Put in the Fire for the Sake of Prayer

I was going through a bunch of old notebooks yesterday with the intent of finding notes that I had remembered taking on a prayer sermon from John Piper, as well as notes from Jonathan Edward's Religious Affections. It has been on my heart to compose a post specifically on prayer, discipline, and trials and how they are related. Most of these are direct quotes as well as notes from his sermon. It is a wonderful sketch of the prayer life found in the Gospel of John. First, he begins with some foundations on prayer.

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. ~ John 14:13-14

Jesus connects praying with the glory of God with Himself as mediator. God is glorified in answering prayer; therefore, the aim of prayer is the glory of God. If we pray a me-prayer (my importance, my wants, my interests, my pursuits) and don't implicitly mean "Hallowed be Thy name" - that is not God-honoring prayer. The Lord protects this verse from selfish prayer.

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. ~ John 15:7-8

That's the qualification. The words of Christ should live in us. We should be so immersed in His Gospels and the NT that our thinking is transformed and we are able to discern the will of God. The asking is about fruit - Lord make me more loving, patient, humble, and servant-hearted!

Verse 16 connects 7 and 8.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ~ John 15:16

In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. ~ John 16:23-24

Prayer is for our joy. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

The thing about prayer that I have been wrestling with is keeping the right mindset about it. In fall '09, upon acceptance into Ellerslie: School of Honor, I was challenged by Steve Gallagher to begin my days in prayer. He didn't give me a time set, but he stressed to me the need to give the first moments of my day to the Lord. Naturally, it was difficult at first. For months I struggled with focusing my morning's on Christ. It seemed like my prayers were so weak and dry and short. I wanted to grow in my prayers, but it seemed nearly impossible. Well, living around prayer-filled people for 11 weeks at Ellerslie certainly changed that. All of sudden, I found I was hungry. I wasn't dulled and bored by prayer anymore; I became inflamed with it through daily meditation on the Word and worship and fellowship. Yeshua became my dearest Beloved! Being around devoted brothers and sisters can humble you into such a place. Nevertheless, it's been an entirely different experience in the past several months for me. As this season in my life has made way for many trials and challenges, I have found this hunger in my soul to pray, but sometimes keeping it merely out of the discipline that I've obtained through the entire year and half of waking up early with one aim and motive. Oh sure, I can wake up at 7:30 (haha, it took months to break my 10:00 wake-up hour) and give an hour+ to Christ.....but, honestly, am I yearning for Him? Or, am I doing it out of self-discipline? I read this quote last month from Desiring God:

We don't need self-discipline to pray continuously; we just need to be poor in spirit. ~ Paul Miller

It convicted me that I do get up and pray some mornings out of a sense of duty. It's not that I wake up thirsty to drink from His fountain of Life, but rather that I know that if I don't pray, then my days aren't going to start off on the right foot. While the latter can be true, it's more than just beginning my day right. It's about this incredibly deep need that I have in me to know Yeshua, to draw all life, love, and strength from His sweet presence. It's about the fact that I'm incredibly self-seeking and I have these awful, fleshy inclinations in me that need to be purified! It's about the fact that there are hurting people around me that need to know Christ's particular love for them through my allowing Christ to serve and love them through me, rather than to push them off, correct or rebuke them whenever they say hurtful or un-Biblical things, or deal impatiently with them. It's about Him having complete lordship over my life so that He would be on display in all my actions, words, feelings, thoughts, etc. And it's about Him being the first Love of my heart and life!

Try saying that to me in the morning. haha!

I need to preach this reality to myself moment by moment or else I look away and become consumed with some frivolous self-interest.

So, is regular, disciplined, Christ-exalting, God-glorifying prayer a duty? John Piper powerfully states,

"It’s a duty the way it’s the duty of a scuba diver to put on his air tank before he goes underwater. It’s a duty the way pilots listen to air traffic controllers. It’s a duty the way soldiers in combat clean their rifles and load their guns. It’s a duty the way hungry people eat food. It’s a duty the way thirsty people drink water. It’s a duty the way a deaf man puts in his hearing aid. It’s a duty the way a diabetic takes his insulin. It’s a duty the way Pooh Bear looks for honey. It’s a duty the way pirates look for gold."

"Just as there are physical means of life, there are spiritual means of grace."

Amen, amen!!!

Now, perhaps one of the most beautiful and painful things about prayer is the way that the Lord often teaches it to us. John Piper explains that in Zechariah 13:8-9 we are told "one of the main ways that God awakens earnest prayer in his children, namely, in the refining fires of suffering. Don’t worry about when this passage is talking about. Just see, for now, how God works, and use this word to prepare yourself for God’s prayer school."

"Verse 8: “In the whole land, declares the Lord, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive.” So the one third represents God’s remnant—his faithful, imperfect, weak people, who do not pray with the kind of discipline and desperation and joy, and hunger for God, that they should. So what is God’s remedy? What is his school of prayer? Verse 9: “And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested.” Notice carefully what is happening. In his great love, God saved the one third from being cut off with the two thirds who perished (v. 8). And then as part of his love for them, he puts them in the fire to be tested and refined. That is normal Christianity. “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12)."

God rescues us from the flames of hell and puts us in the refining flames. He puts us in fire to awaken in us urgent prayer. We're not to teach Him how to teach. We submit to His school of prayer, not turn from it. This is His love.

In 1746, Jonathan Edwards wrote in his book, Religious Affections, "Trials are threefold benefit for true religion. It shows what is true religion. It distinguishes between what is true and false by testing. It not only manifests its truth but also enhances its genuine beauty and attractiveness. True virtue is loveliest when it is oppressed. It purifies and increases true religion. It frees it from false admixtures."

By the way, what he means by "religion" is true, Spirit-born, saving faith in Christ.

I cannot compare this season of trials to others or say it is harder than what others are currently going through. I can only submit, accept, and embrace the Father's loving purposes for this season. And Jonathan Edwards gives us good reason to embrace the hour of trial. We must remember this...

God's every motive in our life is love. He loves us too much to leave us how we are. ~ Eric Ludy

And to add to that, I would say that God is also working for our joy in Christ. I think this reveals to us that the opposite of joy is not suffering. It's despair in suffering. I want to be always patient in the hour of trial and testing.

Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage;wait for the LORD! ~ Psalm 27:14

Prayer is for the soul whose one cry is for Christ! Always and only ever Christ. May every trial, no matter how great or small, awaken in us a more intimate devotion to Christ, instruct us how to pray by His Spirit, and burn away all that is not of Him!

O to Love!

O Jesus I want to love this much!
To be spent!
To be given!
To be an utter enemy to Self -
To be dead to that detestable thing I call 'love' -
But is, in fact, merely a fake and a counterfeit
Of Thy divine Love!
It is Thy Calvary Love
Which puts me to death so that I can see
The need and hunger of those around me.

I want to love with the Life that I have and know in You,
As those who have gone before me!
Please, read: I want to see Jesus, by Katie Davis.

Friday Reflections

Some random reflections for the day in pictures. Memories that make me smile!

2/06/11 ~ His Little Feet performing in Scottsdale, AZ.

Being able to reunite with the HLF interns - dear friends from Ellerslie!

Left to right: Aaron, James, Me, Brooke, Carrie, Rachel

11/03/10 ~ Zemer Levav performing at coffee shop in Payson, AZ. Healing melodies of worship to our King.

11/03/10~ Taking a walk with my sisters in Payson.

Coincidence?! I think not!

An exact day after I made my post on Psalm 144:12, a post was made on the same topic over at Raising Homemakers (one of several blogs that I follow for visionary motherhood/daughterhood). What a funny and delightful surprise! ;-)

The Content Pillar - A Post for Daughters

A Pillar Upon a Firm Foundation

…our daughters like corner pillars
cut for the structure of a palace. ~ Psalm 144:12

Daughters unite families as corner stones join walls together, and at the same time they adorn them as polished stones garnish the structure into which they are built. Home become a palace when the daughters are maids of honor…~ C.H. Spurgeon

By daughters families are united and connected, to their mutual strength, as the parts of a building are by the corner-stones; and when they are graceful and beautiful both in body and mind they are then polished after the similitude of a nice and curious structure. When we see our daughters well-established and stayed with wisdom and discretion, as corner-stones are fastened in the building,—when we see them by faith united to Christ, as the chief corner-stone, adorned with the graces of God’s Spirit, which are the polishing of that which is naturally rough, and become women professing godliness,—when we see them purified and consecrated to God as living temples, we think ourselves happy in them. ~ Matthew Henry

Psalm 144:12 reflects something much deeper in conjunction with the Gospel life. It’s a gem of a truth that should not be overlooked in regards to daughter-hood. It’s a description of what the life of Christ is meant to look like in a generation of young women. A pillar is a firm upright support for a superstructure, a fundamental precept. O what the Lord will do through a generation of praying daughters seeking to restore His vision for the family unit and to do as He will!

Christ as our Cornerstone

For it stands in Scripture:
"Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame."

So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
"The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,"

~ 1 Peter 2:6-7

Jesus Christ is the chief corner-stone that God hath laid in his spiritual building. The corner-stone stays inseparably with the building, supports it, unites it, and adorns it. So does Christ by his holy church, his spiritual house. Jesus Christ is the corner-stone for the support and salvation of none but such as are his sincere people: none but Zion, and such as are of Zion; not for Babylon, not for his enemies. True faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to prevent a man’s utter confusion. Three things put a man into great confusion, and faith prevents them all-disappointment, sin, and judgment. Faith has a remedy for each.

Hence the apostle infers with respect to good men, "To you therefore who believe he is precious, or he is an honour. Christ is the crown and honour of a Christian; you who believe will be so far from being ashamed of him that you will boast of him and glory in him for ever.’’ As to wicked men, the disobedient will go on to disallow and reject Jesus Christ; but God is resolved that he shall be, in despite of all opposition, the head of the corner.

~ Matthew Henry

Gospel Living & Daughterhood

I would define the Gospel life seen through daughter-hood as this:

A life of service. A position of honor. A purpose to uphold, to unite, and to garnish or beautify a home and the members of a family.

It’s been incredibly refreshing to begin a more intense pursuit in learning to build upon the very nature, character, promises, and Word of my Lord. I have found these verses and commentary to be helpful to me as I look to how the power and life of Christ affects and in influences His present calling on my life as a stay-at-home daughter. Psalm 144:12 was a precious word that He gave me this past fall and I have clung hard to it amidst trials because of its relation to Christ as my cornerstone upon which I am building.

I will be 22 years old next week and, truthfully, it does not mean much to me except for the fact that it does sting my pride a bit. I could be finishing up a BA at this point and making an onward pursuit towards independence, a stable job, and fulfilling my passions for music. Instead, He has turned me away from every opportunity I had to make something of myself. And in those empty places, He has placed in me a heart that is receptive to obeying Him no matter the loss. Besides, I have to remind myself, am I truly losing anything here by remaining still at home, being a faithful daughter to my parents, and accepting a ‘mediocre’ job? Knowing full well how this would disappoint my past instructors, who so graciously poured into my life, I have wrestled with the “wisdom” of such a decision – to, quite literally, let it all go and quietly end my college years and learn the art of contentment in living a quiet life at home. Even my heart and passion for Africa and missions He has asked for and I have abandoned such a pursuit to His hands. And what lies before me is only His calling upon my soul to be a servant in my home. Day to day, I hear His soft whispers and leadings to what He wants to teach me and make of me: “I will teach you how to pray.” “I will teach you patience and contentment.” “I will build into you character and grace and steadfastness.” “I will make you poor in spirit, to seek, to hunger, and to thirst.” “I will teach what it means to do without and so be filled with my Spirit within.” "I will make you a solid pillar of support and grace amongst your family."

My life is hid in Christ. But, I did not choose this life. Therefore, I have nothing to boast in. I spent years in a self-seeking haze with no desire to lay down my pursuits. I didn’t learn to embrace the Lord’s calling on my life until I had finally died to all that I was and ever hoped to be. And what have I gained in all of this? Just one thing alone – Christ Himself. Christ in whom I’ve finally found contentment in all things and in all seasons of my life. Christ in whom is my unshakable identity. Not a career or job, a degree, independence, or even marriage. The world, and even most well-meaning Christians that I have known, would question this and encourage me otherwise. But I know Him in whom I have believed.

When the rebel sigh stirs within me or when I notice the fruits of discontentment in my life, I remember what He has purchased for me and it reignites that fervor to press on to make Christ my own as He has made me His own.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ...~ Philippians 3:8

Goodness

I read this aloud to myself two days ago as I sat beneath the afternoon sun. It gave me the words that I did not have as tears filled me eyes. He is so lovely like that. So utterly perfect in all His ways and in all that He is.

I have one place of confidence,

one place of rest

and peace

and hope.

I have one place of surety,

where courage

can be found

and strength

waits for the taking.

I have one place of wisdom

where foolishness wanes

and truth grants freedom.

Alone I am not confident,

no pride in strength

or knowledge

or character.

I know who I am

the duplicity of my heart,

the weakness of resolve,

the covert disloyalty

that makes me susceptible

to temptation's hook.

I have one place of confidence;

it isn't theology

a book

a set of principles

a well-researched observation

a world view.

No, my confidence is in You.

You are my hope because you are Good.

I rest in the goodness of Your sovereignty,

in the goodness of Your power,

in the goodness of Your faithfulness,

in the goodness of Your wisdom,

in the goodness of Your patience,

in the goodness of Your mercy,

in the goodness of Your holiness,

in the goodness of Your grace.

I have learned

and I am learning

that the physical delights

of the created world

were not designed to be

the source and hope

of my confidence.

No, all of those things

in their temporary elegance

were meant to be

signposts

that point me the

eternal

never-failing

always available

never-changing

always holy

grace-infused

goodness that can only be found in You.

I have learned

and I am learning

that confident living

always rests its foundation on You.

I am confident

because of this solitary thing,

You are

and You are good.

~ Paul Tripp, A Shelter in the Storm

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!

~ Psalm 27:13

Friday Reflections

It's been awhile since I've done one of these. However, upon reading these posts and watching these videos, I was moved to share them. It is a great need in the Church today to be reminded of those things outside of our home and church-body. There is a great cry in the land and Christ is calling you and I to lift up prayer and intercede for these little ones, and the ones yet to be born! Sometimes, I become so burdened by the cares within my own little circle that I feel I can hardly make the time to lift up deep, fervent, Spirit-born prayers for these little ones. But our Lord can and will powerfully move within a half hour of your time surrendered to His kingdom's cause.

Today, We Remember ~ Kisses from Kate

Compassion for the Orphans ~ Douglas Phillips (Vision Forum)

The Auschwitz Within - Church at Ellerslie - Eric Ludy sermon

Lilias Trotter: Focussed - A Story and a Song

Sometimes, I just don't have the words to express my heart. And then I find that there are sisters who have gone before me that found those words. Words that came after years of surrender to the One who fills all in all and meets every supply and need.

It was in a little wood in early morning. The sun was climbing behind a steep cliff in the east, and its light was flooding nearer and nearer and then making pools among the trees. Suddenly, from a dark corner of purple brown stems and tawny moss there shone out a great golden star. It was just a dandelion, and half withered - but it was full face to the sun, and had caught into its heart all the glory it could hold, and was shining so radiantly that the dew that lay on it still made a perfect aureole round its head. And it seemed to talk, standing there - to talk about the possibility of making the very best of these lives of ours.

For if the Sun of Righteousness has risen upon our hearts, there is an ocean of grace and love and power lying all around us, an ocean to which all earthly light is but a drop, and it is ready to transfigure us, as the sunshine transfigured the dandelion, and on the same condition - that we stand full face to God.

Gathered up, focussed lives, intent on one aim - Christ - these are the lives on which God can concentrate blessedness. It is "all for all" by a law as unvarying as any law that governs the material universe.

We see the principle shadowed in the trend of science; the telephone and the wireless in the realm of sound, the use of radium and the ultra violet rays in the realm of light. All these work by gathering into focus currents and waves that, dispersed, cannot serve us. In every branch of learning and workmanship the tendency of these days is to specialize - to take up one point and follow it to the uttermost.

And Satan knows well the power of concentration; if a soul is likely to get under the sway of the inspiration, "this one thing I do," he will turn all his energies to bring in side-interests that will shatter the gathering intensity.

And they lie all around, these interests. Never has it been so easy to live in half a dozen good harmless worlds at once - art, music, social science, games, motoring, the following of some profession, and so on. And between them we run the risk of drifting about, the "good" hiding the "best" even more effectually than it could be hidden by downright frivolity with its smothered heart-ache at its own emptiness.

It is easy to find out whether our lives are focussed, and if so, where the focus lies. Where do our thoughts settle when consciousness comes back in the morning? Where do they swing back when the pressure is off during the day? Does this test not give the clue? Then dare to have it out with God - and after all, that is the shortest way. Dare to lay bare your whole life and being before Him, and ask Him to show you whether or not all is focussed on Christ and His glory. Dare to face the fact that unfocussed, good and useful as it may seem, it will prove to have failed of its purpose.

What does this focussing mean? Study the matter and you will see that it means two things - gathering in all that can be gathered, and letting the rest drop. The working of any lens - microscope, telescope, camera - will show you this. The lens of your own eye, in the room where you are sitting, as clearly as any other. Look at the window bars, and the beyond is only a shadow; look through at the distance, and it is the bars that turn into ghosts. You have to choose which you will fix your gaze upon and let the other go.

Are we ready for a cleavage to be wrought through the whole range of our lives, like the division long ago at the taking of Jericho, the division between things that could be passed through the fire of consecration into "the treasury of the Lord," and the things that, unable to "bide the fire" must be destroyed? All aims, all ambitions, all desires, all pursuits - shall we dare to drop them if they cannot be gathered sharply and clearly into the focus of "this one thing I do"?

Will it not make life narrow, this focussing? In a sense, it will - just as the mountain path grows narrower, for it matters more and more, the higher we go, where we set our feet - but there is always, as it narrows, a wider and wider outlook, and purer, clearer air. Narrow as Christ's life was narrow, this is our aim; narrow as regards self-seeking, broad as the love of God to all around. Is there anything to fear in that?

And in the narrowing and focussing, the channel will be prepared for God's power - like the stream hemmed between the rock-beds, that wells up in a spring - like the burning glass that gathers the rays into an intensity that will kindle fire. It is worthwhile to let God see what He can do with these lives of ours, when "to live is Christ."

How do we bring things to a focus in the world of optics? Not by looking at the things to be dropped, but by looking at the one point that is to be brought out.

Turn full your soul's vision to Jesus, and look and look at Him, and a strange dimness will come over all that is apart from Him, and the Divine "attrait" by which God's saints are made, even in this 20th century, will lay hold of you. For "He is worthy" to have all there is to be had in the heart that He has died to win.

~ Lilias Trotter

Hath not each heart a passion and a dream,
Each some companionship for ever sweet,
And each in saddest skies some silver gleam,
And each some passing joy, too fair and fleet,
And each a staff and stay, though frail it prove,
And each a face he fain would ever see?

And what have I? an endless stream of love,
A rapture, and a glory, and a calm,
A life that is an everlasting Psalm,
All, O Beloved, in Thee.
- Tersteegen

Dawn

A weaving of light and shadow, as the old year dies. But they are the light and shadows not of a sunset, but of dawn - a dawn that will turn its dreams into realities.

"A dim aurora rises in my East

Beyond the line of jagged questions hoar

As if the head of our intombed High Priest

Began to glow behind the unopened door:

Sure the gold wings will soon rise from the gray!

They rise not. Up I rise, press on the more,

To meet the slow coming of the Master's day."

~ Lilias Trotter

We wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. ~ Titus 2:13-14

I never made a new year's post on my blog. I'm sure this will qualify as one.

This past month has been one of the longest and hardest stretches. And Yeshua, so faithfully upholding His own. O for grace to Love Him More!

Children of the Heavenly Father

Safely in His bosom gather

Nestling bird nor star in heaven

Such a refuge e’er was given

God His own doth tend and nourish

In His holy courts they flourish

From all evil things He spares them

In His mighty arms He bears them

Neither life nor death shall ever

From the Lord His children sever

Unto them His grace He showeth

And their sorrows all He knoweth

Though He giveth or He taketh

God His children ne’er forsaketh

His the loving purpose solely

To preserve them pure and holy

Lo their very hairs He numbers

And no daily care encumbers

Them that share His ev’ry blessing

And His help in woes distressing

Praise the Lord in joyful numbers

Your Protector never slumbers

At the will of your Defender

Ev’ry foe man must surrender.