"Neglecting the Living God" - an article by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Another old article from 'antithesis.com' that took me back about 10 years to the approximate time I first read it.  

The article is by Martyn Lloyd-Jones and he has a lot of great things to say which made me think a fair bit recently.  For those who have never heard of Lloyd-Jones, the bio contained in the article reads as follows -

"Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981), minister of Westminster Chapel in London for 30 years, was one of the foremost preachers of the twentieth century. He wrote many books, and edited much of his expository preaching for later publication. He has had an enormous influence on evangelical Christianity, and is largely credited for the resurgence of interest in reading the English Puritans, Jonathan Edwards, J.C. Ryle, and other post-reformation writings."

I am not sure that I could really do justice to my thoughts on this subject without taking significant time to compile them (which I don't have).  Suffice it to say that if you read it I think you will find it powerful.

We work and we strive, and we want to build God's kingdom, to expand the reign of Christ in every sphere of our own lives and through the world.  But in all our striving it can be easy to forget:  

"Unless the Lord builds the house,
    the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
    the guards stand watch in vain." (Psalm 127).

Kingdom work is God's work.  It is a work that he can do through us, but only when we live surrendered completely to him.  God is a living God and he will do the work.  In our labour let us not forget to: 1. Call on him in prayer continually, and  2. Walk completely surrendered to the Spirit, lest we be like those who toil in their own strength, who 'rise early and stay up late in vain' only for God to build his Kingdom while we are sleeping.

As described in the original posting: 'this is an unpublished address provided by The Evangelical Magazine of Wales. It has been edited to help the modern reader.'

Please find the introduction below with a link at the bottom to the remainder of the article.  I hope you will be blessed and challenged.

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 the living God 

 

 

 

          eading for God to act

martyn-lloyd jones

I have often said that the troubles we face as Christians today are mainly due to the fact that there is a lack of life amongst us. Ultimately all our problems can more or less be traced back to that:

a lack of life — spiritual life, that is.

Now I want to go on from there to ask the question,

Why is there this lack of life?
Or at any rate, what is the main cause?
If I were asked to name one cause, what is it?

And I for myself would not hesitate to answer that

it is due to a lack of a realization
that God is a living God.

We are not only in trouble about life in ourselves; we seem at times to forget that there is life in God...

 Continue Reading...

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