Posts by admin (Page 15)
The Apostles Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, He died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into Heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God,…
REFRESHMENT
I want to translate more accurately a very important passage of Scripture. It is the verse in Matthew 11:28 which reads, in the original: Come to Me all who labour and are heavily burdened, and I will refresh you. The idea is not merely to come to Christ to find rest from our futile efforts to keep the law, although rest does result when one stops striving to be saved by…
SWEETNESS OF PRAYER IN THE BITTERNESS OF LIFE
The Christian life is filled with many sorrows – many trials and disappointments. In the midst of those problems, persecutions, disappointments, and discouragements–do not lose hope. Persevere in prayer. Seek sweetness in prayer. When prayers seem to go unanswered, continue to pray by faith that Christ would see you through the trial at hand, because he will! The…
Don’t Just Pray About It
There is something beautiful about the simplicity of kids. I remember after planting our first garden our little girls woke up early in the morning to run outside and see if anything had grown. After all, we had just put seeds in the ground 20 hours prior! Their eager expectation is instructive. In the 5th Psalm we read of a believer exercising highly developed prayer…
Puritan Prayers and Devotions
O LORD GOD, Teach me to know that grace precedes, accompanies, and follows my salvation, that it sustains the redeemed soul, that not one link of its chain can ever break. From Calvary’s cross wave upon wave of grace reaches me, deals with my sin, washes me clean, renews my heart, strengthens my will, draws out my affection, kindles a flame in my soul, rules throughout my…
Christ Alone
“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) Salvation is solus Christus, “by Christ alone”—that is, Christ is the only Saviour. Martin Luther said that Jesus Christ is the “centre and circumference of the Bible”—meaning that who He is and what He did in His death and resurrection is…
Preoccupied with Christ
For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. (Romans 14:7-8) If we, then, are not our own but the Lord’s, it is clear what error we must flee, and whither we must direct all the acts of our life. • We are not…
Preoccupied with Christ
“…but Christ is all and in all.” (Colossians 3:11) The simple focus of my life is to be like Christ. That is why I must let the word about Christ dwell in me richly, as Colossians 3:16 says. That is why I must gaze at the glory of Christ, 2 Corinthians 3:18, so that I can be changed into his image. That is why Christ must be fully formed in me, Galatians 4:19. That…
Always!
“Be my strong refuge, to which I may resort continually.” (Psalm 71:3) If you’ve wearied a friend with your tears or known the shame of crying hopelessly about that thing for the thousandth time, you begin to understand the power of the psalmist’s declaration and request in Psalm 71:3. In this prayer he utters three petitions for deliverance, recounting the rich history…
Describing God analogically
“I will love You, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” (Psalm 18:1–2) As finite creatures, we use language that has limits when it comes to portraying God’s attributes. But these limits do not make human speech worthless as an…