REVIVAL IN OUR TIME- C.H. SPURGEON

( I couldn't help it! Another worthy Spurgeon piece for you).

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)

What God has done should encourage us to pray that he would repeat like signs and wonders among us. Oh, brothers, what would this heart feel if I could but believe that there were some among you who would pray for revival! People whose faith is large enough and their love fiery enough to lead them from this moment to exercise unceasing intercessions that God would appear among us and do wondrous things here as in former generations. Dear friends, we do not know what God may do for us if we would but pray for a blessing.

The stories of revival should also correct any self-dependence which may have crept into our treacherous hearts. Perhaps we have begun to depend on our numbers and so forth. Now let the stories which our fathers have told us remind us that God saves; that it is not in us to do this, but God must do it all. Place no dependence on the instrument. We shall never get a revival here unless we believe that it is the Lord, and the Lord alone, that can do it.

God alone can know what may come of our prayers if he chooses to bless them. The Word of God may flow and run and rush and get to itself an amazing and boundless victory.

Wrestle in prayer. Meet together in your houses. Go to your private room. Be earnest. Be instant in season and out of season. Agonize for souls, and all that you have heard will be forgotten in what you will see! All that others have told you will be as nothing compared with what you will hear with your ears and behold with your eyes! "Blessed are all they that put their trust in him" (Psalm 2:12).

- from C. H. Spurgeon's Revival Year Sermons; Banner of Truth Trust, London, 1959

PULLING DOWN STRONGHOLDS- C.H.SPURGEON

(Mr.Spurgeon said so many good things in his sermons (which are just about all available online, and in print editions). This is from his magazine Sword and Trowel. Please read and heed!)

PAUL TELLS US that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds. He probably had in his mind's eye the corvus, which the Romans employed in destroying fortifications, and certainly it aptly sets forth the work of Christians when attacking the citadels of error. We must sharply grapple the false doctrine, driving the sharp hook of truth between its joints; we must clearly understand the error, and study the Word of God, so as to be able to controvert it. The great corvus of Scripture is a mighty puller down. Then unitedly with earnest tug of prayer and faithful testimony, we must throw down piece by piece the mischievous system of falsehood, be it never so great or high. Stone by stone the wall comes down, it is long and arduous work to destroy error; many hands and hearts must unite, and then with perseverance all must labor and wait. Tracts, sermons, lectures, speeches, prayers, all must be ropes with which to drag the bulwarks down. God's blessing rests on the faithful endeavors of those who overturn the castles of error, and though their work may not speedily succeed, the great result is sure. A Reformation is as much needed now as in Luther's day, and by God's grace we shall have it, if we trust in him and publish his truth. The cry is, "Overturn, overturn, overturn, till He shall come whose right it is."

Reader, are you doing service in the Lord's war, which he is now waging? You know the errors of Rome, are you doing anything to withstand them? You see the Popery and iniquity of the National Establishment, are you in your measure exposing it? Infidelity is still mighty, do you contend for God and for his Word? Sin still reigns over millions, do you seek their salvation? If not, why not? Are you yourself on the Lord's side? Oh may the grace of God lead you to trust in the great bloodshedding of Jesus, by which he has put away sin; and then may his love constrain you to aid in dragging down the ramparts of evil.
(from Sword and Trowel magazine; tract #24, published 1867).