so wrote pioneer missionary to West Africa, Mary Slessor, in the early 19th century. Single and an activist, her days were long and lonely, but she had a remarkable work among the orphans. It is said that she did the work of ten “normal” people during her years of ministry. Her secret? PRAYER!

“My life is one long, daily, hourly record of answered prayer. For physical health, for mental overstrain, for guidance given marvelously, for enmity to the gospel subdued, for food provided at the exact hour needed, for everything else that goes to make up life and my poor service . . . I can testify with a full and often wonder-stricken awe that I . . . know God answers prayer . . . Prayer is the greatest power that God has put into our hands for service. Praying is harder work than doing . . . but the dynamic lies that way to advance the kingdom. I have no idea how and why God has carried me over so many hard places, and made these hordes submit to me . . . except in answer to prayer at for me. It is all beyond my comprehension. The only way that I
can explain it is on the ground that I have been prayed for more than most. Pray on — power lies that way! ” from

DEEPENING YOUR CONVERSATION WITH GOD, by Dr. Ben Patterson — Bethany Publishers

How’s your prayer life this morning? We need to stop talking about it, and as the NIKE commercial says — JUST DO IT! Have a great day.

Freedom Fighter is late today because my laptop crashed! It was a bummer. I was away this weekend working with my grown children at a camp in West Virginia and we had a great time. What was amazing is that we were all able to work in the same kitchen without killing each other. We are a bunch of strong-willed individuals and when you put all the same opinionated, bossy types in one room … look out!

But the fun thing was that we all had our individual jobs to do, and did them. It reminded me that this is an important aspect of the body of Christ, and a neat illustration of fellowship. The church is comprised of men and women from all walks of life, each uniquely created in His image, and gifted in different ways. But when the body is functioning properly, there is something special that takes place and the church grows and matures.

Warren Wiersbe, one of my favorite 20th century commentators, says that “fellowship is two men in the same ship rowing in the same direction!” Imagine trying to reach your destination if you were both sitting in a row boat facing each other and going in attempting to go forward in a different direction. You wouldn’t get where you wanted to go with much ease.

Fellowship is a cool thing in the body of Christ. Praying together helps to foster fellowship in the body. And that will also help in your relationships with your kids and spouse. Are there relationships where you are stuck and rowing in a different direction? Purpose in your heart today to pray for that special partner/relationship that God has placed you in, and get moving
in the right direction. Good words to ponder today.

“I believe that we find the Bible difficult because we try to read it as we would read any other book, and it is not that same as any other book,” so writes A. W. Tozer. Christianity today is man-centered, not God-centered. God is made to wait patiently, even respectfully on the whims of men. The image of God currently popular is that of a distracted Father, struggling in a heartbroken desperation to get people to accept a Savior of whom they feel no need, and in whom they have very little interest. To persuade these self-sufficient souls to respond to His generous offer of God will do almost anything, even using salesmanship methods and talking down to them in the chummiest way imaginable. This view of things is, of course, a kind religious romanticism which, while it often uses flattering and sometimes embarrassing terms in praise of God, manages nevertheless to make man the star of the show.

Shakespeare may be enjoyed without penitence; we may understand Plato without believing a word he says; but penitence and humility along with faith and obedience are necessary to a right understanding of the Scriptures.

In natural matters faith follows evidence and is impossible without it, but in the realm of the spirit faith precedes understanding; it does not follow it. The natural man must know in order to believe; the believer must believe in order to know. The faith that saves is not a conclusion drawn from evidence; it is a moral thing, a thing of the spirit, a supernatural infusion of confidence in Jesus Christ, a very gift of God.

The Bible is a supernatural book and can be understood only by supernatural aid.” A.W. Tozer: Man: The Dwelling Place of GodHave a blessed Lord’s Day.

“Time is short, and eternity is long. The end of all things is at hand. Man has proved himself morally unfit to manage the world in which he has been placed by the kindness of the Almighty,” so writes A.W. Tozer. “He has jockeyed himself to the edge of the crater and cannot go back, and in terrible fear he is holding his breath against the awful moment when he will be plunged into the inferno . . .

In the meantime, a company of people exist on the earth who claim to have the answer to all life’s major questions. They claim to have found the way back to God, release from their sins, life everlasting and a sure guarantee of heaven in the world to come. These are Christians!”

As Christians we are in process to our final destination. How to we press on and grow in the Christian life? A.W. Tozer suggests five things:

1. Strive to get beyond mere pensive longing. Set your face like flint and begin to put your life in order. Every man is as holy as he really wants to be. But the want must be all-compelling.

2. Put away every un-Christian habit from you. If other Christians practice it without compunction, God may be calling you to come nearer to Him than these other Christians care to come. Remember the words, ‘Others may, you cannot.’ Do not condemn or criticize, but seek a better way. God will honor you.

3. Get Christ Himself in the focus of your heart and keep him there continually. Cultivate His knowledge above everything else on earth.

4. Throw your heart open to the Holy Spirit and invite Him to fill you. Make your heart a vacuum and the Spirit will rush in to fill it. Nowhere in the Scriptures nor in Christian biography was anyone ever filled with the Spirit who did not know that he had been, and nowhere was anyone filled who did not know when. And no one was ever filled gradually.

5. Be hard on yourself and easy on others. Carry your own cross but never lay one on the back of another. Begin to practice the presence of God. Cultivate the fellowship of the Triune God by prayer, humility, and obedience.

Let any Christian do these things and he will make rapid spiritual progress.” Good words from A. W. Tozer as written in MAN: THE DWELLING PLACE OF GOD.

“The fallen heart is by nature idolatrous. There appears to be no limit to which some of us will go to save our idol, while at the same time telling ourselves eagerly that we are trusting in Christ alone. It takes a violent act of renunciation to deliver us from the hidden idol, and since very few modern Christians understand that such an act is necessary, and only a small number of those who know are willing to do, it follows that relatively few professors of the Christian faith these
days have ever experienced the painful act of renunciation that frees the heart from idolatry.

Grace will save a man but it will not save him from his idol. The blood of Christ will shield the penitent sinner alone, but never the sinner and his idol. Faith will justify they sinner, but it will never justify the sinner and his sin. A man may engage in a great deal of humble talk before God and get no response because unknown to himself he is using prayer to disguise disobedience. He may lie for hours in sackcloth and ashes with no higher motive than to try to persuade God to come over on his side so he can have his own way. He may grovel before God in a welter of self-accusation, refuse to give up his secret sin and be rejected for his pains. Christ can and will save a man who has been dishonest, but He cannot save him WHILE he is dishonest. Absolute candor is an indispensable requisite to salvation.

Mean what you say and never say what you do not mean, either to God or man. Think candid thoughts and act forthrightly always, whatever the consequence. To do this will bring the cross into your life and keep you dead to self and to public opinion. And it may get you into trouble
sometimes, too. But a guileless mind is a great treasure; it is worth any price.

from the pen of A.W. Tozer Man: Dwelling Place of God

“The important thing about a man is not where he goes when he is compelled to go, but where he goes when he is free to go where he will. . . The choices of life, not the compulsions, reveal character.

The true character of a man is revealed in the uses he makes of his freedoms. The slave peoples do what they are told because they are not free to do what they will. It is the free nation that reveals its character by its voluntary choices. The man who ‘bowed by the weight of centuries . . . leans upon his hoe and gazes on the ground’ when the long day’s work is over is glad to get home to supper and to bed; he has little time for anything else. But in those fortunate lands where modern machinery and labor unions have given men many free hours out of every day and at least two free days out of every week, they have time to do almost anything they will. They are free to destroy themselves by their choices, and many of them are doing just that.

Our choices reveal what kind of persons we are, but there is another side to the coin. We may by our choices also determine what kind of persons we will become. We humans are not only in a state of being, we are in a state of becoming; we are on a slow spiral moving gradually up or down. I think it might be well for us to check our spiritual condition occasionally by the simple test of compatibility. When we are free to go, where do we go? In what company do we feel most at home? Where do our thoughts turn when they are free to turn where they will? When the pressure of work or business or school has temporarily lifted and we are able to think of what we will instead of what we must, what do we think then?

The answer to these questions may tell us more about ourselves than we can comfortably accept. But we had better face up to things.”

Good words to ponder from the pen of A. W. Tozer MAN: THE DWELLING PLACE
OF GOD published by Christian Publications.

One more lesson from the Ripley’s Aquarium . . . Walking through the magnificent tall tanks of fish with sharks and sting rays floating over our heads, one of our friends made the comment, “And to think most people would never see these creatures that fill the seas.” She reminded us that they were created for HIS glory! Fish of every size, shape and color — colors that are breathtaking. Seahorses. Anemones. Starfish. All created by the Master Designer.

And what’s even more exciting is that He created YOU for His glory. If today, my friend, you are IN CHRIST, be reminded that THE PREDESTINED YOU TO ADOPTION AS HIS SON THROUGH CHRIST . . . to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:5-6) WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN AN INHERITANCE . . . to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:11-12) WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE HOLY SPIRIT AS A PLEDGE OF OUR INHERITANCE . . . to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:13-14)

Paul reminds us that it gets even better . . . “No one one’s ever seen or heard anything like this! Never so much as imagined anything quite like this — What God has arranged for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

One day we will join the angels in heaven in worshipping him. One of those songs will be FOR HIS GLORY — “Thou are worthy, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and power and wisdom, and strength; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed and were created . . . Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and GLORY and blessing!” (Revelation 4:11; 5:12)

Hallelujah!

Our son Zach was on our bus trip last week to Myrtle Beach. He was a brave young man to travel with 53 other senior citizens! We were getting ready to leave on a side-trip when Zach realized he had forgotten to put on his socks. Zach is a perfectionist (doesn’t take after Dad . . . I
said it before some of you do!) and we knew this would bug him all day if he didn’t put on his socks. He hopped on the elevator and went back up to our room which was on the sixth floor.

When he got back to the elevator there was a crowd of people waiting and he panicked. He knew that our bus driver had given the group a specific time to be on the road, and the thought struck him — “will they leave without me?”

One of his senior friends saw the look of panic in his eyes and asked Zach what was wrong. He told her that he was afraid we might leave without him. This dear lady quickly replied, “Don’t worry, Zach. Your father is the “king of Keswick”. That makes you royalty. You are the son of the king — Prince Zach. They won’t leave without the prince!”

What a great picture of our relationship with God. If you have trusted Christ as your PERSONAL Savior, you are a child of THE KING! That means, my friend, that you are PRINCE (or PRINCESS for you ladies that have joined Freedom Fighter). You are royalty in His forever family. I love how Eugene Peterson expresses Paul’s words from Romans 8: 15-17 in THE
MESSAGE . . . “This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike ‘What’s next, Papa!’ God’s Spirit touches our spirit and confirms WHO WE REALLY ARE! We know who He is, and we know who we are: FATHER AND CHILDREN! And we know we are going to get what’s coming to s — and UNBELIEVABLE INHERITANCE!”

Are you downcast this morning? Frustrated? Lonely? Weary of the battle? Cheer up, my friend — Rejoice . . . YOU”RE A CHILD OF THE KING!!!!

Last week 53 of our Keswick friends traveled to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We had a great week of fellowship, and despite the cold, rainy weather, it was a good trip. One of the highlights of the week was visiting the Ripley’s Aquarium, which was one of the best we have ever visited. If you ever have an opportunity to visit South Carolina, be sure to visit Ripley’s.

In addition to the big tanks of fish, there was a “hands-on” exhibit where you could touch a sting ray as well has pick up a live horseshoe crab. We have been to the Jersey shore hundreds of times over the years and have seen these interesting creatures laying on the beaches. But this was the first time I actually picked one up and had an “up-close-and-personal” look at one of these fascinating creatures.

The guide explained a number of interesting facts about the horseshoe crab, but in the tank were a pair that were mating. The guide shared that the male horseshoe crab attaches himself to the female and she drags him around for the next four months! Talk about a commitment,
guys!

I was thinking about this throughout the night and I was reminded of a spiritual truth that I learned from this pair of horseshoe crabs. When you and I make that amazing transaction of inviting Christ into our lives to be our Savior and Lord, we are instantly placed IN CHRIST! We
get the whole package: justification (being declared righteous, not on our own merits, but His!), sanctification (being set apart) and glorification (the ultimate aspect of our salvation where one day we will be complete in Him!). We are given the privilege of living victoriously in the ever-changing, crazy world. And we receive the gift of eternal life. But that is not all — the Holy Spirit also comes to reside in us.

Year’s ago, a friend of ours sent their daughter to Messiah College to major in art. We were talking one evening and asked her to share one thing that she learned that changed her life. I will never forget her answer. She learned that if you take rubber cement and put it two pieces
of paper, stick them together, it is almost impossible to pull them apart. I haven’t tried it . . . I am trusting that she was correct — but what an interesting concept (and if that was all she learned … on my!)

The bottom line is that when you and I are placed in Christ, we are bonded to Him forever! NOTHING can separate us from His love (Romans 8:25-29)! He promises us that He “never leaves or forsakes us.” (Hebrews 13:5) We are a part of His forever family.

Eventually the male and female horseshoe crab separate! They are temporarily attached for four months — a short-term commitment! But praise God, if you have placed your faith in Christ — that relationship is permanent! May this truth encourage you today!

“Prayer is the mightiest force in the world. The spiritual giants who have shaken the kingdom of darkness have been men and women of effectual prayer. They did not spend too much time studying prayer; THEY PRAYED! Across the pages of Scripture and of church history we trace the records of those who, in bold, holy faith, pleaded with God and were heard:

Abraham prayed long for a son: Isaac came.
Moses prayed: Heaven’s wrath was subdued.
Joshua prayed: Achan was discovered and Ai destroyed.
Hannah prayed: Samuel was given to her.
Elijah prayed: The heavens were shut and opened.
Elisha prayed: Drought came and a dead child lived again.
David prayed: Ahitophel, the traitor, hanged himself.
Hezekiah prayed: 185,000 Assyrians were slain.
Daniel prayed: Archangels were set in motion.

Nor did documentation of the power of prayer disappear when the last
page of the inspired canon was filled.

Savonorala prayed: A city was won for God.
Martin Luther prayed: God broke the spell of ages.
John Knox prayed: Tyrants were terrified and Scotland was blessed.
George Whitfield prayed: A thousand souls were saved in one day.
George Mueller prayed: Hungry orphans were fed.
Hudson Taylor prayed: Inland China was evangelized.

On we could go, citing thousands of witnesses, all proving the lengths to which God will go when men and women are prepared to lay hold of Him and refuse to let Him go until he blesses. The consistent witness of Bible and church saints is that PRAYER IS THE HIGHEST RESOURCE OF THE SOUL.”

from the pen of Dr. Herbert Lockyer from HOW GREAT THOU ARE published by Multnomah