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).

 
Zephaniah 2:3  Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger.

From Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary:

O, for grace to continue to seek meekness, which is found only in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. My flesh continues to be puffed up and proud, lusting against the Spirit, and seeking to take the best and first place. As my days are, so shall my strength be through Jesus Christ. Apart from Him, I am nothing, and I can do nothing. May God’s Holy Spirit continue and complete His sanctifying work He has begun in me so I might be transformed into Christ’s image, becoming a weaned child (Psalm 131) who is meek and humble in heart like the Lord Jesus (Matthew 11:25-30), offering myself to follow and to dwell wherever the Lamb goes, so I might be a willing and obedient servant of the LORD who takes up the basin and towel and gladly takes the lowest place. There is neither peace, nor rest, nor life, nor joy nor blessing anywhere except as I take up the easy yoke and light burden of Christ.

Philippians 2:4  Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.


Matthew 11:25  At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. 26  Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. 27  All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

28  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jacopo_Tintoretto_-_Christ_Washing_the_Feet_of_His_Disciples_(detail)_-_WGA22428.jpg  / CC BY-SA 3.0 / {PD-Art|PD-old-100}

Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

In God’s wonderful providence, as I’ve been led to focus in on Psalm 84 as a start to our women’s study (please see here for a little more on that), I’ve become even more keenly aware of the struggles we (I!) face on our Christian pilgrimage, as we (I) strive to make our (my) calling and election sure, to press onto the prize of the high calling.

I love the whole Psalm, but here are some of my favorite verses (from the NKJV):

We need to continue to go back to our God – time and again – there is never a time we can stop doing so. That is our blessed privilege and calling as children of God who have been redeemed with the blood of the Lamb. We are wholly dependent on Christ for each and every step of our pilgrimage. After all, this is a spiritual pilgrimage and we are in need of spiritual supplies; earthly supplies simply will not do! They will not get us to the Celestial City! God alone is our strength and our life. He is everlasting strength and everlasting life. Apart from Him, we have no true strength and no true life. We will never be joyful or overflow with living water in the weeping and thirsty Valley of Baca unless we continue to go back to eat and drink of Christ. And if we are not eating and drinking as we ought, if we as Christians are not going from strength to strength, if we are not abiding in Christ, how will the joyless and thirsty souls in the world ever be drawn to Christ? We are sent into the dry and parched world so Christ’s living waters might bubble up from within us and flow out through us.

If we aren’t drinking, how will the rivers flow?

I wrote most of the above post about a week ago, but then put it aside. I “rediscovered” it this morning and noticed how it wonderfully expressed my heart’s cry today. Plus, I was especially excited to see how it flowed from the thoughts I’d posted yesterday on my other site in my post this earthly manna ~ the Christian hedonist’s plea. (I’ll probably repost it there sometime, but I know I’ve been remiss in giving you an update here and wanted to do so…even though I know there’s a pretty big overlap in my readers.) This morning I’d opened Whitefield’s Journals to read a bit and then came across his wonderful words which helped to tie it all together.

May our God keep us hungry and thirsty for Him!

I Samuel 2:5  Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.

Luke 1:53  …he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent empty away.

Accepted in and fed and filled by the Beloved,
Karen