Yet another passage from Piper's book:
"...there is a mean streak to authentic self-control.... Self-control is not for the timid. When we want to grow in it, not only do we nurture an exuberance for Jesus Christ, we also demand of ourselves a hatred for sin... The only possible attitude toward out-of-control desire is a declaration of all-out war.... There is something about war that sharpens the senses... You hear a twig snap or the rustling of leaves and you are in attack mode. Someone coughs and you are ready to pull the trigger. Even after days of little or no sleep, war keeps us vigilant." (Ed Welch)
"It's a violence against all the impulses in our own selves that would make peace with our own sin and settle in with a peacetime mentality. Against all lust in ourselves and all enslaving desires for food or caffeine or sugar or chocolate or alcohol or pornography or money or the praise of men and the approval of others or power or fame.
When Jesus said, "the truth will set you free" (John 8:32), he didn't mean without a battle. He meant that truth would win the war of liberation in the soul. Christianity is war. It is a declaration of all-out combat against our own sinful impulses. "Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the fles, which wage war against your soul" (1 Pet. 2:11). To become a Christian is to wake up to the reality that our soul is at stake. Therefore, Christianity is mortal combat for true and lasting joy." (Piper)
Gird up them loins souljahs! >=)
mercredi 25 février 2009
vendredi 13 février 2009
mardi 10 février 2009
pREACH it
I've been reading Piper's book When I Don't Desire GOD
and this passage spoke right to my heart:
"We should not only be preached to; we should become preachers and preach the word of the cross to ourselves every day. We must not rely only on being preached to, but must become good preachers to our own soul. The gospel is the power of God to lead us joyfully to final salvation, if we preach it to ourselves. The following is from Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) a minister who greatly emphasized this truth:
Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man's treatment [in Psalms 42] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul?" he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says, "Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you."
The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourslef. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself.... You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself; "Hope thou in God" --instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way, and then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and ...what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: "I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God."
(Piper) Of course, the "self" is not the only one who talks to us in our head. So does the devil, and so do other people as we replay their coments in our memories. Therefore, when Lloyd-Jones tells us to preach to ourselves, he knows we must be addressing all these joy-killing messages. That's why he talks about defying self, Satan, and other people. When we preach the gospel to ourselves, we are addressing every word of every enemy of every kind."
(me) That makes me think of the song "Voice of Truth" by Casting Crowns. Check out their lyrics sometime, it relates. C'est vrai que dans la vie, il y a toujours beaucoup de voix qui parlent et disent des choses different.. mais, laquelle on va écouter? In TheTwo Towers a character speaks words of poison, deceiving the king, mentally enslaving him by lies. In Revolutionary Roads, the last scene was my favorite. The old man turns down the volume of his hearing aids, muting the old woman blabbering on. That's what we must do to false voices-Tune them out! We don't want that! If there's "cold-shoulder", why can't we do "deaf-ear"? Our ears have holes, so they gotta be filled with SOMething. Do we want gunk or truth?
So when we wake up in the morning and look at ourselves in the mirror, we gotta Preach it Preacher!
and this passage spoke right to my heart:
"We should not only be preached to; we should become preachers and preach the word of the cross to ourselves every day. We must not rely only on being preached to, but must become good preachers to our own soul. The gospel is the power of God to lead us joyfully to final salvation, if we preach it to ourselves. The following is from Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) a minister who greatly emphasized this truth:
Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man's treatment [in Psalms 42] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul?" he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says, "Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you."
The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourslef. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself.... You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself; "Hope thou in God" --instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way, and then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and ...what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: "I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God."
(Piper) Of course, the "self" is not the only one who talks to us in our head. So does the devil, and so do other people as we replay their coments in our memories. Therefore, when Lloyd-Jones tells us to preach to ourselves, he knows we must be addressing all these joy-killing messages. That's why he talks about defying self, Satan, and other people. When we preach the gospel to ourselves, we are addressing every word of every enemy of every kind."
(me) That makes me think of the song "Voice of Truth" by Casting Crowns. Check out their lyrics sometime, it relates. C'est vrai que dans la vie, il y a toujours beaucoup de voix qui parlent et disent des choses different.. mais, laquelle on va écouter? In TheTwo Towers a character speaks words of poison, deceiving the king, mentally enslaving him by lies. In Revolutionary Roads, the last scene was my favorite. The old man turns down the volume of his hearing aids, muting the old woman blabbering on. That's what we must do to false voices-Tune them out! We don't want that! If there's "cold-shoulder", why can't we do "deaf-ear"? Our ears have holes, so they gotta be filled with SOMething. Do we want gunk or truth?
So when we wake up in the morning and look at ourselves in the mirror, we gotta Preach it Preacher!
vendredi 6 février 2009
STRIKE
"Pourquoi vous etes-là?"
Why are you guys here?
"Allez à l'Assemblée Générale"
Go to the strike meetings!
Then the prof talked about her fears for the future and the government, for about 30 min. Then she let us go.
Empty classrooms, no-show professors, tagged-walls, . . .
Already 3 weeks into the semester, we've hardly had classes because the students AND professors are on strike. Certain days the trams don't run its normal course, or they're blocked off. It's like that all over the country.. Vive la France!
. . . chaos? NopE!
there is always HoPe!
Please pray for change, reconciliation, peace. Merci~
Why are you guys here?
"Allez à l'Assemblée Générale"
Go to the strike meetings!
Then the prof talked about her fears for the future and the government, for about 30 min. Then she let us go.
Empty classrooms, no-show professors, tagged-walls, . . .
Already 3 weeks into the semester, we've hardly had classes because the students AND professors are on strike. Certain days the trams don't run its normal course, or they're blocked off. It's like that all over the country.. Vive la France!
. . . chaos? NopE!
there is always HoPe!
Please pray for change, reconciliation, peace. Merci~
mercredi 4 février 2009
Inbox
GOD, NOT GOLD, IS THEIR FOCUS
Tuesday, February 3, 2009 by Christina Johnson
Missionary Gary Smith praised God when he overheard a group of Dinangat men discussing their perspective on a mining business coming among them in Papua New Guinea. "Before we worshiped all kinds of things. We worshiped our dead ancestors. We worshiped things of the ground and we asked those things to help us and to bless us," some of the Dinangat men said. "But now we have heard the true talk from God Himself and we want to leave all those wrong things behind and only worship the one true God."
The men see the mining company as a blessing from God, but they say they will look to Him to meet their needs and not what the company provides for them. Gary was moved to tears.
"Is this not why God sent us here? For Him to be glorified and honored?" Gary wrote. "The beautiful part about this is that it was not missionary induced. The Holy Spirit was moving these men to praise and worship only the one true God. What an encouragement that was to us."
Gary is learning that it is God's job to create a perfect church, not his. Even though he feels frustrated at times when he cannot solve a problem the Dinangats have or cannot understand some of their issues or ways of dealing with things, he remembers that God is the one who will guide and direct them."Jesus made it pretty clear who would build the church," Gary wrote. "So I let it go and left it in His hands. Is there anyone more capable?"
Please pray that Gary, along with the Dinangat believers, will continue to lean on God for growth and understanding of His ways.
I feel you Gary. Amen.
http://www.ntm.org/pray
Tuesday, February 3, 2009 by Christina Johnson
Missionary Gary Smith praised God when he overheard a group of Dinangat men discussing their perspective on a mining business coming among them in Papua New Guinea. "Before we worshiped all kinds of things. We worshiped our dead ancestors. We worshiped things of the ground and we asked those things to help us and to bless us," some of the Dinangat men said. "But now we have heard the true talk from God Himself and we want to leave all those wrong things behind and only worship the one true God."
The men see the mining company as a blessing from God, but they say they will look to Him to meet their needs and not what the company provides for them. Gary was moved to tears.
"Is this not why God sent us here? For Him to be glorified and honored?" Gary wrote. "The beautiful part about this is that it was not missionary induced. The Holy Spirit was moving these men to praise and worship only the one true God. What an encouragement that was to us."
Gary is learning that it is God's job to create a perfect church, not his. Even though he feels frustrated at times when he cannot solve a problem the Dinangats have or cannot understand some of their issues or ways of dealing with things, he remembers that God is the one who will guide and direct them."Jesus made it pretty clear who would build the church," Gary wrote. "So I let it go and left it in His hands. Is there anyone more capable?"
Please pray that Gary, along with the Dinangat believers, will continue to lean on God for growth and understanding of His ways.
I feel you Gary. Amen.
http://www.ntm.org/pray
lundi 2 février 2009
Get to it!
If we're not fishing, we're not following.
"Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Matt 4:19
If we're not sowing, we're not reaping.
"whatever one sows, that will he also reap." Gal 6:7
If we're not asking, we're not receiving.
"Ask, and it will be given to you; Matt 7:7a
If we're not seeking, we're not finding.
"seek, and you will find" Matthew 7:7b
"Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Matt 4:19
If we're not sowing, we're not reaping.
"whatever one sows, that will he also reap." Gal 6:7
If we're not asking, we're not receiving.
"Ask, and it will be given to you; Matt 7:7a
If we're not seeking, we're not finding.
"seek, and you will find" Matthew 7:7b
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