Where is your treasure?

I have held many things in my hands, and have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.

–Martin Luther

Freedom

American Christians often think of freedom as being able to go to church and worship God in our own way, without any fear of persecution. I think we missed the point, here is what a Chinese brother who has suffered many times at the hands of the communist government has to say about freedom:

Once I spoke in the West and a Christian told me, “I’ve been praying for years that the Communist government in China will collapse, so Christians can live in freedom.” This is not what we pray! …Don’t pray for the persecution to stop! We shouldn’t pray for a lighter load to carry, but a stronger back to endure! Then the world will see that God is with us, empowering us to live in a way that reflects his love and power.

This is true freedom!

–Brother Yun

This is an excerpt from The Heavenly Man (2002) by Brother Yun with Paul Hattaway. I would highly recommend this book which is an amazing testimony to what God is doing in China today.

Charles Spurgeon – prayer

I have been reading Charles Spurgeon’s “The Power in Prayer”. Here is part of what I read today:

Alas, a great many people play at praying…I say that they play at praying’ they do not expect God to give them an answer, and thus they are mere triflers, who mock the Lord. He who prays in a business-like way, meaning what he says, honors the Lord. The Lord does not play at promising; Jesus did not sport at confirming the word by His blood; and we must not make a jest of prayer by going about it in a listless, unexpecting spirit.

The Holy Spirit is in earnest, and we must also be in earnest. We must go for a blessing and not be satisfied until we have it, like the hunter who is not satisfied because he has run so many miles but is never content until he takes his prey.

Faith, moreover, pleads the performances of God; it looks back on the past and says, “Lord, You delivered me on such and such an occasion; will You fail me now?” It, moreover, takes its life as a whole and pleads thus:

After so much mercy past,

Wilt thou let me sink at last?

I was going to write out some more but I would probably have written out the whole book…it’s a great read, very simple but so profound.