Posts (Page 19)

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…

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…

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…

“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…

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…

“…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…

“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…

“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…

It is a common phrase, and I am sure you have heard it many times over. It acknowledges that only God’s grace keeps me from experiencing the deepest, ugliest scandal. But I don’t much like the phrase. I grant that there is a sense in which I am completely dependent upon the grace of God so that if…

“O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!” (Ps. 39:4-5) In these verses, we are reminded again of how brief our lives are. With current medical advancements, we might think…