pray for the laurie family.

christopher, son of pastor greg laurie, was killed in a car accident today.

you can leave encouragement and condolences on pastor greg’s blog.

and behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.’ Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’
[ Matthew 8:1-2 ]

india.

it’s considered by many as a bustling, developing economic power. it has industry and science, even bollywood.

but, underneath the innovation and industrialization we find this:

They are approximately 300 million people who are deemed “untouchable” and comprise the lowest rung of the Hindu caste system. Since the origin of this system 3,000 years ago, the Dalits have lived in bondage to the code of caste. They have been unable to escape their fate and are deprived of even the most basic liberties and privileges, including the freedom to decide where to live, work and worship.ⁱ

just to put that number in perspective, as of 2007 the population of the united states was 301 million people.ⁱⁱ

300 million people deemed untouchable, like the lepers of Galilee. relegated to a life of burden and isolation.

Jobs allotted to the 300 million Dalits of Asia include unclogging sewers, making bricks in scorching heat, washing soiled clothing and working as meagerly paid field hands. Because of their poverty and low social status, Dalits do not have adequate access to food, housing, clothing, education or health care. This is the life of the Dalits.

Bonded labor is prevalent among Dalits, even their children, who often work in slave-like conditions to pay off family debt. With estimates as high as 150 million working children, India has the largest child labor force in the world. Abuse is common, with long hours in miserable conditions and no hope of escape. This is the fate of the Dalits.ⁱⁱⁱ

in many cases the ‘family debt’ is what keeps these dalit children in slavery.

i had my breath taken away one sunday when i saw a GFA film which revealed that in some cases the total of that debt is as little as $13.00.^iv

living in the land of opportunity it’s hard to imagine how a caste system can operate, but for the dalit, it is the only life available…until now.

in 2001 Gospel For Asia began reaching out specifically to the dalit caste through a ministry called Bridge of Hope. now, over 42,000 children are being bought out of bondage, given an education, school uniforms, medical care, having physical needs met, and, most importantly, are being presented with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the God who will touch them, the God who is not afraid to touch anyone.

we can partner with Gospel For Asia in touching the dalit caste.

check this out…are you ready for it?

of any money donated to GFA, 100% goes to the field.

100%

not 50% or 75%

100%

while GFA’s primary goal is to plant churches, the native missionaries also work to dig wells, alleviate illiteracy (as high as 90% in many dalit communities^v ), establish radio programs, outreaches to regional slums and muslim communities, building homes, churches and Bible colleges, and much more.^vi

you can be a part of touching the untouchable. GFA makes it easy.

One Time Donation – any amount at all. you can designate it toward a specific need or simply send it where it is most needed.

Sponsor A Missionary – $30 a month supports a native missionary in some of the most unreached parts of the world.

Sponsor A Child – $28 a month supports a child in the Bridge of Hope program.

for more on Gospel For Asia visit this page, or visit their official site.

above all, join us in praying for the work being done in india, especially in the dalit community.

our God is the God who reaches, cleanses and embraces.

praise the Lord.

Dalit News

1. http://www.gfa.org/dalit↩
2. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/us.html↩
3. http://www.gfa.org/dalit/reaching-the-dalits↩
4. http://www.calvaryhanford.com/videos/bringingthemhope.avi↩
5. http://www.gfa.org/dalit/reaching-the-dalits#dalit4↩
6. http://www.gfa.org/donation/major-ministries↩

part i – introduction (mine  ::  luke’s)

part ii – chapter 1 & 2

part iii – chapter 3 & 4

part iv – chapter 5 & 6

:: read the book yourself ::

part v – chapters 7 & 8

little prayer is the characteristic of a backslidden age and of a backslidden church. whenever there is little praying in the pulpit or in the pew, spiritual bankruptcy is imminent and inevitable. (page 59)

bounds’ writing style is interesting: generally simple concepts (not in nature but in conveyance) repeated over and over again from every possible angle, with great passion and urgency (in fact, he reminds me of a Christian hemmingway). each chapter of Purpose In Prayer is like the single blooming of a flower, petal by petal, bit by bit, until the single blossom is fully revealed.

chapters 7 & 8 continue in the exhortation to pray with purpose and to pray with fervor, to pray often and to pray expectantly. however, these chapters also reveal a new edge to bounds’ sermon.

first, prayer is meant to create intimacy with God. it is an excellent reminder that “the goal of prayer is the ear of God,” not just the activity of God. we do not pray simply for help or for miracles, but we pray so that we might have the very ear of the Almighty. that alone is a fantastic adjustment that i can work on each day for the rest of my life.

we are encouraged by bounds (and Jesus) to “pray always and not to faint” (pg. 53 / luke 18:1), and we are then shown that constant prayer and devotion is the key to spiritual vigor. a prayerless heart is a dying heart.

and, to return to the vital point, secret praying is the test, the gauge, the conserver of man’s relation to God. the prayer chamber, while it is the test of the sincerity of our devotion to God, becomes also the measure of the devotion. the self-denial, the sacrifices which we make for our prayer chambers, the frequency of our visits to that hallowed place of meeting with the Lord, the lingering to stay, the loathness to leave, are values which we put on communion alone with God, the price we pay for the Spirit’s trying hours of heavenly love.

chapter 7 is the revelation that real prayer, prayer that bounds has been discussing for the last 6 chapters, leads inevitably to intimacy with our Eternal God. prayerlessness leads not only to unfamiliarity with God, but also spiritual decline, decay and eventually despair.

chapter 8, entitled “Prayer, The Remedy For All Evils,” is a great case study in both New Testament and later times when prayer led to revival, redemption, restoration, to miracles and to God’s movement on the earth. for me, it was a good reminder that menare needed to pray. bounds explains that the Bible presents prayer as supremely important for men: both for the work of God on the earth and for their family lives. bounds points out paul’s letter to timothy as admonishing men to prayer “in contrast to, and distinct from, the women.” (pg 64)

this chapter reminded me of bounds’ earlier work Power Through Prayer because it spoke more of church activity, church leadership and the like. Power Through Prayer is definitively written for pastors, Bible teachers and church leaders, though it is a great read for any Christian.

chapter 8 reminds us that we have a job on the earth, in a church, for the Lord. it reminds us that all of the ‘great’ men and leaders of the Bible were praying men.

what would God’s leaders be without prayer? strip moses of his power in prayer, a gift that made him eminent in pagan estimate, and the crown is taken from his head, the food and fire of his faith are gone.

bounds continues with examples like elijah, paul, luther and wesley, proving his point well. in his own day and age he was worried that churches and Christians had become too goal oriented, too movement oriented, too numbers oriented. how much further many of us have ventured into those deceptions!

many church leaders seem to think if they can be prominent as men of business, of money, of influence, of thought, of plans, of scholarly attainments, of eloquent gifts, of conspicuous activities, that these are enough and will atone for the absence of the higher spiritual power which only much praying can give. but how vain and paltry are these in the serious work of bringing glory to God, controlling the Church for Him, and bringing it into full accord with its divine mission! (pg 67)

just this morning i was reminded of this very principle as i read in matthew when the disciples asked Jesus why they failed to cast a demon out of a boy, to which He responded “this type does not come out but by prayer and fasting.” all the gifting (heavenly or earthly), all the ability, all the education, all the good intentions fail when they are not accompanied by prayer.

as chapter 8 reminds us, God is concerned with the man not the methods. i was encouraged, and i hope you are too, to maintain the man today, rather than the methods of my trade.

Purpose In Prayer is excellently shaping a way of thinking about communion with God that will lead to personal closeness, personal triumph and personal growth with the Lord.

blessings.

–

whether we like it or not, asking is the rule of the kingdom.‘ask and ye shall receive.’ it is a rule that never will be altered in anybody’s case.

our Lord Jesus Christ is the elder brother of the family, but God has not relaxed the rule for Him. remember this text: Jehovah says to His own Son, ‘ask of Me and I will give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession.’

if the royal and divine Son of God cannot be exempted from the rule of asking that He may have, you and I cannot expect the rule to be relaxed in our favor.

why should it be? what reason can be pleaded why we should be exempted from prayer? what argument can there be why we should be deprived of the priviledge and delivered from the necessity of supplication? i can see none, can you?

God will bless elijah and send rain on israel, but elijah must pray for it. if the chosen nation is to prosper, samuel must plead for it. if the jews are to be delivered, daniel must intercede. God will bless paul, and the nations shall be converted through him, but paul must pray.

pray he did without ceasing; his epistles show that he expected nothing except by asking for it. if you may have everything by asking, and nothing without asking, i beg you to see how absolutely vital prayer is, and i beseech you to abound in it.

- charles spurgeon (purpose in prayer - pg. 50-51)

:: read it yourself ::

SERIES CONTENTS

- introduction (mine, luke’s)

- chapters 1 & 2

- chapters 3 & 4

here are chapters 5 & 6 discussed on lukes blog.

today i am officiating for the first time at a funeral. if you happen to read this before 2pm and you happen to remember this around 2pm, i’d covet your prayers.

also, please pray for the members marilyn’s family who have lost their wife/mom.

blessings 

:: read it yourself ::

SERIES CONTENTS 

- introduction  (mine, luke’s)

- chapters 1 & 2

purpose in prayer chapters 3 & 4

of how many of us can it be said that as we pass people in the street we pray for them, or that as we enter a home or a church we remember the inhabitants or the congregation in prayer to God?

(this post gets a bit lengthy, so if you don’t have the time or energy to read it, then please just contemplate this quote and speak to the Lord about it for a moment or two) 

bounds’ treatise on prayer is like the best of exercises, one that reveals weakness, one that pushes to the point of exertion, one that benefits. in an era of self-oriented Christianity, this 19th century book strips away the hyperbole and philosophizing of our prayer life and examines its true, Biblical nature.

chapters 1 and 2 laid the foundation of bounds’ message to the Christian reader. chapters 3 and 4 serve as a swift and challenging 1-2 punch to the spiritual face. the truth is that throughout history the ‘giants’ of faith almost unanimously list 2 regrets at the end of their lives: that they did not devote enough time to their families, and that they did not devote enough time to prayer. it would be foolishness to think that we (especially those of us young in life or the Lord) are finished in the school of prayer. luckily, bounds’ books on the subject are the best extraBiblical resources available.

what i love about purpose in prayer is its candor and method of exhortation in an area that is so immensely personal, yet immeasurably important. the quoted question above is enough for me to pause and render unto God more worship and more supplication through my prayer. bounds is not afraid to encourage, but he is not afraid to rebuke.

when you first read the title of chapter 3, more and better praying, the secret of success, you might expect to receive a self-centered message of name-it-and-claim-it, health and wealth doctrine.

on the contrary, bounds presents an incredible reality in our relationship with God, found in psalm 2:

ask of Me and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for they possession. thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
- psalm 2:8-9

and in james’ letter:

ye have not, because ye ask not. ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it on your pleasures.
- james 4:2-3

the prayer of a righteous man availeth much in its working. elijah was a man of like passions with us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth for 3 years and 6 months. and he prayed again; and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
- james 5:17-19

the truth, the reality, the actuality of our lives is that when we petition God with a purpose, with His will, His methods, His love in the foremost parts of our hearts and minds, then He will answer our prayer and will commune with us through our prayer. again and again the Bible begs us to call on God for salvation, for deliverance, for vision, for strength, for anything we might require to serve Him. it is prayer that is the catalyst for growth and communication with our Creator.

bounds gives us a fantastic reminder in chapter 3 that our prayers must have purpose. they must have a heavenly bent that draws down God, not out of coercion or guilt, not out of obligation, but out of love. out of romantic love. the love of a wife calling to a husband, the romantic love of 2 people who cannot bear to be apart. with that purpose in mind our prayers will change from a routined mumble to a powerful connection with the Almighty. with the Almighty.

chapter 4 carries on from what we’ve learned, that the open store of God’s resource is immediately available to us via prayer, by giving us a number of wonderful Biblical and historical examples. Luther, Wesley, Spurgeon, Mueller, Bramwell and many others provide ‘real life’ examples of the possibilities of prayer, not in miraculous signs and wonders (though those are included) but in personal intimacy with God. it is inarguable that these men shaped their world for Christ. it is inarguable that these men were used by God to further the Gospel. if we, as Christians currently living, desire those things that we so often talk about yet so seldom attain, things like “authenticity” or “relevance”, then we must learn lessons from the great men of the faith.

from paul the apostle to martin luther to henry ironside; each man has a consistent testimony of immeasurable prayer. not just quantity over quality, but both quantity and quality.

as bounds is revealing to us very methodically, when we step back from the human difficulties of prayer we can only conclude that it is through prayer that revivals begin, through prayer that funds are raised, through prayer that nets are cast, through prayer that the dead are raised to life. that is the system that God has established. it is wonderful and miraculous, yet there has always been and there will always be a consistent push away from simple devotion to God’s Word and God’s prayer.

when we calmly reflect upon the fact that the progress of our Lord’s Kingdom is dependent on prayer, it is sad to think that we give so little time to the holy exercise.

bounds is serious about prayer (if you haven’t figured that out). i do not think his purpose is to burden but to stir up. i certainly do not wish to burden anyone with this entry, but to excite us all as God’s people about the possibilities of a life stoked by prayer. as our author points out, prayer is the wind in our sails, a great source of joy, a stabilization in the storm, a fuel to the fire, the vision in the dark.

there are practical things we can do to encourage our own prayer lives. i’m sure bounds will get to them soon enough.

what do you think?

luke had the first shift.

check it out here and then visit me next friday for chapters 3 and 4.

blessings