March 29, 2009

• Lent V. - You follow me! (Are we steadfastly setting our faces to His will?)

  This is coming more from my personal experiences as of late (so it's not so systematic a study as I sometimes do, it's more of a journaling here), but I share these things with you so you might not loiter in your heavenly journey. I am praying I might encourage you to draw from Christ's strength working in you to steadfastly set your face to doing His will and to walk in obedience to His command, "You follow me!"

  ~Karen

  And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem...Luke 9:51, KJV.

  Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go. 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, Follow me. 20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who had been reclining at table close to him and had said, Lord, who is it that is going to betray you? 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, Lord, what about this man? 22 Jesus said to him, If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me! John 21:18-21.

  In the past week or so I've been thinking about being steadfastly set to doing God's will and how often we can get off track in that, even though we make resolutions to follow Him and we don't intend to get off track in following His will for us.

  Whenever God calls us to follow Him, temptations will rise up. Lust from within. Satan from without. The cares of this life. Though Christ is victor over sin, Satan and death, we can never underestimate the power of sin and Satan to keep us from steadfastly setting our faces to following through on God's will for us. It is true that we are saved from the power of sin and Satan, but we are not saved from their presence in our lives. Therefore, we must always must be on the alert and be diligent. Consider that even Jesus Himself was tempted. Can we really think we won't also be tempted?

  The temptation to look back

  Yes, if you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I have previously written on the temptation to look back to the past; in fact I've written quite extensively on it (please click here to access the links to my posts on this).

  Last week I'd shared with a friend how God had really helped me to look ahead rather than to keep on looking back to the past. And in the midst of all that I could see how God was once again doing a Romans 8:28 thing there, by redeeming some bad experiences from my past and using them to help me to encourage others in the race set before them. I continue to be amazed at how God uses my deepest hurts and most difficult trials and even my past sin in order to help me to enter into the journeys of others....(And, no, I'm not saying here we ever seek to justify or excuse sin by saying, "God will work it all out in the end, so it doesn't really matter what I do!" God forbid! Romans 6:1ff.)

  Just after that time of sharing pretty much out of nowhere there came a temptation for me to look back! Satan was nipping at my heels and trying to get a foothold. But thanks be to God, He helped me not to turn back but to set my face ahead. God reminded me He has closed doors. He also reminded me He has not only closed them but has confirmed to me I must leave those doors closed. Others may enter those doors, but that is not His plan for me. Yes, I've struggled with this. There are places others are free to go, but Jesus tells me: "You follow Me!" I'm not to be following in the steps of other people...

  But you know it's tough to leave those closed doors closed behind us when there's no open door ahead of us. We have to remember that God doesn't usually give us the whole road map all at once. Often like Abram we get a calling from God to go out...

  Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house...

  but we don't quite know where we're headed...

  Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.
  

  to the land that I will show you...I don't know about you, but I don't generally like that. I want to know upfront. I want to have all the answers. But that's not God's way. That's not the faith way. Faith trusts that God does know where we're going and where He's taking me and He will show me what I know when I need to know it and He will be with me each step of the way. Just as God would show Abram in His time, not in Abram's time, God will show us in His time. God doesn't work on my timetable or yours, does He? By faith and patience we inherit the promises. O for grace to trust Him more when we don't see that open door and don't have that road map in hand with the destination starred for us!

  In the meantime, we step out in faith. No, we don't have the full itinerary, we don't have the GPS route all programmed out. Sometimes all we know is where God wants us to be today. And we know He will be with us and never leave us or forsake us. All He asks us is to take those baby steps of obedience and trust Him in what we do know for today, or even just for the next hour.

  If we never take that first step out of Haran, how will we ever get to Canaan?

  If we keep looking back and turning around and looking at Haran, how will we ever get to Canaan?

  That's pretty much the theme of the whole book of Hebrews. These people are in danger of looking back, of stopping the race and not finishing well. The tenth chapter ends with these words:

  but my righteous one shall live by faith,
  and if he shrinks back,
  my soul has no pleasure in him.

  But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

  Right after this we find that glorious chapter of Hebrews 11. The author is telling his audience: "You can move forward, keep going. And here are the great saints that came before you. Look at them. They did it. And you know them–you know these people were sinners like you. There was nothing special about them. You can do it!" He's cheering on his readers. He's telling them to look to the example of the Old Testament saints as an encouragement. These were ordinary men and women like us. And now I'm doing the same. And let us remember that the same God who was at work in them is at work in you and me to help us run well, to follow Him in faith and keep our eyes steadfastly set on His will for us.

  Right after we read about that great cloud of witnesses we move right into Hebrews 12 (you notice it all flows together) where the author culminates with our ultimate example, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We look to Jesus, but we don't only look to Jesus, we have His life in us. He is the author and perfecter of our faith. He's put His life in us and He will continue and complete the work He's begun in us.

  And the writer's theme here again is that we're to be looking forward, we're to be looking unto Jesus, just as Jesus looked forward to the joy set before Him. If we don't look forward, we'll begin to entertain thoughts of Haran or Egypt or wherever, and then we next thing we know we're stealing a glance backward and pretty soon we're looking back longingly. Our past begins to fill our vision. It consumes us. Soon we all but lose sight of the heavenly blessings that lie ahead for us and we begin to crave and covet earthly blessings. And the more we do that, the more likely we'll end up getting turned around and going the wrong way.

  Right in the middle of Hebrews 11 we find these words which remind us that those saints of old kept moving forward because they saw themselves as pilgrims and therefore they kept looking forward:

  These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

   
  We've got to keep that pilgrim mentality. Do we desire that better country, that heavenly country? We've got to keep reading the book of Hebrews and Psalm 84, those types of things. And we've got to keep encouraging one another. That's another big theme of the book of Hebrews as well; the saints who are running well are to encourage those whose hands are hanging down and knees are weak. If we don't do this, we'll be tempted to turn around. We need to spur one another on in the race set before us. That's a big part of the ministry of the Body of Christ. We're in this thing together. We need to put ourselves in relationships with others in the Church who will push us and challenge us and exhort us so we persevere and press on. And we need to do the same for others, to make ourselves available when they need that push, that word of encouragement. Each one of us must take seriously this responsibility and calling because when one part of the Body is weak and not functioning as it ought, we all suffer.

  When God calls us out from somewhere and when we're tempted to look back, we've got to reorient ourselves. Let us keep looking ahead to the heavenly country and to the saints of old and to our Savior and to the prize set before us, the joy that awaits us. We've got to keep our hands on the plow and keep looking forward. We know what Jesus said about the one who put his hand to the plow and looked back...When we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and the joy set before us, when we look to the promised land that awaits us, the heavenly reward and the glory of God, earthly joys will begin to pale in comparison.

  The temptation to turn to the right or to the left

  Perhaps we've been traveling on that road to Canaan and we're moving ahead, we're making progress on the journey. Perhaps we're not even considering looking back at that point. We've steadfastly set our faces to Jerusalem. We know we're headed there, yet the next thing we know questions, doubts and fears arise up in our minds. We begin to doubt God's particular plan for us, perhaps only in just one small detail. There will be temptations to turn to the right or the left. Temptations to put on Saul's armor instead of relying on the armor of the Lord. Temptations to walk in our own power and might rather than by His Spirit. Temptations to rely on our own wisdom. And at that point though we're not looking back, it's just as deadly. For if we keep entertaining such things, it will get us off the road God has set before us, and then we'll no longer be walking in pure obedience to God's revealed will to us. I believe I've mentioned this before, but when we start out on a journey if as we're navigating we're off just one degree, we won't get to our intended destination. So too with us: if we're off in our obedience to God's revealed will to us by just one degree, we won't get to our destination. Even one degree. Disobedience in serious. Disobedience in even a small thing is still disobedience. One bite of fruit. Picking up a few sticks. Hitting the rock. We may begin well but we can easily get off track. This was Paul's concern at the end of I Corinthians 9. He knew he had to continue to discipline his body. He feared being disqualified.
  
  I recently had a couple things happen to me along these lines.

  1. First, I found myself praying to God, no, pleading with Him, that He would give me a particular gift. (Yes, I should have known better. Slap me on the side of the head! Throw cold water on me!) Yes, I do know better and I did then, but I so wanted to serve Him and that good desire became twisted. I turned into a schemer and I found myself reasoning with God, i.e.-attempting to maneuver Him:

  You know if You would give me such and such a gift, You know I could minister better for You. If You've truly called me to do this for You, why don't You give me this gift? It certainly would help me to obey You better.

  Well, this all sounds very spiritual, but my motives were not pure. I will say here that there is a way we can ask God to pour out His Spirit on us in a way that is glorifying to Him. But that really wasn't at the heart of what I was all about at that time. I was all about selfish ambition and pride and coveting. And it all came from a distrust of God and His perfect plan and provision for me. I was doubting He could work in and through me what He'd called me to do unless He did a particular thing. As a result, that led me to be discontent with the gifts He had already given me. I was no longer walking by faith. I was seeking to put on Saul's armor rather than trusting that God would use the five stones and sling He's given me.

  That whole thing about asking God for a particular gift was also about my trying to find some quick, easy and painless way I could obey God in the calling He has been putting upon me. I was looking for a lucky charm or some pixie dust, just something to smooth out my way just a bit (or more than a bit!). Yet God has never told us obedience would be easy, though He does make it possible for us. Yes, the yoke of Christ is easy but we still must labor, strive, press on and discipline ourselves. We must purify ourselves and mortify sin. There's work involved in all that. Effort. I will add here that we don't earn our salvation as we work, but our work, out obedience, is proof of our salvation. We show we are His as we work out what God is putting into us. So we don't sit back and coast and twiddle our thumbs idly. We work. We make the most of the time. If you look to the men and women of faith in the Bible and in history, and of course as we look to Jesus Himself, there is effort there. He's sweating drops of blood. He's struggling, agonizing. There's a battle going on. There are temptations from the devil, and opposition from both the religious authorities as well as his own inner circle. Temptations to save Himself. To come down from the cross. Sweating drops of blood! Vehement cries and tears! Temptations not to drink the cup the Father had given Him. We really can't understand that. We've not resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. We sometimes think that because Jesus was God everything was easy for Him. No, there were struggles. He was fully human and fully God. Let us never minimize Jesus' struggles against sin and the devil. Yet He was perfectly obedient and victorious. He was without sin. He withstood every temptation.

  God does gift His people and we should be seeking His Spirit and asking Him to pour out His Spirit on us all He has for us, but we must never dictate to Him how He should do this. We must trust His sovereign ways are perfect. He is all-knowing and all-wise and He gifts us for His glory and for the profit of the whole Church. I must trust that He will equip me to operate out of His perfect provision. I need no more than what He chooses to give me. Yes, it doesn't seem possible He can work with five stones and a sling, yet He does do that. All the time! A boy with a few loaves and fishes. Namaan's servant girl. The boy Samuel. The shepherd Amos. Mary Magdalene. The woman at the well. And so on.

  So often we look for or ask for some spectacular gifting and yet we don't take advantage of the means of grace He has given us to feed and fill us in our journey. We must ask Him to provide our daily bread and living water, and it is our responsibility to abide in Him and allow Him and His Words to abide in us, to obey in what He has shown us, to continue to eat and drink of Him daily, to pray without ceasing, so we will not grow weary or faint. And so forth. All those spiritual disciplines. That's all about doing what we can to cultivate His life in our souls. It's not merely busy work or something we check off of our daily to-do list. It's all vital and necessary for us so we might walk and run with Him in obedience all the way and not turn back or deviate from the course set before us.

  2. The second thing that happened to me is that I saw an opportunity to be engaged in doing the work God was calling me to and I thought, "Yes, perhaps I can just do that, then I don't have to do...." Oh, I tell you I was tempted to jump at that. And, of course, as you can see, that was all wrong as well. "Then I don't have to do..." I was trying to weasel out of what God had already been showing me. God wanted me on that road to Jerusalem, to go with Him all the way. I was doing a Peter (John 21). Like Peter, I was looking at others and saying, "Lord, what about him?" Translated that means: "I'm not comfortable with what You're having me do. What's with that? Why does John get to do something else? Why do I have to do this? I don't really know about this. I didn't really know this is what it would mean for me when you told me that day on the shore to 'Follow Me.'" That was me! I was the clay dictating to the Potter how He ought to use me! Thanks be to God that He is gracious and full of mercy to His children for Jesus' sake...

  God was showing me that I couldn't go halfway, I couldn't stop and settle for something that was certainly good for others—but was not His best for me. It may be God's best for them, but it was not God's best for me.

  You follow Me.

  * * *

  
  Denying self and dying to self: We're not to be like the horse or mule!

  From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you. 23 But he turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. Matthew 16:21-23.
  

  When we balk at and try to squirm out of God's plan for us, when we go begin to look back, when we go halfway or when divert to the right or to the left, it shows that we are not setting our minds on the things of God. At that point, we are not truly united with Him in all His revealed will for us. I like the King James Version of that Matthew 16:22: we are not savouring the things of God. Are we truly savouring the things of God? If we were savouring the things of God, we would have no qualms or hesitation or reservation about following Him wherever He leads us. We wouldn't be finding excuses not to go with Him. "Where He leads me, I will follow..." Except I sometimes say, "Um, well, yes, I did say I would follow You. But I didn't know it would mean following You there and in that way." We come up with our litany of excuses. But thanks be to God He takes us up and looks us in the eye and gently yet firmly speaks to us through His Spirit and disciplines us and so gets us back on the road where we belong. Our Shepherd keeps calling to us: You follow Me. And if we are His, we can't resist that call. The Hound of Heaven pursues us and presses in on us. If we are one with His Spirit, we can't not obey. We also must see that when we savour the things of men (when we are self-seeking), we are a hindrance to Jesus' work in our lives and we are a hindrance to the Kingdom advancing! That's a frightening thought to me. Jesus calls Peter Satan! How often do I set my mind on the things of men like Peter did! God forgive me!
  
  Right after Jesus rebukes Peter, He gives His disciples (and us), these sobering and challenging words:

  Then Jesus told his disciples, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Matthew 16:24-28.

  I believe I've shared from Psalm 32 previously. God hits me with it every so often to remind me that I am not my own, my life is not my own, that He owns me. He has purchased me with His precious blood; therefore my life is to be rendered wholly unto Him.

  I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
  I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
  Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
  which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
  or it will not stay near you.

  

  God does not want me to be like the horse or the mule. He clearly shows me the way in which I should go. I have no excuse to be stubborn and balk at His will for me. I have been united with Him and I have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in me so I might also steadfastly set my face to Jerusalem like my Lord did, to obey God fully in all He has for me, in the exact way He has prescribed for me. Not to turn back and not to turn to the right or the left. No deviation whatsoever in His revealed will to me.

  Do we not have the presence of God? Are we not filled with His Holy Spirit? Do we not have the word of God written on our hearts and in our minds? Have we not been given His good Spirit to instruct and teach us? Do we not have the love and power of the resurrected Christ dwelling in us to work in us a desire to will and a strength to do of His good pleasure? Do we not have the Scripture so we might be thoroughly equipped for every good work and guard us from turning to the right or to the left? We have no excuse to be like a horse or mule. Absolutely none whatsoever!

  Has not God promised to equip us and work in us to do His will, to make us complete in every good work? His will for us is sanctification. It is His will that we be conformed to the image of His Son, the One who perfectly obeyed in all the Father gave Him to do. That same God is working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. He has given us all we need to walk in the way of Jesus, to walk in the He is showing each one of us, to continue on to Canaan, to obey Him fully, to steadfastly set our faces to Jerusalem.

  Will we follow Him? Do we really care if we follow Him? Do we keep looking back rather than looking at Him? Does it bother us when we deviate to the right or left? Or have we gotten off track and not even noticed? Have we become no different than Israel in the time of Judges: are we merely doing what is right in our own eyes, or are we truly seeking to follow in His way?

  * * *

  Reminding ourselves of God's perfect provision to follow Him

  Will we not look to Him and avail ourselves of God's promised provision, His presence and His power to follow Him and take hold of all He has for us?

  I don't have a life verse per se, but I do find this portion of Scripture from Genesis 28 precious:

  And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.

  This is one of those passages that God used several years ago to assure me at a time when He was calling me out of Haran, so to speak. There was no open door, but He was shutting a door. So I look back on this passage and see that He has been true to keep His promises to me. It's not that it's all turned out as I expected. Far from it. I can't imagine where I am now. And it's not been a bed of roses. Far from it. There's been difficulty, struggle and pain and a lot of questions on my side of things. But I have been blessed in ways I could not have imagined. And through it all, God has been faithful to keep every one of His promises to me! He is good. He is faithful. He is loving. His way is best. I wouldn't have chosen it all to turn out as it has, but as I said, He has so marvelously worked through it all and is continuing to work through it. The story isn't over yet, and even though I don't know what lies ahead I do know my Redeemer lives and I know I can trust Him with my whole life.

  (I hope you have verses or passages like that as well. Go back to them and feed on them, feed on Him. Let His Spirit strengthen you through His Word. And if you don't have such great and precious promises you hold onto to spur you on to keep running in obedience, ask God to speak to you through His Word. Of course, you do know that you must be immersing yourself in His Word for Him to do that for you. If reading my blog does nothing else than to spur you on to dust off your Bible and open it and dig in, then I rejoice in that! The Word of God is so precious. Let us not ever take it for granted.)

  If you look through those verses in Genesis 28 you will see that the power, promises, presence and provision of God are all right there! For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. As He calls us to follow Him, He's right there with us. He's working that all in us. But we need to cooperate with Him in that. He never calls us to go where He won't go with us. You follow me. Where is He calling you to follow Him? Will you trust Him and obey in what He has shown you today? Will you take that step? Will you keep your face steadfastly set to go to Jerusalem?

  * * *

  Some words from the great cloud of witnesses

  I would like to close with some words from the great cloud of witnesses. If you've been reading my blog you know how much I love Christian biography and I can't recommend it enough to you.

  Here are some words David Livingstone wrote to his sisters:

  Let us seek–and with the conviction that we cannot do without it–that all selfishness be extirpated, pride banished, unbelief driven from the mind, every idol dethroned, and everything hostile to holiness and opposed to the divine will crucified; that "holiness to the Lord" may be engraven on the heart, and evermore chararacterise our whole conduct. This is what we ought to strive after; this is the way to be happy; this is what our Saviour love–the entire surrender of the heart. May He enable us by His Spirit to persevere till we attain it! All comes from Him, the disposition to ask as well as the blessings itself.[1]

  From Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost for His Highest" (December 11th):

  If any man will come after me, let him deny himself." Matthew xvi. 24.
  
  ...individuality must go in order that the personal life may come out and be brought into fellowship with God. Individuality counterfeits personality as lust counterfeits love. God designed human nature for himself; individuality debases human nature for itself.
  
  The characteristics of individuality are independence and self-assertiveness. It is the continual assertion of individuality that hinders our spiritual life more than anything else. . . . Watch yourself when the Spirit of God is at work. He pushes you to the margins of your individuality, and you have either to say–"I shan't," or to surrender, to break the husk of individuality and let the personal life emerge. The Holy Spirit narrows it down every time to one thing (Cf. Matthew v. 23-24). . . . God wants to bring you into union with Himself, but unless you are willing to give up your right to yourself He cannot. "Let him deny himself"–deny his independent right to himself, then the real life has a chance to grow.[2]

  Here is Charles de Foucauld's "Prayer of Abandonment" which I've posted before, but I believe it's a prayer that should always be coming from the lips of  those who have been purchased by His blood, sealed by His Spirit and wholly crucified to self and sanctified unto Him and seeking to follow Him wherever He leads:
  
  

  Father,
  
  I abandon myself into your hands;
  do with me what you will.
  Whatever you may do, I thank you:
  I am ready for all, I accept all.
  
  Let only your will be done in me,
  and in all your creatures -
  I wish no more than this, O Lord.
  
  Into your hands I commend my soul:
  I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
  for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself,
  to surrender myself into your hands without reserve,
  and with boundless confidence,

  for you are my Father.

  From David Brainerd's "Life and Diary" [2]:

  "Thursday, Nov. 4 [1742] ... My soul felt a pleasing, yet painful concern, lest I should spend some moments without God. O may I always live to God! ...

  
  

  But of late, God has been pleased to keep my soul hungry, almost continually; so that I have been filled with a kind of pleasing pain. When I really enjoy God, I feel my desires of him the more insatiable, and my thirstings after holiness the more unquenchable; and the Lord will not allow me to feel as though I were fully supplied and satisfied, but keeps me still reaching forward. I feel barren and empty, as though I could not live without more of God; I feel ashamed and guilty before him. Oh! I see that ‘the law is spiritual, but I am carnal.’ I do not, I cannot live to God. Oh for holiness! Oh for more of God in my soul! Oh this pleasing pain! It makes my soul press after God; the language of it is, ‘Then shall I be satisfied, when I awake in God’s likeness,’ (Ps. xvii. 15. ult.) but never, never before: and consequently I am engaged to ‘press towards the mark’ day by day. O that I may feel this continual hunger, and not be retarded, but rather animated by every cluster from Canaan, to reach forward in the narrow way, for the full enjoyment and possession of the heavenly inheritance! O that I may never loiter in my heavenly journey!

  From George Whitefield's Journals [3]:

  God grant that I may with a single eye seek to please the Captain of my salvation.
  
  God grant that I may die daily!

  And Jesus answered them, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. 27 Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven: I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. John 12:23-27.

  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. I Corinthians 15:56-58.

  ---

  Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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

  [1] "David Livingstone: The Truth Behind the Legend" (Christian Focus Publications: 1993), 40. This was a Letter to his sister dated 5/05/1839 as found in William G. Blaikie's "The Personal Life of David Livingstone" (London: 1880 and 1910), pp 29-30:

  [2] "The Life and Diary of the Rev. David Brainerd,"which is included in "The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume Two."  See also John Piper's biography of Brainerd,  "Oh, May I Never Loiter on My Heavenly Journey."

  [3] "George Whitefield's Journals" (Banner of Truth Trust: 1960), 106, 123. Orig. published in 1738-1741.

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