The Boat and the Rock

I was doing some reading this morning in preparation for a prayer service we will have Sunday night. I came across an illustration Augustine used to help us understand prayer. He said, suppose there were a boat floating haplessly in the sea. Those in the boat threw a rope and lassoed a large rock. As they pulled the rope, the boat and the rock came together; from the sailors' perspective it was the rock that was moved toward them. However, we all know that it was the boat that was being pulled to the rock. That is what happens in prayer. Prayer is the rope. It may seem that God's will is being pulled to us but, in reality, that prayer pulls us closer to the Rock of Ages, not the rock closer to us. Interesting illustration, don't you think?

"The God of my _____."

Last night I was reading and praying through Psalm 25. "Make me know Thy ways, O Lord; teach me Thy paths. Lead me in Thy truth and teach me, For Thou art the God of my salvation; For Thee I wait all the day."

As I was meditating of the great salvation God has given to me, I took that phrase, "For You are the God of my salvation" and started replacing the word "salvation" with some of the aspects of God's salvation. My soul was stirred as I found new phrases with which to worship the Father and I was richly blessed! It went something like this:

For You are the God of my redemption,
the God of my forgiveness,
the God of my deliverance,
the God of my adoption,
the God of my election,
the God of my Spirit-sealing,
the God of my regeneration,
the God of my conversion,
the God of my sanctification,
the God of my cleansing,
the God of my justification,
the God of my glorification,
the God of my calling,
the God of my repentance and faith,
and on and on!

How do you fill-in-the-blank today? He is the God of your what?

The Lighter Side

Today I found some "make-you-think" questions and thought I'd share it with you for a change. If you have any answers, let me know! Have a blessed day!

DEEP THOUGHTS
In winter, why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?

Why do women always ask questions that have no right answers?

Why is it that inside every older person is a younger person wondering what the heck happened?

Why is it that men can react to broken bones as 'just a sprain' and deep wounds as 'just a scratch,' but when they get the sniffles they are deathly ill 'with the flu' and have to be bedridden for weeks?

How come we never hear any father-in-law jokes?

Why do men forget everything and women remember everything? Shouldn't all married men forget their mistakes? After all there's no sense in two people remembering the same things right?

Is the real reason women live longer then men because they don't have to live with women?

If at first you don't succeed, shouldn't you try doing it like your wife told you to?

How do you spell "religion"?

The book I'm currently reading is Tell the Truth by Will Metzger, a book on G0d-centered witnessing. In it he quotes an illustration from an article by Lee Strobel on the difference between Christianity and Religion. Here's the quote:

"Religion is spelled D-O---people do good deeds, like praying, being nice to others, or giving money to the poor, in order to try to ear their way to heaven. The problem is, they never know how many good deeds they need to do. Even worse, the Bible says they can never do enough to merit eternal life.
But Christianity is spelled D-O-N-E. Jesus has done for us what we could never do for ourselves. He lived the perfect life and died as our substitute to pay for all of our wrongdoing."

Metzger describes Jesus as our "substitute law-keeper." Jesus, in His life, perfectly kept all God's laws. We have failed to do that but when we turn to Him in repentance and faith His perfect life counts for us. Metzger also describes Jesus as our "substitute sin-bearer." Because we have failed and sinned, we should bear the wrath of God for our sin. However, Jesus, in His death, took God's wrath for our sins and when we trust Christ, that counts for us. Being "in Christ" carries a double benefit . . . and more!


*Tell the Truth by Will Metzger (IVP Books, Downers Grove, Illinois, 2002, p. 74) quoting Lee Strobel, "How Can I Share My Faith with Others?" in This We Believe, ed. John N. Akers, John H Armstorng and John D. Woodbridge (Greand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2000), p. 198.

Now able to comment!

Many of you have said that you couldn't post a comment on my blog due to Google restrictions. I have changed the settings to allow anyone to post a comment, even those who aren't registered. All you need to do is click on the "comments" word at the end of the blog, type your comment and then select "anonymous user". I would still like to know who you are so include your name in the comment section. Sorry to those who tried to post a comment and couldn't. This should help. If not, let me know via email (fbcsavannah@hotmail.com). Look forward to hearing from you.

Houses and the Cross

We are in the process of trying to sell our house and buy another house in the country with a little land. In doing so there are so many questions, decisions, and temptations to doubt God and trust in ourselves. What should we ask for our house? Which other house is best for us now? Which house will be best for us in 8 years? Will we still be in this area in 8 years? What do we offer for that house? How will it resell? All these questions and many more run through our minds and can push a trust and reliance on God totally out of our minds.

Recently, God has been teaching me of the importance of the cross; not just in our salvation but in every area of our life—how it is our strength for daily living, how it is the focal point of our praise to God, how it is our hope in suffering and sickness, and more. While there are great and grand doctrines and truths that have their beginning and end at Calvary, I thought this morning that the cross even applies to buying and selling houses. The Bible says in Romans 8:31-32, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”

Now, I know that I cannot expect God to give me any house I want for any price I want. But if my Dad in Heaven did not withhold His own Son for me, will He withhold anything that is for my good? (Compare Matt. 7:7-11). In the midst of house dealings, I can look to the cross. One of the thousand-and-one things the cross tells me is that I can trust the Father to give me all good things, even the right house at the right time for the right price. I’m glorying in the cross today! Will you join me?

Do pastors pray?

In a recent seminar I attended I heard an amazing statistic. The leader said the average Christian prays 3-5 minutes per day. The average minister, however, does much better, as you would expect. He averages 7 minutes per day!

God is growing me in this area lately and I am convicted and challenged by a quote from a famous Puritan, John Owen:

"A minister may fill his pews, his communion roll, the mouths of the public, but what that minister is on his knees in secret before God Almighty, that he is and no more."

God, draw near to me as I draw near to Thee! Make me more than I am!

Healed!

One of the things that was accomplished through the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross was our healing. The Bible says, "by His stripes, we are healed." I think this primarily means a spiritual healing to be able to respond to the gospel but also includes our physical healing. The healings that Jesus performed while on the earth were often called signs. Signs to/for what? They were signs that pointed to something. They demonstrated that Jesus had the power to heal us spiritually (something we can't see) because He has the power to heal us physically (something we can see).

I'm a Baptist and often we shy away from the miraculous power of God to heal today. However, as I understand it, God does heal His children. He does it in one of three ways (alliterated, of course!):
1. Directly/Divinely--i.e., we are zapped and all our disease is gone, immediately and completely. He still does that today. Pray and ask for it.
2. Doctors--i.e., using modern medicine and the wisdom of the medical profession, God heals us in time. He is still to receive credit for this kind of healing. When our body "heals itself", God should get the glory. He created the body and He "upholds all things by the word of His power."
3. Death--i.e., God brings healing through the door of death. Do not think that because a Christian dies, God failed to heal them. No, He just chose for their healing to be simultaneous with their glorification.

On this last point, I read something last week in which a man's healing was described this way: "Cynthia's husband of 23 years, David, was healed in the presence of Jesus on January 31, 2008." My dad was healed in the presence of Jesus on March 29, 2006. I praise our Great God for His healing power that was accomplished for us because of the sacrifice of His Son. Oh, so great a salvation!

Hast thou no scar?

It's almost time for Wednesday night service so for a quick post I want to share with you one of Amy Carmichael's most convicting poems to me. Let me know what you think.

Hast thou no scar?
No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand?
I hear thee sung as mighty in the land,
I hear them hail thy bright, ascendant star,
Hast thou no scar?

Hast thou no wound?
Yet I was wounded by the archers, spent,
Leaned Me against a tree to die; and rent
By ravening beasts that compassed Me, I swooned:
Hast thou no wound?

No wound? No scar?
Yet, as the Master shall the servant be,
And pierced are the feet that follow Me;
But thine are whole: can he have followed far
Who has nor wound nor scar?

Corporate Prayer

God has been working in our church in the last year to lead us to a Purpose Statement. Our Vision Team presented the following in January of this year: "First Baptist Church of Savannah (Tennessee) exists to glorify God through the power of the Holy Spirit, making disciples of Christ both here and throughout the world, teaching each one to love and obey Him."

Recently the "through the power of the Holy Spirit" part has been sticking with me and I am becoming more and more convinced that nothing can be genuinely accomplished in any family or church unless God the Holy Spirit does it. Therefore, it is our responsibility to pray. We are to petition the Father to give us the "good gifts," to ask Him to move on us and through us in power. Prayer is the means by which this happens. We're seeking God right now about our Sunday night worship service and how we might use that time to seek God in prayer. Would you pray with us about that?

Along those lines, here's some great "prayer quotes" to encourage us!

"Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan." John Bunyan
"Prayer does not fit us for greater work. Prayer is the greater work." Oswald Chambers