Abide In Christ (cont.)

I'm on day 23 of Andrew Murray's "Abide In Christ" - and lovin' it! I just had to share some quotes from today. (If you missed my original post, you can find it here.)

"If Christ finds us willing to trust ourselves and our interests to His love, if in that trust we give up all care for our own will and honour, if we make it our glory to exercise and confess absolute dependence on Him in all things, if we are content to have no life but in Him, He will do for us what the Father did for Him. He will lay of His glory on us: As the name of our Lord Jesus is glorified in us, we are glorified in Him (2 Thess. 1:12)"

Abide In Christ

by Andrew Murray. "The joy of being in God's presence".

This is a 31 day devotional book, that I guess I picked up when my Pastor was cleaning out his library. It's perfect for me. I am one who will devour a book, but this way I have to read just a little each day and am able to let it sink in more.

I want to share a quote from day 6. As one who occasionally gets quite discouraged with myself, this was a good reminder . . . (satan will use anything to get our eyes off of Jesus!):

"Of God I am in Christ: created anew, made a branch of the Vine, fitted for fruit-bearing. Would to God that believers would cease looking most at their old nature, and complaining of their weakness, as if God called them to what they were unfitted for! Would that they would believingly and joyfully accept the wondrous revelation of how God, in uniting them to Christ, has made Himself chargeable for their spiritual growth and fruitfulness! How all sickly hesitancy and sloth would disappear, and under the influence of this mighty motive - the faith in the faithfulness of Him of whom they are in Christ - their whole nature would rise to accept and fulfil their glorious destiny!"

All I can say is, "PRAISE GOD!" He is SO good!!

Let us press on with our eyes on HIM alone! :0)

Rees Howells Intercessor

I was going to post this blog on the 14th, but before I did, Eric Ludy's sermon from the 11th was posted and I had to listen to it. :0) It was basically about chapter 5 of this book. (?? Coincidence?? I . don't . think . so!) It was really good! (as always) . . . And I decided to think some more about what I'd written.

Keswick & Evan Hopkins

After posting my last blog I decided to see what else I could learn about Evan Hopkins and Keswick. I stumbled across this really cool outline of Keswick, showing the founders, the most prominent people associated with it, those influenced by it (like D. L. Moody), and the teachings. But then as I turned to the fourth page I was shocked to see this conclusion: "Keswick Theology's view of sanctification is theologically erronious." It went on to say how we should avoid propigating this theology through books, lectures, sermons, articles, hymns, etc. (haha, yeah right...)

Liberty En Christ!

I'm not quite ready to write a review about this book, but I have to share it with you. It is probably the best book I've read on the life that we have IN Christ and the freedom that we find there.

Evan Henry Hopkins (1837-1918) was a leader of the famous Keswick Convention. As Norman Grubb says, he "was perhaps the greatest expositor on the life in the Spirit that Keswick has produced".

You can read it online or download it from here.

Enjoy! :0)

Chasing The Dragon

. . . by Jackie Pullinger, is a book that has been on my "wish list" for probably close to a year - and I finally got to read it! :0)

It is an absolutely amazing story of a woman completely abandoned to God. She left everything she had and followed Him in very much the same way that Abraham did. God led her to the walled City of Hong Kong. Reading her story is like reading the book of Acts - God did so many miracles!

Forgotten God

Many of us have wished that we could have Jesus right here, by our side. Even for a day that would be incredible! But Jesus said it was better for us if He went away so that we could have the Holy Spirit. How many of us really believe that?

Like An Apple Tree

I was in special need of some comfort this morning . . . so where did I turn? It might seem strange to you, but I turned to the book of Song of Solomon. There I find not my mighty, conquering King, but the Lover of my soul. There I find a love and a Lover that surpasses all else. There I find . . . an apple tree. :0)

Faith In Prayer

The section on importunity was really good (in "Mighty Prevailing Prayer"), but I'll have to come back to that. I need to write about faith . . .

God knew that I needed to read this book. He is SO good to me! :0) You see, God asked me to believe Him for some things . . . And then the testing came and, by His grace, I stood firm. But then the testing doubled and tripled . . . and . I . wavered. Aargh. I didn't want to! I know that God can do anything, and I know that He keeps His promises, He CANNOT lie. . . . But did I hear Him right?? Did He REALLY say what I think He said??

"How often we are double-minded in our praying. We believe that God can answer our prayer. Obviously we have some hope that He will answer it, or we would not pray. But oh, how often we do not really expect God to answer . . . If we are totally honest, however, we would admit we do not feel sure that God will answer the need for which we pray."

From what I see in scripture, to doubt God is to contend with Him and to judge Him unfaithful. Jesus often rebuked "little faith", which worries about the provision of food and clothes, and is afraid when it sees the storm.

Hebrews tells us that we are to live.by.faith and that we cannot please God without faith. But what is faith? Is it believing that God can do anything? According to Hebrews 11:1, faith is a lot more than that. Faith is the CONFIDENCE, the assurance, of things HOPED FOR, and the PERSUASION, the conviction, of things NOT SEEN. In other words, faith is seeing what you can't see with your physical eyes. Being convinced of His ability AND His desire to do something. And it means keeping your eyes on Him for all you're worth.

"Doubt, anxiety, fear, and worry focus primarily on circumstances, but faith focuses primarily on God . . . Faith is not blind to the needs. Faith faces reality but sees reality as measured by God, not as measured by man . . . Faith is God-conscious, God-focused, and God-believing . . . Faith is highly specific. It claims definite answers from God . . . It believes for God's answer for the need before you."

Lord, no more doubt. I want YOUR kind of faith. Real faith.

PS ~ 30 more chapters . . . ;0)

Desire And Fervency In Prayer

Someone let me borrow "Mighty Prevailing Prayer", by Wesley L. Duewel. WOW! God is calling me to a whole new level of death to self through it!

I didn't realize I had been protecting myself from desiring anything too much, from being fervent and passionate about the things that are in God's will. Either because I wasn't sure if the desire was in God's will, or because it didn't feel right to have such strong desires, or because I didn't want to feel the pain. Desire hurts. And honestly, I don't like hunger.

"As long as it makes little difference to us whether our prayer is answered or not, we will not prevail."

"Mighty answers to prayer can be costly, but they are worth all the cost. Learn to hunger if you would prevail."

He quotes E.M. Bounds:
"Prayers must be red hot. It is the fervent prayer that is effective . . . To be absorbed in God's will, to be so greatly in earnest about doing it that our whole being takes fire, is the qualifying condition of the man who would engage in effectual prayer."

Lord, teach me to pray!

PS ~ I still have 34 more chapters to go, so you just might hear from me again on this subject. ;0)

Why Pray?

I was able to get a copy of this book last year, shortly after it came out . . . and I LOVED it! It had a huge impact on my life and I longed for someone to share it with. So needless to say, when I found someone who had read some of Eric and Leslie's other books, I eagerly offered to let them borrow this one. It wasn't long before I wished I hadn't lent the book out - I had questions and felt like I needed to read it again.


Oddly enough, it seemed that the closer I drew to the Lord, the bigger my questions about prayer became! Do I trust the Lord that what He says will happen, or do I beg Him for it until it happens?? It seemed like prayer showed that I didn't really believe what He said!


I finally asked my brother if I could borrow his copy of the book which he was given for Christmas. As I read I was very much encouraged and inspired. But then an illustration was used for faith that made my "question" even bigger! Leslie said that if Eric told Hudson that he will take him to the zoo in the morning, he doesn't doubt and wonder if it will really happen. He goes to bed excited, trusting that in the morning Daddy will take him to the zoo. Hudson believes and therefore he doesn't ask - he trusts. So it should stand to reason that if God has given me a promise, then I don't need to beg (pray) for Him to do it. I should "go to bed excited, trusting that" it will happen. This seems logical, reasonable . . . but I had a feeling that this was just the problem - heavenly wisdom is NOT logical. :0)


Then I came across this line - "God's people are commissioned to ask, to seek, to knock, and to plead that the realities of heaven be made reality down here on earth." Hmmmm, kinda sounds like "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The problem is that we often don't know what the "realities of heaven" are. God opened my eyes to see that the promises He has given me are "realities of heaven", and that through prayer I need to "pull them down to earth". (Hence the picture on the cover of the book.) This is why prayer is compared to giving birth. The baby already exists, he or she just hasn't come forth yet . . . and the process involves a lot of work and pain (so I've heard ;0). In the same way, the promises God has given us, whether by Christ's victory on the cross, or by His whisper to our heart, already exist. But we need to pray and travail until they are seen on earth.

True prayer demands more of our life 

than most are willing to give. 

And therefore, few are those who ever

taste of it's power and delights.

Prayer is the operative tool--

it's the rope tied to all of God's promises 

yanking this astounding reality to Earth.

So, shall we pray?? :0)

True Beauty

The Lost Art Of True Beauty is Leslie Ludy’s latest book (it came out in January), and just as with all of her other books, it is on my list of favorites. :0) I have to admit, though, that I had a hard time writing this review . . . . there was just too much that I wanted to say. So I have cut back and cut out and . . . . hopefully this is short enough. ;0)

The book starts off by talking about what it means to “deny yourself”, and says that “we are meant to let all thoughts of self become swallowed up in Him”. I really like this quote by Ian Thomas, and if you’ve read much of the Ludy’s books, you’ve seen it before . . .

Free Audio Book . . .

Just wanted to let you know . . .

I just noticed that the free audio book for this month at Christianaudio.com is Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book "The Cost of Discipleship". Bonhoeffer was a theologian and pastor during WWII - quite an amazing story! If you'd like to read a summary of his life you can go here.

Enjoy! :0)