Sow then the precious seeds of hope

Seems like I'm on a posting trend...here's another poem excerpt I really like by one of the fathers at my local church, Mr. Hartnett. I've been so blessed by his skill in writing.

Sow then the precious seeds of hope,
And water them with tears;
You soon will come rejoicing when
His faithfulness appears.

He notes that these four lines quoted here are a paraphrase from Psalm 126:5,6. Read "Sow then the precious seeds of hope" in its entirety on his blog:

http://khartnettpoetry.typepad.com/kevin_hartnett_poetry/2006/09/sow_then_the_pr.html

Preparing for the New Year

• Get higher grades
• Save money
• Work out or go to the gym
• Organize my room
  

Does this look familiar? Some of you may have already started this list in your minds...your list of new year's resolutions.

As much as we all need to plan for practical things like finances, our health, our work or school responsibilities, it will benefit us to plan for our spiritual needs. Where do you see your personal ministry (involvement in church, building relationships with friends, sharing the gospel to others) a year from now? What do have in mind for your own spiritual growth (growing in humility, desire for God, and love for His Word, etc.)?

Take some time at the end of this year to reflect and seek God's guidance. Ask Him to help you set priorities and goals for the new year. Then, offer up these plans to God.

The heart of man plans his way,
but the LORD establishes his steps.
Proverbs 16:9 (ESV)

Here are some tools to get you started:

Train Yourself to be Godly
by CJ Mahaney
(Chapter 2 of "Disciplines for Life")
Download PDF>>


A New Year's Plea: Plan!
by John Piper
Read Sermon Transcript>>

Enjoy!

Morning and Evening

Are you looking for a devotional book to go with your quiet times? I highly recommend CH Spurgeon's Morning and Evening. You can access it online too!

Morning Reading
Evening Reading

If the English is too "old school" you can also try Alistair Begg's edited version using the ESV Bible which his ministry, Truth for Life, makes available on their website. (You can sign up for a free email subscription too!)

Enjoy!

Learning from the Puritans

The Puritans have a way with words that I have not encountered in any other group of people in Church history. It's not just the beauty of the images they paint for us to help us understand their message, or their uncanny ability to peer into our thoughts and the goings-on in our hearts that is admirable. It is their unmistakable love for Christ and their desire and determination to live their lives for Him.

Just read their prayers - you can almost see the tears wash down the pages as they lay their hearts bare before their Savior or hear their sighs of amazement because of the grace that they experience from knowing the Lord.

Here's an excerpt from the "Valley of Vision", a collection of Puritan prayers edited by Arthur G. Bennet

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,

Thou has brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold
thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Fighting for joy

"Fighting for joy" is a truth that I have been so grateful to encounter recently. I was introduced to it by pastor and author John Piper in his book, "When I Don't Desire God." I will not attempt to explain it here as he does a better job of that, but I do want to highlight a particular section in the book that I trust will help us all in our pursuit of the spiritual discipline of having our quiet times.

In my last post, I mentioned that I have found that the "secret" to having quiet times is not a technique but it starts with a sincere desire to spend time with God. Towards the end of Chapter 9, Piper gives an example of how to pray over God's Word as we ask for this desire that only God can give--what he calls "the fight for joy."

Almost every day I pray early in the morning that God would give me desires for him and his Word, because the desires I ought to have are absent or weak...The first thing my soul needs is an inclination toward God and his Word. Without that, nothing else will happen of any value in my life. I must want to know God and read his Word and draw near to him. Where does that "want to" come from? It comes from God. So Psalm 119:36 teaches us to pray, "Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!" Very simply we ask God to take our hearts, which are more inclined to breakfast and the newspaper, and change that inclination. We are asking that God create desires that are not there.

John Piper gives more practical application of Scipture in the book and I encourage you to read it. Grab a copy from a bookstore or if you can't, the people at Desiring God has graciously made the electronic version available for free. Enjoy!

Quotes I highlighted

Let me share with you some of the awesome sentences I've discovered from reading Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest book of devotions.

"A saint realizes that it is God who engineers his circumstances; consequently there are no complaints, only unrestrained surrender to Jesus." [Bible verse is Luke 18:22 "...come, follow Me."]

"Drudgery is the test of genuine character. The greatest hindrance in our spiritual life is that we will only look for big things to do." [Bible verse is John 13:3-5 "Jesus...took a towel and...began to wash the disciples' feet."]

"The Holy Spirit is the only one in the proper position to criticize, and He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting or wounding." [Bible verse is Matthew 7:1 "Judge not, that you be not judged..."]

"Never look for justice in this world, but never cease to give it." [Bible verse is Jeremiah 1:8 "I am with you to deliver you."]

"Prayer is the practice of drawing on the grace of God... Pray NOW--draw on the grace of God in your moment of need." [Bible verse is 2 Corinthians 6:1 "We...plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain."]

My Utmost brings me to the utmost

If the devotional guide, Our Daily Bread, helped me get started with my private devotions, Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest has challenged me to go deeper in my walk with God. I have heard many friends rave about this book of devotions and finally bought one for my personal use. I'm using it this year. At first, I couldn't understand what it was talking about. I must be dense, I've said to myself about a dozen times because I didn't feel the same way my friends did about it. Why couldn't I appreciate it?

But eventually, the devotional writings spoke to me. As in, bull's eye! This Chambers guy not only knows how the Christian life is, he knows what I'm going through! He actually experienced what I'm experiencing! He's the only author who has made me highlight sentences in a book. The highlighting pencils that my boss gave me years ago for Christmas suddenly became useful. Now, THAT's impact!

I still have my daily Bible readings (the one-chapter-a-day, five-times-read kind) and I benefit so much from this discipline. I consider the Utmost for His Hightest readings my spiritual vitamins in addition to my basic spiritual diet. They make me feel good (like, "Wow! I'm not weird at all!") and some days they depress me (like, "He won't let me off the hook"). But they give me a hard dose of spiritual reality that I need to meet the pressures of the season.

I will share some quotes in my next entry.