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warning to a would be balaam

Warning to a Would-Be Balaam

In this, the final part of this series, we see that William Gurnall provides a word of caution to any would-be Balaams lingering among his readership. If you recall, Balaam was a prophet—ostensibly a genuine prophet of God—who was subsequently hired by the wicked king Balak to curse Moses and the Israelites. But Balak erred […]

Guardrails Against Wrongful Use of the Imprecatory Psalms

Guardrails Against Wrongful Use of the Imprecatory Psalms

Concerning the use of imprecatory Psalms prayers, Gurnall issued these warnings: Do Not Pray Against Our Own Particular Enemies Take heed thou dost not make thy private particular enemies the object of thy imprecation: we have no warrant, when any wrong us, to go and call fire from heaven upon them. We are bid indeed […]

imprecatory prayers

Imprecatory Prayers?

“And thus I clothe my naked villany With old odd ends stolen out of holy writ; And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.”[1] Lately Twitter has buzzed with talk of imprecations—that is, the usefulness of modern believers praying imprecatory prayers over the deeds and lives of our enemies. Some of it is […]

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Interminglings

"Our life is nothing but as it were a web woven with interminglings of wants and favours, crosses and blessings, standings and fallings, combat and victory, therefore there should be a perpetual intercourse of praying and praising in our hearts. There is always a ground of communion with God in one of these kinds, till […]

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Glory in the Valley

The Valley of Vision Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see Thee in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold Thy glory. Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, […]

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The Motion of a Hidden Fire

Prayer described. PRAYER is the soul’s sincere desire, Utter’d or unexpress’d; The motion of a hidden fire, That trembles in the breast. Prayer is the burden of a sigh, The falling of a tear; The upward glancing of an eye, When none but God is near. Prayer is the simplest form of speech That infant […]