Soli Deo Gloria

Soli Deo Gloria

We know we are “where we have always been . . . in God’s hands.” But, to change the figure slightly, “Thou hast . . . laid thine hand upon me.” And what does that mean? It’s a gentle touch of reassurance, God gently laying His hand on our shoulder as if to reassure and comfort us, to remind us, “You’re not alone; I’m here with you.”

 

It means we are chosen by God,

It means we are directed by God,

It means we are strengthened by God,

It means we are protected by God,

It means we are comforted by God.

 

Remember those moments in your life when someone you love and have confidence in, touched you on your shoulder and even without a word gave you that warm reassurance that helped you pluck up your courage and go on?

I am reminded of that dramatic moment in 1521 at the Diet of Worms (in Germany) when Martin Luther stood before the assembled leaders of the Holy Roman Empire to tell them “my conscience is captive to the Word of God! Here I stand! I can do no other.” And Justification by faith spread throughout Europe, Sola Fide, Soli Gracia, Soli Deo Gloria. [Salvation is Only by Grace through faith alone, to God be the Glory.]

 

As Luther made his way through that large gathering, a knight reached over and patted him on the shoulder and told him (of course, in German), “Pluck up thy courage, Little Monk, in the name of God, go on!” It was a propitious moment and affected the whole course of history—including your own

God has laid His hand upon us and we have never been the same. In the name of God, we do go on. And God uses us for His glory and the spread of the gospel and the edification and encouragement of our brethen in Christ. What will it be like to see Jesus in His glory and hear Him say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!”

[Note: I took that picture in 1980 when my wife and I were on our first visit to Europe on our 25th Anniversary. The building is on the town square across from the Cathedral in Heidelberg, Germany.]

 

“Mount up with wings as eagles”

         Yesterday I lamented the sad spectacle of people who got so discouraged that they “quit.” They “gave up” and no longer made the effort to fulfill the purposes for which God created them. It's one thing to realize that you are without strength and it's something completely different if you don't avail yourself of the strength which God gives you. We all must go “from strength to strength” in the Lord. The most significant point is that our strength comes from the Lord. ^“Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee. . . . They go from strength to strength [in the Lord].” Psalm 84:5-7

          That's why the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 said that he was thankful for his weakness “so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” That's why God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 12:9

          After reading the scriptures that I sent to you yesterday, one of our students at Christ's College in Taipei wrote to me yesterday, “. . . It has been really encouraging during hardship in my life at this current time. I feel God is speaking to me in person and it really strengthens my heart. . . .” Aye! We do indeed experience God “in person” when He speaks to us through His word! How thankful we should be! “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Romans 8:16 ESV And the Holy Spirit of God also “bears witness” in our hearts to the truth of the Word of God that we are reading. “When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. . . “ John 16:13

           Here again God is speaking through His servant, “We are troubled on every side, yet not overwhelmed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.” 2 Cor. 4:8-9

           Our strength comes from the Lord: ^“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 They are restored and renewed by the power of God. And the meaning in the original Hebrew language is even stronger than in English. Waiting patiently on the Lord we are changing or exchanging the strength we already have in ourselves for a better strength in God. “Implied is a condition of weakness or lack of strength. What strength is possessed by those who wait upon the Lord will be exchanged for strength that is real indeed. Instead of stumbling they will grow stronger and stronger.” Edward J. Young, the Book of Isaiah, Vol. 3, pp. 68-69

          ^“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” Psalm 27:14

Three events for today

          It's Monday morning, our least favorite time of the week. Are you rejoicing in the Lord or just barely awake? Three of the many things that scripture says happen daily will help us get started on the week.

1. Surely this first one is not so familiar to you that you've lost the enormous significance of it! What if this weren't true? But thank God it is! “. . .The Lord's . . . compassions fail not. They are new every morning. . . . Lamentations 3:22-23 And don't forget the context in which those words were written: it was after the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC. Their capital city was lying in ruins and the lament opens with these words, “How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow [or widower] has she become. . . .” 1:1 In the midst of that devastation “The Lord's . . . compassions fail not. They are new every morning. . . Great is thy faithfulness.” So look for God's compassion for you today; it should be readily apparent. (If you don't see it, ask me and I'll give you some examples!)

2. You're tired. You're old. You're afflicted. And, sadly, you might even be discouraged! So what is God going to do about it today? We're told very clearly of that situation in 2 Corinthians 4:16 NIV “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” God's compassions are new every morning so every day He “renews” us in our spirit and strengthens us and gives us cause for rejoicing in Him. Read the Psalms this morning and you can't help but rejoice.

3. And the third thing He does for us daily is to give us our daily tasks and ministries to other people so that our lives are always significant as we serve Him. And “you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Cor. 15:58 And at least one of the tasks He gives us we are told to do “daily.” “But encourage one another daily . . . so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.” Heb. 3:13 NIV Most people need some cheerfulness and encouragement—so there's your task for today. “A cheerful heart is good medicine. . . .” Proverbs 17:22

Yesterday my daughter sent me a new song (new to me) that fits this devotional. It's sung to a beautiful folk melody which you can listen to on YouTube.

Awake, awake to love and work!
The lark is in the sky;
The fields are wet with diamond dew;
The worlds awake to cry
Their blessings on the Lord of life,
As He goes meekly by.

Come, let thy voice be one with theirs,
Shout with their shout of praise;
See how the giant sun soars up,
Great lord of years and days!
So let the love of Jesus come
And set thy soul ablaze.

To give and give, and give again,
What God hath given thee;
To spend thyself nor count the cost;
To serve right gloriously
The God who gave all worlds that are,
And all that are to be.

The Pleasure of Reminiscing and the Comfort it Brings

The Pleasure of Reminiscing

and the Comfort it Brings

Have you ever noticed when you haven't seen someone for a long time how much the two of you or several of you talk and laugh about what happened to you a long time ago? Do you remember this or that? And the warm-hearted memories cheer the conversation. That's because when you love someone, you want to share the good things of life with them—and the good memories. And Minnie often quoted Elisabeth Elliot's book “All That Was Ever Ours. . . .” [Still is!] That's because you carry those things in your heart and in your memory and they have become a part of who you are. Whatever was yours, still is. The memories remind you of your love for one another and the faithfulness of God. They are an intrinsic part of who you are.

But have you also noticed how quickly our wonderful experiences slip from the present into the past? I'm presently on another very rewarding project. During the 1970's and 1980's Minnie and I took pictures mostly as slides and only had a few of them printed to put into our photo books. So I'm going through hundreds of slides—probably 2000 or more—and having many of them transferred to CD's or DVD's. The resulting resolution is excellent and the whole family can now have copies to see on their computer screens what had been only a sampling of small photos in the photo books. So I'm thankful to the Lord for technological improvements making it easy to share with others.

And yes! There's an important theological and practical lesson to this experience. Those wonderful pictures of happiness and joy with all those sweet grandchildren the Lord gave to Minnie and me can be enjoyed again in our memories while seeing them again on the screen. But—and this is profound! And should be pondered—those sweet little children are not sweet little children anymore! They've grown into adulthood and have their own families. And yes, we still love them and are close to them. And yes, they're still a joy to be with! But the little ones are not there any more. And yet we haven't lost them! And there's where the deep profound theology comes in! In a very similar way, I haven't lost my wife either—and you can make the application to your own life. She is with the Lord and all the wonderful growing together and building into each other's lives has taken fruit and made us both into the kind of persons we actually are. And through it all God was working out His purposes in our lives and gradually transforming us more and more into the image of Christ from one degree of glory to the next. (2 Cor. Chs. 3 & 4)

Now for Minnie, she has actually seen the Lord face-to-face and has become like Him! just as scripture promised. And we have the reassurance that we will see her again someday! What an enormous comfort it is to know where she is and with Whom and that we will see her again not many years from now. And all the good things God has poured into our lives in Christlike character is still there and always will be. Time doesn't erase, it just adds on more of God's blessings for us to enjoy in eternity future.

--Pastor Burnside

"Therefore . . . we do not lose heart"

“Therefore . . . we do not lose heart”

           We have a large extended family and many friends from all over the world. So I talk to a lot of people and exchange e-mails with many more. It burdens me that so many of them seem discouraged much of the time and dissatisfied with so many things in their lives. And of course we all have to contend with “the world, the flesh, and the devil.” But you should be able to do that without losing heart and getting discouraged, shouldn't you? After all, “we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” and “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:37, 28 We have the Holy Spirit who indwells us and Jesus has promised, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” And the anticipation of the glories and joys of heaven that await us should fill us with awe and give us a desire to know more about that which is yet to come.

           So why do we get discouraged? “Why art thou cast down, O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me?” Psalm 42 And more importantly, what can you do about it? As with so many other everyday practical things, scripture has a lot to say about the problem. One category of verses are those which say, “Therefore . . . we do not lose heart.” Let's look at about 4 of those today. 1- Jesus' words in Luke 18:1 esv are so simple and so practical:

“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” When we are tempted to be discouraged, we should automatically go into the prayer mode, talking to the Lord as we go our way in a sort of unbroken conversation with the Lord, even while we do our daily work. You're focusing on Him and His glory and what He can do about your problems rather than stewing about the problems themselves.

2- 2 Corinthians 4:15-16 (ESV) For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. God is at work extending His grace and working in and through us and for that we should be thankful to be servants of the Most High God, using us for His glory.

And then he goes on to tell us in verse 17 what our problems and afflictions are bringing about, what they are accomplishing: ^'For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. . . .” They are doing something, they are accomplishing what God set out to accomplish.

3- Hebrews 12:3 (ESV) “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” Keep your focus on Jesus and think about Him and what He did and how He acted and reacted so that you do not lose heart.

4- Isaiah 40:31 (ESV) “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Wait on the Lord. Look expectantly to Him. Expect Him to renew your strength because though our body is getting older, the Holy Spirit renews our inner person day by day.

So hold onto those 4 principles to deal with discouragement:

1. Pray always. Always pray.
2. Realize God is accomplishing something of value through your afflictions.
3. Focus on Jesus and set your mind on things above
4. Wait expectantly on the Lord, expecting Him to give you renewed strength.
5. And add a 5^th principle: “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7
6. And a 6^th: “Rejoice in the Lord always!”

Discouraged or Thankful?

Are you discouraged or thankful??

“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” 2 Cor. 2:11

If we’re not “ignorant of his devices,” then we should not let him “get an advantage of us,” should we? After all, “greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” 1 John 4:4

What are some of those “devices” that Satan likes to use? Well, there’s covetousness, lust, pride, self-seeking, laziness, ignorance, deception (for “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light [and] his ministers also [are] transformed as the ministers of righteousness,” 2 Cor. 11:14-15 and several other devices.

But one of the most common that I see is his successful attempts to discourage believers when things are “going wrong,” and not according to the way we think they should, or we have sickness, sorrow, pain, or death among our loved ones. So he immediately tries to discourage some of God’s sheep or little lambs and they forget for awhile who they are and whose they are. It’s the Good Shepherd Himself who laid down His life for His sheep and who promises to lead them and guide them and feed them and lead them in paths of righteousness all through their journey home.

It’s no wonder that discouragement is such an important tool because when you take away courage, then a person loses heart in following the Lord and living their lives with the joy of the Lord. [cor = “heart”] That’s why we are to “encourage one another daily . . . so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” Heb. 3:13 NIV

So you need “heart” or courage and where does that come from? Same place everything else of value that we have comes: from God. “What do you have that you did not receive?” 1 Cor. 4:7 So we get our courage from God–and He promises more when that runs out. Listen. “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” Psalm 27:14

What do you do to combat discouragement, then? Jesus gave the very simple and powerful answer, “Let not [don’t allow!] your heart be troubled. . . . Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:1, 27

Are you discouraged or thankful today? (Those are your two choices!) Be thankful for Jesus and His resources and His provisions, His promises, and His purposes. He is building your character and making you more like Christ, useful in our Lord’s kingdom work. John 14:1 Has God provided food for you today? And shelter, a place to sleep? “Having food and raiment [clothing] let us be therewith content.” 1 Tim. 6:8 “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thess.5:16-17

“We are not ignorant of Satan’s devices” so why did you “fall for it” again? Don’t you know what he’s trying to do? Trying to get you to focus on your problems instead of the Lord, but we are to fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross. . . . Heb. 12:2 And yes, it is faith that you need because “faith is the victory that overcomes the world” and what is faith? Simply taking God at his word, believing that what God has promised he is able also to perform. Rom. 4:21 Jesus meant what He said, “Don’t allow yourself to get discouraged.” There’s no reason to. God said it. That settles it. Quit worrying. Trust him, not yourself.

Went for a walk this afternoon along the Dungeness River, just one block from our home. The melting snow in the Olympics is rushing towards the sea–and it’s beautiful and reminds me of God’s care for His creation. So do the wild flowers and the stately pines and cedars and fir trees that provide such a restful and peaceful setting for us to live. I’m sure if you look around, you would also see the handiwork of God near you, too, in the flowers and rivers and trees and birds and butterflies, the rain and the sunshine. Rejoice in the work of His hands. God takes pleasure in His works and we should, too. Seeing God faithfully at work–in our lives and the lives of others, as well as in preserving what He has created--builds our spirit. “Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work. . . . O Lord, how great are thy works!” Psalm 92:4-5

Trust the Lord for today and He will take care of you, just as He does the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. “And the cares of tomorrow can wait ‘til the dawn.” And then you can “cast all your cares upon Him for He careth for you.” 1 Peter 5:7

Worry doesn’t solve your problems. It just takes away your joy.

–Pastor Burnside