A New Years Prayer 120813

A New Year's Prayer

Psalm 51:10-13 NASB
Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. [11] Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. [12] Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. [13] Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You.

This is my New Year's verse and a wonderful verse it is.

We all find that at times our zeal and enthuziasm wains and our love seems to grow cold.  We all find, at times, that we are are luke-warm.  We grow by undulation and experience highs and lows.

This fact makes this prayer a great blessing in that it not only reminds of our deep and abiding need but cries out to our Father for mercy and provision.  It is a supplication and confession in one.

But there is more.  The last verse is critical.  We often read it as a promise that if God will do what we find in verses 10-12 we will do what is found in verse 13.  But perhaps we read amiss.

As I read this passage it dawned on me that unless I seek what is found in verses 10-12 I will not be able to do what is found in verse 13.  I will be neither motivated nor qualified to teach transgressors (much less anyone else) His ways.  Without His provision I will continue to just float along wating for something to happen instead of being sensitive to and yearning for the opportunity to share the gospel.

This verse is worthy of meditation.  It deserve (as does all scripture) our close attention and prayerful examination.  It also deserves our expectation of being answered in the affirmative.  It is a prayer held in the promise.

I encourage you to join me in seeking what this passage seeks for the purpose of being His means and provision in the lives of the many lost and suffering we connect with every day.  We are here to serve Him as His witnesses - His witnesses not ouu own.

All around us, at work, in our families, in our recreation even in our churches there are transgressors who need to hear His ways, His truth, His good news.  We need to pray this purposeful prayer daily - even many times each day.

We must warn a fallen world and call it to repentance.  We must offer it the hope of eternity and His special providence in Christ.

Consider 101913

The following quote is  John Owen's,  Spiritual Mindedness.  It's a tough one but worthy of our full attention and efforts.

"Do we love God because we see a glory, a beauty, a loveliness in the glorious attributes of his nature?  Have we bothered to find out what those attributes are?  Do we always rejoice when we remember that he is holy?  Is it our great joy and satisfaction that God is what he is?  De we love him for the glorious revelation he has made of himself and all his holy excellencies in Christ?  Do we love him becasue he communicates himself to us and by christ?  If we do love God for the above reasons, then our love has come from a renewed heart.  But if we say we love God, but do not know why, or becasue we feel it is the right thing to say, or becasue we think it is wicked not to love God, then we have no evidence tht our hearts have been renewed by grace
A renewed heart loved spiritual things becasue God is in them.  It loves God for himself and not for what he does for us.  All other things are only loved becasue God is seen to be in them and because they are from God. . . . "


This is a great part of our work as believers.  To examine our hearts continuously and consistently for any discontinutiy or inconsistency.  How do we love God?  Why do we love God?  Who is the God we love?  Are we loving him well?

Your servant,
MS

A challenging text 101813

Ephesians 5:9b-10 ESV
[9b] Walk as children of light [10] and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

I find that in general things it is not hard to disccern what is pleasing to the Lord.  It's in the details that I find I struggle.  What should I do with me freetime?  Should I take this opportunity or that other one?  Should I go here or go there?

Perhaps the hardest thing to do is to seek His pleasure in our vocation, our calling.  What is it?  How do I do it?  Is it really what He wants me to do?  How can I tell if indeed He is pleased with what I am about?

Doing His will pleases Him but discerning what that will is (what pleases Him) is tough.  There's are many ways we try to discern if we are pleasing Him but most of them are dubious at best.

You sense His calling on your life and while you are about it you know His joy nd sense His pleasure.  But circumstances make you question if indeed this sense you have is from Him or not.  How do you measure, how do you know you are pleasing Him?

I have counseled not a few young men and women concerning their sense of vocation.  I have always advised them that numbers, praise, popularity even affirmation from friends and family can all be decptive measures.  I've always had a sense that though we are bent to look for success, our measure of success is something of which we must be very very wary.  We are so steeped in the measure- ments of the world that we impose those measures upon God.

Let me ask you how you measure your vocation - what you do by the grace and emrcy of God in service to Him whether it is direct ministry or a "secular" vocation. Is it money?  is it numvers?  Is it acclaim?  Is it confirmation from others?  

This is a dangerous place for us all - perhaps especially for we who are involved in direct ministry.  People tell us that if it is "of Him"" He will bless it.  After many years I still don't know what that would or should look like.

The best I can do is to simply trust Him in that if He has me here, doing what I am doing for Him to use me in just one life, that is enough for me.  No great vision, no big plans just doing what He brings for me to do and doing it faithfully - and doing my best to do it as it would please Him.

I have to trust Him for my pleasing Him.  I have to wade through all the doubts, all the hesitations, all the questions and all the painful comments of others and keep doing what He brings to me to do --  trusting that He is (not that He will - but that He IS) leading me in His providence according to His promises.

Paul tells us to "try" to discern what is pleasing to Him.  For me this is an admontion to constancy in prayer - seeking His providence in general and in the minutia.  It is an admonition to spend much time in prayer for the vocation I am engaged in - and to spend that time consistantly.  

I don't know how many of you struggle with your calling but I know that even though have been convinced of mine for over 20 years I still stuggle with the idea that I have missed it somehow because it is a small thing by the world's measure.  But there's the rub isn't it?

Consider -Keeping the Heart 101713

In his work, Keeping the Heart, John Flavel writes:

"Man, by the apostacy, is become a most disordered and rebeleious creature, opposing his Maker, as the First Cause, by self-dependence; as the Chief Good, by self-love; as the Highest Lord, by Self-will; and as the Last End, by self-seeking.
Thus he is quite disordered, and all his actions are irregulat.  But by regeneration the disordered soul is set right; this gret change being as the Scripture expresses it, the renovation of the soul after the image of God, in which self-dependence is removed by faith; self-love, by subjection and obediecne to the will of God; and self-seeking by self-denial.  The darkened understanding it illuinated, the refractory will sweetly subdued, the rebellious appetite gradually cconquered.  Thus the soul which sin had universally depraved, is by grace restored.  This being pre-supposed, it will not be difficult to apprehend what it is to keep the heart, which is nothing but the constant care and diligence of such a renewed man to preserve his soul in that holy frame to shich grace has raised it." (Emphasis mine)

He goes on,
"For though grace has, in a great measure, rectified the soul and given it an habitual heavenly temper; yet sin often actually discomposes it again; so that even a gracious heart like a musica instrument which though it be exactle tuned, a small matter brings it out of tune again; yea, hand it aside but a little, and it will need setting again before another lesson can be played upon it."

The heart is kept by diligent attention to those gracious gifts God has provided us for this purpose.  We have the Word and the Spirit we have prayer and worship.  Propper and diligent attention in and to these gifts are God's gracious provision but we must attend to them dutifully and consistantly our else we will be out of tune and sounding distressing instead of comforting notes in our lives and the lives of others.

Keeping the heart is keeping the heart from sin not retrieving it from sin.  Keeping the heart is watchfulness and diligence is the graces and mercies God has provided.  We are called to be oly and holiness is a great hinderance to sin.  We must be about the business of holiness first in our hearts and then, as a consequence, in our living.

But we fail to keep our hearts and suffer greatly in lack of confidence and lack of assurance.  Confidence in proclaiming Christ and assurance that we are in Christ.  Hence we are settled in a mediocre life - lukewarm and strangers to the joy of the Lord.  Adversity becomes a greater burden than it actually is and prosperity becomes a greater trap than is should be.

Keeping the heart is critical to keeping all else from disorder and confusion.

Consider.

An uncomfortable truth 101413

J. Burroughts wrote in his work, The Rare Jewel of  Christian Contentment:
"To grant great good after great evil is one thing, and to turn great evil into the greatest good is another, and yet that is God's way:  the greatest good that God intends for his people, he many timesworks out of the greatest evil, the greatest light is brought out of the greatest darkenss."  Kindle, location 1603

To know Christ and Him crucified.  Enough said!

Principles for the journey 101013

S. Ferguson draws the following list from John Flavel's work, The Mystery of Providence.

• God is in control of His universe.
• God is working out His perfect purposes.
• God is not my servant.
• God's ways are far more mysterious and wonderful than I can understand.
• God is good - all of the time;  I can trust Him - all of the time.
• God's timetable is not the same as mine.
• God is far more interested in what I become than in what I do.
• Freedom from suffering is not part of the promise of the Christian gospel.
• Suffering is an integral part of the Christian life.
• God works through suffering to fulfill His purpose in me.
• God's purposes, not mine, are what bring Him glory.
• God guides me by enabling me to read His Providence through the lense of the Word.
• I have few greater pleasures than tracking the wonders of God's ways.

Enough said.

Mind the mind 101013

"The mind is the faculty which ought to guide and conduct the soul.  It is to the soul what Moses said his father-in-law might be to the people in the wilderness, as eyes to guide them (Num. 10:31).  It is the eye of the soul, without which the will and affections would perpetually wander in the wilderness of this world, drawn to every object which seemed to offer some present good.  The first thing , therefore, that sin aims at is to draw off and divert the mind from the discharge of its duty.

There are two particular duties of the mind in this matter:

1.  To keep itself and the whole soul ready to obey God in all that he requires, and to watch against enticements to sin.
2.  To see to it that all particular actions are performed as God requires, in the right way, and at the right time; and to refuse all temptations concerning things forbidden."

Indwelling Sin In Believers -- John Owen --- p 63

In Romans 12 Paul admonishes us to renew our minds and that my deaar friends in no small task.  We take in so much that we shouldn't.  We are entertained by that which should offfend us and tittilated by that which should horrify.  From Movies to TV shows to commercials we allow the world to provike our flesh having little care for the dmamge it does to our minds.

And so we live weak and pathetic lives for Him.  We neglect duties we forego service we fail in keeping out hearts fixed on Him.  Instead we live as "Gentiles" in the futility of the world tossed here and there by our affections and thoughts never knowling the peace He has for us.

Our minds dear friends need to be protected from the dung the world offers and filled with His Word - guided by His Spirit.  But it is easier and more comfortable to be of the world with a veneer of Jesus than it is to be in Jesus suffering the smears of the world.

Take heed how you think, what you thing and why you think.  Your mind is indeed a critical faculty and when it is not guarded it yields to everything that enter it.  This keeps us from serving Him, it keeps us from being holy,it hinders our sactification and sullies our witness.

We should rail against the world and its attempt to pervert our thoughts away from Him and even pervert our thoughts of Him.  If we do not, how can we call oursleves His?  How can we have any assurance.  For we cannot say, "not I but Christ."

Synopsis - wisely said 101013

Mark Deckard write (base upon a work by J. Burroughs (the Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment)

"Contentment is not found in obtaining our desires, although God may sometimes grant them to us if they are not harmful.  Rather it is found in finding God in the midst of our unmet desires and in the end discovering that he is all we trule need (Matt. 6:25-33)."

Matthew 6:25-33 ESV
"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? [26] Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? [27] And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? [28] And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, [29] yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [30] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? [31] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' [32] For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. [33] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

How hard it is to lay aside our own answers and solutions and to wait upon His!  The flesh is strong when we are in distress and contentment seems so far from us.

The occassional Christian who runs to God when they have run out of themselves will find times of trial and discontent harder to bear than that believer whose habit it is to go before the Lord regularly seeking His will and the mortification of the fleshly, abiding sinful desires.  

I have come to think that we are to see our lives as a moment by moment battle not just an occassional skirmish with the world the flesh and the devil.  To see our lives as having but an occassional struggle is to see our lives as needing God only occassionally.  This leads to spiritual weakness and desperation in tiimes of great confrontation.

There are "musts" in the Christian walk.  Prayer, worship, stewardship to name a few.  They are not intended to gain us favor with God but to keep us close to Him to facilitate our growth and usefulness.  They also prepare us for those times of trouble and discontent that we must know we will face in this life.  When we fail in these Christian duties we are simply setting ourselves up for pain and agony.

Is he all you truly need?  Can you accept that and settle your soul?  Are you seeking to discover that through faithfully engaging with Him?  Are you seeking His kingdom, His kingship and all the mercies that come with them?  

Or, are you simply getting through life as best you can under your own power and effort?

Contentment is wonderful but without godliness it is an empty shell, a fractured pillar, a damaged foundation.

Thinking about thinking 100413

John Own wrote in his work, Spiritual-Mindedness;

"There can be no greater evidence of a renewed heart and mind that a change in the habit and stream of our thoughts."

Certainly a great insight and powerful admonition but how often do we really think about our thinking?  Yes, when we have a real doozie of an evil thought we do but do we examine them more commonly?  Do we examine what they run to, what they are occupied with?

In these tough times many of us are, well, anxious about the course of events around us.  This can occupy our thoughts to the exclusion of any or all spiritual thoughts.

Ok, what are "spiritual" thoughts?  I'm not referring to some airy fairy thinking about heave and angels although there's nothing wrong with that.  But rather I'm thinking of thoughts of God's grace and mercy to us - His providence - His moment by moment providence.

Do we manage our thoughts or do we simply let them run their own course?  If we do the latter the flesh will always find its way in and as it does our thoughts are poisoned.  Deliberately setting our minds on the bountiful mercies that we see and those we don't serves as a strong hedge against the intrusion and manipulation of the flesh in our thought lives.

Paul writes of taking every thought captive and indeed though the context is pretty specific we may extend its boundaries to include all of our thoughts.  They must be attended to with diligence and constancy or we are liable for a fall.

Worry and anxiety, though experienced in the physical body, are thoughts.  They are thoughts that question the providence - indeed the willingness of God to provide what is best for us now.  These are thoughts that must be addressed and resisted - and changed to thoughts of His graciousness and mercy.

The "habit and stream" of our thoughts are indicators of the condition of our hearts.

God tells us that 'the thoughts of men's hearts are only evil continually,' (Gen.6:5) and Owen comments, "What a hell of horror and confusion there must be, then, in the minds of men."

He goes on, "To be delivered from this state must be the most desirable deliverance in all the world."  And indeed apart from the deliverance from the bondage of sin, I agree.

What is the habit and stream of your thoughts?  Mine is toward not being good enough, not being useful to Him, financial distress, health, current events.  They can preoccupy my Mind to the exclusion of "spiritual" thoughts.

Indeed, we need to be thinking (and praying) about out thinking.

Tough questions - deep thoughts. 100513

John Owen wrote in his work, On Being spirituall Minded;

Can the majority of Christians honestly say that they think of such things {{hardship, calamity and disaster}} in such a way that leads them trust themswlves nd ll they love and have to God?  Can they say they so meditate on God's providential calls and warnings as to make themselves ready to part with anything and everything at God's time and pleasure"  How can such people pretend to be spiritually minded when all their thoughts resisit the idea of trusting everything to his will and pleasure?

I want to answer "Yes," to the first two questions but I am deeply confronted by a hesitation, a cold chill that goes to the bone.  I am hindered by pride and fear.  Perhaps the greatest fear is of man and what man might say of me if God were to call for it all.

It is common to see those who, even by God's providence, lose it all as failures, objects of scorn and pity.  It is common to withdraw from those in such distress as we look for their failures that have brought about their circumstances.  It is easier to leave them alone than to draw near.   It is easier to look for some blame to lay at their feet than to contemplate as an act of God's providence, a part of His plan.

I think many of us would rather suffer some disease and hence be empoverished than to have the hand of God sweep everythiing away.  Then we would have a reason, a cause for it and still be able to hold up our heads and look people in the eye.

To trust everrything to His will and pleasure is what He means by calling ut to be alive to Him and dead to ourselves and the world.  To trust everything to Him - or at the very least to struggle to do so is the fundamental condition in which we are called to live.  It is dieing to self - and to the good graces and acceptance of other people.

When we pray, "Thy will be done." do we realize what we are asking, what we are saying, what He might do?  I don't think we do.  I know that I have grown to be chilled when I pray that.

But it is my rebellious and tainted heart that is chilled.  It is the remnant of sin - that principle of evil yet dwelling in me that makes me struggle to simply surrender.  So I find myself in a fight with God and a struggle to maintain my sanity.  The assurances that "Everything will be OK," does little moer than drive my thoughts to death and the assurances I have of eternal lie with Him.  This is not a bad thing but it should not be the first thing.

When God acts in our lives whether we sense it to be good or bad, sour or sweet, it is for His glory and honor.  Are we willing to see Him glorified in our lives in a painful and uncomfortable manner?  Are we willing to suffer and have man-imposed shame torment our heads and hearts?

I want to and I don't want to.  I say "Yes!  BUT....."

And I ask Him to forgive me.

A critical question and comfort

"Has God weakened your ability to sin, denied you the opportunity, taken away the object of your lust, or diverted your thoughts?  Be sure that you have received mercy in this.  If God had not so dealt with you, you might by now be a terror to yourself, a shame to your family, and under the punishment due to some notorious sin.  You would have incurred additional guilt, perhaps ruined others, or caused some to be eternally ruined by your example.  All this has been prevented by these providences and eternity will witness that this is a special mercy.  These are not accidents.  The merciful hand of God is in them.  And you are less wicked than you would otherwise be."  John Owen

How often do we consider God's providential interference with our flesh?  How often do we, in prayer, thank and praise Him for intruding into our lives so that we can avoid offending Him?

How may times has a lost minute, a traffic light, a phone call, a cable outage, some interruption kept us from sin.

I don't think we consider this very often at all.  But there are no small mercies, no small blessing and this is one that we somehow don't see and certainly we don't give thank for.

Our consciences both spiritual and social may keep us from the "biggies" but it in God's providence none the less.  And when our consciences are diverted, when we are distracted from our service to Him it is His gracious providence that hedges us in, redirects our glance, halts our tongues, stops our train of thought.

When you pray don't forget these mercies, these blessings.  You may not have any specific thing to thank Him for but He knows where He has provided even if you don't.  Praying for those unknown - unseen mercies will bring depth and joy to your prayers.  They will also serve to make your conscience more tender so you will begin to see them and count them wonderful.

Indeed, even when we are unaware, "There but for the grace of God go we."

God and our enemies 100513

John Owen writes:
"God has amazingly various and effective ways of stifling their {{our enemies}} purposes.  He can put a stop to their fury when He pleases (Psa. 76:10).  When they have vented as much of their wrath as shall advance His praise, He can set up a power greater than the combined strength of all sinning creatures to restrain the rest.  Some He will cut off and destroy, some He will terrify, but He will restrain the rage of them all.  He can knock them on the head, break out their teeth or chain up their wrath; and who can oppose Him?"

More good news!  We have a God who has no sense of humor when if comes to those who would injure His servants.  They will all get what they deserve and if they don't them they will have become our dear brothers and sisters with whom we will then share enemies.

Have you seen His hand in this in your life?  I have and hope to see it more and more.

We need to pray that He will indeed, "knock them on the head," for our safety and protection.  There is nothing wrong with this.  I see it as an obligatory part of my prayer life.  Why?  Because it is not my place to knock them on the head regardless of how my flesh encourages it.

Remember, He calls admonished us:
Romans 12:18 ESV
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

An reminder in other words 100213

Oz Guiness wrote;
"Invisible, unimaginable, unmanipulable - The God of Sinia is the One before whom all hearts lie open and no secrets are hidden, the One before whom all other authorities, loyalties, allegiances, and accountabilities rapidly recede into a distant second place."

For we believers this is a, "yeah duhh!"  But it is also a fact that we allow the business and buzy-ness of our lives to obscure.  Though we know it is true we so sadly fail to live this truth moment by moment.

I know it is easy for me to become so caught up in "my thing" that I forget that all of "my thing" must be determined by a focused and intentional appeal to Him and His Word and Spirit.  I am not my own - bought I am - indeed a slave to Christ.  Yet I find it all too easy to default to my own thinking apart from His direction.

As I eat and drink food and fluids to sustain my body soul I must eat and drink of Him to sustain my soul.  We are too prove to attempt to live malnurished and dehydrated lives for Him.  Actually, when we do this we are not living for Him as much as we are living for ourselves.

We are always on the edge of "paganizing" our God making Him pliable and portable, a creation of our own lusts and desires, wants and wills.  That's why statements like that above are so important.  The proclaim the truth and admonish us in "other words" and perhaps - just perhaps these "other words" will drive us back to The Word and the disciplines He has blessed us with for our growth, our conformity to the likeness of His Son.

I'm just sayin'.

A disturbing reason for praise and thanksgiving 100213

John Owen wrote:
"And this is a remarkable feature of God's providence in the world:  He limits the flood of sin that would overflow the earth by restricting men's power to bring it to pass."

Couple this with the fact that in the last century over 800,000 million men, women and children have been killed in secular conflicts and I believe we should all be driven to our knees in thankfulness and humility.

Should God "blink" the evil we know would seem child's play - a mere discomfiture - compared to what sinful man is capable of.

Evil, as we know it within God's limits, must be a arrow pointing to a greater goodness we can only know in part.  As great as the evil we can know is the goodness of God is greater.  Every stick has two ends.  On one end we see the limited evil man is allowed and on the other we see (in a limited way) the great goodness of God.

There has to be two ends to the stick or there is no meaning, no purpose worth our efforts.

In my work in law enforcement as well as in my ministry I have seen the raw effects of sin.  I've smelled the bile and washed the blood from my hands.  As a young child I was witness to terrorist actions up close and personal where there was no regard for any human life.

Evil is and will be until He returns but we must keep in mind and be awed that it is a very very limited evil, restrained by an utterly unlimited God.  We need to not allow the commonness of evil in our world numb us.  Terror should terrify, injury should hurt, fear should birth fear - these are normal, human responses.  But none of these can be allowed to shock us into numbness.

Pray in gratitude for God's restraining hand.  Somehow the truth that regardless of how bad things are they, "could always be worse," should comfort us as it is our God who restrains, prohibits, denies the greater evil of which sinful man is capable.

For a good insight into the problem of evil I suggest Oz Guinness' book;  "Unspeakable' Facing up to the challenge of evil"

Sinning away conviction of sin.

In his book, Indwelling Sin in Believers, John Owen writes of the believer who, "sins away his conviction of sin."

I must admit that this was a source of very real conviction for me.  I reflected upon how often I catch myself engaged in something that one might consider a "little" sin with less conviction than I should have.  Maybe a book or a TV show or a movie.  Even the purchase of something that I delude myself into believing will bring some lasting satisfaction and meaning to my life.

I am confronted with the question, "How sensitive to sin and I - really?"  I have to admit that like many folks I don;t do well in my answer.  As James tells us, my desires create havoc in my soul that unfortunately is common enough to be dismissed unless directly confronted from outside.

This is due to several things not the least of which is an intentional examination of most of my life in the light of the Word and the Spirit.  What seems OK is most often not.  The law of grace loses it's power to restrain me because my mind is not fixed upon Him, His sovereignty and His calling.  I simply find it distressingly easy to let the "little" one's slip by.

Though these "sins" are (according to man;s measure) "little" they have the cumulative effect of numbing my heart to sin in general.  The old "everyone does it," or the "it's not a biggy," even "I'm redeemed and forgiven," are poor rationales for my failure in regards to these sins.

I have to make myself remember that if I had only committed the least of these "acceptable" sins Christ would have still had to suffer the horrors of their payment.  There only one acceptable payment for any and all sins but I, maybe like may of you, have a tough time keeping this in the front of my mind.

So I grow numb to conviction in an ever increasing way and find myself humiliated by greater lapses.  Lapses that would not have been so easy to make had i dealt honestly and directly with the "lesser" sins.

All this is to say that we must (ok, maybe it's just me) must do whatever is needful to become and remain sensitive to all sin in our lives.

This take intentional commitment and discipline.  It is hard and tedious work.  It looks a lot like legalism but though the law was fulfilled its use in our lives still stands.  Some how I have to move from being a mere fan of Jesus to being a fanatic for His glory.

Sin is spelled  S-I-N not O-O-P-S!

It's a scary proposition to consider praying for a level of sensitivity to sin that truly honors God.  So much of what is our lives - my life - will have to be examined and re-evaluated.  So much will have to change - even what seems like the minutia.

But - gratitude demands it.  God expects it.  The Word and the Spirit enable it.  Who am I to refuse it?

Pray to see to what degree you may had sinned away some of your conviction of sin.

093013 Motes

John Owen wrote, "Most would rather hear of the doctrines of grace, the pardon of sin, and the free love of God than break the fallow ground of their hearts and see to the weeds and briars that grow thee, though this is the only way to come to a true knowledge of grace."  (Indwelling Sin in Believers)

Self-examination is not something that comes naturally to either reprobate or redeemed.  Certainly we avoid what we might call the "big" sins but we do that to avoid the unpleasant and public consequences more than we might do it for the glory of God.  But as there are NO distinctions made between sins the fact that we are so prone to make distinctions tell us a great deal about the condition of our souls.

It would seem, at least in my experience, that it is so very hard to take the time and make the effort to find the mote in my eye, much less the log.  Logs I can for the most part avoid.  But this makes me wonder if in this teaching Jesus was not trying to tell us that our personal motes are in actuality logs.  We will nit-pick another's sins while finding a comfortable means of avoiding doing the same for ourselves.

I would challenge us to take an accounting of our motes.  One Puritan writer, his name fails me, tells us the the "small" sins we commit and dismiss are more heinous than the (supposed) great sins.  The reason for this is that we commit the "lesser" sins with greater impunity thereby bringing greater insult to the glory of God and greater injury to our souls condition.

I would suggest that the apathy that is so prevalent in our age is now a part of our faith.  We carve out a comfortable harmatology (theology of sin) and do all we can to abide there regardless of the effort needed to maintain the self-deception.

I was talking with a friend who had just taken a very expensive vacation and was struck by the phrase, "I earned it, I deserved to take a break."  What distressed me was what appeared to be his utter disregard for the fact that he had earned nothing.  Though he labors diligently in his profession he seems to have no understaaning that everything he has is a gift, a blessing, a mercy from the heart of God.  Nor did he seem to realize that his attitude expressed a certain selfishness concerning this merciful provision.

These are the motes we need to seek to root out.  Where do we fail to keep God's providence and His intent for that providence?  How do we get to a point where we even think there is a possessive "mine" to any of God's merciful providence?  Yet, I - we do that so very often.  How do we experientially repent of such subtle sins as this?
Self-examination - diligent and disciplined - is demanded.  Certainly as His child I am secure in my salvation but am I faithful in it?  Is He indeed the sovereign Lord to whom all things belong and for whom all things should be done?  Or is He a co-sovereign Lord who at some point abdicates to me and allows me to reign over what He alone has provided.

Yes, we may have to work terribly hard in and for what He provides.  Long ours and hard work may be our daily lot but regardless of any effort or sacrifice on our part it is all from His providence and it is all, always His.  It never - ever- becomes ours.  This is a "mote" that is truly a log.  This is that one drop of poison that poisons the whole cup.

Peace and the sense of peace. 091313

Romans 5:1 ESV
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Of this passage, William Bridge wrote:  There is "A fundamental peace which does naturally arise and flow from their justification.  And there is an additional peace, which arises from the sense of their justification."

That we are justified and hence at peace with God is a fact.  From this fact we may draw comfort and peace.  But it is our sense or experience of your justification that we draw a second if not special peace.

But sense being subject to the ups and downs of our living this peace may seem all to transitory and fleeting.  We may struggle to be at peace while our senses are pulled and twisted by the world, our flesh and the devil.

Perhaps we rely too much on sense and not enough on the truth found in the Word.  There is always something to twist or other wise hinder our senses.  It is in our senses that the flesh finds its best target as when we confuse our felt needs with our real needs and our felt condition with our true condition.

We d ourselves no good when we seek to live on some "sense" of our justification.  The evidence that we do not deserve it and are not worthy of it is just too overwhelming to our senses.  But we will still seek to attain that "feeling" of justification.

Consider this;  the only place I can see where we can truly gain a sense of our justification is in our sense of our sinfulness.  Apart from that justification has no meaning and certainly no sense.  It is the same old story.  It is only at the cross looking upon the price paid that we can have the solid and appropriate sense of justification.  For we are justified from our sins and there only.

If I desire to have a sense of the peace wrought by my justification I must see my sin and it's cost and accept that He has redeemed me from it.  There is no other place from which my justification makes sense or gives sense than at the foot of the cross.

There in lies the lesson

M

Psalm 94:12. 091213

Psalm 94:12 ESV
Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law,

Consider:

"A man by trouble comes to know his own heart, which in prosperity he is a stranger to.  He sees the weakness of his grace and the strength on his corruption; how nothing is weak but grace, nothing strong but sin; and this lays him in the dust"

Thomas Case, A Treatise on Afflictions

Do we really look deeply at His purposes in our afflictions or do we merely look at the affliction and seek its relief?  Do we allow the heat of the furnace to burn away all the fleshy concerns and fears that we might see the root, our sinfulness and its true power and place in our hearts?

Heart-breaking-ly it seems most common for us to seek relief without examination much like going to a doctor seeking some easy diagnosis and quick cure when we, in reality, suffer a terrible malady.  Would we really want to be told we have the flu when a cancer was eating away at us?  It seem, when it comes to our life in Him, we would.

God's hand can lay heavy upon the shoulders of His children.  But like a father who firmly grips his child as the come to a street crossing, He does it for our good and betterment.  It is not pleasant but when we do not allow the Master Physician the Great Father to show us the truth we merely delay the cure having to suffer the dis-ease again.

What affliction has God laid on you?  Be mindful that the affliction is secondary to what God desires to do in your life and heart.  Perhaps He desires a change of habit or behavior but I encourage you to look deeper, to your heart, and seek the root sin that gives bloom to the obvious one.

There is lies the lesson.

M

Finger Thinking 091113

Psalm 73:25-26 ESV
Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. [26] My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

How often is this a statement that we make or even consider?  It is so very easy to get caught up in the everyday to the point that we forget the only hope that we have.  It is so very easy for us to become numb to this truth.

Caught between the World and the Devil our flesh is so easily empowered and our hearts so easily benumbed.  It is only in those providential acts of merciful affliction that we desire to cry out as David does.  It is only in the loss or hindering of His mercies that we see how very precious they are.

There are no small blessings, so insignificant mercies and yet we are so very prone to treat them so.  We miss so very much of His wonder and lovingkindness simply through inattention and diversion.  We hope for heaven and miss the awesomeness of His providence in the everyday.

It does us little good to determine to not be diverted - there is little strength in our determinations.  It does us less good to approach Him as though it were some business or social goal we have set for our selves.

No, it is only in His strength that the distractions of the World and the Devil can be dispelled and we can regain the sight we need to whole-heartedly adore Him and see the value of all the mercies He pour out upon us moment by moment.  

We are to live in and by the Spirit and not the flesh - but this takes - no, demands a submission, a humbling that we are not prone to give.  We are so very oriented to achievement, to works that we bow not our knees for the common and the ordinary.  We have been fooled into thinking that we can deal with those things and only need Him for the "big things."

There is none in heaven for us but Him.  There is truly nothing here of any comparative value.  But we don not live that out in the everyday.

Pray that He will strengthen your heart, your soul, to bend your knees for the common and everyday things we have seen as the products of our efforts.  Do not be fooled into thinking that you accomplish anything apart from His providence.  

There and there alone will we find the peace He has for us.

A Needed Prayer

Proverbs 30:7-9 NASB
Two things I asked of You, Do not refuse me before I die: [8] Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, [9] That I not be full and deny You and say, "Who is the LORD?" Or that I not be in want and steal, And profane the name of my God.

This is a prayer for contentment and consistency.  It is a prayer we would be well advised to commit to memory and pray with great regularity.

We are so very weak and so very bombarded with temptations that it is hard to neither deceive not seek riches.  We are measured today by what we have (or don't have) and it is impossible to avoid being affected by it.  We need that balance - that gracious balance this prayer seeks.

You and I know this struggle.  We faces many many times each day.  We want to be like everyone else and unfortunately so do many of our fellow believers.  But we are unique individuals in so many ways and we are a unique people as well.  Our ways must not be "THEIR" ways.  What we seek must be above and beyond what they seek.

Trusting God to answer a prayer such as this should not be hard.  But cooperating with His providential answers can be.  It is indeed a battle - a moment by moment battle.  He has won the war but we must clear the fields and hills of the insurgent enemy until the final victory is revealed.

I encourage you to memorize this prayer and to pray it often - especially in ties of trial and in times of temptation.  Let the assurance of His goodness and willingness to answer this prayer comfort and calm you.

There is lies the lesson.

M

Finger Thinking 082513

Mat 6:10  Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Thomas Case wrote:
"By suffering God's will we learn to do God's will:  God hath no obedience children as those whom he nurtures in the school of affliction.  At length brings his scholars to subscribe, what God will, when God will, how God will."

Our striving after godliness is no mere walk.  It is a constant struggle to overcome the flesh (self).  Being wholly unable to make any progress on our own, our loving Father often uses the rod of corrections to teach us obedience.  And indeed, for the redeemed, all affliction carries with it a critical lesson /God desires us to learn.

No, it is never pleasant and it gives provocation to our flesh (self) but we must remain under it as the lesson He has for us unfold.  Whatever the lesson, we must learn it.  It is His will for us.  Learn it not the first time and His love demands we learn it under a new affliction.  His holiness and indeed His love demands He teach us in whatever way He must that we may be conformed to the likeness of His Son.

We fight it to our own hurt.  We crave deliverance to our own detriment.  When we resist His instruction through His Word and Spirit.  When we ignore the ordinary means He uses to teach us and mold us He must use those methods which we call affliction and suffering to quiet the flesh (self) - to overcome the abiding principle of evil we carry within our selves.

We have a choice.   We can humbly submit to Him in the exercise of those duties He calls us to or we expect the rod of correction to drive us to them.  In His mercy and grace we have the choice.  In our fallen struggle we must fight for the right choices.  If we do not, if we reject or ignore His common means for our instruction He has no choice but to correct us by what ever means for what ever duration towards His end for us.

There in lies a lesson.

Finger Thinking Psalm 28:9b

Psalm 28:9b
Be their shepherd also, and carry them forever.

A curious verse.  It is not uncommon for a shepherd to have to carry one of his or her sheep.  Illness, injury, even contrariness all all circumstances the would give rise to this need.

In this little verse however we read Davids request that God carry His sheep forever.

A curious picture.

Until we realize that regardless of our maturity in Christ we all suffer illness, injury and bouts of contrariness.  We all need to be carried.

But the picture here is not that occasional carrying but rather a constant, consistent carrying of the sheep.

Perhaps we need to prayerfully consider our constant, consistent need to be carried.

It's all too easy for us, when we are comfortable and at our ease, to assume we are able to walk on our own.  We assume we suffer neither illness, injury nor contrariness when indeed one of those is not all are our most common condition.

David paints a picture in this simple verse of our need to realize our need to be carried at all times, in all ways by our Good shepherd.

The pride that attends prosperity can blinds to our great need to be carried.  We grow lax in our duties and the blessings of God seem common and go little noticed.  It is our duty to strive to know our need.  Not just in affliction but in times of seeming wellness and obedience.  It is our duty at all times.

Do you let the Shepherd carry you?  Are you utterly dependent upon Him in your mind and heart?  Are you willing to so humble yourself that you really accept - completely and utterly - that apart from Him you can do exactly nothing?

A little verse - a powerful truth.
And so the lesson ends.

I beseech you . . .

In his commentary on 1st Peter, Alexander Maclaren writes:

"And so, I beseech you, open your eyes to the meaning of life, and do not suppose that you have found the last word to say about it when you say, 'I am afflicted,' or 'I am at ease.'  The afflictions and the ease, like two great wheels in some great machine working in opposite directions, fit with their cogs into one another and move to something beyond them in one uniform direction."

The must be purpose behind all of God's providence be if afflicting or easing, confounding or comforting.  If there is no purpose then we are great fools to believe in Him and to seek to serve Him.  Both affliction and ease carry their own dangers and their own promise.  The danger of sin and the promise of being conformed to the likeness of Christ.  And which dear friend would you have?

We were promised tribulation in this worlds.  We are told over and over that we will face trials.  but we are assured over and over that there is a point a purpose.  We may complain about them to God but we must never complain of God about them.  They are, for all their bite and sting, for our good and His glory.

There is not much that should be needed to be said about trials and ease for you dear reader, if you have been attentive to your Bible will know this at least intellectually.  but God would have you know it experimentally - to know it deeply and to trust His working in your lives for your good and His glory.

We are, as Peter says, living stones.  As stones that are intended to be fitted together with others that build the temple we muse be hewn, sized and polished.  This demands a hammer and chisel.  We must trust that He is forming us to take our place in His temple, to be "fitted" for our purpose and place.

Indeed affliction and ease serve a purpose far beyond the experience.  Will we accept that and rejoice in His care regardless of it's pleasantness of unpleasantness?  

There in ends the lesson.

Worship 002

Deuteronomy 11:16 ESV
Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them;


We can not help but acknowledge that our hearts are at best fickled and at worse they are deceitful beyond measure.  Even though we are redeemed and set apart for, in and to Him our hearts are still prone to waywardness, rebellion and self-seeking.  Certainly, as we mature, we expect to see our hearts grow stronger and wiser and more faithfu but there's no easy or quick (or here, definitive) way for that to happen.

Examining our hearts in light of the Word under the guidance of the Spirit was a practice, indeed a duty the Puritains placed great emphasis on.  This examination was not just some curosry "check-up" but a deep and intense examination a spiritual angiogram if you will.  They saw this as essential not only for maturation in the faith but for the glorification of God.  I believee that regardless of how much time and effort we spend in the Word and prayer, if we do not purpose it to examine our hearts, it is little more than busy work.

David prays:

Psalm 139:23-24 ESV
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! [24] And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

A very bold prayer and one we would be well advised to not just pray asking but pray demanding.  It's a risk, it's dangerous because God must say "Yes!"  It is a risk and an danger because it will result in a deep and perhaps painful challenge to many of the things we thought we had right.

But unless we are willing to pray this and accept what He shows us we have casue to question if indeed we are His or not.  To ignore the need for self- and God's examination of our hearts and/or to fail to acknowledge and respond to what is found is a sin of self-protective rebellion and a self-abusive sin.

It is perhaps in regard to worship that our hearts need close examination - which too little of which is ever done.  The church has wandered into the morass of comfort, convenience and culture that has alienated her from her head and sorely weakened her witness.  We have stacked so many pretty things, practices and ideas around worship that only a very dim light can be seen.

Where we should be focused on what God prefers we focus on what we prefer.  Instead of seeking and practicing what God requires we seek and practice what our flesh and the unbeliever requires.  Our worship has become more about us and less and less about God.

We promote worship as contemporary or traditional.  The real issue is whether it is acceptable or unacceptable, holy or profane, reverent or rebellious.  We have not only brought strange fire to God's worship but we have laid aside some of the most fundamental tenets of the faith.  We have abandoned the main and plain truths for the bright and shiny deceptions.  We have made worship an issue of "What's in it for me (us/them)?"  instead of "What's in it for Him?"

This is nothing new.  The first murder resulted from unacceptable worship.  So we can take some strange comfort in the fact that this is a common and continuous problem.  but that strange comfort must convict us and bring us to repentance.  it should drive us to the Word to do the hard work of examining OUR hearts in regard to worship and what we think, believe, want, don't want, etc.

We must prayerfully cry out for God to show us how to worship Him not just in spirit but in truth as well.  The "how" of our worship is a clear indication of the "who" of our worship.  We need, individually and collectively to examine our worship (inside and out) to see if it is what He wants.

WORSHIP 001

Deuteronomy 11:16 ESV
Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them;

It's not "how" you worship but "who" you worship.  That is the  priority.  BUT who who worship must shape how you worship or it is not worship.

The "who" must shape the very nature of the the "how."  When we decide the how based upon our own preferences, affections and perceived needs we destroy any real point of purpose to our worship.  It becomes about us and Who and we nullify not only our worship but who we worship as well.

When we seriously consider the detail and intricacy of the the God of the Bible directed Israel to worship Him we have to admit that He has some pretty specific desires for worship Himself.  The power and purpose, the very heart of Israel's worship was to be found in their obedience to God in regards to worship.  When they began to order their worship according to their affections, preferences and percieved needs things went very badly for them.  To change the "how" from what we find in God's word to a "how" that we have developed is to change the "who" and "why of our worship.

Now "when" is worship?  I'm writing specifically of the gathering of the saints on the Lord's Day for the specific purpose of corporate worship.  I'm not talking about Bible studies, Celebrations, Singings or anything else the Body of Christ has found to do for its building up and equipping.  Those things can be good and beneficial but we need to be careful we understand the difference between worship and and activity that acknowledges God and is done reverently (perhaps even worshipfully).

Worship is a deadly business.  "Strange fire," is not only unacceptable but can get you killed.  Assuming a role in worship that is ordained for another can have soul killing results.  Worship is deadly business.

But, to make the key point, it is all about the who.  If you've got the who wrong or if the who is mixed with a little me or us then it is not worship.  Indeed if there is me or us mixed in then there is no He in it.  As Thomas Case wrote about sin, "a little poison if still poison."

It will take a diligent examination of the whole counsel of God to determine the how and I doubt we'll ever get it totally right until we are with Him.  But isn't it worth the effort?  Isn't is a good thing for us to work hard for?  Isn't He worth it?

As I work through this for myself I'll share my thoughts and insights.  but I will state from the outset that worship needs to be all about Him.  Worship, true and wholesome worship, is serious business - deadly serious and we should approach it with fear and trembling.

Spiritual Vertigo 070113

This is going to be a weird one.  Today as I was listening to my Prayer Playlist (I have to have music when I pray or my mind races all over the place) I was struck by my problem with vertigo.  It's not bad bad - ladders are OK and single story roofs are Ok but anything higher and my toes curl right up to my chin, I get dizzy, faint and want to throw-up.  Yeah - no window seats for me on planes.  I become a babbling mess.

But I was considering the many trials we face and how some seem to lead us right to the edge of a great precipice.  Been there - done that - doing it daily.  But it came to me that I've never really been led to the edge by Him.  It's the fear of getting to the edge that really gets me.  All the anxiety of anticipation is the problem.

Our minds all too often race ahead of our circumstances.  Of course some of that is good.  It's wise to anticipate and plan (prayerfully) about our futures.  Though they are utterly in His hands He does engage us in the process which is a real kindness for fate would never be so good.

But, it's when we only anticipate the worsening of our circumstances that we will find ourselves in real trouble.  It's a very easy place to get to and an easy place to get stuck in.  It's like walking onto a smearing of super glue.  You don;t have to stand there long before you're going nowhere.

But the trouble with looking forward positively is (at least for me) is I start getting real specific - actually telling God how to work it out.  I start praying for this and that in great detail.  Giving God a program to follow.

Now there isn;t anything wrong with praying secifically - it's a good thing.  BUT when those requests harden into expectations - even demands - we're back in the superglue again.  We often miss any little answers to rpayer that build into a whole complete answers.  Or we begin to murmur becasue we don;t see our plan unfolding.

I've found that I do best to not anticipate the edge.  It's there and He may well lead me so I hang 10 over the edge but I can;t remember a time He ever did that.  It's my imagination that gets me there - my poor, weak, corrupt and fallen imagination.  It's that fear of vertigo -

But, I'm learning that vertigo and stepping off the edge are not the same thing.  My "spiritual" vertigo is all about me and my weak and stumbling faith - the "unbelief" I need Him to help me with.  So what if I get to the edge and become a whimpering mass of me.  So what if I get to the point where I break and crumble.  So what.

Who did I ever think I was anyway?  I think of Jesus on the pinnacle of the temple - no indication of vertigo there.  Why?  Because in that trial and the temptation attached to it He knew two things.  First He could say "No." to the temptation and second if was just a trial.  He knew that even on the edge God was still in charge.

That's what I take away for myself.  If God does ever lead me to the edge I pray I will say "NO" to whatever temptation is there and I will remind myself that I cannot be alone on that edge.

Finger Thinking 060413

070113

Oh Lord, You are great beyond measure
mighty to save and keep.
Your children suffer at the hand of man
and at their own hands as well.
We are told so many things
that Your Word does not say.
Men gild Your Word with dross
so we may follow them.
We are so easily caught by the trivial
captivated by the bright and shiny.
We are so easily distracted
by the suffering we experience.
Such a little suffering we experience.
A relative suffering -
a suffering that is so trivial compared to Yours -
Yours for us.
We rejoice that you went to the cross
but there are few of us attending.
We'd rather stay within the walls
celebrating the shadows
rejoicing in the image
avoiding the glare of the actual.
We will died for You
if it's quick
painless
and low cost.
We will live for you
if it's easy
comfortable
and low cost.

Sensitivity to the "sought."

Ok  - behind this is the belief - based on scripture - that no one seeks after God.  I won't list all the texts that make that clear, the argument has be faithfully and fully made by many many Christian writers.

But I will state that what is missing in many ministries and churches is a sensitivity to the "sought."  We see in Jesus a clear example of how we are to see and deal with the unbeliever.

Mark 6:34 ESV
When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.

Matthew 9:36-38 ESV

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. [37] Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; [38] therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

They, those to be harvested, are out there and if we are to believe our Lord they are ripe for the harvest.  We are to go and labor in the field to bring in what God has prepared.  

But one does not harvest different produce in the same way.  You harvest wheat one way and tomatoes in another.  One does not harvest everything in the same way.  If you attempt to you can damage the crop.

I believe there is a lack of sensitivity on the part of many believers to the condition of those they would seek to reach.  We have tried the canned methods and have found them lacking.  What we haven't tried to any great extent is taking them as they are where they are and "harvesting" then in the appropriate manner.  We have failed to pray for the sensitivity we need for the harassed and helpless.

What a wonderful picture of the ripe fruit mixed with harassed and helpless sheep.  

No, we don't not water-down the gospel.  We do not dance around the issue of sin and hell.  But we do not use it as a club to beat them into the kingdom either.  

"Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling."  There's a hint at how we are to go about the work of the harvest.  Think of tender grapes being carefully cut from the vine and gently places in the basket.  Think too of acorns which are harvested by beating the limbs of the tree (not the acorns) to get the ready ones to fall to the ground for harvest.  Different fruit, different harvesting methods.

My main point is that we need to be sensitive to the ripe ones and the not yet ripe ones as well.  

This leads me back to the sheep thing.  Sheep can be spooked so easily and when they are spooked they can easily injure themselves - severely.   We often do more harm than good in how we deal with these harassed and helpless ones.  This is not acceptable.

How much good does the pro-life protest do when it vilifies the patient and the provider?  Sinners?  They most certainly are.  Condemned?  Who outside of Christ is not?  But objects of cruelty they must never be and yet some think they are doing God's work when they shout epithets and vilification at these men and women.

Yes, I know, there are lots of goats out there with the sheep but can you really tell the difference?  Can we in good conscience treat every unbeliever like a goat.  Would we not honor Jesus and do better if we treated everyone as harassed and helpless?  Would we not do better to call them (for Him) softly and tenderly?

We can not change the gospel, leaving out or softening the hard parts.  To do this is to cheapen the gospel and cheat the hearer.  But the hard parts of the gospel do not have to be communicated in a hard way.  They are hard enough without our adding our own perverse passion to them.

I believe the following verse can not be limited to converse between just believers but applies to how we speak the good news of redemption to everyone:

  Ephesians 4:15 ESV

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

We grow into Him, Christ, when we speak the truth in love whether we are speaking to a brother or sister or to a goat.  But helpless and harassed sheep especially must hear the good news softly and tenderly.  Anyway else would cause them to stumble and we all know what that brings us.

OK - so the idea above is not well developed - hope to do better with it as I pray and think on it.  But I am convinced that we must be sensitive to those we seek in His name.  It may mean we spend years in harvesting one grape but it is His grape and needs to be harvested rightly.

Yeah - grapes - sheep - mixing a lot here but Jesus saw the connection - I pray you do as well. 

Just a note - He taught these helpless and harassed sheep "many things."  what "many things" should we be teaching?

Later

M

God's providence is always providential.

Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth." But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a youth'; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD." (Jer 1:4-8)

Finger thinking 070113

The secret to the successful Christian life is a very very well kept secret.  It is buried in mound of flesh and tons of skewed and twisted teaching.  That's why it's a secret.

We try so very hard to come up with the scheme that will allow us to win God's favor and in doing so we nullify the cross and make mockery of the resurrection.  We challenge the sovereignty of God and refuse His right to have dominance over all of our lives.

We don't really like God much.  We want to just live our lives in comfort and ease singing silly songs about Jesus and playing the game the world offers us.  We are weak, sultry, rebellious and stupid - and that's just believers.

There is NO secret to living the successful Christian life.  It's written on every page of scripture.  We also find the why of our pathetic attempts to live for ourselves while giving lip-service to Him.

OK - hard stuff - and maybe just maybe it's just me.  If that is so than Praise God the rest of you are doing so well.  Maybe I'm just one among a few who while trusting in His death and resurrection for my salvation have little interest or appreciation of His desire to conform me into the likeness of His Son.

Of course there is only one way to be conformed to Christ and that is to share in His sufferings.  He suffered every day in every way and more so than we can ever - ever - comprehend.  He suffered and calls us to suffer with Him.

But we don't want to suffer, we just want to be saved.  We want a nice cozy road to heaven.  We want to just kind of slide right through the gates.  but tht is not His plan for any of us.

For some the suffering is great for others the suffereing is common.  Those who suffer greatly know Him greatly.  Those who suffer "commonly" tend to have a lack of appreciation of the suffering they do experience.  They are able to ignore the meaning and purpose of their suffering.  It is a light and yet constant suffering that they are able to mediate, medicate and/or minimize and so they miss the blessing and honor for the sake of comfort and acceptance.

In my trial(s) I find that in moments of sweet communion I can accept and appreciate what God is doing in my life.  But before me I experience a deep sense of shame and failure and that gives rise to resentment of the trial(s).

God's desires to conform us to the likeness of His Son is a key issue in our lives.  do we want it or not?  If we do we have to enter the forge.

I have some friends who work a a company that makes tools.  Two things are needed to forge those tools into useful and dependable tools (upon which lives depend).  It takes heat and force.  The metal they use comes prepared for forging.  All the trash has been removed - there is no dross left - it is ready for the forge.  Then are with the purifying process heat - very high heat is applied to make the metal pliable.  then great force is applied to hammer the metal into the tool.  The force is so great that "hammed" has to have a special foundation and the whole plant shakes with each blow of the hammer.  But the heat and the hammering produces the desired tool.

Christ has purified us by His blood.  Yes we still have to wrestle with the evil principle that remains but my point is that while we wrestle with that remaining flaw He is busy heating and hammering that we might be forged into the tools He desires us to be.

Yeah, all analogies have problems but I think that we will do well to look at His conforming us are necessitating the heat and the hammering.

Those of you who know me know I like to keep things simple or as my guy Alistair Begg says I like to stick to the, "main things and the plain things."  So here you go brothers and sisters - a simple "secret" to living the life and being conformed -

Joshua 1:6-9 NASB
"Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. [7] "Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. [8] "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. [9] "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

From a very dark place - ever been there?

Ecc. 7:10  Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?” (ESVST)

Ecc. 7:14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider:God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. (ESVST)

It's a tired old phrase, "I have come to the end of myself."  I know it's tired, I say it at least twice a day.  And yet I keep discovering that my self - that is my flesh and my pride - is without end.  It may hide while assaulted, it may lurk in the shadows of my soul - but it is never at an end.

Only in the presence of God, on that glorious day when we are made like Him will the self- the flesh finally and eternally be changed.  It will be wholly His and wholly for and to Him.  But here it is my arch enemy - my constant antagonist - my constant thorn and affliction.

When I read Paul:

Rom. 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (ESVST)

I want to volunteer.  But Paul goes on:

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin (ESVST)  Rom 7:25

In times of trial and affliction this is a passage of strange and alien meaning.  I want too respond, "So????"  My mind know god and my mind (all of me) loves God and knows He is worthy of love.  But my flesh seeks from HI what does not come and seeks relief He does not yet provide.

My peace becomes numbness my hope becomes flat and my comfort has no taste of substance.  This is my flesh.  There is no peace for the flesh, there is no hope nor comfort and so I find my flesh ruling my heart, distessing my mind and disturbing my soul.

The Word tells us:

Better is the end of a thing than its beginning,

and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit (ESVST) Ecc. 7:8

But what end?  Certainly this must mean death is better than birth.  The end of a trial better than the beginning.  But what of the in between?  

If all is vanity than what matters?  A chasing after wind is what living is.  Does this not apply to all our labor, all our effort, all our goals and gains.  Do we not better seek the end than the middle?

But we do not know the end and we are to hope in the middle for the end.  but we do not know, with any assurance, any other end but death and resurrection.  So many of us struggle in the middle fighting making the end ourselves.  Don't we?  Really?

What do we do when the desire to be with Christ where He is seems more powerful to be in Christ where we are?  It is, more or less depending on the person, a strong pulling, a great temptation.  

Job felt that the day of his birth was the worst day of His life.  Though we can see in Job that much of His middle part was good and lovely and a blessing.  Yet in his trial, not having been born was preferable to the in between place.

It is perhaps normal, in trials, to yearn with all we are, to be with Him.  Some even contemplate making that transition by their own hand.  I have had those in my life who have done so and I mourn their passing yet have compassion for their plight that led then to that conclusion and concluding.  I understand.

I understand and am ashamed when I have those thoughts.  Having known them intimately and being very familiar with their circumstances I think I understand their choice and comparing their plight to mine I am ashamed if ever that thought comes to mind as an option.

Yes, this is a strange blog but I am in a strange place.  It is not an unfamiliar place - it has always been strange when I have been here.  But the convicting questions is, "do I really want to be with Him or do I just feel so sorry for myself that I really want to be our of my affliction and use that temptation as an attempt to manipulate God?

I suspect the latter and so I am ashamed and convicted by my own sad sinfulness.

Oh well - the sun is up - I am alive - He must have something for me to do and I must be out and about life if I am to do it.

In short, as I have told many who have wandered where I now wander, "When God wants you dead, you'll be dead."  Hard words but until He makes me dead He has things form me to do and things for me to learn.  So I give my life to Him and only ask that I die to myself.

Good luck? Not hardly.

Prov. 16:33, The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.

Just a thought for today.

How often do we wish folks, "good luck?"  Do we really know what we're wishing them?

What we're doing is suggesting that somehow it is a good thing to trust in fate or fortune instead of the sovereign God.  We're encouraging them to idolatry.  We're proposing that they put their faith in a false god offering no hope what so ever.

"Good luck," "Good fortune," even "May the force be with you," may seem innocent but they are not.  They are sinful proposals, invitations to hopelessness.

We would be better encouragers if we blessed them with "I pray God's providence for you concerning X."  But that's a little dangerous too.  it leaves it totally in God's hands to say "Yes," or "No."  AND whatever the answer it is His providence.

More than that, it is His blessing - yeah, "NO!" can be a blessing if it's a "No," from Him.

Even when we say, "may God bless you,"  we have to keep in mind that a "No," from Him is just as much a blessing as a "Yes."

James make it plain:

James 4:15-16 NASB
Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." [16] But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.

I could go on and on and on but I think you can get my point.  If what comes from our mouth comes from our hearts then wishing someone good luck tells us something about our hearts - they may be good intentioned but they err and the "why" of that error needs to be examined and rooted out.

Prov. 16:33, The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.

No quiet desperation.

First let me recommend a book.  Thomas Boston's,  A Crook in the Lot, is a short and powerful work for every believer but especially those who are facing trials - and know it.  I added, "and know it," because a life of trial is what the believer has.  Though we commonly only consider the big trials we err in this as everyday has within it trials directed at our faith.

Trials.  Put them on a scale of 1 to 10.  Ones are those trial we are able to ignore.  the hearing of gossip, the purchase of a frivolity, commercials on the TV.  As they move up the scale they become harder to ignore.  An 8 through 10 robs us of our security and comfort in anything fleshly as refuse to be ignored.  A 10 devastates.

I've hear the phrase and even used it, "quiet desperation."  That's when we are so tried we are numbed and all we can seem to do is just to sit and ache.  At about an 8 we begin to complain to God - which is fine as long as we do not complain about God. These trials (8-10) are ghastly experiences that though the should drive us to our knees, more often than not they drive us to fleshly solutions of our own imaginations, scheming and self preservative impulses.

I do not write this from a vacuum.  I wish I did.  I know the numbing power of trials when, in my case, they rob you of any sense of self confidence, self worth, and, well, self.  You look in the mirror and see no-one.  Like a vampire you have no reflection for the trial has destroyed what you once thought you saw there.

As time passes everything, every sin passes through your mind claiming credit for your circumstances telling you that there is no one to blame but you.  Some of that is, of course, true.  We all do (or don't do) things which result in trying times.  There is guilt there for us but - but - but!!!!!!!

Regardless of the sin which entangles and contributed to our trial God is in charge.  he could easily have kept us from the trial.  He could have provide a consequential remedy to keep us from the trial and the trial from us.  God and His grace are not only bigger than our sin but bigger than its consequences as well.

Trials are always a consequence of sin - ALWAYS.  It may not be our sin or the sin of anyone we know but at the root of trials is sin.  God is bigger than sin and the trials they bring.  We can with confidence say that God is the first cause of our trials and if He is and if He is good and if He wants the best for us - of what do we have to complain except the loss of of fleshly comforts.

The purpose of His allowing trials into our lives is so that we may be made more like Christ.  If you read the gospels closely you will see that not a moment of His life was trial free.  Whether is was calming the agitation between Mary and Martha, confronting the schemes of the Pharisees or the brutal cut of the whip he was not ever trial free.  And if He was not why do we expect (even demand) to be?

Our sense of desperation should never be quiet.  It needs to be communicated to the first cause of our trial, the God who redeemed us.  Yes, it will be messy and often tacky and even more often tearful but we must go to the one who holds the trial in His hands.

Consider:
Ecclesiastes 7:14 ESV
In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.

The consider:

Phil. 5:5b-7

The Lord is at hand; [6] do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. [7] And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Prayer - supplication - thanksgiving.  Not quietly but will all the desperate energy or even the last gasp of your heart.  No quiet desperation - but rather a loud one crying out to the Lord God Almighty who has declared both the beginning of your trial as well as the end.  Don't "think" about it.  Do it.  It is your not having done in times of comfort that makes it so hard to do in times of trial.

Pray - ask - give thanks in and for your trial for you are being refined that you might be conformed to the image of the Son.  There is much more work there than we commonly think - if we think at all.  

In my trial I have lost much and may well lose more but I know I have lost nothing and for that I can give thanks.  I can thank Him for forcing open a fist which held on to pride and fleshly confidence.  I can thank Him for less to worry over, maintain, even dust and clean.  Oh dear friends pay close attention to the trials in your life be they ones of tens and thank Him for His good purpose in them.  Yes, thank Him for them - it's is hard - very hard and those prayers may ring hollow in your ears.  But pray not from your feeling but rather pray from what you know of His faithfulness and goodness and love for you.  do not fret an worry if you "feel" it not.  Feelings are fickled things as easily altered and moved as a feather in the wind.  Pray with your mind and your heart will follow.

Proverbs 3

5  Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

and do not lean on your own understanding.

6 In all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make straight your paths.

7 Be not wise in your own eyes;

 fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

8 It will be healing to your flesh

and refreshment to your bones. (ESV)

Trails are blessings - No joke!

James writes:
Jas 1:2-3
(2)  Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
(3)  for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

Is he nutz of what? ;-}}

Not really.  The counting it all joy is easily answered in 1 Peter:

1Pe 1:3-9

(3)  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

(4)  to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

(5)  who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

(6)  In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,

7)  so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

(8)  Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,

(9)  obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Verse 6 is critical.  We have to be grieved by "various" trials.  but the problem is;  "What do you consider a trial?"

For most of us a trial is usually something big.  Cancer, financial crisis, addiction, mental health issues - you know the "biggies."  But we cheat ourselves when we limit our perception of trials to just those things that hit us hard.  Our lives are full of trials - the fact that we miss most of them is a sad reflection of our condition.

If you are a believer every day holds many many trials which we miss and in missing them we fail to experience the sense of victory or defeat we need to experience.  Going to work, dealing with traffic, working among unbelievers are all trials of not only our faith but of our faithfulness as well.  If you have never noticed that, WAKE UP!

Money is a trial.  Getting it, keeping it and using it especially today is a trial.

Kids - raising them well is a trial.

Cars - keeping them up is a trial.

All the demands of our culture that we equate with being OK are trials.

Jesus, as I've said over and over and over made it very very clear that our LIVES here, as His sheep, would be LIVES of trial, temptation and tribulation.  

Why do we refuse to see ALL the trials we face and face them as such?  Maybe we just don't want to bother.  Maybe we're just ignorant.  Maybe we're just, well, numb.

Regardless of why, we need to fight against the numbness, ignorance and bother and realize the fantastic place we have in God's plan, the magnificent thing He has done for us and the great and sure promise He has made us.  Doing this we can count our trials, all of them, as simply part of our work here as His sheep.

I do not think the "little while," in verse 6 means we suffer intermittent trials.  I believe that he is telling us to look to the promise of our full and complete sanctification.  I think he wants us to look at our trials, all of them, through the lense of the promise of eternity with Him.  We need to have a heavenly view, if you will, of all - all - of our trials.  We need to recognize them all and appreciate them all.

Appreciate?  Yes!  That's the "if neccessary," in verse 6.  Trials here are necessary   I would go so far as to say essential to our spiritual health and our hope.  Not only do they produce endurance but they remind us of what we endure for.  Even more importantly they keep us in mind of how we can endure them.  We can only endure them by His grace and provision.  Trials - small and large - all of them - should make us keep our eyes on Jesus, keep our eyes in His word and keep our knees bent in prayer.

Paul writes:

1Co 10:13

(13)  No temptation (this is the same word translated trial in James) has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Trials drive us, or should, to the faithfulness of God - on our knees.  He will not to be tried by that which His faithful provision cannot enable us to face and endure.  And even better, He will provide an escape, a way out of it.  He is faithful.

But Paul nails it when he follows this verse with:

1Co 10:14

(14)  Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

What worries you and diminishes your trust in Him?  What hinders you in your duties to Him?  In short, it is idolatry plain and simple.  But more on that another time.

God bless you in all your trials which are blessings if you will but submit to His sovereignty and trust in His grace. 

Not what but who.

Continuing on the subject of preaching, another wonderful bit of wisdom I was blessed to receive from my mentor was that it is not important for the hearers to hear what you know but rather who you know.  

Every sermon must end at the cross.  To accomplish this, regardless of text and illustrations, your hearers must "see" Jesus and "hear" the gospel in every sermon you preach.  If they do not, you have failed to provide them with the first thing they need to focus their minds on.

Exegetical journeys, grammatical gymnastics and contextual  portraits are no more than helpful filler, commercials if you will that allow the hearers minds to relax while they digest the crux of the message.  We do not preach to impress but rather to express the whole council of God in a simple clear and certainly memorable manner.

Too many times I have asked concerning a sermon, "How did you enjoy the sermon?"         ( Note - never about my own!)  I am more often than not the recipient of a big smile and something on the order of, "It was wonderful, very inspiring!' or "It was great, you should have heard it!"  Then I ask, "What was it about?"  Which typically produces a look of confusion and resentment and I receive some vague answer applicable to any talk or lecture that titillates.  If I ask, "As of the result of the sermon what are you going to repent of and seek God's provision to do?"   I usually just get a blank stare.

When we preach (formally or informally) we are speaking for God to others.  The issue is not what we want to tell them but what God wants for and of them.  It matters little how high and lofty, how intellectually challenging or formal the sermon is.  If it does not change lives (even if that's is just making people think) then it has missed its target.

The point of preaching is the communication of the gospel in all its applications which is why aiming for the cross in all our preparation is so important.  Now I do not mean by that, aiming at an invitation or call to "walk the aisle."  That is dubious in reference to the teaching of scripture.  What I do mean is that if any sermon does not bring the hearers (believer or unbeliever) to the foot of the cross for assurance and comfort it's a miss not a hit.  (Bullseyes are rare due to the appalling ignorance and self-centeredness of the people in the pew.)  But that does not excuse us from aiming for that.

I do not want to know how smart you are.  Id o not want to here your "agenda."  I do not want you to assume that what God has laid on your heart as "the issue facing the faith," has anything pertinent to do with my walk.  My battle is with the world the flesh and the devil, the flesh being the most commonly present problem.  Tell me how to fight that fight, how to stand firm, how to behave and live and .........  

I have a terribly hard time listening to sermons.  After the text is read, if I do not hear any, "We see from this passage that the believer need, must, should, should not --- know, believe, do, not do, etc...  I pretty much quit listening.  After that, if I do not hear at least three and no more than five points listed then expounded I figure my time has been ill used.  Not wasted but ill-used - as have my ears and my backside.

Every sermon (formal or informal) is intended, "for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness." (2 Tim 3:16)  Each sermons is to provide for each of these not pick and choose.  A man or woman who has been a believer for years needs not less reproof, correction than the most determined unbeliever.  Why would we ever assume they do not?

Paul hits the nail on the head when he writes:

but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 

(1Co 1:23)

For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake.  (2Co 4:5)

But, you may say, he was preaching to unbelievers.  Well, who among us does not still suffer those places where we struggle with unbelief or weak faith?  Who among us does not to hear the gospel in every passage of the Bible that is preached.  Who among us does not need preachers who will commit to:

And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.  (1Co 2:1-2)

In every sermon Christ must be the center.  He must be clearly seen and heard for the Word is all His word.  

Simply put sermons should be:

Proposition:  What God has said.

Presentation:  What that means in, for and of our lives

Persuasion:  What God has commanded through this.  Beginning with our depravity and ending at the cross.

Simple?  Yes.  Easy to do?  No!  It's easier to take a passage and just address our own agenda or issue - or what we think are the agendi and issues of our hearers.  That Christ gets lost in too many sermons is a shame and a curse to the church.  If Jesus is not clearly in a sermon, if you just assume He is because it is, after all, Bible; you have allowed assumption to do what assume always does.

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 

(2Ti 4:1-2)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (Joh 1:1-5)

Preach Jesus - no matter where you begin, no matter where you go, preach Jesus.