He Giveth More Grace

I love biographies. There’s something about it that tells me, “If they could do it, I can. If the Lord was faithful in their lives, He will also complete His work in me. He will help me.”

Last Sunday I came across a hymn at church which we had never sang. It was “He Giveth More Grace” by Annie Johnson Flint. What a beautiful, truth-filled song! So yesterday I looked for Annie’s biography. And when you read it, you understand where all these beautiful words come from. They come from the heart of a person who lived in suffering almost throughout all her life (arthritis and serious needs), yet decided to submit her desires to God again, and again, and again. She lived a grace-filled life despite and through suffering and hurt.

Here’s the hymn “He Giveth More Grace”. I will  continue posting some of her poems and hymns later.

HE GIVETH MORE GRACE

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
To added affliction He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

His love has no limit, His grace has no measure;
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth and giveth and giveth again.

Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands II

Here’s the next set of quotes I took from Paul David Tripp’s conference. You can find the first set  here.

“If you’re God’s child, your life doesn’t belong to you”

“God’s work is the work of change for His glory”

“I get angry because I don’t value what God is doing in this particular situation. I  get disappointed because I want something different than what God is giving me”

“All the time… you are preaching to yourself some kind of gospel”

“God sent his son to die because of how serious sin is. My problem as sinner is self-righteousness. I can see this when I’m being confronted. Instead of being thankful and feeling loved, I justify and defend myself”

“Your walk with God is a community project”

“Most ministry moments come when you least expect them to come”

“God will not call you to a test he has not enabled you to do”

Tomorrow, I will post what Paul Tripp calls a MINISTRY MODEL.

Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands I

I bought this book back in August 2004. I read it for a while, but then it got lost in the dozens of books I keep on my nightstand. I’m back to reading it once again because for some reason, reading a book after you’ve heard its author speak is a much more enriching experience.

A few weeks ago we had Paul David Tripp at a conference by the same name as this book. We heard strong, biblical teaching and I was very encouraged by his honesty and transparency. He’s also a phenomenal speaker! I believe God used this man to  make us think differently about living life in His kingdom.

Today I want to review with you some quotes I took  from his conferences. I hope that you find them helpful and edifying:

“Grace is the fact that God will take you to places you didn’t intend to go in order to produce in you what you could not achieve on your own”

“God will do what is necessary to mold us in to the image of Jesus Christ. He is delivering me from pride, self-sufficiency, self-righteousness, and my thinking of ‘I’m done, I don’t need any more transformation”

“True righteousness only begins when you get to the end of yourself”

“To be an instrument in God’s hand, we need to be in God’s agenda page”

“The key to be an instrument is to start with your own heart”

“If you had to be honest, what kind of Messiah do you want?”

“God uses different circumstances to reveal our hearts’s needs. And that’s grace”

I’ll continue posting more quotes tomorrow, but for now I think all of us have some good food for thought! May God use His word to transform us into the image of His Son!

The attractive pearl of contentment

Dave Harvey, in his book “Rescuing Ambition” helped me  balance my understanding of contentment and ambition. All theology aside, I really love his writing style and how he’s so down-to-earth with this topic.

Since I figure that he will state this better than I ever could, I will proceed with some good quotes  about what contentment is:

• “Contentment means being satisfied and at peace with God’s will in all situations”
• “Godly contentment has to be more than being thankful you’re better off than someone else [...] True contentment comes by comparing what we have to what our sins deserve. That means we find it in the gospel.

The more absorbed I am in the gospel, the more grateful I become in the midst of my circumstances, whatever they may be…When I look at any circumstance that God apportions me, I am first grateful for the wrath I am not receiving in that moment…Secondly, I am grateful for the blessings that are given to me instead of His wrath. This two-layered gratitude disposes my heart to give thanks in all things and it also lends a certain intensity to my giving thanks” (Milton Vincent as quoted by Dave Harvey)

Finally here’s my favorite quote. It’s Sinclair Ferguson as quoted by Harvey,

• “Christian contentment…is the direct fruit of having no higher ambition than to belong to the Lord and to be totally at His disposal in the place He appoints, at the time He chooses, with the provision He is pleased to make”

Are you craving for contentment yet? I know I am!

“Please Jesus come (in a little while)”: What I learned from Harold Camping

As we drove into the night it finally dawned on me. My friends and I were certain that no matter what Harold Camping had said and  announced on billboards, Jesus was not coming on Saturday. He simply wasn’t. The same old verse rang through our ears as we discussed the issue and how damaging it was to the real gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus was and is coming back again for His own. The Bible says so. But right then I wondered if most of the time our discussion ends here– in the timing of the event, while the real issue at hand remains silent.

Yes, I’m talking about His second coming. And as I write this, I am eagerly longing to see my Savior’s face and finally live by sight with the most beautiful Being there is. No more sin, no more hindrances and distractions! Just Jesus and I (and the million of Christians of all times and places). But that night I also realized that I did not want him to come– at least not right then.  It was like a girl that hasn’t seen her fiancé in a whole year and tells him on the phone one day, “Hey love, I know you love me more than anything. Your kindness melts my heart. I love you too! Someone told me you were trying to surprise me by showing up one day at my door and I REALLY can’t wait to be with you one more time. But could you wait a little bit while I finish living my single life and partying? I’m sure you want me to be happy…”

In other words, it’s like saying “Please come soon Jesus!” and then saying under our breath, “not till I get married, get a great job, have kids, minister to people in need, run a marathon…” and the list goes on, changing from person to person.

Lydia Brownback writes,

” We tend not to be heavenly minded…we live to mold our lives around whatever makes us happy today.”

Am I saying all those things are not to be desired? Yes. And no. Some of our desires are not bad in themselves. The problem lies in wanting them too much. In fact, many times we are willing to put off His coming or our going because we want to achieve those things first. So the intensity of these desires is what we have to be very aware and wary of.

Again, Lydia Brownback nailed it,

“Paul knew the secret to possessing and enjoying the blessings of earthly life is to hold them loosely“

THIS is not our Home. We are living here for a while–a moment that lasts a blink of an eye. Are our hands open or is our fist closed tight?

Please God, take away my eyes from what is seen. Give me a heart that will live and sing “Maranatha: Yes, Lord Jesus, COME!”