5 a day

This last week many in our church looked out for five things a day that they were thankful for.  I handed out a sheet of paper that simply had 5 lines for every day of the week which they were to keep handy.  I encouraged them to do this:

• Every day look for things that you are thankful for that day!
• Every evening before going to bed, write down five things to be thankful for
• Next morning, review the list first thing and then repeat the process
• Share with others things you wrote down

Several shared by posting their 5 a day on Facebook.

It was a blessing to see an attitude of gratitude spread throughout our congregation this week.  This simple exercise may help you rise in the altitude of gratitude this week.

Read Full Post »

Are you easily distracted in prayer?

Tony Reinke shares this convicting thought:

The following excerpt humbles me. It’s taken from a letter written by John Newton on how a believer, who readily affirms the majesty of God’s character, can so often fail to act upon this knowledge in the prayer closet. The most obvious evidence is in how easily our minds wander off to chase after vain thoughts that so easily distract our attention from prayer (source: The Works of John Newton, 1:246–247):

We know how we are often affected when in the presence of a fellow-worm; if he is one on whom we depend, or who is considerably our superior in life, how careful we are to compose our behavior, and to avoid whatever might be deemed improper or offensive!

Is it not strange that those who have taken their ideas of the divine majesty, holiness and purity, from the Scriptures, and are not wholly insensible of their inexpressible obligations to regulate all they say or do by his precepts, should upon many occasions be betrayed into improprieties of behavior from which the presence of a nobleman, or prince, would have effectually restrained them, yea, sometimes perhaps even the presence of a child?

Even in the exercise of prayer, by which we profess to draw near the Lord, the consideration that his eye is upon us has little power to engage our attention, or prevent our thoughts from wandering like the fool’s eye, to the ends of the earth.

What should we think of a person, who, being admitted into the king’s presence, upon business of the greatest importance, should break off in the midst of his address, to pursue a butterfly? Could such an instance of weakness be met with, it would be but a faint emblem of the inconsistencies which they who are acquainted with their own hearts, can often charge themselves with in prayer.

 

Read Full Post »

Christlike compassion for souls

I preached on Jesus’ compassion for desperate and dying people yesterday from Mark 5:21-34 and ended the sermon partially quoting this from Charles Spurgeon:

The more we become what we shall be, the more will compassion rule our hearts. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is the pattern and mirror of perfect manhood, what said he concerning the sins and the woes of Jerusalem? He knew Jerusalem must perish; did he bury his pity beneath the fact of the divine decree, and steel his heart by the thought of the sovereignty or the justice that would be resplendent in the city’s destruction? Nay, not he, but with eyes gushing like founts, he cried, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings! and ye would not.”

If you would be like Jesus, you must be tender and very pitiful. Ye would be as unlike him as possible if we could sit down in grim content, and, with a Stoic’s philosophy, turn all the flesh within you into stone. If it be natural, then, and above all, if it be natural to the higher grace-given nature, I beseech you, let your hearts be moved with pity, do not endure to see the spiritual death of mankind. Be in agony as often as you contemplate the ruin of any soul of the seed of Adam.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled “Compassion For Souls,” delivered February 5, 1871

(HT: Daily Spurgeon)

Read Full Post »

Abiding isn’t complicated

“Jesus doesn’t say “I am power cord; you are the cell phone.” He says, “I’m the vine. You’re the branch.” If you want life, there can’t be any disconnect. Abiding is living in this constant awareness of total dependence. Abiding is what desperate people do who realize that they have no life, power, no inward resource of themselves. . . .Abiding isn’t complicated. The secret to abiding is simply being desperate for Jesus. The secret to abiding is believing that apart from Jesus you can do nothing.”

–Joshua Harris

Read the rest of his brief summary here.

 

Read Full Post »

14 days of prayer for persecuted church

Please join other Christians in praying for the persecuted church around the world.  a 14 day prayer guide is available here–simply praying for one request for one country a day.

Read Full Post »