perseverance

Jacob, come, eat!
Revelation 4:1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither...

"A door opened"

Heaven's stairway
Celestial kiss

Mercy and truth
Sanctified tryst

Fellowship divine
How oft we miss

Triune delight
Everlasting rest

"Come up hither!"

The trumpet sounds
But do we hear?

Vain thoughts press in
O! worldly cares

Noxious choking
Mephitic air

A sip of death
The conscience seared

Loving the world
Lust of the flesh

The pride of life
Fickle riches

Empty pleasures
Foolish counsels

Clutch the earthly
Discard true bliss

Sup devil's lies
Spurn happiness

Appears as light
Robbing of rest

John 10:10a
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy...

Luke 8:14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.

I John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

"Ho, all who thirst!"

The trumpet sounds
Incline your ear

Life abundantly
Come up hither!

The Door opened
To Jacob's seed

The Fount gushes
My child, take heed

Cast off darkness
Wake out of sleep!

Ask, seek, and knock
Wrestle and plead

Yet there is room
Jacob, come, eat!

Arms of mercy
Hark! The Scepter!

Make supplication
Find favor there

Widen thy mouth
While He is near

Oil of gladness
A table prepared

Rapt with holy desire
Intoxicating pleasure!

Hosea 12 (ESV)
4 He [Jacob] strove with the angel and prevailed;
he wept and sought his favor.
He met God at Bethel,
and there God spoke with us—
...
6 “So you, by the help of your God, return...

Luke 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. 35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Romans 14:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

"What is God's promise. I will fill thy mouth with good things, Ps. ciii. 5. There is enough in God to fill our treasures (Prov. viii. 21), to replenish every hungry soul (Jer. xxxi. 25), to supply all our wants, to answer all our desires, and to make us completely happy. The pleasures of sense will surfeit and never satisfy (Isa. lv. 2); divine pleasures will satisfy and never surfeit. And we may have enough from God if we pray for it in faith. Ask, and it shall be given you. He gives liberally, and upbraids not. God assured his people Israel that it would be their own fault if he did not do as great and kind things for them as he had done for their fathers. Nothing should be thought too good, too much, to give them, if they would but keep close to God. He would moreover have given them such and such things, 2 Sam. xii. 8."

"God had borne their manners in the wilderness: "I proved thee at the waters of Meribah; thou didst there show thy temper, what an unbelieving murmuring people thou wast, and yet I continued my favour to thee." Selah--Mark that; compare God's goodness and man's badness, and they will serve as foils to each other. Now if they, on their solemn feast-days, were thus to call to mind their redemption out of Egypt, much more ought we, on the Christian sabbath, to call to mind a more glorious redemption wrought out for us by Jesus Christ from worse than Egyptian bondage, and the many gracious answers he has given to us, notwithstanding our manifold provocations."

– from Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on Psalm 81

John 10:10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:
I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

So you, by the help of your God, return...

I John 1:3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. 5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

Matthew 5:6
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Related:
Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

Scripture quotations marked ESV 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. Emphasis mine.

Photo credits:

Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thorns.jpg / CC BY-SA 3.0
Work found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lutte_de_Jacob_avec_l%27Ange.jpg / CC BY-SA 3.0 / illustration by Gloumouth1, http://gloumouth1.free.fr
Steve Saint: "Let's give everything. No holds barred. Nothing held back."
Steve Saint is the son of Nate Saint, one of five missionaries who were martyred in Ecuador in 1956. You may or may not have heard that Steve Saint was seriously injured in a test flight last week. I thought his testimony was a fitting follow-up to my Father's Day post, To take whatever thy Father's pleasure | "May adversities uninterrupted be my lot" ~ Edward Griffin...

"Let's give everything. No holds barred. Nothing held back."

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

And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. 59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. 61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. 62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

Is your face steadfastly set toward Jerusalem, or are you looking back?
Are you giving everything, or are you holding back?

"Those who begin with the work of God must resolve to go on with it, or they will make nothing of it. Looking back inclines to drawing back, and drawing back is to perdition. Those are not fit for heaven who, having set their faces heavenward, face about. But he, and he only, that endures to the end, shall be saved."
– Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on Luke 9

HT and for more about Steve Saint, please see http://www.epm.org/blog/2012/Jun/20/steve-saint-speaks-his-hospital-bed.

For more information about ITEC (Indigenous People's Technology & Education Center) as well as updates on Steve Saint, please visit http://itecusa.org/.

Related posts:

What is a nominal Christian?
who is your master? (Bible Reading - Matthew)
Lenten Reflections: Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus
Lent II.-God's calling: "As my Father hath sent Me, so send I you." | Oswald Chambers
Lent V. - You follow me! (Are we steadfastly setting our faces to His will?)
using my talent (Bible reading - Matthew 25)

My posts tagged "Don't waste your life" including ...
Scripture quotations are taken from King James Version of the Holy Bible.

Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brooklyn_Museum_-_Plowing_-_Anton_Mauve_-_overall.jpg / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Public Domain
To take whatever thy Father's pleasure | "May adversities uninterrupted be my lot" ~ Edward Griffin
The following are a couple bookend excerpts taken from the "Memoir of the Rev. Edward D. Griffin, D.D., Compiled Chiefly from His Own Writings" by Edward D. Griffin & William Buell Sprague (New York: Taylor & Dodd, 1839), reprinted in 1987 by Banner of Truth Trust. The first excerpt was written by Griffin at the age of 27, and the second at age 66... William B. Sprague introduces the first...

In the year 1797 he [Edward Dorr Griffin] commenced a regular journal of his christian experience, which he continued, not however without frequent and sometimes protracted interruptions, till the close of life. Under date of July 12th of that year, he writes thus:

This day ever memorable to my soul for the commencement of these memoirs, has been set apart as a day of secret prayer and fasting. It has pleased God, I hope, to return to me after a painful absence of several months, and after I had almost despaired of so great a blessing. May I be humbly thankful all my days that the Lord, as I hope, has come to look up and bring home his long lost wandering sheep. May the pains of absence teach me to wander no more. Alas, how have new relations, and the new cares of a family state, drawn my mind away from God. There are more dangers in every pleasing earthly scene than the inexperienced are aware of. Adversity, I find, is a much safer state than prosperity. May adversities uninterrupted be my lot, if a humble dependance on God and sweet communion with him can be enjoyed on no easier terms. Sure I am that the possession of the whole world for the same space of time could not produce so much happiness, as the absence of God for fourteen months past has produced misery. The conclusion is, that all the world cannot countervail the loss of God. (12)

. . .

Jan. 24 [1836]. The last week I have seen and felt the truth of that passage in Rom. v. 3, 4. "We glory in tribulation also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope." Afflictions have made me feel that God had sent them, and have made me submit in patience and in trust; and that experience has made me hope in God as a reconciled Father. The more I am afflicted, the more I cast myself upon God, and the more I submit to him and trust in him. O that heavenly lesson, to "pray without ceasing," and "in every thing" to "give thanks." How much I have lost by not learning that lesson more perfectly before. (190)

If Thou but Suffer God to Guide Thee
(Georg Neumark, 1641, tr. to English by Catherine Winkworth, 1855)

If thou but suffer God to guide thee
And hope in Him through all thy ways,
He’ll give thee strength, whate’er betide thee,
And bear thee through the evil days.
Who trust in God’s unchanging love
Builds on the rock that naught can move.

What can these anxious cares avail thee
These never ceasing moans and sighs?
What can it help if thou bewail thee
O’er each dark moment as it flies?
Our cross and trials do but press
The heavier for our bitterness.

Be patient and await His leisure
In cheerful hope, with heart content
To take whatever thy Father’s pleasure
And His discerning love hath sent,
Nor doubt our inmost want are known
To Him who chose us for His own.

God knows full well when time of gladness
Shall be the needful thing for thee.
When He has tried thy soul with sadness
And from all guile has found thee free,
He comes to thee all unaware
And makes thee own His loving care.

Nor think amid the fiery trial
That God hath cast thee off unheard,
That he whose hopes meet no denial
Must surely be of God preferred.
Time passes and much change doth bring
And set a bound to everything.

All are alike before the Highest:
’Tis easy for our God, We know,
To raise thee up, though low thou liest,
To make the rich man poor and low.
True wonders still by Him are wrought
Who setteth up and brings to naught.

Sing, pray, and keep His ways unswerving,
Perform thy duties faithfully,
And trust His Word: though undeserving,
Thou yet shalt find it true for thee.
God never yet forsook in need
The soul that trusted Him indeed.

Deuteronomy 8:5, 15-16
Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that,
as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee...

Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness,
wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought,
where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;
Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not,
that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee,
to do thee good at thy latter end...

Proverbs 3:11-12
My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD;
neither be weary of his correction:
For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth;
even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

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

Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Champaigne_shepherd.jpg / CC BY-SA 3.0 - {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}

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naphtali_deer

About me...

Christian hedonist in training. Pressing on to know more and more of the joy of the LORD. Pleading with God to rend the heavens and revive and refresh my own soul, as well as His Church, to His praise, honor and glory.

Thank God. He can make men and women in middle life sing again with a joy that has been chastened by a memory of their past failures. ~ Alan Redpath

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deerlifetrumpet: Encouragement for those seeking reformation & revival in the Church

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perseverance

Jacob, come, eat!

Steve Saint: "Let's give everything. No holds barred. Nothing held back."

To take whatever thy Father's pleasure | "May adversities uninterrupted be my lot" ~ Edward Griffin

naphtali_deer

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More about this blog...

My other websites

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Naphtali Journal

perseverance

Jacob, come, eat!

Steve Saint: "Let's give everything. No holds barred. Nothing held back."

To take whatever thy Father's pleasure | "May adversities uninterrupted be my lot" ~ Edward Griffin

naphtali_deer

About me...

More about this blog...

My other websites

Recent posts

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