“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”  -2 Tim. 4.6-8

The line of faith that the apostle abides in is not of a different brand than that which the Church itself lives in. There are not two separate faiths, one for the apostles and prophets, and another for the “regular” Christian folk. Paul unconsciously puts the sword on the table in this passage, inviting us into the soldiership of eschatological living. For him, it is impossible to long for the appearing of Jesus, and to simultaneously live and unconsecrated lifestyle.

This passage is charged with a sense of rejoicing in the gracious work of God in Paul’s life. He realized full well that it was not his own work, but “Christ in me,” working out that which He desired to work out through the apostle’s frame. There is almost a sense in this late letter from Paul, that ‘the journey is about to come to an end, and I am about to exhale for the last time, only to inhale the clear air of heaven in remarkable and new experience.’ He is not afraid of death, and there is no sense of regret in his words here. The time has come for his departure, and by the grace of God, he has “fought the good fight,” “finished the race,” and “kept the faith.”

He has demonstrated the reality of living as broken bread and poured out wine, along every line of consecration. He has lived a life of worship and adoration in secret and before men. He has labored long years in intercession and prayer for the saints. He has walked in humility, mercy, and purity of heart. He has boldly set forth the Gospel of the Kingdom is both pleasant and dangerous atmospheres. He has seen the power of the Spirit move through his person, and he has developed blisters while building tents with the same hands that delivered healing. He has been embraced in one place and pelted with rocks in another. He has delighted in the faith of the saints and agonized over those who have forsaken the Lord. He has been utterly poured out for the glory of God, and for him, this was the only legitimate response to the Gospel of Christ and the promise of His soon return.

Paul puts the sword on the table in this text. The reward is laid up for him, he declares, for he has leaned hard into the grace of God, taking all the risks that were set before him, in light of the soon coming of his King. For Paul, who longed for Jesus’ appearing, nothing else made sense aside from allowing his life to be poured out completely. And the reward is ours as well, not because we sing ditties about His return, but because we come into the same eschatological lifestyle ourselves- a life of holy love; a life of total consecration; a life of prayer and intercession; a life of purity and power; a life that can only be described as broken bread and poured out wine for the Glory of Christ, the salvation of Israel, and the transformation of the nations.

We are not called to dwell on the periphery, but to delve deeply into the heart of God, and to come into an eschatological lifestyle; a mode of living that makes sense in light of the cross, and in light of His glorious appearing.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” -Acts 1.8

The reception of Holy Spirit power is a total necessity to the life of true faith. Without receiving power from on high, you have nothing but a mental idea of religion, however accurate it may be. Without receiving power from on high, you have not believed the Gospel in the manner that Jesus had in mind when He went to the cross.

The joy set before Him was the promise that a “nation of priests” would be raised up, not by merely agreeing with the doctrinal truth of the cross, but by receiving His own Spirit in a manner so real and tangible that they would be made to live as witnesses “to the ends of the earth.”

Our concept of “witnessing” falls short of the NT consciousness. We have often reduced it to the act of handing out tracts or presenting the “Romans Road” to salvation in a mechanical manner. Hence, our “converts” have often come into a mental faith only, and have failed to be born from above by the power of God’s indestructible life.

It is as Leonard Ravenhill once wrote:

A sermon from the head reaches the head. A sermon from the heart reaches the heart.

That is not to say that only an emotionally charged act of witness will suffice, but rather to say that unless our own conscience has been seared by the fire of God, and unless we are speaking by the power of His Spirit, we are not introducing men to the faith that the apostles have handed down to us.

You shall “be” witnesses. This is not merely handing out tracts, nor is it simply sitting around and trying to “be” something as opposed to “doing” something. To be a witness of something, you have to have seen it. Many of us were witnesses of the fire, smoke, and ash of that terrible day on 9/11. You may have witnessed some catastrophic event, or perhaps some wonderful historical happening. Maybe you were a witness of the tearing down of the Berlin wall, or some other memorable thing. You are not a witness because you went around handing out tracts about the Berlin wall, but because you saw it, even if it was over a TV screen.

The folk in Cleveland, having seen the talent of All-Star basketball player Lebron James, can often be found wearing the T-Shirt which declares, “We Are All Witnesses.” I think they have a better concept of the NT idea of “witness” than most believers, though their subject doesn’t hold a candle to the Man Christ Jesus.

Have you received His Spirit in power? Only by receiving His Spirit are we made into witnesses, those who can say, “We are all witnesses who can testify to the reality: Jesus Christ was crucified, He is risen and enthroned, and He is coming to Judge the nations and establish righteousness and peace forever.”

Only by the Spirit can we make such a claim, and only by the Spirit will men receive the Gospel of the Kingdom through us. So, dear Christian, are you a witness?

“So My people are bent on turning from Me.
Though they [God's prophets] call them [Israel] to the One on high,
None at all exalts Him.
How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How can I surrender you, O Israel?
…. My heart is turned over within Me,
All My compassions are kindled.” -Hos. 11.7-8

Hosea 11 contains one of the most remarkable self-disclosures of God in the whole of Scripture. Upon reading it, one is struck with a heightened sense of the Divine emotions, the intensity of Fatherly love, and the impassioned longings of a holy Creator Who desires to show mercy far beyond the point of pain. We would do well to lay our souls before it afresh.

Not too long ago, I had a rather “non-pastoral” interaction with a leader in the Body of Christ. Without going into the details, let me just say that he was terribly suspicious of any activity in the Church that was marked with human emotions in the least way. The whole event left me with a sense that the Lord must be quite stoical, unemotional, and incapable of relating to the feelings of human beings. While still “catching my breath” from that interaction, my daily readings took me to Hosea 11. The revelation of God contained therein is totally contrary to what this particular leader had conveyed.

In fact, the description of Yahweh’s impassioned plea with Israel totally transcends the reach of any human language, and I believe Hosea’s experience was something like trying to describe the force of a hurricane wave just after being washed ashore by its power. What can you say that will fit the magnitude of it? I find it remarkable that, as Hosea shows, God loves the way that He does, and that He feels a grief, a compassion, and a Fatherly affection that far supersedes anything we’ve ever known.

Hear OT scholar James Luther Mays on this portion:

Yahweh’s self-disclosure through the speech of Hosea reaches an unusual level of intensity and power in this chapter. The portrayal of Yahweh as a father caring for a son achieves an explicit tenderness and detail unmatched in the Old Testament.

…. The emotion and commitment of love is introduced as the basis and power of Yahweh’s way with Israel; and a theme of revelation appears which finds its climax finally in the New Testament.

(Hosea by J.L. Mays, WJK Publishers; 1969)

In the days of the Great Awakenings, Whitefield and Wesley, Finney and Edwards all suffered indictments against their meetings from critics. Much of the criticism they heard was the result of ‘emotionalism’ from the participants, or ‘enthusiasm’ as the critics then called it. While there were certainly excesses in every historical revival, there have always been those souls who could not bear the idea of anything emotional transpiring in religious gatherings, and who felt the need to raise a cry against it. Of course, their names are not nearly as remembered as the true Kingdom laborers whom they were criticizing. (Be assured that wood, hay and stubble will burn entirely at the Judgment, but it is already going up in smoke today.)

While there are fleshly emotional displays in various kinds of Christian meetings (and perhaps they are more flagrant in our day than any other!), this does not discount the remarkable truth that God Himself is an emotional Being. His loyalty to covenant and servant is intensely emotive; that is to say, He burns with love and holy jealousy, and His emotions actually awaken our spiritual consciousness from numbness and indifference as well!

I still remember one of my teachers asking the congregation over a decade ago:

You don’t think God has emotions? Remember, He’s God, we’re the image!

In other words, our make-up is based on His, not the reverse. The trouble is, we have sin and deceit within, and our emotions are without the wisdom and truth of God. So it could be said that in many ways, the process of discipleship has to do with learning to live and walk upon the foundation of Christ so solidly that our emotions are immersed and aligned with His own.

In verses 1-4 the Lord gives us a remarkable view into His own Fatherly feelings toward Israel. Though Israel went away from the pleadings of the prophets, though they sacrificed to the Baals and burned incense to idols (v. 2), He could not forget that when “Israel was a youth I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.” The God of consuming fire who shook the mount, was also the One “who taught Ephraim to walk,” “took them in My arms,” “led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love,” and “became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws,” bending down to feed them. The heightened intensity of fatherly love is here expressed, and as Mays wrote, it “achieves an explicit tenderness and detail unmatched in the Old Testament.” This is His way with Israel, and it is His way with every one of His children also. Do we know Him in this fatherly way, or have we been too busy-minded to let Him be a Father to us? As we see so profoundly expressed here, He longs to take us “out of Egypt,” out of the spirit of this age, and to embrace us, lift the yoke from our jaws, lead us with cords and bonds of love, and feed us from His own hand. What lovingkindness!

Verses 5-7 express the judgment and devastation that will strike Israel should they continue to worship idols and turn their hearts away from Him. “…. they refused to return to Me. The sword will whirl against their cities, and will demolish their gate bars and consume them because of the their counsels.” The God of Israel will not forever endure a cold shoulder from His children. When we delight in idols, and prefer the counsel of men to the word received in His holy place, His anger will build until judgement becomes a necessity. We see that here, as in all the prophets. In Hosea 11’s case, however, it climaxes in verse 7, and the level of Divine grief is too deep-seated to measure or describe:

“So My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they [God's prophets] call them [Israel] to the One on high, none at all exalts Him.”

Hear Mays again:

The verse carries the mood of a lament, Yahweh’s sorrowing over His people, a preparation for the intense self-questioning that breaks forth from Yahweh in v. 8.

Are we untouched by this? The Creator of all things, the Lord of history, the King of the nations, lamenting and sorrowing over His people? Would we make light of our sin? Would we treat the Lord as if He is no different than the wooden idols of the nations? One who cannot hear or see, one who cannot feel or sense, one who will not respond on any level? We need to be jolted by the Spirit with a new revelation of God’s Personhood.

Mays says that Yahweh was preparing for a series of questions in verse 7, and He asks them in verse 8.

“How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How can I surrender you, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?”

Are these questions asked with dryness and without feeling? Hardly. They are charged with the emotive loyalty of God Himself. Hear Mays once again:

In vv. 8f Yahweh reveals the suffering agony which Israel’s faithlessness has brought upon Him….

Through the prophet, He is disclosing His own self-examination in light of the covenant. It is a remarkable passage, where God Himself is so overcome with grief, yet so desirous of showing mercy, that He questions Himself, and allows His compassionate waters to overflow and flood out the imminence of judgment upon Israel.

“My heart is turned over within Me,
All My compassions are kindled.
I will not execute My fierce anger;
I will not destroy Ephraim again.
For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst,
And I will not come in wrath.
They will walk after the Lord….” (8b-10a)

…. His love will not let them go. In the sovereign freedom of His being God He refuses to permit the sin of Israel to lead to their annihilation. (Mays)

As history confirms, the Lord has been through many controversies with Israel, and judgments have been poured out upon her in measures that cause any sober heart to tremble. The majority of God’s covenant people have refused to turn to Him, and have been cut-off from His presence forever. Only a remnant in our day is willing to consider Him. Only a small percentage of the people Israel have been willing to consider His Son Jesus. And it will be a remnant (though I’m convinced that it may be more than a few million souls) that blesses His name from the ground of eschatological Jerusalem; ground that has been shaken like no other time in history. So many have perished without knowing the God of Hosea; the One whom Jesus called “Our Father.”

If only they had known His heart toward them. If only they would have known that “His heart turned over” within Him, and that “all” His “compassions” were kindled toward them. Oh to set Him forth, friends! Oh to hold high the banner of the Gospel in this hour, to Jew and to Greek!

The revelation of this remarkable compassion reached is zenith in the cross of Jesus Christ. How He wept over Jerusalem! How He wept over His antagonists! How He wept over the lost sheep of His house!

Israel, like all nations, had proven that within themselves they would flop on every spiritual level, so the joy set before Him was the promise that when He had been exalted in resurrection power, His Spirit would find a permanent release in the earth. He would reveal, in power and great light, the God that we only glimpse in Hosea 11.

We need to be increasingly cognizant of the emotive loyalty of the Lord. His loyalty is not based upon circumstances. It is based on His Person. He is loyal in and of Himself, quite contrary to the character of man. He is moved over mankind today, as He was moved over Ephraim in Hosea’s day. He feels compassion over Israel and the nations today just as He “felt compassion” over the dead boy and his mother in Luke 7. He is moved over you, dear soul.

He is not stoical or removed from our plight. He is intensely focused upon us. He longs to see the power of sin broken from our lives. He longs to embrace, carry, and feed us just as He has sought to do with Israel. This is not some shallow, flighty, sappy idea of God. His fatherliness is stalwart and towering, His compassions blaze past our masks and straw hiding places, and His emotions are loyal, awakening our hearts to the reality of Divine love.

Lord, may we see you as Hosea saw You? Might we come into the revelation of Your Fatherly character? We marvel at Your emotions, Lord. You are not blind toward us. You are not indifferent toward us. You have revealed the intensity of your heart in Hosea, and even more magnificently in Your Son. Might we abandon religious performance and find You in the walk of real life, hearing You, obeying You, receiving from You, following You? We recognize this as the heart of the Gospel. Take us deeper, we pray. Amen.

“Wisdom is in the presence of the one who has understanding,

But the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.” -Pro. 17.24

Not too long ago, I sat down with a seasoned servant of the Lord who has been praying and preaching around the world for more than five decades. We discussed the condition of our nation, the pitfalls of modern ministry, and the damage that visionary tendencies can cause if we are not rightly surrendered to the Lord.

He told me that he had functioned as a pastor and elder in a certain congregation for a number of years, where the primary leader was always moving and making decisions based on drastic visionary ideas and leadings. “Prophetic” men were always telling him that the “next great move” was coming, and that he needed to prepare for it, so he was very often announcing things and getting ready for transitions, but the “next great move” would almost always fail to come.

The people were being jerked to-and-fro by visionary ideas, but it seemed that there was not much wisdom simply to become faithful stewards of that which the Lord had already given them. In the long run, hundreds of people were damaged by this, and this elder in the Body was expressing to me that it all could have been different if the primary leader would have had wisdom enough to refrain from looking “on the ends of the earth,” but rather upon what the Lord had already set before him.

Often I meet with men who are stressed and anxiety-stricken, wondering what their “next big move” is. “When will the Lord bring me into full-time ministry?” “When will our ministry flourish?” “When will I publish my book?”  More and more, I’ve been encouraging them to allow the Lord to make them into men of prayer, men of the Scriptures, and faithful husbands and fathers.

It causes me to wonder how many ministries are being run on adrenalin and human energy, with founders who have never become people of prayer. I have remarkable vision, most of which I could say has come directly from the Lord, and I have yet to see the fulfillment of the vast majority of it. But the Lord never gives us a vision for the future with this word, “Here’s the vision. Now figure out all the pieces and make it happen.”

He may give us a promise or a glimpse of things to come, but immediately he drops us into the wilderness and says, “Will you seek my face and learn to love Me in the desert places? Will you be faithful with what I have already given you, and trust Me for that which is to come? You may see the mountain in the distance from this valley, but that is all you will see for now. Am I enough here? Do you really trust me with your life? Learning to abide in Me means more than accomplishing great feats. I want you to walk this journey with Me rather than robotically following a vision.”

I wonder how many children have been ruined by visionary ministers who were always “looking to the ends of the earth” rather than loving and raising those souls whom they had already been given, and that lived in their own homes.

I wonder how many ministers have carried grandiose visions for ministry, who have never extended the Gospel to their next door neighbors.

I wonder how many believers are watching “prosperity preachers” and hoping for their big blessing, when they’ve been irresponsible with the money they already have, and unwilling to sacrifice for the poor or for world missions.

The proverbial sage has told us that the fool is always looking to the ends of the earth. Let us be wise enough to look to the King on the Throne, and become faithful stewards of that which He has already given us. He will give us the wisdom to carry out any vision from Him on the foundation of our faithfulness to what is already our reality. There is a place for vision, especially the vision which comes from the Lord, but it is much better to be found in the place of prayer, in the Scriptures, and growing in the grace of loving Him with all of our hearts, and loving our neighbors as ourselves than to be “looking to the ends of the earth.” If we are consecrated to Him in every way, and faithful in the “little”, the visions He gives will have a foundation upon which to be built.

It requires the inspiration of God to go through drudgery with the light of God upon it.  -O. Chambers

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe….” -Heb. 12.28

A life of gratitude before the Lord is one of the most foundational attributes of the faith. Hear this word from David Ravenhill:

God dwells in the midst of continual thanksgiving. It is a significant part of His habitation.

We need to understand how critical thanksgiving is. Many of us don’t think about thanksgiving very often. We remember it once a year on the fourth Thursday of November, for a special emphasis, or after a particularly abundant time of blessing or answered prayer. How many of us, though, make giving thanks a daily lifestyle?

….. God is surrounded by thanksgiving in Heaven. Giving thanks was a regular part of Jewish worship in the tabernacle, the temple, and in the homes of the faithful. The early Christians learned to live and breath thankfulness. What about you? Is the voice of constant thanks heard in the temple of your heart? If God sniffed the air of your sanctuary, would He smell the sweet, fragrant incense of praise and thanksgiving, or the stench of bitterness, anger, pride, and ingratitude?

(David Ravenhill, They Drank from the River and Died in the Wilderness; Destiny Image, 2000; p. 89)

When we cease to offer praise and thanksgiving to the One who has created us, we remove ourselves entirely from a life of joy and holy satisfaction. When we forget His mercies, and refrain from thinking upon His remarkable generosity, we fail to abide in the glory of gratitude. This marks our lives as extremely vulnerable to the spirit of the world.

The moment we turn from thankfulness to God, our eyes and souls latch on to some object of carnal passion. We begin to covet, lust, and complain, for we cut ourselves off from the consciousness of His lovingkindness.

But when we start the day, walk through the day, and end the day on a note of humble gratitude, a transcendent joy becomes the hallmark of our lives. It has marked every true saint in this age and in the age to come.

So what about you, dear saint? Are you thankful to God for the gift of His Son? For His indescribable mercy? For the times when He has lifted you from the pit of despair? For turning His compassions toward you, though you deserved it not?

We thank You, Lord, for You are more than worthy of our lives. Brand us with Your burning mercy, and make us a people of gratitude and joy in an age of want, jealousy, and depression. Amen.

“But I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
I am weary with holding it in.” -Jer. 6.11a

Of this passage in Jeremiah, Abraham Heschel has written:

He was filled with a blazing passion, and it was this emotional intensity which drove him to discharge God’s woeful errands. The ultimate purpose of a prophet is not to be inspired, but to inspire the people; not to be filled with a passion, but to impassion the people with understanding for God. Yet the ears of this people were closed: ‘The word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn” (6.10). Jeremiah was filled to overflowing with the wrath of God, which he could neither suppress nor contain, and which poured itself out therefore upon innocent “children in the street and upon the gatherings of young men” (6.11). The wrath of God was not the threat of judgment being poured forth, but the upsurge of the wrath in Jeremiah himself.

…. it is clear with what agitation and passionate concern he was accustomed to fulfill his vocation. Again and again Jeremiah proclaimed the pathos of wrath. His being filled with divine wrath was his sympathy with it. Jeremiah not only experienced such sympathy; he was fully conscious of his experience.

The prophet of wrath did not merely proclaim it; he lived it, and was conscious of it.

“I did not sit in the company of merrymakers,
Nor did I rejoice;
I sat alone, because Thy hand was upon me,
For Thou hadst filled me with indignation.” (15.17)

(THE PROPHETS: An Introduction, Abraham J. Heschel; Harper Collins, 1962; p. 115)

What do we know of being filled with the wrath of God? Have we ever been touched with the fire that not only singes but permanently brands the soul with the very pathos and heart of God Himself? Are we willing, as the prophet of old, to go that far into the Holy of Holies? To ask the Father how He really feels about our nation? Our churches? Israel? Our own lives?

Are we willing to become strange ducks to all those around us, not because we have foul attitudes or falsely pious practices, but because we have been so touched by the wrath of God that we can no longer jive with or tune in to that which makes the world go ’round?

This is something far different from bickering about political preferences. This is of a totally different source than being a religious grouch. This is an intensely intimate union with the God of holiness, whereby our lips are touched first with a coal from the altar, and having been broken and crushed  seven times over, we begin to weep over that which causes grief to our God. We are not weeping because of unmet ideals, we are weeping because we have been swallowed up in His own heart. We have been gripped by the power of his wrath, and the intercessions and proclamations that flow from that place become judgments themselves upon a society that refuses to hear from the God of righteousness.

Do we love His judgments as well as His mercies? What do we know of this kind of identification with the Lord? If we are inwardly chuckling at the immoral humor of the world, if we are coveting that which the wicked possess, if we desire the approval of man and the popularity of this age, we can be sure that we have not been filled with God. For along with the boundless mercy, kindness, and love that flows from the God-endued man, there will be an intimate union with His wrath as well. Jeremiah suffered for that identification, and the Church will have fallen short of her prophetic calling until She too has been baptized into the Lord as the prophet himself was.

O, for separation from all darkness! O, for an undeniable and unwavering union with the God of Israel, deep enough to break us loose from the grips of sin, and to raise us up as voices in the midst of a generation perishing for want of the knowledge of God!

“…. he that has seen Me has seen the Father….” -John 14.9

In the October 30th selection of My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers gives us this thought:

Until we know Jesus, God is a mere abstraction, we cannot have faith in Him; but immediately we hear Jesus say- “he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father,” we have something that is real, and faith is boundless. Faith is the whole man rightly related to God by the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

The darkness that marks ‘god-seeking’ cultures is profounder and more tragic than we know. Even in modern evangelicalism, there is enough of a measure of humanistic thought that in most cases believers remain unbroken over the condition of mankind.  If one were to survey the nation of India, for instance, and the number of gods or goddesses men pursue there, it would become clear that the whole of the nation is pursuing “God” as a mere abstraction.

Men will spend weeks standing on one leg, days and sometimes months in fasting, whole nights in meditation and reading of ancient texts, or cut and pierce their bodies in numerous ways, just for the positive sense it gives them in knowing that their souls are bent in a divine direction. From one village to the next, their deities change name and form, and most of the time there are multiple gods to worship in each household. There is no spiritual stability, no answer to the problem of sin, no consciousness of God’s holiness and love, but instead the bewildering pursuit of the divine in mere abstractions. Paul did not see their religious pursuits as valid in any way, stating that they were literally worshipping “demons” whether they knew it or not. (1 Cor. 10.20)

We cannot have faith in God until we have seen and believed upon His Son. The nations are groping in darkness, incapable of finding anything but false and fading lights, and not until the Church has penetrated their darkness with the light of truth in Christ will they have any hope at all. The darkness is not bound to idolatry in India, but is the plight of mankind in every culture and in every form of life where Christ is not the center. Across the board men are seeking their gods in abstraction, and only those who have come into communion with the One true God through the Gospel have stability and certitude about eternity, for it has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and it is founded upon the revelation that God has given in the Scriptures. Do we dare keep this great light to ourselves?

We live so indifferently, so numbly, so stingily. Have we failed to realize that unless the nations see God through the revelation of the Gospel they will only pursue Him through abstractions, and will fall totally short of the glory of grace altogether? Do we believe that they are perishing, forever?

We need to be freed from humanistic mixtures and hollow hopes for their progressive improvement, and brought onto the grounds of apostolic certitude. Paul shed blood and tears, took stones in the face and lashes on the back, for the singular purpose of setting forth the Man Christ Jesus to those who were seeking God in mere abstractions. We need the same sight, the same courage, the same burden, the same faith, and the same missionary spirit, or else they perish forever. It’s time to wake up, saints. It’s not a dream. It’s not an option. Woe unto us if we preach not the Gospel.

“You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” -Rev. 3.17

On May 27th of 1963, German-Swiss Theologian Karl Barth wrote a letter to a theological student of Jewish origin at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. When I read the letter several years ago, I nearly fell from my chair. The letter was interesting, but it was how he signed off that jolted me. Here is his closing:

I wish you all perseverance in your plans and a wholesome influence on the all too self-sufficient “Christianity” of your country,

Yours truly,
Karl Barth

(Karl Barth: Letters, 1961-1968; Eerdmans Publications, 1978; p. 100; italics mine)

The “all too self-sufficient ‘”Christianity’” of America! What a statement to make in the closing of a letter. But it struck my heart because it had the ring of truth, and the powerlessness of most of our ministries, and the carelessness of most of our lives testify to the fact.

The resurrected and ascended Christ was seen by John, moving through the “lampstands” of Asia Minor, commending that which He was pleased with and judging that which was not in keeping with His heart. Among the Churches, Laodicea was perhaps the most scolded, and He spoke straight into her situation much like He is wanting to speak into ours. Hear Craig Keener on this:

Jesus’ challenge to the Laodicean Christians’ self-sufficiency (3.17-18) reminds us how readily we Christians absorb the attitudes of our culture without pausing for critical reflection on this behavior.

…. The church in Laodicea reflected the values of its culture: proud, self-sufficient, not needing any outside help, including much from the Lord (3.17). They contrasted with suffering churches that recognized their own desperation for God’s intervention. Comparing the church in North America with churches in many other parts of the world, I fear that the problems of Laodicea’s Christians are most like our own.

…. Prayerlessness or dry devotional times, so typical of many of our lives in the West, often stem from a lack of sense of need before God. Our material abundance can, if we are unwary, prove a source of spiritual poverty as it did for the Christians of Laodicea.

(The NIV Application Commentary: Revelation; Craig Keener; Zondervan, pp. 159, 167)

This is not a call for some kind of sadistic poverty mindset, thinking that because we are without possessions that we are somehow free. It is, rather, a call to turn from all that has possessed our hearts and lives, a call to relinquish our self-sufficiency, so that we might come into the humility and dependency on God that befits those who will dwell in His house. How shall we break from the spirit of self-sufficiency? Keener gives us insight:

The solution to Laodicean Christianity is repentance (3.19)- admitting that we consume our fabulous dinners without the presence of Jesus (3.20), who dwells only with the contrite and broken (Is. 57.16; 66.2; James 4.6). We eat without Him because our self-glorification, which resembles that of the world (Rev. 18.7), nauseates Him (3.16). If we humble our hearts and listen to His voice in the Scriptures and through the churches elsewhere, we may yet overcome.

(ibid., p. 167)

May it not be said of the Church in these last days that she is the bearer of a “self-sufficient Christianity.” May we be freed from the spirit of this age, and brought into the apostolic glory of the Church, which is the “fullness of Him who fills everything in every way.”

“…. the Jerusalem which is above is free….” -Gal. 4.26a

“For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his own works….” -Heb. 4.10

There is a sabbath rest which has been opened up to God’s people through the cross, and we need to resist all religious activity that flows from any other place. Even prayer itself is subject to lesser and unheavenly influences, for if our intercessions spring from our own emotions or minds, or are robotic and contrived, we are not likely touching the heart of God or pushing back the powers of darkness. We need to come into the prayers of Jesus Himself, not by striving, but by a radical surrender to His heart, and harmony with His mind. This is where the authority lies, which we shall see from a man who knew this reality in real life experience.

Thomas Haire was one of a remnant in history who was acquainted with the rarefied air of the heavenly Jerusalem, and his prayers moved things in spiritual places and shifted things on the earth in a manner that we know far too little of as the Church of modern America. We would do well to hear from this remarkable man.

He was a friend and co-intercessor with Leonard Ravenhill, and travelled with him in a manner much like Father Nash, who was Charles Finney’s “Epaphras” (Col. 4.12-14) during the great seasons of revival and awakening in the 19th century. Haire and Nash were both less known than the men they travelled with, but their labors were no less impactful, and only the Day of the Lord will tell how profoundly their obedience and love invaded history with the light of eternity.

A.W. Tozer was so impressed with Haire’s character and prayer life, that he wrote a booklet about his life even before Brother Haire went on to be with the Lord. I want to leave you with a few thoughts from this life-long intercessor, who happened also to be a professional plumber from Ireland. We can learn something from a man who spent over 50 years praying 4 hours a day, decades of which he went sleepless for 3 nights a week, giving himself over to Spirit-endued intercession on behalf of the Church, and a dying world that he loved so fervently.

I haven’t the time or space to note all of the elements of his devotion, which would challenge and encourage any open-hearted believer. You can find Tozer’s full account online if you search for it.

What hits my heart presently is that Thomas Haire, according to Tozer, was the kindest and most tranquil man that he had ever known, and though his devotion to prayer and intercession was marked with awesome intensity and depth, he was not a tense personality, as many who pursue revival seem to be. This marks him out as unique, I believe, for his sabbath peace was also combined with a remarkable authority and dominion in prayer that we have rarely seen in our day. Souls passed from darkness to light, many were healed physically, and God was glorified wonderfully on the wings of Thomas Haire’s prayers. Through all of the remarkable answers to prayer, revivals, and movings of God, he was also a very gentle and kind man, who could move from a ground-breaking season of intercession to making a child laugh through a humorous remark. He was rare indeed.

Tozer writes of Haire:

…. always he is relaxed and free from strain. He will not allow himself to get righteously upset about anything. ‘I lie near to the heart of God,’ he says, ‘and I fear nothing in the world.’

That he lies near to God’s heart is more than a passing notion to Tom. It is all very real and practical. ‘God opens His heart,’ he says, ‘and takes us in. In God all things are beneath our feet. All power is given to us and we share God’s almightiness.’ He has no confidence at all in mankind, but believes that God must be all in all. Not even our loftiest human desires or holiest prayers are acceptable to God. ‘The river flows from beneath the throne,’ he explains, ‘and its source is not of this world. So the source of our prayers must be Christ Himself hidden in our hearts.’

‘Too many of God’s people are straining for faith,’ says Tom, ‘and holding on hard trying to exercise it. This will never do at all. The flesh cannot believe no matter how hard it tries, and we only wear ourselves out with our human efforts. True faith is the gift of God to an obedient soul and comes of itself without effort. The source of faith is Christ in us. It is a fruit of the Spirit.’

(A.W. Tozer, Thomas Haire: The Praying Plumber of Lisburn; Rare Christian Books)

Of prayer, Tozer gives us more of Haire’s thoughts:

According to Tom, there is such a thing as strategic prayer, that is, prayer that takes into account what the devil is trying to accomplish and where he is working, and attacks him at that strategic point. ‘Don’t waste your time praying around the edges,’ he says. ‘Go for the devil direct. Pray him loose from souls. Weaken his hold on people by direct attack. Then your prayers will count and the work of God will get done.’

Tom makes much of the believer’s authority in Christ. Over the protests of the cautious expositor, he appropriates Scripture that might be proved to belong to a future age. ‘God says we are kings and priests,’ he declares, ‘and what is a king without a kingdom? There is a sphere where we can have full dominion in prayer. Complete authority is ours. We only need to ask and we shall receive.’ If this were mere theory we might dismiss it as being simply an error in interpretation, but is has been proved in the fires of practical living. God has given to His praying servant great power to command, to demand, and the results have been and are many and unusual.

I dare say the kind of authority and dominion Mr. Haire spoke of is something scarcely touched in our generation. There have been many boasts of dominion, shouts of authority, and we have cranked up the music loud enough to move every soul in the building, but the heavens are not moved by sweat and noise. The depth of Christ’s character and the profound union with God that Tom Haire had come into were the foundations of his great authority in prayer.

Before Tozer convinced Haire that his story needed to be told for the sake of the Body, the old praying plumber resisted the idea. Not wanting to be popularized or tempted with fame, he replied in his own Irish way, “I don’t want to lose me power with God.” His secret life with God, formed through decades of engaging in prayer, was more precious to him than anything else in his life or ministry.

Do our self-promoting ministries know anything of such “power with God”? Are we guarding a deep and holy union with Christ that has been formed through years of concentrated prayer and worship, or are we being tossed to and fro by the latest teaching or movement? Have we neglected the primacy of secret prayer and leaned too hard into public efforts, expending energy, burning time, and building works that are mostly “wood, hay, and stubble”? Are we rooted and grounded in the love of Christ, or barely keeping our heads afloat, drinking in the spirit of the world and following Christian fads? Thomas Haire’s “power with God” is a quickening reminder of the possibilities of grace, the glories of communion with God, and the remarkable sabbath rest and authority that the Lord places upon a man when he is in harmony with Christ through the Spirit of prayer.

May the Lord raise up tender-hearted, fervent, holy, and hidden laborers again in our day. May we cast off any pursuit that causes us to lose our power with God. May we shake off all that stifles the Spirit of prayer. May we put first things first once and for all. May the same Spirit that rested on Thomas Haire, make His habitation amidst the Church at large, for the glory of Jesus!

“…. He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ -Jn. 20.20a-21

There is a great difference between the favor the Lord has shown to us in sonship, and the endorsement of God upon the work that we do.

The two most common conditions of a believer in whom the life of God is stifled are stagnant complacency and unordained busyness. It is unfortunately rare these days for us to see the kinds of works emerge that have that unique ring of heaven about them.

It seems that in most cases, particularly in the western Church, the ministries and congregations are lax and unconvinced of eternal reality, content to keep Christianity as an addendum to their lives, and a vital union with the Lord has either dissipated or been unknown altogether. This is tragic, and in these situations it is likely that the majority of the ones professing the faith have never even been born from above. Oh, for mercy and light to break into their hearts!

But the other trap, often found among those who truly have been born from above, is a kind of busy-headed Christianity, always setting our hands to different forms of ministry without having beheld the Lord of the harvest, and without having received a sending from Him. We mistake the positive sense that comes to us in our acceptance into the Beloved as an endorsement for every ministerial idea that comes to mind, and we respond like anxiety stricken employees with non-relational boss. We find our brains and schedules stretched thin by overactivity, but we have failed to see “His hands and His side.” We are not rejoicing, for we have become robotic sons, no longer seeing the Lord, but continuing to labor for “Christian” purposes. But just as Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing, Christianity without the presence and reality of Christ is a total aberration.

Hear this from Oswald Chambers:

A missionary is one sent by Jesus Christ as He was sent by God. The great dominant note is not the needs of men, but the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in work for God is behind, not before. The tendency today is to put the inspiration ahead, to sweep everything in front of us and bring it all out to our conception of success. In the New Testament the inspiration is put behind us, the Lord Jesus. The ideal is to be true to Him, to carry out His enterprises.

Personal attachment to the Lord Jesus and His point of view is the one thing that must not be overlooked.

(Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest; Oct. 26 selection)

Jesus never overlooked His attachment to the Father, yet we have overlooked union and busied our minds with action. But the essence of that which is apostolic- or sent- has everything to do with the Source of the sending. If we have not come from seeing Him afresh in the place of prayer, what are we taking to the people among whom we have busied ourselves? It is not apostolic, or missional in the Biblical sense, unless we have have heard the Son of God say to us, “…. as the Father has sent Me, so send I you.”

And while He shows favor to us as sons, and accepts us gloriously into Himself, He does not endorse everything that we set our hands to. But how would we know the difference when we have failed to sit at His feet, experience His peace, worship Him as the Lord of all life, and trust Him to do the sending? May the Lord have for Himself vessels who have learned the primacy of seeing Him daily, and who will only take up that which He Himself has inspired, endorsed with His power, and sent into the world.

When we speak of the call of God, we are apt to forget the most important feature- the nature of the One who calls. -Chambers