“Our prayers can go where we cannot. There are no borders, no prison walls, no doors that are closed to us when we pray.” —Brother Andrew
The historicity of the Bible is well documented. Here is another archeological biography from The Bible Archeology Report, this one of Ben-Hadad III.
“I do not want the walls of separation between different orders of Christians to be destroyed, but only lowered, that we may shake hands a little easier over them.” —Rowland Hill (1744-1833)
“Those who are seriously attempting chastity are more conscious, and soon know a great deal more about their own sexuality than anyone else. They come to know their desires as Wellington knew Napoleon, or as Sherlock Holmes knew Moriarty; as a rat-catcher knows rats or a plumber knows about leaky pipes. Virtue—even attempted virtue—brings light; indulgence brings fog.” —C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity
Marvin Olasky begins this informative article, “The war against abortion did not begin with the now-overturned 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.” He then gives us a comprehensive history of women of science who have stood on the front lines of the pro-life movement. Check out The Women Who Guarded the Womb.
J. Warner Wallace debunks that myth that Christianity is anti-science. Wallace actually makes that case the Christianity is the reason behind science’s remarkable growth.
“The only person who dares wake up a king at 3:00 a.m. for a glass of water is a child. We have that kind of access.” —Timothy Keller
Abdu Murray addressed an audience about what it means to be human, and how modern culture has “began to under-spiritualize and over-psychologize what it meant to be human.” I found his history lesson and applications to be quite fascination.
T.M. Moore is presenting a series of posts about the use of our time. “The only time we ever have is the present moment, supplied as an act of free grace by the eternal God and His Word. He has a purpose for the time He gives us: to know Him, enjoy His Presence and blessings, do His work, express His glory, and spread His grace in every moment of our everyday Christian lives. … Time is precious. We can make better use of it than we do.”
“Remember that you can never be really whole till you are holy, for holiness is spiritual sanity; it is the curing of the mind and heart from the disease which sin brought upon them.” —Charles Spurgeon
“What we call ‘being in love’ is a glorious state, and, in several ways, good for us. It helps to make us generous and courageous, it opens our eyes not only to the beauty of the beloved but to all beauty, and it subordinates (especially at first) our merely animal sexuality; in that sense, love is the great conqueror of lust.” —C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity
“A man is about as big as the things that make him angry.” —Winston Churchill
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Although no one can truly verify the accuracy of this story, it seems to fit the character of what we do know about Alexander the Great. This powerful leader was walk-in among the camp during the night and came upon a soldier who was supposed to be on guard duty. Except Alexander found him dozing off.
“Soldier, what is your name?” he demanded, bringing the sleeping soldier quickly awake.
“Alexander,” he stammered weakly.
Alexander stepped closer to the young man and repeated, “What is your name?”
“My name is Alexander, sir,” the soldier said a little more clearly this time.
Now, almost nose to nose, Alexander asked again, “What is your name?”
This time the soldier quietly said, “My name, sir, is Alexander.”
Alexander the Great then looked intently at the young soldier, “Either change your name or change your conduct.”
That story may or may not be true, but Brennan Manning’s words are most assuredly true: “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” We must take an honest assessment of our lifestyle and then either change our name or change our conduct.
Our next Royal Psalm is Psalm 96. This psalm begins by echoing the words of praise the King David sang on the day the ark of the covenant of the Lord was brought to Jerusalem (see 1 Chronicles 16:23-29). This day may have been the pinnacle of this great king’s reign. Immediately after celebrating the return of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, God makes the promise to King David that his family will continue to reign until the coming of King Jesus (1 Chronicles 17).
Although this is a celebratory day for Israel—God’s chosen people—David’s psalm of thanks reverberates into all the world. It is David’s desire that not just the Jewish people, but all people know King Jesus as their Lord.
In our last Royal Psalm, we saw an invitation give to us three times to come into the presence of the King of kings (Psalm 95:1, 2, 6). But we are not to stay in the tabernacle with Him—Luke 9:28-33; 10:1. David uses words like: all the earth, the nations, all peoples, families of nations, the world (vv. 1, 2, 7, 9, 10, 13).
In the middle of Psalm 96 is our proclamation to the world. We have the word ascribe (vv. 7-8) three times and an invitation in the word come. Ascribe means, “Come! Come on! Come see His glory and strength!” Then just as we have seen His glory and strength for ourselves, we invite the world to bring an offering and come into His courts.
T.M. Moore wrote, “People in the unbelieving world have witnessed a good bit of hypocrisy, shallowness, disingenuousness, dishonesty, and corruption among the members of the Church. Many of them have installed a spam filter on their brains which automatically blocks anyone calling himself a Christian as having anything meaningful or significant to say.”
So these action words in Psalm 96 are our words backed up or supported by our lifestyle.
Sing (3x) in vv. 1-2. Songs naturally come from our lips because of what is in our minds and hearts. Make sure you are singing to the LORD a new song of His moment by moment goodness to you.
Praise His name (v. 2) is better translated as bless (see NKJV, AMPC, Strong’s). Bless means to not only celebrate our King, but then to bless other people in the name of the Lord. In the New Testament Greek, bless means to say good words—say good words to people about your good King.
Proclaim His salvation (v. 2). …You are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9 NLT)
Declare His glory…His marvelous deeds (vv. 3-6). Recount God’s miracles to you again and again.
Worship the LORD (v. 9). The Old English spelling was worth-ship—find ways to tell people how invaluable our King’s blessings are.
Say… “The LORD reigns” (v. 10). Do your words and attitude express that God is on His throne?
C.S. Lewis wrote, “Fine feelings, new insights, greater interest in ‘religion’ mean nothing unless they make our actual behavior better; just as in an illness ‘feeling better’ is not much good if the thermometer shows that your temperature is still going up. In that sense the outer world is quite right to judge Christianity by its results. Christ told us to judge by results. A tree is known by its fruit; or, as we say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. When we Christians behave badly, or fail to behave well, we are making Christianity unbelievable to the outside world. … Our careless lives set the outer world talking; and we give them grounds for talking in a way that throws doubt on the truth of Christianity itself.”
Jesus called us to this (Matthew 5:16). Let’s be sure our words and lifestyle are an invitation to our King that no one can ignore.
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Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow… (James 4:14).
I could modify this wisdom from James to say, “I don’t even know with certainty what will happen today!”
It’s okay to make my daily plans—servants in their master’s household do this—but I must never forget that I am not my own Master. I belong to Another, and He can use me as He knows best.
God does know—perfectly knows—what will happen today and may “interrupt” my plans (of course, it is only an interruption from my selfish perspective) as any moment.
In C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape is an older, more experienced demon, who is giving advice to his young nephew Wormwood about tempting his patient. Screwtape knew that this attitude of thinking, “My time is my own” is an ideal place to focus temptation. He counseled Wormwood—
“Now you will have noticed that nothing throws [your patient] into a passion so easily as to find a tract of time which he reckoned on having at his own disposal unexpectedly taken from him. … You must therefore zealously guard in his mind the curious assumption ‘My time is my own’. Let him have the feeling that he starts each day as the lawful possessor of twenty-four hours. Let him feel as a grievous tax that portion of this property which he has to make over to his employers, and as a generous donation that further portion which he allows to religious duties. But what he must never be permitted to doubt is that the total from which these deductions have been made was, in some mysterious sense, his own personal birthright.”
This “Mine!” attitude can be kept in check by starting each day with the reminder that, “This is what I plan to do today, if the Lord wills.” With this in mind at the start of each day, I can view unexpected people or situations that come my way not as interruptions to my day, but as opportunities to glorify my Master. He wants me to steward the 24 hours He gives me each day, and my top priority has to be remembering that these hours are a gift from Him, not hours that are mine to do with as I please.
If I get upset with either the person that “interrupts” me or the situation which “takes up my time,” that is an indication of the “Mine!” attitude that I need to ask the Holy Spirit’s help to correct.
I’ve often joked that after “Mama” and “Dada,” the next word most toddlers learn is, “Mine!” Sothere’s a lot of that attitude that has been ingrained in us from birth. The Holy Spirit knows just how much “Mine!” is in there, and He knows how to help us remove it. Trust Him in that process.
And if you would like to check out some related posts, take a look at…
In Run to wait I use an example from Mr. Carson in the television series Downton Abbey to teach us about the urgent and important matters that we have to juggle each day.
In I checked nothing off my To Do list today I share a real-time example of how God’s “interruptions” were really His opportunities for me to be a blessing to others.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
When C.S. Lewis esteems another author’s work, that is a pretty good indication to me that I should take notice. Lewis wrote, “I was brought back…by the strong influence of two writers, the Presbyterian, George MacDonald, and the Roman Catholic, G.K. Chesterton.” In A Year with G.K. Chesterton, we get a small glimpse of what Lewis found so appealing.
Much like the multitude of genres in which Lewis wrote, Chesterton, too, shows an incredible skill to produce quality works in wide-ranging genres: prose, poetry, fantasy, theology, and political and cultural commentary, to name just a few.
Chesterton was well known for his quick wit and—at times—biting sarcasm. And yet, he could also speak so tenderly of a pastoral scene as he described how this scene showed us hints of heaven. It would be utterly impossible to pigeonhole him into just one genre of literature.
In A Year with G.K. Chesterton, editor Kevin Belmonte takes us across the full scope of this prolific author’s work. Because Chesterton was a devout Catholic, each day’s reading begins with a portion of Scripture, followed by an excerpt or two from Chesterton’s works, which illuminate the day’s Bible verses. Then we get an “On this day” portion, which may include an entry from Chesterton’s personal correspondence or insight into a momentous event on that particular day in Chesterton’s life. As you read through this overview, you may find yourself gravitating to a particular book or genre. I would encourage you then to track that book down and dive in.
After spending a few minutes with this insightful author for a full year, you will not only know more about him but you will have a new lens with which to read the Bible and to observe God’s creation all around you.
Greg and I both have confessions to make about areas we fell short in our earlier careers. But we have learned that those stumbling points can be launching points for greater growth.
“Without God, there could be no American form of Government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first—the most basic—expression of Americanism.” —Dwight D. Eisenhower
Greg Morse calls out the way pornography addictions are hamstringing the church. “My intention is simply to kindle the abhorrence that every saint should have for this sin. I hate pornography. I hate what it does to young men; I hate what it does to marriages; I hate what it does to older men and even older ministers who trip while crossing the finish line. I hate its accessibility; I hate its covertness; I hate how it is designed by satan to disable the men and women who were made for so much more.”
“But the question is not what we intended ourselves to be, but what [God] intended us to be when He made us. He is the inventor, we are only the machine. He is the painter, we are only the picture. How should we know what He means us to be like? … We may be content to remain what we call ‘ordinary people’: but He is determined to carry out a quite different plan. To shrink back from that plan is not humility: it is laziness and cowardice. To submit to it is not conceit or megalomania; it is obedience.” —C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity
“Leadership development is synonymous with personal development. As leaders grow personally, they increase their ability to lead. As they increase their capability to lead, they enlarge the capacity of their organization to grow. Therefore, the most crucial objective for any leader is personal growth. … The most important thing spiritual leaders do is cultivate their relationship with God (John 15:5; Jeremiah 7:13).” —Richard and Henry Blackaby, in Spiritual Leadership
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Is it really true that practice makes perfect? And if so, what exactly does perfection look like?
“On the one hand, God’s demand for perfection need not discourage you in the least in your present attempts to be good, or even in your present failures. Each time you fall He will pick you up again. And He knows perfectly well that your own efforts are never going to bring you anywhere near perfection. On the other hand, you must realise from the outset that the goal towards which He is beginning to guide you is absolute perfection; and no power in the whole universe, except you yourself, can prevent Him from taking you to that goal.”
You may also want to check out a couple of related blog posts:
Here’s a quote from John Piper that got me thinking: “God loves His people. He loves for them to get good food, rich food. He knows how to put His shepherds in the vice of affliction and squeeze out of us authentic, prayer-soaked, desperation-flavored insight—the unsearchable riches of Christ for the joy of His people.” Pastor, God wants to use you to shepherd the flock He’s placed under your care. So trust Him to give you what you need. And check out my book When Sheep Bite to help you along through this journey.
“Do more than go to church; be the church. Find a place to serve in the promises of your pastor and fight for that vision like it was your own. Do more than give what’s left; give what’s right. Do more than show up as a consumer; show up as a partner, knowing the day will come when you will need partnership to see your dream come to pass. If your promise is concerning business, then be the best employee of the people for whom you work. If your promise will need generous people involved to make it happen, then be generous in the promises of others. If your promise is about your family, be a blessing to the families of those who are around you. Make their dreams come to pass and you will plant the seeds that will, in time, become the fruit of your God-given why.” —Jim Wiegand, in Why is Greater Than What
“You have noticed, I expect, that Christ Himself sometimes describes the Christian way as very hard, sometimes as very easy. He says, ‘Take up your Cross’—in other words, it is like going to be beaten to death in a concentration camp. Next minute he says, ‘My yoke is easy and my burden light.’ He means both.” —C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity
T.M. Moore is beginning a new series of posts on the importance of the spiritual life for the Christian. He writes, “We may thus define the spiritual life in terms of Christ exalted as our focus, Christ indwelling as our sustaining power, Christ at work in and through us as the outcome of our discipleship, and Christ returning as the hope which sustains us through the tests we encounter every day. True spiritual life, in other words, is all about Jesus Christ.”
“The truths of eternity have an infinite power. They are often powerless because we do not give them time to reveal themselves. Taking time to be alone with God is the only remedy. … The Word that we get from the mouth of God brings the power to know it and to do it. Let us learn this lesson: personal fellowship with God alone in secret can make the Word alive and powerful.” —Andrew Murray
Dr. Thaddeus Williams unpacks what Charles Darwin meant when he wrote to a friend, “The horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man’s mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy.” Check out Dr. Williams’ post, which he opens with, “If our minds came from a capital “M” Mind—God—gifted to us as truth-knowing mechanisms, we have a reason to reason. But if our minds came from a non-mind, a literally dumb process of random mutations and natural selection, then our minds are not fundamentally truth-knowing mechanisms, but mere survival mechanisms.”
“Our first birth brought us into sin and sorrow, but our second birth brings us into purity and joy. We were born to die; now are we born never to die, ‘begotten again’ unto a life that shall remain in us for evermore, a life which shall even penetrate these mortal bodies, and make them immortal, ‘by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.’” —Charles Spurgeon, commenting on 1 Peter 1:3-4
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here.
Gentleness is both a safe word and an unsafe word, which makes gentleness such an indispensable trait for shepherd leaders. Check out this clip from my time on the Leading from Alignment podcast.
Here is an excerpt from the chapter that Jim Wiegand was referencing—
I mention this fruit of gentleness specifically because I think it is one of the least understood and one of the most powerful virtues in a shepherd’s life. If you go to a modern dictionary for a definition of gentleness, you might read words like kind, moderate, calm, and tame. If you dig a little deeper into the synonyms, you will discover words like meek and mild.
The Greek philosophers thought and taught extensively about the virtues. For them a virtue was a healthy tension or a balanced response between two opposite extremes. Many philosophers referred to a virtue as a “golden mean” between those extremes. For instance, the virtue of generosity might be described as the golden mean between thriftiness and lavishness; courage could be the golden mean between rashness and timidity; and purity the golden mean between prudishness and immorality.
The gentleman or gentlewoman is not a pushover. They are strong. They know what they believe in and are passionate for the truth. They know when to fight and how to fight. So gentleness becomes the golden mean between a pacifist and a fighter. Gentleness is a lion with powerful muscles, razor-sharp claws, and a jaw strong enough to snap a bone who knows how to velvet its paws and use its nearly invincible strength as a means for good. —from Chapter 3: “A Shepherd’s Gentleness”
Patience is a leadership builder, just as surely as impatience is a leadership killer. When leaders repeatedly make poor choices because of their impatience, there is only one way to fix this leadership killer—lengthen the fuse.
“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” —Henry David Thoreau
“Christian sorrow leads to repentance; repentance leads to forgiveness; and forgiveness leads to true joy over one’s reconciliation with God.” —Henry Halley, commenting on James 4:9-10; c.f. Psalm 32:1
“People who were not Christians themselves helped me to Christianity. But usually it is those who know Him that bring Him to others. That is why the Church, the whole body of Christians showing Him to one another, is so important. You might say that when two Christians are following Christ together there is not twice as much Christianity as when they are apart, but sixteen times as much.” —C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity
“And so I labored hard to be a man of full integrity in all my dealings, being careful not to fall into temptation, lest the pagan should some pretext have to denigrate my good episcopate and to disparage me.” —Patrick of Ireland
With all the activity inside even the tiniest of cells, how do the cells keep their proper shape? Scientists have discovered a process called CorMR. “Researchers found that CorM, a protein inside the system, forms thin strands just under the inner cell membrane. CorR, another bacterial protein, helps place those strands in the right area. An additional system, MinC, helps keep them away from the cell ends and the division site.” This is just another example of the precise details our Creator superintends in all He has made!
Thomas S. Kidd writes, “Given the mixed personal record of the American Founders, what accounts for our nation’s impressive history of Christian devotion? The most important factor was the Lord’s providence working through thousands of churches to spread the gospel. A second essential factor in America’s robust religious history was the unusual freedom that churches and Christians enjoyed due to religious liberty.” Check out this thoughtful post about the story of Christianity in America.
For Christians, there is no sacred-secular divide. We need the mind of Christ for literally everything that we do! Spirit-baptized Christians receive extraordinary insight from the Holy Spirit.
Craig T. Owens 