For just over a couple weeks now, I've been out of state helping out a relative. Prior to leaving home, one of my friends shared with me Psalm 86:6 in the ESV. I didn't remember reading it before in that translation:

How wonderfully the LORD has listened to and heard my plea, and poured out grace upon grace! One of the ways God has poured out His grace while I've been away from home is through my being warmly welcomed into the fold of a local church here.

Many of you know I love the doctrines of grace, i.e. - Calvinistic doctrine. And I confess I struggle at times with being gracious and humble about the doctrines of grace! Well, this particular church is of the Wesleyan persuasion... (I want to clarify that this congregation is not at all a part of that modern, specious imitation which denies the great doctrines of the Bible, and turns its back on the wonderful heritage of blood, sweat, tears, and the work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope which was found in the lives and the ministries of John and Charles Wesley.)

During one of the weeks I've been here, a visiting preacher presented the local pastor with a John Wesley bobblehead... no kidding.

Gotta share this video I found from the Asbury Seminary Bookstore...

I was aware of the doctrinal differences going in, but I still felt strongly that I should visit this particular church  ... and I can't express to you the multiple blessings, the grace upon grace that God has had in store for me through this congregation. And I can't imagine how much poorer I would have been had I not stepped through those church doors. I've been humbled as I experienced anew and afresh what it means to be part of "the communion of saints." In God's inscrutable and mysterious ways, we know that God Himself sets the members in the Body as HE wills –– members who hold to Calvinistic doctrine as well as members who hold to Wesleyan Arminian doctrine:

I Corinthians 12:12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.

15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be?

My first Sunday in worship, after already having been blessed through some spiritual conversation and prayer with some of the members, not long into the service, I had to turn in my Bible to David's words from Psalm 31, and I basked in them as I was basking in God's goodness and mercy to me following me all the days of my life, and bringing me to this particular place:

Psalm 31:21 Blessed be the LORD, For He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a strong city.

I had felt myself to be somewhat a stranger in a strong city. Though I was with family, I was away from my family at home, and away from my Christian brothers and sisters at home, and yet the LORD took me in through this particular assembly of His saints, a group of poor and needy sinners, who along with the Wesleys, along with John Calvin, and along with myself are wholly leaning on Jesus' name and are saved by grace through faith by the New Covenant in the Lamb's precious blood.

Psalm 50:5 "Gather My saints together to Me, Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice."

Every week, this congregation reads through the Apostles' Creed. My times of fellowship with them have helped me to know in greater measure what it means when we say that . . .

In Proverbs 8, we read how the Godhead delighted in one another, and yet the Father, Son, and Spirit also delight in the sons of men, particularly in those whom God chose in Christ before the foundation of the world. (HT for the reference to Proverbs 8:30-31 from Dafydd Morris' message "Why Should Jesus Send His Spirit? Part 2," available at http://www.reformationandrevival.org/pastconferenceaddresses.html)

Proverbs 8:30-31
Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman;
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,
Rejoicing in His inhabited world,
And my delight was with the sons of men.

Here's a portion of Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on this passage:

His [God's] gracious concern he had for mankind, 31. Wisdom rejoiced, not so much in the rich products of the earth, or the treasures hid in the bowels of it, as in the habitable parts of it, for her delights were with the sons of men; not only in the creation of man is it spoken with a particular air of pleasure (Gen. i. 26), Let us make man, but in the redemption and salvation of man. The Son of God was ordained, before the world, to that great work, 1 Pet. i. 20. A remnant of the sons of men were given him to be brought, through his grace, to his glory, and these were those in whom his delights were. His church was the habitable part of his earth, made habitable for him, that the Lord God might dwell even among those that had been rebellious; and this he rejoiced in, in the prospect of seeing his seed. Though he foresaw all the difficulties he was to meet with in his work, the services and sufferings he was to go through, yet, because it would issue in the glory of his Father and the salvation of those sons of men that were given him, he looked forward upon it with the greatest satisfaction imaginable, in which we have all the encouragement we can desire to come to him and rely upon him for all the benefits designed us by his glorious undertaking.

Just as the Lord Jesus delights in all the saints, those who belong to Christ must do likewise. How can we do any less since we are united to Christ and have Christ's very nature indwelling us through the gift of His Holy Spirit?

Psalm 16:1 Preserve me, O God: for in You I put my trust.
2 O my soul, You have said to the LORD, "You are my Lord,
My goodness is nothing apart from You" ––
3 And to the saints that are in the earth,
They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight."

Having been born again of incorruptible seed, along with our Savior, we too must delight in, rejoice in, love, and extend goodness to all the saints. How can we not? Are we not all one family? Have we not all been redeemed with the same precious blood of the Lamb of God, made alive from the dead through the operation of the same Spirit, and adopted by the same heavenly Father into the family of God?

Ephesians 4:4  There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Once again, here are Matthew Henry's words on those verses in Psalm 16 (boldface mine):

3. If God be ours, we must, for his sake, extend our goodness to those that are his, to the saints in the earth; for what is done to them he is pleased to take as done to himself, having constituted them his receivers. Note, (1.) There are saints in the earth; and saints on earth we must all be, or we shall never be saints in heaven. Those that are renewed by the grace of God, and devoted to the glory of God, are saints on earth. (2.) The saints in the earth are excellent ones, great, mighty, magnificent ones, and yet some of them so poor in the world that they need to have David's goodness extended to them. God makes them excellent by the grace he gives them. The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour, and then he accounts them excellent. They are precious in his sight and honourable; they are his jewels, his peculiar treasure. Their God is their glory, and a diadem of beauty to them. (3.) All that have taken the Lord for their God delight in his saints as excellent ones, because they bear his image, and because he loves them. David, though a king, was a companion of all that feared God (Ps. cxix. 63), even the meanest, which was a sign that his delight was in them. (4.) It is not enough for us to delight in the saints, but, as there is occasion, our goodness must extend to them; we must be ready to show them the kindness they need, distribute to their necessities, and abound in the labour of love to them. This is applicable to Christ. The salvation he wrought out for us was no gain to God, for our ruin would have been no loss to him; but the goodness and benefit of it extend to us men, in whom he delighteth, Prov. viii. 31. For their sakes, says he, I sanctify myself, John xvii. 19. Christ delights even in the saints on earth, notwithstanding their weaknesses and manifold infirmities, which is a good reason why we should.

Valentine's Day is coming up in just a few days, and I'd like to close with some of the apostle John's words from chapters 3-5 of his first epistle. These are some of the toughest and most challenging words in all the Scripture when it comes to Christ's commandment that we love one another as He has loved us (John 13:31-35; see also John 17:20-26). John's words serve to demolish any and all lame and feeble excuses we (I) might raise, and they turn all our (my) puny, fleshly, and fluffy conceptions of what love is on their heads. Love all the saints! Rejoice in all the saints! Delight in all the saints! Show goodness to all the saints! How?! Wholly impossible with man! Wholly impossible with Karen! But possible with God! Our God is the God all the saints! And our God is the One who works in us to will and to do His good pleasure. And what is God's good pleasure:  that we love and delight in and rejoice in and extend goodness to the saints –– all the saints. May the resurrection power of Christ work in us to keep His commandments. Hebrews 13:20 Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

I John 3:10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. 11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, 12 not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.

13 Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. 20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment...

I John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another...

20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?  21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also...

I John 5:1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Thank You and bless You, LORD, for listening to and answering my pleas for grace and showing me grace through Your Body. Thank You for encouraging my heart and knitting me together in love with these dear saints. I continue to find that Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds, Your mercies are new every morning, and Your grace abounds to this chief of sinners, and along with David Brainerd, You never fail to raise up friends in every place You have called me in Your perfect way and in Your appointed time:

"O how kind has God been to me! how has he raised up friends in every place, where his providence has called me! Friends are a great comfort; and it is God that gives them; it is he makes them friendly to me. 'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.'"

God of grace, continue to grant me grace upon grace so I might treasure and hold a catholic Spirit, and delight in, rejoice in, love, and extend goodness to all the saints, just as you treat me... not as my sins deserve!

• Reasons for Thanksgiving - part 6: Christian friends
• we are a wilderness and a desolation today (lack of love in the Church | Isaiah 64:10-11)
• "Lord, please send a brother or sister to help me." (The Good Samaritan parable redux)
• May the mind and word of Christ dwell in us so we might arise as one man
• forgive us for dividing Your Son, our Lord
• ALL God's people singing, "He reigns" (Letter 28 on assurance & joy)
• Behold, how good and pleasant it is when we dwell in unity!
• I can't keep walking on eggshells here (more on Revelife, Calvinism, the Body of Christ and self)
• an "ici" good-bye | a lesson in warm catholicity
• Lent IV.-"If you love Me you will love the church"
• a prayer for my sister in Christ
• Do you love the saints . . . ALL the saints? (reflections on church hurts)

Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission.

Photo credit: Image grabbed from the YouTube video, found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB2uqLY9eRw

 
My husband and I were married in my home state of Pennsylvania 30 years ago in December of 1982, but a couple weeks later, we had a repeat ceremony in Wisconsin (his home state, and where we first met at graduate school, and where we still live ~ see here for more on how we met). So, as I sometimes put it, we had two weddings:  his and mine.

Today's the 30th anniversary of that day we repeated our vows –– or our 60th anniversary, so to speak.

A few years ago, I read through John Piper's "Desiring God," and in the past week or so, I've begun listening to it on an audiobook (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah, 2003). As I was listening to the various acknowledgments in the Preface, these words of Piper really struck me:

"And, lest it go unsaid from being obvious, nothing happens without Noël. She supports in so many ways that I lean on her like gravity and oxygen." (p. 13)

Piper often has his own quirky (and wonderful) of saying things, and though I'm definitely more than a little quirky, I suspect I wouldn't have phrased it exactly like that about my husband, but that sentiment rings so very true in my own soul.

And, lest it go unsaid from being obvious, nothing happens without Paul. He supports in so many ways that I lean on him like gravity and oxygen.

I don't say it publicly here very often at all, but anything of benefit that you may reap from my writing, you must not only give thanks to the Lord, but also give thanks to my husband.

And, as much as I want to be a lone ranger and to be independent and self-reliant, I'm not. That's a hard and painful lesson to learn, and it's one I will be learning until the day I die, but it's a wholly necessary lesson. I must be dependent first and foremost on God Himself, but in addition, along with the whole human race, each and every one of us has also been created to be interdependent, that we might rely upon other people. In I Corinthians 12, the apostle Paul reminds us that each of the parts of the Body of Christ need each other; we can't say, "I don't belong," or "I don't need so and so."

Now, to be clear about it ... Jesus Christ Himself is The Rock, and through Jesus Christ alone comes The Breath of Life through His Holy Spirit. In the Lord Jesus Christ are all the wellsprings of life! All! A few years ago, in my post wives, your husband is not your Husband, I warned women about making idols out of our husbands (see also my post "on our anniversary".)

All that said, in our God's wonderful and inscrutable workings, He has deemed to graciously provide His people much-needed gravity and oxygen through jars of clay, through the Body of Christ, through our spouses, family members, and friends, all so we might go from strength to strength and be empowered in our pilgrimage in this fallen world, this valley of Baca –– so that even as we find ourselves sorrowful in this place of tears and weeping, we might also be rejoicing.

In II Timothy 4, the apostle Paul testified that when all others deserted him, the Lord Himself stood by him and strengthened him ... and yet Paul longed to see Timothy. He writes these words to his son in the faith, "Do your best" or "Do thy diligence" (KJV) to come before winter. The Greek word for "Do your best" or "Do thy diligence" is  spoudazo (spoo-dad'-zo) –– to use speed, i.e. to make effort, be prompt or earnest:--do (give) diligence, be diligent (forward), endeavour, labour, study (from Strong's Concordance).

The Trinity is a perfect, blessed, loving community, and mankind has been created in God's image to enter into, share, and enjoy fellowship and community with the Triune God, as well as with the people of God in and through Jesus Christ, that our joy might be full (I John 1:1-4).

My husband is fond of quoting Proverbs 18:22 in the King James Version:  "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD," and today I say the same in regard to him:

Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

In my last couple posts (here and here), I've been urging those of you who are already Christians to be pressing in to seek the face of God so you might receive grace upon grace . . .

In the second of those posts, I referred to Moses' continuing upward pursuit to receive more of God's grace and to see God's glory (see Exodus 33). Yesterday afternoon, I was re-listening to Martyn Lloyd-Jones' (ML-J) sermon, "Revival of a Backslidden Church," given in Pensacola, Florida, in 1969. Near the end of that sermon, ML-J read from one of Spurgeon's revival year sermons. I went back to Lloyd-Jones' book "Revival" (Wheaton: Crossway, 1987) for I was pretty sure he'd also cited that same quotation in one of those sermons, and I found it in Chapter 17, "The Glory of God Revealed" (pp. 223-224, emphasis mine), based on ML-J's sermon given in 1959 on Exodus 33:18-23 (available here: http://www.mljtrust.org/sermons/the-glory-of-god-2/).

In that sermon, Lloyd-Jones challenged his congregation (and us ~ though dead, yet he speaks!) to press on to receive from Christ's fullness grace upon grace, or as he put it to "enjoy foretastes of heaven here in this world" –– using the example of Moses, as well as the Psalmists, the apostle Paul, Peter, and the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ. As he was concluding the sermon, he read a couple excerpts from Jonathan Edwards' "Personal Narrative" followed by these words of Spurgeon:

"Let me say now before I turn from this point, that it is possible for a man to know whether God has called him or not. And he may know it too beyond a doubt. He may know it as surely as if he read it with his own eyes. Nay, he may know it more surely than that. For if I read a thing with my eyes, even my eyes may deceive me. The testimony of sense may be false, but the testimony of the Spirit must be true. We have the witness of the Spirit within, bearing witness with our spirits that we are born of God. There is such a thing on earth as an infallible assurance of our election. Let a man once get that and it will anoint his head with fresh oil, it will clothe him with a white garment of praise and put the song of the angels in his mouth. Happy, happy man who is fully assured in his interest in the covenant of grace, in the blood of atonement, and in the glories of heaven. What would some of you give if you could arrive at this assurance. Mark, if you anxiously desire to know, you may know. If you heart pants to read its title clear, it shall do so ere long. No man ever desired Christ in his heart with a living and longing desire, who did not find Him sooner or later. If thou hast a desire, God has give it thee. If thou pantest, and criest, and groanest after Christ, even this is His gift, bless Him for it. Thank Him for a little grace, and ask Him for great grace. He has given thee hope, ask for faith. And when He gives thee faith, ask for assurance. And when thou gettest assurance, ask for full assurance. And when thou hast obtained full assurance, ask for enjoyment. And when thou hast enjoyment, ask for glory itself and He shall surely give it thee in His own appointed season."

Dr. Lloyd-Jones closed the sermon with the following exhortation, which is my exhortation to you today:

"Are you on these steps? Having thanked God for what you have, have you got this longing for more? Hope, faith, assurance, full assurance, enjoyment, glory. Ask him for it. Climb the steps. Follow the example of Moses. Enter boldly in faith, and say to God, ‘Show me thy glory.' And you have the assurance, not only of Spurgeon, that if you do so from your heart, and sincerely, in his own good season he will answer you. You have the infinitely higher and greater assurance of this word of God itself, of the promise of the living God: 'Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you,' (James 4.8). Seek glory. For yourself, seek it. For the Church, pray for revival, for the passing by of the glory of God."

Genesis 18:9  They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” 10  The LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. 11  Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. 12  So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” 13  The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 14  Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15  But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

May the LORD of hosts strengthen each and every one of us so we in hope against hope believe and embrace His very great and precious promises, and seek Him with all our heart . . . O! yes, certainly thank Him for a little grace . . . but ask Him for great grace!

Our heavenly Father, the God of all grace who has given us a little grace, is pleased to pour out upon His needy children great grace!

Like Elisha's servant, let us go up now . . . and go again . . . and go again . . . until we glimpse a sight of that small cloud like a man's hand rising from the sea!

I Kings 18:41  And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain.” 42  So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees. 43  And he said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” And he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” And he said, “Go again,” seven times. 44  And at the seventh time he said, “Behold, a little cloud like a man's hand is rising from the sea.”

And unlike Joash, may we not be found lukewarm or wavering in our pursuit of grace, may our affections not be sluggish or tepid when it comes desiring more and more of Christ – but rather may we strike the arrows tenaciously and incessantly . . .

II Kings 13:14  Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, crying, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” 15  And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows. 16  Then he said to the king of Israel, “Draw the bow,” and he drew it. And Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands. 17  And he said, “Open the window eastward,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot,” and he shot. And he said, “The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in Aphek until you have made an end of them.” 18  And he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground with them.” And he struck three times and stopped. 19  Then the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only three times.”

postcards from England: are we excited over a dead fish and a car wreck?
The Day of Pentecost ... the first of a series (Martyn Lloyd-Jones on revival)
Father, forgive me for joking

Other related posts:

Amazing Grace . . . upon Grace ~ the 240th anniversary
"... since thou hast been thus gracious ..." ~ Susanna Anthony and grace upon grace
Why not pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit?
birthday reflection: "the great & glorious possibilities" ~ "Now therefore, give me this mountain"
As a deer pants ... Is your soul panting for God? (Psalms 42 & 43)
Grace flowing, abounding to us, Gifts for men, yea, the rebellious (Psalm 68:18)
Linger, linger, linger – so you might know God's love
"I cannot consider myself to have been a believer (in the full sense of the word)" ~ John Newton & myself

Advent #1 WHY HAS JESUS COME? that we might have life & life more abundantly
Advent # 5 WHY HAS JESUS COME? So we might draw near to God | Even a Vapor
Advent # 7 WHY HAS JESUS COME? So we might be satisfied with Him
Advent # 8: WHY HAS JESUS COME? "so that [we] might be WITH HIM" ~ Mark 3:14
Advent # 9 WHY HAS JESUS COME? Adoption: the highest privilege the gospel offers ~ J.I. Packer

Letter 18 on assurance and fighting for joy (my testimony of joy)
John 3:36a Whoever believes in the Son HAS eternal life (letter 64 on assurance & joy)
"give me also springs of water" - Will you be an Achsah? (letter 66 on assurance & fighting for joy)
Can there be more? | letter 113 on assurance & fighting for joy
happiness & joy: the distinction that SHOULD be made | letter 155 on assurance & fighting for joy

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Emphasis mine.

Photo credits (all {{PD-Art|PD-old-75}}):

Work found at http://thebiblerevival.com/clipart/1890holmanbible/bw/joashshootingarrowsfromawindowatthecommandofelisha.jpg / http://breadsite.org
Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oda_krohg_stakkelse_lille_1891.jpg
Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jacob_Wrestling_with_the_Angel.jpg