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Inspiring, I was much impacted.

- adriano anton (5 months ago)

About the Book


"Revival Praying" by Leonard Ravenhill is a guide on the power and importance of prayer in sparking spiritual revival. Ravenhill emphasizes the need for fervent, persistent, and passionate prayer to ignite a revival in individuals, churches, and communities. He challenges readers to prioritize prayer and seek a deeper, more intimate relationship with God through consistent prayer and surrender to His will.

Henry Martyn

Henry Martyn Martyn was born in Truro, England, where his father worked as head clerk of a merchant house. After attending Truro Grammar School, he proceeded to Cambridge to read mathematics. Influenced by his younger sister, and by Charles Simeon, he soon professed evangelical faith. He graduated (as Senior Wrangler) in 1801, also earning the Smith’s Prize. In 1802 he became a fellow of St. John’s. Admiration for David Brainerd persuaded him to abandon legal ambitions for missionary service. A curacy with Simeon at Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge, followed. Changed personal circumstances made missionary service impossible for him, so instead, he accepted a chaplain’s commission with the East India Company. During the 305-day voyage to Calcutta, he studied Urdu and Bengali. Until he was posted inland, he assisted the Serampore Baptists in Bible translation work. He was chaplain from 1806 to 1809 at Dinapore and from 1809 to 1810 at Cawnpore. In both places, his refusal to regard Indians as inferior and his respect for India culture annoyed and alienated many of his peers. Encouraged by fellow evangelicals, he took as his main task Bible translation. With the assistance of munshis (translators), he produced Urdu, Arabic, and Persian versions of Scripture, thus focusing on Muslim languages. Confessing that ignorance of Islam handicapped his ability to communicate the gospel, he also “read everything [he] could pick up about Mohammadans.” Late in 1810, suffering from consumption, Martyn took a leave of absence to travel through Iran, to test his Persian translation, and to benefit from a drier climate. He hoped eventually to return to England to persuade a childhood sweetheart, who had refused an earlier request, to marry him. In Iran, he thoroughly revised his Persian translation of the New Testament, which, with the help of Sir Gore Ouseley (1779-1844), was presented to the shah. Reluctantly, Martyn also agreed to exchange tracts with the Muslim ulema (religious scholars), later published as his Controversial Tracts on Christianity and Mohammedanism (1824). Martyn died at Tocat at age 31, cared for and buried by Armenians, whose ancient church he had long admired. Martyn’s ecumenical openness, his desire to implant the gospel in Indian culture, and his concern for spiritual exchange with Muslims have often been obscured by his reluctant use of polemic. Nevertheless, his legacy inspired later missionaries, such as Thomas Valpy French and Temple Gairdner toward a more irenic approach to Muslims and to Islam. Clinton Bennett, “Martyn, Henry,” in Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, ed. Gerald H. Anderson (New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 1998), 438-39. This article is reprinted from Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, Macmillan Reference USA, copyright © 1998 Gerald H. Anderson, by permission of Macmillan Reference USA, New York, NY. All rights reserved.

Why Not Giving Can Hurt You

I have this one friend, everywhere she goes, she gives gifts. Roses to teachers, journals to me, and flowers to so many. She is gifted in gifts. Is she trying to make me look bad? She is so impressive! I am normally the one loaded with 2 kids, a purse loaded with the rock of baby wipes and a to-do list times one thousand. Getting out to buy gifts feels as impossible as moving a herd of animals through the eye of a needle. Giving is something I always want to do, but it takes a back seat to my life. It's something that I love to get, but have a hard time extending. I know it blesses, but it also heightens my stresses. Yet, research has proven that giving: - increases the health of those with chronic illnesses (Stephen Post, Why Good Things Happen to Good People) - decreases the risk of dying in the elderly after volunteering (Doug Oman, University of California, Berkeley) - lowers stress and blood pressure. Clearly giving is a great thing. The more we outpour the more that inpours to us. A woman came with a special sealed jar. It contained very expensive perfume made out of pure nard. She broke the jar open and poured the perfume on Jesus’ head. Mk. 14:3 This woman outpoured a ton - a year's worth of salary. Her deep sacrifice was a true outpouring of her heart. There is no mention of the kids screaming at home, the wipes in her bag or the lists of things she had to do, she just poured out. When we keep our eyes on Jesus, suddenly our excuses grow small and our causes grow big. This woman poured out great love through this great gift, a great sacrifice for a great God and a great example for the great, great, great...grandchildren of Jesus today. What would happen if we poured out like she did? Might Jesus say to us: She has done a beautiful thing to me... Mark 14:6 Might our name be more greatly etched into the world and eternity? What she has done will be told anywhere the good news is preached all over the world. It will be told in memory of her.” Mk 14:9 As she stood...weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. Lu. 7:38 When we pour, like this woman and then our hearts melt like wax. The wick of our pride, selfishness and complacency melt down to the ground, leaving us on our knees, where we receive and give our very best. We take our hair and we wipe the feet of others. We get into the nitty gritty of grime, into the places where it feels uncomfortable, into the places where we prepare others for a new life. It's in the offering of our greatest - in the wiping of the dirty - that we get to kiss the feet of the one who walked into desolate dry hearts to make abundant new life. When we touch these needy, unseen and untouchable places with our greatest gift, love, we find our hearts are restored. We find it's so much less about the other and so much more about Jesus reconfiguring our vision. We find deeper connection with the recipient and with the one who is all sufficient. Giving is the only gift that hands back more than we could ever hand out. It's one of the only ways to get more than you ever asked for. Kelly Balarie

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