Tag: Christianity

Not About Me

On By BrianIn Biography/History, PASSION Quotes

George Whitefield was a great preacher and revivalist who God used along with others to bring about the First Great Awakening.  Crowds of thousands flocked to hear him.  Yet he knew it wasn’t about him, but about Christ.  Consider these Whitefield quotes I found in Dallimore’s Whitefield biography:

“Let the name of Whitefield perish, but Christ be glorified.”

“Let my name die everywhere, let even my friends forget me, if by that means the cause of the blessed Jesus may be promoted.”

“But what is Calvin, or what is Luther?  Let us look above names and parties; let Jesus be our all in all – So that he is preached….I care not who is uppermost.  I know my place…even to be the servant of all.”

It’s not about me.  It’s not about you.  It’s only about Jesus.  Lord, help us share Whitefield’s attitude, and let your glory be over all the earth!

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?

George Whitefield’s Prayer

On By BrianIn Biography/History, PASSION Quotes1 Comment

I finished reading a good biography about George Whitefield by Arnold Dallimore a few weeks ago.  Whitefield prayed in 1737, “God give me a deep humility, a well-guided zeal, a burning love and a single eye, and then let men or devils do their worst.”  Read that again slowly – phrase by phrase.   Is that our desire?  Do we trust God that much?  Can we pray this?

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!

Needy 3

On By BrianIn Revival

“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 sympathize 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

We are a needy people.  Jesus meets our need:

He is our high priest (v14) who offered up a sacrifice (himself!) to pay for our sins so we could draw near to God.

He sympathizes with us (v15).  He knows what it is like to be tempted.  He struggled with temptation.  He knows human fraility.

He is perfect (v15).  Only someone who overcame sin himself can help us overcome sin.

He provides mercy (v16).  Through his death and resurrection, we can receive God’s mercy, forgiveness, cleansing.

He provides grace (v16).  By his grace, he can empower us through his Spirit to overcome sin in our lives.  By his grace and through his Spirit, he can change us to exhibit the Fruit of the Spirit.  By his grace and through his Spirit he can make us more like him, revive our hearts, and transform our lives.

We are a needy people.  Jesus meets our need.  Praise the Lord!