encouragement

  • John 11:6 When he had heard therefore that he was sick… (reflections on ministry, #1)

    In a recent update, I shared how I’m often tempted to be impetuous:

    I’m so like Moses. Impetuous. Wanting to take things into my own hands.

    (Granted, what Moses did wasn’t condemned . . .

    Acts 7:23  “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24  And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25  He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand…
    . . . yet God had a much more grand and glorious plan to rescue His people from Egypt.)

    I look on others’ burdens and I want to do something: to say something, to write something . . .

    I get impatient . . .

    I’m impetuous . . .

    I’ve gotten into trouble time and again for jumping ahead of God . . . (you think I would learn).

    On the other hand, I’ve been abundantly blessed by God whenever I’ve bent my knees and bowed my neck and waited on Him and in prayer . . . (you think I would learn).

    So often I want to do something, do anything . . . but pray.

    I’ve been itching to speak, to write . . . but God has continue to check me . . . and call me back to the closet, back to prayer.

    That post was focusing on how God wanted me to be patient, to wait on Him and to pray more. That’s one way God has been checking me.

    But there’s another way God continues to check me.

    I think it’s best summarized in John 11:

    1  Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2  (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) 3  Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. 4  When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. 5  Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 6  When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.

    Did you catch that?

    When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he left the place where he was.

    No, no! It doesn’t say that, does it? Instead we read

    When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.


    We so often think of Jesus as coming to the rescue as soon as we call. Kind of like us calling 9-1-1. Well, yes and no. Yes, He does hear when we call, and He delights to hear our cries, and He does begin acting as soon as we cry (might we say He is acting before we cry, as He is the one drawing us to cry out to Him?). God knows what we need before we need it, but Jesus doesn’t necessarily respond or act in the way or in the time we might think. God’s plan is far, far bigger than what we might imagine and far, far beyond what might make sense to us.

    Isaiah 55:8  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

    Romans 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 34  For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? 35  Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? 36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

    Isaiah 30:18 And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. 19  For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee. (I’d encourage you to keep reading that rest of the chapter.)

    God is God – and we are not. Isn’t that the lesson God continues to teach us while we remain here in these fleshly bodies?

    God’s thoughts and God’s ways and God’s wisdom and God’s knowledge and God’s timing and God’s workings are all about God and God’s glory…

    So it must be with each of us as we seek to minister in God’s Name.

    There are times when the LORD is waiting to be gracious to another soul that He will call us to wait (or, like Jesus, to have us abide two days still in the same place where we are). God may very well have us abide for a time before we visibly move, before we go to Bethany, so to speak, to help out a friend in need. (Note there: I said visibly move. I think we can correctly presume that Jesus had already been moving in prayer toward His Father’s throne, for He was absolutely certain of the will of His Father in this situation and He felt no hurry to leave the place He was at that time. In the same way, as soon as we hear of or see a need, we can begin moving in intercession for that soul.)

    For those of you who take Christian ministry seriously (I mean that in the broadest sense of the word, i.e. – we are all called to be ambassadors; we are all called to encourage one another daily, to admonish one another, etc.), when we hear of someone in need, isn’t our natural response to move, to go and do something? To write a comment. To answer that message. To say something. Don’t we sometimes end up like Moses? Or like Peter? Or like Abram and Sarai? Don’t we so often end up jumping ahead of God just because we think we have to do something, to do anything? Have to. Do we really have to? Aren’t there those times when we react out of our own will without even pausing a moment to ask God in prayer what His will is in the matter?

    Honestly, if we were in Jesus’ place and had heard about Lazarus’ sickness, wouldn’t most of us be sorely tempted to pack up ASAP and head straight away to Bethany? Yet we don’t see our Lord doing that, do we? We see Him content to wait on His Father’s timing because He had an eye to His Father’s glory.

    We also have to see that Jesus loved Lazarus, Martha and Mary. He loved them…and yet He waited.

    Just because we hear of or see a need doesn’t mean God wants us to move immediately.

    Just because we hear of or see a need doesn’t mean God wants us to do anything at all.

    Love for others sometimes means we will wait like Jesus when God is calling us to wait. (It may also mean not doing anything at all; that wasn’t the case in this incident, but it may be the case with us – more below.)

    Love for God and God’s glory means we will wait like Jesus when God is calling us to wait. (Again, it may also mean not doing anything at all. We need to seek God and what is to His glory.)

    There is a time to arise and go, but there’s also a time to abide still in the same place. May God clearly lead each of us in this.

    On my other site I’ve mentioned that one of my “strengths” is restorative. (Um, sorry, I can’t find that post. Grrr! One of my strengths is not organization, I’ve  concluded. ) Anyhow, the bottom line means I want to restore things. To fix things. To make it all better.

    That’s a very noble ambition, and it is rooted in the character of God.

    The fall has wrecked everything, and God’s plan in Jesus Christ is and has always been to bring restoration to this broken world, along with all its broken people. Our God is a God of restoration and renewal and redemption. Amen.

    When I see a problem, or when I see a friend hurting, or when I read of someone struggling, I want to be God’s instrument of restoration. (Even unbelievers have the image of God planted in them to some limited extent and they have similar desires. In much the same way, even unbelievers are grieved when they see people struggling and hurting, when they see the brokenness in the world, but, of course, they aren’t seeing the problems through God’s eyes and they aren’t relying on heavenly supplies to do anything about it and they certainly aren’t interested in the glory of God being done in all that.)

    That God-given desire in me to restore is a good desire, but since that desire has also been tainted by the fall, it must be sanctified – it must be walked out in the Spirit. In other words: not my ways, not my thoughts, not my wisdom, not my power, not my timing and not for my glory. As I minister it must be done according to God’s ways, God’s thoughts, God’s wisdom, in God’s power, in God’s timing…and always with an eye to God’s glory. That’s a mouthful for sure, but I trust you get the idea.

    In short: the best efforts wrought of my own flesh are never going to please or glorify God. In the end, ministry isn’t about results, it’s about God getting glory.

    I did have some other things here, but I’ve decided to break off the rest of that and include it in a second post here


    Related:
  • “when man reaches the lowest depths of unbelief” (William Williams’ “The Experience Meeting”)

     
    This morning (and actually over the past several weeks now), I was struggling with what God was doing and I was struggling with persevering (e.g. – see also here, here, here, here and here.) Once again I began wondering if my time was done. I had no desire to write, no desire to do much of anything, for that matter. I had nothing more to give. I had nothing. I even got to the point where I considered shutting down my blogs and going into a hole somewhere. I wondered if God was done with me, for I do know it is true that He does have certain seasons of ministry for certain people. I had reached just about the lowest depths of unbelief…yet not too low to call out to Him once more:

    Are You not a fountain? (let a drop fall here for me)

    Are You not a fountain?
    my soul is thirsting
    panting
    yearning
    I’m dying
    You’ve promised
    living water
    (haven’t You?)
    where is that living water?
    where are You?
    I’ve got nothing to draw with
    I’ve got nothing
    asking You here for but a drop
    a single drop
    Are You not a fountain?
    Are You not my Father?
    Am I not Your child?
    be merciful to me
    for Jesus’ sake
    let a drop fall here for me
    a single drop
    You are my Father
    You Son opened the way into the holy of holies
    He told me to ask You for my daily bread
    Can I not also ask for my daily drink?
    be merciful to me
    for Jesus’ sake
    if You poured out His blood for me on Calvary
    will You not let a drop fall here for me today
    a single drop
    let a drop fall here for me
    do not forsake me, O my God
    Lead me to your living waters
    wipe away my thirst

    Are You not a fountain?
    my soul is weeping
    tossing
    churning
    I’m crying
    You’re promised
    still waters
    (haven’t You?)
    where are those still waters?
    where are You?
    I’ve got nothing to draw with
    I’ve got nothing
    asking You here for but a drop
    a single drop
    Are You not a fountain?
    Are You not my Father?
    Am I not Your child?
    be merciful to me
    for Jesus’ sake
    let a drop fall here for me
    a single drop
    You are my Father
    You Son opened the way into the holy of holies
    He told me to ask You for my daily bread
    Can I not also ask for my daily drink?
    be merciful to me
    for Jesus’ sake
    if You poured out His blood for me on Calvary
    will You not let a drop fall here for me today
    a single drop
    let a drop fall here for me
    do not forsake me, O my God
    Lead me to Your still waters
    wipe away my tears

    After that I tried (in vain) to take hold of His promises, to regain my footing, to recapture the vision. I finally laid my head down on the table and rested (fitfully).

    A while later I got out some lunch and pulled off the printer a couple articles I’d printed out last night from Reformation and Revival Fellowship, which I’d been intending to read for a few days now. The first article was “Revival in William Williams’ Time” by Eifion Evans, which included a short excerpt from William Williams’ book, “The Experience Meeting: An Introduction to the Welsh Societies of the Evangelical Awakening” which I first read last December and have been meaning to begin rereading…

    As soon as I started reading the article, I went back to the bedroom and snatched up my copy of Williams’ book and read the greater context of the excerpt:

        This is the way the Lord worked in that part of the world.  One time, there were just a few of us, professing believers, gathered together, cold and unbelievably dead, in a meeting which we called a special service, so discouraged as to doubt whether we should ever meet again, some who were usually absent from every meeting, some in a deadly apathy, with nothing to say of God nor of their own souls, some given over to the world and its cares, some backslidden completely from all the means of grace and the ordinances of the gospel, some given over to the flesh and its lusts, as in the days of Noah––seeking a wife, seeking a husband, marrying and giving in marriage––and I myself well nigh disheartened and thinking often of coming to live in warmer spiritual climes, and moving my tent from Ur of the Chaldees nearer to the borders of the Promised Land.  But, even though all things were as I have described them––the world, the flesh and Satan victorious––these special services were yet conducted in an incredibly lifeless manner. There was no encouragement for anyone to carry on the work, save only the promise of God, that wherever two or three coming together in His name, if their purpose were right, however lifeless their present state, He would come to them and bless them.  This alone had made us come together to pray; but our prayers were not much more than groans.

        But at last, forced by cowardice, unbelief and the onslaughts of Satan, we resolved to give up our special meeting: and now we were about to offer a final prayer, fully intending never again to meet thus in fellowship. But it is when man reaches the lowest depths of unbelief that God imparts faith, and when man has failed, then God reveals Himself.  So here, with us in such dire straits, on the brink of despair, with the door shut on every hope of success, God Himself entered into our midst, and the light of day from on high dawned upon us; for one of the brethren––yes, the most timid of us all, the one who was strongest in his belief that God would never visit us––  while in prayer, was stirred in his spirit and laid hold powerfully on heaven, as one who would never let go.  His tongue spoke unusual words, his voice was raised, his spirit was aflame, he pleaded, he cried to God, he struggled, he wrestled in earnest, like Jacob, in the agony of his soul.  The fire took hold of others––all were awakened, the coldest to the most heedless took hold and were warmed; into the battle, with him we laid hold upon God, His attributes, His Word and His promises, resolving that we would never let go on our hold until all our desire should be satisfied.

       And this came to pass, for there fell upon us the sweet breath of the love of the Lord.  We were filled as if with the fulness of the bowls and the horns of the altar––the fire was kindled and we gave voice with our tongues.  The cloud melted away, the sun shone, we drank of the fruit of the vines of the promised land, and we were made to rejoice.  Gone was unbelief––gone guilt––gone fear––gone a timid, cowardly spirit, lack of love, envy, suspicion, together with all the poisonous worms that tormented us before; and in their place came love, faith, hope, a joyful spirit, with a glorious multitude of the graces of the Holy Spirit.  Up till now the service was only beginning, for prayer, singing, praise and blessing were redoubled, and no one felt like bringing things to an end; and now some were weeping, some praising, some singing, some filled with heavenly laughter, and all full of wonder and love and amazement at the Lord’s work––to my mind like the time of the Apostles, when the Spirit descended from on high on a handful of fearful people, and strengthened them mightily to come out of their secret hiding place into the midst of the streets of Jerusalem, and to declare the Name of the Lord before every tribe, tongue and nation that had gathered together there, from the uttermost parts of the earth. As it was then, so it was here now.

        This sound went forth and was spread from parish to parish and from village to village, until innumerable people were carrying around the burning word–men and youths, women and children. Preachers, too, came to us from all parts, having heard at a distance rumours of these workings of God… (8-9)

    * * *

    cold and unbelievably dead…Yes, that’d be me.

    discouraged as to doubt whether we should ever meet againYes, that’d be me.

    in a deadly apathy, with nothing to say of God nor of their own soulsYes, that’d be me.

    I myself well nigh disheartenedYes, that’d be me.

    the onslaughts of SatanYes, that’d be me.

    poisonous worms that tormentedYes, that’d be me.

    the lowest depths of unbeliefYes, that’d be me.

    man has failedYes, that’d be me.

    about to offer a final prayerYes, that’d be me.

    in such dire straits, on the brink of despair, with the door shut on every hope of successYes, that’d be me.

    There was no encouragement for anyone to carry on the workYes, that’d be me.

    I will say that I’ve known these things in great and greater measure over the past several weeks. I’m not exaggerating this.

    Doubt after doubt has piled up upon me, much like shovelful upon shovelful of dirt being tossed upon a dead body lying motionless and breathless in a closed casket. Shut in, with no hope of escape. No light. No oxygen. No nothing. Nothing.

    Now and again there would be a little glimmer of sunshine. A gasp of wind. A short reprieve.

    But then another shovelful of dirt would come.

    And then the darkness was darker. The deadness was deader.

    And another shovelful.

    Even worse.

    And so on.

    This downward spiral has continued for some time now. Then this morning another shovelful of dirt fell upon me in that casket. I was all but resolved to give up. I wondered if I was supposed to. The dreams – gone. The vision – gone. The hope – gone. The desire – gone. The interest – gone. The faith – gone. The joy – gone. I will say that nothing in particular happened to precipitate this. In fact, I had a wonderful unexpected word of encouragement via a phone call last night.

    What I do know is that a cloud has been descending for some time now and earlier today had firmly planted itself … but this was not the heaven-sent bright cloud of Shekinah glory cloud – but rather a dark cloud of doom and despair, which was earthly, sensual and demonic. (And I will say I know a couple of you have spoken to me of similar experiences as well.)

    But it is when man reaches the lowest depths of unbelief that God imparts faith, and when man has failed, then God reveals Himself.  So here, with us in such dire straits, on the brink of despair, with the door shut on every hope of success, God Himself entered into our midst, and the light of day from on high dawned upon us…

    In the lowest depths of my unbelief . . .

    God imparted faith…
    God revealed Himself…
    God Himself entered into my midst, and the light of day from on high dawned upon me…

    God answered my desperate prayer. He sweetly sent a drop for me today from that fountain…

    That entrance, that drop was in the form of that article which led me to pick up and read Williams’ words and see once again the glorious possibilities God has for us as His children if we persevere in meeting together and seeking His face together.

    Isaiah 30
    18  Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you,
    and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
    For the LORD is a God of justice;
    blessed are all those who wait for him.

    19  For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. 20  And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21  And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 22  Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”

    23  And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures, 24  and the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25  And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26  Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the LORD binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.

    We have got to hold onto the Lord and His promises to us no matter what, no matter how we might feel, no matter what we might see – for we know our Lord never fails to be gracious and merciful to His people:

    18  Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you,
    and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
    For the LORD is a God of justice;
    blessed are all those who wait for him.

    19  For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you.

    He waits to be gracious.
    He exalts Himself to show mercy to us.
    He is a God of justice.
    We are blessed as we wait for Him.
    We shall weep no more.
    He will surely be gracious to us at the sound of our cry.
    As soon as we cry, He answers us.

    As soon as we cry, He answers us…

    Yet the answer comes in His time. God’s purpose in waiting is that He might be highly exalted. His answers to our cries are divinely timed and orchestrated for His glory to be displayed in the greatest way possible.

    So though the Lord will give us the bread of adversity and the water of affliction for a time . . .

    . . . in His time He will give rain for the seed with which we sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous, etc.

    May God give us sufficient grace to wait on Him as He waits to be gracious to us. May He strengthen our grip so we might grab hold of Him and His promises and keep holding on to the hem of His garment. May He strengthen our arms to wrestle with Him until He blesses us. May He open our mouths so we might not keep silent and we might take no rest nor give Him rest. That . . .

    we would never let go on our hold until all our desire should be satisfied...

    Isaiah 62

    1  For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
    and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet,
    until her righteousness goes forth as brightness,
    and her salvation as a burning torch…

    6  On your walls, O Jerusalem,
    I have set watchmen;
    all the day and all the night
    they shall never be silent.
    You who put the LORD in remembrance,
    take no rest,
    7  and give him no rest
    until he establishes Jerusalem
    and makes it a praise in the earth.

    (I’d encourage you to read the whole chapter.)

    If God has set us as watchmen – to speak to the Lord on behalf of His Church and for the Lord to speak to His Church – we can trust He will work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure and keep us persevering in that work.

    One reason I began this blog was because I could see the vital need for us to come together to support one another (please see here and here for more of my thoughts on that). We have got to keep meeting together and holding one another up in prayer as well as praying God would lead us to others locally who are also burdened for the Church – because during those times when even all of us are cold and even all of us are a faint flicker, we can trust that God will rend the heavens and rain down fire to inflame the spirit of one of us so the fire might be kindled, take hold of us and warm the rest of us . . . and then warm others besides us:

    while in prayer, was stirred in his spirit and laid hold powerfully on heaven, as one who would never let go.  His tongue spoke unusual words, his voice was raised, his spirit was aflame, he pleaded, he cried to God, he struggled, he wrestled in earnest, like Jacob, in the agony of his soul.  The fire took hold of others––all were awakened, the coldest to the most heedless took hold and were warmed; into the battle, with him we laid hold upon God, His attributes, His Word and His promises, resolving that we would never let go on our hold until all our desire should be satisfied...

    the fire was kindled…The cloud melted away, the sun shone, we drank of the fruit of the vines of the promised land, and we were made to rejoice.

    This sound went forth and was spread from parish to parish and from village to village, until innumerable people were carrying around the burning word–men and youths, women and children. Preachers, too, came to us from all parts, having heard at a distance rumours of these workings of God…

    Ecclesiastes 4:9  Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10  For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11  Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12  And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

    I will leave you with a final quote from Williams regarding the formation of such groups of believers to encourage, strengthen and support one another:

    A hundred to one against Satan leaving such a flock of sheep in peace without causing some havoc among them––at least tempting them, troubling them and oppressing them, or drawing them into some false pleasure. (11)

    Anytime the people of God gather together in His Name for His glory, to be about His business, to contend for the Gospel, the lion is sure to be prowling and seeking an opportune time to harass, taunt, weaken, discourage and divide the flock. Let’s not forsake the assembling together, my brothers and sisters. I thank you for allowing me to share my blessings and burdens with you. I thank you for your prayers for me. I would be privileged to do the same for you.

    Yours in Christ, contending with You for the Gospel, seeking His face for revival,
    Romans 11:36,
    Karen

  • a challenge to you (God has some secret ones in all places)

    In his Journals, George Whitefield wrote of a group called “The New Lights,” who were set up for worship and fellowship in Gibraltar (131).

    Sunday, Feb. 25 [1738]. About six this morning went with friend Habersham to the church to pray with some devout soldiers, who I heard used to meet there at that time, and with whom my soul was knit immediately. After we had finished our devotion, I made an enquiry into their state, and found that their Society had been subsisting about twelve years, and that one Sergeant B., (a devout soldier indeed) now amongst them, was the first beginner of it. At first, they told me they used to meet in dens and mountains, and caves int he rocks; but afterwards, upon their applying for leave to build a little place to retire in, Doctor C., and Governor Sabine gave them the free use of the Church, where they constantly meet three times in a day to pray, read, and sing psalms, and at any other season when they pleased. They have met with contempt, and are now, in derision, called The New Lights. A glorious light they are indeed; for I conversed closely with several of them, and they made me quite ashamed of my little proficiency in the School of Christ. Many have joined with them for a time, but a servile fear of men – that bane of Christianity – made them draw back. However, some continue steadfast and immoveable, though despised by the world. Governor Sabine countenances them much, and has spoken of them often to me with respect. Blessed be God! even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath not left Himself without witness in any place, but hath some everywhere, who serve Him and work righteousness.

    The Sunday before we came hither, I was telling my friend Habersham that I had reason to think by what had happened to me, that God had some work for me to do at Gibraltar. He answered that there could not be much good expected from among soldiers. I replied – No Doubt God has some secret ones in all places, who tremble at His Word. And lo! He hath this day brought me to them.

    Iain Murray (in “Revival and Revivalism: The Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism 1750-1858,” Banner of Truth Trust (Edinburgh: 1994, reprinted 1996, 57)) wrote this:

    At Princeton [John] Witherspoon’s students used to hear him say that when the church was to prosper it was noticeable that her leaders ‘flourish in clusters’, each helping one another.

    George Whitefield also wrote that he “had a sweet knot of religious friends” (Journals, 91).

    All of us who are here together are sure testimony to how God has some secret ones in all places, who tremble at His Word – even here at Xanga and Revelife! Certainly something good came out of Nazareth…and something good can even come out of Xanga and Revelife too. (Please see here and here.)

    When I began blogging, as I’ve said before, revival wasn’t even on my radar screen. Yes, I knew there were things not right with the church, and that greatly distressed me. I was thinking of and reading about and researching ways we/I could fix the Church, but in the meantime, God made it clear the only way the Church can be reformed is through a sovereign movement of His Holy Spirit. (The first step in that process was for Him to humble me and to show me that I couldn’t fix myself, much less the Church! How ridiculous we are to have such thoughts!)

    I’ve been so blessed as I’ve come across people both here and locally whom God has been touching and reviving with His Spirit, to show them their insufficiency and His sufficiency, helping them to delight in Him and His Gospel and giving them eyes to see the sad state of the Church and burdening them to pray for revival as well as to encourage and build up one another in the faith.

    I will say that God has indeed brought a few of us together here as “The New Lights,” as a little “cluster,” as “a sweet knot of religious friends.”

    I’ve not met any of you. Yet, you are a sweet knot of religious friends to me. You are lights here that have served to bring brightness to some of my dark days. Just to know there are others out there who are like-minded has been such an encouragement to me. That God has other people in “this city,” so to speak. When we may be tempted to feel we are alone like Elijah, yet we can know God does have many of His people throughout the world who hunger and thirst for Him. (Yes, I know I wrote yesterday about the danger and temptation to make more of our friends than we ought. Yet, God does give us Christian friends to encourage us, for sure; we must always keep all things in the right perspective, however.)

    Yes, we’re small in number, but we know numbers never limit God (e.g.- see here).

    Yes, we’re limited by distance (computer screens just aren’t quite the same as in-person contact) and we have no formal structure, both of which I’ve found a bit frustrating. Yet I will say God has knit our souls together in Him in a way I’d not imagined. We have a common love for the Lord and His Church given to us by His Spirit.

    As I said when I started up deerlife, my intent here is to encourage us to encourage one another as we blog/comment here, but also to go out into our local communities and churches and work there. I truly value the friendships and fellowship I have found here. I have been truly blessed. More than I could have imagined. I am not ready to discard what we have here, nor do I believe God intends for us to discard it at this time. I also believe there are others God wants to draw into this cluster here along with us. (I would appreciate your continuing to pray that God would draw those He wills to come alongside us, those who have a desire to see God glorified and magnified in His Church.)

    From the time I started up tent of meeting, I’ve had in the back of my mind to challenge those of you out there to begin praying that God might bring you to like-minded men and women in your own churches and cities and begin to meet with them on a regular basis to pray for revival for we know that God does have some secret ones in all places, who tremble at His Word. (I’ve already been doing this for myself to some extent.) I’ve held off on publicly announcing that since I didn’t want to go ahead of God, but I believe I He’s leading me to give you that challenge today. I do know He is calling me to more concerted prayer for myself in that regard.

    I have no authority over any of you, but I will humbly ask you to consider praying about this, to pray that God would lead you to others in your own area who are zealous for God’s Name and are longing for revival in the Church and seeking to pray for revival. In due time, I also expect to make this type of request on tent of meeting as well (and possibly my other blog, napthali_deer), but for now I am bringing this request to this cluster of friends here, and I am asking as God leads you, that you would begin praying this not only for yourself but also for the rest of us here.

    I have a dream of many sweet knots of religious friends, clusters of friends flourishing all over the globe as they gather together in concerted prayer to seek God’s face for revival! No Doubt God has some secret ones in all places, who tremble at His Word. The thought of this thrills me! I hope it does you also.

    I’m also bringing this request to you now in part because just last month I became a member of our local church (after having been there over two years) and tonight for the first time I will be attending a women’s gathering with some other women from our church. Yes, it’s taken me a while, but now God has made it clear to us this is the place we are to be, so now I am stepping out in faith. I have already been praying God would give me His eyes to see those He has given a heart to see the Church revived. I have also been praying about and for several other friends in the area whom I know in other churches. I have seen God working in some women (and men) here in much the same way He has in me (and as I’ve seen in you): giving us a hunger for Him which goes beyond a mere head knowledge to an intimate, experiential knowledge of Him; a greater desire to worship Him and enjoy Him; an increasing desire for holiness and an increasing hatred of sin; and so on.

    I don’t know what God has ahead for any of us, but I want to thank God and thank you all for your fellowship here and your many encouragements to me.

    May God Almighty strengthen us to keep prostrating ourselves before Him on behalf of His Church, for we are His people and His inheritance whom He brought out with His mighty power and outstretched arm! (Deuteronomy 9)

    I Samuel 12:19  And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.” 20  And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. 21  And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. 22  For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself. 23  Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way.

    May we seek to glorify God and enjoy Him forever!

    Captured by His love, mercy and grace,
    Karen