With Christ in the School of Prayer, excerpt 173

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I do this, not because I'm a powerful prayer warrior, but because I'm not. Murray was. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. His book is based on Mark 11:22-24. The previous post in this series is here. As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color. Murray's book is based on Mark 11:22-24.

Faith and obedience are but the pathway of blessing. Before giving us the parable of the vine and the branches, Jesus had very distinctly told what the full blessing is to which faith and obedience are to lead. Three times over He had said, ‘If ye love me, keep my commandments,’ and spoken of the threefold blessing with which He would crown such obedient love. The Holy Spirit would come from the Father; the Son would manifest Himself; the Father and the Son would come and make their abode. It is as our faith grows into obedience, and in obedience and love our whole being goes out and clings itself to Christ, that our inner life becomes opened up, and the capacity is formed within of receiving the life, the spirit, of the glorified Jesus, as a distinct and conscious union with Christ and with the Father. The word is fulfilled in us: ‘In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and ye in me, and I in you.’ We understand how, just as Christ is in God, and God in Christ, one together not only in will and in love, but in identity of nature and life, because they exist in each other, so we are in Christ and Christ in us, in union not only of will and love, but of life and nature too.
It was after Jesus had spoken of our thus through the Holy Spirit knowing that He is in the Father, and even so we in Him and He in us, that He said, ‘Abide in me, and I in you. Accept, consent to receive that Divine life of union with myself, in virtue of which, as you abide in me, I also abide in you, even as I abide in the Father. So that your life is mine and mine is yours.’ This is the true abiding, the occupying of the position in which Christ can come and abide; so abiding in Him that the soul has come away from self to find that He has taken the place and become our life. It is the becoming as little children who have no care, and find their happiness in trusting and obeying the love that has done all for them.

Sunspots 893

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

The Arts: NPR reports that Mary Badham, who played Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird, is now playing one of the Finch's neighbors in a theater production of the story.

Christianity: (and politics) A Christianity Today writer, along with others, believes that the US is headed for a time of political violence, and in fact is already in one. She says that Christians, of whatever political persuasion, should not participate, following the example of Jesus.

Education: Grammarphobia discusses the expression "weak in the knees."

Environment: Gizmodo tells us that European bison are being re-introduced to the United Kingdom, where they have not been (in the wild, at least) for thousands of years.

Finances: (or something) Gizmodo discusses mishandled air luggage.

Health: Fox News (and other outlets) reports on a study that says that those under 40 years old should not drink alcohol.

A Conversation writer tells us why drug names are so complicated, and explains some of how they are named.

History: (or something) ListVerse shows us some amazing bridges.

Humor: (or something) a cat escaped from a carrier, in the Boston airport, and was finally caught, after three weeks, according to NPR.

Politics: (or something) A Conversation writer says that the Shinto religion (and the Unification Church) influences the assassination of Shinzo Abe.

Science: (or something) The Conversation discusses love (by which the discussion mostly means physical attraction.)

Gizmodo reports that the Webb telescope has been damaged by a micrometeorite. It should still function, almost as well as before the damage.

Gizmodo also reports that NASAs martian explorer devices have photographed what looks like a tangle of string. The article has a link to a previous finding -- something that looks like a door.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

 

With Christ in the school of prayer, by Andrew Murray, 92

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post is here. As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color. Murray continues his discussion, based on Mark 11:22-24:

Blessed Father! Thou art Love, and only he that abideth in love abideth in Thee and in fellowship with Thee. The Blessed Son hath this day again taught me how deeply true this is of my fellowship with Thee in prayer. O my God! let Thy love, shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit, be in me a fountain of love to all around me, that out of a life in love may spring the power of believing prayer. O my Father! grant by the Holy Spirit that this may be my experience, that a life in love to all around me is the gate to a life in the love of my God. And give me especially to find in the joy with which I forgive day by day whoever might offend me, the proof that Thy forgiveness to me is a power and a life.

Lord Jesus! my Blessed Teacher! teach Thou me to forgive and to love. Let the power of Thy blood make the pardon of my sins such a reality, that forgiveness, as shown by Thee to me, and by me to others, may be the very joy of heaven. Show me whatever in my intercourse with fellowmen might hinder my fellowship with God, so that my daily life in my own home and in society may be the school in which strength and confidence are gathered for the prayer of faith. Amen.

With Christ in the school of prayer by Andrew Murray, 90

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post is here. As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color. Murray continues his discussion, based on Mark 11:22-24:

We may gather these thoughts into a third lesson: In our life with men the one thing on which everything depends is love. The spirit of forgiveness is the spirit of love. Because God is love, He forgives: it is only when we are dwelling in love that we can forgive as God forgives. In love to the brethren we have the evidence of love to the Father, the ground of confidence before God, and the assurance that our prayer will be heard, (1 John iv. 20, iii.18-21, 23.). ‘Let us love in deed and truth; hereby shall we assure our heart before Him. If our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God, and whatever we ask, we receive of Him.’ Neither faith nor work will profit if we have not love; it is love that unites with God, it is love that proves the reality of faith. As essential as in the word that precedes the great prayer-promise in Mark xi. 24, ‘Have faith in God,’ is this one that follows it, ‘Have love to men.’ The right relations to the living God above me, and the living men around me, are the conditions of effectual prayer.
This love is of special consequence when we labour for such and pray for them. We sometimes give ourselves to work for Christ, from zeal for His cause, as we call it, or for our own spiritual health, without giving ourselves in personal self-sacrificing love for those whose souls we seek. No wonder that our faith is feeble and does not conquer. To look on each wretched one, however unloveable he be, in the light of the tender love of Jesus the Shepherd seeking the lost; to see Jesus Christ in him, and to take him up, for Jesus’ sake, ina heart that really loves, —this, this is the secret of believing prayer and successful effort. Jesus, in speaking of forgiveness, speaks of love as its root. Just as in the Sermon on the Mount He connected His teaching and promises about prayer with the call to be merciful, as the Father in heaven is merciful (Matt. v. 7, 9, 22, 38-48), so we see it here: a loving life is the condition of believing prayer.

With Christ in the school of prayer, by Andrew Murray, 86

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post is here. As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color. Murray continues his discussion, based on Mark 11:22-24:

‘And whensoever ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any one; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.’—Mark xi. 25.
THESE words follow immediately on the great prayer-promise, ‘All things whatsoever ye pray, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them.’ We have already seen how the words that preceded that promise, ‘Have faith in God,’ taught us that in prayer all depends upon our relation to God being clear; these words that follow on it remind us that our relation with fellow-men must be clear too. Love to God and love to our neighbour are inseparable: the prayer from a heart, that is either not right with God on the one side, or with men on the other, cannot prevail. Faith and love are essential to each other.

Perhaps people should post the greatest commandments, not the Ten Commandments?

The Greatest Commandments. (Or the greatest attitudes to have!)

The Ten Commandments have often been posted in people's yards, and other places. But I've never seen these two commandments, to unselfishly love God, and other people, in anyone's yard, nor seen a movement to post them in courtrooms, even though the Bible says that they are the greatest commandments.

With the attitudes needed to keep these two great commandments, keeping the Ten Commandments will take care of itself. I hope I have these attitudes.

Lest there be any doubt, I have nothing against the Ten Commandments!

For another post on this topic, see here.

Thanks for reading, and looking.

Equipment and character for following Christ

Our Tools and Power - we have been given enough equipment to follow Christ

Ephesians 1:19b the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might 20a which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead

Luke 12:11a “… don’t be anxious how or what you will answer, or what you will say; 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that same hour what you must say.”

Colossians 1:9 For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don’t cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God,

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, 23a gentleness, and self-control. (These fruits are tools for following Christ -- see below.)

1 Peter 4:10 As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms. 11b … that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having the utility belt of truth buckled around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having fitted your feet with the preparation of the Good News of peace, 16 above all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

Our Character: When I ask, “Tell me the first word that comes to your mind when I say Christian,” not one time has someone suggested the word love. – Philip Yancey, Vanishing Grace: What Ever Happened to the Good News?

But: 1 John 4:8 He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love.

Thanks for reading. Be equipped!

Excerpts from Orthodoxy, by G. K. Chesterton, 55

I want to love my neighbour not because he is I, but precisely because he is not I. I want to adore the world, not as one likes a looking-glass, because it is one’s self, but as one loves a woman, because she is entirely different. If souls are separate love is possible. If souls are united love is obviously impossible. A man may be said loosely to love himself, but he can hardly fall in love with himself, or, if he does, it must be a monotonous courtship. If the world is full of real selves, they can be really unselfish selves. 

Love desires personality; therefore loves desires division. It is the instinct of Christianity to be glad that God has broken the universe into little pieces, because they are living pieces. 

The oriental deity is like a giant who should have lost his leg or hand and be always seeking to find it; but the Christian power is like some giant who in a strange generosity should cut off his right hand, so that it might of its own accord shake hands with him. We come back to the same tireless note touching the nature of Christianity; all modern philosophies are chains which connect and fetter; Christianity is a sword which separates and sets free. No other philosophy makes God actually rejoice in the separation of the universe into living souls. But according to orthodox Christianity this separation between God and man is sacred, because this is eternal. That a man may love God it is necessary that there should be not only a God to be loved, but a man to love him. All those vague theosophical minds for whom the universe is an immense melting-pot are exactly the minds which shrink instinctively from that earthquake saying of our Gospels, which declare that the Son of God came not with peace but with a sundering sword. The saying rings entirely true even considered as what it obviously is; the statement that any man who preaches real love is bound to beget hate. It is as true of democratic fraternity as a divine love; sham love ends in compromise and common philosophy; but real love has always ended in bloodshed. Yet there is another and yet more awful truth behind the obvious meaning of this utterance of our Lord. According to Himself the Son was a sword separating brother and brother that they should for an eon hate each other. But the Father also was a sword, which in the black beginning separated brother and brother, so that they should love each other at last.

Orthodoxy, first published in 1908, by G. K. Chesterton, is in the public domain, and available from Project Gutenberg. The previous post in this series is here. Thanks for reading! Read Chesterton.

Ideas on how to love God

Ideas on How to Love God

Mark 12:28-31 tells us that the most important commandment is to love God.

In Luke’s description of what was probably the same event, Jesus explicitly affirmed that answer (World English Bible, public domain):
Luke 10:25 Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”

27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; [Deuteronomy 6:5] and your neighbor as yourself. [Leviticus 19:18]” 28 He [Jesus] said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.” [All these “loves” are agape love.]

So how do we love God?

One way, Jesus said, is to follow His teachings, or commandments. See John 14:15-24. Most of those teachings are in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7. See also the “Great Commission,” of Matthew 28:18-20.

An on-line search led to many articles on the subject. Here are some of their suggestions on how to Love God: 1) be thankful, including for things we don’t like. 2) trust God 3) put God first 4) be committed 5) be humble 6) spend time in prayer.

Some other ideas: If I really love someone, I will pay attention to what they say, even if I don’t like it, or it’s repetitive. If I really love someone, I want to be in their company. If I really love someone, I want the best for them -- I want them to be thought well of. May I feel that way about God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

George Croly expressed love for God in a great poem, “Spirit of God, Descend Upon my Heart”: The hymn says:

Hast Thou not bid me love Thee, God and King?

All, all Thine own, soul, heart and strength and mind.

I see Thy cross; there teach my heart to cling:

O let me seek Thee, and O let me find!

Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love,

One holy passion filling all my frame;

The kindling of the heaven descended Dove,

My heart an altar, and Thy love the flame.