Some Spurgeon

"Men will allow God to be everywhere but on his throne. They will allow him to be in his workshop to fashion worlds and make stars. They will allow Him to be in His almonry to dispense His alms and bestow his bounties. they will allow Him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of heaven, or rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean; but when God ascends Hes throne, His creatures then gnash their teeth. And we proclaim an enthroned God, and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well, without consulting them in the matter; then it is that we are hissed and execrated, and then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on His throne is not the God they love. But it is God upon the throne that we love to preach. It is God upon His throne whom we trust."


"There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in his service. We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. . . . Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such folly deliver us, O Lord. . . ."

--C.H. Spurgeon

God Bless,
  A.W.

The Unused Key

'A key rusteth that is seldom turned in the lock.'

It becomes hard work to stir it, for it becomes rusted into its place. Neglect of prayer makes prayer become hard work, whereas it should be a privilege and a delight. We cannot restrain prayer, and yet enjoy prayer. Frequency in this matter helps fervor, and constancy in it brings out the comfort of it.

Am I becoming slack in devotion? O Lord, forgive me, and save me from this grave neglect before it begins to eat into my soul and corrode my heart!"

--C.H. Spurgeon, Flowers From a Puritan's Garden

Herold Camping

Many of you already know that Herold Camping has predicted the world to end today.
It might be fun to joke about it and such, but in reality, it is a serious thing.
I do not believe that the world will end today, but there are many people who do. And they need prayer.
There is no doubt in my mind that people will become suicidal after they realize the world isn't ending.
I know that one church in CA is going to try and reach out to his followers. Thank God for them.
But his followers do need prayer. So please keep them in your prayers.

God Bless,
  A.W.

Missing

Ever read something or heard something that's convicted you. And that God's used to show you what you've been missing? God's been gracious, He showed me a few days ago what I've been missing.
He showed me my worldliness, and showed me the way to escape and showed me how to fight back.
At times my mind would get so swamped with the world, not meaning bad things in general. But when all that's on your mind is more on your daily life, or in my case, my story ideas, rather than God, something is wrong.
And that's when you fall. When you think you are fine, when you stop using your battle time walkie-talkie to God.
That's what I have been missing. I remember when I used it all of the time. When life was such a struggle, when I saw my need for Him to get through each day.
But then the world came, and in a moment, it seemed swamped my mind without me even realizing.
When I fight against temptation, I would just think about something else. What good will it do when you aren't even thinking about God in your temptation?
I had forgotten about how sweet prayer really was when you are constantly praying to God throughout the day, and not just in the morning, and not just before I do something big like a test or work. If I only pray once in the day, it becomes a duty instead of a pleasure. I had forgotten that sweet fellowship I could have with God throughout the day.
And yet, when the time came for me to see my sin, He was gracious. He kept me from falling hard. I deserved to fall hard, but He didn't let me. He has been so gracious, and I don't deserve any of His grace and mercy. Can't stop praising God for His good work of dying for my sins, and for keeping me, and not just letting me "fall away" like I would deserve if it were possible.

God Bless,
  A.W.

Memorization

I enjoy memorizing things. I might not be very good at memorizing, and I admit, it does take me quite a while to memorize something to say it by heart. It takes a lot of work for me, but it's worth it.
Even in Cubbies and Awana, I struggled with memorizing things. The thing I struggle with the most in memorization is remembering the references. I'll remember the verses, but the references always seem to slip my mind.
Well, I am sure you get the point now. I am not good at memorizing, and I am not faithful at remembering the things I "memorize by heart" for months.

A few months ago, I started memorizing prayers from The Valley of Vision, and for me, those prayers have been life changing to read. Not only do they come to my mind throughout the day, but even when I'm praying, I quote from those Puritan prayers that I memorized.
Every Christian should read The Valley of Vision, it's a great book full of Puritan prayers.

To be honest, I don't really know how to pray for myself all of the time. It's easy to pray for others, but when it comes to praying for myself I just don't know how to. Maybe that doesn't make sense, but that's how I am.
Now I find myself praying prayers that I memorized from that book. And not only do I get into praying those things, I get into the mode of praying the Scriptures that I memorize.
I've only memorized two prayers so far, but this week I am starting on a new one.
And this is it:

'The Convicting Spirit'


"Thou Blessed Spirit, author of all grace and comfort,
Come, work repentance in my soul;
Represent my sin to me in its odious colors that I may hate it;
Melt my heart by the majesty and mercy of God;
Show me my ruined self and help there is in Him;
Teach me to behold my Creator,
                               His ability to save,
                               His arms outstretched,
                               His heart big for me.
May I confide in his power and love,
          commit my soul to Him without reserve,
          bear his image, observe his laws, pursue his service,
          and be through time and eternity
         a monument to the efficacy of his grace,
         a trophy of his victory.
Make me willing to be saved in His way,
  perceiving nothing in myself, but all in Jesus:
Help me not only to receive him but
              to walk in Him,
             depend upon Him,
             Commune with Him,
             be conformed to Him,
             follow Him,
              imperfect, but still pressing forward,
             not complaining of labour, but valuing rest,
             not murmuring under trials, but thankful for my state.
Give me that faith which is the means of salvation,
       and the principle and medium of all godliness;
May I be saved by grace through faith,
          live by faith,
          feel the joy of faith,
         do the work of faith.
Perceiving nothing in myself, may I find in Christ
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption."

God Bless,
   A.W.

One Thing That Doesn't Motivate Me

While reading Why Revival Tarries, I came upon a section where Ravenhill was talking about the lost people in all of the world. He gave a bunch of numbers for every place in the world, to see how many lost people there are. For some people that section probably was a motivation to pray for the lost people.
But for me, it was just numbers. For me, unless I experience something, or someone tells me personally about lost people, or people being led astray it doesn't effect me usually.
When missionaries came to the church, and I didn't know them, they would usually tell happy stories about random things that would happen while they were over in India or another place--they would never talk about the hard things. It doesn't impact me the same way if the people don't talk about the hard things--and more about the people, and their spiritual need.
Sure they live in poverty, but I don't really know how that is, I have been very blessed to live in America with money and a roof under my head. Never have been on a mission trip to Mexico or anywhere, so I don't know how that is like.
I can only imagine. And not to say that I don't care and pray for people around the world, I do still, but it's just harder for me to pray with a passion for them.

Unless I experience it, it isn't the same for me.
Last year, in Summer, I was at the carnival out reach thing that my church was doing and it was in LA. The ghetto part of LA. At the end of the carnival a man from the church we had paired up with went up and started sharing his testimony.
At first I thought he was alright, and that maybe God would use that testimony to bring lost souls to Him. But then the man started talking about getting a vision from God, and some other crazy things that no one was expecting. He never mentioned man's sinful state, or hell. All he said was that you had to accept Christ into your heart, you didn't have to repent or anything. At the end he did an altar call sort of thing. He kept asking who wanted to go to Heaven, and then people began raising their hands; he prayed over them and then claimed them all to be saved.
I was shocked.
Sure I had heard sermons about the prayer that damns many to hell. And sure I thought it was sad. But I never really understood how terrible that teaching was. That if you said a prayer it would get you to heaven, and you didn't have to repent or anything. You just had to say a prayer.
That didn't break me before as it broke me that day. I never understood the seriousness of it until that day.
Maybe that is just how I am. That I need to experience something for it to actually break me.

I think I have always had a problem with caring. Never did care about my soul or eternity before I was a Christian. Hard things had to happen in my life to break me down. I wasn't afraid of Hell, I didn't give a rip.
Maybe it is just how I am.

God Bless,
  A.W.

Why Revival Tarries

So last night I started reading a book on my Kindle, it's called Why Revival Tarries, by Leonard Ravenhill. I am only on chapter 3, but I have already passed some great quotes by him.
I wouldn't agree with some of his views, he was a bit Arminian, but other than that, I think that almost every Christian would agree on revival. And that is what the book is about.

I love reading it, it's almost like I can hear the passion in his voice as he speaks. I have listened to a few of his sermons, the ones on revival and prayer, those are encouraging. Sure he doesn't have all the right views on the atonement but he preached repentance and faith the same as any other Calvinist would.
It's an incredible book, that every Christian should read. The words are passionate and convicting. The book is mostly about prayer, not getting up and doing "mighty works for God" to start a revival.
Revival starts with prayer. Prayer is the core of revival.
Whether you are an Arminian or a Calvinist, this is a great book for any Christian.

"No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying."

"Poverty-stricken as the Church is today in many things, she is most stricken here, in the place of prayer. We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, fer pray-ers; many singers, few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere."
--Leonard Ravenhill

God Bless,
  A.W.

He Answers

Over the last year God has answered so many prayers. Big and small.
I was praying that God would keep someone from falling, and He has kept that person. And I prayed that God would bring encouragement to my friend, even if it was just one little conversation, and He did.  Just last night.
How awesome is it when you get to actually see God answering your prayers? It's pretty neat.

It all started last year when God really seemed to be answering prayers. I prayed for a long time that God would open my friend's eyes, because she had fallen into heresy. That heresy had ruined her and broke her down in her life. Once it had given her a false peace and joy. That heresy imprisoned her and destroyed her spiritual walk.
And at times when I was trying to show her the truth it all seemed hopeless. But finally she emailed me and told me that I was right, and that the heresy she had believed in was all a lie.
The next thing we were talking about was Calvinism vs Arminianism.
Now that one took a long time. And it seemed that God didn't even hear me because it would always seem like a constant battle from her traditions and the true Gospel. But one day she emailed me and said that she was a five-pointer!
I cried when I read that email. I cried because God is so good. Because He is so sovereign. Because He answered my prayers. He answered the prayer of each tear I cried for my friend.
And He didn't answer my prayers on my time. He answered them on His time, when the moment was right.
If He had answered them all on my time I never would have learned to be patient in prayer, or to trust in God that He is in full control.
A lot of times I would pray and God wouldn't answer. I would take that as a 'no'. But it wasn't like that, when my prayers for my dear sister in Christ weren't answered, He was saying, 'Not yet, trust in Me for this."
And that is what I had to do. Let go and trust in Him.
Sometimes the answer is 'no' and sometimes it is simply, 'not yet.'
It blows me away when I look back and see how God had a plan through it all, and see how He answered my prayers. Looking back makes me cry and tremble becuase even when I was at the brink of giving up He kept me up, and He gave me hope. Looking back I see God's plan through it all, and it gives me peace for the future. God is sovereign. God is in control.
Over the last year God has answered so many prayers, and sometimes when it has been a long wait I get blown away by that. Because sometimes it feels like He isn't there, that He isn't answering. But then He does. In His time.
And though the wait may be long, I will always have an answer to my prayers. It may be a 'yes', a 'no', or a 'not yet'.
Look back to see what He has already done and trust in Him for the future. He is in control. He is Sovereign.

God Bless,
  A.W.

5 A.M.

Yes, this is about waking up.
I know, I know, I said I would write something spiritual on Monday...but my post does have to do with God and prayer.
So this morning I was looking at blogs and I went to one and someone was talking about waking up at 5 A.M, and praying. Convicted me a little of my own life, becuase I don't wake up at 5 in the morning anymore.
I wake up at 7--7:30.
Actually I got off of my wake up schedule when I started taking this medication that I haven't taken for a few months. It's side effect on me was to make me tired. And I have to take it every night. But now I don't have an excuse, it doesn't effect me much anymore. So why do I still wake up late?
Because I am lazy and I "need my sleep".
Yes, I have trouble sleeping, and after I get in bed it usually takes an hour for me to get to sleep, but I still get enough sleep.
I don't need a full 8 hours.
There is something odd about waking up late for me, whenever I wake up at 7 I am exhausted and when I wake up at 5, I am usually totally awake. Even when I go to bed at 12 and wake up at 5 I am awake.
I don't understand my body. It makes absolutely no sense.
Anyways, a lot of people used to tell me "Why wake up at 5? You'll have to do that soon anyways when you get a job, you should sleep in while you can."
Sounds like a wise idea, and I admit that part of me loves, loves, loves sleep.
I don't have to think when I sleep. The bad thing about sleep is that I wake up and look at my time and all I can think is, "Where has the time gone?"
I don't want to waste my life by sleeping. I am sure that when Jesus was on earth He didn't get a full 8 hour sleeping time every night. He didn't wait till someone got Him up, He was disciplined.
That's how I should be.

I don't follow many peoples' tweets but I do follow Paul Washer's.
He doesn't post a whole lot, but you can definitely take a lot away from the things he posts. Some of those things I have never thought about even. All of you should go read his tweets one day.
Anyways, I find it interesting how many times he says, "It's 3:30 am" "It's 4 am right now" and then he goes on to talk about prayer.
Prayer! I don't randomly wake up that early and pray to God. And when I do wake up early God usually isn't the first one on my mind. But, man, Paul Washer has so many posts on prayer and him being up early to spend time with God.
I am sure that many godly men wake up early to meet with God. The Puritans did.
I am not as godly as the Puritans were, and their disciplined life is something to aspire to. Not in a legalistic way of course.

When I used to wake up at 5, people would always ask, "Why do you wake up at 5? It's so early."
Mostly I just said it was because I wanted to write. But I actually never sat down to write till 7. The other two hours before I would spend getting ready for the day, and spending time with my God.
Those were some of the best days, when I woke up early, before I could be distracted by everything else in life, and I could just meet with God. It made my entire day refreshing. Sometimes like right now I wish that I had never flaked off of that schedule.
I don't want want to stand before God one day and say that I spent so much time sleeping and sleeping, becuase I "needed it."
I don't want to waste my life that way. And it's an easy thing to do.
And when I get really depressed all I want to do is sleep. What a way to waste your life.

People say to wait till I am older to wake up early, but what if I die young?
What will I say to God on how I used the time He gave me? What excuse will I give? Will I just say, "God, if you would have given me time to get a job I would have started waking up early."
That isn't a very good excuse.
 It all leads back to laziness for me. I am tired and I don't feel like getting up.
I think I am always going to be in a state of tiredness, so there isn't any point in trying to "cure" my tiredness.

Not saying that you all should wake up at 5 every morning, but I know for me, it's something that I need to start doing. I don't want to live life so laid back and undisciplined.
God tells us to pray, and I do that best in the morning. So that is what I am going to do.
Hope that you will examine your own life to see if you are being lazy or not in waking up. I know that I have to.

God Bless,
  A.W.