Filling Up What is Lacking

The story of Joseph the Masai Warrior.

Joseph the Masai Warrior - John Piper from I'll Be Honest on Vimeo.

Holy Spirit, Come

“[I] never try to frighten people into the kingdom of God. I do not even call people forward at the end of a service. I know that when the spirit of God has dealt with them, has changed them, and has given them new minds and hearts, they will come and tell me or tell somebody else. I do not want an immediate decision because I know that even I can produce decisions. A man’s eloquence or the use of lights or music can produce decisions. But I do not do that. I simply put the truth before people, and it is the Spirit of the living God alone who can apply that truth, and he does.”

- D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones , from Courageous Christianity, 299.

The Rebel’s Guide to Joy – The Life of Horatio Spafford

 

Horatio Spafford was no stranger to suffering and tragedy - a life marked by the loss of 6 of his 8 children among other calamities. In midst of his greatest sorrows he penned the words "...whatever my lot though hast taught me to say it is well with my soul", words which encourage us to fight for joy in Christ even when death itself threatens to overtake.

"Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation."—Psalm 35:3.

What does this sweet prayer teach me? It shall be my evening's petition; but first let it yield me an instructive meditation. The text informs me first of all that David had his doubts; for why should he pray, "Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation," if he were not sometimes exercised with doubts and fears? Let me, then, be of good cheer, for I am not the only saint who has to complain of weakness of faith. If David doubted, I need not conclude that I am no Christian because I have doubts. The text reminds me that David was not content while he had doubts and fears, but he repaired at once to the mercy-seat to pray for assurance; for he valued it as much fine gold. I too must labour after an abiding sense of my acceptance in the Beloved, and must have no joy when His love is not shed abroad in my soul. When my Bridegroom is gone from me, my soul must and will fast. I learn also that David knew where to obtain full assurance. He went to his God in prayer, crying, "Say unto my soul I am thy salvation." I must be much alone with God if I would have a clear sense of Jesus' love. Let my prayers cease, and my eye of faith will grow dim. Much in prayer, much in heaven; slow in prayer, slow in progress. I notice that David would not be satisfied unless his assurance had a divine source. "Say unto my soul." Lord, do Thou say it! Nothing short of a divine testimony in the soul will ever content the true Christian. Moreover, David could not rest unless his assurance had a vivid personality about it. "Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation." Lord, if Thou shouldst say this to all the saints, it were nothing, unless Thou shouldst say it to me. Lord, I have sinned; I deserve not Thy smile; I scarcely dare to ask it; but oh! say to my soul, even to my soul, "I am thy salvation." Let me have a present, personal, infallible, indisputable sense that I am Thine, and that Thou art mine.

--- C.H. Spurgeon

Do these mysterious stones mark the site of the Garden of Eden?

by TOM COX




For the old Kurdish shepherd, it was just another burning hot day in the rolling plains of eastern Turkey. Following his flock over the arid hillsides, he passed the single mulberry tree, which the locals regarded as 'sacred'. The bells on his sheep tinkled in the stillness. Then he spotted something. Crouching down, he brushed away the dust, and exposed a strange, large, oblong stone.

The man looked left and right: there were similar stone rectangles, peeping from the sands. Calling his dog to heel, the shepherd resolved to inform someone of his finds when he got back to the village. Maybe the stones were important.

They certainly were important. The solitary Kurdish man, on that summer's day in 1994, had made the greatest archaeological discovery in 50 years. Others would say he'd made the greatest archaeological discovery ever: a site that has revolutionized the way we look at human history, the origin of religion - and perhaps even the truth behind the Garden of Eden.

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