Strengthened by Grace

I want a Bible saturated mind

strengthenedbygrace — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:00:30 +0000

How do live out in faithful obedience the commands and instructions in God’s Word to mediate on God’s Word (Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:3, Philippians 4:8)?

How do you prepare to meditate in this distraction-crazy world? How do we start? What does it look like? What would be passages we should meditate on?

The Crossway blog features some brief thoughts from Kent and Carey Hughes. Kent Hughes has helped me in this area over the years as I have returned to his book Disciplines of a Godly Man many times. So read this post and be sure to click on the link to Joe Thorn’s brief exhortation regarding meditation in the post.

Feel free to post a comment on what you have learned best aids biblical meditation in your life.

Is my faith too weak?

strengthenedbygrace — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:00:59 +0000

Jared Wilson, whose blog now appears in The Gospel Coalition neighborhood provides a triple dose of quotes plus one more that encourages those who view their faith as too weak to please God.

“I find not salvation put upon the strength of faith, but the truth of faith; not upon the brightest degree, but upon any degree of faith. It is not said, If you have such a degree of faith you shall be justified and saved; but simply believing is required. The lowest degree of true faith wilt do it . . .”

– William Greenhill, An Exposition on the Prophet Ezekiel

“A weak faith is true. The bruised reed is but weak, yet it is such as Christ will not break. Though thy faith be but weak, yet be not discouraged. A weak faith may receive a strong Christ: a weak hand can tie the knot in marriage as well as a strong; a weak eye might have seen the brazen serpent. The promise is not made to strong faith, but to true. The promise doth not say, Whosoever hath a giant faith that can remove mountains, that can stop the mouth of lions, shall be saved; but whosoever believes, be his faith never so small.”

– Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity

“Weak faith will as surely land the Christian in heaven as strong faith, for it is impossible the least dram of true grace should perish…”

– William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour

And the one shot more powerful than these three:

“For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”– Matthew 17:20

Do you think there is enough teaching in the church?

strengthenedbygrace — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:00:08 +0000

Kevin DeYoung wonders aloud if he might be going crazy or thought crazy with asking the question, “Is there enough preaching and teaching going on in the church?” He think both pastors and members/attenders might take him to task for even asking the question. But he asks us to appeal to Scripture first and foremost and then he throws in some other thoughts and examples that touch on the question before he concludes with what it might look like church life if there was more teaching in the church.

Read and think through Kevin’s observations here.

Eight ways to read your Bible

strengthenedbygrace — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:00:59 +0000

From J. C. Ryle:

Begin reading your Bible this very day.
Read the Bible with an earnest desire to understand it.
Read the Bible with child-like faith and humility.
Read the Bible in a spirit of obedience and self-application.
Read the Bible daily.
Read all of the Bible — and read it in an orderly way.
Read the Bible fairly and honestly.
Read the Bible with Christ continually in view.

For more on these eight ways read the full post.

Good news on C. J. Mahaney

strengthenedbygrace — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:00:23 +0000

He will be back to leading soon. He’s going to be preaching more regularly and even pastoring a church plant, Lord willing, in the future.

Here’s the update.

Never relate to God directly

strengthenedbygrace — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:35:40 +0000

I’m thoroughly enjoying using Jerry Bridge’s Holiness Day by Day as a daily way to remind me to pursue holiness! Just a few paragraphs a day taken from one of his many excellent books. Here’s a quote I read today:

“God never intended that we relate to Him directly. Our own performance is never good enough to be acceptable. The only way we can relate to Him is through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Only the blood of Jesus will cleanse us from a guilty conscience and give us confidence to enter into God’s presence (Hebrews 10:19-21).”

Jerry Bridges. Holiness Day by Day: Transformational Thoughts for Your Spiritual Journey Devotional (p. 25). Kindle Edition.

Alleviating suffering and missions

strengthenedbygrace — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:00:16 +0000

“The Gospel makes us care desperately about alleviating human suffering. But missions that seeks to alleviate suffering in this life without seeking even more desperately to alleviate suffering in the life to come is not missions that is faithful to the Great Commission.”–J. D. Crowley, Gospel Meditations for Missions, Day 18.

I can. . . if God strengthens me

strengthenedbygrace — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:00:55 +0000

“It may not please God to lessen the burden, but it comes to the same thing if he strengthens the back. He may not recall the soldier from the battle, but if he gives him a greater stomach for the fight, and increased strength for its toils, it may be better still for him. “The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear?” Give a man health in his countenance, and he laughs at that which would have crushed him had he been in another mood. There are times when the grasshopper becomes a burden, and there are other seasons when with undaunted spirit we can say, “Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubabel thou shalt become a plain.”

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled “The Secret Of Health,” delivered March 25, 1875 via Daily Spurgeon

How to read or listen to Job

strengthenedbygrace — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:00:11 +0000

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying our Adult Sunday School class on Job! We took some time in Job 1-2 and then have been taking the speeches and back and forth from Job and his “friends” in larger portions! Our teacher is doing a fantastic job bringing out the major themes of each of the speaker’s remarks and we have enjoyed a lot of good discussion about this book and it place in the larger context of Scripture.

One thing we have discussed is the genre of Job and how that influences the way we read or hear this book. George Guthrie speaks to this issue in his post on “Guidelines for Reading/Listening to Job” and I thought I would pass his big points along to you and then encourage you to read what he says about each point here.

Keep in mind the main purpose of the book
Read and listen for the context (some of what the speakers say is true; other observations are lies about God)
Think in terms of figurative language and parallel poetic structure (since much of the book is poetic)
See the book as profoundly God-centered

The gospel and loving the church

strengthenedbygrace — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:00:46 +0000

“When God saved us, He made us members of His household, and He gave us gifts as one another. Each brother and sister is a portion of my gospel inheritance from God, and I am a portion of their inheritance as well. We are significant players in each other’s gospel narrative, and it is in relationship with one another that we experience the fullness of God in Christ.

Hence, the more I comprehend the full scope of the gospel, the more I value the church for which Christ died, the more I value the role that I play in the lives of my fellow-Christians, and the more I appreciate the role that they must be allowed to play in mine.”

–Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer, p. 24

Remember this day: “Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” (Ephesians 5:25