“The more holy a man is, the more humble, self-renouncing, self-abhorring, and the more sensitive to every sin he becomes, and the more closely he clings to Christ. The moral imperfections which cling to him he feels to be sins, which he laments and strives to overcome. Believers find that their life is a constant warfare, and they need to take the kingdom of heaven by storm, and watch while they pray. They are always subject to the constant chastisement of their Father’s loving hand, which can only be designed to correct their imperfections and to confirm their graces. And it has been notoriously the fact that the best Christians have been those who have been the least prone to claim the attainment of perfection for themselves.”, Hodge’s Outlines.

The question for each of us is this; did we achieve kingdom status by ourselves?

Are we careful about our prayers?

The Intercessor is a book that influenced my prayer life intensely, perhaps too much. In it there was one harsh line that cut me to the quick. God is weary of selfish prayer.

The author Norman Grubb knew Rees Howell and one of my church elders knew Norman. At the time it appeared that grace  passed down from Rees, to Norman, to Frank. My hope was that grace would pass down to me.

I was wrong because the example of life was one of how the grace of God works in us independent of self-interest. I had wanted to be like a man rather than Christ because I misunderstood how the grace of God changes the inner man to be more Christlike.

Over the years many learned men have been gifted to study and relate God’s Word in ways that have found followers greatly influenced by those writings. God’s Word, Jesus Christ should be our greatest influence and not talented authors.

I found myself attracted to a writer that had a harsh judgmental style of writing. It took years of being influenced by his writing before the Lord showed me I was attracted to his style of writing because of my own judgmental nature.

Sooner or later God’s Word, the Spirit of Truth, will convict us of those things in us that need correction.

It takes longer to get through to a mind that needs correction when it thinks it is right about everything.

If we are truly His, He will chasten us of our imperfections. He does it in a way that will be lasting and effective.