Category: PASSION Reflections

Together For The Gospel

On By BrianIn Biography/History, Revival

Just finished reading biographies about George Whitefield, Charles Wesley, and John Wesley – the three leaders of the Great Awakening in England.  I confess I was most interested in Whirefield as I am more at home with his theology.  The Wesleys were interesting when they weren’t railing against the Biblical doctrine of predestination or pushing their unBiblical view of Christian perfection.  Okay that was strong – but that was Whitefield’s view.  Of course, the Wesleys thought Whitefield’s views were unBiblical.  And yet, for most of their lives, they were friends.

They met and became friends at school before any of them were saved or famous.  After they were born again, they ministered together preaching the gospel around England (and beyond).  But then, despite Whitefield’s plea, John began preaching against and writing against predestination.  Whitefield felt he had no choice but to respond and defend the doctrine.  The cord of three was broken.  But over time they came together again.  The gospel was central in each of their lives and it was around this that they came together.  They agreed to disagree on the other issues – the main thing was the gospel.  Indeed at the end they were preaching for each other again.  When George Whitefield died, John Wesley led the service in England.  Charles Wesley wrote a long poem about his friend.  In particulars they differed, but they were friends in the gospel.

Which brings us to today.  Calvinism is on the rise – and I praise God for it.  Yet it is often antagonistic toward non-Calvinists.  On the other side is a responding antagonism against Calvinism.  Can we agree to disagree?  Can we come together around the gospel like Whitefield and the Wesleys?  Can we keep the main thing the main thing?  Whitefield didn’t want Wesley to publish against predestination because he didn’t want to divide the church and hurt the revival that was going on.  For the sake of the church, and the hope of revival, can we keep the gospel central and rally around it?

We have much to learn from these men.  For further reading, check out these biographies that I just read:

George Whitefield – Arnold Dallimore (I read the one volume edition, there is also a much more complete two volume edition)

George Whitefield and the Great Awakening – John Pollock

Assist Me To Proclaim: Life and Hymns of Charles Wesley – John Tyson

John Wesley – Stephen Tomkins

Your Will Be Done

On By BrianIn Habit of Prayer, Heart, Revival1 Comment

The third request in the Lord’s Prayer is “your will be done.”  What does this mean?  First, we are praying for God’s moral will to be done, that his commands would be obeyed.  We want God to help us do his will.  Second, we are praying for God’s providential will to be done.  We are expressing our trust in God’s plan for our lives as Jesus did in the garden before the cross.

Do our prayers look like this?  Is this our heart’s desire?

Your Kingdom Come

On By BrianIn Habit of Prayer, Heart, Revival

The second request in the Lord’s Prayer is “Your kingdom come.”  What does this mean?  First, we are praying for Christ’s return, when his kingdom will come in it’s final fulfillment.  Second, we are praying for people to come to Christ, when the king comes into their lives and they enter the kingdom.  Third, we are praying for God’s people to submit to their king, when they act like true subjects of the kingdom.  The question is, do we really want these things?

Do we long for Christ to return?  Do we long for people to be saved?  Do we long to live for Christ?  Does these desires affect our lives?

Again, our prayers reveal our hearts.  What do our prayers reveal?  Are we crying out for Christ to return?  Are we crying out to God for our lost loved ones, co-workers, neighbors, communities?  Are we crying out to God for his grace to help us live for our king?  Do we pray like this?  Is this our heart’s desire?

O Lord, change our hearts more and more that our desires and prayers might be focused on your kingdom!

Hallowed Be Your Name

On By BrianIn Habit of Prayer, Heart, Revival1 Comment

The first request in the Lord’s Prayer is “Hallowed Be Your Name.”  What does that mean?  It means that we want God’s name treated as holy or set apart.  We want his name to be honored, respected, glorified.  The question is: do we really want this?

Do we wake up in the morning desiring to live for God’s glory?  Is this what makes our hearts beat?  Is this our passion, our delight?  Do we want God to be glorified in our day, our activities, our home, our jobs or school, our church, our neighborhood, our country, our world?  Does this desire translate into our lives?

In my last post I noted that our prayers flow out of our desires.  So if we are not praying for God to be honored, it means either we lack this desire or that this desire is buried under a bunch of competing desires.  So consider these questions:

Are our prayers filled with praise to God?  Are our prayers filled with requests that God glorify his name in our lives, our home, our churches?

As we examine ourselves, do we find that we really desire God to be glorified?  Or maybe we need to cry out – “Change our hearts, O God!”

The Overflow of our Hearts

On By BrianIn Habit of Prayer, Heart, Revival1 Comment

What is prayer?  The Westminster Catechism says, “Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God for things agreeable to his will….”  Note that prayer flows out of our desires, or put the other way: what we desire is what we pray for.  Prayer is the overflow of our hearts.

We look in a mirror to see what our hair looks like.  Prayer is a mirror that we look at to see what our heart looks like.  What do we see?

John Piper says in his book When I Don’t Desire God – “What a person prays for shows the spiritual condition of his heart.  If we do not pray for spiritual things…then probably it is because we do not desire these things.  Which is a devastating indictment of our hearts.”

Does our prayer life reveal a lack of desire for the things of God?

While I agree with Piper’s general assessment, it seems to me there is another possible reason we may not pray spiritual things.  It may not be that we don’t desire spiritual things at all, it may be that we simply don’t desire them enough.  The desire for spiritual things may be buried under a ton of competing desires.  That is, our heart may be distracted or divided or both.  This too would be a devastating indictment of our hearts.

Which brings us back to looking at our prayer life.  What does it reveal about our hearts?  No desire for spiritual things?  A low, distracted desire for spiritual things?  Other desires that are smothering our desire for the things of God?

Perhaps one desire we need to cultivate is the desire that God would change our hearts, and then take that desire to him in prayer.  Change our hearts, O God!

What’s your exception?

On By BrianIn Revival

“And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.  Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.” – II Kings 15:3-4

Such is the summary of King Azariah’s reign.  It is similar to the verdict on many of Judah’s kings.  In general, he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.  But there was one exception – he did not remove the high places.  This was not a one time sin, but a continuous sin that marked his reign. It had been going on for so long, maybe Azariah hadn’t even thought of it.

When I see Christ, I long to hear, “Well done good and faithful servant.  You did what was right in my sight.”  But I wonder if he will continue, “Nevertheless, you….”  Is there a habitual sin that I commit?  Maybe that I have never even thought of?  Will there be an exception to his general verdict?  What is my exception?  How do I need to change?

Search me, O God, and see if there is any wicked way in me!  Let me see it, that I might repent, and find mercy.  Give me your grace to change!

And what about you – what is your exception?

Still Needy

On By BrianIn Habit of Prayer, Revival

We are a needy people.  Do we see our own neediness?  Do we see the neediness of those around us?  And will we take that neediness to the Lord to find mercy and grace?

I recently read two posts that wonderfully flesh this out.  For a good illustration of our failure to see the neediness of those around us, visit hungerandthirst.wordpress.com.  And for a powerful reminder of our need to bring our neediness to the Lord, visit heismydelight.wordpress.com.

Convicting Truths About God

On By BrianIn God & His Glory, Revival

Psalm 139 gives us three convicting truths about God.

Verses 1-6 remind us that God knows us completely.  He knows our thoughts, our words, and our actions.  He knows what we will do tomorrow, next week, next month.  Which means he knows about all of our sins.  He knows every sinful thought, every sinful word, every sinful action.  We can’t hide our sin.  God knows!

Verse 7-12 remind us that God is with us everywhere we go.  We simply cannot escape his presence.  Which mean he is always there witnessing our sins.  The kitchen may look empty, but God sees you reach into the cookie jar.  You might not to that sin in front of your mom or your spouse or your kids.  But every sin you commit you do before God.  He is always there.

Verses 13-16 remind us that God made us.  As his creatures, we belong to him (see Psalm 24:1-2), and so should live according his commands for his glory.  But of course we fail to live for our Creator way too often.

No wonder after reflecting on these three convicting truths about God, the Psalmist cries out for God to search his heart.  He wants God to examine his life.  The goal?  I think it is that God would reveal his sins (Job 13:23, Hebrews 4:12) that he might forsake them and follow God’s way – that God would lead him in the way everlasting.

We need to ponder these three convicting truths about God as they relate to our lives, asking God to show us where we have failed, that we might seek his mercy for our failures, and seek his grace to overcome those sins and follow him.

Needy 5

On By BrianIn Revival1 Comment

Just found this quote by Eugene Peterson in the new Christianity Today magazine that ties nicely with this idea that we are needy people:

“Evil that masquerades as an angel of light is commonplace.  We need help.  And we need help even when we don’t know we need help.  Especially when we don’t know we need help.”

Needy 4

On By BrianIn Habit of Prayer, Revival

“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 4:16

We are a needy people.  Jesus meets our need.  So what should we do?  We need to pray!  Come confidently to the throne of grace.  Cry out to God for mercy for all the times we fail him, for our backsliding, for our lukewarm distracted divided hearts.  Cry out for grace to overcome sin, grow in the Lord, revive our hearts with a passion for God and his kingdom.

Today is the National Day of Prayer.  What a great day to cry out to God for mercy and grace.  And then let’s continue to pray tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day – that God would pour out his mercy and grace upon us for his glory!