A Gracefull Place

Can you tell that I’m really being blessed by Frances Roberts’ Dialogues with God?!

Here is a beautiful selection.

The Shepherd Speaks Gently

My little one, hast thou not heard My word, go not into the bypaths?  Lo, I, thy loving Shepherd am by thy side.  Why shouldst thou wander off?  I have brought thee into tender, green pastures and beside a flowing stream.  Let thy soul drink deeply and feed to thy hearts’ content.

It is no idle pastime:  I have brought thee here for My own good pleasure and for purposes only known to Me.  In the days ahead thou shalt know why we came this way.  Trust Me now and be unmoved by any disturbance.  The distant call thou shalt ignore. Stay close to Me, and thy heart shall delight in thy God.  Thy fellowship with Me shall be precious beyond anything words can tell.  I love thee deeply, and when love is deep, words are little needed.  Shouting is unthinkable.  Devotion is silent and love silences conversation.  The shepherd speaks gently, and lambs do not respond to shouts.  He who yells at the sheep is behaving like a hireling rather than like a shepherd.  He shall bring confusion.  The inner ear of the spirit is attuned to hear the still, small voice.

Lay thine head upon My knee and let Me quiet thee. Forget all the rest.  What others do need not concern thee.   I have never required thee to understand the actions of others.  Make it no concern of thine.  Only yield.  Let Me do all the rest.

Sleep is My love gift to thee.  Do not despise it nor set it aside.  Rest in My care, for I love to care for thee but I cannot when ye are wrongfully anxious about the behaviour of others.  I will correct them and minister to them Myself, for I also love them just as I love you.  But they are too occupied to come to Me now.  Leave them all to Me, and come, rest in My arms.

Prayer Response

Blessed Jesus, my soul cries out to Thee in response to Thy love.  I would rather come to Thee than build ten cities.  No accomplishment brings the joy and deep satisfaction that comes from being near Thee and feeling my hand in Thine.

Loving Saviour, blessed by Thy Name!

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Let thy soul drink deeply and feed to thy hearts’ content.

Stay close to Me, and thy heart shall delight in thy God.  Thy fellowship with Me shall be precious beyond anything words can tell.

Lay thine head upon My knee and let Me quiet thee.

Oh, Jesus, I lay my head upon Your knee….may You quiet me there.

A Teachable Spirit

Bring Me an obedient  heart, a teachable spirit, and a mind ready to learn.  I shall be able then to make of thee a disciple and to bring thee at last into a position of responsibility.  The cost is high, but the rewards shall be gratifying; but ye shall not be aware of either the cost nor the rewards because the joy of fellowshipping closely with Me shall so occupy thy heart.

Purify My Desires

Lord Jesus, make me a learner.  All Thou hast said is true, and I long to be not a follower only, but a genuine disciple. I am reminded that the disciple must take up his cross and must do so daily.  A disciple cannot turn back, nor can he be torn between conflicting loyalties.  Thou hast made the requirements stringent and hast set the standard very high.  I may wish to attain and yet fail.

I may desire to enter into discipleship and be rejected.  Let it not be so, Lord, for lack of love for Thee.  Let it not be for want of zeal or consecration.  Let it not be on account of the love of the world and its pleasures.

Purify my desires until I want nothing but Thee alone and seek nothing but to bring Thee joy.

Turn my apathy to empathy, and change my longings to firm resolves.

Strengthen my hand to do right, and remove swiftly all that weakens.

 (From Dialogues with God, by Frances J. Roberts)

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Purify my desires until I want nothing but Thee alone and seek nothing but to bring Thee joy.

That is the cry of my heart tonight!

My heart is being fed so richly through Frances Roberts’ books!   Here is another selection from "Dialogues with God".

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O my Father, Thou hast crowned my life with blessings.  The half of Thy goodness have I never told.  Thou are gracious, and Thy compassion is so deep that even my worst sins have not shut me off from Thy mercy and forgiveness. How hast Thou loved, to redeem one so unworthy!  Make my heart to beat with gratitude nor ever cease praising Thee.  Glorious is Thy Name and Thy salvation how great!  With Thee is life and through the atoneing work of Christ, Thou hast opened to me a world of bliss and a peace that passeth understanding.

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Isn’t that a rich treasure?!   It is the cry of my heart!

Do you struggle with prayer?  What to say?  How to say it?

How do toddlers learn to talk?  

First they babble.  Then we encourage them when we hear something remotely like "Ma-ma" or "Da-da".   They listen a lot.  Then they imitate.  After awhile, they start putting sentences together.  Do we immediately correct their grammar or choice of words?  Or pronunciations?   No!  We usually cherish the cute ways they say things, and we understand what they want even if others outside the family do not.

After awhile, the funny pronunciations and inventive grammar give way to more "eloquent" speaking, and by the time they are adults, they are able to converse without thinking anything about it!

The Lord has shown me that prayer is much the same way.   At first, we feel we are babbling as we learn this new skill.   Then we imitate–Him in His Word, other great Christians’ works and prayers…..we might say some things in a funny way, but God is not waiting to correct our grammar or word usage!   Or our pronunciation!

He is thrilled to hear His children try to speak His language every bit as much as we are thrilled to hear our own children speak ours!

After awhile, we just start expressing ourselves in our own words, sometimes still using the words of others and most importantly, using His Word.  

It’s a part of growth. 

And even if we stay in one "phase" longer than we think we should, that’s okay.

Or we might need help and go back to prayer books.  Or even use them to help get our pumps primed and then take off praying in our own words.

That’s okay.   He knows our hearts, and would rather hear us speak to Him, however  haltingly, than to not speak at all because it’s not "perfect".

I encourage you to break free of the  "perfection mindset" and pray to your Heavenly Father.   The best "guide" we can use is His Word.  Use His Word and turn the verses into prayers.

If you want other helps, I highly recommend any of Frances Roberts’ works, A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie, and The Valley of Vision.

Beth Moore also has several books on praying God’s Word that are good, as does Stormie Omartian.

I hope you find something to help you learn to speak your Father’s language.

He’s waiting to hear.

Another selection that really spoke to my heart this evening!

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My Energizing Spirit

O My child, I will help thee, and that speedily.  I am nearer to thee than breathing.  I am more real than all they desires or thy fears.  Yea, My spirit is a quickening, life-giving Spirit.  The letter killeth–the law condemns, but I say unto thee, I come to forgive; I come to restore; I come to bless and to heal.  I come to be thy Light.

I My presence there is no darkness.  Have ye not read that in the Eternal City there is no need of candle, nor of the sun or moon, because the Lamb is the Light of it?  Surely if I can brighten all of Eternity, I have ample supply to flood thy heart and mind and thy body with My mighty power, My light, and My love–My deep joy and My energizing Spirit.  Have ye not read (Romans 8:11) that the self-same spirit that raised the body of Jesus up from the dead dwelleth in YOU to energize your mortal body through His indwelling Spirit?  Ye need not depend upon thine own limited strength and endurance.

My arm is not shortened that it cannot save.  I stand ready to support thee.  Yea, to thee I say, underneath are My everlasting arms.  They are not only powerful arms, but they are arms of love and tenderness.

When ye think of Me, disassociate thy thoughts from all that ye know of people, for I am Infinite,  Think of it!  In all My characteristics, I am not only far beyond all that ye could ever appropriate or need, but beyond all ye can even fancy.

Not in wildest imagination can ye guess the depths of My love.  By no mental gymnastics can ye compute My power.  Never mind!  Just give Me thy hand and I will give thee Myself.  Give Me every doubt, every fear, every heartache.  I am here to help.  I am here to carry thy load and minister to thy need.  I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.  I am thy God; be not afraid.

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I pray that you will hear the voice of your Bridegroom calling and reassuring you, upholding you and strengthening you in His strength and love!

I want to share another selection from The Valley of Vision.

The Gift of Gifts

O SOURCE OF ALL GOOD,

What shall I render to thee for the gift of gifts,

   thine own dear Son, begotten, not created,

   my Redeemer, proxy, surety, substitute,

   his self-emptying incomprehensible,

   his infinity of love beyond the heart’s grasp.

Herein is wonder of wonders:

     he came below to raise me above,

     was born like me that I might become like him.

Herein is love;

     when I cannot rise to him he draws near on wings of grace,

         to raise me to himself.

Herein is power;

     when Deity and humanity were infinitely apart

     he united them in indissoluble unity, the uncreated and the created.

Herein is wisdom;

     when I was undone, with no will to return to him,

        and no intellect to devise recovery,

    he came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost,

        as man to die my death,

                       to shed satisfying blood on my behalf,

                       to work out a perfect righteousness for me.

O God, take me in spirit to the watchful shepherds,

    and enlarge my mind;

let me hear good tidings of great joy,

     and hearing, believe, rejoice, praise, adore,

     my conscience bathed in an ocean of repose,

     my eyes uplifted to a reconciled Father;

place me with ox, ass, camel, goat,

     to look with them upon my Redeemer’s face,

    and in him account myself delivered from sin;

let me with Simeon clasp the new-born child to my heart,

    embrace him with undying faith,

    exulting that he is mine and I am his.

In him thou hast given me so much that heaven can give no more.

Been MIA again due to being sick last week.  

But we’re all doing better now!   If that is the worst we’ll have this winter, I can take it!  (Since last winter was whooping cough!!!!)

What do you think of when you hear of the Puritans?  Stuffy?  No life?  Boring?

Then you haven’t read the beautiful prayers in The Valley of Vision!!!

I found this treasure through Ann Voskamp, and put it on my Christmas list.  Anna got it for me, and I just last night got it out to start reading some of the prayers.

I read several!!!!

They are full of life, NOT boring, NOT stuffy, and full of an ardent love for our Savior!   Just beautiful!

Here is just a paragraph from the selection, "The Love of Jesus":

My heart melts at the love of Jesus,

     my brother, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh,

     married to me, dead for me, risen for me;

He is mine and I am his,

     given to me as well as for me;

I am never so much mine as when I am his,

     or so much lost to myself until lost in him;

     then I find my true manhood.

But my love is frost and cold, ice and snow;

Let his love warm me,

                     lighten my burden,

                     be my heaven;

May it be more revealed to me in all its influences

    that my love to him may be more fervent and glowing;

Let the mighty tide of his everlasting love

   cover the rocks of my sin and care;

Then let my spirit float above those things

   which had else wrecked my life.

This one line really spoke to me last night:

….or so much lost to myself until lost in him;…..

How often do we try to "deny self" or "put self on the cross"…..all focused on the negative….

…when all I have to do is lose myself….

 in Him.