Following Hard After God

"We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have found Him we need no more seek Him. This is set before us as the last word in orthodoxy, and it is taken for granted that no Bible-taught Christian ever believed otherwise. Thus the whole testimony of the worshipping, seeking, singing Church on that subject is crisply set aside. The experiential heart-theology of a grand army of fragrant saints is rejected in favor of a smug interpretation of Scripture which would certainly have sounded strange to an Augustine, a Rutherford or a Brainerd.

In the midst of this great chill there are some, I rejoice to acknowledge, who will not be content with shallow logic. They will admit the force of the argument, and then turn away with tears to hunt some lonely place and pray, 'O God, show me thy glory.' They want to taste, to touch with their hearts, to see with their inner eyes the wonder that is God.

I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain."

The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer

God Still Answers Prayer

"One of the excuses we offr for our lack of faith is the old cliche, 'God helps those who help themselves.'
Rather, God helps those who trust Him to solve their problems.
My own experience substantiates the evidence of Scripture that our actions in any given situation are more important to God than our thoughts or intellectual belief.
Jesus was not being facetious when He said that even faith of the mustard-seed variety can win great things from God.
The greatest answers to prayer in our family have come at times when our faith was so small as almost to expect the worst.
Until we took hands off and really turned the problem over to God, He could not help us.

Do we trust God enough to put the ultimates of life-the things affecting health, life, and death, basic economic needs-into his hands?
If we do, that-in God's eyes-is faith, and He will always honor it."

From an article in Presbyterian Life, by Peter Marshal

A Man Called Peter by Catherine Marshall

The Patter of Water

The sound of a trickling fountain has always soothed me. Outside. Inside. At the mall. It really doesn't matter where. But how about in my sitting room? This is the result of a husband who takes joy in his imaginative wife's whims. I am now calling this room my sactuary. Of course, I use the term loosely. I mean that it is a room to retreat to and put all thoughts and worries aside in order to rest in the love of Christ. I need rest right now...I need Christ's love. I need retreat from the throughts and stresses and anxieties that can beat me to pieces.

A sanctuary doesn't change anything, though. Whether I'm sitting in my darling little water-trickling room or in a surgeon's clinic....only Jesus gives rest. In my laziness, I wish that He would force it on me...so I wouldn't have to wrestle against my human-nature. I confess: my human nature wallows. And my naughty imagination tells me I'd be okay if I could just ramble in a breathtaking, sun-filled, bird-singing, countryside...secluded from all city-life. (Who doesn't want that?)

I am only "under the influence" of my own choices. And I must choose now-as I sit in my sanctuary-to place my soul in the peace of God. I must believe...and believe that God will help my unbelief. That is my part. And His part is everything my soul needs.