FIRST LIGHT - Persevering Prayer

The other day I was looking through some old sermon notes of mine and came across a reference I had made about Charles Finney, who was one of the foremost evangelists of the nineteenth century. The foundation of his ministry was persevering prayer. In his Principles of Prayer Finney instructs the believer?

     “There are three ways in which God’s will is revealed to men for their guidance in prayer.”

1.  “By express promises or predictions in the Bible, that He will give or do certain things.”

2.  “Sometimes God reveals His will by Providence. When He makes it clear that such and such events are about to take place, it is as much a revelation as if He had written it in His Word.”

3.  “By His Spirit. When God’s people are at a loss (about) what to pray for, (but while also being) agreeable to His will, His Spirit often instructs them. When there is no particular revelation and Providence leaves it dark and we know not what to pray for as we ought, we are expressly told that the ‘Spirit also helps our infirmities’ and ‘the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.’”

     The Word of God, the Providence of God, and the Spirit of God – all are supernatural aids to discerning the will of God in prayer.

Liberty And The Cross

Galatians 6:14 (Scripture in Blue comments in Red) – But God forbid that I should glory (boast), save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (what the opponents of Paul and I believe us Christians today sought to escape at the price of insincerity is the Apostle’s and our only basis of exultation), by Whom the world is Crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Listen: The only way we can overcome the world, and I mean the only way, is by placing our Faith exclusively in the finished work of Jesus at the Cross and keeping it there.)

    

     I’ll never forget the first time I saw in person the Statue of Liberty. As a young soldier at the time, it really made me proud to be an American. There is something about “Miss Liberty” that evokes stronger feelings of the meaning of freedom, than probably any other monument in the United States.

     For the Christian, there is another symbol which stands as a visual reminder of the central truth of our faith in Jesus Christ. It is His Cross!

     In every believer’s heart, there is a special response at the mention of the cross, and the work that was done there.

     Christ was holy, undefiled, separate from sinners, and knew no sin yet was “made sin” for us. He humbled Himself and became obedient even unto death on a cross.

     Miss Liberty is a symbol of freedom in the United States, which is rapidly eroding away, which makes this freedom not eternal. But praise God, the symbol of the Cross and the finished work of Jesus there, stands for eternal freedom and life available to every person who believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God who died there on the cross for them.

     Do you know Him; you can through faith and by just asking Him to forgive you of your sins and come into your heart.

     Remember freedom is quickly eroding away therefore, heed to what the bible says In 2 Corinthians 6:2 – “…behold now is the Day of Salvation”.

Lord It's Hot & Dry

Lord it’s so hot and dry in Texas the Baptists are sprinkling; the Methodist or using wet wipes; the Catholics as you know Lord are praying for You to turn wine back into water and the Pentecostals - well they are doing the rain dance.