What should we know?

This morning I was reading in Ephesians and I was writing a list of the blessings God has given to me in Christ. As I continued in chapter one, I came across Paul's prayer, and there are three things he says he prays that the Ephesians would know:

1. The hope that God has called us to,
   
2. The riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and
   
3. The immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe.

It's the second one that I want to highlight. In my study Bible, these notes were given:

The "inheritance" here is not the Christian's inheritance but his (God's). This indicates how precious his people are to God. They are, so to speak, what he looks forward to enjoying forever.

Rain City Hymnal

So, yesterday I downloaded (for free) the Rain City Hymnal CD that Mars Hill Church in Seattle just released. And while it's different, it's growing on me. Most of the melodies have remained the same, but I was introduced to a new hymn as a result of this album. It's called, "We Have Not Known Thee As We Ought." It's powerful and encouraging:

We have not known Thee as we ought,
Nor learned Thy wisdom, grace and power;
The things of earth have filled our thought,
And trifles of the passing hour.
Lord, give us light Thy truth to see,
And make us wise in knowing Thee.

We have not feared Thee as we ought,
Nor bowed beneath Thine awful eye,
Nor guarded deed and word and thought,
Remembering that God was nigh.
Lord, give us faith to know Thee near,
And grant the grace of holy fear.

We have not loved Thee as we ought,
Nor cared that we are loved by Thee;
Thy presence we have coldly sought,
And feebly longed Thy face to see.
Lord, give a pure and loving heart
To feel and know the love Thou art.

We have not served Thee as we ought,
Alas, the duties left undone,
The work with little fervor wrought,
The battles lost or scarcely won!
Lord, give the zeal, and give the might,
For Thee to toil, for Thee to fight.

When shall we know Thee as we ought,
And fear and love and serve aright?
When shall we, out of trial brought,
Be perfect in the land of light?
Lord, may we day by day prepare
To see Thy face and serve Thee there.

- Thomas Pollack, 1889

Trials

The following is taken from "The Gospel Primer for Christians" by Milton Vincent.

Perspective in Trials

More than anything else I could ever do, the gospel enables me to embrace my tribulations and thereby position myself to gain full benefit from them. For the gospel is the one great permanent circumstance in which I live and move; and every hardship in my life is allowed by God only because it serves His gospel purposes in me. When I view my circumstances in this light, I realize that the gospel is not just one piece of good news that fits into my life somewhere among all the bad. I realize instead that the gospel makes genuinely good news out of every other aspect of my life, including my severest trials. The good news about my trials is that God is forcing them to bow to His gospel purposes and do good unto me by improving my character and making me more conformed to the image of Christ.
Preaching the gospel to myself each day provides a lens through which I can view my trials in this way and see the true cause for rejoicing that exists in them. I can then embrace trials as friends and allow them to do God's good work in me (pp. 31-32, emphasis mine).
----------------------

After a couple of points, the writer puts footnotes where he emphasizes passages of Scripture that go along with his statements. For the bolded statement above, the author highlights Romans 8:28-29, James 1:2-4 and 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. The passage emphasized in the sentence preceding the bolded statement is Romans 5:1-5.

Opening Eyes Through The Word

Today I've been awakened to more of the Word, and I want more of it. I feel as though I'm seeing glimmers of light through Scripture, and I pray that the Lord would open my eyes to greater degrees.

I feel what the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 119:18, 27

Open my eyes, that I may behold
wondrous things out of your law

Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous works.

What I want to understand more of is the gospel. I want to know the power of Christ and the grace of Christ! After I had read these verses and prayed a little, I heard the words to this song playing on my laptop. I pray that the Lord would grace me more and more by opening my eyes to behold the "wondrousness" of the truths communicated in this song. And, I pray that he would do that as he enables me to seek him through the Word.

Behold Our God

Over land, sky and sea
Over man's great thoughts and dreams
God sits high on His throne
Ruling history.
Nations rage, wars unfold
Men seek power they cannot hold.
God regards their strength with scorn -
Less than nothing.
So when I fear what I don't understand
I'll trust the One who holds the world in His hands.

Behold our God, Sovereign and good
Matchless in power, the King over all the earth
Fear not, my soul. Trust in his plan.
Over all the world, God reigns.
Behold our God!

Over sin's curse on me
Over law's I could not keep
God the Judge has declared all my debt's relieved.
Sin remains close at hand
Pressing in with its demands.
But in my Savior's risen life I find victory.
So when I'm faced with guilt and sin's domain
I'll trust the One who's death has broken my chains!

(from Lu, Sovereign Grace Music)

For Dan

Because my friend, Dan, said he wanted me to post to my blog, I thought I'd find something to post. I found this a little while back and think it's quite funny.

Out of the Depths

For a while I've been wrestling with God regarding a theological truth. There are times in my life where these struggles seem to reach a point of intense mental opposition (where Galatians 5:17, or Romans 7, seems to be at a peak in my mind). I must say that I don't prefer these times. They times tend to carry along with them a long of physical, spiritual and mental strain - where I feel as though I cannot bear under the burden of these difficulties. That said, these times are (in some senses) needed in my life.

Last night I explained more to my wife what I was going through. And, our conversation was such a blessing. Tracy displayed so much grace, compassion, truth and wisdom. She challenged me in a way that showed me what faith needs to look like. I am so thankful to God for her!

I'm slowly re-learning (through God's great patience) that I need to exercise faith. This means to take my thoughts captive and fight sin actively and seek to trust God even (and maybe especially) when things do not make sense. So, instead of resorting to worry, I must actively engage in the lifestyle of faith - where I value and depend on who God is and what he says above anything else.

Now, your struggle might be different than mine. You might be facing some horrendously difficult trial. Either way, I hope that you see God's goodness towards you and that you embrace him with all your heart and trust him. "If you can't trace God's hand, trust his heart" (Spurgeon).

Here are some lyrics to a song that are especially encouraging to me, and I hope it is a help to you.

Out of the depths, O Lord, I cry to You
When I am tempted to despair.
And though I have failed to trust Your promises
You never fail to hear my prayer.
And, if you judge my sin, I'd never stand again.
But, I see mercy in Your hands.

So, more than watchmen for the morning,
I will wait for you, my God.
When my fears come with no warning,
In Your Word I put my trust.
When the harvest time is over,
and I still see no fruit,
I will wait. I will wait for You.

The secret mysteries belong to You.
We only know what You reveal.
And all my questions are unresolved
Don't change the wisdom of Your will.
In every trial and loss,
My hope is in the cross -
Where Your compassions never fail.

So, more than watchmen for the morning,
I will wait for you, my God.
When my fears come with no warning,
In Your Word I put my trust.
When the harvest time is over,
and I still see no fruit,
I will wait. I will wait for You.

(from the Psalms CD, Sovereign Grace Music)

Our Hopes Dashed by Perceived "Imperfections"

Have you ever anticipated something and had that "something" turn out totally different than you had hoped?  Have you ever looked up to someone only to find out that that "someone" failed to meet your expectations?  Well, that's what has happened to me today in a small and potentially insignificant way; however, I want to take the opportunity to use my situation to help point all three of my readers (including myself) to the right perspective.

A couple of weeks ago, I received a mailing from some Christianesque company that had an advertisement for C.J. Mahaney's book called Worldliness.  The advertisement said that the book was free to a certain number of pastors.  Almost immediately I went on-line to take advantage of this awesome opportunity since C.J. is a "favorite" of mine.  I received the book and put it on the shelf anticipating to read it in the near future.

Well, today I go on-line and read a blogger's analysis of the book.  What was this evaluators final analysis? "...it just isn't that good of a book."  My basic desired response is one that wants to defend C.J.  But, I have to get off of that horse quickly and admit that C.J. isn't perfect.  And, maybe this book really isn't the best book.  If I remained on the defensive "for C.J.'s sake", I would quickly be in danger because I'd be putting a human on a pedestal that they were never intended to be on.  And, I might soon try to eclipse God with a mere man made of dust.

Well, the story doesn't stop here.

I found out that Sovereign Grace Ministries was giving away a new CD compiled all of hymns.  Needless to say, I was pretty excited.  I like much of what SGM puts out in music form - especially their recent albums.  So, I downloaded the CD and began listening....  Again, I was disappointed.  Maybe it's because I'm used to the old style of the hymns or maybe I was expecting something more bold.  I don't know what the reason is, but I wasn't impressed.  As a result, I became more tempted to "judge" SGM. 

Isn't that the likely response from someone who has sinfully elevated something?  I have come to EXPECT great things from SGM and I didn't get what I wanted.  The reality is that when we elevate things in this way, we will only be disappointed.  There is a mixture of selfishness, pride, fear of man (and I'm sure a host of other sins) involved in this scenario.  And, the only answer to this problem is to always keep God at the forefront and enjoy him above all things - to keep repenting and trusting in Christ as the only great and glorious Savior.  Then and only then can we truly appreciate the gifts he's given to us through humans, music, books, etc.

Now, just because I'M not impressed, doesn't mean others won't love the CD.  And, just because the blogger didn't like the book on worldliness doesn't mean others won't benefit.  All I'm trying to focus on is how we as humans can quickly elevate someone, and we need to be careful that we understand that no person and no ministry is given completely over to perfection.  This can give us hope - knowing that we're all in process.  And, this knowledge can rebuke us - calling us to always point our attention towards Christ and not to mere humans (no matter how godly those individuals and ministries are).