March 26, 2012

  • Isaiah 64:7a And there is none that calleth upon Thy name

    Yesterday, as I considered the current state of the Church today, the hymn "Veiled in Darkness Judah Lay" (by Douglas L. Wrights) was brought to mind, and these words from the second verse stood out to me:

    Still the earth in darkness lies.
    Up from death’s dark vale arise
    Voices of a world in grief,
    Prayers of men who seek relief
    The hymn is usually thought of as an Advent hymn, but isn't the Church in the west in much darkness and in desperate need of Jesus Christ coming again to renew, refresh and revive us?

    Such times of refreshing are promised to the children of God . . .

     "when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:20)

    And yet, where are such prayers rising as incense to the throne of God from the children of God?

    Where is the heart of grief we ought to have over the current state of the Church?

    Isaiah 64:7a And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee...

    From Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on Isaiah 64:7:

          "2. There was a general coldness of devotion among them, 7. The measure was filled by the abounding iniquity of the people, and nothing was done to empty it. (1.) Prayer was in a manner neglected: "There is none that calls on thy name, none that seeks to thee for grace to reform us and take away sin, or for mercy to relieve us and take away the judgments which our sins have brought upon us." Therefore people are so bad, because they do not pray; compare Ps. xiv. 3, 4, They have altogether become filthy, for they call not upon the Lord. It bodes ill to a people when prayer is restrained among them. (2.) It was very negligently performed. If there was here and there one that called on God's name, it was with a great deal of indifferency: There is none that stirs up himself to take hold of God. Note, [1.] To pray is to take hold of God, by faith to take hold of the promises and the declarations God has made of his good-will to us and to plead them with him,--to take hold of him as of one who is about to depart from us, earnestly begging of him not to leave us, or of one that has departed, soliciting his return,--to take hold of him as he that wrestles takes hold of him he wrestles with; for the seed of Jacob wrestle with him and so prevail. But when we take hold of God it is as the boatman with his hook takes hold on the shore, as if he would pull the shore to him, but really it is to pull himself to the shore; so we pray, not to bring God to our mind, but to bring ourselves to him. [2.] Those that would take hold of God in prayer so as to prevail with him must stir up themselves to do it; all that is within us must be employed in the duty (and all little enough), our thoughts fixed and our affections flaming. In order hereunto all that is within us must be engaged and summoned into the service; we must stir up the gift that is in us by an actual consideration of the importance of the work that is before us and a close application of mind to it; but how can we expect that God should come to us in ways of mercy when there are none that do this, when those that profess to be intercessors are mere triflers?"

    * * *

    Forgive us, O great God. We confess how we so often exhibit this coldness of devotion, negligence, indifference about spiritual matters, while in contrast we are passionate, diligent and engaged when it comes to the things of the world. Lord Jesus Christ, You ever live to make intercession for us, and yet how often do we even watch one hour with You! Open our eyes, Lord, to see Your Church as You see us, that our spirits might be provoked and our hearts might be filled with compassion and godly grief. Strengthen us, Holy Spirit, and place into us the holy desire to stir ourselves up, so we might intercede as our Lord does, that we might rise above being mere triflers in intercession.


    LORD, we cry unto thee: make haste unto us;
    give ear unto our voice, when we cry unto thee.
    Let our prayer be set forth before thee as incense;
    and the lifting up of our hands as the evening sacrifice.

    Psalm 141:1-2 (KJV, adapted)

    * Please add your PRAYERS as the Holy Spirit leads you. *

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

tent_of_meeting

"he called it the tent of meeting..."

I am burdened to pray to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for the reformation and reviving of Christ's church.

The phrase tent of meeting comes from Exodus 33:7: Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp.

This site is devoted to God first and foremost. In all that is done here, my prayer is that God is glorified and His Name magnified and Christ and Him crucified is lifted up so He might be preeminent and God might receive all the praise, honor and glory due His Holy Name. All who have come to a saving knowledge of our Father by grace through faith in the all-sufficient sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ are welcome to enter this tent of meeting to seek the Lord.

This blog is a place for all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to come and seek God's face for revival. My intention is for this tent of meeting to be a holy place where we can enter into PRAYER together to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit leads you, please enter into prayer either here (think of "comments" as prayers) or on your own.

Habakkuk 3:2 O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.

RSS Feed

RSS Feed