When Civilization Crumbles…where are the Men of God?

I don’t really know “what possessed me,” as they say, (my thesis is that it was the Holy Spirit) but a conversation yesterday with a brother in Christ began and continued most strangely and most gloriously.  It took place at that wonderfully Post-Modern invention known as “Starbucks.”  I’ve taken a long break from caffeine, so I had a passion tea lemonade which I was told had very little caffeine so as not to notice anything.  Well, I slept well that night, so I guess the server knew her Starbucks arsenal well. Bravo! Starbucks has been an amazing place for “intelligent Christian conversation,” as Dr. Mohler would put it.  I find a new desire to use Starbucks for the glory of God a lot more for as long as he wishes to uphold it.

As long as you are smiling now, let me begin to turn that smile into a different facial feature.  I hope that this article breaks your heart.  I hope it also brings you joy in God’s own Son and in the redemption he brings.  He will stand up from that right hand, and he will restore his people to himself.  That is indubious.

Anyway…

It found our conversation’s obtuse beginnings in the subject of the presidential election and the immigration policies of Obama versus those of McCain.  Well, we didn’t discuss the acutal policies very much.  In fact, our conversation didn’t even really continue on ‘politics’ as such.  The conversation did continue and eventually found its mark on the issue of biblical gender roles.

We discussed the recent California supreme court decision to allow same-sex marriage in that state and its remarkable purpose to redefine marriage and thus mark its contribution toward American civilization’s end.  We discussed abortion and its horrifying reality as well as God’s own right to take and give life as he deems fit.  We dicussed feminism and its God-defying and unbiblical agenda.  Lastly, we discussed the cowardess of men and the need for men to start acting like men.

And thus, my point…

In that amazingly God-blessed conversation, a certain statement came out of my mouth, and I was scared to have said it.  Why was I scared? Because I know it is true.  I will share that statement with you at the end of this essay, but first let me show what I mean.

As C.S. Lewis once put it, and I paraphrase:  At one time, we approached God with such fear and trembling as though we were in the dock of judgment before a holy God.  Today, we have placed God in the dock and he is to be judged by the supremacy of the human reason.

Today, I think, our civilization places God in the dock, and he is to be judged by the supremacy of human rights.  Although, and I qualify, both of these ideas have always been true.

Throughout the Bible, men demanded that God stay subject to their reason.  And they also demanded that God grant them rights.

There is nothing new under the sun. “There are no new heresies.  Only constant repackagings,” as John Piper once put it.

In light of this culture, that is, this present evil age, Satan’s trumpetering fluidity of mistruths and halftruths have found their way quickly onto the shelves of our Christian book stores, into the classrooms of our Christian seminaries, and into the pulpits of our Christian churches.

“How then shall we live?” as Schaeffer once questioned.

I propose this:  “Meaning precedes existence.”

Someone has already decided for you, o man, what is truth.  It defines who you are, what you are, what is required of you, and why you even exist.

His name is God and his will and word is that truth.

Dr. David Wells of Gordon-Tidwell Theological Seminary was asked a serious question by Dr. Mohler on the June 5, 2008 episode of the Albert Mohler Program. You can follow the link here if you wish to download the entire conversation.  (I would always highly suggest to my readers that they listen to the Albert Mohler Program and its resources.)  http://www.albertmohler.com/radio_show.php?cdate=2008-06-05

Here was his question for Dr. Wells:

“[Concerning] how evangelical Christians should pray and hope to see evangelical Christianity recover the truth, what would you have the local pastor to do?”

His answer was both encouraging and shockingly relevant to my current personal walk. 

“Well, I think these two steps that I mentioned: taking seriously the truth God’s given us in the Scriptures and taking more seriously the world around us, are really the key.  It’s like breathing out and breathing in.  The point about the truth that we have in Scripture is that it corresponds to what’s in reality.  This is not simply about learning a Bible verse, although that is a good thing to do, but that we’ve got to understand that this is real, that we’re talking about what’s in the character of God and what’s in the character of human beings and what life is about.  Christianity is not simply a technique or a therapy.  This is real stuff.  On the otherhand, we’ve got to understand the world around us, and if I could point to what I think is a prevailing weakness in our churches, it is right here.  It takes a lot of time and thought and work to know how exactly, if you are a pastor, to apply the truth of a biblical passage to our world.  You can get that truth, if you are a biblical preacher, fairly quickly by looking at commontries.  But applying it is another matter, and that is I think a besetting weakness in the evangelical world.  If I were to be asked, would I prefer to hear a topical sermon on ’how to get on with your mother-in-law’ or to hear a sermon on a biblical text which wasn’t applied, of course I’d prefer to hear the text preached, but I’d most of all like to know how that text applies.  And that is where I think our preachers are weakest, and many people who are reading their Bibles, day by day, don’t see the connections.  They therefore come to think of Christianity as a sort of private comfort to them, but they don’t understand that we are in a ‘worldview conflict,’ and the day they step out of their houses, onto the train, into their car, into the workplace, they are in conflict with other worldviews whether they know it or not…we are now reaping the harvest from not having been preaching expository sermons.  So people come into the pews uninstructed but at the same time yearning for some sort of internal comfort because this is a brutal world.  And that combination of…infantile understanding of biblical truth [and] the serious pressures of living and competing in this modern world, that combination has proved lethal to biblical Christianity.”

I encourage you to do something I am unable to do right now.  Pick up Dr. David Wells newest book, “The Courage to be Protestant: Truth-lovers, Marketers, and the Emergent.”

Friends, I am at a point in my spiritual walk where I am coming face to face with the doctrine which I espouse, and I am being asked to evaluate and prove it.  Just as Dr. Wells put it, when I walk out that door, I am at war with other worldviews.  It is most definitely sad when I have defend it against other “Christians.”  Now here is the statement I shared with my friend, and I was personally shocked to here myself say it:

“I say all of this because I fear that sooner or later your religious liberty is going to be stripped away in the the name of liberty.  You are going to have to take your wife and your son and your daughter and place them here in this part of your home and then go to the front door and stand blocking the way saying ’No untruth will come into this house.’  I know that it is coming.  The day is coming and it is only going to get worse.  So what are you going to do about it now while there is still time?”

I felt my face turn pale when I said it.  Yup, it is only going to get worse isn’t it?

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.  For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.” 2 Timothy 3:1-9

I am awestruck at how 2 Timothy has been such a mighty tool in helping me understand what it means to grow up.  Nevertheless, as discouraging as Paul’s true statements are in these first nine verses, his next verses are a call to stand on one thing.  Note his comparison between those described in the first verses of this chapter and Timothy himself in these:

“You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me.  Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” 2 Timothy 3:10-12

Note the “however” that automatically opposes Timothy to those other men. By contrast, Timothy has followed the teaching of his wiser mentor who heeded the teaching of God, the conduct of Paul’s committment to Christ, the aim of Paul’s life to preach the gospel, the faith of Paul in Christ, the patience of Paul with his opponents, the love of Paul for the lost, the steadfastness of Paul to Christ’s steadfastness for him, and the persuction and suffering that attends all who desire to be obedient to Christ.  Yet just the same, Christ delivered him ”from them all.”  That’s what he means in verse 12.  If you want to be godly, you will be hated for it.

You know why so many who read that last sentence will simply agree and go on nonchalantly?  Because they read it, but they have never experienced it.  Are you being godly?  This passage says a good sign is that people will persecute you for it.

Yet just the same, Paul goes on and contrasts men of God with men of the world in verse 13.

“…while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

He continues in verse 14-17 by showing what is the definitive and most remarkable difference between men of God and men of the world.  This is the passage that we use and quote so often, but the context escapes us to the point of misunderstanding its power and urgent call.  What makes Timothy different from those in verses 1-9 and verse 13?

It is an unyielding and immovable devotion to standing firmly on God’s own infallible, inerrant, and totally trustworthy and authoritative word.  Just look at it again:

“But as for you continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”

Childhood had its devotion to Scripture, now how much more should manhood?  I plead with my brethren, don’t play games with God’s own word.  It will bring judgement on you both in this life and that to come.  If you aim to lead God’s people in the pastorate or as a teacher or preacher, your unyielding devotion to God’s word is all the more paramount.  “for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness…”

I fear for the men who aim to lead God’s people yet have no respect for God’s Word…and yes, you have no respect for it when you say it has error.

I fear for your soul, and I fear for the souls of those you lead.  Turn…and believe.

As for the rest of us, stand and fight, you men of God.

“He did not consider that republic flourishing whose walls stand, but whose morals are in ruins. But the seductions of evil-minded devils had more influence with you than the precautions of prudent men.”

-St. Augustine, City of God

Be prudent men and be bold men, for “If God is for us.  Who can be against us?”  Romans 8:31

Working with you to fight as men on the side of the Most High God,

Vince R.

 

   

 

My Sin Cannot Imply it!

My Sin Cannot Imply it!

By Vince Robles

Micah 7:8 “Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; When I fall, I shall rise” 

Oh, the sin of God’s own chosen!

Who of Jesus Christ do claim,

They who wander from their savior,

Find their joy is gone away.

 

Fruit the Master does not gather,

Thistles rather from this tree.

Oh my God! Your burning anger!

See your Son and turn from me.

 

Godliness and Christ-like loving,

Traded for deceit of sin.

Oh, this wretched mortal body!

Wicked heart that dwells within!

 

Hatred for the Father’s glory,

Spurning life to treasure death.

Moments thought I walked so closely,

Now the law has stol’n my breath.

 

“Woe to you!” the devil taunts me

“Favored one now gone astray.”

“Jesus once did find you lovely.”

“Now He sees your wicked ways.”

 

Rejoice not over me my en’my.

When I fall, again I’ll rise.

When I sit in darkness lowly,

Holy truth shall be my light!

 

Rebuked I stand with loving ang’r,

Rightly bearing scolding face.

I rebelled and sought to wander,

But my Christ will plead my case.

 

He pleads his blood and brok’n body,

Naming me as His own kin.

Though my sin is black and ugly,

All it’s judgment’s poured on Him.

 

Enemy I soon will see you,

Covered under shame and scorn.

I am washed in blood and made new.

Sin’s dominion is no more!

 

So when my heart has gone astray,

His word provides assurance.

His grace sufficient leads the way,

And calls me to endurance.

 

His grace abounds to even me.

My Sin cannot imply it!

That Christ’s blood’s not set me free to

Enjoy and glorify Him.

 

Working with you to cling to the Cross when the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,

Vince R.

The Consolations of the Cross: Battling Guilt, Loneliness, and Anxiety

I can think of many verses to fight the battle against unbelief, but this one really captured me the other day as I was reading in the Psalms.

“When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.” Psalm 94:19

So simple is this verse, so eloquent and so appropriate.

The cares of your past sins will burden you, the cares of your present loneliness will burden you, and the cares of your future will burden you, too.  How can saints face this?  There is but one way: By wielding the sword of promise against their mortal flesh.

The Question…

Look at this verse from Psalm 42.

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” Psalm 42:5

The Psalmist asks his soul a very good question.  Ask your soul the same.  Now read…

Yesterday: Battling Guilt

So many are the cares of your past, Christian. When the sins of yesterday speak lies into your ears today, reminding you of the guilt within, Psalm 94:19 says the consolation of the cross cheers your soul!  Your desires took you amiss yesterday, but today the blood-stained cross consoles you!  He cancelled ” the record of debt that stood against [you] with its legal demands.  This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”  “It is finished!”  Behold, the consolations of his nails!

Colossians 2:14; John 19:30

Today: Battling Loneliness

But what of today? So many are its cares, Christian.  When you sit alone in silence and reverberating emptiness, Psalm 94:19 says the consolation of the cross cheers your soul in loneliness  You are reconciled with God Almighty.  No longer are you at war with your creator, he made “peace by the blood of his cross.”  You who were once ”alienated and hostile in mind” to him are “now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death.”  You are the friend of God, lonely Christian!  Behold the consolations of his friendship!

Colossians 1:20; 21, 22

Tomorrow: Battling Anxious Despair

“But tomorrow!” you retort, “What will it bring?”  That is not for you to know.  Don’t boast in your arrogance.  “All such boasting is evil.”  Simply trust the Lord.  This verse says that the consolation of the cross cheers your despairing soul.  God chose to make known to you “the mystery of the hidden ages and generations.”  What is that mystery? “…Christ in you, the hope of glory.”  You have hope!  What business is it of the saint of God to despair about the future? Christ is in you.  Therefore, “…the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is be revealed to us.”  Behold, the consolations of future glory!

James 4:16, Colossians 1:27; Romans 8:18

Now, the rebuke…

Finish the verse from Psalm 42.

“Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation, and my God.” Psalm 42:5-6

The Psalmist exhorts his despairing soul to hope, praise and exalt…God.

Working with you to cheer your soul by rebuking it with vigorous resolve,

Vince R. 

Prayer and the Lord’s Coming: An Exposition of 1 Thessalonians 5

Prayer is so, so, so hard.  Have you thought about it?  “No it isn’t,” you say, “all you have to do is talk to God.”  Well, yeah, that’s not the hard part.  The hard part is talking to God more than just a little bit and more than just once a day and without distraction from the flesh.  “Oh,” you say, “well one must struggle indeed if he only prays a little bit once a day.”  But I hardly mean for my readers to excuse themselves by saying, “Well, at least I pray three or four times a day. He’s not talking about me.”

The issue here is not numbers.  The issue here is not length.  The issue here is not oratory skill and profundity of speech during prayer.  The issue is desperation.  The issue is humility.  The issue is urgency.  The issue is the Lord’s coming.

Prayer is the highest activity of the human soul, and therefore it is at the same time the ultimate test of a man’s true spiritual condition (there is nothing so much as prayer life that tells the truth about us as Christian people.) Everything we do in the Christian life is easier than prayer.
 -D. Martyn-Lloyd Jones

 Well, you know, as much as I esteem and respect this preacher, I must pain myself in seeing if these things are true.  Experientially, I must say, when my prayer life flourishes, so do my works flourish.  What does that mean?  Do I mean that my works are always beautifully fairy-tale, such as an instance when I am preaching and God sends revival in the middle of the message?  Well, no that’s not what I mean by flourish, and I will never use revival and fairy-tale together again in any other context.  Revival is no fairy-tale.

But why does it seem like it?

Revival seems like a fairy-tale because we pray like it is.

So, as I was saying, experientally, I find I am most fruitful for the Lord when I am most prayerful for the Lord.  I must clarify, however.  I by now means mean to say that God’s harvest is dependent on my prayer.  How arrogant and blasphemous to the Almighty to suppose such a thing to be true!  What I do mean here is that I (me personally) experience the most joyful obedience to the will and word of God when I am most prayerful.

“Well, Vince,” you say, “you speak experientally, but you would definitely be one who would say that experience has no validation on truth apart from Scriptural subjugation.”

Yes, I would say that, so allow me to look at Scripture to see if these things Martyn-Lloyd Jones says are true. (Let us be Berean as in Acts 17.)

Well, first, does not the scripture exhort us to ”pray without ceasing” in 1 Thessalonians 5:17?

In verse 23-24, Paul prays for the believers at Thessalonica in this way:

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

I, of course, believe that Paul may have interjected this prayer for no reason at all except that it is true.  He would want God to sanctify his people and present them blameless on the day of Jesus Christ.  But the only thing that makes question the interpretation that says that Paul just wanted to pray for the believers in this way without any logical flow in his text seems to deny the context of verses 23 and 24.  Why does Paul end his previous thoughts (and subsequently the entire letter) with this prayer?

In verses 12-22, Paul lists an entire section of exhortations like: “respect those who labor among us” (v. 12), “esteem them highly in love because of their work.  Be at peace among yourselves” (v. 13) “admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be paitent with them all” (v. 14), “[Don't repay] anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone” (v.15), “Rejoice always” (v.16), “pray without ceasing” (v.17), “give thanks in all circumstances” (v. 18), “Do not quench the Spirit” (v.19), “Do not despise prophecies” (v. 20), “test everything; hold fast to what is good” (v. 21), “Abstain from every form of evil” (v.22).

What’s with these seemingly unrelated admonishings?

Well, I think that the entire chapter from its beginning will help you understand that.

Chapter 5 is about the end times, that is, the second coming of Christ.

Paul begins in verse 1 by speaking rhetorically to the believers.

“Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you.”

So why doesn’t Paul just stop there and end the letter? Clearly, they do need to have something written to them because he continues for 27 more verses.  I believe that verse 1 is a rhetorical verse.

They SHOULDN’T need to have anything written to them about this topic, but he WILL write about it because they do need him to write about it.  It’s a manner of speaking, very Greek and very rhetorical.  Paul is a master of speech, language and rhetoric.

(Understanding rhetoric and logic will help you immensly in understanding Paul.  In fact, the only book in the New Testament that this won’t help as much is probably Revelation.  It’s probably more Hebrew in its genre of literature.  We westernized Americans just have so much trouble thinking that way.  I know I do.  Revelation puzzles me. )

In verse 1, however, Paul is emphasizing the fact that they should not need him to correct them on this issue, but he will because there are some among them who are not urgent about the Lord’s second coming.  It’s a shaming way of speaking to them.

In verse 2, he continues this way of speaking.

“For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”

Can you feel his sarcastic rhetoric? “You yourselves are fully aware…surely you are.  After all, Jesus, himself, used this phrase.  You ARE aware of the words of Christ, are you not?”

We even talk like this when we argue and persuade; we just don’t really ponder how western it truly is.

How wonderfully Gentile Paul speaks!

It’s how you debate.  It’s extremely Greek.  To whom is Paul speaking? Greeks, of course.  (Paul would whip my tail in a debate, for sure.)  To speak historically, note how the renaissance, the enlightment and the reformation almost came hand in hand.  What was the point of that new age of thinking?  Well, really it was nothing new. It was a return to Grecco-Roman ideas and ways of thinking.  There is nothing new under the sun.  Luther and the other reformers understood this, why do you think they were so powerfully attuned in using it against humanists and others who toyed with God’s word?  The Renaissance and the enlightment brought the slippery slope for humanism.  The Reformation brought the strong rock of God’s word.

Luther and the reformers were very aware of this way of speaking, and God used it to shake his church back into shape.  Soli Deo Gloria!)

Nevertheless,

In verse 3, Paul mildly abandons his way of speaking, in so much as he no longer emphasizes his intent of shaming them, and he begins to speak more doctrinally and illustratively.

“While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”

Verse 4 finds Paul beginning to speak more truth still yet with an edge of loving sarcasm again.

“But you are not darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.”

I hope you kind of see what I mean when I say he is being persuasive by using what we would call sarcasm.  He is not using it disrespectfully and unlovingly, but he IS rebuking them.  “But you…brothers.”  Do you see the sarcasm sprinkled with love when he tells them things he knows they already know, yet at the same time, he inserts the loving gesture of calling them brothers? 

Verse 5 finds him continuing his illustration of dark and light, night and day.

“For you are children of light, children of the day.  We are not of the night or of the darkness.”

They are nothing like those of darkness who would be caught surprised by the Lord’s coming.

Verse 6 introduces Paul’s first exhortation.

“So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.”

Because the other things he said in verses 2-5 are true about the believers and the Lord’s second coming, this verse proceeds from those truths as something that should be true, as well. “So then…”  Do you see how logic and rhetoric help?

Now, note how verse 7 gives another reason that verse 6 is true.

“For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night.”

He continues illustrating how those caught off guard are like those of the night.  Look at it this way:

If,

Night=unprepared for the Lord’s coming

and,

Day=prepared for the Lord’s coming

and,

Night=sleeping and drunkeness

Then,

Sleeping and drunkeness=unprepared for the Lord’s coming.

However, Paul would say, look at verse 8:

“But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.”

So we should look at this way if we want to understand what he means:

If,

Day=prepared for the Lord’s coming

and,

Day=sober, faithful, loving, hopeful saints

Then,

Sober, faithful, loving, hopeful saints=prepared for the Lord’s coming

Now, Paul wants to give a foundation for verse 8 with verses 9-10:

“For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.”

Why, Paul is asking, do you think that you are children of light and day prepared for the Lord’s coming being sober, faithful, loving, and hopeful?  Here’s why, he says:

Because God has not destined his saints for wrath.

But why does he use the word wrath?

Look at Romans 2:5 were it says:

“But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”

So, we see from this passage in Romans, that Paul characterizes wrath, at times, with the day in the future called the day of wrath “when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”

So in 1 Thessalonians 5:9, since the whole passage is characterized with end times theology, I think that Paul is using wrath here as that day in the future “when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”

So, Paul is saying, you are children of light and day, prepared for the Lord’s coming exhibiting faithfulness, lovingness, and hopefulness (all fruit of the Spirit I will add), BECAUSE (if these things are true about you then) you are God’s chosen not destined to face his wrath on that horrible day.

What glory!

Rather, Paul is emphasizing how believers ARE destined.   They are destined “…to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  That, Paul says, is how these believers (and you believer) are destined.  Not for wrath, but for salvation.

Verse 10, then, emphasizes how urgent yet also how gracious the Lord’s coming is. “[Christ] died for us SO THAT [emphasis added] whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.”

In verse 10, we see urgency because Christ is returning and grace because even if we are found unprepared for it, we will STILL live with God and not face his wrath.

But, does Paul mean to use God’s grace as a tool to emphasize idleness? May it never be!

Paul means for us to have the fruitfulness of work for the Lord.  The fruit of JOY UNSPEAKABLE because we don’t labor in vain when we labor for the Lord. So, therefore, LABOR!

Look at verse 11,

“Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”

Now comes the list of exhorations in verses 12-22.  All beginning with this “Therefore.”  There is a reason that “therefore” is there for.

So then, bring it back around, verses 23-24 do not consist of a randomly placed prayer.  All of these exhorations for labor are exhortations for works that are sanctifying.  They are works preparing us for “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Pray without ceasing” is a sanctifying work.

And now, my point:

Prayer is hardest but definitely most necessary.  I hardly expect to be fruitful if I am not praying.

You can do more than pray after you’ve prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed. -John Bunyan

I think I have made it abundently clear how essential prayer is for fruitful labor and how abundently clear it speaks of your spiritual state.  Are you prepared for the coming of the Lord?  Are you watchful and prayerful working while the master is away?  You have not fruit if prayer does not characterize your life.

But if you need a much more effective article citing more Scriptural text and even some historical examples of prayer, here’s an article by the late Leonard Ravenhill entitled “The Gospel of Prayer.”

http://www.ravenhill.org/prayer.htm

“Be ye watchful, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh.” Mark 13:35

Stay up, and pray without ceasing.  He’s coming back and we’re not destined for his wrath!

Working with you until the master of the house cometh,

Vince R.