Yield up the Love Of Life for the sake of the Life Of Love. Mrs. Cowman

"I even reckon all things as pure loss because of the priceless privilege of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord."  Philippians 3:8  (Weymouth)

Shining is always costly. Light comes only at the cost of that which produces it. An unlit candle does no shining. Burning must come before shining. We cannot be of great use to others without cost to ourselves. Burning suggests suffering. We shrink from pain.

 

We are apt to feel that we are doing the greatest good in the world when we are strong, and able for active duty, and when the heart and hands are full of kindly service.

 

When we are called aside and can only suffer; when we are sick; when we are consumed with pain; when all our activities have been dropped, we feel that we are no longer of use, that we are not doing anything.

 

But, if we are patient and submissive, it is almost certain that we are a greater blessing to the world in our time of suffering and pain than we were in the days when we thought we were doing the most of our work. We are burning now, and shining because we are burning.  —Evening Thoughts

 

“The glory of tomorrow is rooted in the drudgery of today.”

 

Many want the glory without the cross, the shining without the burning, but crucifixion comes before coronation.

 

Have you heard the tale of the aloe plant,

Away in the sunny clime?

By humble growth of a hundred years

It reaches its blooming time;

And then a wondrous bud at its crown

Breaks into a thousand flowers;

This floral queen, in its blooming seen,

Is the pride of the tropical bowers,

But the plant to the flower is sacrifice,

For it blooms but once, and it dies.

 

Have you further heard of the aloe plant,

That grows in the sunny clime;

How every one of its thousand flowers,

As they drop in the blooming time,

Is an infant plant that fastens its roots

In the place where it falls on the ground,

And as fast as they drop from the dying stem,

Grow lively and lovely around?

By dying, it liveth a thousand-fold

In the young that spring from the death of the old.

 

Have you heard the tale of the pelican,

The Arabs’ Gimel el Bahr,

That lives in the African solitudes,

Where the birds that live lonely are?

Have you heard how it loves its tender young,

And cares and toils for their good,

It brings them water from mountain far,

And fishes the seas for their food.

In famine it feeds them—what love can devise!

The blood of its bosom—and, feeding them, dies.

 

Have you heard this tale—the best of them all—

The tale of the Holy and True,

He dies, but His life, in untold souls

Lives on in the world anew;

His seed prevails, and is filling the earth,

As the stars fill the sky above.

He taught us to yield up the love of life,

For the sake of the life of love.

His death is our life, His loss is our gain;

The joy for the tear, the peace for the pain.  —Selected

From April 26, Streams In The Desert, by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

Interchurch Holiness Convention

We are HAPPY to get to watch the Interchurch Holiness Convention via internet.  Imagine.  Missionaries in Buenos Aires, Argentina, getting to virtually attend a holiness convention in Dayton, Ohio, USA!

You may listen in here.  I hope you join us.  

*If the live streaming doesn't work, try again after a bit; they may be between services.*

You may view the preaching schedule here.

Please pray with us for God to be glorified at IHC and in all of us listening.

Worship the LORD in the Beauty of Holiness.  
Psalm 29:2b 

Yes, Jesus Rose From Dead After 3 Days AND 3 Nights.

Hallelujah!  Jesus is ALIVE! 

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  - Jesus in Matthew 12:40

Someday people will catch on.  I was slow; it took me several years to figure this out.
.
I have never doubted the resurrection of Christ.  Nor the infallibility of the Bible, God's Holy Word.

But for years I have scratched my head and tried to figure this "and three nights" matter out.  Because I just assumed that that Jesus was crucified on Friday and rose again on Sunday.  I could get three partial days out of this, but three NIGHTS out of a Friday crucifixion / Sunday resurrection was impossible.  So I settled it with, "I must not understand all the facts yet."

Because Jesus doesn't lie.  And we know that Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday, the first day of the week.  (Just read your Bible.)  So somehow scholars have gotten confused about on which day Jesus was crucified.  (Again, just read your Bible; Friday isn't mentioned.)

Now, the day before the sabbath IS mentioned.  But people have forgotten that there not only is a Saturday Jewish sabbath, but ALSO a sabbath that falls in the middle of the week at certain times.

Simply put, in AD 32 on Thursday through sunset was the first day of the Passover, the 14th day of the Jewish month Nisan.  On this day the Passover lamb was slain all across Israel.  The following day Friday was a special Jewish sabbath, also called a "high day" as mentioned in John 19:31. Jesus being crucified and then dying by sunset and then buried directly thereafter would place Him in the grave for three days AND three nights too, just as Jesus said.  Jesus, our passover lamb, then rose from the dead on the first day of the week.

Hallelujah!  He arose, and now we can have Abundant Everlasting Life through Christ!  This means you can be saved from sin and punishment, my dear friend.  Surrender you're life to God; cry out to Him for help. God will hear you and have mercy on you and abundantly forgive you and give you a new life in Christ!  You cannot overestimate the power of the blood of Jesus.  Through Jesus you can be freed from ANY sin which binds you!

The Berean Call, founded by Dave Hunt, the author of The Seduction of Christianity among other books, published this article.  I quote it below, for it explains the Jewish sabbath following Christ's crucifixion, which places Christ in the tomb for not only three days but also three nights just as Jesus promised.

Question: Recently I was presented some information defending the traditional Friday crucifixion.... “The day of preparation” (Lk 23:54) could only refer to Friday before the Sabbath since no work of any kind could be done on the Sabbath... [which was known as] “the High Sabbath.” To us three days and three nights generally means 72 hours, but...this could mean any part of the first day, all of the second day, and any part of the third day. In several passages (the majority) it is said Jesus would rise “on the third day.” If the resurrection occurred after a full 72 hours (three days) it would have been on the fourth day. The Jews put guards to make the grave “secure until the third day” (Mt 27:64) not until the fourth day. Please respond.

Response: There are several errors in the points you make in defense of a Friday crucifixion. First of all, you deal with the days and not the nights. The problem is with the three nights, not with the three days . A Friday crucifixion would give three days (one full day and part of two others), but not three nights as required. Next, you say that the only “preparation” was for the regular Friday/Saturday sabbath. Not so. In fact, we are told specifically that it was not in preparation for the regular sabbath, but “It was the preparation of the passover ” (John 19:14). That means that the passover lambs were being slain. That was the “evening” of Nisan 14. They would be cleaned and roasted with fire and eaten that night after sunset, beginning Nisan 15.

Third, you call the regular Friday/Saturday sabbath “the High Sabbath.” In fact, the regular weekly sabbath was never called a “high day.” The language in John 19:31 (“For that sabbath day was an high day”) clearly distinguishes this special sabbath from the regular weekly sabbaths. Nisan 15 began the seven-day feast of unleavened bread. Its first day was a sabbath with a “holy convocation” and “no manner of work shall be done...” (Ex 12:16). The passover was the most important of all the feasts, so obviously this was the “high” sabbath to which John refers.

Only once every seven years would the “high” sabbath coincide with the regular Saturday sabbath. In A.D. 32 the first day of unleavened bread, the night when the passover lamb was eaten, occurred on Thursday. Nisan 14 ended at sunset Thursday, and this fits perfectly with Christ riding into Jerusalem on the donkey the previous Sunday, which would have been Nisan 10 when the lambs were taken out of the flock and kept under observation for four days. It is thus no coincidence that Christ, God’s perfect Passover Lamb, presented Himself to Israel on Nisan 10. The tenth being on a Sunday (“Palm Sunday”), the fourteenth, when the passover lambs were being slain all over Israel, fell on Thursday—and that is when “Christ our passover” (1 Corinthians 5:7) was nailed to the cross and slain by “the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel” as foretold (Exodus 12:6).

This special sabbath went from Thursday sunset to Friday sunset; the regular sabbath from Friday sunset until Saturday sunset, so the women could not get to the grave until Sunday morning.

You seem to assume that a Thursday crucifixion would mean Christ would have been in the grave 72 hours. No, the 72 hours and a full three days would not have ended until nearly sunset Sunday. So just as you explain was needful, Christ rose “on the third day” if He rose Sunday morning . But He was three nights in the grave as well as three days, which was absolutely necessary (Jonah 1:17, Matthew 12:40).  

For more fascinating reading on this go here.          

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. (1 Timothy 3:16 KJV) 

Happy Resurrection Sunday!!!!  Thanks Be To God For His Unspeakable Gift!!!  
            - Phillip                

Keep Praying For Colombia

Perhaps not a day goes by in which I do not feel gratefulness to God for our co-workers in Colombia.  We consider it a privilege to try to serve them as best as God enables us.

I've also learned a painful part of missionary work.  We already knew that we would miss our family, church, and loved ones in the USA when we were away from them.  But now that we are working more than one field, we are finding ourselves missing our national brothers also when away from them.

Jimmy and Farly Ramirez and daughters Nataly and Gabriela

Please continue to help us pray for God's servants in Colombia.  As you are doing in the USA, they are doing there in Colombia.  You are praying.  I know that our own Christian Nation Church is holding a special prayer meeting for Revival and for I.H.C.  And they meet weekly for fervent prayer.  I know that the prayer warriors of Rope Holders are praying.  I know that Shelbyville Bible Holiness Church, meets monthly to pray especially for their missionaries.  And I know that many, many of you are praying, daily, earnestly too.  Praise The Lord!  And I know that our dear Colombian brothers are praying much too.  This Friday is an all night prayer meeting in one of the churches.  And special prayer meetings like this are regular occurrences there too.

Rigoberto Burgos (& wife Ilse) in Cartegena

You have regularly prayed for the Colombians time after time and you still do.  They also regularly pray for you, for your churches, for the entire sanctification of believers, and for revival too.  Isn't it wonderful to be on the same team and on a growing team -- God's team!

Alberto Osorio (& wife Alba) in Medellin

We in the USA are burdened for our unsaved acquaintances and pray much for them.  The Colombians pray for lost souls there too.  You are praying for Argentina; they pray for Argentina.  You pray for us.  They pray for us.

You are giving sacrificially and we pass that on to the harvest fields.  The mission field hasn't made it to the same level of financial maturity yet to be able to give to foreign missions.  But I expect that with time God will prosper them to do so as they continue to tithe and pray.  But they love to give in other ways and they offer the sacrifice of much prayer and fasting as you do too.

Let's continue to pray for these pastors, their faithful wives, their families, and their congregations.  They and their families face battles and trials as do all Christian leaders, but they have few holiness people around for encouragement like so many of us do.

Jimmy Ramirez (& wife Farly) in Bogota

Thank you so much, dear Colombian Christian Nation Church!  God has done so much for you.
And thank you so much, dear Holiness Church in the United States and elsewhere.  God has given you a rich heritage and has set the special seal of His glory upon you.  Let's ask for, attempt more, and expect more from God!                    
                                                              -pdd                  

The Ministry of the Unnoticed, by Oswald Chambers

“Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Matthew 5:3

The New Testament notices things which from our standards do not seem to count. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” literally – Blessed are the paupers – an exceedingly commonplace thing!

The phrase we hear so often, Decide for Christ, is an emphasis on something our Lord never trusted. He never asks us to decide for Him, but to yield to Him – a very different thing.

At the basis of Jesus Christ's Kingdom is the unaffected loveliness of the commonplace. The thing I am blessed in is my poverty. If I know I have no strength of will, no nobility of disposition, then Jesus says – Blessed are you, because it is through this poverty that I enter His Kingdom. I cannot enter His Kingdom as a good man or woman, I can only enter it as a complete pauper.

The True character of the loveliness that tells for God is always unconscious. Conscious influence is priggish and un-Christian. If I say – I wonder if I am of any use – I instantly lose the bloom of the touch of the Lord. “He that believeth in me, out of him shall flow rivers of living water.” If I examine the outflow, I lose the touch of the Lord.

Which are the people who have influenced us most? Not the ones who thought they did, but those who had not the remotest notion that they were influencing us. In the Christian life the implicit is never conscious, if it is conscious it ceases to have this unaffected loveliness which is the characteristic of the touch of Jesus.

 We always know when Jesus is at work because He produces in the commonplace something that is inspiring.

                                                                           - by Oswald Chambers

Multiply: The Thrice Repeated Command

Home Sweet Home.  After Walter Dendy Sadler [Public domain]

A commandment uttered by God is important, 
even if mentioned only once.  

Do not eat of the tree in the midst of the garden.  
Thou shalt not print any marks on your flesh.

Would not a commandment repeated again by God show greater importance if possible? 

For instance... And God sanctified the day He ended His work, and blessed it, and rested from all His work.  (Genesis 2)   Then later to His people He reminded them of this law already in effect when He said, “REMEMBER, the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.” “Don't forget what I have already told you. Remember, this law which had already been given long before Moses' law and which is so easily forgotten.” 

God rested on the eighth day of creation, and Jesus rose on the eighth day of the week as well. Eight symbolizes a new beginning.  Jesus Christ adjusted the day from the Jewish seventh back to the original eighth or "first day of the week."


So with this repeated law for about two millenia now, Christians all over the world have ceased from work, refused to participate in commerce and all common business, and have rested and worshiped on the Christian Sabbath, the Lords Day. 

The more earnestly Christians delight in this moral law, the more God blesses them. (See Isaiah 58:11-14 and Psalm 112:1-2 below.) Only recently with the God predicted apostasy sweeping over the earth is much of the church world making excuses to disregard this perpetual moral law.


Now think about this.  God repeated another commandment THREE times in various forms in just the first nine chapters of the Bible. 

“Be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.” (Genesis 9:7. Also 1:28 and 9:1)


Our un-Godly society today is opposing this with a demonic fervor.   The lies spew forth. 

You are overpopulating the world. Too many people harm the earth. You can't afford to have children. It's harmful for a woman to have babies. Children hinder a successful career. 

The world is overpopulated? According to whom? God called for an abundance of people on the earth. 

Humans harm the earth? Many people on the earth do not harm it; SIN wrecks havoc upon creation. God reminds us of this over and over in His Word. 

Children are expensive?  Good things do come at a cost.  But you cannot afford NOT to have children, when God pleases to open the womb. They are a heritage of the Lord. And when God sends into a home which fears Him little mouths to feed, He will send the food needed to feed them. 

Babies harm women?  Birthing a child and raising children are intense labors, but studies show that mothers of multiple children have lower incidences of several health problems and cancers. 

Wreck a successful career?  Children might hamper certain careers, but they do not hinder success. Wise, long-term planning parents know that sons and daughters wisely trained and aided by God can do much more than a career to perpetuate a legacy if God so allows.

Those who believe such lies are sadly ignorant.  Satan hates children.  He loves for people to believe lies like this.  Because God loves all children.  Jesus blood was shed to save every one of them.


Satan loves to cause many obstacles to obedience of God's commands. Persevering obedience in spite of seeming impossibilities proves our faith and willingness to obey God. 

Having children can seem a fearful responsibility, but God wants to cast out fear.


God uses more than highway and byway evangelism to fill the earth with His kingdom. God's kingdom comes also by filling homes with children to be dedicated to Him. 

God's Word and the onward march of history shows that with time the seed of the wicked are cut off from the face of the earth. God also tells us that he multiplies the seed of the righteous. The wicked fading away and the righteous replenishing the earth has a regenerating, blessing effect on the earth.

Satan has come to kill and destroy. Is it no wonder he hates holy, happy homes filled with the play and laughter of little children. 

But God delights in this sweet smelling offering for Him. Especially when Papa and Momma lay everything aside to follow God, to pray for the conversion of their offspring, and to teach these children the ways of God.  

Back when God gave the thrice repeated commandment to be fruitful and multiply, He envisioned blessings sweeping over the earth through this.   
                                                      -Phillip Dickinson

(Isaiah 58:11-14)
And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

(Psalm 112:1-2)

Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.

His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed.

~More pics from Sunday...and more about Phillip's youth service.~

~Aunt Yoli normally plays the piano at the Chinese church, but she and U. Charlie are gone for a little while visiting some family.
So before she left she gave me the hymns that she would like for me to play on the piano for the church services while she was gone.
It was little nerve wracking for me....since the service was all in Chinese...I was afraid I wouldn't know when we were going to sing the hymn, or when they were going to take the offering and sing that hymn, etc.  But Jesus helped me.  =)
(There is a hallway behind the glass door where the piano is up front, so Kimberly snuck and took this picture of me at the piano through the door. =) ~

~Then after lunch the young people had their service where Phillip was graciously invited to speak.  Our friend Leo stood behind Kimberly translating for her.~

~THANK YOU AGAIN FOR PRAYING!
God really helped Phillip as he spoke and our new friend Oso as he translated into Manderin!  =) ~

~Phillip spoke on living pure lives BEFORE AND AFTER MARRIAGE!
God gave Phillip the illustration or object lesson of using 2 matching coffee cups: One was Clean inside and the other was VERY DIRTY!!!
He then had a glass pitcher sort of representing the Holy Spirit.
He asked for a volunteer to come up to give them a drink of water.  From where we were sitting one couldn't tell the difference between the 2 coffee cups...but for some reason the volunteer who came up front...our friend Caro chose the CLEAN CUP!  =) ~

~Phillip talked about the Holy Spirit (the pitcher of water) wanting to FILL each one of us, but we have to be CLEAN inside before He can fill us.  ~

~We need to let Jesus clean us on the inside...and then the Holy Spirit wants to come in and fill us...so that we in turn can be a blessing to others.
No one would want a drink of water out of a DIRTY cup...but, oh the BLESSING it is to have a drink of water out of a CLEAN cup to quench one's thirst.
May each of us be the clean "cups" or temples that Jesus needs to use to touch other lives for HIM!!!~

~The young people were attentive listeners.~

~While we were in the youth service, Sarah was helping a group of people work on a bulletin board about the Resurrection story.~

Our family feels so blessed to be able to attend the Chinese church and it is our desire to help in any small way we can.
 

Our Chinese Friends

Thank you for praying for us, during the youth service.  God helped me speak as well as my friend who translated.  There was a good turn out.  Here is a picture of a bunch of us afterwards.  -pdd

 

Prayer Desired Right Now

I've been asked to speak in the Chinese church (in Argentina) to the youth group (ages 13-30) on Sunday afternoon -- tomorrow.

I'll preach in Spanish and it will be translated into Mandarin.  Please pray for the speaker, translator, and hearers.

I'm highly honored with this privilege, but deeply sense the need of the Holy Spirit's anointing.  May Christ be glorified.  And may His Word bring forth fruit unto holiness.  
                                                                                                  Thanks, Phillip
For an update on this prayer request click here.

credit: www.forwallpaper.com

With Christ, Brokenness Brings Beauty

God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.                                                                               - Vance Havner

Men want only the strong, the successful, the victorious, the unbroken, in building their kingdoms; but God is the God of the unsuccessful, of those who have failed. 

Christ is building His kingdom with earth's broken things.

Credit: www.777top.com/diy-creative-planters

Heaven is filling with earth's broken lives, and there is no bruised reed that Christ cannot take and restore to glorious blessedness and beauty.  He can take the life crushed by pain or sorrow and make it into a harp whose music shall be all praise.  He can lift earth's saddest failure up to heaven's glory.

"Follow me, and I will make you" . . .
Make you speak my words with power,
Make you channels of My mercy,
Make you helpful every hour.

"Follow Me, and I will make you" . . .
Make you what you cannot be --
Make you loveing, trustful, godly,
Make you even like to Me.            - Selected from March 15, Streams In The Desert, by Mrs. Charles Cowman.

The Correct Attitude Toward Our LORD

St Kilda, Scotland

“His name should never be mentioned but with awe; and our whole conduct should testify that we are deeply sensible of His presence, and that there is nothing which we are so anxious to obtain as His favor, nothing which we so much dread as His displeasure.” 
                              Lectures On Theology, pg. 274, by John Dick, Scottish minister, 1764–1833.

Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom according to Proverbs 1:7.
                              -pdd

The Power of the Blood of Jesus. Andrew Murray quotes.

Photo credit: www.ajosephproject.com/blog/andrew-murray-biography

   
"The Lord Jesus did not offer up His own life, and shed His blood to spare us from the sacrifice of our lives.  No, indeed ! but to make the sacrifice of our lives possible and desirable."

"It is impossible for us to think too highly, or to expect too much, from the power of Jesus' blood."

"No sense of unworthiness, or of ignorance, or of helplessness must cause us to doubt.  The blood works in the surrendered soul with a ceaseless power of life."
                                      - quotes from The Power Of The Blood Of Jesus by Andrew Murray

Murray also said that in order to experience the glorious blessings of the blood of Jesus Christ, we must place ourselves under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, we must strongly desire and expect deliverance from anything that is not pleasing to God, and we must strongly desire and expect holiness and intimate friendship with our Holy God.        
                      -pdd

Study: Online Interaction Causes Loneliness (With One Exception)

"Online interaction causes loneliness," says TIME.  According to research, “The greater the proportion of face-to-face interactions, the less lonely you are.  The greater the proportion of online interactions, the lonelier you are.”

Social websites will make one lonelier, unless it's used to facilitate face to face interactions; that is the one exception according to this authority.  For example, social sites could be used to schedule a gathering or a meeting.  Technology is a tool, but it can't make you happy.  Relationships make people happy.  When tools are used to facilitate relationships, they make one happier.  When technology replaces relationships it brings problems. The same article also unequivocally states that "more TV only makes you more unhappy."

 

But the greatest problem and misery comes when technology takes time better spent with God or doing something that you know God wants you to do.  The more time spent with God the more joy we experience.  Obeying God also brings joy.  The more technology replaces time with God or obeying Him the more depressed people feel.  Also, God gives Himself to those who want Him and His will over rivals.
 -pdd  

Hudson Taylor on Prayer

"I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked if I might help Him. I ended up asking Him to do His
work through me."  - Hudson Taylor

"Antes pedía que Dios me ayudara. Luego pedí que si yo podría ayudarle a El. Al fin yo pedí que El  haga Su obra a través de mí." - Hudson Taylor

Hudson Taylor has influenced my life and my praying.  God knows what needs to be accomplished in His kingdom better than I know. 

One thing we can be assured of, God WILL hear and answer the prayers of those who are abiding in Christ.  May God's Holy Spirit lead us into prayer.  Halelujah!  Pray On!!!
-pdd

Answer To: A Quick Prayer Request Please.

Wow!  I see that I never gave you to good news.  After asking for prayer in my last post, you prayed and God beautifully answered.  The very next service was blessed with freedom of worship and with God's Spirit moving on the hearts of those present.  The fruit of this was seekers crying out to God in prayer and several finding help for serious spiritual needs.  Thank you and keep praying.  God is our answer.  Blessings in Christ!  - Phillip

A Quick Prayer Request Please

Phillip Dickinson here.  We are now in our last city / congregation in Colombia.  God has blessed tremendously in the services in Medellin and Cartegena.  Tonight we began in Bogota.  Jimmy and Farly Ramirez and David Spivey and I noticed that the service tonight seemed strained, dry, and difficult.  The message was anointed and led of God and preached out of a heart of prayer and compassion.  But we feel that there is a Spiritual battle here and we need God.  Also, Bro. Spivey needs a physical touch.  Thanks for Praying! 

Peru and Colombia trip

In Lima, Peru

Thanks for praying for Bro. Byron and I as we are in Lima, Peru.  We have been seeing the hand of God in all of this and are leaving tomorrow greatly encouraged in God's providential working.  God has been sending people across our paths and we are expecting to see a holiness church here someday.

Please Pray for the trip to Colombia now.  Bro. Spivey and I will be traveling to each of the congregations and preaching and teaching.  I greatly feel the need of the Holy Spirit to do HIS office work.  I appreciate you praying!    -pdd

Evaluating God's Church

Oh, how sad it makes me when people try to evaluate the condition of God’s holy church by appearances, by surveys, and by comparisons.  I cannot watch.  I have to look away lest my faith be hindered or lest I be tempted to contend.  Why must I look away?  Most evaluations are done by those who are impressed with numbers and with influence.  Why must I look away?  Because the kingdom of God cometh not with observation.   

The “numbers and influence” evaluation game is a dangerous two edged sword.  1.) If all seems to be going exceptionally well, many fall into pride at the survey results and then God’s Spirit is grieved, leaves us, and we are left operating and progressing in the flesh.  2.) If the survey results are not what the leaders think they should be, the sheep are often browbeat to do something, change things, or start being like another part of the religious or secular world which has the results which they like.  Then methods, mission statements, grand causes, long term strategies, and much more human machinery is dreamed up by men who presume to take upon themselves the work of the Blessed Holy Spirit.   

These movement evaluators long to have a better plan, to hire a sharper strategist, or to form more clever think tanks with more titled and successful members to this end.  These self-appointed strategists compare the tiny bit which they can see of Christ’s holy church with unfair growth models.  They whip the faithful few they see around them with guilt for not equaling past moves of God which are not how God Spirit is choosing to move today.  In an indirect way they compare those few of Christ’s church whom they see around them with carnal churches which are filling their fine auditoriums by appealing to the flesh and tossing to the wind so much precious truth.  They unwisely compare the wee bit of Christ’s holy church which they see to smart Fortune 500 business type principles.  With a heavenward sigh they say “if only the deacons, presbytery, and bishops could be taught the right growth principles or be able to articulate the right passion, others would follow and our part of the church would grow.”  God’s conditional promises are forgotten for Dale Carnegie’s smooth winsome and influencing principles.  It’s as if they think that Jesus said, “YE will build my church.”  Now if only we could just get it right, we’d see things start to happen.   

Powerful alliances must be won for their funds and for their influence.  We have articulated well our missional and doctrinal statements and have ensconced them in bronze and polished walnut.  And we have seated our abrasive prophets lest they thunder a mispronounced word of God’s message to us and cause confusion and lost momentum.  Formidable academics and gleaming genius are praised and exalted as if they were the key to usefulness in Christ’s great kingdom.  And the same ones wonder why God isn’t moving as much in the most lettered nations.  Also, scary screams and cries from shouting simple saints make some feel squeamish, so the services are carefully controlled with the secret hope that emotional saints stay away.  Venerable guests from the “mainline” churches might be offended by such uncalled for outbursts.  These church evaluators don’t appreciate the spirit of these noisy outbursts.  These sincere praises and emotional noises bubble up from the same full heart of worship as the childish cries of praise to Jesus Christ in Jerusalem’s temple.  They forget that these emotional ones are often those needed saints who are filled with the Spirit of God and have been moved upon by the blessed Holy Spirit.  They don’t realize that to despise them is to despise the ways and the workings of God’s Holy Spirit.  Those trying to steer the services and the movement are in danger of setting themselves up as judges of what is and what isn’t of God’s Spirit and of calling the shots of what God should and shouldn’t allow.  Remember misjudging God’s Spirit is very close to blasphemy.  So little by little the warming fire of God’s Spirit is grieved away and the evaluating gate-keepers are left to their lukewarm selves and to their cold church growth principles.   

Leaders must never forget that most of the church is made up of crude, unlettered, uncouth, and ugly men who have been confronted by the Holy Spirit, given a new heart, filled with love, and then sent to go and confront others while employing all of their awful personality quirks but now with the blessing of God.  These unrefined members of Christ’s body don’t understand the “power” of positive thinking nor the “importance” of impression management, nor would they care if they could understand.  They do not feel the need to wow the world in order to draw men to Christ, for they know they must glorify Christ and He will do the drawing.  They don’t usually win prestigious awards, titles, degrees, or competitions.  Often they are the most untalented, unnoticed, and unwanted people in God’s church.  Remember, Jesus Himself taught us about the kingdom of heaven with leaven.  And unlike that of earthly kingdoms, the leavening agents work unnoticed, unseen, unheard, and untasted until after the bread goes through the fire.  If the leaven is seen, heard, noticed, and lauded for its fine flavor, it probably is not leaven but something else. 

 

It is good to look to mighty moves of God in the past and the present to be challenged, encouraged, and to follow them as they follow Christ.  But we must not compare God’s church around us to others to induce guilt, to horse whip others to get movin’, or to speak disparagingly of Christ’s despised and underestimated body.  If we think we see cause for alarm we must not wag the finger at the faithful, but rather cry out to God, for God is He who moves men’s hearts.  And we must compare ourselves with the Word of God only, for God’s Spirit will use His Word to give faith needed for God to work in us and through us.  For they that compare themselves among themselves are not wise.   

Also those leaders who compare their followers with others whom they admire often end up causing their followers to be like those with whom they are compared with.  The church leader who gushes about corporate growth models turns his church into a secular type entity.  The church leader who compares his church with more worldly churches creates in his flock an admiration for worldly type churches.  The church leader who always talks about performance, growth, methods, and evaluational surveys takes the focus off of Christ and His promises.  He also creates the danger of following man’s reasonings and missing the direction in which the Holy Spirit would want to lead them.  For the ways of the Spirit are not known to man and can be revealed to us only by the Spirit of God, not by group powwows. 

If there be a problem in any holiness churches, the answer lies not in fresh vision, newer plans, fresh styles, or in articulate leadership, but rather in God’s promises.  Look at the unlimited potential in the following promises.  Then note any conditions.  For when we live in conformity to God’s conditions, God lets us be a part of His holy church which is already victoriously marching forward and will triumph. 

For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:

And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.

One shall say, I am the LORD'S; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; (Isaiah 44:3-5a)

The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.

The LORD preserveth all them that love him:   (Psalm 145:18-20a)

The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.   (Psalm 147:11)

Ask, and it shall be given you…   (Matthew 7:7)

For every one that asketh receiveth…   (Luke 11:10)

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.   (John 15:7)

Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?   (Jeremiah 32:27)

The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him.

So we fasted and besought our God for this:   (Ezra 8:22b-23a)  [if the context of “seek” is fasting and prayer, then does “forsake him” imply neglect of fasting and prayer?]

…your heart shall live that seek God.   (Psalm 69:32)

God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you:   (1 Samuel 12:23)

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.   (Psalm 126:5-6)  [The context is God turning the captivity of Zion; the Gentile church also is now grafted into / a part of Spiritual Zion!]

the desire of the righteous shall be granted.   (Proverbs 10:24)

The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will bless us;

He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great.

The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children.

Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth.   (Psalm 115:12a,13-15)

For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. 

For I will not contend for ever…   (Isaiah 57:15-16a)

Those of us who believe the Wesleyan interpretation of the Bible believe that Christ will cause His church to fill the earth.  The Gentiles will greatly turn to God.  Israel will see this great blessing of Christ on His church and will be jealous and will all be saved.  This great final ingathering of Christ’s church will be the latter rain corresponding to the early rain.  Some think that this great harvest might be brought on due to great afflictions caused as the earthly kingdoms break up and fall so that Christ’s kingdom can fill the earth.   

So, brethren, there is no need for us to browbeat one another.  The kingdom of Christ, the stone will become a mountain and will fill the earth.  It is Christ, not us but He who will build His church.  Our simple task is to abide in Christ -- in simple faith do His will -- and to expectantly hope in His promises.  Let us diligently and individually study to be found in Christ without spot and blameless.    For He will carefully guide us as a shepherd lovingly leads his flock, and the meek shall inherit the earth.  Soon it will be Holiness Unto The Lord everywhere, throughout the whole church.  Keep preaching that Christ came to make all holy in heart and in life!  The holiness church will not be confounded; Christ will triumph!  Don’t look around you; look up!           

-pdd, Feb. / Mar. 2013

Benefits Of Walking With God

 

And Enoch walked with God.  Genesis 5:22

And Noah walked with God.  Genesis 6:9

If you long to receive rejuvenating energy, and to know secrets and life changing thoughts, go for a walk with God. 

God whispers to the man (or woman) and empowers him when he lives walking with Him. Many times that walk need only be as long as the distance from your comfortable bed or from the company of chattering friends to that lonely kneeling spot away from the rabble of life. 

When walking with God, the best is that he comes to know God Himself as an intimate friend. 

                                                                                                - Phillip

Easy Way To Measure Spiritual Growth In Christ!

12 Evidences Of Advancement In Holiness.

1.  An increasing comfort and delight in the Holy Scriptures.

2.  An increasing interest in prayer, and an increasing spirit of prayer.

3.  An increasing desire for the holiness of others.

4.  A more heart-searching sense of the value of time.

5.  Less desire to see and hear for mere curiosity.

6.  A growing inclination against magnifying the faults and weaknesses of others.

7.  A growing readiness to speak freely to those who do not enjoy religion.

8.  More disposition to glory in reproach for Christ’s sake and suffer for Him.

9.  An increasing tenderness of conscience.

10.  Being less affected by changes of place and circumstances.

11.  A sweeter enjoyment of the holy Sabbath and services of the sanctuary.

12.  An increasing love for the searching means of grace. 

  

                         -- from J. A. Wood in Perfect Love 

WHERE ARE YOU GOING, GREATHEART?

Where are you going, Greatheart,
With your eager face and your fiery grace?
    Where are you going, Greatheart?

"To fight a fight with all my might,
For Truth and Justice, God and Right,
To grace all Life with His fair Light."
   Then God go with you, Greatheart!

Where are you going, Greatheart?
"To beard the Devil in his den;
To smite him with the strength of ten'
To set at large the souls of men."
   Then God go with you, Greatheart!

Where are you going, Greatheart?
"To cleanse the earth of noisome things;
 To draw from life its poison stings;
To give free play to Freedom's wings."
   Then God go with you, Greatheart!

Where are you going, Greatheart?
"To lift Today above the Past;
To make Tomorrow sure and fast;
To nail God's colors to the mast."
   Then God go with you, Greatheart!

Where are you going, Greatheart?
"To break down old dividing lines;
To carry out my Lord's designs;
To build again His broken shrines."
   Then God go with you, Greatheart!

Where are you going, Greatheart?
"To set all burdened peoples free;
To win for all God's liberty;
To 'stablish His sweet sovereignty."
   God go with you, Greatheart!
                              John Oxenham