Barren altars! ~ Peckham

Barren altars! What reproach!
Empty cribs! The church forlorn.
Hear we ne’er God’s grand approach?
Blessed cry of babes new-born?

Havoc wrought midst Zion’s sons,
Dimly burns the feeble flame.
Few the faithful, burdened ones.
Vision, passion – but a name!

Bloodless prayers can never bless.
God forgive! Oft these are mine.
Give, O Christ, Thy brokenness,
Pain-filled fellowship divine.

Christ dwells in the broken heart,
This enshrines Gethsemane,
O, dear Lord, give me this part,
Sacrificial ministry.

Servants of His passion we,
Dazed and aching for the lost,
Marked the sighing forehead see,
One with Christ at life-blood cost.

Supplicate in blood sweat,
Intercede in agony.
Plead for souls with faces wet,
Passion learned at Calvary.

Souls! My heart breaks with the cry.
What counts else! What matters more!
Give me souls or else I die!
Violence storms at heaven’s door.

Sobbing in the secret place,
Broken-hearted anguish know,
Children will be born in grace,
God’s transforming blessing flow.

Earnest spirit’s fervency.
Flaming breath ascends, avails,
Prayer transcends vocab’lary,
Spirit unctioned prayer prevails.

Heav’ns shall rend and mountains flow,
Fiends of hell in terror flee,
Christ shall reign above, below!
His the glorious Victory!

~Mary Peckham (saved during the revival on the Isle of Lewis, 1949-52)

Barren altars! What reproach!

JoanM wrote:
October 9th - The Lord My Portion by Watchman Nee‏

[i]And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of Jehovah stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel passed over on dry ground, until all the nation were passed clean over the Jordan.[/i] Joshua 3.17.

The riverbed is the place of death. Nothing at all comfortable, nothing at all appealing. Not restful, not sitting, not lying, but standing. If I live according to my ill-temper, Christ cannot live in others. But if I stand at the bottom of the river, other people will cross the Jordan to victory. Death works in me, but life works in others. In my obedience to death, life will operate in others for their own obedience to God. The death of Christ quickens His life in us. Without death there can be no life.

It was most agonizing to bear the ark at the bottom of the river, for it required great diligence. A slight carelessness and the holy God would destroy them. They stood there, watching the children of Israel pass by one by one. And so they were left to the last. May we be able to pray thus: O Lord, let me die that others may live.

Isn't it amazing Joan, how we can quote things like Jeremiah Burroughs, such as you quoted to me and find that what we quote we are not always perfected in. Oh what a wonderful day when were all perfected. :-)