Christmas Exhortation 2017: Once in a Stable

(Acts 17:27–28) that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,  for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ 

(1 Corinthians 8:6) yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. 

(Hebrews 2:10) For it was fitting that he [Jesus], for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 

Regarding Mary’s baby; the little boy wrapped in swaddling and laid in the food-trough of farm animals, the authors of the New Testament make some absolutely astonishing assertions.

Paul, preaching on Mars Hill in Athens, and quoting a Greek poet, boldly declared that it is in God that “we live and move and have our being.”

Similarly, in his letter to the Corinthian church, Paul confidently asserted that it is through Jesus that all things exist.

And then the author of Hebrews expanded this truth a little bit when wrote that it is not only by Jesus, but also for Jesus all things exist.

Wow. Think about it: The little baby boy, alternately crying and cooing in the manger; alternately nursing at Mary’s breast and filling his first century diapers, was the being in whom and for whom all things exist. Again, just wow.

Near the end of CS Lewis’ “The Last Battle”, the children and their friends walk through the door of a rather smallish looking stable and find themselves in an entirely different world.

As they try to wrap their minds around this startling phenomenon, Lucy sagely reminds her comrades of a precedent for this sort of mind-bending situation; this kind of world-upending paradox (if you will.) Lewis wrote:

Tirian looked round again and could hardly believe his eyes. There was the blue sky overhead, and grassy country spreading as far as he could see in every direction, and his new friends all round him laughing.

 “It seems, then,” said Tirian, smiling himself, “that the stable seen from within and the stable seen from without are two different places.”

 “Yes,” said the Lord Digory. “Its inside is bigger than its outside.”

“Yes,” said Queen Lucy. “In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.”

Yes, indeed, Lucy. The tiny newborn bouncing on Mary and Joseph’s knees, was the one through whom, for whom and in whom all things exist. 

And this being true, the only sane thing to do is to follow the lead of the shepherds that holy night, and the example of the wise men who would follow some time later, and worship the babe through whom, for whom and in whom all things exist.

GH

Bonhoeffer on the "Waiting" of Advent

(Isaiah 40:29–31) He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the “waiting” in Advent:

“Celebrating Advent means learning how to wait. Waiting is an art which our impatient age has forgotten. We want to pluck the fruit before it has had time to ripen. Greedy eyes are soon disappointed when what they saw as luscious fruit is sour to the taste. In disappointment and disgust they throw it away. The fruit, full of promise rots on the ground. It is rejected without thanks by disappointed hands.

The blessedness of waiting is lost on those who cannot wait, and the fulfillment of promise is never theirs. They want quick answers to the deepest questions of life and miss the value of those times of anxious waiting, seeking with patient uncertainties until the answers come. They lose the moment when the answers are revealed in dazzling clarity.

Donkey's Delight

C. S. Lewis' "Donkey's Delight" has long been one of my favorite poems. And it provides an apt illustration of the way that the Lord loves to interrupt the flow of our sinful trajectories with His wonderful, "But God..."

The Gospel truly is the ultimate "non-sequitur"; or as Lewis puts it, "the excellent joke."

I've provided some "Cliffs Notes" for the poetically challenged. But if you love to read and reread poetry until it eventually overcomes its shyness and begins to open up to you, then just skip on ahead to the poem. Enjoy.

"Cliffs Notes"
- First stanza: He courts a girl for ten months with unswerving service, devotion and gifts. Then a happy sailor steals her away with one glance of his eyes.

- Second stanza: He pours himself into writing; pouring his heart into every line. Then a singing boy flits in and steals away the favor of the crowd.

- Third stanza: He puts himself under a spiritual master who has him fast, keep late night prayer vigils, vows of silence and scratchy clothing in order to curry God’s favor. Then a careless, dirty drunkard comes waltzing in at the last minute and receives the divine favor that he had sought.

- Fourth stanza: Contemplating the resurrection of Jesus, he stops his striving and simply receives as a gift that which he had tried so hard to obtain by merit. He enters into the “excellent joke” the ultimate non-sequitur, and joins Balaam’s ass, creaking out his “glory to God” as he romps in the sunshine of God’s love.

The Testimony of Baptism

(Mark 1:11) And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

(Matthew 3:17) and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Most Christians believe that there is a testimony in baptism. But not all agree on the source and the meaning of that testimony.

There is actually only one recorded testimony in the Bible associated with a baptism. We have two slightly different accounts of that one testimony given at Jesus’ baptism. And the Who, What and When of that testimony is jam-packed with glorious meaning and import.

Who: At Jesus’ baptism, it was not Jesus, but rather the Father who bore testimony as Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River.

What: In Mark’s account, the Father affirmed his love for, and relation to, Jesus. In Matthew’s account, the Father addressed those witnessing Jesus’ baptism and declared to them his love for, and relation to Jesus.

When: The Father’s testimony regarding his love for Jesus, and Jesus’ sonship, was given to Jesus, not after Jesus successfully completed his testing in the wilderness, but rather before he had done anything to prove himself, to merit the Father’s love, or earn the Father’s favor. As in all of Scripture, identity preceded duty; grace went before performance, and love ran before obligation.

And so, once again, as we put the water on little Blake and Faith this morning, God will thunder His glorious, “I love you, and you belong to me.”

And like Jesus, the forerunner of their salvation, the water and the testimony will be given to them before they have proved or deserved anything. And just like every other recipient of baptism, they will be responsible to believe and receive what God has declared to them: that He loves them and is pleased to receive them as His own. And then, resting on this declaration by faith, they are to make that glorious testimony, given to them in baptism and declared to them from God’s Word, the foundation and motivation for everything that they think, say and do in the temptations of their wildernesses and the trials that invariably accompany those who live in a fallen world.

C-C-Courage

(1 Corinthians 16:13) Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

This pointed exhortation of Paul comes at the end of his first letter to the saints in Corinth, and his target audience would have included men and women, young and old. And this being true, why did he exhort them all to “act like men”?

The Corinthian church existed in a cesspool of idolatry, sexual immorality, political corruption and violence (sound familiar?) In his letter, Paul had already called the saints in Corinth repeatedly to live lives characterized by holiness, purity, justice, righteousness and above all love. But given how counter-cultural these virtues were, Paul knew without the virtue of courage, they would fail miserably in their attempts to follow Jesus in holiness. So, at the end of his letter, Paul called them to “act like men”; in other words he called them to exercise the virtue of courage. Indeed.

"It is curious—curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare." (Mark Twain)

"Courage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any other. (Samuel Johnson)

 "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear." (Ambrose Redmoon)

"Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful till it became risky." (C. S. Lewis)

But, as we all know, courage is not something that we can simply choose to exercise. It is rather the result, or by-product of trusting in the power and goodness of our God, and the conviction that what we are endangering ourselves for is more important than our own personal safety and well-being.

And that is one reason that we assemble to worship week after week. We worship God to be convinced afresh and anew that our He is powerful, able to provide; able to save, and delights to exercise His might on behalf of those who rest on Him by faith. And we assemble to be re-convinced that His awesome plan to “unite all things together in His Son Jesus Christ” is worth risking personal comforts and safety for. And we do this trusting that the courage requisite for the exercise of all other virtues will be the result.

GH

Recovered Glory

O, the power of a prefix; the change that two or three small letters can effect on a word. For example, consider the word “cover” and the chasm of meaning that exists between the word “discover” and the word “recover.” Same root word, different prefixes, and a universe of meaning between them.

The proto-reformers like Wycliffe and Hus and reformers like Luther and Calvin all considered themselves to be “re-coverers” not “dis-coverers” of God’s truth. They were all alike convinced that they had simply recovered truths that God, in His Word, had taught all along.

The Reformers knew that very often the best way forward is the way back, and therefore gave themselves to the study of Scripture in order to determine where, when and how the Church had departed from what God had clearly revealed. And once those errors were discerned and a faithful way forward identified, the Reformers called upon God’s people to, as Jeremiah might have put it:

"Stand in the way and search out the ancient paths, and to walk in them, for in them, you will find rest for your souls."

Indeed…As you meditate upon the Five Solas of the Reformation, do not, I repeat do not, receive them as some sort of dry, academic, scholarly, Bible-nerd exercise. Savor them the way your brothers and sisters in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries would have surely savored them: As glorious descriptions of the freeness and fullness of God’s grace; as truths that bring rest to troubled and weary souls.

Or, as we say here at King’s Cross Church: Old Paths…New Life.

No Hell Below Us, Above Us Only Sky

In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek [the LORD]; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”…He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless; 9 he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket; … The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might. 11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.” (Psalm 10:6-11)

Many years ago, the late ex-Beatle John Lennon penned his hauntingly beautiful song, “Imagine”:

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace, you
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Lennon wanted the world to, “be as one” and suggested that the surest path to that lofty goal was the removal of religion, including the rewards of heaven and the punishments of hell. Many believed him, and adopted his literally god-less view of the world.

But then something that sociologists and economists call, “The Law of Unintended Consequences” kicked in. What is that, you say?

"The law of unintended consequences, often cited but rarely defined, is that actions of people—and especially of government—always have effects that are unanticipated or unintended. Economists and other social scientists have heeded its power for centuries; for just as long, politicians and popular opinion have largely ignored it.” (Rob Norton)

A short time ago, our nation reeled in horror as a lone gunman acted upon the lies espoused in Lennon’s song. He acted as if there were “no hell below us, above us only sky.”

As the psalmist wrote, describing just such a man: “all his thoughts are, ‘there is no God’ and if there is, “he has forgotten, hidden his face and will not see.” And thusly freed from accountability to anyone other than himself, he pretended to take to himself the divine prerogative of ending life, and likewise attempted to take the divine prerogative of judging himself before anyone else could. Having completed his charade in the taking his own life, the pathetic figure then immediately found himself in the presence of the One whose throne and bench he had attempted to usurp. For, as the author of Hebrews reminds us, “It is appointed for every man to die once, and then the judgment.”

John Lennon’s dream of everything being united together as one is lofty and surprisingly Biblical. But his means of achieving that objective is as ill-conceived as it is deadly. For as Paul details in Ephesians 1, the only way to bring differing, disparate, indeed even warring parties together as one, is in the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit in fulfillment of the eternal purpose of the Father.

Hellfire and Brimstone

“Oh brother, not this guy again! That’s the same nut I heard out at the lake last weekend.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Look over there.” The two men directed their attention across the street where a small crowd had gathered around a fiery-eyed preacher.

“What the…”

“Remember the hellfire and brimstone preacher I was telling you about?

“Oh yeah, last Sunday up at the lake.”

“Right. That’s him.”

“Not much to look at, is he?”

“Yeah, but wait ‘til he warms up a bit. It’s really quite a show.”

As if on cue, the preacher across the street launched into his sermon.

“Oh good. This is the same harangue that I heard last weekend. You’re gonna love this. Wait for it….. here it comes.”

Across the street the preacher boomed, “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, than to go to hell with two hands, into the fire that shall never be quenched - where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.”

“Alright, let’s go.”

Restore Unto Me

(2 Samuel 24:10) But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.” 


King David was a Spirit-filled man, a godly ruler, a prophet and potent type of Christ. He was also a man whose epic faithfulness was too often eclipsed by his epic disobedience. When David sinned, he sinned big-time. But when he sinned, he knew how to access the restorative mercies of God via heartfelt prayers of contrition. Psalm 51 is David’s mea culpa after his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband. And at the end of 2 Samuel we have a much pithier prayer for pardon after David’s faithless numbering of Israel. The soul-wrenching grittiness of Psalm 51 is moving. But the almost bullet-point concision of David’s prayer in 2 Samuel 24 helps us get at the very essence of confession.

Elements of David’s Prayer:
- “David’s heart struck him.” David was truly convicted of his sin. David was not merely “checking the box” of confession as he prayed.

- “David said to the LORD.” David knew that his sin of “numbering Israel” was against God and not merely against Israel.

- “I have sinned greatly.” David did not minimize the seriousness of his sin. He maximized he offense as he confessed it to God.

- “In what I have done.” David did not confess general sins. He confessed a specific sin, the sin of numbering Israel.

- “Take away the iniquity of your servant.” David did not just pray for God to take away the guilt of his iniquity. David asked God to take away the iniquity itself; to purge David of the sin itself.

- “I have done very foolishly.” David offered no excuses or reasons for his sin save his own foolishness.


Awhile back (before I was a pastor) I wrote the following story to illustrate what prayers of confession that lack David’s insights sound like. And what a prayer informed by the Gospel and the likes of Ezra 9, Nehemiah 9 and Daniel 9 sounds like.


Restore Unto Me

I was hitch-hiking my way across eastern Kansas when a sudden summer storm convinced me to seek refuge in a small, white-washed church on the edge of a dusty little town. I knocked vigorously several times on the large double-doors at the front of the building. Silence. The well-worn brass knob turned when I tried it, and the door swung easily open. "Hello? Is anybody here?" I hollered. Still no response.

I entered the small foyer, and stood for a moment, breathing in the various "church-smells" and scanning the maps and faces neatly arranged before me on the self-described "Missions Bulletin Board". The sights and smells triggered a flood of childhood church memories. How many years had it been? I calculated it effortlessly in the same way that I marked all passages of time. "Let’s see, one year after the divorce. The divorce was eight years ago. Seven years." It seemed like less.

Thunder boomed and the rain battered the roof, walls and window panes of my sacred shelter, as I searched it from "steeple to baptistery". I wound up in the choir loft at the back of the church, looking down on the well-worn wooden pews that lined the sanctuary. A rough-hewn cross hung on the front wall and overlooked a non-descript pulpit and communion table. The table was flanked on two sides by a few folding chairs, and all floated on a sea of orange-brown carpet.

If the Foundations Be Destroyed

(Genesis 2:21–25) So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

If you were charged with the task of toppling a tall office building, would you attempt to do so by shooting out the topmost windows with a BB gun, or by blowing up the foundation upon which the building rested?

This is what we call “a rhetorical question.” Of course, you would topple the building by demolishing its foundation.

The first three chapters of the Bible lay the foundation for everything that follows, including, and especially God’s triune nature and the meaning and import of salvation. The enemy of our souls knows this to be true. And so, it is no coincidence that he has devoted much energy to attacking the Biblical principles concerning gender and marriage.

A plain reading of Genesis indicates that God created his image bearers “male and female” accompanied by a charge to multiply their numbers within the protective covenant of a monogamous and heterosexual marriage.

Recently, a large number of faithful, Jesus-loving, Bible-believing, Christian theologians, leaders and pastors signed their names to a document entitled, “The Nashville Statement” upholding what the Scriptures clearly teach about gender and marriage.

This document, along with the Christians who authored and signed it, were almost immediately denounced, deplored and abhorred by people without, and sadly within the Church. And all in the name of love, tolerance and exegetical superiority (i.e. the assertion that their newly-minted interpretations of Scripture overrule what the vast majority of God’s people have believed and taught for millennia.)

But make no mistake here: The issues of gender and marriage, coupled together with the issue of abortion; specifically, who gets to define gender and marriage, and who gets to determine who lives and who dies, are foundational issues. And they are foundational because everyone involved in the debate understands (at least at some level) that whoever decides and determines these issues is God.

This recent ruckus is simply a repeat of Genesis 3, where our first parents succumbed to the temptation to "be like God" (Gen. 3:5) and attempted to elevate their own notions of “good and evil” over and above what God had clearly revealed, and as we all know, with disastrous results for them and for their posterity.

So, we gather each Sunday morning to lean hard against this rebellious tendency within us to elevate ourselves and our thoughts over the person and revelations of our Sovereign Lord. We gather to faithfully hear and then cheerfully submit ourselves to God’s “fixed givens”, i.e. His divine definitions and determinations, thanking Him, and acknowledging together in song and in prayer that all of His counsels and commandments; His purposes and prescriptions, are not only for His glory, but also for our good.

Note: I would also encourage you to read Rosaria Butterfield's excellent, "Why I signed the Nashville Statement."

7 Simple Ways to Share Your Faith

Here's a helpful follow-up to Dean's excellent talks at family camp.

Set Free Audio and Text

Here is the theme song that I wrote for this year's Summer Sanctus PNW. Click on the song title (below.) GH

Set Free

Summer Sanctus PNW 2017


Trapped in this prison-house of shame and sin

I’m shackled from without and wedged within

I long to breathe the air outside my jail

So hear my plaintive cry and wail

I yearn to be set free, set free


My dungeon walls seem like they’re ten feet thick

Impervious as steel and stone-hard brick

My only hope is for a Savior true

To do for me what I can’t do

I need to be set free, set free


The warden called, he said my debt’s been paid

I’m free to leave this stifling stone stockade

My Savior waits for me outside the gate

The time has come to relocate

Because I’ve been set free, set free


Sometimes I’m tempted to retake my chains

Pretending that I’m still in sin’s domain

But when I do, I hear my Savior say

“I died to put those chains away

C’mon and follow me, and live set free”

Set free, set free


If the Son sets me, free, then I’ll be free indeed

If the Son sets you, free, then you’ll be free indeed

If the Son sets us, free, then we’ll be free indeed

Set free!

Taste and See that the LORD is Good

One of the Spirit’s favorite metaphors for God’s Word is food, indicating that it is tasty, nourishing and meant to be ingested and digested, not merely tasted (like gum.) In chapter 3 of his prophecy Ezekiel is instructed to “eat” a scroll of God’s Word. And John is likewise instructed to do so in Revelation 10. In Psalm 19, David describes God’s law as “sweeter also than honey and the drippings from the honeycomb.” Oh yeah…


Recently, I had the privilege of filling the pulpit at one of our sister churches, and chose to preach out of Daniel 9. There are 1189 chapters in the Bible, and unbeknownst to me, the guest preacher (who received his PhD in Hebrew from Oxford University!) the previous week had used the same chapter for his sermon text. Fortunately, this repetition was not brought my attention until after I had delivered the sermon. But from the people’s comments afterward, it was quite obvious that God’s Word is indeed food, and not merely the recitation of data. Like pizza or a Milepost 111 burger, the same texts can be enjoyed and provide nourishment over and over again.


But sometimes it is a challenge to get beyond tasting God’s Word to actually ingesting it in a way that it becomes a part of us, shaping our affections and directing our thoughts, words and deeds. I recently came across eight questions to ask of a text in order to better hear what the Holy Spirit is saying as I read a portion of God’s Word. I use the King’s Cross lectionary, so after I have read the 2-3 chapters for the day, I spend a few minutes praying back to God my answers to the questions, and then conclude with a short prayer focused on the one or two questions/answers that seem most pertinent/applicable.


These questions have helped me move from tasting to feeding upon God’s Word, but they may or may not be helpful to you. As with a sumptuous feast, there are lots of different ways to eat and enjoy at table. Here they are:


Understanding:
1. What do I learn about God?

2. What do I learn about people?

3. What do I learn about relating to God?

4. What do I learn about relating to others?

     Pray…



Application:

1. What does God want me to understand?

2. What does God want me to believe?

3. What does God want me to desire?

4. What does God want me to do?

     Pray…

GH

Are These Promises for You?

(Jeremiah 29:11–14) For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

This is an perfect example of what I like to call “refrigerator magnet verses”, so named because of the way that they are forcibly yanked out of context and blithely placed in Hallmark cards and placarded on internet memes.

In Jeremiah 29, the prophet speaks of two different classes of people within Israel. And the above promises are tenderly given to one sort of Israelite and clearly withheld from the other.

So, before we can put any sort of claim upon the mercies promised in these verses, we first need to determine which class of people we most closely resemble.

One camp within Israel was characterized by its refusal to listen to God’s Word and to embrace the God-ordained “death” of exile in Babylon, and to faithfully await the “resurrection” of return to the holy land by God’s means, in God’s time. To the Israelites who spurned God’s Word and were confident that they could save themselves, God promised “the sword, famine and pestilence.”

The other camp within Israel listened and obeyed God’s prophets, humbly embraced the “death” of Babylonian exile and faithfully awaited the “resurrection” of return. But their waiting for resurrection was not passive. In obedience to God’s command they actively built homes, planted gardens, bore and raised children and grandchildren, labored and prayed for the welfare of city where God had placed them, believing, as the Lord had said, that their welfare was linked to the welfare of their city; their city of exile.

It was to these Israelites; the Israelites who listened carefully to God’s Word, humbly submitted to God’s plan of death and resurrection and faithfully labored for the good of the worldlings who surrounded them, that God promised “plans for welfare and not for evil…a future and a hope.”

And so, not coincidentally, every week in our assembly on Mt. Zion, we revisit, re-hear and indeed reenact the Gospel, God’s wonderful plan to save us via our union, by faith, in Christ’s death and resurrection, along with reminders to build, plant and parent while actively seeking the welfare of the unbelieving city in which God has placed us.

And this we do, reveling in the sure knowledge that God’s plans for us are supremely good, filled with hope and bursting with promise.

GH

Fathers' Work

"For you know how like a father with his children, we exhorted each on of you and encouraged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory." (1 Thess. 2:11)

In this verse Paul gives us some important insights into the duties of Christian fathers. Fathers "exhort" and "encourage" their children to walk in ways consistent with their calling and work in God's kingdom. There are many ways to do this, but historically, exhortation and encouragement have included the catechizing of children; grounding them in the basics of the faith. And the following catechism is a good place to start.

Small Children's Catechism

1. Who made you? God

2. What else did God make? God made all things.

3. Why did God make all things? For His own glory

4. Why do things work as they do? God has so decreed it.

5. How do we learn about God? God reveals Himself.

A Prayer for Moms (WJM)

Lord, we pray for Your encouragement of mothers.

This role You have given them, first to physically bear the children,

And then to nurture and care for and raise their children

is so demanding, yet so important. 

We pray that you shower the gifts of Your Spirit on mothers

That You enable them to be kind and gentle with their children

When they have been frustrated and pushed to their limit

That You equip them to be patient and long-suffering with immature behaviors

Even when those behaviors last for years and come from large bodies.

We pray You grant mothers an extra measure of self-control when they need it the most.

And to cover it all, Lord, we pray that You enable mothers and grandmothers to love their children in a special way that only they can, and in circumstances when their children are not acting loveable, and that you recharge their capacity for love hour after hour for the days, months, years and indeed lifetimes that their mothering will go on.

And we pray that through it all, mothers will remain faithful to rely on You and trust in You that You will make their ‘mothering” paths straight and that You will be the Father guiding and leading their children, just as You are the Father guiding and leading them. 

We pray these things in Jesus name, Amen.

Bill Monnette

Mothers' Day Prayer of Thanksgiving (DD)

Father,

Thank you that you give us exceeding great and precious promises.  For a promise is a chance to trust in you while we wait to surely obtain something of great value….   Our first parents believed the demonic message that you were selfish and withheld your blessings.   The first born of the human race believed demonic message of envy: that his he was robbed because someone else was blessed.  And rather than obtaining what they sought, they and all their posterity became laden with the twin fruits of demonic pride: fear and envy.  And ever since we have both faithfully clung to this fruit and been sorely oppressed by their resulting hopelessness and despair. 

But thank you that you saved us in Christ, who delivers us from these scourges.  Thank you for the promise in the verse, “But 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.”  Thank you further, that you give us the same task our first parents failed at:  The need to trust and wait on you, to be faithful while we wait on your promises and blessings.

Mothers' Day Prayer of Thanksgiving 2017 (JP)

Our Heavenly Father, Creator of all that is, the Holy One who declares the end from the beginning, You are the God of order and not disorder.  And so we thank you for establishing motherhood and for creating women to perfectly fill the role of Mothers.

You have endowed them to be nurturers, patient, compassionate, filled with unquestioned love, willing to give their life in an instant for the life of their child, able to do multiple things with children under foot or on a hip.  Things that would cause most of us men to be pulling our hair out.

I thank you for mothers that surrender their own hopes and dreams for the good of their children.

Getting the Psalms into Your Bones

If you're anything like us, you are constantly on the hunt for ways to get the Psalms "into your bones." Ellen and I have been listening to "My Soul Among Lions" renditions of the first ten psalms and we are happy to report that these divinely inspired hymns/prayers are quickly burrowing themselves into our souls and sidling, unbidden, into our thoughts as we move through our daily routines. The album is available on iTunes or here. Here is a little taste. Enjoy. GH

You Were Born to Trouble

For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground, but man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. (Job 5:6-7)

The only thing truly strange about our troubles, is our dogged belief that having troubles is truly strange. Here is how N.D. Wilson puts it:

"Heat rises. Man is born to trouble. When Job lifted his face to the Storm, when he asked and was answered, he learned that he was very small. He learned that his life was a story. He spoke with the Author, and learned that the genre had not been an accident. God tells stories that make Sunday school teachers sweat and mothers write their children permission slips excusing them from encountering reality…Nails are forged for pounding. Man is born to trouble. Man is born far trouble. Man is born to battle trouble. Man is born for the fight, to be forged and molded—under torch and hammer and chisel—into a sharper, finer, stronger image of God." (Death by Living, page 69)