Avalon Chronicles #155: Champions of the Faith Andrew Murray-Part Two

     7. The Faith That Takes: "Therefore I  say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:24). "There must be a certain amount of faith before there can be prayer, but greater faith is the result of prayer." (83). "You will train us to pray so that we will believe that we really have what we ask for." (88).

     8. The Secret of Believing Prayer: "Lord Jesus! Increase my faith! Teach me to take time to wait and worship in God's Holy presence until my faith absorbs everything there is in Him for me." (95).

     9. Prayer and Fasting: This is a most challenging type of prayer. Jesus' disciples were unsuccessful in calling out demons from an individual. Jesus said that one required prayer and fasting. "...prayer needs fasting for its full and perfect development." (98). "Fasting helps to express, to deepen, and to confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, (even food), ...to attain the Kingdom of God. (101).

     10. Prayer and Love: "Love of God and love of our neighbor are inseparable....The prayer from a heart that is not right with God or with men will not succeed." (104).

     11. The Power of United Prayer: "...if friends were aware of the mighty help two or three praying in concert could give each other; (114). "They (churches) don't know that God rules the world by the prayers of His saints, that prayer is the power by which Satan is conquered,...united prayer (can) cast out Satan and save souls." (114, 117).

     12. The All-Inclusive Condition: We must fulfill a condition for effective prayer. We must abide in Him and His words in us. "...abiding in Christ is his immediate duty....Obedience and faith must go together." (155). Will must be given up. There must be no infidelity, worldliness or heathendom.

     13. The Word and Prayer: We must be grounded in the Word of God and study the Word in the Bible!

     14. Obedience: The Path to Power in Prayer: John 3: 18-19, 22 lays it all out. "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight." 

     15. The All-Powerful Plea: One must always pray In the Name of Jesus, the Son of God. The Father God in Heaven answers the prayers, but Jesus Christ is the intermediary that transmits the prayers to Heaven.

     16. The Holy Spirit and Prayer: "The coming of the Holy Spirit indeed began a new epoch in the prayer world. (186). Through the Spirit, Christ's prayers become ours. (188). The Holy Spirit is the breath of God. 

Avalon Chronicles #154: Champions of the Faith: Andrew Murray on Prayer-Part One

      Andrew Murray (1828-1917) was born in South Africa, the son of Dutch Reform Church missionaries sent to South Africa from Scotland. He studied theology at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and became a missionary in South Africa himself. 

     "Here was a Man...destined to become one of the best loved and most widely read writers on the deeper Christian life. In his eighty-eight years he wrote about 240 books and tracts which were published in fifteen languages....who worked for spiritual renewal within the established church and who reaped the results of his prayers and labors in a deep moving of the Holy Spirit not only in his parish, country, and generation, but even to the present day through his writings."

Choy, Leona. Andrew Murray the Authorized Biography. (CLC Publications: Fort Washington, PA. 2000).

     One of my favorite books in my personal library is Andrew Murray's With Christ in the School of Prayer published by Whitaker House New Kensington, PA, 1981. He was a minister, who believed in prayer, as do I, and his book is a classic! He taught much on how to pray!

     1. Alone With God: Our prayers may be in silence before our God. "All we have to do is entrust our lives on earth to God when we are in secret and alone with Him....Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him." (26, 27).

     2. The Model Prayer: This is the Lord's Prayer. "We thank you for these living blessed words You have given us....And we will bring our needs, our sins, and our temptations to Him in the confidence that the love of such a Father cares for all." (36, 37).

     3. The Certain Answer to Prayer: Our Lord proclaims He will answer our petitions. However, we must have a clean heart by having confessed our sins and forgiven all others. I have found the answer is yes, no, or wait.

     4. The Boldness of God's Friends: "There is a twofold use of prayer: one is to obtain strength and blessing for own lives. The other is the higher and true glory of prayer...on behalf of others....Teach me to know the power of persevering prayer." (61, 66).

     5. Prayer Provides Laborers: "...(we) must cry to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers....need of laborers in the fields of the world, so ripe for the harvest." (67, 69). We are members of the team needed for evangelism.

     6. Prayer Must Be Specific: "Our prayers must be a distinct expression of definite need, not a vague appeal to His mercy or an indefinite cry for blessing." (74).

Avalon Chronicles #153: Authority

      The word Authority is oppressive and scary to some for a variety of different reasons. I was subject to the authority of my parents throughout my youth. I do not recall boundaries needing to be set by them to establish their authority, it was just natural for me to desire to be pleasing to them and make them proud of me. I attended and graduated West Point as a cadet, preparing to serve my country as an officer and I can assure you I became accustomed to authority for 47 months as a cadet! Then submission over five years to more authority as a commissioned officer involved in Vietnam as an intelligence officer conducting clandestine missions. Especially as a soldier we are under the authority of the rules and regulations of our military and that of the overall authority of our nation, when we serve. I never questioned whether I should submit to the authority categories enumerated thus far.   

     Societal/family experiences for many constitute a decided denial of submission to authority for many. This is due to a variety of reasons: to an overarching authority imposed upon some due to excessive parenting; hurt from someone or a situation; legal issues due to bad choices; a general hesitation to accept direction and possibly just a rebellious spirit.

     With the polarity of positive submission to authority by me and several reasons for authority being repulsive in daily human interactions for many others, we come to the ultimate authority for which it is wise to submit. That is to our Heavenly Father. 

    In 1963 Jimmy Soul had a song titled "If You Want to be Happy for the Rest of Your Life." The lyrics are forgotten, but the title is a good one. Yesterday in my 83rd year I came to the realization that, if I did want to be "Happy for the Rest of my Life," there was something I needed to finally do. That is to submit to the Ultimate Authority. Finally, although I may have actually submitted eons ago.

     Maybe some of you readers know Who that is. It is God the Father, the Creator of all in the heavens and on earth. The One, Who sent His Son to die on that cross in Jerusalem two thousand years ago for the sacrifice that allows us all the privilege of getting our lives of sin cleaned up. The Son Jesus left earth, but He left the third part of the Triune God here as the Holy Spirit to indwell us, if we allow it. Acceptance of submission to God's authority seems very challenging. It is, but, once accomplished, it makes life happier, because we have an anchor for our lives, a guide, an example of daily living. Living by the authority of God's laws means peace each day. We do not need to have the burden of guilt when we submit. 

     If you are stubborn to have accepted some aspect of authority in your life, keep it up, but if you are SAT (Sick and Tired) of dealing with so much turmoil in your life and wish to accept the ULTIMATE AUTHORITY, your God in Heaven is awaiting the opportunity to bestow blessings on you. Ask what you can lose versus what you will gain!

Vaya Con Dios! Go With God! 

Avalon Chronicles #152: Champions of the Faith-Evan Roberts and the Welsh Revival 1904-1906 Moriah Chapel

    Reference; Spirit of Grace Ministries McKinney, Tx. Writing by Dennis Pollock.2014.

     Several years ago Linda and I visited Wales in the United Kingdom and specifically Moriah Chapel in Loughor west of Wales' main city Cardiff. We had always heard of the 1905 Welsh Revival and this was our chance to learn more about this significant event in church history. In the immediate previous message Rees Howells participated in this Revival having just arrived home from America. 

     Beginning in 1904 the Revival had its roots in Moriah Chapel, the home church of Evan Roberts, who became the central figure in the Welsh Revival, "...one of the purest, classical Holy Spirit outpourings in the history of the church." Upon the illness of his father Evan went to work as a coal miner at age twelve. During his teen years he began to attend every possible church gathering. At age 25 he underwent a magnificent occurrence, that was preparing him for his future work. This lasted every night for three months. Roberts related, "I found myself with unspeakable joy and awe in the presence of the almighty God...I was privileged to speak face-to-face with him as a man speaks face-to-face with a friend." They were divine visitations!

     What eventually occurred at a small meeting was "...a mighty baptism in the Holy Spirit." He was transformed from "...a somewhat gloomy personality..." to one, who "...radiated tremendous joy." He began to speak with great confidence and had the goal of preaching throughout Wales. At his first Moriah Chapel prayer meeting with seventeen in attendance he spoke about the Holy Spirit in its totality which encompassed, "Confess all known sins to God. Put away all doubtful habits. Obey the Holy Spirit promptly. Confess Christ publicly." All seventeen confessed belief in Christ. That began his anointed ministry! The Revival fire was lit all over Wales. Churches began to be packed with services lasting for hours. 

     Very shortly Wales underwent an incredible transformation! Crime ceased to exist. Policemen formed singing quartets. The "pit ponies" in the mines ceased to obey commands because they were much more pure than the previous curses yelled at them! Pubs had reduced patronage. He spoke from his heart. "His experience with the Holy Spirit had left him deeply emotional. Tears flowed freely at times and joyous, unrestrained laughter at others." 

     The results of this outpouring had international consequences far and beyond the possibly 150,000 souls born again in Wales alone. Its impact went international, sweeping Europe, Canada, America and other parts of world. Unfortunately, after that year of intense ministry Evan Roberts was never the same. He suffered a nervous breakdown. His personal reach and impact was all in one year, but, it had immense consequences worldwide. America's own Azusa Street Revival in California, inspired by the Wales Revival, lasted from 1906-1915. 

     The teachings of Even Roberts will be continued in another book I am reading, War on the Saints, wherein he collaborated with Jessie Penn-Lewis.    

    

Avalon Chronicles #151: Champions of the Faith-Rees Howells Intercessor

      Originally published in 1952 was a book by Norman Grubb titled Rees Howells Intercessor. My own copy was published in 1983 by Christian Literature Crusade in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania 19034. I rediscovered the book in summer 2024 as I was researching the June 1940 evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk, France after the German onslaught across Belgium and France. I had recalled the intercessory prayers of the students of the Bible College of Wales in Grubb's work about Rees Howells.

     My review of the book, after my third reading by Sept. 20, 2020, showed extensive underlining of key sections of the book as I was reminded of this Champion of the Faith Rees Howells, who, after an incredible ministry to include Africa, where he was a part of a ministry, founded by Rev. Andrew Murray, he founded in Swansea, Wales the Bible College of Wales. He was born Oct. 10, 1879 in the mining village of Brynamman, South Wales into a family of eleven children. His father was a working man in an iron works and coal mine. I am compelled to copy and mark in quotes the very poignant words from this book as expressions of the growth of Rees' faith. "But outstanding from Rees' earliest days was his consciousness of God." Early in his life was the influence of his grandparents, who had been converted in the 1859 Revival. Although, he said, "I felt I could face God every night, because I lived such a clean, pure life, and there were hundreds in Wales who lived like that." How many of today's earthlings can live in such a manner?

     Rees went to America to work near Pittsburgh, where his cousin Evan Lewis lived. Evan asked him one night if he was "born again." Evan asked Rees, "Do you know you are saved?" Rees replied, "I am Christian, and that's good enough for me." Rees then moved to another town and his cousin left him with the words, "...it troubles me to see you going when you are not right with God." Soon he realized, "...he knew there was a gulf between him and God, and a deeper concern for his eternal destiny than for any of the affairs of this life possessed his mind." It is a critical question avoided by most of what is their eternal destiny? He contracted typhoid fever and feared meeting his Maker, but, "From that time on, he never regarded eternity lightly, for he had faced the reality of hell-a separation from God for ever." At this critical time in his life he had a revelation: "I found that I had only an historical Christ and not a personal Savior who could take me to the other side."

     He met a converted Jew, Maurice Reuben, who had an experience, wherein Reuben "...heard a voice repeating to him the words of John 14:6: 'I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.'" Rees was sincerely touched by Reuben's testimony and that is when he described that the encounter became his spiritual birthday. It was when he truly understood, "When you receive the Savior, you receive the love of God." Rees returned to his native Wales in an auspicious year 1904, the time of the great Revival, led by Evan Roberts. During this time he realized, "The intercession of the Holy Ghost for the saints in this in this present evil world must be made through believers filled with the Holy Ghost." (Romans 8: 26, 27). Howells went on to a remarkable life of serving others, witnessing how his own life had been changed by Jesus Christ.