Christmas..

More light than we can learn, More wealth than we can treasure, More love than we can earn, More peace than we can measure, Because one Child is born.

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

a poem..

God appears, and God is Light,
To those poor souls who dwell in Night;
But does a Human Form display
To those who dwell in realms of Day.
William Blake (1757-1827)

Filed under Christianity,

More than words..

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
From 'And Can It Be' by Charles Wesley 1738

J.I. Packer puts it like this: when you realize that God has taken you from the gutter, so to speak, and made you a son in his house - you, a miraculously pardoned offender, guilty, ungrateful, defiant, perverse as you were - your sense of God's 'love beyond degree' is more than words can express..

so true.

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from slavery to sonship..

When Charles Wesley found Christ on Whit Sunday, 1738, his experience overflowed into some marvellous verses ('The Wesleys' Conversion Hymn', Methodist Hymn Book 361) in which the transition from slavery to sonship is the main theme.

Where shall my wondering soul begin?
How shall I all to heaven aspire?
A slave redeemed from death and sin,
A brand plucked from eternal fire,
How shall I equal triumphs raise,
Or sing my great Deliverer’s praise?

O how shall I the goodness tell,
Father, which Thou to me hast showed?
That I, a child of wrath and hell,
I should be called a child of God,
Should know, should feel my sins forgiven,
Blessed with this antepast of Heaven!

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in the name of love..

Justification is a forensic idea, conceived in terms of law, and viewing God as judge. In justification, God declares of penitent believers that they are not, and never will be, liable to the death that their sins deserve, because Jesus Christ, their substitute and sacrifice, tasted death in their place on the cross…

But contrast this, now, with adoption. Adoption is a family idea, conceived in terms of love, and viewing God as father. In adoption, God takes us into His family and fellowship, and establishes us as His children and heirs. Closeness, affection and generosity are at the heart of the relationship. To be right with God the Judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the father is a greater.
J.I. Packer, Knowing God

adoption.. it's the highest privilege that the gospel offers: higher even than justification. Heaps thankful!

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be a soldier..

The true Christian is called to be a soldier, and must behave as such from the day of his conversion to the day of his death. He is not meant to live a life of religious ease, [laziness], and security. He must never imagine for a moment that he can sleep and doze along the way to heaven, like one traveling in an easy carriage... If the Bible is the rule of his faith and practice, he will find his course laid down very plainly in this matter. He must 'fight'.
J. C. Ryle, Holiness

what a challenge..

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before the throne..

Before the throne
by Charitie Lees Smith Bancroft, 1863

Before the throne of God above,
I have a strong and perfect plea,
A great High Priest whose name is “Love,”
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart;
I know that while in heav’n He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.
To look on Him and pardon me

Behold Him there! the risen Lamb,
My perfect, spotless Righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace!
One with Himself I cannot die,
My soul is purchased by His blood;
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God
With Christ my Savior and my God.

everything in it's right place..

Most of scripture speaks to us, the psalms speak for us. It is my view that in the words of this book, the whole human life its basic spiritual conduct and as well its occasional movements and thoughts, is comprehended and contained. Nothing to be found in human life is omitted.
Athanasius, Ad Marcellinum

radiohead might not have arranged music for the book of psalms, but these guys have.. check it.

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i will follow..

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
1 Peter 2:11-12

anchor and hope..

My knowledge of that life is small;
The eye of faith is dim:
But it's enought that Christ knows all;
And I shall be with Him.
Richard Baxter, 1660

If you are a believer, and so an adopted child, this prospect satisfies you completely; if it does not strike you as satisfying, it would seem that as yet you are neither - J.I. Packer

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new order..

Behold the Throne of God above
Words: Charitie L. Bancroft, 1863.

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I am,
King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God

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the sound of silence..

This is what Francis Schaefer said just before he died:

It may sound melodramatic, but sometimes in the morning I reach for my Bible, and just pat it. I am so thankful for it. If the God who is there had created the earth and then remained silent, we wouldn't know who he is.
Francis Schaefer (1912-1984), from his final interview with Melinda Delahoyde.

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we're backdrifting..

hey, he's speaking of my generation too..

Anti-intellectualism is a disposition to discount the importance of truth and the life of the mind. Living in a sensuous culture and an increasingly emotional democracy, American evangelicals in the last generation have simultaneously toned up their bodies and dumbed down their minds. The result? Many suffer from a modern form of what the ancient stoics called "mental hedonism" - having fit bodies but fat minds.
Os Guinness

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all that you can't leave behind..

Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.
C.S. Lewis

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whatever makes you happy?

The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean. Therefore it becomes us to spend this life only as a journey toward heaven, as it becomes us to make the seeking of our highest end and proper good, the whole work of our lives; to which we should subordinate all other concerns of life. Why should we labour for, or set our hearts on, anything else, but that which is our proper end, and true happiness?
Jonathan Edwards

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amazement of unbelief..

Someone has written an alternative to the hymn, 'Amazing Grace'. It's called the song of the non-convert… and it goes like this:

Amazing grace, how strange the thought, of trying to reach me.
I am quite lost, but won't be found. And blind, but will not see.
'Twas grace that tried to make me fear. And grace would then relieve.
But precious things are all ignored. So now, I don't believe.
Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come.
'Tis grace who's brought me safe thus far, but I am strangely dumb.
When you’ve been there, ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun
Perhaps I'll see the call I'd missed, and wish I'd too begun.


Filed under Christianity

looking for a good cause?

For a Christian to live for self instead of serving others, would mean that we take no heed of our elder brother, our Lord - the Son of Man who came to serve rather than to be served. Service must run in the family.

The coat of arms is the cross. The motto is service. That is what life is about. So give yourselves to service.
David Cook

to look out for the interests of others, we look out for the interests of Jesus Christ.. what a challenge!

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is God safe?

In C.S. Lewis's book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, one of the children ask Mr. and Mrs. Beaver about Aslan the Lion.

"Is he - quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."
"That you will, dearie, and no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver. "If there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, their either braver than most or just plain silly."
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the king, I tell you."

God isn't safe - but he's good.

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social disaster..

Without a feel for the social dimension of believing, the church is like a person paralyzed from the neck down – quite insensible to the further damage being inflicted on her.
Os Guinness

Filed under Christianity

the life pursuit?

Dear Friend, what are you doing? What have you been doing? And what do you contemplate doing? I should like every young man here just to look at himself. Here you are, young man. You certainly were not sent into this world merely to wear a coat and to stand so many feet in your stockings! You must have been sent here with some intention. A noble creature like man—and man is a noble creature as compared with the animal creation—is surely made for something. What were you made for? Not merely to enjoy yourself. That cannot be! You certainly are not “a butterfly born in a bower,” neither were you made to be creation’s blot and blank.

Neither can you have been created to do mischief. It were an evil thing for you to be a mere serpent in the world, to creep in the grass and wound the traveler. No, you must be made for something. What is that something? Are you answering your end? We were made for God’s glory. Nothing short of this is worthy of immortal beings! Have we sought that glory? Are we seeking it now? If not, I commend to your consideration this thought, that as the ships go on their business, so ought men to live with a fixed and worthy purpose. I would say this, not only to young men, but with greater earnestness, still, to men who may have wasted 40 years.

O, how could I dare to stand before this congregation tonight and have to say, “Friends, I have had no objective. I have lived in this world for myself, alone. I have had no grand purpose before me”? I should be utterly ashamed if that were the fact. And if any man is obliged to feel that his purpose was such that he dares not acknowledge it, or that he has only existed to make so much money, or gain a position in life, or to enjoy himself, but he has never purposed to serve his God, I would say to him, Wake up, wake up, I pray you, to a noble purpose, worthy of a man! May God, the ever-blessed Spirit, set this before you in the light of eternity and in the light of Jesus’ dying love! And may you be awakened to solemn, earnest purpose and pursuit.
CH Spurgeon

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a prayer that we know well..

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."And he said to them, "When you pray, say:
"Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation."
Luke 11:1-4

I have comforted myself with this fact: that when my prayers have been feeble or wandering, or even prevented from any proper attention, but I have prayed the Lord’s Prayer, I have covered all the essentials.
Martin Lloyd-Jones

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in my place..

He stood in our place and purchased salvation.
We stand in his place and publish salvation.

... the primary function of the concept [penal subsitution] is to correlate my knowledge of being guilty before God with my knowledge that, on the one hand, no question of my ever being judged for my sins can now arise, and, on the other hand, that the risen Christ whom I am called to accept as Lord is none other than Jesus, who secured my immunity from judgment by bearing on the cross the penalty which was my due.
JI Packer

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divine humility..

It is a poor thing to strike our colours to God when the ship is going down under us; a poor thing to come to Him as a last resort, to offer up "our own" when it is no longer worth keeping. If God were proud He would hardly have us on such terms: but He is not proud, He stoops to conquer, He will have us even though we have shown that we prefer everything else to Him, and come to Him because there is "nothing better" now to be had. The same humility is shown by all those Divine appeals to our fears which trouble high-minded readers of scripture. It is hardly complimentary to God that we should choose Him as an alternative to Hell: yet even this He accepts. The creature's illusion of self-sufficiency must, for the creature's sake, be shattered; and by trouble or fear of trouble on earth, by crude fear of the eternal flames, God shatters it "unmindful of His glory's diminution." Those who would like the God of scripture to be more purely ethical, do not know what they ask.
CS Lewis, The Problem of Pain

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definite atonement..

A lot of the staying-power of limited atonement, is because it supplies the 'l' in the English acronym – tulip – which gives us the five so-called points of Calvinism. The five points of Calvinism are, total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the saints.

Don Carson, however, calls limited atonement, a defensive, restricted expression, and he prefers definite atonement. He prefers atonement, and so did Broughton-Knox, and so does Jim Packer. And a writer called Roger Nicole, who says in one of his articles,

'limited atonement seems to take away from the beauty, glory and fullness of the work of Christ, so I will gladly send the tulips flying. I am not Dutch. I am Swiss, and I do not care about tulips. I want to say definite atonement.'

For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15

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he loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah..

You see, Jesus doesn't just love the church, he loves you. You, singular are precious to him. He loves the one wanderer, the one out of fellowship. He loves that one who hurts others by his or her lack of diplomacy. He loves that one who has offended you. Jesus is concerned for them, so do not write them off, do not ignore them. Never give up on people. Go to them and seek to win them back. Persevere with them, hang in there with them, because Christ hung in there for us. Each one of us is precious to him.
David Cook

With a love like that
You know you should be glad... and then some.

Filed under Christianity

walk on..

ever wondered what the Christian life is like?

...it's joyful, there is fellowship, there is forgiveness, there is a place in God's family, there is the hope and assurance of the future. It's a very wonderful road, but it's a very difficult road, because you are constantly under the attacks of the evil one... you’ve got a very pagan world, offering you many alternatives... and you've got the tinder-box of your own sinful nature, ready to spark all the time.
Simon Manchester

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his and her circumstances..

Good morning, Lord.
What are you up to today?
May I be a part of it?
Amen.
Norman Grubb

Filed under Christianity

it's my life?

It's my life
And it's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive
(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said
I did it my way
I just want to live while I'm alive
'Cause it's my life!
From 'It's my life' by Jon Bon Jovi

At a recent Katoomba Christian Convention, one of the speakers, who was from a Buddhist background, gave his testimony of how he became a Christian. He said it started when he was walking along the beach with a friend of his from university. He asked his friend, 'What does it mean to be a Christian?' And his friend simply answered in this way: 'It means that I have lost control of my life to Jesus.'

Have you lost control of your life; your activities, your thought life, your looking, your gazing? Have you lost control of your life to Jesus?
David Cook

Matthew 5:27-30

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even better than the real thing?

To try to be happy by being admired by men, or loved by women, or warm with liquor, or full of lust, or getting possessions and treasures that turns you away from the love of God, and then the men, the women, the drink, the lust, the greed, take precedence over God, and they darken His light. And then we’re unhappy, and afraid, and angry, and fierce, and impatient and cannot pray, and cannot sit still. That is the bitter yolk of sin. And for this, we leave the mild and easy yolk of Christ.
Thomas Merton

Two insane views which operate in all our minds:

1. we think that God is not so good and if we get close to Him, He’ll stuff things up
   
2. we think that the substitutes can do the same job... but of course they never do.

Filed under Christianity

hourly daily..

Christianity is a full-time following of Jesus. There must be many people who say, "I couldn’t possibly come to Church, because I’m not prepared to give up an hour once a week", and unfortunately, there are many Christians who now think like this. But God doesn’t want you to give up an hour a week. He wants you to give up 24 hours, every day. And the paradox is, that when you give to the Lord Jesus, every hour of every day, you are more liberated than by hanging on to it for yourself.
Simon Manchester

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sand castles..

Never, never pin your whole faith on any human being: not if he is the best and wisest in the whole world. There are lots of nice things you can do with sand; but do not try building a house on it.
CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

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through the storm we reach the shore..

I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew
He moved my heart to seek him, seeking me;
It was not I that found, O Saviour true;
No, I was found by Thee.

Thou didst reach forth Thy hand and mine enfold;
I walked and sank not on the storm-vexed sea;
'Twas not so much that I on Thee took hold
As Thou, dear Lord, on me.

I find, I walk, I love, but O the whole
Of love is but my answer, Lord, to Thee!
For Thou wert long beforhand with my soul;
Always Thou lovedst me.
Anonymous

A heartfelt praise to God..

writing to reach you..

For the past decade, doctors and psychologists have been taking notice of the health benefits of reflective writing. They note that wrestling with words to put your deepest thoughts into writing can lift your mind from depression, provide insight, and offer a healing wisdom within your experiences. Similarly, a recent news article discussed the benefits of confessional writing, where one is freed to explore the depths of the emotional junkyard.

Indeed there is so much ugliness around us, writing is one way to sift through the mess. But its effectiveness is most significant when we learn from reflection, not merely revel in the messes. You see, the eye of a writer seeks the transcendent. Moments where you behold the extraordinary in the ordinary. Glimpses of clarity within the junkyard. The beauty of God in a godless world. Writing is a tool with which we learn to see ourselves more clearly, and a catalyst for which we can learn to see God.

In the C.S. Lewis novel, Till we have Faces, the main character, Orual, has taken mental notes throughout her life, carefully building what she refers to as her "case" against the gods. Finally choosing to put her case in writing, she describes each instance where she had been wronged. It is only after she has finished writing that she soberly recognizes her great mistake. To have heard herself making the complaint was to be answered. She now sees the importance of uttering the speech at the center of one's soul, profoundly observing that the gods used her own pen to probe the wounds. With sharpened insight Orual explains, "Till the words can be dug out of us, why should [the gods] hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?"

Such an illustration brings to mind the intimate descriptions of life recorded in the Psalms. Writing to express loneliness, joy, even frustration with God, the Psalmist always walks away from his words with a clearer sense of reality.
Have you dared to utter the words at the center of your soul? What if God could use your own pen to probe the wounds of your life? Try writing through your struggles; giving words to your doubt, your pain, or your anger. In the beginning, Jesus Christ was the Word who brought life into existence. May your own words heed this creative drive and bring you to a richer knowledge of yourself and, ultimately, of God.
Ravi Zacharias

fool on the hill..

There was once a guy working for Decca records, back in the 60s, who had a band come to him called the Beatles, who he listened to, and said that they would never amount to anything and so he refused to give them the contract. Just imagine the regret over the years, as the billions and billions of dollars came in. On a much more serious note, the person who turns their back on Jesus Christ and says, ‘He’s nice, but optional’ will one day discover that He is the only and absolute key to the future.

Filed under Christianity

what difference does it make?

The difference between God's being and ours is more than the difference between the sun and a candle, more than the difference between the ocean and a raindrop, more than the difference between the universe and the room we are sitting in.
Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology

well, if you put it that way..

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wait & see..

a story that took place in 1805..

the Boston Missionary Society had a famous meeting with the American Indians, the Chiefs of Buffalo Creek, New York. And the Chiefs said to the missionary leaders, after listening to their presentation of the Gospel, ‘You say that there is one true faith through Jesus Christ. Good. We will wait and watch you. If we see the effect of your teaching does good on your people, we will consider your teaching and your Jesus Christ.’

Now it’s not a great way for unbelievers to make their mind up about Jesus Christ by watching the people of Jesus Christ, but it is a challenge to the people of Jesus Christ, isn’t it. Imagine if your neighbour said to you, ‘We will watch you. We will watch you this year.’ The people at work, ‘We will watch you this year. And then, if there is some good effect, we will take the message seriously.’

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lost and found..

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believed!

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we'd first begun.
John Newton (1725–1807)

it's only a paper moon..

Say, its only a paper moon
Sailing over a cardboard sea
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me

Yes, it's only a canvas sky
Hanging over a muslin tree
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me

there's no sense in telling me..

the wisdom of a fool won't set you free

If we would talk less and pray more about them, things would be be better than they are in the world; at least, we should be better enabled to bear them.
John Owen

joy division..

God created you and me to live with a single, all-embracing, all-transforming passion - namely, a passion to glorify God by enjoying and displaying his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. Enjoying and displaying are both crucial. If we try to display the excellence of God without joy in it, we will display a shell of hypocrisy and create scorn or legalism. But if we claim to enjoy his excellence and do not display it for others to see and admire, we deceive ourselves, because the mark of God-enthralled joy is to overflow and expand by extending itself into the hearts of others. The wasted life is the life without passion for the supremecy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples.
John Piper, Don't waste your life

don't waste your life..

protection..

My Heavenly Father, I thank You, through Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son, that You have protected me, by Your grace. Forgive, I pray, all my sins and the evil I have done. Protect me, by Your grace, tonight. I put myself in your care, body and soul and all that I have. Let Your holy angels be with me, so that the evil enemy will not gain power over me. Amen.
Martin Luther, Evening Prayer

the day you come..

When John Wesley was once asked by a friend what he planned to do that day, Wesley said, ‘This morning I plan to prepare a sermon, and this afternoon I am going to visit a widow from the parish.’ His friend replied, ‘If you knew that the Lord Jesus was going to return tonight, what would you do today?’ Wesley said, ‘I would prepare my sermon this morning and visit the widow this afternoon.’ He made no adjustments to his diary, or his lifestyle, in the light of the second coming of Christ. He did not need to. In other words, he was living always in the light of the coming of the Son of Man.

The best preparation for death, or the coming of Jesus, is to do your duty. When the son of Man comes you want him to find you doing what he has set apart for you to do. ‘Be ready,’ Jesus says, ‘be faithful and wise.’

Matthew 24:36-51

(it's good) to be free..

Get this! In his Reformation treatise The Liberty of the Christian Man, Martin Luther wrote:

The Christian person is the most free lord of all, subject to none. The Christian person is the most dutiful servant of all, subject to everyone.

We reign over all things in Christ. But we reign in order to serve Christ, and to serve the Christ who is on our neighbour. We reign, therefore, in order to be servants.

enthused to pray..

two incentives/reasons in Luke 11 why we ought to be enthusiastic about speaking to God:

God is more willing than a friend
God is more caring than the finest father

Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It is laying hold of God's willingness.
George Mueller

eternal perspective of the spotless mind..

When I reach the end of my days a moment or two from now, I must look backward on something more meaningful than the pursuit of houses and land and stocks and bonds. I will consider my earthly existence to have been wasted unless I can recall a loving family, a consistent investment in the lives of people and an earnest attempt to serve the God who made me. Nothing else makes much sense.
Dr James Dobson

‘When I reach the end of my days a moment or two from now …’ Let us live now with a view of that moment.

love your enemies.

Who are your enemies? Who are the people who consider you as enemies? Who are the people who show contempt for you? Who are the people you find hard to love? Spend some time now in silence to pray for just one of them. As you pray, ask God to give you opportunities to move toward that person to do good, that God will strengthen you so that you will not allow yourself to be compromised by their antagonistic attitude to you. Pray also that you will be unfailingly kind and generous to them, as your heavenly Father is kind and generous to you.
David Cook

Love your enemies.

Matthew, chapter 5, verses 43-48

talk show host..

tape loop..

What the heart wants, the will chooses, intellect justifies
Peter Jensen

help the aged..

Help the aged
cos one day you'll be older too -
you might need someone who can pull you through
and if you look very hard
behind those lines upon their face
you may see where you are headed
and it's such a lonely place.

The long dull monotonous years of middle-aged prosperity or middle-aged adversity are excellent campaigning weather for the Devil.
CS Lewis, Screwtape Letters

got id?

I am a child of God
God is my Father
Heaven is my home
Every day is one day nearer
My Savior is my brother
Every Christian is my brother (or sister) too.
JI Packer

What do you think would happen if you applied this statement to yourself every day? I reckon you'd have quite a different attitude to how you view God, yourself and those around you than if you hadn't...

not keeping up with the jones..

If our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot because our charitable expenditure excludes them.
CS Lewis

Christ the Lord is Risen Today

Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!
Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!
Charles Wesley

length of love..

If monotony tries me, and I cannot stand drudgery; if stupid people fret me and the little ruffles set me on edge; if I make much of the trifles of life, then I know nothing of Calvary love....
Amy Carmichael

Amy Carmichael (Dec 16, 1867 – Jan 18, 1951) was born in the small village of Millisle in Northern Ireland to David and Catherine Carmichael. She later became a missionary in India, opening an orphanage and founding a mission in Dohnavur. She served in India for fifty five years without furlough.

good friday..

Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You have taken upon Yourself what is mine and given me what is yours. You have become what you were not so that I might become what I am not.
Martin Luther

rejoice in what the Lord has done!

you could have it so much better..

CS Lewis said: There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who bend their knee to Him and say, “Your will be done”, and those who refuse to bend their knee, and God says to them, “All right then, your will be done.” If you are determined to do it your way, God will step aside and second your motion. Why don’t you pause right now and choose to go his way.
Ravi Zacharias

wrapped up in books..

i liked this..

And yet, who of you has not entered another world or gained a life-changing insight, just from reading a book? Friends, don't take the power of reading for granted. I am absolutely convinced that the books you and I read possibly help mold our lives more purposefully and eternally I might add than we ever realize. As King Solomon once said "Of making many books there is no end," but finding of wisdom "preserves the life of its possessor." And for that I would like to say only the book of all books, the Bible, has the answer.
Ravi Zacharias

street spirit (fade out)..

this machine will not communicate

God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.
CS Lewis, 'Mere Christianity'

these days?

This life well it's slipping right through my hands
These days turned out nothing like i had planned..

Our worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace.
Jerry Bridges

w.a.s.t.e

Our days are numbered. One of the primary goals in our lives should be to prepare for our last day. The legacy we leave is not just in our possessions, but in the quality of our lives. What preparations should we be making now? The greatest waste in all of our earth, which cannot be recycled or reclaimed, is our waste of the time that God has given us each day.
Billy Graham

no need to argue..

it's a wuthering heights kind of a day. concrete coloured skies and atmospheric sound of the cranberries in the background..

When you are arguing against Him you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all.
CS Lewis, "Mere Christianity"

Filed under Christianity; Books | Reading

point of view..

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.
Atticus Finch

phew.. for a minute there..

We ought to give thanks for all fortunes: if it is "good", because it is good, if "bad" because it works in us patience, humility and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country.
CS Lewis

fascination street..

life is a long and windy road.. check out these quotes from famous people over time who have been fascinated with Jesus.

As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene....No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.
Albert Einstein, physicist and atheist (1879-1955)

I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.
H.G. Wells, British author (1866-1946)

I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him
Napoleon Bonaparte, general and politician of France (1769-1821)

Seek ye first...

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God
And His righteousness
And all these things shall be added unto you
Hallelu, Hallelujah!

Man shall not live by bread alone
But by every word
That proceeds from the mouth of God
Hallelu, Hallelujah!

Ask and it shall be given unto you
Seek and ye shall find
Knock and the door shall be opened unto you
Hallelu, Hallelujah!

If the Son shall set you free
Ye shall be free indeed
Ye shall know the truth, and it shall set you free
Hallelu, Hallelujah!

Let your light so shine before men that they may see
Your good works and glorify
Your Father in heaven
Hallelu, Hallelujah!

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart
He shall direct thy paths
In all thy ways acknowledge Him
Hallelu, Hallelujah

Words and Music by Karen Lafferty

my happiness..

this thought made great sense to John Piper..

All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others advoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hand themselves.

Blaise Pascal

it is the law of the human heart, as gravity is a law of nature..

Pascal goes on to say:

There once was in man a true happiness of which now remain to him only the mark and empty trace, which he is vain tries to fill from all his surroundings, seeking from things absent the help he does not obtain in things present. But these are all inadequate, because the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinitive and immutable object, that is to say, only by God Himself.

better be home soon..

a nice heartwarming story worth hearing again..

it concerns a lady, apparently in Brazil, whose daughter ran away from home to the big city of Rio. The mother had pleaded with her not to go, but the daughter ran away anyway, and ended up with the mother’s worst fears — as a prostitute. The mother sold almost everything she had, and paid for fares to go into the city and to go around, looking for her daughter. She took hundreds of photos of herself in the photo booths, and she stuck them up on the walls, on the posts, on the bathroom mirrors, and every sleazy part of town. The girl, of course, had been too ashamed to return, but one day, when she was coming down the stairs of her flat, she saw one of the photos on the noticeboard. She took the photo off and she saw that her mother had written on the back (and probably on the back of every photo), "Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it does not matter. Please come home."

That's really the message of Luke 15. God, the Father, says to the world, in a sense, "Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn’t really matter. Please come home."

there is a light that never goes out..

‘As regards the great momentous questions of how to live, how to be clean, how to be straight, how to be pure, there is gross darkness in the world. As you come up the scale, and look at relationships between group and group, there is obviously the same conditions, and we have these great industrial and economic problems. On a still higher level, look at the relationships between nation and nation. This 20th Century, of all centuries, when we talk so much about our knowledge and enlightenment, is proving that the world is in a state of unutterable darkness with regard to the vital and fundamental problems...’

‘...You can turn to the greatest philosophers and thinkers, and again and again, you will find that they will never take you beyond analysis. They are very good at laying out the problem and showing you the various factors which operate, but when you ask them what is ultimately responsible for this, and what they propose to do, they leave you unanswered. Clearly they have nothing to say. There is obviously no light at all in this world, apart from the light that is provided by Christian people, and the Christian faith. That is no exaggeration. I am suggesting that if you want to be realistic, we just have to face that and realise that when our Lord spoke nearly 2,000 years ago, He not only spoke the simple startling truth about His own age, but He spoke the truth with regard to every age.’

Martin Lloyd-Jones

The problem isn't in Iraq or North Korea.. the problem is actually in here, in my heart and yours, that’s where war comes from —- one-to-one, family-to-family, city-to-city, country-to-country… and the solution is with Christ.

Absolute rule. Constant care.

Jerry Bridges in his book 'Trusting God' defines the sovereignty of God:

"[it is] God's absolute rule over and constant care for all his creation to his glory and the good of his people."

Jerry Bridges

In other words, if you know that God takes up everything, he takes every cell, every word, every decision, every disappointment, every loss, every phone call, every set back and every influence on us, whether its our upbringing or education, or whether its an injury that we'd received, or reward we've been given, a success, a disaster... it's all under control.

Nothing gets outside of His control and he works for it for his Glory and for the good of us.. and this brings us deep peace.

our greatest need?

"If God had perceived that our greatest need was economic, he would have sent an economist. If he had perceived that our greatest need was entertainment, he would have sent us a comedian or an artist. If God had perceived that our greatest need was political stability he would have sent us a politician. If he had perceived that our greatest need was health, he would have sent us a doctor. But he perceived that our greatest need involved our sin, our alienation from him, our profound rebellion, our death; and he sent us a saviour."

DA Carson

where is my mind?

Been meditating on the parable of the shrewd manager (Luke 16:1-12) recently.. ie. this morning. found these questions confronting but helpful:

Have you settled in your mind, that, unlike the world, you will (and are prepared to) lose many temporary pleasures, in order to be faithful, trustworthy, with greater and eternal things?

Have you settled in your mind that you just won’t get to visit all the great sites of the world? And you’ll pay that price, because you know that Heaven is better. If you don’t, or can’t think like this, is it because you are trying to serve two masters, and God is really getting the leftovers?

Have you adjusted your giving as your income has changed? Or do you still have a standard offertory that is really a bit of an insult, and not gratitude at all? That’s a good question.

Do you think that God may have entrusted huge riches to this Church for a critical time, and that we really could and should be great stewards for the Kingdom?

Do you spend anything for the gospel like what you spend on holidays and houses?

Who in the Church is going to show the lead on being shrewd?

Simon Manchester

give it away give it away give it away now..

Realize I don’t want to be a miser
Confide wisely you’ll be the wiser
Young blood is the lovin’ upriser
How come everybody wanna keep it like the kaiser

Give it away give it away give it away now
Give it away give it away give it away now
Give it away give it away give it away now
Give it away give it away give it away now

Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Give it away now

such a good song.. for some bizarre reason(?) it reminds me of the famous words of a Christian missionary to Ecuador, where he was killed by Huaorani Indians:

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.

Jim Elliot

a day in the life..

One day Spurgeon was preaching in Edinburgh, and after he’d finished, a military officer came up and shook his hand, and the military officer (this is back in the 1800s, soon after the Crimean War) came up and said to him, “For twenty years, I’ve served Her Majesty, but as for today, I’m enlisted in the army of the King of Kings.” And Spurgeon said, as this officer walked away, “There was a man who had not turned his back in the day of battle, and was no longer turning his back on the King of Kings.”

It’s a very wonderful thing to put yourself into the hands of Jesus Christ, and to begin a new life, with new resources, and not be ashamed or overcome or overwhelmed, because He will carry you through.

everything is ready.. what's next?

McLaren was a Minister in Manchester in England, back in the 1850’s, 60’s, 70’s.

The refusal to come to Jesus, may be, and often in fact is, accompanied by lip recognition. There are no more difficult people to reach than the people of whom I am sure I have some specimens before me now, who bow their heads in assent to the word of the Gospel, and escape its impact. They let it whistle harmlessly past. You that believe every word that I preach and never dream of letting it affect you… if there be degrees in the lunatic asylum of the world, surely you are candidates for the highest place.

Alexander McLaren

All the preparation has been done by Jesus Christ. You don’t have to come and prove yourself, perform, save yourself, rescue yourself. The preparation has been wonderfully done. Everything is ready.

Now there's only one right response... and that is to come and enjoy.

will it make me happy?

‘I didn’t go to Christianity to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.’

CS Lewis