Don't make me rich!

In a society of rich and poor, and a huge sense of entitlement, can we cope with the level of riches we have? That is, not 'Can you live within your means?' but 'Can you have what you have without greed, covetousness, discontent or pride in possessions?' 

'Society has let them down.' That doesn't excuse us our sin - pride that our lives are morally superior, our covetousness for the slightly better thing, our mistaking comfort for contentment. 

Sometimes, we can be like a film star, with all the money, fine clothes and food, friends and loving family, and satisfying work we could want, gazing at TV footage of looters. 'I thank you, God, that I am not like other men: violent, robbers, greedy, unloving. I only do decent films and do lots of charity functions.' 

As I search for a job, aware of the impossibility of living off Job Seeker's Allowance, it's easy to put hope in a future salary. I would love to be able to support others more in missionary work. But also, realistically, as the inspired heart-doctor James wrote, 'even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong - you want only what will give you pleasure.' 

'But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires.'

So in an excellent reflection on the recent spates of looting in English cities (Looters: them or us?), Mike Ovey reminds us of the (difficult) prayer of the Wise:

Give me neither poverty nor riches!
Give me just enough to satisfy my needs.
For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, "Who is the Lord?"
And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name. [Proverbs 30:8-9 NLT]

Can we truly pray that? 'Lord, please keep me from being more rich than I can cope with. Keep me poor enough to rely on you and love others.'

'So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honour.'

As the sun is full of light

O Holy Spirit,

As the sun is full of light,
the ocean full of water,
Heaven full of glory, so may my heart be full of thee.
 

Vain are all divine purposes of love
and the redemption wrought by Jesus
except thou work within,
regenerating by thy power,
giving me eyes to see Jesus,
showing me the realities of the unseen world.

Give me thyself without measure,
as an unimpaired fountain,
an inexhaustible riches.
 

I bewail my coldness, poverty, emptiness,
imperfect vision, languid service,
prayerless prayers, praiseless praises.
 

Suffer me not to grieve or resist thee.

Come as power,
to expel every rebel lust, to reign supreme and keep me thine;
 

Come as teacher,
leading me into all truth, filling me with all understanding;

Come as love,
that I may adore the Father, and love him as my all;
 

Come as joy,
to dwell in me, move in me, animate me;
 

Come as light,
illuminating the Scripture, moulding me in its laws;

Come as sanctifier,
body, soul and spirit wholly thine;
 

Come as helper, 

with strength to bless and keep, directing my every step;

Come as beautifier,
bringing order out of confusion, loveliness out of chaos.

Magnify to me thy glory by being magnified in me,
and make me redolent of thy fragrance.

- Arthur Bennett, based on Puritan writings. The Valley of Vision

Decide this doubt

Oh make this heart rejoice or ache;
Decide this doubt for me;
And if it be not broken, break,
And heal it, if it be.

- William Cowper, from a longer poem/hymn, here. 

 

[HT: Tim Sandell]

Three in One, One in Three

Three in One, One in Three, God of my salvation,
Heavenly Father, blessed Son, eternal Spirit,
I adore thee as one Being, one Essence, one God in three distinct Persons,
for bringing sinners to thy knowledge and to thy kingdom.

O Father, you have loved me and sent Jesus to redeem me;
O Jesus, you have loved me and assumed my nature,
shed your own blood to wash away my sins,
wrought righteousness to cover my unworthiness;
O Holy Spirit, you have loved me and entered my heart,
implanted there eternal life, revealed to me the glories of Jesus.
Three Persons and one God, I bless and praise you,
for love so unmerited, so unspeakable, so wondrous,
so mighty to save the lost and raise them to glory.

O Father, I thank you that in fullness of grace
you have given me to Jesus, to be his sheep, jewel, portion;
O Jesus, I thank you that in fullness of grace
you have accepted, espoused, bound me;
O Holy Spirit, I thank you that in fullness of grace
you have exhibited Jesus as my salvation,
implanted faith within me, subdued my stubborn heart,
made me one with him for ever.

O Father, you are enthroned to hear my prayers,
O Jesus, your hand is outstretched to take my petitions,
O Holy Spirit, you are willing to help my infirmities, to show me my need,
to supply words, to pray within me, to strengthen me that I faint not in supplication.
O Triune God, who commands the universe,
you have commanded me to ask for those things that concern your kingdom and my soul.
Let me live and pray as one baptised into the threefold Name.

- From The Valley of Vision, puritan prayers [BoT]

Grace for today

O God, the Author of all good,
I come to thee for the grace another day will require for its duties and events.
I step out into a wicked world,
I carry about with me an evil heart,
I know that without thee I can do nothing,
that everthing with which I shall be concerned,
however harmless in itself,
may prove an occasion of sin or folly,
unless I am kept by thy power.
Hold thou me up and I shall be safe.

Preserve my understanding from subtilty of error,
my affections from love of idols,
my character from stain of vice,
my profession from every form of evil.
May I engage in nothing in which I cannot implore thy blessing,
and in which I cannot invite thy inspection.

Prosper me in all lawful undertakings,
or prepare me for disappointments;
Give me neither poverty nor riches;
Feed me with food convenient for me,
lest I be full and deny thee
and say, Who is the Lord?
or be poor, and steal, and take thy name in vain.

May every creature be made good to me by thy prayer and thy will;
Teach me how to use the world, and not abuse it,
to improve my talents,
to redeem my time,
to walk in wisdom toward those without,
and in kindness to those within,
to do good to all men,
and especially to my fellow Christians.
And to thee be the glory.

From The Valley of Vision, puritan prayers [BoT]

All in Jesus

"The Name of Jesus" (From The Valley of Vision)

All-Searching God,
Thou readest the heart,
viewest principles and motives of actions,
seest more defilement in my duties than I ever saw in any of my sins.
The heavens are not clean in thy sight,
and thou chargest the angels with folly;
I am ready to flee from myself because of my abominations;
Yet thou dost not abhor me
but hast devised means for my return to thee,
and that, by thy Son who died to give me life.

Thine honour is secured and displayed even in my escape from thy threats,
and that, by means of Jesus
in whom mercy and truth meet together,
and righteousness and peace kiss each other.

In Him the enslaved find redemption,
the guilty pardon,
the unholy renovation;
In Him are everlasting strength for the weak,
unsearchable riches for the needy,
treasures of wisdom and knowledge for the ignorant,
fullness for the empty.
At thy gracious call I hear, take, come, apply, receive his grace,
not only submit to his mercy but acquiesce in it,
not only glory in the cross but in him crucified and slain,
not only joy in forgiveness but in the one through whom atonement comes.

Thy blessings are as secure as they are glorious;
Thou hast provided for my safety and my prosperity,
and hast promised that I shall stand firm and grow stronger.
O Lord God, without the pardon of my sin I cannot rest satisfied
without the renovation of my nature by grace I can never rest easy,
without the hopes of heaven I can never be at peace.
All this I have in thy Son Jesus; blessed be his name.

Come messy

“Jesus does not say, ‘Come to me, all you who have learned how to concentrate in prayer, whose minds no longer wander, and I will give you rest.’ No, Jesus opens his arms to his needy children and says, ‘Come to me, all who are weary and heaven-laden, and I will give you rest.’

The criteria for coming to Jesus is messiness. Come overwhelmed with life. Come with your wandering mind. Come messy.”

—Paul Miller, A Praying Life (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress 2009), 31-32

[HT: Of First Importance]

Christ is all

O Lover to the uttermost,

May I read the meltings of thy heart to me
in the manger of thy birth,
in the garden of thy agony,
in the cross of thy suffering,
in the tomb of thy resurrection,
in the heaven of thy intercession.

Bold in this thought I defy my adversary,
tread down his temptations,
resist his schemings,
renounce the world,
am valiant for truth.

Deepen in me a sense of my holy relationship to thee,
as spiritual Bridegroom,
as Jehovah's Fellow,
as sinners' Friend.

I think of thy glory and my vileness,
thy majesty and my meanness,
thy beauty and my deformity,
thy purity and my filth,
thy righteousness and my iniquity,

Thou hast loved me everlastingly, unchangeably,
may I love thee as I am loved;
Thou hast given thyself for me,
may I give myself to thee;
Thou hast died for me,
may I live to thee,
in every moment of my time,
in every movement of my mind,
in every pulse of my heart.

May I never dally with the world and its allurements,
but walk by thy side,
listen to thy voice,
be clothed with thy graces,
and adorned with thy righteousness.

- From the Valley of Vision (BOT)

Quote of the day: weak in prayer

From Richard Sibbes' The Bruised Reed:

A Christian complains he cannot pray. 'Oh, I am troubled with so many distracting thoughts, and never more than now!' But has he put into your heart a desire to pray? Then he will hear the desires of his own Spirit in you. 'We know not what we should pray for as we ought' (nor how to do anything else as we ought), but the Spirit helps our infirmities with 'groanings which cannot be uttered' (Rom. 8:26), which are not hid from God. 'My groaning is not hid from thee' (Psa. 38:9).

God can pick sense out of a confused prayer. These desires cry louder in his ears than your sins. Sometimes a Christian has such confused thoughts that he can say nothing but, as a child, cries, 'O Father', not able to express what he needs, like Moses at the Red Sea. These stirrings of spirit touch the heart of God and melt him into compassion towards us, when they come from the Spirit of adoption, and from a striving to be better.

'Oh, but is it possible', thinks the misgiving heart, 'that so holy a God should accept such a prayer?' Yes, he will accept that which is his own, and pardon that which is ours. Jonah prayed in the fish's belly (Jon. 2:1), being burdened with the guilt of sin, yet God heard him. Let not, therefore, infirmities discourage us. James takes away this objection (James 5:17). Some might object, 'If I were as holy as Elijah, then my prayers might be regarded.' 'But,' says he, 'Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are.' He had his passions as well as we, or do we think that God heard him because he was without fault? Surely not. But look at the promises: 'Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee' (Psa. 50:15). 'Ask, and it shall be given you' (Matt. 7:7) and others like these.

God accepts our prayers, though weak, because we are his own children, and they come from his own Spirit; because they are according to his own will; and because they are offered in Christ's mediation, and he takes them, and mingles them with his own incense (Rev. 8:3).

...

'Lord, I believe' (Mark 9:24), with a weak faith, yet with faith; love thee with a faint love, yet with love; endeavour in a feeble manner, yet endeavour. A little fire is fire, though it smokes. Since thou hast taken me into thy covenant to be thine from being an enemy, wilt thou cast me off for these infirmities, which as they displease thee, so are they the grief of my own heart?

Peace with God in Christ(mas)

May you all have a Christmas celebrating the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. I pray that we'd all worship and enjoy our Father through him this Christmas, whether it's a time we find happy or tinged with sadness. Grace and peace.

Quote of the day: I feel I want I need

Powlinson:

The real gospel is the good news of the Word made flesh, the sin-bearing Saviour, the resurrected Lord: "I am the living One, and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore" (Rev. 1:18). This Christ turns the world upside down. One prime effect of the holy Spirit's inworking presence and power is the rewiring of our sense of felt needs. Because the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, we keenly feel a different set of needs when God comes into view and when we understand that we stand or fall in His gaze. My instinctual cravings are replaced (sometimes quickly, sometimes gradually) by the growing awareness of true, life-and-death needs:

• I need mercy above all else: "Lord, have mercy upon me." "For Your name's sake, pardon my iniquity for it is very great."
• I want to learn wisdom, and unlearn willful self-preoccupation: "Nothing you desire compares with [wisdom]."
• I need to learn to love both God and neighbour: "The goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith."
• I long for God's name to be honoured, for His kingdom to come, for His will to be done on earth.
• I want Christ's glory, lovingkindness, and goodness to be seen on earth, to fill the earth as obviously as water fills the sea.
• I need God to change me from who I am by instinct, choice and practice.
• I want Him to deliver me from my obsessive self-righteousness, to slay my lust for self-vindication, so that I feel my need for the mercies of Christ, so that I learn to treat others gently.
• I need God's mighty and intimate help in order to will and to do those things that last unto eternal life, rather than squandering my life on vanities.
• I want to learn how to endure hardship and suffering in hope, having my faith simplified, deepened, and purified.
• I need to learn, to listen, to worship, to delight, to trust, to give thanks, to cry out, to take refuge, to obey, to serve, to hope.
• I want the resurrection to eternal life: "We groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body."
• I need God Himself: "Show me your glory." "Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus."

Make it so, Father of mercies. Make it so, Redeemer of all that is dark and broken.

Prayer expresses desire. Prayer expresses your felt sense of need. Lord, have mercy upon us. Song expresses your felt sense of who God is and all that He gives. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. But there are no prayers and songs in the Bible that take their cues from the current therapeutic felt needs. Imagine, "Our Father in heaven, help me feel that I'm okay just the way I am. Protect me this day from having to do anything I find boring. Hallelujah, I'm indispensable, and what I'm doing is really having an impact on others, so I can feel good about my life." Have mercy upon us! Instead, in our Bible we hear a thousand cries of need and shouts of delight that orient us to our real needs and to our true Saviour.

- David Powlinson, in The Therapeutic Gospel, Journal of Biblical Counseling Vol.25 #3. Article appears to be available online from 9 Marks.

on Belgium

Thank you for your prayers for Belgium & the GBU. I'll try to summarise in bullet points.

Daniel and Ellen White took over as General Secretary & Assistant last summer. They are the only staff of the GBU & moved from Britain (together with their 2 young children) to serve the GBU.

God has done an amazing work through them (accompanied by the IFES team). Last year, student leaders would say, "We like GBU because we get to meet other Christian young people when there aren't any others in our church." This year, they were reporting on loving getting into the Bible & being transformed by it, being trained in Bible study & evangelism, and doing evangelism & being greatly encouraged in it. They now know the gospel and have real vision for reaching their fellow students with it. Praise God!

However, while recognising this, the GBU board have dismissed Daniel & Ellen for 'a difference in vision'. They agree on the gospel as outlined in the IFES doctrinal basis. They agree that we should concentrate on this and not pronounce on secondary things as a GBU. However Daniel thinks that he must help students apply the truths of the gospel, expressed in the DB, to every area of their lives. For example: if a student attends a church which denies the resurrection, or denies salvation by grace alone through faith alone, or the ultimate authority of the Scriptures, he would in the course of things help them to think through the implications of this, especially if they were GBU leaders. He believes that the application of truth includes the correction of error, and that this is not secondary.

This is clearly a distressing situation, most of all for the students in the GBU: they love Daniel & Ellen and have been helped enormously by their ministry.

At the GBU AGM on Saturday, the current board was dissolved because of this. On 22nd April an Extraordinary General Meeting will be held to elect a new board. That board could then chose to reinstate Daniel & Ellen.

Personally I have the impression that some run scared of losing the support of the main protestant denomination in Belgium - the state supported United Protestant Church. This denomination ranges from protestant-but-fuzzy, through new age ("notre Terre qui est aux cieux..."), through churches which deny the resurrection, to a few evangelicals hanging on in there as it's the best boat to fish from. As 'Protestant' is rather suspicious to start with in an ex-RC/'free thinking' country, "Evangelical" is considered really fringe and divisive - even amongst Christians. To a Belgian Christian, "Evangelical" is non-RC, non-Protestant, non-Pentecostal. Evangelicals, so much in the minority, tend to react with an overly exclusive and defensive attitude. So someone said, "You're going to hole the GBU up in a corner as fundamentalist Evangelicals..."

• Please continue to pray for Daniel and Ellen, for the God-exalting ministry of evangelism, Bible teaching and student training that they do to continue, and for strength and grace for them.
• Praise God at the encouragement from the students, for their growth in maturity in the gospel and its fruit, for their vision for evangelism and hunger for the word.
• Praise God for the decisions of the AGM: it was sore and messy but it potentially preserves the evangelical vision of the GBU, shared with IFES throughout the world.
• Please pray for the EGM of the 22nd April, that board would be elected committed to the gospel, its application and promulgation among students in Belgium. There are few potential candidates for this, and some want a more ecumenical direction to the GBU.
• There are many hurting Christians because of this - a young & foreign Gen Sec & family whose future is uncertain, seeking to continue ministry while they may, IFES team leaders who stand with them & so are also uncertain of their future, ex-board members who thought they were working hard for the GBU. Whether or not they are right or wrong in this issue, they are brothers & sisters in Christ. Pray that the Holy Spirit would be at work in power in each to bring reconciliation, humility and correction, for the glory of his name, that outsiders looking in would glorify God.

I ask you to pray for them - I recommend praying through 2 Corinthians 4 for the situation.

Pray for Belgium

Pray for Belgium & the GBU. That's all I can say: plead with God to act to glorify his name & his gospel in his Church, in his GBU students whom he loves, in the GBU staff & supporters, that his Kingdom would come and his will be done in Belgium as it is in heaven. I'm sorry I can't say more, but please pray.