The Life of Faith – Part 3

These two excerpts are from Andrew Murray’s Abide in Christ.

“…Faith has everywhere been the one condition of the manifestation of His power.  Faith is the ceasing from all nature’s efforts and all other dependence;  faith is confessed hopelessness casting itself upon God’s promise, and claiming its fulfillment;  faith is the putting ourselves quietly into God’s hands for Him to do His work.”

“You often try hard to trust God, and you fail.  Why?  It is because you have not first taken time to see God….  Begin with believing, with presenting yourself before God in an attitude of silent worship and asking Him to let a sense of His greatness and His presence come upon you.  You must ask Him to let your heart be covered over withHis holy presence.  You must seek to know in your heart the presence of an almighty and all-loving God, an unspeakably loving God…

We must take time to believe.  Jesus is saying to you, ‘My child, shut your eyes to the world, and shut out of your heart all your thoughts about religion, and begin to believe in God Himself.”

The Life of Faith,pt 2

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“It is not only by faith that we first come to Christ and are united to Him, but that it is by faith that we are to be rooted and established in our union with Christ. Not less essential than for the commencement, is faith for the progress of the spiritual life.

There are earnest Christians who do not understand this; or, if they admit it in theory, they fail to realize its application in practice. They are very zealous for a free gospel, with our first acceptance of Christ, and justification by faith alone. But after this they think everything depends on our diligence and faithfulness. While they firmly grasp the truth, “The sinner shall be justified by faith,” they have hardly found a place in their scheme for the larger truth, “The just shall live by faith.”

…It is the faith in what Christ is, more than anything else, that will keep you abiding inHim.

‘ All things are possible to him that believeth.’

‘This is the victory that overcometh, even our faith.’

…Study much to know the written Word; but study more to know the living Word, in whom you are of God.”

THE LIFE OF FAITH

From The Life of Faith, by William Romaine  -

“Thou canst not do him greater honour than to receive from him what he has to give.  That is glorifying him.  It is putting the crown upon his head, and confessing him to be a perfect all-sufficient Christ when it pleaseth thee, as it did his Father, that in him should all fulness dwell, and when thou art content to live out of thyself upon his fulness for the supply of all thy needs in time and in eternity.  To live thus upon him is his glory, and it is thy privilege, thy interest, and thy happiness.  In every state, spiritual and temporal, and in every circumstance thou canst possibly be in, thou art commanded to look up to Christ, that thou mayest receive out of his fulness, and to depend upon him to save thee from every evil, and to bestow upon thee every good.  In thy walk heavenwards, and in everything thou meetest with by the way, put thy trust in Christ, and expect from him the fulfilling of all his promises.  He has all power in heaven and earth, for that very purpose.  Still rely upon him, and cast thy burdens on him, when thou art tempted;  when old corruptions arise, when the world and the devil assault thee, when under a sense of weakness and dulness in duty, when in darkness and desertion, in persecution and trouble, in pain and poverty, in sickness and death.  This is the Life of Faith.”

“I would advise thee, reader, to observe two things, which will be much for Christ’s glory and for thy edification.

First, -  In thy frequent and careful perusal of the Bible (and mind, thou canst not read it too much), take particular notice of the promises….  Treasure them up then in thy memory, and have them ready against the time of need, looking up,

Secondly, -  To Christ for the fulfilling of them.  Trust him, and he will not fail thee.  Depend upon his almighty power….

O most blessed Jesus, increase the faith of thy people, that they may glorify thee more, by depending upon thee for all the promised blessings of thy salvation.”

From Those Who Have Gone Before

Hi everybody, this is Pam.  In storage the other day, I found a journal I kept several years ago.  It was like finding a treasure.  It consists of excerpts from the books I was reading at that time.  I enjoyed reading through it so much that I asked Monty if I could put some on his blogosphere during  this hiatus.

This is from Martin Lloyd-Jones, Revival, Ch. 23  -

“…It is a terrible and a dangerous thing for God’s people to be disobedient.  For sometimes God punishes our disobedience not only by turning his face from us, by leaving us to ourselves, but he even seems to drive us into sin, and its error, and to harden our hearts.  He sends afflictions, and afflictions harden us….

Be careful how you treat God, my friends.  You may say to yourself,  ‘I can sin against God, and then, of course, I can repent and go back and find God whenever I want him.’  You try it.  And you will sometimes find that not only can you not find God but that you do not even want to.  You will be aware of a terrible hardness, a callosity in your heart.  And you can do nothing about it.  And then you suddenly realize that it is God punishing you in order to reveal your sinfulness, and your vileness to you.”

Any comments?

REST pt.one

Introduction

The word rest is used many different ways in the Bible . There is the rest of heaven mentioned in Rev. chapter 14. “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth… That they may rest from their labours.” Salvation is spoken of as a rest in Matt. chapter 11, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” But the rest spoken of in Hebrews chapter 4 is a special, spiritual rest that the believer may or may not enter into. This rest is also mentioned in the Old Testament; Psalms 116 says, “Return unto thy rest, O my soul.” This is a deeper and sweeter rest that believers are offered after their salvation. “We which have believed do enter into rest” refers to a rest that is present not future. It is to be enjoyed now in this world of trials, reproaches, pain, and death.

David

There are times when true believers can be overwhelmed with the miseries of this life. We can feel like David, “The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell have a hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.” When he felt out of favor with God it was like the sorrows of death to him. His limbs quivered and his heart fluttered and cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He looked for help but found none. The Refuge he sought eluded him.

Job

Job had a similar experience. “The arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof is drinking up my spirit.” He lost all of his children, his home, flocks and herds. He found sores on his body. His wife and friends rebuked him. But in all this his bitterest agony was within his own soul, between himself and God.

Explained

“We which have believed do enter into rest.” The soul that enters into spiritual rest finds the flames are quenched; the arrows are drawn out and healing balm is applied. He knows that the Lord is his righteousness and he enters with boldness through the rent veil, into the Holy of holies. This is his spiritual rest. He finds a great divine peace. “These things have I spoken to you that in me you might have peace.” There is “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” This is the peace and joy that God’s people find when they enter into this rest.

Peace

This peace consists in the heart being brought to its true rest in Christ. David said, “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay. He sent from above, He took me, He drew me out of many waters.” The remedy for such a soul in trouble is Christ. The Spirit gives him a hatred of sin, and gives him true love for holiness. He gives him power over sin and a desire to do God’s will. This is true rest when the soul can lie back on the arms of the Almighty Father and can trust in Him. He feels his life is out of the reach of his enemies, out of the reach of himself, and is hid with Christ in God.

Spiritual Stability

This man can say, “My heart is fixed, my heart is fixed.” His soul is now anchored within the veil; and his mind is set upon God. This is the rest of faith. It is a holy rest, when the world is crucified to you and you to the world. “Learn of me… and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” This is the rest of the sanctified soul.

To Really Know God

“There is a rest for the people of God.” We can know we have peace with God. A soul that is in Christ may know that he is in Christ by the divine peace and joy with which his heart is filled. Job said, “I know that my Redeemer lives.” Paul said, “I know whom I have believed.” This is not just a head knowledge but a knowledge experienced by the head, the heart, the will, the whole man. He knows beyond a doubt and has confidence in his relationship with Jesus Christ.

Use

The Lord sometimes deals more severely with His own than with the nonbeliever. His purpose is to take our hearts off of the things of the world, in order that He might become our treasure. This world is not our rest. God’s children will have their times of desertions, their times of darkness, and all this is to point us to our true rest. “Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.” Psalms 116:7.

LAMPSTAND

The Vision

God gave the prophet Zechariah a strange vision in chapter four. He sees a lampstand and standing on each side of the lampstand are two large olive trees. There are seven pipes proceeding out from the trees to each of the seven bowls on top of the lampstand. The trees are perpetually supplying olive oil to the lampstand so the flame will never go out. Zechariah does not understand the vision and asks an angel its meaning. The angel replies, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.“

The Explanation

God is represented in this vision by the form of two trees and the lampstand. The oil and the lampstand symbolize the Person and word of the Holy Spirit, just like in the tabernacle. When the angel says, “Not by might, nor by power,” he means not by human might or power. Believers have a tendency to believe they can do things without God’s permission and without His power. Verse seven says that there was a great mountain facing King Zerubbabel. That mountain represents his problem. If his problem is to be solved, the angel says, it must be done in complete dependence on the power of the Holy Spirit. King Zerubbabel and the prophet Zechariah must trust God to solve the problem and not let their human effort get in the way. Too often we have great confidence in our own abilities, and try to solve our problems ourselves. The work of the Holy Spirit is hindered. God is warning us not to do this.

Brands Plucked Out of the Fire

In chapter three, God gives Zechariah a vision of the high priest, Joshua, being prepared by God to enter into his work. (This is not Joshua in the book of Exodus; that was eight hundred years earlier) Satan is standing to the right of Joshua accusing him of sin and of not being fit to enter into the priesthood. God rebukes Satan with, “Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?” Note that God does not say that Satan’s accusations are false, because Joshua is a sinful man and is not yet fit for the priesthood. Even though Joshua deserves the fires of hell, God in His wonderful mercy saved him from that destruction by divine grace. Has anyone ever accused you of wrong and of being a sinful person? They were right. But God has still chosen you, and redeemed you for a purpose. You and I are just brands plucked out of the fire by God’s great mercy.

Sanctified

Verse three, makes a very important point, by stating that Joshua was, “Clothed with filthy garments.” This is referring to his falleness. His nature is sinful. Then God says, “Take away the filthy garments from him. I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with a change of raiment.” Note that it is God that is doing all the work. God takes off the filthy garments and God changes his raiment. Then in verse five God puts a clean turban upon his head. This is his sanctification. This is God Himself preparing Joshua for his work. It is a work of God, not of man. God cleanses. God purifies, and sanctifies. Now The Holy Spirit can work through Joshua.

Use

God chooses, sanctifies and cleanses us for the work that He wants us to do. It is God that wants the power and might of the Holy Spirit to work through His chosen, redeemed, and sanctified servants. All of this comes together in the book of Hebrews. Chapter four and verse ten says, “For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His.” What is this rest? What part does faith play in this rest? What does it mean to cease from your own work?

THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM

II Cor. 5:7

“We walk by faith and not by sight.” When we get to heaven we will be walking by sight and not by faith. But now we are to be people who are known for our faith. We are to be always looking at God and not at our problems. One of the Puritans said that whatever your problem is, rather than thinking about it, think instead on the attribute of God that will solve it.

Staggered not

“Abraham staggered not.” Originally, stagger meant to judge or to discriminate. Later it went beyond that to mean to argue or debate. Abraham did not argue with himself as to whether or not God would fulfill His promise. He did not say within himself, “I believe Him, but wait, how can I?” He was not unstable but solid in trusting God. Abraham held firm in his belief in the greatness of his God. He looked at how large the obstacles were, faced all the facts, and decided God could handle it all. Faith means believing the truth about God and trusting in everything He says. Abraham thought about God’s majesty, His power, His mercy, His love, presence, and patience. He knew there were big obstacles but he compared them with God’s greatness and concluded that God was up to the challenge. Abraham knew God never lies, never contradicts Himself, never goes back on His word, never changes His mind, never makes a mistake, and never makes a promise that He will not keep. God never changes His plans, because behind them is His eternal power. Abraham realized that God knew the enormity of the problem before He made the promise. The one thing that mattered to Abraham was that God had spoken. There is nothing so insulting to God as to not believe what He says. Faith is to believe God simply and solely because His is God.

Rom. 1:17

“From faith to faith.” Paul is talking about the growth of our faith. This verse says that God gives us more of His righteousness as our faith increases from one level to another. All through the history of the church the men and women who have glorified God the most have been the men and women of great faith. But no one has ever been called upon to endure so many trials and testings as these same men and women. The bigger the trial and the greater the faith, the more glory goes to God. That is why all those people are mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11. It is because of their great faith in the midst of severe trials. Faith is seeing the truth about God and trusting Him utterly and absolutely at all costs.

Gal. 2:20

“… and the life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God…” We must learn to derive courage and comfort from looking at the promises in scripture and at the God who made them. Among these promises we will find every thing we need, to assist us in our life on earth. Jesus Christ has given us the promise of light to direct our path. He promises to assist us with power to walk in that path. He promises to strengthen us to resist and overcome all opposition. He says He is our shield and protector, our rock and foundation. He promises to heal us when spiritually wounded. He promises to reward us with crowns at the end of our course and to live forever with Him in heaven. The book of Psalms says, “Fear not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. I will uphold thee with my right hand.”

Use

By now you should have noticed that I believe faith plays a key role in our sanctification. Our ability to put trust in God, no matter what the situation, is the same principle as being strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Look at the One who gives these promises. He possesses all power in heaven and on earth. His treasures of grace are unsearchable and inexhaustible. He is One in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Only He can support, encourage, and empower us in going on in our struggles. Faith causes His fullness to flow into our souls. So trust Him fully. Have confidence that He will be your God. Be fully persuaded that He cares for you and is willing to help to the fullest. He can and will enable those who put their faith in him. He has promised us that the job of perfecting us is His. Believe Him.

STRONG FAITH

Abraham

Abraham is used in Scripture as an example of someone who had strong faith. Romans chapter four verse 20 says Abraham was “strong in faith.” This chapter is very descriptive of the kind of faith that pleases God. But Abraham had the “full assurance of faith” that we have talked about before. Not all Christians have this kind of faith. We could read about the faith of Abraham and become discouraged. But it is meant to encourage us. It is possible for us to have the same kind of faith he had. When a Christian has strong faith, he himself is said to be strong. Strong faith makes us strong; weak faith is the reason we are discouraged, continually overcome by sin, and unable to make progress in holiness.

Hope Against Hope

The King James Bible records Abraham as one who “against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations.” Another translation says, “In hope against hope he believed.” This is a great statement. But just what does this mean?

Believing The Promises

God came to Abraham one night and promised him he would have a son. God promised that his family would number more than the sands of the sea. To Abraham this would have been a strange statement since he was almost 100 years old and Sarah was 90. According to nature they were too old to have babies. So we can immediately see the difficulty Abraham would have in believing God’s words. He knows his and Sarah’s bodies are reproductively dead. God’s promise is contrary to all natural appearances. The whole history of the human race is against it. It seems everything is against it. Every reasonable argument is opposed to him having children. Even common sense is against it. There was no chance whatsoever for this to happen. It is a completely hopeless situation. It is impossible. Yet Abraham believed. Many of the promises given to us in Scripture seem to be impossible. For example, how can people as sinful as we are be forgiven by faith alone? Can we really become children of God? Can God die? Do we believe that faith plays a big part in the progress of our sanctification?

Impossible

Still Abraham believed. This is what the text means when it says, “Who against hope believed in hope.” There was no chance of this ever happening. It had never been done before. Abraham has to believe the impossible. There are two negative problems facing Abraham. One was the reproductive deadness of his own body and also the deadness of Sarah’s reproductive system. Secondly, the scope of the promise is enormous. A family as large as the sand in the sea. And yet Abraham believed. He believed the impossible. This is the most important of the characteristics of strong faith. Strong faith requires believing the impossible. The same is true when it comes to the promises regarding our sanctification. Do you believe it is possible for sin not to have victory over you while you are here on earth? Do you believe He will provide for your needs? Do you believe He will be your comforter? Do you really believe you can be filled with all the fullness of God? These are promises God has given us while we live here in this fallen world. Strong faith plays a major roll in receiving them.

God Said It

Abraham believed God and he had nothing else to go on other than God’s word. God said it, Abraham believed it, that was enough. Take God at His word. Nothing could honor God more that to believe what He says just because He says it. Abraham did not ask for proof. He did not ask for confirmation. He did not need it. He did not seek it. Strong faith is content to believe in God’s bare word.

Certain

Faith is not just a mere hopefulness. It is not just whistling in the dark to keep up your courage. Faith is not something vague and uncertain. Real faith is an assurance that what God says is true. Abraham was fully persuaded. He was strongly convinced; he was certain and confident. But the Bible says that this was given to him by grace. This faith was given to him by God. As God was giving the promises to Abraham He was also giving Him the faith he needed to believe it. Verse 16 says it as clear as it can be stated, “Faith is by grace so the promises might be sure.” If God had not given to Abraham this strong faith then the promises would not have been sure. The covenant was not based upon Abraham’s faith. It was grounded on God’s grace. God wanted to make sure that everything happened just like He wanted it to happen.

Use

Make this a request of yours. Ask God for more faith. Ask Him for more grace. Ask Him for more of the Holy Spirit, Luke 11:13. Not just once or twice. How long? Make it your life time commitment. Never stop, never give up. Keep asking and you will receive. He promised.

TRUE KNOWLEDGE

The Need

The recent scandal in the evangelical church has caused me to reflect upon the importance of having godly men in the pulpit. How we go about selecting a pastor today seems to me to be part of the problem. God is the one who chooses men to be pastors, but how does a church determine who these men are? God gave Moses detailed instruction on the priesthood. That set the example. The most important part of all the preparation for the Tabernacle was getting Aaron himself ready to do the work God chose for him. Aaron had to be cleansed, purified, consecrated and anointed with oil before he could enter the tabernacle and perform his work before God. He had to be sanctified before he could minister to God and to His people. The same is true today. Sanctification is a prerequisite for the ministry. The pastor needs to be clean, pure, consecrated, holy before any church allows him to enter the pulpit.

Spiritual Maturity

Today there is a big problem with how we select our pastors. The most important part being left out of the selection process is an evaluation of the man’s spiritual life. We are more interested in where he went to school and what degrees he has. Schools, even graduate schools, do not sanctify men. Only God can do that. The church today seems to believe that the more theology the prospective pastor knows, the more sanctified he is. That is not what the Bible teaches. Our way of thinking needs to change dramatically. Bible knowledge does not make a man holier, God does.

False Knowledge

Spiritual maturity does not come by studying theology in a class room. Seminary can even have the opposite effect. When someone receives a masters degree or doctors degree there is a natural tendency for the accumulation of that knowledge to create pride. Even if the knowledge is doctrinally sound. The acquisition of Bible knowledge by itself does not guarantee spiritual growth. When Christ was praying to His Father for the disciples’ sanctification, He prayed that the Father would do the sanctifying. The Father would use the truth; but it was not truth by itself that sanctified them. It was the Father that sanctified.

True Knowledge

Knowledge is important and essential. Churches should want to choose a pastor who is educated. No one can ever learn too much truth. But there is a danger in learning when we do not understand what the Bible means when it says to know something. It is possible to develop a false understanding of knowledge. To know something in Scripture means to know it experientially. God reveals it to the mind and then He applies it to the heart. When this happens the whole man is affected and true learning takes place.

Academic

If doctrine, theology, or any kind of Biblical knowledge is learned purely as an academic subject, it is useless and produces pride. We can never make head knowledge an end in itself. God never intended doctrine to be studied as though it were just an academic subject. This is entirely the wrong approach to divine truth. If a person studies Scripture and it never has an impact upon his heart, then something is wrong.

Knowing God

There is a difference between knowing about a subject and knowing the subject. The heart of Christianity is not preaching about God, but it is getting people to know God personally. If Christianity was just about teaching, it would be no different than a philosophy. Today many of our churches are no different than seminary classes. It is as though they believe that merely teaching the Bible, in and of itself, is their goal. But it is not a book we want to be intimate with. It is a person. The power is not in the book but the power is in the God who applies the truth in the book to the human heart. The great Puritan pastor William Perkins said, “There is a difference between Biblical preaching and Spiritual preaching.” He meant that Biblical preaching is just doing the research on a text and then delivering it to the people. Spiritual preaching, on the other hand, is doing the research and preaching the text under the direct power of the Holy Spirit. That is the only way preaching can change lives and have them stay changed. It is the work of the Holy Spirit, and a preacher can only receive that kind of power on his knees. It is the spiritual life of the preacher that God is most concerned about. The Holy Spirit works through a spiritually mature man, not a man who merely studied well that week. The point is how well he prayed and how close to God he drew.

An Experience

True knowledge will bring us to God. All preaching and teaching should have as its goal to bring the listeners into a closer personal relationship with God. Is God just a subject to you, or can you honestly say you love God? Christianity is supposed to be something you experience. If you have experienced God, you will be humbled. If you have experienced God, you will love Him. And loving God is what true Christianity is all about.

MEET WITH GOD

The Tabernacle

Moses is up on top of the mountain talking with God. God is giving Him the law and at the same time giving him detailed instruction as to how the tabernacle was to be constructed. In both the Old and New Testament, God continually repeats Himself as to how precise the construction is to be. He wants them to make sure they build it just exactly according to His guidelines. They are not to make any mistakes. God tells Moses what material each thing is to be made of. He gives him all the dimensions. God would also puts His Spirit of wisdom into the men who are going to build each individual piece so that no mistakes are made. The tabernacle is to be built exactly to God’s requirements. In Hebrews 8:5 God says, “… Make all things according to the pattern shown to you in the mount.” Have you ever wondered why the details of the building of the Tabernacle were so important to God?

The Meeting Place

God has been meeting with Moses up on the mountain, and Moses has been walking down and revealing God’s words to the nation Israel. But once the tabernacle is built all that is going to change. God Himself is going to come down off the mountain and personally dwell in the tabernacle. He is going to come closer to the people, and Israel is to assemble at the tabernacle to meet with Him. Before any of this can happen, everything has to be sanctified. The tent, the poles, the curtains, the laver, lampstand, alter, ark, showbread, veil, altar, everything is to be sanctified. We are told that the reason God gave the instruction so carefully is because He wanted to sanctify them. The reason they had to be sanctified was that His special presence was going to dwell there. And everything that God comes close to has to be sanctified. This is now going to be the meeting place of God and the nation Israel.

The Temple

Later under the leadership of Solomon, the meeting place for God and His people changes to the Temple. In the book of Isaiah God says, “When you come to appear before Me…” This is at the temple in Jerusalem. There are times when Israel is to gather together corporately and appear before God to meet with Him and to worship and fellowship. Many of the prophets call these times “the calling of assemblies,” or “solemn assemblies.” It is my view the assembling of ourselves together in church today serves the same purpose. To meet with God. The word church in the New Testament means assembly. It is the assembling of God’s people together to have an encounter with God. We are to “appear before Him,” corporately to meet with Him and fellowship and worship Him. True worship can only occur if God is there.

Thing Changed

In the book of Amos God speaking through the prophet says, “I hate, I despise your assemblies.” You wouldn’t think He would say such a thing since He is the one who told them to assemble in the first place. God is so upset with Israel that He can’t stand their worship any longer. He says, “Take away from me the noise of your songs.” He can’t stand their music. “Stop singing, I can’t stand to hear it.” He no longer wants them to sacrifice or give offerings. Their religion has become all wrong and yet they are doing everything that God originally told them to do. Since it was all His idea, they thought they were doing everything right. And yet He says He will hide His eyes from them because their worship wearies Him. He is no longer going to show up. They are there practicing their religion, but God is absent. In the book of Ezekiel chapters 8 through 10 you can even read about His leaving the temple. First His glory is seen outside the temple. Then it hovers over the the building. Next you see Him on top of the wall. He then moves over to a mountain which is outside the city. It is as though He does not want to leave but He knows He has to. The problem is their lack of love for God and their boredom with their religion.

Today

I believe the same problem exists in the church today. God is displeased, but nobody is paying any attention to Him. Since the Holy Spirit is not drawing people into the church, man has to come up with all the bells and whistles to attract them and keep them there. When God is not blessing the people, leaders must come up with gimmicks to keep them from getting bored and to make them feel that they have had a religious experience. What is the solution to bring God back? Let’s ask Him. In Jeremiah 6:16, God says, “Stand in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk in it, and you shall find rest for your souls.” We should not be asking questions like, “What kind of music do I like to worship with.” Or “What kind of service do I like?” The true question is what does God want. And He is saying, “the old ways.” But some people are saying, “If you go into the churches that have nothing but old people in them they are empty and God is not there either.” They are right! You have to go back even farther than that. Go back to the book of Acts and ask yourself, “Why was God there, blessing the people?” God was there because of the quality of their sanctification. That’s what is needed today. Repentance, prayer, hearts directed towards Him, these are the things that please God. These are the only things that will bring Him back.