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” ... how much he has accomplished for God that day. He studies far more than I. He fasts far more than I”

Never had much truck with those who’re trying to do things for God that He, Himself, doesn’t seem all that interested in. Brainerd fasts and studies more than author IBT, but research shows that our medeivals (and today’s Islamists) surely studied and fasted (and self-flagellated and self-mutilated) for God more than any three Brainerds. But what can we do for God, other than to do unto others as we would have them...? Our Christian salvation is by faith, and not of works, hayna? Or no?

And there’s this, today, posted here from DavidJeremiah.org:

“Missionary J. O. Fraser who worked among the Lisu peoples of China once commented about the necessity of waiting on the Lord to do His work without the frantic, panicked rushing about that characterizes much of our labor.

He said: “In the biography of our Lord nothing is more noticeable than the quiet, even poise of His life. Never flustered whatever happened, never taken off His guard, however assailed by men or demons in the midst of fickle people, hostile rulers, faithless disciples—always calm, always collected. Christ the hard worker indeed—but doing no more, and no less, than God had appointed Him, and with no restlessness, no hurry, no worry. Was ever such a peaceful life lived, under conditions so perturbing?”1

The Bible teaches that the fruit of the Spirit is patience. We should do things as efficiently as we can, but in the end so much of life requires waiting on our Lord’s timing. What situation demands your patience today? Remember—He is called the “God of Patience” (Romans 15:5).”

Sounds like he was struggling. Our walk with God is a constant learning experience. I use to do the same thing, still do some what. Where I tell myself I'm not good enough, beating myself up and I hear back instantly now, "of course you aren't that's why I sent my Son." When we beat ourselves up, and I'm not talking about reflecting on things that we can do better, but, the beating up stuff. That's coming from us or satan, not from God. And it does not please God. God sent His only Son to make us worthy, Jesus makes us worthy, we can never do this on our own. Our efforts are as rags. We are to do the things God has equipped us to do. He doesn't expect us to do them perfectly. He will make them perfect. Even when we mess up, He can still use the mess and make something beautiful out of it. He expects us to do what He has told us, or is telling us to do, that's it.

I use to feel the same thing about God being close and then other times it felt like He had abandoned me. As I have matured in my walk with God I have discovered that I was believing a lie. Why it took me so long to figure that out, I don't know. And I wish to never take that long again to learn what I need to know about God. God says, He will never leave us, nor forsake us. End of story. Whether we FEEL like He is near or not, He is still right there, where He was when we were FEELING Him close to us. He never left, or feelings just don't always match up to reality.

“But what can we do for God, other than to do unto others as we would have them...? Our Christian salvation is by faith, and not of works, hayna? Or no?”

Well, remember, when Jesus was summing up the commandments, he also said to love God with all your heart. Studying, praying, and fasting are all ways to draw closer to God, so I think that is one way of expressing that love. If you love someone, don’t you want to be as close to them as possible?

I do think the author is a little off-base talking about these things as “accomplishing” something for God. Really, if you are praying, fasting, and studying, wouldn’t it be God that is doing the accomplishing, refining you into a better instrument?