I Am Resolved

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." Isa 43: 18-19

I resolve to choose God: to follow as He leads, where He leads, and when He leads.

I would make my days joyous even when clouds obscure the sun's bright shining—joyous with the joy born not of earthy things or possessions but of divine relationship.

I would fill every day with purposeful endeavor—not for selfish ends, but for sacred accomplishments.

I would live for others—for their physical and spiritual welfare.

I would aim to be great according to Christ's measure—"He that would be great among you let him be servant of all."

I would aim to adjust myself to whatever circumstances may surround me, and not try to adjust everything to my desires.

I would maintain my faith in my fellowman, and endeavor to keep sweet in spite of ingratitude, treachery, or meanness.

I would keep my heart clean—unscarred by dishonesty, littleness, or selfishness.

I would gain new visions of God—new visions of His truth, His justice, His holiness, His hatred for sin, His undying love for man.

I would be a cup of strength to suffering souls, a voice to straying souls, a helping hand to faltering souls.


-O. G. Wilson "The Wesleyan Methodist 1959"

Worship Without Hearing

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 
Matt 5:6

"I have in my congregation," said a venerable minister of the gospel, "a worthy aged woman, who has for many years been so deaf as not to distinguish the loudest sound, and yet she is always one of the first in the meeting." On asking the reason of her constant attendance, as it was impossible for her to hear my voice, she answered, " Though I cannot hear you, I come to God's house because I love it, and would be found in his ways, and he gives me many a sweet thought upon the text when it is pointed out to me; another reason is, because I am in the best company, in tho most immediate presence of God, and amongst his saints, the honorable of the earth. I am not satisfied with serving God in private; it is my duty and privilege to honor Him regularly and constantly in public."

--The American Wesleyan Dec 19,1866

When The Church Is Willing

When the Church of Christ is willing, as were the early apostles, to go all the way with God the demands will not seem grievous but a great privilege, offering an open door into a life of power and vital spiritual living that will prove the key to revival. Let us briefly here review a few of these demands.

Rectification of the past life. Restitution is a very unpopular theme, but a very vital one. "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper," Much of the deadliest, coldness and powerlessness today can be traced to unconfessed sin. We have known of people professing to have received the gift of the Holy Ghost who later became convicted of the need of restitution. In their possession were articles that belonged to others, No wonder they lived defeated lives.

Separation front the world. This is not so hard as it seems. When one takes a glimpse at the "inheritance among them that are sanctified" the things of time appear truly as the "weak and beggarly elements" that they are. Here is no legal, self-imposed imprisonment that leans with elbows on the fence, gazing with green eyes at the attractive pastimes of the devotees of pleasure. Separation from the world brings us down to earth. We are "set apart" not for the museum shelf, but for hard and often dirty work where the needy of this world are to be found. We are most truly in the world but not of the world. Praise God for this demand. And when Christians will rise to it, a revival is well on the way

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Crucifixion to self. Self is the culprit that divides our churches; brings formality into our worship; crowds God out of the pulpit; and mars many an effort of otherwise earnest Christians. True holiness is not our mere claiming of something. Two things happen: Self goes, and the Holy Spirit fills the temple.

A life of prayer. Holiness without this is a great farce. The indwelling Christ calls to prayer. The Holy Spirit burdens us with love for precious souls. The only relief comes in fervent heartfelt prayer. Because of this fact holiness is indeed the key to revival. For a praying church is a revived church. This demand becomes a gracious prerogative. Holiness that does not lead us often to the prayer closet and frequently keep us there for a long time is not the experience held out in the New Testament.

The above are only a few of the demands of holiness which indeed become the greatest of privileges. May God raise up Christians as of old who are willing to come up to the grand old standard of this precious blood-bought inheritance.

--Edwin E. Harvey (The Wesleyan Methodist, 1956)

Monday Morning Smile :-)

Be Ye Separate...

"Your wine is mixed with water" (Isa. 1: 22)

Restraint in things religious is the popular thing in some circles.

To belong to church, to be nominally Christian, is quite the proper thing. This demon-inspired philosophy runs like this: we must have a little religion to restrain our worldly practices, but we need a little sin to make life spicy. We are advised to be tolerant, co-operative and judicious in attacks on sin. Attack the sins that are under public disapproval, but never lift your voice in opposition to the mass opinion of the religious group with whom you associate. Be very careful not to offend anyone in your communion who could make it hard for you.

This is lukewarmness, compromise, treason against the kingdom of Christ. The wine is mixed with water—revolting, nauseating—and is doomed to utter rejection.

God's people, from the days of righteous Abel, have been holy, different from sinners, undefiled in motives. Satan's policy across the centuries has been amalgamation—erase the lines of demarcation, form a world-church.

"Be ye separate" is God's command that comes ringing down through the centuries. Men have differed widely on the meaning of this command as it touched the fringes of life but all through the years the holy men and women have been impelled by an inner urge to be God-like, to be separate from and antagonistic to every form of belief or practice that would rob God of His glory.

The man who is living a life pleasing to God has an inward nonconformity to the world. Whatever tends to dampen the love, or wean the soul from God, or weaken the high resolve to live a holy life is separated from with humble compliance to the will of God.

"Live as becometh holiness."

"Be perfect."

There is no room for hybrids, no place for compromise. Christ demands a full commitment, an ever widening of the margin between the soul and the world.

--Oliver G. Wilson (The Wesleyan Methodist, Dec 3, 1958)

Seeking the Lost

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matt 28:19-20 

Men away from the Christ are lost. They must be found and led to the Lord Jesus if they are to escape the horrors of eternal fire. The call comes to the followers of Christ: "Make disciples of all nations"; "Compel them to come in." To this great adventure each believer should diligently apply himself. To effectively perform the task of soul winning—

See your field. What a field God has given to you. Multitudes there are who know not the power of God's grace. They sit in the bondage of sin or in the darkness of superstition or trust in a false hope.
These men have no poetry in their life, no hope in their hearts and no song in their soul. They spend their threescore years and ten living by the law of the jungle, with a nameless dread stalking their waking hours and disturbing their dreams.

Wickedness increaseth, delinquency startles us, crime threatens every home. The chill of the Laodicean age swirls about u.s as a terrible wintertime blizzard, obliterating familiar landmarks, and chilling the most resolute. This is the field in which you must work.

See yourself. A sinner saved for a purpose! A beneficiary of the piety of generations now dead! A called-out one whose sole duty is to glorify God and publish the Good News.

You are commissioned by the Christ: "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I sent them into the world." You are the salt of the earth, the light of the world. Notice it carefully—you are not salt dispensers, you are salt; you are not the light bringers, you are the light, to a generation that desperately needs salt and light.

You have been given a talent to invest for Christ. He will not demand large returns, but He will demand faithful effort. At the peril of your soul you dare not fail.

See your God. An available God; a beholding God; a conquering God. A God big enough for this day of confusion and perplexity, is our God. A God moved with compassion over a lost race, a God whose heart throbs with love for every victim of Satan's deception, commands "Go— tell."

Then to every city and village hurry with the message of Redeeming Love. Tell of the gospel of God that saves from the uttermost to the uttermost. Proclaim a salvation that changes the life stream so that it flows Godward; a salvation that opens prison houses where the slaves of sin are held in galling bondage, and releases from the dungeons of despair the victims of falsehood and superstition. Proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all the inhabitants thereof.

This will require loyalty to God and to the leadership which He has ordained. It will require sacrifice to the point of personal self-denial. It will require leaving the well-planned and smug way of life to go out where the currents run fierce and dangerous.

Live daringly, venture recklessly, attempt the impossible in the Name of the Lord, then see the mountains flow down at His presence.

Be determined that before the year closes new churches will be started and new centers of revival fires will be launched in the Name of the Lord.

-O. G. Wilson (The Wesleyan Methodist, Feb 6, 1956)

God-Breathed...

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3:16-17

For even if it [Scripture] wins reverence for itself by its own majesty, it seriously affects us only when it is sealed upon our hearts through the Spirit. Therefore, illumined by his power, we believe neither by our own nor by anyone else’s judgment that Scripture is from God. But above human judgment we affirm with utter certainty (just as if we were gazing upon the majesty of God himself) that it has flowed to us from the very mouth of God by the ministry of men.

-John Calvin

http://theoldguys.org

Pray in the Spirit

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Eph 6:18

What a mechanical thing prayer is without the Spirit of God. It is a parrot’s noise, and nothing more; a weariness, a slavish drudgery. How sweet it is to pray when the Spirit gives us feeling, unction, access with boldness, pleading power, faith, expectancy, and full fellowship; but if the Spirit of God be absent from us in prayer our infirmities prevail against us, and our supplication loses all prevalence. Did you ever resolve to praise God, and come into the congregation where the sweetest psalms were being sent to heaven, but could you praise God till the Holy Spirit came like a divine wind and loosed the fragrance of the flowers of your soul? You know you could not; you used the sacred words of the sweet singers of Israel, but hosannas languished on your tongue and your devotion died. I know that it is dreadful work to be bound to preach when one is not conscious of the aid of the Spirit of God! It is like pouring water out of bottomless buckets, or feeding hungry souls out of empty baskets. A true sermon such as God will bless no man can preach of himself; he might as well try to sound the archangel’s trumpet.

We must have thee, O blessed Spirit, or we fail! O God, we must have thy power, or every action that we perform is but the movement of an automaton, and not the acceptable act of a living, spiritual man.

--Charles Spurgeon

http://www.thedailyspurgeon.com/

Praying for Others

Pray for each other so that you may be healed. James 5:16

Twas for myself alone one day

I found a secret place to pray,

But for my burden and my grief

I could not seem to find relief--

Until I thought of that one dear

Who often had requested prayer.

Then as I prayed that day for you,

Somehow, my burden lifted too.

--Bessie Kindley Poole (The Wesleyan Methodist, Feb 6, 1956)

The Case For Man/Woman Marriage

Fifteen New Years Resolutions from God's Word

And we urge you--

1. Warn those who are idle.

2. Encourage the timid.

3. Help the weak.

4. Be Patient with everyone.

5. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong.

6. Always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

7. Be joyful always.

8. Pray continually.

9. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

10. Do not put out the Spirit's fire.

11. Do not treat prophecies with contempt.

12. Test everything.

13. Hold on to the good.

14. Avoid every kind of evil.

15. Be sanctified through and through.

1 Thess 5:14-23