After a couple month hiatus, I picked up once again in rereading “George Whitefield’s Journals” (emphasis, mine).

A couple things impressed me here.

1. THE POWER Whitefield received. But not only the power, but THE GOD WHO GAVE HIM THAT POWER. Yes, we have to say that George Whitefield was exceptionally talented and uniquely gifted, and yet let us not forget that Whitefield had access to the VERY SAME POWER each and every Christian has access to because we know the VERY SAME GOD.

Not long before I’d picked up the Journals yesterday, I had been praying over a situation in which I clearly needed both God’s wisdom and power to respond to someone, for I knew in my own wisdom and power, I could do nothing to direct this person to an understanding of the living God. As I read Whitefield’s words, what a timely reminder that the God who does wonders might very well be pleased to give me such power in my communications with this person and my words might go out with His power! We have not because we ask not!

We see the believers in the book of Acts praying for such boldness. As Christians, though we have received the Spirit in first believing, we are in need of fresh supplies for the journey, and so once again I am asking for new supplies of His Spirit, and in particular for power and wisdom, and I would ask you to be praying for me in this (and for yourself as well).

2. THE TWO RESULTS OF GOD’S POWER:

As we keep our eyes on God’s eternal plan of redemption and the battle we are engaged in, it causes our life’s purpose to be righted once again. It’s too easy for temptations and the cares, riches and pleasures of this life to distract us (Luke 8). We too easily forget we are God’s ambassadors here. And as we are sent out, God is ready to supply us. Let us be bold and ask our Father to supply for us all we need so we might run the race set before us so we might obtain the prize.

Update on church

A while back I had mentioned I had an opportunity at our church (see my posts here and here). As of now, that’s still not developed much, and that has been frustrating to me at times, but I am trusting God’s timing in this since I know the delay is all for His greater glory:

Only recently did I notice how wonderfully God condescended to us there in that passage. In verse 18 we see the LORD tell us He will be gracious to us. But then, knowing that we are sometimes dense and hard-hearted, He reminds us that He is not only gracious but that He is VERY gracious. Is He not to be adored for His bearing with our weaknesses in this way? He does not treat us as our sins deserve! He knows we are frail, doesn’t He? More than wonderful! What a Savior!

I will ask you to be praying that God would lead me to women at our church who are hungering and thirsting for Him. Lord willing, I hope to ask a few of them to join me in a study of the book of John in the near future. I wrote a while ago about my desire for God to raise up sweet knots of religious friends all over His Church (that phrase “sweet knots of Christian friends” taken from Whitefield), and that is my desire not only for myself but for each of you, that you might find true and deep fellowship with believers in your own congregations and communities. We need to be encouraging one another daily (Hebrews 10) and building up each other in our most holy faith (Jude).

Personal note

One of my dearest Christian friends passed into glory recently, and I would appreciate your prayers for both her family and friends, as well as for myself, and in particular that this might be a wake-up call, not only to unbelievers to believers as well. I was privileged to be able to speak at her memorial service, to give her testimony that Jesus Christ was her sustenance, which is a message that so much of the church is missing at this point in time. She was my best friend to date who has died, and so I will miss the times we shared together in encouraging one another in our faith. She was one of the few people with whom I pretty much bared my whole soul, and she was a great encourager to me in my spiritual journey as well as my blogging here.

Please let me know if there are ways I can be praying for you. I feel I’ve lost a bit of focus in the past several months with my purpose here and my blogging on my sites, so I would also appreciate your prayers for God’s clarity and God’s leading in that regard. Thank you.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.

~ Karen

Dear friends in Christ,

I’d hoped to update you last night, but didn’t have opportunity to do so. I do want to let you know I’m about to leave for a couple day retreat, and I would appreciate prayers for me, in particular for clear leading regarding the opportunity I have at our church (for more on that, please see the end of my last post).

William Cowper’s hymn “Dependence” wonderfully expresses my heart this morning, and I hope yours at well. May we always see that we are wholly  dependent on the Lord so we might continue to ask for Him to fill us with His fullness and His Spirit to overflowing – and then once we are filled, that we might return and again and again and ask again and again. He will in no wise cast us out! We are but poor beggars but He welcomes us as His sons and daughters and delights to lavish His unsearchable riches on us! We live from grace to grace. Let us continue to avail ourselves of His grace poured out through Jesus Christ at the cross and now through His Spirit who dwells within us.

Along with Charles Wesley, I continue to find myself lost in wonder, love and praise, and with George Whitefield I cannot comprehend His love for me but  only adore!

All by His grace and of His grace, all to His glory and His praise alone,
Karen

If you’ve been reading my other blog, you know that the past couple weeks have been a struggle for me. (Please my posts here, here, here, here and here and here.) I’m not going to recount all that here, but I will say during that time I felt about as pressed and tempted as I have at any time since I’ve been saved, and though not having been afflicted or burdened as much as Paul was, I felt for the first time that I could genuinely relate to Paul’s words in II Corinthians 1:

The week before last I pulsed

Then later that same day I expanded on that request in my post asking a hard thing.

I had seen I was beginning to look to earthly results for my joy and knew I was headed in a very bad direction, very bad.

My face was not radiant because I was not looking to Him. Psalms 34:5: Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. I was looking pretty ugly and feeling joyless.

After that time I attended a conference at which I received a hand-out on evangelism. It broke the process into three phrases: cultivating, sowing and harvesting. This was truly a God-sent blessing as I read this under the description of the sowing phase:

As soon as I read that, I thought something like, “This is me! That is just what I love to do and thrive on!” I’m not saying I haven’t ever been involved in or wouldn’t ever be involved in cultivating the soil (human hearts) or harvesting the crop (the reproduced life of Christ in hearts), but God has given me a passion and love to sow seeds, and more particularly to sow seeds among those who are already in the church to shore them up in their faith, so their faith might grow deeper. (Notice that Paul told Timothy to do the work of an evangelist and yet Timothy was a pastor.)

Since that time I’ve been praying, “If You’ve made me a sower, then I want to be a happy sower! Lord, make me a happy sower!”

A few days after that I was brought down again and had to scratch and claw back and immerse myself in the Word and God’s promises and to remember that I could always trust God as I am faithful to do what He’s called me to do and not to obsess about the harvest or results.

This is a continuing battle but I’d not had such an extended and intense period of struggle and temptation with it since over a year ago, when God brought joy to my soul in a way He’d never done before. I’ve known His joy in increasing measure since that time, and I’ve come to know that no one or nothing compares. No one. Nothing. So this whole thing continue to grieve my soul as it grieved His Spirit, I know.

I am also more convinced than ever that the messages of joy and assurance are so vital to the church since I keep meeting joyless and unassured Christians over and over and over again.

Jesus Christ came that we might have life and have life abundantly. He came that our joy might be full. The Gospel is a message of great joy to all peoples.

There is so much more I’ve been wanting to write about all this. I hope and pray the Lord will give me the opportunity to do so. This is not only a vital message for others, but I have to say that it blesses my soul to write about God’s love and the joy He makes available to all of His children through Christ and it also brings God honor and glory as we remind one another that Christ alone is our true joy and His love for us endures forever and we need not doubt or fear or waver in our faith.  What glory! What other love compares to Him! What other joy compares to Him!

I’ve been reflecting on Isaiah 55 in the past day. I put my iPod touch onto shuffle yesterday and it ended up on a John Piper message Preaching in the Power of the Spirit. It was really excellent and I highly recommend it, but near the end he referenced verses 10 and 11 from Isaiah 55, and since that time I’ve been pondering those (as well as the whole chapter):

Gospel seed is a gift from God. (Thank You, Lord, for every seed You give me!) I am learning to count Him and that seed ever more precious. I can trust God will accomplish His purposes and it will succeed as He wills.

One of God’s purposes is that I steward that seed well and do so with joy. So, as He gives it to me, I want to be a faithful steward and sower of His seed, to persevere in sowing seed with joy for the sake of the elect.

There’s another thing I’ve been pondering. On my post here, David (TravelingStranger) commented, “God bless; keep up the holy work.”

Holy work. Holy work! The Gospel is holy because God is holy. Anytime we proclaim Christ, we are engaged in holy work. What a wonder that God chooses fallible, broken and feeble vessels like us, but we know it is all to bring God maximum glory (I Cor 1, II Cor 4). What a privilege and joy! As soon as I come to my senses and see the holiness of what I’m doing and the preciousness of the seed I’m sowing, I am melted down and can’t help but weep. I love Jesus and despite my recent wandering, I have known Him as my chief joy and my greatest treasure. I rejoice in Him and treasure Him even more today as I’ve seen His love constraining me back into His fold, to feel His embrace, to hear Him rejoicing over me with singing and quieting me with His love.

Throughout the day today I could particularly relate to the apostle Paul’s words:

Realizing the holiness of the task at hand, the awesome responsibility we have, and the hungry souls needing to be fed I was humbled. I knew that in and of myself I could do nothing. That’s a good place to be. And whenever we’re not there we need to ask Him to put us there once again.

As I said, I’ve been pondering Isaiah 55, and there’s more I would like to write on it, though I’ve not really had time to sit with as much as I’d like, except to say I can’t help but look at verses 4 and 5 and 12 and 13 and see how the Church is in dire need of truly knowing the deep joy of our salvation and having full assurance of God’s love for us:

If we continue joyless and unassured in our faith, are any nations really going to run to us? If we aren’t having joy and peace in believing and breaking forth into singing, are any nations going to have joy and peace in believing and break forth into singing? Are they going to have any interest in a God whose people are miserable and whining all the time? Are we going to be making a name for the LORD (other than bringing reproach on His Name )?

However, if we know God and His love in increasing measure so we might be filled with His joy and walk in deeper assurance, in both the dark and cloudy and stormy days as well as in the bright and sunny and calm days, what a witness that will be of God’s everlasting Gospel!

I do appreciate your friendship and your continuing prayers and support as I strive to be a happy sower by the grace of God at work in me.

One more thing I would ask you to pray about is for wisdom and discernment for me regarding my place in my local church. Long story short, it appears God is presenting an opportunity to me to have an impact on the women’s ministry there. I want to walk in obedience to God’s will for me and not to jump ahead of Him in this. I tend to jump ahead rather than waiting on Him. That was something our Father has had to discipline me several times in the past. This time around He gave me grace to be able to wait and pray, and I did not push, but now a door has been opening by His hand. (This is what I was referring to in my post Trust, delight, commit (Psalm 37:3-5) a couple days ago.)

I am also privileged to pray for you, so please feel free to leave requests in the comments below and/or message me.

The Lord has rejoiced my soul and made me glad!
Karen