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"Jesus Is Able To Rebuild Your Broken Life"
"Renew our days as of old" (Lam. 5:21 )
There are always certain danger signals which become quite evident, when one’s physical or spiritual health declines. We respond to signs of physical deterioration by running instantly to a trusted doctor for advice and treatment. We are certainly not indifferent to the danger signals which could mean an impending heart attack. I simply can’t understand, how thinking people can be indifferent to the moral decay around them and in their own families.
Jeremiah, who wept over the sins of not only saw the deep spiritual and moral decline but also warned them of the imminent Judgement of God. Had the people of heeded his timely warning and repented of their sins, they would have saved themselves and their children, from innumerable ills and sufferings.
I have noticed that in most people, when they have committed a tragic blunder or grieved God greatly, there comes a period of deep darkness, when they seem quite incapable of seeing orrecognising their fallen state. This period of spiritual blindness lasts long enough to do serious damage to a person or family. By the time they awake, it is often too late to undo the harm. Irreparable loss is sustained and the children are ruined. The pain and loss due to the initial disobedience remains for generations. The marks of our disobedience are plainly printed on our posterity.
When the fruit of youthful sins and the effects of the disobedience of later years are so devastating, how deeply one should repent for every deflection from the path of holiness and seek Christ’s pardon with real brokenness!
Jeremiah laments, "Renew our days as of old." This is not a mere nostalgic reference to the ‘good old days.’ Sometimes this phrase can be very misleading. In our days knowledge has greatly increased. Hence rapid changes are taking place around us. The strangle-hold of some superstitious traditions are broken and with the rubbish, some useful standards of conduct too have been discarded. The sacred institute of marriage is being belittled by those who break God’s laws and wreck their own homes.
From twenty years to thirty, it is a pretty fast lap in the race of life. By the time the wildly speculating and dashing twenty-year-olds crash through the thirty-year barrier, they are disillusioned, broken, haggard, weary and jaded. What is more, some of them are bitter and frustrated. They simply want to forget their teenage years and their wild-twenties.
Jeremiah knew that God had promised His children that they would be the head and not the tail if they would obey His laws and statutes (Deut. 28:13). Further, the unerring manner in which God had led His children out of their slavery in , across the and through the wilderness, where nothing practically grew, was indelibly written on the consciousness of Jeremiah. Thus, it was quite natural for him to pray, "Lord come back to us, Lord renew us."
True spiritual renewal is necessary for every child of God, for every church or missionary Fellowship like ours. The Lord Jesus said that the is like a mustard seed. What an insignificant and tiny little thing is the mustard seed! But life comes out of it and it grows, until the birds can come and lodge on its branches. So does new life grow in a humble and broken-heartedman.
When the new life begins, significant things begin to happen. Where life had become dull, painful and boring, new strength and grace break forth. How many have told me of their thoughts and plans to end their lives. In the midst of their gloom and darkness, the Lord Jesus suddenly met them. Their lives were so completely transformed that none would recognise them as the same people.
It’s the powers of darkness which tell you, "End it all, one leap, one plunge, one gulp of poison and it’s all over. Your misery will end." No, that is not true. Real misery begins in hell, ‘where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.’ It is an awful sin to attempt to kill yourself. God says, "Thou shall not kill." Death is no cure for any one’s misery but it only adds agony and sorrow to those around you.
Let’s be positive, let’s give one chance to God. When you study the Bible and begin to tell your need to the Living and Loving God, hope begins to break out and trust in the Saviour who cares, begins to warm your cold heart.
Have you lost your health? Ask the Lord Jesus to give it back. I well remember the doctor who was brought to my boyhood home in a taxi. The sad-looking wife and the taxi-driver helped the paralytic into the house. My father prayed for him. A few days after, the same man walked away unaided from our house. Ask the Lord to renew your health.
There are many today who have weak nerves. I tell them, "Ask Jesus to give you new nerves, strong nerves." Where there is lovelessness, much negative talk and bitterness, there is ample chance to get bad nerves. Love is the cure.
Our God is the God of new beginnings. He is the God of Renewal and Revival. When an old car is junked after several years of use, no one attempts to repair it. Your life may seem to be beyond repair, you have wrecked and damaged it so greatly, but Jesus is able to renew you completely. That is why the unique term is applied to Him. He is the Saviour indeed! Let us not allow our pride to be a stumbling block to our progress is year.
--Joshua Daniel
"Halley’s Comet"
Every young student knows of Isaac Newton’s famed encounter with a falling apple. discovered and introduced the laws of gravity in the 1600, which revolutionized astronomical studies.
But few know that if it weren’t for Edmund Halley, the world might never have learned from .
It was Halley who challenged to think through his original notions. Halley corrected ’s mathematical errors and prepared geometrical figures to support his discoveries. Halley coaxed the hesitant to write his great work, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. Halley edited and supervised the publication, and actually financed its printing even though was wealthier and easily could have afforded the printing costs.
Historians call it as one of the most selfless examples in the annals of science. began almost immediately to reap the rewards of prominence; Halley receives little credit. He did use the principles to predict the orbit and return of the comet that would later bear his name, but only after his death did he receive any acclaim. And because the comet only returns every seventy-six years, the notice is rather infrequent. Halley remained a devoted scientist who didn’t care who received the credit as long as the cause was being advanced.
Others have played Halley’s role. John the Baptist said of Jesus, "He must increase and I must decrease." Barnabas was content to introduce others to greatness. Such selflessness advances the kingdom of God .
"Reality Check"
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
"Richer Than The Richest Man On Earth"
"For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." (II Cor. 4:16)
This is the experience of God’s people. Life in Christ is continually renewed. He lifts us higher to a new plane where we do not count the cost we pay in God’s service. The physical body may become weaker but the spiritual man becomes stronger. The body cannot become too weak, because the body is strengthened by the thoughts of God. Children of God are able to do much more work than ordinary people. The Spirit of God in our spirit can make us do great things which surprise the world. Take care of your thoughts and the body will take care of itself.
"While we look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." (II Cor. 4:18) We develop a capacity to see things that do not appear. You believe things that you do not see. You see into the future. Your hope increases. "For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for?: (Rom.8:24) A Christian lives by hope- a very real hope. The mind cannot grasp that hope but the spirit can. We are hoping for things that we cannot see- eternal things. This hope has a great influence on the body. The inward man is renewed.
Spiritual energy can empower the body and supply its needs. Our spirit enters into a new atmosphere, where God from the throne of God which make us happy and heal and strengthen our body. Waves of love reach out from God to the places of secret prayer. We enter into spiritual space where our physical and spiritual bodies are both renewed. Sadhu Sundar Singh used to have the experience of going to heaven while in the body and when he came back he was completely rejuvenated. Saints used to rise into the holy atmosphere when they prayed.
Prayer life will result in prophetic life. We come out with a creative power when we come from prayer. Our petitions in prayer are for eternal things. When a man is in Christ, he prays for a message for perishing souls. I asked God for a holy life and a life in His will. I never asked for anything in this world. The Spirit Himself makes us ask for such things. You must be a Holy Spirit-charged personality.
Do not lend yourself to worldly conversation. You are out for a great purpose. Your enjoyment is of a higher order. You rejoice when you bring God’s message to people. You may be growing weak bodily but strong spiritually. A man whose mind is set on eternal things will make a mark in this world.
John Bunyan was torn away from his home and cast into prison. His family was poor and there was a blind daughter who needed his help. But he suffered it all for eternal things. "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in out mortal flesh" (II Cor. 4: 7&11). As we are delivered to death for Jesus’ sake the might of God is manifested in us. As death works in you, you are able to deliver powerful messages. understood the mystery of spiritual renewal.
Your resentment, hatred and envy are replaced by love, sympathy and generosity. You are richer than the richest men on earth. You do not care for wealth. You know it is a burden. Your eyes will be closed to material wealth. You are seeking the things that are above. "For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord: and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake." (II Cor. 4: 5) When we preach we must be absolutely free from fear. Fear must change into confidence. Your haste must change into patience. Never mind what people say. Be true to God. Your prayer life will result in blessings for you and your loved ones. What is the level of your prayer life? Everything depends on that. The true life in Christ must be demonstrated in us.
--Late Mr. N. Daniel
"A Mother’s Influence Cannot Be Wiped Away"
The last influence a man forgets is the teaching of his mother. I was urging the early conversion of children in a meeting, and a man got up at the close and said, " I want to endorse every word". Sixteen years ago I was a missionary in another country, and my wife died and left three little children. On the Sunday after her death my eldest girl came to me and said, "Papa, shall I take the children into the bedroom and pray with them as mother used to?" The mother was dead, and little Nellie, ten years old, wanted to follow her footsteps. The father agreed and she led them off to the bedroom to pray.
When they came out he noticed that they had been weeping and asked, "what had happened?" "Well, father," said the little girl, "I prayed just as mother taught me, and then" – naming her little brother- "he prayed the prayer that mother taught him; but little Susie, she was too young, mother had not taught her a prayer so she made a prayer of her own, and I couldn’t help but weep to hear her pray." "Why," said the father, "what did she say?"
"Why, she put up her little hands, and closed her eyes, and said, "O God, you have come and taken away my dear mamma, and I have no mamma to pray for me now- won’t you please make me good just as my dear mamma was, for Jesus’ sake. Amen." And God heard that prayer. That little child before she was four years old gave evidence of being a child of God, and for sixteen years she was by her father’s side leading little children to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.
I remember blaming my mother for sending me to church on Sunday. On one occasion the preacher had to send someone into the balcony to wake me up. I thought it was hard to have to work in the field all the week, and then be obliged to go to church and hear a sermon, I didn’t understand. I thought I wouldn’t go to church anymore when I got away from home; but I had got so in the habit of going that I couldn’t stay away. After one or two Sundays, back again to the house of God I kept going. There I first found Christ, and I have often said since: "Mother, I thank you for making me go to the house of God when I didn’t want to go."
--D.L. Moody
"Lifting The Burden Of Others, Makes Your Personal Burden Lighter"
When I look back over those years in Siangcheng, China, there are two or three brief inner experiences that stand out vividly. Once I was jaded, dull, bored. Indeed, it was worse than boredom; it was fast becoming a depression from which I saw no way out. I felt hemmed in- there in the narrow compound with the ceaseless round of little meetings, of visits to women in small courtyards, of hours spent trying to teach some of them to read, and the lack of any mental or emotional stimulation.
There was a vacuum in my mind when I was weary, and there seemed no way to fill it. I was inwardly dry. I maintained my habits of Bible reading and prayer morning and evening, alone and also with , but I needed something more. I felt parched.
One day the barrenness of my own soul become intolerable. I knew I could not go on like this and, having half an hour to spare, I went to my bedroom, threw myself on my knees, and cried desperately, ‘Lord! Lord Jesus! You said, "If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink!" And I’ve come! I’m parched and I want to drink.’
I waited expectantly, but nothing happened, so I cried again, with the same lack of result. I knew that only as I remained deliberately and consciously in the Lord’s presence could I expect the answer I longed for, but to remain there silent, trying to concentrate on God, was beyond me. My mind would wander, I knew. I must find a way to occupy it, and decided to pray for other people. Perhaps that was what I ought to be doing, anyway. I had a list of names and addresses of friends at home, so I got it out and went down the list, praying one by one for them, for about half-an-hour. Then I rose from my knees, went out into the courtyard and got on with whatever it was I had to do. There was no time now to think of myself. Other matters claimed my attention; and it was not until two or three hours later that it dawned on me that I wasn’t feeling bored or depressed any more.
Nothing noticeable had happened, there had been no upsurge of joy, but the dryness was gone. I was just quietly contented, back to normal, satisfied to be in the place where God had put me, doing what I believed He wanted me to do. It was as though, silently and imperceptibly, the waters had risen and the stream was flowing again.
That experience marked a new phase in my life, and illuminated me with a sentence which I came across at about the same time in the book of Job. As usual, when I was reading the Bible in theAuthorised Version, I saw the words, ‘And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends…’(Job 42:10).
I wasn’t focusing on the tribulations of Job, or the resentment he might have felt towards the friends who had misjudged him. But I knew what it was to have a mind in captivity to an unsatisfied desire, to the boredom of monotony, to be discontent with my lot. And I knew I had been released from that captivity after I had spent time with the Lord, praying for my friends. From that time on, I knew what to do when I found dryness and depression beginning to enfold me. Praying for others always had a liberating effect on me.
--Phyllis Thompson
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About Us
This newsletter is produced six times per year by the Laymen’s Evangelical Fellowship International. It is printed and distributed in the US, UK, Germany, Singapore, Canada, and Australia and is supported by unsolicited sacrificial gifts of young people. For a free subscription or for other enquiries, please contact any of the addresses below.
This Fellowship is an inter-denominational missionary and prayer group working for revival in churches and amongst students in several countries. We invite every layperson to become God’s ally in changing his or her corner of the world. We train people in evangelistic work and to be self-supporting missionaries.
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