Thoughts and Meditations

August 31, 2006

“Mas Baz” Finds the Lord – One day in 1841, while the sixteen-year-old Basil Manly “was walking alone in a cornfield in Orange County, North Carolina, near the Bingham Academy where he attended school, his mind turned toward spiritual things. His mother, at home on the family farm near Pittsboro in neighboring Chatham County, had been converted, baptized, and welcomed as a member of the local Baptist church. Her influence on her son brought religious conviction, as acceptance of the Christian life seemed to be the way of redemption from the guilt and spiritual distress he found himself in. Walking through the corn, weighing heaven and hell in the balance of his mind, Manly was overcome emotionally, and tears soon coursed down his cheeks. Then, from a distance, he heard a voice, and began to move toward it. As he drew closer, Manly recognized the voice as that of an old black man, and overheard the prayer of the slave pleading for the Lord to speak to ‘Mas Baz.’ Young Manly was overwhelmed, and fell to his knees beside the old man, who helped him to pray. Their weeping and praying soon brought other slaves and the white members of the family with whom Manly was boarding to the scene. The tears of spiritual angst soon became tears of joy, as the young man and his new Christian family, white and black, free and slave, celebrated his conversion. From that day forward, Basil Manly was a Christian.” –from Chaplain to the Confederacy by A. James Fuller (p. 11-12).

Great Promise of Answered Prayer – “Almighty God seems to fear we will hesitate to ask largely, apprehensive that we will strain His ability. He declares that He is ‘able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.’ [Ephesians 3:20] He almost paralyses us by giving us a carte blanche, ‘Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.” [Isaiah 45:11] How He charges, commands and urges us to pray! He goes beyond promise and says: ‘Behold my Son! I have given Him to you.’ ‘He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?’ [Romans 8:32]  

August 30, 2006

Gift from England to America – The Baptist pastor William Staughton (1770-1829) “was one of Great Britain’s choicest gifts to America. He came to this country fresh from that group of far-seeing men who, led by Fuller, Ryland, Carey, and others at Kettering in Northamptonshire, England, October 2, 1792, had laid the foundation of the first Protestant [Baptist] foreign mission society of modern times. At that meeting Staughton contributed all the money he had with him, amounting to half a guinea, and considered it the best achievement of his life. The entire collection amounted to $63.79, but it has not ceased to multiply itself an incalculable number of times in every generation since. 

“Staughton signed as ‘A Friend’ the historic original document that set forth the objective of the pioneer missionary society named, The Particular Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel amongst the Heathen. The spirit that animated William Carey and his associates at Kettering became the ruling spirit of William Staughton through life. He was the only member of that original English group to come to the New World. His prophetic vision and missionary statesmanship prevailed in the councils of Baptist leaders here and helped to give direction to the missionary advance that followed the electrifying appeal that Judson sent from India.” –from Vanguard of the Caravans by Coe Hayne (p. 45-46).

August 29, 2006

Criticizing God – “He that censures the words of actions of another, implies that he is, in his censure, wiser than the person censured by him. It is as insupportable to determine the truth of God’s plain dictates by our reason, as it is to measure the suitableness or unsuitableness of his actions by the humor of our will. We may sooner think to span the sun, or grasp a star, or see a gnat swallow a Leviathan, than fully understand the debates of eternity. To this we may refer too curious inquiries into Divine methods, and ‘intruding into those things which are not revealed’ (Colossians 2:18). It is to affect a wisdom equal with God, and an ambition to be of his cabinet council. We are not content to be creatures, that is, to be every way below God; below him in wisdom, as well as power.” –from Existence and Attributes of God: Volume 1 by Stephen Charnock (p. 591).  

Times of Withdrawal – “The Lord Christ is pleased sometimes to withdraw himself from the spiritual experience of believers; as to any refreshing sense of his love, or the fresh communications of consolatory graces. Those who never had experience of any such thing, who never had any refreshing communion with him, cannot be sensible of his absence, they never were so of his presence. But those whom he hath visited, to whom he hath given of his loves, with whom he hath made his abode, whom he hath refreshed, relieved, and comforted, in whom he hath lived in the power of his grace, they know what it is to be forsaken by him, though but for a moment. And their trouble is increased, when they seek him with diligence in the wonted ways of obtaining his presence, and cannot find him. Our duty in this case is to persevere in our inquiries after him in prayer, meditation, mourning, reading, and hearing of the word; in all ordinances of divine worship, private and public; in diligent obedience, until we find him, or he return to us as in former days.” –from The Glory of Christ by John Owen (p.80).

August 24, 2006

Happiness for the Christian – “If we want to be happy, we must be occupied with God and His surroundings: if we want to be miserable, we have only to be occupied with self and its surroundings. Look, for a moment, at the first chapter of Luke. What was it that shut up Zacharias in dumb silence? It was unbelief [Luke 1:20]. What was it that filled the heart and opened the lips of Mary and Elizabeth? Faith [Luke 1:45-46]. Here lay the difference. Zacharias might have joined those pious women in their songs of praise were it not that dark unbelief had sealed his lips in melancholy silence. What a picture! What a lesson! Oh that we may learn to trust God more simply! May the doubtful mind be far from us. May it be ours, in the midst of an infidel scene, to be strong in faith, giving glory to God.” –from Notes on the Pentateuch (p.515) by C. H. Mackintosh.  

August 23, 2006

Baptists, Methodists, and Politics – In The Gospel Working Up (p.88-89), Beth Barton Schweiger explains some of the tension between religion and politics in mid-nineteenth century Virginia. “Political battles, it seemed to Southern pastors, were essentially about ‘absolute’ political truths and thus might destroy civic order. They vehemently denied any interest in politics whatsoever, Virginia Methodists and Baptists had long stressed the incompatibility of religion and partisan politics. They characterized politicians and their ‘dirty work’ as unworthy rivals in a contest for the hearts and minds of the people. ‘The only inquiry is—not “what must I do to be saved” but “who, think you, will be president?” ’ a Baptist noted with disgust at the height of the 1844 contest between Henry Clay and James K. Polk… Another Baptist argued in 1852 that ‘political excitement is detrimental to the interests of religion.’ Although he denied that politics was ‘evil per se,’ he viewed the animosity between parties as increasingly ‘threatening,’ presumably to the Republic. The partisan politics, and the party prejudices engendered even among some ministers particularly loathsome.”  

Faith and Appearances – “Do not be discouraged by present appearances. The sunshine is behind the cloud. ‘For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it” (Habakkuk 2:3). ‘The Lord is not slack concerning his promise,’ but we are hasty in looking for it. (Compare 2Peter 3:9 with Isaiah 5:19; 28:16) The failing of our eyes is the impatience of the will, ‘limiting God’ (Psalm 78:41) to our own time, ways, and means. Faith may be exercised in not seeing his reasons—not being able to harmonize his promises with his providences, or his outward dispensations with his Divine perfections. (Jeremiah 12:1) But let us leave this to him, and be ‘still, and know that he is God.’ (Psalm 46:10) We shall find in the end , that perseverance in waiting has turned to double advantage.” –from Psalm 119 by Charles Bridges (p.216).

August 21, 2006

Lazy Soldiers for Christ – “Lepidus Major, a loose Roman, when his comrades were exercising themselves in the camp, would lay himself down to sleep in the shade, and cry out… Would this were all the duty I were to do. Such soldiers are many who pretend to fight under Christ’s banner; when they should be watching their souls, and warring with Satan and sin, they are sleeping and snoring, as if that were the way to work out their salvations. Reader, I must acquaint thee with the physician’s rule, that… Weariness without some apparent cause is a sign of a diseased body; so thy laziness doth speak a very unsound soul.” –from The Works of George Swinnock: Volume 1 (p.67).  

Fall of the Roman Empire – “Available to us is the work of Edward Gibbon who, in 1787, after 20 years of labor, completed his The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. In it he attributed the fall of the Empire as being

1. ‘The rapid increase of divorce; the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society.’
2. ‘Higher and higher taxes and the spending of public monies for free bread and circuses for the populace.’
3. ‘The mad craze for pleasure; sports becoming every year more exciting and more brutal.’
4. ‘The building of gigantic armaments when the real enemy was within, the decadence of the people.’
5. ‘The decay of religion—faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life and becoming impotent to ward and guide the people.’ ”

--from The Seven Laws of the Harvest by John W. Lawrence (p.26).

August 18, 2006

Power of the Human Will – The “great Baptist preacher of Britain, Alexander Maclaren, has left us his superb Expositions of Holy Scripture, in which he wrote: ‘Obedience is in our power to give or to withhold… God’s grace constrains no man, and there is always the possibility open that when He calls we refuse, and that when He beseeches we say, “I will not.”… But the practical point that I have to urge is this: There are two mysteries, the one that men can, and the other that men do, resist Christ’s pleading voice… If I cannot trust my sense that I can do this thing, or not do it, as I choose, there is nothing that I can trust. Will is the power of determining which of two roads I shall go, and, strange as it is, incapable of statement in any more general terms than the reiteration of the fact; yet here stands the fact, that God, the infinite Will, has given to men, whom He made in His own image, this inexplicable and awful power of coinciding with or opposing His purposes and His voice… Men do consciously set themselves against the will of God, and refuse the gifts which they know all the while are for their good. (‘The Acts’ II, pp.333-334)’ ” –from Divine Sovereignty and Human Freedom by Samuel Fisk (p.14).  

God be Merciful to Me a Sinner – “In his ‘Seven Great Statesmen’ Andrew White tells of the death of Hugo Grotius. It is a recital that touches the deep places of the heart. On his way back from Sweden the ship on which Grotius was traveling was wrecked on the Pomeranian coast. Battered by the elements, he managed to get as far as Rostok, and there the famous scholar lay down to die. The beacon light that had illuminated the darkness of his age was soon to be quenched in the smoke of death. The pastor of the Lutheran church, learning of his presence, came in to see him. He made no effort to wrestle with the great statesman, but simply read to him our Saviour’s Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee, ending with the words, ‘God be merciful to me, a sinner!’ [Luke 18:9-13] At that the dying sage opened his eyes and exclaimed, ‘That publican, Lord, am I!’ Until we are ready to make a like confession Christianity is a closed book, a forbidden garden. Grotius, the poor Publican, wicked David, stainless Paul—all made that prayer, and making it, passed into the city of Forgiveness and Peace. Without that prayer, Christianity may be a history, a philosophy, a code, but not a religion that saves.” –from The Parables of the Old Testament by Clarence E. Macartney (p.39-40).

August 17, 2006

Changing with the Times – “One of the most popular current errors, and the one out of which springs most of the noisy, blustering religious activity being carried on in evangelical circles these days, is the notion that as times change the church must change with them. Christians must adapt their methods by the demands of the people. If they want ten-minute sermons, give them ten-minute sermons. If they want truth in capsule form, give it to them. If they want pictures, give them plenty of pictures. If they like stories, tell them stories. If they prefer to absorb their religious instruction through the drama, go along with them—give them what they want. ‘The message is the same, only the method changes,’ say the advocates of compromise. ‘Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad,’ the old Greeks said, and they were wiser than they knew. That mentality which mistakes Sodom for Jerusalem and Hollywood for the Holy City is too gravely astray to be explained otherwise than as a judicial madness visited upon professed Christians for affronts committed against the Spirit of God.” –from God Tells the Man Who Cares by A. W. Tozer (p.18-19), originally written between 1950 and 1963.

Obedience is the Key to Spiritual Understanding – John 16:12 states, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” Oswald Chambers comments: “Understanding comes only by obedience, never by intellect. Our Lord does not hide things from us, but they are unbearable until we get into a fit condition of life on the inside… It is a great emancipation in a man’s life when he learns that spiritual and moral truths can only be gained by obedience, never by intellectual curiosity. All God’s revelations are sealed, and they will never be opened by philosophy, or by thinking, whereas the tiniest fragment of obedience will bring a man right through into the secret of God’s attitude to things.” [Psalm 25:12, 14] –from The Place of Help (p.224-225).

August 16, 2006

Our Temptations are Common to All – A. W. Tozer told this of his parents: “My father was a tough English farmer. I was proud of the strength of my father. But when he got a cold, he became the biggest baby in the world. He would say that nobody ever had a cold like this. My poor, little, old German mother could get so sick that she would go limping around, pale and tired out, yet she had to keep going. But when my big, tough father got sick, he laid down and called for her, and she had to wait on him. He thought that the kind of cold he got was unique, but it was just a cold in his nose. Likewise, we think we’re tempted above all others. We should remember, however, that there have been saints that have crossed the briar patch where we are now, and they got out all right. [1Corinthians 10:13] If we believe God, we’ll make it too.” –from The Attributes of God: Volume Two (p.175).  

Importance of Faith in the Life of the Believer – “To faith is assigned, by the Scriptures of truth, a most dignified position: it has much, very much, to do in the whole spiritual history of the saint; and according as it prospers or declines does the soul prosper or decline in its vital interests. Without it, it is impossible to enjoy God, to obey God, to please God. It nurtures the comfort, quietude, and stability of the soul. By faith we stand; by faith we walk; by faith we live, labor, fight, and conquer. It is that by which we purify our hearts; it is the victory that overcomes the world, the shield by which we quench the fiery darts of the wicked. It gives boldness and success to our patient enduring. What is the word read, or heard, or remembered, unmixed with faith? A profitless thing. Faith, by receiving the word of God in its true import and for its true intent, converts it into precious nourishment for the soul; feeding by faith upon the manna of truth, the soul is made prosperous—it flourishes in beauty and in strength, in hope and in gladness.” –from Soul Prosperity by Charles Mallary (p.25-26).

August 15, 2006

Law Made Sin Exceeding Sinful – Romans 7:13 says of the law, “Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” John Owen comments (published in 1668): “As a man that finds himself somewhat distempered, sending for a physician of skill, when he comes requires his judgment of his distemper; he, considering his condition, tells him, ‘Alas! I am sorry for you; the case is far otherwise with you than you imagine: your disease is mortal, and it hath proceeded so far, pressing upon your spirits and infecting the whole mass of your blood, that I doubt, unless most effectual remedies be used, you will live but a very few hours.’ So it is in this case. A man may have some trouble in his mind and conscience about indwelling sin; he finds all not so well as it should be with him, more from the effects of sin and its continual eruptions than the nature of it, which he hopes to wrestle withal. But now, when the law comes, that lets the soul know that its disease is deadly and mortal, that it is exceeding sinful, as being the root and cause of all his alienation from God; and thus also the law proceeds against it.” –from The Works of John Owen – Temptation and Sin: Volume 6 (p.314-315).

Delia Rees – “Have you heard of Delia Rees, the Bluebird of Mulberry Bend? She was one of the lowest and vilest habitués of the dens of iniquity in the city of New York. In a low dive surrounded by thieves and wicked associates she was reached through Christian workers, and her interest awakened and her desire for a life of purity kindled, through the gift of a delicate pink rose. ‘Bluey,’ as her rough, sinful companions called her, was once a beautiful, innocent girl, reared in a convent. Ruined through means of a deadly drug, she had gone from bad to worse. She became addicted to snuff, tobacco, whiskey, and opium; had been six times behind the prison bars; her body was scarred and marked with stabs, cuts and bruises and part of her hair had been pulled out by the roots.

“The interest of God’s children in the ‘Door of Hope,’ in New York, touched her and awakened thoughts of childhood. Love reached her heart and she sought and found Jesus Christ as her own personal Saviour. She proved Him to be a ‘risen Christ,’ an ever-present friend. She was delivered from the awful, sinful habits which were dragging her down. She gave herself to the Lord and like the woman of Samaria (John 4) began at once to tell others of Jesus. Her health was undermined by the awful life of sin she had been in and she only lived a short time; but in about eleven months time she had led one hundred to Christ ‘out of darkness into light,’ ‘The gates of hell’ prevailed not against her. Death was a triumphant entry into ‘the joy’ of her Lord.” –from Deliverance from the Penalty and Power of Sin (1912) by Orson R. Palmer (p.14-15).

August 14, 2006

Revival in Houston, Texas – From November 12, 1906 to March 1, 1907, the Baptist evangelist Mordecai Ham held one of his greatest revival campaigns. The services grew so much that they had to move from the Baptist church to a downtown skating rink that seated over 4,000 people. In one of the earlier sermons of this meeting, he stated: “There are a lot of Christian who are half-way fellows. They stand in the door, holding on to the church with one hand while they play with the toys of this world with the other. They are cautious, they want to be there in case of emergency, ready to jump in if Jesus should happen to come, but otherwise are having a good time with the rest of the sinners. That’s the reason why we can’t do any more work than we do. They are in the doorway, and we can’t bring sinners in. And until we get some of God’s people right, we cannot hope to get sinners regenerated.

“Now, they always accuse me of carrying around a sledge hammer with which to pound the church members. Yes, Sir, I do pound them, and every time I come down, I knock one of those halfway fellows out of the doorway. And every time I knock one out I get a sinner in.” –from A Biography of M. F. Ham by E. E. Ham (p.86-87).  

Christian Diet of the Mind – “Physiology shows us how inevitably the food on which one subsists determines the texture of his flesh. Can the daily newspaper, the light romance, and the secular magazine, build up the fiber and tissue of a true spiritual character? We are not putting any surly prohibition on these things; but when we think of the place which they hold in modern society, and with how many Christians they constitute the larger share of the daily reading, there is suggested a very serious theme for reflection. As the solemn necessity is laid upon the sinner of choosing between Christ and the world, so is the choice pressed upon the Christian between the Bible and literature—that is, the choice as to which shall hold the supreme place. “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.” (Matthew 5:6) –from The Twofold Life by A. J. Gordon (p.26-27).

August 11, 2006

Baptist Convictions in the 1600’s – In 1637, Henry Jessey (1601-1663) became pastor of an independent church in London, England. This church was established in 1616 as the first Congregational church in England. “The year after his settlement with this congregation, several persons left it and joined the Baptists. In 1639, and some following years, a much greater number followed their example. This put Mr. Jessey upon studying the controversy. The result was, that he himself also changed his sentiments; though not without great deliberations, many prayers, and frequent conferences with pious and learned men of different persuasions. His first conviction was about the mode of baptism; and though he continued two or three years to baptize children, he did it by immersion. About the year 1644, the controversy with respect to the subjects of baptism was revived in his church, when several gave up infant-baptism, and among the rest Mr. Jessey. He would not, however, absolutely determine the point, till he had consulted some learned and judicious ministers, as Dr. Goodwin, Mr. Nye, Mr. Burroughs, Mr. Cradock, etc. but these giving him no satisfaction, in June, 1645, he submitted to immersion, which was performed by Mr. Hanserd Knollys.” –from The History and Antiquities of the Dissenting Churches: Volume 1 by Walter Wilson (p.43).  

American Christianity: 1897 – On March 8, 1897, the English Baptist preacher F. B. Meyer made these observations from a trip to America: “For many years the pulpit in America has been too much given over to sensational preaching. Instead of what we should call textual, expository preaching, the great preachers have sought rather to develop topics, and they have therefore given themselves up to the treatment of subjects of burning interest, either in the political or social world.  

“Then there has been a growing worldliness on the part of the churches. Fairs, social parties for raising the minister’s stipend, the introduction into the house of God of elements which we should taboo as being altogether unworthy, have been in vogue.  

August 10, 2006

Church Influenced by the World – “The church has lost her testimony. She has no longer anything to say to the world. The once robust shout of assurance has faded away to an apologetic whisper. She who one time went out to declare now goes out to inquire. Her dogmatic declaration has become a respectful suggestion, a word of religious advice, given with the understanding that it is after all only an opinion and not meant to sound bigoted.

“Not only has the church nothing to say to the world but the tables have actually been turned and the ministers of Christ are now going to the world for light. They sit at Adam’s feet for instruction and clear their message with the wise and the prudent before they dare deliver it. But the certainty that comes from seeing and the assurance that springs from hearing—where are they?” –from God Tells the Man Who Cares (p.35-36) by A. W. Tozer. See Matthew 5:13.

Time Required to Know God – “In my creature impatience I am often caused to wish that there were some way to bring modern Christians into a deeper spiritual life painlessly by short easy lessons; but such wishes are vain. No short cut exists. God has not bowed to our nervous haste nor embraced the methods of our machine age. It is well that we accept the hard truth now: the man who would know God must give time to Him. He must count no time wasted which is spent in the cultivation of His acquaintance. He must give himself to meditation and prayer hours on end. So did the saints of old, the glorious company of the apostles, the goodly fellowship of the prophets and the believing members of the holy Church in all generations. And so must we if we would follow in their train.” –from The Divine Conquest (p.22) by A. W. Tozer. See Psalm 63:6; 143:5.

August 9, 2006

One Thing God Cannot Do – “The Scripture saith it is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18); and God cannot deny himself because of his faithfulness (2Timothy 2:13) [He is the ‘God, that cannot lie’ Titus 1:2]. As he cannot die, because he is life itself; as he cannot deceive, because he is goodness itself; as he cannot do an unwise action, because he is wisdom itself, so he cannot speak a false word, because he is truth itself. If he should speak anything as true, and not know it, where is his infinite knowledge and comprehensiveness of understanding? If he should speak anything as true, which he knows to be false, where is his infinite righteousness? If he should deceive any creature, there is an end of his perfection of fidelity and veracity. If he should be deceived himself, there is an end of his omniscience; we must then fancy him to be a deceitful God, an ignorant God, that is, no God at all.” –from The Existence and Attributes of God: Volume 2 (p.28) by Stephen Charnock.

Form of a Servant – “This condescension of the Son of God did not consist in a laying aside, or parting with, or separation from the divine nature, so as that he should cease to be God, by being man. The foundation of it lay in this, ‘that he was in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God,’ (Philippians 2:6). That is, being really and essentially God in his divine nature, he professed therein to be equal with God or the person of the Father. He was in the form of God, that is, he was God, participant of the divine nature, for God hath no form but that of his essence and being; and hence he was equal with God, in authority, dignity, and power… 

“Being in this state, it is said that he ‘took on him the form of a servant, and was found in fashion as a man,’ (Philippians 2:7). This is his condescension. It is not said, that he ceased to be in the form of God; but continuing so to be, ‘he took upon him the form of a servant,’ in our nature; he became what he was not, but he ceased not to be what he was, so he testifieth of himself (John 3:13): ‘And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” Although he was then on earth as the son of man, yet he ceased not to be God thereby; in his divine nature he was then also in heaven.” –from The Glory of Christ by John Owen (p.90-91).

August 8, 2006

Rejection of Second Blessing – In The Sacred Anointing (p.140), Tony Sargent describes the view of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the teaching of the second blessing: “Holiness is a life lived to the glory of God and to his eternal praise. Basic to his position on holiness was a rejection of the old Keswick doctrine of a second experience. The maintenance of godliness involves the Christian in a fight which lasts throughout the whole of life. Lloyd-Jones opposed the teaching which suggests all the believer has to do is to ‘let go and let God.’ ”

Necessity of Human Freedom – “Dr. E. Y. Mullins was president and professor of systematic theology in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary of Louisville, Kentucky. In his work on theology, he said: ‘Can we reconcile the sovereignty of God and human freedom in His electing grace? The answer is in the negative. We are dealing here with ultimate forms of experience and of thought. God’s sovereignty held in an abstract way and apart from our freedom, or man’s freedom held in an abstract way apart from God’s sovereignty, is a very hurtful and dangerous teaching. We are conscious of freedom as an ultimate fact of experience. We are driven to God’s sovereignty as an ultimate necessity of thought… God is limited by human freedom. He made us free. He will not coerce man in his choices. If He did so He would destroy our freedom. We would cease to be persons and become things.’ (The Christian Religion in Its Doctrinal Expression, pp.347-348).” –from Divine Sovereignty and Human Freedom by Samuel Fisk (p.21-22).

August 7, 2006

Trinity and the Triangle – The “divine mystery of the Trinity in Unity allows itself to be represented to the spiritual human eye by the mathematical figure of the triangle... The church fathers had already pointed this out early in the history of Christianity. For of all forms the triangle is the first. Neither the point as a mere object of thought, nor the line as mere extension, has shape. But the triangle, though containing three lines and three corners, is of all forms the first, or, so to speak, form ‘One,’ that has completeness and unity, thus uniting in itself harmoniously the numbers three and one and therefore it was early employed as a symbol of the Godhead… 

“The most detailed elaboration of the ‘trinitarian’ triangle was that by Raymond Lull, the great and well-known missionary to Moslems (died as martyr, 1315). It is a triangle with its centre of gravity and with lines which connect the corners of the three angles with this centre. At the corners and the centre of gravity there are the words ‘Father, Son, Spirit, God,’ and on the sides and lines there are the small words ‘is’ and ‘is not.’ This is to indicate that the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is not the Father. But the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God.” –from From Eternity to Eternity by Erich Sauer (p.13-14).  

August 4, 2006

Becoming a Fool to be Wise – “The true way to wisdom is to be sensible of our own folly (1Corinthians 3:18), ‘If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.’ He that distrusts his own guidance, will more securely and successfully follow the counsel of another in whom he confides. The more water, or any other liquor, is poured out of a vessel, the more air enters. The more we distrust our own wisdom, the more capable we are of the conduct of God’s. Had Jehoshaphat relied upon his own policy, he might have found defeat when he met with a deliverance; but he disowned his own skill and strength in telling God, ‘neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee” (2Chronicles 20:12). –from The Existence and Attributes of God: Volume 1 by Stephen Charnock (p.601).

What Things Are Sin – “John Wesley’s mother wrote to him these significant words: ‘Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off the relish of spiritual thing—whatever increases the authority of your body over your mind—that thing to you is sin.’ ” –from The Seven Laws of Harvest by John W. Lawrence (p.65-66). See James 4:17. 

August 3, 2006

Character over Conduct – “Many Christians are tired of serving the Lord simply for some reward they will receive in the ‘by and by.’ They find themselves living for the Lord out of duty and not out of devotion. They think, ‘If I just do right, then I will be right.’ The Bible makes clear that it is not what you ‘do’ that counts with God; it is what you ‘be’ that is important. It is character over conduct. As we get to know God, His character rubs off on us, and our conduct becomes purely an extension of what we know. ‘For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings’ (Hosea 6:6, italics added). We have been told for so long to ‘stand up for Jesus.’ However, we must first learn to ‘sit down with Jesus.’ Our standing is merely a temporary exercise if we have not learned how to sit at His feet.” –from The God You Can Know by Dan DeHaan (p.16).

August 2, 2006

Trinity of Love – “God is love (1John 4:16). Love is the deepest element of His life, the innermost fount out of which His nature eternally flows forth, the creative centre that begets all His working and ruling. But love is a trinity…

• “it always proceeds from the Lover:
• “it always moves toward the Beloved:
• “it always intertwines the two together through the common Spirit of union…

“But the fact that three persons of the Godhead actually correspond to these three fundamental conceptions of the idea of God, this only the revelation of the eternal God Himself can make known. The Father is the One out of Himself existing, the Son is the One to Himself attaining, and the Spirit the One in Himself moving God. The Father is the Lover, the Son the Beloved, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Love.” –from The Dawn of World Redemption by Erich Sauer (p.19).

Satan’s Attacks on Prayers of Faith – “Satan’s tactics seem to be as follows. He will first of all oppose our breaking through to the place of a real, living faith, by all means in his power. He detests the prayer of faith, for it is an authoritative ‘notice to quit.’ He does not so much mind rambling, carnal prayers, for they do not hurt him much. This is why it is so difficult to attain to a definite faith in God for a definite object. We often have to strive and wrestle in prayer (Ephesians 6:10) before we attain this quiet, restful faith. And until we break right through and join hands with God we have not attained to real faith at all. Faith is a gift of God (Romans 12:9); if we stop short of it we are using mere fleshly energy or will-power, weapons of no value in this warfare. However, once we attain to a real faith, all the forces of hell are impotent to annul it. What then? They retire and muster their forces on this plot of ground which God has pledged Himself to give us, and contest every inch of it. The real battle begins when the prayer of faith has been offered. But, praise the Lord! We are on the winning side.” –from Behind the Ranges by Mrs. Howard Taylor (p.114).

Tell-tell Signs of Worldliness – In Born Crucified (p.34-35), L. E. Maxwell lists a few of the “subtle forms of worldliness which lure us to the rocks, and wreck our Christian testimony…

• “The unwarranted time we can spend over some trifling hobby instead of ‘redeeming the time’ [Ephesians 5:16]. We call it relaxation, but there may be much worldliness in it.
• “The ease with which we can sit in slippered feet noting the world’s news when we might be giving the ‘good news’ to lost men. We refuse to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ [2Timothy 2:3]. Our soft little ‘world’ has us.
• “The prevalent lust for late night lunching and vainglorious witticisms—cheating ourselves of the time needed for God’s fellowship in the Word and prayer next morning. Then we go out ungirt and stripped of our armor to meet the world at large—all because of our own secret inner worldliness.
• “The great place we give to likes, dislikes, and personal choices.
• “How much we are regulated by public opinion, perhaps religious opinion, rather than scriptural principle.
• “How easily we are content to allow this or that thing, be it ever so innocent or lovely, to becloud the world to come.
• “How little we count it a privilege to suffer shame for His name.
• “What expectations we have of great contentment and satisfaction from certain earthly comforts. How fond we are of nice things and luxuries, and how unwilling to forego them for the sake of sending the gospel to the heathen.”

August 1, 2006

No Higher Answer for the Atheist – “Paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould summarized human life by saying, ‘We are because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar fin anatomy that could transform into legs for terrestrial creatures; because the earth never froze entirely during an ice age; because a small and tenuous species, arising in Africa a quarter of a million years ago, has managed, so far, to survive by hook and by crook. We may yearn for a “higher” answer—but none exists.’ ” –from The Trivialization of God by Donald W. McCullough (p.16).

To Know God; To Really Know God – It is important to “understand the difference between ‘knowing’ someone and really knowing someone. Paul spoke in Philippians of having the goal of knowing the Lord [Philippians 3:10]. I can assure you he already knew the Lord when he wrote the statement. He had been a Christian for thirty years. What could he have meant? Paul was aware that there was a higher plane of knowing the Lord, just as a husband and wife can know one another after thirty years of marriage. Paul was not speaking of a casual acquaintance or an ‘easy com, easy go’ relationship. With passion Paul pressed on to know God—and he knew God. Can we do less? Dare we do less?” –from The God You Can Know by Dan DeHaan (p.15).