroom on the Power of Prayer in your Life.
With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray,
Chapter 13, Prayer and Fasting … the power erupts.
“He had given them ‘power and authority over all devils, and to cure all diseases.’
The power they had received to cast out devils, they did not hold in themselves as a permanent gift or possession; the power was in Christ, to be received, and held, and used by faith alone, living faith in Himself. Had they been full of faith in Him as Lord and Conqueror in the spirit-world, had they been full of faith in Him as having given them authority to cast out in His name, this faith would have given them the victory. ‘Because of your unbelief’ was, for all time, the Master’s explanation and reproof of impotence and failure in His Church.
Our faith has cast out devils before this: why not this time? ‘The Master proceeds to tell them: ‘This kind goes out only by fasting and prayer.’
He teaches us two lessons in regard to prayer of deep importance. The one, that faith needs a life of prayer in which to grow and keep strong. The other, that prayer needs fasting for its full and perfect development.
And the first thought suggested by Jesus’ words in regard to fasting and prayer, is, that it is only in a life of moderation and temperance and self-denial that there will be the heart or the strength to pray much.
Prayer is the reaching out after God and the unseen;
fasting, the letting go of all that is of the seen and temporal.
While ordinary Christians imagine that all that is not positively forbidden and sinful is lawful to them, and seek to retain as much as possible of this world, with its property, its literature, its enjoyments, the truly consecrated soul is as the soldier who carries only what he needs for the warfare.
Laying aside every weight, as well as the easily besetting sin, afraid of entangling himself with the affairs of this life. Without such voluntary separation, even from what is lawful, no one will attain power in prayer: this kind goes out only by fasting and prayer.
Is the prize not worth the price?
Shall we not give up all to follow Jesus in the path He opens to us here; shall we not, if need be, fast? Shall we not do anything that neither the body nor the world around hinder us in our great life-work,—having intercourse with our God in prayer, that we may become men of faith, whom He can use in His work of saving the world.”
More on Prayer and Fasting and seeing power erupt in your life:
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/murray/prayer.XIII.html
The Christian Classics Ethereal Library has many classic works on prayer and living a Spirit-filled life.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
With Christ in the School of Prayer (12 ) ... Secret of Believing Prayer
by Dale Shumaker
Spirit Savvy Network
www.spiritsavvy.net
Finding your mission, Empowering your life through prayer,
Becoming a Missionary in the Marketplace
Leading others to be Missionaries in the Marketplace
An all-time Christian Classic on prayer which is a foundational study on prayer that anyone interested in Prayer should read. So, I decided to summarize it chapter by chapter. With Christ in the School of Prayer is a classroom on the Power of Prayer in your Life.
With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray,
Chapter 12, Secret of Believing Prayer:
“How can I attain the faith that knows that it receives all it asks?
HAVE FAITH IN GOD: this word precedes the other, Have faith in the promise of an answer to prayer. The power to believe a promise depends entirely, but only, on faith in the promiser.
It is only where we live and associate with God in personal, loving intercourse, where GOD HIMSELF is all to us, where our whole being is continually opened up and exposed to the mighty influences that are at work where His Holy Presence is revealed.
I must hear the person who gives me the promise: the very tone of his voice gives me courage to believe. I must see him: in the light of his eye and countenance all fear as to my right to take passes away. The value of the promise depends on the promiser.
It is through the eye that I yield myself to the influence of what is before me; I just allow it to enter, to exert its influence, to leave its impression upon my mind. So believing God is just looking to God and what He is, allowing Him to reveal His presence,
giving Him time
and yielding the whole being to take in the full impression of what He is as God.
Faith is also the ear through which the voice of God is always heard and intercourse with Him kept up. It is through the Holy Spirit the Father speaks to us; the Son is the Word, the substance of what God says; the Spirit is the living voice. God needs to lead and guide him; the secret voice from heaven must teach him, as it taught Jesus, what to say and what to do.
Listen to the lesson Jesus teaches us this day: HAVE FAITH IN GOD, the Living God: let faith look to God more than the thing promised: it is His love, His power, His living presence will come alive to us and work the faith.
So the cure of a feeble faith is alone to be found in the invigoration of our whole spiritual life by intercourse with God. Learn to believe in God, to take hold of God, to let God take possession of our life, and it will be easy to take hold of the promise. He that knows and trusts God finds it easy to trust the promise too.
Because they knew God, these men of faith could not do anything but trust His promise. God’s promise will be to us what God Himself is. It is the man who walks before the Lord, and falls upon his face to listen while the living God speaks to him, who will really receive the promise. Though we have God’s promises in the Bible, with full liberty to take them, the spiritual power is wanting.
We seek God’s gifts: God wants to give us HIMSELF first. A heart full of God has power for the prayer of faith. Faith in God begets faith in the promise, in the promise of an answer to prayer.”
More on the Secret of Believing Prayer:
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/murray/prayer.XII.html
The Christian Classics Ethereal Library has many classic works on prayer and living a Spirit-filled life.
Spirit Savvy Network
www.spiritsavvy.net
Finding your mission, Empowering your life through prayer,
Becoming a Missionary in the Marketplace
Leading others to be Missionaries in the Marketplace
An all-time Christian Classic on prayer which is a foundational study on prayer that anyone interested in Prayer should read. So, I decided to summarize it chapter by chapter. With Christ in the School of Prayer is a classroom on the Power of Prayer in your Life.
With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray,
Chapter 12, Secret of Believing Prayer:
“How can I attain the faith that knows that it receives all it asks?
HAVE FAITH IN GOD: this word precedes the other, Have faith in the promise of an answer to prayer. The power to believe a promise depends entirely, but only, on faith in the promiser.
It is only where we live and associate with God in personal, loving intercourse, where GOD HIMSELF is all to us, where our whole being is continually opened up and exposed to the mighty influences that are at work where His Holy Presence is revealed.
I must hear the person who gives me the promise: the very tone of his voice gives me courage to believe. I must see him: in the light of his eye and countenance all fear as to my right to take passes away. The value of the promise depends on the promiser.
It is through the eye that I yield myself to the influence of what is before me; I just allow it to enter, to exert its influence, to leave its impression upon my mind. So believing God is just looking to God and what He is, allowing Him to reveal His presence,
giving Him time
and yielding the whole being to take in the full impression of what He is as God.
Faith is also the ear through which the voice of God is always heard and intercourse with Him kept up. It is through the Holy Spirit the Father speaks to us; the Son is the Word, the substance of what God says; the Spirit is the living voice. God needs to lead and guide him; the secret voice from heaven must teach him, as it taught Jesus, what to say and what to do.
Listen to the lesson Jesus teaches us this day: HAVE FAITH IN GOD, the Living God: let faith look to God more than the thing promised: it is His love, His power, His living presence will come alive to us and work the faith.
So the cure of a feeble faith is alone to be found in the invigoration of our whole spiritual life by intercourse with God. Learn to believe in God, to take hold of God, to let God take possession of our life, and it will be easy to take hold of the promise. He that knows and trusts God finds it easy to trust the promise too.
Because they knew God, these men of faith could not do anything but trust His promise. God’s promise will be to us what God Himself is. It is the man who walks before the Lord, and falls upon his face to listen while the living God speaks to him, who will really receive the promise. Though we have God’s promises in the Bible, with full liberty to take them, the spiritual power is wanting.
We seek God’s gifts: God wants to give us HIMSELF first. A heart full of God has power for the prayer of faith. Faith in God begets faith in the promise, in the promise of an answer to prayer.”
More on the Secret of Believing Prayer:
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/murray/prayer.XII.html
The Christian Classics Ethereal Library has many classic works on prayer and living a Spirit-filled life.
Monday, November 19, 2012
With Christ in the School of Prayer (11) ... the Faith that Takes
by Dale Shumaker
Spirit Savvy Network
www.spiritsavvy.net
Finding your mission, Empowering your life through prayer,
Becoming a Missionary in the Marketplace
Leading others to be Missionaries in the Marketplace
An all-time Christian Classic on prayer which is a foundational study on prayer that anyone interested in Prayer should read. So, I decided to summarize it chapter by chapter. With Christ in the School of Prayer is a classroom on the Power of Prayer in your Life.
With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray,
Chapter 11, the Faith that Takes:
“BELIEVE that you have received; He will see to it that He does the thing He has promised: ‘Ye shall have them.’
Yes, ‘ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER ye shall ask in prayer believing, ye receive.’
His promise is most literally true. He wants His oft repeated ‘ALL THINGS’ to enter into our hearts, and reveal to us how mighty the power of faith is, how truly the Head calls the members to share with Him in His power, how wholly our Father places His power at the disposal of the child that wholly trusts Him.
Believing is the exercise of a soul surrendered and given up to the influence of the Word and the Spirit; but when once we do believe nothing shall be impossible. God forbid that we should try and bring down His ALL THINGS to the level of what we think possible.
In one aspect there must be faith before there can be prayer; in another the faith is the outcome and the growth of prayer. It is in prayer that Jesus teaches and inspires faith. He who begins to pray and ask will find the Spirit of faith is given nowhere so surely as at the foot of the Throne.
‘Believe that you have received.’ It is clear that what we are to believe is, that we receive the very things we ask. The Savior does not hint that because the Father knows what is best He may give us something else.
Nothing that so honors the Father as the faith that is assured that He will do what He has said in giving us whatsoever we ask for, and takes its stand on the promise as brought home by the Spirit, it may know most certainly that it does receive exactly what it asks.
Believe that you have received! now, while praying, the thing you ask for. It may only be later that you shall have it in personal experience, that you shall see what you believe; but now, without seeing, you are to believe that it has been given you of the Father in heaven.
‘And ye shall have them.’ That is, the gift which we first hold in faith as bestowed upon us in heaven will also become ours in personal experience. But will it be needful to pray longer if once we know we have been heard and have received what we asked? There are cases in which such prayer will not be needful, in which the blessing is ready to break through at once, if we but hold fast our confidence, and prove our faith by praising for what we have received, in the face of our not yet having it in experience. There are other cases in which the faith that has received needs to be still further tried and strengthened in persevering prayer.
Faith says most confidently, I have received it. Patience perseveres in prayer until the gift bestowed in heaven is seen on earth. ‘Believe that ye have received, and ye shall have.’ Between the have received in heaven, and the shall have of earth, believe: believing praise and prayer is the link.
It was when the disciples expressed their surprise at what He had done to the fig-tree, that He told them that the very same life He led could be theirs; that they could not only command the fig-tree, but the very mountain, and it must obey. And He is our life: all He was on earth He is in us now; all He teaches He really gives.”
More on the Faith that Takes::
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/murray/prayer.XI.html
The Christian Classics Ethereal Library has many classic works on prayer and living a Spirit-filled life.
Spirit Savvy Network
www.spiritsavvy.net
Finding your mission, Empowering your life through prayer,
Becoming a Missionary in the Marketplace
Leading others to be Missionaries in the Marketplace
An all-time Christian Classic on prayer which is a foundational study on prayer that anyone interested in Prayer should read. So, I decided to summarize it chapter by chapter. With Christ in the School of Prayer is a classroom on the Power of Prayer in your Life.
With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray,
Chapter 11, the Faith that Takes:
“BELIEVE that you have received; He will see to it that He does the thing He has promised: ‘Ye shall have them.’
Yes, ‘ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER ye shall ask in prayer believing, ye receive.’
His promise is most literally true. He wants His oft repeated ‘ALL THINGS’ to enter into our hearts, and reveal to us how mighty the power of faith is, how truly the Head calls the members to share with Him in His power, how wholly our Father places His power at the disposal of the child that wholly trusts Him.
Believing is the exercise of a soul surrendered and given up to the influence of the Word and the Spirit; but when once we do believe nothing shall be impossible. God forbid that we should try and bring down His ALL THINGS to the level of what we think possible.
In one aspect there must be faith before there can be prayer; in another the faith is the outcome and the growth of prayer. It is in prayer that Jesus teaches and inspires faith. He who begins to pray and ask will find the Spirit of faith is given nowhere so surely as at the foot of the Throne.
‘Believe that you have received.’ It is clear that what we are to believe is, that we receive the very things we ask. The Savior does not hint that because the Father knows what is best He may give us something else.
Nothing that so honors the Father as the faith that is assured that He will do what He has said in giving us whatsoever we ask for, and takes its stand on the promise as brought home by the Spirit, it may know most certainly that it does receive exactly what it asks.
Believe that you have received! now, while praying, the thing you ask for. It may only be later that you shall have it in personal experience, that you shall see what you believe; but now, without seeing, you are to believe that it has been given you of the Father in heaven.
‘And ye shall have them.’ That is, the gift which we first hold in faith as bestowed upon us in heaven will also become ours in personal experience. But will it be needful to pray longer if once we know we have been heard and have received what we asked? There are cases in which such prayer will not be needful, in which the blessing is ready to break through at once, if we but hold fast our confidence, and prove our faith by praising for what we have received, in the face of our not yet having it in experience. There are other cases in which the faith that has received needs to be still further tried and strengthened in persevering prayer.
Faith says most confidently, I have received it. Patience perseveres in prayer until the gift bestowed in heaven is seen on earth. ‘Believe that ye have received, and ye shall have.’ Between the have received in heaven, and the shall have of earth, believe: believing praise and prayer is the link.
It was when the disciples expressed their surprise at what He had done to the fig-tree, that He told them that the very same life He led could be theirs; that they could not only command the fig-tree, but the very mountain, and it must obey. And He is our life: all He was on earth He is in us now; all He teaches He really gives.”
More on the Faith that Takes::
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/murray/prayer.XI.html
The Christian Classics Ethereal Library has many classic works on prayer and living a Spirit-filled life.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
With Christ in the School of Prayer (10 ) ... Prayer must be Definite
by Dale Shumaker
Spirit Savvy Network
www.spiritsavvy.net
Finding your mission, Empowering your life through prayer,
Becoming a Missionary in the Marketplace
Leading others to be Missionaries in the Marketplace
An all-time Christian Classic on prayer which is a foundational study on prayer that anyone interested in Prayer should read. So, I decided to summarize it chapter by chapter. With Christ in the School of Prayer is a classroom on the Power of Prayer in your Life.
With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray,
Chapter 10, Prayer must be Definite:
“Our prayers must not be a vague appeal to His mercy, an indefinite cry for blessing, but the distinct expression of definite need. Not that His loving heart does not understand our cry, or is not ready to hear. But He desires it for our own sakes. Such definite prayer teaches us to know our own needs better. It demands time, and thought, and self-scrutiny to find out what really is our greatest need. It searches us and puts us to the test as to whether our desires are honest and real, such as we are ready to persevere in. It leads us to judge whether our desires are according to God’s Word, and whether we really believe that we shall receive the things we ask. It helps us to wait for the special answer, and to mark it when it comes.
And yet how much of our prayer is vague and pointless. Some ask, perhaps, to be delivered from sin, but do not begin by bringing any sin by name from which the deliverance may be claimed. Still others pray for God’s blessing on those around them, and yet have no special field where they wait and expect to see the answer. To all the Lord says: And what is it now you really want and expect Me to do?
We should ask such questions as these: What is now really my desire? do I desire it in faith, expecting to receive? am I now ready to place and leave it in the Father’s bosom? is it a settled thing between God and me that I am to have the answer? we should learn so to pray that God would see and we would know what we really expect.
But the word of the Master teaches us more. He does not say, What dost thou wish? but, What does thou will? The will rules the whole heart and life; if I really will to have anything that is within my reach, I do not rest till I have it. Alas! how many prayers are wishes, sent up for a short time and then forgotten, or sent up year after year as matter of duty, while we rest. But the prayer of faith, finding God’s will in some promise of the Word, pleads for that till it come, content with the prayer without the answer. Faith is nothing but the purpose of the will resting on God’s word, and saying: I must have it. To believe truly is to will firmly.
True humility is ever in company with strong faith, which only seeks to know what is according to the will of God, and then boldly claims the fulfillment of the promise: ‘Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.’
More on Prayer must be Definite:
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/murray/prayer.X.html
The Christian Classics Ethereal Library has many classic works on prayer and living a Spirit-filled life.
Spirit Savvy Network
www.spiritsavvy.net
Finding your mission, Empowering your life through prayer,
Becoming a Missionary in the Marketplace
Leading others to be Missionaries in the Marketplace
An all-time Christian Classic on prayer which is a foundational study on prayer that anyone interested in Prayer should read. So, I decided to summarize it chapter by chapter. With Christ in the School of Prayer is a classroom on the Power of Prayer in your Life.
With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray,
Chapter 10, Prayer must be Definite:
“Our prayers must not be a vague appeal to His mercy, an indefinite cry for blessing, but the distinct expression of definite need. Not that His loving heart does not understand our cry, or is not ready to hear. But He desires it for our own sakes. Such definite prayer teaches us to know our own needs better. It demands time, and thought, and self-scrutiny to find out what really is our greatest need. It searches us and puts us to the test as to whether our desires are honest and real, such as we are ready to persevere in. It leads us to judge whether our desires are according to God’s Word, and whether we really believe that we shall receive the things we ask. It helps us to wait for the special answer, and to mark it when it comes.
And yet how much of our prayer is vague and pointless. Some ask, perhaps, to be delivered from sin, but do not begin by bringing any sin by name from which the deliverance may be claimed. Still others pray for God’s blessing on those around them, and yet have no special field where they wait and expect to see the answer. To all the Lord says: And what is it now you really want and expect Me to do?
We should ask such questions as these: What is now really my desire? do I desire it in faith, expecting to receive? am I now ready to place and leave it in the Father’s bosom? is it a settled thing between God and me that I am to have the answer? we should learn so to pray that God would see and we would know what we really expect.
But the word of the Master teaches us more. He does not say, What dost thou wish? but, What does thou will? The will rules the whole heart and life; if I really will to have anything that is within my reach, I do not rest till I have it. Alas! how many prayers are wishes, sent up for a short time and then forgotten, or sent up year after year as matter of duty, while we rest. But the prayer of faith, finding God’s will in some promise of the Word, pleads for that till it come, content with the prayer without the answer. Faith is nothing but the purpose of the will resting on God’s word, and saying: I must have it. To believe truly is to will firmly.
True humility is ever in company with strong faith, which only seeks to know what is according to the will of God, and then boldly claims the fulfillment of the promise: ‘Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.’
More on Prayer must be Definite:
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/murray/prayer.X.html
The Christian Classics Ethereal Library has many classic works on prayer and living a Spirit-filled life.
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