A Great and Mighty Witness

Quote: “The world had yet to see! With and for and through and in! A man...any man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him (the Lord).” Henry Varley

“The world had yet to see! With and for and through and in! A man!” In this quote, Henry Varley meant any man. Varley didn't say he had to be educated, or brilliant, or anything else! Just a man!

Quote: “Well, by the Holy Spirit in him, he'd be one of those men.” D. L. Moody

Watching Charles Spurgeon, he saw something he had never realized before; --it was not Mr. Spurgeon, after all, who was doing that work: it was God (working in and through him). And, if God could use Mr. Spurgeon, why should He not use the rest of us, and why should we not all just lay ourselves at the Master's feet, and say to Him, “Send me! Use me! Dwight Moody was an ordinary person who sought to be fully and wholly consecrated to Christ. One ordinary Christian in the hand of almighty God can do anything God commands.

Definition: Consecrate...to make or declare, to dedicate to a religious or divine purpose, to devote purposely to a divine purpose.

Usually, in our Christian lives, we have looked at the Word of God and have seen God's abounding love for His people by sending Christ as an appropriation for our sins.

After much prayer, it became evident that the Spirit seems to be leading to a point where we need to be aware of those from our past and what happened to ordinary people after meeting one extraordinary God...in that passionate, intimate relationship and presence that indwells those who love Him with all of their hearts.

So, let's examine one life in particular...the life of one Nicholas Herman..Born l6l0 in Herimenil Lorraine, France. His birth records were destroyed in a fire at his parish church during the Thirty Years War, a war in which he fought as a young soldier. It was also the war in which he sustained a near fatal injury to his sciatic nerve. This injury left him quite crippled and in chronic pain for the rest of his life.

The details of his early life are few and sketchy. However, we know he was educated both at home and by his parish priest whose first name was Lawrence and who was greatly admired by the young Nicholas. He was well read and, from an early age, drawn to a spiritual life of faith and love for God.

In his character, he mentions that he was a 'footman who was clumsy and broke everything'. And, at mid-life, he entered a newly established monastery in Paris where he became the cook for the community which grew to over one hundred.

In times as troubled as today, Brother Lawrence, discovered, then followed, a pure and uncomplicated way to walk continually in God's presence. For some forty years, he lived and walked with Our Father at his side. Yet, through his own words, we learn that Brother Lawrence's first ten years were full of severe trials and challenges.

Three hundred years later from the life of one simple and humble man who made up his mind to consecrate his whole life to the presence of God, the Lord revealed Himself to this simple, handicapped, and not highly educated man, lessons that he had learned through a life of not only joy but much suffering has endured and his witness has inspired all who have read his writings about living in God's presence...

Through God's grace, we are permitted to write a few of these lessons & quotes to help us also see the value of making that decision to follow our God with our whole heart, to seek lst the Kingdom of God, to take our place by His side and walk with Him from the time we get up until we go to bed and through the darkness of night, and through the sufferings of life...to practice that presence of God that this witness and others experienced throughout their lives. For the scripture says, 'All things are possible to those who believe.'

Quotes for us today by Brother Lawrence...

“We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which is is performed.”

“He does not ask much of us, merely a thought of Him from time to time, a little act of adoration, sometimes to ask for His grace, sometimes to offer Him your sufferings, at other times to thank Him for the graces, past and present, He has bestowed on you. In the midst of your troubles to take solace in Him as often as you can. Lift up your heart to Him during your meals and in company; the least little remembrance will always be the most pleasing to Him. One need not cry out very loudly; He is nearer to us than we think.”

“I regard myself as the most wretched of all men, stinking and covered with sores, and as one who has committed all sorts of crimes against the King. Overcome by remorse, I confess all my wickedness to Him, ask His pardon and abandon myself entirely to Him to do with as He will. But his King, filled with goodness and mercy, far from chastising me, lovingly embraces me, makes me eat at His table, serves me with His own hands, gives me the keys of His treasures and treats me as His favorite. He talks with me and is delighted with me in a thousand and one ways; He forgives me and relieves me of my principle bad habits without talking about them; I beg Him to make me according to His heart and always the more weak and despicable I see myself to be, the more beloved I am of God”.

“How happy we would be if we could find the treasure of which the Gospel speaks; all else would be as nothing. As it is boundless, the more you search for it the greater the riches you will find; let us search unceasingly and let us not stop until we have found it.”

“The difficulties of life do not have to be unbearable. It is the way we look at them – through faith or unbelief – that makes them seem so. We must be convinced that our Father is full of love for us and that He only permits trials to come our way for our own good.”

“Let us occupy ourselves entirely in knowing God. The more we know Him, the more we will desire to know Him. As love increases with knowledge, the more we know God, the more we will truly love Him. We will learn to love Him equally in times of distress or in times of great joy.”

“Let us thus think often that our only business in this life is to please God, that perhaps all besides is but folly and vanity.”

“Along with this total abandonment must go a complete acceptance of God's will with equanimity and resignation. No matter what troubles and ills come our way, they are to be willingly and indeed joyously endured since they come from God, and God knows what He is doing.”

“I told you, in my last, that He sometimes permits bodily diseases to cure the distempers of the soul. Have courage then: make a virtue of necessity: ask of GOD, not deliverance from your pains, but strength to bear resolutely, for the love of Him, all that He should please, and as long as He shall please.”

“That we ought, once for all, heartily to put our whole trust in GOD, and make a total surrender of ourselves to Him, secure that He would not deceive us.”

“We must know before we can love. In order to know God, we must often think of Him; and when we come to love Him, we shall then also think of Him often, for our heart will be with our treasure.”

“The King, full of mercy and goodness, very far from chastising me, embraces me with love, makes me eat at His table, serves me with His own hands, gives me the key of His treasures; He converses and delights Himself with me incessantly, in a thousand and a thousand ways, and treats me in all respects as His favorite. It is thus I consider myself from doing that for God's sake which we commonly do for our own; that it was lamentable to see how many people mistook the means for the end, addicting themselves to certain works, which they performed very imperfectly, by reason of their human or selfish regards.”

“Pray remember what I have recommended to you, which is, to think often on GOD, by day, by night, in your business, and even in your diversions. He is always near you and with you: leave Him not alone. You would think it rude to leave a friend alone who came to visit you: why then must GOD be neglected? Do not then forget Him; this is the glorious employment of a Christian. In a word, this is our profession; if we do not know it, we must learn it.”

In closing...What has been our great and mighty witness to a lost and dying world? Consecrating our lives to Christ doesn't have to mean that we must pack our bags and head to a foreign mission field. The Lord only asks that we love Him with all our hearts and all our minds and with all our strength, and all our soul.

It has been my personal experience that as pastors preach on the statement, 'Lord..Here I am, send me', many back off with visions of loss of life, a burdensome stone and secretly say beneath our breath, “No Lord, not me...don't send me.” But, we who are bold enough to say those words, God will use who we are for His glory as we have the heart to want to also walk in His presence each and every hour of each and every day. Can he use a teacher, a dancer, perhaps, an artist, a housewife, or washerwoman? Of course, He can. He can use anyone.

He's not looking for you to make a name for yourself, grow the amount of followers you have found at your job or on the internet or even in a particular website much like our own.

Jesus made Himself as nothing. He didn't make Himself something or someone. He took on the nature of a servant, God's presence walking among man. This is only what He asks of us, to join our forefathers in simply walking in the presence of God.

The Lord has shown us just a few witnesses from our past here today. So, we can only ask, “Who can God use today?” Anybody, my friend...including you.

We encourage you to consider the witness and quotes of these few men, to examine your heart, to take your place by Christ's side in these Last Days and share your great and mighty witness of your love for God and His love for you. As we join with the multitude of great and mighty witnesses, others will come to His light and to the glory of His name. The world will marvel, the end time harvest will come forth and many be converted.

As Brother Lawrence said, “In a word, this is our profession; if we do not know it, we must learn it.” Amen.

God Bless You! Walk with God!

End Notes: http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2122549-the-practice-of-the-presence-of-God

http://the practice of the presence of god.com/on line text...free download.

. Experiencing God, Revised and Expanded, workbook, pg.27...quote