Thinking Right and Praying Right for the Bride of Christ.

Last week during our church prayer meeting, whilst we were supposed to be all praying, I was thinking...thinking about how I can more accurately pray for our church, when suddenly I had a new, old revelation, I guess you could call it a re-revelation! It is obviously a lesson I keep needing to re-learn as I never seem to learn it for long enough. My mind jumped to Ephesians 5:25-27, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” Here Paul speaks of how the Church is the bride of Christ, and tells us of a day when both Christ and His Church shall be gloriously brought together, never to be separated again.

This set my mind off in an interesting direction, I began to think about my wedding day and how I felt when I saw my beautiful bride enter into the church and make her way to me. She was, and still is, truly beautiful, her wedding dress sparkled, her face was radiant, what a sight! I remembered how much time I had spent praying for our wedding day, praying for our future marriage and our family, I prayed with such fervency, affection, I could think only good thoughts and pray for only good things. Even now as I think of my wife and our two children, I can only think good thoughts and praise God for them, I can only pray in a positive direction for them, I have such a deep affection for them, I pray for them with earnestness, I pray with tears of repentance over my ill-treatment of them and my lack of grace, I pray that God would lead them closer to Christ despite my often poor example, I plead for the salvation of my children and pray for God to exercise His divine power to graciously protect my children, even though they are sinners that are yet to come to Christ.

As my mind was racing through all these thoughts, there was a sudden, sharp prick in my conscience; one of those unpleasant pains that you immediately know is going to lead to conviction, sorrow, confession and repentance. It was as though the Lord was saying to me, “You are sitting here thinking about your wife and family with such joy in your heart, able to think only good about them and pray to me asking me to work for their constant good, but why do you so often feel the opposite about the Bride of my Son, about my children, why do you seldom pray for them with the same intent?”

What came home to me was that if I want to pray accurately for the Church, then I need to start thinking accurately about the Church. I am so often critical of other churches, of my church, and especially of those members who I am convinced are designed for the further sanctification of their pastor! Now at this present moment I am just starting out in a new church, and thus I am yet to discover who these blessed members are, and I am still enjoying the honeymoon phase, all things are going full steam ahead and there is so much exciting progress, development and potential. So it is easy for me to think only good and pray good for the church, but I do know my own heart and condition, it will be only a matter of time before I degrade into my state of being overly critical and having a lack of grace and patience.

The Church is not perfect, yet; hmm...what a glorious thought that is it is not perfect yet, one day it will be! The Church, however, with all its current imperfections is still the Bride of Christ, and its members are the children of the Father. When God the Son looks upon His Church, He sees it as His beautiful bride, longing and looking forward to that great wedding day. When God the Father looks upon the Church, He sees His children, whom He dearly loves and has reserved eternity for them. They have an intensity of love that is unfathomable, they long to see its progress, growth in grace and holiness, and while this is a hard truth for us to grasp, they also both take joy and delight in the Church, this gathering together of sinners saved by grace, in fact they are glorified when we gather together! But now I have to speak to myself, in fact I need to challenge myself with this every time I stand before the church to minister, or visit individual members, that I am looking at Christ’s bride, and at the Father’s children. Do I then have the right to complain against them, to pray for God to edify the church by removing those members who sanctify me most? Do I have the right to look at the church and resent them for their lack of growth, failure to change at the rate I want them to change, or unwillingness to serve and work in the church to the level I want them to, to criticise and lament their shortcomings?

I guess the crucial question is which heart, mind and attitude needs to be dealt with most, mine as the pastor, or the church members? The answer is both, but it is not my work as the pastor to do this changing work in the hearts, minds and attitudes of the members, that work can only be done by God through His Spirit. Yes, I must boldly, without shame, fear or compromise preach and teach the fullness of Scripture, I must lead them in godliness, and set them example for them in all things. But I must do all this in faith, praying and trusting that God will then in His grace work through this all to produce change, and to then be patient as God works their hearts in accordance to His sovereign will. I am, however, responsible for my own heart, mind and attitude, and right now God is graciously prompting me through His Spirit to start thinking again more accurately about His Church. To think about it, to look at it, to feel about it, to pray for it, to love it, to treat it, to speak of it, the way in which He does.

The Church is the beautiful, radiant bride of Christ, whom he died to saved, whom He sanctifies daily through the Holy Spirit, and one day He shall come in splendour to gather her, and by His grace and power she will be pure, radiant, without spot or blemish. The members of the church, they are also the beloved children of the Father, the apple of His eye, to whom He will one day say, “Well done, good and faithful servant... Enter into the joy of your master”!

Oh, Lord much grace is needed in this proud, stubborn, hard heart of mine, to look at and love the Church as You do!

Allow me to end by asking you, how do you think about and pray for the Church and for your local church?

The Impatience of Patience.

There are few people who enjoy waiting, who when they see a long queue are not bothered or put off by it. Personally speaking, when I see a long queue, I walk away, I cannot stand waiting, and I perceive it as a waste of my time, as for that period of time I believe that I am being unproductive. I know that I could take a book and read, or listen to a sermon or conference message on my I-pod or smartphone, but truthfully the moment I see that queue I am not, to my shame, thinking and feeling in a Christian manner. This sadly reveals the idol of my own heart and that is me, the belief that this world exists for me, and those who get in my way are an inconvenience, all must clear the way for me, so that I can be served. My hypocrisy is revealed when I think of myself as a patient person, my heart and conscience is further pricked when I hear others refer to me as a patient person. I do believe, however, that I am not alone in this struggle as many of us struggle with patience, and yet it is meant to be one of the fruits of the spirit, that which we as ministers of the Gospel are called to display and be examples of.

My purpose in this post is not to talk about this patience specifically, but rather another patience, one in which we demonstrate impatience, and it is one which I have become acutely aware of over the past few months. I am referring here to the call of Scripture to “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him” Psalm 37:7. The call to wait patiently for Him and also the patience that we are called to display when we entrust our unknown future to God, waiting for and trusting in Him to work all things out according to His good purpose, in His time, in accordance with His sovereign will.

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD! Psalm 27:13-14

Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!

Psalm 31:24

Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you. Psalm 33:20-22

Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. Psalm 37:4-5

But for you, O LORD, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer. Psalm 38:15

Permit me to give some context to my current situation that has led the Lord through His Spirit to convict me of this impatience. My wife and I recently took a large step of faith and have moved to a completely different continent. The challenges that have come with this move have been numerous; the greatest of these has been a two-fold challenge. The first part has been looking for a new ministry opportunity, and the second part has been the difficulty of being away from family, due to visa requirements and the such. I was separated from my wife, son and new born daughter for two months, which was a heart-wrenching experience.

My wife and I had been praying on a daily basis for the past eight months about this move, checking our motivation, discerning the directing of the Lord, and expressing our trust in Him to open doors and provide. Now that very faith, trust and dependence is being put to the test. Shortly after I left my family and embarked on this new venture I began to read through the Psalms, and well it didn’t take me long to hit the portion of Psalms whereby the Psalmists are crying out to God for deliverance and for Him to answer their prayers. My arrival at these Psalms, coincided as it were, it is more accurately the sovereignty of God, with me hitting an emotional, spiritual and mental low. Being away from family was taking its toll, the job hunt wheels were turning slowly and most matters were out of my hands. The waiting game had well and truly begun, and I was starting to feel increasingly desperate, with the gloom closing in. As I read these Psalms I found myself saying to the Lord, “But I am waiting! When are you going to answer, when are you going to work? How much longer must I wait?” I was trying to convince myself that I was being patient, that I was being still and waiting on the Lord!

We all know how frustrating, in fact how infuriating it is when a person tells us that they are waiting patiently for us. But they stand in the doorway, hands on hips, foot tapping, constantly glancing at their watch and every minute letting out a frustrated sigh! The question is, how often do we conduct ourselves in a similar manner when waiting upon the Lord? We can be incredibly impatient in our patience.

Not only can we be impatient in our patience, we can also become cynical believing that God is keeping us waiting, deliberately ignoring our cries and pleas for help for Him to answer and work on our behalf. We could possibly find ourselves soon being filled with doubt, doubting God’s goodness, questioning His wisdom and sovereignty, presuming that we know better. This impatience, cynicism, doubt and questioning, can then lead us to anger and bitterness against God.

If we consider the path that this impatience in the midst of patience can take us on, we need to guard against it, but the question is how?

As I have walked through this time of having to wait, and in all honesty have on certain days walked down the wrong path of complaint and doubt, I have learnt three important lessons and ways in which to keep perspective and keep my feet from walking down the wrong path.

1.)    Working hard at cultivating and maintaining thankfulness.

“Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul. I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!” Psa 66:16-20

I read this Psalm on a particularly difficult day, and the moment I read it, I was immediately confronted by it and found myself in tears of repentance, for my ungratefulness. This Psalm is one of praise addressed to God for having answered the prayer of the Psalmist at a time of great difficulty. Whilst I have not done an in depth study of this Psalm and its historical context, it appears that in the day of the Psalmist’s cry for deliverance, he sought to praise God and maintain thankfulness. Immediately I knew that I had become so focused on what I did not have, that I had forgotten what I did have. I was so anxious for God to answer my plea that I had failed to remember and rejoice in the many prayers that God had answered. I was so desperate for God to work in particular areas that I failed to note where God was at work, without me even praying for Him to work in those areas.

Tragically in times of difficulty we can look at life with blinders on, where we are focused on one thing, to the point that we fail to see all that which is happening around us. In doing so we fail to see how God is at work all around us, and therefore we fail to demonstrate thankfulness towards God. Not only are we failing to demonstrate thankfulness, we also fail to be encouraged by this working of God.

Although God, in His sovereignty, has not yet answered our request, it does not mean that He is not at work in countless other areas and ways in our lives. Cultivating thankfulness helps us to not only thank God for past faithfulness, but also to see where He is at work and to then be encouraged by this and filled with further thankfulness.

2.)    Structured Times of Prayer and Meditation.

During the times when we are waiting on the Lord for guidance, for answer to our prayers, our prayers can often become not only self-centred, but also like a one track record, or to be more modern a one track CD! We become focused on the pressing need, or the difficulty of our situation, that we loose sight of everything else.

Whilst there is nothing intrinsically wrong with daily bringing the same request before God, we need to be cautious and ensure that this request is not the sum total of our prayers. I believe that the need to be cautious is purely for personal benefit and will aid us in keep the right perspective. When we become consumed by the pressing need, or difficulty, we often allow it to grow out of proportion, as the more we think about it, and the longer we go without a glimpse of relief, the greater the problem grows in our minds. Sometimes it grows to an unrealistic level, what started out as a minor inconvenience, or problem becomes one of epidemic proportion, and it consumes our minds day and night.

In all honestly I did not think that I had allowed the situation and difficulties to consume my mind, until I read through my journal and then I noticed day after day, after day it was the same plea and cry, the words were just different. I went and revisited some of the Psalms that I had made reference to in my journal, and I was struck by what I had missed. Although there are definite and clear cries for help, there is also much in the Psalm that teaches me about the character, nature, attributes and workings of God. I realised my own folly, for I had missed out on so much comfort and encouragement that these Psalms offered, even though they contained desperate cries and pleas for help. If only I had taken the time to read carefully through those Psalms, allowing them to speak to me, instead of filtering them through my own circumstances and emotional condition, it would have served to adjust my perspective, and then encouraged and edified my soul.

In order to prevent ourselves from becoming like a band with one song, in the midst of desperate and difficult circumstances, we need to develop a structured time of prayer and work hard at correct meditation and contemplation of the Scripture that we are reading. Writing down a list to guide us as we pray, to write down that which we are grateful for, ways in which we have seen God's grace and faithfulness at work, new, or even old truths that we have been taught or reminded of as we have read through Scripture. We should also write down our requests, but being careful and disciplined that we don't go on and on as we plead with God. As we complete that time of Scripture reading and prayer, we should end by asking ourselves: How has what I have read and prayed taught me more of God, increased my trust in Him, and encouraged and strengthened my faith?

3.)    Learning from the Lives of Others.

Lastly, when we endure these times of hardship, we can often be led to think that no one else has ever endured such a hardship before! We become self-centred and selfish. I felt this way several times and was struck by the “Woe is me!” complex, wallowing in a pool of my own self-pity, of which I am now ashamed. I had been unemployed and without my family for two months, but then I began to consider if this is how I felt after two months, what must it be like for men who suffer this for much longer. What must it be like for those who are off in Afghanistan fighting against the Taliban, away from their loved ones for months and months, never knowing if they shall see them again? What must it be like for those who are unable to find employment and have been poverty stricken for years? By comparison my lot was small, an easy one to bear as my family and I were surrounded by other family members and friends, all supporting and helping us through this time.

Greater than this I thought more of the men who wrote the Psalms, one man in particular, David. He had to run for his life on numerous occasions, hide in caves, travel under the cover of darkness, pretend to be insane in front of a foreign king, live in exile, suffer betrayal, and watch his son lead the nation in a coup against him. As I thought of David, my mind went to Joseph, sold in to slavery, falsely accused of adultery and forgotten in a dungeon; he did not see his family for decades! What about the prophets, the mockery and scorn they endured, never mind the works they were commanded to do by God, think of Ezekiel having to cook his food over cow dung, tying himself to his bed, or having to walk around in public half dressed. What about the New Testament Apostles, and the constant trials, difficulties and persecutions they suffered? Yet God delivered and undertook for them all.

All these came flooding into my mind and I found myself quickly humbled, for by contrast my burden was light, and I was surrounded by family and friends who were diligently praying for us, encouraging us and even financially helping us.

When we become so introspective and consumed by our situation, we loose perspective, we become unrealistic, pessimistic and generally miserable. To stop this downward spiral it is helpful to remember those who have gone before us, who have borne greater burdens, and to then specifically look as to how God's grace was evident in their lives and situations, how He was at work crafting their deliverance, long before they knew of its coming. This truly is one of the many joys and benefits of Scripture, learning from the lives of others, and being reminded of the ever-faithfulness and sovereignty of God. When we do this it helps to regain perspective, to realise that as God has so faithfully undertaken in the past, so He shall continue to be faithful to us.

Patience in the midst of trials and desperate situations is difficult; there can be no denying this, we therefore need to guard against a false patience, which is actually nothing less than impatience. To do this it will take effort and discipline on our part, to be diligent in cultivating and maintaining thankfulness, developing a structured time of prayer, correctly meditating and contemplating upon Scripture, whilst considering the example of others in the faith who have gone before us.

May God in His grace enable us to truly “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him” Psalm 37:7.

The Ingredients of Humble Pie! (Part 3 of 3)

3.) Reminding ourselves that we are simply jars of clay.

2 Corinthians 4 is a truly stunning chapter in the Bible, moving us through the divine work of God in our salvation. Taking us, who were blinded by the god of this world, and through His power removing the veil of darkness, causing the glory of Christ to flood our sight and lead us to faith and repentance. Paul then continues by telling us that this same power of God, which affects our salvation, does not only come into our lives to bring us to salvation and then leaves. This power of God remains within us through the presence and work of the Holy Spirit. Paul teaches us what this then means for us as believers in Christ, and how this power works within our lives. It is not my purpose to offer an exposition of this passage, but rather to draw out a simple, but humbling truth and that is the contrast that Paul draws between us, the power of God and then the purpose of this power of God at work in our lives.

We are but jars of clay, we are not appealing to the sight, we are not desirable because of our great value, we will not endure forever and we are fragile, prone to break. One day, as the preacher in Ecclesiastes 12:6 tells us, the pitcher will be broken, the clay jar smashed, life will come to an end.

We are not as great as we think we are, nor are we as strong as we pretend to be. (At this point in time, my three-year-old son believes I am invincible, as in his eyes daddy can do everything, and quite honestly, I am enjoying this “status”. Unfortunately, for me, my son will discover, in the not so distant future, that his daddy is not as strong and clever as initially thought!) We like to think that we are indispensable, that our church needs us, and that they could never survive without us.

The only reason why you and I, have remained in ministry as long as we have, and are still able to stand, is for no other reason, but because of the grace and power of God that is at work in our lives. Think upon all the trials of faith you have endured, the days when you have slumped in your office chair wondering if it is all worth it. The times when you have faced opposition, or when your have been laid low by physical weakness. What is it that has taken you in that hurting, broken and weary state to the pulpit each week and enabled you to preach? Brothers, it is not your own strength that has accomplished it, rather it is the divine power of God that has equipped, strengthened and enabled you to persevere.

For what purpose would God to take a weary minister to the pulpit? For what purpose would God strengthen a minister who is under attack from the workers of evil? For what purpose would God enable a minister who is hurting, and bind up his heart in the presence of the church?

Paul tells us, so that all may know that we are the men that we are, and we are able to do what we do week after week, after week, not because our wisdom, strength and ability, but because of the divine power of the one who is at work within us. All this is done so that people will not bow before us, or proclaim our excellencies, but rather they will fall in worship before the throne of God Almighty, praising and adoring Him for His grace and goodness.

We are fragile jars of clay, but jars that are filled with a divine power, all for the glory of God. We are live before our people as jars of clay, revealing to them our dependence upon this all-surpassing power of God, setting the example for them to follow.

4.) God works through us and blesses our preaching and teaching, not because of the eloquence and wisdom of our words and ability as preachers, but because it is His eternal, powerful, living Word.

I was a victim of the notorious preaching prize at Bible College. Now think of the wisdom of a preaching prize whereby you award a student, most likely in his early twenties, a prize, which publicly proclaims him to be the best preacher in the college! (I believe that my hero Charles Spurgeon would be turning in his grave hearing of such an invention!) Furthermore, I am not so sure that it is a good way to enter into the ministry, I feel sorry for the church that calls the young man! Come to think of it, I feel sorry for that young man, because he will come to the ground with a sharp thump! I still have the scar that marks my plummet from “best preacher” to my weekly blunders in the pulpit that left me wanting to crawl out of the church on my belly with the hope that no one would notice, or even dare to comment on the preaching!

Truthfully, we all want to excellent preachers, in fact if any of you were to say to me I do not want to be an excellent preacher, I would ask you what you were then doing in the pulpit. Paul’s instructions to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15 should be the hallmark of our preaching ministries. We should work long and hard at our sermons, seeking to refine, and then re-refine them. We should like the Puritans of old seek to be wordsmiths, finding the best words, examples, illustrations and forms of application to further improve our preaching. As preachers we, I believe, should regularly make available recordings of our sermons to men who are more experienced, and better preachers than ourselves so that they can review us and help us to grow in our preaching. Our preaching should be on a constant upward learning curve, aspiring after excellence.

In the pursuit of excellence, we must be very careful to guard against pride and pursue after humility. (I believe it was Spurgeon (at least I think it was), who after having preached a sermon was greeted by an elderly woman who told him, “That is the best sermon I ever heard.” To which Spurgeon replied, “Yes ma’m, the devil already to me that!”) We need to guard against the pursuit of excellence that causes us to eagerly seek after the praise of men. Our aim in preaching should not be to have our sermons published in every Christian Theological journal as the very standard of excellence. We should not preach to impress others, a battle every preacher faces when he knows that there are other preachers in the congregation!

We need to hold ever before ourselves, both in the preparation process and in the delivery of the sermon, the following questions, “Upon whose authority do I depend as I preach these words?”, “What assurance do I have of the success of my preaching?”

If the answers to those two questions are, “I am depending upon my own ability, my own efforts in the week, my own understanding of the text, on the eloquence of my words and the clarity with which I preach.” Well, it goes without saying, we are in dangerous territory. I believe that none of us wish to ever find ourselves in such a place, but, and this perhaps is the more revealing the question, have you ever found yourself in a position whereby you think that God should bless your preaching because of all the work and effort you have put in over the week? Do you feel that your work of preaching is deserving of God’s blessing? Ask yourself those questions honestly.

The only authority we have when we preach is God’s authority, and the only assurance of our success in preaching is because God has promised that HIS WORD will always accomplish His purposes.

Gentlemen, the only reason why our preaching is successful, the only reason why people come to faith in Christ, or grow in their salvation, is because God has promised to work through the preaching of His Word. Its success does not depend upon our eloquence or personal brilliance, and we should be extremely grateful for this, for what man among us could say that such is the standard of his preaching, that his words alone can change lives bringing people to God?

Yes, we should by all means strive after excellence in preaching, but we should never forget that we preach God’s Word, in God’s name and authority, trusting, resting and rejoicing, that He in His power uses our limited and finite abilities to accomplish His purposes, for the expansion of His kingdom and the glory of His name.

5.) Consider the worth of Him who handed the “keys” of church to us, and our unworthiness for this task.

I am currently in transition, I will be leaving my present church and by God’s grace entering into ministry on the other side of the world in England, although the exact place and church is yet to be determined. As a result of this, the church has begun the call process, and for me it has been a very challenging and humbling time, in which my ego and pride has been exposed. As the candidates have sent in application forms and responded to the extensive questionnaire, and they have preached and been interviewed, I have found myself standing with a magnifying glass over the man, and over the various forms and questionnaires.

At the very first call committee meeting I urged the committee to not fall into the trap of seeking to find the perfect pastor, as such a man does not exist. I, have not heeded my own warning! I love this church dearly, tears come to my eyes when I contemplate my departure at the end of the year. I do not doubt the fact that God has clearly called me to move on, but I desire with all my heart to hand the church over to a man who is capable for the task. The truth is, there is no such man, no, not even me!

As I wrestled with this, so my ego and pride was exposed, and as so often happens in these moments the sword of God’s Word pierced my selfish heart, sticking its blade into my sin. Consider Christ’s words in Matthew 16:19, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven…” and Acts 1:8, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” To whom did Christ issue these words? The disciples, to Peter, who suffered from foot-in-mouth disease, to James and John the proud brothers who tried to secure their position of prestige, to Thomas the doubter and so we could continue. A total stranger to Scripture and Church history would be baffled by the actions of Christ. “Are you seriously handing over the continuation of your work to these men, these uneducated, weak-willed, faithless, fools? Surely no one in their right mind would entrust to men such as these, their life work, a work for which they died to secure?” Yet Christ demonstrates His humility, and trust in the Father (as he gives evidence of in John 17), as well as His knowledge of the power of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers, by handing over the continuation of his earthly work and ministry to the disciples.

I found myself immediately convicted, for my failure to trust God, and my sinfulness in wanting to “play God” in the determining who was capable or incapable. When it comes down to it, not one of us is worthy for the task, not one of us is sufficient for the work, not one of us is capable. We do not deserve to hold the keys, or to be entrusted with this great and high calling. It is only Christ that causes and enables us to be counted worthy, it is only through receiving his abundant grace and mercy, through outpouring and equipping work of the Holy Spirit, that we can do the work to which we have been called.

Brothers, consider Him and His infinite worth, who laid down His life for the sake of us who believe. Consider those to whom He has entrusted to work in His blood bought Church. Consider yourself, in the light of Christ, and allow that to produce in you a deeper humility, and a greater thankfulness to Him who has counted your worthy, called you to the work and equipped you for the task.

I close by restating the five ingredients:

1.) Cultivate an ever-decreasing view and opinion of yourself, and an ever-increasing view and understanding of God.

2.) A daily realisation that it is not because of who you are, but because of who God is.

3.) Reminding ourselves that we are simply jars of clay.

4.) God works through us and blesses our preaching and teaching, not because of the eloquence and wisdom of our words and ability as preachers, but because it is His eternal, powerful, living Word.

5.) Consider the worth of Him who handed the “keys” of church to us, and our unworthiness for this task.

Those then are my five ingredients to humble pie! (Although there are many more that could still be added.) Let us seek to keep these truths of Scripture ever before us, constantly praying the words of John the Baptist, "He must increase and I must decrease". Let us strive after humility with a renewed zeal, being ever more vigilant in our battle against pride, so that all the glory may go to Him, who has saved us and called us into His glorious work. 

The Ingredients of Humble Pie! (Part 2 of 3)

Pride is subtle, it seldom, if ever, comes to us waving its hands in the air shouting, “Look out! Look out! Here comes pride!” Two weeks ago, I spoke of how even we as pastors run the risk of slipping into pride without even knowing, sometimes to such an extreme that we mistake our pride for humility. The only cure to pride is a healthy dose of humility, and yet like a small child, we intensely dislike that taste of the medicine we so desperately need. To the point that we stubbornly refuse to take it, until our mouths are pried open and the medicine swiftly sent down our throats. We are slow to humble ourselves, and fail to make it a daily practice. I speak here from personal experience, when I wake in the mornings, my first action should be to get out of bed and immediately go to my knees praying for God to keep my heart from pride and bathe it in humility. Yet, truthfully, I have never done this. God, however, is gracious, long-suffering and patient, there is forgiveness, and the new opportunity to change my ways.

The question then is what can we do at the start of every day, and especially on Sundays, to ward off pride and humble ourselves? What ingredients do we need to make ourselves a slice of humble pie, which should be eaten each morning?

1.) Cultivate an ever-decreasing view and opinion of yourself, and an ever-increasing view and understanding of God.

Your morning starts as per usual, standing in front of the basin, razor in hand, removing yesterday’s stubble. The shaving process completed you rinse your face, look in the mirror, and for a brief moment allow yourself to bask in your own magnificence. (The degree of magnificence seems to decrease with age!)

Stop, be careful, for you were created not to bask in your own magnificence every morning, but rather to bow before the One who is Magnificent. Don’t forget that the day will come when your existence upon the earth shall come to an end as swiftly as yesterday’s stubble, and then you shall truly see just how much your opinion of yourself stacks up against the God of all glory!

One of pride’s chief weapons is to cause us to think of ourselves as greater, higher and better than what we really are. It will seek to fool us into thinking that we are only a few rungs lower on the ladder from God. This pride, if left unchecked will cause us to have an inflated view of ourselves. This increasing view, this over-estimation of ourselves comes at a cost, for as we inflate ourselves to being greater than what we truly are, we decrease and demote God, to being lesser than what He truly is. The result, we promote ourselves to God, and demote God to our errand-boy, personal servant and genie, who is there to satisfy our every desire, whim and wish.

I have been reading through the book of Isaiah, and found myself laid-low, cut down like a tree, by one simple verse: “Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?” (Isaiah 2:22)

This passage is preceded by a lengthy section speaking about the terror and judgement that God shall bring against the proud, of God’s infinite glory and splendour, and man’s worthlessness in comparison. It concludes with that soul piercing, pride crushing verse. It is a verse that haunts my thoughts for it is saying to me, “Of what account are you, how great is your splendour and majesty, how mighty is your power, how great is your magnificence, when you cannot even provide for yourself the very simplest of things, your next breath! Take away one thing, one simple thing, oxygen and that is it, there you lie gasping for breath, after a few moments your body will be lying there, blue, limp, dead. Oh, how great you are!”

The first step, the first ingredient needed to humble ourselves is that we must seek to cultivate an ever-increasing view of God and an ever-decreasing view of ourselves. Let us make it our daily ambition to gain an accurate view of who God truly is, and who we are by comparison. We must allow the sheer majesty, glory, splendour, power and magnificence of God, to cause us have our faces buried in the dust like Isaiah, Daniel and John, fearing for our very lives, but rejoicing that we have found favour in His sight. To speak to our hearts as we stand in front of that mirror in the morning, “I was created to worship, not before the throne of self, but before the one who is enthroned between the cherubim, the God of Glory. How shall I worship Him today?”

2.) A daily realisation that it is not because of who you are, but because of who God is.

Aaron is one of those characters in the Bible that is somewhat of a mystery to me, he is a misfit, a troublemaker, a man easily swayed by the influence of others and an idolater. Yet God uses him powerfully, he is the first High Priest, and his family line becomes the priestly line. A man who made, fashioned with his own hand the golden calf, who led the nation in idolatry, whilst standing next to mountain with the presence of God upon it, is exalted by God to just about the highest office in all of Israel!

Aaron, is in many respects the Old Testament version of Saul, for Saul too is a misfit, a violent opponent of the Christian Church, seeking to silence Christians, and in the process mislead others, turning them away from the true Messiah, back to the Law of bondage, sin and death. Yet, God radically changes both of these men, and we can clearly say that God could not have chosen these men based on who they were, or what they had done.

Think back to what happens shortly after the golden calf debacle. Moses makes that very brave request to see the glory of God, and God graciously provides Moses with that glimpse. As God does this so He declares to Moses, who He, God is, and as God declares this so we hear the reason for which Aaron is still alive, in fact the reason as to why any of us are still alive and have not been utterly consumed in God’s wrath.

“The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:5-7)

It is because of who God is that Aaron is still standing, it is because of who God is that Aaron is then made High Priest. It is because of the fact that God is mercy and grace, because He is slow to anger, a God of patience, because He is love and is faithful and forgiving.

Consider who you are today as a believer in Christ, consider who you are today as a messenger of God, called to serve in His church as a shepherd. You are who you are, where you are and what you are, not because of who you are, or what you have done, but rather because of who God is, and what God has done.

We are all Aarons, faithless misfits who hearts are quick to run after idols. Daily giving God more than sufficient reason for Him to justly consume us in His wrath, and yet because of who He is, He relents, shows grace, and uses us to the glory of His name! We must, also, be careful. Just as the declaration of who God is contains so much hope and joy for us, it also comes with a warning, God will not tolerate sin forever, He will punish it, and He will discipline us should we fail to deal with it, rooting it out of our lives. God will not contend with man forever.

The second step, the second ingredient in humility, is to constantly remind ourselves of who we are, of who He is and how it is that we have become to be who and what we are. This alone should give us sufficient cause each and every morning to be filled with praise and adoration of Him who called us to Himself, made us His own, and entrusted us with His Gospel. As we prasie and adore Him, let us then also pray that He may, through His Spirit, help us to root out sin and pride so that we can live in greater obedience to Him.

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. (1 Timothy 1:12-17)




More ingredients to follow later in the week.....

Spurgeon on Faith.

I have just started to read C.H. Spurgeon's All-Round Ministry. In this book we have collected and preserved for us, some of Spurgeon's addresses to pastors at the annual conference held at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Here is an excerpt from the first address: Faith. I trust you will find as inspiring and encouraging as I did. I suggest you read through it several times slowly so as to absorb all that is being said, then read like you are preaching it, with passion, boldness and zeal so as to capture the determination of the such a resolute faith!


"First, we have faith in God. We believe "that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." We do not believe in the powers of nature operating themselves apart from the constant emanations of power from the Great and Mighty One, who is the Sustainer as well as the Creator of all things. Far be it from us to banish God from His own universe. Neither do we believe in a merely nominal deity, as those do who make all things to be God...We know the Lord as a distinct personal existence, a real God, infinitely more real than the things which are seen and handled, more real even than ourselves, for we are but shadows, He alone is the I AM, abiding the same for ever and ever.

We believe in a God of purposes and plans, who has not left a blind fate to tyrannize over the world, much less an aimless chance to rock it to and fro. We are not fatalists, neither are we doubters of providence and predestination. We are believers in a God "who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." We do not conceive of the Lord as having gone away from the world, and left it and the inhabitants thereof to themselves; we believe in Him as continually presiding in all the affairs of life.

We, by faith, perceive the hand of the Lord giving to every blade of grass its own drop of dew, and to every young raven its meat. We see the present power of God in the flight of every sparrow, and hear His goodness in the song of every lark.

We believe that "the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof;" and we go forth into it, not as into the domains of Satan where light comes not, nor into a chaos where rule is unknown, nor into a boiling sea where fate's resistless billows shipwreck mortals at their will; but we walk boldly on, having God within us and around us, living and moving and having our being in Him, and so, by faith, we dwell in a temple of providence and grace wherein everything doth speak of His glory.

We believe in a present God wherever we may be, and a working and operating God accomplishing His own purposes steadfastly and surely in all matters, places and times; working out His designs as much in what seemeth evil as in that which is manifestly good; in all things driving on in His eternal chariot towards the goal which infinite wisdom has chosen, never slackening His pace nor drawing the rein, but for ever, according to the eternal strength that is in Him, speeding forward without pause.

We believe in this God as being faithful to everything that He has spoken, a God who can neither lie nor change. The God of Abraham is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and He is our God this day. We do not believe in the ever-shifting views of the Divine Being which differing philosophies are adopting; the God of the Hebrews is our God, -- Jehovah...the Mighty One, the covenant keeping God, -- "this God is our God for ever and ever: He will be our Guide even unto death."

(An All-Round Ministry, C.H. Spurgeon, Pgs 4-6. Banner of Truth Trust.)

A Slice of Humble Pie! (Part 1 of 3)

No one likes to be told that they are proud, or at times have an air of arrogance about them. We do not like being told this because at the very core of our hearts we are proud and arrogant!

As pastors we are constantly cautioned against pride and arrogance, we are eager to root it out of our lives and become increasingly humble men. We are, however, also experts at feigning humility, adopting an attitude and response of humility that is external, but does not originate from a truly humble heart. This often comes to the fore when people praise our preaching, speak in admiration of our apparently great wisdom and deep insight into the Word of God. When they marvel at our ability to handle, what is in their mind a profoundly difficult theological question, with apparent ease.

By God’s grace, He has enabled us to study His Word for a period three or more years as we completed our theological degrees. The majority of us came out of seminary with a good foundation, and even the ability to read the Bible in the original languages, some with a greater ability than others. We have been in ministry for numerous years, notching up more and more experience, we, hopefully, read and study constantly, always seeking to increase our knowledge. We want to keep our theological pencils sharp, so that we can serve well in the ministry. It is the constant desire of our hearts that our preaching and our work as a pastor is one that is consistently improving, becoming increasingly better and clearer. We desire to be seen as strong, decisive leaders, who are marked by integrity and discernment. At the same time, we always want to be approachable, open, and ready to help those who are in need, or in distress. Few things cause us more pain as pastors than to discover that a member has been in great spiritual distress, but has been too afraid to come and speak to us. Why do I mention all this? Have you ever considered the fact that in your desire to become theological astute, an excellent preacher of God’s Word and a wise shepherd, it could have led you to a subtle form of pride and arrogance?

Allow me to suggest that what lies at the heart of this pride and arrogance that we as pastors struggle so much with, is the fact that we are over-familiar with the truth, we have allowed knowledge to dull our hearts and minds, we have become too comfortable with the One who is infinite, and beyond our comprehension. We have become increasingly critical, and have turned our calling into a profession that must be executed according to our standards and knowledge.

Take the following test to diagnose the condition of your mind and heart in this regard:

When you read the Bible, especially the very familiar passages, do you find yourself skimming over them, thinking to yourself, “I know this passage, I know how the story goes and I know what comes next”?

Can you remember the last time you read the Bible and after reading a certain verse or passage, found yourself amazed, stunned, speechless, driven to worship, adoration and prayer?

When asked a question by a church member, that in your sight is a basic Sunday school question, do you find yourself thinking, “How can you not know the answer to that, how can you claim to be a ‘mature’ Christian and ask questions like this?”

At a Bible study when Mrs. Jones prays, and of course, she prays every week, do you find yourself analysing and critiquing her prayer, cringing as she uses all the clichés in the book, and following the same formula and phrases week after week?

Do you ever find yourself wishing that you could play the role of the Holy Spirit in the lives of certain church members, who just never seem to change, nor do they appear to take to heart God’s Word?

On a Sunday, during the time of singing, do you find it difficult to focus on the songs, because so often your mind is distracted by what certain members are or are not doing? “Why is Phil wildly waving his hands in the air? Oh boy, Mary is crying again, what is it this time?” Do you find yourself examining the congregation to see who is not at church and wondering why they are not here today, thinking "today’s sermon would be especially relevant to them"?

When you are in prayer, in the privacy of your study or office, how proportionate is the time you spend lamenting the lack of growth in the lives of the church members, praying and pleading that God would change them, as opposed to the time spent thanking God for evidences of His grace and work in the lives of the church members? When was the last time you prayed and thanked God for the church in which He has placed you, thanked Him for each of the members, and the work that He is performing but which is hidden from our sight?

How often do you encourage individual church members, commenting on how you have seen God at work in their life, mentioning to them how you are thankful to God for their progress in the Gospel?

How did you do?

I failed, miserably!

As I reflected upon those questions, I had to search my heart for at first sight my pride and arrogance was not evident, I do genuinely desire to serve God to the best of my ability. I desire for the members of the church to grow in maturity, to pray better, to be quicker to heed God’s Word and for the Sunday services to be excellent; my desire for this is so that God’s people, church and glory might grow.

This pride and arrogance is a very subtle one, it is not a public or an easily discernable one. This pride creeps slowly into our hearts and minds. It seeks to control our inner thoughts, and many of those thoughts will never be outwardly spoken, as our members would be horrified if they heard them. The problem is that so often what we think in our minds, then seeks to control the inclinations and attitudes of our hearts, which, if left unchecked, can begin to influence our behaviour and outward actions. A sigh of disapproval, a shaking of the head, a frown, a look of displeasure, or condescension, a sarcastic remark, or words of jest, are the ways and means that this pride and arrogance works its way through our hearts and minds, to our outward behaviour. Such behaviour can cause people to hold us at a distance, to see us as a super-spiritual guru with their own hotline to God and some hidden exclusive knowledge into the Bible that they will never gain. It can cause our members to become afraid of us, not in terms of being fearful, but afraid of us thinking them foolish or immature should they ask us a question. Worse still, it can cause our members to be hesitant to come and share their struggles with sin and seek out our counsel, for we give off the impression that we do not struggle with sin. Our behaviour and conduct, could hinder their worship of God, for they feel as though they are being watched, and their prayers are being analysed and critiqued.

As pastors, we would not want the above paragraph to be true of us, it would reduce us to a heap of desperate tears and destroy us, for we never, ever wish to be perceived as such a person. We therefore need to be diligent so as to guard our hearts against this subtle pride. The big question is how then can we guard against this pride? The answer is simple; we need to eat a healthy slice of humble pie, on a daily basis!

What are the ingredients needed to make a humble pie? In God’s grace I will seek to answer that question later this week with another post. Until then, brothers, keep a close watch upon your heart, your mind and your conduct.

Riding an Emotional Rollercoaster!

There are times in life when you find yourself dealing with numerous emotions, and these emotions are colliding with each other, to the point where you find yourself unable to answer adequately the question, “How are you?” You wish you knew how you were, as you feel you are just in survival mode. If you were to ask me now, “How are you?” my answer to you would be, “I just am.” Today is the first time I have had in two and a half weeks to sit down and think, unpack, digest, internalize and express all that which has happened.

I feel as though I have been riding an emotional rollercoaster, and what makes a rollercoaster so scary is that you do not know what is going to happen next, or how you will feel when you get there. I must state at the outset, that although I feel as though I have been on a rollercoaster and have not known what is coming next, God in His grace has been in complete control. For He knows what lies ahead, and He has given me much grace so to be able to deal with all that which has occurred over this time.

Let me start at the beginning. Two and a half weeks ago, my wife and I were looking in on the hidden world of the womb; there our unborn daughter lay in perfect peace. Joy filled our hearts, in just 8 weeks time we would be holding her in our arms. In my mind, I praised the Lord. “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” Psa 139:13-16

I then travelled down to Johannesburg to attend the first two days of the Rezolution conference, and had the privilege to sit under the ministry of Paul Tripp and Rick Holland. Boy, oh boy, did God work on my soul over those two days; I was confronted with my own sinfulness, selfishness and idolatry. I did not walk out of those sessions, but crawl out pleading for forgiveness, and at the same time overloaded by the grace of God, that He still pours out His grace and favour on a sinner such as me. I knew I needed to make some drastic changes in my own life, and in the life of our family.

My wife and son joined me on Thursday evening, our hearts rejoiced as we were reunited. Friday morning we climbed aboard the plane and headed for George. Again, our hearts were joyful as we were on our way to the wedding of my wife’s brother.

What a beautiful day Saturday was, as a picture of Genesis 2 was painted, as the bride made her way down the aisle lead by her father. What joy was mine as I had the honour of presiding over the marriage ceremony, leading them in their vows and joining them in the sight of God in marriage. From the church, we travelled to the home of my parents-in-law for photographs with my mother-in-law. Mom was now bed ridden, cancer having worked its course through her body for the past 3 years. The joy and delight on mom’s face was truly memorable as the newly weds entered her room, her face was glowing; her son finally had found his soul mate. I was instructed by the photographer to stand next to bed so that I could have a photo with mom. I lay my hand on her arm, and she immediately grasped my hand, squeezed it tight, pulled me closer, and whispered in my in my ear, “Thank you.” Little did I know those would be some of her last words to me.

Sunday, was a day of mixed emotions, still filled with joy from the previous day, and yet deep sorrow in our hearts as we stood by mom’s bed, said good-bye and prayed together as a family for the last time. We boarded the plane and made our way home, joy mixed with sorrow.

Monday evening, 20h30, Joel was finally asleep, my wife and I sat on the couch exhausted from a busy weekend, the long journey and a day filled with unpacking, washing and cleaning. All we wanted to do was go to sleep. My wife looked at me with a glint in her eye that informed me a request was coming, “Ice-cream please!” With Paul Tripp’s words directed to husbands still ringing in my ears, I with joy went to get some ice cream for my wife and for myself of course! As I dished it out my cell phone rang, I answered it and heard my father-in-law’s voice, it was shaken, “Mom’s gone.” I walked through to the lounge, I held my wife and broke the news to her, and we sobbed from the core of our being. Through the tears we opened and repacked the suitcases we had just unpacked, put the now melted ice-cream back into the freezer, drove through the night to Johannesburg, and boarded the first flight back to George on Tuesday morning.

Thursday morning and I found myself standing in the exact same place in George Baptist Church as I had been standing on Saturday. What a conflict of emotions, on Saturday I was fighting back the tears of joy as marriage vows were exchanged, but on Thursday I was fighting back tears of sorrow and grief as I sought to make my way through the eulogy I had written without breaking down. On Saturday, Genesis 2 came to light in all its beauty and joy, on Thursday Genesis 3 came crashing into view, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Gen 3:19. Mom’s memorial service was truly remarkable, and rightly so, she was a remarkable woman. What made her remarkable was her love for Jesus, and her constant desire to know Him more, and this was true of mom even before her cancer diagnosis. She had left to us, her family, the best inheritance we could have ever asked from, the legacy of the Gospel, and the example of a life lived in faith upon the Saviour.

Sunday, as we stood in church singing songs of praise, tears streamed down our faces, 

“Blessed be Your name, on the road marked with suffering, though there's pain in the offering, 

Blessed be Your name…..You give and take away, You give and take away, 

My heart will choose to say, Lord, blessed be Your name.” 

“I will glory in my Redeemer, who carries me on eagle's wings, He crowns my life with 

loving-kindness, His triumph song I'll ever sing. I will glory in my Redeemer, 

who waits for me at gates of gold, and when He calls me it will be paradise. 

His face forever to behold,  His face forever to behold, His face forever to behold!”

God was graciously comforting us, through these songs of praise and through the preaching of His Word.

Tuesday, was a day we were dreading, for it would be our final goodbye to mom. We made our way up the Swartberg Pass, mom’s wishes were to have her ashes scattered at the top of the pass. We climbed out of the car, I held in my hand “mom”, this woman who so many had loved, whom I loved, who I had hugged, laughed with, and cried with, now lay in my one hand, reduced to ashes. Sobering, my mind went to Psalm 90:12 and I prayed silently, “Teach me Lord to number my days, don’t let me waste my life in vain pursuits.”

Before we scattered mom’s ashes, we read from 1 Peter 1:1-9. We reflected on how mom had now received her promised inheritance, how she had valiantly held on in faith to the promises, goodness, love and sovereignty of God throughout her time of suffering. Her faith no longer would be tested, but had become sight; she had obtained the full salvation of her soul. For us, well we still had to complete our journey, we still had to hold on in faith and await our day, but what an example we had set for us to follow in the life of mom. We watched through the tears as mom’s ashes blew away in the wind, we then laid mom’s favourite flowers, sweet peas, in the crevice of a rock. My mind jumped to Moses, when God hid him in the crevice of a rock, to protect him as God revealed His glory. What a contrast, we see now in part; we see but glimpses of God’s glory and long to see more of it. Mom, however, has seen Him in all His radiance and fullness, and she will continue to see Him for all of eternity, she has heard that choir of angels declare the praises of God, to which she has added her voice. “In mansions of glory and endless delight, I’ll ever adore Thee, in heaven so bright; I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow, “If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ‘tis now.”

As I now sit here in my office thinking through all that which has happened, I find myself amazed yet again by the grace of God, for He has been so visibly present in the midst of all the circumstances. I do not have the space and time to tell you of all the ways, means and areas in which God’s providence and sovereignty has been evident over this time. I wish I could express to you the many ways in which Christ has proved once again to be the Great Shepherd of our souls, all I can say is that I have come to understand Hebrews 13:20-21 on a much deeper level. “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, 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.”

God has graciously has given us peace and has equipped us in every situation. Not only this, but He has enabled us to see His goodness in all things, and given us more than enough reasons to glorify Him. We praise Him for the coming birth of our daughter, the creation of new life, for the joy of marriage, the creation of a new family, and for the hope that salvation brings in the midst of death, the entrance into the new creation where it shall be glory forever.

Furthermore, Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15 have brought me much comfort and joy, “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor 15:54-57. I so often hear people speak of how their loved ones, “lost their battle against cancer.” When I think about mom, I cannot say that, in fact I do not believe that she lost her battle against cancer. What did the cancer do? Sure, it caused her untold suffering and pain; it weakened her body, and caused her death at a young age. However, did it take away her hope, love, faith, joy, peace, assurance and spiritual strength? No! As the cancer increased and grew, so did all the above, in fact I would argue that they grew faster, greater and stronger than the cancer did. Cancer did its worst and ended mom’s earthly life, but now it can do no more, its power has ended, as mom breathed her last earthly breath, so the cancer in her breathed its last. At that moment mom was instantly filled with new life, and brought into a glorious eternity, given a new body. Mom’s battle against cancer was not one that she lost. No, for by God’s grace, through work of Christ, she defeated it, she is the victor, for she lives on and shall live on forever more in the presence of the Author of Life. She has gone from a life stained with sin, weakness, disease and death, to life immortal, clothed in holiness, and filled with the righteousness of Christ. How is that a losing battle? In the words of Paul, to be with the Lord is better by far!

What a truly amazing God we serve, He is the God of all comfort, the Good Shepherd, the Carer of our souls, the Giver of grace, the Fountain of hope, the Pillar of strength and the Tower of righteousness. We as a family have run unto to Him, we have cast ourselves on Him, and have not been disappointed, nor found Him wanting, but have found Him to be gentle, gracious and loving. To God be all the glory!

“But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. With the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD I will come; I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone. O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you? You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. You will increase my greatness and comfort me again. I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel. My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed.” Psa 71:14-23