Month: October 2007

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New Kind of Co-Dependence

ac-emera "Imagine flying in an airplane, look out one side of the plane and see the left wing–it reads "dependence".  On the right side is the wing of "discipline."  We need both to "fly" in the Christian life.  Discipline refers to those activities designed to train a person in a particular skill.  Dependence refers to the trust we have in God to work through us.  We mistakenly assert that the believer’s job is to trust, while God does the work."

 "God’s work does not make our efforts unnecessary but rather makes them effective." 

Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace.

While I agree with Jerry Bridge’s above conclusion, I wonder if he does not express more confidence in our "efforts" than we rightly deserve?  As I understand Scripture, both our "dependence" and our "discipline" are gifts from God ( Philippians 4:13. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)  I find believers need no more encouragement to strive or exert more effort.  In fact, we need all the help the Spirit is willing to give to trust in the God who boldly affirms, "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." 

I am strengthened by the truth that I can worry less about "my part" in the mystery of union with Christ and rest more in His work accomplished and being accomplished in me! 

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Love, a Many Splendored Thing

May 5, 2004

One generation will commend your works to another;
they will tell of your mighty acts.
They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and I will meditate on your wonderful works. (Psalm 145)

Dear Jane,

 This morning I am thankful that God is allowing me the privilege of being one generation commending Him and His Robertworks to another (vs. 4).  Yesterday I met up with the 3 and 4 year olds as they were on their way to school.  Meeting the children is always the joy in my morning–they are all smiles and stories.

Today  Mama Robinah said to Robert, “Robert did you tell Jja Jja that you prayed and God helped you not wet yourself last night?”  That little boy’s face broke out in a big smile and he ran and threw his arms around my knees and said in that wonderful broken English, “Jja Jja I prayed–I pray for Auntie Casey –I pray for Uncle Mike–Jja Jja I pray.”  Girlfriend, moments like that make my heart explode. That his mama has taught him to take all things to God in prayer is mega-marvelous.  He is already armed for life.  When I think on the institutional, non-attentive life that Robert knew in the Babies Home and see the security and nurture that he has here I am immensely thankful to God.Kids2  The children are thriving.

Robert came to the Babies Home so severely malnourished that he could not hold his body upright. God’s plan for Robert’s life is very different from where he began his days.   He is so bright.  He memorizes quickly and sings beautifully all the words of the hymn CD that is in his cottage.  It is not unusual for these children to be walking along the sidewalk and to break out with “How Great Thou Art” or “Amazing Grace.”

We went to Casey’s volleyball game yesterday and the Coiners went as well. DSC01885 (Small)  Later we ate at the Cafe’ Roma and Casey was thrilled that we found pizza that was almost like “real” pizza there.  She said, “Mom, I think you miss something so long that you forget the real taste and something close to it is just as good in the end.”  She is a wise woman.

Thank you for hearing my heart for Mom and sending her flowers dear lady–she will be delighted with that thoughtfulness and loves cut flowers dearly.  I know as I read Psalm 145 that there is nothing facing us today that our Great God won’t be meeting before us–the words “abundant” and “abounding”  and “everlasting” have us wrapped in a security that is awe inspiring.  May the awe of the Lord fall all over you as you meet with Him this morning.   I am wanting to call on Him in truth – regarding Carolyn, advise me if you hear me hiding out of self protectiveness or some other self absorbed something–if God wants to use me differently I am willing.

Love to you friend–lissa

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Accept with Joy

 Amy

 I find Amy Carmichael’s writing develops the flabby muscle of my faith.  Knowing that this committed missionary to India was confined to her bed for twenty years  and suffered constant pain makes what she wrote so credible and valuable to me. 

 This morning, she had me consider how my heart responds as I wait for prayers to be answered. 

“I once wrote that God always answers us in the deeps, not in the shallows of our prayers.  Hasn’t it been so with you? 

One of the hardest things in our secret prayer life is to accept with joy not with grief the answers to our deepest prayers. At least I have found it so.  It was a long time before I discovered that whatever came was the answer.  I had expected something so different that I did not recognize it when it came.

And He doesn’t explain.  He trusts us not to be offended; that’s all.”

And blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) is he who takes no offense at Me and finds no cause for stumbling in or through Me and is not hindered from seeing the Truth. (Matthew 11:6, Amplified)

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10 Reasons Why I Am Thankful for the God-Breathed Bible

CB064047I love this Top Ten List of Piper’s–they are great reasons to be thankful!

By John Piper November 20, 2006

1. The Bible awakens faith, the source of all obedience.

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)

2. The Bible frees from sin.

You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. (John 8:32)

3. The Bible frees from Satan.

The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:24-26)

4. The Bible sanctifies.

Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. (John 17:17)

5. The Bible frees from corruption and empowers godliness.

His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. (2 Peter 1:3-4)

6. The Bible serves love.

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment. (Philippians 1:9)

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (1 Timothy 1:5)

7. The Bible saves.

Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you. (1 Timothy 4:16)

Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. (Acts 20:26)

[They will] perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. (2 Thessalonians 2:10)

8. The Bible gives joy.

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15:11)

9. The Bible reveals the Lord.

And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord. (1 Samuel 3:21)

10. Therefore, the Bible is the foundation of my happy home and life and ministry and hope of eternity with God.

Desiring GodPermissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Desiring God.Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By John Piper.  Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

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Dangerous Confusion

J.I. Packer has lamented: “At no time, perhaps, since the Reformation have Christians as a  body been so unsure, tentative, and confused as to what they should believe and do. 

confusionCertainty about the great issues of Christian faith and conduct is lacking all along the line.  The outside observer sees us as staggering on from gimmick to gimmick and stunt to stunt like so many drunks in a fog, not knowing at all where we are or which way we should be going.   

 Preaching is hazy; heads are muddled; hearts fret; doubts strain our strength; uncertainty paralyzes action…We know in our bones that we were made for certainty, and we cannot be happy without it.  Yet unlike the first Christians who in three centuries won the Roman world…we lack certainty.”

We want to present the world with an upbeat message.  We want to create a positive image.  We want to emphasize the many and substantial benefits of the Christian life.  We want to put on a happy face.  A. W. Tozer decries this accommodated version of the Gospel as a “spiteful cruelty to the lost and languishing–a cruelty misguidedly offered in the name of comfort.”  This updated message of indifference does not slay the sinner; it redirects him.” 

Furthermore:  “It gears him into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect.  To the self-assertive it says, “Come and assert yourself for Christ.” To the egoist if says, “Come and do your boasting in the Lord.”  To the thrill-seeker it says, “Come and enjoy the thrill of the Christian life.  The idea behind this kind of thing may be sincere, but its sincerity does not save it from being false.” ((George Grant, “By a Slender Thread,” Tabletalk, May 2002, 16.)) 

Righteousness from God

comes through faith in Jesus Christ

to all who believe (trust) in Christ.

(Romans 3:22)

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Bark on the Tree

 Q:  Many Christians look at the state of the church and say it’s dead, merely an institutional expression of the faith.

“What other church is there besides institutional? There’s nobody who doesn’t have problems with the church, because there’s sin in the church. But there’s no other place to be a Christian except the church. There’s sin in the local bank. There’s sin in the grocery stores. I really don’t understand this naiive criticism of the institution. I really don’t get it. bark (Small)

Frederick von Hugel said the institution of the church is like the bark on the tree. There’s no life in the bark. It’s dead wood. But it protects the life of the tree within. And the tree grows and grows and grows and grows. If you take the bark off, it’s prone to disease, dehydration, death.

So, yes, the church is dead but it protects something alive. And when you try to have a church without bark, it doesn’t last long. It disappears, gets sick, and it’s prone to all kinds of disease, heresy, and narcissism.

In my writing, I hope to recover a sense of the reality of congregation–what it is. It’s a gift of the Holy Spirit. Why are we always idealizing what the Holy Spirit doesn’t idealize? There’s no idealization of the church in the Bible–none. We’ve got two thousand years of history now. Why are we so dumb?”  ((Eugene Peterson, “Spirituality for All the Wrong Reasons” Christianity Today, March 2005))

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We Have One Precious Life

remote_tv (Small) It’s the “new” TV season.  Since for me, Fall no longer means an excitement about returning to school–new pencils, new notebooks and book bags, I find myself anticipating and being excited by the promise of new Television shows!  I watch the promos and try to figure if House is going to conflict with anything else I want to view.  I plan what will be taped for later and what I will watch now.  Then I begin to wonder:

What will happen with Meredith and McDreamy?

What will fill the void left by Gilmore Girls?

Will Kitty and the Senator get together?

How will I be able to enjoy Survivor China and attend Choir Practice and ESL too?

What’s up with this Gossip Girls?

Into the scheduling excitement of the new season and of planning my living around what is airing on the tube — I read this Piper devotion.  Well, for sure it made me turn ET right off last night!

“If all other variables are equal, your capacity to know God deeply will probably diminish in direct proportion to how much television you watch.  There are several reasons for this.  One is that television reflects American culture at its most trivial.  And a steady diet of triviality shrinks the soul. 

You get used to it.  It starts to seem normal…If you watch fifty TV ads each night, you may forget there is such a thing as wisdom.  TV seldom inspires great thoughts or great feelings with glimpses of great Truth.  God is the great, absolute, all shaping Reality.  If He gets any air time, He is treated as an opinion. 

There is no reverence.  No trembling.God and all He thinks about the world is missing.  Cut loose from God, everything goes down.  It isn’t just what TV does to us with its rivers of emptiness; it is what TV keeps us from doing.  Do you ever ask, “What could I accomplish that is truly worthwhile if I did not watch TV?” ((John Piper, Pierced By the Word, Multnomah Publishers 2003, 77-78.))

Do I really want to spend this one precious life passive in front of a screen rather than actively before the face of God? 

 “Your eye is a lamp, lighting up your whole body.  If you live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light.  Keep your eyes open, your lamp burning, so you don’t get musty and murky.  Keep your life as well-lighted as your best-lighted room.”  (Luke 11:33-36, The Message)

Lord, may this be a new season of love and devotion toward you!