Come Weary Saints

“Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy,
brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling,
but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called,
that you may obtain a blessing.
10 For whoever desires to love life and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit;
11 let him turn away from evil and do good;
let him seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

- I Peter 3:8-12

Here is an encouraging sermon on our current recession and how we as Christians should view it in light of eternity.

What_Is_the_Recession_For?  by John Piper

Words and music by Bob Kauflin

As recorded on Psalms

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Out of the depths, O Lord, I cry to You
When I am tempted to despair
Though I might fail to trust Your promises
You never fail to hear my prayer
And if You judged my sin
I’d never stand again
But I see mercy in Your hands

So more than watchmen for the morning
I will wait for You, my God
When my fears come with no warning
In Your Word I’ll put my trust
When the harvest time is over and I still see no fruit
I will wait, I will wait for You

The secret mysteries belong to You
We only know what You reveal
And all my questions that are unresolved
Don’t change the wisdom of Your will
In every trial and loss
My hope is in the cross
Where Your compassions never fail

© 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)

So often I feel like a cold, smoldering candle wick in the immense universe.

When I sin and feel so far from the Lord, there are times when I want to ask, “Lord, why are you so far away?  Why can’t I feel you?  Why do I continue in sin and think nothing of it?  Where are you, oh my God?”

It is in these times that I truly feel lost in the mire, bruised and wounded by the darts of the Enemy.  It is in these times when I the armor that once covered my body now lay battered and broken, stained with my own blood, on the battlefield.  It is during these times when Satan stands above me, sword poised–ready to strike me down once and for all!

Take heart my dear ones, for the Lord—He is mighty in battle! He will be victorious and sustain us!  That sword hanging over your head, ready to strike you down, cannot fall if the Lord is on your side!

“…Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” - John 14:27

Turn your weakened heart back to your first Love and He will rescue you and heal you!

When I look back over my greatest times of struggle in life, I see that it was MY OWN folly that led me into sin and ensnared me in the traps of the Evil One.  Satan is always there, ready to strike in our weakness.  He is a “roaring Lion, seeking whom he may devour.”  But if we turn to the Lord to be our strength–even Satan cowers before our great and awesome King!

If, at this moment in your life, you feel like that smoldering candle wick, alone and depressed, then take courage–for the Lord is on YOUR side, and He is ready and waiting for you to call His name!

The Lord ordained these trials, and He uses them to strengthen our faith in Him.  See James 1:2-4

Take a moment and read Psalm 51:

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
build up the walls of Jerusalem;
19 then will you delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Now let us pray that God will breathe life back into our veins and once again be that burning flame, shining for His GLORY!

Furthermore, let us pray that God will give us a HOLY AMBITION to serve for His name!

Well, it might be crazy by the world’s standards. Paul acknowledges that the wisdom of God is foolishness with men. And I would be happy to be called crazy by the world, provided that I had the approval of God.

But I don’t think it’s crazy by God’s standards, because he is very clear in Romans 5 that we rejoice in tribulation because of something. It’s not just out of the blue. We’re not just stupid or blind. And it’s not that we just don’t feel pain. But we rejoice in tribulation because tribulation works patience and endurance, and endurance works a sense of approvedness, and approvedness works a sense of hope, and hope does not put us to shame.

God has purposes in all the pain that he ordains to come into our lives, and those purposes are always good for us and for his glory. And once we become so God-centered that we delight for God to be glorified above all things, we can rejoice that we are walking through this difficulty. We begin to see what it’s working in our lives.

I could give story after story. Isn’t it interesting that even as we are recording this it was just the night before last that Joni Eareckson Tada was interviewed by Larry King? She simply knocked him off his heals by saying, “I rejoice in the freedom I have found in this wheelchair for the last 40 or so years.” And she is just one shining example of the kind of grace that can land in a person’s life to discover how to rejoice in tribulation, how to be a quadriplegic and still rejoice that it happened and that it is still true.

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

by Downhere

What is the measure of a life well-lived
If all I can offer seems too small to give
This is a song for the weaker, the poorer
And so-called failures

Little is much when God’s in it
And no one can fathom the plans He holds
Little is much when God’s in it
He changes the world with the seeds we sow
Little is much, little is much

Who feels tired and under-qualified
Who feels deserted, and hung out to dry
This is a song for the broken, the beat-up
And so-called losers

Consider a Kingdom in the smallest seed
Consider that giants fall to stones and slings
Consider the child in a manger
Consider the story isn’t over
What can be done with what you still have

Who are we that God would use us to accomplish His glorious work?
No, we could never save ourselves from His wrath, and there is surely nothing He asks of us in payment, but it is truly AWESOME that he would use us to bring Him glory!

Take a minute and listen to this song; I encourage you to apply its message to your own life and reflect on the goodness and wonder of our God!

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* This song was written/recorded by Downhere, from their album: Wide-Eyed & Mystified. 
  Click HERE for more info about this artist! To purchase this song and other music by this artist, click here!
  Used with permission.

“…our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:7-9

Have you ever had an “I’m not going to make it” moment? I’ve had numerous moments of that sort. Playing full court basketball and feeling as though I’m rapidly approaching death. Not eating for 24 hours and feeling like my legs are going liberal on me. Surveying my finals schedule at the end of the semester and wondering if my professors have gone clinically insane. All overwhelming moments.

I’ve had spiritual “I’m not going to make it” moments as well. Moments when it seems like my sin will get the best of me. Like I’m never going to change. Stuck forever in a state of spiritual mediocrity. Hopeless, guilty moments. Which is why I find the above verses so encouraging.

Paul was writing to a seriously messed up church. Believers were suing each other in court, flaunting sexual immorality, and abusing the spiritual gifts like it was going out of style. If I were Paul I would have seriously questioned whether the Corinthians would ever grow in godliness. Thankfully, Paul wasn’t like me.

Paul was keenly aware that God would sustain the Corinthians until the end. God had called them into fellowship with Jesus Christ, and he would absolutely, positively hold them fast to the end. Their sin was serious and grievous, but it wasn’t the final word. In spite of all the rampant ungodliness ripping through the Corinthian church, God would be faithful to them. He would finish what he began.

Aren’t you glad that God doesn’t give up on what he started? He started a good work in you and me, and he’s promised to finish that good work. It may seem that sin is ripping through your life, and that there’s no hope for you. Good news: we serve a God who finishes what he began.

*This post was written by, Stephen Altrogge, and taken from his blog post.  Used with permission.

by Renee Rojas

It’s because of man and by our hand
Christ hung upon that tree.
For by our sin our hearts were hard;
Our eyes were blind; we could not see.
Yet by Your sovereign will You sent
Your Son to come and take our place.
Your wrath Your justice did demand,
By Your sacrifice was satisfied through grace.

By grace You made a way for me
To come before Your throne.
Your Holy Spirit drew my heart;
I’m justified by faith alone.
It’s not by works that I am saved;
Not anything that I have done.
But through Your Spirit, by Your grace,
I enter by the blood of Your Son.

The regeneration of my heart
That Your Spirit brought about
Has caused me to be born again;
I believe without a doubt.
And now Your Spirit is at work
To sanctify my heart,
To prepare me for Your kingdom,
Eternal blessings to impart.

You command me to be baptized;
By this I bring You glory.
It’s the outward sign of Your grace
And to the world it tells the story
Of Christ’s death and resurrection
And my identity in You;
I died to sin and self
And by Your Spirit I’m made new.

Incline my heart to worship You
And to seek You every day.
Satisfy me with Your love
And let Your joy be here to stay.
Give me a heart to show Your love
And Your gospel to proclaim.
Let others see and come before You,
Bringing glory to Your name.

The other day, as I read through the Proverbs during my devotions, I came across this verse:

“Wrath is CRUEL, anger is OVERWHELMING, but who can stand before JEALOUSY?”

Ouch!  I tried to picture myself before God’s wrath…I can’t…it’s too much–too terrifying.

It hit me…God REALLY doesn’t like it when we have “other gods before Him”!  Duh!  Well, it’s not so easy.

Try to imagine: an INFINATE, PURE, HOLY, RIGHTEOUS God.  All-deserving of our praise and adoration.  Yet after all Christ has done for us (namely, claiming our sins as His own and bearing God’s FULL wrath upon Himself, so that we might be presented as righteous and pure, and dwell with God forever), we continue to raise up idols and desire things of this world more than we do His Majesty.

He is a jealous God, brothers and sisters.  He has said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay!”

Do not think that He will take little notice of our “smallest” sins!  He knows our every thought and deed; and he has the power to destroy both the body AND soul!

Are we to fear this God, then?  He who CANNOT and WILL NOT bear the sight of sin in His presence?

Pray we fear Him with EVERYTHING in us!!  Pray that we tremble at His Word!

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” - Hebrews 12:1,2

Philippians 1: 20-21 says: “My earnest expectation is that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

I think Paul’s point in this passage is that life and death for a Christian are acts of worship – they exalt Christ and magnify Him and reveal and express His greatness – when they come from an inner experience of treasuring Christ as gain. Christ is praised in death by being prized above life. And Christ is most glorified in life when we are most satisfied in Him even before death.

“The common denominator between living and dying is that Christ is the all-satisfying treasure that we embrace whether we live or die. Christ is praised by being prized. He is magnified as a glorious treasure when he becomes our unrivaled pleasure. So if we are going to praise Him and magnify Him, we dare not be indifferent as to whether we prize Him and find pleasure in Him. If Christ’s honor is our passion, the pursuit of pleasure in Him is our duty.”

It is not any different when we encounter trials and find ourselves suffering in life. “This is the essence of Christian Hedonism. In the pursuit of our joy through suffering, we magnify the all satisfying worth of the Source of our joy. Jesus Christ Himself shines as the brightness at the end of our tunnel of pain. He is the goal and the ground of our joy in suffering. Therefore the Christ-exalting meaning of our suffering is this: Christ is gain! O world, wake up and see, Christ is gain.” –John Piper

The chief end of man is to glorify God. It is more true in suffering than anywhere else that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. My prayer, therefore, is that the Holy Spirit would pour out on you and all His people around the world a passion for the supremacy of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ. The pursuit of joy in Christ, whatever the pain, is a powerful testimony to Christ’s supreme and all-satisfying worth. And so may it come to pass that all the peoples of the world will see the beauty of Christ, the image of God, and magnify His grace in the gladness of saving faith.

Parts of the above paragraphs came from a book by John Piper called: “The Dangerous Duty of Delight.” I have found it encouraging to my faith, and I hope that you will too.