Selfless Prayer

I've been noticing lately a correlation between my joy, and how I pray. I know that this may seem elementary, but stick with me on this one.

Yesterday was good for me, as I continued to read through Piper's book: I was able to understand more about how to find joy in God. Yet I still went to bed last night with the anxieties of my life swarming through my head and divebombing me as I entered the throne room of the Almighty to pray. Then something quite amazing happened. Here's how it went...

I started my prayers as I often do with giving praise and ascribing glory to the One whose holy presence we are in when we engage in the wonderful act of prayer. I recommend to you to start your prayers this way if you do not currently do so; it will help you keep a Kingdom perspective, and will aid the Spirit in aligning your will with the will of the Holy Trinity.

I then started to pray for myself. I began by saying, basically, "Here I am once again, Lord. I come to you with this problem once more, to hand it over to You today."

Then I stopped...

I spoke to myself. I said, "Self, your life is not all about you."

So I changed gears and started making intercession for others first, before I came with my own requests. I prayed for our city, I prayed for missionaries from our church, I prayed for my friends, and I prayed for the other people who are involved with my current problem, that God would draw them to Himself, and that they would see His glory above all else, and would find ultimate, breathtakingly beautiful joy in that glory.

Only after I had done this did I pray for my own wants (O how I so often forget this! A brief review of the Lord's Prayer will reveal that this how we are to pray). And you know what? The anxiety had left...

I remembered to do this because of something that my pastor had said about the anxieties of our life: when we are anxious, we are self-absorbed. He recommended that we spend more time giving to others to get our thoughts off of ourselves, to draw our gaze from our own navels, as a way of combating anxiety.

Intercessional prayer was a way for me to serve others, to give to others, to show others love.

Long story short: I entered the presence of my Lord last night full of worry and possessing a disquieted spirit...

I left His presence full of peace.

And it was a most restful sleep.

Talking to yourself is healthy

I recently received four new Piper books from the $5 sale at Desiring God Ministries. Of all of these books, the one that I started reading a couple of days ago is called "When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy".

Now, I'm not completely certain why I chose this one to read. I'm not particularly lacking in this gift right now: God has been staggeringly gracious in granting me the desire to seek after Him lately, and for that I am utterly grateful, for this has given me a glimpse of the joy that I was created to have in praising His name and being found in His glory. However, I have found it difficult lately to allow God to let that joy overcome other areas of my life which seem to be lacking joy. In other words: Chris ain't feelin' too hot right now.

Well, even though a loss of desire for God does not seem to be one of my current ails, I am beginning to see how this book will bless me. Here's a look at what I've been reading today (quoted from Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in his book Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cures, in reference to Psalm 42, especially verse 5):

Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man's treatment [in Psalm 42] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul?" he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says, "Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you."

It was a very encouraging moment when I read this. God has given us promises in His word, and we (read: I) need to speak these promises to our (read: my) own souls, otherwise our souls will continue to speak to us... and the Creator of our souls is certainly wiser than our souls themselves!

Brethren, please pray for me, that God would grant me the strength to do this. My joy has been robbed once again by the anxieties of this world, and after having tasted and seen that the LORD is good (Psalm 34:8), I long to be overcome again by the deluge of joy which was meant to flood my life, the joy that can only be found in taking refuge in the LORD.

Yo, bro! The slow-go of no mo' uh-oh (also: show and sow mo' glow) is fo' sho' a yo-yo!

Wow… if you’re actually choosing to read this post after having endured the title, I applaud you for your tenacity…

Since I rarely have an original thought (nothing new under the sun, eh?), today’s post is taken from an analogy that my pastor used in Sunday school this morning (this one’s for you, Crystal).

Sanctification can be tricky for us to understand sometimes. Period.

I once had a conversation about sanctification with my pastor, and I told him that I have sometimes asked myself if God has actually done any work at all in my life, because the same sins and desires that haunted me before still haunt me now. I knew that He has, obviously, but sometimes I feel very discouraged in seeing these old demons raise their ugly heads again and again and again.

Pastor Mike said something in response which I think will always stick with me. We recognize that there is a battle constantly raging within us, one of flesh and Spirit. Far too often, however, we view the process of sanctification as a reducing of the flesh. However, this will always yield a downcast heart when we find that the flesh is still very much alive in us. If we ever assume that an old temptation is no longer present, if we take our foot off of the snake’s neck (Genesis 3:15, Romans 16:20) – even if God is gracious to give to us old age, and we are still walking with our Lord; even then – it will leap up to strike us. In light of this, we must view sanctification as a process of the Spirit overcoming the flesh, rather than of the flesh simply disappearing (1 John 4:3-4, Romans 12:21). Temptation, as well as the desire for the things of this world, will never disappear from the battlefield… but our fight therein, by the work of the Spirit, will become more effective with time.

So, that being said, we’ll get to the analogy (don’t we all love analogies?). There were two that Pastor Mike used this morning, and I’ll mention the first one briefly:

Sanctification is kind of like one of those blow-up “bopper” dolls that kids use as punching bags: you punch it, it falls down, it comes back up. This is similar to our fight against sin in that once a temptation is defeated… it doesn’t stay down for long! This means that we will never stop “bopping” our sins. The good news is, however, that the “bopping” does become easier, because our arm becomes stronger the more we use it.

Okay, good analogy and all, but this is not the one of chief concern for this post. Here goes:

“Sanctification is like a man playing with a yo-yo while walking up stairs.”

I know, I know… but stay with me here…

The yo-yo will continue to go up and down, just as we continue to have highs and lows in our spiritual walk and in our fight against sin. However… we are still moving upward with every step that we take!

There is danger in focusing too much on any of the highs or lows of the yo-yo itself. Concentrating on a point where the yo-yo is near the floor robs you of your joy and ignores the power of the cross; concentrating on a point where the yo-yo is at its apex will set you up for disappointment when it falls back down.

Therefore, let us run the race as to receive the prize (1 Corinthians 4:24-27, Philippians 3:12-14), and let us not be discouraged if we fall down: the race is not over, the prize is still in sight! We must be confident that

He who has begun a good work in [us] will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. -Philippians 1:6

This means that God is actively sanctifying us through the glorious work of His Spirit, and that this work is currently being perfected. Try no longer to do what God is already doing in you! Turn to Him and receive the boundless joy that is to be found in freedom from sin!

Huh... that's funny...

Believe it or not, I did not write the previous post in response to the one before it. I didn't even have the first one in mind when I posted tonight, but I just re-read it after I posted my last one.

I was just blessed by my own blog post!

God is good.

God's Faithfulness

We started our small group time tonight with singing songs that professed praise to God. One of them was based on Psalm 96, and I was struck by a beautiful truth as we were singing the chorus. Here are the last five verses of the Psalm (vv. 9-13):

Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness!
Tremble before Him, all the earth.

Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns;
The world also is firmly established,
It shall not be moved;
He shall judge the peoples righteously.”

Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;
Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;
Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it.
Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the LORD.

For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth.
He shall judge the world with righteousness,
And the peoples with His truth.


What a strange thought: we rejoice because the LORD is coming to judge the earth in righteousness and truth.

By all rights, the prospect of coming face to face with the holy Lamb in that day should cause us to cry out to be crushed by rocks rather than face His wrath (Revelation 6:16). And yet, what is the psalmist's response? He rejoices in this thought! Why does he rejoice? He rejoices in the LORD's ultimate judgment because he knows that he serves a faithful God, a God who will unquestionably keep the covenant which He has sealed with His people, which guarantees that they will not face His wrath in those last days.

If the psalmist - who was a member of the first covenant - rests upon the promises of God to the extent that he rejoices in His coming to the earth to judge humanity, how much more reason do we - as members of the perfect covenant of the Son - have to rejoice in the same thought!

And if we can trust in God to be faithful in His promise to save us from His wrath by the covenant of His Son's blood, to the point that we delight in the judgment-bearing return of that Son upon the earth, how much more can we trust in God to be faithful to His people in this life! If we believe that God has already done the unthinkable in counting us righteous by the sacrifice of His Messiah, why do we so often doubt that this same God will provide for us in ways which are far less bewildering?

Why do we have reason to rejoice? We rejoice because we know that we serve a faithful God, a God who will undoubtedly keep His promises, be they large or small. If we rest upon this truth, we will be most certainly blessed by it.

Do I Truly Trust God?

What does it mean to trust in the Lord?

Have we lost a level of trust in God when we are disappointed about our failed plans? If we truly believe that He is sovereign, and that His plans should supersede our own, does this mean that we should accept His perfect will without questioning why or without dealing with His answers with a certain amount of difficulty?

It does not seem to be the biblical case that questioning God is a sinful act of disobedience, for we see many of God's faithful servants question His ways throughout the Scriptures. But then how do we deal with God's answers to human questioning in the book of Job? How can we question God... when He is God and we are not?

How are we to deal with persecution and hardships, or even the simple disappointments of life, as people who profess to serve a God of ultimate sovereignty and unfailing promises? What does faith look like in the face of discouragement?

Obedient Lightnings

“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that an abundance of water may cover you? Can you send out lightnings, that they may go, and say to you, ‘Here we are!’?” –Job 38:34-35

What a mighty God we serve!

This passage is found at the end of the book of Job, after God has allowed for Job’s life to be shaken. God’s justice has been questioned, and God responds: who is man that he should question God? Was man present when the earth was created? Did man give counsel on where the stars were to be placed in the heavens? Did man show himself worthy of praise by controlling the flow of the powerful seas?

No, man did not… but God did.

There is great beauty to be found in unraveling and contemplating the truth of these two small verses. Our Father is most powerful: He commands - by the mere release of His utterances - the often tumultuous, and seemingly random, weather of this world. He lifts His voice, and the clouds loose their rain upon the earth.

The Creator says… and the creation does.

If we look closer, though, we see not only the fact that the creation obeys, but obeys with passion! God commands the lightnings to move, and it comes to Him and says, “Here we are! We have come to hear Your word! Command us, O Creator, that we may fulfill our purpose!” For this is where all of creation finds its greatest joy: in serving the One which it was created to serve.

So when our LORD commands us, we, as part of creation, should obey not with dullness or reluctance, but with vigor and excitement!

Let’s think on another beautiful truth here: This is the same Voice which not only commands us to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33), but has also commanded the following:

“Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.” -Luke 7:50

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” -John 13:34-35

“Do not be afraid; only believe.” -Mark 5:36

“Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.” -Mark 5:19

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and My burden is light.” -Matthew 11:30

How matchless is our God! He is the God who calls us to righteousness, as well as to peace, love, faith, joy, and rest… all in the same compulsive breath! The same God who commands the sea and the skies commands us to be found complete in Him: how can we refuse?!

Hard words: Part 2 (!)

As I mentioned in the last post, I wasn't sure if I was going to post this follow-up, due to the fact that it may offend people who read it. However, if we please God, it doesn't matter who we displease; if we displease God, it doesn't matter who we please. While on this earth, we are to proclaim the truth of the words of God... and this will offend some, because true righteousness is offensive to human beings who, in our very fallen nature, are unrighteous, yet wrongfully believe ourselves to be made righteous by our own works.

We learned from the words of John Piper in the last post (not that the words of Piper are the very words of God, but his point is a biblical one!) that one of the marks of saving faith is the fighting of sin. This is a mark of saving faith because we, as fallen creatures, love sin: we love rebelling against God. Our nature decrees that turning from God is the only thing that we know how to do before we have been drawn to Him (Romans 8:7, John 15:5). Fighting this nature is something that we cannot do apart from the grace of God’s work of sanctification in us, which is only given to those who have been adopted as sons and daughters of the Kingdom.

But let us not rely on the words of a mere man to ascertain truth. Our sole authority is Scripture, and we gain our understanding of God's ultimate truth through the words that He has given us. And if you are inclined to argue against the inerrancy of the whole of God's writ, then let's take a look at the very words of our Lord Himself:

"But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go, work today in my vineyard.' He answered and said, 'I will not,' but afterward he regretted it and went. Then we came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, 'I go, sir,' but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said to Him, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you." -Matthew 21:28-31

"But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say?" -Luke 6:46

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' " -Matthew 7:21-23

Hard words. But if we claim Jesus as our Lord, we must listen to them.

In our postmodern society, it is easy to find many people who claim to be "Christian", and yet ignore Christ. They will give lip service to God, but will not do what He commands: they will not fight against sin. And if they do good works, it is not for the glory of God, but for their own glory. They believe that everyone has their own "take" on religion, and that we shouldn't draw lines between world religions because God doesn't. They believe that to say that Jesus is the only path to heaven is ignorant, unprogressive, hateful, and intolerant. They believe that because God is all-loving, He will accept anyone into heaven in the last day who is a "good person".

Let us weep for these people.

And let us pray for them.

Yes, it is true that we are not saved by our works. We are forgiven, justified, and sanctified by the work of Christ on the cross. It is never about our work, but only ever about His. However, true saving faith will bear fruit, and will fight against sin. Those who are of the Kingdom of God, who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, will have this Spirit working in them. The fruit of this work will be seen by others... and will be seen by ourselves.

I am not saying that if we still have much sin in our lives, we are not saved. What I am saying is that if we do not find ourselves fighting against sin in these earthly bodies, if we cannot say alongside Paul that when we sin we do what we hate (Romans 7:15), we need to fall on our knees in the holy presence of the LORD, we need to confess that we have not loved Him, we need to ask Him in the matchless name of His Son to forgive us for these sins, and we need to ask for the desire to be implanted in us to fight against them!

If you have never done this, and yet claim to follow after Christ, you have obviously not listened to His words... and when the rain and the winds come, great will be the fall of the house of your soul (Matthew 7:27).

Hard words: Part 1 (?)

The question mark after "Part 1" is due to the fact that I'm not entirely sure that I'm going to post the second part that I have in mind to post. I may offend some in doing so. Then again, we're not on this earth to gain the appreciation of man... maybe I'm more afraid of man than I am of God....

The catalyst for my post today is a portion of a sermon that I listened to last night from John Piper (if you haven't yet been blessed by hearing this man speak of God and the infinite pleasures to be found in His holy presence, please visit Desiring God as soon as you can).

The sermon is entitled "How to Deal with the Guilt of Sexual Failure for the Glory of Christ and His Global Cause", and if you find yourself dealing with the darkness of guilt of any sin, and after having rebelled once again against your God you hear a little voice that drips lies from its lips as it whispers in your ear, "Give up. It's not worth trying because you'll never be good enough for God. Just stop trying and live your life how you want to," I recommend that you listen to this sermon (all MP3s are free in the sermon section of the website).

Anyway, let's get to the point of the post. Here's the section of the sermon:

"And this [saving] faith will fight anything that gets between it and Christ. The distinguishing mark of saving faith is not perfection. The mark of faith is not that I never sin sexually. The mark of faith is that I fight. I fight anything that dims my sight of Jesus as my glorious Savior. I fight anything that diminishes the fullness of the lordship of Jesus in my life. I fight anything that threatens to replace Jesus as the supreme Treasure of my life. Anything that stands between me and receiving Jesus faith fights - not with fists or knives or guns or bombs, but with the truth of Christ."

Did you hear that?! The distinguishing mark of saving faith is that we fight! Is something coming between you and your beautiful Lord? Fight it by the power of God! Do not just allow Satan to do what he wants with you, because what he wants is to separate you from his Holy Enemy. But we know that this cannot happen!

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. -Romans 8:38-39

The only tool that Satan has ever been able to use to keep man from God is unforgiven sin... and he doesn't posses it anymore! If you are of Christ, then your sins were nailed to a bloodied, wooden cross 2000 years ago! Don't believe Satan: he can't separate you from Christ if you belong to Him!

But listen carefully, brethren, to the well-known, and often ignored, words of the apostle Paul:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. -2 Corinthians 5:17

This means that we are children of the Almighty God, we are heirs to His kingdom. We are no longer men and women of this fallen world... so let's stop acting like it! Let's fight sin!!

Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. -1 Corinthians 5:7

Do you see it? Do you see it?! We are no longer leavened! We are no longer slaves to our sin! So let's stop acting like it!

Yes, you will fail. You will fail over and over and over. But if you are an adopted child of God, then you have the Holy Spirit working in you, and you need but ask of the LORD to grant you the strength to fight, and He will do so. So pray that God would give you the ability to fight sin... and then fight it! Fight sin so that God may be glorified on this earth. Fight sin so that you may enjoy communion with Jesus more fully. Finally, fight sin because it no longer has dominion over you!

(To be continued...?)

Read this, and be blessed, children of light!

Just thought I'd share last night's devotional reading with you all. If you don't have a daily devotion book (beside the Bible, of course), I encourage you to get Morning & Evening Daily Readings by Charles Spurgeon: not just fluff, this one, but theologically sound!


'And the evening and the morning were the first day' -Genesis 1:5

The evening was 'darkness' and the morning was 'light', and yet the two together are called by the name that is given to the light alone! This is somewhat remarkable, but it has an exact analogy in spiritual experience. In every believer, there is darkness and light, and yet he is not to be named a sinner because there is sin in him, but he is to be named a saint because he possesses some degree of holiness.

This will be a most comforting thought to those who are mourning their infirmitites, and who ask, 'Can I be a child of God while there is so much darkenss in me?' Yes; for you, like the day, take not your name from the evening, but from the morning; and you are spoken of in the word of God as if you were even now perfectly holy as you will be soon. You are called the child of light, though there is darkness in you still. You are named after what is the predominating quality in the sight of God, which will one day be the only principle remaining.

Observe that the evening comes first. Naturally we are darkness first in order of time, and the gloom is often first in our mournful apprehension, driving us to cry out in deep humiliation, 'God be merciful to me, a sinner'. The place of the morning is second, it dawns when grace overcomes nature. It is a blessed aphorism of John Bunyan, 'That which is last, lasts for ever'. That which is first, yields in due season to the last; but nothing comes after the last. So that though you are naturally darkness, when once you become light in the Lord, there is no evening to follow; 'thy sun shall no more go down'. The first day in this life is an evening and a morning; but the second day, when we shall be with God for ever, shall be a day with no evening, but one, sacred, high, eternal noon.

Does Sin Sadden Us?

As I continue to meditate on chunks of Psalm 119, I was struck this morning by a subtle, yet important, theme: the existence of sin in the world not only angered this psalmist... it made him sad.

Rivers of water run down from my eyes, because men do not keep Your law. (v. 136)

My zeal has consumed me, because my enemies have forgotten Your words. (v. 139)

When we view our world, and we see the rampant spread of a lack of reverence for God, how do we react? Perhaps we get angry! "How dare we, who are created, treat our Creator this way!" we may shout... and rightly so! This anger is certainly a righteous indignation if it is rooted in the desire to see the LORD's name hallowed on this earth.

However, how often do we weep for the world when we realize how corrupt we are? How often can we echo the sentiments of the psalmist in reaction to the fallenness of creation, with "water running down from our eyes"? Does sin sadden us?

I believe that it is right to be angered by sin, but I also believe that it is right to be saddened by sin: The sin in the world. The sin in our country. The sin in our city. The sin in ourselves.

Ah! But we must not stop here! If you have the Spirit of God in your soul, and the sacred word of the Almighty on your lips, you have hope for yourself and for the world! Let your anger and anguish toward sin spur you on to proclaim your salvation from its reign! Use your godly sorrow for all that opposes God to tell those who are bound by their sin of the Cross, sin's ultimate defeat!

Let then sin madden you, sadden you, and provoke you to preach of its Conqueror!

True Wisdom

Entrenched in the world of academia, I am daily surrounded by very intelligent people. I mean VERY intelligent people. My job requires me to be constantly in the presence of human brilliance.

Sadly enough, however, many of these minds do not glorify God with their intelligence. In fact, they use it to deny His very existence.

I will admit that this is a struggle for me: if these people are so intelligent, why has their study led them away from the very One who is the cause of science? Science itself is the study of God's creation, is it not? How can they know so much and yet not know their Creator?

I am not alone in these thoughts. Truly, there is nothing new under the sun:

I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation. -Psalm 119:99

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. -1 Corinthians 1:18-21

In man's quest for knowledge, he has put knowledge before God. Knowledge has become his idol, and it may very well be his downfall.

All of us, especially those who are in academia or in any field whose goal is to seek after knowledge, must remember that man's wisdom, no matter how wise it may seem, is nothing compared to God's wisdom. We must remember that the message of Christ is as foolishness to man, for man seeks to be his own god by means of his own wisdom. But we must also remember that the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

If we hide the word of God in our hearts, we posses the treasure of true wisdom. Let us then seek to be wise, brethren! Let us, as the psalmist, gain understanding through His precepts in order that we might hate every false way!

I knew it!!

Check out this comic strip on my friend's blog.

Mmmmmm... yes, it is good... yes, it is.

Is God Angry With Believers When They Sin?

Read this and be blessed, O you doggedly pursued!

Condemnation: not canceled, but paid.

No commentary from me today, just some encouragement from Mr. Piper. The condemnation of our sin is real, it is true, it was never erased... but if we are in Christ it is no longer ours:

The death of Christ secures our freedom from condemnation. It is as sure that we cannot be condemned as it is sure that Christ died. There is no double jeopardy in God's court. We will not be condemned twice for the same offenses. Christ has died once for our sins. We will not be condemned for them. Condemnation is gone not because there isn't any, but because it has already happened.

Still Pursued

I wasn't planning on posting today, but...

One of the ideas behind starting this blog was to show those who do not profess Jesus Christ as their Lord that those who do, Christians, do not - contrary to popular opinion - believe that they are perfect. No... we know that we are not perfect, and are reminded of it constantly as we pass through our sinful days.

I think that one of the reasons why some unbelievers view Christians as considering themselves perfect is that many of us are not willing to be upfront about our sins... even with other Christians. Sin is easily perpetuated even among a fellowship of believers when Joe Christian is hesitant to confess to Bob Christian about his sins, because Bob has never told Joe about his own, and therefore, Joe believes that Bob is perfect... or at least "better" than himself.

Whew! What a mess...

Yes, it is true that there are differences among Christians with regard to the good fruit that is produced in their life; the sanctification processes takes a long time, and we can find different Christians at different points in this processes. The fact remains, however, that we are all sinful, no matter how long we have been walking with our Lord. If we do not let the light shine in dark places, the dark places, my friends, will remain dark.

Therefore, in order that light be shone in dark places, for my own edification, as well as to edify the brothers and sisters who read this, I confess that I am still sinful... yet still pursued.

Today has been a hard day for me. There are two reasons I see which have made this so:

Firstly, in spite of my own post from yesterday afternoon, I fell into the trap of sin yesterday evening; I was tempted by the evil one, and I gave in to his wooing. This failure has affected me today, and I've had to turn over in my mind why this is so. I have confessed this sin to God, and have asked for forgiveness in His Son's holy name, and I know that I have received that forgiveness; I was forgiven 2000 years ago. This lingering feeling, then, is it worldly guilt, which keeps me from moving forward by the power of the Spirit which works to sanctify me? Or is it a hate for all things evil, an abhorrence of the fact that the flesh still remains in me, and will remain until that blessed day when I see my Savior face to face? I pray that it be the latter.

Secondly, I have recently come to the realization that a thing which I have sought after may be well outside my reach. This disappoints me. Disappointment is a natural reaction to such a realization, and I do not believe that there is anything sinful in it. However, I am currently fighting off the urge to be not just disappointed... but disheartened. Again, this is a topic which I have very recently discussed in a previous post. I can post about it one day, and forget it the next! Caedmon's Call nailed it: "My faith is like shifting sand, changed by every wave."

As I read through a couple more sections of Psalm 119 today, I was first convicted, then comforted, by my ever-loving Father:

My eyes fail from searching Your word, saying, "When will You comfort me?" (v. 82)

As I read this verse, I can't help but laugh at the semantic and syntactic shift that my own faithless heart takes upon it:

"My eyes fail to search Your word, and yet I say, "When will You comfort me?"

The second half of the Caedmon's Call song gives me an answer to this problem: "My faith is like shifting sand, so I stand on grace."

My comfort is found as the psalmist continues:

Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides. (vv. 89-90)

God is faithful. I need not fear my flesh, for God has promised that it has no power over me. I need not fear my future, for God has promised that He has plans to prosper me and to give me hope; He has ordained my life... even before I had life.

Therefore, my prayer to You, my Father in Heaven, takes on the words of the psalmist in verse 88:

Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, so that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth.

July 4th- Our Day of Freedom

On this day we celebrate that point in our country’s history when our forefathers attained freedom from oppression. Thanks be to God for this wonderful freedom!

I believe, however, that we should use this day to reflect not only upon this political liberty, but also upon the freedom from oppression of sin that our Lord and Savior has brought us into by the effective power of His blood.

The Cross has given God’s children freedom from sin in two senses: justification and sanctification. Firstly, we are made justified by Christ’s blood, no longer counted among those who are under the wrath of God’s judgment on the sin of this world:

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. –Romans 5:8-10

However, the power of the Ultimate Sacrifice does not end here. Through the Holy Spirit working in us, we receive not only justification – a definitive pardoning of our sinful humanity – but we are also sanctified, conformed to the image of Jesus Christ by obedience to God’s commandments. We are given, solely through the blood of the Son of Man, the ability and desire to fight the sin that will ever battle within us until the day that we are perfected in His presence.

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. –1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

But how can we fight this indwelling sin? There are many ways in which the Spirit works through us to sanctify us, but let’s focus on one today: we bring into battle with us the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:24).

Jesus prayed that this sanctification through the word be granted to His disciples, as well as those who would listen to their testimony and follow (that means us: John 17:20): Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. –John 17:17

I’ve been struck lately by the realization of the pattern of this role of Scripture in our sanctification as I have been reading through, and meditating on, Psalm 119. The psalmist begins by recognizing that those who are “undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord,” are blessed. Okay, check: we know that we are to strive after leading sinless lives. But how do we do this? Verse 9:

How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.

Good, good. Here we see that we are to follow God’s commandments as written in His word. This means that we must be reading this word if we are to be able to adhere to it. But reading the Bible does not always come easy to us. How are we to devote ourselves to this? Let’s read on:

I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches. (v. 14)

I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word. (v. 16)

Ah! We stay in communion with our LORD, reading from His holy revelations, because this delights us; it brings us joy!

Oh crap… wait… I can’t always say this.

Most of the time, I would much rather watch a movie, or take a nap, or peruse the forums of Audio Asylum than sit down and read my Bible! Reading Scripture is not always what I want to do!! What do I do now? Does this mean that I am a horrible Christian, and the only believer in the world who is so bad that I don’t want to spend time with my God? I must be a very poor Christian…

Nope. I’m just human.

Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law; indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it. (vv. 33-35)

Teach me? Give me? Make me? The psalmist is asking God to work in him. He, like us, cannot do this on his own steam. Apart from God, we are in a state of rebellion against Him. Apart from His grace, we not only desire other things… we despise His very name and presence!

Therefore, it is God who works in us, enabling us to fight sin, to seek after Him, to joyfully commune with Him. We need only ask Him to grant us the ability.

For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord! –Romans 7:22-25a

Let us thank our Creator that we have been brought into freedom from the reigning power of sin through the shed blood of His wonderful, matchless Son!

Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness

Not to be cliché, but Satan and his work sadden me.

Sometimes I simply do not understand why the world hates God so much. Atheism, I can understand: it is easy to ignore God. I do this all the time. But outright hatred toward a Being that supposedly means nothing to you? I just don't get it...

And yet, without God's grace, this is who I am.

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. - Romans 8:7

Lord, may Your name be hallowed in Champaign-Urbana... for it seems that, currently, it is despised by many. Have mercy on us, O Lord.

Sniffing out MY idols

The reason for the last post was two-fold. Firstly, I wanted to share some insight that I have recently received on how to recognize the idols in our lives. I now come to the second reason for speaking about idols...

...I have them.

They are big. They are shiny. They defile God's holy name.

There has been a particular idol which has been built up in my heart lately. The prince of this world has been hard at work refining it in his own wicked kiln, doing his best to make it as lustrous as possible in order to draw my gaze from my Saviour and onto his crafty work.

Nice try, you poisonous coward. My LORD is more powerful than that!

For those of you who know me well, I might not even have to mention this idol by name, for you could probably guess it! (But I'll give you a hint: read Psalm 73:25)

This desire, in and of itself, is not evil. On the contrary: God has placed it in me, and it is good... as is the thing which I desire. However, God has seen it pleasurable to show me, out of the endless bounty of His grace, that I have let my desire for this good thing keep me from loving others. And in failing to love others, I have failed to love Him.

Thank God for imputed righteousness! He does not see this failure when He looks at me, for He only sees that blessed Cross!

There was a point recently in my idol worship when I actually had the thought pass through my mind which wished briefly that another heir of the Kingdom, another being for whom Christ sacrificed His very Self, would be kept from drawing closer to God so that I might gain that which I sought.

An utterly evil thought. Plain and simple.

I am not sure whether this was a thought which drug itself out of my own sinful subconscious, or was put there by the Enemy, but it matters not. It was there, it was evil, and once it came and went I never wanted to think upon it again. Praise be to our Father for shining His light in dark places!

I would have you pray, my brethren, that God would demolish this idol - raze it to the ground in a fury which jealously longs to see His name hallowed on this earth. My desire is good, and the object of my desire is good - a blessed thing, indeed - but of what worth may it be if I do not honor God through it? Pray for me, that God would grant me the strength and will to honor Him: more today than yesterday, more tomorrow than today.

Sniffing out our idols

Idols.

Not the "American" kind, but the unholy kind. (No pity laughter needed... but thank you anyway. Ha!)

We all have them, and we all worship them for various reasons. We know they're bad, and we know that we are commanded to put nothing before our LORD, yet we continue to let these idols take the place in our lives that rightfully belongs to the One who created us, and should reign in, and over, all that we are, have, think, and do.

The tricky thing about idols is that they're not always easy to recognize, due in part to the fact that the roots of an idol are not necessarily evil. Many a worldly idol is a perversion of a very good, and even God given, desire. The inordinate desire for prosperity becomes greed. The immoderate desire for sex becomes lust. The unrestrained desire for godliness becomes legalism.

So... how can we know if a desire has become an idol in our life?

Contrary to what many think, the answer to this question is actually not that complex; the path to sniff out an idol is not convoluted after all. To determine if the object of our desire has become an idol - usurping the throne of our heart on which God alone should be seated - we must simply examine the fruit of this desire in our life.

Are we willing to ignore God, and His royal statutes, to get what we want? Conversely, do we become hopeless and depressed when we don't get what we want? If we can answer "yes" to either of these questions... we have just sniffed out an idol, dear brethren. We have just determined that we want this thing too much.

Again, this is not to say that we need to cut the desire completely from our life; we just need to pursue the object of our desire in God's way, not our own. If, however, the desire is unholy, we need to ask God to change this desire into one which honors Him and hallows His name.

May your LORD be gracious to you, and shine a light on your idols... so that He may crush them in His holy jealousy! See Exodus 20:4-5.

Pray for this: it will be granted.

First Blog

This whole "blogging" phenomenon has intrigued me for awhile. After spending some time on other blogs, I thought I might give it a shot now. I may not be able to post very often, given my time constraints (yes, grad school is as hard as they say it is!), but when a thought strikes me as worth sharing... I will do just that!

Here we go...

"We are fortunate in one respect: God does not appear to us in the way He appeared to Isaiah. Who could stand it? God normally reveals our sinfulness to us a bit at a time. We experience a gradual recognition of our own corruption. God showed Isaiah his corruption all at once. No wonder he was ruined."
-R.C. Sproul

God has been moving in my life lately. There is no doubt about that.

When a person says this, what usually arises in the mind of the modern evangelical Christian? Perhaps very good, and praise-worthy things. Answered prayer. Physical healings. New job. However this is not what God has been doing lately that has caused me to praise His holy and awesome name. No, I say that God has been moving in my life because He has shown Himself infinitely loving in revealing to me how sinful I still am.

Hmmm. "A blog started by a masochist?", you might ask. No: a blog started by somebody who has been given a glimpse of how much God loves him and desires for him to be made whole.

Last Sunday, my pastor gave an analogy during a session in a series called "Gospel Counseling". He took two cups: one full of coffee, the other empty. He shook the first cup; coffee spilled on the floor. "Why is there coffee on the floor?", he asked us. "Because you shook the cup, dummy," we responded. He proceeded to take the other cup, the empty one, and shake it. No coffee on the floor. "Okay. I shook the cup. There's no coffee on the floor. So why did coffee come out of the other cup?" Blank stares. "Coffee came out of the other cup not because I shook it," he continued, "but because it was in the cup in the first place."

When God, in His perfect love, allows us to be shaken with life's challenges, He wants to use these opportunities to teach us... if we will only listen. If God shakes us, and coffee comes out, meaning that we react in undesirable ways, we often blame the shaking itself... or even the Shaker! But we cannot blame the shaking for the coffee on the floor. We must blame the coffee for the coffee on the floor!

God has been shaking me lately, and I have seen the bitter blends of disbelief, pride, and impatience fall to the floor. I wasn't even aware that they were in the cup of my heart until God shook them out. This has caused me to realize that the shaking is good. The coffee isn't good, but the shaking is (James 1:2-4). The coffee has kept me from loving God and others more fully, and I, along with Him, desire to see it all spilled out.

Thank you, my precious Lord, for loving me enough to shake me. I pray that You would not let Your hand off of the cup of my heart until every last drop of the black liquid of my rebellious soul has fallen to the ground.