With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray, 41

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post is here. As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color.

‘If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?’—Luke xi.
 
IN the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord had already given utterance to His wonderful
HOW MUCH MORE?  Here in Luke, where He repeats the question, there is a difference. Instead of speaking, as then of giving good gifts, He says, ‘How much more shall the heavenly Father give THE HOLY SPIRIT?’  He thus teaches us that the chief and the best of these gifts is the Holy Spirit, or rather, that in this gift all others are comprised  The Holy Spirit is the first of the Father’s gifts, and the one He delights most to bestow.  The Holy Spirit is therefore the gift we ought first and chiefly to seek. The unspeakable worth of this gift we can easily understand.  Jesus spoke of the Spirit as ‘the promise of the Father;’ the one promise in which God’s Fatherhood revealed itself. 

The best gift a good and wise father can bestow on a child on earth is his own spirit.  This is the great object of a father in education—to reproduce in his child his own disposition and character.  If the child is to know and understand his father; if, as he grows up, he is to enter into all his will and plans; if he is to have his highest joy in the father, and the father in him,—he must be of one mind and spirit with him.  And so it is impossible to conceive of God bestowing any higher gift on His child than this, His own Spirit.  God is what He is through His Spirit; the Spirit is the very life of God.  Just think what it means—God giving His own Spirit to His child on earth.

With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray, 33

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post is here. As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color.

‘Or what man is there of you, who, if his son ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone; or if he shall ask for a fish, will give him a serpent?  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?’—Matt. vii. 9-11

IN these words our Lord proceeds further to confirm what He had said of the certainty of an answer to prayer.  To remove all doubt, and show us on what sure ground His promise rests, He appeals to what every one has seen and experienced here on earth.  We are all children, and know what we expected of our fathers.  We are fathers, or continually see them; and everywhere we look upon it as the most natural thing there can be, for a father to hear his child.  And the Lord asks us to look up from earthly parents, of whom the best are but evil, and to calculate HOW MUCH MORE the heavenly Father will give good gifts to them that ask Him.  Jesus would lead us up to see, that as much greater as God is than sinful man, so much greater our assurance ought to be that He will more surely than any earthly father grant our childlike petitions.  As much greater as God is than man, so much surer is it that prayer will be heard with the Father in heaven than with a father on earth. As simple and intelligible as this parable is, so deep and spiritual is the teaching it contains.  The Lord would remind us that the prayer of a child owes its influence entirely to the relation in which he stands to the parent.  The prayer can exert that influence only when the child is really living in that relationship, in the home, in the love, in the service of the Father.  The power of the promise, ‘Ask, and it shall be given you,’ lies in the loving relationship between us as children and the Father in heaven; when we live and walk in that relationship, the prayer of faith and its answer will be the natural result.  And so the lesson we have today in the school of prayer is this:  Live as a child of God, then you will be able to pray as a child, and as a child you will most assuredly be heard.

Sunspots 605

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: Listverse reports on 10 bizarre stained glass windows. Really bizarre.

Christianity: Relevant tells us that many Christians unknowingly repeat errors in their perception of the Christmas story.

Relevant also reminds us that no one ever became a believer because a Christian scolded them.

"Six Reasons Prayers are not Answered." (Actually, there are more in the article.)


Computing: Gizmo's Freeware reports on a capable free replacement for Microsoft Office.

And Gizmo's points to a free program that lets you download a YouTube video as an .mp3 file -- video to sound only, meaning you can play it without being connected to the internet. However, you lose the video.

Education: The New York Times reports that spending more money on education "probably" improves it.

Health: Listverse reports on people who have had various creatures living in their ears.

Humor: (or something) Scientific American reports on why it's so hard to get a gift that pleases the recipient. (There's an explanation.)

(or something) National Public Radio reports on the return of a book that was apparently checked out of a library in the UK, over 120 years ago.
 
Politics: (Or something) CNN reports that there has been a large pipeline leak, about 150 miles from the much-publicized standoff (so far) on the Standing Rock reservation.

Science: Scientific American reports that 13 bird species have been recently been declared extinct.

Scientific American also tells us that we should be getting ready to keep a comet from hitting the earth, but we aren't.

Listverse reports on 10 things you probably didn't know about the solar system. (I didn't.)

FiveThirtyEight tells us that we are all part virus. Really.








Image source (public domain)

Grace in the Bible

Grace in the Bible: (some occurrences, not all of them!)

Proverbs 3:34 Surely he mocks the mockers, but he gives grace to the humble. (One of the few instances of a reference to grace in the Old Testament.)

John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.

Acts 15:39b Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and went out, being commended by the brothers to the grace of God. (Grace is not just for salvation, but for power to represent Christ to others, and protection in doing so, as God wills.)

Acts 20:32 Now, brothers, I entrust you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build up, and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (Grace helps us to grow in Christ, to be sanctified to His service.)

Romans 12: For I say through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith. 4 For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don’t have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another, 6 having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us: if prophecy, let’s prophesy according to the proportion of our faith; 7 or service, let’s give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching; 8 or he who exhorts, to his exhorting; he who gives, let him do it with generosity; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. (We have gifts for service, as God's grace determines this for each of us.)

1 Corinthians 3:10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it.

2 Corinthians 8:1 Moreover, brothers, we make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the assemblies of Macedonia, 2 how in much proof of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded to the riches of their generosity. 3 For according to their power, I testify, yes and beyond their power, they gave of their own accord, 4 begging us with much entreaty to receive this grace and the fellowship in the service to the saints. 5 This was not as we had expected, but first they gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us through the will of God. 6 So we urged Titus, that as he had made a beginning before, so he would also complete in you this grace. 7 But as you abound in everything, in faith, utterance, knowledge, all earnestness, and in your love to us, see that you also abound in this grace. 8 I speak not by way of commandment, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity also of your love. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich. (Grace empowers us to give to Kingdom work.)

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work. (Again, grace empowers us.)

2 Corinthians 12:9 He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me. (Being able to serve, even though weak, is due to grace.)

Ephesians 1:7 … in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace … (We commonly think of grace as responsible for our salvation. It is, of course.)

Ephesians 2:6 and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus; 8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, that no one would boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them. (This may mean that grace will enable us to experience the life with Christ in the Final Kingdom.)

1 Thessalonians 5:28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. (A statement like this is found at the beginning or end of most of the epistles of the New Testament. These statements are for the believers who were expected to read the letters, so they were not just about salvation.)

2 Timothy 1:8 Therefore don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but endure hardship for the Good News according to the power of God, 9a who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace … (Again, grace so that we can do good works.)

2 Timothy 2:1 You therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. (Again.)

Hebrews 4:16 Let’s therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace for help in time of need. (Our prayers are answered by God's grace!)

James 4:6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8a Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. (Grace is supplied as we need it.)

1 Peter 4:10 As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms. (Grace enables us to serve the church.)

1 Peter 5:10 But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. (Grace enables us to grow spiritually.)

2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (An admonition to grow in grace, which implies that believers may resist grace from God.)

The first and last statements in a book, or a speech, are usually especially significant. The first verse in the Bible tells us that God created. The last one tells us that He offers His grace to believers: Revelation 22:21 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints. Amen.

Thanks for reading.

Spiritual Gifts: Chart

The above is a chart of the spiritual gifts, listed by Paul.

The lists are in Ephesians 4:11, Romans 12:6-8, and 1 Corinthians 12:8-10. I don't know why he presented us with three different lists. I used the English Standard Version and the King James in compiling this comparison. Other versions may differ a little in wording. I don't have a lot to say about this, but will make a few remarks:

1) These are gifts, not talents or abilities, like having special musical ability, or being a good plumber. Such qualities may also enhance God's kingdom, but they don't seem to be what Paul had in mind as gifts. See Exodus 35:30 and the following chapters for a description of the work of artisans on the Tabernacle. The Bible says that at least one of these artisans was specially called, and that two of them were also to teach others their skills. That sort of ability may enhance what God has called some Christians to do. However,
2) The church (see quotes in the chart) is the body of Christ -- the believers -- not one or more buildings.
3) Prophecy, as I understand it, was not just predicting the future. Much of what the Biblical prophets did would now be considered preaching. That's the only gift in all three lists, so it must be important.
4) Teaching is also important.
5) I think that "giving aid" and "leading" are more Christ-like than "ruling," as we now understand that word.

The chart is a hyperlink to this picture, in my Flickr photostream. From there, you may be able to see/use it in a larger size.

Thanks for looking!

Behold, what wondrous love and grace, by William Sanders (1821)

Behold, what wondrous love and grace!
When we were wretched and undone,
To save our ruined, helpless race,
The Father gave His only Son!
Of twice ten thousand gifts divine,
No gift like this could ever shine.

Jesus, to save us from our fall,
Was made incarnate here below;
This was the greatest gift of all—
Heaven could no greater gift bestow:
On Him alone our sins were laid;
He died, and now the ransom’s paid.

O gift of love unspeakable!
O gift of mercy all divine!
We once were slaves of death and hell,
But now we in His image shine.
For other gifts our songs we raise,
But this demands our highest praise.

Praise shall employ these tongues of ours
Till we, with all the hosts above,
Extol His Name with nobler powers,
Lost in the ocean of His love:
While angel choirs with wonder gaze,
We’ll fill the heavens with shouts of praise.

This hymn is about the greatest Christmas gift of all. See here for the Cyberhymnal page, which plays a tune for these words. However, they can also be sung to the tune for "Faith of our Fathers." The tune is named "St.Catherine." Another tune, probably less familiar, is "Selena." That tune is used for "O Love Divine, What Hast Thou Done," by Charles Wesley.

I would recommend changing the 5th and 6th lines of the 1st stanza to this:

Of all the gifts that might have been,
This was the best to give to men.

Thanks for reading. God's blessings at this and all seasons.