Spurgeon’s Prayer for Revival\t
“O God, send us the Holy Ghost! Give us both the breath of spiritual life and the fire of unconquerable zeal! O Thou who art our God, answer us both by wind and fire, and then we shall see Thee to be God indeed.
The kingdom comes not, and the work is flagging. Oh, that Thou wouldst send the wind and the fire! Thou wilt do this when we are all of one accord, all believing, all expecting, all prepared by prayer. Lord, bring us to this waiting state! God, send us a season of glorious disorder. Oh, for a sweep of the wind that will set the seas in motion, and make our ironclad brethren, now lying so quietly at anchor, to roll from stem to stem. Oh, for the fire to fall again-fire which shall affect the most stolid!
Oh, that such fire might first sit upon the disciples and then fall all around! O God, Thou art ready to work with us today even as Thou didst then. Stay not, we beseech Thee, but work at once. Break down every barrier that hinders the incoming of Thy might! Give us both hearts of flame and tongues of fire to preach Thy reconciling Word, for Jesus’ sake! Amen!” (Spurgeon and Revival p. 26 by Robert H. Lescelius)
~~~
concerning the lost...
What is the second death, beside a firey chasm/abyss? The second death is the complete absence of all that is God, where angel and man bear their sin, ...they shall they bear their guilt and deep regret at the loss of their immortal souls to everlasting punishment from the presence of the Lord. They are surrounded with a darkness much more black than night, and with a stink far more suffocating than that of burning sulfur. Their ears are likewise filled with the horrible yelling of the damned spirits, which in comparison with, would make the most discordant notes on earth sound like beautiful music. “if only wicked men on earth could for one moment hear the horrid shrieks of those damned souls, they could not be in love with sin again.” “Eternal Truth has told us otherwise, for those who will not fear His ministers, nor have regard to what His Word contains, will not be warned though one should come from hell.”
imagine a soul , a wretched soul lying on a bed of burning steel, almost choked with brimstone. He cried out with such dreadful anguish and desperation, that I asked my conductor to wait. I heard him speak as follows:
“Ah, miserable wretch! Undone forever, forever! Oh, this killing word, 'forever!' Will not a million years be long enough to bear that pain, which if I could avoid it, I would not endure for even one moment for the sake of being offered one million worlds? No, no my misery never will have an end; after millions of years it will still be for ever. Oh, what a helpless and hopeless condition I am in! It is this 'forever' that is the hell of hell! O cursed wretch! Cursed to all eternity! How willfully have I undone myself! Oh, what stupendous folly am I guilty of, to choose sin’s short and momentary pleasure at the dear price of everlasting pain! How often I was told it would be so! How often I was encouraged to leave those paths of sin that brought me to the chambers of eternal death! But I, like a dumb animal, would not listen to those pleadings. Now it is too late to change it, for my eternal state is fixed for ever. Why was I made a person, that I would choose this fate? Why was I made with an immortal soul, and yet should take so little care of it? Oh how my own neglect stings me to death, and yet I know I cannot die! I live a dying life, worse than ten thousand deaths; and yet I once could have changed all this, but did not! Oh, that is the gnawing worm that never dies! I might once have been happy, salvation was offered to me and I refused it. Had salvation been offered to me only once, it would have been an unforgivable folly to refuse it. But salvation was offered me a thousand times, and yet (wretch that I was) I still as often refused it. O cursed sin, that with deluding pleasures leads mankind to eternal ruin! God often called, but I as often refused; He stretched His hand out, but I would not mind it. How often have I ignored His counsel! How often have I refused His reproof! But now the scene is changed, the case is altered. Now He laughs at my calamity, and mocks at the destruction which is come upon me. He would have helped me once, but I would not accept His help. Therefore those eternal miseries I am condemned to undergo are but the just reward of my own doing.”
I could not hear this sorrowful lamentation without thinking about the wonderful grace that God had shown to me, eternal praises to His holy name! For my heart told me that I had deserved eternal judgment as much as that sad wretch, but that God's grace alone had made us different. O how unsearchable are His counsels! Who can fathom His divine decree? Passing a little further we saw a multitude of damned souls together, gnashing their teeth with extreme rage and pain, while the tormenting fiends with hellish fury poured liquid fire and brimstone continually upon them. In the meantime, they were cursing God and those about them, and were blaspheming in a tremendous manner. I could not help but ask of one demon that so tormented them, who were these souls that he tormented so cruelly?
Said he, “These wretches well deserve their punishment. They tried to teach others the right road to heaven, while they were so in love with hell that they came here. These are those souls that have been our great helpers upon the earth, and therefore they deserve our special attention in hell. We use our full diligence to give every one their utmost share of torments, for they not only have their own sins to answer for, but also all the sins of those whom they led astray both by their doctrine and example.”
continue: http://www.hissheep.org/messages/visions_of_heaven_and_hell_2.html
...concerning repentance...
I wrote the following out when the Lord first called me back to Him
The Spirit of God is telling His church to repent...be ashamed of your sins and repent.
God give us repentence.
A true move of the Spirit of God calls/leads us to repentence, humilty of mind and spirit, contriteness, gentleness and purity of heart and soul, and to view each other better then ourselves, and that the love of God that burns in our hearts through the Holy Spirit constrains us to love God with a burning and ravishing love and to one another. The New Testament teaches us many things about holy living and what God has called us to.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me while I am writing this; He is indicting that it is time to purify ourselves and to turn our hearts to God, and to get ready while there is still time; I know I am not alone in seeing this. It appears that some will not be ready when the trumpet blows...the Lord grant to us repentance, before the great and terrible day of God's judgement comes.
If I were a prophet I would say (and I say this to myself first and foremost, because this was me and I choose to humble myself and repent, and because I am perhaps the worst possible prodigal son) - Hear the what the Spirit of God is saying to some believers (His church) in this hour, but mostly to me:
The Spirit of the Lord says: Why have you turned away you wicked, from doing righteousness to become evil, and to take so lightly that which I have called you to. You walked so perfectly, and I extolled you, and loved you, and revealed myself to you...what did hinder you so, so that you sinned against me a terrible sin, and have become complacent and worthless and lazy, and worldly, full of sin and strife? - you eat much, but you are not satisfied, you have gained much possesions and are rich, but you are very poor in faith, but you -- you have not been steadfast, nor done the commandments of the Lord, but you have turned away and have not walked in my ways, but have walked in the ways of this world, instead of the ways of the Lord your God. Humble yourselves, therefore, into the mighty hands of God, and return to me says the Lord, and I will heal your broken heart (that was perfect before me, but now is broken), and I will forgive you for your backslidings and for your sins. Return to me oh wayward one, and repent, and I will bless you with my Holy Spirit, that you should walk in my ways. Walk with me now and repent of your sins, and be holy, for I am holy says the Lord.
Separate yourselves from the world...for the time is short now, and the day is at hand...purify your hearts you double minded and cleanse your hands you sinners and ask for repentance...repent therefore, lest when He comes, He finds you sleeping, and turns and tears you to pieces. Return to the God of your salvation and - Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Turn back, turn back oh you wicked and defiled. How shall we escape God's judgement, if we neglect so great a salvation and count His Son's sacrifice as unworthy by the works we do, and how we live our lives. The Jugement of God is about to begin and it begins at the House of God - which must occur before He judges the world. - For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 1 Peter 4:17
Grant us repentance oh God, and remember us according to your mercy, and forgive us for our sins and for our backsliding, and remember them no more; wash us and we will be clean. Allow us the foundation of repentance, and allow us a broken and contrite and humble spirit within us...so that we may repent, so that we may return to you Oh Lord, fully with a pure heart, and with clean and undeflied and holy hands. Grant to us, oh Lord, the gift of your Holy Spirit, and purify us from the world. Through Jesus Christ our Lord - Amen.
