In my last post, fall down, worship Him, open our treasures, present gifts to Him, I focused on Psalm 72:14-15, and emphasized how we as Christians must be examining ourselves and growing in our understanding and appreciation of the love, mercy, and grace of God in Jesus Christ which saved poor, needy, and helpless sinners, so we might make a fitting response to such a wondrous, great Savior and the salvation He freely bestowed upon us:

Tonight, I'd like to pick up on the portion of those verses that emphasizes the gift of prayer, which God directs His people to render unto Him.

Prayer also will be made for Him continually...

Here we find two characteristics about the type of prayer God expects of His people, all the saints, those unworthy and undeserving souls He's redeemed by the precious blood of Christ from the power of sin, the flesh, the devil, and death.

• 1. It's prayer made for Him, for the Lord Jesus Christ.

• 2. It's prayer that's made continually.

I'd like to start with the second point. Prayer that's made continually isn't so foreign to us, at least not in our intellectual understanding, though perhaps not in practice.

Most Christians are familiar with this three word verse:

"pray without ceasing"
(I Thessalonians 5:18)

... as well as the example of the importunate woman in Luke 18:

Then He [Jesus] spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: "There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, 'Avenge me of my adversary.' And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, 'Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.'"

Then the Lord said, "hear what the unjust judge said, And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"

Some of us may be engaged in prayer fairly regularly; however, very often there's a problem with the content of our prayers, i.e. -  the focus and aim of our prayers doesn't line up with the first point – our prayers are not made for Him. It was only within the last couple years that that little phrase began to strike me:  for Him... for HIM... What does it mean that prayer be made for Him?

J.A. Alexander explained that praying for Him continually means we ought to be praying "for the progress and extension of Messiah's kingdom."

Matthew Henry wrote this about what it means to make prayers for Him continually...

Prayers shall be made for him, and that continually. The people prayed for Solomon, and that helped to make him and his reign so great a blessing to them. It is the duty of subjects to make prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, for kings and all in authority, not in compliment to them, as is too often done, but in concern for the public welfare. But how is this applied to Christ? He needs not our prayers, nor can have any benefit by them. But the Old-Testament saints prayed for his coming, prayed continually for it; for they called him, He that should come. And now that he has come we must pray for the success of his gospel and the advancement of his kingdom, which he calls praying for him (Hosanna to the Son of David, prosperity to his reign), and we must pray for his second coming. It may be read, Prayer shall be made through him, or for his sake; whatsoever we ask of the Father shall be in his name and in dependence upon his intercession.

How often are my prayers really for Him? How often are your prayers really for Him? How often do we pray for the progress and extension of Messiah's kingdom? How often do you find your heart crying out for the success of his gospel and the advancement of his kingdom? How often do you hear prayers like that requested and prayed in prayer meetings or coming from the pulpit in your church? How often do we put on a show of godliness, much like the Pharisees, we pretend we're spiritual, we may in fact make lots of prayers, but all the while we deceive ourselves into thinking we're praying pious prayers, but very few, if any, of our prayers are truly for Him. Instead, isn't it so often the case that our prayers are really . . .

• all about our name ... rather than His name

• all about our glory ... rather than God's glory

• all about our kingdoms... rather than His Kingdom

• all about our will ... rather than His will
  

Remember how Jesus replied when His disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. Here's the first part of His response:

"When you pray, say:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven..."

Yes, I know the prayer goes on, and it's not like we shouldn't be praying about our own needs, but honestly, don't most of us, if left to ourselves, focus on ourselves in our prayers and give little to no attention to God Himself and the advance of His Gospel on the earth, in effect, leaving little to none of our prayers being made for Him? So long as we're (I'm) caught up and enamored and consumed with me, myself, and I, we are (I am) not going to be able to make for Him prayer continually.

He took me down ... so I might raise up prayer for Him continually....

A few years ago, God has began doing an amazing, strange, and wonderful work in my life over the period of last several years.

I wrote the following on my other blog here a couple years ago (http://deerlife.xanga.com/733786080/updateprayer-requests---october-7-2010/):

A few years back, the Lord had been trying to get my attention about my need to pray, and, well, I knew that in my head of course, since we all pretty much know we should be praying from the time we become Christians. And, as most of us have done at one time or another, I'd made resolutions to pray, but it took God repeatedly showing me (hammering me) over and over and over again about my total depravity, my total insufficiency and my total inability to do anything apart from Him. That included a lot of failures, frustrations, humiliation and tears. Until we come to the end of ourselves, we don't see the necessity of prayer and of our need to seek Him. So long as we can get by pretty well on our own, we won't get down on our knees in humble dependence and cry out to Him for living water and daily bread and His Holy Spirit. Thank God for His sovereign hand at work in drawing me to Himself through his loving Fatherly discipline.

So now, after all that time, the Holy Spirit has been softening my hard heart sufficiently so those seeds are finally beginning to sprout a bit, so I might really begin to understand in small measure the utter necessity of prayer and seek out time to spend with God in prayer. This calling to prayer intensified early in 2009 (I wrote about it here, and that was why I started up tent of meeting, my other website devoted to prayer for revival). And it has further intensified and expanded since that time. In short, God has been giving me more of a passion to be praying for and encouraging workers to be sent into the harvest and praying for His Gospel to go to all the nations; I've alluded to that in a few posts on naphtali_deer, my other blog (e.g. - see here and here). I'm not exactly sure where all of that is going in my life, but I am finally seeing that the Gospel going to the nations is for our joy, for the joy of the nations and for God's joy and is part of God's glorious plan to exalt Himself. About a week ago, I stood outside and looked up into heaven and said something like, "God, why did it take me so long to get this?!" I cry now as I consider this. I mean, I've been a Christian for almost 28 years now. Of course, I knew we should be supporting missions, I knew the Biblical teaching that God had a plan to save some from every tribe, every language, every people and every nation (e.g. - Rev. 5), but only when God and the mission of God got a hold of my heart did I really begin to see. (Not that I see all yet today, I know that...) As I've mentioned, I am a slow learner, but thanks be to God, He is persevering and longsuffering with hard-hearted and stubborn sinners like me and His mercies and kindnesses will follow us and pursue us and His Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth and will lead us in the way we should go. This is one reason I am so passionate about young people not wasting their lives. I wasted much of mine. I was lukewarm for too long. One minute of lukewarmness is too long! Thanks be to God, He has been gracious to me and has been working to restore the years the locusts of my self-absorption and spiritual dullness had eaten up.

I confess that I continue to fumble and slip and slide as I seek to go up to meet with Him on His holy mountain, but I know there is grace abounding for sinners like me there and He never casts out those who come to Him, He never despises those who are humble and seeking to worship Him in Spirit and in truth. I love to spend time with Him. And I know He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. He has also begun to show me that If we are not asking hard things of Him, we are insulting Him and limiting Him. Also, if we are not persevering in prayer, we do not show we consider Him precious enough to spend time with Him and we think we are adequate apart from His resources. These are just a few scattered thoughts here. My heart is full of Him. He is faithful to hear and to save. And He is calling us to watch in prayer with Him so we will not grow faint. To whom else can we go? He has the words of eternal life. He is our life!

I'd like to expand a little more on that time of "hammering" . . .

First off, it was at a time over twenty years after I'd been saved, that God took me down, down, down as He demanded I forgive someone. In that process, He humbled me and began to show me as I'd never seen before my total depravity, my unworthiness, and my wretchedness. How little the other person's sin against me was in contrast to my own sin for which Jesus died. At that point, I was privileged to begin to glimpse God's glory, holiness, and goodness is saving me in ways I'd never seen before. (I write a little more about this in my posts here, here, and here.)

Not long after that time, God allowed me to fail big time. I had many hopes and dreams and ambitions that were all shattered –– and not only that, but *I* was shattered. Without going into detail here, but I will mention that this happened in the context of a local church situation (I don't say much about it since there was plenty of sin and plenty of mistakes to go around, including my own... please see my post Do you love the saints . . . ALL the saints? (reflections on church hurts)). But know this, whenever the sovereign God puts us (yes, puts us!) into such situations, and we get taken down and humbled like that, it is always for our good... As soon as our hearts are broken, our hopes disappointed, and our plans thwarted, that's a blessed mercy of God sent to us so we might become desperate for God, that we wouldn't just sing "I'm desperate for You" in a song on Sunday morning, and then forget all about Him the rest of the week, but that we would really become so desperate for Him, so excruciatingly hungry and thirsty for the living God, that to be in His presence would be the ONE THING we might seek, that we would desire Him with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength; that to behold His beauty would be our prevailing desire (~ Psalm 27).

Our God lovingly ordains circumstances and situations so we might begin to question everything and begin to pant and thirst for Him and seek His face in ways we've never done before –– for far too long we've taken Him for granted, and we need to shaken out of our lethargy and complacency and lukewarmness. All of this shaking is not haphazard, but comes out of our Father's deep, abiding, and persevering lovingkindness toward us... "for whom the Lord LOVES, He chastens, and scourges every son He receives" (see Heb. 12:3-11). The hotter fires and the higher waters, the famines and droughts, the blight, mildew and hail –– all of it is purposefully and graciously ordained by our covenant God to cause us to come to our senses, so we might run home to our Father, and delight and gaze upon our Bridegroom in a manner we've never done before. That's what God is continuing to do with us.

Also, during that time, I began to become dragged down by an increasing sense of my sinfulness and my failures. I became mired in doubt and despair and second-guessing over my past decisions and behaviors, and I had slim-to-no assurance regarding my sanctification. Though I knew I was saved, and though I knew I wasn't going to hell, there was something else I knew: I knew I wasn't really living at all. I was in a very similar to the place where God took Oswald Chambers:

"I see now that God was taking me by the light of the Holy Spirit and His Word through every ramification of my being. The last three months of those years things had reached a climax, I was getting very desperate. I knew no one who had what I wanted; in fact I did not know what I did want. But I knew that if what I had was all the Christianity there was, the thing was a fraud."

~ from David McCasland's "Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God" (Grand Rapids, Mi: Discovery House Publishers, 1993), 84-85

Perhaps you're in the midst of hot fires and high waters right now, and you have been for some time, or you're in a famine or drought, or you're being buffeted by winds or pelleted with hail... Know this:  God desire is that HE becomes your first and highest and chief desire, and that His will becomes your will, and that His desire for His name, His glory, His Kingdom and His Gospel might becomes your desire.

Psalm 27:4
One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple.

Isaiah 26:8
Yes, in the way of Your judgments,
O LORD, we have waited for You;
The desire of our soul is for Your name
And for the remembrance of You.
With my soul I have desired You in the night,
Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early;
For when Your judgments are in the earth,
The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Consider God's purposes for Judah as He sent her into 70 years' exile in Babylon:

Jeremiah 29:10 For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

In the midst of prosperity, we can so easily keep spinning our wheels, staying busy, with things are looking relatively good on the surface, but all the while, our souls are withering and shrinking on the inside: –– we see no need to open up to Jesus, as we've become mired in self-sufficiency and we see no need for fellowship with Him (Rev. 3:14-22), we've lost our first Love (Rev. 2:4), we're waxing fat and forsaking the God who made us and scornfully esteeming the Rock of our salvation (Deut. 33:15); we're missing out on the one thing necessary (Luke 10:38-42):  we don't come to Jesus that we might have life, we don't sit at His feet like Mary and bask there, we don't wash His feet with our tears like the sinful woman, we don't put seeking God's face and dwelling in His courts and supping with Him above all else.

Up until those times of trial and testing, we've gotten along fairly well without that intimacy with the living God... but when God begins to strip away all we ever held dear, when He sends us into captivity, so to speak, we have no other place to turn but to Him. It is His desire that we might come to know Him as the Chief among 10,000, that our hearts would overflow with rivers of Living Water and good themes, and our tongues would be the pens of ready writers: "You ARE fairer than the sons of men! I had heard of You with the ear, but now my eye sees You, my mouth has tasted You!" O! Blessed discipline that leads us to His courts, so we might sup with our exceeding Joy! To come into His presence to be filled with fullness of joy and to sit at His right hand and know pleasures forevermore! That is life and life more abundantly! His love is better than wine! His love is better than life!

During that time, I'd begun to write a series of blog posts about Kingdom-obsessed people, and I soon realized there was NO way I could be obsessed with Christ and His Kingdom so long as I kept being burdened and pulled down by guilt over my sinfulness and second guessing my past decisions. I had no choice but to examine the work of Christ for my soul in more depth than I'd done previously, particularly in the book of Hebrews (see my posts on dealing with past sins & guilt here and my posts on looking in the rear view mirror here). I was seeking a firm assurance of forgiveness of sins and God's love for me; I was seeking strong consolation (Hebrews 6:18), though at the time, I couldn't have told you exactly what I was seeking. All I knew is that I was seeking relief and rest from the guilt, the failure, and the lack of hope. They were all so oppressive, all-consuming and overwhelming, and I found myself miserable, depressed and downcast much of the time. I was being weighed down and entangled, unable to press on to know Christ and to take hold of that for which He'd taken hold of me.

But then, one glorious day, four years ago this month, the morning of December 19, 2008, God broke through the darkness and gloom, much like Malachi describes: the Sun of Righteousness rose with healing in His wings!

There was no audible sound, but there was a word spoken by the Holy Spirit of God to lift up my downcast soul, as I knelt down in our dining room to confess that I was a loser and a failure. Those four words were more real to me than any words any other person has ever spoken to me.

During that year, while studying through The Life of Moses in Bible Study Fellowship, I'd been impressed with Moses' role as intercessor, as well as the function of the high priest in praying for the people, both of whom point to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Great High Priest.

And then, during our Sunday School time, a verse from I Samuel 12 was impressed upon my soul, which was the real kicker:

"Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you..."

At that point I knew there was no getting out of it! The call to prayer was clear and compelling. And since that time I've been burdened to pray for reformation and revival in the Church (please see my post Naphtali News: the Ministry of the Word & Prayer). But prior to that point in time, because I was so obsessed and so overwhelmed with my own stuff:  with me, myself, and I:  with my own sins, my own guilt, my own failures, my own doubts, my own second-guessing, etc., etc., I couldn't even begin to think beyond myself, and I couldn't begin to pray for Christ and His Kingdom as I ought, much less pray continually for Him.

My point in writing of my experience is that I hope it might lead you to examine yourself to see what is hindering you from making prayer for Christ and His Kingdom continually, as you ought.

Until I received that felt assurance in my soul, I wasn't free to begin to make prayer for Him continually. I call it a felt assurance because it went beyond the doctrinal, intellectual, mental understanding which I already had through the study of the Scripture. Jonathan Edwards makes the distinction between "having a rational judgment that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness" (see Edwards' "A Divine & Supernatural Light" here). Though I previously knew in my head I was forgiven, I had no true sense of the love of God in the heart. God's love was a bare-bones intellectual concept to me, not a living reality. Though I previously knew God loved me, I wasn't able to experience and enjoy and exult in the love Christ had shown me or begin to experience the freedom that Christ had bought for me, to be free from the burden of sin and guilt, and to be assured of His ongoing work of sanctification in me, to really know that God was for me and not against me, to be assured that God was working all things for my good, and so on... But once I had that sense of the sweetness of God's love imparted to my soul that day, I was free, really free in my heart, soul, mind and strength to begin to pray as the Psalmist describes:

We all have burdens, and we will continue to have burdens, but whenever those burdens, be they past, present, and/or future concerns, cause us to be inordinately focused on ourselves, we can't ever be free to make prayer for Him continually as God desires, as God demands, and as God deserves. We need to let God continue to examine us. We absolutely cannot at any cost allow any of our "stuff" to stand in the way of our making prayer for Him continually.

My challenge to you today is for you to open your Bible and to pray to God and to ask the Holy Spirit to examine you and to examine your prayers.

• Are your prayers being made for Him?

• Are your prayers being made for Him continually?

• What is preventing you from praying for Him continually?

The Church here in the west... NOT bright, NOT burning... "There are sorrows we must pray to feel."

God's desire and His very own prayer for His Church is that....

her righteousness goes forth as brightness,
And her salvation as a lamp that burns.
The Gentiles shall see your righteousness,
And all kings your glory.
(Isaiah 62:1)

Let's be honest: here in the western world, for the most part, we are not bright and we are not burning. We are no shining witness to the unsaved world. The salt has lost its saltiness. The light is under the bushel. We are not to despise the day of small things, but we are in the day of small things, and we need to recognize that fact.

Do you see these things? Are you burdened for them? Are you praying about them?

The prophets were. Take Jeremiah, for example:

Jeremiah 8:21 "For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I am mourning; Astonishment has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead, Is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery For the health of the daughter of my people?"

9:1  "Oh, that my head were waters, And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!"

Earlier this year, John Piper made this comment on Jeremiah 9:1:

"There are sorrows we must pray to feel."

Perhaps you first need to pray to feel these sorrows, so you might begin to burdened, and then you might begin to make prayer for Him continually.

Jeremiah 4
19 O my soul, my soul!
I am pained in my very heart!
My heart makes a noise in me;
I cannot hold my peace,
Because you have heard, O my soul,
The sound of the trumpet,
The alarm of war.
20 Destruction upon destruction is cried,
For the whole land is plundered.
Suddenly my tents are plundered,
And my curtains in a moment.
21 How long will I see the standard,
And hear the sound of the trumpet?

Jeremiah was burdened to the depths of his soul for the people of God and for the cause of Christ in the world. The King James Version has verse 19 starting this way: "My bowels! My bowels!" Has your soul ever been so grieved for the state of God's Church and for the name of Christ? Have you every been pained in your very heart that the Church today is a reproach to God and a byword in the world? Are you so constrained with love for Christ and His name and renown in the world that you cannot hold your peace, but have a holy compulsion to pray day and night like the watchmen set on the walls of Jerusalem?

Isaiah 62
6  I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;
They shall never hold their peace day or night.
You who make mention of the LORD, do not keep silent,
7 And give Him no rest till He establishes
And till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

Isn't that a description of the prayer that we read of in Psalm 72?

Prayer also will be made for Him continually...

Prayer made FOR HIM... and prayer made CONTINUALLY...

In marked contrast, however, it seems today that the walls are filled with watchmen who are silent, rather than making prayer for Him continually. They are self-absorbed, focused on their own needs, and blinded to the current condition; they are slumbering rather than watching in prayer... Loving to slumber! They are silent, they are dumb, dumb dogs, greedy dogs! Strong words, are they not?

Isaiah 56
10 His watchmen are blind,
They are all ignorant;
They are all dumb dogs,
They cannot bark;
Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
11 Yes, they are greedy dogs
Which never have enough.
And they are shepherds
Who cannot understand;
They all look to their own way,
Every one for his own gain,
From his own territory.

The picture above is titled "Der eingeschlafene Nachtwächter." I have some German roots in my ancestry, but I don't know German. I put the title into my translation widget, and it gave this English translation:

"The fallen asleep night watchman"

We're not to be "fallen asleep night watchman"! What an oxymoron! In contrast, the Scripture exhorts us to be

praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints... (Ephesians 6:18).

The Greek word translated "being watchful" or "keep alert" (ESV) is agrupneo (ag-roop-neh'-o):  ultimately from 1 (as negative particle) and 5258; to be sleepless, i.e. keep awake:--watch. see GREEK for 1 see GREEK for 5258.

The second root word there (5258) is the Greek hupnos (hoop'-nos), which is the root of our English word "hypnosis". hupnos: ... sleep, i.e. (figuratively) spiritual torpor:--sleep.

Have we fallen into a hypnotic state? Have we become mesmerized and entranced with the world and the things of this world, that we're not praying day and night as we ought for our Lord? Are we loving self more than loving God? Are we loving our kingdoms more than loving His Kingdom? Are we loving our will more than loving His will? No wonder prayer is not being made for Him continually! No wonder the Church remains in the state she is!

Have we fallen asleep, having lapsed into a state of spiritual torpor and sleep in regard to Christ and His Kingdom –– all the while we are lively and zealous and excited about earthly concerns? Are we working mightily and lustily to store up treasures here, while giving our left-over prayers, time, energy, money and resources to storing up treasures in heaven? Where are our affections: are they set on the earth or on things above? The frequency and the content of our prayers reflect the true heart of our affections... "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45b).

Spiritual torpor! Sleep! My friends, as children of God, we ought not be languishing or wasting our lives in spiritual torpor or sleep. Our God neither sleeps nor slumbers. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest, ever lives to make intercession for us. God forbid we sleep, lie down, or love to slumber like the blind watchmen. Will the Son of Man find faith on the earth when He returns? God forbid the Lord Jesus meets us at His second coming and calls us dumb dogs!  May God give us grace that we may not keep silent, but cry out day and night for Him, to make prayer for Him continually like the importunate woman and the alert watchmen. May we give the LORD no peace or rest until He makes His Church a praise in the earth once again. Our Bridegroom longs to hear our prayers made for Him:

Song of Solomon 2:14
"O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
In the secret places of the cliff,
Let me see your countenance,
Let me hear your voice;
For your voice is sweet,
And your countenance is lovely."

"The intercession of Christians ... is the leaven which is to leaven the whole earth with Christianity."
(Thomas Chalmers)

* Please see my follow-up post to this one:  an advent of a different sort for the "glorious progress of the work of God" (includes Jonathan Edwards' account of the latter days of the Great Awakening).

* Please note:  if God has given you a sight of the ruined state of the Church and a burdened heart to pray for her reformation and revival, please comment below and/or contact me (via my WP site). Also, please see my post here, as well as my blog devoted to prayer for revival: tent_of_meeting.xanga.com.

Related posts:

The Watchman's Song – "Day and night, night and day"
Then Abigail made haste (complacency & devotion)
postcards from England: "The Burden for Revival" (ML-J)
Postcards from England: Do you care?
Do we care more for manatees than for His flock?
Naphtali News: God speaking to me about my failures & the one thing needful
Why not pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit?
"I cannot consider myself to have been a believer (in the full sense of the word)"
Do My Prayers Glorify God?
As the Visible Disappoints
All things (even bad things) work together for good...
Our Twisted View of God

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

Information on the Hebrew and Greek words is taken from Strong's Concordance.

Photo credits:

Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Everett_Millais_-_Parable_of_the_Unjust_Judge.jpg / {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}

Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carl_Spitzweg_022.jpg / {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}

In his blog post titled, "Happiness Is," my friend Daniel ( @daniel626 ) cited Psalm 16:11 (NKJV):

You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. 

In response, I made the following comment:

I LOVE the title! Many Christians make an incorrect distinction between happiness and joy, but the distinction that should be made is between earthly happiness/joy and heavenly happiness/joy. The latter is rooted in and flows from God and God alone, and there is NO true, durable, and genuine happiness or joy found apart from our relationship to God in Christ. God is not a vile curmudgeon, but rather a loving, exuberant heavenly Father who makes available fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore to all who will come to Him!

Related to that... my recent post "you would begin by blowing out all his lamps..."  included Edward Payson's testimony of God's increasing his happiness in God. Payson wrote that God made him "as happy as he could be in this world ... by crippling me in all my limbs, and removing me from all my usual sources of enjoyment." Payson also reminds us, "Christians might avoid much trouble and inconvenience, if they would only believe what they profess,— that God is able to make them happy without any thing else." (pp. 410-411)

On that post, my friend Elizabeth ( @stephensmustang ) commented: "It is such a difference in joy and happiness."

I commented back to her:

Yes, when [you] define happiness as fleeting, fleshly, worldly happiness (which I know you do).

I really would love for the Church to reclaim the rightful use of words "happy" and "happiness"! The devil has so many souls hoodwinked. He wants us to believe the lie that God does not want us to be happy (e.g. - see Genesis 3 and the fall), but that's so very far from the truth. God is not at all against our happiness, so long as that happiness is rooted in and flows from Him. Any happiness we may find apart from Him will diminish and exclude God, and that is no true happiness.

Psalm 146:5 you'll often find translated, "Blessed..." but the Hebrew word there is "esher," meaning "happy."  "Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God" (KJV).

Psalm 32:11 Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

From Strong's Concordance:

be glad = probably to brighten up, i.e. (figuratively) be (causatively, make) blithe or gleesome:--cheer up, be (make) glad, (have, make) joy(-ful), be (make) merry, (cause to, make to) rejoice, X very.

rejoice = to spin round (under the influence of any violent emotion), i.e. usually rejoice, or (as cringing) fear:--be glad, joy, be joyful, rejoice

shout for joy = to creak (or emit a stridulous sound), i.e. to shout (usually for joy):--aloud for joy, cry out, be joyful (greatly, make to) rejoice, (cause to) shout (for joy), (cause to) sing (aloud, for joy, out), triumph.

Thanks for bearing with me here, dear sister, this is one of my pet peeves.   (((hugs)))

Once again, I bring you more of Payson's words on the source of true happiness:

   "Suppose a son is walking with his father, in whose wisdom he places the most entire confidence. He follows wherever his father leads, though it may be through thorns and briars, cheerfully and contentedly.

Another son, we will suppose, distrusts his father's wisdom and love, and, when the path is rough or uneven, begins to murmur and repine, wishing that he might be allowed to choose his own path; and though he is obliged to follow, it is with great reluctance and discontent.

Now, the reason that Christians in general do not enjoy more of God's presence, is, that they are not willing to walk in his path, when it crosses their own inclinations. But we shall never be happy, until we acquiesce with perfect cheerfulness in all his decisions, and follow wherever he leads without a murmur."

Sept. 26 [1821].   "While lying awake last night, enjoyed most delightful views of God as a Father. Felt that my happiness is as dear to him as to myself; that he would not willingly hurt one hair of my head, nor let me suffer a moment's unnecessary pain. Felt that he was literally as willing to give as I could be to ask. Seemed, indeed, to have nothing to ask for."

I John 5:11  And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12  He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

More from Payson:

• "Who wants candles when he has the sun?" ~ Edward Payson | letter 124 on assurance & joy
• "if I would but cease struggling ... I might be happy" (Edward Payson)
• "My situation was so dangerous, so hopeless, that nothing less than the incarnation..." (Payson)
• "Your business is to trust, and go forward." (Edward Payson)
• Ascension Day: "He went up, scattering blessings; & he has done nothing but bless them ever since"
• "you would begin by blowing out all his lamps..." ~ Edward Payson

Other related posts:

my other letters on assurance and fighting for joy
Moderation in pursuing God? An answer from Jonathan Edwards
Finding pleasure in Him
As a deer pants ... Is your soul panting for God? (Psalms 42 & 43)
The flags unfurled ... Christ's eternal banner | Lloyd-Jones ~ a third type of assurance
The Christian should not just believe the truth, and know it..." | the Father's assurance
Our Twisted View of God
All things (even BAD things) work together for good... (from the archives)
Christian, don't waste your life whining
Advent #1 WHY HAS JESUS COME? that we might have life & life more abundantly
"The duties of religion are delightful" ~ the fruit of "The Life of God in the Soul of Man"
Martin Luther: "The Spirit ... renders the heart glad & free, as the law demands"
Embittered, pricked in heart? Go into the sanctuary of God (Psalm 73)
Are you a radiant Christian or a drunken old woman? (letter 82 on assurance & fighting for joy)
"the treasure you can never find in a mall" ~ Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift!
"Too long, alas! I vainly sought for happiness below ... " | letter 150 on fighting for joy
The Thorny Hedge for your joy (Hosea 2) | Letter 144 on assurance & fighting for joy
Her Eyes Were Still Restrained ~ "When it looks like he is buried for good..."
Naphtali News: Happy Anniversary

Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible. Emphasis mine.

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

Photo credits:

I edited the original work found here: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Goalposts_and_thorny_hedge_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1086796.jpg / CC BY-SA/3.0

"bottle_2618" - own photo / CC BY-SA/3.0

"An unknown joy pervaded him" ~ "Such is the character of the Reformation" | letter 152 on assurance & fighting for joy...

Here's the account of Thomas Bilney, who was greatly oppressed, vexed and bound up by the tyrannical and deceitful teachings of Romanism. During the Reformation, by the grace of God, Bilney was set free from that miserable bondage through the work of the Holy Spirit descending upon the Word of God, showing him in a clear light the all-sufficient and all-satisfying work of the One Mediator between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus (II Tim. 2:5-6)...

Romans 4:4  Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5  And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6  just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7  “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8  blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

As a result of the gracious operation of the Holy Spirit in Bilney's soul, a new song of praise bubbled up and overflowed from his heart, similar to what David's song in Psalm 40:

1  I waited patiently for the LORD;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2  He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
3  He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the LORD.
4  Blessed is the man who makes
the LORD his trust,
who does not turn to the proud,
to those who go astray after a lie!

* * *

From: "History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, Volume Fifth" by Jean Henri Merle d'Aubigné, trans. by H. White, 160-164:

... the still small voice of the Word was making its way into the peaceful homes of praying men and the ancient halls of Oxford and Cambridge. In private chambers, in the lecture-rooms and refectories, students, and even masters of arts, were to be seen reading the Greek and Latin Testament. Animated groups were discussing the principles of the Reformation. When Christ came on earth (said some) He gave the Word, and when He ascended up into heaven He gave the Holy Spirit. These are the two forces which created the church—and these are the forces that must regenerate it.—No (replied the partisans of Rome), it was the teaching of the apostles at first, and it is the teaching of the priests now.—The apostles (rejoined the friends of the Testament of Erasmus)—yes, it is true— the apostles were during their ministry a living scripture; but their oral teaching would infallibly have been altered by passing from mouth to mouth. God willed, therefore, that these precious lessons should be preserved to us in their writings, and thus become the ever undefiled source of truth and salvation. To set the Scriptures in the foremost place, as your pretended reformers are doing, replied the schoolmen of Oxford and Cambridge, is to propagate heresy! And what are the reformers doing (asked their apologists) except what Christ did before them? The sayings of the prophets existed in the time of Jesus only as Scripture, and it was to this written Word that our Lord appealed when he founded his kingdom. And now in like manner the teaching of the apostles exists only as Scripture, and it is to this written word that we appeal in order to re-establish the kingdom of our Lord in its primitive condition. The night is far spent, the day is at hand; all is in motion—in the lofty halls of our colleges, in the mansions of the rich and noble, and in the lowly dwellings of the poor. If we want to scatter the darkness, must we light the shrivelled wick of some old lamp? Ought we not rather to open the doors and shutters, and admit freely into the house the great light which God has placed in the heavens?

There was in Trinity College, Cambridge, a young doctor, much given to the study of the canon law, of serious turn of mind and bashful disposition, and whose tender conscience strove, although ineffectually, to fulfil the commandments of God. Anxious about his salvation, Thomas Bilney [1495-1531] applied to the priests, whom he looked upon as physicians of the soul. Kneeling before his confessor, with humble look and pale face, he told him all his sins, and even those of which he doubted. The priest prescribed at one time fasting, at another prolonged vigils, and then masses and indulgences which cost him dearly. The poor doctor went through all these practices with great devotion, but found no consolation in them. Being weak and slender, his body wasted away by degrees, his understanding grew weaker, his imagination faded, and his purse became empty. "Alas!" said he with anguish, "my last state is worse than the first." From time to time an idea crossed his mind: "May not the priests be seeking their own interest, and not the salvation of my soul?" But immediately rejecting the rash doubt, he fell back under the iron hand of the clergy.

One day Bilney heard his friends talking about a new book: it was the Greek Testament printed with a translation which was highly praised for its elegant latinity. Attracted by the beauty of the style rather than by the divinity of the subject, he stretched out his hand; but just as he was going to take the volume, fear came upon him and he withdrew it hastily. In fact the confessors strictly prohibited Greek and Hebrew books, "the sources of all heresies;" and Erasmus's Testament was particularly forbidden. Yet Bilney regretted so great a sacrifice; was it not the Testament of Jesus Christ? Might not God have placed therein some word which perhaps might heal his soul? He stepped forward, and then again shrank back..... At last he took courage. Urged, said he, by the hand of God, he walked out of the college, slipped into the house where the volume was sold in secret, bought it with fear and trembling, and then hastened back and shut himself up in his room.

He opened it—his eyes caught these words: This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. He laid down the book, and meditated on the astonishing declaration. "What! St Paul the chief of sinners, and yet St Paul is sure of being saved!" He read the verse again and again. "O assertion of St Paul, how sweet art thou to my soul!" he exclaimed. This declaration continually haunted him, and in this manner God instructed him in the secret of his heart. He could not tell what had happened to him; it seemed as if a refreshing wind were blowing over his soul, or as if a rich treasure had been placed in his hands. The Holy Spirit took what was Christ's, and announced it to him. "I also am like Paul," exclaimed he with emotion, "and more than Paul, the greatest of sinners!......But Christ saves sinners. At last I have heard of Jesus."

His doubts were ended—he was saved. Then took place in him a wonderful transformation. An unknown joy pervaded him; his conscience, until then sore with the wounds of sin, was healed; instead of despair he felt an inward peace passing all understanding. "Jesus Christ," exclaimed he; "yes, Jesus Christ saves!" Such is the character of the Reformation: it is Jesus Christ who saves, and not the church. "I see it all," said Bilney; "my vigils, my fasts, my pilgrimages, my purchase of masses and indulgences were destroying instead of saving me. All these efforts were, as St Augustine says, a hasty running out of the right way."

Bilney never grew tired of reading his New Testament. He no longer lent an attentive ear to the teaching of the schoolmen: he heard Jesus at Capernaum, Peter in the temple, Paul on Mars' hill, and felt within himself that Christ possesses the words of eternal life. A witness to Jesus Christ had just been born by the same power which had transformed Paul, Apollos, and Timothy. The Reformation of England was beginning. Bilney was united to the Son of God, not by a remote succession, but by an immediate generation. Leaving to the disciples of the pope the entangled chain of their imaginary succession, whose links it is impossible to disengage, he attached himself closely to Christ. The word of the first century gave birth to the sixteenth. Protestantism does not descend from the gospel in the fiftieth generation like the Romish church of the Council of Trent, or in the sixtieth like some modern doctors: it is the direct legitimate son—the son of the master.

Have you seen it all?

Romans 3:28  For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Galatians 2:16  yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Have you known the Spirit's refreshing wind blowing over your soul?

 John 3:3  Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4  Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 5  Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7  Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Have you touched the rich treasure?

 Titus 2:4  But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5  he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6  whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7  so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

I Peter 2:4  As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5  you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6  For it stands in Scripture:

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

Has unknown joy pervaded you ... your conscience once sore with the wounds of sin now healed, your despair replaced with inward peace passing all understanding?

Romans 5:1  Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2  Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Romans 8:14  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15  For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

I Peter 1:8  Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory...

Hebrews 10:19  Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20  by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21  and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22  let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Has God instructed you in the secret of your heart?

John 16:13  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14  He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15  All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Romans 8:14  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15  For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16  The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God...

Related:

My other letters on assurance & fighting for joy
My posts on dealing with past sins & guilt
Links to my posts on true and false religion and legalism
Dealing with sin & guilt: Are you wearing the Garment only God can provide?
Barabbas we save, Jesus Christ we slay (the mockery of profession ~ decisional regeneration)
Reformation Day: Martin Luther on "How One is Justified before God, and of Good Works"
Martin Luther on assurance
"The just person lives by faith." Luther's assurance received! (letter 87 on assurance & joy)
"Dear Christian People, Now Rejoice!" Luther's assurance expressed! (letter 88 on assurance & joy)
the Holy Spirit and Life
Labor Day: Do you know the blessedness of not working? (Romans 4:1-8)
Characteristics of true religion, # 2, part 2: Not of the letter but of the Spirit
Why preach the Gospel? # 2: Dead men need Life!
First Week of Advent: The Most Scandalous Bailout Ever
Second Sunday of Advent: FAQ about Santa Claus and the Gospel of Christ
"What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" (Labor Day)
Sackcloth and ashes
the converted Pharisee's song: "All my works, all flesh is as grass"

Erasmus, the Reformation and "the heavenly word" ~ "If the ship of the church is to be saved"
The church reformed, always being reformed, lest we become deformed
492 years later: You say you want a reformation? (my theses and a call to prayer)
Reformation Rebels: Are you willing to be a rebel for the sake of the Church?

"Misunderstanding Vatican II" by R.C. Sproul on the Ligonier Ministries blog

Scripture quotations 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.

Photo credits:

Own photo / CC BY-SA 3.0
Work found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Bilney.jpg / Public Domain