First generation Quakers at balby, York , late 17th century:
“We do not want you to copy or imitate us. We want to be like a ship that has crossed the ocean, leaving a wake of foam, which soon fades away. We want you to follow the Spirit, which we have sought to follow, but which must be sought anew in every generation. “
Two little lines I heard one day, Traveling along life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart, And from my mind would not depart;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.Only one life, yes only one, Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet, And stand before His Judgment seat;
Only one life,’ twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.Only one life, the still small voice, Gently pleads for a better choice
Bidding me selfish aims to leave, And to God’s holy will to cleave;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.Only one life, a few brief years, Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;
Each with its clays I must fulfill, living for self or in His will;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.When this bright world would tempt me sore, When Satan would a victory score;
When self would seek to have its way, Then help me Lord with joy to say;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.Give me Father, a purpose deep, In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep;
Faithful and true what e’er the strife, Pleasing Thee in my daily life;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.Oh let my love with fervor burn, And from the world now let me turn;
Living for Thee, and Thee alone, Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne;
Only one life, “twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.Only one life, yes only one, Now let me say, “Thy will be done”;
And when at last I’ll hear the call, I know I’ll say ’twas worth it all”;
Only one life,’ twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.
Leonard Ravenhill:
No man is greater than his prayer life.
This article was written by Jay Rogers and is currently posted at the Boston Justice House of Prayer website:
The “flapjack turning” at Harvard is a metaphor for an emerging philosophy of humanism. In the 1600′s, Harvard was dedicated to the glory of God, but by the latter half of the 20th century, Harvard had become the citadel of humanism in the modern world. As Ruth Nourse correctly points out, this change did not happen overnight but was a slow transformation inperceptible to all but the most astute observors. This revolution, however, is completely visible in the changing of Harvard’s seals throughout the past centuries.
In Christi Gloriam (Glory in Christ) appeared on the college seal of 1650. Later, a coat of arms appears containing three books and the Latin motto Christo et Ecclesiae (Christ and the Church) inscribed around the border.
On an archway, above a gate leading into the
Harvard Yard, curious visitors may view this seal inscribed in stone. This earlier version of the coat of arms, however, contains one difference. If you look closely at the books in the coat of arms, you will see that the top 2 books are turned facing upward, while the bottom book is overturned. The upward facing books symbolize the truth that is discernible through our five senses: the overturned book symbolizes that which can only be known through the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
By the mid 1800′s, the Harvard seal had fallen out of use. When Charles Elliot attained the Presidency of Harvard, he wished to reinstate the coat of arms as Harvard’s official school seal. This time, however, he made 2 changes. First, he added the Latin word VERITAS (Truth). Second, he turned all the books facing upwards, denoting the emerging philosophy of humanism.
Jay Rogers has a website called Forerunner and it can be found by clicking on the following link: http://forerunner.com/
I recently watched a video of Bill Johnson online a few years ago and one of the things that he said stirred up something inside of me:
I’m here looking for one person. I love to see crowds burn, but I know that I can shape history if I can find just one. One person. You hear people say “Oh, if we could get 1,000 people in unity and prayer over this matter, we’ll get it fixed.” Yeah, maybe. One prayer of faith will normally do it from one person. Anybody can burn in a crowd, I want to find somebody that will burn by themselves. Anyone can burn in a movement. I want to find the one person that will pray when there’s no prayer meeting called. But will get up in the middle of the night when there’s no crisis. The one person who gets their victories when no one is looking. Defeats their lion and their bear so that when they have their day before Goliath, there’s all the confidence in the world and it’s not arrogance.
We’ve been called to do the impossible! I pray that you are encouraged this week to burn!
Check out this post by Perry Noble: http://www.perrynoble.com/2009/06/22/dead-snakes-and-not-nice-words/
Here is an excerpt from the blog:
“I was in stride, had my ipod blaring and was enjoying the breeze while running up a hill. I happened to look down and my left foot was about to come down right on top of a snake…..AND…I felt REALLY stupid when I discovered that it was dead! (This seriously would have made an excellent youtube video!)…….As I continued my run I began thinking, “that’s the way that we, as Christians, respond to satan at times. He’s basically a ‘dead snake’ that has been robbed of the power he once had…and yet we choose to scream and dance around him because we perceive he can destroy us.”
How true! The snake is dead – now let’s act like we believe that!
A good friend of mine, Briant Mora, was able to spend time with a hero of the faith, T.W. Barnes. These words of wisdom that Briant received have really blessed me and I pray that it encourages you as well.
If you want a miracle ministry, you have to pray the miracles into existence.
1. Pray that you have a miracle in your mind
We need to have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus
2. Pray that you have a miracle in your eyes.
We need to see in the Spirit. God equips us with eyes of faith and belief. Help us to see the things that aren’t there in the natural but are there in the supernatural.
Ephesians 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.
3. Pray that you have a miracle in your ears
We need to hear what the Lord is speaking to us, to the church, and to the world.
Revelation 3:22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said unto the churches…
4. Pray that you have a miracle in your heart
We need to love God the way He deserves to be loved.
We need to worship God the way He deserves to be worshipped.
We need to serve God the way He deserves to be served.
Deuteronomy 6:5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
5. Pray that you will have a miracle in your emotions
We have to yield to the power of the Holy Ghost, so that Christ can take our emotions. Our emotions cannot be trusted. They go up and down. We cannot allow our emotions to dictate to us. We have to bring our emotions under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Pray that Jesus would sit at the seat of your emotions. Pray that your emotions will become the fruit of the Spirit.
Unleashing the power of everybody
The subtitle of the book “Volunteer Revolution”, as noted above, is “unleashing the power of everybody”. This book was amazing!
See below for some points of interest:
I would encourage you to consider purchasing this book to help you 1) make impressions in the lives of others and 2) give you fresh passion to encourage others to join you in volunteering for Kingdom service!
You can purchase it at Amazon by clicking here.
Please check out this next article in the series put out by Jesus Culture. Let us BECOME revival – not just talk about revival.
I was at a youth conference for 2 days right around Christmas time. As I watched young people get touched by God all around the room, I started remembering back to the times I went to youth conferences. I remembered going for a weekend, being surrounded by people going after God, hearing amazing guest speakers, and getting totally set on fire! I remembered those amazing times of personal revival. Then I remembered going home. I remembered going back to life as I knew it before the weekend, being surrounded by people not going after God. I also remembered a few weeks later, when I would wonder when the next conference would be so I could get set on fire again. Then I began to wonder about these young people all around me, getting touched by God, experiencing there own personal revivals. Would they go back to life as they knew it before this weekend? Would they be the ones who weeks later would wonder where the fire went? Would they be the ones waiting desperately for the next conference to come?
As I stood there with all this running through my mind I remembered Lazarus. If there is anyone in the Bible who experienced personal revival it was him. Think about it! The dude was dead for 4 days and Jesus raised him back to life. Talk about born again! But if you read the story all the way through in John 11, it doesn’t finish with him coming out of the grave. The very next verse (44) says that “he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth.”
Check it out, Lazarus just came back from the dead, he has a brand new life; but he’s still wearing the clothes they put on dead people! Now he didn’t come out of grave with his suit and tie on, because in those days, the people were buried a bit different than we do it now. He was wrapped up, sort of like a mummy. He’s alive, but he still smells like he’s dead, because of the oils and spices. His face is wrapped, that means he can see (similar to putting your t-shirt over your face), but not clearly. He can hear, but it’s muffled. He can speak, but not like he should. His hands are bound, so he can touch people, but not really. His feet are bound, so he can walk, sort of. But the truth is, HE CAN’T STEP INTO HIS FUTURE, BECAUSE HE HASN’T BEEN FULLY SEPARATED FROM HIS PAST.
Let that one sink in a bit…
Lazarus had just experienced one of the greatest personal revivals ever, just like what happens to young people all over the world at conferences! But if you read the rest of verse 44, you see that Jesus really isn’t interested in people only experiencing revival, He wants them to become a revival! He wants them to see, hear, and speak clearly! He wants their minds completely free! He wants them to be able to reach out to the people in their school, their job, their neighborhood and their family. He wants them to walk out the life He gave them! He doesn’t want them wearing the clothes they wore when they were dead!
So what are these graveclothes for us? What can make a person who is totally alive, act like they are dead? It’s crazy, cause after being wrapped this way for 4 days, it probably FELT as though these graveclothes were part of him. It’s the same for us, because that’s how graveclothes always FEEL, like they are part of who we are. So what are they? Condemnation, guilt and shame. Condemnation gives you names for the sins you committed. Then guilt reminds you of those names, of the person you used to be. And fear will send you thoughts and make you believe they are yours. So look, if you smoked, condemnation calls you a …? If you stole, condemnation calls you a …? If you lied, condemnation calls you …? If you looked at porn…pervert. If you did drugs…addict. If you drank…alcoholic. You sinned…sinner! Then guilt says: Remember you’re a smoker? Liar? Your mind is perverted? And fear says: I should just do drugs again to deal with all this; I mean, I am an addict. Man! I always think those thoughts, I’ll never change…etc.
These are what get wrapped onto dead people. These are what start to feel like your own skin once they’ve been on long enough. If you believe these, then by faith you will continue to do them. These are the graveclothes that Jesus wants off! If you look at the very last part of verse 44, Jesus said, “loose him, and let him go.”
That’s the whole reason I’m writing this, to set you free from the past so you can step into your future. To tell you that you are a son or daughter of God, you have His DNA. It’s totally natural for you to love. It’s totally natural for you to have good relationships. It’s totally natural for you to forgive. It’s totally natural for you to hold a job. It’s totally natural for you to live free from sin. If the life you are living is inconsistent with the nature of God, it is because you believe a lie about who you are.
Hebrews 9:14 says that by Jesus’ blood, your conscience is cleansed so you can serve God. Romans 8:1 says that now there is no condemnation for you who is in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:16 says you have the mind of Christ. If thoughts are coming to you that are inconsistent with His thoughts they are not yours, don’t keep thinking them! At the end of the 2 day conference, we had a tunnel that everyone came through to get the graveclothes ripped off of them! Some people went into visions of God, others felt God’s presence again. Other’s relationships changed, because they could actually communicate again, and be communicated to. They walked out of their graves and kept right on walking…into their destinies; and you will too! - Seth Dahl
Check out this article from JesusCulture by Nicole Franklin. What an amazing concept! We come to God poor and ask Him to fill us up. Then, we go to others wealthy having love and strength from the Father to pour on them. I feel like running around my cubicle at work!!!
My husband Jon and I have three amazing boys. Their ages are 10, 7 and 4. We have decided that as we raise them, we want to make sure they understand their role in this life. And that role is protector.
You see, God created man as the stronger one, but not so he could dominate, prey upon, or “take” from his environment. Neither did God create man to be passive, or to simply sit and watch life go by. God gave man strength so he could cover, protect, and give to those around him.
Bill Johnson teaches us that we go to God poor, needing to be filled up. Then we go to people wealthy, having love and strength from the Father to pour out on all. In our society today, many men have believed the lie that they need to look around them to receive identity and strength from things like women, sports, careers, and possessions. As a result, they become takers, sometimes even predators, looking to “get” what they need from their environment. Sometimes they swing to the other side of the pendulum and take a passive stance in life, watching others get taken advantage of, but failing to take a stand. What we are teaching our boys is they need to receive their identity and strength from Father God. When they spend time in the Father’s presence, they walk away full of love and strength. Then, they turn around and pour out protection and security to those around them who are vulnerable and in need.
This cycle creates a culture of men who honor and protect the women in their lives, and a culture of men who understand what it means to father their children.
For men, knowing they are a beloved son is crucial to this understanding. When you are born, your parents fall in love with you instantly. You did nothing to earn it, you did nothing to deserve it. As a brand new baby you only know how to receive love. That is how we need to approach the Father. That is the foundation we all need in order to build the things of the Kingdom on, a foundation of undeserved, unearned, unconditional love from the Father. Identity as a beloved son is what our young men need to become protectors.
Young men, I challenge you to let the Kingdom of Heaven invade your life and receive the revelation of going to God poor, in order to pour out the wealth of the Kingdom on this world. Bringing strength to those around you will change an entire generation!
Is this something that we can determine in our hearts to do today?
A group of alumni, all highly established in their respective careers, got together for a visit with their old university professor. The conversation soon turned to complaints about the endless stress of work and life in general…Offering his guests coffee, the professor went into the kitchen and soon returned with a large pot of coffee and an eclectic assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal – some plain, some expensive, some quite exquisite. Quietly he told them to help themselves to some fresh coffee.
When each of his former students had a cup of coffee in hand, the old professor quietly cleared his throat and began to patiently address the small gathering… ”You may have noticed that all of the nicer looking cups were taken up first, leaving behind the plainer and cheaper ones. While it is only natural for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is actually the source of much of your stress-related problems! “
He continued…”Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In fact, the cup merely disguises or dresses up what we drink. What each of you really wanted was coffee, not a cup, but you instinctively went for the best cups… Then you began eyeing each other’s cups….”
”Now consider this: Life is coffee. Jobs, money, and position in society are merely cups. They are just tools to shape and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not truly define nor change the quality of the Life we live. Often, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee. Enjoy your coffee!”
The happiest people don’t have the best of everything – they just make the best of everything they have… So please remember: Live simply. Love generously. Care Deeply. Speak Kindly.
And remember – the richest person is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least.
I am loving the articles that are posted to the Jesus Culture website! Check out this latest article in the series that I am posting titled “That He Understands And Knows Me” by Wes Sumner:
This email has been passed around from time to time and I thought it was though-provoking enough to post it here for today’s post:
Ever wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone?
What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we flipped through it several time a day?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we couldn’t live without it?
What if we gave it to kids as gifts?
What if we used it when we traveled?
What if we used it in case of emergency?
AND….unlike our cell phone, we don’t have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill.
Where is your Bible?
You can check out this post and others at Steve Farrar’s blog. I will be doing some book reviews of some stuff that he has written that is AMAZING!!!
In the late 1800’s, a distinguished member of the British Parliament traveled to Scotland to give a speech. On the way, his carriage became hopelessly mired in the thick mud of a rural road. A young Scottish farm boy suddenly appeared on the scene with a team of large draft horses. He quickly had the carriage out of its dilemma and ready to resume the journey.
The gentleman insisted on paying the young man, but the lad refused. He was simply being a good neighbor. The English lawmaker was immediately taken with the young man and his attitude. “Are you sure I can’t pay you for your time and effort?” the gentleman asked.
“Thank you, sir, but it was the least that I could do. It was a privilege to help such an important person as yourself.” The boy replied. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” asked the man. “I’d like to be a doctor, but I doubt that will happen since my family does not have the money for such an education.”
“Then I will help you become a doctor,” said the politician.
Nearly fifty years later, another famous English statesman lay dangerously close to death due to pneumonia. Winston Churchill had become ill while attending a wartime conference, and England desperately needed his leadership as Hitler threatened to destroy their nation. Churchill miraculously recovered because his physician gave him an injection of a new wonder drug called penicillin. Penicillin had recently been discovered by the brilliant medical doctor, Alexander Fleming.
Alexander Fleming was the young boy who had pulled the stalled carriage from the mud. And the man who promised to return the favor by sending him to medical school was Winston Churchill’s father, Sir Randolph Churchill.
Randolph Churchill saw what no one else had seen in the face of that young Scottish farm boy. He saw potential. And his commitment to helping that young man reach his potential saved the life of his own son nearly half a century later. And by saving the life of Winston Churchill, indeed, he may have saved all of England.
Check out this article by Erica Greve at JesusCulture.org….I thought that this was great!
Throughout history there have been stories about men and women who grabbed hold of the fact that it is possible for one person to change the world. We read about their lives in history books, tell children about their incredible feats, and immortalize them in movies. There is something so intriguing about these people that we continue to talk about them for centuries. And even though the lives and accomplishments of these great men and women may look very different, they all had one thing in common; they changed the world.
What makes a world changer? Were they born with something the rest of us don’t have? I don’t think so. I believe that what separates out history makers is that they grabbed hold of the truth that they were created to shine. I believe that these men and women dared to believe the impossible: that their life had the potential to impact the world and affect generations to come.
God created each and every one of us to shine. He really did. But until we really start to believe that God has created us with purpose and a destiny it is hard for us to truly believe that we were created to shine. The Bible states, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer 29:11).
In the book of Daniel, we see that Daniel and his three friends were chosen to serve in the courts of the King. Daniel was chosen to serve in the courts of a very evil and pagan king, king Nebuchadnezzar. But despite the difficult situation that Daniel found himself in, Daniel and his three friends stood for God and prevailed. Many scholars believe that as a result of Daniel’s stand for God that he was able to influence Cyrus’ decision to allow the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild their way of life. I believe that Daniel was a man who knew that he was created to influence kings, affect governments, and change the world.
I believe that because Daniel had a vision to serve God and affect the lives of others that his life was marked by a grace to accomplish the impossible. Daniel was a man who knew that he had been created to shine.
Daniel set himself apart for God.
Daniel was a world changer and a history maker who we continue to revere. And there are a few things that mark Daniel’s life. First of all, he set himself apart for God. “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the King’s delicacies, nor with the wine that he drank” (Daniel 1:8). Why was this so important? Daniel was taking a stand and refusing to eat food that was sacrificed to idols. In this way Daniel was setting himself apart from the wickedness and worldliness of the day and consecrating himself to the Lord. Daniel made it clear to both God and men that he had set himself apart for the Lord.
Daniel’s life was marked by sacrifice Second.
Daniel’s life was marked by sacrifice. Daniel was known as a man of fasting and prayer. Daniel was known as a man who would not bow his knee to the gods of his day. Daniel was known as a man who was faithful to God no matter what the cost – he was completely surrendered to the Lord. Daniel gave his whole heart and his entire life to the Lord.
Daniel’s extreme obedience released favor and promotion Third, Daniel’s lifestyle of devotion and sacrifice released favor and promotion to him. I believe that it was Daniel’s obedience that led to his promotion. You see in chapter 3 that the King was given dreams that greatly troubled him and caused him to seek out a person who could interpret them. The King then began to search out a man to interpret his dreams. I love this picture of God creating an opportunity for his faithful servant to shine as the King goes out and search for a man with the answer. You see, Daniel had prepared himself for his promotion by setting himself apart and through sacrifice. And God knew that he could trust Daniel with the promotion. When we are obedient, God knows He can trust us and then He creates situations to promote us.
In the book of Ephesians it states, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10). This means God has already created opportunities for us to do good works so that we can shine!! If we are going to be world changers, we have to truly believe that promotion comes from the Lord. Bill Johnson says that salvation is free but revival will cost you everything. The truth is that there is a price we have to pay when we want to move into our destinies. And when we become willing to pay that cost, our sacrifice becomes the very thing that leads to our own personal breakthrough and can even lead to the breakthrough for an entire group of people, like we see in the book of Daniel. In short, Daniel’s sacrifice led to the breakthrough of a nation.
When we give God our whole hearts and our entire lives to God, we set ourselves apart and we position ourselves for greater intimacy with the Lord. God wants our whole heart. He wants all of us, our entire lives, surrendered before Him. He is looking for men and women who say, “God I have separated myself out for you, God I want to be used by You.” God is looking for men and women who He can trust so that He can promote them and partner with them to change the world. But the Lord first requires surrender and sacrifice.
Revivalists change the world for God’s glory.
We are all called to be revivalists. And as revivalists we have to understand that promotion comes from the Lord. In the book of Psalms it says, “For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the judge: He puts down one and exalts another.” Revivalists know that when they are faithful and when they live for God that in the right season He will raise them up. Revivalists know that God is on their side and the he is looking to and fro the Earth searching out faithful hearts who He can strongly support.
God wants you to shine. He has a destiny for you and He is so excited about your heart and your life and the things that you will do together. If you don’t know what your destiny is, ask Him to show you. Ask Him to show you the things He has for you to do together. Ask Him and trust Him that He is working all things together for your good.
