In my last post, we examined our desire for Jesus Christ and His unsearchable riches in light of the desire of the angels ~ which things the angels desire to look into (I Peter 1:12, KJV).

Though Peter addressed his first letter to the believers scattered in the Diaspora. The ESV combines verses 1 & 2, and renders it: "To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion." However, in this life, all Christians are, in reality, "elect exiles." "Elect exiles": a weighty phrase – reminding us that as we have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, having been plucked from the fire and given Christ's robe of perfect righteousness so we might enjoy fellowship with the Holy, Holy, Holy God, we are now children of God and citizens of heaven, which makes us aliens in regard to this world and all this world has to offer. (The Greek word for "exiles" ("strangers" (KJV) / "pilgrims" (NKJV)) is parepidemos: "an alien alongside, i.e. a resident foreigner:--pilgrim, stranger" (Strong's Concordance).)

All the elect, all those who have been foreknown by God the Father and redeemed by the precious blood of the spotless Lamb of God are not only saved from God's just wrath (justification), but are also set apart by God  for obedience to God (sanctification) – that we might no longer live to ourselves but to live for Him through His indwelling Holy Spirit (II Cor. 5:14-15).

I Peter 1:1  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2  according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood... (ESV)

I Peter 1:1  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2  Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. (KJV)

Later in chapter 1, Peter reminds us that because we are now citizens of heaven, we're to live as pilgrims here and to conduct ourselves in fear, not being conformed to [our] former lusts (KJV) and the passions of [our] former ignorance (ESV) – but rather to be holy as our God who has called us is holy (1:13-21). Peter continues that teaching throughout his first epistle.

2:11  Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12  Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

4:1  Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2  so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 3  The time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. 4  With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you...

In other words, because we who are Christians have been made new creations in Christ (II Cor. 5:17), our desires, our thoughts, our words, and our deeds ought to increasingly reflect that spiritual reality. If the root has indeed been made new, the fruit ought to be new also! If we have been born again, if Jesus Christ has truly made His Advent into our lives, the tree has been made good, and we ought to bearing fruit in keeping with repentance.

Jesus Christ described of the Kingdom of heaven and its citizens in this way:

Matthew 11:12 (KJV) And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

In Isaiah 5, the Beloved comes to examine His vineyard and laments because in place of the good grapes which He expected, He finds wild grapes. J.A. Alexander calls these disappointing grapes "acrid and unwholesome."

Are we bearing the spiritual fruit of a holy violence for Jesus Christ and His Kingdom:  an increasing and overwhelming love for God and delight in God, and an increasing and overwhelming desire and delight to do God's will? Do our desires, thoughts, words, and deeds reflect a holy zeal for our God? Are we taking His Kingdom by force? Do we show ourselves possessed with a holy violence? Are we striving to enter the Kingdom? Do our lives resemble the Shulamite woman in Song of Solomon 3?

3:1  On my bed by night
I sought him whom my soul loves;
I sought him, but found him not.
2  I will rise now and go about the city,
in the streets and in the squares;
I will seek him whom my soul loves.
I sought him, but found him not.
3  The watchmen found me
as they went about in the city.
“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
4  Scarcely had I passed them
when I found him whom my soul loves.
I held him, and would not let him go
until I had brought him into my mother's house,
and into the chamber of her who conceived me.

Or, instead, are we bearing "acrid and unwholesome fruit"? Are we lackadaisical and lukewarm toward Christ and His Kingdom? Do we bear a stronger resemblance to the Shulamite woman in Song of Solomon 5?

2  I slept, but my heart was awake.
A sound! My beloved is knocking.
“Open to me, my sister, my love,
my dove, my perfect one,
for my head is wet with dew,
my locks with the drops of the night.”
3  I had put off my garment;
how could I put it on?
I had bathed my feet;
how could I soil them?

How does our passion and zeal for our God compare with the passion and zeal of Black Friday shoppers? (For example, read here.)

It is, beyond expression, a thing to be lamented, that so small a number of men regard God, the author of their being, that so few live to him in whom they live, returning that being and life they have, and all their enjoyments, as is due, to him from whom they all flow. And then, how pitiful it is, that the small number who are thus minded, mind it so remissly and coldly, and are so far outstripped by the children of this world, who follow painted follies and lies with more eagerness and industry than the children of wisdom do that certain and solid blessedness which they seek after! Plus illi ad vanitatem, quam nos ad veritatem:  They are more intent upon vanity, that we upon verity. Strange! that men should do so much violence one to another, and to themselves in body and mind, for trifles and chaff; and that there is so little to be found of that allowed and commanded violence, for a kingdom, and such a kingdom, that cannot be moved (Heb. xii. 28); a word too high for all the monarchies under the sun.  

~ Robert Leighton’s “Commentary on First Peter” (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1972), 397.

Matthew 11:12 (KJV) And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

Matthew Henry likens this heavenly violence to that "of an army taking a city by storm, or of a crowd bursting into a house," and he describes such souls engaged in this holy violence as...

An importunate multitude. This violence denotes a strength, and vigour, and earnestness of desire and endeavour, in those who followed John's ministry, else they would not have come so far to attend upon it. It shows us also, what fervency and zeal are required of all those who design to make heaven of their religion. Note, They who would enter into the kingdom of heaven must strive to enter; that kingdom suffers a holy violence; self must be denied, the bent and bias, the frame and temper, of the mind must be altered; there are hard sufferings to be undergone, a force to be put upon the corrupt nature; we must run, and wrestle, and fight, and be in an agony, and all little enough to win such a prize, and to get over such opposition from without and from within. The violent take it by force. They who will have an interest in the great salvation are carried out towards it with a strong desire, will have it upon any terms, and not think them hard, nor quit their hold without a blessing, Gen. xxxii. 26. They who will make their calling and election sure must give diligence. The kingdom of heaven was never intended to indulge the ease of triflers, but to be the rest of them that labour. It is a blessed sight; Oh that we could see a greater number, not with an angry contention thrusting others out of the kingdom of heaven, but with a holy contention thrusting themselves into it!

O, LORD our God, we confess that we often bear "acrid and unwholesome" fruit, for which Your Spirit is grieved and for which Your name is blasphemed among the nations. What more could You have done for us? Holy Father, we come to You in Jesus' name, and ask that You forgive us that we live so far below our blessed privileges as Your children and citizens of heaven. Forgive us for forgetting Whose we are! Forgive us, Father, for not giving earnest heed and neglecting such a great salvation which You wrought for us by sending Jesus Christ to die for us while we were yet sinners! Forgive us for receiving Your glorious grace in vain. Forgive us for thinking so lightly of Christ's precious blood. Forgive us for grieving Your Holy Spirit. Forgive us that our desire for You and for Your Kingdom is so weak and faint, while our desire for the earthly and temporal is often so strong and resolute. Forgive us for our spiritual sluggishness – so often we end up like the Shulamite woman, who would not be bothered to put on her robe or dirty her feet to get up to open the door to her Beloved as He knocked for her! How pathetic that our desires for You pale in comparison to the world's desires for trinkets, toys, and trivialities! Open the eyes of our hearts so we might see You for who You really are! O! LORD! Incline our hearts to fear Your name, and give us whole hearts to run after You and to open widely to You and to no other lover – for You are the chief among 10,000! Forgive us that we are so often put to shame by the zeal, activity, ingenuity, and resourcefulness of the children of this world. Forgive us for not valuing and treasuring You and Your Kingdom as we ought, for if we did, we would certainly explode and overflow with an unquenchable holy violence for You and Your Kingdom! Forgive us for wasting so much of our time running in the ways of the world and living for the lusts of men, rather than living to Your will. You know our frame and remember we are dust. Though we are Yours, our flesh continues to lust and battle against Your Spirit. Have mercy upon us, for the sake of Your New Covenant in Your Son's blood. Be gracious to us, strengthen us by Your Spirit, and enlarge our hearts that we might glorify You by showing ourselves to be children of wisdom and light. May we be filled up to overflowing with a holy violence that shows itself by resolutely setting our minds on things above, running in the way of Your commandments with a holy fervor, loving You supremely, and delighting to do Your will as our Savior did. May Your love constrain and compel us to a joyful, whole-hearted, single-eyed, complete, and zealous obedience. May Your Holy Spirit impart to us a holy violence for You that has no parallel or rival in the world, that we may show ourselves to be Your holy bride, sanctified by Your Holy Spirit and washed by the water of Your Word, bearing sweet and wholesome fruit to Your glory, for Your joy and for our joy! God forbid we be ashamed at Your coming, but rather when You return, may we be found neither sleeping nor sluggish, but violent and importunate, taking Your Kingdom by force! May we be diligent to make our calling and election sure! Work in us that holy contention that is well pleasing in Your sight, that we might be inflamed with a holy fire to run after You and Your Kingdom to the praise of Your glorious grace!

"A sight of Christ gains the heart, makes it break from all entanglements, both of its own lusts, and of the profane world about it." ~ Robert Leighton’s “Commentary on First Peter” (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1972), 396.

Romans 6:22  But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

7:1  Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2  Thus a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3  Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

4  Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5  For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6  But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.

I John 2:28  And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29  If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

Psalm 119:32  I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart! (HT: Leighton for the Scripture reference, p. 398)

You Will Know the Truth and the Truth Will Set You Free from Desiring God on Vimeo.

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/you-will-know-the-truth-and-the-truth-will-set-you-free

(Excerpt taken from the printed sermon text found at the link above...)

My aim in this message is that you would experience Jesus, the sovereign, risen, living Lord of the universe, as the source and content of real freedom in your life.

For this to happen, we need two things: We need God's liberating truth and we need God's liberating grace. Which means I need to preach God's word, and pray for God's power.

So let's read the Bible passage that I will speak from, and then I will pray. John 8:30–36:

As he was saying these things, many believed in him. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." They answered him, "We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, 'You will become free'?" Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Lord, open our eyes to your liberating truth—to yourself—and powerfully grant us to be set free from our bondage to sin. In Jesus' name, Amen.

. . .

We All Want to Be Free

I take it for a certainty that everyone in this room wants to be free in the deepest, fullest sense. If the opposite is bondage and slavery, no one here wants that. You may be enslaved to some habits that are very pleasurable, and in that sense love your slavery. But when you step back from the pleasures and consider happiness without that slavery, you would like to be done with bondage. You would like to be happy in freedom, not a slave to pleasant addictions. We all want to be free.

And in verse 36 of John 8, Jesus says, "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." That is what we are after. "Free indeed." Really free. Freedom in its deepest and fullest meaning. Jesus offers us that this morning. This is Easter. The celebration of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. He is alive. He is not mere memory. A mere historical figure like Caesar or Shakespeare or John Kennedy. He is back from the dead with a new glorious body. He is alive and reigning as the king of the universe, and he is making this offer of real freedom to all of us today.

. . .

What Full Freedom Is

There are at least four kinds of freedom. And each one adds a crucial dimension of freedom to the last until we get to the full freedom—"free indeed." Let me try to sum up these four kinds of freedom in one definition of full and complete freedom: You are fully free—completely free, free indeed—when you have the desire, the ability, and the opportunity to do what will make you happy in a thousand years. Or we could say, You are fully free when you have the desire, the ability, and the opportunity to do what will leave you no regrets forever.

• If you don't have the desire to do a thing, you are not fully free to do it. Oh, you may muster the will power to do what you don't want to do, but nobody calls that full freedom. It's not the way we want to live. There is a constraint and pressure on us that we don't want.

• And if you have the desire to do something, but no ability to do it, you are not free to do it.

• And if you have the desire and the ability to do something, but no opportunity to do it, you are not free to do it.

• And if you have the desire to do something, and the ability to do it, and the opportunity to do it, but it destroys you in the end, you are not fully free—not free indeed.

To be fully free, we must have the desire, the ability, and the opportunity to do what will make us happy forever. No regrets. And only Jesus, the Son of God who died and rose for us, can make that possible. If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed. To be happy forever, our sins must be forgiven and God's wrath removed and Christ must become our supreme Treasure. Only Jesus can do that. In fact, he has already done it. He died for our sins. He absorbed God's wrath. And he rose from the dead and is today therefore supremely precious. And he offers us that now as a free gift.

By John Piper. ©2013 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org

Today being Father's Day, in order to stir up our remembrance of our faithful Church fathers, I'm reposting a blog and an update (slightly edited) which I posted yesterday at my sister site, tent of meeting (http://tent_of_meeting.xanga.com).

Through their faith, though they died, they still speak ~ Heb. 11:4... May God's Spirit give us ears to hear, so we might take heed to this great cloud of witnesses and run with endurance the race set before us (Heb. 12:1)!

Our fathers prevailed with God in prayer ~ turn the heart of the fathers to us! (Malachi 4:5-6)

Earlier this year, as I read "John Elias: Life, Letters and Essays" by Edward Morgan (revised & republished by Banner of Truth, 1973), I found my heart resonated with the heart of the publishers, whose words were written 40 years ago this month:

Without doubt the following pages contain much information which has long been in accessible and practically unknown. If it not, however, a concern merely for the recovery of historical knowledge which is responsible for this reprint. Speaking once of how the Welsh fathers of the eighteenth century had prevailed with God in prayer, and been remarkable for their spiritual usefulness, Elias said, 'It is a consolation to us that the sword and arms they so skilfully used, are in our hands:  may the Lord enable us to handle them!' The supreme value of this volume we judge to be the way in which it reminds us what are the 'sword and arms' of the Church. May God use these pages to further a recovery of the light and power of the gospel at a time when contentment with small things has blighted us all!

The Publishers

June, 1973

As I read through the book, I discovered the words attributed to Elias were an incorrect citation on the part of the publishers –– though indeed it is true that Elias looked back to the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist fathers of the previous century. Those words were actually part of a letter some of Elias' brothers in Christ had written to him to express their appreciation to him, as they met at Montgomeryshire for an Association Meeting of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Connexion. At that time, in April 1841, Elias was at home under great physical affliction (it was just over a month before he would pass into the Glory everlasting). In their "letter of condolence" to Elias, these men requested Elias' prayers on their behalf as they desired to be equipped with God's power to skillfully use the "sword and arms" as did the fathers... (p. 179-180):

April 30, 1841...

Dear brother, we entreat your prayers for ourselves, that the God of Israel may abide with us. Our fathers prevailed with God in prayer, and were remarkable for spiritual gifts; we are no more grasshoppers in comparison to them. But it is a consolation to us that the sword and arms they so skillfully used, are in our hands:  may the Lord enable us to handle them.

John Elias (1774 -1841) and the other Welsh Calvinistic ministers looked back to the fathers (including William Williams (Pantycelyn), Daniel Rowland, Thomas Charles, Griffith Jones, etc.) because of their remarkable "spiritual usefulness." The 18th century fathers had "skillfully used" the "sword and arms," and these 19th century men men were diligently seeking the Lord for the power He alone could provide, knowing the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. They longed to walk in the ways of the fathers –– to be workers approved and unashamed, and to prove they had not received the grace of God in vain.

I suspect by "sword and arms" these men were referring to Aaron and Hur holding up Moses' arms during the battle against Amalek, while Joshua and his chosen men fought and defeated Amalek with the sword (Exodus 17:8-16). My friends, we are in need not only a return to Word of God but also a return to prayer to God –– not only a return to the sword but to the arms! We have been experiencing some resurgence of Reformed preaching for which I am thankful –– but my question is this:  where is the resurgence in importunate prayer... where are the raised arms?

"What influence the rod of Moses had upon the battle (11): When Moses held up his hand in prayer (so the Chaldee explains it) Israel prevailed, but, when he let down his hand from prayer, Amalek prevailed. To convince Israel that the hand of Moses (with whom they had just now been chiding) contributed more to their safety than their own hands, his rod than their sword, the success rises and falls as Moses lifts up or lets down his hands. It seems, the scale wavered for some time, before it turned on Israel's side. Even the best cause must expect disappointments as an alloy to its successes; though the battle be the Lord's, Amalek may prevail for a time. The reason was, Moses let down his hands. Note, The church's cause is, commonly, more or less successful according as the church's friends are more or less strong in faith and fervent in prayer."

Many of you may be familiar with the following verses in Malachi 4 –– the concluding words of the Old Testament –– after which there was silence for 400 years...

5  Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.  6  And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction. (ESV)

5  Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: 6  And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. (KJV)

In his message "Chief Cause for Decay in the Church" on Malachi 4:1-6, Iain Murray explains that though on first reading we might interpret these verses as a prophecy and a promise of "Gospel unity restored to families –– yet the Gospel often divides families." He went on to clarify that the Biblical meaning of the word "fathers" goes beyond that of the parents of the previous generation to "more remote ancestors" (see Romans 9:5). Murray explained that turning of hearts in this way:

The hearts which the fathers of the Old Testament possessed in the best and the brightest days of Israel, the hearts of the fathers, piety, would be found again in another generation. The piety and the devotion of the fathers –– this would be rekindled and it would reappear in the children. That is the meaning of the verse. He shall turn, he shall restore, He shall bring back the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.

So it is expounded in Luke 1:17 –– the Holy Spirit renders it: "He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just." That is to say, hearts which are by nature disobedient – for these hearts will be restored the wisdom, the piety, the grace which was in the fathers. This then was the promise of the verse.

In his commentary on Malachi (included in "The Prophets of the Restoration, or Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi: a New Translation with Notes"), Thomas V. Moore (1818-1871) expounds the passage similarly (see pp. 405-407, or pp. 176-178 in Banner of Truth's "A Commentary on Haggai and Malachi," reprinted 1960 & 1968):

The expression, "return the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons to the fathers," has usually been explained to mean the restoration of domestic harmony among the people. But this is a very meagre sense of words that close up the utterances of God to his people for twelve generations. Want of domestic concord was not one of the sins charged upon the people, and its removal would hardly be the great work assigned to the Elijah messenger. The meaning is suggested in the words of the angel to Zacharias, in Luke 1:16, 17; where, instead of the clause, "the heart of the sons to the fathers," is put, "the disobedient to the wisdom of the just." This paraphrase indicates that the hearts of the devoted ancestors were to live again in the obedience of their repentant posterity, and that the backslidden sons were to be restored to the piety of their fathers. The piety of the fathers had been referred to repeatedly before, (see 1:2; 2:5, 6; 3:4,) and the promise is, that this piety should live again in the children, under the Elijah call to repentance; and it is threatened, that if this is not the result, the land shall be laid under the terrible herem. This was  a devotion to destruction, such as was done to the Canaanites by the judicial act of God. As these guilty nations were cut off because of their sins, so should the people who had taken their place on the soil of the land of promise, or those who in turn would take their place on the covenants of promise, if they imitated their sinful example. This was fulfilled five hundred years afterward, when the chosen people were finally rejected, and the awful blood was upon them and their children, according to their own imprecation. And to this hour, the soil that was wet with that blood lies under the terrible herem, and will so continue, until that Elijah call that shall bring back the heart of David, of Isaiah, and of Nathaniel to their exiled posterity, enabling them to see him whom they have pierced, and to cry, "My Lord and my God." And by the same principle of interpretation that we have applied to the previous verse, do we extend this warning to every age of the Church, and find in it the germ of the solemn admonition of Paul in discussing the same subject, (Rom. 11:20, 21,)  "Be not high-minded, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed, lest he also spare not thee." (HT: http://archive.org/stream/prophetsofrestor00moor/prophetsofrestor00moor_djvu.txt for the text.)

I wasn't familiar with the Hebrew word herem or cherem, so I looked it up in Strong's Concordance... "physical (as shutting in) a net (either literally or figuratively); usually a doomed object; abstr. extermination:--(ac-)curse(-d, -d thing), dedicated thing, things which should have been utterly destroyed, (appointed to) utter destruction, devoted (thing)."

May God turn the hearts of the fathers to us, and give us ears to hear, and impart to us a holy fear, that we might tremble at His Word and be shaken out of our sinful presumption, and repent and humble ourselves, that we might take heed to this grave warning, so we might cast off any and all fleshly means and scatter them as unclean things! ("There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.... In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge. The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death." ~ Prov. 14:12, 25-26)... so we might zealously embrace, jealously guard, and skillfully use God's own supernatural provision for His Church:  the sword and arms!

And by the same principle of interpretation that we have applied to the previous verse, do we extend this warning to every age of the Church, and find in it the germ of the solemn admonition of Paul in discussing the same subject, (Rom. 11:20, 21,)  "Be not high-minded, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed, lest he also spare not thee."

Just over four years ago, in March 2009, I began tent of meeting. In the years prior to that time, I'd begun to see things seemed awry and amiss in some way in the Church, and that somehow we were falling short of what God intended, but it was all pretty vague to me... At first I began to look into emergent/missional theology as a solution. But then, all glory to God, I was set right, as I purchased Martyn Lloyd-Jones' (the Doctor's) commentary on First John ("Life in Christ"). Through reading the Doctor's words there and elsewhere, I was enabled to begin to go back to the Word of God (to Whom can we go?!) to see God's diagnosis and God's solution for God's Church, which is found in Acts 6:4:  But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. Or, as the 19th century Welsh Calvinistic fathers put it:  "the sword and arms" of the Church. (Please see my posts here and here for more on that.)

In regard to myself, over the past few years, God has given me a burden to pray for the Church to be reformed and revived, and He has continued to increase that burden. I recently wrote that "I am ten thousand times more convinced, if possible, or I would say I am ten thousand times ten thousand times more convinced of the vital necessity for us to be praying for revival than I was when I first started this blog four years ago." Part of my journey has been chronicled on this site. And, along with that burden, in spite of many temptations to despair and to quit, God has been faithful to sustain me and to work in me both the desire and the ability to pray for the Church to be reformed and revived ~ Phil. 2:12-14; Heb. 13:20-21. I still feel I am a tyro in prayer (that word "tyro" one ML-J used quite often). I don't believe I have really prayed through the power of the Holy Spirit and prevailed in prayer like Jacob more than a dozen times in my life –– but like Elijah, I have sometimes been surprised to find that in praying, the Holy Dove has descended, and I have prayed! Isaiah 26:12; Psalm 118:23; Psalm 115:1!

Both the Bible and Church history provide us with a plumb line by which we ought to judge ourselves. Studying the Bible as well as studying Church history are wholly necessary to the Church's spiritual health and welfare. It's far too easy for us to discard the Bible, and it's also far too easy for us to discard the rich heritage of Church history. It's too easy for us to engage in what C.S. Lewis called "chronological snobbery," –– to think that we in the 21st century are so far advanced that the Bible and our God-fearing fathers have nothing at all to teach us. Scripture has some very strong words for people with such attitudes:

Hosea 5
10  The princes of Judah have become
like those who move the landmark;
upon them I will pour out
my wrath like water.
11  Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,
because he was determined to go after filth.
12  But I am like a moth to Ephraim,
and like dry rot to the house of Judah.

My friends, are we but grasshoppers compared with the fathers? Are we not in a day of small things? Has not our contentment with small things blighted us?

Along with the publishers of the Elias book, my prayer is that God may be pleased to use the pages of my blog (as well as my prayers) to remind us of the vital necessity of using the "sword and arms of the Church'"; "to further a recovery of the light and power of the gospel at a time when contentment with small things has blighted us all!;" and to strengthen us in faith and stir us up in fervent prayer...

Or, in the words of Malachi:  may God be gracious to us and turn the hearts of the fathers to the children!

Or, as Iain Murray put it:  may God restore to us "the wisdom, the piety and the grace that was in the fathers," that the hearts of the fathers for the sword and arms would appear in us, that our hearts here in the 21st century would be rekindled to treasure and to skillfully use the sword and arms, and prevail with God in prayer as the fathers did, that the Word of the Lord might speed ahead and be glorified throughout all the nations to the praise, honor, and glory of God!

"Prayers and pains through faith in Christ will do anything." ~ John Eliot

All that said, by way of update, if you're not a member of the Xanga community, you may not have heard that the Xanga Team recently announced plans to go to a paid blogging platform, and with that, there is a possibility that Xanga may be shutting down for good after July 15 if they don't get adequate funding. (You can read more about that here - link.) I'm hoping to be able to continue my blogging on both my tent of meeting and my naphtali_deer sites here on Xanga, but if not, I wanted to give you a heads-up. At this point I do have a blog as a place-holder on WordPress:  http://naphtalideer.wordpress.com. If you're already on WordPress, if you'd like to, you can add my site to your subscriptions there.

Or, you can add my WordPress blog to your reader of choice by using the RSS feed:

feed://naphtalideer.wordpress.com/feed/   

Or, if you'd like to receive e-mail updates from my WordPress site, you can sign up with Blogtrottr, using the button below:

At this point, I'm not expecting to do much of anything on my WP site until closer to the July 15 date. If Xanga does end up shutting down, Lord willing, I'm hoping to open up another site on WP devoted to carrying over my tent of meeting site there, but the name "tentofmeeting" was already taken there (Grr!), so I'm waiting on that. My naphtalideer.wordpress.com site will be a place of contact no matter what, because even if Xanga does continue, there will be some downtime to get things ported over to the new system here, so I'll be providing updates through my WordPress site. I'll be periodically repeating this announcement on my blog here in the coming month.

As I've considered this time of transition, there have been times I've sinned as I've taken my eyes off Jesus, and I've become distressed and worried; and I've continued to be tempted to feel the same way... but as I look back over my blogging years here at Xanga, and look ahead not knowing how things will look in just a month, all I can say is that I'm thankful to God for the opportunity He has given me here, and that it has been a privilege and blessing be able to blog here –– but first and foremost I am thankful that God unconditionally set His love upon me in Christ and chose me to be His child before time began, and has written my name in heaven! ~ Luke 10:20.

Yours in Christ, seeking your joy, for the reviving of Christ's Church, for the joy of the nations, for the joy and glory and renown of God Himself,

Karen

You can read more about tent of meeting in the following posts...

• Naphtali News: the Ministry of the Word & Prayer
• About this blog - why "tent of meeting"?
• Silent Night - Not! ~ "Prayer also will be made for Him continually" ... day and night

Photo credits (both {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:VictoryOLord.JPG

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Albrecht_Dürer_-_Bearded_Saint_in_a_Forest,_c._1516_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated (or 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.

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