Becoming a real theologian

"As soon as God's Word becomes known through you, the devil will afflict you, will make a real doctor (theologian or teacher) of you, and will teach you by his temptations to seek and to love God's Word. For I myself...owe my papists many thanks for so beating, pressing and frightening me through the devil's raging that they have turned me into a fairly good theologian, driving me to a goal should never have reached." - Martin Luther.

Living in harmony

"May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God."
- Romans 15:5-7, emphasis added.

10 Resolutions for mental health

10 resolutions for mental health

The paradox of evangelism

Part of a cool blog post from Randy Newman (the author, not the composer).

"We accept the fact that “success” is not dependent upon us. We understand that God uses both the human and the divine in the process (remembering, of course, that the divine component is so much more important). We open our mouths, knowing that God can actually use our frail attempts to accomplish the impossible. We speak with our mouths but we ask God to speak in ways far more powerful. We reason but we ask God to reveal. We proclaim but we know we’re on a playing field with many other forces at work.

It’s a paradox but a privilege."

A great hope and prayer

"I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!
Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!" - Psalm 27:13.14

The prison of conditionality

Read this fantastic blog post by Tullian Tchividjian.

The Prison of Conditionality

It really struck a chord with me and my everyday struggle with resting in the truth of the gospel.
As human beings, we tend to build our lives around the idea - "there is no such thing as a free lunch".
We do something, we expect something in return. We do good, we expect a reward. We do bad, we expect to be punished (or be lucky enough to avoid it).
Our human nature is based on acceptance through achievement.
The gospel of the God of the Bible and of the Universe is different.
It is based ENTIRELY on an alien righteousness that is outside of ourselves and our own effort.
Your religious fervour, your church attendance, your giving to charity.
These things do not justify you before God. Christ does.

May God give us the grace to break out of this prison of conditionality, and understand His UNconditional love more and more every minute of every day.

Contentment

Lord, it belongs not to my care
Whether I die or live;
To love and serve Thee is my share,
And this Thy grace must give.

If life be long, I will be glad,
That I may long obey;
If short—then why should I be sad
To soar to endless day?— Richard Baxter (1615-91)

The Prince of Preachers, at his best

"It greatly tends to help faith when you can see the relation that exists between the Redeemer and yourself, for Jesus is your Covenant Head, and God has been pleased to give Himself and all His infinite riches to the Lord Jesus Christ as your federal Representative. And as your Covenant Head, the Lord Jesus assures you that the stores laid up in Him on your behalf are sufficient for you. Can you limit the mediatorial power of Christ? Don’t you know that God gives not the Spirit by measure unto Him? Be you, then, assured that Christ’s Grace is sufficient for you!" - Charles Haddon Spurgeon

TOTALLY depraved, but saved

"God looks down from heaven
on the children of man
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.

They have all fallen away;
together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one." - Psalm 53:2,3

The idea that all of mankind is totally depraved as part of our nature is a clearly biblical doctrine
Through passages such as these and the ones found in the book of Romans (1-3, 6 and 7), we can construct a clear idea from Scripture that man is in a very bad state indeed, unable to even help themselves in their fight to know God and experience His love and forgiveness.

Our deeds are as filthy rags before Him (Isaiah 64:6), whose standard is PERFECTION.
We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and the Bible even goes as far as to say that we are all DEAD in our trespasses (Ephesians 2:1).

BUT (I love that word when it is used in the Bible!), GOD, "being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved." (Ephesians 2:4)

"We are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope — at the very same time. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. It means that the more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God’s grace appears to you." - Timothy Keller

A false hope

"The Lord looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
from where he sits enthroned he looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.
The king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
and by it's great might it cannot rescue." - Psalm 33:13-17

From where does your hope for salvation come from?

From something of the world? From your religious fervour, your frequent church attendance or your high moral standards? Just like the king in this psalm, we far too often place our hope in our own strength or deeds from salvation.

The ONLY hope that we have for salvation is the atoning death of Jesus Christ on the cross.

"But he was wounded for our transgressions:
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon his was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed" - Isaiah 53:5

Give up on your own attempts to save yourself, and just rest at the foot of the cross.

A very subtle, and dangerous sin

“Whatever it be that makes us trust in ourselves that we are comparatively wise or good, so as to treat those with contempt who do not subscribe to our doctrines, or follow our party, is a proof and fruit of a self-righteous spirit.” -Timothy Keller

The tendency of our mind

"You’re going to roll out of bed tomorrow a functional Pharisee. The instincts beneath your instincts, the impulses way down deep inside you, are law, not gospel. A good night’s sleep, not a heretical sermon, is all it takes to forget the gospel of grace." - Dane Ortlund.

"How to" know false teaching - READ YOUR BIBLE

"Nothing supplies false prophets with followers so much as spiritual sloth under a cloak of humility." - J.C. Ryle


Ring true much?

When brothers (and sisters) in unity

"Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!" - Psalm 133:1 (ESV)

As I sat in prayer with a couple of my brothers today, I thought to myself how blessed I am to have so many people in my life who love the Lord and desire to see Him glorified in their own lives and the lives of others.

There is nothing quite like sharing the knowledge and power of the gospel with others, rejoicing together in  the salvation that comes entirely from the Lord. If you don't have people like this in your life, to constantly remind you of the gospel and who you are in Christ, then I urge you to find some! There is nothing quite like it, I promise!

Consider this

"Whoever is wise, let him consider these things;
let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD" - Psalm 107:43

Spending some time in the Old Testament, one can't help but be amazed at how gracious and merciful God showed Himself to be to the people of Israel. The amazing work of salvation that the Lord worked through the freeing of the Jews from the bondage of Egypt, the patience and mercy in the desert, the faithfulness in obtaining the Promised Land, the faithfulness throughout the exile and the list goes on.

But we know what this list culminates in: the birth, life, death and resurrection of the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ of Nazareth (Isaiah 9:6)

May we who have been blessed with the knowledge of the Lord's amazing grace through Christ, consider it always and share it with others, as we strive forward on our journeys to love God and others.

A fresh (and essential) look on discipleship

After listening to David Platt's fantastic sermon on what the gospel truly demands of our lives (http://www.brookhills.org/media/series/radical/, please listen to this), I am convicted to the core about how I live my life with the Lord.


Am I pursuing comfort or a cross? (Luke 9:58)
Am I pursuing maintenance or mission? (Luke 9:60)
Do I have an indecisive mind or an undivided heart? (Luke 9:62)


Does the church truly believe the Word, and what it says about - following Jesus, the lost and the poor?


Lord, may you please give us the grace to live radical lives for the sake of your glory and gospel.

My soul thirsts for you

"O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water." - Psalm 63:1

Every time I meditate upon the psalms of David and witness through his writing the turmoil of his soul, I can't help but be stricken by his heart. The longing and desire that he possessed for God and knowing God and being brought near to God and rejoicing in God and finding his only satisfaction in God and feeling God despite his afflictions, is astounding.

Utter dependance on someone in an unbiblical worldview can be seen as a sign of weakness, but these states of mourning are so vital in the Christian walk. Just look at David. The man after God's own heart was one of the most consistently broken an needy men throughout the history recorded in the Scriptures. Our Ultimate Example, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, stated that the blessed are those who are poor in spirit, meek and who mourn over sin and severed relationship with God (Matthew 5:1-11).

The human soul is made to connect with God on a much higher level than our body is to connect with physical gratification. We will only ever find the true source of enjoyment in life in a relationship with the Creator of the universe, the almighty God, through His Son, Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit. Praise be to God for opening the eyes of our hearts to this glorious, intimate, joyful relationship that can be entered into through the blood of Christ.

The best friendship around

"The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant."

- Psalm 25:14

What a privilege it is to be called a friend of God! Let that fact just sink in: that those of us who have turned from ourselves and placed our faith in Christ for salvation, have become friends of God through his reconciling sacrifice. To those who acknowledge God's sovereignty and our utter dependence upon him for anything good in our lives, very much including our redemption, he makes his covenant known. He has removed our hearts of stone and given us heart of flesh with which to FEEL the new covenant, and not just hear and dismiss it.

Thank you Jesus for your unchangeable character and friendship that doesn't spoil or fade.

Thanks be to God

Lord, thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank you that you humbled yourself, and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Thank you for tearing up my record of debt, and replacing it with your spotless one. Thank you for performing a miracle among your people, by removing from them their hearts of stone, hearts that look at your cross and feel nothing, who look at their sin and feel nothing, who hear the gospel of the good news and feel nothing, who receive blessing after blessing, day after day, and feel nothing. Thank you for putting a new heart of flesh within us, one that breaks over sin, yet rejoices in your finished work.

Thanks be to God.

A late night thought

As I sit on my sofa late at night, I think about the absolute absurdity that is God's love.

Think about it.

God himself, the Triune Creator, who forged the heavens, the earth, stars, hummingbirds, taste buds, sex, human emotions and the intricacies of the human body, humbled himself by becoming nothing, a mere human, that he might die, bearing our iniquity in a divine, sufficient transaction: our sin, for his righteousness.

How is that fair? When could that ever be labelled as fair? I, Cody, a sinner just like everyone reading this blog, who for so long has ridiculed the God of the Bible by disobeying His commands every single day and turning away from his supremacy and sufficiency and to my own sinful desires. But that is not the end of the matter. I have been reconciled to God. And this not of my doing. It is a gift of God, so that I may not boast.

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him owe,
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

Praise God forever for His abounding, steadfast, reckless, exemplary, joyful, sobering, miraculous love. May we never, ever neglect the cross, but when we do, may God swiftly bring us back to the foot of the tree on which our dear Saviour died.

A God-pleasing despair

Do not despair if you feel the flesh battling against the Spirit or if you cannot make it behave. For you to follow the guidance of the Spirit in all things without interference on the part of the flesh is impossible. You are doing all you can if you resist the flesh and do not fulfill its demands.

When I was a monk I thought I was lost forever whenever I felt an evil emotion, carnal lust, wrath, hatred, or envy. I tried to quiet my conscience in many ways, but it did not work, because lust would always come back and give me no rest. I told myself: "You have permitted this and that sin, envy, impatience, and the like. Your joining this holy order has been in vain, and all your good works are good for nothing." If at that time I had understood this passage, "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh," I could have spared myself many a day of self- torment. I would have said to myself: "Martin, you will never be without sin, for you have flesh. Despair not, but resist the flesh."

I remember how Doctor Staupitz used to say to me: "I have promised God a thousand times that I would become a better man, but I never kept my promise. From now on I am not going to make any more vows. Experience has taught me that I cannot keep them. Unless God is merciful to me for Christ's sake and grants unto me a blessed departure, I shall not be able to stand before Him." His was a God-pleasing despair.

-- Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians

Why I want to be a journalist.

Martin Bashir vs. Rob Bell.

A really good interview from a solid journalist.

Continue to pray for Japan

A prayer for Japan.

The heart of the battle in the fight for joy

"As to the object of your affections, in an especial manner, let it be the cross of Christ, which has exceeding efficacy towards the disappointment of the whole work of indwelling sin: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Gal 6:14). The cross of Christ he [Paul] gloried and rejoiced in; this his heart was set upon; and these were the effects of it - it crucified the world unto him, made it a dead and undesirable thing. The baits and pleasures of sin are taken all of them out of the world...If the heart be filled with the cross of Christ, it casts death and undesirableness upon them all; it leaves no seeming beauty, no appearing pleasure or comeliness, in them. Again, says he, "It crucifies me to the world; makes my heart, my affections, my desires, dead unto any of these things." It roots up corrupt lusts and affections, leaves no principle to go forth and make provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. Labour, therefore, to fill your hearts with the cross of Christ...that there may be no room for sin."

- John Owen, Mortification of Sin in Believers, emphasis added

Encouragement after the Japan quake and tsunami.

For me personally, disasters such as these just plain freak me out. I have never been good for handling freak occurrences such as, and I come from Napier, a small town in New Zealand, which just happens to be in the most earthquake prone part of New Zealand. My heart breaks over this new event, over the lives lost and pain and sorrow in the hearts of people all over the world. My heart is trying (I need grace so bad!) to rest in the fact that God is sovereign and that he is in control of every aftershock, every death, every survival, every wave that strikes whichever country, and that ultimately, this will all glorify him in some way I cannot yet see.

Here are some verses to encourage believers as we reflect on this disaster:

"If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful - for he cannot deny himself" - 2 Timothy 2:11b-13


"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though mountains tremble at its swelling." - Psalm 46:1-3 (read the rest of this Psalm also)


"Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." - 1 Peter 1:13


"Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." - Hebrews 4:14-16


"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." - 1 John 1:9


"Whom have I heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." - Psalm 73:25, 26

Joy.

I am currently reading John Piper's book, When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy, and it is very thought provoking.

In a section that I read today, Piper writes that, "the very joy that Jesus would have in the presence of the Father is the joy he died for us to have." John 15:11 says - "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full," and John 17:13 says, "but now [Father] I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves."

The joy by which Christ endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2) is the joy that he freely gives to us through himself and his death and resurrection. By Christ's obedience unto death, he secured himself an everlasting joy for himself, and for US. Think about it.

You must be born again

This quote from (again) Jonathan Edwards is very powerful, as I strive in my own life to fight for joy in Christ and His finished work on the cross.

"Man's proper happiness consists in the enjoyment of God; but it is not possible that man should enjoy God with only those things in him which he receives by the first birth. So that there is this necessity of man's being born again."

Who can sympathise with me in saying that my life is a constant struggle to find joy in God? Also, constantly falling into trying to work up my own joy in the Lord, which is impossible and ridicules the cross. It is only through a divine work of God that we can ever be born again, and then experience the joy of God that is commanded. May we all realise this amazing truth and stop trying to muster up our own joy to present to God as something acceptable. 

Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to the cross I cling. 

8 Symptoms of False Doctrine, according to J.C. Ryle

Check out this work from 19th century English writer and pastor, J.C.Ryle. My, how it rings true today!

8 Symptons of False Doctrine

May we continue to grow in our individual knowledge and love of the Lord, so that we may not be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, and stand strong in the truth of the Bible.

"Taste and see that the Lord is good"

This quote from Jonathan Edwards really struck me when I read it. It is in his sermon, "A Divine and Supernatural Light."

"There is a difference between believing that God is holy and gracious, and having a new sense on the heart of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. The difference between believing that God is gracious and tasting that God is gracious is as different as having a rational belief that honey is sweet and having the actual sense of its sweetness."

If only we could all, in every waking moment, be living and relying on the truths of the gospel to permeate our souls and leave us thirsting for more. My prayer is that all people would turn to our beautiful Christ and worship Him for his amazing grace. Delve into the Scriptures, humbly come to the Lord in prayer and talk about Him and his blessings all the time! This is how you taste that the Lord is good!

A pearl from Martin Luther

"When the devil throws our sins up to us and declares that we deserve death and hell, we ought to speak thus: "I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it? Does this mean that I shall be sentenced to eternal damnation? By no means. For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction in my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Where he is, there shall I be also."


- Martin Luther, Letters of Spiritual Counsel

A beautiful hymn

Paul and Silas sit in prison in Philippi, after causing some havoc in the town (what else is new, right?)

And what do they do? They pray and sing. I pray that someday I will be able to simply be at rest in trial and suffering, praying and singing to the Lord who holds me in the palm of His hand.

If I were in the position of Paul and Silas, this might well be the hymn that I would belt out at the top of my lungs. Enjoy.

Out of the depths I cry to You,

Lord, hear my voice of pleading;

Bend down Your gracious ear, I pray,

Your humble servant heeding.

If You remember each misdeed,

And of each thought and word take heed,

Who can remain before You?

Only by grace, by grace alone.

Your pardon is a gift of love,

Your grace alone must save us,

Our works will not remove our guilt,

The strictest life would fail us.

Let none in deeds or merits boast,

But let us own the Holy Ghost

for He alone can change us:

Only by grace, by grace alone.

Though great our sins and sore our woes

His grace much more aboundeth;

His helping love no limit knows,

Our utmost need it soundeth.

Our kind and faithful Shepherd He,

Who will set all His people free

From all their sin and sorrow:

Only by grace, by grace alone.

- Martin Luther

New Zealand's darkest day

As many of you know, on February 22, 2011, at 12:51pm, the New Zealand city of Christchurch was struck by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake that as of 3pm the following day, has left 75 people confirmed dead and roughly 300 missing.

The hard part for me about this situation is resting in the sovereignty of God in suffering. While events like this are obviously consequences of sin in the world, we can still be at peace knowing that God is completely in control of every brick that falls in the streets of Christchurch. I am sure that He has an amazing plan for this that we may never know in this lifetime.

Therefore, lets unite our hearts in prayer together all over the world for the people of Christchurch.
May there be a revival of repentance and faith in Christ in Christchurch that will then permeate through the entire country because of this horrible disaster.

Lets pray BIG.

"Even as you loved me."

"The glory that you have given men I have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." - John 17:22, 23


What a profound statement!

Jesus Himself declares His desire for people that are in Him to be united to the point of resembling the Father and Son; perfectly united in mind and heart. So we obviously need to strive to live in unity with each other, living lives of love toward each other where we are known as Christ's disciples by the way in which we love each other (John 13:35).

However, the statement that I would like you to focus and meditate on is the last part in bold. Jesus wants the world to know that God the Father loves the people to whom Christ's sacrifice has been offered, AS MUCH AS he loves Christ himself, the perfect God-man!

Just think about that. What an amazing God we serve, who makes Himself known to us in such beautiful, but mysterious ways.

May this be the cry of our hearts

When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
  I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.


Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
  You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
  Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
  My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
 (Psalm 73:21-26 ESV)


This psalm is one that I constantly return to remind myself of my standing before the Lord. Whenever I fall into sin and self-righteousness, I TRY to crawl back to this psalm and the truth it speaks to my heart.

Out of my own fallen nature, I constantly fall back into sin, causing my Heavenly Father displeasure. BUT nevertheless, God keeps me in His hand and lifts me out of the dirt, cleansing me from my sin and disobedience (v. 23, 24a, 1 John 1:9), until eventually, after sanctifying me through His beautiful gospel (1 Corinthians 15:2), He will glorify me into His awesome, indescribable presence for the rest of eternity (v. 24b).

The Lord is faithful beyond words in the ENTIRE process of redemption and salvation. Our hearts regeneration, the faith and repentance needed, the legal justification, righteousness, sanctification and glorification all belong to the Lord and are splendid gifts to us; an unworthy and helpless people in the hands of a powerful and merciful God.

May we acknowledge the inadequacy of our own flesh and hearts and simply run into the hands of our loving Saviour, who offers rest to all who realise they can no longer run the race by themselves (Matthew 11:28-30).

Striving, side by side.

Something I have been thinking a lot about the last few days is the much neglected ideal of gospel community. Community where believers are constantly spurring each other on to love and good deeds, and where we are also constantly reminding each other of the grace and love that has been lavished on us through Christ.

This is something that Paul urged the churches he was writing to be continually doing and unfortunately, it seems to have slipped away over the past 2000 years.

I know from personal experience how much I need this in my life, a group of people who genuinely love me and who can remind every day of the amazing grace of God shown in the gospel. I also desire to be able to do this for people too.

Reminding believers of their standing in Christ, based purely on His work and NOTHING else, is something ALL of us need. Choose one person you can help with this and get reminding! If you need to, make notes to remind you to remind them!

Rejoice! It's a command! (Part 2)

Personally, I see this next topic as being MUCH more difficult than the last post. Paul Washer addresses this issue very well in a video of his on YouTube, titled "Joy from Christ, not your performance."

And it is: Rejoicing in the Lord and his saving grace when things are going fine and there seems to be no suffering going on in your life. You are doing a good job at fighting your sin, you are reading your Bible daily and spending an hour in prayer every day. You shared the gospel with four people this week! Things are just looking up man! The sky is the limit!

But then, things change. A sin that you used to struggle with sneaks back into your life, you don't read your Bible, you forget to pray for people that have asked you to pray for them, and you feel like you have completely gone off the rails of your faith. To be straight up, Washer calls this idolatry. And he is right. This person is beginning to place their confidence and faith in themselves and their own performance. We know that this is pointless, because our attempts at righteous deeds are as filthy rags before a holy God (Isaiah 64:6). The only thing that we can cling onto and put forward before God as the source of our justification is the blood of Christ, spilt from His completed work on the cross.

Take joy from Christ's performance and not our own. Otherwise it is idolatry.

Give thanks to the Spirit for giving you the power to live a life that is glorifying to God, but ultimately all the merit you can ever have, is due to the finished work of Christ and His precious blood.

Rejoice! It's a command! (Part 1)

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice." - Philippians 4:4


Again, another extremely difficult discipline to put into practice, but yet again, one that is absolutely essential for growth in the Christian life.

It is always hard to rejoice in hard times. For example, someone who falls into constant sexual sin will often fall into a prolonged state of despair, which can often be the worldly regret that 2 Corinthians 7 talks refers to. Learning to rejoice in these difficult times is something that the apostle Paul so masterfully described later on in that same letter. After praying to God to remove the "thorn" in Paul's flesh, Jesus replies:

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I (Paul) will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." - 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10


This is a beautiful truth! We need to be content in our hardships, no matter what they are, because Christ covers us with a grace that exceeds all sin, enabling and empowering us to cling fast to the gospel of redemption through faith, by which we were made right with God purely by the merit of Christ. Our daily sin cannot revoke the invaluableness of Christ's blood, but rather helps us to realise our hopelessness in mortifying our sin with anything other than the gospel.

Join me next blog for something much more challenging, I find. Rejoicing in the Lord when things are going really well! Man, I can't wait!

How to handle our desires, according to Piper

I found this while doing some YouTube surfing sometime ago.

How can I long to be married without obsessing about it?

John Piper has an awesome habit of giving amazing practical advice to people who are in situations where they are in desperate need of guidance and wisdom. This is no exception. Relationships (in particular, marriage) is an amazing way to glorify God and live out the amazing narrative of the gospel in a practical manner. I desire to be married myself someday, in the not TOO distant future hopefully!

Keeping desires such as these in check can be challenging. I often find myself struggling to keep them under control, having them at the forefront of my mind which is not the place I want them to be whatsoever.

In this video, Piper explains how our hearts, like Blaise Pascal famously once said, have a void within them that is designed to be filled with God. So when we begin obsessing about these desires that we have in our hearts, they can be because of gaps in our hearts that are supposed to be filled with unquenchable passion to know God. We will always fall short in our love for the Father because we do remain fallen humans in the hands of a loving, merciful God, and it is at these times when we can continue to fall away from him in our pursuit for our other desires.

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday." - Psalm 37:4, 5


Search for your delight first and foremost in the Lord of our salvation, and then through that relationship, He will purify your desires and conform them to His will.

The greatest act of faith

Great quote from Paul Washer:

"What is the greatest act of faith? For me it is to look into the mirror of God's Word and see all my faults, all my sin, all my shortcomings, and to believe that God loves me exactly as He says He does."

Working it out

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." - Philippians 2:12, 13

It is a clear Biblical command to test yourself to see if you are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5, Philippians 2:12, 2 Peter 1:10). We need to weigh up our lives and our deeds to see if we have indeed been born again. A fig tree cannot produce thorns and vice versa. BUT REMEMBER - these good fruits present in our lives, through our new hearts and minds, are proof of our salvation, and not the reason for it. Look for fruit. This is working out our salvation, the fear and trembling coming from our utter helplessness is gaining our salvation in the first place.

Praise God for  his bestowing upon us the gift of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which is completely revolutionising our depraved hearts and minds. May we rest in the gospel everyday and continue being sanctified by it's splendour.

Isaiah 41:10

"Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." - Isaiah 41:10


I believe that something that all people who have placed their faith in Christ have been found guilty of at least in their lives, is the underestimating of God and the extent of his character.

This text obviously promises us aid from our Heavenly Father, and an upholding of our souls that we cannot maintain ourselves. But how often do we fall back into doubting that he will deliver us, but rather let us fall? That may indeed be God's ordained plan for you that you fall, so that you can be raised up again stronger, but there remains a crucial truth here that has helped me immensely in my walk.

God, the Lord God Almighty, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. This, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, holy, righteous, self-sufficient, PERFECT being, promises to help me?! He has already given His own Son that we might enter into relationship with Him, but now he promises more?

Charles Haddon Spurgeon puts it much better than I. Please read, let it sink in and then worship the Lord.

"I will help you"

Like a child

"Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." - Mark 10:15, Luke 18:17

I always find these verses incredibly convicting. I used to often wonder to myself: How am I supposed to be like a child? I thought that I was supposed to grow up and mature into my salvation?


But it is not these qualities that these verses are talking about, as Christians are all called to grow in maturity in the faith (Ephesians 4:11-16), but they are rather talking about a child's helplessness and lack of power. In this instance, a lack of ability to obtain the benefits of the kingdom for himself.

For all of those who are in Christ Jesus, he has become to us our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30), and in order for these gifts to be ours, we need to realise our utter depravity and inability to save our souls, but for the precious blood of Christ, which cleanses us from our sin and makes us righteous before God.

In vain, many try to obtain the kingdom and their salvation through other means, mainly trying to live a good, moral life, in their own power. But they will never inherit this promise until they, like a child, fall before their Heavenly Father, with a broken and contrite heart, acknowledging ONLY the finished work of Christ and begging for mercy from a God who is both the definition of justice and love.

May we all be like children in our response to the gospel call of Christ.

How NOT to memorise Scripture

As of the 1st of January, 2011, some friends and I have taken it upon ourselves to memorise the book of Philippians. As part of an attempt to encourage Christians around the world to memorise Scripture, the Resurgence put this idea forward and I personally know a substantial amount of people taking part now.

As of February 8, I am up to verse 9 of chapter 2. It has been a very challenging experience but also very enjoyable. However, through a discussion with a friend recently, I realised an awful truth; simply seeing Scripture as a bunch of words that are solely stored in your memory banks, nullifies the entire point of Bible memorisation, and the fact of the Bible being, "profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). 


One of the marvelous truths that I let slip through my fingers is found in Philippians 1:27, where Paul is addressing the church, urging them to be living side-by-side for the faith of the gospel. The importance of living in gospel community is something very dear to me and I can't stress enough the importance and need of having godly people around you to encourage you in the faith, due to our tendencies to constantly fall short in our own unbelief. Were it not for my friend, I doubt that I would have picked up the importance of Paul's statement, despite my ability to recite it word for word.


My prayer is that we will all be taken captive by the Word of God, letting it dwell in us richly (Colossians 3:16), so it overflows out of us in prayer, worship, love for one another and a transformed life. Don't simply throw it into the storeroom of your mind, but engrave it on the tablet of your heart.

A picture says a thousand words...

A friend of mine found this picture online and I think it is beautiful. The conflict and tension that is present in Egypt at the moment would be a terrifying thing to be a part of, and this wee bit of love gives a wee bit of hope for the people of the country.

Christians protect praying Muslims in Egypt

My first post

Hello there all who are reading,

I intend for this blog to be a recording of my thoughts about every facet of life, from my faith in Jesus and my work for Student Life on the Victoria campus, to sport, from music to movies, from things that may or may NOT make you say, "Hmmmmmm", to the most seemingly random musings on mundane everyday activities.

Enjoy.