Lord, help us persevere in prayer

The Power of Persevering Prayer
by Andrew Murray

Of all the mysteries of the prayer world, the need of persevering prayer is one of the greatest.

That the Lord, who is so loving and longing to bless, should have to be asked, time after time, sometimes year after year, before the answer comes, we cannot easily understand. It is also one of the greatest practical difficulties in the exercise of believing prayer.

It is by faith alone that the difficulty is overcome. When once faith has taken its stand on God's word and the Name of Jesus, and has yielded itself to the leading of the Spirit to seek God's will and honor alone in its prayer, it need not be discouraged by delay.

It knows that just as the farmer has to take his ten thousand steps to sow his tens of thousands seeds, each one a part of the preparation for the final harvest, so there is a need for often repeated persevering prayer, all working out some desired blessing.

But why does it often take so long for the answer to prayer to come? And why must God's own elect so often, in the middle of suffering and conflict, cry day and night?

He is waiting patiently while He listens to them. "Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain" (James 5:7).

The farmer longs for his harvest, but knows that it must have its full amount of sunshine and rain, and he has long patience. A child so often wants to pick the half-ripe fruit; the farmer knows how to wait until the proper time.

And it is the Father, in whose hand are the times and seasons, who knows the moment when the soul is ripened to that fullness of faith in which it can really take and keep the blessing.

The insight into this truth leads the believer to cultivate the corresponding dispositions: patience and faith, waiting and anticipating, are the secret of his perseverance.

Our great danger is the temptation to think that it may not be God's will to give us what we ask. If our prayer be according to God's word, and under the leading of the Spirit, let us not give way to these fears. Let us learn to give God time.

The blessing of such persevering prayer is unspeakable. There is nothing so heart-searching as the prayer of faith. It teaches you to discover and confess, and to give up everything that hinders the coming of the blessing, everything that may not be in accordance with the Father's will.

It leads to closer fellowship with Him Who alone can teach us to pray, to a more entire surrender to draw near under no covering but that of the blood and the Spirit. It calls for a closer and more simple abiding in Christ alone.
Christian, give God time. He will perfect that which concerns you.

Andrew Murray (1828-1917) was the son of a Scottish-born missionary pastor in South Africa. He served for 60 years in the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa, and wrote more than 200 books and tracts on Christian spirituality and. ministry.

Returning from Russia with gifts and stories

Thanks to Michael Thomas for these pictures and captions... our camera went with Josh to Russia and was still somewhere in his luggage!

Following their recent trip to Russia, Josh & Matthew come back laden with gifts, chocolate & stories of God's work in that tired land.

A captive audience (amazing how a couple pieces of chocolate can boost audience attentiveness)

Very attentive!

Gifts

Matthew unlocks my passion. One of the few "junk food" things I'll eat. BUT, if it's any less then 75% cocoa ... it's TOO sweet.

The eyes ... definitely the eyes.

The stinging reality of brotherly affection

A blessed birch broach (ok, ok a necklace to be sure, but since necklace starts with N, I'd 'ave had to of said something like a Nifty Nerdy Necklace and that just isn't working for me)

"You should put this on your dresser so that you don't lose it" - Wisdom from a 4 year old

Sharing from their diaries

Artistic attentiveness

A duly blotted entry

Fantastic Footage for the Fanatic (after 3 hours, I ceased to be a fanatic) - In all seriousness, their trip blessed them as much or more then those they went to bless. They were challenged. I think the biggest challenge they all faced was, as good and necessary as this trip was, what needs are HERE?
Are we missing the opportunity's at the tip of our own noses.

The Russian team is back!!!

After the first 2 days in Siberia, there was no time to access the internet, the team was so busy... now here we have more posts from Brian who is very dedicated and for which we are very thankful... Picking them up after an 11 hour flight home, we all got home between midnight and 1 am. Brian had to get up 3 hours later to fly out at 6 am on business and he managed to post this accounting of the trip that night!!! Phew! Thanks Brian!!! We are blessed. Of course Josh will be posting his pictures hopefully soon... Stay tuned!

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Heading Home

We flew back to Moscow on Friday morning to spend a day there as tourists. Here we are standing in front of the GUM mall in Red Square Moscow.

This mall was stunningly beautiful inside and out. Ok, can you tell which ones are the dummies?

Standing in front of the Russian National museum on Red Square. Ask Matthew and Josh about their "souvenier".

For a little historical perspective, here is a picture of Vladimir Lenin (bad Vlad) walking in almost exactly the same spot in Red Square circa 1920. Notice the building in the background.

Watching the changing of the guards at the WWII unknown soldier memorial.

Yes, we had lunch at McDonalds.

Russian mouse art.

My big girls and I.

Taking a wild Metro ride.

On the way home.

Our Last Day

On this day, our team split in two parts. Nate, Josh, Matthew, and I went to the Teen Challenge center in Kultan to speak about the having strong families through following the biblical plan for family life. The message was presented to about 150 men and 30 women present at the auditorium. The message seemed to be well received although it is sometimes hard to tell when speaking through an interpreter.


We were given a tour of the campus which has meeting buildings and residential buildings set in a beautiful rural forested location.

Another wonderful meal was served up at Kultan kitchen. The homemade pelmeni was unbelieveable. For those of you who have not had the blessing of spending time at a Siberian table, pelmeni is a little like ravioli with a meaty filling. It is a Russian speacialty and we really enjoyed it.

Veggie art.

Now that's some snow!

Wednesday's Work

Jessica playing for the kids while we sing.



Colleen leading a game of "Simon Says".

Matthew playing catch with dolls.

Another great Russian tea party. We really love these.

Posing with the best cook in Russia after our last meal at the church.

Driving a bus on these streets requires a good driver.

Let me introduce you to Sergei, the best bus driver in Russia.

More music and singing.

Buddies.

More buddies.

Sisterly love is the same in any language.

Here we are visit the "Source of Life" orphanage project in Taijina. The fund raising letter that I sent to some of you was for this building. The vision for this building is to build four apartments within it for four couples to live in with up to ten orphans each. This will work as a type of Christian foster care. The first apartemnt is expected to be done in April.

Our tour guide and head of this project is Pasha. Pasha was the first man to complete the Teen Challenge program in Siberia. He had a vision for using this building for this purpose and now he oversees the work being done by current Teen Challenge students. Here we see a room being plastered.

Admiring the completed girls' bedroom.

Glow in the dark wallpaper art.

Emily is standing in the very spot where there years earlier I had installed a door. Hey, where's my door? I guess this one looks better.

Pasha showing us the furnace.

Gym art.

Olympic training.

A Busy Tuesday

Josh's puppet was lots of fun.



Simple play.



Dolls for all.


What could be better.


Walking the streets of Novokuznetsk

Nate filming the church's building.

More visiting.

Colleen telling a story.

Dolls being studied.

Visiting with Alexander's family. They were such a great family. We felt that we had known them forever. Here, his oldest daughter is giving each of us a little gift that she had made. They were so cute.

Mine was a little green turtle. Alexander suggested that I could use it as a hat.

Hand games.

"Mattu" trying out a Russian kettle bell.

"Ok Mattu, let me show you how it's done."

Girls' games work in any language.

All of us together.