lukewarm

  • "You have hindered God's work by your want of prayer." (from M'Cheyne's 8th Pastoral Letter)

    In my last post I quoted from Robert Murray M'Cheyne, who reminded us that we "ought never do anything without prayer."

    Once again I'd like to bring you something from M'Cheyne. As way of background ~ M'Cheyne wrote a series of ten Pastoral Letters during the time he was away from his flock at St. Peter's, Dundee (initially for a few months due to illness, during which time he sensed God's call to go on mission to the Jews, and then he was gone for a period of eight months after that on mission, before returning to Scotland). (As an aside, this is a reminder how God desires to use us regardless of where we are; I've found what I've read of these letters so encouraging!)

    In his Eighth Pastoral Letter, subtitled "Warnings to the unsaved—Causes why so many among us are unsaved," Robert Murray M'Cheyne first addresses his own sins and shortcomings as a minister after which he addresses his flock. His second point in that section of the letter dealt with his people's want of prayer. I think these words are a much-needed exhortation to the Church of God today.

    ... You have hindered God's work by your want of prayer. When God gives grace to souls, it is in answer to the prayers of His children. You will see this, on the Day of Pentecost, Acts ii. Ezek. xxxvii. 9 shews, that in answer to the prayer of a single child of God, God will give grace to a whole valley full of dry and prayerless bones. Where God puts it into the heart of His children to pray, it is certain that He is going to pour down His Spirit in abundance. Now, where have been your prayers, O children of God ? The salvation of those around you depends on your asking, and yet " hitherto ye have asked nothing in Christ's name." Ye that are the Lord's remembrancers keep not silence, and give Him no rest. Alas ! you have given God much rest— you have allowed His hand to remain unplucked out of his bosom. It is said of John Welsh, minister of Ayr, that he used always to sleep with a plaid upon his bed, that he might wrap it around him when he arose in the night to pray. He used to spend whole nights in wrestling with God for Zion, and for the purity of the Church of Scotland ; and he wondered how Christians could lie all night in bed without rising to pray. Oh! we have few Welshes now, therefore our Church is so dim, and our land a barren wilderness. Dear Christians, I often think it strange that ever we should be in heaven, and so many in hell through our soul-destroying carelessness. The good Lord pardon the past, and stir you up for the future. I learn that you are more stirred up to pray since I left, both in secret and unitedly. God grant it be so. Continue in it, dear children. Do not let it slip again. Plead and wrestle with God, shewing him that the cause is his own, and that it is all for his own glory to arise and have mercy upon Zion.

    * * *

    Isaiah 62:
    1  For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,
    and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet,
    until her righteousness goes forth as brightness,
    and her salvation as a burning torch.
    2  The nations shall see your righteousness,
    and all the kings your glory,
    and you shall be called by a new name
    that the mouth of the LORD will give.
    3  You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD,
    and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
    4  You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
    and your land shall no more be termed Desolate,
    but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
    and your land Married;
    for the LORD delights in you,
    and your land shall be married.
    5  For as a young man marries a young woman,
    so shall your sons marry you,
    and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
    so shall your God rejoice over you.
    6  On your walls, O Jerusalem,
    I have set watchmen;
    all the day and all the night
    they shall never be silent.
    You who put the LORD in remembrance,
    take no rest,
    7  and give him no rest
    until he establishes Jerusalem
    and makes it a praise in the earth.

    Holy Father, We confess how often we have left off in prayer. We confess we do not give You peace nor rest. Prayer is a privilege and a responsibility and a calling of all Your children. Your Son gave His body and blood so we might be given entrance to Your throne room. The Lord Jesus Christ made the way into the Holy of Holies so we might go there with Him also. He continues to intercede for us today without ceasing. Your Holy Spirit intercedes for us. Lord God, Forgive us for not availing ourselves of this blessed birthright of prayer.

    Holy Father, Forgive us for being lukewarm and complacent. Forgive us for being cold and uncaring. We confess that we are so hot and engaged in worldly pursuits. Yet, where is that same fire and engagement in heavenly pursuits? Cleanse and purify our hearts, our minds and our desires so we might have a greater passion for Your cause and Your glory. We confess how we are so often self-centered, concerned about our own causes and our own glory, ready to do just about anything for self-interest. We confess how little we are concerned about Your cause and Your glory: the saving of many souls from all nations through Jesus Christ to Your glory. We confess that our own self-interests consume us more than passion for Your cause and Your glory. Forgive us and cleanse us from us selfishness. You saved us so we might not walk according to our own lusts but to Your good, acceptable and perfect will. Send Your Holy Fire to consume us afresh and anew with a passion for Your cause and Your glory.

    Holy Father, Send Your Spirit to cleanse and purify our hearts, our minds and our desires so we might have a greater passion for intercessory prayer. Forgive us that we have hindered Your work by our want of prayer. Help us to be zealous for Your cause and Your glory. Help us to plead and wrestle with You for Zion without ceasing – for lost souls, for lukewarm souls, for our own souls. How often do we plead and wrestle for our own earthly, fleshly interests! Forgive us for having such impure thoughts and desires. May we be a bright and shining torch again, a city upon a hill, to which many nations will see Your light, righteousness and glory and stream there so they might seek and know You and the joy of Your salvation.

    Holy Father, Stir us up so we might pray without ceasing for Your cause and Your glory. Stir us up out of our beds. Stir us up in our homes. Stir us up in our church buildings. Stir us up as we walk. Stir us up as we sit. Stir us up wherever we are. Stir us up all the day. Stir us up all the night. Stir us up so we cannot keep silent but continue importunate in prayer. Stir us up to Your cause and Your glory. How can we be content unless we are united with Your mind and heart in this desire? Have mercy upon us. Have mercy upon Zion. Have mercy upon Your Church. Have mercy upon our dry and prayerless bones! Breathe life into us, Holy Spirit, so prayers might rise as incense to Your throne once again for Your good pleasure. Amen.

    Please add your own PRAYERS as God's Spirit leads you.

  • May we increasingly desire to understand & study Your Word (Neh. 8:13)


    We've been focusing on Nehemiah 8 and praying the Word of God might be restored to its proper place in our lives and in the life of the Church as a whole:

    Continuing on again in Nehemiah 8...

    Nehemiah 8:13 And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law. (KJV)

    On the second day the heads of fathers' houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the Law. (ESV)

    The word translated understand (KJV) and study (ESV) is the Hebrew word sakal  (saw-kal'). Here's what Strong's Concordance says about the word:

    a primitive root; to be (causatively, make or act) circumspect and hence, intelligent:--consider, expert, instruct, prosper, (deal) prudent(-ly), (give) skill(-ful), have good success, teach, (have, make to) understand(-ing), wisdom, (be, behave self, consider, make) wise(- ly), guide wittingly.

    We read in II Timothy 2 (KJV) that we are to

    Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

    Lord God,

    Your Word is breathed out from Your very mouth, it is Your gift to us from Your Spirit, written by men who were carried along by Your Spirit and preserved and protected by Your good Providence.

    We see how your leaders gathered together to understand and study Your Word, and it is true that those who are leaders among us will be held to greater account. We thank You for those You have called and appointed to teach and lead us and we pray You would continue to guard and protect them so they might take heed to themselves and the doctrine.

    However, in addition to Your divinely appointing and gifting such members of Your Body to lead, feed, instruct and teach us, we are a holy priesthood. We need no human mediator to teach us. Because Your Holy Spirit dwells in all of Your people, any one of us can all open Your Word to study and to understand so we might know You more. You are not a respecter of persons in that. Lord Jesus, You told the little children to come to You. In the Kingdom of God, the wisdom of men has no true bearing in terms of understanding what is spiritual. Many of those whom the world considers are unwise and foolish are enlightened through Your Spirit while the wise and strong and powerful remain in darkness and reject You and Your Word. The most incapable in the world's eyes are made capable to understand the things of the Spirit, for they are spiritually discerned and can only be understood through the Spirit. The Spirit alone can open our hearts and minds to teach us of You. And though the Spirit does graciously reveal these things to us as You will, yet You still use the means to do so.

    May we increasingly desire to understand & study Your Word.
    May You and Your Word be a delight to us.

    We confess how often we neglect to really study Your Word and seek to understand. We confess our laziness and lethargy and lukewarmness. O, to consider we can meet with You, the living God, in Your Word. We can meet with You, the holy God who sent His Son to die for us and redeem us as a people to Yourself! The God who set His love on us when we were still sinners and Your enemies.

    O, great God, we confess those times when we sit and read or listen to Your Word, but we are not thrilled by it, by You. We confess those time that we listen and do not take the time or energy to really focus to understand or study Your Word. We confess those times when we have one eye on the clock or on our to-do list, with the other eye on the Scripture. We confess how often we bow to expediency and the urgent, rather than the things of first import, the one thing most necessary. We confess how we are tempted to be like Mary rather than be Martha. How we busy ourselves with countless other things, not saying they are all bad, but yet we do not take the time to sit and ponder and soak and abide in Your Word at Your feet. We cannot serve two masters. Ever! Yet so we confess we so often merely read our assigned verses or chapter(s) for the day and then walk away like those You've described in James 1:

    21  Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

    22  But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24  For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25  But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

    May we increasingly desire to understand & study Your Word.
    May You and Your Word delight our souls!

    Forgive us for not being single-eyed toward You. We confess those times we do hear or read Your Word but yet we do not receive with meekness that implanted Word. We confess that we not take the time to soak wholeheartedly in Your Word like the Psalmist described:

    Psalms 1:
    1  Blessed is the man
    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
    nor stands in the way of sinners,
    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
    2  but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
    and on his law he meditates day and night.
    3  He is like a tree
    planted by streams of water
    that yields its fruit in its season,
    and its leaf does not wither.
    In all that he does, he prospers.

    Certainly we can trust that as we devote time to press on to seek You and to know You more in Your Word, You will provide the time we need for all You have called us to each day – to fulfill all the family, personal, ministry and work obligations You have called us to, as well as allowing us for time to rest.

    How can we expect to know You if we do not avail ourselves of this precious means of grace You have provided for us to do so?

    May we increasingly desire to understand & study Your Word.
    May You and Your Word delight our souls!

    Holy God,

    Forgive us for not delighting in Your Word as we ought.
    May You and Your Word delight our souls once again.

    Forgive us for so often letting the study of Your Word to our leaders only and learning of You secondhand.
    Forgive us for being hearers only and not doers and so quickly forgetting what we've heard.
    Forgive us for not taking the time to study to show ourselves approved.
    Forgive us for not meditating on Your Word day and night.
    Forgive us for our laziness.

    Cleanse us from our sins, Lord God, for Jesus' sake.

    Increase our hunger and zeal for You and Your Word and our desire to know You more.

    May we increasingly desire to understand & study Your Word.
    May You and Your Word delight our souls!

    May we value and treasure any opportunity we have to study and understand Your Word.
    May we give You the firstfruits of our time in this, rather than letting it go until the end of the day (if at all).
    May we show we value and treasure Your Word by making time to plant ourselves there and soaking there.
    May we be excited as we anticipate meeting with You in Your Word.
    May we protect and guard the time we set aside for Your Word as we would an important appointment.

    Make us once again the people of one Book.
    Have mercy on us, O God.

    May we increasingly desire to understand & study Your Word.
    May You and Your Word delight our souls!

    Please prayerfully reflect on your attitude toward the Word of God and then add your PRAYERS below as the Spirit leads.

  • one sign of revival: attentiveness to the Word of God (Whitefield's Journals)

    A couple days ago, when I began to write my post May we gather as one man to hear Your Word (Nehemiah 8), I was expecting to post on Nehemiah 8:1-8, but then decided to cut it off in the middle of verse 3 because the passage was so packed.

    The end of verse three really hit me then (and it still does), particularly the word attentive:

    And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

    I had planned to post on that last portion of verse 3 yesterday, but before I began to pray/write/prepare to post on that I had been paging through George Whitefield's Journals looking for something else, and, in the providence of God, I ended up stumbling across a wonderful account of Londoners being attentive to the Word of God in much the same way we read of in Nehemiah 8.

    I had actually planned to include this account in my prayer yesterday, Give us ears to be attentive to Your words alone, but I got carried away with praying, so I would like for you to read it today (from p 88-89):

    ...for near three months successively, there was no end of the people flocking to hear the Word of God. The churchwardens and managers of charity schools, were continually applying to me to preach for the benefit of the children; and, as I was to embark shortly, they procured the liberty of the churches on weekdays,––a thing never known before. I sometimes had more than a dozen names of different churches, at which I had promised to preach, upon my slate-book at once; and, when I preached, constables were obliged to be placed at the door, to keep the people in order. The sight of the congregations was awful. One might, as it were, walk upon the people's heads; and thousands went away form the largest churches for want of room. They were all attention, and hear like people hearing for eternity.

    I now preached generally nine times a week. The early sacraments were exceeding awful. At Cripplegate, St. Ann's, and Forster Lane, how often have we seen Jesus Christ crucified, and evidently set before us! On Sunday mornings, long before day, you might see streets filled with people going to church, with their lanthorns in their hands, and hear them conversing about the things of God. Other Lecture Churches near at hand would be filled with person s who could not come where I was preaching; and those who did come, were so deeply affected, that they were like persons struck with pointed arrows, or mourning for a firstborn child...

    ...for near three months successively, there was no end of the people flocking to hear the Word of God.

    They were all attention, and hear like people hearing for eternity.

    On Sunday mornings, long before day, you might see streets filled with people going to church, with their lanthorns in their hands, and hear them conversing about the things of God.

    I've not seen people flocking to hear the Word of God in my city. Have you seen that in your city?
    I've not seen that type of attentiveness to the Word of God in my city. Have you seen that in your city?
    I've not seen the streets in my city filled with people going to Church conversing about the things of God? Have you seen that in your city?
    I've not seen that kind of hunger for the Word of God in my city. Have you seen that in your city?

    I think, no, I know it, a lot of people think those of us who are praying for revival are nuts.

    Honestly, how can you not pray for revival when you read these accounts?
    How can you not get down on your knees and beg and plead with God to revive us again?

    That is why I am praying for revival, and I hope this gives you one more reason to pray for revival.

    Martyn Lloyd-Jones spoke of the glorious possibilities God has for us as believers. This is one of those! People flocking to hear the Word of God and being attentive and hearing for eternity!

    Dare we imagine it? Yes, we must imagine it! We must never lose sight of these glorious possibilities! And then let us look to the God of glory who can impart that hunger for and attentiveness to His Word once again! He is the God who can do immeasurably above all we can ask or imagine!

    One sign of revivals is that there is an increasing desire to hear the Word of God preached rightly. We can see how wonderfully the Holy Spirit worked to make God's people attentive to His Word at the time of Whitefield. Whitefield wasn't preaching fluff. He wasn't catering to itching ears. He wasn't sugar-coating things. He was preaching Christ and Him crucified. He was preaching a Gospel of repentance and remission of sins by grace through faith in Christ. He preached of the need for souls to be born again and regenerated by the Spirit. I regret to say many people today do flock to churches, but those are churches where fluff and sugar-coated preaching is the rule. The apostle Paul's words to Timothy are evident: our churches are filled with people who no longer endure sound doctrine. They have heaped up teachers for themselves because they have itching ears. They have turned their ears away from the truth and turned to fables. Such preaching does nothing to impart life to dead souls or revive lukewarm or cold believers. I long and pray for the day when people would flock to hear the Word of God preached as it ought to be!

    I will say that for those of us who are praying for revival, one of the most encouraging things we can continue to do is to read the accounts of revivals and the stories of the men and women God used during those times. Go back! Please do that! You can find books at your library or do searches online or ask me. When we look back at the work God has done in the past, it gives us hope of what God might do once again. When I read of past revivals and then look at the state of the Church today and the state of my own soul, it makes me sick to my stomach and causes me to weep to see how far we are from the glory God has for us . .  yet at the same time it also spurs me onto prayer for it gives me a vision of what is truly possible through the power of God Almighty. Yes, it seems impossible! It seems so unlikely! Yet we have a God who does the impossible and does unlikely things! He can part the Red Sea! He can cause the waters to stand up in a heap! He can cause Jericho walls to fall down! That's what makes God God after all!

    We all know that God's Holy Spirit can come in the blink of an eye and rend the heavens and open a single heart or 3000 hearts to Him. The Spirit blows when and where He wills. Such a movement of the Holy Spirit is what I have been praying for, and I know many of you are also. Yes, this is impossible with any of us, but it is possible through Him.

    When we look at the state of the Church through our human eyes, we would so quickly give up. But when we look at the Church with the eyes of faith and the assurance that God loves the Church and will never leave her or forsake her, we cannot help but persevere in prayer...after all, Jesus Himself is persevering in prayer, is He not? Truly God is the God who can do miracles today, and some of the greatest miracles God can do are to bring dead sinners to life and to take cold or lukewarm believers and ignite the with passionate fire. Many people are seeking physical healing, but let us consider how much more wondrous and amazing are the supernatural spiritual healings God desires to work in souls, souls which are currently separated from Him by that great gulf fixed or those souls which once burned hot for Him but now have left their first Love. I know I have seen touches of that reviving work in my own life and in the lives of a few others, but I am not satisfied with that. I am praying God might do such work on a large scale as we have seen happen at various times throughout history, including the time of Whitefield and the brothers Wesley. That's what revival is. It's not a sideshow. It's not a feel good experience, it's not a health and wealth prosperity gospel, but it's the power of God coming to breathe life into dead souls, or to revive into all but dead believers for His glory.

    Revival is people convicted of their sin and cut to the heart, pleading "What must we do to be saved?"
    Revival is people seeing they are unclean and their righteousness is filthy rags.
    Revival is people weeping over their sin and seeking to be holy.
    Revival is people being transformed and set free from the power of sin.
    Revival is people zealous for the glory of God and the Gospel.
    Revival is people being shaken from their apathy about their own soul and the souls of others.
    Revival is people being given a heart to weep and plead for the souls of the lost.

    Again, none of us can make revival happen, but we can plead with the Lord that He might be gracious to us, and we can be faithful to remain in His Word and give out His Word without compromise. God is sovereign and He does all things in His time, always. But let us not give up meeting Him in prayer in the tent of meeting, and let us not give up encouraging one another to pray. Perhaps God's Spirit might be poured down on us from on high! We are poor and needy! May He have mercy on us, His Church, for Jesus' sake! Amen.

    Please add your prayers that God might revive us again, that we might be attentive to His Word once more.

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.

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