As way of update, another sister in Christ and myself have begun praying for revival on a regular basis. All praise, glory, honor, and thanksgiving to God for that! There was no fleshly compulsion, convincing, manipulation, or scheming required on my part, but the LORD alone did this thing, and I am glad! Psalm 118:23. Isaiah 56:7 Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer.

However, in spite of that great blessing, because I was setting my eyes on the outward appearance and the current state of things, several times as of late, I had found myself lapsing and questioning and seeking God’s assurance in the place He has me –– even though He had given it to me time and again, and yes, I did go back to recall those times. And yet, I still found myself very much in a similar state to that of God’s people in the first part of Haggai 2: they’d seen the former glory (or had heard of it) –– and the current temple looked as NOTHING in comparison, and their hearts were sinking and they were sorely tempted to be distressed and dismayed. They’d lost their vision of the God who was present with them, as well as His covenant promises in the past, and His covenant promises yet to be accomplished in the future (see Haggai 2:1-9).

I was sitting in our worship service last Sunday morning, with questions filling my mind and very little expectation, grieving and fairly distraught at the prospects, even though that really made no logical sense at all in light of all God has been doing as of late and how He has continued to encourage me all along the way. Yet, the devil loves to entangle us and bring us down, doesn’t he, and very often that happens after spiritual victory, e.g. – Elijah in I Kings 19.

But then, my eyes and affections and heart were all lifted above, as we sang “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” In particular that emphasis on the word “little.” Afterwards, I turned to Micah 5: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little, yet out of you…” Bethlehem = house of bread. Ephrathah = fruitfulness. O, Lord, we are so very far from that! Nevertheless, at the same time, the Scripture WAS such a great encouragement to me… because it continues on: “THOUGH you are LITTLE, YET! …” That’s how God always works: through the little, weak, ignoble, foolish, and unwise in the world’s eyes (I Cor. 1). And then I turned to Isaiah 60:22: “A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation. I the LORD will hasten it in its time.” So here I am, along with this other sister. We are meeting in the hope that God will be true to His covenant promises and rend the heavens and come down! It seems preposterous, doesn’t it? How can two women praying make any difference? And yet, that’s so often how revivals begin. (More below…)

Later in Micah 5 I read this verse: “THEN the remnant of His brethren SHALL RETURN to the children of Israel…” The remnant shall return. There’s no doubt of that at all! And, on top of that: “AND HE SHALL STAND AND FEED HIS FLOCK in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD His God…”  And so, from that Scripture from which Phillips Brooks wrote that old carol, there was a little heavenly feeding for my downcast soul that morning! Glory to God! Our Father never fails to satisfy our souls with His mercies! They are new every morning! O! That we might go to His throne in our time of need, to make use of His appointed means of grace, and open our mouths, so the Bread of Heaven might drop down and feed us!

I regret to say, that in spite of that, as there were further things I’d become aware of, instead of my vision continuing to be lifted, I found it being taken down, down, down, and I became further distraught.

On my other blog, in my post “Silent Night – Not! …,” I’d quoted John Piper: “There are sorrows we must pray to feel.” (see Jeremiah  8:21-9:1). The calling to pray includes a calling to sorrow, but not a fleshly, self-absorbed, despairing sorrow, but rather a hopeful sorrow that propels us upward, so we might cry out to God in expectant prayer with thanksgiving, much like the apostle Paul, “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” A few days ago, I found myself listening to a sermon by the Rev. Geoff Thomas on Nehemiah 1, and I had to stop, and weep and rejoice all at the same time –– for it is a grace and blessing to see the ruins and grieve, and at the same time, it is a grace and blessing to be led into importunate prayer for the house of God to be restored, to press on for the joy set before us.

Later that day, I walked quite a long time and poured out my heart to God about these things (to whom could I go?!). I laid out my complaint, went through the promises of God, both general as well as specific, which He has given to me. I came to a point where I was saying something like this: “As my days, so shall my strength be. Would You send me all I need to persevere with joy, a felt assurance to my soul again, even though You have done this so many times. And yet, BECAUSE YOU HAVE done this so many times, I am coming to You again in faith. If You don’t go with me.. If You don’t make Yourself SPECIALLY present…” And not long after that, I did have a sense that my prayers were heard, and knew He would come to refresh me again somehow, some way…

Late that night, as I lay down on my pillow, almost the millisecond I did so, these words came like a fire into my soul to bring a flood of joy and peace in believing: “Let the people praise You! Let ALL the people praise you!” (from Psalm 67.) As Payson said, “Who wants candles when He has the sun!” I HAD THE SON! I felt it as if God were giving me strong consolation (Heb. 6:8), as if He were saying:  “Yes! Yes! You are right to be burdened about these things, Karen, and the end of it all, the end of your prayers is this: MY praise. Though you are little, though it seems I have not heard your prayers, though all looks like a wilderness, I have heard your prayers, so keep on praying without ceasing. One day I will come again, and there will be a fruitful field.”

I know how easy it is to become discouraged, and I only share that as an encouragement to you, to take hold of the horns of the altar, to take hold of the hem of Christ’s garment, to wrestle with Him all night, not to be silent, not to give Him rest until He blesses you individually with His presence, and until He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth once again (blesses His Church corporately with His presence). The corporate revival may not happen in our lifetimes, but I pray that you might begin to have the sun to sustain you in this dark and cloudy day, i.e. – to have the LORD shine His face upon you in this day of small things! As I quoted Edward Griffin in my previous post, I want to help you in any way I can so you might press on along with me in “praying for a revival of religion.”

Now, a little more regarding the blessing of God coming out of smallness…

I was reading Psalm 147 last night and again this morning, and then began reading Matthew Henry on it, and came to a wonderful portion regarding the first couple verses, which I’d like to share with you. First off, the Scripture (KJV), followed by Henry’s commentary on it. (Italics, original; boldface, mine.)

Psalm 147:1  Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely. 2  The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. 3  He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.

 II. God is recommended to us as the proper object of our most exalted and enlarged praises, upon several accounts.

      1. The care he takes of his chosen people, 2. Is Jerusalem to be raised out of small beginnings? Is it to be recovered out of its ruins? In both cases, The Lord builds up Jerusalem. The gospel-church, the Jerusalem that is from above, is of this building. He framed the model of it in his own counsels; he founded it by the preaching of his gospel; he adds to it daily such as shall be saved, and so increases it. He will build it up unto perfection, build it up as high as heaven. Are any of his people outcasts? Have they made themselves so by their own folly? He gathers them by giving them repentance and bringing them again into the communion of saints. Have they been forced out by war, famine, or persecution? He opens a door for their return; many that were missing, and thought to be lost, are brought back, and those that were scattered in the cloudy and dark day are gathered together again.

As I read that, those words The Lord builds up Jerusalem really impacted and blessed me. Yes! The Lord builds up Jerusalem! i.e. – not Karen! Jerusalem is to be raised out of small beginnings. Jerusalem is to be recovered out of its ruins. How? The Lord Himself is The Builder of His Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against her! … So many wonderful associated Scriptures, but one that comes to mind now is Amos 9:11-12:

“On that day I will raise up
The tabernacle of David,
which has fallen down,
And repair its damages;
I will raise up its ruins,
And rebuilt it as in the days of old;
That they may possess the remnant of Edom (or, mankind)
And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,”
Says the LORD who does this thing.

(Just a little note here:  there are multiple layers to this prophecy… First off, in the return from exile and the rebuilding of the temple and the city of Jerusalem, but primarily in the Lord Jesus Christ humbling Himself and coming to earth as a babe to born under the law, to live a sinless life, and to suffer and die and be raised again for the sin of the world –– good news of great joy for ALL people, both Jews and Gentiles. The prophecy looks forward to the ingathering of the Gentiles (the verse is quoted by James at the Jerusalem council in Acts 15, in explaining the activity of God’s Holy Spirit in the conversion of the Gentiles). But, in addition, I believe it to be a picture of the times of refreshing that come to the Church periodically throughout Church history, according to God’s good pleasure, when the Spirit of God graciously descends in reviving fire.) But my point in sharing it with you here is particularly that last portion:

“Says the LORD who does this thing.”

Like Abraham, let us (let me) not be weak in faith, let us (let me) not waver in unbelief, but be fully convinced that what God has promised He is also able to perform! (Romans 4:13-25) Our Lord Himself told us that He would not leave us as orphans, but He would come to us! That’s a promise not only to the individual Christian, but also a promise to the Church corporate! O! The day will come when He will come again in power and glory! He will awake and arise, and will pluck His hand out of His bosom on behalf of His people for the sake of His name, for there are sheep yet to be gathered into His one fold, and so often that ingathering occurs as the Church herself is revived… So much more I would love to say on that, but just look at Isaiah 60 (among other places in the Scripture). I don’t know if He will come in revival in my lifetime, that is up to Him. But I know that my prayers will continue to ascend to His throne long after I am dust!

Before I close, one more Scripture on smallness. Once more I’m tapping into Matthew Henry and his commentary on Bildad’s counsel to Job in Job 8:7 (once again italics, original; boldface, mine):

He [Bildad] gives him [Job] good hopes that he shall yet again see good days, secretly suspecting, however, that he was not qualified to see them. He assures him that, if he would be early in seeking God, God would awake for his relief, would remember him and return to him, though now he seemed to forget him and forsake him–that if his habitation were righteous it should be prosperity. When we return to God in a way of duty we have reason to hope that he will return to us in a way of mercy. Let not Job object that he had so little left to being the world with again that it was impossible he should ever prosper as he had done; no, “Though thy beginning should be ever so small, a little meal in the barrel and a little oil in the cruse, God’s blessing shall multiply that to a great increase.” This is God’s way of enriching the souls of his people with graces and comforts, not per saltum–as by a bound, but per gradum–step by step. The beginning is small, but the progress is to perfection. Dawning light grows to noonday, a grain of mustard seed to a great tree. Let us not therefore despise the day of small things, but hope for the day of great things.

So often, I become impatient and expect the bound (or the hop! ~ as google translate renders that phrase)… Help me, Lord Jesus, to be happy with Your ways and Your timing! “You will arise and have mercy on Zion; For the time to favor her, Yes, the set time, will come…” (see Psalm 102). May each one of us bring a little meal and a little oil, i.e. – humbly bring to Him our “small” amount of prayers with thanksgivings, not to despise the day of small things, but to hope for the day of great things, to trust Almighty God to bless and to multiply our prayers to a great increase in His time (consider what our Lord did with those five loaves and two fishes!)

I’ll close by adding to Henry’s own words,

“Let us not therefore despise the day of small things, but hope for the day of great things.”

these of the apostle Paul:

“Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:5)

“As it is written:

Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
(Romans 9:33)

Contrary to hope, may we, like Abraham, believe! (Romans 4:18) Lord, we believe. Help, Lord, our unbelief! Help, Lord, my unbelief!

May each of you have a very blessed Christmas season and know Christ’s life more abundantly as you seek His face! ~ Psalm 69:32b.

If you’ve not read my posts Update/prayer requests – October 7, 2010 and Simeon’s Waiting, Payson’s Waiting, Our Waiting, I’d suggest you do so as background to this post; they give some background as to the work of God in calling me to prayer for revival…

I share the account below from my journals (with a few minor edits) as testimony that the God who calls His children to work is faithful to provide us with all we need to do that work… and not only that, but also to impart to us joy and gladness in our service.

I had been reflecting about the stark difference between Joshua and Caleb (those men who had a different spirit and wholly followed the Lord) and the other 10 spies (as well as the rest of Israel). Then I began thinking more about how we don’t press on for the milk and honey, and so I’d printed up a sheet of the Bible verses (KJV) that included milk and honey in them, and these two from Ezekiel 20 particularly grabbed me:

And I began to reflect on how unthankful I am, and what I wretch I am when I begin to despise God’s gifts and calling, and I begin to grumble and doubt and I don’t trust that WHEREVER God has me and WHEREVER God is leading me is a place that He has GIVEN to me, a place that is PECULIARLY ESPIED for me (it’s not just a haphazard or random place), for that place FLOWS with milk and honey (there are not just little “communion cups” with milk and honey) – and… the place is THE GLORY OF ALL LANDS. I NEVER remembered reading that phrase before: “THE GLORY OF ALL LANDS!” Of ALL lands! And with all that, I was really melted down in confession and repentance for my discontentment (for I SHOULD know better!), and then given grace to be like the weaned child… a holy contentment … and wonderful weeping of joy as I was lying there and I was able to pray something like this…  “I am pleased with You, Christ, and all You are and all You have for me. THIS IS THE GLORY OF ALL LANDS. Whether you give or take away, blessed be Your name! To have YOU is the ultimate blessing!” And all I sought was HIM and I was happy and pleased with Him and to be in HIS will for I knew that HIS will was espied for me, flowing with milk and honey and is is the glory of ALL lands (where can I go? whom have I in heaven or on earth but YOU!).

–– But then quite strangely I found myself adding onto that … “Grant me also a spirit of prayer!” I glanced at myself and thought, “Now, why would I ask that?” but I felt that request to be given the spirit of prayer had been GIVEN to me. And it wasn’t as if I were feeling God was not enough, for I knew Him to be MORE than enough. So I left it at that, for I did know I have known sweet communion IN PRAYER, and that is what way I have come to KNOW HIM, and I see prayer as particular part of that land He has espied for me (though, of course, for all the saints in some measure).

A little while later I went walking, and I listened to a sermon (I can’t even remember now what it was). After that, I sat down again and began once more to reflect on Ezekiel 20, and just began to weep for myself and the Church. I know I have been burdened in prayer before, but I really felt in a greater sense than ever that THE BURDEN of the Lord was given, much like the prophets would have received. Instead of the Shekinah glory of joy, joy, joy in my chest, there was a crushing Shekinah glory of holy, holy, holy: the burden of the LORD! the burden of the LORD! the burden of the LORD! It returns now as I write of it. … I don’t think I have ever been so weighed down, and though I know I have been weighed down previously. I began going through most of the chapter, and I confessed our sin of rebellion and rejection and how our hearts and eyes are not fixed rightly, and so on, and asked Him to be merciful to us. And how abominable we are, since God’s intent in His leading us is for LIFE, and yet we continue to take up death. How wretched we are that we are NOT happy with the land espied for us, the land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands! As we are in Christ, we ARE indeed in a wealthy place, but we do not know it! And I went to some other similar Scriptures in the Psalms. And so, the Spirit of grace and supplications had been given to me (Zechariah 12:10ff). And in it, I was immensely blessed. It was one of the few times I have ever really prayed.

But the strange thing was this, and of course, it SHOULD HAVE BEEN obvious to me, but wasn’t –– UNTIL I stood up and started walking a few steps –– and it was only then that I remembered the prayer request I had made for the spirit of prayer only a couple hours beforehand! And at that point I was completely dumbfounded! And I had to stop right there in my tracks (as if I needed Balaam’s donkey on the path to remind me of these things!) — for it was only then I began to understand the profound work that God had done. I can’t even explain this to you, but it only proved that I wasn’t trying to sit down in my own fleshly effort to pray (i.e. – because as I’d said, I’d not even remembered my prayer! — so I hadn’t even prayed: “O! Lord! Help me to pray about these things!”). I had been led to return to the passage, and the burden of the Lord at that point was given me. So that prayer from earlier, that I might be granted a spirit of prayer, was shown to have been given to me, as I was later given what I had asked for. Is this not perhaps what might be meant when Isaiah wrote:

And so, with that realization came profound joy and gladness! For all of that prayer was not only given to me, but given to me in such a marvelous manner, that ALL THE GLORY had to go to GOD and GOD ALONE! I was but a dumb beast about it all! I prayed, yet not I, but the grace of God in me! And then I wrote down these things:

And then later on:

As to any call to and desire to pray: that was from Him at the first and CONTINUES to be from Him. And now, He is performing in me what He has promised!

I share that account with you as an encouragement. As Christians, we are members of the Body of Christ, and by definition we will have different callings. As for myself, God has had me on this journey to prayer for a period of over three years now, and He has proved Himself faithful over and over:  much like when God called Moses in Exodus 3, and Moses questioned Him, but God gave Moses a sign:

God has given me such a sign on a few blessed occasions:  a spirit of grace and supplications has been given to me, that is, prayer not worked up in my own power, but prayer coming down from the Father of lights – and such communion with the living God during those times is precious and unsurpassed.

I remember a few years ago, when I first began reading Christian biography, I noticed phrases In the journals of Whitefield and Brainerd, etc. about being their enabled to pray, or prayer given to them…. That’s the type of prayer I’m talking about, such as Whitefield wrote of here:

As we learn to enjoy God in the place he has us, in the calling He has given us, and not to continue to look around at results, and not to continue to look as Peter did in John 21, i.e. – to look at John and query, “What about this man?” – but instead to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, to seek to be like that weaned child of Psalm 131, to seek to be about our Father’s business (not ours), to seek His Kingdom (not ours), to seek His glory (not ours), to seek His will (not ours), to seek to be diligent to enter the Sabbath rest available to us in Jesus Christ, to seek the baptizing fire and refreshment of the Holy Spirit, to strive to keep our hands on the plow He’s provided for us (and not turn back, or look for “another” plow), and to place ourselves unreservedly and wholeheartedly into God’s hands – no matter what – that is when we will experience fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore in the service to which God has called us, be it prayer or whatever. God has promised He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Our God does not intend our service to Him to be joyless. Read the LORD’s rebuke of Israel in Deuteronomy 28:

We are each called to….

Now, I’m not saying we won’t grieve, and we won’t be sad, and we won’t have difficulties, for we certainly will. Our Lord Himself told us that in this world we will meet with tribulations, and in II Timothy, we read that all who are godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. That said, as we seek to serve the Lord, as we seek grace and power to fulfill the calling He has given us, we will come to know Him experientially as a sanctuary so we might drink of the Living Waters from the Rock in our wilderness places and be given grace to sing the Lord’s song – even in Babylon ( ~ Psalm 137).

Oh the happiness of communion with God!

Like Abraham, may God grant us faith that we have no distrust, so we might not waver concerning the promise of God, but may we grew strong in our faith as we give glory to God, fully convinced that our God is for us and He is able to do in and through and for us what He has promised (~ Romans 4:20-21).

    
From Richard Baxter’s “The Reformed Pastor”:

The great advantage of ministers having a sincere heart, is this, that the glory of God and the salvation of souls are their very end; and where that end is truly intended, no labor or suffering will stop them, or turn them back; for a man must have his end, whatever it cost him. Whatever he forgets, he will still retain this lesson: One thing is needful; seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Hence he says, ‘Necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel.’ This is it that will most effectually make easy all our labors, and make light all our burdens, and make tolerable all our sufferings, and cause us to venture on any hazards, if we may only win souls to Christ. That which I once made the motto of my colors in another warfare, I desire may be still before my eyes in this; which yet, according to my intentions, is not altogether another. On one side ‘He that saveth his life shall lose it.” – on the other, ‘Ruin not the cause for the sake of keeping one’s life.’ He who knoweth that he serveth a God that will never suffer any man to be a loser by him, need not fear what hazards he runs in his cause: and he who knows that he seeks a prize, which, if obtained, will infinitely overbalance his cost, may boldly engage his whole estate on it, and sell all to purchase so rich a pearl.

From Andrew Fuller’s sermon, “The Instances, the Evil Nature, and the Dangerous Tendency of Delay, in the Concerns of Religion,” preached at Clipstone, England, April 27, 1791. Fuller’s Scripture text was Haggai 1:2 “Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.”

We see many things that should be done; but there are difficulties in the way, and we wait for the removal of these difficulties. We are very apt to indulge a kind of prudent caution, (as we call it,) which foresees and magnifies difficulties beyond what they really are. It is granted there may be such things in the way of an undertaking as may render it impracticable; and, in that case, it is our duty for the present to stand still; but it becomes us to beware lest we account that impracticable which only requires such a degree of exertion as we are not inclined to give it. Perhaps the work requires expense; and Covetousness says, Wait a little longer, till I have gained so and so in trade, till I have rendered my circumstances respectable, and settled my children comfortably in the world. But is not this like ceiling our own houses, while the house of God lies waste? Perhaps it requires concurrence; and we wait for every body to be of a mind, which is never to be expected. He who through a dread of opposition and reproach desists from known duty is in danger of being found among the “fearful, the unbelieving, and the abominable.”

Had Luther and his contemporaries acted upon this principle, they had never gone about the glorious work of the Reformation. When he saw the abominations of popery, he might have said, These things ought not to be; but what can I do? If the chief priests and rulers in different nations would but unite, something might be effected; but what can I do, an individual, and a poor man? I may render myself an object of persecution, or, which is worse, of universal contempt; and what good end will be answered by it? Had Luther reasoned thus — had he fancied that, because princes and prelates were not the first to engage in the good work, therefore the time was not come to build the house of the Lord — the house of the Lord, for any thing he had done, might have lain waste to this day.

Instead of waiting for the removal of difficulties, we ought, in many cases, to consider them as purposely laid in our way, in order to try the sincerity of our religion. He who had all power in heaven and earth could not only have sent forth his apostles into all the world, but have so ordered it that all the world should treat them with kindness, and aid them in their mission; but, instead of that, he told them to lay their accounts with persecution and the loss of all things. This was no doubt to try their sincerity; and the difficulties laid in our way are equally designed to try ours.

Let it be considered whether it is not owing to this principle that so few and so feeble efforts have been made for the propagation of the gospel in the world. When the Lord Jesus commissioned his apostles, he commanded them to go and teach “all nations,” to preach the gospel to “every creature;” and that notwithstanding the difficulties and oppositions that would he in the way. The apostles executed their commission with assiduity and fidelity; but, since their days, we seem to sit down half contented that the greater part of the world should still remain in ignorance and idolatry. Some noble efforts have indeed been made; but they are small in number, when compared with the magnitude of the object. And why is it so? Are the souls of men of less value than heretofore? No. Is Christianity less true or less important than in former ages? This will not be pretended. Are there no opportunities for societies, or individuals, in Christian nations, to convey the gospel to the heathens? This cannot be pleaded so long as opportunities are found to trade with them, yea, and (what is a disgrace to the name of Christians) to buy them, and sell them, and treat them with worse than savage barbarity! We have opportunities in abundance: the improvement of navigation, and the maritime and commercial turn of this country, furnish us with these; and it deserves to be considered whether this is not a circumstance that renders it a duty peculiarly binding on us.

From Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary on Exodus 14…

They thought they must have been directed either to the right hand or to the left. “No,” says God, “speak to them to go forward, directly to the sea-side;” as if there had lain a fleet of transport-ships ready for them to embark in. Note, When we are in the way of our duty, though we met with difficulties, we must go forward, and not stand in mute astonishment; we must mind present work and then leave the even to God, use means and trust him with the issue.

Hans Jordaens (III) – Le passage de la Mer Rouge (Crossing of the Red Sea)

Forward! Be Our Watchword
(Henry Alford, 1871)

Forward! be our watchword, steps and voices joined;
Seek the things before us, not a look behind;
Burns the fiery pillar at our army’s head;
Who shall dream of shrinking, by our Captain led?
Forward through the desert, through the toil and fight;
Jordan flows before us; Zion beams with light.

Forward! When in childhood buds the infant mind;
All through youth and manhood not a thought behind;
Speed through realms of nature, climb the steps of grace;
Faint not, till in glory, gleams our Father’s face.
Forward, all the lifetime, climb from height to height,
Till the head be hoary, till the eve be light.

Forward! flock of Jesus, salt of all the earth,
Till each yearning purpose spring to glorious birth:
Sick, they ask for healing; blind, they grope for day;
Pour upon the nations wisdom’s loving ray.
Forward, out of error, leave behind the night;
Forward through the darkness, forward into light!

Glories upon glories hath our God prepared,
By the souls that love Him one day to be shared;
Eye hath not beheld them, ear hath never heard;
Nor of these hath uttered thought or speech a word;
Forward, marching eastward, where the heaven is bright,
Till the veil be lifted, till our faith be sight.

Far o’er yon horizon rise the city towers
Where our God abideth; that fair home is ours:
Flash the streets with jasper, shine the gates with gold;
Flows the gladdening river shedding joys untold.
Thither, onward, thither, in the Spirit’s might;
Pilgrims to your country, forward into light!

Into God’s high temple, onward as we press,
Beauty spreads around us, born of holiness;
Arch, and vault, and carving, lights of varied tone,
Softened words and holy, prayer and praise alone.
Every thought upraising to our city bright,
Where the tribes assemble round the throne of light.

Naught that city needeth of these aisles of stone;
Where the Godhead dwelleth, temple there is none;
All the saints that ever in these courts have stood,
Are but babes, and feeding on the children’s food.
On through sign and token, stars amidst the night,
Forward through the darkness, forward into light.

To th’eternal Father loudest anthems raise;
To the Son and Spirit echo songs of praise;
To the Lord of glory, blessed Three in One,
Be by men and angels endless honor done.
Weak are earthly praises, dull the songs of night:
Forward into triumph, forward into light!

Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.

As they pass through the Valley of Baca, They make it a spring; The rain also covers it with pools.

They go from strength to strength; Each one appears before God in Zion.

(Psalm 84:5-7)

Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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