Pleading with God.

I just listened to this sermon by C H Spurgeon. Its called pleading and its a wonderful message, It actually shows how much I ought to plead with God to get my wishes and hopes fulfilled, those which I know will bring glory to God. Its shows prayer as a way of making our need felt before God and a way in which we can plead only for God's grace and mercy and not any of our merit. If we plead our own merit we are being proud and God will not bless us, it does not help being spiteful as well when God deals a small blow. It might be a blow of love, but it has the opposite effect if we grow spiteful and fail to wait upon him.

This one had more effect on me because in fact I have been pleading to God with earnest prayers and tears about some deep want of mine, but it just did not seem to fetch an answer. first I listened to the message of Spurgeon on the lady who came to Jesus to plead for her daughter who was vexed Demons and Jesus was a bit rough with her and yet she never gave up and continued pleading and Jesus granted her wish. (Mathew 15) Spurgeon wrote about her way of pleading..

You know the story of the Syrophenician woman; that is a grand instance of the ingenuity of faith's reasoning. She came to Christ about her daughter, and He answered her not a word. What do you think her heart said? Why, she said in herself, "It is well, for He has not denied me: since He has not spoken at all, He has not refused me." With this for an encouragement, she began to plead again. Presently Christ spoke to her sharply, and then her brave heart said, "I have gained words from Him at last, I shall have deeds from Him by-and-by." That also cheered her; and then, when He called her a dog. "Ah," she reasoned, "but a dog is a part of the family, it has some connection with the master of the house. Though it does not eat meat from the table, it gets the crumbs under it, and so I have thee now, great Master, dog as I am; the great mercy that I ask of Thee, great as it is to me, is only a crumb to Thee; grant it then I beseech Thee." Could she fail to have her request? Impossible! When faith hath a will, she always finds a way, and she will win the day when all things forebode defeat.

Another message which I got is that even if other people (people of God) whom we tell to pray for us don't get an answer we should not cease praying. because in the case of the woman the disciples also pleaded with Jesus to send the woman away by answering her pleas, but Jesus refused and told them that he was sent only for the lost sheep of Israel, she should have been discouraged, but she kept on pleading with Jesus, similarly if our need is great, we sure will tell other people to pray for us, but sometimes even they might fail to see our need and so we might get a negative answer from them and maybe everyone around us might feel the same, but still faith in the Lord's mercy will fetch answers.... In fact this does match so much with my case that I really got a lot of encouragement, I can't stop pleading and I have to trust in the Lord and have hope in his mercy and Love so that he will answer my prayers.

Spurgeon says in the first part that the first step to a plea which God will answer is by humbling ourselves in front of the Lord.

Do not think that you can improve your condition before God by painting your case in brighter colours than it should be. Blacken it: if it were possible blacken it, but it is not possible. When you feel your sin most you have not half felt it; when you confess it most fully you do not know a tithe of it; but oh, to the utmost of your ability make a clean breast of it, and say, "I have sinned against heaven, and before thee." Acknowledge the sins of your youth and your manhood, the sins of your body and of your soul, the sins of omission and of commission, sins against the law and offenses against the gospel; acknowledge all; neither for a moment seek to deny one portion of the evil with which God's law, your own conscience, and his Holy Spirit justly charge you.

secondly we need to pray with a real need. Unless we really have a need we will never have the urge to plead as if our life depended on it.

It is the habit of faith, when she is praying, to use pleas. Mere prayer sayers, who do not pray at all, forget to argue with God; but those who would prevail bring forth their reasons and their strong arguments and they debate the question with the Lord. They who play at wrestling catch here and there at random, but those who are really wrestling have a certain way of grasping the opponent—a certain mode of throwing, and the like; they work according to order and rule. Faith's art of wrestling is to plead with God, and say with holy boldness, "Let it be thus and thus, for these reasons."

(The following lines greatly inspired me and thats the reason I am putting it in my blog ) :)

Faith's pleas are plentiful, and this is well, for faith is placed in diverse positions, and needs them all. She hath many needs, and having a keen eye she perceives that there are pleas to be urged in every case. I will not, therefore, tell you all faith's pleas, but I will just mention some of them, enough to let you see how abundant they are. Faith will plead all the attributes of God. "Thou art just, therefore spare thou the soul for whom the Saviour died. Thou art merciful, blot out my transgressions. Thou art good, reveal thy bounty to thy servant. Thou art immutable—thou hast done thus and thus to others of thy servants, do thus unto me. Thou art faithful, canst thou break thy promise, canst thou turn away from thy covenant?" Rightly viewed, all the perfections of Deity become pleas for faith

Faith will boldly plead all God's gracious relationships. She will say to Him, "Art Thou not the creator? Wilt Thou forsake the work of thine own hands? Art Thou not the Redeemer, Thou hast redeemed thy servant, wilt Thou cast me away?" Faith usually delights to lay hold upon the fatherhood of God. This is generally one of her master points: when she brings this into the field she wins the day. "Thou art a Father, and wouldst Thou chasten us [as] though thou wouldst kill? A Father, and hast Thou no sympathy and no bowels of compassion? A Father, and canst Thou deny what Thine own child asks of Thee?" Whenever I am impressed with the divine majesty, and so, perhaps, a little dispirited in prayer, I find the short and sweet remedy is to remember that, although He is a great King, and infinitely glorious, I am His child, and no matter who the father is, the child may always be bold with his father. Yes, faith can plead any and all of the relationships in which God stands to His chosen.

I liked this way how a needy man would argue and plead so that no way who to what he asked it could not be refused and that should be the way we should plead to God also

When a man is hardly driven and starving, he can usually find a reason why he should ask aid of every likely person. Suppose it is a person to whom he is already under many obligations, then the poor creature argues, "I may safely ask of him again, for he knows me, and has been always very kind." If he never asked of the person before, then he says, "I have never worried him before; he cannot say he has already done all he can for me; I will make bold to begin with him." If it is one of his own kin, then he will say, "Surely you will help me in my distress, for you are a relation"; and if it be a stranger, he says, "I have often found strangers kinder than my own blood, help me, I entreat you." If he asks of the rich, he pleads that they will never miss what they give; and if he begs of the poor, he urges that they know what want means, and he is sure they will sympathize with him in his great distress. Oh that we were half as much on the alert to fill our mouths with arguments when we are before the Lord. How is it that we are not half awake, and do not seem to have any spiritual senses aroused. May God grant that we may learn the art of pleading with the eternal God, for in that shall rest our prevalence with Him, through the merit of Jesus Christ.


And finally the task of pleading with God is one of the hardest because its most likely that we would face a lot of questions/circumstances which would put our faith and trust in the Lord to the test, but when God is pleased with our faith he will grant an answer to our plea in a way which we could not even imagine and we are sure to be happy. In fact I have to keep it so much in my mind because many time I really feel that my prayers are unanswered and so I was tending to get really discouraged.. but now I know that I have to prevail in prayer with God.. and even when I feel that my prayers are unanswered I still try not to be ruled by my feelings but believe and hope in God's word and promises

They said two centuries ago that the trade of beggary was the easiest one to carry on, but it paid the worst. I am not sure about the last at this time, but certainly the trade of begging with God is a hard one, and undoubtedly it pays the best of anything in the world. It is very noteworthy that beggars with men have usually plenty of pleas on hand. He who knows how to be master of prayer will rule the heart of Christ, and Christ can and will do all things for His people, for the Father hath committed all things into His hands. You can be omnipotent if you know how to pray, omnipotent in all things which glorify God. What does the Word itself say? "Let him lay hold of my strength." Prayer moves the arm that moves the world. Oh for grace to grasp Almighty love in this fashion. We want more holdfast prayer; more tugging, and gripping, and wrestling, that saith, "I will not let thee go."

Now, when the church begins to pray, it may be, at first, the Lord will make as though he would have gone further, and we may fear that no answer will be given. Hold on, dear brethren. Be ye steadfast, unmovable, notwithstanding all. By-and-by, it may be, there will come discouragements where we looked for a flowing success; we shall find brethren hindering, some will be slumbering, and others sinning; backsliders and impenitent souls will abound; but let us not be turned aside. Let us be all the more eager. And if it should so happen that we ourselves become distressed and dispirited, and feel we never were so weak as we are now; never mind, brethren, still hold on, for when the sinew is shrunk the victory is near. Grasp with a tighter clutch than ever. Be this our resolution, "I will not let thee go except thou bless me." Remember the longer the blessing is coming the richer it will be when it arrives. That which is gained speedily by a single prayer is sometimes only a second rate blessing; but that which is gained after many a desperate tug, and many an awful struggle, is a full weighted and precious blessing. The children of importunity are always fair to look upon. The blessing which costs us the most prayer will be worth the most. Only let us be persevering in supplication, and we shall gain a broad far-reaching benediction for ourselves, the churches, and the world.

The last part of the message is the best part of all. So we all have to learn not to be discouraged when we don't get an answer to our prayers immediately or within the time when we want the answer. If the Lord tarries, trust in him and wait for him. perhaps its just that he is trying our faith, and once we continue to trust him, he will finally smile upon us and say that he can't refuse our faith :) God bless!!

Shut Doors/ by Mrs. Charles Cowman..

This inspired me so I decided to put this down in here :) just taking only the main things which applied more to me ..

By Mrs. Charles E. Cowman
Taken From: Streams in the Desert

Beloved, whenever you are doubtful as to your course, submit your judgment absolutely to the Spirit of God, and ask Him to shut against you every door but the right one. Say,

"Blessed Spirit, I cast on Thee the entire responsibility of closing against my steps any and every course which is not of God. Let me hear Thy voice behind me whenever I turn to the right hand or the left."

Is there some problem in your life to solve,
Some passage seeming full of mystery?
God knows, who brings the hidden things to light.
He keeps the key.

Is there some door closed by the Father's hand
Which widely opened you had hoped to see?
Trust God and wait--for when He shuts the door
He keeps the key.

Is there some earnest prayer unanswered yet,
Or answered NOT as you had thought 'twould be?
God will make clear His purpose by-and-by.
He keeps the key.

Have patience with your God, your patient God,
All wise, all knowing, no long tarrier He,
And of the door of all thy future life
He keeps the key.

Unfailing comfort, sweet and blessed rest,
To know of EVERY door He keeps the key.
That He at last when just HE sees 'tis best,
Will give it THEE.

--Anonymous

Nasa Image of the day

I have always been interested in Astronomy from childhood.. and I added this feed to my google homepage to get to know more about astronomy, the universe and its vastness never cease to amaze me and always makes me think more about how powerful God is. The perfection of the universe and how delicately its balanced also makes me more sure about the hand of God in all things.

Well, this picture made me think a bit :) well, it could be a foolish thought as well, and its only because I try to correlate everything to God and the Bible that I am thinking this way. well, there was this very famous Image. and the write up about it says that picture in the inset is called "Pillars of creation" however it was destroyed by an enormous explosion somewhere between 1000 and 2000 years ago. And it is said that the explosion was visible as an extremely bright star on earth at the time :) I was just wondering if it could be the stars the three wise men saw when Jesus was born.. wouldn't it be wondrous then? because then its clear that even something far off in another galaxy and the birth of Jesus here on Earth are very much correlated. And since the light from that location takes about 6000 - 7000 years to reach the earth, wouldn't everything be known to God beforehand... Isn't it amazing to think that way? That things happening at the other end of the universe have a profound effect to events happening on earth as well? to know more about the picture the link is ... here

Burdens in life :)

About the burdens and difficulties which I face now.. God has given them to me for a purpose.. and he has not given me to make my life difficult.. but he sees some good coming out from it and so that is why I have them.. I might be sad for a while, but I know that all will come to pass and that I will be blessed by God and be more happy and get more than what I am yearning for.. so I always have that hope.. and you are right that there are people suffering worse than us.. but for each person his/her own burden is too hard to bear however small it might seem to others, and in reality God is the only one who really cares the most even though we might feel at times that he cares the least.. if he is silent it is only out of love and not anger or indifference.. this is something which we will realise only when we walk more with God and have a long bond with him.. when we are new in Christ we might feel different, but ultimately God makes all his children aware of how much he loves you and me...

Is true love really like this?

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rose lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me prov'd
I never writ, nor man ever lov'd.

Sonnet 116, Shakespeare

This is a sonnet which touched me a lot and it was shown to me by .. I have always wondered if really true love could be like this.. This is love in the romantic sense :)

God's love is described in 1 corinthians 13 and I know that this does pale in comparison with the description of God's love. However I just added it because its something which did inspire me a lot :)

A Touching Story....

There was once this guy who is very much in love with his girl. This romantic guy folded 1,000 pieces of paper cranes as a gift to his girl. Although, at that time he was just a small fry in his company, his future didn't seem too bright, they were very happy together. Until one day, his girl told him she was going to Paris and will never come back. She also told him that she cannot visualize any future for the both of them, so they went their own ways there and then...

Heartbroken, the guy agreed. But when he regained his confidence, he worked hard day and night, slogging his body and mind just to make something out of himself. Finally with all the hard work and the help of friends, this guy had set up his own company . You never fail until you stop trying. One rainy day, while this guy was driving, he saw an elderly couple sharing an umbrella in the rain walking to some destination. Even with the umbrella, they were still drenched. It didn't take him long to realize they were his girl's parents.

With a heart in getting back at them, he drove slowly beside the couple, wanting them to spot him in his luxury sedan. He wanted them to know that he wasn't the same any more; he had his own company, car, condo, etc. He made it! What he saw next confused him, the couple was walking towards a cemetery, and so he got out of his car and followed...and he saw his girl, a photograph of her smiling sweetly as ever at him from her tombstone and he saw his paper cranes right beside her...

Her parents saw him. He asked them why this had happened. They explained, she did not leave for France at all. She was ill with cancer. She had believed that he will make it someday, but she did not want to be his obstacle... therefore she had chosen to leave him. Just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to,
doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have. She had wanted her parents to put his paper cranes beside her, because, if the day comes when fate brings him to her again...he can take some of those back with him...

The guy just wept...The worst way to miss someone is to be sitting right beside her knowing you can't have her, see her or be with her ever again.........

Once you have loved, you will always love. For what's in your mind may escape but what's in your heart will remain forever.

Find time to realize that there is one person who means so much to you, for you might wake up one morning losing that person who youthought meant nothing to you.

And I have to say that even when God loves us and sometimes shows us one way which might make us feel ignored by him, but in the end we would just realize that it was just another way in which he showed his great love for us.. This would make us feel sad, so whenever something happens to us which makes us feel that God is ignoring us, just be still and trust in him; its like when a parent throws their child to catch them again, the child will feel afraid for the first time, but once he is caught back in his parents arms he will know that it was not really anything to be afraid off, but these things only confirm our faith and makes us trust in God when more difficult trials come into our life. What we suffer now could pale in comparison to what we could face in the future (This would not be true for everyone - I am writing this because I am young and I know i would have more trials to come and these are just some to make me know that God loves and cares and I am awaiting his deliverance) and whatever we suffer always pales so much in comparison with the glory which we will have when we will reign with christ :) So be encouraged and never fail to trust in God and never doubt his love! Its a great sin!