R T Kendall Quotes

The happiest pillow on which you may rest your head is the knowledge of God's will. I cannot imagine a more miserable situation than consciously to be out of God's will.

God made only one you and He threw the mold away.

It is my opinion that the greatest absence in the church today is the fear of God.

Martin Luther spent two hours a day in prayer. John Wesley spent two hours a day in prayer. According to a recent poll taken on both sides of the Atlantic, the average church leader, pastor, priest, evangelist, teacher today spends four minutes a day in prayer and you wonder why the church is powerless.

The ultimate proof of total forgiveness takes place when we sincerely petition the Father to let those who have hurt us off the hook—even if they have hurt not only us, but also those close to us.

If you do nothing but read your Bible, you will dry up; if you only pray, you will blow up; but if you read your Bible and pray, you will grow up.

If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. —A. W. TOZER (1897–1963)

I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.1 —MAHATMA GANDHI (1869–1948)

When the Word and Spirit come together, there will be the biggest movement of the Holy Spirit that the nation, and indeed the world, has ever seen.1 —SMITH WIGGLESWORTH (1859–1947)

grief. We do and say strange things—sometimes bizarre things—when we are swallowed up in grief. No one should be hard on us when we say thoughtless and selfish things when we are in grief. Both Mary and Martha accused Jesus of being the cause of their brother’s death by not responding immediately to their request: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21, 32). Jesus did not rebuke either of them. Instead, He wept with them (see John 11:35). So with all of us. He knows our frame; He remembers we are dust.

As C. S. Lewis put it, “Aim at heaven and you will get the earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.

The worst thing that can happen to a man is to succeed before he is ready. —D. MARTYN LLOYD-JONES

Detached forgiveness—there is a reduction in negative feelings toward the offender, but no reconciliation takes place. Limited forgiveness—there is a reduction in negative feelings toward the offender, and the relationship is partially restored, though there is a decrease in the emotional intensity of the relationship. Full forgiveness—there is a total cessation of negative feelings toward the offender, and the relationship is fully restored.

We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we don’t need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don’t fire cannons to call attention to their shining; they just shine. —D. L. MOODY (1837–1899)

Time with God will open up His ways. Reading books won't do it. Reading theology won't do it. Studying the creation won't do it. Going to church won't do it. Listening to religious music won't do it. Listening to great preaching won't do it. Even worshiping through hymns and songs won't do it.

nine out of ten people I have had to forgive sincerely do not feel they have done anything wrong. It is up to me to forgive them from my heart – and then keep quiet about it.

Repentance (Greek, metanoia) means "change of mind." So as we get to know God, we get to know ourselves.

The Bible was not given to replace the supernatural or miraculous; it was given to correct abuses.

we have the Word without the Spirit, we tend to “dry up”; if we have the Spirit without the Word, we tend to “blow up”; if we have both Spirit and Word, we tend to “grow up” and “fire up.” But when each is properly joined in common union, there is explosive power to be had.

Elijah wanted the crisis to be dealt with, and the boy was raised from the dead. Answered prayer is better—and more important—than answered questions: If you demand answers to your questions before you affirm the blood of Christ, you will lose your soul.

But there is another change coming for you and me down the road. Are we ready for this? There will come a day—sooner or later—when God will say, “Your time is up.” We all have to die. What is more, everything that we are doing in this life should be getting us ready for that day. So I am now going to ask you: Do you know for sure that if you were to die today, you would go to heaven? It is the most important question anybody can

Holy Spirit, please overrule in my life that I will never quench the fire that You have caused to burn. Let me never pour water on wood You may want to ignite. I pray on bended knee that You will come unquenched into my heart and stay there without any hindrance from me. In Jesus’s name, amen.

CAPT. J. W. SIMMONS, master of the steamship Pensacola, had just as little regard for weather as the Louisiana’s Captain Halsey. He was a veteran of eight hundred trips across the Gulf and commanded a staunch and sturdy ship, a 1,069-ton steel-hulled screw-driven steam freighter built twelve years earlier in West Hartlepool, England, and now owned by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company. Friday morning the ship was docked at the north end of 34th Street, in the company of scores of other ships, including the big Mallory liner Alamo, at 2,237 tons, and the usual large complement of British ships, which on Friday included the Comino, Hilarius, Kendal Castle, Mexican, Norna, Red Cross, Taunton, and the stately Roma in from Boston with its Captain Storms. As the Pensacola’s twenty-one-man crew readied the ship for its voyage to the city of Pensacola on Florida’s Gulf Coast, two men came aboard as Captain Simmons’s personal guests: a harbor pilot named R. T. Carroll and Galveston’s Pilot Commissioner J. M. O. Menard, from one of the city’s oldest families. At

The next time Satan reminds you of your past, remind him of his future.

Be absolutely aware that you are self-righteous and that this is the root of your problem.

Forgiveness is worthless to us emotionally if we can’t forgive ourselves.

John Newton looked across the kitchen table and said to William Cowper, “I’m not what I ought to be. I’m not what I want to be. I’m not what I hope to be. But thank God I’m not what I used to be.

I cannot imagine a greater motivation to pray than that God enjoys having me in His presence. He enjoys my company. He delights in listening to me! He doesn't get bored with my repeated requests. He doesn't moralize me if I get it wrong in what I ask for. He doesn't laugh at me if I put out silly, even impertinent, requests. He never makes me feel stupid. There is no rejection, only total acceptance.

The Kingdom cannot be learned like other subjects, such as science, geography or history. The Kingdom is learned only through revelation by the Spirit. It cannot be explained, contained or controlled—thus it is unexplainable, uncontainable and uncontrollable. It is not taught as much as it is caught—and only through the Spirit can it be caught. It cannot be embraced, explained, applied, pursued or entered without the Spirit of God.

When speaking to or about another person, ask yourself if what you are about to say will meet their need: Necessary – Is it necessary to say this? Encourage – Will this encourage? Will it make them feel better? Edify – Will it edify? Will it build them up and make them stronger as a result of what you would say? Dignify – Will it dignify that person? That’s the way Jesus treated other people; he gave them a sense of dignity. Criticism

Fearlessness is when there is simply no fear. I wish I felt this way every day. But I have known this—at times. There is nothing like it. It is when the Dove comes down and the whole landscape changes, like a sunrise that reveals what was hidden in the night. Fearlessness. As the hymn “Like a River Glorious” puts it in verse two: Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand, Never foe can follow, never traitor stand; Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care, Not a blast of hurry touch the spirit there.2 —FRANCES R. HAVERGAL

THERE HAS BEEN A SILENT DIVORCE IN THE CHURCH, SPEAKING generally, between the Word and the Spirit. When there is a divorce, sometimes the children stay with the mother, sometimes with the father. In this divorce you have those on the Word side and those on the Spirit side. What is the difference? Those on the Word side stress earnestly contending for the faith once delivered to the saints, expository preaching, sound theology, rediscovering the doctrines of the Reformation—justification by faith, sovereignty of God. Until we get back to the Word, the honor of God’s name will not be restored. What is wrong with this emphasis? Nothing. It is exactly right, in my opinion. Those on the Spirit side stress getting back to the Book of Acts, signs, wonders, and miracles, gifts of the Holy Spirit—with places being shaken at prayer meetings, get in Peter’s shadow and you are healed, lie to the Holy Spirit and you are struck dead. Until we recover the power of the Spirit, the honor of God’s name will not be restored. What is wrong with this emphasis? Nothing. It is exactly right, in my opinion. The problem is, neither will learn from the other. But if these two would come together, the simultaneous combination would mean spontaneous combustion. And if Smith Wigglesworth’s prophecy got it right, the world will be turned upside down again.

Elijah was vindicated then and there as being a true man of God. Not everybody gets vindication that soon. For some it takes years. For some, vindication takes place after he or she has gone to heaven. Jesus never was universally vindicated—on earth, that is. His vindication was “by the Spirit” (1 Timothy 3:16). One day He will be openly vindicated—when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord (see Philippians 2:11). Every person will then say, “Now I know.” But until that final day, Jesus will remain the most misunderstood and “unvindicated” person who ever lived.

R.T. Kendall states in his recent book on the Holy Spirit, I don’t mean to be unfair, but I have long suspected that, were it not for the gift of tongues, many evangelicals (many of whom are not cessationists) would have no objection to the gifts of the Spirit. The stigma (offense) is not with regard to wisdom; who doesn’t want and need wisdom? It is not with regard to having words of knowledge, the gift of faith, prophecy, discerning of spirits, the miraculous, or healing. The offense is invariably speaking in tongues. Why? As my friend Charles Carrin has put it, tongues is the only gift of the Spirit that challenges our pride. There is no stigma attached to any of the other gifts. Only tongues.1

Elijah’s question was not answered, but his prayer was. Which would you prefer, an answer to your question or an answer to your prayer? I am sure that the widow did not particularly want her question answered; she wanted her son back, and that is what she got. Had Elijah waited for his question to be answered he would have never prayed. I have had countless people say to me, “When God explains to me why He allows suffering I will believe in Him.” The result in that case will be that you will never know the answer to that question here on earth. So are you going to lose your soul and be eternally lost? Or will you pray the prayer, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” without your questions being answered?

Not keeping a record of wrongs is also a refusal to keep a record of the things you have done right. It is just as dishonoring to God’s grace to keep a record of your rights as it is to keep a record of others’ wrongs. Why? Because it is a form of self-exaltation. You are implicitly saying, “I told you so,” in order to make someone else look bad. It takes spiritual maturity to refrain from saying, “I told you so.

synagogue and read from Isaiah 61:1–2, which He said meant Himself, Jesus then referred to this very episode in the life of Elijah: “I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.” Luke 4:25–26 Why did Jesus speak those words at that particular time? It was an unsubtle hint that His ministry would be shared with and welcomed by Gentiles.

ever ask you. Life at its longest is still short. We may say, “I need more time.” The truth is, God gives all of us enough time. We may not be prepared for that last day on earth, but we need to get prepared. All of life is moving toward that “Omega Point” when we stand before God at the Judgment Seat of Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:10). So I ask again: Do you know for certain that if you were to die today, you would go to heaven? Now for another question: Suppose you were to stand before God (and you will) and He were to ask you (and He might), “Why should I let you into My heaven?” What would you say? Only one answer will do. I will tell you my answer—and I pray it is yours: Jesus died on the cross for my sins. When it comes time to die and you have to make the greatest change of all, be sure that this is your heart-of-hearts answer.

Si esperas grandes cosas de Dios, intenta grandes cosas con Dios”.1

En su libro de 1979 Your Body Doesn’t Lie,3 el doctor Diamond resume del siguiente modo el procedimiento adaptado por él a partir de la descripción clásica de H. O. Kendall en Muscles: Testing and Function*. 1

The worse thing that can happen to a man or a woman, is for them to succeed before they are ready.

God designs an enemy to keep us on our toes, but also on our knees.

No matter what degree of power may be given us for a moment of need, let no one ever think he or she has arrived and will always have such power and boldness. We are all as weak as baby kittens before people if God does not supply the power. He can give it or withhold it.

If you walk in the Spirit, know your Bible, and spend sufficient time alone with God, your theology will take care of itself.

The power of the Holy Spirit cannot be successfully duplicated. If a person is supernaturally changed and given a love for God’s glory, God did it.

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. —JOHN 3:8, ESV

THE NEW TESTAMENT TEACHING REGARDING THE BAPTISM with the Holy Spirit has been immersed in controversy, especially during the last century. For one thing, should it be called baptism in the Holy Spirit, by the Holy Spirit, or with the Holy Spirit?

Hardships often prepare ordinary people for extraordinary destiny. —C. S. LEWIS

As Dr. Lloyd-Jones used to say, “The worst thing that can happen to a man is to succeed before he is ready.

God is predictably unpredictable.

If we function according to our ability alone, we get the glory; if we function according to the power of the Spirit within us, God gets the glory.1 —HENRY T. BLACKABY

Do not be satisfied with God’s calling or his gifts in your life. Be satisfied with Jesus Christ himself.1 —LIU ZHENYING (KNOWN AS BROTHER YUN)

Dr. Lloyd-Jones used to say, “The worst thing that can happen to a man is to succeed before he is ready.

We must let God be Himself in us. This means that we must let Him be Himself in others too. We ought not to judge the style of another person’s worship. But worship that is elitist or is reduced to the level of popular entertainment, worship that is emotional or aesthetic is worship in name only. It has the external form without the reality. What we long for is living worship. But how does this come about? Our churches should not be places where the unregenerate come on Sundays because they “like the worship.” Our churches ought to be places where the unregenerate feel uncomfortable because it is the Spirit who is important and who comes first. Our controlling principle must be obedience to the Spirit—no matter where He leads us. Psalm 37:4 is true for all of us, whomever we are or whatever we want. But when we delight ourselves in the Lord, some of our desires may wither away and be replaced by new ambitions. So it will not do to envisage a definite goal concerning the form our worship must take. We must first of all be sure that we are delighting ourselves in the Lord and then see what God does.

if you are true to the leading of the Holy Spirit, you will have to do things that humble you, make you appear as a wimp, and do things that nobody will admire.

face up to the seriousness – possibly a high-handed wickedness – of what they did; and still to forgive. This

grace is getting what we don’t deserve (favour) and mercy is not getting what we do deserve (justice).

But how can I know that there is no bitterness left? I would reply: (1) when there is no desire to get even or punish, (2) when I do or say nothing that would hurt their reputation or future, and (3) when I truly wish them well in all they seek to do. 9

the greater the sin you forgive them of, the greater the measure of the Spirit that will come to you.

A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offence’ (Prov. 19:11).

I want to affirm at the outset that every moment you spend in this book will be worth the time. You will be led and fed along a pathway of enriching truth by a friend of mine, Dr. R. T. Kendall, a known and beloved pastor-author of considerable scholarship. Still, I assure you, as well studied as RT is, his depth in “the Word and the doctrine” will only serve to assist your insight, never to intimidate. At heart he is a consummate pastor—a word and a lifestyle properly defined in the description of the Lord in Psalm 23 and in the person and nature of Jesus Christ, “that great Shepherd of the sheep” (Heb. 13:20). Dr. Kendall writes with the heart of a man tested and proven as a faithful pastor, having served congregations in both Britain and America. And of even greater importance, he is also a faithful and loving servant of abiding trustworthiness and fidelity to both his bride, Louise, and to the bride of Christ, the church.

Don't fear His silence. Use it to examine your heart and motives. Listen expectantly for the silence to be broken by the glory of His manifested presence once again in your life.

There was no water. Food by tons would have no value. You need water to survive. If the ravens brought Elijah filet steaks, fresh vegetables and the best-tasting bread it would have meant nothing.

When sudden change catapults you into something new, remember this: God has a better idea for how you should spend this time of your life. You may stubbornly say, “I am going to stay right here where this brook was, no matter what.” But if the brook has dried up, like it or not, you have to move on. It is

God’s way of getting your attention.

When the brook dries up, we know it is time to move. God has something better in mind. Count on it. He will never leave you nor forsake you (seen Hebrews 13:5). No good thing will He withhold from you when it is God’s will

you want most of all (see Psalm 84:11). Paul admitted that he had to “learn” the secret of contentment in every situation. So with all of us. That learning process can sometimes be painful, but it is worth all we have to go through to get that knowledge of God’s new plan.

When the brook dries up because there is no rain, but you say, “Praise the Lord,” you bring great honor to God. Trust Him to show you the next step forward. He will. He is never too early, never too late, but always just on time. When God closes a door, He opens a window. Learn to accept the closed door and be prepared for the surprising window that will open. It opened for Elijah and it will open for you.

Faith Is Sometimes Spelled R-I-S-K Then the word of the LORD came to him: “Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.”      So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”      “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take

home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.” 1 Kings 17:8–12

Having been faced with a dried-up brook—a closed door if there ever was one—Elijah needed a window. He got it: The Lord told him to go to Zarephath of Sidon where a widow would look after him. The ravens and the brook, then, were to be succeeded by a Gentile widow about a hundred miles away. Zarephath was outside Israel in Gentile territory. It turns out that God had been at work behind the scenes: “I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.

We will learn in this chapter of 1 Kings 17 the amazing and surprising ways God supplies our needs. But it also demonstrates God’s love for all peoples, not only Israel.

Early in the ministry of our Lord, immediately after He stood in the

Don’t be afraid. The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.” We do not know why this Gentile widow should have believed this, but she did. “She went away and did as Elijah had told her.” This part of the Elijah story is important because it not only continues to demonstrate patience in disappointment but also shows how faith is sometimes spelled R-I-S-K. Risk means “to accept or expose yourself to possible harm or loss.” So the question becomes, Who took the greater risk, Elijah or the widow? Elijah risked being extremely impertinent and putting her off entirely. The widow risked depleting her last bit of food. Going Outside Your Comfort Zone Behind this part of the story is a principle of faith: To experience the extraordinary you must go outside your comfort zone. Do you want to see God work in a powerful way—as in the

days of the earliest Church? I ask you: Do you want things to go on as usual, or do you want to see God do something unusual? If you want to see the extraordinary, I have to tell you that it means going outside your comfort zone. I wish it were not that way, but it is! Every person God used in the Old Testament and the New Testament and in Church history over the last two thousand years has had to go outside his or her comfort zone. That is partly why faith is sometimes spelled R-I-S-K. I would say this to you: If you get a clear invitation to move outside your comfort zone because of the possibility you might see God do the unusual, take it with both hands!

And yet this part of the story shows that God supplies our need in a way that is both extraordinary but also ordinary. The extraordinary: The flour and oil were never used up. The ordinary: There was just enough for each day. It was never a case of a hundred barrels of flour and oil being wasted before their eyes. The amount was small and always

there. Enough is enough. You do not need flour and oil for tomorrow; only for today. You can live only one day at a time. You can take only one bite at a time. What more could you cope with anyway? My dad’s favorite verse was, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). The next verse goes on to say, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.

Dr. A. W. Pink observed that this command—to make the cake for Elijah first and then for her and her son—was one of the hardest commandments ever given. And, yet, for her to grant it was equally hard. It meant both of them going outside their comfort zones. Elijah wanted to confirm beyond all doubt that she was truly the widow God had chosen to supply his needs. He was gentle with her: “Don’t be afraid,” he said. In the process, then, Elijah put obstacles in her way in order to be sure. He might have

said, “Make a cake for yourself and your son, and then make some for me.” That would have been considered more sensible and unselfish. But, no, she was required to make this for him first—and then she and her son could have some. Added to his request was Elijah’s odd claim that this came from the “God of Israel” (1 Kings 17:14). This made the challenge even harder for this Gentile widow. Have you any idea how much the ancient Gentiles in that part of the world hated Israel? They did then and they do now. Elijah, thus, added to the obstacle he had put in her way. Granted, the widow had nothing to lose. It was the best offer she had. So, too, with receiving the Gospel message. You are going to die anyway. This is decreed for us all, for it is appointed unto all men and women “to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). It is the best offer you are going to get in this world.

may seem unreasonable—that the blood of

Jesus could wash away your sins—but it is the only hope you have. Accept this offer now. Confess your sins to God. Thank Him for sending His Son. Transfer the trust you have in your good works to what Jesus did for you on the cross. Doing this will result in a pardon of all your sins. When the widow did what Elijah said to do, all he promised came to pass. It will with you, too, when you affirm this Gospel.

This part of the story shows something of the suffering of a true prophet. It is true that the greater the suffering the greater the anointing, but it is also true that the greater the anointing, the greater the suffering. Never forget this. Anointing carries suffering with it. It was true of Abraham. It was true of Moses. Not only did Elijah experience his own sense of being let down by God when the brook dried up, but now he has an unanticipated crisis on his hands: a distraught widow who has suddenly

lost her only son—and Elijah to blame.

There is one person who will never let you down, will never fail you. Jesus Christ. He is perfect. Sinless. Faultless. He loves you more than you love yourself. He is always there. Always watching you. Never turning an eye from you. He loves you as though there were no other person to love. He will never, never, never fail you. Ever. Count on it. My whole life and ministry are based upon this premise: the absolute, unwavering perfection of Jesus.

An unexpected grief came to this widow of Zarephath, and, through it, an unexpected trial came to Elijah. God did not tell Elijah this would happen. But remember: Elijah himself was still in preparation. We must never assume that someone’s amazing gift means that he or she is ready for everything that is coming down the road. The brilliant gift may be unimprovable, but the person who has the gift may need a lot of further instruction, discipline, chastening and growing through perplexing situations.

The hiding of God’s face is the essence of His discipline. Moreover, God never gives advanced warning when He will be hiding His face. If only He would say, “Next Tuesday about 3:20 P.M., you will notice that the light of My countenance will be withdrawn for a while.” If only. Then we could be ready and not be shaken. But part of our preparation is learning how to respond in impossible situations when God seems very far away. And yet the widow was understandably in

The widow’s comments are typically what most people feel at difficult times. First, she wondered if it was some sin in her life that brought this. We all have things in our pasts that we are ashamed of. We all have skeletons in the closet. And we often fear that God is somehow “getting even” with us by bringing some calamity or disaster our way. Second she accused Elijah of killing her son, which is the way many treat God. They want to accuse God of doing things that bring us grief in order to make Him look bad. This was a horrible thing for her to do, to lay this guilt on Elijah himself.

Elijah was brilliant in his response. He did not panic. He did not moralize with the distraught widow. He did not say, “I can’t believe you are talking to me like this.” He did not retort, “How dare you speak like this, seeing how the flour and the oil keep you alive!” He did not give her a guilt trip as she was trying to do to him. He merely said, “Give me your son.

When we can achieve calm and repose while those around us are losing their heads and blaming things on us, we are beginning to grow.

What do you do when you are misunderstood? Elijah impressively set a standard for how one should respond when

He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, “O LORD my God, let this boy’s life return to him!” The LORD heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!” Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth.

Elijah was vindicated openly in the widow’s eyes. The pity is, she should have known this already by now. The bread and oil being kept constant should have been enough. It took a further and greater miracle—which also defied natural explanation—to convince her. So with many in the Last Day regarding Jesus. When “every eye will see him” (Revelation 1:7), Jesus will be openly vindicated, for all on that day will say, “Now I know.” But that knowledge will not be graced with the title faith. It will be too late for faith; it will be sight.

After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.” So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. 1 Kings 18:1–2

You may recall that we raised the question, Whose idea was it that it would not rain: God’s or Elijah’s? The answer? The buck stops with God. Further evidence of this is the verse we study in this chapter. Elijah did not go to Ahab to say it would rain; he waited to hear from God. He waited a long time—three and a half years. Then one day the word of the Lord came to Elijah to present himself to Ahab. And from that moment things started happening. You and I cannot make things happen. Elijah could not make things happen. We are fools if we try to make things happen in our own strength. I once asked the late Carl F. H. Henry, called “the dean of American theologians,” what he would do differently if he had his life to live over. After a moment he replied, “I would remember that only God can turn the water into wine.” The greatest folly

you and I can give in to is running ahead of God to make it look as though we are telling God what to do next. Waiting on God is one of the hardest things in this world to do. That means virtually doing nothing until He gives the signal. Part of the genius of Elijah is that he did nothing until God gave the word. As the psalmist put it, “My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning” (Psalm 130:6). “As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master [watching for him to send the signal], . . . so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy” (Psalm123:2). This manifestation of mercy is worth waiting for.

A huge difference between “in season” and “out of season” is this: “In season” is when God pleases you; “out of season” is when you have a golden opportunity to please God. You may think you are pleasing God when He shows up “in season,” but, closer to the truth, He is pleasing you. When He hides His face, you should seize such a time with both hands. You

may never have an opportunity like that again. It is then you please God by faith. Persistent faith—the faith that is exhibited by those stalwarts described in Hebrews 11—is what you are called to exercise. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. The one who comes to God “must believe that he exists”—that He “is”—and that He “rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). The reward is worth waiting for. I do not think Elijah was happy when the brook dried up or when he lived in a Gentile town with a poor widow and her son. But Elijah stayed ready. So after a “long time” God gave him a tap on the shoulder: “Rain is coming at last. Present yourself to Ahab.” Things were starting to happen again!

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones frequently said, “The Bible was not given to replace the miraculous; it was given to correct abuses.

I don't know who said it first, but the following is good advice: If you do nothing but read your Bible, you will dry up; if you only pray, you will blow up; but if you read your Bible and pray, you will grow up.

If there is anything that will make us blush in heaven, it will be the realization of how much we were loved on this earth-but didn't appreciate it.