prayer and love

C.H. Spurgeon from Morning and Evening for today:

Beautiful in God's sight is tearful, agonizing, unconquerable importunity. It means praying humbly, for the Holy Spirit never puffs us up with pride. It is his office to convince of sin, and so to bow us down in contrition and brokenness of spirit. We shall never sing Gloria in excelsis except we pray to God De profundis: out of the depths must we cry, or we shall never behold glory in the highest. It is loving prayer. Prayer should be perfumed with love, saturated with love - love to our fellow saints, and love to Christ.

Elizabeth P. Prentiss, 1818-1878:

More love to thee, O Christ, more love to thee!

Hear thou the prayer I make on bended knee.

This is my earnest plea: More love, O Christ, to thee;

more love to thee, more love to thee!

Dear Father, as fears and all flavors of anxieties arise, as you bring persons to mind, as I consider past, present, and future, may my heart and thoughts turn quickly to praying in love and for love. More love to thee, oh precious Lord!

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:4-7

photo: April 23, 2011 - tree on hill at church farm 

(now gone, as the building is going up!)

Relationship

There is so much and so many who I could give myself to, but...

Outside of Christ there is nothing worth knowing, and all who by faith perceive what he is like have grasped all the immensity of heavenly benefits. - John Calvin in his Institutes of the Christian Religion

I miss out on nothing when I "limit" myself to simply knowing Christ, and in fact gain everything in him.

So even in seasons of isolation from much human interaction, which are particularly trying for this relational gal, I have all I need and more in Christ - let me bury myself in his word. Whether overwhelmed with myriads of places I could focus*, or haunted by shadows of loneliness - in plenty or in want - "hallelujah, all I have is Christ; hallelujah, Jesus is my life." May it be my aim to learn more of this pearl of greatest price, in whatever season I find myself.

As I head into another work day, may my God grant the grace to grow my faith so I can come a little closer to saying with Paul (I keenly feel how far I am from this):

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Phil. 4:11-13)

How I continually need the strength of my mighty God and Savior. So aware that I definitely cannot do anything, much less all things, in my frailty and desperate state. But I will cling to the promise that Christ can and will strengthen me or work through my weakness.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. - 2 Cor. 12:9-10

If my weakness serves to highlight my need for a Savior, to myself and perhaps even to others, then I have to count it a privilege to be weak so that the power of Christ may be magnified. To God alone be the glory. He will ensure that it is so. And he will also care for me and show his kindness again. My Savior truly does love me. I have only to look and see him bleed on the tree to know this. And he will come back for me, full of glory and power. Until that day, I hold to his dear promises and seek to know him more.

* Today I mused how I never have lived outside of Lancaster county and yet have particular fondness for people in various long distance locations. In my short 24 years, people in places such as Tijuana, Mexico; Charlotte, North Carolina; Hamburg, Germany; and Chicago Land, Illinois all hold groups, actually whole churches, of people that I care for. Then when I think about how many people are even right here in Lancaster that I can never fully contain in my heart, it is a marvel to me how I can care so much and yet be so limited and separated. Only God can fully know even one human heart. I cannot know even my own, much less one other person's or more. And even if I could, the selfishness and pride in my heart would poison that knowledge of another. But how glorious will that day be, when we are unified together in and with Christ - having perfect fellowship with Him and one another, free from all sin. I'm thankful that any sadness of the limitation of fellowship that we are constrained by here serves to drive me in anticipation for eternity. And then I am free to quiet my soul and occupy myself with the small lot God has allowed for me this day. Knowing that the best is yet to come, I can be content in the present. What a work of grace! May God grant perseverance to his saints. I know I need it.

1st photo: Joy at the hunting cabin 7/9/2008

2nd photo: Bunting family's last Sunday at church 

yesterday, before the Pastors College then Bahamas

Rejoice!

But I have trusted in your steadfast love;

my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

I will sing to the Lord,

because he has dealt bountifully with me.

- Psalm 13:5-6

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

- Philippians 4:4

In light of these, my heart can sing and dance through the day with a lightness that comes from above, from outside of myself. God has indeed dealt bountifully with me! May his salvation be ever first on my mind. He is always near, and in his presence is fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11).

photo: Adele & Friedemann W, Thanksgiving 2007

The Humility of Christ

Why lies He in such mean estate,

Where ox and lambs are feeding?

Good Christians, fear, for sinners here

The silent Word is pleading.

Nails, spear shall pierce Him through,

The cross be borne for me, for you.

Hail, hail, the Word made flesh,

The Babe, the Son of Mary.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. - Philippians 2:4-8

Does my heart melt when I think of Christ coming to earth as a man? Am I floored by the humility displayed? Do I take heart when called to give of myself for others, because of the empowering example and salvation of my Lord? Am I reduced to tears when considering my sin and how far he stooped to save me?

Come, Lord Jesus, come!

photo: 2/4/2009

God's Infinitude

Last night I read the following in a chapter called "God's Infinitude" in A.W. Tozer's The Knowledge of the Holy.

Because God's nature is infinite, everything that flows out of it is infinite also. We poor human creatures are constantly being frustrated by limitations imposed upon us from without and within. The days of the years of our lives are few, and swifter than a weaver's shuttle. Life is a short and fevered rehearsal for a concert we cannot stay to give. Just when we appear to have attained some proficiency we are forced to lay our instruments down. There is simply not time enough to think, to become, to perform what the constitution of our nature indicates we are capable of.
How completely satisfying to turn from our limitations to a God who has none.
. . .His love is measureless. It is more; it is boundless. It has no bounds because it is not a thing but a facet of the essential nature of God. His love is something he is, and because He is infinite that love can enfold the whole created world in itself and have room for ten thousand times ten thousand worlds beside.

This, this is the God we adore,

Our faithful, unchangeable Friend,

Whose love is as great as His power,

And neither knows measure nor end.

'Tis Jesus, the first and the last,

Whose Spirit shall guide us safe home;

We'll praise Him for all that is past,

And trust Him for all that's to come.

-Joseph Hart

Then this morning, I read the following in Philippians 4:5-7:

The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

These are familiar verses, but the first five words really jumped out at me. They make all the difference! "The Lord is at hand!" The infinite God, who is beyond comprehension or measurement and has infinite love for me as well, he is at hand. He is the answer to the question, "why not be anxious?" The following sentences about not being anxious, praying, thanksgiving, peace beyond understanding, a heart and mind guarded in Christ, these are all the more powerful and encouraging precisely because "the Lord is at hand." What wonderful truth to be grounded in at the beginning of the day. Thank you, Father.

photo: Baltic Sea near Hamburg, Germany 2007

Sin and Salvation in Serving

Feelings of bitterness or resentment that arise in me in relation to serving are red flags that reveal something even deeper in my heart. Of course bitterness and resentment are sinful, but how can I see that and turn in repentance in the middle of the moments when I'm steeped in my sin? What is my flesh craving when I am not overflowing with joy at the opportunity to humbly and sacrificially serve yet again? My own glory. And nothing urges me to drop the pursuit of my own glory quite like when God replaces my selfish desires for personal glory with something far better: a longing for God's glory. Not only that, but he also gives me a perfect example of what this should look like in Christ.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. - Philippians 2:5-8

I want to be someone who is saturated with thoughts of how great God is and live to know and exalt him more.

photo: fortress in Salzburg, Austria 2007

Death brings Life

I did a rare thing this evening. I finished two books: Discovering the Soul of Service and Mere Christianity. I am not going to quote the first one, but I am going to quote the last sentences of the second.

Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.

Death brings life. This is the paradoxical life that God calls us to. It is so very hard, but God's grace is stronger.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6).

photo: New Attitude 2008 in Louisville, KY

Knowing You

All I once held dear, built my life upon
All this world reveres and wars to own,
All I once thought gain I have counted loss,
Spent and worthless now compared to this.

Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You.
There is no greater thing.
You're my all, You're the best, You're my joy,
My righteousness; and I love You, Lord.

Now my heart's desire is to know You more,
To be found in You and known as Yours,
To possess by faith what I could not earn,
All surpassing gift of righteousness.

Oh, to know the pow'r of Your risen life,
And to know You in Your suffering,
To become like You in Your death, My Lord,
So with You to live and never die
(by Graham Kendrick; copyright 1993)

Philippians 3:7-11

When your body complains, it's hard for your heart not to follow. But not impossible.

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. . . . I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:11-13

photo: Mirabelle Garten; Salzburg, Austria 2007