With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray, Excerpt 179

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I do this, not because I'm a powerful prayer warrior, but because I'm not. Murray was. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. His book is based on Mark 11:22-24. The previous post in this series is here. As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color. Murray's book is based on Mark 11:22-24.

But when God, the infinite Being, in whom everything is life and power, spirit and truth, in the very deepest meaning of the words,—when God speaks forth Himself in His words, He does indeed give HIMSELF, His Love and His Life, His Will and His Power, to those who receive these words, in a reality passing comprehension. In every promise He puts Himself in our power to lay hold of and possess; in every command He puts Himself in our power for us to share with Him His Will, His Holiness, His Perfection. In God’s Word God gives us HIMSELF; His Word is nothing less than the Eternal Son, Christ Jesus. And so all Christ’s words are God’s words, full of a Divine quickening life and power. ‘The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.’
Those who have made the deaf and dumb their study, tell us how much the power of speaking depends on that of hearing, and how the loss of hearing in children is followed by that of speaking too. This is true in a wider sense: as we hear, so we speak. This is true in the highest sense of our intercourse with God. To offer a prayer—to give utterance to certain wishes and to appeal to certain promises—is an easy thing, and can be learned of man by human wisdom. But to pray in the Spirit, to speak words that reach and touch God, that affect and influence the powers of the unseen world,—such praying, such speaking, depends entirely upon our hearing God’s voice. Just as far as we listen to the voice and language that God speaks, and in the words of God receive His thoughts, His mind, His life, into our heart, we shall learn to speak in the voice and the language that God hears. It is the ear of the learner, wakened morning by morning, that prepares for the tongue of the learned, to speak to God as well as men, as should be (Isa. l. 4).

Sunspots 812

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

Environment: The Trump administration has removed caps on the speed of water output by shower heads.

Ethics: (And politics) An article in The Week considers why President Trump has told so many lies that don't seem to matter. (Who cares whether he called Tim Cook "Tim Apple?" Trump apparently did, and claimed that he hadn't.)

(and health) ABC, and other outlets, report that the Vatican has approved the use of COVID vaccines, even though research to produce these involved use of human cell lines derived from aborted fetuses. The Vatican specifically condemned abortions, however.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight does an analysis of the recent history of the politics of the suburbs.

FiveThirtyEight also says that Democrats and Republicans should argue more, not less, and explains why.

Science: Gizmodo asks some experts if our hearing can become more sensitive, with training. They say that it can.

Sports: ESPN and other outlets report that Tara VanDerveer has now accumulated more wins than any other women's college basketball coach in history.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 597

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

Christianity: Lifeway Research has set forth four questions that indicate whether someone is an evangelical.


Computing: Gizmo's freeware has updated its annotated list of free games for Windows machines. (Some of these have Ios and Android versions.)

Finance: The New York Times discusses Walmart's higher wages, and, perhaps, treating workers better, and the effects of these changes on the bottom line.

Food: Relevant says that newly developed sweet potatoes may prevent blindness in many people. (The potatoes have not been genetically modified.)

Health: Scientific American says that weight loss surgery also alters the brain.

Gizmo's Freeware points us to a hearing test that requires just a computer and headphones.

History: Listverse on clowns that terrified people in the past.


Politics: Charles Krauthammer, no one's idea of a left-winger, claims that the election of Mr. Trump would be very dangerous, and tells why.






Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 502

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:
Christianity (and Astronomy): Reviews of a book about "Blood Moons" by John Hagee, claiming that eclipses are a sign that something important is going to happen to Israel, and it's about to happen. The reviews demolish the book's thesis thoroughly.
Health: Walking is good for you. It's a lot easier in some places. You can determine the "Walk Score" of any address here.
Science: A reporter for National Public Radio had her gut bacteria, and those of her husband, mother, and dog, analyzed.
NPR reports on dwarf galaxies, some quite near (in astronomical terms) to us.
The University of Aberdeen has posted a video of creatures living in the Mariana Trench, which is as much as 10,000 meters (nearly 7 miles) below sea level.
NPR reports that there may be a connection between what we hear and how we taste food.


 Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 434

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

The Arts: Frederik Pohl, who wrote excellent science fiction novels from 1954 to 2011, recently passed away. (He also wrote many short stories.) His novel, Gateway, won about every award possible.

Computing: ABC News tells us that the next version of the Android operating system (used on over half of all smart phones, and on tablets) will be named Kit Kat, after the candy bar. (Previous versions have been named Jelly Bean and Ice Cream Sandwich, among other names.)

Health: (and Christianity) National Public Radio reports on a Texas megachurch where 21 people have caught the measles.

Science: National Public Radio reports on the discovery of a canyon, longer and wider (but not deeper) than the Grand Canyon, beneath the ice of the Antarctic.

Discovery.com reports that some tiny frogs use their mouths, rather than the middle ear, to magnify sound.


Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 328

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

 
Science: Wired reports on a study that indicates that marijuana use does not make people stupider.

National Public Radio reports on a study that suggests that being a musician means that you have have better hearing -- you are better able to follow conversations, and lose your hearing more slowly as you age. The study didn't seem to take the extremely loud music produced by some popular musicians into account.

The Arts: (sort of) Wired reports that an artist has produced a (sort of) animated tattoo. Video is included.

Image source (public domain)

Church Music and the body

Certain habits are considered dangerous, by Christians and others, because they put our body at risk. Some Christians might even go so far as to call such behavior sinful, and cite 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 as proof: 16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. (ESV)

I wish to raise an issue concerning abuse of the body.

Some church music is too loud. Some worshipers are in the process of losing their hearing, because of the music used in their churches. If certain habits are considered dangerous or sinful by Christians, because they harm the body, why isn't playing worship music too loud also considered dangerous and sinful? (One reason some worship music is played so loud is that the hearing of those in charge isn't what it once was -- they have to play it loud to hear it themselves.) I am, of course, aware that evangelical Christians tend to speak out against the use of certain substances, but generally say very little about overeating, or not getting enough sleep or exercise, which may be dangerous, even deadly, to our bodies.

A related issue is that some congregants have hearing aids that amplify loud music so much that it may become physically uncomfortable for them. This is often not understood, or appreciated, by church musicians, most of which think hearing aids are for someone else.

Do I plan to bring a decibel meter to church? No. Nor am I expecting anyone else to. But I simply ask anyone who may read this, and who now has, or might, in the future, some control over the volume knobs, to prayerfully consider this matter.

I have previously posted on scripture related to church music, on several topics related to church music, and expect to post on worldiness and worship music (it's probably not what you think.)

Thanks for reading.