Still Waters

He leads me beside still waters. Psalm 23:2

The Lord said to the storm, "Peace, be still." Then silence. This same Lord that quieted the storm in the boat with his disciples is my shepherd. He has control over the elements and all other things. There are many places he could lead me and does lead me. But, often it is to a place of rest. He provided the Sabbath for us because we are an anxious people. Peace be still he says to me. Be still and know that I am God. What can man do to me? Whom shall I fear? God is the giver of my peace.

Green Pastures

He Makes me lie down in green pastures.
Ps23:2a

My shepherd leads me into green, lush pastures. He provides for my needs, food in this case. Not only food but the "pastures" are green...ripe and good to eat. Nourishing. So, satisfied am I with his provision that I lie down because I am full. There is an excess. He provides his grace in torrents. We receive more than enough. I can lie down not only because I am satisfied with his provision but because I am safe in his presence. He protects me from all things and watches over me with a never tiring eye. The shepherd gives his flock peace.

I Shall Not Want

...I shall not want.
Ps. 23:1

I shall not want, because the Lord is my shepherd. It is the LORD's personal characteristics that secure the fact that I shall not want. To want in this case is to lack something necessary. We will never lack what we need because our shepherd is sufficient. He has infinite resources. He has sanctified himself completely for us (John 17:19). That is, his entire self has been set aside since eternity to make sure we are completely saved and sanctified to him. What will he withhold from his beloved? His affection is for ME! He is my shield, my fortress, my rock, my shepherd. Who will harm me? Who will bring accusation against me? The word "shall" points to the future. God has provided for me, is providing for me and shall provide for me. He will provide in five minutes and he shall provide forever, and ever, and ever. I shall not want. Amen

My Shepherd.

The LORD is my shepherd...
Ps. 23.1

The LORD is my shepherd, that is, the great I AM. Yahweh is the one who is my shepherd. The all knowing, eternally existent one. All powerful. He who is called "love" by John the disciple. He is the shepherd to me. A shepherd watches over his flock and cares for each individual sheep. He knows each sheep by name (John 10:3) and by the sheeps unique qualities. He has always known me. When I wander, he goes in search for me, bringing me back to the flock. When a "wolf" approaches, he protects me, sacrificing himself for my safety. He is my protector and provider. I listen to his voice and follow him. God is my shepherd. He is the good shepherd that lays down his life for his sheep (John 10:11).
  

Seeing God's Glory

"Beholding the glory of the Lord, we are being changed from one degree of glory to the next," Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18. And we see the glory of the Lord, as he says five verses later, in the knowledge of the gospel of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Tools and Idols

All that we own is either a tool to be used or an idol.

Steadfast

To hold fast the word of promise, to maintain a hatred of sin, to go on steadfastly in the path of duty, in defiance both of the frowns and the smiles of the world, when we have but little comfort, is a more certain evidence of grace, than a thousand things which we may do or forbear when our spirits are warm and lively.


John Newton
January 11, 1777
Feelings vs. Spiritual Well-Being

Christ's Absences

When he is with me, all goes on pleasantly: when he withdraws, I find I can do nothing without him, I need not wonder that I find it so; for it must be so of course, if I am what I confess myself to be, a poor, helpless, sinful creature in myself. Nor need I be over-much discouraged, since the Lord has promised to help those who can do nothing without him, not those who can make a tolerable shift to help themselves. Through mercy, he does not so totally withdraw, as to leave me without any power or will to cry for his return. I hope he maintains in me at all times a desire of his presence; yet it becomes me to wait for him with patience, and to live upon his faithfulness, when I can feel nothing but evil in myself.

John Newton

May 4, 1773

Christ's Absences--Spiritual Experiences

Our Utmost

Do we appreciate the miraculous salvation of Jesus Christ enough to be our utmost for His highest--our best for His glory?                                --Oswald Chambers

Consider that my failures to endure; my failures in sin; rob God of glory that is rightfully His.  What I mean by this is that worship of God is less in me and others when I do not give my utmost for Him. He is not less glorious, but less worship and less glory are attributed to Him by the watching world. Can I give less than my best for Him?

Opposition

John Owen Quote:

"'There is no duty we perform for God that sin does
not oppose.  And the more spirituality or holiness
there is in what we do, the greater is its enmity to
it.  Thus, those who seek the most for God experience
the strongest opposition.'"

But If From There You Seek....

God is omnipresent and his word says he will never leave us or forsake us. His promises to us are never in doubt. Yet in the life of a Christian there are periods of exquisite closeness with the Lord and times of dryness where there seems to be a merciless distance. Why is this? Obviously, only God knows his reasons for the ebb and flow of the presence of God in our lives. Certainly, sin drives a wedge between us. But one wonders whether the nature of faith itself requires periods of distance to be tested and approved. To draw near to God we must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who seek him (Heb 11:6). If he was ever constantly experientially present, faith would be unnecessary. So, there seems to be something to the idea of seeking him. God wants us to seek him. Seeking him is only necessary if there is a perception of distance between us and him. Those who love God seek him because they see his glory and experience his presence and long to have more. But it is easy to drift into the world, our worries and cares, our "false gods." The Lord is gracious and says that if from there we seek him, we will find him if we look with all our heart (Deut 4:29). We are called by God to consistently, continually seek him. So, how practically do we do this? " Both the Old and New Testaments say it (continual seeking of God) is a “setting of the mind and heart” on God" (Piper, see below reference). We are to by an act of the will focus our minds, thoughts and affections of the Almighty (Col 3:1,2; 1 Chron 22:19). Thoughts can arise out of nowhere. Choosing to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ (2 Cor 10:5) and purposing to meditate on the Lord and not worthless things takes some work. Mainly mental focus and a willful choice. Piper goes on to say that we must seek God to experience him: "Nevertheless, there is always something through which or around which we must go to meet him consciously. This going through or around is what seeking is. He is often hidden. Veiled." There are roadblocks everywhere to our seeking and finding God. These obstacles may be "good things" from a worldly perspective.  They can be disguised as even ministry.  We must ruthlessly flee these spiritually dulling obstacles (also Piper's words).  Accepting things that draw us away from God is not acceptable. God promises if we seek him we will find him. He is the reward above all rewards and infinitely valuable, satisfying and joy producing.  Why do I constantly accept less?

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/2009/4163_What_Does_It_Mean_to_Seek_the_Lord/

The Centrality of the Gospel

Excerpts from Tim Keller's The Centrality of the Gospel


The Christian life is a process of renewing every dimension of our life by thinking, hoping, and living out the "line" or ramifications of the gospel. The gospel is to be applied to every area of thinking, feeling, relating, working and behaving.

The main problem in the Christian life is that we have not thought out the deep implications of the gospel, we have not "used" the gospel in all parts of our life.

The key to continual and deeper spiritual renewal and revival is the continual re-discovery of the gospel.

The Glory of God

Thoughts for me to ponder regarding the glory of God from John Piper on The Centrality of the Glory of God here.


--The glory of God is the infinite worth of God made manifest.
--God's glory is the out-streaming of his infinite value.
--God is glorious because he is the perfect unity of his beauty, greatness and all of the totality of his manifold and glorious perfections. 
--The glory of God is the beauty and the greatness that exists without origin, without comparison, without analogy, without being judged or assessed by any external criterion. It is the all-defining absolute original of greatness and beauty. All created greatness and beauty comes from it, and points to it, but does not comprehensively or adequately reproduce it.
--We were made to find our deepest pleasure in admiring what is infinitely admirable, that is, the glory of God.
--Inconsolable human longing is the evidence that we were made for God's glory.
--The glory of God is the goal of all things (1 Cor 10:31, Isa 43:6-7).
--Seeing the glory of God is our ultimate hope (Rom 5:2, Jude 24, Rom 9:23, 1 Thes 2:12,Tit 2:13).
--Jesus is the ultimate revelation of the glory God (Heb 1:3, John 17:24).
--Sharing in the glory of God is our hope (1 Peter 5:1, Rom 8:21, 1 Cor 2:7, 2 Cor 4:17, Rom 8:30).

O How He Loves Us

He is jealous for me.
Loves like a hurricane.
I am a tree.
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and  mercy.

When all of  a sudden I am unaware
Of these afflictions eclipsed by glory.
And I realize just how beautiful you are,
And how great your affection is for me.

O how he loves us so.
O how he loves us.
How he loves us so.

We are his portion,
And he is our prize.
Drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes.
If his grace is an ocean,
We're all sinking.

Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest.
I don't have the time to maintain these regrets.
When I think about.....the way.....

He loves us...
O how he loves us.
O how he loves......

David Crowder Band
How He Loves Us

Edwards On God's Glory

So God glorifies himself towards the creatures also two ways: (1) by appearing to them, being manifested to their understandings; (2) in communicating himself to their hearts, and in their rejoicing and delighting in, and enjoying the manifestations which he makes of himself. They both of them may be called his glory in the more extensive sense of the word, viz. his shining forth, or the going forth of his excellency, beauty and essential glory ad extra. By one way it goes forth towards their understandings; by the other it goes forth towards their wills or hearts. God is glorified not only by his glory's being seen, but by its being rejoiced in, when those that see it delight in it: God is more glorified than if they only see it; his glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the understanding and by the heart. God made the world that he might communicate, and the creature receive, his glory, but that it might [be] received both by the mind and heart. He that testifies his having an idea of God's glory don't glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation of it and his delight in it. Both these ways of God's glorifying himself come from the same cause, viz. the overflowing of God's internal glory, or an inclination in God to cause his internal glory to flow out ad extra. What God has in view in neither of them, neither in his manifesting his glory to the understanding nor communication to the heart, is not that he may receive, but that he [may] go forth: the main end of his shining forth is not that he may have his rays reflected back to himself, but that the rays may go forth.

Jonathan Edwards [1722], The "Miscellanies": (Entry Nos. a-z, aa-zz, 1-500) (WJE Online Vol. 13) , Ed. Harry S. Stout [word count] [jec-wjeo13].

What Is The Gospel?

Notes from What Is The Gospel? By Tim Keller

http://sermons.redeemer.com/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=18160&ParentCat=6

A Worldview

Gospel means good news. So what is the gospel? The gospel is a worldview. It is a grid through which we view all other things in life. It is not something that we believe once for all time to "get into Christianity" and move on in our lives trying our best to be morally right in our actions. It is not a moralistic worldview; one that believes we gain favor with God by our good actions and lose favor by our failures. This is the worldview of the elder brother in Luke 15 who does "what is right" but looks down on his younger brother who repents and turns from his tremendous sin. This is the worldview of the Pharisees of Jesus time who compared themselves to others with less tarnished lives thinking themselves superior. The gospel has a fullness of meaning which can only be described by breaking it down into it's parts or aspects and understood by combining those aspects into a worldview. Each aspect of the gospel describes part of the truth but gives only a part. Christian churches themselves can fail because they stress one aspect of the gospel without acknowledging the other aspects. There are three main aspects of the gospel.

I. Historical/Doctrinal Aspect

The gospel is news about what Jesus has done not primarily advice on how to live. It is good news, not good advice (primarily). Good news salvation is that we are saved by what Jesus has done. Good advice salvation is that we are saved by following the teaching that is given to you. The truth is that God came down and inserted himself physically into the world in history in order to live a perfect life, die a sacrificial atoning death and rise in victory in the body. We are saved by what he has done, not what we do. It is dependent on the fact that Christ lived, died and rose in history for our sins. It is not primarily advice on how to live, although it does teach us this, but the declaration of what God has done. Why because you are saved by grace.

Nutshell: Jesus lived the life I should have lived and died the death that I should have died (as my substitute), so that God can receive me not for my record and my sake, but for Jesus' record and for Jesus' sake.

II. Identity Aspect

The gospel is a status we receive now not just primarily a reward we will receive later. The gospel establishes our status now as sons and daughters of the Father in heaven. Righteously seen by God because Christ's righteousness is credited to us and our sin is laid on Jesus at the cross and paid for (2 Corinthians 5:21). We are dearly loved by God for the sake of Christ. Our salvation is not dependent on maintaining sinlessness after conversion as if we are being given a second chance, but on God's love for Jesus and us because of what Jesus has done. We therefore are assured of our salvation because we are the children of God now and our persistence as children is not dependent in any way on our actions after we believe. We do right things because we love God not because we need to to maintain our position with God. Why because we are saved by grace?

Nutshell: You are more wicked and flawed than you ever dared believe but you are more loved and accepted than you ever dared hope at the same time. Simultaneously both just and sinful.

III. Kingdom Aspect

The gospel is a complete reversal of values in our daily lives leading to an establishment of the kingdom of God in part here on earth to be perfected in eternity. It is not just a new strength to live the life you had before faith according to the world's system and values. The gospel is received by admitting our spiritual bankruptcy not by what good we bring. It is only when we give up the right to determine our own life that we get the power of God. Jesus, the King of kings, came to earth as a baby in a manger. The gospel is received, achieved and reunites in ways that are in reverse of what you would expect. The first shall be last. Those who serve shall be greatest. God loves to work through the weak, the marginal, and poor.

Nutshell: The way up is down, the way to real power is to give up coercive power and serve others, the way into God is to go to the margins in repentance and faith.

The Core of the Gospel

The thread that runs through the three aspects and ties them together is that we are saved by grace. All three are necessary to understand the gospel and apply it to our lives and the glue is God's grace.

Meditation

What is the reason there is so much preaching and so little practice? For want of meditation.... Constant thoughts are operative, and musing makes the fire burn. Green wood is not kindled by a flash or spark, but by constant blowing.
—Thomas Manton

Proof

“The proof that Christ came into the world should be that His followers are holy! Let their character be blameless and harmless, their conduct so devoted and so full of self-sacrifice that it shall be a constant memorial of that Redeemer whose name they profess.”

Charles Spurgeon

Work

Does God want us to be successful in our occupations? Should business success be one of our goals? What is success and does it look differently to the christian versus the secular person? I submit that Christ calls us to discipleship. This is all consuming. A leader in the church of Jesus Christ is a follower of Him. The cost of discipleship is forsaking all things, hating those around us in comparison to Him and being willing to die for Him (Luke 14:26-33). He is the provider of all that we have here and in eternity. He is the protector of our reputation and the giver of our earthly positions. He sets up kings and tears them down. We are called to work at everything as if working for the Lord and not for men (Col 3:23). That means every activity, every thought, and every moment is to be His...set apart to Him and sacred. We are to do our best ...not to achieve or gain material wealth or prestige but because he calls us to do our best. Success is obedience to God. Obedience to God and discipleship may lead us to a life with riches and tremendous influence and earthly responsibility or it may lead us to the life of a pauper who labors in obscurity. Both are successful based on the scriptures.

The Converted Ones

An Essential Mark of a Sound Conversion
by Joseph Alleine

We turn from our own RIGHTEOUSNESS. Before conversion, man seeks to cover himself with his own fig-leaves, and to make himself acceptable with God, by his own duties. He is apt to trust in himself, and set up his own righteousness, and to reckon his pennies for gold, and not to submit to the righteousness of God. But conversion changes his mind; now he counts his own righteousness as filthy rags. He casts it off, as a man would the verminous tatters of a nasty beggar. Now he is brought to poverty of spirit, complains of and condemns himself; and all his inventory is, 'I am poor, and miserable, and wretched, and blind, and naked!' [Rev 3:17]. He sees a world of iniquity in his holy things, and calls his once-idolized righteousness but filth and loss; and would not for a thousand worlds be found in it!
Now he begins to set a high price upon Christ's righteousness. He sees the need of Christ in every duty, to justify his person and sanctify his performances; he cannot live without Him; he cannot pray without Him. Christ must go with him, or else he cannot come into the presence of God; he leans upon Christ, and so bows himself in the house of his God. He sets himself down for a lost undone man without Him; his life is hid in Christ, as the root of a tree spreads in the earth for stability and nourishment. Before, the gospel of Christ was a stale and tasteless thing; but now—how sweet is Christ! Augustine could not relish his once-admired Cicero, because he could not find in his writings the name of Christ. How emphatically he cries, 'O most sweet, most loving, most kind, most dear, most precious, most desired, most lovely, most fair!' all in a breath, when he speaks of and to Christ. In a word, the voice of the convert is, with the martyr, 'None but Christ!'

Excerpt from Alarm to the Unconverted by Joseph Alleine, 1671

From Monergism site post here: http://www.monergism.com/alleineconversion.html