sufficiency

  • Lenten Reflections: "so Joel had another appointment"

    As Hosea was appointed a Prophet to the kingdom of Israel, so Joel had another appointment; for he was to labour especially among the Jews and not among the Ten Tribes: this deserves to be particularly noticed.

    – Calvin's Preface to Joel
    I read these words yesterday and was struck by them. So often we as Christians question and fight the appointment God has for us. So often I question and fight the appointment God has for me... particularly when what I'm seeing with my naked eyes is not lining up with what I expected. And that's what's been happening recently.

    The devil prowls and schemes – and know this: he is constantly seeking to take us any and every where, so long as it is NOT in middle of God's will for us! That place may even be a relatively good place (i.e. - not morally bad) – however, know this:  if that place is not God's place for us, then it is not a good place! Let us not be deceived and settle for something "good," but in reality we are walking arm and arm with the devil, and in direct disobedience to God and all the while we are depriving ourselves of the best – for God is always seeking what is best for us for His children – even though it may not appear to be so to us – as we look upon it with fleshly eyes, rather than spiritual eyes.

    Rather than fixing our eyes on the invisible God and walking by faith, we begin to walk by human sight, and we fix our eyes on the visible – and, as a result, we begin to sink down, down, down as we consider and entertain those deadly "What ifs". As we begin to conjecture, "Why?" or "Why me?" or "Why can't I?" or "Why didn't God...?" or "Why doesn't God...?" or "What hasn't God...?" – we head straight down the paths of the destroyer, and we rob ourselves of the rest and peace that Christ offers to us through taking up His easy yoke.

    David struggled with such temptations, and as children of God, we all will. Remember – even our Lord Himself was tempted by the devil!

    Look at Psalm 17 and see how David kept from going down the paths of the destroyer...

    3 You have tested my heart;
    You have visited me in the night;
    You have tried me and have found nothing;
    I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.
    4 Concerning the works of men,
    By the word of Your lips,
    I have kept away from the paths of the destroyer.
    5 Uphold my steps in Your paths,
    That my footsteps may not slip.

    6 I have called upon You, for You will hear me, O God;
    Incline Your ear to me, and hear my speech.
    7 Show Your marvelous lovingkindness by Your right hand,
    O You who save those who trust in You
    From those who rise up against them.
    8 Keep me as the apple of Your eye;
    Hide me under the shadow of Your wings,
    9 From the wicked who oppress me,
    From my deadly enemies who surround me.

    David continued to immerse Himself in God though the Scripture and prayer, and in doing so, David expected God to reveal Himself in living and felt ways so as to sustain and uphold his soul, to have his heart and his spiritual sight renewed and refreshed. For example...

    "By the word of Your lips..."
    "I have called upon you..."

    And the same applies to us as well! We can't expect to fight the good fight of faith and finish our race without God's means! Many people keep looking for a new technique or a magic program – but instead, what we must do is to go back to the basics: to the Word of God and prayer! As we keep sinking ourselves deeper and deeper into Christ through the Word and prayer, we will flourish. On the other hand, if we're not doing that, we're going to wither! (See Psalm 1 & Jeremiah 17:5-8) In fact, abiding in Christ in such ways is one mark of Christian discipleship. It grieves me to see how many professing Christians continue to go to any and all places but to God! You go to your counselors, to your pill bottles, to your self-help books, to your friends, to your hobbies, to your activities, to your support groups – but when was the last time you went to the living God and pleaded with Him all night like Jacob : "I will not let You go unless You bless me! I have no power here at all – for these are too strong for me! Be my support!" (See also Psalm 18.)

    And know this: the Christian life is a fight! There are some unbliblical teachings that tell us we just need to "let go and let God" and poof! it all will magically happen without any effort on our part. Well, there is one way we must let go: we must let go of the despicable, man-centered notion that we can do anything apart from Jesus Christ. And then, as we freely acknowledge we are truly poor and needy, like the man at midnight (Luke 11), we will importunately storm the gates of heaven and plead for God's supplies to come to us through His Holy Spirit, so we might walk in God's will for us. And then, as God strengthens us, we will obey and walk in His will for us (despite our flesh fighting us from within and temptations rising up from without) – and, in so doing, we end up working out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who has been working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13). All glory to God! God does in and through and with us what we cannot do ourselves! Apart from Him we can do nothing! With Christ we can do all things! And just a reminder here: this working on our part doesn't earn us our salvation, but it is evidence of our salvation. God is never opposed to efforts wrought of His Spirit. After all, it is God who commands us to work out what He is working in us!

    Sadly, at one time or another, all of us end up in the position of Peter in John 21 – even after God has given us explicit instructions as to His appointment for us (v. 15-19) – and like Peter, we end up questioning our Lord. Why do we do such a thing? We take our eyes off Jesus!

    20 Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” 21 Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?”

    22 Jesus said to him, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.”

    23 Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you?”

    What is that to me if God has given me another appointment? What if Joel were to say, "No! No! I don't want to minister in this place! Send me somewhere else!" Here's God's response to such sinful thoughts:


    Isaiah 29:16

    Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay;
    For shall the thing made say of him who made it,
    “He did not make me”?
    Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it,
    “He has no understanding”?

    God have mercy on us when we do such a thing – when we esteem ourselves above our Creator and Redeemer! God grant us grace so we might not harden our hearts and grieve His Holy Spirit. God keep us from becoming Jonahs – from running away from Him and His appointment for us! And when we begin to question and doubt God's appointment in even the smallest way, may He give us grace so we and our prodigal thoughts might be turned ("turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God" ~ Jer. 31:18, KJV), that we might come back to our senses and fervently embrace our God and His particular appointment for us in the way Mary did:

    "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." (Luke 1:38a, KJV)

    How can we do this? Again, it is impossible with us! – but it is possible through Christ who dwells in us! Our Lord Himself willingly submitted Himself to His Father's appointment for Him to condescend, to become incarnate, to take the form of a servant, and to become obedient to the point of death – even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:4-11). Jesus was consumed by His Father's glory and purposes – and through the new birth, we have been united with Christ, being given the same desires by the Holy Spirit who lives in us, so we might offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God as Christ did. Even though our souls might be troubled, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to respond to God's appointment just as Christ did:

    John 12:27 “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify Your name.”

    During this Lenten season, many Christians set aside more time to consider the suffering and the crucifixion of Christ – and yes! Amen to that! But let us not only contemplate Jesus' example, let us not only contemplate His sacrifice rendered in our place to satisfy the wrath of God and justify us and reconcile us to God, but let us go on even further – so we might contemplate God's magnificent power that worked in Jesus so He might finish all the work the Father had given Him, and then let us plead for such sanctifying power to fill us, so God's love might compel us to joyful obedience to His commandment "You follow Me!"

    Yes, our souls may be troubled by what we see – and they may often be troubled – and rightly so at many times, for we live in a troubled, fallen world, and Jesus told us we would have tribulation in this world. But let us look away from what's troubling us and look into the Word of God to the character and promises of God, and let us look away to Jesus, and then let us pray without ceasing and plead for God's Pentecostal power to rain down upon us from on high, so we might have the mind and heart of Christ, so we might not worry about what others are doing, but render ourselves wholeheartedly to doing our Father's will as our Lord did, to delight in the appointment God has for each one of us:

    Psalm 40
    7 Then I said, “Behold, I come;
    In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
    8 I delight to do Your will, O my God,
    And Your law is within my heart.”

    Isaiah 64
    But now, O Lord,
    8 You are our Father;
    We are the clay, and You our potter;
    And all we are the work of Your hand.
    9 Do not be furious, O Lord,
    Nor remember iniquity forever;
    Indeed, please look—we all are Your people!

    Related:

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

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

    Photo credits:

    Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tissot_Joel.jpg  / CC BY-SA 3.0 / {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}
    Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Walpurgis.jpg / / {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}
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  • by my God I can leap over a wall (Psalm 18:29b)

       
    Many Christians think once they're saved, they don't need Christ!

    Some are primarily concerned about getting a ticket out of hell, and are looking forward to heaven – rather than being concerned about how they live here, and that's a very low view of Christianity and salvation (and if you persist in that, I'd seriously question you as to whether you are really saved or not – for faith without works is dead and we are warned time and again not to receive God's grace in vain).

    Others make the dreadful mistake of thinking they can live the Christian life and fight spiritual battles with their own resources. How foolish that is! The Christian life is a life of spiritual warfare (e.g. - Ephesians 6:10-20 & II Corinthians 10:1-6). Since God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13-14), and because the devil is the enemy of Christ, he is also the enemy of all those who have been united to Christ by grace through faith. We must keep in mind that the devil is continuing to prowl day and night, constantly scheming and lying, seeking ways to devour us and to entangle us, to keep us from fixing our eyes on Jesus and running the race set before us.

    We will not be able to live and thrive and bring glory to God in the Christian life unless we come to see that the God who delivered us from the domain of darkness in the first place is the one to whom we must continue to turn and to ask for fresh supplies so we might press in our race, to keep walking the kingdom of light – similar to how the Israelites had to go out and collect manna for each day. Christ is our whole life. He is not only our justification, He is also our sanctification (I Cor. 1:30).  How can we expect to live the Christian life apart from the life of Christ in us?!

    In Psalm 18, David brings a song of praise and thanksgiving to God commemorating and celebrating the great deliverances God granted him, exalting and exulting in God, his strength (see also II Samuel 22).

    To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who addressed the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord rescued him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.

    Here's David, who was soon to be made king over all Israel – and yet see how humble he is: notice how he refers to himself as a servant of the Lord. Though David will be king, he is ever mindful who is the King of kings. And David doesn't take one iota of credit for the victories – but he rightly ascribes it all to God's merciful and gracious provision. Throughout the whole Psalm, David readily and happily acknowledges that God alone is his strength and that God alone gave him the victory, thus rendering to God all the praise, honor and glory due His name.

    David starts off with these words:

    1  I love you, O LORD, my strength.
    2  The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
    my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
    my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
    3  I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
    and I am saved from my enemies.

    And then David continues throughout the Psalm fervently declaring the many ways the LORD delivered him, boasting in God as his strength and professing his continued reliance on God. (I'd encourage you to read prayerfully through the whole psalm.)

    And because it is Leap Day, the second half of verse 29 got my attention:

    ... by my God I can leap over a wall.

    It seems to me that many, many Christians have walls that God is calling them to leap over, but they're failing, and they keep failing. Why? Many times it is because they have not come to know the LORD as their strength as David did. They keep trying to fight spiritual battles in their flesh. They keep turning to their own resources, wisdom, strength and ingenuity, and, as a result, they remain impotent – for they've not come to know the power of the Holy Spirit at work in them. They keep trying to pull themselves up by their bootstraps! They keep turning to secular books and counselors and twelve step programs, etc., rather than turning to the living God Himself. Should not God's people seek their God? Should not God's people seek their God as their strength?

    Jesus said that He is the vine and we are the branches, and without Him we can do nothing (see John 15:1-17).

    NOTHING!

    You may not be leaping over walls because you've not come to know the living supply of Jesus Christ through His Holy Spirit. In fact, some of you who profess to be Christians may not be leaping because you've never been born again. If you have never been born again, God's Holy Spirit has not come to dwell in you, and you don't have that vital connection with the Lord Jesus Christ, as the branch abides in the vine; therefore, there's no way you can expect to know and experience Jesus Christ as your strength.

    Or, perhaps some of you have been able to leap over some walls – and in fact, compared to most people, you're looking pretty good – however, you're not really leaping by the power of God, instead you're relying on your own strength. You've never come to know God as your strength. You have fallen into the all-American, Pharisaical snare of self-reliance. You've never come to end of yourself and the end of your own strength, so you might begin to cry out to ask for and to know God's strength. As so you function as a Christian primarily in your own fleshly strength. However, that way of life is contrary to the life God intends for the Christian:  the Christian is to put no confidence at all in the flesh and to live by the Spirit. In Galatians, Paul warns us: having been born again and started the Christian life in the Spirit, we must not return to the flesh!

    Many of us hold up Biblical figures and other saints from Christian history, and we're tempted to think they had something we don't have. Well, what they had first of all was an understanding that they were NOTHING apart from Christ, they had NOTHING apart from Christ, and they could do NOTHING apart from Christ! They saw their total insufficiency and their need to rely on God alone, their need to know Him as their strength – and that experiential knowledge is what drove them to the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help in their time of need. And they saw every moment as a time of need! Consider this testimony of the apostle Paul:

    Who is sufficient for these things? ... Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God... (II Cor. 2:16b, 3:5).

    You may never have gotten so low and so desperate and so needy that you cried out to God so you might know Him as your strength: to really know Him – not just recite God is your strength as a Bible verse, not just sing God is your strength in a hymn on Sunday morning, not just listen to someone sing God is your strength in a YouTube video, but to know God as your strength the way David did. You may never have come to the place where you were faced with such a high and huge and thick and insurmountable wall, that you finally cried out to God in desperation, "Who is sufficient for these things? Be my Strength! I am not sufficient! Without You I can do nothing!"

    That was my position as a Christian for over twenty years. I was leaping over some walls, and I was engaged in some so-called "good works," but I regret to say that many, perhaps most of those, were done out of my own flesh. But then there came a time several years ago when a Christian had asked me to forgive an offense – and I couldn't do it – and I wouldn't do it. I was the unforgiving servant (Matt. 18:21-35) – and in a very dangerous position! But thanks be to God, in spite of myself, God's grace pursued me, and in God's command to me to forgive another as He had forgiven me, I began to see how much greater God's gift of salvation and forgiveness was toward me than I ever imagined, and how great a sinner I was, that I really was a wretch, though I'd sung it for years in "Amazing Grace" – after that time I could truly confess from the heart that I, Karen, was a wretch – and at that point, grace really did become amazing to me for the first time! The Holy Spirit convicted me and showed me how pitiably small the offense was that I was asked to forgive in comparison with all my sins that God forgave me for Christ's sake! And I found myself able to desire and then to do what I could not do in my own strength – for God gave me the desire and the ability to do His good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-14): so I was able to forgive as the Lord had forgiven me. Impossible with Karen, but possible with God! Hallelujah! He was my strength! Without Him I could do nothing, but with Christ I could do all things!

    Since that time, God has continued to show me time and time again that without Him I can do nothing, absolutely nothing at all. And as soon as I become puffed up and begin to think I can do anything without Him, thanks be to God, He knocks me back down again to the dust to show my utter insufficiency and my total dependence on Him. Oh, yes, it's certainly painful – but it is profitable! Blessed is the man whom God chastens!

    When I was recently convicted to send a message explaining the Gospel to an unsaved family member, I knew that God had given me that desire, but I had nowhere else to turn but to God, for I knew in and of myself I was wholly insufficient. I was tempted to fear the repercussions, I was tempted to please man rather than God and shrink back from following through, and I knew I had no words to write at all except what God would supply – and so I prayed God would be my strength, that His Spirit would strengthen me to fulfill the desire He had placed in me. And all glory to God alone, He was my strength – and He strengthened me to leap over that wall – and God wants to do the same in all His children, so His name alone might be magnified.

    I love these two passages for they show us how by our God we can leap over walls, and not only that – they show that our coming to know God as our strength and having His strength work in us brings Him glory.

    Hebrews 13:20  Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21  equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

    II Thessalonians 1:11  To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, 12  so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

    God is all about His glory, and God receives no glory when we rely upon our own strength – even though we may be leaping over some walls, and we may be looking good to ourselves, to other Christians, or to the world. But anything we do that isn't done by the power of Christ in us brings no glory to God. God alone is to be our strength and our boast and our glory:

    I Corinthians 1:26  For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27  But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28  God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29  so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30  He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 31  Therefore, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”


    What wall stands before you that you have been unable to leap over? Have you come to know Christ as your strength, or are you continuing to walk the vain, dangerous, and God-dishonoring road of self-sufficiency?     Are you continuing to attempt to live the Christian life in your own flesh and robbing God of the glory due His name? Will you ask God to show you your insufficiency, so you might come to know God's sufficiency and come to know Him to be your strength, so like David, you might leap over a wall? Will you ask God to grow your knowledge of Him and your trust in Him so you might lay aside your own fleshly efforts and embrace Him as your strength, so you might sing with David: "I love you, O LORD, my strength... by my God I can leap over a wall!" ... and confess with the apostle Paul:  "I can do all things through him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13).

    Related:

    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.

    Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Messene_01.jpg  / CC BY-SA 3.0 / by Herbert Ortner.

  • By Cherith's Brook | Letter 137 on assurance & fighting for joy

    Luke 18:1 (KJV) And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint...

    Psalm 62:5  My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. 6  He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved. 7  In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. 8  Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah. (KJV)

    I Kings 17:1  Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” 2  And the word of the LORD came to him, 3  “Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 4  You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5  So he went and did according to the word of the LORD. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. 6  And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

    By Cherith's Brook

    For God alone, for Thee I wait
    Importunate in prayer, else I faint

    Burdened far above my own strength
    Presented with the sentence of death

    Greatly pressed out of measure
    Who but the Almighty can deliver?

    For Your felt refreshment, true supplies
    Away from the world, I fix my eyes

    God of all comfort, hear my cries
    For Thy mercies' sake, awake! arise!

    Regard this lamb, have compassion
    Shine anew like the morning sun

    From glory to glory, by Spirit's grace
    The veil lifted, O! To see Thy face!

    No longer fettered to earthly gaze
    Lifted above the mephitic haze

    On the seen I no longer look
    I hide myself by Cherith's brook

    Away in the closet, the Divine solitude
    In the secret place, with Your strength endued

    In quietness, be weaned from the temporal
    Look to the unseen, to God invisible

    'Tis foolishness to the eye of flesh
    Yet my hope is sure: I will be refreshed

    My affections set on my God above
    Can You withhold from those You love?

    In the thicket, the ram You provided
    O! For grace to trust You, Jehovah-Jireh!

    Glorying in suffering and tribulation
    You will surely come, not leave us orphans
     
    God of all comfort, to Thee I cling
    What other god makes the downcast sing?

    Rejoicing in hope, by faith I stand
    You never disappoint like mortal man

    Shrouded in the dark, shine Your light
    Let my heart take celestial flight

    Glories stream! O! Truth and light
    Combat the dark, halt the lies

    Rejoice my soul, my exceeding Joy
    Soothe my fears, send peace unalloyed

    Love of God, be poured, comfort abound
    Surround me with deliverance sounds

    Morning and evening my soul fully satisfied
    Yet having found grace, with further grace supplied!

    Not only a sip, but wineskins bursting
    Overflowing gladness for my deepest thirsting

    Your consolations alone bring cheer
    Better than a thousand is one day here!

    Exodus 33:13 (KJV) Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.

    II Corinthians 3:16  But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

    II Corinthians 4:18 (KJV) While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

    II Corinthians 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4  who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5  For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6  If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7  Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

    8  For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9  Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10  He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11  You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

    Romans 5:1  Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2  Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3  More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4  and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5  and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

    Psalm 94:17-19
     If the LORD had not been my help,
    my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
    When I thought, “My foot slips,”
    your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.
    When the cares of my heart are many,
    your consolations cheer my soul.

    * * *

    Where are you looking?

    Isaiah 30:15
    For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel,
    “In returning and rest you shall be saved;
    in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
    But you were unwilling...

    Are you unwilling?

    Related:

    My other letters on assurance & fighting for joy including:


    In the multitude of our anxieties, the Lord's comforts alone delight our souls
    As a deer pants ... Is your soul panting for God? (Psalms 42 & 43)
    "And Jacob was left alone" ~ Don't waste your loneliness
    Where are you lifting up your eyes? Psalm 121:1-2
    Two Fountains ~ Where are you drinking? What is flowing? Don't waste your drinking!
    Psalm 131 ~ Lord, calm my soul; Lord, wean my soul in this mephitic air | W.H. Hewitson
    Where do you go when the world is unlovely? (Psalm 84 & the theology of Biblical counseling)
    don't waste your new year ~ teach us, satisfy us, make us glad (Psalm 90:12-15)
    The Dove's Resting Place | What kind of dove are you?
    Blessed dependence ~ "Leaning upon her beloved"
    He dawns on them like the morning light
    "I will be like the dew" (Hosea 14:5) ~ Precious Dew, Heavenly Shower
    In hope against hope believe, Blessed are all who believe
    As the Visible Disappoints

    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. Emphasis mine.

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

    Work found at http://thebiblerevival.com/clipart/1890holmanbible/bw/elijahfedbytheravens.jpg / breadsite.org / ((PD-Art|PD-old-75}}

naphtali_deer

About me...

Christian hedonist in training. Pressing on to know more and more of the joy of the LORD. Pleading with God to rend the heavens and revive and refresh my own soul, as well as His Church, to His praise, honor and glory.

Thank God. He can make men and women in middle life sing again with a joy that has been chastened by a memory of their past failures. ~ Alan Redpath

My other websites

tent of meeting: Prayer for reformation & revival

(See also Zechariah821. Zechariah821 is a mirror site of tent of meeting, found on WordPress)

deerlifetrumpet: Encouragement for those seeking reformation & revival in the Church

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