An Insightful Dozen From Andrew Murray

Andrew MurrayI love the insight of this godly man, and I hope you enjoy these quotes too…

“God, as Creator, formed man to be a vessel in which He could show forth His power and goodness. Man was not to have in himself a fountain of life or strength or happiness. The ever-living and only living One was intended each moment to be the communicator to man of all that he needed.” 

“The blessing of God’s Word is only to be known and enjoyed by obeying it: ‘If you love Me, you will obey what I command’ (John 14:15). Keeping His Word is the only proof of a genuine saving knowledge of God, of not being self-deceived in our faith, of God’s love being experientially known and not merely imagined.”

“The person who reads his Bible with longing and determination to learn and to obey every commandment of God is on the right path to receiving all the blessing the Word is meant to bring.”

“The New Testament standard of Christian commitment is barely realized in the church today. Its whole tone is intensely supernatural. Christian commitment and devotion involves a life totally identified with the life of Christ. It must be a life in the continual presence and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”

“Many pray for the Spirit that they may make use of Him and His power for their work. This is an entirely wrong concept. It is He who must use you.”

“Unless we are willing to pay the price, to sacrifice time and attention and seemingly legitimate or necessary tasks for the sake of the spiritual gifts, we need not look for much power from above in our work. God’s call to much prayer need not be a burden or cause for continual self-condemnation. He intends it to be a joyful task. He can make it an inspiration. Through it He can give us strength for all our work and bring blessing to others by His power that works in us.”

“Let our lack of prayer convict us of the coolness in our Christian life that lies at the root of it. God will use the discovery to bring us not only the power to pray that we long for but also the joy of a new and healthy life of which prayer is the spontaneous expression.”

“Our prayers must not be vague appeals to His mercy or indefinite cries for blessing, but the distinct expression of a specific need. It is not that Jesus’ loving heart does not understand our cry or is not ready to hear, but He desires that we be specific for our own good. Prayer that is specific teaches us to better know our own needs.”

“Do you see what holiness is and how it is to be found? It is not something formed in you. It is not something put on you from without. Holiness is the presence of God resting on you. Holiness comes as you consciously abide in that presence, doing all as a sacrifice to Him.”

“The connection between the prayer life and the Spirit life is close and indissoluble. … Learn from our Lord Jesus how impossible it is to walk with God, obtain God’s blessing or leading, or do His work joyously and fruitfully apart from close, unbroken fellowship with the One who is our living fountain of spiritual life and power.”

“His blood is the eternal and undeniable proof that God the Father and Christ will do for you all that is needed, and that they will not forsake you until they have accomplished their work in you from beginning to end.”

“Live your daily life in full consciousness of being righteous in God’s sight, an object of delight and pleasure in Christ. Connect every view you have of Christ in His other graces with this first one: Christ Jesus—our righteousness from God. This will keep you in perfect peace.”

Links & Quotes

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“There is a burden of care in getting riches; fear in keeping them; temptation in using them; guilt in abusing them; sorrow in losing them; and a burden of account at last to be given concerning them.” —Matthew Henry

“Don’t imagine I doubt for a moment that what God sends us must be sent in love and will all be for the best if we have grace to use it so. My mind doesn’t waver on this point; my feelings sometimes do. That’s why it does me good to hear what I believe repeated in your voice….” ―C.S. Lewis

“Our comfort comes not from the powerlessness of our enemies, but from our Father’s sovereign rule over their power.” —John Piper

Have you seen all the videos of one of Obamacare’s architects, Jonathan Gruber? Here is the story behind the man, Rich Weinstein, who unearthed all of these clips and exposed the outright lies and hypocrisy. And this video compilation is just a sampling of the lies—

8 Quotes From “The Blood Of The Cross”

The Blood Of The CrossAs I said in my book review of The Blood Of The Cross by Horatius Bonar (which you can read by clicking here), I have never read such a penetrating look at the beyond-all-measurement value of the blood Jesus Christ shed on the Cross. An absolutely fascinating read! There are way too many quotes from this book to share them all now, so this is the first set of quotes I’d like to share with you.

“Nothing now will keep us, but certainty. Such a storm will need a sure anchor. A man may cheat his soul into tranquility when days are prosperous and skies are blue. He may say, ‘I hope it will go well with me at last,’ and sit down contented with his meager hope. But when heaven and earth are shaken, he cannot but tremble. His peace gives way at the first ruffle of the tempest. He had no certainty to lean upon, and his false security was broken in an hour. … It is not yet too late. The Cross is still standing on the earth. The Crucified One is still upon the mercy seat. If the favor of God has hitherto been a dark uncertainty, it may yet been made sure. The way of reconciliation through the blood is as open as ever.”

“If God and we, then, are at variance, how is this variance to cease? Is it by His adopting our judgment, or by our adopting His? It cannot be the former. … What thank you, then, of the blood of Christ? Is that which is so precious in God’s eyes as precious in yours? Has the controversy between Him and you upon this point been solidly adjusted? And are you at one with Him in His estimate of the blood of His dear Son? If so, it is well. For this is faith; and it is by this faith that you are saved.”

“Most men imagine that they know its value sufficiently already, and that what they need is not a higher estimate of the blood, but a deeper impression wrought in them by the estimate which they now possess. But is it so? Is this the whole evil? Is this its root? No. Whatever they may now suppose that they have, let them know this, that it is just in their estimate of the blood that they are deficient.”

“The new estimate which God enables us to form of this at once infuses peace. If that estimate which God had given of it be true, then all that is needful for our peace has been accomplished. That infinitely precious blood sheds peace and sunshine into our souls. We see that blood as God sees it, and our consciences are unburdened—our souls are set at rest. … The blood of His Cross has finished our peace. And that finished peace is all we need to banish every fear.”

“What does God thinks of this blood? He counts it as infinitely precious—more precious than all corruptible things such as gold and silver. Its value can only be measured by the greatness of Him from Whom it flowed.”

“If a sinner of old might come into the courts of the Lord as an accepted worshipper, simply because presenting to God the blood of bulls and goats, may not a sinner now come into the real, the immediate presence of Jehovah, with still greater certainty of acceptance, simply making mention of that divine blood which has flowed from the Lamb of God—the Word made flesh—Who made His soul an offering for sin, and gave His life a ransom for the sins of many (Isaiah 53:10; Matthew 20:28)?”

“And now it is safe for the sinner to enter in, and it is honorable for God to admit him. The sanctuary is not defiled by his entrance, for the blood is there to prevent this. He does not need to be alarmed, or shrink back, for that blood which opens the way gives him also liberty and boldness in coming in, removing that terror of a guilty conscience which would keep him back, and enabling him to come ‘with a true heart, and in full assurance of faith, having his heart sprinkled from an evil conscience, and his body washed with pure water’ (Hebrews 10:22).”

“It is the sprinkling of the blood upon the soul (which takes place so soon as we take God’s Word for its efficacy) that makes it fit for being the tabernacle of the Holy One. It is the sight of this blood that makes the sinner feel safe and happy in such near contact with God; for otherwise how could he feel at home with such a Guest—the unholy with the Holy?”

** Look for another set of quotes from this book later this week. **

The Blood Of The Cross (book review)

The Blood Of The CrossI have been a Christian for a long time, and over the course of my life I have heard countless sermons about the crucifixion and about the work that Jesus Christ did for us on the Cross. But I don’t think that I’ve ever pondered this subject as deeply or as closely as Horatius Bonar does in his book The Blood Of The Cross.

Rev. Bonar starts with the mindset of the Jews who demanded that Pilate crucify Christ, to show how the same attitude exists in all of us who are separated from Jesus. He then tells us why God the Father has a controversy with a guilty world, and what He thinks of the blood His Son shed on the Cross. Then the remainder of the book goes deep into trying to somehow measure the inestimable value that is associated with Christ’s shed blood.

In a phrase this book is eye-opening, heart-searching, and paradigm-challenging for the one who has never acknowledged Christ as his own Savior, all the way through to the one who has called Jesus Savior for years and years and years.

Especially during this Lent season as we prepare our hearts and thoughts to celebrate Christ’s Passion, this is a great book to ponder.

But Now

But nowRemembering our past is so important. Forgetting where we’ve come from can make us insensitive to the feelings of others, it can make us falsely proud of what we assume we’ve accomplished for ourselves, and it can make us fearful that God cannot handle what’s coming next.

So God want us to remember two things: what we were, and what we are. In Ephesians the verb tense Paul uses literally says, “Keep on calling this to mind; keep on keeping it fresh in your thoughts” (Ephesians 2:11 & 12).

Keep on remembering what you WERE:

  • separate from Christ
  • excluded from citizenship
  • foreigners to the covenants of the promise
  • without hope
  • without God in the world (v. 12)

And then come two amazing words―BUT NOW (v. 13) keep on remember what you ARE:

  • brought near through the blood of Christ (v. 13)
  • able to access to the Father (v. 18)
  • no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people (v. 19)
  • members of God’s household (v. 19)
  • a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit (v. 22)

Constantly calling this to mind should produce three attitudes―

  1. Thankful to God for His grace gifts to me.
  2. Graceful to others who are separated from God now like I used to be.
  3. Hopeful of the help Christ can bring through me to others.

We are continuing our study of the Book of Ephesians this coming Sunday. Please join us!

14 Quotes From “Living A Prayerful Life”

Living A Prayerful LifeAndrew Murray’s book Living A Prayerful Life is a timeless call to all Christians to value prayer more highly. You can read my book review by clicking here. Below are a few of the quotes I especially appreciated.

“How many of us admit to taking a mere five minutes for prayer! The claim is that there is no time. The reality is that a heart desire for prayer is lacking. … Prayerlessness is proof that for the most part our life is still under the power of the flesh. Prayer is the pulse of life; by it the doctor can diagnose the condition of the heart.” 

“God’s child can conquer anything and everything by prayer. Is it any wonder that satan does his utmost to snatch that weapon from the Christian or hinder him in the use of it?”

“Think about our Lord’s words: ‘Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. [And] you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you’ (John 14:11, 17). Those words are the secret of the life of prayer. Take time in your place of prayer to bow down and worship. Wait on Him until He reveals Himself, takes possession of you, and goes with you to show you how a person may live and walk in abiding fellowship with Him.”

“I know all too well what weak concepts we have concerning the promises and the power of God. I see how prone we are to backsliding, to limiting God’s power, and to deeming it impossible for Him to do greater things than we have seen. It is a glorious thing to get to know God in a new way in our prayer time. That, however, is only the beginning. It is something still greater and more glorious to know God as the All-Sufficient One and to wait on His Spirit to open our hearts and minds to receive the great things, the new things that He longs to bestow on those who wait for Him.”

“Does it not become even more clear that what God wills to accomplish on earth needs prayer as its indispensable condition? There was only one way for Christ and so for believers: a heart and mouth open toward heaven in believing prayer will certainly not be put to shame.” 

“God has done His utmost to make prayer as natural and effectual as the cry of a child to an earthly father when he says, ‘Abba, Father.’”

“Our first work, therefore, ought to be to come into God’s presence not with our ignorant prayers, not with many words and thoughts, but in the confidence that the divine work of the Holy Spirit is being carried out within us. This confidence will encourage reverence and quietness and will also enable us, in dependence on the help that the Spirit gives, to lay our desires and deepest needs before God. The supreme lesson for every prayer is first of all to commit to the leading of the Holy Spirit and in total dependence on Him to give Him first place. Through Him your prayer will have value you cannot imagine. Through Him also you will learn to express your desires in the name of Christ.”

“If we remain prayerless, let our hearts be deeply ashamed. By so doing we make it impossible for God to impart His holiness to us. Let us ask God to forgive us this sin and to draw us to Himself by His heavenly grace and to strengthen us to have fellowship with Him, the One Who is holy.”

“As you enter a time of private prayer, let your first focus be to give thanks to God for the unspeakable love that invites you to come to Him and to converse freely with Him.”

“Prayer is not a soliloquy, where everything comes from one side; it is a dialogue, where God’s child listens to what the Father says, replies to it, and then makes his requests known.”

“Prayerful study of the Bible is indispensable for powerful prayer.”

“Do not forget the close bond between the inner room and the outside world. The attitude of the inner prayer room must remain with us all day. The object of secret prayer is to unite us to God that we may know His abiding presence with us.”

“The Word supplies us with material for prayer and encourages us to expect everything from God. … It is only by prayer that we may live such a life that every word of God might be fulfilled in us.” 

“Our daily life has a tremendous influence on our prayers, just as our prayers influence our daily life. In fact, our life is a continuous prayer. We are continually praising or thanking God by our actions and by the manner in which we treat others. This natural prayer and desire for God can be so strong in a man (who also prays to God) that the words of prayer that he actually utters cannot be heard. At times God cannot hear the prayer of your lips, because the worldly desires of your heart cry out to Him much more strongly and loudly.”

Pray Like Jesus

Private prayerThere’s a really interesting story recorded in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. It’s the one where a father brings his demon-possessed boy to nine of Jesus’ disciples to ask for their help. But the father sadly reports back to Jesus, “But they could not help.”

Jesus calls His disciples out. He says that their faith is lacking. Even the boy’s father is short on faith. He says to Jesus, “If you can do anything, please help us.” To which Jesus says, “‘If you can’? Anything is possible if you believe.” Jesus rebukes the demon, which immediately comes out of the boy.

Now here’s the interesting part: His disciples asked Him, “Why couldn’t we do that?” Jesus says, “This kind comes out only by prayer.” Let’s review all the words Jesus said to the father and his boy:

  • “How long has he been like this?”
  • “‘If you can’? Anything is possible if you believe.”
  • “Demon, come out of him and never enter again.”

So here’s my question―Jesus said the demon was cast out by prayer. So when did Jesus pray? Look at those words He said again … which of those was His prayer?

Actually, if you look through all four gospels you won’t find Jesus laying His hands on people and saying, “Heavenly Father, will You please heal this leprosy?” Or, “Please bring life back into this little girl.” Instead He says, “Be clean” or “Little girl, get up.

So I ask again: When did Jesus pray? The answer is―He prayed all the time.

  • Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed. (Mark 1:35)
  • After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone. (Matthew 14:23)
  • But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. (Luke 5:16)

Do you want to pray like Jesus? He prayed all the time. He had times of prayer with His Heavenly Father, but He was in unbroken communication with Him.

Private prayer leads to public power! 

That’s how we can pray like Jesus!

We will be learning more about prayer in our series The Prayers Of Elisha next Sunday. Please join us!

John Bunyan On Prayer

John BunyanSome great quotes from John Bunyan on prayer—

“Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Spirit, for such things as God has promised.”

“The best prayers have often more groans than words.”

“Prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for satan.”

“When you pray, rather let your heart be without words than your words without heart.”

O Come, All Ye Faithful

Who is GodPastor Tom Kaastra continued our series The Carols Of Christmas by looking at the well-known Christmas hymn O Come, All Ye Faithful. The line he especially highlighted comes from the third stanza—Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.

It is so vital that we keep both of those aspects of Jesus Christ in mind: He is both the Word of the Father and the Word become flesh. As Tom pointed out, this fact helps us answer the two most vital questions that humans have:

  • Who is God?
  • Who am I?

I can learn more about who I am when I know more clearly Who God is. And when I know this, I can more fully—as the song says—come and adore Christ the Lord.

Jesus is fully God:

Jesus revealed to us the Father’s love; after all, God is love (1 John 4:16). Jesus came to show us the love of God.

Jesus is fully Man:

  • He got tired and hungry (John 4:6)
  • He limited Himself to do only what the Father told Him to do (John 5:19-20)
  • He limited Himself to say only what the Father told Him to say (John 12:49)
  • He felt anguish and pain (Luke 22:44)

As C.S. Lewis said, “The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.” And as sons of God, we have access to the Heavenly Father—

Those who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s children. For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God’s children, and by the Spirit’s power we cry out to God, “Abba! My Father! (Romans 8:14-15)

Word of the Father now in flesh appearing is cause for adoration because Jesus has made it possible for us to become sons and daughters of God!

O come let us adore Him!!

If you’ve missed any of the messages in this series, you may check them out by clicking here.

14 Quotes About Thinking From “The Moral Foundations Of Life”

The Moral Foundations Of LifeAs I noted in my review of The Moral Foundations Of Life (you can read that review by clicking here), Oswald Chambers wanted Christians to think more deeply about their relationship with Jesus Christ, and then live differently because of their new way of thinking. Here are some of his quotes related to a Christians’ thought life.

“When we become spiritual we have to exercise the power of thinking to a greater degree than ever before. We starve our mind as Christians by not thinking.” 

“The Atonement of our Lord never contradicts human reason, it contradicts the logic of human intellect that has never partaken of regeneration.”

“Is Jesus Christ’s teaching God-breathed to me? There is an intention that seeks God’s blessings without obeying Jesus Christ’s teaching. We are apt to say with sanctimonious piety, ‘Yes, Jesus Christ’s teaching is of God’; but how do we measure up to it? Do we intend to think about it and act on it?” 

“The old idea that we cannot help evil thoughts has become so ingrained in our minds that most of us accept it as fact. But if it is true, then Paul is talking nonsense when he tells us to choose our thinking, to think only on those things that are true, and honorable, and just, and pure.” [Philippians 4:8-9; 2 Corinthians 10:5]

“We are so extraordinarily fussy that we won’t give ourselves one minute before God to think, and unless we do we shall never form the habit of abiding. We must get alone in secret and think, screw our minds down and not allow them to wool-gather.” 

“If a man lets his garden alone it very soon ceases to be a garden; and if a saint lets his mind alone it will soon become a rubbish keep for satan to make use of.”

“If we have been storing our minds with the Word of God, we are never taken unawares in new circumstances because the Holy Spirit brings back these things to our remembrance and we know what we should do; but the Holy Spirit cannot bring back to our minds what we have never troubled to put there.” 

“Think of the sweat and labor that a scientific student will expend in order to attain his end; where do we find men and women concentrating with the same intensity on spiritual realities?”

“As soon as you get down to pray you remember a letter you ought to write, or something else that needs to be done, a thousand and one little impertinences come in and claim your attention. When we suspend our own activities and get down at the foot of the Cross and meditate there, God brings His thoughts to us by the Holy Spirit and interprets them to us. … God has not the remotest opportunity of coming to some of us, our minds are packed full with our own thoughts and conceptions.” 

“The devil does not need to bother about us as long as we remain ignorant of the way God has made us and refused to discipline ourselves; inattention and our own slovenliness will soon run away with every power we have. … All we need is grit and gumption and reliance on the Holy Spirit. We must bring the same determined energy to the revelations in the God’s Book as we bring to earthly professions. Most of us leave the sweat of brain outside when we come to deal with the Bible.”

“God will not bring every thought and imagination into captivity; we have to do it, and that is the test of spiritual concentration. The inattentive, slovenly way we drift into the presence of God is an indication that we are not bothering to think about Him. … God gives us the Holy Spirit not only for holy living but for holy thinking, and we are held responsible if we do not think concentratedly along the right lines.” 

“Glean your thinking; don’t allow your mind to be a harborage for every kind of vagabond sentiment; resolutely get into the way of disciplining your impulses and stray thinking.”

“We have to transform into real thinking possession for ourselves all that the Spirit of God puts into our spirits.” 

“An undisciplined imagination will destroy reliable judgment more quickly even then sin.”