# In need of revival



## AV1611 (Apr 30, 2007)

"Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?" *
- Psalm 85:6*​
Brethren, I worry that my faith is all dry and doctrinaire and that communion with God has wilted. I have turned to reading more of Christ and yet whilst I know who he is and what he did for me upon the cross and I trust in that 100% yet there are no feelings of love, no emotions of love towards him...I am grateful but is that love?

What do you suggest? How is one revived?


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## JM (Apr 30, 2007)

> We will look then, with God's blessing, at some of those things that contract, sicken, and shut up the heart, before we look at the causes and nature of what expands and enlarges it. The new heart of grace is exceedingly tender. And therefore there are many things that will cause this tender heart to shut up and contract itself.
> 
> 1. One is GUILT. Whenever guilt lies upon a man's conscience, it shuts him up altogether in his feelings Godwards; it narrows, it contracts his heart. There is no room in his soul for divine enjoyments; there are no divine consolations shed abroad, no in-shinings of divine light, no incomings of heavenly love.
> 
> ...



Divine Enlargement and Spiritual Obedience
Preached at Zoar Chapel, London, on 
August 10, 1845, by Joseph Philpot


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## Chris (Apr 30, 2007)

AV1611 said:


> "Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?" *
> - Psalm 85:6*​
> Brethren, I worry that my faith is all dry and doctrinaire and that communion with God has wilted. I have turned to reading more of Christ and yet whilst I know who he is and what he did for me upon the cross and I trust in that 100% yet there are no feelings of love, no emotions of love towards him...I am grateful but is that love?
> 
> What do you suggest? How is one revived?



How is your prayer life?


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## turmeric (Apr 30, 2007)

Praying for you.


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## AV1611 (May 1, 2007)

Chris said:


> How is your prayer life?



*Private prayer:* Recently it has been fine...I stopped using set prayers from the BCP and switched to extempore (?spl).

*Public prayer:* Pretty much non-existent...I find it very difficult.

The problem started really once I left the Brethren (the Lord's day Breaking of Bread was a blessing I really miss) and went into the CofE. I know that whilst we have an experimental religion it is not one based upon experience but when I read of the saints of old and their conversion stories of nights racked with guilt for sin and I turn to mine own...it seems for me to be more intellectual than feeling.


_Art thou weaned from Egypt's pleasures?
God in secret thee shall keep,
There unfold His hidden treasures,
There His love's exhaustless deep_​


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## Blueridge Believer (May 1, 2007)

We all go through these "valleys" from time to time brother and it seems barren. All we can do is cleave unto Christ and his Word and he will refresh our spirits and our hearts.

One of my favorite hymns by John Newton:


How tedious and tasteless the hours
When Jesus I no longer see;
Sweet prospects, sweet birds and sweet flowers,
Have all lost their sweetness to me;
The midsummer sun shines but dim,
The fields strive in vain to look gay.
But when I am happy in Him,
December’s as pleasant as May.

His Name yields the richest perfume,
And sweeter than music His voice;
His presence disperses my gloom,
And makes all within me rejoice.
I should, were He always thus nigh,
Have nothing to wish or to fear;
No mortal as happy as I,
My summer would last all the year.

Content with beholding His face,
My all to His pleasure resigned,
No changes of season or place
Would make any change in my mind:
While blessed with a sense of His love,
A palace a toy would appear;
All prisons would palaces prove,
If Jesus would dwell with me there.

Dear Lord, if indeed I am Thine,
If Thou art my sun and my song,
Say, why do I languish and pine?
And why are my winters so long?
O drive these dark clouds from the sky,
Thy soul cheering presence restore;
Or take me to Thee up on high,
Where winter and clouds are no more.


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## JM (May 1, 2007)

Brother, the following sermon was brought to my attention in time of need and I hope to share it with you.

*THERE* was a reality in Jobs religion. It was not of a flimsy, notional, superficial nature; _it was not merely a sound Calvinistic creed_, and nothing more; it was not a religion of theory and speculation, nor a well-compacted system of doctrines and duties. _There was something deeper, something more divine in Jobs religion than any such mere pretence, delusion, imitation, or hypocrisy._ And if our religion be of the right kind, there will be something deeper in it, something more powerful, spiritual, and supernatural, than notions and doctrines, theories and speculations, however scriptural and correct, merely passing to and fro in our minds. There will be a divine reality in it, if God the Spirit be the Author of it; and there will be no trifling with the solemn things of God, and with our own immortal souls.

link


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## IanWatson (May 1, 2007)

I will Pray for you. And pray for me too!


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## AV1611 (May 2, 2007)

Thank you all!


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