Through prayer, God draws believers in to His own trinitarian fullness (2 Peter 1.4). Prayer is the spirit of adoption in us crying out to our Father (Romans 8.15), believing that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him (Hebrews 11.6). Because the Holy Spirit Himself intercedes for us before God as we pray (Romans 8.26), and because we pray in Jesus’ name (Hebrews 10.19-23), we can rest assured that our Father will answer every one of our petitions (John 15.7). The Lord also allows His children to “bless His holy name” through extolling His greatness in prayer (Psalm 103.1) and thanking Him for what He has done on our behalf (Psalm 116.1-2). Although God is completely sovereign (Psalm 115.3), He has purposed in some mysterious and beautiful way that the prayers of His children would move His hand (2 Chronicles 7.12-18). Our perfect Father delights to give good gifts to His children who run to Him in expectant faith (Luke 11.13).
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He exults over us with loud singing
Believer, these are God’s words to you tonight.
Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
The LORD has taken away the judgments against you;
He has cleared away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst;
you shall never again fear evil.
On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Fear not, O Zion;
let not your hands grow weak.
The LORD your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness;
He will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
Believers, I just wonder how many of you really believe tonight that God loves you like those verses say. I wonder, because I often struggle to believe that. One of the manifestations of that unbelief that I’ve been noticing more and more is that my sin drives me away from God instead of toward Him. In my unbelief, I’m scared of God. I feel like He’s an angry beast waiting to zap me with a lightning bolt when I mess up.
The truth is that we can call Him daddy, believer (Galatians 4.6)! He’s on our side (Romans 8.31-32)! The truth is that being convicted over our sin is such a sweet mercy. It means that the spirit of God is active in our lives, challenging us, pushing us away from godlessness and toward holiness. The truth is that He chose us to walk in holiness and blamelessness (Ephesians 1.3-4), yet He also knows that we are frail, weak humans (Psalm 103.13-14), which means that He’s going to help us get there (Philippians 1.6). He’s walking with us the whole way. In the same way that our sinful fathers do not cast us out of the family when we sin, so our perfect heavenly Father will never cast us out of His family when we sin.
So, be encouraged by the Holy Spirit’s painful conviction of sin in your life. Be broken, yes. Repent with all your heart, yes. Fight your sin with all your strength, yes. And then, forget what lies behind you and press on to know Christ better (Philippians 3.13-14). Let the Spirit’s conviction drive you deeper into the relentless grace of your heavenly Father who exults over you with loud singing because of Jesus.
Concerning the Evening News
Herein, I have decided to randomly throw out a question that will probably be controversial, because I am curious to see whether you, my readers, have particular thoughts about it. Let me be clear that in asking this question, I am not necessarily condoning one position or another. OK. Without further adieu, here is a passage of Scripture and the question that popped into my mind after reading and thinking about it for a little while.
Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: “Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?” He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil, he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.
That was Isaiah 33.13-16. When I read the phrase “who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil”, the first thing that came into my mind was news media. I have observed that news media (in general) capitalizes on evil events that fill our world, using them to captivate and entertain audiences, and to prosper financially as a business. All of this is done in the name of keeping the world informed. And we, in an honest attempt to be responsible, informed American citizens, regularly take in such coverage.
I believe there is a place for being informed. I believe that we as believers would not be abiding by the Word if we were to simply hole up under the “ignorance is bliss” mantra so as to remain untouched by the world (which is an absurd thought in itself… but I’ll leave that for another post). That said, what counsel does this passage of Scripture give us regarding the consumption of news media (which is invariably full of all manner of sin)? In light of these words from Isaiah, are believers to refrain from watching the news? Is there a fine line between staying informed and shutting our eyes from looking on evil? If so, what is it?
Feel free to comment. Any and all thoughts regarding this topic are welcomed. I do not have any definite thoughts regarding this issue at this time, but it is my honest hope to think more about these things and write a follow-up post later.
Faithfulness
I was wondering the other day why Psalm 91.4 says, “[God's] faithfulness is a shield and a buckler.” We all know that shields are used for protection in battle. In the context of Psalm 91, David was saying that we are in a spiritual war, and the way to guard ourselves against Satan’s flaming darts (namely his lies) is to hold up the shield of God’s faithfulness when we are being spiritually attacked. But why did David highlight God’s faithfulness here? He could have mentioned God’s love, peace, or grace.
I’m sure this could be said about other attributes of God too, but it occurred to me that every time Satan lies to God’s children, the lie is a direct attack on the faithfulness of God to us. We are constantly being tempted to fear, steal, get revenge, have a lustful thought, look to ourselves and despair over our sin, or take shortcuts. Every time Satan throws a fiery dart at us, he is tempting us to believe that God will not really be faithful to us as He said He would be - that He will not protect us, that He will not provide what we need, that He will not avenge wrongdoers, that He will not satisfy us infinitely more than any earthly relationship, that His grace is not good enough to save us in spite of ourselves, or that He that will not give us enough time in our day to do quality work. And so, David says, you’ll need to cling to the faithfulness of God with every ounce of your strength if you’re going to have any measure of success in extinguishing the flaming darts of the evil one (Ephesians 6.16).
Here a beautiful passage from Scripture about the faithfulness of God. But first, isn’t it interesting that that verse I just referenced from Ephesians 6 is written specifically about the shield of faith? It’s talking about faith in God. Having faith in someone is, by definition, believing that that person will be faithful to keep their promises. This concept is at the heart of the spiritual battle that we fight.
Romans 4.19-25 says,
[Abraham] did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
If we all trusted God like Abraham did, we would have something to say to Satan when he attacks our souls. We could tell him that our God is greater than any sinful trinket he waves in our face. And we could tell him as if we really believed it.
That’s the fight of faith.
The page between chapters
The short story:
I’m transferring from BCS and pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Christian counseling, beginning on January 18th.
And for those who want more details, here’s the long story:
It was around the end of November this past semester when I really started pondering a change. All of this ties back to last summer, when some of you will remember that I was pondering some big changes, as well. I want to say clearly that I have nothing against Bethlehem College – nothing against the faculty, students, or the program itself. But as the semester progressed, it became clearer in my mind that the major that I was pursuing (a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies) was not for me. And since I had been thinking about counseling for some time, I began to wonder if it would behoove me to start over on my Bachelor’s degree (which I’ve been working on for one semester), and pursue counseling for the rest of my academic career.
I have a lot of commitments and interests here in MN, so I knew that I wanted to stay local to pursue a Bachelor’s degree. I loved what I had heard about the FOCUS (adult degree completion) program at Northwestern, when I spoke with their department last summer. So naturally, that was one of the first places I looked when I knew I would not be coming back to BCS. I met with an academic advisor and visited a class, and I knew it was a fit for me. I loved the small group atmosphere, and the discussion-based, writing-heavy structure. I applied and was recently accepted.
FOCUS offers two options for Christian counseling: a twenty month Bachelor of Science program, and a sixteen week certification program. The former is what I’m after eventually, but they don’t have enough people to begin the B.S. cohort until this summer at the earliest. The cohorts meet once a week, on Wednesday nights, and you come out with a B.S. or certificate or whatever you’re after. Right now, I’m planning to pursue a certificate in Christian counseling. What’s the difference? The certificate program is merely training, such as you might get at CCEF or NANC (although the philosophies between these institutions may differ some). Churches recognize your certificate as proof that you’ve had training and are qualified to get involved in their counseling ministry. Most churches don’t offer a paid counseling position, however; and if a person wants to be a paid counselor, they ultimately need to pursue higher education. A B.S. in Christian counseling, then, primarily serves as the backbone to a masters or Ph.D., or whatever it is one wants to pursue. After that begins the licensure process with the state in order to be recognized in a clinical setting.
So, my plan is to finish the certificate program at Northwestern by May of this year, jump into the B.S. program when it starts up, and then pursue a masters, followed by licensure in MN, so that I can be a paid counselor in a clinical setting. I am still passionate about teaching the Bible to youth, and I will probably do that in a volunteer capacity. All of that is not completely set in stone, but that’s what I’m thinking right now. I’m not sure when I will graduate with my B.S.; that depends on when the cohort starts up.
What an adventure this past month has been… but I have seen the Lord’s hand in it all, and I can’t wait to see what He has for me down the road! Hello, Northwestern College! It’s gonna be a good time.
You’re being followed!
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” The last verse of Psalm 23 is familiar, to be sure, yet I so often live as if I’ve never really pondered it. What does it mean that the goodness and mercy of Jesus is continually following me?
It means, at the very least, that Jesus loves me a lot. You might ask, though, so what? A lot of people love me, and I love a lot of people. We know about love.
But this is not average love. It can’t be. Because while we were still sinners, Christ died for you and I. We don’t have a category in our minds for that kind of love apart from the gospel of Jesus, because you and I don’t know anyone who would suffer what Jesus did for people who hate them as much as we have all hated Jesus in our sin.
Think about your life. You’re running the race of faith in Christ, and you’re failing a lot. Me too. When you sin, do you doubt the love of God for you? Sometimes I do. It’s not so much that I think He hates me, but sometimes I feel like He must just be saving me from my own stupidity again because to do otherwise would contradict His nature. I imagine that the faithfulness of God to me is simply how it must be. I reason that God couldn’t have genuine affection for me… could He?
Think about God. Think about who He really is for you. If you’re in Christ, He is your Father. So imagine yourself in the family of God. He’s the head, and there you are with all of your rebellion and failure and immaturity. He sees it all, just like your earthly family knows you inside and out. But He’s your dad! How does your dad react when you sin? Yes, he is grieved. But he doesn’t throw you out of the house. He doesn’t treat you like a slave. He doesn’t give you ultimatums like “if you want to be accepted here, you’ll never do that again.” He doesn’t love you less until you behave better.
Those are the characteristics of a father. Why do you think the picture of God as our father is used so frequently in the Bible? It’s because that’s how God deals with people who have trusted Him. Oftentimes, I don’t treasure the gospel because I forget what the gospel is all about. The gospel is about the God of the universe loving us like a father loves his kids. We are His kids, after all (1 John 3.1).
And that verse that I quoted from Psalm 23 is one of the most beautiful pictures of how God deals with His kids in their sin. He follows them with goodness and mercy. It’s like when we are running from Him in our rebellion, He is running after us with grace. Like a father running after his two-year old to get him out of the street and save him from danger, God our father wants to guard us from the deceitfulness and harmfulness of our sin. He’s on our side. When you and I turn away from Him toward danger, He is grieved, but He doesn’t throw us out of His family. He doesn’t treat us like slaves. He doesn’t give us ultimatums like “if you want to be accepted here, you’ll never do that again.” He doesn’t love us less until we behave better.
God, our father, is committed to preserving our safety, hope, and joy. He has to punish us when we sin, but that’s what dads do. It’s further proof of His love to us. And He will keep us from destroying ourselves in our folly. Our future in heaven with Him is secure.
Take hope today, friends!
Why He is not ashamed to call us brothers
OK, friends. Come with me to the land of Hypotheses. Are you with me? Good. So, you have a brother named Dan. You two are business partners in real estate. You’re the person who actually sells houses and does the paperwork, and your brother takes the marketing angle, letting people know what a great real estate agent you are and convincing them that they shouldn’t turn anywhere else if they want to find the best property they can. At least, that’s what he’s supposed to do. But imagine that Dan uses most of his opportunities to advertise your business (such as speaking engagements and commercial spots) to point out why your business is inferior to your competitors. His sales pitches promote the merits of other real estate agents. He has only ever lost customers for you, rather than gain them.
You would probably say that Dan is not a very nice man. You would probably be ashamed to call him your business partner. And you would probably be ashamed to call him your brother. A man who dishonors your reputation, hinders your forward progress in the business world, and blatantly neglects his responsibilities does not deserve your respect or your love.
And who am I to call myself better than Dan? Jesus has put me on this earth for a purpose (Isaiah 43.6-7) which I have neglected to fulfill, out of my own rebellion (Jeremiah 2.13, Hosea 3.1). I am constantly showing the world that I believe far lesser things are more valuable than He is. In my idolatry, I call Him a liar for claiming to be the greatest treasure that I could pursue. He follows me with goodness and mercy (Psalm 23.6), and I pretend He doesn’t exist. I’m an awful salesperson of the gospel, as it were, and more often than not, the world would never run to Jesus because of my witness to Him.
And guess what? Hebrews 2.11 says, in spite of all of this, that Jesus is not ashamed to call me “brother.” WOW! We’re talking about God in the flesh… and ME!? If I were Jesus, I would not only be ashamed to say that I know Joe Eaton, but much more to say that I am his brother! I think it’s worth looking at Hebrews 2 to see what led up to this. For time’s sake, I will only discuss the verses immediately before and immediately after the phrase in question, but I will all but command you to read the entire chapter for yourself. You will be blessed. 
And you might want to open your Bible to Hebrews 2, because I’m not going to reproduce the whole thing here.
Chapter two verse ten says that “it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.” Three observations. 1) Everything we have is from, through, and to God the Father (Romans 11.36). Why should a God with such incredible power concern Himself with us at all? 2) God not only concerns Himself with us, but He adopts us as His sons, at great cost to Himself. 3) Jesus Christ founded our salvation through suffering at the cross. That was God’s plan. If He had not died, we would not live.
So we proceed to verse eleven. It begins, “For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.” This follows because everything is from God, and because God brings many sons to glory. So Jesus-lovers are not only created by God, but they are also created for God – for adoption as sons (Romans 8.15) and for sanctification (to be conformed to His image) (Romans 8.29-30). That implies that we share a commonality with Jesus; namely, if Jesus is the Son of God, and God has adopted us as sons, then we have the same Father that Jesus does.
And that is why Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers, continues verse 11. Consider our union with Him: so perfect, so complete, so all-encompassing, that the man by whom everything holds together (Hebrews 1.3) finds no shame in declaring that He is related to us because we share the same Father. We have devalued Him, tainted His reputation, and shouted to His face that we love other things more than we love Him, and yet, He is unashamed in declaring that we are brothers. And immediately after writing this incredible phrase, the writer of Hebrews goes on to prove his point by referencing the Old Testament.
He first quotes Psalm 22.22, where David declares how he will gladly praise the Lord with His people who “fear Him” and “stand in awe of Him.” (Check out the context of this verse). In Hebrews, the writer quotes this verse to show how Jesus makes Himself personal to us, His people, by identifying with us and affirming the greatness of our Father along with us. He continues by referencing Psalm 18.2, Isaiah 8.17, and Isaiah 12.2 in which the writers declare varied expression of dependence upon God in trying times, and their confidence that He will in fact deliver them from their suffering. The writer of Hebrews is making the point that in the gospel, Jesus becomes like us through living in dependence and trust of the same Father that we have. Finally, the writer of Hebrews references Isaiah 8.18. The point of that passage is that God has made each of us testifiers to His greatness and worth, not just among the congregation of the righteous (which we have already seen), but also in the midst of an unbelieving generation. This passage was cited to make the point that Jesus was a witness to an unbelieving world of the awesome love of our Father, just as we have been commissioned as witnesses to the gospel today.
Believer, the point of this section of Scripture is to blow us away with the sheer love of Jesus Christ to us. When we sin, He is not shaking His head in disbelief and rage, and He is not shrinking back in shame from us. He is completely on our side (Romans 8.31-32), and He is our constant advocate before YHWH (1 John 1.1). Further, the point of this section of Scripture is to kill the fear in our lives that we are not good enough for God. Although we are absolutely ridiculous and fall so short in ourselves, Jesus has perfected us and has left us with no reason to fear anymore.
The writer of Hebrews said it best, naturally. Chapter four verses fourteen to sixteen say this: “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Have you ever…?
Have you ever known that you should bear witness to the name of Jesus, but you failed to do it? Peter did.
Have you ever wondered where God is or why He’s doing what He’s doing? David did.
Have you ever wondered if life is even worth living? Paul did.
Have you ever tried so hard to stay awake in fervent prayer to God, but you still succumbed to exhaustion? Peter, James, and John did.
Have you ever thought that you knew better than God what is the best course of action for your life? Moses did.
Have you ever felt anger towards God? Jonah did.
And so have I.
…And consider the faithfulness of YHWH to these men who were faithless so often. My hope, and yours, is rooted in who He is, not who we are.
I pray that the Lord would give me a greater zeal to rest in His faithfulness and seek His beauty in the face of my humanness than even the zeal to fight the sin in my life. The one will follow the other, anyway (John 14.15-17). My only hope is that He saves needy sinners. Rejoice with me, believer!
There is a Fountain…
I saw a skit surrounding the following story a few weeks ago (I didn’t write it). I was really blessed by the story behind this well-beloved hymn. Be encouraged by the awesome way that God sustains His people, even in the worst of times!
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| A beloved hymn by William Cowper born in the midst of mental anguish, yet was destined to become the “redemption anthem” of the Church. A beloved hymn born in the midst of mental anguish, yet it has become an anthem of God’s redeeming love.In examination of the spiritual meaning and passion of the songs and hymns that have been a part of the Christian church both past and present, there are some hymns that possess that rich quality of spiritual value that deserves being considered ‘anthems of God’s grace and redemption’. One such hymn is “There is a Fountain Filled With Blood”, written by William Cowper the English poet and hymn writer.
William Cowper (pronounced “Cooper” by the English) was born in Great Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, England, on November 15, 1731. He was privileged to be born into the home of an English clergyman while his mother was from a prominent family of English royalty. In preparation for his life’s work, he was educated in private schools as a small child and at Westminster School, earning a degree in law. With that degree he later passed his bar examination and was licensed to practice as a solicitor in the lower courts of the English justice system. In spite of his intellectual achievements, William Cowper was physically frail and emotionally sensitive throughout his childhood. One of the traumatic experiences that contributed to his emotional instability was the death of his mother when he was only six years old. Unable to properly deal with this grief that he experienced as a small child, it stayed with him throughout his life. He never stopped grieving for his mother. Even though he passed his law examination and was licensed as a lawyer, the very prospect of appearing before the bar for his final examination frightened him to the extent that he had a mental breakdown from which he never recovered. As a result, he never practiced law, but preferred the study and writing of literature. Added to the anxiety of his bar examination was an unhappy love affair that resulted in an unsuccessful suicide attempt. He was, therefore placed in an insane asylum for a period of eighteen months. While confined in the asylum and suffering from prolonged periods of deep depression he would spend much of his time in reading the Scriptures. Remembering his spiritual upbringing as a child and his concern for the eternal destiny of his soul, he struggled with the question of his salvation and peace with God. One day, while reading the Book of Romans, he was confronted with the words of the Apostle Paul who said: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God set forth to be a propitiation (satisfaction) through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” –Romans 3:23-25 While admitting his need of personal redemption and the sufficiency that is in the shed blood of Jesus our great Savior, being convicted by the Holy Spirit, William Cowper realized a personal relationship with Christ and a sense of forgiveness of sin. He, therefore, was gloriously converted at the age of thirty-three years old in 1764. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” –Ephesians 2:13 After partial recovery of his melancholia and mental depression, William Cowper moved into the home of a retired evangelical minister named Morley Unwin. There he received the necessary spiritual encouragement and very patient care at the hands of Rev. Unwin and his wife Mary. After five years Rev. Unwin died and his widow decided it best at the request of Rev. John Newton, to move with her family to Olney, England. William Cowper was invited to move with the Unwin family to Olney and to attend the parish Anglican Church pastored by Rev. Newton who was the author of the hymn, Amazing Grace. The LORD said, “… and when I see the blood, I will pass over you …” –Exodus 12:13 While living in the Olney Parish, William Cowper lived in a small house whose backyard joined the parsonage yard where Rev. Newton and his family resided. Here at the Olney Parish, Newton and Cowper became very close friends and worked together in the writing of religious poetry for the services of the church. Rev. Newton became a spiritual father to Cowper and a real source of needed inspiration in helping him overcome his spells of religious doubts, mental depressions and emotional morbidity. Even after Cowper’s conversion, he endured several periods of time when he seriously doubted the love of God for him and his security as a believer. Both Newton and Cowper were very talented poets and writers of religious verse and with their combined efforts produced the famous Olney Hymns. This book of 349 hymns became one of the most important contributions to musical worship in evangelical Christianity. Among the 67 hymns written by William Cowper while living at Olney under the patient care of Mrs. Unwin and spiritual inspiration of his pastor John Newton, the hymn that testifies of his final peace with his Savior stands out as one of the anthems of the church and a monument to the sovereign grace of God. While sitting alone one day at his desk in his little house, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and with the words of the prophet Zechariah (13:1) fresh in his mind, he began to pen these comforting words: There is a fountain filled with blood The dying thief rejoiced to see Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood For since by faith I saw the stream When this poor lisping, William Cowper penned these words not long before his death on April 25, 1800. It was at the writing of these words that he became aware of the efficacy of Christ’s complete atonement for his sins. Several years later Lowell Mason (1792-1872), an American living in Boston set William Cowper’s words to music. In spite of his mental depression, emotional melancholy and spiritual doubts, God used the experience of one man, William Cowper, to pen the words that have been an inspiration to the church for two hundred years. These words have been used by the Holy Spirit to encourage many saints and a call to wayward sinners to find their peace with God which can only be found in that “fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins”. |
Revamp
One of my goals for this site is to publicize gospel-centered material from all over the internet, created by many different individuals whom I greatly respect. So, I would shamelessly draw your attention to my updated blogroll (to the right), video page, and links page. I’d like to point out my blogroll specifically, simply because I’ve been so encouraged by my fellow bloggers who are featured there! I hope you’ll take particular note of the awesome content that God is enabling them to send into cyberspace. Finally, this is the third in a series of posts that I’ve written in the past week, which obviously you can read here on the main page. Have a blessed Friday!
