Great Authority 3/30 Friday Faith

I am more and more convinced every day I live that very few who are saved by the grace of God have a right conception of how great is their authority over darkness, demons, death, and every power of the enemy. It is a real joy when we realize our inheritance on this line.


-- Smith Wigglesworth

Limitless Possibilities 3/29 Thursday Thoughts

I want you to see that as you receive the Son of God, and as Christ dwells in your heart by faith, there is a divine force, the power of limitless possibilities, within you, and that as a result of this incoming Christ, God wants to do great things through you. By faith, if we receive and accept His Son, God brings us into sonship, and not only into sonship but into joint-heirship, into sharing together with Him all that the Son possesses.


-- Smith Wigglesworth

Flowing Rivers 3/28 Wednesday Wisdom

As we believe the Word of God a well of water springs up within our heart. A spring is always better than a pump. But I know that a spring is apt to be outclassed when we get to the baptism of the Holy Ghost. It was a spring to the woman at the well, but with the person who has the Holy Ghost it is flowing rivers. Have you these flowing rivers? To be filled with the Holy Ghost is to be filled with the Executive of the Godhead, who brings to us all the Father has and all the Son desires; and we should be so in the Spirit that God can cause us to move with His authority and reign by His divine ability.


-- Smith Wigglesworth

Faith is the Substance 3/27 Tuesday Truth

Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Someone said to me one day, "I would not believe in anything I could not handle and see." Everything you can handle and see is temporary and will perish with the using. But the things not seen are eternal and will not fade away. Are you dealing with tangible things or with the things which are eternal, the things that are facts, that are made real to faith? Thank God that through the knowledge of the truth of the Son of God I have within me a greater power, a mightier working, an inward impact of life, of power, of vision and of truth more real than anyone can know who lives in the realm of the tangible. God manifests Himself to the person who dares to believe.


-- Smith Wigglesworth, 1924

His Power Works 3/26 Monday Meditation

Returning to quotes by Smith Wigglesworth. Wigglesworth was an illiterate British plumber whose wife taught him to read. He never read anything but the Bible. Initially his wife preached, then she forced him into preaching. His implicit faith in the Word and Power of God enabled him to be one of the greatest healing evangelists of all time. He raised somewhere between three and 23 people from the dead, depending on the account that you read.


All the Word of God is wonderful. It is not only wonderful, but it has power to change conditions. Any natural condition can be changed by the Word of God, which is a supernatural power. In the Word of God is the breath, the nature, and the power of the living God, and His power works in every person who dares to believe His Word.

Final Quote from John Wesley 3/23 Friday faith

A final quote from John Wesley before we move on to another faith pioneer next week:


I have so much to do that I spend several hours in prayer before I am able to do it.

Forced God to Depart? 3/22 Thursday Thoughts

Have you forced God to depart from you by giving place to anger? Have you fretted because of the ungodly or been envious against evildoers? Have you been offended against your brothers or sisters in the Lord, looking at a real or imagined sin -- so as to sin against the law of love by estranging your heart from them? Look to the Lord that you may renew your strength -- that all this sharpness and coldness be done away and love, peace, and joy return together with a tenderhearted, forgiving spirit.


-- John Wesley

Effect of Prayer 3/21 Wednesday Widsom

Every new victory which a soul gains is the effect of a new prayer . . . In the greatest temptations, a single look to Christ, and the barely pronouncing his name, suffices to overcome the wicked one, so it be done with confidence and calmness of spirit.


-- John Wesley

One Hundred Preachers 3/20 Tuesday truth

Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on earth.


-- John Wesley

Your Father Knows 3/19 Monday Meditation

"And your Father knows what things you have need of."


We do not pray to inform God of our wants. Omniscient as He is, He cannot be informed of anything which He did not know before. And He is always willing to relieve our needs. The chief thing lacking is a suitable disposition on our part to receive His grace and blessing. Consequently, one great purpose of prayer is to produce such a disposition in us, to exercise our dependence on God, to increase our desire of the things we ask for, and to make us so sensible of our needs that we never cease wrestling till we have prevailed for the blessing (see Genesis 32:24-30).

-- John Wesley

Inward Darkness 3/16 Friday Faith

His invariable will is our sanctification, attended with peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. He never desires to withdraw His gifts from us (see Romans 11:29); He never deserts us, as some speak. It is we who desert Him.


The most usual cause of inward darkness is sin of some kind, either of commission or omission. This may be observed to darken the soul in a moment, especially if it is a known, a willful, or presumptuous sin. But light is more frequently lost by giving way to sins of omission. This does not immediately quench the Spirit, but gradually and slowly.

The neglect of private prayer, or the hurrying over it, is perhaps the most frequent sin of omission. This lack cannot be supplied by any other means whatever; the life of God in the soul will surely decay and gradually die away.

-- John Wesley

Inward Sin 3/15 Thursday Thoughts

(continued from Wednesday)


Or is there some inward sin which springs up to trouble you? Have you thought more highly of yourself than you ought to think? Have you gloried in anything other than Jesus Christ? Have you ascribed your successes to your own strength, wisdom, or courage? If so, you see that way you are to take: Humble yourself under the hand of God that, in due time, He may exalt you.

-- John Wesley

The Cure 3/14 Wednesday Wisdom

The cure of spiritual, as well as bodily, diseases must be as various as the causes of them. The first thing, then, is to determine the cause; this will naturally point out the cure.


For instance: Is it sin which occasions darkness? What sin? Does your conscience accuse you of committing any sin whereby you grieve the Holy Spirit? How can you expect His light and peace should return until you put the thing from you and receive His pardon? Or perhaps it is some sin of omission: Do you reprove those who sin in your sight? Do you walk in the means God has given: public, family, private prayer? If you habitually neglect these known duties, make hast to be no more "disobedient to the heavenly calling." Till the sin, whether of commission or omission, be removed, all comfort is false and deceitful. Look for no peace within till you are at peace with God, which cannot be without fruit suitable to repentance. (to be continued)

-- John Wesley

Pray Without Ceasing 3/13 Tuesday Truth

"Rejoice always" in uninterrupted happiness in God. "Pray without ceasing," which is the fruit of "always rejoicing" in the Lord. "In everything give thanks," which is the fruit of both the former. This is Christian perfection. Further than this we cannot go, and we need not stop short of it.

. . .
Prayer may be said to be the breath of our spiritual life. One who lives cannot possibly cease breathing. So much as we really enjoy of God's presence, so much prayer and praise do we offer up "without ceasing"' else our rejoicing is but delusion.

-- John Wesley

Intro to John Wesley 3/12 Monday meditation

For the next few days I'm going to be quoting from John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church. He is known in a practical sense for teaching his followers to have a "methodical" lifestyle of devotions, self-examination, and service. He is known theologically for introducing The Doctrine of Christian Perfection, which we would call sanctification. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wesley


The description of the whole armor of God shows us how great a thing it is to be a Christian. The lack of one thing makes us incomplete. Though one has his loins girded, has on the breastplate, his feet shod, the shield of faith, and sword of the Spirit, yet one more thing is needed: praying always. At all times and occasions, in the midst of all actions, inwardly "praying without ceasing." "By the Spirit" -- through the influence of the Holy Spirit. "With all prayer" -- all sorts of prayer: public, private, mental, vocal. . . Some use only mental prayer, thinking it is a way of worship superior to any other. But it requires far more grace to be enabled to pour out a fervent and continued prayer than to offer up mental aspirations. . . .

Perhaps we receive few answers to prayer because we do not intercede enough for others.

Worship God in Truth 3/8 Thursday Thoughts

To worship GOD in truth is to acknowledge Him to be what He is, and ourselves as what in very fact we are. To worship Him in truth is to acknowledge with heart-felt sincerity what GOD in truth is, -- that is to say, infinitely perfect, worthy of infinite adoration, infinitely removed from sin, and so of all the Divine attributes. That man is little guided by reason, who does not employ all his powers to render to this great GOD the worship that is His due.


-- Brother Lawrence

Wandering in Prayer 3/7 Wednesday Wisdom

Eighth Letter: Concerning Wandering Thoughts in Prayer


I do not advise you to use multiplicity of words in prayer, many words and long discourses being often the occasion of wandering. Hold yourself in prayer before God like a dumb or paralytic beggar at a rich man's gate. Let it be your business to keep your mind in the presence of the Lord. If it sometimes wander and withdraw itself from Him, do not much disquiet yourself for that. . .

Being accustomed to think of Him often, you will find it easy to keep your mind calm in the time of prayer, or at least to recall it from its wanderings.

-- Brother Lawrence

Holy Exercise 3/6 Tuesday Truth

from the "Third Letter" to a friend by Brother Lawrence:


Let him then think of God the most [often] he can. Let him accustom himself, by degrees, to this small but holy exercise. No one will notice it, and nothing is easier than to repeat often in the day these little internal adorations. Recommend to him, if you please, that he think of God the most he can, in the manner here directed. It is very fit and most necessary for a soldier who is daily exposed to the dangers of life.

Little Things for God 3/5 Monday Meditation

You will recall that Brother Lawrence was a 17th Century French monk whose job was working in the kitchen of the monastery. He enjoyed the continual presence of God, regardless of whatever he might be doing.




For me the time of action does not differ from the time of prayer, and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are together calling for as many different things, I possess GOD in as great tranquility as when upon my knees at the Blessed Sacrament.
. . .
Nor is it needful that we should have great things to do. We can do little things for GOD; I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for the love of Him. . . It is enough for me to pick up but a straw from the ground for the love of GOD.

-- Brother Lawrence

Attaining Unto the Presence of God 3/2 Friday Faith

ON MEANS FOR ATTAINING UNTO THE PRESENCE OF GOD


1. The first is the great purity of life; in guarding ourselves with care lest we should do or say or think on anything, which might be displeasing to GOD; and, when any such thing happens, in taking heed to repent thereof, humbly begging His forgiveness.

2. The second is a great faithfulness in the practice of His Presence, and in keeping the soul's gaze fixed on GOD in faith, calmly, humbly, lovingly, without allowing an entrance to anxious cares and disquietude.

 3. Make it your study, before taking up any task to look to GOD, be it only for a moment, as also when you are engaged therein, and lastly when you have performed the same. . . Truly this habit can only be formed with difficulty, yet when it is so formed, how great will be your joy therein.

-- Brother Lawrence