Our Heavenly Father, Our faithful Master,
Each morning, teach us to be satisfied with your steadfast love.
Your sure, reliable and faithful love.
Each day, teach us to walk by faith and not by sight.
Help us pray with thy Spirit ‘s assuring presence.
Each moment, teach us not to trust ourselves.
But wholly lean on thy faithful promises.
Each hour, while reminding us that we are dust.
Help us to remember, you are the eternal God.
Each situation, teach us whatever it may be
You plan and work all things for your purpose and glory
Each passing year, as we will age and our bodies weary with infirmities,
Your blessed assurance teaching us not to be anxious
Help us to cast all our care to You,
The unchangeable, everlasting and faithful God.
When God allows severe trials and afflictions come into our lives, as feeble human beings, they test our faith in God. Are trials and afflictions in fact privileges of God's children ? From the scriptures, it is clear that God is always on the His throne and in control. He does what He purposes for His Glory. He acts out of His sovereign will. The redeemed belong to Christ, He bought them by His own blood. Everything that comes into our lives does not come by chance but is all a manifestation of God's fore knowledge and special care for his children, all them who loved God and are Christ's redeemed. Christ promised that He will never leave His sheep. In our journey of life as sojourners through this earth , all providences come about for the good of those that are Christ's. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
In this embedded clip is a moving testimony of Brady, a young boy who was diagnosed with brain cancer at age of 10. It was then God shined the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ into his heart. He was transformed and showed great joy through the 4 years of living and suffering with this terminal illness. His testimony before all people who came into contact with him showed that he had a great hunger for God showing much faith and joy in knowing that God was at work in him. Through it all, the testimony of his parents showed that their lives and that of their other two children were drawn much closer to God through the experience that Brady underwent. We may not have the answers now as to why God allowed experience such as this to come to Brady but we can trust that such seemingly sad experience worked for His purpose and for His Glory. God ensured that all things worked together for good for Brady and his family.
In Matthew Henry''s commentary on Rom 8:28:
The privilege of the saints, that all things work together for good to them, that is, all the providences of God that concern them. All that God performs he performs for them, Psalms 57:2. Their sins are not of his performing, therefore not intended here, though his permitting sin is made to work for their good, 2 Chron 32:31. But all the providences of God are theirs - merciful providences, afflicting providences, personal, public. They are all for good; perhaps for temporal good, as Joseph's troubles; at least, for spiritual and eternal good. That is good for them which does their souls good. Either directly or indirectly, every providence has a tendency to the spiritual good of those that love God, breaking them off from sin, bringing them nearer to God, weaning them from the world, fitting them for heaven. Work together. They work, as physic works upon the body, various ways, according to the intention of the physician; but all for the patient's good. They work together, as several ingredients in a medicine concur to answer the intention. God hath set the one over against the other (Eccl 7:14): sunergei, a very singular, with a noun plural, denoting the harmony of Providence and its uniform designs, all the wheels as one wheel, Eze 10:13. He worketh all things together for good; so some read it. It is not from any specific quality in the providences themselves, but from the power and grace of God working in, with, and by, these providences. All this we know - know it for a certainty, from the word of God, from our own experience, and from the experience of all the saints.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. Psalms 57:2
God left him to himself, in order to test him and to know all that was in his heart." 2 Chron 32:31
In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. Eccl 7:14
"Our values determine our evaluations. If we value comfort more than character, then trials will upset us. If we value the material and physical more than the spiritual, we will not be able to `count it all joy.' If we live only for the present and forget the future, then trials will make us bitter, not better"
(Be Mature, [Wheaton, Ill.: Victor, 1978], p.23 by Warren Wiersbe).
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. James 1:2-4, 12
As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. James 5:10-11
My heart is filled with thankfulness To Him who bore my pain; Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace And gave me life again; Who crushed my curse of sinfulness And clothed me in His light And wrote His law of righteousness With pow'r upon my heart.
My heart is filled with thankfulness To Him who walks beside; Who floods my weaknesses with strength And causes fears to fly; Whose ev'ry promise is enough For ev'ry step I take, Sustaining me with arms of love And crowning me with grace.
My heart is filled with thankfulness To him who reigns above, Whose wisdom is my perfect peace, Whose ev'ry thought is love. For ev'ry day I have on earth Is given by the King; So I will give my life, my all, To love and follow him.
In life, all Christians will go through suffering and pain in varying degrees. As Christians we are urged to be steadfast under trials, tribulations and sufferings and to consider those examples in scriptures like Job, who remained steadfast in faith and triumphed.
In this second sermon from the Book of Job, John Piper urged us to study the Word of God carefully, discover and acknowledge God's Sovereignty over our lives. Our lives are totally in His hands: "man proposes and God disposes". The God of the Bible is good, He is not capricious. God can be trusted, we must put our faith in Him.
As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. James 5:10-11
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Jas 1:12
For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. Job 19:25-27
Then Job answered the LORD and said:"I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 'Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.' I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Job 42:1-6
Watch Pastor John Piper in this excellent sermon from the Book of Job on the Sovereignty of God in the sufferings and pains of God's children. In the lives and affairs of God's children, while Satan intends to do evil through sufferings and destroy faith, God intends for the same sufferings to do good and build faith in His Children and for God's glory to come through.
"In Christianity the Lord Jesus Christ is all and in all. "
"THE catacombs are full of Christ. It was to Him that the Christians of the age of persecution ever turned: it was on Him they rested- in gladness and in sorrow; in sickness and in health; in the days of danger - and these were sadly numerous in the first two centuries and a half - and in the hour of death. It was from His words they drew their strength. In the consciousness of His ever-presence in their midst, they gladly suffered for His sake. With His name on their lips they died fearlessly, joyfully passing into the Valley of the veiled Shadow. On the tablet of marble or plaster which closed up the narrow shelf in the catacomb corridor where their poor remains were reverently, lovingly laid, the dear name of Jesus was often painted or carved."
"The catacombs are full of Christ," the Dean of Gloucester repeats in the clause succeeding that above quoted from his book. He then goes on to tell that in those "first days" "the Good Shepherd" was"the favourite symbol of the Christian life and faith." And he adds: "A great and eloquent writer (Dean Stanley) does not hesitate to speak of what he terms the popular religion of the first century as the religion of ‘the Good Shepherd.’ He says they looked on that figure, and it conveyed to them all they wanted. And then he adds sorrowfully that ‘as ages passed on, the image of the Good Shepherd faded away from the mind of the Christian world, and other emblems took the place of the once dearly loved figure.’" Yes, in those bright days the thought of the personal and living Christ "conveyed to them all they wanted."
The Church is the flock, and Ministers are to be "ensamples to the flock" - the Lord’s own provision of shepherds until the Chief Shepherd shall appear. He is the Chief Shepherd with reference to the under-shepherds. He is the Good Shepherd,because He cares for the sheep, and gave His life for them.And as brought up again from the dead He is the Great Shepherd.The significance of the imagery of the Lord’s words in (John 10) was familiar to the Hebrew Christians of Palestine, but we are apt to miss it. Within the fold, sheep have no need of the shepherd’s care. But when he leads them out to pasture they look to him for guidance, and they run to him for safety whenever danger threatens. What intensity of meaning this must have had for those early saints in days of persecution! " Sir Robert Anderson -Types in Hebrews - Chapter 14 - CHRISTIANITY IS CHRIST
So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. John 10:7-9
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:11
I am the good shepherd.I know my own and my own know me,just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. John 10:14-15
And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.So there will be one flock, one shepherd. John 10:16
Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one." John 10:25-30
When trials come no longer fear For in the pain our God draws near To fire a faith worth more than gold And there His faithfulness is told And there His faithfulness is told
Within the night I know Your peace The breath of God brings strength to me And new each morning mercy flows As treasures of the darkness grow As treasures of the darkness grow
I turn to Wisdom not my own For every battle You have known My confidence will rest in You Your love endures Your ways are good Your love endures Your ways are good
When I am weary with the cost I see the triumph of the cross So in it's shadow I shall run Till He completes the work begun Till He completes the work begun
One day all things will be made new I'll see the hope You called me to And in your kingdom paved with gold I'll praise your faithfulness of old I'll praise your faithfulness of old
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world." Joh 11:25-27
Come, people of the Risen King
Come, people of the Risen King, Who delight to bring Him praise; Come all and tune your hearts to sing To the Morning Star of grace. From the shifting shadows of the earth We will lift our eyes to Him, Where steady arms of mercy reach To gather children in.
REFRAIN Rejoice, Rejoice! Let every tongue rejoice! One heart, one voice; O Church of Christ, rejoice!
Come, those whose joy is morning sun, And those weeping through the night; Come, those who tell of battles won, And those struggling in the fight. For His perfect love will never change, And His mercies never cease, But follow us through all our days With the certain hope of peace.
Rejoice, Rejoice! Let every tongue rejoice! One heart, one voice; O Church of Christ, rejoice!
Come, young and old from every land - Men and women of the faith; Come, those with full or empty hands - Find the riches of His grace. Over all the world, His people sing - Shore to shore we hear them call The Truth that cries through every age: “Our God is all in all”!
Rejoice, Rejoice! Let every tongue rejoice! One heart, one voice; O Church of Christ, rejoice!
Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places.Hab 3:17-19
Lean on the all sufficient Creator, we can always trust Him. In poverty or in riches, God promises to supply our every need. In sickness or in health, remember God is always good. Lets thirst and hunger after the Giver, not his earthly gifts. Lets our rejoicing be in the Giver, not His worldly gifts. He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, How will he not also with him graciously give us all things? In worshiping God, remember He is our greatest reward.
“Is that you, darling” We all know the pathetic story, and how the other child, who was not the “darling,” sadly answered, “No, mother, it’s only me.” And with too many Christians “it’s only me” expresses the response the heart makes to His appeal to them to follow Him as His “beloved children.” (Ephesians 5:1) That Enoch pleased God is the Greek Bible rendering of the Hebrew words that he “walked with God.” And both are joined in the, Apostle’s exhortation: “how ye ought to walk and to please God.” (1 Thessalonians 4:1) But such a standard of Christian life, even for a single day, is deemed visionary and unpractical. We are “only me” Christians.
Sir Robert Anderson, "Types in Hebrews" - " HIS FULL PROVISION"
"Sitting At The Feet Of A Suffering Saint- I have never been the same since sitting at the feet of Richard Wurmbrand. It was literally at his feet. He took off his shoes and sat in a chair on the slightly raised platform at Grace Baptist Church in south Minneapolis. (I learned later it had to do with damage to his feet during the torture that he had received in a Romanian prison.) Before him -- and below him -- sat about a dozen pastors. He spoke of suffering. Again and again he said that Jesus "chose" suffering. He "chose" it. It did not merely happen to him. He "chose" it. "No one takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own will" (John 10:18). He asked us if we would choose suffering for the sake of Christ.
Wurmbrand's devotional book, Reaching toward the Heights introduces him like this: Richard Wurmbrand is an evangelical Lutheran pastor of Jewish origin who was born in 1909 in Romania. When the Communists seized his native land in 1945, he became a leader in the underground church. In 1948 he and his wife, Sabina, were arrested, and he served fourteen years in Red Prisons, including three years in solitary confinement in a subterranean cell, never seeing the sun, the stars, or flowers. He saw no one except his guards and torturers. Christian friends in Norway purchased his freedom for $10,000 in 1964." John Piper Chapter 10Suffering- The Sacrifice of Christian Hedonism
C.J. Mahaney ofSovereign Grace Ministries' shared his heart and biblical view on where confession of sins should be in his and a Christian's walk with God. He said, " I confess my sin—most importantly to God to receive the forgiveness I need from him for my sin through the death of his Son for my many sins...............I hope my confession of sin is the sincere and specific confession of one genuinely convicted of his sin, sorrowful about his sin, and amazed at the grace of God provided for the forgiveness of sin." :
My Confession of Sin
Though I’m seeking to grow in godliness (by God’s grace), I know indwelling sin remains, and that means I will sin against my wife, son, or friends at some point this week. I am the worst sinner I know, not Andy Pettitte. I am more familiar with my sin than I am with his sin. And I have my own moment fast approaching when I will need to acknowledge my sin.
Obviously I am not a high-profile athlete, and my words are not being recorded and evaluated by the press. But my words are being evaluated by God (Matthew 12:36). And at times, I am sorry to say, my confession can be all too Pettitte-like.
When I have sinned against someone, a sincere confession is required. A confession that is sincere and pleasing to God will be specific and brief. I have learned to be suspicious of my confession if it’s general and lengthy. A sincere confession of sin should be specific (“I was arrogant and angry when I made that statement; will you please forgive me for sinning against you in this way?”) and brief (this shouldn’t take long). When I find myself adding an explanation to my confession, I’m not asking forgiveness but instead appealing for understanding.
If my so-called confession extends beyond a very specific (acknowledgement of sin) sentence or two, then I am most likely excusing my sin, and requesting understanding for my sin, rather than sincerely asking forgiveness because of my sin. So I have learned to be suspicious of any confession of sin that is lengthy. Genuine conviction of sin is evidenced by a sincere, specific, and brief confession of sin, without any reference to circumstances or the participation of anyone else. When I sin, I am responsible for my sin, and the cause of my sin is always within my heart and never lies outside my heart.
Often after I sin, and even after I confess my sin—most importantly to God to receive the forgiveness I need from him for my sin through the death of his Son for my many sins—I experience a conflict in my soul about the confessing, when necessary, to the appropriate individuals. And whenever there is this conflict in my soul about specifically confessing my sin, I am aware that pride is actively at work in my soul, opposing the confession and seeking to persuade me that it wouldn’t be wise or even necessary for me to confess. But I have learned to ignore this noise from my arrogant heart, and instead weaken this noise by specifically confessing my sin to the appropriate individual as quickly as possible.
When I do confess, first and foremost to God and then (where and when appropriate) to others, I want my confession to be sincere and specific. I want my confession to express genuine sorrow and gratefulness to God for the mercy I experience because of the substitutionary sacrifice of his Son for my sins on the cross.
And when I confess my sin to others and ask their forgiveness when I have sinned against them, I don’t want my confession to resemble the press conference of a high-profile athlete, characterized by evasive language and the refusal to be specific. Instead, I hope my confession of sin is the sincere and specific confession of one genuinely convicted of his sin, sorrowful about his sin, and amazed at the grace of God provided for the forgiveness of sin.
An excellent video on a sermon from Pastor John Macarthur on "Prodigal son" which was Jesus' Parable from Luke Chapter 15 .
The parable, according to Pastor John Macarthur, is not really about the prodigal son per se but is about God. John Macarthur contrasted God's love, compassion, grace, mercy, forgiveness, faithfulness, condescension, generosity, joy versus the sinner's sinfulness, rebellion, total depravity, decadence, lostness, waywardness, un-thankfulness, ungratefulness, living for the self.
The father in the parable is a picture of God looking and seeking for the sinner like you and me. Every sinner regardless of who you are and your past history of good and bad must come in repentance recognizing that we have rebel against God's authority, went astray to serve the god of this world and is no longer worthy and come to God for His grace and mercy.
The Pharisees and scribes of Jesus' time cannot accept that a Holy God is also Sovereign God of grace. God will have compassion upon the repentant sinner whom He calls and draws to Jesus Christ, the only Way to Him. All of redemption plan to save draw and sinner is the work of God alone, to God alone be all the glory. Amazing Grace !
Someone asked: What if Jesus had never been born? Would most of the world celebrate the winter solstice?
If Jesus has never been born, my reaction would be very much be like Paul when he said hypothetically for a believer in Christ if there is no resurrection. Paul said in 1Co 15:19, 32 “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. ….If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”" Because if Jesus has never been born, there is no Gospel, there is no life with God after. A Christian has no hope for this life and the life to come. So what should I as a Christian then do, I will just eat, drink and really be merry.
As Christians, by the grace of God we know that our Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten of God the Father, has come!
Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Isa 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
As Christians, by the grace of God we know Jesus Christ is now ascended and glorified and will return. And everyone, yes everyone including those who do not accept or reject Him now will have to bend our knees to worship Him : Php 2:9 -11 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Luk 1:39-45“In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, ….” Gal 5:22
