Quotes From Leonard Ravenhill

As I was writing a post on Christian’s zeal without brokenness I came across Leonard Ravenhill’s quotes.  He is one of those timeless preachers that I like to listen to because of His intimate knowledge of and relationship with God. The funny thing is, in my post which now I feel the need to change, almost every word seems to come from Leonard’s quotes. The whole idea about shoddy Christianity as we live the christian life without truly knowing God, the zeal we possess  for His work and the so call truth that we claim we are after. Yet, we are tripping on all of it every day, we are no wiser because of our lack of brokenness, and lack of surrender

 So, I thought his quotes could be very useful to read over.  

QUOTES FROM LEONARD RAVENHILL

Nobody else can give you a clean heart but God.

There's one thing we need above everything else; it's something we don't talk about these days. We need a mighty avalanche of conviction of sin.

Are we sorry for grieving the heart of God... for denying God the right to own our personality... to own our mind... to own our thoughts... to own our emotions?  If not, we’re robbing God.

A popular evangelist reaches your emotions. A true prophet reaches your conscience.

We're living in an unprecedented day (when) evil is no longer evil. We've changed the terminology-- iniquity is now infirmity; wickedness is now weakness; devilry is now deficiency.

A Roman Catholic priest startled us not very long ago by saying that for 25 years he had been sitting in the confessional, listening to the confessions of men and women. He said he heard of murders, rapes, adultery, and fornication. He met men and women who have broken every law of God and man with repetition. But never in 25 years had anyone ever confessed to be covetous. Covetousness! We wrap it up and call it ambition. We may call it business or something, but right down in the middle of those things is a rotten word called "covetousness." Paul called it idolatry!

John the Baptist never performed any miracles. Yet, he was greater than any of the Old Testament prophets.

Jesus did not come into the world to make bad men good. He came into the world to make dead men live!

Some women will spend thirty minutes to an hour preparing for church externally (putting on special clothes and makeup, etc.). What would happen if we all spent the same amount of time preparing internally for church with prayer and meditation?

Someone asked me, "Do you pray for the dead?" I said, "No, I preach to them!" I think every pew in every church is death row. Think about that! They're dead! They sing about God; they talk about God, but they're dead! They have no living relationship (with God).

We've got people today that are very happy to celebrate Christmas or Easter or even Pentecost Sunday as long as nothing happens.

If you know a church on fire for God, tell me and I'll go. A church where (after) you've gone in, you don't come out the same, believing that God is there (and) you've been in His holy presence!

God is taking His hands off of America. We've had so much light and we've rejected it.

The early church was married to poverty, prisons and persecutions. Today, the church is married to prosperity, personality, and popularity.

You hear people say in church, "Lord, You're welcome!" If the Holy Ghost came to some churches, there would be a stampede to the door.

Sunday morning (attendance) shows how popular the church is; Sunday night shows how popular the preacher is; (Wednesday) prayer meeting shows how popular God is.

One good Baptist (once) said to Dr. Tozer, "If God withdrew the Holy Spirit tomorrow, my church would function just the same; we wouldn't even know He was gone."

If I don't believe the Word of God, why should you believe it? If we don't believe it, why should the world believe us?

There isn't a "Pentecostal" Church in America. If there is, tell me where it is.

In the early church, signs and wonders and miracles followed. They cast out demons, blindness and paralysis. That's normal Christianity! We're so sub-normal, if we ever became normal, they (the world) will think we're abnormal.

I'm astounded, bewildered, confused, baffled when people tell me there are 75 million people in America that are filled with the Holy Ghost and we're the most rotten nation on earth.

"Most church members live so far below the standard, you would have to backslide to be in fellowship with them."

I want to see a fellowship where your burdens become mine! Your grief over your children becomes my grief! Where we really bear each other's burdens; where we love each other and let the world come and see that we are the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus who cared only to do the will of His Father.

I wish, in America, (that) we were as concerned about separation from church and sin as we are about separation between church and state. Church and sin-- it's a monstrous problem.

I'd rather have ten people that want God than 10,000 people who want to play church. I want to see the glory of God come so our young people don't have to be told to go (to church), (but when) they just long to get to the sanctuary where God.

Do you go to church to meet God or to hear a sermon about Him? How many come to church expecting a confrontation with Deity?

The best title of the (professing) church of God today, in my judgment, is "Unbelieving Believers."

I'm embarrassed to be a part of the (so-called) church of Jesus Christ today because I believe it's an embarrassment to a Holy God !

I'm sick to death of the so-called Christianity of our day. What's supernatural about it? When do people come out of the sanctuary awed and can't speak for an hour because God has been in glory there? Dear God, as soon as they get out, they're talking football, or sports or something or there's going to be a big sale downtown or somewhere. We are not caught up into eternity!

We speak thousands of words every day and all these words are accumulated: the good words, the bad words, the criticized words... we're so flippant with our words; we're so easy with our criticism. We stab and we injure and we hurt, and God i s going to try all my word before a thousand-million people. Every word you say is going to be played back some day. The Word of God says man shall give an account for every word that he has spoken.

Ten million years will not put a strain on the clock of eternity.

The surest thing in the world is not death and taxes, it's death and eternity. Yet, we're so unconcerned.

We are not eternity conscious enough.

I read through Hebrews 11. These staggering men and women through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtain the promises, stopped the lions; women received their dead raised to life again. All the devilish things (they endured) and not one ever had a Bible! Well, in God's Name, (what) are you and I going to do when we stand before Him?! When I get there, I'll have to face up to having the whole revelation of God.

Finney didn't have a bigger Bible; Wesley didn't have a bigger Bible, but somehow they got nearer to the heart of God. They got a revelation from God, they got convictions of the Spirit and they laid their lives on the line.

I still believe in the majesty of that eternal court. Oh the awesomeness of it... God will say to some, "Come ye blessed!" and (to) the rest, "Depart from Me !" I don't want to stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ and God say to me, "I left you a book of blank checks signed in the blood of Jesus and you didn't use half of them!"

I can think of one thing when I get to the Judgment Bar and Jesus will look down and say, "I had many things to tell you but you couldn't bear them." We're too busy running our own lives: praying when you want to pray, eating what you want to eat, going where you want to go, spending what you want to spend, reading what you want to read, (Do you) call that a spiritual life? Brother, it is carnal as carnality!

I've had something burning in me for years and it burns more fiercely than ever to write this book (on the Judgment Seat of Christ). There are times (when) I can't go in my office'I'm awed with the awesomeness of God and the task that we're right on the verge of tremendous judgment unless we have a tremendous, tremendous, earth-quaking revival. I know people say, "Why don't you pray and ask God to take it (the burning) away?" I've prayed for 60 years to get it! I'm not going to ask Him to take it away! I'm asking Him to deepen it! I'm asking Him to intensify it!

Once inside eternity, we'r e going to be very embarrassed at the smallness of our faith.

What are you going to do when you get to eternity, if you can't stick in an hour with God down here? In God's name, what are you going to do in a million year s in God's presence?

The Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible is the religion of Christ's church.

The sinner's prayer has sent more people to hell than all the taverns in America.

We've gone into other countries... have we taken the Gospel? No! We have not taken the Gospel; we're giving them American Christianity or English Christianity! Bible-Christianity: it's the most costly thing in the world; it's the most beautiful thing in the world; it's the most glorious thing in the world.

There should be a birth chamber in every church; (it) should be a room for travail.

There are three worlds looking into this meeting tonight: there is a world of angels- the Angelic world; there's a world of demons- a Satanic world, and there's the ordinary world outside, and everyone of them is going to feel the result of some decision you make tonight.

I doubt if 5% of professing Christians in America are born again--and that's true of England!

I think one of the serious breakdowns in modern evangelism is this: it has offered too much for too little. What we do mostly is offer forgiveness. We need cleansing! There is no true conversion until a man takes up his cross.

David Hume, who was a Deist, didn't believe in any inspiration or revelation or the Son of God or in the Bible. About five o'clock one morning, he was going down the street in London. He came around the corner and went straight into the hands of another man who said, "Why aren't you David Hume?"

"Yes.''

"Where are you at this early hour ?"

"I'm going to hear George Whitfield preach," replied Hume.

"You don't believe a word Whitfield preaches," said the man.

"No," Hume answered, "but he does!"

Even the Deists knew when a man is not just talking theology.

If a preacher is not known in hell, he ain't worth a hill of beans.

Every meeting, people go out damned or delivered, and a lot hangs on the

preacher.

Do you know what's wrong with modern preaching? It's missing three things: one, it has no intensity; two, it has no majesty; three, it has no eternity.

I'm convinced that the greatest thing about those Puritan preachers (is) they lived in eternity six days a week and came down to earth on the seventh! Our preachers, today, are golfing on Saturday and "goofing" ( around ) the other five days... It's a profession to most of them (when) it should be an obsession with them!

We put men into pulpits because they have degrees. But you can have 32 of them and still be frozen! "Oh," you say, "we got a new pastor. He's got a B. A." I've got a B. A. too, I'm born-again! Today, there is such an emphasis (on education) isn't there?

We're so far removed from God's way of doing things-- we think a man is a good man if he can draw a crowd these days. Do you know what Finney did? Finney preached sometimes, and the whole congregation got up and walked out on him. That's a good meeting! He sent them out horrified! I only preach for two reasons these days: either to send people out that door blazing mad at me or blazing with the peace of the Holy Ghost! That's all!

If there's no brokenness in the pulpit, why should there be any brokenness in the pew?

One of the old Puritans said that one of the agonies of hell is the Holy Ghost will be there still convicting men of sin and there will be no place to get rid of it.

Isn't it amazing that God gives breath to a man who is going to blaspheme Him all day!

The wonder of the grace of God is that God can take an unholy man out of a unholy world and make that man holy and put him back into a unholy world and keep him holy!

The world is waiting for a practical demonstration of the Gospel of the grace of God!

Three things faith does: it reckons on God; it risks with God (and) it rests in God.

Faith is taking God at His Word.

F. A. I.T. H. As children in England we used to say: Forsaking All I Take Him.

Faith that's going to be trusted is going to be tested.

I have no faith in my faith. My faith is in the faithful God.

We try and get people saved who don't even believe they are lost.

There are two kinds of people in the world-- only two kinds. Not black or white, rich or poor, but those either dead in sin or dead to sin.

I don't ask people if they're saved anymore; I look them straight in the eye and say, "Does Christ live inside you?"

Listen, if a man is real1y born-again of the Spirit of God, it is the most radical thing this side of eternity. He becomes a new creature! He has a new heart! He has a new mind!

I heard a famous preacher and he's an Englishman (say), "You came here

tonight and the Lord is merciful. He will forgive your sins tonight-- He will forgive your past sins, your sins of today, and your sins for tomorrow." (I thought) "Isn't that nice?

Can you imagine going up to a judge and the judge says, "You've been charged with stealing a lady's purse, did you steal it?"

"Yes," replies the man, "it had $100 in it."

"Are you sorry?" the judge asks.

"Yes, I'm sorry," answers the man .

"Well," the judge says, "You're forgiven. I forgive you for all the purses you've stolen in the past, all you've stolen today and all the purses you'll steal the rest of your life."

Wouldn't that be insane?!

You can go to hell at the communion table or the gambling table if Jesus hasn't saved you.

I don't want to be saved just to make it into heaven; I want to be saved from sin; I want to be a God-directed man that in the life I have, I may live for the glory of God. For the devil has enough people to give glory to his rotten name. He's got more people that has given every beat of their heart, every bit of their money, (and) every thought of their mind. Every instinct they have, they are sold out to the devil.

If you're going to a mission field-- wherever that is-- if you don't have this love, you'll break down within six months. You'll be a casualty there; you'll be a liability instead of an asset. The mission field isn't dying in want of missionaries, it needs ones with anointing; ones with a love that surpasses all things-- a selfless, an undying love, an unbreakable love.

The original missionary went out on a one-way ticket-- no return trip ! They didn't go down to Guatemala for a weekend to hand out tracts believing they did God a favor.

If you have a task without a vision, it's drudgery, but if you have a task with a vision it's a missionary.

You have no right to sin. If you have sin in your life, you've got something which is illegal in the sight of God; you're giving the devil a hand in your life.

You can't say, "Christ is all I need," until Christ is all you have.

What is Christianity? It's not giving up lousy sins;.it's not just confessing my sins. Sure I have to be cleansed before He comes (but Christianity) is inviting Jesus to be the Master and Lord of my personality. It's the life of God in the soul of man! That is the greatest definition of Christianity outside of the Bible.

Christians don't tell lies, they just go to church and sing them. How many times have you stood and sang, "Take my life and let it be" and haven't given Him a scrap?

It would be a good idea, if every day this year, as far as the Lord let s us live, you asked the Lord, "Have you lived comfortable in me?" You think He is? Would you have to retrace your steps?

You can't love theology; you can't even love your Bible. You can only love a Person.

This moment can be a turning point in your life if you not only come to the cross, but get on it! Get rid of your pettiness and your jealousy! Get rid of your erratic living that you get when you come to a conference and you're down in a valley (the) next week! That shouldn't happen if Christ is indwelling in me. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever! He keeps me in peace; He keeps me in joy; He keeps me in power.

If you're going to be a true Christian, I'll tell you one thing amongst others: it'll be a lonely life. It's a narrow way and it becomes narrower and narrower and narrower.

God didn't come to be a shareholder, forget it! God doesn't want to share your life, He wants to own it! He doesn't want partnership, He wants ownership of every part of my being!

It's not simp1e being a Christian. After all, it's a majestic thing!

There's so much land ahead to be possessed! So many more revelations to be given! So many more burdens to carry! Life is short and I guess you think you have a long way to go but you don't know that.

There are progressive revelations-- if you walk with God, you'll find there are things (which) will be unveiled this coming year (that) you never thought about the past two or three or four or five years.

We've reduced God to a minimum. Most of us are trying to get to heaven with minimum spirituality. If we looked after our business like we look after our soul, we'd be bankrupt years ago! The materialism has crept in and it's blinded us! It (has become) a way of life.

All we have (today) is a sinning-repenting cycle. That is not what Jesus died for! We need to shout from the housetops and tell people everywhere today--in the church and out of it-- that Christianity is NOT a sinning religion.

A brother was telling me this week when he got baptized, it was kind of a sudden thing and he went down into the water and suddenly realized that he had his wallet in his pocket. There's not many wallets that get baptized (these days). We kind of say, "Lord, you look after our sins (and) I'll look after the rest. Every penny you earn since you've become property of Jesus Christ and you'll give an account of before God. He doesn't just take your sins; He takes your (whole) self; He takes (over) the government of your life.

All you have to do is get in a closer walk with God and you'll find your enemies are in your own church.

I want to so live that God doesn't have to have to give me one minute's notice to step out of time into eternity. Let me tell you as an old geezer that I am: there's not one thing in life worth having outside Jesus Christ. If you (can) really sing, "Thou 0 Christ is all I want," you've got it made!

God is looking for people who wi1l live wrecklessly for Him--not concerned with public opinion or preacher's opinions, but becoming a love slave of Jesus Christ.

We're not here to get to know the Word of God but to (get to) know the God of the Word.

People say, "I read my Bible everyday", but when was time last time they studied it?

You forfeit God's love as soon as you get fascinated with the world (1 John 2:15). God wants you to move into fullness.

If you want to Iive sloppy and slip, thinking your time is your own. It isn't! (Not) anymore than your breath is your own. He has to have pre-eminence in every aspect of my life.

Partial obedience is disobedience!

Good is the enemy to the best!

It's easy for you to pour contempt on your (own) pride; it's when somebody else pours contempt on your pride is when you're in trouble, isn't it? Can we put our heads up at this time and rejoice? This is a time to prove our spirituality.

It's a tragedy when you try and prove your spirituality by things you don't do rather than proving it by the things you do.

I have this in black and white-- where the Communists said in their manifesto: Christianity is certainly more powerful than anything we have. Jesus Christ can do more than Karl Marx, but the (professing) Christians don't believe it, and secondly, they won't sacrifice for it.

God has only one standard for His people-- He wants a holy people. We're kept by the power of God through faith unto saIvation.

People today want a painless Pentecost. After the apostles were filled in the upper room, they were persecuted... (and) they went to prison for preaching the Word. Immediately (when) you're filled with the Spirit, it doesn't matter what area you yield your life, the devil will fight to get back the ground he lost in your 1ife.

I'm sick to death of paper theology. I want to see it in flesh and blood! The trouble with our theology is it's all on the blackboard; our theology is all in text books. It has no life! it has no breath! It has no power! it has no authority!

I stand over a hundred of preachers and I see them shrink and I see them fall on the ground and cry because they have no prayer life. They're so busy with all the affairs of the church and they're not ministering to Him!

If you want a new personality, I'll tel1 you this: the on1y way to get it is to have a prayer life. You can't pray and be unclean; you can't pray and hold a grudge; you can't pray and have bitterness. We blame the devil so much, (but) many of us sabotage our own prayer lives.

Wouldn't be wonderful to have a few men like Paul? He said, "I'm dead!" Dead to self... dead to ambition... dead to feelings... dead to be offended... dead to be flattered... dead! Paul died to everything!

If you're not walking in holiness, you're not walking where God wants you to walk. The very nature of God can be ours.

All (of) God's great men have been very, very lonely men. The price of being a prophet is loneliness.

Without holiness, no one shall see the Lord. Jesus didn't die to save us from hell. That's a fringe benefit! He died to get total occupation of us. To be holy in speech... in actions... in everything. We want to give God our lousy sins. What do you think He does with them? He wants your will... He wants that career of yours ... He wants that selfish heart not to live in selfishness.

AIl you have to do is decide to walk a 1itt1e closer to God and you'1 l be criticized more in the church than in the tavern down the street.

Holiness is not a luxury a it's a necessity. If you're not holy, you'll never make it to heaven.

If the Son of God needed the anointing, how in the world do you expect you and I will get by without it? We need that anointing everyday; we need that quickening; we need that motivating power of the Spirit strong in us everyday.

Unction. It's that mysteriousness something that God is pleased to put upon those who will travail and wait for that anointing. Without it, preaching has no power and no authority.

Ordination. What good is it? It's an abomination unless God's given it. There's only one ordination (and) that's in John 15 (verse 16, where Jesus says), I have ordained you, and if God has ordained you then all hell can't stand against you!

The world out there is not waiting for a new definition of Christianity; it's waiting for a new demonstration of Christianity.

The cross is going to judge everything in your life-- your eating, your drinking, your sleeping, your spending, your talking. Everything is cross examined!

My goal is God Himself-- not joy, not peace, not even blessing, but God!

God wants to bring us into a glory we know nothing about.

One thing that really crushes me is when I think that America has 500 evangelists and not one revivalist; not one that can shake a city.

If Bible knowledge could change the world, we would've changed it long ago.

It's not the imitation of Christ that you and I need, it's an impartation of Christ (that we need ). Christ in you the hope of glory.

God is looking for men (who are) committed from the soles of their feet to the crown of their heads.

"Christianity began in Palestine and it became a religion; it was transferred to Greece and it became a philosophy; it was transferred to Europe-- to England-- it became a cult and it was transferred to America (and) it became big business. Our young people have never seen (true) Christianity.

Why do we send people to other countries? We can't even save our own country! A little guy on T.V. says, "Give me more money, my message should go, into Japan." Why? Do you know how many murders they have in Japan for a year? Twenty! We have that many in a day in New York State! They'lI say, go back and clean your own country up!

People accept Jesus as a teacher but not as Saviour. WelI, why don't they accept His teaching? He said, "You must be born again." It's not an option.

If I'm not known in hell, I'm not worth a hill of beans much good. The demon said Jesus I know and Paul I know (Acts 19:15). (Is there any better compliment than this?)

Do you really want an intimacy with God where He shows you the world as He sees it?

The one thing I want the Lord to say to me when I die is, " You are my beloved son."

The greatest loss in life is not losing an arm or losing a friend or losing a fortune, it's losing your relationship with God.

God is going to restore the power and authority in His church starting with the pulpit (with) brokenness (and) confession. If there's no brokenness in the pulpit, why should there be brokennss in the pew?

Sources:Sermonindex.net

gospeltruth.net

 & preach-the-gospel.com

Is Your Church Rooted & Grounded in Christ ? Are You?

Ephesians 3:17 “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love”

In the Ephesians’s letters we can clearly see through the eyes of Paul and his writing how the Church was flourishing in their walk as Christians. By contrast, he was constantly worrying about the Galatians to the point where in 3:1 he called them foolish Galatians. Paul was in travail for them and needed to encourage those foolish Galatians to continue in their walk until Christ was formed in them. (4:19) It is a big contrast here when we read his letters to the Ephesians Church. He was pleased with them and throughout the book of Ephesians his goal was to  reinforce and strengthen them in their steadfast walk. His prayer for them shows that he knew Christ was formed in them. Each one of them was a light in the world and together as a Church they were striving in the midst of difficulties. They had the truth in them, so the false prophets were not making a dent. They had the wisdom and the Holy Spirit’s power so they were able to test any “prophets or apostles” amongst them. 

I will not go into details with the Ephesians Church that had prompted those letters from Paul. Suffice to say if we read Revelation 2:1-7. John was in his nineties when he wrote the book of revelation while he was a prisoner on the Patmos Island. This background gives you a good idea as to how long the Church was in existence before they went cold. Revelation 2:1-7: "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.  But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”

We see the Christians in Ephesus were able at one point to be pleasing to God and to Paul. According to what we read they were rooted and grounded in Him. What does it mean then to be rooted and grounded in Him? Well, there is no need for me to use my words here because Scriptures tell us what it means when we read Ephesians 3: 16-19 “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.” Now, isn’t that beautiful, the abundance of this life in Him and in the inner man (soul) strengthened by Him. Can you imagine what it means to comprehend the depth of the love of Christ, to see it with your spiritual eyes, and grasp it with your soul? Can you see the beauty of the riches we have in Him? Being strengthened to persevere and endure this life and to actually have Christ dwells in your heart? Can you truly grasp all of it with your soul and spirit? Do you truly possess these blessings in Him, right now as a corporate Church and also individually? 

How do we know Christ dwells in our hearts? The scriptures tell us in John 14:23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” Once again we see that Christ posed some conditions here. This goes beyond saying the sinner’s prayer. We are to love Him and obey His teaching meaning His ordinances. There is no doubt here that He also manifests Himself to those who love Him and they experience His grace and oneness even at a higher level. Often we misunderstand some passages in the Scriptures that are crucial to salvation because they look like work and since salvation is by grace we dismiss them as if we can get by, without them being part of our toolkit in our walk with Him.  The misunderstanding comes mainly from lack of knowing Him first hand. So, in our toolkit, we do not have all that we need to go on being rooted, grounded and settled in Him. What we do not realize is that the work is done by the Holy Spirit. It is simply the continuance of the salvation we claim to have received, working in us by grace through faith. 

Christ promising to make His abode with the father in the heart that loves Him is more than a passing phase. This oneness and this manifestation of Him will be a lifestyle as long as we keep loving Him and keep honoring His ordinances at the highest esteem of who we are in Him. Now, we know the downside of not keeping our part of the deal. It is right there in black and white in Revelation 2: 1-7. We see the Ephesians Church  fell in love with Him at first, and now God told them they left their first love. When Christ dwells in your heart you cannot help but set your affections on things above as you practice His continual presence. All it takes on our part is to keep being committed to the faith no matter what life throws at us.  Our job is simply to keep trusting and keep focussing on Him. And yes, this is easier said than done.  Yet, He holds us responsible for it.  Even if we want to ignore thousands of verses in the bible, through our spiritual blindness, the message sent to the Ephesus Church tells us that it is hard to keep following but we have to make sure we remain steadfast.

I read a sermon online where the pastor said in regard to Revelation 2: 1-7 the message was for the Church that does not mean the salvation of the Christians there, were in danger with God. This tells me this pastor’s definition of salvation is so narrow that God cannot make a dent in him. How deep can you be inside of Satan’s belly to say something like that? This pastor could easily have said God sent the message to the building. Yes, the message was addressed to the corporate Church and I have no doubt that most of those whom Paul had written to earlier where dead or old. So the flame must have been passed on to their children and other younger generations who made up the Church. But, the Church is not the building; it is us who makes up the corporate Church. We along with our leaders (mainly the leaders) in the Church set the tone that defines our walk with Him and the direction of our worship of Him.

Why do we need to be rooted? This is simple. Christ warned us as to what happened when we are not rooted in Him, in the parable of the sower. We do not have to use our imagination to know that a tree that never takes roots eventually dies. We do not get rooted in Him by living second hand Christianity either. Without being rooted and grounded in Him there is no solid foundation. Being rooted says that we have faith and we chose to continue this path He put us on. It means we have grown pass our feel good Christianity, pass head knowledge, misguided zeal, eloquence, past our experiences and opened our lives completely to Him. We do not get rooted while walking in the flesh so being rooted in Him is also an indication we are walking in the Spirit. Once again being rooted in Him is a job done inside of us by the Holy Spirit. It is once again the continuance of the salvation we have received.

It means we are standing on the only sure thing in this world that will never let us down which is God’s Word, and it is the only foundation we recognize to build onto our Christian community. When we are rooted, grounded and settled in Him, we have become unmovable. Even when the herd goes all in one direction with no clear goal, we do not mind standing alone. Our job is to remain loyal to Him and not to flinch because He has become your source of life and wisdom. Beloved, misery loves company and people who are living shallow Christianity in their head will do everything in their powers to keep you down with them. The more people they convince simply prove to them that they are right and do not have to go deeper apprehending. But remember, comes judgement day you will be alone to answer for yourself. So chose wisely whom you want to serve, God or man.

 I hope you will be able to read this and ask yourself this: Are you truly rooted and grounded in Him.

 Please read my book Apprehended & Apprehending with the subtitle: Soaring in the wilderness with God

 If you wish to continue with this study, you can go to Amazon and get yourself a book for only $5.95. The Content of the book is worth way much more than $5.95.   But if honestly you know money is an issue for you, then please get in touch with me and I will get you a coupon from Smashwords to allow you to get yourself a copy of the book, dirt cheap. Feel free to contact me at  brokenness70 at gmail dot.com

 In His Agape Love,

M.J. Andre

I will keep silent this week-end to allow you time to read this long post. 

The Supremacy of Jesus Christ

Sometimes, I like posting other people's writings because I can identify with them. We have the same message because we have learned directly from the Holy Spirit. I had one of Oswald Chambers devotional book for about 9 years. While I had great respect for his writings but I could not truly understand what he was talking about and where all these things were coming from. At one point I had to admit to myself that he had a great relationship with Christ, but I dismissed it with words like " this is his life, his walk and his things"so I kept reading him like some sort of historian that I admired. After the Holy Spirit led me to the wilderness to become His favorite rag doll that’s when all of the sudden I knew exactly what he was talking about. I could identify with each page.

As I started identifying with Oswald’s writing something sad occurred. Pastors and mentors that I used to admire for their eloquence and their knowledge, faded away. People that I used to think were so knowledgeable when I was not deep in Christ, all of the sudden I could see how much they knew nothing about Him and how shallow their teachings have always been. Make no mistake it is a sad realization because you are losing your heroes and you find it is hard to let go.

As time went by, the Holy Spirit healed my heart and filled it up with His love. He made me understand that it is all part of this walk. It is the act of being set apart for His glory. It is part of being detached from the world. And it is also what it means to be part of the remnant He keeps for Himself. When I understood that, I found a new love for these people that I was leaving behind. I will forever be grateful to them, because God has used them in my life. I love them dearly and the only way I could ever repay them is by praying for them, always.

So, while Oswald Chambers died in November 1917 these words of his are more real than ever. The Church has not improved, instead things have gotten worse. Every word in today’s devotion is still right for today’s Christians but on a larger scale.  So, I am leaving you with Oswald’s own word on Christ supremacy. May the Spirit of truth help you understand these words as you open your heart to Him. I pray that He would help you let go of resistance, pride, ignorance and stubbornness in your heart as you break down in repentance. 

The Supremacy of Jesus Christ

Nov

29

2012

He will glorify Me . . . —John 16:14

The holiness movements of today have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament about them. There is nothing about them that needs the death of Jesus Christ. All that is required is a pious atmosphere, prayer, and devotion. This type of experience is not supernatural nor miraculous. It did not cost the sufferings of God, nor is it stained with “the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11). It is not marked or sealed by the Holy Spirit as being genuine, and it has no visual sign that causes people to exclaim with awe and wonder, “That is the work of God Almighty!” Yet the New Testament is about the work of God and nothing else.

The New Testament example of the Christian experience is that of a personal, passionate devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ. Every other kind of so-called Christian experience is detached from the Person of Jesus. There is no regeneration— no being born again into the kingdom in which Christ lives and reigns supreme. There is only the idea that He is our pattern. In the New Testament Jesus Christ is the Savior long before He is the pattern. Today He is being portrayed as the figurehead of a religion— a mere example. He is that, but He is infinitely more. He is salvation itself; He is the gospel of God!

Jesus said, “. . . when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, . . . He will glorify Me . . .” (John 16:13-14). When I commit myself to the revealed truth of the New Testament, I receive from God the gift of the Holy Spirit, who then begins interpreting to me what Jesus did. The Spirit of God does in me internally all that Jesus Christ did for me externally.

Charles Spurgeon Evening Devotional

Jeremiah 32:17  "Ah Lord God, behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee." 

At the very time when the Chaldeans surrounded Jerusalem, and when the sword, famine and pestilence had desolated the land, Jeremiah was commanded by God to purchase a field, and have the deed of transfer legally sealed and witnessed. This was a strange purchase for a rational man to make. Prudence could not justify it, for it was buying with scarcely a probability that the person purchasing could ever enjoy the possession. But it was enough for Jeremiah that his God had bidden him, for well he knew that God will be justified of all his children. He reasoned thus: "Ah, Lord God! thou canst make this plot of ground of use to me; thou canst rid this land of these oppressors; thou canst make me yet sit under my vine and my fig-tree in the heritage which I have bought; for thou didst make the heavens and the earth, and there is nothing too hard for thee." This gave a majesty to the early saints, that they dared to do at God's command things which carnal reason would condemn. Whether it be a Noah who is to build a ship on dry land, an Abraham who is to offer up his only son, or a Moses who is to despise the treasures of Egypt, or a Joshua who is to besiege Jericho seven days, using no weapons but the blasts of rams' horns, they all act upon God's command, contrary to the dictates of carnal reason; and the Lord gives them a rich reward as the result of their obedient faith. Would to God we had in the religion of these modern times a more potent infusion of this heroic faith in God. If we would venture more upon the naked promise of God, we should enter a world of wonders to which as yet we are strangers. Let Jeremiah's place of confidence be ours-nothing is too hard for the God that created the heavens and the earth.

The Ambulance Corps

Georges Matheson who was a devout servant of Christ died in 1906. This man of God talked about three classes in the Christian life. The first group is considered to be people like Matheson himself, Aiden Tozer, John Edwards, J.C. Ryle, Moody, Spurgeon etc. Note that, these people I have listed above are my preferences. These are the type of people the Holy Spirit entrusted me to when I was thirsty for Him. As such I have confidence in who they were in Christ. One that I have learned to admire in our time is Pastor Paul Washer. Him and I seem to have taken one module together from Christ’s University which is Boldness. (Not to be confused with the boldness from the flesh without going through the humility process that He provides through pain and intimacy with Him)

The Church is made up mostly of the invalid ones, those that are on the couch and seem to be in constant need of care. They never outgrow the need to be cared for. The ambulance Corps are those who follow just for the sake of following in spite of being anonymous. There is no glory, there is no spotlight on them, and there is no one who would ever write their memoirs. To begin with they seem to be uninteresting to the naked eyes. These men and women of God are found almost everywhere in every walk of life. Yet they give and keep giving of themselves to the Lord, to be used without hindering Him. While they are in the background, but, God knows who they are. So, I leave you with George Matheson’s own writings and his own words. 

May God have mercy on us and bring us to a place where we can all be part of the Ambulance corps.

THE AMBULANCE CORPS.

These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. "—Revelation 14: 4.

There are three classes in the Christian Life — the men of the wing, the men of the

couch, and the men of the road. The first are those who fly before ; they are the

pioneers of progress, they are in advance of  their fellows. The second are those who

stand still, or rather lie still ; they are the invalids of the human race ; they come not

to minister, but to be ministered unto. The third are those who follow ; they are the am-

bulance corps of humanity; they are the sacrificial souls that come on behind. I think

with St. John that these last are the most beautiful souls of all. They are lovely in

their unobtnisiveness. They do not wish to lead, they would rather be in the rear ; they

come forward only when others are driven backward. They want no glory from the

battle, no wreath for the victory, no honourable mention amid the heroes. They seek

the wounded, the dying, the dead. They anoint for life's burial, they bring spices for

the crucified, they give the cup of cold water they wash the soiled feet. They break the

fall of Adam ; they break the fall of Magdalene. They take in Saul of Tarsus after he

becomes blind. They are attracted by defects, they are lured by every form to

helplessness. They come out to meet the shadows; they go in the track, not of the lark,

but of the nightingale ; they follow the Lamb.

Captain of salvation, put me in the rear of Thine army — with the ambulance corps ! It

is not for the sake of safety that I ask it ; it is not to be relieved from the burden and the

heat of the day that I wish to be in the rear. It is because I think the trouble is greater

there ; it is because I see more room for sacrifice, more chance of doing good. There

are some whom Thou sendest before Thee — angels of the everlasting gospel who fly in

advance over the face of heaven. Speed them, bless them! But I am not fitted to be

one of these ; I am not swift enough, I am not brilliant enough. Put me in a sphere

where swiftness is not wanted, where brilliancy is not required ! Give me the trouble

without the glitter, O Lord ! Let others lead !— I am content to follow. Be Thou my rear-

ward ! Help me to serve Thee in the background! Is it not written, “They that tarry

at home divide the spoil." I cannot fight Thy battles, but I can nurse Thy wounded.

I cannot repel Thy foes, but I can repair Thy fortress. I cannot conduct Thy marches, but

I can succour those who have fainted by the way. Write my name amongst those who

follow Thee! 

Please visit my website at www.apprehended.ca

The Lies & Shame Of Backsliding

Jeremiah 2:21-24

“I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine? Although you wash yourself with soda and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Sovereign Lord. How can you say, I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals? See how you behaved in the valley consider what you have done. You are a swift she-camel running here and there, a wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her craving—in her heat who can restrain her? Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her."

The Israelites were lavished by God with the highest privileges. But instead of worship the God who loved and honored them by making them His choice over all the other nations, they became the worst idolaters that existed in their time. They were corrupted to the core and had become useless to God. When we read those verses we see the depth of their denial and the madness of backsliding motion. They left Him, completely disobeyed His Word at all levels and all the facts were against them. They had the audacity to deny who they truly were in the presence of God. They pretended that all their sins of idolatry were not so, and if anything, God is the one who misunderstood.

Isn’t like most of us Christians today? We sin as if God was dead or blind and deaf. We are devoid of reverence for Him. We do not love Him to care enough to become rooted and grounded in the faith. We try to fool Him with ritual and entrench ourselves in service, for His benefits. The worse part of our madness is that true repentance evades us. Most of us are in complete denial of who we truly are when it comes to being Christians. Yet, our actions show what is in our heart which is the incessant need to cover up who we truly are.  

If we were true to the faith, and knew how to examine ourselves, we would know and see with our spiritual eyes. The fact that we need to cover up who we truly are and the fact that we still need to wear masks to deal with day to day life and our interactions with other people, should be an indication of how much we need Him and how far we are from being true Christians. There are some of us calling ourselves Christians, yet we upstage Pharaoh with his hardened heart. Sadly, like the Israelites, sin is eating us alive like we have leprosy, yet we have the audacity to make the same claim they made in verse 23 "I am not defiled; I have not gone after other gods.”

How sad? How pathetic to reach such a low state where we think we can convince God otherwise and that He will not be wiser?

PRAYER: Lord, like the Israelites, we messed up really bad. We are running like sheep with no pastures to rest and no shepherd. Lord, pride, blindness, ignorance, and the lust in our hearts are too much to bear. Day in day out, we are committing spiritual suicide with no regards for you. We have reached a point of no return. Please shake us up, do what needs to be done to get us out of that frame of mind, and out of our lethargy. Help us face who we truly are so we can stop the backsliding mode that we are in. Give us eyes to see and hearts to repent my Lord. 

Please visit my website at www.apprehended.ca

God’s Thoughts Vs Our Human thoughts

Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord”.

I felt it was important for me to write about God’s thoughts Vs our human thoughts because those who never experienced Him, along with those who believe only in their heads but not in their hearts are in no better position than an unbeliever in their understanding of who God is. While a Christian might have a different explanation of whom God is, this does not change the fact that if you do not know Him personally, then you do not know Him. It simply means that you have learned the lingo because you have immersed yourself in the Christian culture. In fact, until you experience God all that you have is data tucked away. This is the primary reason why Salvation is so misunderstood by His very own and the false prophets are flourishing. We have not armed ourselves for warfare. 

While we have to be cautious not to seek experience because we can be caught up in sensationalism and never really walk with Him. If we look too much for sensation Satan has no problem disguising himself as an angel to keep us in bondage of wanting just that. It is equally important to apply caution in what you call Christianity, if after years and years of claiming to be Christian, the Holy Spirit has never manifested Himself to you, there is a problem there too.

Why? Because the Holy Spirit’s job is to make the life we have in God real to us. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to witness to your soul that you are a child of God. You either believe that or God is a liar. The Holy Spirit works in us is proof that we have been sealed; it is His stamp of ownership that we have become children of God. In John 16:13 we are told:  “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ” With that in mind, you have to stop lying to yourself and take ownership for the lack of holy spirit’s activities in your life. You do not want to die and find out you were too proud to accept the fact that all you had was in vain.

 When we read the Bible we are able to understand what we read with our intellect which was given to us by God so we can function in this realm. But when God speaks, the same God who has the intricate mind and unlimited power to create the world, His words are wrapped up in all these things that we can see and cannot see. His word personifies wisdom that we can never possess, intellect that we have not seen or heard of. Each tiny word that He utters also contains justice, love, wrath, and holiness etc. Everything that makes God, who He is wrapped up in everything He says. The understanding we have been given by God could be easily compared to something like someone with gazillions of dollars, then he gives you five bucks while it is nice, but in comparison to what he has you can easily say you do not have much.   

Every word that He utters means all that He is. Because He is who He is, then it makes sense that we do not have the wisdom or the capacity to understand what He says. In a vision I had while spending time with Him, He showed me with sadness that His idea of Salvation for us is as big as the ocean. I remember standing there with this giant God of mine, and I still remember His sadness when He showed me how much we misunderstood His plan because we all ran with our own understanding and our own plan. As I contemplated the vastness of the ocean and the understanding that He gave me right then and there to grasp a tiny bit of His plan for us, strangely, my next step was to open up my left hand, I realized the Salvation I was holding onto was as small as a marble in the palm of my hand, then I dropped it. After I dropped it, I went straight to Him as if I wanted to embrace Him, but He was so big, when I moved toward Him I could not reach pass His feet.

My point is that when we read God’s Word, we should always keep in mind that there is another level of understanding we need from the Spirit which is the understanding that comes from God’s point of view. We cannot hold onto our own understanding that we grasp with our weak and very limited mind, and be content with what we have. Our thoughts and all our sentiments of this life He has in mind for us are different from His thoughts and what He had in mind when He set His plan of Salvation in motion.

This lack of understanding from a Godly perspective has caused the breach we see in the Church all over the world. Yes, Satan is behind it too. But who gave Satan so much power to gain so much terrain?  It is us in our pride and greed.  Can you understand the stupidity of saying Salvation is by Grace, yet we refuse to go to Him so that He can make us understand the full scope of it by His grace?  We reject the very same grace when we hold onto our feeble understanding like a dog holding onto a bone.  In our feeble mind and the pride of possessing some intellect, we reject that same grace we need for our Salvation. So, we sit there, while everyone can see we are just caterpillars, we get upset at anyone telling us we are not butterflies yet.

What I learned from experiencing God, is that we not only desperately need the Holy Spirit to permeate our lives and fulfill His role, but even when He graced us with an experience, we still do not have the mind to grasp all of what His word encompasses. All that we have written about the Holy Spirit's role from the Scriptures should not be just words to us. God already knew we could not compete with His intellect, He purposed to give us the Holy Spirit to make this life real to us. This life does not get real when we die. But right now! We receive eternal life when we know God through Christ. And we do not know God, just because we have some rituals in our lives.  Every religion has rituals. As Christians our rituals should be the Holy Spirit.

So, how do we get to the point where He can permeate our lives?  I can only answer this by sharing my secret. I have always been humiliated as a child and more so in my adult life, so much so there was nothing left for me to feel puffed up in anything that pertains to me. To make matters worse, I am far from being an educated person. So instead of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to take God at His Word. It was not a big stretch for me to humble myself before Him. As for my childlike spirit, my brain has never been educated enough to know better. Somebody who knows me well said it is so easy for me to humble myself before God; I have no idea how hard it is for other people.

I know the God that I serve enough to know that if we truly want Him in our hearts; He is more than willing to make His Word come alive to us. If you are willing to leave your intellect behind and stop being puffed up when you approach Him, then you are on your way of finding what it means to have a child like faith and spirit. If all of it is still hard for you, then your prayer should be “Lord help me leave behind all my knowledge, my faulty understanding, my confidence in myself and be desperate enough to know your Word that I would approach your throne completely bankrupt.”   We should pray until we receive it. Pray until in your spirit you have become the perfect outcast model. He is the God of the outcasts.

This subject is so vast I could write all day. Because this post is so long, I will omit tomorrow’s post to give you time to read this one on Sunday

May the Spirit of truth accompany you while reading this post.

Please visit my website www.apprehended.ca