R.A. Torrey

PRAYER

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IMPORTUNITY IN PRAYER

“I tell you, although he will not get up and supply him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his shameless persistence…he will get up and give him as much as he needs.  So I say to you, Ask and keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and keep on knocking and the door shall be opened to you.  For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened” (Luke 11:8-10 AMP).

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing” (1 Thes 5:16 ESV).  “…pray…day and night, continually.  Take no rest, all you who pray to the LORD” (Isa 62:6 NLT).

The definition of importunity in prayer is: “…the condition of being troublesome or persistent because of a deep sense of urgency” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, Nov 13th).  “…the earnest, persistent, believing prayer that will not take no for an answer…” Ruben Archer Torrey (ref#212, p89).  “…an importunity that persists and insists in spite of discouragement…with strong cries and tears” Samuel Chadwick (ref#4, p107).

“…it is very much for our interest to be constantly supplicating him; first, that our heart may always be inflamed with a serious and ardent desire of seeking, loving, and serving him…secondly, that no desires, no longing whatever, of which we are ashamed to make him the witness, may enter our minds, while we learn to place all our wishes in his sight, and thus pour out our heart before him…” John Calvin (ref#113, p564-565).

“Of all the mysteries of the prayer world, the need of persevering prayer is one of the greatest.  That the Lord, who is so loving and longing to bless, should have to be supplicated time after time, sometimes year after year, before the answer comes, we cannot easily understand.  When after persevering supplication, our prayer remains unanswered, it is often easiest for our slothful flesh…to think that we must now cease praying, because God may have His secret reason for withholding His answer to our request. It is by faith alone that the difficulty is overcome….When…faith has taken its stand upon God’s word, and the Name of Jesus…it need not be discouraged by delay” Andrew Murray (ref#19, SIXTEENTH LESSON).

“The things we ask for are precious, but we do not realize their preciousness until we have sought for them earnestly” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, Feb 19th AM).

PRAYER

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THE HOLY SPIRIT’S WORK IN PRAYER  II

“In all circumstances take…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication….” (Eph 6:16-18 ESV).

“…wherever the Spirit dwells, He produces a spirit of prayer and supplication….wherever He is poured out as the Spirit of grace, He is also poured out as the Spirit of supplication (Zech 12:10).  He helps Christians before they pray by stirring up their spiritual affections and stimulating holy desires.  He helps them in prayer by teaching them to ask for those things which are according to God’s will.  He it is who humbles the pride of their hearts, moves their sluggish wills, and out of weakness makes them strong.  He helps them after prayer by quickening hope and patience to wait for God’s answers” A.W. Pink (ref#269, p101-102).

“…His Holy Spirit…has access to our heart, and teaches us to pray by showing us the sin that hinders the prayer, or giving us the assurance that we please God” Andrew Murray (ref#19, FIRST LESSON).

“The Spirit brings to expression the unutterable things of the soul.  His groanings are before our praying, and our prayers are born of His travail.  In Him is the supply of life and desire, wisdom and faith, intercession and power.  He quickens desire, purifies motive, inspires confidence, and assures faith” Samuel Chadwick (ref#4, p61).

“…let the Holy Spirit be acknowledged as the Author, and constantly sought as the Sustainer, of this holy exercise… Octavius Winslow (ref#135, July 9th).

From Romans 8:26-27, we learn that the longings that the Holy Spirit creates in our hearts are often too deep for utterance…God Himself must search the heart to know “what is the mind of the Spirit” (verse 27)…He does know what those Spirit-given longings mean, even if we don not.  These longings are “according to his purpose” (verse 28), and He grants them.  He is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20) R.A. Torrey (ref#339, p77).

HOLY SPIRIT

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BUILDING UP THE CHURCH

“…if a man is regenerate, he is saved….If he should die he would go to heaven.  But though he is saved he is not yet fitted for God’s service” R.A. Torrey (ref#223, p114).

“Spiritual gifts may be given at the moment of regeneration, but they may lie undiscovered and dormant for a long period of time….Spiritual gifts can be abused and neglected, but if they are received at regeneration, it would appear that they cannot be lost.  The Corinthian church illustrates the fact that believers can be highly gifted but spiritually immature” Kenneth Boa, (The Gifts of the Spirit, http://bible.org/article/gifts-spirit).

“The Corinthians were rich in gifts and poor in fruit.  Our Lord told of some who wrought wonders in His name, but they were none of His. (Matt 7:21-23)” Samuel Chadwick (ref#195, p138).  “So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church” (1 Cor 14:12 ESV).

Multi-gifted Christians often discover their combination of gifts through a gradual process…Each multi-gifted Christian has received a combination of spiritual abilities that is perfectly suited to his or her God-given ministry” Kenneth Boa, (The Gifts of the Spirit, http://bible.org/article/gifts-spirit).

“The gifts of the Spirit are for service…Some are permanent.  Others are given for special vocations and exceptional occasions…” Samuel Chadwick (ref#195, p146).

 “God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit….God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful:

wise counsel

clear understanding

simple trust

healing the sick

miraculous acts

proclamation

distinguishing between spirits

tongues

interpretation of tongues.

All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when” (1 Cor 12:4-11 MSG).

FATHER, thank Your for spiritual gifts.  They are correctly called “gifts” for as I learn more and more to abide with You I realize I contribute nothing to their success.

HOLY SPIRIT

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THE SPIRIT’S SENSIBLE PRESENCE

FATHER, save me from being content with a little measure of the SPIRIT, thinking that is all I am expected to have.  So often I feel His absence and act using my own human spirit.  Grow in me a desire for the power of His presence all the time The Valley of Vision (ref#76, p29).

“The Holy Spirit is no temporary gift; He abides with the saints.  We have but to seek Him aright, and He will be found by us.  He is jealous, but He is compassionate.  If He leaves in anger, He returns in mercy.  Gracious and tender, He does not weary of us, but He waits to be merciful still” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, Feb 12thPM).

Through sin and worldliness I lose the consciousness of the SPIRIT’s presence. I don’t lose You, SPIRIT, but You are behind my conscious awareness (ref#30, p115).  For instance, no matter how eager or clever I am in sharing the Gospel, it is insufficient without Your presence.  What I need is to experience continual power to be obedient to You, SPIRIT, Who alone truly teaches me (ref#33, p86).

“God is determined to have His child as pure and clean and white as driven snow, and as long as there is disobedience in any point of His teaching, He will prevent none of the working of His spirit” Oswald Chambers (ref#7, June 30th).

FATHER, sensitize me to watch for the SPIRIT.  In Him is the only way I can remain spiritual. (ref#101, p28).

HOLY SPIRIT

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BE FILLED

“…be filled with the Spirit,” (Eph 5:18 ESV).

“…we are leaky vessels, and have to be kept right under the fountain all the time in order to keep full…” Jim Cymbala (ref#161, p110-111).

“…Be filled”…literally rendered “be being kept filled.”…a command demanding conscious, continual action on our part (ref#228, p74).

“…it is one thing to have the Holy Spirit dwelling away back of consciousness in some hidden sanctuary of our being, and quite another thing to have that Holy Spirit taking entire possession of the house” R.A. Torrey (ref#223, p115).

“The fullness of the Spirit vitalizes natural powers, quickens dormant faculties, and reinforces capabilities…The brain gets a new quality of alertness, endurance and effectiveness.  The mind receives new powers of perception, intelligence and understanding.  The heart finds a new clarity of vision, a new simplicity of motive, and a new intensity of emotion.  The impossible becomes capable of achievement in the sanctified powers of the natural man” Samuel Chadwick (ref#195, p143-144).

“…seek to ‘be filled with the Spirit’!  Then your thirsting’s for God will be deeper, your breathings after holiness more intense, your communion with your heavenly Father closer, and your faith in Jesus stronger.  The indwelling of the Spirit is the root of all holiness; but the communication of the Spirit in the fullness of His gracious, sanctifying, Christ-transforming influence is the secret of a higher degree of heavenly-mindedness” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, Nov 13th).

“The work of God cannot be accomplished without the fullness of the Spirit, and everywhere God waits to give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.  It is His will that every believer should be filled with the Spirit, overflow in the power of the Spirit, and in all things prevail through the Spirit…God waits to fill ordinary people with extraordinary power, and to turn a baffled faith into a rapturous conquest” Samuel Chadwick (ref#195, p161-162).

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him (Luke 11:13 ESV).

HOLY SPIRIT

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THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

“Every regenerate person has the Holy Spirit, but not every regenerate person has what the Bible calls…‘The baptism with the Holy Spirit,’or ‘the Promise of the Father’” R.A. Torrey (ref#223, p115).

The “gift” of the SPIRIT everyone gets at regeneration.  This “gift” over time produces the “fruit of the SPIRIT.”  The SPIRIT works internally in the believer to produce more and more fruit.  “Gifts” have nothing to do with continually changing the believer into the image of CHRIST.  They are unique to each believer and are given whenever the SPIRIT deems best (Heb 2:4).  These “gifts” are to glorify GOD and build up His church.

“…the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is a work of the Holy Spirit distinct from and additional to His regenerating work. In other words, it is one thing to be born again by the Holy Spirit, and quite another thing to be baptized with the Holy Spirit” R.A. Torrey (ref#223, p112).

“In some cases, the gifts of the Spirit coincide with natural endowments, but they transcend these natural abilities by adding a supernatural quality” (Kenneth Boa, The Gifts of the Spirit, http://bible.org/article/gifts-spirit).

The “Baptism of the SPIRIT” is called by some, “the second blessing.”  Both represent the HOLY SPIRIT moving an individual in a mighty way in the service of Christianity.  This movement has been labeled because of the evangelistic supernaturalism of it.  But the reality of it all is that the SPIRIT flows as a fountain, of Himself, of His own accord, and by His own will He proceeds. John Owen (ref#35, p361).

Theologians identify and put into subjects different activities of the SPIRIT but He does not stop one activity and start another.  He is the One SPIRIT doing as He pleases in each believer when and whatever He desires.  Our human judging leads us into false accusations.

This SPIRIT we cannot put in a box and say He does this and that in this and that time.  He leads each individual believer further into spiritual activities as he is able to accept them.  Our walks are all different.   FATHER keep us from finger-pointing because the SPIRIT is manifesting Himself differently in others than in us.

ASSURANCES

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ASSURANCES THROUGH THE BIBLE

“The Bible is the most definite book that was ever written….The Bible is definite about salvation; so definite that if a man is saved and knows his Bible, and you put to him the question, ‘Are you saved,’ he will reply, in all humility and yet with equal confidence, ‘Yes, God in His infinite mercy and condescension has saved even me.’” R. A. Torrey (ref#223, p111).

FATHER, Your Bible has a lot to say to a true Christian as far as assuring him You will always love and never leave him. True Christians have an insatiable interest in Scripture. It is their “bread of life,” for it one does not read Scripture one cannot build his faith to the point of “knowing.”

A sample of the way GOD speaks to His children through His written Word:

“You did not choose me, but I chose you…” (John 15:16 ESV).

“…Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you and continued My faithfulness to you” (Jer 31:3 AMP).

“And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord” (Hos 2:19-20 ESV).

“(You) shall…dwell beneath my shadow; (you) shall flourish like the grain; (you) shall blossom like the vine; (your) fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon” (Hos 14:7 ESV) (parentheses mine).

PRELUDE OF PRAYER

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Prayer Facts:

“If we are to pray with power, we must pray with faith….If we are to have real faith, we must study the Word of God and discover what is promised. Then, we must simply believe the promises…Faith must have God’s sanction. Trying to believe something that you want to believe is not faith” R.A. Torrey (ref#155, p45-46).

Reasons for Waiting for GOD:

Because You rule by Your might forever and You keep watch over the nations (Ps 66:7), I will wait for You.

Because Your judgments are true and righteous altogether (Ps 19:9), I will wait for You.

Because Your understanding is inexhaustible and boundless (Ps 147:5), I will wait for You.

Because You are unchangeable, what You want to do, You do (Job 23:13), I will wait for You.

Read Through the Bible in a Year: June 10th – 16th

June 10    Prov 16; Matt 10

June 11    Prov 17; Matt 11

June 12    Prov 18; Matt 12

June 13    Prov 19; Ps 60

June 14    Prov 20; Matt 13

June 15    Prov 21; Matt 14

June 16    Prov 22; Matt 15

THANKSGIVING

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RECEIVING THE SPIRIT TO MINISTER

Screen Shot 2016-08-23 at 3.50.46 PM“…when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses…” (Acts 1:8 MSG).

FATHER, I gratefully thank You for inviting me to be the cup You use to pour out Your goodness on mankind. You require and then enable me to keep my cup clean so You can choose me to be Your minister.

You require it and make me able to die to self—to be constantly dying, always carrying in my body the death of JESUS, so that the life of JESUS may also be manifested in my body (2 Cor 4:10) (ref#97, p25).

“It will mean no plans, no time, no money, no pleasure of our own. It will mean a constant yielding to those around us…” Roy Hession (ref#97, p25).

You make me able to put out of my life every known sin (ref#30, p116). The SPIRIT makes me willing to show You my dirty cup—makes me willing to give it to You to clean—and it will be cleaned with Your Son’s precious Blood that continually flows for sin (ref#97, p30).

You make me able to be broken of my will.   The SPIRIT brings me to the foot of the Cross to show me what real brokenness is. I see His wounded hands and feet and His face crowned with thorns… (ref#97, p48).

Through Your direction of the SPIRIT, He is able to make me into a suitable tool for Your use. And going yet further, the SPIRIT points my desires toward a further spiritual anointing—the “definite endowment of power from the Holy Spirit” R. A. Torrey (ref#30, p115-116).

All praise to You, FATHER, for You make me able to be in relationship with You. I thank You for the SPIRIT Who leads me to every step of cleanliness and on to the ability to minister with You in Your behalf.

CONFESSION

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TOTALLY DEPRAVED DOES NOT MEAN TOTALLY CORRUPT

Screen Shot 2016-07-18 at 4.54.51 PM…FATHER, R.A. Torrey gives me reason to check myself to see if my good works come from my relationship with JESUS or my depraved nature. He says:

“The doctrine that man is totally depraved does not mean that he is totally corrupt….while seeking to please himself, a man may do things that are morally attractive and beautiful….He is as truly depraved as the man who chooses the immoral things, but his tastes are not as corrupt…” R. A. Torrey (ref#30, p62,63).

John Owen further identifies depravity:

“…persons who know not Christ…would spin a holiness out of their own bowels; they would work it out in their own strength. They begin by trying endeavors; and follow it with vows, duties, resolutions, engagements, sweating at it all the day long….” (ref#35, p333).

The Apostle Paul laments over his sisters and brothers of Israel who spin their own holiness. He says:

“I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal.  For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with  himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law” (Rom 10:2-3 NLT).

It can be easy to find pride in being moral—self-ordering activities toward righteousness. Take my eyes off CHRIST and I’ll fall into striving to be good. I know my righteousness is only through the SPIRIT by faith (Gal 5:5). FATHER, I want to stay with the SPIRIT.

Bring me to examine my own enthusiasm for You. Am I joyful and content being in fellowship with CHRIST and enthusiastic about His agenda? Or is it satisfying enough to just choose and accomplish good works. Help me search my heart, LORD, do I really love You or do I simply love to appear righteous?