Morning By Morning #253

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

Jeremiah 33:3

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

One translation renders this verse, “I will tell you great and fortified things,” while another says “great and reserved things.” The idea is that there are certain things reserved for Christians, and yet every believer does not easily attain some of the higher things of the spiritual life. Of course there are some things the entire Christian family enjoys, such as repentance, faith, joy, and hope; but there is an upper realm of rapture of communion with Christ and awareness of Him that is far from being the common dwelling place of believers. Everyone does not have the privilege of John of “leaning back against Jesus” (John 13:25), nor of Paul who was “caught up to the third heaven” (2 Cor. 12:2). There are heights of experiential knowledge of the things of God that even those with an eagle’s eye for learning and philosophy have never seen. God alone can take us there, but the chariot He uses to uplift us and the “horses of fire” (2 Kings 2:11) by which the chariot is pulled is powerful, prevailing prayer.

Prevailing prayer is victorious over the God of mercy—”As a man [Jacob] struggled with God. He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethel and talked with him there” (Hos. 12:3 – 4). Prevailing prayer takes a Christian to the top of Mount Carmel and enables him to cover the heavens with clouds of blessing and the earth with floods of mercy. (See 1 Kings 18:42 – 45.) Prevailing prayer lifts a Christian to Mount Nebo and shows him the inheritance reserved for him. (See Deut. 34:1 – 4.) It elevates him to Mount Tabor and transfigures him so he reflects the likeness of his Lord to this world. (See Luke 9:28 – 36.) [Editor’s note: Mount Tabor is the traditional site of the Transfiguration. Yet Mount Hermon is the more likely site, for in each of the three gospel accounts the preceding story took place at Caesarea Philippi near Mount Hermon, Israel’s highest mountain.]

If you desire to reach something higher than an ordinary, lowly existence, look to the Rock who is higher than you and gaze with eyes of faith through the window of persistent prayer. Once you unlock the window on your side of heaven, you will find it unlocked on the other side as well.

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

Consider how David’s prevailing prayer moved omnipotent God:

In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears. The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—the dark rain clouds of the sky. Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning. The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded…The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at [His] rebuke…He rescued me from my powerful enemy…who [was] too strong for me.

Psalm 18:6 – 13, 15, 17