A Divine and Supernatural Light Immediately Imparted to the Soul by the Spirit of God
Here, with great affection for his subject, Edwards both biblically and rationally lays...
A Divine and Supernatural Light Immediately Imparted to the Soul by the Spirit of God
Here, with great affection for his subject, Edwards both biblically and rationally lays out the case that the spiritual knowledge and illumination needed to understand the gospel and to internalize the excellencies of divine truth, is imparted directly by God alone. This knowledge is given immediately by God and not obtained through natural means that operate by their own power. While God often makes use of natural means, yet the medium is not what causes the effect. God may teach us many things through nature and reason, and even use the words of Scripture to convey a doctrine or proposition, but only God can illumine them in such a way wherein we see their beauty and excellency. Those who are unregenerate have no capacity to love what is spiritual and are not partly but wholly dependent on God to translate them from darkness to light. Edwards does an excellent job explaining how spiritual light is actually given. – JWH
A Divine and Supernatural Light,
Immediately Imparted to the Soul by the Spirit of God,
Shown to be Both Scriptural and Rational Doctrine
A Sermon by Jonathan Edwards
[Preached at Northampton, and published at the desire of some of the hearers, in the year 1734.]
Matthew 16:17 – And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
CHRIST says these words to Peter upon occasion of his professing his faith in him as the Son of God. Our Lord was inquiring of his disciples, who men said he was; not that he needed to be informed, but only to introduce and give occasion to what follows. They answer, that some said he was John the Baptist, and some Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the Prophets. When they had thus given an account who others said he was, Christ asks them, who they said he was? Simon Peter, whom we find always zealous and forward, was the first to answer: he readily replied to the question, Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.
The Blessing of Peter
Upon this occasion, Christ says as he does to him, and of him in the text: in which we may observe,
That He knew Jesus to be the Christ
1. That Peter is pronounced blessed on this account. Blessed art thou — “Thou art a happy man, that thou art not ignorant of this, that I am Christ, the Son of the living God. Thou art distinguishingly happy. Others are blinded, and have dark and deluded apprehensions, as you have now given an account, some thinking that I am Elias, and some that I am Jeremias, and some one thing, and some another; but none of them thinking right, all of them misled. Happy art thou, that art so distinguished as to know the truth in this matter.”
That God Had Revealed This to Him
2. The evidence of this his happiness declared; viz., that God, and he only, had revealed it to him. This is an evidence of his being blessed.
First, As it shows how peculiarly favored he was of God above others; q.d., “How highly favored art thou, that others that are wise and great men, the Scribes, Pharisees, and Rulers, and the nation in general, are left in darkness, to follow their own misguided apprehensions; and that thou shouldst be singled out, as it were, by name, that my Heavenly Father should thus set his love, on thee, Simon Bar-jona. This argues thee blessed, that thou shouldst thus be the object of God’s distinguishing love.”
Secondly, It evidences his blessedness also, as it intimates that this knowledge is above any that flesh and blood can reveal. “This is such knowledge as only my Father which is in heaven can give: it is too high and excellent to be communicated by such means as other knowledge is. Thou art blessed, that thou knowest that which God alone can teach thee.”
God the Author of All Knowledge
The original of this knowledge is here declared, both negatively and positively. Positively, as God is here declared the author of it. Negatively, as it is declared, that flesh and blood had not revealed it.
All Moral Knowledge and business Skill from God
God is the author of all knowledge and understanding whatsoever. He is the author of the knowledge that is obtained by human learning: he is the author of all moral prudence, and of the knowledge and skill that men have in their secular business. Thus it is said of all in Israel that were wise-hearted, and skilled in embroidering, that God had filled them with the spirit of wisdom, Exodus 28:3.
Yet Flesh and Blood Reveals It
God is the author of such knowledge; but yet not so but that flesh and blood reveals it. Mortal men are capable of imparting the knowledge of human arts and sciences, and skill in temporal affairs. God is the author of such knowledge by those means: flesh and blood is employed as the mediate or second cause of it; he conveys it by the power and influence of natural means.
God Alone the Author of Spiritual Knowledge
But this spiritual knowledge, spoken of in the text, is what God is the author of, and none else: he reveals it, and flesh and blood reveals it not. He imparts this knowledge immediately, not making use of any intermediate natural causes, as he does in other knowledge.
Proposition and Preview
What had passed in the preceding discourse naturally occasioned Christ to observe this; because the disciples had been telling how others did not know him, but were generally mistaken about him, and divided and confounded in their opinions of him: but Peter had declared his assured faith, that he was the Son of God. Now it was natural to observe, how it was not flesh and blood that had revealed it to him, but God: for if this knowledge were dependent on natural causes or means, how came it to pass that they, a company of poor fishermen, illiterate men, and persons of low education, attained to the knowledge of the truth; while the Scribes and Pharisees, men of vastly higher advantages, and greater knowledge and sagacity in other matters, remained in ignorance? This could be owing only to the gracious distinguishing influence and revelation of the Spirit of God. Hence, what I would make the subject of my present discourse from these words, is this
Doctrine
That there is such a thing as a spiritual and divine light immediately imparted to the soul by God, of a different nature from any that is obtained by natural means.–And on this subject I would,
I. Show what this divine light is.
II. How it is given immediately by God, and not obtained by natural means.
III. Show the truth of the doctrine.
And then conclude with a brief improvement.
I. I would show what this spiritual and divine light is. And in order to it, would show,
First, In a few things what it is not. And here,
Not Mere Conviction of Sin and Misery
1. Those convictions that natural men may have of their sin and misery, is not this spiritual and divine light. Men in a natural condition may have convictions of the guilt that lies upon them, and of the anger of God, and their danger of divine vengeance. Such convictions are from light or sensibleness of truth. That some sinners have a greater conviction of their guilt and misery than others, is because some have more light, or more of an apprehension of truth than others. And this light and conviction may be from the Spirit of God; the Spirit convinces men of sin: but yet nature is much more concerned in it than in the communication of that spiritual and divine light that is spoken of in the doctrine; it is from the Spirit of God only as assisting natural principles, and not as infusing any new principles. Common grace differs from special, in that it influences only by assisting of nature; and not by imparting grace, or bestowing any thing above nature. The light that is obtained is wholly natural, or of no superior kind to what mere nature attains to, though more of that kind be obtained than would be obtained if men were left wholly to themselves: or, in other words, common grace only assists the faculties of the soul to do that more fully which they do by nature, as natural conscience or reason will, by mere nature, make a man sensible of guilt, and will accuse and condemn him when he has done amiss. Conscience is a principle natural to men; and the work that it doth naturally, or of itself, is to give an apprehension of right and wrong, and to suggest to the mind the relation that there is between right and wrong, and a retribution. The Spirit of God, in those convictions which unregenerate men sometimes have, assists conscience to do this work in a further degree than it would do if they were left to themselves: he helps it against those things that tend to stupify it, and obstruct its exercise. But in the renewing and sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost, those things are wrought in the soul that are above nature, and of which there is nothing of the like kind in the soul by nature; and they are caused to exist in the soul habitually, and according to such a stated constitution or law that lays such a foundation for exercises in a continued course, as is called a principle of nature. Not only are remaining principles assisted to do their work more freely and fully, but those principles are restored that were utterly destroyed by the fall; and the mind thence forward habitually exerts those acts that the dominion of sin had made it as wholly destitute of, as a dead body is of vital acts.
The Spirit of God acts in a very different manner in the one case, from what he doth in the other. He may indeed act upon the mind of a natural man, but he acts in the mind of a saint as an indwelling vital principle. He acts upon the mind of an unregenerate person as an extrinsic, occasional agent; for in acting upon them, he doth not unite himself to them; for notwithstanding all his influences that they may be the subjects of, they are still sensual, having not the Spirit, Jude 19. But he unites himself with the mind of a saint, takes him for his temple, actuates and influences him as a new supernatural principle of life and action. There is this difference, that the Spirit of God, in acting in the soul of a godly man, exerts and communicates himself there in his own proper nature. Holiness is the proper nature of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit operates in the minds of the godly, by uniting himself to them, and living in them, and exerting his own nature in the exercise of their faculties. The Spirit of God may act upon a creature, and yet not in acting communicate himself. The Spirit of God may act upon inanimate creatures; as, the Spirit moved upon the face of the waters, in the beginning of the creation; so the Spirit of God may act upon the minds of men many ways, and communicate himself no more than when he acts upon an inanimate creature. For instance, he may excite thoughts in them, may assist their natural reason and understanding, or may assist other natural principles, and this without any union with the soul, but may act, as it were, as upon an external object. But as he acts in his holy influences and spiritual operations, he acts in a way of peculiar communication of himself; so that the subject is thence denominated spiritual.
Not Mere Impressions on the Imagination
2. This spiritual and divine light does not consist in any impression made upon the imagination. It is no impression upon the mind, as though one saw any thing with the bodily eyes: it is no imagination or idea of an outward light or glory, or any beauty of form or countenance, or a visible lustre or brightness of any object. The imagination may be strongly impressed with such things; but this is not spiritual light. Indeed when the mind has a lively discovery of spiritual things, and is greatly affected by the power of divine light, it may, and probably very commonly doth, much affect the imagination; so that impressions of an outward beauty or brightness may accompany those spiritual discoveries. But spiritual light is not that impression upon the imagination, but an exceeding different thing from it. Natural men may have lively impressions on their imaginations; and we cannot determine but the devil, who transforms himself into an angel of light, may cause imaginations of an outward beauty, or visible glory, and of sounds and speeches, and other such things; but these are things of a vastly inferior nature to spiritual light.
Not “New Revelations” Apart From Scripture
3. This spiritual light is not the suggesting of any new truths or propositions not contained in the word of God. This suggesting of new truths or doctrines to the mind, independent of any antecedent revelation of those propositions, either in word or writing, is inspiration; such as the prophets and apostles had, and such as some enthusiasts pretend to. But this spiritual light that I am speaking of, is quite a different thing from inspiration: it reveals no new doctrine, it suggests no new proposition to the mind, it teaches no new thing of God, or Christ, or another world, not taught in the Bible, but only gives a due apprehension of those things that are taught in the word of God.
Not Mere Religious Insight or Affection
4. It is not every affecting view that men have of the things of religion that is this spiritual and divine light. Men by mere principles of nature are capable of being affected with things that have a special relation to religion as well as other things. A person by mere nature, for instance, may be liable to be affected with the story of Jesus Christ, and the sufferings he underwent, as well as by any other tragical story: he may be the more affected with it from the interest he conceives mankind to have in it: yea, he may be affected with it without believing it; as well as a man may be affected with what he reads in a romance, or sees acted in a stage play. He may be affected with a lively and eloquent description of many pleasant things that attend the state of the blessed in heaven, as well as his imagination be entertained by a romantic description of the pleasantness of fairy land, or the like. And that common belief of the truth of the things of religion, that persons may have from education or otherwise, may help forward their affection. We read in Scripture of many that were greatly affected with things of a religious nature, who yet are there represented as wholly graceless, and many of them very ill men. A person therefore may have affecting views of the things of religion, and yet be very destitute of spiritual light. Flesh and blood may be the author of this: one man may give another an affecting view of divine things with but common assistance: but God alone can give a spiritual discovery of them. — But I proceed to show,
Secondly, Positively what this spiritual and divine light is.
Divine Light Defined
And it may be thus described: a true sense of the divine excellency of the things revealed in the word of God, and a conviction of the truth and reality of them thence arising. This spiritual light primarily consists in the former of these, viz., a real sense and apprehension of the divine excellency of things revealed in the word of God. A spiritual and saving conviction of the truth and reality of these things, arises from such a sight of their divine excellency and glory; so that this conviction of their truth is an effect and natural consequence of this sight of their divine glory. There is therefore in this spiritual light,
A Sense of the Divinity and Excellency of the Things of Faith
1. A true sense of the divine and superlative excellency of the things of religion; a real sense of the excellency of God and Jesus Christ, and of the work of redemption, and the ways and works of God revealed in the gospel. There is a divine and superlative glory in these things; an excellency that is of a vastly higher kind, and more sublime nature than in other things; a glory greatly distinguishing them from all that is earthly and temporal. He that is spiritually enlightened truly apprehends and sees it, or has a sense of it. He does not merely rationally believe that God is glorious, but he has a sense of the gloriousness of God in his heart. There is not only a rational belief that God is holy, and that holiness is a good thing, but there is a sense of the loveliness of God’s holiness. There is not only a speculatively judging that God is gracious, but a sense how amiable God is upon that account, or a sense of the beauty of this divine attribute.
There is a twofold understanding or knowledge of good that God has made the mind of man capable of. The first, that which is merely speculative and notional; as when a person only speculatively judges that any thing is, which, by the agreement of mankind, is called good or excellent, viz., that which is most to general advantage, and between which and a reward there is a suitableness, and the like. And the other is, that which consists in the sense of the heart: as when there is a sense of the beauty, amiableness, or sweetness of a thing; so that the heart is sensible of pleasure and delight in the presence of the idea of it. In the former is exercised merely the speculative faculty, or the understanding, strictly so called, or as spoken of in distinction from the will or disposition of the soul. In the latter, the will, or inclination, or heart, are mainly concerned.
Thus there is a difference between having an opinion, that God is holy and gracious, and having a sense of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness. A man may have the former, that knows not how honey tastes; but a man cannot have the latter unless he has an idea of the taste of honey in his mind. So there is a difference between believing that a person is beautiful, and having a sense of his beauty. The former may be obtained by hearsay, but the latter only by seeing the countenance. There is a wide difference between mere speculative rational judging any thing to be excellent, and having a sense of its sweetness and beauty. The former rests only in the head, speculation only is concerned in it; but the heart is concerned in the latter. When the heart is sensible of the beauty and amiableness of a thing, it necessarily feels pleasure in the apprehension. It is implied in a person’s being heartily sensible of the loveliness of a thing, that the idea of it is sweet and pleasant to his soul; which is a far different thing from having a rational opinion that it is excellent.
A Conviction of the Truth of Divine Things
2. There arises from this sense of divine excellency of things contained in the word of God, a conviction of the truth and reality of them; and that either directly or indirectly.
First, Indirectly, and that two ways.
1. As the prejudices that are in the heart, against the truth of divine things, are hereby removed; so that the mind becomes susceptive of the due force of rational arguments for their truth. The mind of man is naturally full of prejudices against the truth of divine things: it is full of enmity against the doctrines of the gospel; which is a disadvantage to those arguments that prove their truth, and causes them to lose their force upon the mind. But when a person has discovered to him the divine excellency of Christian doctrines, this destroys the enmity, removes those prejudices, and sanctifies the reason, and causes it to lie open to the force of arguments for their truth.
Hence was the different effect that Christ’s miracles had to convince the disciples from what they had to convince the Scribes and Pharisees. Not that they had a stronger reason, or had their reason more improved; but their reason was sanctified, and those blinding prejudices, that the Scribes and Pharisees were under, were removed by the sense they had of the excellency of Christ and his doctrine.
2. It not only removes the hinderances of reason, but positively helps reason. It makes even the speculative notions the more lively. It engages the attention of the mind, with the fixedness and intenseness to that kind of objects; which causes it to have a clearer view of them, and enables it more clearly to see their mutual relations, and occasions it to take more notice of them. The ideas themselves that otherwise are dim and obscure, are by this means impressed with the greater strength, and have a light cast upon them; so that the mind can better judge of them. As he that beholds the objects on the face of the earth, when the light of the sun is cast upon them; so that the mind can better judge of them. As he that beholds the objects on the face of the earth, when the light of the sun is cast upon them, is under greater advantage to discern them in their true forms and mutual relations, than he that sees them in a dim starlight or twilight.
The mind having a sensibleness of the excellency of divine objects, dwells upon them with delight; and the powers of the soul are more awakened and enlivened to employ themselves in the contemplation of them, and exert themselves more fully and much more to the purpose. The beauty and sweetness of the objects draws on the faculties, and draws forth their exercises: so that reason itself is under far greater advantages for its proper and free exercises, and to attain its proper end, free of darkness and delusion. — But,
Secondly, A true sense of the divine excellency of the things of God’s word doth more directly and immediately convince of the truth of them; and that because the excellency of these things is so superlative. There is a beauty in them that is so divine and godlike, that is greatly and evidently distinguishing of them from things merely human, or that men are the inventors and authors of; a glory that is so high and great, that when clearly seen, commands assent to their divinity and reality. When there is an actual and lively discovery of this beauty and excellency, it will not allow of any such thought as that it is a human work, or the fruit of men’s invention. This evidence that they that are spiritually enlightened have of the truth of the things of religion, is a kind of intuitive and immediate evidence. They believe the doctrines of God’s word to be divine, because they see divinity in them; i.e., they see a divine, and transcendent, and most evidently distinguishing glory in them; such a glory as, if clearly seen, does not leave room to doubt of their being of God, and not of men.
Such a conviction of the truth of religion as this, arising, these ways, from a sense of the divine excellency of them, is that true spiritual conviction that there is in saving faith. And this original of it, is that by which it is most essentially distinguished from that common assent, which unregenerate men are capable of.
How Divine Light Is Given By God
II. I proceed now to the second thing proposed, viz., to show how this light is immediately given by God, and not obtained by natural means. And here,
Natural Faculties Are Involved
1. It is not intended that the natural faculties are not made use of in it. The natural faculties are the subject of this light: and they are the subject in such a manner, that they are not merely passive, but active in it; the acts and exercises of man’s understanding are concemed and made use of in it. God, in letting in this light into the soul, deals with man according to his nature, or as a rational creature; and makes use of his human faculties. But yet this light is not the less immediately from God for that; though the faculties are made use of, it is as the subject and not as the cause; and that acting of the faculties in it, is not the cause, but is either implied in the thing itself (in the light that is imparted) or is the consequence of it. As the use that we make of our eyes in beholding various objects, when the sun arises, is not the cause of the light that discovers those objects to us.
Outward Means Also Involved
2. It is not intended that outward means have no concern in this affair. As I have observed already, it is not in this affair, as it is in inspiration, where new truths are suggested: for here is by this light only given a due apprehension of the same truths that are revealed in the word of God; and therefore it is not given without the word. The gospel is made use of in this affair: this light is the “light of the glorious gospel of Christ”, 2 Cor. 4:4. The gospel is as a glass by which this light is conveyed to us, 1 Cor. 13:12. “Now we see through a glass.” — But,
Only God’s Spirit Goves Divine Light
3. When it is said that this light is given immediately by God, and not obtained by natural means, hereby is intended, that it is given by God without making use of any means that operate by their own power, or a natural force God makes use of means; but it is not as mediate causes to produce this effect. There are not truly any second causes of it; but it is produced by God immediately. The word of God is no proper cause of this effect: it does not operate by any natural force in it. The word of God is only made use of to convey to the mind the subject matter of this saving instruction: and this indeed it doth convey to us by natural force or influence. It conveys to our minds these and those doctrines; it is the cause of the notion of them in our heads, but not of the sense of the divine excellency of them in our hearts. Indeed a person cannot have spiritual light without the word. But that does not argue, that the word properly causes that light. The mind cannot see the excellency of any doctrine, unless that doctrine be first in the mind; but the seeing of the excellency of the doctrine may be immediately from the Spirit of God; though the conveying of the doctrine or proposition itself may be by the word. So that the notions that are the subject matter of this light, are conveyed to the mind by the word of God; but that due sense of the heart, wherein this light formally consists, is immediately by the Spirit of God. As for instance, that notion that there is a Christ, and that Christ is holy and gracious, is conveyed to the mind by the word of God: but the sense of the excellency of Christ by reason of that holiness and grace, is nevertheless immediately the work of the Holy Spirit. — I come now,
The Proof and Benefits of Divine Light
III. To show the truth of the doctrine; that is, to show that there is such a thing as that spiritual light that has been described, thus immediately let into the mind by God. And here I would show briefly, that this doctrine is both scriptural and rational.
The Scriptural Proof of this Doctrine
Saints Possess This Knowledge and Sight of God
First, It is scriptural. My text is not only full to the purpose, but it is a doctrine that the Scripture abounds in. We are there abundantly taught, that the saints differ from the ungodly in this, that they have the knowledge of God, and a sight of God, and of Jesus Christ. I shall mention but few texts of many. 1 John 3:6, “Whosoever sinneth, has not seen him, nor known him.” 3 John 11, “He that doth good, is of God: but he that doth evil, hath not seen God.” John 14:19, “The world seeth me no more; but ye see me.” John 17:3, “And this is eternal life, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” This knowledge, or sight of God and Christ, cannot be a mere speculative knowledge; because it is spoken of as a seeing and knowing, wherein they differ from the ungodly. And by these Scriptures it must not only be a different knowledge in degree and circumstances, and different in its effects; but it must be entirely different in nature and kind.
This Knowledge and Sight of God Given Immediately by God
And this light and knowledge is always spoken of as immediately given of God, Matt. 11:25-27: “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son but the Father: neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.” Here this effect is ascribed alone to the arbitrary operation, and gift of God, bestowing this knowledge on whom he will, and distinguishing those with it, that have the least natural advantage or means for knowledge, even babes, when it is denied to the wise and prudent. And the imparting of the knowledge of God is here appropriated to the Son of God, as his sole prerogative. And again, 2 Cor. 4:6, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ.” This plainly shows, that there is such a thing as a discovery of the divine superlative glory and excellency of God and Christ, and that peculiar to the saints: and also, that it is as immediately from God, as light from the sun: and that it is the immediate effect of his power and will; for it is compared to God’s creating the light by his powerful word in the beginning of the creation; and is said to be by the Spirit of the Lord, in the 18th verse of the preceding chapter. God is spoken of as giving the knowledge of Christ in conversion, as of what before was hidden and unseen in that. Gal. 1:15,16, “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me.” The Scripture also speaks plainly of such a knowledge of the word of God, as has been described, as the immediate gift of God, Psalm 119:18: “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” What could the Psalmist mean when he begged of God to open his eyes? Was he ever blind? Might he not have resort to the law and see every word and sentence in it when he pleased? and what could he mean by those wondrous things? Was it the wonderful stories of the creation, and deluge, and Israel’s passing through the Red Sea, and the like? Were not his eyes open to read these strange things when he would? Doubtless by wondrous things in God’s law, he had respect to those distinguishing and wonderful excellencies, and marvellous manifestations of the divine perfections, and glory, that there was in the commands and doctrines of the word, and those works and counsels of God that were there revealed. So the Scripture speaks of a knowledge of God’s dispensation, and covenant of mercy, and way of grace towards his people, as peculiar to the saints, and given only by God, Psalm 25:14: “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant.”
What Arises From This Divine Light
And that a true and saving belief of the truth of religion is that which arises from such a discovery, is also what the Scripture teaches. As John 6:40, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life;” where it is plain that a true faith is what arises from a spiritual sight of Christ. and John 17:6,7,8, “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me, are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me;” where Christ’s manifesting God’s name to the disciples, or giving them the knowledge of God, was that whereby they knew that Christ’s doctrine was of God, and that Christ himself was of him, proceeded from him, and was sent by him. Again, John 12:44,45,46, “Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me, should not abide in darkness.” Their believing in Christ, and spiritually seeing him, are spoken of as running parallel.
Those Without Such Light Condemned
Christ condemns the Jews that they did not know that he was the Messiah, and that his doctrine was true, from an inward distinguishing taste and relish of what was divine, in Luke 12:56,57. He having there blamed the Jews, that though they could discern the face of the sky and of the earth, and signs of the weather, that yet they could not discern those times; or as it is expressed in Matthew, the signs of those times; he adds, yea, and why even of your own selves, judge ye not what is right? i.e., without extrinsic signs. Why have ye not that sense of true excellency, whereby ye may distinguish that which is holy and divine? Why have ye not that savor of the things of God, by which you may see the distinguishing glory, and evident divinity of me and my doctrine?
Those Possessing Divine Light Assured
The Apostle Peter mentions it as what gave them (the apostles) good and well grounded assurance of the truth of the gospel, that they had seen the divine glory of Christ. 2 Pet. 1:16, “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” The apostle has respect to that visible glory of Christ which they saw in his transfiguration: that glory was so divine, having such an ineffable appearance and semblance of divine holiness, majesty and grace, that it evidently denoted him to be a divine person. But if a sight of Christ’s outward glory might give a rational assurance of his divinity, why may not an apprehension of his spiritual glory do so too? Doubtless Christ’s spiritual glory is in itself as distinguishing, and as plainly showing his divinity, as his outward glory, and a great deal more: for his spiritual glory is that wherein his divinity consists; and the outward glory of his transfiguration showed him to be divine, only as it was a remarkable image or representation of that spiritual glory. Doubtless, therefore, he that has had a clear sight of the spiritual glory of Christ, may say, I have not followed cunningly devised fables, but have been an eyewitness of his majesty, upon as good grounds as the apostle, when he had respect to the outward glory of Christ that he had seen. — But this brings me to what was proposed next, viz., to show that,
The Rational Proof of This Doctrine
Secondly, This doctrine is rational.
That Divine Things Should Be More Excellent
1. It is rational to suppose, that there is really such an excellency in divine things, that is so transcendent and exceedingly different from what is in other things, that, if it were seen, would most evidently distinguish them. We cannot rationally doubt but that things that are divine, that appertain to the Supreme Being, are vastly different from things that are human; that there is that godlike, high and glorious excellency in them, that does most remarkably difference them from the things that are of men; insomuch that if the difference were but seen, it would have a convincing, satisfying influence upon any one, that they are what they are, viz., divine. What reason can be offered against it? Unless we would argue, that God is not remarkably distinguished in glory from men.
If Christ should now appear to any one as he did on the mount at his transfiguration; or if he should appear to the world in the glory that he now appears in, as he will do at the day of judgment; without doubt, the glory and majesty that he would appear in, would be such as would satisfy every one that he was a divine person, and that religion was true: and it would be a most reasonable, and well grounded conviction too. And why may there not be that stamp of divinity, or divine glory on the word of God, on the scheme and doctrine of the gospel, that may be in like manner distinguishing and as rationally convincing, provided it be but seen? It is rational to suppose, that when God speaks to the world, there should be something in his word or speech vastly different from man’s word. Supposing that God never had spoken to the world, but we had noticed that he was about to do it; that he was about to reveal himself from heaven, and speak to us immediately himself, in divine speeches or discourses, as it were from his own mouth, or that he should give us a book of his own inditing; after what manner should we expect that he would speak? Would it not be rational to suppose, that his speech would be exceeding different from man’s speech, that he should speak like a God; that is, that there should be such an excellency and sublimity in his speech or word, such a stamp of wisdom, holiness, majesty and other divine perfections, that the word of man, yea of the wisest of men, should appear mean and base in comparison of it? Doubtless it would be thought rational to expect this, and unreasonable to think otherwise. When a wise man speaks in the exercise of his wisdom, there is something in every thing he says, that is very distinguishable from the talk of a little child. So, without doubt, and much more, is the speech of God (if there be any such thing as the speech of God) to be distinguished from that of the wisest of men; agreeably to Jer. 23:28,29. God having there been reproving the false prophets that prophesied in his name, and pretended that what they spake was his word, when indeed it was their own word, says, “The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully: what is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord. Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?”
That We Should Expect Such Excellent Divine Things to be Seen
2. If there be such a distinguishing excellency in divine things; it is rational to suppose that there may be such a thing as seeing it. What should hinder but that it may be seen? It is no argument, that there is no such thing as such a distinguishing excellency, or that, if there be, that it cannot be seen, that some do not see it, though they may be discerning men in temporal matters. It is not rational to suppose, if there be any such excellency in divine things, that wicked men should see it. It is not rational to suppose, that those whose minds are full of spiritual pollution, and under the power of filthy lusts, should have any relish or sense of divine beauty or excellency; or that their minds should be susceptive of that light that is in its own nature so pure and heavenly. It need not seem at all strange, that sin should so blind the mind, seeing that men’s particular natural tempers and dispositions will so much blind them in secular matters; as when men’s natural temper is melancholy, jealous, fearful, proud, or the like.
That This Knowledge Should Be Given By God Alone
3. It is rational to suppose, that this knowledge should be given immediately by God, and not be obtained by natural means. Upon what account should it seem unreasonable, that there should be any immediate communication between God and the creature? It is strange that men should make any matter of difficulty of it. Why should not he that made all things, still have something immediately to do with the things that he has made? Where lies the great difficulty, if we own the being of a God, and that he created all things out of nothing, of allowing some immediate influence of God on the creation still? And if it be reasonable to suppose it with respect to any part of the creation, it is especially so with respect to reasonable, intelligent creatures; who are next to God in the gradation of the different orders of beings, and whose business is most immediately with God; who were made on purpose for those exercises that do respect God and wherein they have nextly to do with God: for reason teaches, that man was made to serve and glorify his Creator. And if it be rational to suppose that God immediately communicates himself to man in any affair, it is in this. It is rational to suppose that God would reserve that knowledge and wisdom, that is of such a divine and excellent nature, to be bestowed immediately by himself, and that it should not be left in the power of second causes. Spiritual wisdom and grace is that highest and most excellent gift that ever God bestows on any creature: in this the highest excellency and perfection of a rational creature consists. It is also immensely the most important of all divine gifts: it is that wherein man’s happiness consists, and on which his everlasting welfare depends. How rational is it to suppose that God, however he has left meaner goods and lower gifts to second causes, and in some sort in their power, yet should reserve this most excellent, divine, and important of all divine communications, in his own hands, to be bestowed immediately by himself, as a thing too great for second causes to be concerned in!
That This Knowledge is Directly Given By God and Not By Natural Reason
It is rational to suppose, that this blessing should be immediately from God; for there is no gift or benefit that is in itself so nearly related to the divine nature, there is nothing the creature receives that is so much of God, of his nature, so much a participation of the deity: it is a kind of emanation of God’s beauty, and is related to God as the light is to the sun. It is therefore congruous and fit, that when it is given of God, it should be nextly from himself, and by himself, according to his own sovereign will.
It is rational to suppose, that it should be beyond a man’s power to obtain this knowledge and light by the mere strength of natural reason; for it is not a thing that belongs to reason, to see the beauty and loveliness of spiritual things; it is not a speculative thing, but depends on the sense of the heart. Reason indeed is necessary in order to it, as it is by reason only that we are become the subjects of the means of it; which means I have already shown to be necessary in order to it, though they have no proper causal in the affair. It is by reason that we become possessed of a notion of those doctrines that are the subject matter of this divine light; and reason may many ways be indirectly and remotely an advantage to it. And reason has also to do in the acts that are immediately consequent on this discovery: a seeing the truth of religion from hence, is by reason; though it be but by one step, and the inference be immediate. So reason has to do in that accepting of, and trusting in Christ, that is consequent on it. But if we take reason strictly — not for the faculty of mental perception in general, but for ratiocination, or a power of inferring by arguments — the perceiving of spiritual beauty and excellency no more belongs to reason, than it belongs to the sense of feeling to perceive colours, or to the power of seeing to perceive the sweetness of food. It is out of reason’s province to perceive the beauty or loveliness of any thing: such a perception does not belong to that faculty. Reason’s work is to perceive truth and not excellency. It is not ratiocination that gives men the perception of the beauty and amiableness of a countenance, though it may be many ways indirectly an advantage to it; yet it is no more reason that immediately perceives it, than it is reason that perceives the sweetness of honey: it depends on the sense of the heart. — Reason may determine that a countenance is beautiful to others, it may determine that honey is sweet to others; but it will never give me a perception of its sweetness.
Concluding Improvement
I will conclude with a very brief improvement of what has been said.
This Doctrine Leads Us to Reflect on God’s Goodness
First, This doctrine may lead us to reflect on the goodness of God, that has so ordered it, that a saving evidence of the truth of the gospel is such, as is attainable by persons of mean capacities and advantages, as well as those that are of the greatest parts and learning. If the evidence of the gospel depended only on history, and such reasonings as learned men only are capable of, it would be above the reach of far the greatest part of mankind. But persons with but an ordinary degree of knowledge, are capable, without a long and subtile train of reasoning, to see the divine excellency of the things of religion: they are capable of being taught by the Spirit of God, as well as learned men. The evidence that is this way obtained, is vastly better and more satisfying, than all that can be obtained by the arguings of those that are most learned, and greatest masters of reason. And babes are as capable of knowing these things, as the wise and prudent; and they are often hid from these things, as the wise and prudent; and they are often hid from these when they are revealed to those. 1 Cor. 1:26,27, “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men, after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world –.”
This Doctrine Calls Us to Examine Ourselves
Secondly, This doctrine may well put us upon examining ourselves, whether we have ever had this divine light, that has been described, let into our souls. If there be such a thing indeed, and it be not only a notion or whimsy of persons of weak and distempered brains, then doubtless it is a thing of great importance, whether we have thus been taught by the Spirit of God; whether the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, hath shined unto us, giving us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; whether we have seen the Son, and believed on him, or have that faith of gospel-doctrines which arises from a spiritual sight of Christ.
All Should Seek This Divine and Supernatural Light
Thirdly, All may hence be exhorted earnestly to seek this spiritual light. To influence and move to it, the following things may be considered.
1. This is the most excellent and divine wisdom that any creature is capable of. It is more excellent than any human learning; it is far more excellent than all the knowledge of the greatest philosophers or statesmen. Yea, the least glimpse of the glory of God in the face of Christ doth more exalt and ennoble the soul, than all the knowledge of those that have the greatest speculative understanding in divinity without grace. This knowledge has the most noble object that is or can be, viz., the divine glory or excellency of God and Christ. The knowledge of these objects is that wherein consists the most excellent knowledge of the angels, yea, of God himself.
2. This knowledge is that which is above all others sweet and joyful. Men have a great deal of pleasure in human knowledge, in studies of natural things; but this is nothing to that joy which arises from this divine light shining into the soul. This light gives a view of those things that are immensely the most exquisitely beautiful, and capable of delighting the eye of the understanding. This spiritual light is the dawning of the light of glory in the heart. There is nothing so powerful as this to support persons in affliction, and to give the mind peace and brightness in this stormy and dark world.
3. This light is such as effectually influences the inclination, and changes the nature of the soul. It assimilates the nature to the divine nature, and changes the soul into an image of the same glory that is beheld. 2 Cor. 3:18, “But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” This knowledge will wean from the world, and raise the inclination to heavenly things. It will turn the heart to God as the fountain of good, and to choose him for the only portion. This light, and this only, will bring the soul to a saving close with Christ. It conforms the heart to the gospel, mortifies its enmity and opposition against the scheme of salvation therein revealed: it causes the heart to embrace the joyful tidings, and entirely to adhere to, and acquiesce in the revelation of Christ as our Saviour: it causes the whole soul to accord and symphonize with it, admitting it with entire credit and respect cleaving to it with full inclination and affection; and it effectually disposes the soul to give up itself entirely to Christ.
4. This light, and this only, has its fruit in a universal holiness of life. No merely notional or speculative understanding of the doctrines of religion will ever bring to this. But this light, as it reaches the bottom of the heart, and changes the nature, so it will effectually dispose to a universal obedience. It shows God’s worthiness to be obeyed and served. It draws forth the heart in a sincere love to God, which is the only principle of a true, gracious, and universal obedience; and it convinces of the reality of those glorious rewards that God has promised to them that obey him.
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Subheadings Taken From the book Growing in God’s Spirit Edited by T.M. Moore, P&R publishing.
Technology and Faith: 12 Precautions
Ed Stetzer
Wednesday March 7, 2012
Last week I put out a simple question on Facebook and Twitter asking “What is new to consider in the areas of faith and technology?” After sorting through nearly 125 responses, I started to see some trends developing.
As I stated yesterday, it was most interesting that there was as much negative feedback about faith and technology as positive. Yesterday I discussed 12 positive benefits of technology and faith. Today I turn to the 12 precautions I heard.
Everyone Has a Printing Press
The most common negative response was that technology has made it too easy for people to write and share thoughts and opinions. Now, while I affirm free speech, that doesn’t mean it’s always helpful. We are to be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works (Hebrews 10:24). Let us take heed when we write online. It’s quite acceptable to disagree and to state your point of view. But to impugn the character of those who differ from you theologically is not.
Spread of False Information
The speed at which information moves over the web is staggering. It is quite normal to see celebrity death announcements on Twitter which are either false (Bon Jovi) or premature (Joe Paterno). We must be careful with what we post. It is more important to be accurate with information rather than to be first. Some news organizations have learned that the hard way.
Disconnection with Actual Real People
While the community aspect technology brings may have been a positive, we must caution ourselves against disconnecting from those around us. We must not neglect our neighbor for Netflix. Our family for Facebook. Our town for Twitter. Technology creates a risk of gaining virtual friends while forsaking Acts 2:42 relationships.
Ability Differs from User to User
With new technology comes the need for new training. There are some who can sit down in front of a program or device which they’ve never used and be fluent with it in less than an hour. Then there are those who couldn’t figure out how to turn the device on in an hour. When rolling out any new technology uses or programs at your church, remember that there will be some that need extra assistance.
Expense of Keeping Current
Technology changes fast. New programs and tools are coming out every month. For instance, today the new iPad was released. Most of us that have iPad 2′s can’t just run out and buy the next one. Technology is a large investment for many of us personally, and an even greater investment for churches. With budgets that are stretched to begin with, investing in technology vs. investing in ministry or missions is a no-brainer for most churches. Technology won’t come out the winner– or at least it shouldn’t in most cases. New technology tools are nice; but not at the expense of the mission of the church.
Distraction During Sermons
I have no problem with the use of Bible apps on iPads or smartphones while I’m preaching. However, while I trust that those listening and using them are actually following with me, I realize there is an obvious temptation to check email, Facebook, or Twitter. Or play Angry Birds. In the end, if you can’t use a device and stay with the teaching without being distracted, then don’t use the device.
Impact on the Home
While not the most common response, this one was the response with the most potential for harm. We need boundaries around our family time. I routinely take my daughters fishing to have some alone time with them. I hope they will want to continue this as they grow older. It’s a time when we can talk, and I can get to hear the details of what is going on in their lives. I want to hear those details while baiting a hook, not by stalking their Facebook page.
Confusion about Community
I have often said that proximity does not equal community. Neither pixels nor gigabytes can (alone) create true community. The popularity of “online church” and webcast worship services can be a helpful tool, or it can feed the consumer need of convenience. However, I am not ready to say that it provides what the New Testament describes as Christian worship or church– true biblical community requires feet and faces, not just electrons and avatars. Physical presence with other believers is still needed for it. The electronic can augment, but should not normally replace, life on life community.
Online Giving
While the church which I pastor uses online giving, I certainly understand the concerns I received. Many rightly regard giving as an act of worship. Convenience has also entered into this discussion. Many millennials don’t have checkbooks. They pay bills online, shop online, and some even tithe online. I would issue this precaution when it comes to online giving: however you give, do so with an attitude of thankfulness and gratitude toward God who has given to you that which you steward.
Online Church Discipline
This ties into the first point in the list, but was brought up enough to mention separately. We are to go to our brothers and sisters in private to work out disagreements and disputes. We are not called to engage in lengthy Twitter or Facebook arguments with them. Remember, others are watching. One of the greatest concerns I have is that some of my church family will see how Christians treat one another in the comment streams of some of my blog posts.
Online Dating
Admittedly, this was one I didn’t see coming. But apparently quite a few of you are concerned with the advent of online match-making services geared specifically for Christians. While I understand the concern, what this reminds us is that nearly every experience we can have in real life, can be mimicked online. As with everything, discern what is profitable and what may be dangerous. I know of godly people who have found godly mates. I also know godly people who have been taken advantage of and deeply hurt by people they have met through online dating sites.
Self-Promotion
This final precaution is a bit tricky because every online user has a different definition of “too much.” The objective of social media is to be social, not promotional. I aim to be pithy with the content of my tweets. Others are more serious. Others still, more humorous. The best recommendation I can give to this is “Don’t tweet for the sake of tweeting.” Of course, this is coming from a guy whose blog is called “EdStetzerDotCom,” so I may need some help on this one.
Now that you’ve seen what others sent in, what precautions might you add to the list?
Technology and Faith: 12 Positives
Ed Stetzer
Tuesday March 6, 2012
Last week I put out a simple question on Facebook and Twitter asking “What is new to consider in the areas of faith and technology?” After sorting through nearly 125 responses, I started to see some trends developing.
What was most interesting is that there was as much negative feedback about faith and technology as positive. Today I’d like to discuss 12 mentioned positive benefits of technology and faith. Tomorrow I will write on 12 precautions I heard.
Online Community and Discipleship
The response in regards to online community was overwhelming. It was by far the most mentioned benefit of technology that I received. From Facebook groups, Google+ hangouts, and Skype meetings, there was a strong affirmation of the benefits of video conferencing and networking on the Internet. Distance barriers are no more when it comes to online chats or video. The continued increase in the availability of high-speed Internet connectivity will only enhance this use of technology.
Simulcasts and Video Venues
A related topic, simulcasts and video venues have grown more and more common over the past decade. Regardless of your stance on video venues for multi-site churches, the ability and affordability to now simulcast sermons and conferences across the country and the world is a great benefit for the Kingdom. Next month, LifeWay will host a simulcast of Secret Church in which nearly 50,000 people will be led by David Platt in a six-hour study on the cross and suffering.
The Bible and Music at Our Fingertips
The second-most mentioned benefit of technology was the availability of the Bible through the digital medium. Need a verse of Scripture on the go? Just pull out your iPhone and open your Bible app. Want to keep up with a reading plan? Just use the app. Need some inspiring music to get you through the day? Open Pandora and listen to your favorite artists’ channel. Also, hymnals (with notes and hymnal like appearance) are now being made available as apps for the iPad. I’m guessing our grandparents didn’t see that one coming.
Increased Use of Video
Gone (for most) are the days of the overhead projector. With tools like ProPresenter and LiveWorshipand cloud-based worship planning, technology is more prevalent in corporate worship services than it’s ever been. Everything from sermon bumpers to announcements is being videoed. The church I pastor meets in a movie theater. When you have an 80-foot screen in your “worship center,” video is somewhat of a must.
Promotion of Events
Social media allows for more connectivity and information sharing than ever before. Facebook event notices, email reminders & invites, and shared calendars all can be used to schedule promote and plan events. Many times if there’s an event going on that you didn’t know about, it’s not because the information wasn’t shared. It likely was and you just missed it.
Church-Specific Social Networks
Social media has also spun off in to customized church networks. Web-based application like The Cityand The Table Project have brought specialized tools to churches that assist them in providing information about prayer requests, community groups, service opportunities, and much more.
Church Apps
The new .com for churches has become mobile apps. They have become simple ways to share podcasts, announcements, event details, blog posts, and prayer requests. They also serve as easy ways to share information about your church to potential visitors. As more companies have started making apps, prices have fallen as well. Companies like Roar or Subsplash can develop starter apps specifically designed for churches for a few hundred dollars.
Searchable Sermon Notes and Personal Notes
Taking sermon notes is nothing new. But the ability to catalog them digitally so that they are searchable and archived is. In-app notes can be taken with several Bible apps and exported, shared on Twitter and Facebook, or kept for later reading. We now have the ability to instantly recall what a pastor said about a specific verse or passage at any time.
Follow Conferences You Don’t Attend
Using Twitter now allows you to follow along with almost any live event or conference even though you may be hundreds or thousands of miles away. By searching for a hashtag in Twitter, you can see quotes, pictures, and all the details of what’s happening from people who are at the venue. And you don’t have to wait in the long lines for the restroom.
Instant Accountability
With great power comes great responsibility. This is no more obvious than in online community. One tweet, one status update, one blog comment. That’s all it takes for you to nearly instantaneously be reprimanded, humbled, or challenged. While many may see that as a negative, we should see it as a positive. We would be mindful to remember that online community should challenge us to carefully measure our words and to build one another up in love–not tear others down.
Growth of Networks and Resources for Missions and Church Planting
Online learning resources like Porterbrook have been instrumental in the development and training of leaders. Seminaries have online courses and degrees. Because of technological advances, learning and development are more accessible than ever. I just saw a seminary (from my denomination) that once spoke against online education now advertising for it on my Facebook page.
Prayer for an Area
Prayering for a specifically area is a regular practice in the lives of many believers. Thanks to Google maps and Google Earth, prayer for that can be done virtually. Praying for villages, people, neighborhoods, and communities you might never know existed is now as easy as pointing and clicking on a map.
Now that you’ve seen what others sent in, what positives might you add to the list?
We Call It Unction
// Tim Challies
This seemed like a pertinent quote for a Sunday morning. As we head to church and listen to the preaching of the Word, I’m sure it will be profitable to think just a moment about the unction of the Holy Spirit. This quote comes from Charles Spurgeon’s An All-Round Ministry.
One thing more, and it is this. Let us, dear brethren, try to get saturated with the gospel. I always find that I can preach best when I can manage to lie a-soak in my text. I like to get a text, and find out its meaning and bearings, and so on; and then, after I have bathed in it, I delight to lie down in it, and let it soak into me. It softens me, or hardens me, or does whatever it ought to do to me, and then I can talk about it. You need not be very particular about the words and phrases if the spirit of the text has filled you; thoughts will leap out, and find raiment for themselves. Become saturated with spices, and you will smell of them; a sweet perfume will distill from you, and spread itself in every direction; — we call it unction. Do you not love to listen to a brother who abides in fellowship with the Lord Jesus? Even a few minutes with such a man is refreshing, for, like his Master, his paths drop fatness. Dwell in the truth, and let the truth dwell in you. Be baptized into its spirit and influence, that you may impart thereof to others. If you do not believe the gospel, do not preach it, for you lack an essential qualification; but even if you do believe it, do not preach it until you have taken it up into yourself as the wick takes up the oil. So only can you be a burning and a shining light.
Don’t Skip the Postscript!
Tim Challies
I spent much of my day yesterday wrestling through a couple of biblical genealogies (and enjoying every minute of it). I found myself reflecting on the end of the book of Ruth where we encounter a short but powerful genealogy. But before I get there, I want to remind you of the final scene in Ruth.
As the book comes to a close, we are given a glimpse of a little scene that is fun to picture in your mind. Boaz has married Ruth and the Lord has blessed them with a child. It seems here like after the child is born, the women of Bethlehem gather the baby and bring him to Naomi’s home to announce the birth and to celebrate with her. The women carry the baby from Ruth and Boaz’s house and approach Naomi’s home dancing and celebrating, taking joy in her joy. They come to her praising God, fully aware that this child is proof of God’s covenant-keeping favor. They even declare that Ruth is more to Naomi than seven sons, that Ruth is more to Naomi than the perfect family with perfect sons. That’s quite a tribute!
In a legal sense this was Naomi’s child; he was born of Ruth, but it is the child of Naomi and Elimelech, the child who will carry on the family name. Naomi will now serve as a kind of foster-mother, helping to raise this child. You can picture Naomi weeping and worshipping as she takes the child from the women and pulls him to her chest. So many promises are fulfilled, so much love expressed, so many prayers answered. God has been faithful to his covenant. He has given an heir and he has restored the land.
And they lived happily ever after. The story of Ruth began with Naomi leaving the land with her husband and two sons. Naomi suffered almost unbearable tragedies, but here she is at the end, cradling that little baby to her chest—that little baby who is God’s declaration that he is a covenant-keeping God, that he loves Naomi, that she has not been forgotten or forsaken. Naomi has experienced the deepest kind of emptiness, but here she is full, restored, whole.
The end?
Kind of, but not really. The narrator has one little surprise left for us. He has held one thing back that he will include in a postscript.
Before we get there, it’s worth pausing and considering the story without its postscript. If there was not another word to Ruth, what would we learn from it? We would see God quietly ordering all things to fit his plan and to bring him glory. He has transformed Naomi, he has called Ruth out of darkness into light, he has faced Boaz with a challenge and allowed him to prove his godly character and to be a display, a reflection of the love of God. He has answered prayer and given hope and remained faithful to his own covenant promises. All of this and so much more has been displayed in just a short story.
We would also want to observe that even the most mundane of moments, the millions of little circumstances that make life what it is, each of these is a sacred moment, an opportunity for God to work and an opportunity for us to trust and serve him. There on the road to Bethlehem Orpah walked away from Naomi, she walked away from God and all his promises, while Ruth declared her allegiance to Naomi and Naomi’s God. It could have been a forgotten moment, but it was sacred, a moment of worship. Ruth went out into the field to work, the most mundane of tasks, but there she encountered Boaz. Boaz went into his fields to oversee the labor and spotted a foreign woman, doing the lowest job there was. And in that moment he extended favor to her; the most normal moment became the most significant.
In these ways and so many others God used the small circumstances to bring about his purposes, to contribute to the unfolding of his plan. When you believe that God is sovereign, you must also see that there are no mundane, insignificant moments in life. Boaz had no idea that helping Ruth gather barley would lead to him fulfilling Naomi’s need for an heir. Every moment, every circumstance, is an opportunity to serve God, to declare your allegiance to him, to proclaim your trust in his promises. This is true when we work and worship, when we fellowship and commute and check email and eat dinner and go shopping and give birth and everything else that makes life what it is. We can’t choose the moments and the circumstances that God will use to unfold his plan. All we can do is be faithful with every moment he gives us. God is always there in the background, at work, on the move, even or maybe especially when we do not see him.
That is Ruth without a postscript. There is a lot we can learn. But as it happens, there is a postscript that begins to show God’s fulfillment of even greater promises. And we see that the author has one final, parting shot. It comes in a strange form—the form of genealogy—a list of names of fathers and sons. Those verses essentially say, “Oh, by the way, this little baby, this little boy…it’s the grandfather of the great king, David.” This isn’t just any baby. Obed was the father of Jesse, the father of David, the king.
That must have been exciting to the people who first encountered this book. Ruth was probably written during the reign of David when people were contesting David’s kingship and the story declares that though David’s great grandmother was a Moabite, she was an Israelite in the truest sense. This is not just some abstract story, but a story about the king’s family. The king is worthy of his calling. He is worthy of the throne. He is a true Israelite. A true king.
The Lord kept his covenant, he continued to bless his people. He even provided them with a king, one who would take them past the era of the judges and rule over them as the Lord’s representative, as the king God declared “a man after my own heart.”
That is amazing. Let’s not lose the wonder of it. Naomi and Ruth and Boaz are all related to the king, they are all royal. That’s a great surprise at the end of a story, but it’s not enough. It answers Naomi’s need for an heir but it does not answer her deepest needs. Naomi was a sinner, a person who was in rebellion against God. As good as Ruth and Boaz were, they too were still sinners, still in rebellion against God. Naomi’s need for provision, her need for an heir to perpetuate the family name, her need for land and family—all of these things were simply emblems or pictures of her much deeper need. She needed more than an heir; she needed a Savior, someone who could make her right with God.
So why then are we left with a genealogy, a list of fathers and sons? We tend to skip over these genealogies, don’t we? But maybe we just don’t taken the time to really ponder them, to really understand them.
There is a genealogy in the New Testament, in the book of Matthew, that repeats this one from Ruth, it encompasses it. It’s much longer and this bit of it fits right into the middle. It begins with Abraham. It goes from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Judah to Perez and on through Ram and Amminadab and Nahshon and Salmon and Boaz. “Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth,” it says. And from Boaz and Ruth it goes to Obed and Jesse and David the king—the king of Israel. But it doesn’t stop there. It keeps going. David fathered Solomon who was the father of Rehoboam who was the father of Abijah, and on it goes, generation after generation, through Jehosaphat and Joram and Uzziah and Ahaz and Hezekiah and then on to Zerubbabel and Azor and to a man named Eleazar who fathered a man named Matthan who fathered a man named Jacob who fathered a man named Joseph who was the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who is called Christ, anointed one, Messiah, Savior, King eternal, King immortal, King invisible, King of the Jews, King of the nations, King of kings, Lord of lords, Lord of glory, Lord of all, Redeemer.
And there, there is the best surprise of all. Here is God’s better fulfillment of his better promises, God’s deepest answer to our deepest needs. This is where we have such an advantage over the people who first encountered the book of Ruth. To understand the book you have to put yourself in their world, to get into their minds, so you can see the story through their eyes. But now they long to see through our eyes, so they can learn how this story truly ends. They saw the big surprise that Ruth and Boaz were great grandparents of the king. But what they couldn’t see—though maybe they suspected it or hoped for it or longed for it—is that from this line, from these people, would come the Messiah, the full and ultimate and final redeemer.
And when you understand that, the story just explodes in meaning and significance. Now we see it—the true need, the true famine, the true fullness, the true Naomi, the true Boaz, the true heir, the true Son, the true redeemer. It is Jesus who is the great surprise at the end of this story, the great climax to the tale, the great hero, the greatest answer to all the prayers and longings, the deepest answer to the deepest need. It’s all about him.
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John Owen Quotes:
As in the case of Job, God takes a man whom he hath blessed with choice of blessings, in the midst of a course of obedience and close walking with himself, when he expected to die in his nest, and to see good all his days;—ruins him in a moment ; blasts his name, that he who was esteemed a choice saint, shall not be able to deliver himself from the common esteem of a hypocrite ; slays his children ; takes away his rest, health, and every thing that is desirable to him. This amazes the soul ; it knows not what God is doing, nor why he pleads with it in so much bitterness. A man that either is, or may fall into such a condition, will find that he will never be able to walk with God in it, without humbling himself to the law of his providence.
~John Owen
from a sermon entitled Of Walking Humbly With God, volume 9 of Works, page 115
Reflections For The Heart
Practicing God’s Presence
“God does not ask much of us. Remembering Him, praising Him, asking for His grace, offering Him your troubles, or thanking Him for what He has given you. Lift up your heart. Little remembrances please Him.”
… Brother Lawrence
Contents
The Holy Habit
Pleasing God
Rare gift
The Holy Habit
1. “There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God. Only those can comprehend it who practice and experience it. Yet I do not advise you to do it from that motive. It is not pleasure which we ought to seek in this exercise. Let us do it from a principle of love, and because it is God’s will for us.”
… Brother Lawrence
What if, by simply following Brother Lawrence’s example, we could continually dwell in the kingdom of God’s presence? What if we could be certain, deep inside our heart, that God loves us more than anything humanly imaginable?
What if we realized that all God desires is our faithful attention so He can share Himself with us? What if we discovered that we love because God first loved us? This and more comes from practicing God’s presence.
These are the essentials of the practice of the presence of God, what Brother Lawrence called the holy habit: We engage in a continual, silent, and affectionate conversation with Our Father. We walk with God in faith, love, humility, and simplicity. Out of love, we strive to do nothing and think nothing which may displease Him. Calling God to mind at every possible moment, every opportunity, we focus our attention on Him and silently say, “Thank You, Father” throughout each day.
Over time, we become single in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Our will begins to conform to God’s will. Through practice, we develop a habit of thinking, saying, and acting with simplicity, humility, faith, and love.
As we become established in the practice of the presence of God, we begin to experience great peace and tranquility that comes from the actual indwelling of God Himself. Brother Lawrence called this holy freedom.
We exercise this holy freedom by engaging in a continual conversation with God. This is known by many other names such as prayer without ceasing, inner prayer, interior prayer, prayer of the heart, mental prayer, the inward gaze. Each of these terms, though sometimes presented in slightly different ways, all share the essentials of the practice of the presence of God: simplicity, humility, faith, and love. Each is a characteristic of a personal, dynamic relationship with Our Almighty Father.
In our continual conversation with God, Brother Lawrence said that “outside distraction spoils all” and that “perhaps all else is but folly and vanity”. We struggle with this, especially in the beginning. Our thoughts wander. The outside world intrudes and interferes. Our patience and persistence are tried and, through Our Father’s strength, we become stronger. Our faith and love grows and deepens.
In time the holy habit becomes so delightful, so nourishing to the heart, that all else, even self, begins to melt away. In time and with practice, we are naturally and gently drawn into our conversation with God. He actually colors our every thought, word, and deed with light. His light fills us. His light pours over, covers, and eventually extinguishes everything in us but God, Himself.
A life in the practice of the presence of God, the holy habit, is not one continual rapture or ecstasy; although we may, from time to time, experience some of these moments. The holy habit and our continual conversation with God is best described as a life of practicality and balance because God dwells in His proper place at the center of our being. Through the practice of the presence of God we learn to walk before Him in simplicity, humility, faith, and love.
2. “Sometimes I consider myself as a stone before a carver, whereof He is to make a statue. Presenting myself thus before God, I desire Him to make His perfect image in my soul and render me entirely like Himself.” … Brother Lawrence
Lord, chip away.
Remove the sharp edges that are offensive in your sight. Humble me and bring me low. Take off the rough spots of mind and tongue.
Lord, chip away.
I need Your hammer. If left to myself, I see faults and flaws as specks of dust that I would try to brush or blow off. Only You can see them as they are. Only You can chip them out where I would flick them off only to have them quickly return.
Lord, chip away.
I long for a pure heart, a heart like Yours. Take Your chisel to any hard spots. Tap out the blemishes and flaws and impurities. Shape it into a heart that is pleasing in Your sight.
Lord, chip away.
3. “People seek methods of learning to know God. Is it not much shorter and more direct to simply do everything for the love of Him? There is no finesse about it. One only has to do it generously and simply.” … Brother Lawrence
Brother Lawrence’s ‘The Practice Of The Presence Of God’ has been called the methodless method to living in God’s constant presence. Yet that is not entirely true. Brother Lawrence does not present a structured method for us to follow. Instead, he demonstrates the method God will work in us as we turn over our will, our whole heart to Him.
As we prayerfully read and re-read the conversations and letters, the keys to Brother Lawrence’s way of practicing God’s presence begin to imprint themselves in our consciousness. Perhaps it is not too much to say, we begin to take on God’s consciousness.
Instead of a method, we begin to see how God wants to work with us and in us. We discover that it is God who will show us and provide a way to remove the obstacles that block the path to Him. He will encourage our conversation with Him by making that time sweet, gentle, and a comfort beyond words.
God will share all kinds of secrets with us. Some will be deep mysteries that we will not be able to explain. Some will be solutions and practical applications for daily living. Some secrets, once He points them out, will be obvious. As we wonder why we never thought of them ourselves, God will share a good laugh with us. We’ll share this loving laughter because what He really makes obvious is that, of all the things in heaven and on earth, His companionship is the only thing we cannot do without.
Through daily, even hourly reading of Brother Lawrence’s ‘The Practice Of The Presence Of God’ we also come to see our part which can be summarized in this way: The Practice of the Presence of God is a way of life where we engage in continual conversation with God; walk with Him in love, humility, simplicity, and faith; and think, say, and do what is most pleasing to Him; because that is God’s will for us.
Pleasing God
1. Brother Lawrence “was pleased when he could take up a straw from the ground for the love of God, seeking Him only, and nothing else, not even His gifts.”
Throughout Brother Lawrence’s conversations and letters are suggestions for establishing ourselves in the holy habit of the practice of the presence of God. Some of these suggestions are subtle and some of them, at first, seem quite unusual to ordinary spiritual practices.
Brother Lawrence recognized that some of the suggestions were exceptional and cautioned against allowing ourselves to be concerned. In a letter, he said not to be afraid of the natural repugnance we experience. We will be uncomfortable because we are breaking the ties with our old familiar worldly ways. Brother Lawrence’s approach to having a relationship with God is very direct and personal.
One example, a vitally important suggestion, is to “think nothing which may displease God”. Dear One, that certainly goes against conventional thinking and worldly ways. The ingrained idea that we can think whatever we want, that our thoughts are private and harmless, crumbles under the weight of God’s presence.
This one small but very profound notion has the power to transform our whole attitude. What we think matters a great deal to God. Our thoughts are not as private as we, perhaps, once considered them to be. Suddenly we are confronted with a suggestion that becomes very difficult to ignore.
If we are motivated by love and our need for God’s constant presence, we will, in God’s way and time, be moved from not doing, saying, or thinking that which displeases Him to only doing, saying, and thinking that which pleases Him.
In the New Testament Letter to the Philippians we find some excellent advice: “Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
2. Brother Lawrence said, “there needed neither art nor science for going to God, but only a heart resolutely determined to apply itself to nothing but God and to love Him only.”
There is much about pleasing God that is an act of the will. Brother Lawrence calls it resolute determination. This comes of a decision we make maybe only once but apply over and over and over again. It grows, like our faith, out of small, tentative steps. Then the small steps become a habit. Soon we are taking larger steps.
God will not take us farther or faster than He sees fit. Sometimes, especially during the early stages of our growing determination, He will have us take a mis-step. He may try our determination in order to strengthen our dependence on Him and so we do not fall into the trap of thinking we are doing something in our own strength. He may do this at different times along the way so we do not become complacent or self-satisfied.
We can take a closer look at God’s will from two human perspectives: God’s time and God’s way. The former, God’s time, immediately suggests to us the need for faith and patience. We may not always like the timing aspect of God’s will, but, without a great deal of effort, most of us can usually grasp its meaning.
The latter, God’s way, is much more difficult for us. On the one hand we hear that God’s ways are strange and mysterious. On the other hand our vision is bound by our own worldly expectations and limited human imagination. In other words, we are faced with superstition, misconceptions, and selfishness.
If we begin to replace the superstition, misconceptions, and selfishness with acceptance, then gratitude; we finally come to determination, then resolute determination. We surrender our ways to God’s ways. We replace our doubts with trust in Him.
Over time, as we continue to apply our determination to pleasing God, He begins to show us that His way is always the practical, direct, and simple way. To our limited way of seeing, we might call His way the ultimate common sense.
If we truly want to please God and do His will, we have a wonderful pattern to follow in The Gospel, which is the very foundation of Brother Lawrence’s ‘The Practice Of The Presence Of God’. We need only look to The Gospel where Our Father says, “This is My Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased. Hear Him.”
3. “In continuing the practice of conversing with God throughout each day, and quickly seeking His forgiveness when I fell or strayed, His presence has become as easy and natural to me now as it once was difficult to attain.” … Brother Lawrence
What is it that keeps us from starting over? Is it our own selfish pride, our false humility, our unwillingness to admit to God we made a mistake? Why are we so insistent on trying to hide anything from God when we know He sees it all? Brother Lawrence wrote these words at almost eighty years old having practiced the holy habit for about forty years:
“I am sometimes filled with shame and confusion when I reflect on the great favors God has done for me and on the ill use I have made of them … Since He gives us yet a little time, let us begin in earnest … Let us return with full assurance to that Father of mercies who is always ready to receive us affectionately.”
God wants us to start over. He is delighted each time we begin anew. He doesn’t keep score. In fact, He encourages us to start over at every opportunity we get, minute by minute, hour by hour. At the very least, we can accustom ourselves to waking with words such as, “Ah, Father, a new day, a fresh beginning! Thank you. You have my heart.”
A second, but more deeply ingrained reason that keeps us from not only starting over but from ever starting at all is our fear of change. This is a basic, fundamental fear that can only be calmed through the trust that comes from a personal and private relationship with God.
Jesus referred to this fear of change when He explained to His disciples the fulfillment of the words of the prophet, Isaiah. With regard to His own teachings, Jesus said that the reason many people look but do not see and listen but do not hear is because, if they did, they might come to believe and be healed. For many people, believing and being made whole strikes at the fear of change.
It is well worth our spending time with God reading the thirteenth chapter of Matthew because there is a great deal to discover in addition to Our Lord’s explanation of the words of the prophet, Isaiah, and of our fear of change.
Without faith and a personal relationship with God, change is terrifying. Most people would rather cling to their familiar worldly ways than switch to the unfamiliar ways of God’s kingdom. The most important point here is that we are all “most people” until and unless God, through His grace and at His will, intervenes. If we come to understand this, we are well on our way to the compassionate love God wants us to have for others because it is the compassionate love He has for each of us.
4. Little pleases God more than a contrite heart. Like the other aspects of practicing God’s presence, a contrite heart is the result of the regular practice of admitting our faults and offenses and asking God for His grace and forgiveness. We learn to do this just as they happen or as soon as we are aware of them.
Like the other aspects of practicing God’s presence, a contrite heart is not our natural way. Our worldly hearts are proud hearts, full of self-praise, self-justification, and self-righteousness. Many of us have become experts at ignoring, excusing, rationalizing, and defending our mistakes.
Brother Lawrence was well aware of this and emphasized this regular exercise: “We must honestly consider and thoroughly examine ourselves. When we directly confront ourselves we will understand that we deserve all God sends to humble us.”
When our conversation, our very relationship with God, matures to this level of understanding, we will thank Him with full gratitude for everything He has ever done to humble us. We will welcome whatever God may do to help bring our hearts into conformity with His heart.
But we cannot do this alone. Of ourselves, we are completely and totally incapable of recognizing, let alone overcoming, our proud hearts. The only way we can “honestly consider and thoroughly examine ourselves” and “directly confront ourselves” is through the very presence of God. We are completely dependent on Him to show us.
Only God can open our eyes to the truth. Without Him, we quickly become preoccupied with others. We start to look outside ourselves and weigh and measure by what we see there. These are worldly standards that are not God’s standards.
Only God, in the personal and private conversation, the special relationship we have with Him, can tell us what we so desperately need to hear. For, as we practice the holy habit of living in God’s presence, we develop a desperate need, an overwhelming desire for the blessed relief of the humility of a contrite heart. Only God can do this and He will. All we need to do is ask and keep asking for His cleansing light and grace.
5. One of the most difficult things for us to do, yet most important to Our Father, is to let God be God. This sounds silly, doesn’t it? How can we, mere humans, do anything else? The more we know of God’s divine unchanging nature, the more obvious it becomes that we cannot change God. He always was, is now, and ever will be constant and unchanging.
So, then, why do we try? The problem for us and for God lies in the trying. We interfere. We meddle. We not only tell God what to do but how to do it. We try to give Him the benefit of our expertise, especially when it comes to others. We may sometimes take advantage of our special relationship with Him to advise Him on worldly matters. After all, we have His attention and are in His presence, so why not? Perhaps this will help:
“He (Brother Lawrence) said that as far as the miseries and sins he heard of daily in the world, he was so far from wondering at them, that, on the contrary, he was surprised there were not more considering the malice sinners were capable of. For his part, he prayed for them. But knowing that God could remedy the mischief they did when He pleased, he gave himself no further trouble.”
Quite simply it all comes down to a matter of faith. It is a matter of faith in a special form called holy indifference. Unlike worldly indifference, holy indifference is an expression of our high regard and esteem for Our Father.
Worldly indifference does not care and has no compassion. Worldly indifference lacks faith in an all-caring and compassionate God. Holy indifference is the special form of faith that is certain of an all-caring and compassionate God. In our relationship with God, this faith expresses our great love and respect for His superiority over us and His total capability of handling all of His creation.
Early in our practice of the presence of God we see that Our Father really does know us better than we know ourselves. From this realization we then also see that God know others, no matter how close to us, much better than we know them.
Out of this realization, our continual conversation with God, and in the faith of holy indifference, we, like Brother Lawrence, can humbly say, “I do not pray that you may be delivered from your pains; but I pray earnestly that God gives you strength and patience to bear them as long as He pleases.”
Our prayers for others become the same as our own prayerful converstion with God: to lovingly embrace His will and way. Now as a result of this and our practice of the presence of God, the holy habit, we come to understand how to let God be God.
Rare gift
1. The Practice of the Presence of God is a rare gift. Brother Lawrence was hand-picked by Our Father to exemplify it to those who had eyes to see. God continues to hand-pick those who will follow Brother Lawrence’s example the same way He has hand-picked His Own from the very beginning.
God’s chosen are those who are willing to live the way of Our Lord, answer the call of “Follow Me”, and see the cross as the ultimate symbol of victory, rather than the worldly sign of suffering and defeat.
Brother Lawrence demonstrated this way of life through the practice of the presence of God, a way that is available to anyone who seeks to know God’s peace and presence; that anyone, regardless of age or circumstance, can practice -anywhere, anytime.
You may think that if God has drawn you to Him, you have a specific mission to fulfill, a special purpose. Indeed, God does have a plan for each of us. His plan is as individual as we are each individual. He has given each of us talents, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses and, as Brother Lawrence wrote: “some more, some less”. When we learn to surrender ourselves to His will and way, God gently guides us according to His plan.
However, when God calls you to practice His presence, make no mistake about it, He has called you for one purpose and He has given you one very special gift. His one purpose is to love Him; to love Him in a way that surpasses all worldly expression and understanding because it is a most uncommon and exquisite love. His one very special gift to you is a loving heart, a heart for Him. His gift is a heart that longs to be filled with His grace and light.
If you have read this far, you cannot help but be touched by the simplicity of God’s request of us. Maybe it’s time to give yourself in absolute surrender to Him. Withhold nothing. Give ‘the all for the All’. Nothing more, yet nothing less for His gentle presence.
2. “We need to beg His assistance for knowing His will in things doubtful and for rightly performing those which we plainly see He requires of us, offering them to Him before we do them, and giving Him thanks when we have completed them.”
… Brother Lawrence
It takes only a reading or two of Brother Lawrence’s ‘The Practice Of The Presence Of God’ to realize there are no halfway measures in practicing God’s presence, following Our Lord, and living the First and Great Commandment. No matter how we try to dismiss it, explain why it was different (easier) for Brother Lawrence and even different for Christ (He was God!); once we really read ‘The Practice Of The Presence Of God’ we come to the same conclusion we arrive at when we really read The Gospel:
This is the true and simple Christian profession. If we are called to the holy habit of practicing God’s presence we can never again settle for anything less than total participation. Anything less is to turn away from God’s perfect will for us.
We may be overjoyed, we may be dumbfounded, we may be amazed. We may be angry, even furious. We may be terrified. We may be perfectly calm. But the fact remains that we will, inevitably conclude that a life in God’s peace and presence really does require giving our all for The All.
3. Brother Lawrence knew that, for the right practice of the presence of God, the heart must be empty of all other things. It is God’s will to possess the heart alone. He tells us that God cannot possess the heart alone without first emptying it. Only when our hearts are left vacant to God can He begin to mold us into the vessel that most pleases Him.
How often God brings us closer and closer to Him by removing worldly attachments. How often He creates a void of discontent, dissatisfaction, and disappointment in our hearts.
A.B.Simpson, who also knew the surrendered life, explained it this way, “God has to break our hearts to pieces by the slow process of His discipline, and grind every particle to powder, and then to mellow us and saturate us with His blessed Spirit, until we are open for the blessing He has to give us.”
Dear One, the value of that blessing He has to give us is beyond earthly measure and far more than our limited words can possibly describe. The great favor of a personal relationship with God, Our Father and Creator, and the great favor of being able to love the One Most Loving is priceless and precious.
If God has put you in circumstances where you feel you have no choice, all else has failed, all is lost, there is nothing to do but submit; do not waste one moment feeling guilty for not having freely chosen this path. If you do not already know it, in time, you will come to see that God has had His eye on you all along. God didn’t act on a whim when He knocked down and blinded Paul on the road to Damascus!
God allows crises in order to draw us close to Him. God, the Creator of All and from whose hand all is delivered, creates those situations where we have no choice. These situations are called necessity. Out of necessity He gives us the chance to make a virtue, the greatest virtue of all: the humble and sincere acceptance of His holy will. All we need to do can be expressed by a silently spoken, “Thank You, Father”.
4. Brother Lawrence spoke of the potential for anyone to practice God’s presence. Our Lord spoke of the potential for anyone to follow Him. However, Our Lord also said that many are called to step forward but few are chosen to walk the path. Brother Lawrence understood that. And we should understand it also.
We should understand it because, when we realize that we are to walk the path, we will become even more painfully aware of the gulf that separates us from many others. As an illustration, in this lament spoken by Our Lord over two thousand years ago, we feel the crushing disappointment, anguish and despair He feels because of the hardness of heart of His own, His people, His family:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killed the prophets, and stoned those sent to thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not have it! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. Ye shall not see me again until ye shall say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.
Our Lord tells us that we will grieve. Grief is a very appropriate response. However, our joy is forthcoming. When we become established in our true profession of the practice of the presence of God, the holy habit, we will find that peace, that quiet joy that lasts and lasts and is everlasting.
When we become fully aware of our call to the profession, the practice of the presence of God, we must get very low. We must humbly bow down and get lower than the ground itself because we have done nothing to earn or deserve this calling.
As soon as we understand that we are to be in the world but not of the world, we must begin to look for and welcome ways that humble us and keep us humble. Now we see that even the slightest act of spiritual arrogance greatly offends Our Father, the Giver of the gift of His presence.
5. “Pay little attention to the beautiful words and subtle discourse of the wise of the earth. Woe to those who look to human knowledge to satisfy their curiosity. It is the Creator who teaches the truth and instructs the heart of the humble.”
… Brother Lawrence
Brother Lawrence “noted that there was a great difference between the acts of the intellect and those of the will. Acts of the intellect were comparatively of little value. Acts of the will were all important. Our only business was to love and delight ourselves in God.”
Are you willing to put God first?
Are you willing to put God first
in every area of your life?
in every thought, word, and deed?
in everything and before all else?
Are you willing to put God first
to be the special child He wants you to be?
Are you willing to be raised above the petty and mundane
to dwell in His gentle kingdom today?
Are you willing to put God first?
Are you willing to be willing?
6. “It was observed, that in the greatest hurry of business in the kitchen, Brother Lawrence still preserved his recollection and heavenly-mindedness. He was never hasty nor loitering, but did each thing in its season with an even uninterrupted composure and tranquillity of spirit.”
The art of moving in God’s time and way is something we acquire through the practice of God’s presence. Through faith and living to please Our Father, we gradually come to be in tune with a holy rhythm that is beautifully synchronized with the earthly time of clock and calendar. In God, the Creator of time, we learn to follow and let Him lead.
Faith is movement; though not always physical movement. It is a stirring, a humming, and dynamic motion of the spirit. When nurtured through a personal relationship with God and the practice of His presence, faith’s motion is like a heartbeat going in the direction of divine love.
At first, faith seems separate from love. Yet faith and love move on parallel paths where the end of faith is a merging into one holy love, the Grand Love that is God.
7. “One does not become holy all at once.”… Brother Lawrence
Patience and persistence are the chief ingredients in developing and sustaining the practice of the presence of God. These two virtues go hand-in-hand. They support each other. Without understanding the importance of this to our faith and practice, when we become impatient then our effort to persist crumbles; when we become lax or doubtful then our patience crumbles.
Brother Lawrence wrote: “I well know that … the beginning is very difficult because we must act purely on faith. But, though it is difficult, God … never refuses those who ask earnestly. Knock. Persevere in knocking. He will open His graces to you.”
Though in the beginning we act purely on faith, our patience and persistence in engaging in continual conversation with God and repeating a silent, ‘Thank You, Father’ develops into a habit that establishes us in practicing God’s presence and simply living His perfect will and way. When we become established in the holy habit and experience the gentle joy and peace of God’s presence, we come to see that this truly is God’s rare gift and we can never thank Him enough.
“What comforts me in this life is that I now see God by faith. I feel what faith teaches us, and, in that assurance and that practice of faith, I live and die with Him.” … Brother Lawrence
WITNESSING
INTRODUCTION
The best preparation for a powerful and effective witness is prayer. Also it is more important that you allow the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and direct you in your witnessing. This study has been designed to be used with the Holy Bible (all scripture references are King James Version). Please feel free to make copies and use the study in a group or individual setting.
WITNESSING
Witnessing has the prospect of great fruit. “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Ps. 126:5,6)
THE POWER OF HIS NAME
The Bible says, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run to it and are safe. (Pr. 18:10) The name of the Lord is powerful and exerts a profound effect on people. Many times the simplest mention of His name releases a power that makes sinners sit and take notice and brings encouragement and comfort to the Christians. This makes witnessing so exciting. God is so great that if the humble Christian merely brings up the name of God in conversation, God begins to do wonderful things. And not only does He do great things for the people who hear the testimonies of the children of God, but He works wonders for the people who are doing the witnessing.
OVERCOMING GRACE
In Revelation 12:11, we are taught that the Christians overcame the devil “by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.” This Scripture tells us that the person who is saved and who testifies receives overcoming grace from the Lord. Here is one of the spiritual secrets to an overcoming live as a victorious Christian.
When a Christian reads the Bible consistently, has a steady prayer life, and humbly begins to witness (the first three basics of Christian living), he or she receives the joy of the Lord. And the Bible also says that, “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Ne. 8:10). This joy gives one the strength to resist the devil and to not yield to temptation or discouragement. It also enables us to keep on praising the Lord no matter what happens and release even more of God’s power into our lives.
WITNESSING AND ACKNOWLEDGING
Because so much spiritual power is involved, either the devil will work hard to put fear into your heart so that you can’t bring yourself to testify, or he will try to get you to talk too much and ruin your witness. So be careful how you begin the life of witnessing so that you won’t quit or become ineffective.
One aspect that is helpful is to make a distinction between witnessing and acknowledging. Both are good and right.
Proverbs 3:6 says, “In all your ways acknowledge him.” This means to bring up his name in some way during any encounter you may have with someone else. For example, when someone greets you and asks how you are doing, you could respond, “I’m doing fine; the Lord helping me.” Or when you are at the cashier’s stand, you could say, “May the Lord give you a good day today.” Or, finally, when you are in line at a cafeteria, you could mention to the person next to you how privileged we are to live in America where we have plenty to eat and mention how thankful you are the Lord has blessed our country. There are many other ways to acknowledge him because he said to do so in “all your ways.”
To witness, on the other hand, is to tell what the Lord Jesus has done for you. Sometimes simply acknowledging him will open a door for you to go a step farther and witness to your salvation. To witness is to express your joy and gratitude that the Lord saved you and changed you from darkness to light. It is your experience. No one can take it away from you, and he or she has no right to challenge you because it is your personal experience. You see, you do not judge people or tell them they are going to hell. You simply tell what happened to you. Someone asks you how you are doing, and you look them right in the eye and say, “Oh, I’m doing great ever since the Lord saved me and changed me from darkness to light!” Many times, people don’t know what to do with what they hear, and sometimes they will give a nervous laugh or make some comment, but, deep down, you have touched them and they feel it.
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