So over the course of the year God has revealed soo much to me about Him, His Gospel and His Grace....!! It has been mind blowing and wonderful.....do I say this to brag or to boast in myself...NOT AT ALL! I share this to revel in Him, and in the power of the Holy Spirit! You see for years I tried to "know" God more, actually I tried to know about God and I just wanted to know what I had to do...just tell me what to do God, was my mentality. Well, by His amazing grace, infinite knowledge and awesome power....he showed me a different way. HIs way...."knowing" Him through heart revelation by the power of the Spirit. Let me try and explain, we can't know about God with head knowledge, no amount of studying the Bible and memorizing can help us "know" God, it helps us know about God. I am not saying these things are a bad idea, by all means keep on doing them...But everything we truly know of God comes by revelation of the Holy Spirit. Here's a quote from the book I am currently reading that I think helps explain this better.
"The work of the Holy Spirit is to reveal to us the reality of the mysteries of God. These are in the unseen and eternal realm and as God's children they are our right to know, but only the Holy Spirit can tell us those realities.
Until the Holy Spirit tells us, God's unseen and eternal realities seem to be outside of us. So we set out to gain information about them , thinking that if we gain enough information, we can then produce the spiritual life, as if it were and outside thing - a thing - to be gained by kowledge. Of course, what we ended up with was not much spiritual life, but lots of information about it.
Unfortunately, there's no relationship between the amount of information we accumulate and the ability to live a spiritual a spiritual life. But there is a direct correlation between the amount of information we gain and our level of frustration. It's frustrating to know about something and not be able to know it or live it. It's frustrating to know something is there and not be able to lay hold of it. It always seems elusive, like the carrot dangling in front of you that you keep chasing but can never grab.
In the things of the Spirit, no amount of know-about gives you the ability to do. Our heart is for God, though, so the more we know about, the greater our desire is to do it, and the more we try to do it. But trying to live the Christian life through our own effort is like trying to put a cube into a spherical hole. It doesn't fit. The only One who can live the Christian life is Christ. Only His life fits the hole. But we still try to force it to work ourselves, and that becomes very, very frustrating.
We are meant to be frustrated when we are trying to produce something that we are incapable of producing. It's the goodness of God to let us be frustrated. If God were to interrupt our frustration before we were completely frustrated, we would think, "I've learned how to do it. I'm not frustrated anymore." But we wouldn't have learned anything. So He says, "Go right on with your program until you have exhausted the library of Christian literature on how to be spiritual. When you have exhausted all of that, when you have come to your end, you are ready to be taught by My Spirit." At that point, where else do you have to go?" (excerpt from "The rest of the Gospel, when the partial Gospel has worn you out." Dan Stone and David Gregory)
Well, that is exactly what happened to us...we tried and tried, sometimes didn't try at all and threw our hands up and wallowed a bit, then would muster up our strength to try to live the christian life,.... truly we felt that frustration...and eventually came to the end of our rope.....that's when the lightbulbs starting going off, that's when God's power through the Spirit broke into our spirits and hearts and made our eyes pop wide open to His Grace!!!
So I encourage you, to not try to have it all together, to be okay with failing and looking as messy as you really are.....it's a Great way to be...because then and only then will you have eyes to see and ears to hear the glorious things that He will reveal!!!!
Grace to you....
Showing posts with label spiritual life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spiritual life. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Greater Revelation......
So over the course of the year God has revealed soo much to me about Him, His Gospel and His Grace....!! It has been mind blowing and wonderful.....do I say this to brag or to boast in myself...NOT AT ALL! I share this to revel in Him, and in the power of the Holy Spirit! You see for years I tried to "know" God more, actually I tried to know about God and I just wanted to know what I had to do...just tell me what to do God, was my mentality. Well, by His amazing grace, infinite knowledge and awesome power....he showed me a different way. HIs way...."knowing" Him through heart revelation by the power of the Spirit. Let me try and explain, we can't know about God with head knowledge, no amount of studying the Bible and memorizing can help us "know" God, it helps us know about God. I am not saying these things are a bad idea, by all means keep on doing them...But everything we truly know of God comes by revelation of the Holy Spirit. Here's a quote from the book I am currently reading that I think helps explain this better.
"The work of the Holy Spirit is to reveal to us the reality of the mysteries of God. These are in the unseen and eternal realm and as God's children they are our right to know, but only the Holy Spirit can tell us those realities.
Until the Holy Spirit tells us, God's unseen and eternal realities seem to be outside of us. So we set out to gain information about them , thinking that if we gain enough information, we can then produce the spiritual life, as if it were and outside thing - a thing - to be gained by kowledge. Of course, what we ended up with was not much spiritual life, but lots of information about it.
Unfortunately, there's no relationship between the amount of information we accumulate and the ability to live a spiritual a spiritual life. But there is a direct correlation between the amount of information we gain and our level of frustration. It's frustrating to know about something and not be able to know it or live it. It's frustrating to know something is there and not be able to lay hold of it. It always seems elusive, like the carrot dangling in front of you that you keep chasing but can never grab.
In the things of the Spirit, no amount of know-about gives you the ability to do. Our heart is for God, though, so the more we know about, the greater our desire is to do it, and the more we try to do it. But trying to live the Christian life through our own effort is like trying to put a cube into a spherical hole. It doesn't fit. The only One who can live the Christian life is Christ. Only His life fits the hole. But we still try to force it to work ourselves, and that becomes very, very frustrating.
We are meant to be frustrated when we are trying to produce something that we are incapable of producing. It's the goodness of God to let us be frustrated. If God were to interrupt our frustration before we were completely frustrated, we would think, "I've learned how to do it. I'm not frustrated anymore." But we wouldn't have learned anything. So He says, "Go right on with your program until you have exhausted the library of Christian literature on how to be spiritual. When you have exhausted all of that, when you have come to your end, you are ready to be taught by My Spirit." At that point, where else do you have to go?" (excerpt from "The rest of the Gospel, when the partial Gospel has worn you out." Dan Stone and David Gregory)
Well, that is exactly what happened to us...we tried and tried, sometimes didn't try at all and threw our hands up and wallowed a bit, then would muster up our strength to try to live the christian life,.... truly we felt that frustration...and eventually came to the end of our rope.....that's when the lightbulbs starting going off, that's when God's power through the Spirit broke into our spirits and hearts and made our eyes pop wide open to His Grace!!!
So I encourage you, to not try to have it all together, to be okay with failing and looking as messy as you really are.....it's a Great way to be...because then and only then will you have eyes to see and ears to hear the glorious things that He will reveal!!!!
Grace to you....
"The work of the Holy Spirit is to reveal to us the reality of the mysteries of God. These are in the unseen and eternal realm and as God's children they are our right to know, but only the Holy Spirit can tell us those realities.
Until the Holy Spirit tells us, God's unseen and eternal realities seem to be outside of us. So we set out to gain information about them , thinking that if we gain enough information, we can then produce the spiritual life, as if it were and outside thing - a thing - to be gained by kowledge. Of course, what we ended up with was not much spiritual life, but lots of information about it.
Unfortunately, there's no relationship between the amount of information we accumulate and the ability to live a spiritual a spiritual life. But there is a direct correlation between the amount of information we gain and our level of frustration. It's frustrating to know about something and not be able to know it or live it. It's frustrating to know something is there and not be able to lay hold of it. It always seems elusive, like the carrot dangling in front of you that you keep chasing but can never grab.
In the things of the Spirit, no amount of know-about gives you the ability to do. Our heart is for God, though, so the more we know about, the greater our desire is to do it, and the more we try to do it. But trying to live the Christian life through our own effort is like trying to put a cube into a spherical hole. It doesn't fit. The only One who can live the Christian life is Christ. Only His life fits the hole. But we still try to force it to work ourselves, and that becomes very, very frustrating.
We are meant to be frustrated when we are trying to produce something that we are incapable of producing. It's the goodness of God to let us be frustrated. If God were to interrupt our frustration before we were completely frustrated, we would think, "I've learned how to do it. I'm not frustrated anymore." But we wouldn't have learned anything. So He says, "Go right on with your program until you have exhausted the library of Christian literature on how to be spiritual. When you have exhausted all of that, when you have come to your end, you are ready to be taught by My Spirit." At that point, where else do you have to go?" (excerpt from "The rest of the Gospel, when the partial Gospel has worn you out." Dan Stone and David Gregory)
Well, that is exactly what happened to us...we tried and tried, sometimes didn't try at all and threw our hands up and wallowed a bit, then would muster up our strength to try to live the christian life,.... truly we felt that frustration...and eventually came to the end of our rope.....that's when the lightbulbs starting going off, that's when God's power through the Spirit broke into our spirits and hearts and made our eyes pop wide open to His Grace!!!
So I encourage you, to not try to have it all together, to be okay with failing and looking as messy as you really are.....it's a Great way to be...because then and only then will you have eyes to see and ears to hear the glorious things that He will reveal!!!!
Grace to you....
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
In touch with my spiritual self....
It's funny how things have changed so much for me in such a short period of time. Every way of thinking, every area of my life has shifted ....And all because of revelation and encountering my Heavenly Father. I used to be so consumed with what I was doing, what I could accomplish, or what steps I was taking to achieve this, that or the other thing. Now I don't think about what I will do, I let God show me. But instead of doing or accomplishing, I am happy just to be, to think and to dream. To know I am being transformed by the renewing of my mind and becoming the someone I was truly meant to be. It's wonderful to be captivated by the Living God and to be united to Him in spirit.... I mean essentially I always was, but I created a barrier with my "doing" traditional religious legalistic mentality.....I let the veil fall back over my eyes...now that the veil is off, life with HIm is breathtaking, and carefree.....it's a wonderful journey walking hand in hand with My God......I honestly look forward to what each new day brings..what will He show me today, what will I learn about HIm.....how will my love for HIm grow today.....what blessings will I enjoy because He is so good....what challenges will He help me face.......I love having a Daddy like Him!!
In touch with my spiritual self....
It's funny how things have changed so much for me in such a short period of time. Every way of thinking, every area of my life has shifted ....And all because of revelation and encountering my Heavenly Father. I used to be so consumed with what I was doing, what I could accomplish, or what steps I was taking to achieve this, that or the other thing. Now I don't think about what I will do, I let God show me. But instead of doing or accomplishing, I am happy just to be, to think and to dream. To know I am being transformed by the renewing of my mind and becoming the someone I was truly meant to be. It's wonderful to be captivated by the Living God and to be united to Him in spirit.... I mean essentially I always was, but I created a barrier with my "doing" traditional religious legalistic mentality.....I let the veil fall back over my eyes...now that the veil is off, life with HIm is breathtaking, and carefree.....it's a wonderful journey walking hand in hand with My God......I honestly look forward to what each new day brings..what will He show me today, what will I learn about HIm.....how will my love for HIm grow today.....what blessings will I enjoy because He is so good....what challenges will He help me face.......I love having a Daddy like Him!!
Saturday, December 15, 2007
"Amazing Grace" (the movie)
Last night, my husband and I, finally rented the movie "Amazing Grace." I usually enjoy movies of this nature and was intrigued by the passion Wilberforce had to endure such a continuous fight for something that didn't even directly affect him.
Amazing Grace tells the story of the remarkable life of the British abolitionist William Wilberforce (1759-1833)
He stood up for the sanctity of human life, and sought to convince the culture of the time that God made all men equal. Needless to say, I was impressed by his great endurance. At the core of his heroic life was a passionate twenty-year fight to abolish the British slave trade, a battle Wilberforce won in 1807, as well as efforts to abolish slavery itself in the British colonies, a victory achieved just three days before his death in 1833. Year after year after year, he presented his bill to Parliament, but to no avail. Yet he did not give up! So I was thinking he must have been relying on a greater source of strength to fight this fight. He must have had a deep faith in God, and was motivated by the Holy Spirit to continue on and I wanted to know more about his spiritual life. That part of his life was downplayed in the movie(which is no surprise!), but I was grateful that it was a key element that was kept in the story line of the movie. Naturally, my curiousity led to research him on google and I found a few interesting articles. One of the qualities that people wrote on regarding Wilberforce's character and his effect on people, was his joy! He was a fun lover of life, a playful father, especially for his day. His joy for life was contagious! Always humming or singing a song of praise or hymn. It sounds as if he were somewhat erractic and spontaneous. Full of free spiritedness, carefree and childlike....Ultimately, all this came from knowing Christ! (I suspect he had a deep intimate relationship with God, and such a joy in his own salvation that sustained his fervor in the years of fighting as well as induce him with desire to see the slaves experience freedom, as he must have felt in Christ from being set free from sin!) Anyway, this is a man I truly would have liked to have met! Here are a few snippets from his journalled writings, and other comments that I found. Wilberforce on joy:
"My grand objection to the religious system still held by many who declare themselves orthodox Churchmen . . . is, that it tends to render Christianity so much a system of prohibitions rather than of privilege and hopes, and thus the injunction to rejoice, so strongly enforced in the New Testament, is practically neglected, and Religion is made to wear a forbidding and gloomy air and not one of peace and hope and joy."
"The path of virtue is that also of real interest and of solid enjoyment." He sustained himself and swayed others by his joy. If a man can rob you of your joy, he can rob you of your usefulness. Wilberforce’s joy was indomitable and therefore he was a compelling Christian and politician all his life. This was the strong root of his endurance.
Wilberforce(a journalled prayer during hard times)
"Lord, thou knowest that no strength, wisdom or contrivance of human power can signify, or relieve me. It is in thy power alone to deliver me. I fly to thee for succor and support, O Lord let it come speedily; give me full proof of thy Almighty power; I am in great troubles, insurmountable by me; but to thee slight and inconsiderable; look upon me O Lord with compassion and mercy, and restore me to rest, quietness, and comfort, in the world, or in another by removing me hence into a state of peace and happiness. Amen."
The poet Robert Southey said, “I never saw any other man who seemed to enjoy such a perpetual serenity and sunshine of spirit. In conversing with him, you feel assured that there is no guile in him; that if ever there was a good man and happy man on earth, he was one.”
In 1818 Dorothy Wordsworth, sister of the famous romantic poet, wrote, “Though shattered in constitution and feeble in body he is as lively and animated as in the days of his youth.”
Joy in Christ was so crucial to living the Christian life and persevering in political justice that Wilberforce fought for it with relentless vigilance. “[The Christian’s] watch must thus during life know no termination, because the enemy will ever be at hand; so it must be the more close and vigilant, because he is nowhere free from danger, but is on every side open to attack.” Therefore, when we say that Wilberforce’s happiness was unshakable and undefeatable because it was beyond the reach of human vicissitudes, we don’t mean it was beyond struggle; we mean he had learned the secret of “the good fight” (1 Tim. 6:12), and that his embattled joy reasserted itself in and after every tumult in society and in the soul.
I am sure there is much more about Wilberforce that would be interesting to know and understand, and there are a number of books out there...in addition to Wilberforce's own writings.
I found out John Piper, wrote a book on the spiritual life of Wilberforce, I just might check it out...........
http://parable.com/cbn/item.Amazing-Grace-in-the-Life-of-William-Wilberforce-Piper-John.9781581348750.htm
Amazing Grace tells the story of the remarkable life of the British abolitionist William Wilberforce (1759-1833)
He stood up for the sanctity of human life, and sought to convince the culture of the time that God made all men equal. Needless to say, I was impressed by his great endurance. At the core of his heroic life was a passionate twenty-year fight to abolish the British slave trade, a battle Wilberforce won in 1807, as well as efforts to abolish slavery itself in the British colonies, a victory achieved just three days before his death in 1833. Year after year after year, he presented his bill to Parliament, but to no avail. Yet he did not give up! So I was thinking he must have been relying on a greater source of strength to fight this fight. He must have had a deep faith in God, and was motivated by the Holy Spirit to continue on and I wanted to know more about his spiritual life. That part of his life was downplayed in the movie(which is no surprise!), but I was grateful that it was a key element that was kept in the story line of the movie. Naturally, my curiousity led to research him on google and I found a few interesting articles. One of the qualities that people wrote on regarding Wilberforce's character and his effect on people, was his joy! He was a fun lover of life, a playful father, especially for his day. His joy for life was contagious! Always humming or singing a song of praise or hymn. It sounds as if he were somewhat erractic and spontaneous. Full of free spiritedness, carefree and childlike....Ultimately, all this came from knowing Christ! (I suspect he had a deep intimate relationship with God, and such a joy in his own salvation that sustained his fervor in the years of fighting as well as induce him with desire to see the slaves experience freedom, as he must have felt in Christ from being set free from sin!) Anyway, this is a man I truly would have liked to have met! Here are a few snippets from his journalled writings, and other comments that I found. Wilberforce on joy:
"My grand objection to the religious system still held by many who declare themselves orthodox Churchmen . . . is, that it tends to render Christianity so much a system of prohibitions rather than of privilege and hopes, and thus the injunction to rejoice, so strongly enforced in the New Testament, is practically neglected, and Religion is made to wear a forbidding and gloomy air and not one of peace and hope and joy."
"The path of virtue is that also of real interest and of solid enjoyment." He sustained himself and swayed others by his joy. If a man can rob you of your joy, he can rob you of your usefulness. Wilberforce’s joy was indomitable and therefore he was a compelling Christian and politician all his life. This was the strong root of his endurance.
Wilberforce(a journalled prayer during hard times)
"Lord, thou knowest that no strength, wisdom or contrivance of human power can signify, or relieve me. It is in thy power alone to deliver me. I fly to thee for succor and support, O Lord let it come speedily; give me full proof of thy Almighty power; I am in great troubles, insurmountable by me; but to thee slight and inconsiderable; look upon me O Lord with compassion and mercy, and restore me to rest, quietness, and comfort, in the world, or in another by removing me hence into a state of peace and happiness. Amen."
The poet Robert Southey said, “I never saw any other man who seemed to enjoy such a perpetual serenity and sunshine of spirit. In conversing with him, you feel assured that there is no guile in him; that if ever there was a good man and happy man on earth, he was one.”
In 1818 Dorothy Wordsworth, sister of the famous romantic poet, wrote, “Though shattered in constitution and feeble in body he is as lively and animated as in the days of his youth.”
Joy in Christ was so crucial to living the Christian life and persevering in political justice that Wilberforce fought for it with relentless vigilance. “[The Christian’s] watch must thus during life know no termination, because the enemy will ever be at hand; so it must be the more close and vigilant, because he is nowhere free from danger, but is on every side open to attack.” Therefore, when we say that Wilberforce’s happiness was unshakable and undefeatable because it was beyond the reach of human vicissitudes, we don’t mean it was beyond struggle; we mean he had learned the secret of “the good fight” (1 Tim. 6:12), and that his embattled joy reasserted itself in and after every tumult in society and in the soul.
I am sure there is much more about Wilberforce that would be interesting to know and understand, and there are a number of books out there...in addition to Wilberforce's own writings.
I found out John Piper, wrote a book on the spiritual life of Wilberforce, I just might check it out...........
http://parable.com/cbn/item.Amazing-Grace-in-the-Life-of-William-Wilberforce-Piper-John.9781581348750.htm
"Amazing Grace" (the movie)
Last night, my husband and I, finally rented the movie "Amazing Grace." I usually enjoy movies of this nature and was intrigued by the passion Wilberforce had to endure such a continuous fight for something that didn't even directly affect him.
Amazing Grace tells the story of the remarkable life of the British abolitionist William Wilberforce (1759-1833)
He stood up for the sanctity of human life, and sought to convince the culture of the time that God made all men equal. Needless to say, I was impressed by his great endurance. At the core of his heroic life was a passionate twenty-year fight to abolish the British slave trade, a battle Wilberforce won in 1807, as well as efforts to abolish slavery itself in the British colonies, a victory achieved just three days before his death in 1833. Year after year after year, he presented his bill to Parliament, but to no avail. Yet he did not give up! So I was thinking he must have been relying on a greater source of strength to fight this fight. He must have had a deep faith in God, and was motivated by the Holy Spirit to continue on and I wanted to know more about his spiritual life. That part of his life was downplayed in the movie(which is no surprise!), but I was grateful that it was a key element that was kept in the story line of the movie. Naturally, my curiousity led to research him on google and I found a few interesting articles. One of the qualities that people wrote on regarding Wilberforce's character and his effect on people, was his joy! He was a fun lover of life, a playful father, especially for his day. His joy for life was contagious! Always humming or singing a song of praise or hymn. It sounds as if he were somewhat erractic and spontaneous. Full of free spiritedness, carefree and childlike....Ultimately, all this came from knowing Christ! (I suspect he had a deep intimate relationship with God, and such a joy in his own salvation that sustained his fervor in the years of fighting as well as induce him with desire to see the slaves experience freedom, as he must have felt in Christ from being set free from sin!) Anyway, this is a man I truly would have liked to have met! Here are a few snippets from his journalled writings, and other comments that I found. Wilberforce on joy:
"My grand objection to the religious system still held by many who declare themselves orthodox Churchmen . . . is, that it tends to render Christianity so much a system of prohibitions rather than of privilege and hopes, and thus the injunction to rejoice, so strongly enforced in the New Testament, is practically neglected, and Religion is made to wear a forbidding and gloomy air and not one of peace and hope and joy."
"The path of virtue is that also of real interest and of solid enjoyment." He sustained himself and swayed others by his joy. If a man can rob you of your joy, he can rob you of your usefulness. Wilberforce’s joy was indomitable and therefore he was a compelling Christian and politician all his life. This was the strong root of his endurance.
Wilberforce(a journalled prayer during hard times)
"Lord, thou knowest that no strength, wisdom or contrivance of human power can signify, or relieve me. It is in thy power alone to deliver me. I fly to thee for succor and support, O Lord let it come speedily; give me full proof of thy Almighty power; I am in great troubles, insurmountable by me; but to thee slight and inconsiderable; look upon me O Lord with compassion and mercy, and restore me to rest, quietness, and comfort, in the world, or in another by removing me hence into a state of peace and happiness. Amen."
The poet Robert Southey said, “I never saw any other man who seemed to enjoy such a perpetual serenity and sunshine of spirit. In conversing with him, you feel assured that there is no guile in him; that if ever there was a good man and happy man on earth, he was one.”
In 1818 Dorothy Wordsworth, sister of the famous romantic poet, wrote, “Though shattered in constitution and feeble in body he is as lively and animated as in the days of his youth.”
Joy in Christ was so crucial to living the Christian life and persevering in political justice that Wilberforce fought for it with relentless vigilance. “[The Christian’s] watch must thus during life know no termination, because the enemy will ever be at hand; so it must be the more close and vigilant, because he is nowhere free from danger, but is on every side open to attack.” Therefore, when we say that Wilberforce’s happiness was unshakable and undefeatable because it was beyond the reach of human vicissitudes, we don’t mean it was beyond struggle; we mean he had learned the secret of “the good fight” (1 Tim. 6:12), and that his embattled joy reasserted itself in and after every tumult in society and in the soul.
I am sure there is much more about Wilberforce that would be interesting to know and understand, and there are a number of books out there...in addition to Wilberforce's own writings.
I found out John Piper, wrote a book on the spiritual life of Wilberforce, I just might check it out...........
http://parable.com/cbn/item.Amazing-Grace-in-the-Life-of-William-Wilberforce-Piper-John.9781581348750.htm
Amazing Grace tells the story of the remarkable life of the British abolitionist William Wilberforce (1759-1833)
He stood up for the sanctity of human life, and sought to convince the culture of the time that God made all men equal. Needless to say, I was impressed by his great endurance. At the core of his heroic life was a passionate twenty-year fight to abolish the British slave trade, a battle Wilberforce won in 1807, as well as efforts to abolish slavery itself in the British colonies, a victory achieved just three days before his death in 1833. Year after year after year, he presented his bill to Parliament, but to no avail. Yet he did not give up! So I was thinking he must have been relying on a greater source of strength to fight this fight. He must have had a deep faith in God, and was motivated by the Holy Spirit to continue on and I wanted to know more about his spiritual life. That part of his life was downplayed in the movie(which is no surprise!), but I was grateful that it was a key element that was kept in the story line of the movie. Naturally, my curiousity led to research him on google and I found a few interesting articles. One of the qualities that people wrote on regarding Wilberforce's character and his effect on people, was his joy! He was a fun lover of life, a playful father, especially for his day. His joy for life was contagious! Always humming or singing a song of praise or hymn. It sounds as if he were somewhat erractic and spontaneous. Full of free spiritedness, carefree and childlike....Ultimately, all this came from knowing Christ! (I suspect he had a deep intimate relationship with God, and such a joy in his own salvation that sustained his fervor in the years of fighting as well as induce him with desire to see the slaves experience freedom, as he must have felt in Christ from being set free from sin!) Anyway, this is a man I truly would have liked to have met! Here are a few snippets from his journalled writings, and other comments that I found. Wilberforce on joy:
"My grand objection to the religious system still held by many who declare themselves orthodox Churchmen . . . is, that it tends to render Christianity so much a system of prohibitions rather than of privilege and hopes, and thus the injunction to rejoice, so strongly enforced in the New Testament, is practically neglected, and Religion is made to wear a forbidding and gloomy air and not one of peace and hope and joy."
"The path of virtue is that also of real interest and of solid enjoyment." He sustained himself and swayed others by his joy. If a man can rob you of your joy, he can rob you of your usefulness. Wilberforce’s joy was indomitable and therefore he was a compelling Christian and politician all his life. This was the strong root of his endurance.
Wilberforce(a journalled prayer during hard times)
"Lord, thou knowest that no strength, wisdom or contrivance of human power can signify, or relieve me. It is in thy power alone to deliver me. I fly to thee for succor and support, O Lord let it come speedily; give me full proof of thy Almighty power; I am in great troubles, insurmountable by me; but to thee slight and inconsiderable; look upon me O Lord with compassion and mercy, and restore me to rest, quietness, and comfort, in the world, or in another by removing me hence into a state of peace and happiness. Amen."
The poet Robert Southey said, “I never saw any other man who seemed to enjoy such a perpetual serenity and sunshine of spirit. In conversing with him, you feel assured that there is no guile in him; that if ever there was a good man and happy man on earth, he was one.”
In 1818 Dorothy Wordsworth, sister of the famous romantic poet, wrote, “Though shattered in constitution and feeble in body he is as lively and animated as in the days of his youth.”
Joy in Christ was so crucial to living the Christian life and persevering in political justice that Wilberforce fought for it with relentless vigilance. “[The Christian’s] watch must thus during life know no termination, because the enemy will ever be at hand; so it must be the more close and vigilant, because he is nowhere free from danger, but is on every side open to attack.” Therefore, when we say that Wilberforce’s happiness was unshakable and undefeatable because it was beyond the reach of human vicissitudes, we don’t mean it was beyond struggle; we mean he had learned the secret of “the good fight” (1 Tim. 6:12), and that his embattled joy reasserted itself in and after every tumult in society and in the soul.
I am sure there is much more about Wilberforce that would be interesting to know and understand, and there are a number of books out there...in addition to Wilberforce's own writings.
I found out John Piper, wrote a book on the spiritual life of Wilberforce, I just might check it out...........
http://parable.com/cbn/item.Amazing-Grace-in-the-Life-of-William-Wilberforce-Piper-John.9781581348750.htm
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