Posts from 2012 (Page 3)

“God, that comforts those that are cast down.” – 2 Cor. 7:6   If there is much to cast down the child of God, there is more to lift him up. If in his path to glory there are many causes of soul-despondency, of heart-sorrow, and mental disquietude, yet in that single truth—God comforts the disconsolate—he has an infinite counterbalance of consolation, joy, and hope.…

It can happen even in careful systematic theology. How much more so in popular parlance? We take what the Bible actually teaches, rephrase it so we can understand it, and end up believing our own phrasing, rather than the actual biblical truth. It’s not malicious, but it is dangerous. What follows are five common thoughts, common expressions, within the evangelical church…

Prayer is the act of forging a connection between two specific points: our human needs and the resources of God offered to us in Christ. You can start at either point, and reach to the other in prayer. True Christians have discovered that God, in Christ, offers them grace, mercy, pardon, peace, life, and love. This is revealed in the gospel, or “good news” of Jesus Christ…

Paul tells us that the Father’s motive in exalting Christ to the highest place and giving Him a name that is above every name is “the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:11). If we have any other end in view, then quite simply we will labour without the blessing of God. Zeal for the glory of God as the controlling motive of our thinking and working will deeply affect at…

I am notoriously bad at remembering anniversaries, and last year it was quite a surprise to discover that 2008 marked the fiftieth anniversary of my ordination to the Christian ministry. Not that the occasion was other than memorable. Indeed it was a very special day for many reasons. But I am bound to say that the truly unforgettable part of a moving service was one of…

Satisfaction in God By Cotton Mather Our continual apprehension of God, may produce our continual satisfaction in God, under all His dispensations. Whatever enjoyments are by God conferred upon us, where lies the relish, where the sweetness of them? Truly, we may come to relish our enjoyments, only so far as we have something of God in them. It was required in Psalm 37:4,…

One would think that Christians would live in constant expectation of Heaven. But the fact is, often we are too wrapped up in our present existence to give it much thought. In his classic devotional book titled The Saint’s Everlasting Rest, English Puritan pastor and author Richard Baxter (1615-1691) wrote: ‘Why are not our hearts continually set on heaven? Why…

THE CONSCIENCE is the automatic warning system by which we become aware of spiritual and moral danger and by which we sense our guilt. It is the innate ability to sense right and wrong. It entreats us to do what is right and to refrain from doing what is wrong. The Puritan Richard Sibbes wrote in the 17th century that it is ‘the soul reflecting on itself.’ It is privy to…

For John Calvin, prayer was like a priceless treasure that God has offered to His people. Calvin’s first rule of prayer was to enter into it with a full awareness of the One to whom we are speaking. The key to prayer is a spirit of reverence and adoration: “Let the first rule of right prayer be, to have our heart and mind framed as becomes those who are entering into…

‘Now He calls us to follow Him, to give ourselves completely and unreservedly to His service.’ That is the closing sentence of John Stott’s book ‘Basic Christianity’.  And it is a good place to start this New Year which God is giving to us. ‘Now’ – knowing whom we follow, our great God and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. ‘Now’ – in the light of all that He has done…