The Plan of God |
Discipleship |
Faith |
Sin |
Perseverence |
Prayer |
Communion With God |
Pursuing God |
Devotion |
Following Jesus |
Time With God |
Sanctification |
Spiritual Warfare |
Trust |
The Word of God |
View All Categories
Some day, perhaps very soon, the order of this world will be turned on its head. The Second Advent will be much different than the first, and fills us with tremendous hope - to sustain us while we wait and long for the inevitable.
Recent Entries
Making Sense Of It AllJanuary 30, 2012
Where are things headed? Is there rhyme and reason to the endless cycle of summer, fall, winter and spring? Is there a plan in place, or is randomness the explanation?
Suffering Saints
January 25, 2012
We get nervous thinking about it - suffering for the sake of Christ. How necessary is it, and what does it produce in us?
George Herbert on Prayer Meetings
January 21, 2012
Prayer Meetings are a thing of the past. Or so it seems. What has been lost? Maybe more than we realize.
When Fear Is Good
January 7, 2012
NO FEAR, we are told. And the point is well taken. But fear can be healthy, at least when it comes to eternal matters.
Happy, Happy, Happy
January 4, 2012
The declaration of independence holds up the pursuit of happiness as a right. Did you ever consider the reading the bible might be the one source that will never let you down?
The Twelve Signs Of Grace
December 22, 2011
Self-examination is not easy to do. The tendency is to let ourselves off easy. But examine we must, for eternity is at stake.
"Ouch!!"
July 22, 2011
Spiritual pride is hard to detect. Jonathan Edwards gives some tips. The process can be painful, but necessary.
The Best Of All Possible Worlds
December 11, 2008
"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever." Revelation 11:15
That baby in a manger wrapped in swadling clothes looks harmless. Don't be fooled. The poet Robert Southwell (1561-1595) got it right. There is more to Mary's sleeping child than meets the eye. Much more.
This little Babe, so few days old,
Has come rifle Satan's fold.
All hell doth at his presence quake
Tho' he Himself with cold doth shake.
For in this weak unarmed wise
The gates of hell he will surprise.
With tears he fights, and wins the field
His naked breast stands for a shield
His battering shot are babish cries
His arrows looks of weeping eyes
His martial engines Cold and Need
And feeble Flesh his warrior's steed.
His camp is pitched in stall
His bulwark but a broken wall
His crib his trench, haystacks his stakes;
Of shepherds He his muster makes
and thus, as sure his foe to wound,
the angels' trumps alarums sound.
My soul with Christ, join thou in fight,
Stick to the tents that he hath pight,
Within his crib is surest ward,
this little babe will be thy guard.
If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy,
then flit not from this heavenly Boy.
Advent is not just a time of reflecting on the incarnation, as wonderful as that may be. Just as it was promised that a Savior would come to redeem his people - and he did - so we have a promise from the mouth of Jesus himself that he will come again, and set this world on its ear! Order will be restored, and Jesus will be the only name on anyone's lips.
For the Christian, this is exciting news. For the unbeliever or skeptic, this prospect is unnerving at best, and catastrophic at worst. This much is true. Jesus is coming again. It will be awesome, it will be glorious, and it will be wonderful.
From the pen of Samuel Zwemer...
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever - His promises, His power, His presence, His Spirit. The sovereignty over the world was conferred on man in his original estate. But his being lost through sin, was restored again by redemption. You are Christ's, and Christ is God's.
The spirit which is bestowed on Christians carries in itself a principle which everything must eventually obey, and which will subjugate the world ever more and more, until at last the promise that "the meek shall inherit the earth" is fulfilled, and the world has become the theatre of the divine kingdom.
Until He shall reign from sea to sea, from the river unto the ends of the earth - until every knee shall bow, of things in Heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
That baby in a manger wrapped in swadling clothes looks harmless. Don't be fooled. The poet Robert Southwell (1561-1595) got it right. There is more to Mary's sleeping child than meets the eye. Much more.
This little Babe, so few days old,
Has come rifle Satan's fold.
All hell doth at his presence quake
Tho' he Himself with cold doth shake.
For in this weak unarmed wise
The gates of hell he will surprise.
With tears he fights, and wins the field
His naked breast stands for a shield
His battering shot are babish cries
His arrows looks of weeping eyes
His martial engines Cold and Need
And feeble Flesh his warrior's steed.
His camp is pitched in stall
His bulwark but a broken wall
His crib his trench, haystacks his stakes;
Of shepherds He his muster makes
and thus, as sure his foe to wound,
the angels' trumps alarums sound.
My soul with Christ, join thou in fight,
Stick to the tents that he hath pight,
Within his crib is surest ward,
this little babe will be thy guard.
If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy,
then flit not from this heavenly Boy.
Advent is not just a time of reflecting on the incarnation, as wonderful as that may be. Just as it was promised that a Savior would come to redeem his people - and he did - so we have a promise from the mouth of Jesus himself that he will come again, and set this world on its ear! Order will be restored, and Jesus will be the only name on anyone's lips.
For the Christian, this is exciting news. For the unbeliever or skeptic, this prospect is unnerving at best, and catastrophic at worst. This much is true. Jesus is coming again. It will be awesome, it will be glorious, and it will be wonderful.
From the pen of Samuel Zwemer...
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever - His promises, His power, His presence, His Spirit. The sovereignty over the world was conferred on man in his original estate. But his being lost through sin, was restored again by redemption. You are Christ's, and Christ is God's.
The spirit which is bestowed on Christians carries in itself a principle which everything must eventually obey, and which will subjugate the world ever more and more, until at last the promise that "the meek shall inherit the earth" is fulfilled, and the world has become the theatre of the divine kingdom.
Until He shall reign from sea to sea, from the river unto the ends of the earth - until every knee shall bow, of things in Heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
