Attributes of God

What is sin?
The glory of God not honored.
The holiness of God not reverenced.
The greatness of God not admired.
The power of God not praised.
The truth of God not sought.
The wisdom of God not esteemed.
The beauty of God not treasured.
The goodness of God not savored.
The faithfulness of God not trusted.
The commandments of God not obeyed.
The justice of God not respected.
The wrath of God not feared.
The grace of God not cherished.
The presence of God not prized.
The person of God not loved.
                                                 -John Piper

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.

Anxiety and prayer...

   "What does an unused prayer link look like? Anxiety. Instead of connecting with God, ours spirits fly around like severed power lines, destroying everything they touch. Anxiety wants to be God but lacks God's wisdom, power, or knowledge. A godlike stance without godlike character and ability is pure tension. Because anxiety is self on its own, it tries to get control. It is unable to relax in the face of chaos. Once one problem is solved, the next in line steps up. The new one looms so large, we forget the last deliverance.
   Oddly enough, it took God to show us how to not be godlike. Jesus was the first person who didn't seek independence. He wanted to be in continuous contact with his heavenly Father. In fact, he humbled himself to death on the cross, becoming anxious so we could be free from anxiety. Now the Spirit brings the humility of Jesus into our hearts. No longer do we have to be little gods, controlling everything. Instead, we cling to our Father in the face of chaos by continuously praying. Because we know we don't have control, we cry out for grace. Instead of flailing around, our praying spirits can bless everything we touch.
[...]
   Your heart can become a prayer factory because, like Jesus, you are completely dependent. You needed God ten minutes ago; you need him now. Instead of hunting for the perfect spiritual state to lift you above the chaos, pray in the chaos. As your heart or your circumstances generate problems, keep generating prayer. You will find that the chaos lessens.
[...]
   When you stop trying to control your life and instead allow your anxieties and problems to bring you to God in prayer, you shift from worrying to watching. You watch God weave his patterns in the story of your life. Instead of trying to be out front, designing your life, you realize you are inside God's drama. As you wait, you begin to see him work, and your life begins to sparkle with wonder. You are learning to trust again."

A Praying Life
by Paul Miller

Learning to pray

"This is the gospel, the welcoming heart of God. God also cheers when we come to him with our wobbling, unsteady prayers. Jesus does not say, 'Come to me, all you who have learned how to concentrate in prayer, whose minds no longer wander, and I will give you rest.' No, Jesus opens his arm to his needy children and says, 'Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest'(Matthew 11:28, NASB). The criteria for coming to Jesus is weariness. Come overwhelmed with life. Come with your wandering mind. Come messy."

- A Praying Life by Paul Miller

Savior of the world

So, I was reading a book the other day about missions (A Holy Ambition by John Piper) and something hit me. One of the revolutionary things about Jesus coming was that He came to be the Savior of the world.

Maybe that seems elementary. But for the Israelites and other people of the time it was completely unheard of. Israel was and still is the chosen nation of God. Salvation was set aside for them. But when Jesus came, He didn't offer His salvation just to the Jews. He offered it to the Gentiles as well. Before Jesus there was no hope of salvation for the Gentiles.

The Gentiles, they were all of those nations that were wiped out and moved out and enslaved so that Israel could have the Promised Land. The Gentiles were those who worshiped Baal and Molech and Chemosh and had Asherah poles and sacrificed to wooden and metal idols made by human hands. The Gentiles were the ones who were "separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world"(Ephesians 2:12).

As with all people, there was nothing to draw God to the Gentiles, to make them worthy of anything--except for the glory of His Name. Somehow, someway, God received and receives and will receive great glory from saving us--the Gentiles.

"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone."
Ephesians 2:13-20

It is only in and through and by Christ that the Gentiles had any chance of salvation, as well as the Jews, and it was and is and will be all to the glory of God!

Fatherhood of God

I've been wanting to do this post for a while now, and I just never got around to it.

Some things you think to say or write lose their relevance if you wait long enough. But this does not. Nor will it ever. Not for me or not for you.

This summer David Platt (pastor at the Church at Brook Hills) did a Father's Day sermon called "The Fatherhood of God."

I feel like the whole idea of God being our Father is an idea that we just assume everyone understands and we move on to what some might think are bigger and better things of God. But God being our Father is one of the things that makes Christianity different from everything else.

The idea of God being our Father implies that we have a relationship with Him, a close one. Like a father and a child. Whether you have the best dad in the world or the worst one, most people understand what a dad should be like. That he cares and wants the best for you. That he brags on you and wants to teach you things. That he longs to discipline you so that you might understand what a good life is. Everything he does is for your benefit.

Your dad may be just like that or the complete opposite. But the greatest thing ever? God is our heavenly Father, and He is better than any earthly father you could ever imagine. Really.

You may think that I don't know what I'm talking about or wonder what exactly I am talking about. For me, I never understood how important this part of the relationship was until my earthly dad was taken away. Fortunately, for us still here, it was not a sudden death, so we had time to process what was happening.

From the very beginning when my dad got sick, God was so quick to show me how He fulfills all the roles that my daddy was leaving behind. God opened my eyes to see that He had been waiting for that intimate relationship that happens between a father and his child--a dad and His girl. And with my eyes open, I was able to run into His arms, press into Him, and allow Him to comfort me, change me, work everything out.

From my dad's death, I was drawn into a deeper relationship with my Heavenly Father that, without his death, I don't think I would have ever sought out on my own. God truly knows what we need and what is best.

All it takes is surrender. Surrender to the fact that He knows better and that He's going to make everything good.

http://www.disciplemakingintl.org/media/series/view/514/the-fatherhood-of-god?filter=series

Whoops...

So for that "new approach" to blogging... Whoops.

I just downloaded the Blogger app, so maybe this will help. But there are no excuses.