BeautyRevealed | The Blog of Melissa J. Dillon

“For God alone my soul waits in silence; from Him comes my salvation.”

- Psalm 62:1

“Many of us suffer from the delusion that activity, accomplishments, size, and hubbub endear us to God and confirm His blessing. Although it runs against the grain of our surrounding culture, we must learn to practice the art of stillness, of quietness, of listening, and of receiving if we desire to be intimate with God. Because it takes time and loving attention to sustain a quality relationship, the Lord is more interested in our presence with Him than our performance for Him. While we come to love God by knowing Him, it is just as true that we come to know God by loving Him. Contemplative prayer seeks to apprehend God through love and faith in such a way that theology is not merely speculative but lived.” ~ Kenneth Boa

“I accept the rebuke that religious busyness, ‘over activism,’ is a sign that one is still in spiritual adolescence. Maturity is marked by the repose in which lieth power. Therefore, I believe that, increasingly, I should endeavor to be silent unto God and should take time for that blessed culture. Already I have found that, when calm is upon the spirit, one is drawn out more readily in adoration.” – G. H. Morling

“Blessed the man who learns the lesson of stillness and fully accepts God’s Word, ‘In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.’ Each time he listens to the word of the Father, or asks the Father to listen to his words, he dares not begin his Bible reading or prayer without first pausing and waiting, until the soul be hushed in the presence of the Eternal Majesty. Under a sense of Divine nearness, the soul, feeling how self is always ready to assert itself, and intrude even into the holiest of all with its thoughts and efforts, yields itself in a quiet act of self-surrender to the teaching and working of the Divine Spirit. It is still and waits in holy silence, until all is calm and ready to receive the revelation of the Divine will and presence. Its reading and prayer then indeed become a waiting on God with ear and heart opened and purged to receive fully only what He says. ‘Abide in Christ!’ Let no one think that he can do this if he has not daily his quiet time, his seasons of meditation and waiting on God.” – Andrew Murray

“We should make a private chapel of our heart where we can retire from time to time to commune with Him, peacefully, humbly, lovingly.” – Brother Lawrence

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” 

- Matthew 5:44

The following quote is by Os Hillman:

“There was a man who had become a friend and mentor to me, but a conflict rose between us that we were unable to resolve. I never imagined that this man would go from being one of my best friends to an enemy. I asked God to show me how I should treat this man, and the words of Jesus came to mind, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’ 

‘Lord,’ I said, ’surely you don’t mean I’m to love this man! Not after the way he’s hurt me and refused to reconcile!’

As I argued with God, I remembered that Jesus, before He was betrayed, got down on His knees and washed the feet of Judas Iscariot, His enemy. The moment that scene came to mind, I knew what God was calling me to do. I had to wash the feet of my Judas. 

This man who had been my friend and mentor had also been a client of my advertising agency. He was a Christian author and speaker, and I decided to bless this man by continuing to promote his ministry and his books.

Did he ever come back to me and reconcile? Yes, seven years later. But even if he had never reconciled with me, I knew that I did what God called me to do. I washed the feet of my Judas. I passed the test. 

God doesn’t promise that if we forgive there will be a happy ending. He doesn’t promise that the man who refuses to pay a bill will suddenly write a check. He doesn’t promise that one who rejects reconciliation will instantly soften his heart. Jesus forgave His executioners, but that didn’t keep them from nailing Him to the cross. 

The Graduate Level Test is not about getting the results we want. It’s about proving that we trust God enough to forgive our Judases. It’s a graduate-level course in Christian obedience. But I believe that every Christian whom God uses in a significant way must pass the Judas test. God wants to know if we are willing to be imitators of Jesus. How can we say we are followers of Christ if we won’t wash the feet of our Judases?”

Loved this quote. Wouldn’t it be nice to be in this place all the time?? Only by His Grace.

“Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is for me to have no trouble; never to be fretted or vexed or irritated or sore or disappointed. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me: to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and be at peace and in a deep sea of calmness when all around and above is trouble. It is the fruit of the Lord Jesus Christ’s redemptive work on Calvary’s Cross, manifest in those of His own who are definitely subjected to the Holy Spirit.” – Andrew Murray

“Satan has opposed the doctrine of the Spirit-filled life about as bitterly as any other doctrine there is. He has confused it, opposed it, surrounded it with false notions and fears. He has blocked every effort of the Church of Christ to receive from the Father her divine and blood-bought patrimony. The Church has tragically neglected this great liberating truth – that there is now for the child of God a full and wonderful and completely satisfying anointing with the Holy Ghost.” – A.W. Tozer

“What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? The fullness of the Holy Spirit is a relationship with the indwelling third Person of the Trinity whereby He is permitted to exercise His holy influence over every area of your life. The result is the fruit of Christ-likeness revealed through your personality. This beautiful effect increases as you mature spiritually. Fullness by the Spirit releases God’s power in you so that by His strength and energy you can live and minister. (Ministry includes every manner of service in the Name of Christ regardless of how insignificant it seems in the eyes of men.) Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control become descriptive of the kind of person you are” (Galatians 5:22-23). – Jerald R. White, Jr.

“For a healthy Christian life, it is indispensable that we should be fully conscious that we have received the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. Let us even weary Him by our incessant entreaties that the Holy Spirit may again assume His rightful place and exercise full dominion in ourselves and in the church.” – Andrew Murray

(Sunrise over the frozen lake.)

“God has called intercessors not to wonder about the future, but to create it through the knowledge of His Living Word and prayer! Our Father gives us access to the future right now. You ask, ‘How do we know what to pray?’ The Lord told us plainly, ‘After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. They kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven’ (Matthew 6:9-10). 

We can look at the conditions of the world and faint or look at the possibilities of God and take faith. To bring revival is to pray for the reality of God’s Kingdom to be made manifest on earth. Christ calls us to pray for God’s Kingdom to manifest itself in our world today.

When you hear from God and then pray His Word, you are having an impact on the as-yet-unformed essence of life with the Spirit of God Himself! This is why God calls us to not only know His Word but also to pray it. We must go from intellectualizing God’s Word to being impregnated by it. For everything good and holy that we see manifested in people, in churches and in life is first conceived and then birthed in the womb of prayer. 

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might. Ephesians 1:18-19

The key, of course, is to know Christ’s Word. We do not have authority; Christ has authority. What we have is revelation and submission. But as we submit to the Word and persevere in prayer, the future is changed and conformed to God’s will. 

Prayer warriors are the most frightening, powerful, demon-chasing, world-moving beings on earth. In truth, they are co-creators with God! They never wonder about the future because they are too busy creating it. Prayer warriors are positioned by God to stand in faith for their families and churches and cities and their nation. Prayer is stronger than kings and mightier than armies. Prayer is the most powerful force on earth.”

 - Francis Frangipane (from: “This Day We Fight!”)