Part I. The Unbeaten Path.
Prayer is a command performance,
it is the privilege of children and
the shoed habit of bonded servants.
Prayer is the last remaining arrangement of words on earth
with weight enough to press from our thoughts
the nutritious juice of humility for the refreshment of our soul.
Prayer is continuous, like
the turning of a smooth stone in the cup of our hand,
we might lose thought of it, yet it never leaves our grip.
The afferent nerve of prayer is sound doctrine;
its efferent nerve is the gospel.
For those who have nobly seen the Lord
and lowly stand before Him,
who know the only living, true God,
and Jesus Christ the sent One;
the practice of prayer gives good posture
to walk in the Spirit their new creation.
Spoken from the heart believing
God has raised the Lord from the dead,
asking and working prayer prevails
as mighty because whoever so speaks,
speaks in the power of the secret and hidden wisdom
God decreed before the ages for hearing
in this age of doomed rulers;
for spiritual judges and their glory
to see, live, move and breathe in prayer,
and have their being not as cosmic powers dare,
but with all the saints baptized into and throughout
the breadth and length and height and depth,
possessed by knowing as one known
the love of Christ surpassing knowledge,
filled with the Spirit, giving thanks
always for everything to God the Father
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
adoring Christ submitting to one another
filled with all the fullnes of God.
Prayer tries the hope of glory.
By the fruit of its labor in the sweat of our soul
we die to hiring each other out
as underlings to advance our own desire.
By the fruit of its labor in the sweat of our soul
we are emptied of any vain praise, to better see
one another aright in lowliness of mind.
Each is allowed to regard all others
as more important than self, in prayer.
The beauty of a woman in prayer
is her freedom from all fear,
even as the worthy praise of a man
is to purge his prayers of pride.
The Scripture cannot be broken,
should we die like men when God judges the earth?
Male and female God created man in His own image.
This means between being sent and returning,
we judge His word in His living, listening presence,
praying before the throne of grace ablaze with flames of fire,
naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom
we must give account.
To the envy of the kinsmen of the King,
prayer releases vital speech
within the church,
before God seated at His heavenly court,
and among the nations.
Intruders and imperialists march
over bridges they never should have built.
We journey the path of peace,
the unbeaten path of prayer,
leaving to others the gossip of this age
about wars and rumors of wars.
For the now dear friend I would counsel you to walk the unbeaten path of prayer, “the soul of faith,” little traveled, though no sojourner on it suffers defeat. For the Christian, the amazing truth of prayer is not that God answers prayer; this even the demons know and shudder. What is amazing about prayer is that prayer begets uncharted prayer. Whoever prays is changed each time he or she is taken up in prayer. The church grows through prayer. His beloved builds herself up in love
by each member speaking out to God
always
with all prayer
and humble petition in the Spirit,
and watching thereunto
with all perseverance
and supplication
for all saints
that we may together
boldly proclaim the mystery of the Gospel,
while living a manner of life worthy of it.
For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.” He who is Lord of all abounds in riches for all who call upon Him. Have we not believed in Him upon whom we call? Have we not heard Him in whom we believe? Did not another preach to us that we might hear? Was not this one sent who preached to us? Having shod our feet with the beauty of prayer, let us go accordingly to those who still sit in darkness and the shadow of death, trusting the tender mercy of our God to guide us into the way of peace.
The best way we exercise our faith for its working through God’s love is to stumble over believing but nonetheless, getting up again to believe the things we know are true without knowing why except that they are written in the sacred writings for our learning. Thanks be to God! We were slaves of sin, but we became obedient from the heart to that standard of teaching to which we were committed, and having been freed from sin, we became slaves of righteousness. God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.
As it is written,
Abraham against hope believed in hope,
that he might
become the father of many nations,
according to that which was spoken,
“So shall thy seed be.”
And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him,
but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed,
if we believe on Him that raised up
Jesus, our Lord, from the dead;
who was delivered on account of and owing
to our offenses (2 Corinthians 5:12; 1 Peter 2:4),
and was raised again on account of and owing
to our justification, who being now justified by His
blood shall be saved from wrath through Him (Romans 4:18, 22-25/5:9).
These precious things make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. We desperately want to trust Him while believing He is trustworthy. We believe in the Father’s faithfulness to His only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father. We trust in the Son, who said of the Father to demonstrate His solidarity with us, “I will put my trust in Him.” Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief. Therefore, we confess, “If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”
Lord, as you have delivered us from the wrath to come, so discipline us that we may share in your holiness. Your love has no need of increase Lord, therefore, increase our faith to fit what you allot. Teach us to dress ourselves to serve you. As your unworthy slaves we should do only as you command ought to be done. What question rises up in me to challenge my Lord’s faithfulness that I cannot first justly dismiss as on account of and owing to my own ignorance, sloth or lack of loyalty? So disqualified how dare I judge Him? May the Lord God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, “That Thou mightest be justified in Thy words, and mightest prevail when Thou art judged before Thou dost enter into judgment.”
We know so many useless things without knowing why. Delivered to us by custom and by venue of speech they settle down in us as given. Happenstance names those who laid down these ruts that lead to the hut of our heart, which we run with animal abandon. Ecce homo: homo habitus. Behind the bestowing and through our back and forth coming and going to furnish our heart with familiar surroundings, we quilt together a filthy-rag fashion of behavior that we wear as our personal disposition. We don this costume to attend the masked ball of life, the festivity to which the ruler of this world invites us, who is the father of lies and the first murderer. We prepare for our grand arrival. We paint ourselves men and women most certain by pretending to hide from our sight the word of God, as if we cannot see all things seen were made of things which do not appear. The make believe ballroom and chandelier setting blind us to the messenger of warning, sent to tell us not to be afraid. As if, any terror or amazement could frighten us! We dance our conscience dizzy. We laugh our ears dull. We fall into the stupor of hyperdulia, full of ourselves as lovers of self. We do this so well for so long that we forget to reckon the gown of our soul and all the heart’s furnishings as nothing more than ill-fitting, accidental provisions those bigger than us gave us as children. Blessed are the fathers whose heart has been turned to the children. They turn the heart of the children to their fathers by teaching them the sacred writings, making them wise in the art of winning souls. The fruit of their lives is the tree of life. Their speech intercedes for all of us who still wear the crude, fragmented scraps of the story mixed with the lie one generation passes on to the next by forgetting some of its parts while piecing together others. This monotonous ritual of misunderstanding has gone on since God first broke the waters and destroyed the Tower of Babel. Praise God, He hears the prayers of the fathers because they know Him who is from the beginning.
This however does not dissuade the rest of us to seize whatever we can get our hands on to throw up barricades against the King’s troops upon our hearing of their advancing. What primitive weapons of warfare we do grab from the armory of the flesh to keep even our first thought from being taken captive to obey Christ, born our Captain. What strongholds! What arguments! What lofty opinions! What towering questions we build from such meager materiel, little more than flotsam left from after God destroyed the world with water and scattered the lineage of human imagination to historical and geographical smithereens!
Why demand to know these things for sure? Why not rather inquire, how shall this be? Why not be dumb until the day we believe the words of angels, which shall be fulfilled in their season? Why not eagerly wait? Why not yearn with agony? Why not hope, be blessed, prevail and be purified? Why not behave as if a victim, an Artist’s work consumed by truth to the innermost being? Why not endure with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction until God wills to show His wrath and to make His power known? The end of all things is at hand; therefore, should we not be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer? As obedient children, let us resist conforming to lusts once ours in ignorance. Rather, like the Holy One who called us, let us become holy in our behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am Holy.”
Like the little boy with his few fishes and loaves,
why not give our words,
all things we take for granted and
our hearts up for the feeding of thousands?
Father, what you have given us
we give back to Jesus as an offering of prayer,
trusting Him to look down from heaven
to bless us,
to break us and
give us to all who hunger after Him that they may be satisfied.
Prayers for the Dead.
“Man enjoys infinitely more that he needs and lays to waste infinitely more than he enjoys,” our strange Magus of the North once taught us. True too in the land of rain and blood, we enjoy infinitely more than we will ever know. The one true God who alone is goodgives us rains from heaven and fruitful seasons,satisfying our hearts with food and gladnesswhile allowing us of one bloodto grope for Him and find Him.The one true God who alone is good
is good to all, and His faithfulness is to all generations.
The one true God who alone is good
sheds His mercies over all His works.
The Judge of all the earth,
the one true God who alone is good,
is kind to the ungrateful and the evil,
for He causes His sun to rise on evil and good,
and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
He whose voice the dead shall hear
(and those who hear shall live)
commands us to be merciful,
reminding us our Father in heaven is merciful,
the one true God who alone is good.
On the day fixed by the one true God who alone is good, those who have suppressed the truth to refuse honor to the Son will suffer a remorse beyond what can be measured by whatever the just and unjust have together needed, enjoyed, wasted or known. God’s wrath abides upon those who take advantage of His kindness yet reject the manner in which He chooses to demonstrate His love toward us sinners, which is the very same way by which He reveals His righteousness. God reveals His wrath from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by unrighteousness suppress the truth about the Son. Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the dry, grievous fierce things that ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. Words of kindling for His eyes of fire, whose throne was ablaze with flames. Its wheels were a burning fire. A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before Him; thousands upon thousands were attending Him, and myriads upon myriads were standing before Him. The court sat, and the books were opened. The wicked shall not stand in judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
These are grumblers,
through trapped stale air in a hollow dead space
their voices convoy intrigues with a low and indistinct roar.
Do not be deceived, it is through these the devil prowls,
playing the roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
They dispense discontent by private divvying in complaints.
Setting brother upon brother to bite and consume one another.
malcontents,
finding fault in their lot surveyed by what they have not,
these repiners, fretters, whiners gnaw away at fellowship.
They rub it raw to rub it out.
Ravelers who weaken by weight of strain,
corrode first what they later wear away.
They are querulous quibblers, masters of vex, the makers of the fray.
following their own sinful desires;
Drawn to their craving lust,
the needle of their inner compass points to their pleasures,
as an unreasoning catalyst must.
They look at what they wish to have,
fall upon it and attach themselves to it.
Emboldened by concupiscence their own,
their blood boils with hell bent heat,
racing through seared hearts of stone,
pumped in rhythm to this dry drum’s bludgeoning beat.
they are loud-mouthed boasters,
swaggering braggarts with tongues of brawn,
they seek in secret to enfeeble their listeners
so to make the case in public that they alone are strong.
High flown and over blown, their great words,
grant nothing, acknowledge nothing, mean nothing
except they alone deserve to be heard.
showing favoritism to gain advantage.
They dispense calculated compliments to capture the unaware,
pretending honor to satisfy pleasure,
they circle the weakest to sever all support
to gain what profit comes without loyalty or care.
They zealously seek ties not for good, but to be
zealously sought.
They shop for friends like wares sold and bought,
disguising themselves in hues of light to hide the truth
that their souls are puffed up, not upright but corrupt.
The Holy Spirit gently embarrasses us by proving how hopelessly wrong we are, if we refuse to believe in Jesus. Crowned with glory and honor by suffering death, Jesus makes to no effect the devil’s power of death. He delivers all who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. The Lord of Liberty convicts whoever chooses to remain liable for the consequences this unnecessary bondage affects. The one thing necessary in life is to relieve another of unnecessary fear. A false sense of usefulness keeps us from doing this one thing necessary in life. The Spirit of power and glory reminds us of these things, He makes us ill of ease, beside ourselves a little on edge, when looking down upon the truth that we have no authority over our own death or another’s. Nevertheless we resist, we rally to the killer’s battle cry: “Yea, hath God said? Surely you shall not die!”
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear. Fear has to do with punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. The trophy of God’s love in the land of rain and blood is His Son who willingly became a curse for us who deny death or make of it a myth — for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a rood, a cross, a tree of wood.” Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. However, if we refuse to receive the love for the truth God offers us in His Son, to whom then shall we turn to be saved? In whose authority do we speak if we condemn God, who chooses to send upon the lost a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false? Who are we to condemn Him if He chooses to judge in this way whoever does not believe the truth, but prefers taking pleasure in wickedness? The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil. The one who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ, who as our rightful Ruler has authority over us all? Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. No one who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, has God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.
To enjoy the things we have in common with God we must agree with Him over those things. We do not get God to work for us — to do us favors — by working for Him, for it is God who works in us, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. May each be like the other and might all confess together, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I have by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” For what do we have to do with judging outsiders? We reserve judgment for inside the church, but in accordance with the authority which the Lord gives for building up and not for tearing down. Who are we to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand. God will judge those outside. Let us love one another to abide in the light, then we will see well enough to remove what lurks in each of us to cause another to stumble. Lord give me the courage to endure a well served rebuke that I may enjoy being restored through good correction.
Prayers before Judgment.
For this we know with certainty
and suffer ourselves to be determined thereby,
God judges the unrighteous outside of Christ,
who shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Why should we wander to be led astray?
Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor those guilty of addiction to any of the soft sins of the flesh,
nor men who abuse themselves by going to bed with men,
who left the natural use of the woman to
set themselves on fire in their lust one toward another,
men with men to their liking
rendering to one another their due,
as if their lust a gift from God He gives to marry,
which He approves so they might not burn.
What theft! To call another man, “My lover.” Such lust
robs Jesus of the man’s love, which He alone has earned.
As if we could well advise a man to take his male bride:
“Stop denying one another, except by agreement
for a time that you may devote yourselves to prayer,
and come together again lest Satan tempt you
because of your lack of self-control.”
And this though He said,
“Have you not read,
that He who created them from the beginning
made them male and female,
and said, ‘For this cause
(and not, ‘select one from these,
the list of licensed causes’)
a man shall leave his father and mother,
and shall cleave to his wife;
and the two shall become one flesh’?
Wherefore, they are no more two, but one flesh.
What therefore, God hath joined together,
let not man put asunder.”
Will we plead ignorance, as if we didn’t realize
joined to a harlot makes us in His eyes one body?
Practiced immorality natural or not;
or the marriage bed kept uncorrupt,
His way of counting remains the same, “The two become one flesh.”
The one true God who alone is good punishes sin. He exercises His personal, subjective, free and holy will to evoke wrath against sin. He does not shirk this responsibility or fob it off on anyone else. He sets His holiness against our wickedness. He directs His wrath against unrepentant wickedness as its punishment. The futile effort to mitigate God’s wrath is a defiant affront against God’s holiness. God warns us not to do this. Do we think the Scriptures speak to no purpose? Our Lord teaches us, “Do not judge lest you be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”
Who then dares judge? There is only one lawgiver and judge. God alone is able to destroy both soul and body in hell, where their worm does not die while He refuses to subdue the eager fire. Who dares a pronouncement over another too lenient or too severe, remembering, a false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight (Proverbs 11:1)? Who stands among us to judge over us? Who among us rises up to say in his or her own behalf,
But of me God says,
your throne, O God,
is forever and ever,
the scepter of uprightness is the
scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness
and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed
you
with the oil of gladness beyond your
companions.
The sinner who grasps the horrific reality of God’s wrath also realizes the terrible cost of its appeasement won in our behalf by the rightful Ruler of this world. God institutes His new covenant with men, women and the stream of generations by pouring out into it the blood of Christ shed on Calvary. God has affixed His seal of approval upon this work of atonement by raising Jesus Christ our Lord from the dead. Now God offers forgiveness of sin to all unto full restoration of life through faith in His Son. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the rightful Ruler of the world whom He has appointed; and of this He has given assurance to all by raising our rightful Ruler from the dead. God’s absolute intolerance for sin and unbounded mercy toward us sinners, His enemies, is the two-sided coin of generosity in His realm, which alone is sound and of true and good mint. Any other coin is illicit, counterfeit and worthless. He or she who in humility pleads, “Lord be merciful to me a sinner. I am not worthy for you to come under my roof, speak but the word and my soul shall be healed,” would never judge another. We desire only to learn not to exceed what is written, in order that we might not become arrogant in behalf of one against the other. For who should think of us as superior? And what do we have that we did not receive? Everyone will be salted with fire. The time of judgment for the church is now. It ends with salvation. The time of judgment for outsiders has not yet begun, it will last forever.
Prayer Distractions.
If I pray to that than which I can conceive nothing greater then either I commit idolatry or I am a hypocrite. If I presume the object of my conjuring art and fickle mind really exists then I am an idolater. If I confess eternal life is to know the one true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent — and alone explains Him — yet insist upon conforming biblical revelation of Him to a caricature of Him of my making and to the liking of my own reason, then I am a hypocrite. Any such idea or argument — no matter how primly dressed in whatever season of philosophical style — is hideous before my Father and hides His beauty from my neighbor. If I admit my work is idle muse and do not believe the truth of my shaping to be eternal life or able to set others free, then I merely perform a menial mental exercise that keeps me from listening to my Lord as He speaks to me from His word, from His living church and from His world. The first offering is the sin of falling away which so easily entangles me, the second undertaking is an encumbrance to my running with endurance the race that is set before me. In either case I turn my eyes away from looking at Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2). Such idolatrous prayer or vain contemplation keeps me from drawing near with confidence to the throne of grace, that I may receive mercy and may find grace to help others in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).
Homeward Prayers.
It is good to pray in behalf of those for whom angels render service. It is always safe to pray wherever angels roam (Hebrews 1:14; 2 Timothy 2:10). God’s people pray between rains in behalf of one another that we may bear fruit. Like the Good Samaritan we practice being alert with a sober mind for purposes of prayer, while on our way home keeping a sharp look out to see how we might appear in another’s life as an answer to another’s prayer — no matter how poorly sent, superstitious, or misdirected. The commandment has set aside all that is weak and useless. He who is indestructible, holy, innocent and undefiled, the One estranged from us in all things save love who is exalted above the heavens, who prays hope full with faith habit free — He is the Son our Father made perfect forever, He is our Commander and Guarantor who has brought in a better hope through which we draw near to God. He who abides forever is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him. He always lives to make intercession for us. We pray for one another that as prodigals we may draw nearer to God, straining to see Him meet us as He draws near to embrace us as we head home. We pray to wash our hands as sinners; we pray to purify our hearts as double-minded. We pray trusting that when He hugs us, He will have made us clean.
Prayer in the Land of Rain and Blood
Until then, we pray among the wheat and tares within us and around us until harvest. Prayer is God’s work with which He charges the church to change her until those who are left are caught up together with the saints for their royal audience in the air. The prayers of the church travel through the occupied territory of the prince of the power of the air to the throne of grace. These forays continue until the time of tribulation, binding, burning and barn storing to come. We pray while wheat and tare remain rooted in this world and grow together. We pray for one another in the land damp and defiled by shed blood, where the miserable who mourn from loss and guilt may still weep. We pray in the land in which bloodguiltiness and injustice is remembered, where the condemned at least may still seek in futility repentance with tears. Outside this land of rain and blood, remains only the agonizing question of the martyrs, who cry out, “How long?” from beneath the talking altar in heaven, in which lives the angel who has power over fire. This wonderful altar confirms the testimony of the angel of the waters who confesses,
“Righteous art Thou,
who art and who wast, O Holy One,
because Thou didst judge these;
the lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
who love and practice lying,
who took pleasure in wickedness
and have no love for the truth.
They have poured out the blood of saints and prophets,
and Thou has given them blood to drink.
They are worthy of having the sea become blood like that of a dead man,
they deserve the rivers and the springs of waters to become blood.”
Pollution complete provokes the mercy of final judgment, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. Until then we pray for the living to the God of the living, enduring everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
What is death except to suffer labor pains throughout all eternity unable to give birth to the life for which barren loins labor unwashed by rain or blood, but burn instead with fire? Death is the arid land of debt in which the many rains no longer fall, the place left uncovered by the blood, which He shed for the world. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” He is the One who came by water and blood. He sprinkles clean water upon us in the land of long shadow where the living may still bear fruit, unlike the land that is cursed, the waterless pits of unchanging darkness to come, where the yields of thistles and thorns are burning. Here in the land of rain and blood where men are in bondage to iniquity, though not yet fettered by eternal bonds under darkness, He makes us clean and gives us work to do. Here is the land of rain and blood in which He cleanses me from all my filthiness and from all my idols. Praise God! This ground still drinks the rain that often falls upon it. Praise God! This land still brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled. Praise God, He still blesses this land of rain and blood! He hears the prayers of the fathers and does not come to curse it.
Oh, the sting of His rebuke, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” The hour is come to wake up from our sleep. The night is far gone, the day is at hand. Salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. Here and now He still washes us in flowing water. Here and now His rainbow of mercy rules over the unblessed, separated waters He had burst to assuage His sorrow, which He suffered long ago. Here and now all water with which the church baptizes is water mixed with His sorrow and kindness. The water we drink and exchange between the genders and generations includes the unblessed water He dams back, for never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.
He washes us only in the land of tears, only in the land where He too has wept, where He too bled. Whoever cries, rejoice! His tears can still fall upon you to heal you by the power of His blood. Rub us in salt Lord, wash us with Your word, and immerse us into Your Body and life by Your Spirit. Our prayers should conform to our trust. If we believe we shall hear our Lord call, “Come,” believing the Father has prepared the Kingdom for us from the foundation of the world, then we should pray accordingly. We ought to pray for one another that we shall give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, hospitality to the stranger, clothing to the naked, comfort to the sick, and extend solidarity to the imprisoned. With the Spirit in the Bride, we cry out, “Come,” at rest in the love of our Father who allows whoever thirsts to come. And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost and drink without measure.
Wherever there is water there is the fruit of His blood. There is no fruit without water. God’s laborers plant with His seed and irrigate with His water. May each be a servant by which another may believe. May all trust God to cause the growth. We pray to our Father, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” He has not given us eyes to look anywhere else except His home. Let us then draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as we see the day drawing near.
No prayers hover over the lake of fire and brimstone, where the books have been opened and the deeds of the dead have been judged. The sins to death will then be weighed without one prayer to lighten them. For then, if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he will be thrown into the lake of fire. All prayer turns the fallow ground here, in the land of rain and blood. All prayer returns to the source from which it springs, from the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of New Jerusalem’s street. Prayer neither stems from nor returns anywhere else. And if brothers and sisters fall asleep should their prayers fall silent too? If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men and women most to be pitied; our toil of prayer in this world is also then of this wretched world. Why pray? It would be better to invest all scarce resources of mind, body, heart, soul, strength, wealth and phases of the moon to mitigate suffering without hope of it ever ending except by eventual extinction. However, if Christ has been raised then all things are subjected to Him who will subject Himself to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all and overall for all to give Him glory.
In Him we rest. In Him, we have rest in the passing of the fallen saints; confident they are home with our Lord. But what of their prayers? What of this precious inheritance of the saints? We take them; we make them our prayers to keep pouring them into the stream of the generations of men, women, families, and authorities. We press them forward; we pass them on to those who follow us. Prayers circulate from one generation to the next delivered by water and blood. The chain of prayer is never broken, nor can it ever be broken until the church utters her last word of confession, she cries her last word of petition, and she declares her last word of militant praise, defiant praise, nevertheless-the-firm-foundation-of-God-stands praise with all power and gentleness. The entire journey is here; let us pray for one another still on the way, confident that those whom we have replaced are safe at home with Him, waiting to greet us with uplifted holy hands free of wrath and any dissention.
If our loyalty to one another,
our community teachings and
collective confession are not
girded, guarded and guided
by the duty of loyalty we owe the Bible,
the plenary body of statements
superintended by God, trustworthy
and correct and as capable of failing
as the God it reveals,
and this duty is not girded, guarded and guided by our loyalty we owe
morality and this duty is not girded, guarded and guided
by our loyalty we owe beauty
and this duty is not girded, guarded and guided
by our loyalty we owe authority
and this duty is not girded, guarded and guided
by our loyalty we owe justice
and this duty is not girded, guarded and guided
by our loyalty we owe holiness
and this duty is not girded, guarded and guided
by our loyalty we owe God Himself,
the one true God who alone is good;
then there is no slippery slope to slide;
there is no Fall to death or rise to Life.
We are word-spewing vermin.
Dreams, pain and angels are for naught.
Whoever feeds us to let us copulate to our primal liking,
has warrant enough to rule.
If with understanding however,
hear this; listen to what is written.
Shall one who hates justice govern?
Will you condemn Him who is righteous and mighty,
who says to a king, “Worthless one,”
and to nobles, “Wicked man,”
who shows no partiality to princes,
nor regards the rich more than the poor,
for they are all the work of His hands?
In a moment they die;
at midnight the people are shaken and pass away;
and the mighty are taken away by no human hand.
Fattened on those who mourn only for themselves,
their worm dieth not.
Who among us can live with the consuming fire?
Who can live with everlasting burning?
Like the burning bush not consumed,
their fire burns unquenched.
Whoever is an abhorrence to all flesh,
turns on the spit of His vengeance.
Guilty of the body and blood of the Lord,
it is impossible to renew them again to repentance,
while they again crucify to themselves the Son of God,
and put Him to open shame.
They drink of the wine of the wrath of God,
mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger.
Tormented with fire and brimstone, they turn
in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever.
Without rest day and night they turn.
The mother’s womb forgets,
the fattened worm feeds sweetly,
and their wickedness is broken like a tree.
The Originator of the sacred texts, our faithful Creator, desires to make available to every humble reader the same way onto blessedness, which is gained through faith in our Redeemer and rightful Ruler. The telling truth of this willing Savior and patient Judge? Let each work to expose his own prejudice to forsake any misplaced personal interest! Recuse yourself from judgment before repenting of a life worthy of condemnation.
If I thrust the word of God aside
and judge myself unworthy of eternal life,
I compel the God of the living
to withdraw Himself from my life,
He who is before all things,
and in whom all things hold together!
I act as if I have the power to require
Jesus recuse Himself from my life.
I reject the life He offers.
I forbid Him to judge the life I insist
I have the right to live without Him.
I reject the blessings He gives in the fullness of life.
I make myself an advocate of death,
with no authority over death.
I deny God’s prerogative to defeat this final enemy.
By what right do I deal with the cause and occasion
for eternal life,
without respect for the Lord’s share of advantage in this matter?
Forgive me Lord.
I am not worthy of judging over how you handle your affairs.
I am a temporal tenant, my prejudices and inconsistencies
disqualify me from overseeing the eternal affairs of my soul.
I withdraw myself.
Come now, be the executor of my estate.
Speak but the word that my soul shall be healed!
Many might tell me the Bible is the Word of God, but none save the Spirit can convince me. The lexicon of tradition teaches me the two names are interchangeable. The witness of the living church celebrates this truth with great joy. I might hear my family of birth and circle of friends join in this jubilant obeisance. I might busily struggle with what integrity, intellect and discipline I can muster to confirm this truth for myself. None of these avenues of acknowledgement inviting investigation or acceptance however is anointed. Each may step forward for my embracing, yet like the sons of Jesse save David, none is qualified to voice the call that allows my soul to hear God speak when handling His word. None has the Father’s permission to exercise the power by which I am changed from inquirer to confessor. No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except in the Holy Spirit. Whoever has ears to hear the voice of Jesus has the help of a hearing aid who speaks, our Helper, the Spirit of truth. The Holy Spirit says nothing on His own initiative. He alone discloses to us what only He hears the Father speak.
Then He said to me,
“Son of man,
stand on your feet that I may speak with you!”
And as He spoke to me
the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet;
and I heard Him speaking to me…”
Who among us presumes to be superior to a prophet, or qualified to dismiss his admission of utter dependence upon the Spirit? While waiting for the listening Spirit we should work to listen better and better. Until He speaks we could call out together to the Father of our spirits, “Hallowed be Thy name.” We could work to put aside all malice, all guile, and hypocrisy, so that like newborn babes, we might long for the rational milk which feeds the regenerate mind, developing the spiritual growth we need to fulfill our reasonable service of worship.
Prayer is the means by which we present ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, admitting before Him in the presence of angels, demons, men, women, families, and the one stream of generations that we have no right to worship God unless as His people we consider ourselves as the sacrifice offered. Only as a sacrifice so offered do we realize that our time of greatest need is whenever we approach the throne of grace to stand before God in the name of Jesus for the purpose of prayer. As fellow confidants of the Truth, with the impure thinker, who like the bent Dane’s personal emperor gnawed on one bone his whole life, we too in humility confess:
“The whole expression of a Body of Christ,
with the Head in heaven,
meant exactly this,
that we who would crucify the Lord every day,
in our rage and envy and indifference,
now, with our eyes opened once
for what we have done and are doing,
declare solemnly:
we, now, together with our Head,
step on the side of the silent victims
and offer ourselves to our Maker
so that He can remake the sacrifice
as He pleases.”
Oh Lord, by your Holy Spirit who dwells within us, give us strength to guard the good deposit you have entrusted to us. Fructify the seed you give us to speak freely. Teach us to pray the path of the Gospel. Be not silent, O God of our praise! Make us prayer in your presence. Fill us with the youthful Spirit of the ages that we may pray with all joy and peace, believing you hear and answer the prayers you give us. Free us Lord to speak boldly before all what we yearn to hear you whisper to us in secret. Teach us to pray as the teachers of truth to the next generation. Prune us Lord, discipline us, and lead us not into temptation. Coax us across the bridge of longsuffering spanning repentance, which stretches us from teaching to training in righteousness by tests of reproof and correction. Nourish those you cherish Lord. Keep us sober enough to think straight. Teach us to hate whatever is not from you, our Father in heaven. Teach us to flee without ever looking back the safety of strongholds and arguments — the patterns of behavior and habits of thought we wear with ease. Father, talk us down from every height of self-esteem to which we aspire to climb, from that very high mountain top upon which the devil showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. Oh Lord, keep us from trying to overshadow Him upon whom you bestowed the name that is above every name. Teach us to stand before you in Christ that we might live for you in His name for the purpose of prayer.
We are afraid of your will Lord. Like Sarah, we laugh to ourselves at your word of promise and lie about it to your face. We would be her children Lord, doing good and not fearing anything that is frightening. Nonetheless, Lord, we are afraid. Nothing can be more frightening to the modern soul than living the moral loneliness of an outcast while hunting down every thought to take it captive to obey Christ for the attaining of complete obedience that we too might be ready to punish every disobedience. We fear this charge more than hell, and far more than we fear the Lawgiver and Judge who destroys both soul and body in hell. Teach us Father to speak our mind with candor about the whole truth of judgment, not only about how we shall be saved by Christ’s blood from your wrath, but that we should judge the trivial matters of this life now since on the day you have fixed, you will have us judge the world and the angels.
For the Lord takes pleasure in His people;
He adorns the humble with salvation.
Let the godly exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their beds.
Let the high praises of God be in their throats
and two-edged swords in their hands,
to execute vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,
to bind their kings with chains
and their nobles with fetters of iron,
to execute on them the judgment written!
This is honor for all His godly ones.
Praise the Lord!
God help us, this is too much for us, who can bear it? How long will we judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked, taking their bribes to buy our silence? Father help us bend daily to pick up and carry our cross of deliverance, confessing we have confidence in the day of judgment because as the only begotten Son is so also are we in this world. As the Father sent the Son, even so He sends us into the world not to condemn it, but in order for us to announce, confirm, demonstrate and explain His salvation. Let no man judge another, let each ask him- or herself before God’s Son. Has the true light which enlightens everyone come into the world? Who among us will at least be grieved enough that we may one after another begin to ask Him, “I do not love the darkness rather than the light, surely not I, Lord?” For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son. Father, we would take the Son’s yoke upon us to learn from Him how to be exorcists of unnecessary fear, proving to all there is no fear in love. Lord, we would bear one another’s burdens to fulfill your perfect law of liberty that we might declare without doubt, “Mercy triumphs over judgment.” Prepare us for that day Lord; keep us from pronouncing judgment before we are ready, before the time when you will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness to disclose the purposes of the heart. Lord, make us attentive to the Gospel of truth so the prayers we offer you now will then be answered, when each one will receive his commendation from God. We give thanks Lord, both for your keeping us from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, and for making of now the time for judgment to begin at the household of God. If it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the Gospel of God? Do what is right Lord, may others wonder at our entrusting our souls to you their faithful Creator, when they overhear us at prayer.
Whoever is shameless in prayer
shall not be ashamed of being naked before God.
The shameless in prayer
shall not be ashamed of the Lord
or His words in the midst of an adulterous
and sinful generation.
They will not be ashamed of the Gospel and the Testimony.
Those shameless in prayer now
will not shrink back then to destruction,
like those who dress themselves in decency
without the faith necessary to preserve
their souls when He comes
in the glory of His Father with holy angels.
Father, teach us to be shameless in prayer,
brazen and impudent as if able to trouble you,
wear you out,
beat your face black and blue,
make you throw in the towel.
Teach us to pray like little children,
in our Lord abiding,
so that when He appears we may have confidence,
and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming,
seeing Him for the first time as He truly is and realizing
He will not be ashamed of us,
the refugees from this world, when He comes.
Lord, be merciful to us sinners. Help us the helpless Lord. We believe! Hurry, come Lord to the rescue of our disbelief. Succor our faithlessness. Come to the aid of our untrustworthiness. O Lord, do not keep others from the miraculous because of our unbelief. Let our lack of faith neither hinder the rebuke of demons nor allow it to amaze the sons of God. Nullify our distrust that makes us waver concerning the promise you have made so we might give you glory as your people, fully convinced you are able to do what you have promised. Otherwise, we will waver in unbelief, believing our unbelief nullifies your faithfulness. Lord, hear our cry, we believe; help thou our unbelief. Lord, each time I say by faith, “I believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,” may this confession also be a prayer which means, “O, that I may so believe!”
O God of hope, remake us your sacrifice as you please, fill us with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit we might help one another abound in hope. Lord we believe, in your power or without, we can do nothing against the truth, but only for it. We pray you let us stand among those who alone fulfill your desire for compassion. May we continually offer up a sacrifice of praise in your honor by bearing the fruit of lips that acknowledge the name in which we stand.
Our God shall come,
and shall not keep silence;
a fire shall devour before Him,
and it shall be very tempestuous around about Him.
He shall call to the heavens from above,
and to the earth,
that He may judge His people.
Gather my saints together unto Me,
those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.
And the heavens shall declare His righteousness;
For God is judge Himself.
Selah,
and Selah.
