AGAIN I SAY TO YOU THAT IF TWO OF YOU AGREE ON EARTH CONCERNING ANYTHING THAT THEY ASK, IF WILL BE DONE FOR THEM BY MY FATHER IN HEAVEN
matthew 18.19
an individual may desire a revival for the glory of God and the salvation of sinners.
another member of the church may also desire a revival, but for very different motives.
some, perhaps, desire a revival in order to have the congregation built up and strengthened.
this would make it easier for them to pay their expenses in supporting the Gospel.
another desires a revival for the sake of having the church increased so as to be more respectable.
others desire a revival because they have been opposed or slandered
and they wish to have it known that, whatever may be thought or said, God blesses them.
sometimes people desire a revival from mere natural affection, so as to have their friends converted..
people can pray so emphatically for a revival that you would think by their earnestness and union they would certainly move God to grant the blessing,
until you find out their reason.
and what is it? they see their congregation is about to be broken up unless something can be done.
or they see another denomination gaining ground
and there is no way tto counteract this except by having a revival in their church.
all their praying is, therefor, only an attempt to get the Almighty to help them out of their difficulty.
it is purely selfish and offensive to God.
261 until they recognize that their children are rebels,
parents seldom agree in praying for the conversion of their children
in such a way as to have their prayers answered.
parents often pray very earnestly for their children.
but if they want their prayers to prevail,
they must take God's part against their children.
because of their perverseness and incorrigible wickedness,
He is obliged to send them to hell unless they are saved.
...suppose a church get the idea that sinners are poor, unfortunate creatures
who come into the world with such a nature that they cannot help sinning.
if christians feel that sinners are unable to repent and believe the Gospel,
it is hard to see the sinner as a reel against God who deserves to be sent to hell.
how can they feel the sinner is to blame?
and how can they take God's part when they pray?
if they do not take God's part against the sinner,
they cannot expect God to hear their prayers, because they do not pray with right motives.
no doubt, one great reason so many prayers are not answered
is that those who pray take the sinner's part against God.
they pray as if the sinner were a poor, unfortunate being, to be pitied,
rather than a guilty wretch to be blamed.
and the reason is that they do not believe sinners are able to obey God.
262 how often do you hear people pray for sinners in this style:
'Oh Lord, help this poor soul to do what he is required to do.
O Lord, enable him to do so and so'?
now, this language implies that they take the sinner's part and not God's.
they cannot pray successfully until they understand that the sinner is an obstinate reel.
he is so obstinate that, without the Holy Spirit, he never will become converted.
this obstinacy is the only reason he needs the influence of the Holy Spirit for his conversion. the sinner needs help in overcoming his obstinacy, making him willing to do what God justly requires him to do.
if there are rebellious and impenitent members in the church, they should be removed. the church should agree to cut them off. if they remain, they are a reproach to religion and will hinder revival. sometimes, when an attempt is made to cast them out, there is a division. then the work is stopped. sometimes the offenders are influential people or they have family friends who will take their side, create a bad spirit and prevent revival.
whenever wrong has been done to anyone, there should be a full confession. i do not mean a cold and forced acknowledgment such as saying, 'if I have done wrong, I am sorry for it'. it should be a hearty confession, going the full length of the wrong and showing that it comes out of a broken heart.
a great obstruction to revival is often found were active, leading individuals harbor a revengeful and unforgiving spirit toward those who have injured them. if the church members are truly in agreement in confessing their faults and in cherishing a tender, merciful, forgiving, Christlike spirit toward anyone they think has done them wrong, the Spirit will come down upon them, overflowing their souls.
Thursday, June 9, 2016
6.9.2016 Finney on HOW TO APPROACH SINNERS
BEHOLD, I SEND YOU OUT AS SHEEP IN THE MIDST OF WOLVES. THEREFORE BE WISE AS SERPENTS AND HARMLESS AS DOVES. matthew 10.16
seize the earliest opportunity to talk with those around you who are careless.
do not put it off from day to day, thinking a better opportunity will come.
you must seek an opportunity, and if you cannot find one, make one.
set a special time or place and arrange to meet with you friend or neighbor where you can speak with him freely.
send him a note or make a special trip to see him.
then he wil feel that this is important to you.
follow it up until you succeed or become convinced that, for now, nothing more can be done.
when you approach a careless individual, be sure to treat him kindly.
let him see that youare talking with him, not because you seek a quarrel with him,
but because you love his soul and desire his best good in time and eternity. if you are harsh and overbearing, you will probably offend him and drive him farther away from the way of life.
be sure to be very plain.
do not cover up any part of the person's character or his relationship to God.
lay it all open, not to offend of wound him, but because it is necessry.
before you can cure a wound, you must probe it to the bottom. kepp bake none of the turth, but let it come out plainly before him.
257 be very patient.
if he has a real difficulty in his mind, be very patient until you find out what it is, then clear it up.
if his problem is just a matter of splitting hairs, help him to see the insignificance of the issue compared with salvation.
do not try to answer with argument, but show him that he is not sincere in advancing his argument...
258...make it an object of constant study, daily reflection and prayer to learn how to deal with sinner and to promote their conversion. it is the great commission of every christian to save souls. people often complain that they do not know how to handle this matter. yet these same people have never taken the time to qualify themselves for the work. if people were as careless in preparing themselves for their worldly business as they are to save souls, how do you think they would succeed.
now, if you are neglecting the main business of life,
what are you living for?...
259 anxious sinners are in a very serious and critical state.
they have, in fact, come to a turning point.
it is a time when their destiny is likely to be settled forever.
christians ought to feel deeply for them.
in many respects their circumstances are more serious than those of the Final Judgment.
here their destiny is settled.
The Judgment Day reveals it.
and the particular time when it is done is when the Spirit is striving with them.
seize the earliest opportunity to talk with those around you who are careless.
do not put it off from day to day, thinking a better opportunity will come.
you must seek an opportunity, and if you cannot find one, make one.
set a special time or place and arrange to meet with you friend or neighbor where you can speak with him freely.
send him a note or make a special trip to see him.
then he wil feel that this is important to you.
follow it up until you succeed or become convinced that, for now, nothing more can be done.
when you approach a careless individual, be sure to treat him kindly.
let him see that youare talking with him, not because you seek a quarrel with him,
but because you love his soul and desire his best good in time and eternity. if you are harsh and overbearing, you will probably offend him and drive him farther away from the way of life.
be sure to be very plain.
do not cover up any part of the person's character or his relationship to God.
lay it all open, not to offend of wound him, but because it is necessry.
before you can cure a wound, you must probe it to the bottom. kepp bake none of the turth, but let it come out plainly before him.
257 be very patient.
if he has a real difficulty in his mind, be very patient until you find out what it is, then clear it up.
if his problem is just a matter of splitting hairs, help him to see the insignificance of the issue compared with salvation.
do not try to answer with argument, but show him that he is not sincere in advancing his argument...
258...make it an object of constant study, daily reflection and prayer to learn how to deal with sinner and to promote their conversion. it is the great commission of every christian to save souls. people often complain that they do not know how to handle this matter. yet these same people have never taken the time to qualify themselves for the work. if people were as careless in preparing themselves for their worldly business as they are to save souls, how do you think they would succeed.
now, if you are neglecting the main business of life,
what are you living for?...
259 anxious sinners are in a very serious and critical state.
they have, in fact, come to a turning point.
it is a time when their destiny is likely to be settled forever.
christians ought to feel deeply for them.
in many respects their circumstances are more serious than those of the Final Judgment.
here their destiny is settled.
The Judgment Day reveals it.
and the particular time when it is done is when the Spirit is striving with them.
6.9.2016 WINNING SOULS REQUIRES WISDOM
HE WHO WINS SOULS IS WISE. Proverbs 11.30
there are many things to remember when dealing with a careless sinner.
TIMING is important. you must select a proper tie to try to make a serious impression on the mind of a careless sinner...
it is desirable, if possible, to address a person who is careless, WHEN HE IS AWAY FROM OTHER ACTIVITIES.
it is important to talk with a person WHEN HE IS NOT EXCITED ABOUT ANY OTHER SUBJECT...
BE SURE THAT THE PERSON IS COMPLETELY SOBER.
if possible, when you wish to discuss salvation, TALK TO A PERSON WHEN HE IS IN A GOOD MOOD. ..bad mood...it is better to leave him alone for that time.
250 if possible, always take the opportunity to CONVERSE WITH CARELESS SINNERS WHEN THEY ARE ALONE.most men are too proud to discuss themselves freely in the presence of others, even their own families.
in visiting families, instead of calling the entire FAMILY together at the same time, it is better to SEE EACH MEMBER, ONE AT A TIME.
BE SERIOUS! ..you ought to feel that you are engaged in very serious work that is going to...
251 determine..your friend or neighbor(')..destiny for eternity...
BE RESPECTFUL. ..
BRING THE GREAT AND FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS TO BEAR ON THE PERSON'S MIND. sinners are very likely to run off on some tangent or some secondary point, especially one where there is a denominational difference.
tell him the purpose is to save his soul and not settle controversial questions in theology. HOLD HIM TO THE GREAT FUNDAMENTAL POINTS Y WHICH HE CAN CHOOSE TO BE SAVED OR LOST.
BRING UP THE INDIVIDUAL'S PARTICULAR SINS.
talking in general terms agaisn sin will produce no results.
YOU MUST MAKE THE MAN FEEL THAT YOU MEAN H-I-M.
IT IS GENERALLY BEST TO BE SHOR..WINDED..
BRING HIS ATTENTION, AS SOON AS YOU CAN , TO THE POINT.
SAY A FEW THINS,
PRESS THEM HOME and
BRING THE MATTER TO AN ISSUE.
if possible , GET THE INDIVIDUAL TO REPENT AND GIVE HIMSELF O CHRIST at the time.
..avoid making an impression that you do not wish him to repent NOW.
252 whenever you have reason to believe that a person within your reach is awakened, do not sleep until you have poured the light into his mind and have tried to bring him to immediate repentance. then be persistent to your attempts to persuade the individual to accept Jesus as his Savior.
SOMETIMES THERE IS A PARTICULAR SIN that he will not forsake. he pretends it is only a small one or tries to persuade himself it is not sin at all. no matter how small it is, he can never get into the kingdom of God until he gives it up. God knows nothing about 'small' sins.
sometimes people will strenuously maintain that they have committed the UNPARDONABLE SIN. when they get this idea into their minds, they will turn everything you say against themselves. in some cases, it is good to take them on their own ground and REASON WITH THEM in this way.
'SUPPOSE YOU HAVE COMMITTED THE UNPARDONABLE SIN, WHAT THEN?
IT IS REASONABLE THAT YOU SUBMIT TO GOD,
BE SORRY FOR YOUR SINS and
BREAK OFF FROM THEM.
DO ALL THE GOOD YOU CAN, EVEN IF GO WILL NOT FORGIVE YOU.
EVEN IF YOU GO TO HELL, YOU OUGHT TO DO THIS'....
IT IS COMMON FOR PEOPLE LIKE THIS TO KEEP THEIR EYES ON THEMSELVES.
they will shut themselves up. looking at their own darkness instead of looking to Christ.
now, if you can take their minds off themselves and get them to think of Christ,
you can draw them away from brooding over their own present feelings.
then they can grasp the hope set before them in the Gospel.
THE CHURCH IS FILLED WITH HYPOCRITES
because people were never made to see
that they must make an entire consecration of everything to Christ.
253 ALL THEIR TIME, ALL THEIR TALENTS AND ALL THEIR INFLUENCE
MUST BE SURRENDERED TO GOD or they will never get to heaven.
many think they can be christians, yet dream through life using all their time and property for
themselves.
they will give a little now and then, when they can give with perfect convenience. this is a sad mistake and they will find this to be true if they do not employ their energies for God. when they die, instead of finding heaven at the end of the path they are pursuing they will find hell.
here is a point were almost all ministers fail. they do not know how to wake up the church.
they cannot raise a high standard of piety and clear the way for the works of conversion. many ministers can preach to sinners very well. but because of the counteracting influence of the sinful church body, they have difficulty maintaining their converts. very often they also find it difficult to remove the sin and coldness within their congregation. there are only a few ministers..who know how to probe the church when it is in a cold, backslidden state.they can effectively awaken the members and keep them awake.
if the members of the church become very cold, it is very difficult to rouse them up.
THEY HAVE A FORM OF PIETY THAT WARDS OFF THE TRUTH.
at the same time, it is just this kind of piety that has no power of efficiency and repels new believers. such christians are the most difficult individuals to arouse from their slumber. i do not mean that they are always more wicked than the impenitent. these individuals are often constructively involved in their church and pass for very good christians, but they are useless in a revival.
to reach different classes of sinners successfully requires great wisdom on the part of a minister. for instance, a sermon on a particular subject may impress a particular group among his hearers. perhaps they will begin to look serious, talk about it or split hairs about it. now, if the minister is wise, he will know how to observe
254 these indications and follow them up with sermons adapted to this group until he leads them into the kingdom of God.
when this group is saved, it is time to find out where another group is hiding, break down their refuges, and follow them until they come into the kingdom. he should thus search for every place where sinners hide, just as the voice of God followed adam in the garden, '(Adam, ) where are you? (genesis 3.9), until one class of hearer after another is brought in. this way the whole community will be converted. ...a minister must be very wise to do this.
the best educated ministers are those who win the most souls. some ministers are looked down on and accused of being ignorant because they do not have a formal education, although they are very far from being ignorant of the great thing for which the ministry is appointed. this is wrong! learning is important and always useful. but after all, a minister knows how to win souls to Christ without a formal education. he also has the best educator -the Bible - to help him win the most souls to Christ.
255 how few of you have ever had wisdom enough to convert so much as a single sinner? do not say, 'i cannot convert sinners. God alone can convert sinners'. look at the Scripture: 'he who wins souls is wise'. it is true that God converts sinners. but there is a sense, too, in which ministers convert them.
men! women! you must be wise in winning souls. perhaps souls have already perished because you have not used wisdom to save them. the city is going to hell. yes, the world is going to hell and will continue to do so until the church finds out how to win souls.
there are many things to remember when dealing with a careless sinner.
TIMING is important. you must select a proper tie to try to make a serious impression on the mind of a careless sinner...
it is desirable, if possible, to address a person who is careless, WHEN HE IS AWAY FROM OTHER ACTIVITIES.
it is important to talk with a person WHEN HE IS NOT EXCITED ABOUT ANY OTHER SUBJECT...
BE SURE THAT THE PERSON IS COMPLETELY SOBER.
if possible, when you wish to discuss salvation, TALK TO A PERSON WHEN HE IS IN A GOOD MOOD. ..bad mood...it is better to leave him alone for that time.
250 if possible, always take the opportunity to CONVERSE WITH CARELESS SINNERS WHEN THEY ARE ALONE.most men are too proud to discuss themselves freely in the presence of others, even their own families.
in visiting families, instead of calling the entire FAMILY together at the same time, it is better to SEE EACH MEMBER, ONE AT A TIME.
BE SERIOUS! ..you ought to feel that you are engaged in very serious work that is going to...
251 determine..your friend or neighbor(')..destiny for eternity...
BE RESPECTFUL. ..
BRING THE GREAT AND FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS TO BEAR ON THE PERSON'S MIND. sinners are very likely to run off on some tangent or some secondary point, especially one where there is a denominational difference.
tell him the purpose is to save his soul and not settle controversial questions in theology. HOLD HIM TO THE GREAT FUNDAMENTAL POINTS Y WHICH HE CAN CHOOSE TO BE SAVED OR LOST.
BRING UP THE INDIVIDUAL'S PARTICULAR SINS.
talking in general terms agaisn sin will produce no results.
YOU MUST MAKE THE MAN FEEL THAT YOU MEAN H-I-M.
IT IS GENERALLY BEST TO BE SHOR..WINDED..
BRING HIS ATTENTION, AS SOON AS YOU CAN , TO THE POINT.
SAY A FEW THINS,
PRESS THEM HOME and
BRING THE MATTER TO AN ISSUE.
if possible , GET THE INDIVIDUAL TO REPENT AND GIVE HIMSELF O CHRIST at the time.
..avoid making an impression that you do not wish him to repent NOW.
252 whenever you have reason to believe that a person within your reach is awakened, do not sleep until you have poured the light into his mind and have tried to bring him to immediate repentance. then be persistent to your attempts to persuade the individual to accept Jesus as his Savior.
SOMETIMES THERE IS A PARTICULAR SIN that he will not forsake. he pretends it is only a small one or tries to persuade himself it is not sin at all. no matter how small it is, he can never get into the kingdom of God until he gives it up. God knows nothing about 'small' sins.
sometimes people will strenuously maintain that they have committed the UNPARDONABLE SIN. when they get this idea into their minds, they will turn everything you say against themselves. in some cases, it is good to take them on their own ground and REASON WITH THEM in this way.
'SUPPOSE YOU HAVE COMMITTED THE UNPARDONABLE SIN, WHAT THEN?
IT IS REASONABLE THAT YOU SUBMIT TO GOD,
BE SORRY FOR YOUR SINS and
BREAK OFF FROM THEM.
DO ALL THE GOOD YOU CAN, EVEN IF GO WILL NOT FORGIVE YOU.
EVEN IF YOU GO TO HELL, YOU OUGHT TO DO THIS'....
IT IS COMMON FOR PEOPLE LIKE THIS TO KEEP THEIR EYES ON THEMSELVES.
they will shut themselves up. looking at their own darkness instead of looking to Christ.
now, if you can take their minds off themselves and get them to think of Christ,
you can draw them away from brooding over their own present feelings.
then they can grasp the hope set before them in the Gospel.
THE CHURCH IS FILLED WITH HYPOCRITES
because people were never made to see
that they must make an entire consecration of everything to Christ.
253 ALL THEIR TIME, ALL THEIR TALENTS AND ALL THEIR INFLUENCE
MUST BE SURRENDERED TO GOD or they will never get to heaven.
many think they can be christians, yet dream through life using all their time and property for
themselves.
they will give a little now and then, when they can give with perfect convenience. this is a sad mistake and they will find this to be true if they do not employ their energies for God. when they die, instead of finding heaven at the end of the path they are pursuing they will find hell.
here is a point were almost all ministers fail. they do not know how to wake up the church.
they cannot raise a high standard of piety and clear the way for the works of conversion. many ministers can preach to sinners very well. but because of the counteracting influence of the sinful church body, they have difficulty maintaining their converts. very often they also find it difficult to remove the sin and coldness within their congregation. there are only a few ministers..who know how to probe the church when it is in a cold, backslidden state.they can effectively awaken the members and keep them awake.
if the members of the church become very cold, it is very difficult to rouse them up.
THEY HAVE A FORM OF PIETY THAT WARDS OFF THE TRUTH.
at the same time, it is just this kind of piety that has no power of efficiency and repels new believers. such christians are the most difficult individuals to arouse from their slumber. i do not mean that they are always more wicked than the impenitent. these individuals are often constructively involved in their church and pass for very good christians, but they are useless in a revival.
to reach different classes of sinners successfully requires great wisdom on the part of a minister. for instance, a sermon on a particular subject may impress a particular group among his hearers. perhaps they will begin to look serious, talk about it or split hairs about it. now, if the minister is wise, he will know how to observe
254 these indications and follow them up with sermons adapted to this group until he leads them into the kingdom of God.
when this group is saved, it is time to find out where another group is hiding, break down their refuges, and follow them until they come into the kingdom. he should thus search for every place where sinners hide, just as the voice of God followed adam in the garden, '(Adam, ) where are you? (genesis 3.9), until one class of hearer after another is brought in. this way the whole community will be converted. ...a minister must be very wise to do this.
the best educated ministers are those who win the most souls. some ministers are looked down on and accused of being ignorant because they do not have a formal education, although they are very far from being ignorant of the great thing for which the ministry is appointed. this is wrong! learning is important and always useful. but after all, a minister knows how to win souls to Christ without a formal education. he also has the best educator -the Bible - to help him win the most souls to Christ.
255 how few of you have ever had wisdom enough to convert so much as a single sinner? do not say, 'i cannot convert sinners. God alone can convert sinners'. look at the Scripture: 'he who wins souls is wise'. it is true that God converts sinners. but there is a sense, too, in which ministers convert them.
men! women! you must be wise in winning souls. perhaps souls have already perished because you have not used wisdom to save them. the city is going to hell. yes, the world is going to hell and will continue to do so until the church finds out how to win souls.
6.9.2016 Finney on HINDRANCES TO REVIVAL
SO I SENT MESSENGERS TO THEM, SAYING, 'I AM DOING A GREAT WORK, SO THAT I CANNOT COME DOWN, WHY SHOULD THE WORK CEASE WHILE I LEAVE IT AND GO DOWN TO YOU? Nehemiah 6.3
when christians become proud of their 'great revival', it will stop. i mean those christians who have been instrumental in promoting it. it is almost always the case with a revival, that a part of the church proves too proud or too worldly to take any part in the work. they are determined to stand aloof and wait and see what its outcome will be.
the pride of this part of the church cannot stop the revival, because the revival never depended on them. it began without them and it can go on without them. they may fold their arms and fo nothing but watch and find fault; yet the work will go on.
but when the part of the church that does the work begins to think what a great revival they have had, how they have labored and prayed, how bold and how zealous they have been and how much good they have done, the work is likely to decline.
243 also when christians begin to proselytize (def. person changed from one religious sect to another) , revival stops. perhaps a revival will go on for a time and all sectarian difficulties are forgotten until somebody circulates a book, privately, to gain new converts.
244 a revival is likely to stop when christians lose the spirit of brotherly lov. Jesus Christ will not continue with people in a revival any longer that they continue in the exercise of brotherly love. when christians are in the spirit of a revival, they feel this love. they you will hear them call each other 'brother' and 'sister' very affectionately.
but when they begin to get cold, they lose this affection for one another and them using 'brother' and 'sister' seems silly, so they stop using it. in some churches they never use these names, but where ther is revival, christians naturally use them.
christians of all denominations should forget their prejudice. vast multitudes of believers have indulged prejudice to such a degree as to be unwilling to read, hear, or come to a right understanding on the subject. christians cannot pray in this state of mind. i deny that anyone possesses the spirit of prayer while he is too prejudiced to examine this or any other question of duty.
245 ordinarily, a lengthy meeting should be conducted throughout be the same minister if possible. ..visiting ministers...did not come in a state of mind that was right for entering into this work and they did not know the state of the congregation's mind so as to know what to preach.
suppose a person who is sick would call a different physician every day. none of the physicians would know what the symptoms had been, what was the course of the disease or treatment, what remedies had been tried, or what the patient could bear. this method would certainly kill the patient.
it is evident we must have more arousing preaching to meet our needs today...
look at the early Methodists. many of their ministers were taken right from the shop or farm and yet they gathered congregations and won souls everywhere. wherever they went, their plain, pointed and simple, but warm and animated, mode of preaching always gathered congregations we must have powerful preaching!
246 even a preacher without an extensive education will draw a congregation around him because he has an earnest style and pours out fire on his hearers when he preaches.
other things may stop a revival. some people talk very foolishly on this subject, as if nothing could hinder a genuine revival. they say, 'if your revival is a work of God. it cannot be stopped. can any created being stop God? now i ask, is this common sense?
a revival is the work of God and so is a crop of wheat. God is as much dependent on the use of means in one case as the other. therefore, a revival is as liable to be injured as a wheat field. a revival will cease when christians become mechanical in their attempts to promote it.
247 when christian do not feel their dependence on the Spirit, whenever christian s believe they are strong in their own strength, God curses their blessings. (malachi 2.2)
a revival will decline and cease unless christians are frequently revived. by this i mean that christians, in order to keep in the spirit of revival, need to be frequently convicted and humbled before God. the idea of a christian being revived is something that many do not understand. but the fact is that, in a revival, the christian's heart is liable to get crusted over and lose its exquisite desire for divine things. his anointing and prevalence in prayer abate and he must be renewed again.
it is impossible to keep a christian in such a holy state unless he passes through such a process every few days. i have never worked revivals with anyone who wanted to continue the work and be fit to manage a revival who did not pass through this process of repentance every two or three weeks.
248 if the church wishes to promote revival, it must sanctify the Sabbath. there is a great deal of Sabbath-breaking in the land. merchants break it, travelers break it and the government breaks it.
one thing is most certain: unless something is done quickly and effectively to promote the sanctification of the Sabbath by the church, it will not longer be a special day. and what cand the church do, what will this nation do, without any Sabbath?
when christians become proud of their 'great revival', it will stop. i mean those christians who have been instrumental in promoting it. it is almost always the case with a revival, that a part of the church proves too proud or too worldly to take any part in the work. they are determined to stand aloof and wait and see what its outcome will be.
the pride of this part of the church cannot stop the revival, because the revival never depended on them. it began without them and it can go on without them. they may fold their arms and fo nothing but watch and find fault; yet the work will go on.
but when the part of the church that does the work begins to think what a great revival they have had, how they have labored and prayed, how bold and how zealous they have been and how much good they have done, the work is likely to decline.
243 also when christians begin to proselytize (def. person changed from one religious sect to another) , revival stops. perhaps a revival will go on for a time and all sectarian difficulties are forgotten until somebody circulates a book, privately, to gain new converts.
244 a revival is likely to stop when christians lose the spirit of brotherly lov. Jesus Christ will not continue with people in a revival any longer that they continue in the exercise of brotherly love. when christians are in the spirit of a revival, they feel this love. they you will hear them call each other 'brother' and 'sister' very affectionately.
but when they begin to get cold, they lose this affection for one another and them using 'brother' and 'sister' seems silly, so they stop using it. in some churches they never use these names, but where ther is revival, christians naturally use them.
christians of all denominations should forget their prejudice. vast multitudes of believers have indulged prejudice to such a degree as to be unwilling to read, hear, or come to a right understanding on the subject. christians cannot pray in this state of mind. i deny that anyone possesses the spirit of prayer while he is too prejudiced to examine this or any other question of duty.
245 ordinarily, a lengthy meeting should be conducted throughout be the same minister if possible. ..visiting ministers...did not come in a state of mind that was right for entering into this work and they did not know the state of the congregation's mind so as to know what to preach.
suppose a person who is sick would call a different physician every day. none of the physicians would know what the symptoms had been, what was the course of the disease or treatment, what remedies had been tried, or what the patient could bear. this method would certainly kill the patient.
it is evident we must have more arousing preaching to meet our needs today...
look at the early Methodists. many of their ministers were taken right from the shop or farm and yet they gathered congregations and won souls everywhere. wherever they went, their plain, pointed and simple, but warm and animated, mode of preaching always gathered congregations we must have powerful preaching!
246 even a preacher without an extensive education will draw a congregation around him because he has an earnest style and pours out fire on his hearers when he preaches.
other things may stop a revival. some people talk very foolishly on this subject, as if nothing could hinder a genuine revival. they say, 'if your revival is a work of God. it cannot be stopped. can any created being stop God? now i ask, is this common sense?
a revival is the work of God and so is a crop of wheat. God is as much dependent on the use of means in one case as the other. therefore, a revival is as liable to be injured as a wheat field. a revival will cease when christians become mechanical in their attempts to promote it.
247 when christian do not feel their dependence on the Spirit, whenever christian s believe they are strong in their own strength, God curses their blessings. (malachi 2.2)
a revival will decline and cease unless christians are frequently revived. by this i mean that christians, in order to keep in the spirit of revival, need to be frequently convicted and humbled before God. the idea of a christian being revived is something that many do not understand. but the fact is that, in a revival, the christian's heart is liable to get crusted over and lose its exquisite desire for divine things. his anointing and prevalence in prayer abate and he must be renewed again.
it is impossible to keep a christian in such a holy state unless he passes through such a process every few days. i have never worked revivals with anyone who wanted to continue the work and be fit to manage a revival who did not pass through this process of repentance every two or three weeks.
248 if the church wishes to promote revival, it must sanctify the Sabbath. there is a great deal of Sabbath-breaking in the land. merchants break it, travelers break it and the government breaks it.
one thing is most certain: unless something is done quickly and effectively to promote the sanctification of the Sabbath by the church, it will not longer be a special day. and what cand the church do, what will this nation do, without any Sabbath?
6.9.2016 Finney on PRAYER MEETINGS
AND WHATEVER YOU ASK IN MY NAME, THAT I WILL DO, THAT THE FATHER MAY BE GLORIFIED IN THE SON. IF YOU ASK ANYTHING IN MY NAME, I WILL DO IT. john 14.13-4
(note: it seems that Finney, here, is talking about prayer meetings specifically related to revival, either the coming of it or the continuing of it.)
God. in His infinite grace, has created us to be sympathetic beings. because of our nature, we communicate our fellings to one another. a minister, for instance, will often transmit his own feelings to his congregation. the Spirit of God that inspires his soul makes use of his feelings to influence his hearers just as God makes use of the words he preaches.
nothing is more calculated to inspire a spirit of prayer than to unite in social prayer with one who has the Spirit Himself, unless this one is so far ahead that his prayer will repel the rest. if others are anywhere near the level of his experience, his spirit will kindle, bur, and spread all around. one individual who obtains the spirit of prayer will often arouse a whole church, so that a general revival follows.
prayer meetings ought to be given to the Spirit of God. those who desire to pray, let them pray. if the leader sees anything that needs to be set right, let him remark freely and kindly, put it right, then go on again. he should, however, be careful to time his remarks so as not to interrupt the flow of feeling, chill the meeting or turn the thoughts of the people from the proper subject.
239 very often, those who pray long prayers in a meeting do so because they do not have the spirit of prayer. some men will spin out a long prayer telling god who and what He is or they will pray out a whole system of theology. some preach, others exhort, until everybody wishes they would stop everyone should keep to the point and pray for what he came to pray for, not follow the flights of his imagination.
THINGS THAT MAY DEFEAT THE PRAYER MEETING
when there is an unhappy lack of confidence in the leader, there is no hope of any good. whatever the cause, whether he is to blame of not, the very fact that he leads the meeting will dampen it and prevent all good, i have witnessed this in churches where there was an offensive elder or deacon (perhaps rightly judged offensive, perhaps not) placed in a leadership position, and the meeting would die under his influence...
latecomers to the meeting..is a very great hindrance. after people have started praying, having their souls quiet, their eyes shut and their attention focused on the Lord, another person bolting into the meeting will disrupt the atmosphere. some will look up, yet all have their minds interrupted..
240 prayer meetings are often too long. people in attendance shoudl always be dismissed while there is still feeling...
every minister should know that if prayer meetings are neglected, all his work is in vain. unless he can convince christians to attend the prayer meetings, nothing else he can do will imporve the state of faith.
prayer meetings are the most difficult meetings to sustain - as, indeed, they ought to be. they are so spiritual that unless the leader is especially prepared, both in heart and mind, they will dwindle...
241 ..church officers often complain and scold because people do not come to the prayer meeting, when the truth is, they themselves are so cold that they spiritually and emotionally freeqe to death every one who does come.
the great objective of all the means of grace is to aim directly at the conversion of sinners. you should pray that they will be converted there. do not pray that they will merely be awakened and convicted, but pray that they may be converted on the spot. no one should pray or make any remarks as if he expected a single sinner would go away without giving his heart to God. you should all make the impression on his mind that now is the time to give his life to Jesus. if you do this while you are still speaking, God will hear.
(note: it seems that Finney, here, is talking about prayer meetings specifically related to revival, either the coming of it or the continuing of it.)
God. in His infinite grace, has created us to be sympathetic beings. because of our nature, we communicate our fellings to one another. a minister, for instance, will often transmit his own feelings to his congregation. the Spirit of God that inspires his soul makes use of his feelings to influence his hearers just as God makes use of the words he preaches.
nothing is more calculated to inspire a spirit of prayer than to unite in social prayer with one who has the Spirit Himself, unless this one is so far ahead that his prayer will repel the rest. if others are anywhere near the level of his experience, his spirit will kindle, bur, and spread all around. one individual who obtains the spirit of prayer will often arouse a whole church, so that a general revival follows.
prayer meetings ought to be given to the Spirit of God. those who desire to pray, let them pray. if the leader sees anything that needs to be set right, let him remark freely and kindly, put it right, then go on again. he should, however, be careful to time his remarks so as not to interrupt the flow of feeling, chill the meeting or turn the thoughts of the people from the proper subject.
239 very often, those who pray long prayers in a meeting do so because they do not have the spirit of prayer. some men will spin out a long prayer telling god who and what He is or they will pray out a whole system of theology. some preach, others exhort, until everybody wishes they would stop everyone should keep to the point and pray for what he came to pray for, not follow the flights of his imagination.
THINGS THAT MAY DEFEAT THE PRAYER MEETING
when there is an unhappy lack of confidence in the leader, there is no hope of any good. whatever the cause, whether he is to blame of not, the very fact that he leads the meeting will dampen it and prevent all good, i have witnessed this in churches where there was an offensive elder or deacon (perhaps rightly judged offensive, perhaps not) placed in a leadership position, and the meeting would die under his influence...
latecomers to the meeting..is a very great hindrance. after people have started praying, having their souls quiet, their eyes shut and their attention focused on the Lord, another person bolting into the meeting will disrupt the atmosphere. some will look up, yet all have their minds interrupted..
240 prayer meetings are often too long. people in attendance shoudl always be dismissed while there is still feeling...
every minister should know that if prayer meetings are neglected, all his work is in vain. unless he can convince christians to attend the prayer meetings, nothing else he can do will imporve the state of faith.
prayer meetings are the most difficult meetings to sustain - as, indeed, they ought to be. they are so spiritual that unless the leader is especially prepared, both in heart and mind, they will dwindle...
241 ..church officers often complain and scold because people do not come to the prayer meeting, when the truth is, they themselves are so cold that they spiritually and emotionally freeqe to death every one who does come.
the great objective of all the means of grace is to aim directly at the conversion of sinners. you should pray that they will be converted there. do not pray that they will merely be awakened and convicted, but pray that they may be converted on the spot. no one should pray or make any remarks as if he expected a single sinner would go away without giving his heart to God. you should all make the impression on his mind that now is the time to give his life to Jesus. if you do this while you are still speaking, God will hear.
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
6.8.2016 Finney on THE PRAYER OF FAITH
THEREFORE I SAY TO YOU, WHATEVER THINGS YOU ASK WHEN YOU PRAY, BELIEVE THAT YOU RECEIVE THEM AND YOU WILL HAVE THEM. mark 11.24
231 there are general promises and principles laid down in the Bible that christians have the opportunity to use, if they would only think. whenever you are in circumstances to which the promises or principles apply, you are to use them.
a parent finds this promise: 'the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fearr him and His righteousness to children's children, to such as keep His covenant and to those who remember His commandments to do them (psalm 103. 17-8) this is a promise made to those who possess a certain character. if any parent knows he has this character, he can justifiably apply this promise to himself and his family. if you have this character, you are bound to make use of this promise in prayer and to believe it even for your children's children.
WHEN TO PRAY IN FAITH
WHERE THERE IS ANY PROPHETIC DECLARATION THAT SOMETHING PRAYED FOR IS AGREEABLE TO THE WILL OF GOD, when it is plain from prophecy that THE EVENT IS CERTAINLY TO COME, YOU ARE BOUND TO BELIEVE IT AND MAKE IT THE BASIS OF YOUR SPECIAL FAITH IN PRAYER. if the time is not specified in the Bible and there is no indication of time from other sources, you are not bound to believe that it will take place in the near
232 future. but if the time is specified, if it can be learned from studying the prophecies and it appears to have arrived, then christians must understand and apply it by offering the prayer of faith.
for instance, take the case of daniel and the return of the jews from captivity. what did he say? 'i, daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the work of the Lord through jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of jerusalem' (danial 9.2). here he studied his Bible and understood that the length of the captivity was to be 70 years.
what did he do then? did he sit down on the promise and say, 'God has pledged Himself to put an end to the captivity in 70 years and the time has expired and there is no need to do anything'? Oh, no. he said, 'then i set my face toward the Lord god to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes' v3. he set himself at once to pray that the end of the captivity would come to pass. he prayed in faith.
but what was he to believe? he believed what he learned from the prophecy. there are many prophecies yet unfulfilled in the Bible that christians should try to understand as far as they are capable. THEY ARE TO MAKE PROPHECIES THE BASIS OF BELIEVING PRAYER. do not think, as some seem to, that because something is foretold in prophecy it is not necessary to pray for it or that it will come whether christians pray for it or not. God says, in regard to this very class of events that are revealed in prophecy, 'I will also let the house of israel inquire of me to do this for them'. (ezekiel 36.37)
TRUSTING THE SPIRIT'S LEADING
WHEN THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS UPON YOU AND EXCITES STRONG DESIRES FOR ANY BLESSING, YOU ARE BOUND TO PRAY FOR IT IN FAITH. you are bound to infer, from the fact that you find yourself drawn to desire such a thing while experiencing the joy and holiness the Spirit of God produces, that these desires are the work of the Spirit. people are not likely to desire with the right kind of desires unless they are inspired by the
233 Spirit of God. the apostle referred to these desires, excited by the Spirit, in his epistle to the Romans where he said, 'likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered' romans 8.26
it is evident that the prayer of faith will obtain the blessing because our faith rests on evidence that it is the will of God to grant that thing. the Scripture is not evidence that something else will be granted, but that this particular thing will be.
THE FRUIT OF FAITHFUL PRAYER
people often receive more than they pray for. solomon prayed for wisdom and God granted him riches and honor in addition. similarly, a wife can pray for the conversion of her husband, and, if she offers the prayer in faith, God will not only grant that blessing, but also convert her child and her whole family. (acts 16.31) blessings sometimes seem to 'hang together', so that if a christian gains one he gains them all.
I COULD NAME MANY INDIVIDUALS WHO DECIDED TO EXAMINE THE BIBLE ON THIS SUBJECT, WHO, BEFORE THEY WERE THROUGH WITH IT, WERE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. they found that god meant just what a plain, comon sense man would understand Him to mean.
I ADVISE YOU TO TRY IT.
YOU HAVE BIBLES.
LOOK THEM OVER AND WHENEVER YOU FIND A PROMISE YOU CAN USE,
PLANT IT IN YOUR MIND BEFORE YOU GO ON.
you will not get through the Book without finding out that God's promises mean just what they say.
GIVING UP TOO SOON
you must persevere.
you are not to pray for a thing once, then cease and call that the prayer of faith.
look to daniel.
he prayed 21 days and did not stop until he obtained the blessing.
he set his heart and face toward the lord to seek His answer by prayer and supplication.
234 he held on three weeks and then the answer came. and why did it not come before? God sent an archangel with the message, but the devil hindered him. (daniel 10.11-4) see what Christ said in the parable of the unjust judge and the parable of the loaves. what did He teach us by them? He taught
..GOD WILL GRANT ANSWERS TO PRAYER WHEN PRAYER IS PERSISTENT.
'shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him?' luke 18.7
PREVAILING PRINCE OF PRAYER
once a good man said to me, 'Oh, I am dying of a lack of strength to pray! my body is crushed; the world is on me; how can i continue praying?' i have known that man to go to bed absolutely sick because of weakness and faintness under the pressure. and i have know him to pray as if HE WOULD DO VIOLENCE TO HEAVEN and then i have seen the blessing come as plainly in answer to his prayer as if it were revealed. no person would doubt it any more than if god spoke from heaven.
this is how he died. he prayed more and more. he sued to take the map of the world, look over the different countries and pray for them until he collapsed in his room. Blessed man! ...
'but, you ask, for whom are we to pray this prayer? we want to know which cases, which people, which places and at what times we are to pray the prayer of faith'. i answer, as i have already answered, 'when you have evidence -from providences, promises, prophecies, or the leadings of the spirit - that Go will do the things for which you pray.
GOD'S PROMISE TO PARENTS
'did you not say there was a promise that christian parents may apply to their children? why is it, then, that so many faithful
235 parents have had impenitent children who died in their sins?' this is often the case, but it proves a point , especially in view of romans 3.4, 'let God be true but every man a liar'. will we believe that god has not kept His promise of that these parents did not do their duty/ perhaps they did not believe the promise of did not believe there was any such thing as the prayer of faith. wherever you find a believer who does not believe in any such prayer, you find in general that he has children yet in their sins.
UNDERSTANDING THE PRAYER OF FAITH
people who have not known by experience what the prayer of faith is have good reason to doubt their own piety. this statement is by no means unkind. let them examine themselves. it is likely that they understand prayer as little as Nicodemus understood the new birth. john 3.19
they have not walked with God.
you cannot accurately describe the walk to them any more than you can describe a beautiful painting to a blind man...
236 ..i knew a father who was a good man, but who had misconceptions about the prayer of faith. his whole family of children were grown up, without one of them being converted. one day his son grew ill and seemed ready to die. the father prayed, but the son grew worse and was sinking into the grave without hope. the father prayed until his anguish was unutterable. he finally prayed (there seemed no prospect of his son surviving), pouring out his soul AS IF HE WOULD NOT BE DENIED.
later, he got an assurance that his son would not only live, but also be converted. God also assured him that not only this one, but also his whole family would be converted to God. he came into the house and told his family his son would not die. they were astonished at him. 'i tell you, he said, he will not die. and no child of mine will ever die in his sins'. that man's children were all converted years ago...
THE GOOD BOOK
finally, notice the efforts to dispose of the Bible completely. the unsaved are in favor of doing away with the warnings of the Bible, ans the church wants to do away with the promises. what does that
237 leave? without these the Bible would be an empty book. i ask in love, 'what is our Bible good for if we do not take hold of its precious promises and use them as the ground of our faith when we pray for the blessing of God?
231 there are general promises and principles laid down in the Bible that christians have the opportunity to use, if they would only think. whenever you are in circumstances to which the promises or principles apply, you are to use them.
a parent finds this promise: 'the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fearr him and His righteousness to children's children, to such as keep His covenant and to those who remember His commandments to do them (psalm 103. 17-8) this is a promise made to those who possess a certain character. if any parent knows he has this character, he can justifiably apply this promise to himself and his family. if you have this character, you are bound to make use of this promise in prayer and to believe it even for your children's children.
WHEN TO PRAY IN FAITH
WHERE THERE IS ANY PROPHETIC DECLARATION THAT SOMETHING PRAYED FOR IS AGREEABLE TO THE WILL OF GOD, when it is plain from prophecy that THE EVENT IS CERTAINLY TO COME, YOU ARE BOUND TO BELIEVE IT AND MAKE IT THE BASIS OF YOUR SPECIAL FAITH IN PRAYER. if the time is not specified in the Bible and there is no indication of time from other sources, you are not bound to believe that it will take place in the near
232 future. but if the time is specified, if it can be learned from studying the prophecies and it appears to have arrived, then christians must understand and apply it by offering the prayer of faith.
for instance, take the case of daniel and the return of the jews from captivity. what did he say? 'i, daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the work of the Lord through jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of jerusalem' (danial 9.2). here he studied his Bible and understood that the length of the captivity was to be 70 years.
what did he do then? did he sit down on the promise and say, 'God has pledged Himself to put an end to the captivity in 70 years and the time has expired and there is no need to do anything'? Oh, no. he said, 'then i set my face toward the Lord god to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes' v3. he set himself at once to pray that the end of the captivity would come to pass. he prayed in faith.
but what was he to believe? he believed what he learned from the prophecy. there are many prophecies yet unfulfilled in the Bible that christians should try to understand as far as they are capable. THEY ARE TO MAKE PROPHECIES THE BASIS OF BELIEVING PRAYER. do not think, as some seem to, that because something is foretold in prophecy it is not necessary to pray for it or that it will come whether christians pray for it or not. God says, in regard to this very class of events that are revealed in prophecy, 'I will also let the house of israel inquire of me to do this for them'. (ezekiel 36.37)
TRUSTING THE SPIRIT'S LEADING
WHEN THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS UPON YOU AND EXCITES STRONG DESIRES FOR ANY BLESSING, YOU ARE BOUND TO PRAY FOR IT IN FAITH. you are bound to infer, from the fact that you find yourself drawn to desire such a thing while experiencing the joy and holiness the Spirit of God produces, that these desires are the work of the Spirit. people are not likely to desire with the right kind of desires unless they are inspired by the
233 Spirit of God. the apostle referred to these desires, excited by the Spirit, in his epistle to the Romans where he said, 'likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered' romans 8.26
it is evident that the prayer of faith will obtain the blessing because our faith rests on evidence that it is the will of God to grant that thing. the Scripture is not evidence that something else will be granted, but that this particular thing will be.
THE FRUIT OF FAITHFUL PRAYER
people often receive more than they pray for. solomon prayed for wisdom and God granted him riches and honor in addition. similarly, a wife can pray for the conversion of her husband, and, if she offers the prayer in faith, God will not only grant that blessing, but also convert her child and her whole family. (acts 16.31) blessings sometimes seem to 'hang together', so that if a christian gains one he gains them all.
I COULD NAME MANY INDIVIDUALS WHO DECIDED TO EXAMINE THE BIBLE ON THIS SUBJECT, WHO, BEFORE THEY WERE THROUGH WITH IT, WERE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. they found that god meant just what a plain, comon sense man would understand Him to mean.
I ADVISE YOU TO TRY IT.
YOU HAVE BIBLES.
LOOK THEM OVER AND WHENEVER YOU FIND A PROMISE YOU CAN USE,
PLANT IT IN YOUR MIND BEFORE YOU GO ON.
you will not get through the Book without finding out that God's promises mean just what they say.
GIVING UP TOO SOON
you must persevere.
you are not to pray for a thing once, then cease and call that the prayer of faith.
look to daniel.
he prayed 21 days and did not stop until he obtained the blessing.
he set his heart and face toward the lord to seek His answer by prayer and supplication.
234 he held on three weeks and then the answer came. and why did it not come before? God sent an archangel with the message, but the devil hindered him. (daniel 10.11-4) see what Christ said in the parable of the unjust judge and the parable of the loaves. what did He teach us by them? He taught
..GOD WILL GRANT ANSWERS TO PRAYER WHEN PRAYER IS PERSISTENT.
'shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him?' luke 18.7
PREVAILING PRINCE OF PRAYER
once a good man said to me, 'Oh, I am dying of a lack of strength to pray! my body is crushed; the world is on me; how can i continue praying?' i have known that man to go to bed absolutely sick because of weakness and faintness under the pressure. and i have know him to pray as if HE WOULD DO VIOLENCE TO HEAVEN and then i have seen the blessing come as plainly in answer to his prayer as if it were revealed. no person would doubt it any more than if god spoke from heaven.
this is how he died. he prayed more and more. he sued to take the map of the world, look over the different countries and pray for them until he collapsed in his room. Blessed man! ...
'but, you ask, for whom are we to pray this prayer? we want to know which cases, which people, which places and at what times we are to pray the prayer of faith'. i answer, as i have already answered, 'when you have evidence -from providences, promises, prophecies, or the leadings of the spirit - that Go will do the things for which you pray.
GOD'S PROMISE TO PARENTS
'did you not say there was a promise that christian parents may apply to their children? why is it, then, that so many faithful
235 parents have had impenitent children who died in their sins?' this is often the case, but it proves a point , especially in view of romans 3.4, 'let God be true but every man a liar'. will we believe that god has not kept His promise of that these parents did not do their duty/ perhaps they did not believe the promise of did not believe there was any such thing as the prayer of faith. wherever you find a believer who does not believe in any such prayer, you find in general that he has children yet in their sins.
UNDERSTANDING THE PRAYER OF FAITH
people who have not known by experience what the prayer of faith is have good reason to doubt their own piety. this statement is by no means unkind. let them examine themselves. it is likely that they understand prayer as little as Nicodemus understood the new birth. john 3.19
they have not walked with God.
you cannot accurately describe the walk to them any more than you can describe a beautiful painting to a blind man...
236 ..i knew a father who was a good man, but who had misconceptions about the prayer of faith. his whole family of children were grown up, without one of them being converted. one day his son grew ill and seemed ready to die. the father prayed, but the son grew worse and was sinking into the grave without hope. the father prayed until his anguish was unutterable. he finally prayed (there seemed no prospect of his son surviving), pouring out his soul AS IF HE WOULD NOT BE DENIED.
later, he got an assurance that his son would not only live, but also be converted. God also assured him that not only this one, but also his whole family would be converted to God. he came into the house and told his family his son would not die. they were astonished at him. 'i tell you, he said, he will not die. and no child of mine will ever die in his sins'. that man's children were all converted years ago...
THE GOOD BOOK
finally, notice the efforts to dispose of the Bible completely. the unsaved are in favor of doing away with the warnings of the Bible, ans the church wants to do away with the promises. what does that
237 leave? without these the Bible would be an empty book. i ask in love, 'what is our Bible good for if we do not take hold of its precious promises and use them as the ground of our faith when we pray for the blessing of God?
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
6.7.2016 Finney on PREVAILING PRAYER
THE EFFECTIVE, FERVENT PRAYER OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN AVAILS MUCH. James 5.16
225 there are two goals necessary for a revival:
one to influence men,
the other to influence God.
the truth is employed to influence men
and prayer to move God.
when i speak of moving God, i do not mean that God's mind is changed by prayer
or that His disposition of character is changed.
prayer produces such a change in us
that God is completely consistent with His nature
when He answers our prayers.
when a sinner repents, his state of feeling makes it proper for God to forgive him.
God has always been ready to forgive men on that condition.
likewise, when the sinner changes his feelings and repents,
it requires no change of feeling in God to pardon him.
it is the sinner's repentance that renders His forgiveness proper.
this is when God will act.
others make their mistake in the opposite direction - not that they lay too much stress on prayer, but that they overlook the fact that prayer could be offered forever, by itself and nothing would be done.
SPECIFIC PRAYERS
many people go to their rooms alone 'to pray', simply because 'they must say their prayers'. the time of day has come when they are
226 in the habit of praying - in the morning, at noon, or at whatever time of day it may be. but instead of having anything to say, any definite reason on their minds, they fall down on their knees and simply pray for whatever floats into their imaginations. when they have finished, they can hardly remember what they have been praying for. THIS IS NOT EFFECTIVE PRAYER.
TO PRAY EFFECTIVELY, YOU MUST PRAY WITH SUBMISSION TO THE WILL OF GOD.
do not confuse submission with indifference. no tow things are more unlike. i once knew an individual who came to a revival. he was cold and did not enter into the spirit of prayer. when he heard believers PRAYING AS IF THEY COULD NOT BE DENIED, he was shocked at their boldness. he insisted on the importance of praying with submission. yet it was plain that he confused submission with indifference.
CRUCIAL PRAYER
if the will of God is not known, submission without prayer is tempting God.
for all you know, your prayer may be the thing on which an event turns.
in the case of an impenitent friend, your prayers may be the key to his being saved.
christians often amaze themselves when they look back on their ardent, bold prayers
spoken in a moment of intense emotion.
yet these prayers have prevailed and obtained the blessing.
and many of these people are among the holiest people i know in the world.
EFFECTIVE MOTIVES
the temptation to have selfish motives is so strong
that there is reason to fear a great many parental prayers
never rise above the yearnings of parental tenderness.
that is why so many prayers are not answered and why so many pious, praying parents
have ungodly children.
prayer for the unsaved must be based on more than sympathy.
missionaries and others often make the mistake of praying only about those going to hell,
227 forgetting prayer about how the unsaved also dishonor God.
most christians work up to prevailing prayer through a prolonged process.
their minds gradually become filed with anxiety about something,
until they even go about their business sighing out their desires to God.
it is like the mother whose child is sick who constantly sighs as if her hear would break.
if she is a praying mother, her sighs are breathed out to God all day long.
if she leaves the room where her child is, her mind is still on her baby.
if she is asleep, her thoughts are still on her child.
she will even jerk in her dreams, thinking perhaps her child may be dying.
her whole mind is absorbed with that sick child.
this is the state of mind in which christians offer prevailing prayer.
DEPTH OF CONCERN
the spirit of those who have been in distress for the souls of others is similar to that of the apostle paul, who worked for souls and was ready to wish himself cut off from Christ for the sake of others.
the psalmist showed the same concern when he prayed,
'indignation has taken hold of me because of the wicked, who forsake Your law...
rivers of water run down from my eyes, because men do not keep Your law'. (psalm 119.53,136)
the prophet jeremiah also experienced great sorrow because of israel's sins.
'O my soul, my soul! I am pained in my very heart!
my heart makes a noise in me;
I cannot hold my peace, because You have heard,
O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war (jeremiah 4.19)
in view of this, why should people be considered crazy if they cannot help but cry out loud when they think of the misery of those who are going to eternal destruction?
IF YOU PLAN TO PRAY EFFECTIVELY, YOU MUST PRAY A LOT.
it was said of the apostle james that after his death, people noticed his knes were callous, like a camel's, from praying so much. Ah, here was the secret of the success of those first ministers! they had callous knees!
USING THE NAME
228 if you intend to pray effectively, you must offer it in the name of Christ. you cannot come to God in your own name. you cannot plead your own merits. but you can come in a name that is always acceptable. you all know what it is to use the name of a man. if you were to go to the bank with a check endorsed by a millionaire (that would be giving you his name), you know you could get the money from the bank as easily as he could. in the same way, Jesus Christ gives you the use of His name. when you pray in the name of Christ, you can prevail just as well as He and receive just as much as God's beloved Son would if He were to pray for the same things. you must pray in faith.
these strong desires behind the prevailing prayer i mentioned are the natural results of great benevolence and a clear view of the danger for sinners. this is a reasonable sentiment. if the average christian were to see their agony, he or she would be extremely upset - perhaps even sick. no one would consider these reactions strange. in fact, if they had no powerful reaction, they would be considered cold-hearted.
NECESSITY OF A LOVING CHARACTER
why is it, then, that christians are thought of as lunatics for their concern about the awful danger sinners are in? the fact is, those individuals who have never felt such concern have never felt real benevolence and must have a very superficial Christian love. i do not mean to judge harshly or speak unkindly, but it is a simple fact that a person without such a loving character is a superficial believer. this is not being critical; it is the plain truth.
when christians are driven to the extreme, they make a desperate effort and roll the burden of the Lord Jesus Christ. they exercise a childlike confidence in Him. then they feel relieved, as if assured that the soul they were praying for will be saved. the burden
229 is gone and God seems to kindly soothe the mind with a sweet assurance that the blessing will be granted.
often, after a christian has had this struggle, this agony in prayer and has obtained relief in this way, he finds the sweetest and most heavenly affections flow out. his soul rests sweetly and gloriously in God and rejoices 'with joy unspeakable and full of glory' (I peter 1.8 kjv)
BINDING PRAYER
this travailing in prayer for souls also creates a remarkable bond between warmhearted christians and young converts. those who are converted are very dear to those who have had this spirit of prayer for them. the feeling is like that of a mother for her firstborn child. paul expressed it beautifully when he said, 'My little children, for whom i labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you' (galatians 4.19). they had backslidden and he suffered all the agonies of a parent over a wandering child. in revival, i have often noticed how those who had the spirit of prayer loved the young converts. to those who have never felt this love, what i have described does not make sense.
another reason God requires this sort of prayer is that it is the only way in which the church can be properly prepared to receive great blessing without being injured by them. when the church is thus prostrated in the dust before God and is in the depths of agony in prayr, the blessing does it good. while at the same time, if the church received the blessing without this deep humility of soul, it would have grown puffed up with pride. but as it is, it increases in holiness, love and humility.
INTENSE, PREVAILING PRAYER
a minister once related a story to me about a town that had not had a revival in many years. the church was nearly extinct, the youth were all unconverted and desolation reigned unbroken. there
230 lived, in a retired part of the town, an aged blacksmith who stammered so badly that it was painful to hear him speak. one friday, as he worked in his shop, alone, he became very upset about the state of the church and of the impenitent. his agony became so great that he had to put away his work, lock the shop door and spend the afternoon in prayer.
he continued to pray all day. then he asked his minister to arrange a conference meeting. after some hesitation, the minister consented even though he feared few people would attend. he called the meeting the same evening at a large private house. when evening came, more people assembled than coud be accommodated in the house. all were silent for a time, until one sinner broke out in tears and said, 'if anyone could pray, would he pray for me?' another followed and another and still another, until people from every part of town were under deep conviction. it was also remarkable that they all dated their conviction to the hour the old man prayed in his shop. a powerful revival followed. thus this stammering old man's prayers prevailed; and as a prince, he had power with God.
225 there are two goals necessary for a revival:
one to influence men,
the other to influence God.
the truth is employed to influence men
and prayer to move God.
when i speak of moving God, i do not mean that God's mind is changed by prayer
or that His disposition of character is changed.
prayer produces such a change in us
that God is completely consistent with His nature
when He answers our prayers.
when a sinner repents, his state of feeling makes it proper for God to forgive him.
God has always been ready to forgive men on that condition.
likewise, when the sinner changes his feelings and repents,
it requires no change of feeling in God to pardon him.
it is the sinner's repentance that renders His forgiveness proper.
this is when God will act.
others make their mistake in the opposite direction - not that they lay too much stress on prayer, but that they overlook the fact that prayer could be offered forever, by itself and nothing would be done.
SPECIFIC PRAYERS
many people go to their rooms alone 'to pray', simply because 'they must say their prayers'. the time of day has come when they are
226 in the habit of praying - in the morning, at noon, or at whatever time of day it may be. but instead of having anything to say, any definite reason on their minds, they fall down on their knees and simply pray for whatever floats into their imaginations. when they have finished, they can hardly remember what they have been praying for. THIS IS NOT EFFECTIVE PRAYER.
TO PRAY EFFECTIVELY, YOU MUST PRAY WITH SUBMISSION TO THE WILL OF GOD.
do not confuse submission with indifference. no tow things are more unlike. i once knew an individual who came to a revival. he was cold and did not enter into the spirit of prayer. when he heard believers PRAYING AS IF THEY COULD NOT BE DENIED, he was shocked at their boldness. he insisted on the importance of praying with submission. yet it was plain that he confused submission with indifference.
CRUCIAL PRAYER
if the will of God is not known, submission without prayer is tempting God.
for all you know, your prayer may be the thing on which an event turns.
in the case of an impenitent friend, your prayers may be the key to his being saved.
christians often amaze themselves when they look back on their ardent, bold prayers
spoken in a moment of intense emotion.
yet these prayers have prevailed and obtained the blessing.
and many of these people are among the holiest people i know in the world.
EFFECTIVE MOTIVES
the temptation to have selfish motives is so strong
that there is reason to fear a great many parental prayers
never rise above the yearnings of parental tenderness.
that is why so many prayers are not answered and why so many pious, praying parents
have ungodly children.
prayer for the unsaved must be based on more than sympathy.
missionaries and others often make the mistake of praying only about those going to hell,
227 forgetting prayer about how the unsaved also dishonor God.
most christians work up to prevailing prayer through a prolonged process.
their minds gradually become filed with anxiety about something,
until they even go about their business sighing out their desires to God.
it is like the mother whose child is sick who constantly sighs as if her hear would break.
if she is a praying mother, her sighs are breathed out to God all day long.
if she leaves the room where her child is, her mind is still on her baby.
if she is asleep, her thoughts are still on her child.
she will even jerk in her dreams, thinking perhaps her child may be dying.
her whole mind is absorbed with that sick child.
this is the state of mind in which christians offer prevailing prayer.
DEPTH OF CONCERN
the spirit of those who have been in distress for the souls of others is similar to that of the apostle paul, who worked for souls and was ready to wish himself cut off from Christ for the sake of others.
the psalmist showed the same concern when he prayed,
'indignation has taken hold of me because of the wicked, who forsake Your law...
rivers of water run down from my eyes, because men do not keep Your law'. (psalm 119.53,136)
the prophet jeremiah also experienced great sorrow because of israel's sins.
'O my soul, my soul! I am pained in my very heart!
my heart makes a noise in me;
I cannot hold my peace, because You have heard,
O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war (jeremiah 4.19)
in view of this, why should people be considered crazy if they cannot help but cry out loud when they think of the misery of those who are going to eternal destruction?
IF YOU PLAN TO PRAY EFFECTIVELY, YOU MUST PRAY A LOT.
it was said of the apostle james that after his death, people noticed his knes were callous, like a camel's, from praying so much. Ah, here was the secret of the success of those first ministers! they had callous knees!
USING THE NAME
228 if you intend to pray effectively, you must offer it in the name of Christ. you cannot come to God in your own name. you cannot plead your own merits. but you can come in a name that is always acceptable. you all know what it is to use the name of a man. if you were to go to the bank with a check endorsed by a millionaire (that would be giving you his name), you know you could get the money from the bank as easily as he could. in the same way, Jesus Christ gives you the use of His name. when you pray in the name of Christ, you can prevail just as well as He and receive just as much as God's beloved Son would if He were to pray for the same things. you must pray in faith.
these strong desires behind the prevailing prayer i mentioned are the natural results of great benevolence and a clear view of the danger for sinners. this is a reasonable sentiment. if the average christian were to see their agony, he or she would be extremely upset - perhaps even sick. no one would consider these reactions strange. in fact, if they had no powerful reaction, they would be considered cold-hearted.
NECESSITY OF A LOVING CHARACTER
why is it, then, that christians are thought of as lunatics for their concern about the awful danger sinners are in? the fact is, those individuals who have never felt such concern have never felt real benevolence and must have a very superficial Christian love. i do not mean to judge harshly or speak unkindly, but it is a simple fact that a person without such a loving character is a superficial believer. this is not being critical; it is the plain truth.
when christians are driven to the extreme, they make a desperate effort and roll the burden of the Lord Jesus Christ. they exercise a childlike confidence in Him. then they feel relieved, as if assured that the soul they were praying for will be saved. the burden
229 is gone and God seems to kindly soothe the mind with a sweet assurance that the blessing will be granted.
often, after a christian has had this struggle, this agony in prayer and has obtained relief in this way, he finds the sweetest and most heavenly affections flow out. his soul rests sweetly and gloriously in God and rejoices 'with joy unspeakable and full of glory' (I peter 1.8 kjv)
BINDING PRAYER
this travailing in prayer for souls also creates a remarkable bond between warmhearted christians and young converts. those who are converted are very dear to those who have had this spirit of prayer for them. the feeling is like that of a mother for her firstborn child. paul expressed it beautifully when he said, 'My little children, for whom i labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you' (galatians 4.19). they had backslidden and he suffered all the agonies of a parent over a wandering child. in revival, i have often noticed how those who had the spirit of prayer loved the young converts. to those who have never felt this love, what i have described does not make sense.
another reason God requires this sort of prayer is that it is the only way in which the church can be properly prepared to receive great blessing without being injured by them. when the church is thus prostrated in the dust before God and is in the depths of agony in prayr, the blessing does it good. while at the same time, if the church received the blessing without this deep humility of soul, it would have grown puffed up with pride. but as it is, it increases in holiness, love and humility.
INTENSE, PREVAILING PRAYER
a minister once related a story to me about a town that had not had a revival in many years. the church was nearly extinct, the youth were all unconverted and desolation reigned unbroken. there
230 lived, in a retired part of the town, an aged blacksmith who stammered so badly that it was painful to hear him speak. one friday, as he worked in his shop, alone, he became very upset about the state of the church and of the impenitent. his agony became so great that he had to put away his work, lock the shop door and spend the afternoon in prayer.
he continued to pray all day. then he asked his minister to arrange a conference meeting. after some hesitation, the minister consented even though he feared few people would attend. he called the meeting the same evening at a large private house. when evening came, more people assembled than coud be accommodated in the house. all were silent for a time, until one sinner broke out in tears and said, 'if anyone could pray, would he pray for me?' another followed and another and still another, until people from every part of town were under deep conviction. it was also remarkable that they all dated their conviction to the hour the old man prayed in his shop. a powerful revival followed. thus this stammering old man's prayers prevailed; and as a prince, he had power with God.
6.7.2016 Finney on THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER
LIKEWISE THE SPIRIT ALSO HELPS IN OUR WEAKNESSES.
FOR WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT WE SHOULD PRAY FOR AS WE OUT,
BUT THE SPIRIT HIMSELF MAKES INTERCESSION FOR US
WITH GROANINGS WHICH CANNOT BE UTTERED.
NOW HE WHO SEARCHES THE HEARTS KNOWS WHAT THE MIND OF THE SPIRIT IS,
BECAUSE HE MAKES INTERCESSION FOR THE SAINTS
ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD. ROMANS 8.26-7
219 we are ignorant of both the will of God as revealed in the Bible
and His unrevealed will as we can learn it from His providence.
mankind is also vastly ignorant of the promises and prophesies in the Bible.
we are even more in the dark about those points God gives us through the leadings of His Spirit.
i have named these 4 reasons to ground our faith in prayer:
providences
promises,
prophecies and
the Holy Spirit
i once knew an individual who was in great spiritual darkness. he went off by himself to pray, resolving that he would not stop until he found the Lord.
he knelt down and tried to pray.
his mind was dark and he could not pray.
he got up from his knees and stood awhile,
but he could not give up because he promised he would not let the sun go down before
he gave himself to God.
he knelt again.
but his heart was dark and as hard as before. he was nearly in despair and said in agony,
'i have grieved the Spirit of God away and there is no hope for me.
i am shut out from the presence of God'.
220 but his resolution was not to give up.
again he knelt down.
he had said only a few words when this passage came to mind, as fresh as if he had just read it:
'you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart'. (jer. 29.13)
he saw that though this promise was in the old testament and addressed to the jews,
it was as applicable to him as to them.
his hard heart broke when the Lord Himself hammered it with this Scripture.
this young man prayed and then got up to leave,
FILLED WITH THE JOY OF JESUS.
(foot: in this passage, Finney uses the pauline expression, 'I knew a man (II Cor. 12.2 kjv) and tells the story of his own conversion. it was adams, new york, where he was studying law. in his study of the Bible, he had come under deepening conviction, realizing that 'salvation, instead of being a thing to be brought about by my own works, was a thing to be found entirely in the Lord Jesus, who presented Himself as my God and my Savior'. as he walked along the street, an inward voice seemed to demand, 'will you accept it now, today? his reply was 'yes, i will accept it today or i will die trying'.
instead of going on to his studies, he made his way into the woods near the village, creeping between some fallen trees, to pray. there, as he said afterward, 'God gave me many other promises in addition to the text quoted from jeremiah, especially some very precious promises regarding our Lord Jesus Christ. i seized them'. his disquieted mind became 'wonderfully calm and peaceful'. he thought, ass he walked back toward adams, 'my mind was so perfectly quiet that it seemed as if all nature listened'. he had gone to the woods immediately after an early breakfast and by this time it was dinnertime. yet it appeared to him that he had been absent only a little while.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER
i have been known to keep a list of people for whom i have been especially concerned.
i have done this regarding a multitude of people who were immediately converted.
221 i have prayed for the people on this list, literally in agony for them.
i have sometimes called on another christian thelp me pray for a person.
i have fixed my mind on an individual with such a hardened, abandoned character
that i could not be reached in any ordinary way.
in one town where there was a revival, there was an individual who violently opposed christianity. he ran a tavern and delighted in swearing whenever there were christians within hearing distance. he was so bad that one man said he would have to either sell his place of give it away because he could not stand to live near a man who swore like that.
when i passed through the town and heard of the case, i was very distressed for the individual. i put the curser on my prayer list. the case weighed on my mind when i was asleep and awake. i continued thinking about the ungodly man and praying for him for days. and not long after, the tavern keeper came to a meeting and confessed his sins. pouring out his soul, he seemed to be one of the most repentant men ever seen. his testimony seemed to cover the whole ground of his treatment of God, christians, the revival and every good thing.
the new convert's bar immediately became the place where they held prayer meetings. my prayer list was an example of how the Spirit of God leads individual christians to pray for things that they would not pray for without being led by the Spirit. they pray for things 'according to the will of God'.
THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT
a lot of harm has been done by saying that this leading is a NEW REVELATION. calling this leading a revelation has caused many people to
222 be apprehensive. the strength of the term has frightened them so that they will not even stop to see what revelation means or if the Bible even teaches the principle.
the plain truth of the matter is that THE SPIRIT LEADS A MAN TO PRAY. if God leads a man to pray for an individual, the inference from the Bible is that God plans to save that individual. if we find, by comparing our state of mind with the Bible, that we are led by the Spirit to pray for an individual, we have solid evidence to believe that God is prepared to bless him.
devoted, praying christians often see things so clearly, and look so far ahead, that they confuse others. they sometimes almost seem to prophesy. undoubtedly many people think they are being led by the Spirit when in fact they are leaning on their own understanding.
but there is no doubt that a christian may be enabled to clearly discern the signs of the times, so as to understand, by providence, what to expect, and to pray for it in faith. believers are often led to expect a revival and to pray for it in faith, when nobody else can see the least sign of it.
UNDERSTANDING GOD'S DIRECTION
there was a woman living in a New Jersey town where there had just been a revival. she was positive there was going to be another. she wanted to arrange 'conference meetings', but the minister and elders saw nothing to encourage a revival, so they did nothing. she saw they were blind, so she got a carpenter to make seats for her house where she would have the meetings. there was certainly going to be a revival!
she scarcely opened her doors for meetings, when the Spirit of God came down with great power and these sleepy christians found themselves surrounded, all at once, with convicted sinners. they could only say, 'surely the Lord is in this place and (we) did not know it (genesis 28.16).
people like this woman understand the direction of God's will because the Spirit of God leads them to the understanding, not
223 because they are so wise. the Lord's wisdom shows them how events are all leading to a particular result.
the Bible says, 'The Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered'. the meaning of this, as i understand it, is that THE SPIRIT EXCITES DESIRES too great to be uttered except by groans - making the soul too full to utter its feelings by words. the person can only groan them out to God, who understands the language of the heart.
HOW IS A SINNER TO GET CONVICTION? BY THINKING OF HIS SINS.
THAT IS THE WAY FOR A CHRISTIAN TO GAIN A DEEP AWARENESS -
BY THINKING ABOUT THE SUBJECT.
GOD IS NOT GOING TO POUR THESE THINGS ON YOU
WITHOUT ANY EFFORT OF YOUR OWN.
YOU MUST CHERISH THE SLIGHTEST IMPRESSIONS.
TAKE THE BIBLE AND GO OVER THE PASSAGES
THAT SHOW THE CONDITIONS AND PROSPECTS OF THE WORLD.
(note: for instance, ephesians 4.17-9: this i say therefore and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other gentiles walk,
in the vanity of their mind
having the understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God
through the ignorance that is in them,
because of the blindness of their heart:
who being past feeling
have given themselves over unto lasciviousness,
who work all uncleanness with greediness. )
look at the world, your children and your neighbors
and see their condition while they remain in sin.
then, persevere in prayer and effort UNTIL you obtain the blessing of the Spirit of God.
i have spent much time on this subject because i want it to be plain to you that you will be careful not to grieve the Spirit. i want you to have high ideas of the HOLY SPIRIT and to recognize that
NOTHING WILL BE DONE WITHOUT HIS INFLUENCES.
no praying or preaching will make any difference without Him.
if Jesus Christ were to come down here and preach to sinners,
not one would be converted without the Spirit.
BE CAREFUL..NOT TO GRIEVE HIM BY SLIGHTING/NEGLECTING HIS HEAVENLY INFLUENCES WHEN HE INVITES YOU TO PRAY.
PRAYER FORMS
we see from this subject the absurdity of using set prayers or prayer books.
the very idea of using a form reject the leading of the Spirit.
nothing is more calculated to destroy the spirit of prayer
and entirely darken and confuse the mind to what constitutes prayer, than prayer forms.
rote prayers are not only absurd in themselves,
224 but they are the very device of the devil to destroy the spirit and break the power of prayer.
prayer does not consist of mere words. it does not matter what the words are if the heart is not led by the Spirit of God. if the desire is not kindled, the thoughts directed and the whole current of feeling produced and led by the Spirit of God, it is not prayer. set forms keep an individual from praying as he could.
EXPERIENCING THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER
'The Spirit Himself makes intercession'.
for whom does He pray? for the saints!
if you are a believer, you know by experience what it is to be exercised like this.
or, if you do not, it is because you have grieved the Spirit of God so that He will not lead you.
you probably have not yet experienced His filling.
you live in such a manner that THIS HOLY COMFORTER WILL NOT make His presence known with you or
GIVE YOU THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER
IF THIS IS SO YOU MUST REPENT.
DO NOT DECIDE WHETHER YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN OR NOT
BUT REPENT AS IF YOU NEVER REPENTED
DO NOT TAKE IT FOR GRANTED THAT YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN
but GO LIKED A HUMBLE SINNER AND P-O-U-R O-U-T YOUR HEART TO THE LORD
you can never have the spirit of prayer in any other way.
nothing will produce more excitement and opposition than the spirit of prayer.
FOR WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT WE SHOULD PRAY FOR AS WE OUT,
BUT THE SPIRIT HIMSELF MAKES INTERCESSION FOR US
WITH GROANINGS WHICH CANNOT BE UTTERED.
NOW HE WHO SEARCHES THE HEARTS KNOWS WHAT THE MIND OF THE SPIRIT IS,
BECAUSE HE MAKES INTERCESSION FOR THE SAINTS
ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD. ROMANS 8.26-7
219 we are ignorant of both the will of God as revealed in the Bible
and His unrevealed will as we can learn it from His providence.
mankind is also vastly ignorant of the promises and prophesies in the Bible.
we are even more in the dark about those points God gives us through the leadings of His Spirit.
i have named these 4 reasons to ground our faith in prayer:
providences
promises,
prophecies and
the Holy Spirit
i once knew an individual who was in great spiritual darkness. he went off by himself to pray, resolving that he would not stop until he found the Lord.
he knelt down and tried to pray.
his mind was dark and he could not pray.
he got up from his knees and stood awhile,
but he could not give up because he promised he would not let the sun go down before
he gave himself to God.
he knelt again.
but his heart was dark and as hard as before. he was nearly in despair and said in agony,
'i have grieved the Spirit of God away and there is no hope for me.
i am shut out from the presence of God'.
220 but his resolution was not to give up.
again he knelt down.
he had said only a few words when this passage came to mind, as fresh as if he had just read it:
'you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart'. (jer. 29.13)
he saw that though this promise was in the old testament and addressed to the jews,
it was as applicable to him as to them.
his hard heart broke when the Lord Himself hammered it with this Scripture.
this young man prayed and then got up to leave,
FILLED WITH THE JOY OF JESUS.
(foot: in this passage, Finney uses the pauline expression, 'I knew a man (II Cor. 12.2 kjv) and tells the story of his own conversion. it was adams, new york, where he was studying law. in his study of the Bible, he had come under deepening conviction, realizing that 'salvation, instead of being a thing to be brought about by my own works, was a thing to be found entirely in the Lord Jesus, who presented Himself as my God and my Savior'. as he walked along the street, an inward voice seemed to demand, 'will you accept it now, today? his reply was 'yes, i will accept it today or i will die trying'.
instead of going on to his studies, he made his way into the woods near the village, creeping between some fallen trees, to pray. there, as he said afterward, 'God gave me many other promises in addition to the text quoted from jeremiah, especially some very precious promises regarding our Lord Jesus Christ. i seized them'. his disquieted mind became 'wonderfully calm and peaceful'. he thought, ass he walked back toward adams, 'my mind was so perfectly quiet that it seemed as if all nature listened'. he had gone to the woods immediately after an early breakfast and by this time it was dinnertime. yet it appeared to him that he had been absent only a little while.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER
i have been known to keep a list of people for whom i have been especially concerned.
i have done this regarding a multitude of people who were immediately converted.
221 i have prayed for the people on this list, literally in agony for them.
i have sometimes called on another christian thelp me pray for a person.
i have fixed my mind on an individual with such a hardened, abandoned character
that i could not be reached in any ordinary way.
in one town where there was a revival, there was an individual who violently opposed christianity. he ran a tavern and delighted in swearing whenever there were christians within hearing distance. he was so bad that one man said he would have to either sell his place of give it away because he could not stand to live near a man who swore like that.
when i passed through the town and heard of the case, i was very distressed for the individual. i put the curser on my prayer list. the case weighed on my mind when i was asleep and awake. i continued thinking about the ungodly man and praying for him for days. and not long after, the tavern keeper came to a meeting and confessed his sins. pouring out his soul, he seemed to be one of the most repentant men ever seen. his testimony seemed to cover the whole ground of his treatment of God, christians, the revival and every good thing.
the new convert's bar immediately became the place where they held prayer meetings. my prayer list was an example of how the Spirit of God leads individual christians to pray for things that they would not pray for without being led by the Spirit. they pray for things 'according to the will of God'.
THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT
a lot of harm has been done by saying that this leading is a NEW REVELATION. calling this leading a revelation has caused many people to
222 be apprehensive. the strength of the term has frightened them so that they will not even stop to see what revelation means or if the Bible even teaches the principle.
the plain truth of the matter is that THE SPIRIT LEADS A MAN TO PRAY. if God leads a man to pray for an individual, the inference from the Bible is that God plans to save that individual. if we find, by comparing our state of mind with the Bible, that we are led by the Spirit to pray for an individual, we have solid evidence to believe that God is prepared to bless him.
devoted, praying christians often see things so clearly, and look so far ahead, that they confuse others. they sometimes almost seem to prophesy. undoubtedly many people think they are being led by the Spirit when in fact they are leaning on their own understanding.
but there is no doubt that a christian may be enabled to clearly discern the signs of the times, so as to understand, by providence, what to expect, and to pray for it in faith. believers are often led to expect a revival and to pray for it in faith, when nobody else can see the least sign of it.
UNDERSTANDING GOD'S DIRECTION
there was a woman living in a New Jersey town where there had just been a revival. she was positive there was going to be another. she wanted to arrange 'conference meetings', but the minister and elders saw nothing to encourage a revival, so they did nothing. she saw they were blind, so she got a carpenter to make seats for her house where she would have the meetings. there was certainly going to be a revival!
she scarcely opened her doors for meetings, when the Spirit of God came down with great power and these sleepy christians found themselves surrounded, all at once, with convicted sinners. they could only say, 'surely the Lord is in this place and (we) did not know it (genesis 28.16).
people like this woman understand the direction of God's will because the Spirit of God leads them to the understanding, not
223 because they are so wise. the Lord's wisdom shows them how events are all leading to a particular result.
the Bible says, 'The Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered'. the meaning of this, as i understand it, is that THE SPIRIT EXCITES DESIRES too great to be uttered except by groans - making the soul too full to utter its feelings by words. the person can only groan them out to God, who understands the language of the heart.
HOW IS A SINNER TO GET CONVICTION? BY THINKING OF HIS SINS.
THAT IS THE WAY FOR A CHRISTIAN TO GAIN A DEEP AWARENESS -
BY THINKING ABOUT THE SUBJECT.
GOD IS NOT GOING TO POUR THESE THINGS ON YOU
WITHOUT ANY EFFORT OF YOUR OWN.
YOU MUST CHERISH THE SLIGHTEST IMPRESSIONS.
TAKE THE BIBLE AND GO OVER THE PASSAGES
THAT SHOW THE CONDITIONS AND PROSPECTS OF THE WORLD.
(note: for instance, ephesians 4.17-9: this i say therefore and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other gentiles walk,
in the vanity of their mind
having the understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God
through the ignorance that is in them,
because of the blindness of their heart:
who being past feeling
have given themselves over unto lasciviousness,
who work all uncleanness with greediness. )
look at the world, your children and your neighbors
and see their condition while they remain in sin.
then, persevere in prayer and effort UNTIL you obtain the blessing of the Spirit of God.
i have spent much time on this subject because i want it to be plain to you that you will be careful not to grieve the Spirit. i want you to have high ideas of the HOLY SPIRIT and to recognize that
NOTHING WILL BE DONE WITHOUT HIS INFLUENCES.
no praying or preaching will make any difference without Him.
if Jesus Christ were to come down here and preach to sinners,
not one would be converted without the Spirit.
BE CAREFUL..NOT TO GRIEVE HIM BY SLIGHTING/NEGLECTING HIS HEAVENLY INFLUENCES WHEN HE INVITES YOU TO PRAY.
PRAYER FORMS
we see from this subject the absurdity of using set prayers or prayer books.
the very idea of using a form reject the leading of the Spirit.
nothing is more calculated to destroy the spirit of prayer
and entirely darken and confuse the mind to what constitutes prayer, than prayer forms.
rote prayers are not only absurd in themselves,
224 but they are the very device of the devil to destroy the spirit and break the power of prayer.
prayer does not consist of mere words. it does not matter what the words are if the heart is not led by the Spirit of God. if the desire is not kindled, the thoughts directed and the whole current of feeling produced and led by the Spirit of God, it is not prayer. set forms keep an individual from praying as he could.
EXPERIENCING THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER
'The Spirit Himself makes intercession'.
for whom does He pray? for the saints!
if you are a believer, you know by experience what it is to be exercised like this.
or, if you do not, it is because you have grieved the Spirit of God so that He will not lead you.
you probably have not yet experienced His filling.
you live in such a manner that THIS HOLY COMFORTER WILL NOT make His presence known with you or
GIVE YOU THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER
IF THIS IS SO YOU MUST REPENT.
DO NOT DECIDE WHETHER YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN OR NOT
BUT REPENT AS IF YOU NEVER REPENTED
DO NOT TAKE IT FOR GRANTED THAT YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN
but GO LIKED A HUMBLE SINNER AND P-O-U-R O-U-T YOUR HEART TO THE LORD
you can never have the spirit of prayer in any other way.
nothing will produce more excitement and opposition than the spirit of prayer.
Monday, June 6, 2016
6.6.2016 Finney on PREPARING THE HEART FOR REVIVAL (note: II chronicles 7.14)
207 BREAK UP YOUR FALLOW GROUND, FOR IT IS TIME TO SEEK THE LORD, TILL HE COMES AND RAINS RIGHTEOUSNESS ON YOU. HOSEA 10.12
because the jews were a nation of farmers, Scripture often refers to their occupation to illustrate its points. the prophet Hosea employed this strategy to tell the jews they were becoming a nation of backsliders. he reproved them for their idolatry and threatened them with the judgments of God.
a revival consists of two parts:
that which concerns the church and
that which concerns the unsaved.
here i will speak about a revival in the church. fallow ground is ground that has once been tilled but that now lies waste. it needs to be broken up and mellowed before it is again ready to receive grain.
if you want to break up the fallow ground of yourself.
EXAMINE AND NOTE THE STATE OF YOUR MIND. (note: CAPITALS in this blog are needy areas in my life)
see where you are.
many people never seem to think about this.
they pay no attention to their own hearts and
they never know whether they are doing well in their faith or not.
they do not know whether they are gaining ground or going back;
whether they are fruitful or going to waste.
208 now is the time to divert your attention from other things and look into this.
make a point to do this.
do not be in a hurry.
thoroughly examine the state of your heart and see where you are.
check to see if you are walking with God every day
or with the devil.
self examination is looking at your life.
it is considering your actions in the past and learning the true character of your life.
look over your personal history.
examine your individual sins one by one.
i do not mean for you to glance at your past life,
see that it has been full of sins,
then go to God and make a general confession.
that is not the way.
YOU MUST LOOK AT EACH SIN ONE BY ONE.
it is a good idea to take a pen and paper as you go over them and write each sin down as it occurs to you.
go over them as carefully as a merchant goes over his books.
each time a sin comes to mind, add it to the list.
GENERAL CONFESSIONS OF SIN WILL NEVER DO.
your sins were committed one by one,
and they should be reviewed and repented of one by one.
now, we begin and review what are commonly, but improperly,
called sins of omission. OUR NEGLECT.
INGRATITUDE
write down under this heading all the times you can remember where you have received
FAVORS FROM GOD for which YOU have NEVER THANKED HIM.
how many cased can you remember?
perhaps a remarkable provision, some wonderful turn of events that saved you from ruin.
write down the instances of God's goodness to you when you were in sin-before your conversion-
for which you have never been thankful enough.
do not forget the numerous mercies you have received since.
how long is the list of times where your ingratitude has been so lacking
that you want to hide your face in shame?
Go on your knees, confess these times one by one to God and ask forgiveness.
the very act of confession, by the laws of suggestion.,
will bring similar sins to mind.
write these down.
review them three or four times this same way
and see what an astonishing number of mercies there are for which you have never thanked God.
209 LACK OF LOVE FOR GOD
think how grieved and alarmed you would be if you discovered any LESSENING OF AFFECTION for you
in your wife, husband or children.
if you saw ANOTHER ENGROSSING (def. occupy completely) THEIR HEARTs, thoughts and time,
wouldn't you be hurt?
perhaps in such a case, you would feel you would die of a just and virtuous jealousy.
in a similar way, God calls Himself a jealous God (exodus 20.5).
have you not given your heart to other loves and infinitely offended Him/
NEGLECTING YOUR BIBLE READING
note the cases when, for perhaps weeks or longer,
READING GOD'S WORD was NOT A PLEASURE.
some people READ SO CARELESSLY that they
CANNOT REMEMBER WHAT THEY HAVE BEEN READING.
if so, no wonder your life is without purpose and your religion is such a miserable failure.
also note instances of unbelief.
recall the times when you have virtually CHARGED THE GOD OF TRUTH WITH LYING
by your unbelief in His promises and declarations.
God has promised to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him (luke 11.13).
now, do you believe this?
have you expected Him to answer have you not virtually said in your hearts.
when you prayed for the Holy Spirit, 'I do not believe that i will receive'?
if you have not believed or expected to receive the blessing that god has specifically promised,
you have accused Him of lying.
NEGLECT OF PRAYER
think of the times YOU HAVE NEGLECTED
SECRET PRAYER, FAMILY PRAYER AND PRAYER MEETINGS.
remember when you have prayed in such a way that offended God more than if you omitted prayer
altogether.
POOR SPIRITUAL ATTITUDE
the way you have performed your spiritual duties can also reflect a poor attitude,
for example, PRAYING WITH A LACK OF FEELING OR FAITH,
IN A WORLDLY FRAME OF MIND.
so that your words were nothing but
210 mere chatter.
someone who prays this kind of lifeless, careless prayer
would not be able to give a reason for his or her prayers.
A LACK OF LOVE FOR THE SOULS OF FELLOWMEN
look at your friends and relatives and remember how little compassion you have felt for them.
you have stood by and WATCHED THEM GOING RIGHT TO HELL,
yet it SEEMED as though YOU DID NOT CARE.
how many days have there been where you failed to pray about their sinful condition
or show any ardent desire for their salvation?
A LACK OF CONCERN FOR UNBELIEVERS
perhaps you have NOT CARED ENOUGH FOR UNBELIEVERS
TO ATTEMPT TO LEARN ABOUT THEIR CONDITION.
perhaps you will not even subscribe to a missionary magazine.
look at these factors and see how much you really care for the lost.
write down your true concern for them and your desire for their salvation.
MEASURE YOUR DESIRE FOR THEIR SALVATION.
MEASURE it BY the SELF DENIAL you practice TO help SEND THEM THE GOSPEL.
SIN OF HYPOCRISY
DO YOU DENY YOURSELF THE LUXURIES OF LIFE?
DO YOU ECONOMIZE,
or ARE YOU UNWILLING TO SUBJECT YOURSELF TO ANY INCONVENIENCE
TO SAVE THE LOST?
DO YOU PRAY FOR THEM DAILY IN PRIVATE?
are you praying with the correct attitude?
if you are not doing these things and if YOUR SOUL IS NOT AGONIZED FOR THE UNSAVED,
why are you such a hypocrite pretending to be a christian?
your practice of faith is an insult to Jesus Christ!
NEGLECT OF FAMILY AND PRIVATE DUTIES
think of how you have lived, PUTTING YOURSELF BEFORE YOUR FAMILY.
how have you prayed?
what example have you set before them?
WHAT DIRECT EFFORTS DO YOU HABITUALLY MAKE FOR THEIR SPIRITUAL GOOD?
what duty have you not neglected?
ARE YOU WATCHFUL OF YOUR OWN LIFE?
think of how you have hurried through your private duties, never really checking yourself
211 or keeping your accounts straight with God.
how often have you entirely neglected to watch your conduct
and having been off your guard, sinned before the world, the church and God?
NEGLECT TO WATCH OVER FELLOW BELIEVERS
it is wrong to neglect to watch over your brothers and sisters in Christ.
how often have you BROKEN YOUR COVENANT TO WATCH OVER THEM in the Lord?
(note: hebrews 3.13; 10.24-5; I thessalonians 5.11 etc.)
HOW LITTLE TO YOU KNOW OR CARE ABOUT THE STATE OF THEIR SOULS?...
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO BECOME ACQUAINTED WITH THEM?
WITH HOW MANY OF THEM HAVE YOU TAKEN ENOUGH INTEREST
TO KNOW THEIR SPIRITUAL STATE?
go over the list and, wherever you find there has been neglect, write it down.
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU SEEN YOUR FELLOW BELIEVERS
GROWING COLD IN FAITH
AND NOT SPOKEN TO THEM ABOUT IT?
you have seen them beginning to neglect one duty after another
and you did not reprove them in a loving way?
YOU HAVE SEEN THEM FALLING INTO SIN AND YOU LET THEM GO ON.
yet YOU PRETEND TO LOVE THEM.
WHAT A HYPOCRITE?
would you watch your spouse or child go into disgrace or fall into the fire,
and hold your peace?
no, you would not.
what do you think of yourself them
when you pretend to love christians (and Christ)
while you watch your brothers and sisters fall into disgrace without saying anything?
NEGLECT OF SELF DENIAL
there are many who are willing to DO ALMOST ANYTHING in religion
AS LONG AS IT DOES NOT REQUIRE SELF-DENIAL.
when they are required to do anything that requires them to deny themselves,
that is asking too much!
they think they are doing a lot for God, as much as He can reasonably ask.
they are unwilling to deny themselves any comfort or convenience for the sake of serving the Lord.
they WILL NOT WILLINGLY SUFFER DISGRACE FOR THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST.
NOR WILL THEY DENY THEMSELVES THE LUXURIES OF LIVE TO SAVE A WORLD FROM HELL.
THEY HAVE NO IDEA THAT SELF DENIAL IS A CONDITION OF DISCIPLESHIP. (mt. 16.24)
they do not even know what self-denial is.
they have never really
212 denied themselves even a trinket for Christ and the Gospel.
some give great sums and they do not feel the loss because
THEIR OFFERING COMES OUT OF THEIR SURPLUS.
these people often have the audacity to complain about others who give less than they.
yet those about whom they complain may be giving out of what they need.
the poor woman who puts in her dollar has shown more self denial than they have in giving thousands.
from these we now turn to sins of commission. ACTIVE SIN CHOICES.
WORLDLY-MINDEDNESS
what had been the state of YOUR HEART IN REGARD TO YOUR WORLDLY POSSESSIONS?
have you LOOKed AT THEM AS REALLY YOURS -
as if you had a right to dispose of them as your own,
according to your own will?
if you have, write that down.
if you have loved property and sought after it for its own sake
to gratify lust, ambition, a worldly spirit, or to lay it up for your family,
YOU HAVE SINNED.
YOU MUST REPENT.
PRIDE
remember all the instances you can when you have found yourself acting or thinking with pride.
vanity
(def. excessive pride in one's APPEARANCE - Finney's particular focus here - , qualities, abilities, achievements, etc.)
is a particular form of pride.
how many times have you been vain about your dress and appearance?
how many times have you thought more about and taken more trouble and time
decorating your body to go to church than preparing your mind to worship God?
you have attended church caring more about how you appeared physically to other people
than who your soul appeared to the heart-searching God.
you have, in fact, set yourself up to be worshiped by men,
rather than to worship God yourself.
you sought to divide the worship of God's house,
to draw the attention of God's people to your pretty appearance.
do not pretend that you do not care anything about having people look at you.
be honest about it!
would you take all this time with your looks if every person were blind?
213 ENVY
look at the times when you were envious of those whom you thought were above you in any way.
perhaps you have envied those who are more talented or more useful than yourself.
have you not so envied some, that you could not stand to hear them praised?
it has been more pleasant to you to dwell on their faults than their virtues,
their failures rather than their successes.
be honest with yourslef.
if you have harbored this spirit of hell,
repent deeply before God,
or He will never forgive you.
A CRITICAL SPIRIT
remember the times you have had a bitter spirit and spoken of christians
in a manner that did not show charity or love.
LOVE REQUIRES YOU TO HOPE THE BEST THAT THE SITUATION WILL PERMIT and
BELIEVE THE BEST ABOUT ANY AMBIGUOUS CONDUCT.
SLANDER
the times you have SPOKEN UNNECESSARILY ABOUT THE FAULTS,
real or imagined, OF members of the church or OTHERS BEHIND THEIR BACKS-
this is slander.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO LIE TO BE GUILTY OF SLANDER.
TELLING THE TRUTH WITH THE INTENT TO INJURE is slander.
LACK OF SERIOUSNESS
HOW OFTEN HAVE YOU BEEN LIGHTHEARTED BEFORE GOD
AS YOU WOULD NOT HAVE DARED IN THE PRESENCE OF AN EARTHLY RULER?
perhaps you have been an atheist and forgotten that there was a God.
of you have had less respect for Him and His presence than you would show toward and earthly judge.
LYING
understand what lying is.
it is ANY KIND OF INTENDED DECEPTION.
if the deception is not intentional, it is not lying.
but if you DECIDE TO MAKE AN IMPRESSION CONTRARY TO THE NAKED TRUTH, you lie.
write down all those incidents you can remember.
DO NOT CALL THEM BY SOFT NAMES.
God calls them lies and charges you with lying.
214 YOU...MUST CHARGE YOURSELF CORRECTLY.
how numerous are the falsehoods perpetuated every day in business, social situations,
WORDS, LOOKS AND ACTIONS!
ALL ARE DESIGNED TO MAKE AN IMPRESSION ON OTHERS,
FOR SELFISH REASONS
THAT ARE CONTRARY TO THE TRUTH.
CHEATING
remember all the cases in which YOU have dealt with an individual and
DONE TO HIM WHAT YOU WOULD NOT LIKE TO HAVE DONE TO YOU.
that is cheating.
God has laid down a rule for this case:
'WHATEVER YOU WANT MEN TO DO TO YOU, DO ALSO TO THEM' (matthew 7.12).
that is the rule.
and if you have not followed this rule, you are a cheat.
notice the rule is not that you should do 'what you might reasonably expect them to do to you',
because that is a rule that would permit every degree of wickedness.
but it is 'whatever you want men to do you.
HYPOCRISY
hypocrisy may exist in your prayers and confessions to God.
remember when YOU HAVE PRAYED FOR THINGS YOU DID NOT REALLY WANT.
you will know this is happening if, when you have finished praying,
you cannot remember exactly what you have prayed for.
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU CONFESSED SINS THAT YOU DID NOT MEAN TO STOP
COMMITTING?
yes, you confessed sins when you knew you would repeat them,
just as you expected to continue living.
ROBBING GOD
think of THE TIMES YOU HAVE MISSPENT YOUR TIME,
SQUANDERING THE HOURS THAT GOD GAVE YOU TO SERVE HIM AND SAVE SOULS.
maybe you spend too much time with IDLE PASTIMES...
maybe you DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING..
think of CASES WHERE YOU HAVE MISAPPLIED YOUR TALENTS AND MENTAL POWERS.
WHERE have YOU SQUANDERED MONEY ON YOUR LUSTS,
OR SPENT IT FOR THINGS THAT YOU DID NOT NEED,
and that did not contribute to your health, comfort or usefulness?
215 BAD TEMPER
perhaps YOU HAVE ABUSED YOUR SPOUSE, CHILDREN, FAMILY, COWORKERS OR NEIGHBORS...(note: AND MANY OTHERS). write it all down.
HINDERING OTHERS FROM BEING USEFUL
perhaps you have WEAKENED ANOTHER CHRISTIAN'S INFLUENCE BY INSINUATIONS AGAINST HIM.
you have not only robbed God of your own talents, but also tied the hands of somebody else.
what a wicked person is he who not only LOITERS HIMSELF BUT ALSO HINDERS OTHERS!
this is done sometimes by TAKING THEIR TIME NEEDLESSLY,
sometimes by DESTROYING CHRISTIAN CONFIDENCE IN THEM.
by doing thes things you have played into the hands of satan
and you have not only proved yourself to be an idle vagabond,
but also prevented others from working.
IF you find YOU HAVE COMMITTED A FAULT AGAINST AN INDIVIDUAL,
and that individual is within your reach, GO CONFESS IT IMMEDIATELY
and get that transgression out of the way.
if the individual you have injured is TOO FAR AWAY for you to go and see him,
WRITE A LETTER CONFESSING THE INJURY.
IF YOU HAVE DEFRAUDED ANYBODY, RETURN HIS MONEY IN FULL WITH INTEREST.
GET TO WORK WITH YOUR RESTITUTION, N-O-W!
GO NOW!
DO NOT PUT IT OFF.
PROCRASTINATION WILL ONLY MAKE THE MATTER WORSE.
confess to man those sins that have been committed against him.
don't think you can get out of this obligation by ignoring
the old stumbling blocks on your road of life.
in breaking up your fallow ground, YOU MUST REMOVE EVERY OBSTRUCTION.
things may be left that you think are insignificant.
however, IF YOU DO NOT remove the obstacles
and do your best to make restitution for your mistakes,
YOUR FAITH WILL NOT SPARKE.
the reason for the lack of joy in your
216 relationship with Jesus would be that your proud and carnal mind
has covered up something that God required you to confess and remove.
FRUITFUL A HUNDREDFOLD
break up all the ground and turn it over.
do not balk; do not turn away because of little difficulties.
frive the plow right through them.
go deep and turn the ground up so that it will all be mellow and soft.
then it will be ready to receive the seed and bear fruit a hundredfold.
when you have THOUROUGHLY GONE OVER YOUR WHOLE HISTORY in this way,
GO OVER THE GROUND A SECOND TIME,
PAYING SPECIAL ATTENTION TO IT.
YOU WILL FIND the THINGS you put down WILL SUGGEST OTHER THINGS
of which you have been guilty .
these new ones are usually connected with the original offenses.
then GO OVER IT A THIRD TIME, AND YOU WILL REMEMBER OTHER THINGS.
you will find, in the end, that you can remember particular actions
that you did not think you would even remember in eternity.
unless you consider your sins in this way - in detail, one by one -
you cannot comprehend their number.
you should GO OVER THIS LIST AS THOROUGHLY, CAREFULLY AND SERIOUSLY
AS IF YOU WOULD IF YOU WERE PREPARING YOURSELF
FOR THE FINAL JUDGMENT.
as you go over the catalog of your sins,
MAKE A RESOLUTION TO REFORM YOUR WAYS N-O-W.
wherever you find anything wrong, resolve at one, in the strength of God, to sin no more in that way.
it will not benefit you to examine yourself, unless you
DECIDE TO CHANGE EVERY FAULT YOU FIND IN YOUR
HEART, TEMPER AND CONDUCT.
if, AS YOU PROCEED WITH THIS PROJECT
, you find that YOUR SPIRIT IS STILL NOT REJOICING
, SEARCH YOURSELF.
you will see THERE IS STILL SIN blocking your full awareness of the Spirit of God within you.
217 this lack of joy is your signal that you have not been faithful and thorough.
your self-examination requires a full attack - it is not a gentle pastime.
it is tearing sin away from yourself, revealing what can be painful.
you must honestly look at yourself, USE YOUR BIBLE AS YOUR CHECKPOINT.
do not expect God to miraculously break up your fallow ground for you.
you must ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE, and you MUST SUBMIT YOUR WILL.
if you look at yourself accurately,
taking note of your sins,
you will definitely feel something.
you cannot see your sins for what they are without deeply feeling something.
experience proves the benefit of going over our history in this way.
start your work now.
RESOLVE that YOU WILL NEVER STOP UNTIL YOU FIND YOU CAN PRAY.
YOU WILL NEVER HAVE ACCESS
TO THE FULL POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT DWELLING WITH YOU
UNLESS YOU COMPLETELY CONFESS YOUR SINS.
let there be this deep work of repentance and full confession,
THIS BREAKING DOWN BEFORE GOD.
THEN YOU WILL HAVE AS MUCH OF THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER
AS YOU CAN TOLERATE.
the reason so few christians know anything about the spirit of prayer
is that they never take the trouble to examine themselves properly,
and so they never know what it is to have their hearts broken up
to be rebuilt in this way.
MACHINERY AND FRUITLESS CHRISTIANS
it will do no good to preach to you while your heart is in this hardened, fallow state.
the farmer might just as well sow his grain on the rock, because it will not bring forth fruit.
this is why there are so many fruitless believers in the church -
why there is so much outside machinery yet so little deep-toned feeling.
look at the sunday school, for instance,
and see how much machinery there is and how little christian spirit.
if you continue this way, the work will continue to harden you.
you will grow worse and worse, just as the rain and snow on an old fallow field
make the turf thicker and the clods stronger.
218 those who profess to be christians should never be so self-satisfied
that they expect to start a revival
by suddenly jumping out of their sleep, blustering about and talking to sinners.
they must break up their own fallow ground.
if your fallow ground is broken up.
then the way to get more zest is to go out and see sinners on the road to hell,
tlak to them and guide inquiring souls.
you may get excited without this breaking up. you may show a kind of zeal, but it will not last long
and it will not take hold of sinners, unless your heart is broken up.
unless you are right with God and filled with the Spirit,
your work will be mechanical and fruitless.
and now, will you break up your fallow ground?
will you clear your heart before God and persevere until you are thoroughly awake?
if you fail here, if you do not do this, you will not get any further.
i have gone as far with you as possible until you renew your neglected spiritual life.
without a heart ready to receive the fullness of Jesus again,
the rest of this book is worthless to the reader.
it will only harden you and make you worse.
IF YOU DO NOT START WORKING ON YOUR HEART IMMEDIATELY,
one can say that YOU HAVE NO INTENTION OF BEING REVIVED
and you have forsken your minister,
letting him fight the battle alone.
IF YOU DO NOT DO THIS,
I CHARGE YOU WITH HAVE FORSAKEN CHRIST,
WITH REFUSING TO REPENT AND WORK FOR HIM.
because the jews were a nation of farmers, Scripture often refers to their occupation to illustrate its points. the prophet Hosea employed this strategy to tell the jews they were becoming a nation of backsliders. he reproved them for their idolatry and threatened them with the judgments of God.
a revival consists of two parts:
that which concerns the church and
that which concerns the unsaved.
here i will speak about a revival in the church. fallow ground is ground that has once been tilled but that now lies waste. it needs to be broken up and mellowed before it is again ready to receive grain.
if you want to break up the fallow ground of yourself.
EXAMINE AND NOTE THE STATE OF YOUR MIND. (note: CAPITALS in this blog are needy areas in my life)
see where you are.
many people never seem to think about this.
they pay no attention to their own hearts and
they never know whether they are doing well in their faith or not.
they do not know whether they are gaining ground or going back;
whether they are fruitful or going to waste.
208 now is the time to divert your attention from other things and look into this.
make a point to do this.
do not be in a hurry.
thoroughly examine the state of your heart and see where you are.
check to see if you are walking with God every day
or with the devil.
self examination is looking at your life.
it is considering your actions in the past and learning the true character of your life.
look over your personal history.
examine your individual sins one by one.
i do not mean for you to glance at your past life,
see that it has been full of sins,
then go to God and make a general confession.
that is not the way.
YOU MUST LOOK AT EACH SIN ONE BY ONE.
it is a good idea to take a pen and paper as you go over them and write each sin down as it occurs to you.
go over them as carefully as a merchant goes over his books.
each time a sin comes to mind, add it to the list.
GENERAL CONFESSIONS OF SIN WILL NEVER DO.
your sins were committed one by one,
and they should be reviewed and repented of one by one.
now, we begin and review what are commonly, but improperly,
called sins of omission. OUR NEGLECT.
INGRATITUDE
write down under this heading all the times you can remember where you have received
FAVORS FROM GOD for which YOU have NEVER THANKED HIM.
how many cased can you remember?
perhaps a remarkable provision, some wonderful turn of events that saved you from ruin.
write down the instances of God's goodness to you when you were in sin-before your conversion-
for which you have never been thankful enough.
do not forget the numerous mercies you have received since.
how long is the list of times where your ingratitude has been so lacking
that you want to hide your face in shame?
Go on your knees, confess these times one by one to God and ask forgiveness.
the very act of confession, by the laws of suggestion.,
will bring similar sins to mind.
write these down.
review them three or four times this same way
and see what an astonishing number of mercies there are for which you have never thanked God.
209 LACK OF LOVE FOR GOD
think how grieved and alarmed you would be if you discovered any LESSENING OF AFFECTION for you
in your wife, husband or children.
if you saw ANOTHER ENGROSSING (def. occupy completely) THEIR HEARTs, thoughts and time,
wouldn't you be hurt?
perhaps in such a case, you would feel you would die of a just and virtuous jealousy.
in a similar way, God calls Himself a jealous God (exodus 20.5).
have you not given your heart to other loves and infinitely offended Him/
NEGLECTING YOUR BIBLE READING
note the cases when, for perhaps weeks or longer,
READING GOD'S WORD was NOT A PLEASURE.
some people READ SO CARELESSLY that they
CANNOT REMEMBER WHAT THEY HAVE BEEN READING.
if so, no wonder your life is without purpose and your religion is such a miserable failure.
also note instances of unbelief.
recall the times when you have virtually CHARGED THE GOD OF TRUTH WITH LYING
by your unbelief in His promises and declarations.
God has promised to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him (luke 11.13).
now, do you believe this?
have you expected Him to answer have you not virtually said in your hearts.
when you prayed for the Holy Spirit, 'I do not believe that i will receive'?
if you have not believed or expected to receive the blessing that god has specifically promised,
you have accused Him of lying.
NEGLECT OF PRAYER
think of the times YOU HAVE NEGLECTED
SECRET PRAYER, FAMILY PRAYER AND PRAYER MEETINGS.
remember when you have prayed in such a way that offended God more than if you omitted prayer
altogether.
POOR SPIRITUAL ATTITUDE
the way you have performed your spiritual duties can also reflect a poor attitude,
for example, PRAYING WITH A LACK OF FEELING OR FAITH,
IN A WORLDLY FRAME OF MIND.
so that your words were nothing but
210 mere chatter.
someone who prays this kind of lifeless, careless prayer
would not be able to give a reason for his or her prayers.
A LACK OF LOVE FOR THE SOULS OF FELLOWMEN
look at your friends and relatives and remember how little compassion you have felt for them.
you have stood by and WATCHED THEM GOING RIGHT TO HELL,
yet it SEEMED as though YOU DID NOT CARE.
how many days have there been where you failed to pray about their sinful condition
or show any ardent desire for their salvation?
A LACK OF CONCERN FOR UNBELIEVERS
perhaps you have NOT CARED ENOUGH FOR UNBELIEVERS
TO ATTEMPT TO LEARN ABOUT THEIR CONDITION.
perhaps you will not even subscribe to a missionary magazine.
look at these factors and see how much you really care for the lost.
write down your true concern for them and your desire for their salvation.
MEASURE YOUR DESIRE FOR THEIR SALVATION.
MEASURE it BY the SELF DENIAL you practice TO help SEND THEM THE GOSPEL.
SIN OF HYPOCRISY
DO YOU DENY YOURSELF THE LUXURIES OF LIFE?
DO YOU ECONOMIZE,
or ARE YOU UNWILLING TO SUBJECT YOURSELF TO ANY INCONVENIENCE
TO SAVE THE LOST?
DO YOU PRAY FOR THEM DAILY IN PRIVATE?
are you praying with the correct attitude?
if you are not doing these things and if YOUR SOUL IS NOT AGONIZED FOR THE UNSAVED,
why are you such a hypocrite pretending to be a christian?
your practice of faith is an insult to Jesus Christ!
NEGLECT OF FAMILY AND PRIVATE DUTIES
think of how you have lived, PUTTING YOURSELF BEFORE YOUR FAMILY.
how have you prayed?
what example have you set before them?
WHAT DIRECT EFFORTS DO YOU HABITUALLY MAKE FOR THEIR SPIRITUAL GOOD?
what duty have you not neglected?
ARE YOU WATCHFUL OF YOUR OWN LIFE?
think of how you have hurried through your private duties, never really checking yourself
211 or keeping your accounts straight with God.
how often have you entirely neglected to watch your conduct
and having been off your guard, sinned before the world, the church and God?
NEGLECT TO WATCH OVER FELLOW BELIEVERS
it is wrong to neglect to watch over your brothers and sisters in Christ.
how often have you BROKEN YOUR COVENANT TO WATCH OVER THEM in the Lord?
(note: hebrews 3.13; 10.24-5; I thessalonians 5.11 etc.)
HOW LITTLE TO YOU KNOW OR CARE ABOUT THE STATE OF THEIR SOULS?...
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO BECOME ACQUAINTED WITH THEM?
WITH HOW MANY OF THEM HAVE YOU TAKEN ENOUGH INTEREST
TO KNOW THEIR SPIRITUAL STATE?
go over the list and, wherever you find there has been neglect, write it down.
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU SEEN YOUR FELLOW BELIEVERS
GROWING COLD IN FAITH
AND NOT SPOKEN TO THEM ABOUT IT?
you have seen them beginning to neglect one duty after another
and you did not reprove them in a loving way?
YOU HAVE SEEN THEM FALLING INTO SIN AND YOU LET THEM GO ON.
yet YOU PRETEND TO LOVE THEM.
WHAT A HYPOCRITE?
would you watch your spouse or child go into disgrace or fall into the fire,
and hold your peace?
no, you would not.
what do you think of yourself them
when you pretend to love christians (and Christ)
while you watch your brothers and sisters fall into disgrace without saying anything?
NEGLECT OF SELF DENIAL
there are many who are willing to DO ALMOST ANYTHING in religion
AS LONG AS IT DOES NOT REQUIRE SELF-DENIAL.
when they are required to do anything that requires them to deny themselves,
that is asking too much!
they think they are doing a lot for God, as much as He can reasonably ask.
they are unwilling to deny themselves any comfort or convenience for the sake of serving the Lord.
they WILL NOT WILLINGLY SUFFER DISGRACE FOR THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST.
NOR WILL THEY DENY THEMSELVES THE LUXURIES OF LIVE TO SAVE A WORLD FROM HELL.
THEY HAVE NO IDEA THAT SELF DENIAL IS A CONDITION OF DISCIPLESHIP. (mt. 16.24)
they do not even know what self-denial is.
they have never really
212 denied themselves even a trinket for Christ and the Gospel.
some give great sums and they do not feel the loss because
THEIR OFFERING COMES OUT OF THEIR SURPLUS.
these people often have the audacity to complain about others who give less than they.
yet those about whom they complain may be giving out of what they need.
the poor woman who puts in her dollar has shown more self denial than they have in giving thousands.
from these we now turn to sins of commission. ACTIVE SIN CHOICES.
WORLDLY-MINDEDNESS
what had been the state of YOUR HEART IN REGARD TO YOUR WORLDLY POSSESSIONS?
have you LOOKed AT THEM AS REALLY YOURS -
as if you had a right to dispose of them as your own,
according to your own will?
if you have, write that down.
if you have loved property and sought after it for its own sake
to gratify lust, ambition, a worldly spirit, or to lay it up for your family,
YOU HAVE SINNED.
YOU MUST REPENT.
PRIDE
remember all the instances you can when you have found yourself acting or thinking with pride.
vanity
(def. excessive pride in one's APPEARANCE - Finney's particular focus here - , qualities, abilities, achievements, etc.)
is a particular form of pride.
how many times have you been vain about your dress and appearance?
how many times have you thought more about and taken more trouble and time
decorating your body to go to church than preparing your mind to worship God?
you have attended church caring more about how you appeared physically to other people
than who your soul appeared to the heart-searching God.
you have, in fact, set yourself up to be worshiped by men,
rather than to worship God yourself.
you sought to divide the worship of God's house,
to draw the attention of God's people to your pretty appearance.
do not pretend that you do not care anything about having people look at you.
be honest about it!
would you take all this time with your looks if every person were blind?
213 ENVY
look at the times when you were envious of those whom you thought were above you in any way.
perhaps you have envied those who are more talented or more useful than yourself.
have you not so envied some, that you could not stand to hear them praised?
it has been more pleasant to you to dwell on their faults than their virtues,
their failures rather than their successes.
be honest with yourslef.
if you have harbored this spirit of hell,
repent deeply before God,
or He will never forgive you.
A CRITICAL SPIRIT
remember the times you have had a bitter spirit and spoken of christians
in a manner that did not show charity or love.
LOVE REQUIRES YOU TO HOPE THE BEST THAT THE SITUATION WILL PERMIT and
BELIEVE THE BEST ABOUT ANY AMBIGUOUS CONDUCT.
SLANDER
the times you have SPOKEN UNNECESSARILY ABOUT THE FAULTS,
real or imagined, OF members of the church or OTHERS BEHIND THEIR BACKS-
this is slander.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO LIE TO BE GUILTY OF SLANDER.
TELLING THE TRUTH WITH THE INTENT TO INJURE is slander.
LACK OF SERIOUSNESS
HOW OFTEN HAVE YOU BEEN LIGHTHEARTED BEFORE GOD
AS YOU WOULD NOT HAVE DARED IN THE PRESENCE OF AN EARTHLY RULER?
perhaps you have been an atheist and forgotten that there was a God.
of you have had less respect for Him and His presence than you would show toward and earthly judge.
LYING
understand what lying is.
it is ANY KIND OF INTENDED DECEPTION.
if the deception is not intentional, it is not lying.
but if you DECIDE TO MAKE AN IMPRESSION CONTRARY TO THE NAKED TRUTH, you lie.
write down all those incidents you can remember.
DO NOT CALL THEM BY SOFT NAMES.
God calls them lies and charges you with lying.
214 YOU...MUST CHARGE YOURSELF CORRECTLY.
how numerous are the falsehoods perpetuated every day in business, social situations,
WORDS, LOOKS AND ACTIONS!
ALL ARE DESIGNED TO MAKE AN IMPRESSION ON OTHERS,
FOR SELFISH REASONS
THAT ARE CONTRARY TO THE TRUTH.
CHEATING
remember all the cases in which YOU have dealt with an individual and
DONE TO HIM WHAT YOU WOULD NOT LIKE TO HAVE DONE TO YOU.
that is cheating.
God has laid down a rule for this case:
'WHATEVER YOU WANT MEN TO DO TO YOU, DO ALSO TO THEM' (matthew 7.12).
that is the rule.
and if you have not followed this rule, you are a cheat.
notice the rule is not that you should do 'what you might reasonably expect them to do to you',
because that is a rule that would permit every degree of wickedness.
but it is 'whatever you want men to do you.
HYPOCRISY
hypocrisy may exist in your prayers and confessions to God.
remember when YOU HAVE PRAYED FOR THINGS YOU DID NOT REALLY WANT.
you will know this is happening if, when you have finished praying,
you cannot remember exactly what you have prayed for.
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU CONFESSED SINS THAT YOU DID NOT MEAN TO STOP
COMMITTING?
yes, you confessed sins when you knew you would repeat them,
just as you expected to continue living.
ROBBING GOD
think of THE TIMES YOU HAVE MISSPENT YOUR TIME,
SQUANDERING THE HOURS THAT GOD GAVE YOU TO SERVE HIM AND SAVE SOULS.
maybe you spend too much time with IDLE PASTIMES...
maybe you DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING..
think of CASES WHERE YOU HAVE MISAPPLIED YOUR TALENTS AND MENTAL POWERS.
WHERE have YOU SQUANDERED MONEY ON YOUR LUSTS,
OR SPENT IT FOR THINGS THAT YOU DID NOT NEED,
and that did not contribute to your health, comfort or usefulness?
215 BAD TEMPER
perhaps YOU HAVE ABUSED YOUR SPOUSE, CHILDREN, FAMILY, COWORKERS OR NEIGHBORS...(note: AND MANY OTHERS). write it all down.
HINDERING OTHERS FROM BEING USEFUL
perhaps you have WEAKENED ANOTHER CHRISTIAN'S INFLUENCE BY INSINUATIONS AGAINST HIM.
you have not only robbed God of your own talents, but also tied the hands of somebody else.
what a wicked person is he who not only LOITERS HIMSELF BUT ALSO HINDERS OTHERS!
this is done sometimes by TAKING THEIR TIME NEEDLESSLY,
sometimes by DESTROYING CHRISTIAN CONFIDENCE IN THEM.
by doing thes things you have played into the hands of satan
and you have not only proved yourself to be an idle vagabond,
but also prevented others from working.
IF you find YOU HAVE COMMITTED A FAULT AGAINST AN INDIVIDUAL,
and that individual is within your reach, GO CONFESS IT IMMEDIATELY
and get that transgression out of the way.
if the individual you have injured is TOO FAR AWAY for you to go and see him,
WRITE A LETTER CONFESSING THE INJURY.
IF YOU HAVE DEFRAUDED ANYBODY, RETURN HIS MONEY IN FULL WITH INTEREST.
GET TO WORK WITH YOUR RESTITUTION, N-O-W!
GO NOW!
DO NOT PUT IT OFF.
PROCRASTINATION WILL ONLY MAKE THE MATTER WORSE.
confess to man those sins that have been committed against him.
don't think you can get out of this obligation by ignoring
the old stumbling blocks on your road of life.
in breaking up your fallow ground, YOU MUST REMOVE EVERY OBSTRUCTION.
things may be left that you think are insignificant.
however, IF YOU DO NOT remove the obstacles
and do your best to make restitution for your mistakes,
YOUR FAITH WILL NOT SPARKE.
the reason for the lack of joy in your
216 relationship with Jesus would be that your proud and carnal mind
has covered up something that God required you to confess and remove.
FRUITFUL A HUNDREDFOLD
break up all the ground and turn it over.
do not balk; do not turn away because of little difficulties.
frive the plow right through them.
go deep and turn the ground up so that it will all be mellow and soft.
then it will be ready to receive the seed and bear fruit a hundredfold.
when you have THOUROUGHLY GONE OVER YOUR WHOLE HISTORY in this way,
GO OVER THE GROUND A SECOND TIME,
PAYING SPECIAL ATTENTION TO IT.
YOU WILL FIND the THINGS you put down WILL SUGGEST OTHER THINGS
of which you have been guilty .
these new ones are usually connected with the original offenses.
then GO OVER IT A THIRD TIME, AND YOU WILL REMEMBER OTHER THINGS.
you will find, in the end, that you can remember particular actions
that you did not think you would even remember in eternity.
unless you consider your sins in this way - in detail, one by one -
you cannot comprehend their number.
you should GO OVER THIS LIST AS THOROUGHLY, CAREFULLY AND SERIOUSLY
AS IF YOU WOULD IF YOU WERE PREPARING YOURSELF
FOR THE FINAL JUDGMENT.
as you go over the catalog of your sins,
MAKE A RESOLUTION TO REFORM YOUR WAYS N-O-W.
wherever you find anything wrong, resolve at one, in the strength of God, to sin no more in that way.
it will not benefit you to examine yourself, unless you
DECIDE TO CHANGE EVERY FAULT YOU FIND IN YOUR
HEART, TEMPER AND CONDUCT.
if, AS YOU PROCEED WITH THIS PROJECT
, you find that YOUR SPIRIT IS STILL NOT REJOICING
, SEARCH YOURSELF.
you will see THERE IS STILL SIN blocking your full awareness of the Spirit of God within you.
217 this lack of joy is your signal that you have not been faithful and thorough.
your self-examination requires a full attack - it is not a gentle pastime.
it is tearing sin away from yourself, revealing what can be painful.
you must honestly look at yourself, USE YOUR BIBLE AS YOUR CHECKPOINT.
do not expect God to miraculously break up your fallow ground for you.
you must ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE, and you MUST SUBMIT YOUR WILL.
if you look at yourself accurately,
taking note of your sins,
you will definitely feel something.
you cannot see your sins for what they are without deeply feeling something.
experience proves the benefit of going over our history in this way.
start your work now.
RESOLVE that YOU WILL NEVER STOP UNTIL YOU FIND YOU CAN PRAY.
YOU WILL NEVER HAVE ACCESS
TO THE FULL POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT DWELLING WITH YOU
UNLESS YOU COMPLETELY CONFESS YOUR SINS.
let there be this deep work of repentance and full confession,
THIS BREAKING DOWN BEFORE GOD.
THEN YOU WILL HAVE AS MUCH OF THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER
AS YOU CAN TOLERATE.
the reason so few christians know anything about the spirit of prayer
is that they never take the trouble to examine themselves properly,
and so they never know what it is to have their hearts broken up
to be rebuilt in this way.
MACHINERY AND FRUITLESS CHRISTIANS
it will do no good to preach to you while your heart is in this hardened, fallow state.
the farmer might just as well sow his grain on the rock, because it will not bring forth fruit.
this is why there are so many fruitless believers in the church -
why there is so much outside machinery yet so little deep-toned feeling.
look at the sunday school, for instance,
and see how much machinery there is and how little christian spirit.
if you continue this way, the work will continue to harden you.
you will grow worse and worse, just as the rain and snow on an old fallow field
make the turf thicker and the clods stronger.
218 those who profess to be christians should never be so self-satisfied
that they expect to start a revival
by suddenly jumping out of their sleep, blustering about and talking to sinners.
they must break up their own fallow ground.
if your fallow ground is broken up.
then the way to get more zest is to go out and see sinners on the road to hell,
tlak to them and guide inquiring souls.
you may get excited without this breaking up. you may show a kind of zeal, but it will not last long
and it will not take hold of sinners, unless your heart is broken up.
unless you are right with God and filled with the Spirit,
your work will be mechanical and fruitless.
and now, will you break up your fallow ground?
will you clear your heart before God and persevere until you are thoroughly awake?
if you fail here, if you do not do this, you will not get any further.
i have gone as far with you as possible until you renew your neglected spiritual life.
without a heart ready to receive the fullness of Jesus again,
the rest of this book is worthless to the reader.
it will only harden you and make you worse.
IF YOU DO NOT START WORKING ON YOUR HEART IMMEDIATELY,
one can say that YOU HAVE NO INTENTION OF BEING REVIVED
and you have forsken your minister,
letting him fight the battle alone.
IF YOU DO NOT DO THIS,
I CHARGE YOU WITH HAVE FORSAKEN CHRIST,
WITH REFUSING TO REPENT AND WORK FOR HIM.
Sunday, June 5, 2016
6.5.2016 Finney on WHEN TO EXPECT A REVIVAL
202 when (note: to EXPECT A REVIVAL!)
*THERE IS A LACK OF BROTHERLY LOVE AND CHRISTIAN CONFIDENCE AMONG BELIEVERS, then a revival is needed. then there is a loud call for God to revive His work.
expect a revival when
*THERE ARE DISSENSIONS, JEALOUSIES AND EVIL RUMORS AMONG BELIEVERS. these things show that christians have grown far away from God and it is time to think seriously about a revival.
revival is needed when
*THERE IS A WORLDLY SPIRIT IN THE CHURCH. the church
HAS SUNK INTO A LOW AND
*BACKSLIDDEN STATE WHEN you see christians
*CONFORM TO THE WORLD in dress, parties, seeking worldly amusement and reading filthy novels.
(note:
*spend MOST OF FREE TIME ON THE BOOB TUBE ie. INTERNET,
*addicted to PORN,
*SEEKING TO BE RECOGNIZED BY AND 'LIKE'D by other sinful human beings, etc. ie. idolatry,
*A DEVOTION TO THINGS THAT 'I LIKE' rather than having devoted Self completely to seeking God's righteousness and kingdom on earth).
when the church finds its members falling into gross and scandalous sins
(note: ie. focus on material things, self-focus, pleasure, porn replacing real love with virtual 'relationships' that leave one profoundly ALONE, choosing to deny which gender God created them to be, a refusal to be in a supportive, life-long focus on husband and family, total focus on self to the *ABANDONMENT OF OTHER HUMAN BEINGS in the church etc. etc. etc....)
then it is time to wake up and cry to God for a revival of religion.
when
*SINNERS (note: ie. the unsaved in your daily life) ARE CARELESS AND STUPID, it is time for christians to get to work. it is as much their duty to wake up as it is for firemen to wake up when a fire breaks out. the church must put out the fires of hell that are consuming the wicked. sleep? should the firemen sleep and let thee whole city burn down? (note: ezekiel 3.16-21)
what would people think of such firemen?
203 and yet their guilt would not compare with the guilt of christians who sleep while sinners around them are sinking into the fires of hell.
if
*A MINISTER finds he HAS LOST, in any degree, THE CONFIDENCE of his people, he should work for a revival, knowing it is the only means of regaining their confidence. i do not mean that his motive should be merely to regain the confidence of his people, but a revival started through his initiative will restore the confidence
OF THE PRAYING GROUP OF HIS PEOPLE.
IF an elder or private MEMBER OF THE CHURCH FINDS HIS BRETHREN COLD TOWARD HIM, there is
ONLY ONE WAY TO RESTORE THEIR FAITH. it is by
BEING REVIVED HIMSELF and
POURING OUT THE SPLENDOR OF JESUS FROM HIS LIFE
the fact is, christians are more to blame for not being revived than sinners are for not being converted.
A CHURCH DECLINING in THIS WAY
*CANNOT CONTINUE TO EXIST WITHOUT A REVIVAL. if it receives
*NEW MEMBERS, they WILL for the most part, BE UNGODLY PEOPLE. without revivals, there usually will not even be as many people converted as die in a year. there have been churches in this country where all of the members have died off and since there were no revivals to convert others in their place, the church has died and thee organization has dissolved.
without a revival,
*SINNERS WILL GROW HARDER AND HARDER despite preaching. your children and your friends will remain unsaved if there are no revivals to convert them. it would be better for them if there were no means of grace, no sanctuary, no Bible, and no preaching than to live and die where there is no revival.
there is no other way for a church to be sanctified, grow in grace and be groomed for heaven. what is growing in grace? is it hearing sermons and getting some new ideas about religion? no, not at all. the christian who does this and nothing else will grow worse and worse, more and more hardened. finally, it will be nearly impossible to rouse him.
204 A REVIVAL CAN BE EXPECTED WHEN christian
*HAVE THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER FOR A REVIVAL. that is, when they pray as if their hearts were set on it. sometimes christians do not use a definite prayer for a revival, not even when they are inspired in prayer. their minds are on something else -the salvation of the lost - and they are not
*PRAYING FOR REVIVAL AMONG THEMSELVES. but when they feel the lack of a revival, they will pray for it. people feel for
*THEIR OWN FAMILIES AND NEIGHBORHOODS, so they will earnestly pray for them.
what constitutes THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER? is it many prayers and warm words? no. prayer is
*THE STATE OF THE HEART. the spirit of prayer is
*A STATE OF CONTINUAL DESIRE AND ANXIETY FOR THE SALVATION OF SINNERS. it can even be something that weighs them down. it is the same, as far as the philosophy of mind is concerned,
*AS WHEN A MAN IS CONCERNED WITH SOME WORLDLY INTEREST. a christian who has this spirit of prayer
*FEEL CONCERNED FOR SOULS. THEY ARE ALWAYS ON HIS MIND. he thinks of them by day and dreams of them by night. this is 'praying without ceasing'. (..I thessalonians 5.17) his *PRAYERS SEEM TO FLOW FROM HIS HEART LIKE WATER: 'O Lord, revive Your work (habbakuk 3.2). sometimes this feeling is very deep.
this is by no means fanaticism. (def. extreme, uncritical enthusiasm or zeal). it is just what paul felt when he said, 'my little children, for whom i labor in birth' (galatians 4.19). this labor of soul is that deep agony that people feel when they
*HOLD ON TO GOD FOR A BLESSING AND WILL NOT LET HIM GO UNTIL THEY RECEIVE IT. i do not mean to say that it is essential to have this great distress in order to have the spirit of prayer. but this deep, continual, earnest desire for the salvation of sinners is what constitutes the spirit of prayer for a revival.
when this feeling exists in a church, unless the Spirit is grieved away by sin, there will always be a revival of christians. generally, it will involve the conversion of sinners to Jesus. a clergyman
205 ..A REVIVAL IS NEAR WHEN
*CHRISTIANS BEGIN TO C-O-N-F-E-S-S THEIR SINS TO O-N-E A-N-O-T-H-E-R. usually they confess in a general half-hearted manner. they may do it in eloquent language, but it means nothing. but when there is
*HONEST BREAKING DOWN AND A POURING OUT OF THE HEART in confession of sin, the floodgates will soon burst open and salvation will flow everywhere.
a revival can be expected when christians are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to carry it on. they must be
*WILLING TO SACRIFICE THEY FEELINGS, BUSINESS, AND TIME TO HELP THE WORK. *MINISTERS (NOTE: AND DISCIPLES!) must be willing to expend their energy. they MUST BE WILLING TO
206 OFFEND THE IMPENITENT BY PLAIN AND FAITHFUL SPEECH AND perhaps
*OFFEND MANY MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH who will not repent. they
*MUST TAKE A STAND REGARDING THEE REVIVAL, WHATEVER THE CONSEQUENCES. they must be prepared to go on with the work even though they
*RISK LOSING THE AFFECTION OF the impenitent and (..the) cold members of the church. THE MINISTER MUST BE PREPARED, if it is the will of God,
*TO BE DRIVEN AWAY FROM THE PLACE. he must be DETERMINED TO GO STRAIGHT FORWARD, LEAVING THE EVENT IN GOD'S HANDS...
206 *OFFEND THE IMPENITENT BY PLAIN AND FAITHFUL SPEECH
*THERE IS A LACK OF BROTHERLY LOVE AND CHRISTIAN CONFIDENCE AMONG BELIEVERS, then a revival is needed. then there is a loud call for God to revive His work.
expect a revival when
*THERE ARE DISSENSIONS, JEALOUSIES AND EVIL RUMORS AMONG BELIEVERS. these things show that christians have grown far away from God and it is time to think seriously about a revival.
revival is needed when
*THERE IS A WORLDLY SPIRIT IN THE CHURCH. the church
HAS SUNK INTO A LOW AND
*BACKSLIDDEN STATE WHEN you see christians
*CONFORM TO THE WORLD in dress, parties, seeking worldly amusement and reading filthy novels.
(note:
*spend MOST OF FREE TIME ON THE BOOB TUBE ie. INTERNET,
*addicted to PORN,
*SEEKING TO BE RECOGNIZED BY AND 'LIKE'D by other sinful human beings, etc. ie. idolatry,
*A DEVOTION TO THINGS THAT 'I LIKE' rather than having devoted Self completely to seeking God's righteousness and kingdom on earth).
when the church finds its members falling into gross and scandalous sins
(note: ie. focus on material things, self-focus, pleasure, porn replacing real love with virtual 'relationships' that leave one profoundly ALONE, choosing to deny which gender God created them to be, a refusal to be in a supportive, life-long focus on husband and family, total focus on self to the *ABANDONMENT OF OTHER HUMAN BEINGS in the church etc. etc. etc....)
then it is time to wake up and cry to God for a revival of religion.
when
*SINNERS (note: ie. the unsaved in your daily life) ARE CARELESS AND STUPID, it is time for christians to get to work. it is as much their duty to wake up as it is for firemen to wake up when a fire breaks out. the church must put out the fires of hell that are consuming the wicked. sleep? should the firemen sleep and let thee whole city burn down? (note: ezekiel 3.16-21)
what would people think of such firemen?
203 and yet their guilt would not compare with the guilt of christians who sleep while sinners around them are sinking into the fires of hell.
if
*A MINISTER finds he HAS LOST, in any degree, THE CONFIDENCE of his people, he should work for a revival, knowing it is the only means of regaining their confidence. i do not mean that his motive should be merely to regain the confidence of his people, but a revival started through his initiative will restore the confidence
OF THE PRAYING GROUP OF HIS PEOPLE.
IF an elder or private MEMBER OF THE CHURCH FINDS HIS BRETHREN COLD TOWARD HIM, there is
ONLY ONE WAY TO RESTORE THEIR FAITH. it is by
BEING REVIVED HIMSELF and
POURING OUT THE SPLENDOR OF JESUS FROM HIS LIFE
the fact is, christians are more to blame for not being revived than sinners are for not being converted.
A CHURCH DECLINING in THIS WAY
*CANNOT CONTINUE TO EXIST WITHOUT A REVIVAL. if it receives
*NEW MEMBERS, they WILL for the most part, BE UNGODLY PEOPLE. without revivals, there usually will not even be as many people converted as die in a year. there have been churches in this country where all of the members have died off and since there were no revivals to convert others in their place, the church has died and thee organization has dissolved.
without a revival,
*SINNERS WILL GROW HARDER AND HARDER despite preaching. your children and your friends will remain unsaved if there are no revivals to convert them. it would be better for them if there were no means of grace, no sanctuary, no Bible, and no preaching than to live and die where there is no revival.
there is no other way for a church to be sanctified, grow in grace and be groomed for heaven. what is growing in grace? is it hearing sermons and getting some new ideas about religion? no, not at all. the christian who does this and nothing else will grow worse and worse, more and more hardened. finally, it will be nearly impossible to rouse him.
204 A REVIVAL CAN BE EXPECTED WHEN christian
*HAVE THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER FOR A REVIVAL. that is, when they pray as if their hearts were set on it. sometimes christians do not use a definite prayer for a revival, not even when they are inspired in prayer. their minds are on something else -the salvation of the lost - and they are not
*PRAYING FOR REVIVAL AMONG THEMSELVES. but when they feel the lack of a revival, they will pray for it. people feel for
*THEIR OWN FAMILIES AND NEIGHBORHOODS, so they will earnestly pray for them.
what constitutes THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER? is it many prayers and warm words? no. prayer is
*THE STATE OF THE HEART. the spirit of prayer is
*A STATE OF CONTINUAL DESIRE AND ANXIETY FOR THE SALVATION OF SINNERS. it can even be something that weighs them down. it is the same, as far as the philosophy of mind is concerned,
*AS WHEN A MAN IS CONCERNED WITH SOME WORLDLY INTEREST. a christian who has this spirit of prayer
*FEEL CONCERNED FOR SOULS. THEY ARE ALWAYS ON HIS MIND. he thinks of them by day and dreams of them by night. this is 'praying without ceasing'. (..I thessalonians 5.17) his *PRAYERS SEEM TO FLOW FROM HIS HEART LIKE WATER: 'O Lord, revive Your work (habbakuk 3.2). sometimes this feeling is very deep.
this is by no means fanaticism. (def. extreme, uncritical enthusiasm or zeal). it is just what paul felt when he said, 'my little children, for whom i labor in birth' (galatians 4.19). this labor of soul is that deep agony that people feel when they
*HOLD ON TO GOD FOR A BLESSING AND WILL NOT LET HIM GO UNTIL THEY RECEIVE IT. i do not mean to say that it is essential to have this great distress in order to have the spirit of prayer. but this deep, continual, earnest desire for the salvation of sinners is what constitutes the spirit of prayer for a revival.
when this feeling exists in a church, unless the Spirit is grieved away by sin, there will always be a revival of christians. generally, it will involve the conversion of sinners to Jesus. a clergyman
205 ..A REVIVAL IS NEAR WHEN
*CHRISTIANS BEGIN TO C-O-N-F-E-S-S THEIR SINS TO O-N-E A-N-O-T-H-E-R. usually they confess in a general half-hearted manner. they may do it in eloquent language, but it means nothing. but when there is
*HONEST BREAKING DOWN AND A POURING OUT OF THE HEART in confession of sin, the floodgates will soon burst open and salvation will flow everywhere.
a revival can be expected when christians are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to carry it on. they must be
*WILLING TO SACRIFICE THEY FEELINGS, BUSINESS, AND TIME TO HELP THE WORK. *MINISTERS (NOTE: AND DISCIPLES!) must be willing to expend their energy. they MUST BE WILLING TO
206 OFFEND THE IMPENITENT BY PLAIN AND FAITHFUL SPEECH AND perhaps
*OFFEND MANY MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH who will not repent. they
*MUST TAKE A STAND REGARDING THEE REVIVAL, WHATEVER THE CONSEQUENCES. they must be prepared to go on with the work even though they
*RISK LOSING THE AFFECTION OF the impenitent and (..the) cold members of the church. THE MINISTER MUST BE PREPARED, if it is the will of God,
*TO BE DRIVEN AWAY FROM THE PLACE. he must be DETERMINED TO GO STRAIGHT FORWARD, LEAVING THE EVENT IN GOD'S HANDS...
206 *OFFEND THE IMPENITENT BY PLAIN AND FAITHFUL SPEECH
6.5.2016 Finney on HOW TO START A REVIVAL BOOK 3: HOW TO EXPERIENCE REVIVAL
this is the first chapter of book three, HOW TO EXPERIENCE A REVIVAL, found in the 'Experiencing the presence of God', which contains for books written by Finney.
200 preface the lectures of charles grandison finney (1792-1875)0 on revivals of religion probably constitute the most exhaustive treatment on the subject that can be found. the lectures were the result of intense study, both of the Bible and of human need. F was a highly spiritual and distinguished evangelist, pastor and theologian.
he was the most noteworthy 19th century apostle of revival. it is estimated that over 250,000 souls were converted as a result of his preaching...
201 revival is renewed conviction of sin and repentance, followed by an intense de4sire to live in obedience to God. it is giving up one's will to god in deep humility.
mr. F once visited a factory to see the machinery. because he had just come from a revival, he was in a reverent mood. all of the workers knew who he was. one lady, who saw him as she was working, made a rude comment to her neighbor then laughed. ..R stopped and looked at her with sorrow in his eyes.
she stopped working, breaking her thread. she then became so upset that she could not repair the thread and start again. trying to calm herself, she looked out the window. but again and again, her emotions got the best of her. finally when sat down and cried.
..F then approached here and spoke with her. she soon showed a deep sense of sin. the feeling spread through the establishment like fire and in a few hours almost every person employed there was under conviction. thee feeling was so pervasive that the owner, though a worldly man, was astounded and stopped all work to hold a prayer meeting.
in the owner's opinion, it was a great deal more important to have these people converted than to continue production. in a few days, the owner and nearly all the employees (about 3000) were fully converted. the Lord's rebuke of this woman's comment through mr. F's reverent, yet compassionate, reaction brought here under conviction. seeing this undoubtedly inspired the massive revival.
200 preface the lectures of charles grandison finney (1792-1875)0 on revivals of religion probably constitute the most exhaustive treatment on the subject that can be found. the lectures were the result of intense study, both of the Bible and of human need. F was a highly spiritual and distinguished evangelist, pastor and theologian.
he was the most noteworthy 19th century apostle of revival. it is estimated that over 250,000 souls were converted as a result of his preaching...
201 revival is renewed conviction of sin and repentance, followed by an intense de4sire to live in obedience to God. it is giving up one's will to god in deep humility.
mr. F once visited a factory to see the machinery. because he had just come from a revival, he was in a reverent mood. all of the workers knew who he was. one lady, who saw him as she was working, made a rude comment to her neighbor then laughed. ..R stopped and looked at her with sorrow in his eyes.
she stopped working, breaking her thread. she then became so upset that she could not repair the thread and start again. trying to calm herself, she looked out the window. but again and again, her emotions got the best of her. finally when sat down and cried.
..F then approached here and spoke with her. she soon showed a deep sense of sin. the feeling spread through the establishment like fire and in a few hours almost every person employed there was under conviction. thee feeling was so pervasive that the owner, though a worldly man, was astounded and stopped all work to hold a prayer meeting.
in the owner's opinion, it was a great deal more important to have these people converted than to continue production. in a few days, the owner and nearly all the employees (about 3000) were fully converted. the Lord's rebuke of this woman's comment through mr. F's reverent, yet compassionate, reaction brought here under conviction. seeing this undoubtedly inspired the massive revival.
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
6.1.2016 DAILY PRAYER
- HALLOWED be Thy name.
- Thy kingdom COME, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
- GIVE us this day our daily bread.
- FORGIVE us our debts as we also forgive our debtors.
- LEAD us NOT INTO TEMPTATION, but DELIVER us FROM EVIL. matthew 6. 10-13
- help me believe I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST who strengthens me. phil. 4.13
- and, so, LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART, soul, mind and strength. matthew 22.37-9
- LISTEN TO YOUR VOICE in the BIBLE FIRST THING today, and meditate on it all day long. ps. 1.2-3
- WALK WITH AND TALK WITH YOU ALL DAY long in adoration, thanksgiving, supplication, praise. I thess. 5.17
- TAKE EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE to the obedience of Christ. II corinthians 10.5
- immediately CONFESS, REPENT, FORSAKE every sin as soon as I am aware of it.
- LAMENT/REGRET ANY SIN THAT ANYONE (even me) WILL NOT GIVE UP! luke 6.36
- BEcome POOR (desperate..without any personal resources) IN SPIRIT matthew 5.3
- BEcome BROKEN AND CRUSHED IN HEART OVER (my, others') SIN psalm 51.17
- BE UNASHAMED TO PROCLAIM JESUS' Kingdom EVERYWHERE I AM. matthew 10.17
- PROVOKE TO LOVE AND GOOD WORKS every believer. hebrews 10.24
- ENCOURAGE every believer. hebrews 3.13
- REPROVE and REBUKE other believers when they sin. luke 17.3; II timothy 4.2
- SPEAK THE TRUTH IN LOVE to another believer. ephesians 4.15
- LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR another believer in need. I john 3.16
- FORGIVE EVERYONE OF EVERYTHING done against me. mark 11.25
- as i have opportunity, DO GOOD TO ALL MEN galatians 6.10..and
- DO NOT RESIST HIM WHO IS EVIL matthew 5.39
- REJOICE AND BE GLAD WHEN YOU ARE PERSECUTED FOR CHRIST matthew 5.12
- RETURN GOOD FOR EVIL, LOVE FOR HATE..DON'T JUDGE luke 6.27-9; 36-8
- GIVE GOOD MEASURE, PRESSED DOWN, SHAKEN TOGETHER, RUNNING OVER
- MAKE THE MOST OF MY TIME, for the days are evil. ephesians 5.15-7
- WORK for the night is coming when no man can work. john 9.4
- OCCUPY! ie. seize, make God's own, within and without, all I can, UNTIL HE COMES. luke 19.13
- GASP-SWEAT with wholehearted effort in body, soul and spirit MAKE DISCIPLES of Jesus. matthew 28.18-20
amen.
- Thy kingdom COME, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
- GIVE us this day our daily bread.
- FORGIVE us our debts as we also forgive our debtors.
- LEAD us NOT INTO TEMPTATION, but DELIVER us FROM EVIL. matthew 6. 10-13
- help me believe I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST who strengthens me. phil. 4.13
- and, so, LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART, soul, mind and strength. matthew 22.37-9
- LISTEN TO YOUR VOICE in the BIBLE FIRST THING today, and meditate on it all day long. ps. 1.2-3
- WALK WITH AND TALK WITH YOU ALL DAY long in adoration, thanksgiving, supplication, praise. I thess. 5.17
- TAKE EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE to the obedience of Christ. II corinthians 10.5
- immediately CONFESS, REPENT, FORSAKE every sin as soon as I am aware of it.
- LAMENT/REGRET ANY SIN THAT ANYONE (even me) WILL NOT GIVE UP! luke 6.36
- BEcome POOR (desperate..without any personal resources) IN SPIRIT matthew 5.3
- BEcome BROKEN AND CRUSHED IN HEART OVER (my, others') SIN psalm 51.17
- BE UNASHAMED TO PROCLAIM JESUS' Kingdom EVERYWHERE I AM. matthew 10.17
- PROVOKE TO LOVE AND GOOD WORKS every believer. hebrews 10.24
- ENCOURAGE every believer. hebrews 3.13
- REPROVE and REBUKE other believers when they sin. luke 17.3; II timothy 4.2
- SPEAK THE TRUTH IN LOVE to another believer. ephesians 4.15
- LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR another believer in need. I john 3.16
- FORGIVE EVERYONE OF EVERYTHING done against me. mark 11.25
- as i have opportunity, DO GOOD TO ALL MEN galatians 6.10..and
- DO NOT RESIST HIM WHO IS EVIL matthew 5.39
- REJOICE AND BE GLAD WHEN YOU ARE PERSECUTED FOR CHRIST matthew 5.12
- RETURN GOOD FOR EVIL, LOVE FOR HATE..DON'T JUDGE luke 6.27-9; 36-8
- GIVE GOOD MEASURE, PRESSED DOWN, SHAKEN TOGETHER, RUNNING OVER
- MAKE THE MOST OF MY TIME, for the days are evil. ephesians 5.15-7
- WORK for the night is coming when no man can work. john 9.4
- OCCUPY! ie. seize, make God's own, within and without, all I can, UNTIL HE COMES. luke 19.13
- GASP-SWEAT with wholehearted effort in body, soul and spirit MAKE DISCIPLES of Jesus. matthew 28.18-20
amen.
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