Though Troubles Assail Us

John Newton, has a pretty popular story. He was born in London, in 1725, and raised by a godly mother (who taught him the Westminster Catechism), and had a sea-faring father. In his early years, John Newton, was a slave trader and led a, well, a sailors life. It was on a voyage, after a terrifying storm, that he wrote,
"I thought I saw the hand of God displayed in our favour. I began to pray: I could not utter the prayer of faith; I could not draw near to a reconciled God, and call him Father . . . the comfortless principles of infidelity were deeply riveted; . . . . The great question now was, how to obtain faith."
This was a quite a change from Newton's previous thought's, but he later said,
" I was greatly deficient in many respects. I was in some degree affected with a sense of my enormous sins, but I was little aware of the innate evils of my heart. I had no apprehension of . . . the hidden life of a Christian, as it consists in communion with God by Jesus Christ: a continual dependence on him. . . . I acknowledged the Lord's mercy in pardoning what was past, but depended chiefly upon my own resolution to do better for the time to come. . . . I cannot consider myself to have been a believer (in the full sense of the word) till a considerable time afterwards."

Later in life, John Newton became a devoted husband, a tender pastor, author, and friend to many well-known men.
I could go on to say more, but I've decided to make this brief. Kinda a "wet your appetite" biography.
Oh, when googling "John Newton", I stumbled upon this article by John Piper. I started reading it, then I stopped, and scrolled down...and down, down, down, and finally came to the end! All this to say, the blogpost is very long-- and I didn't finish it-- but from what I read, I would encourage you to read it (and tell me about it :P).

This hymn is one that my family discovered in our Trinity Hymnals (Baptist Ed.), because it has the same tune as Immortal, Invisible, which we love. When looking up this hymn, there are two more verses, which are not in the Trinity Hymnal, so I just left them out for now.

Though Trouble Assail Us

Though troubles assail us and dangers affright,
Though friends should all fail us and foes all unite,
Yet one thing secures us, whatever betide,
The promise assures us, “The Lord will provide.”

The birds, without garner or storehouse, are fed;
From them let us learn to trust God for our bread.
His saints what is fitting shall ne’er be denied
So long as ’tis written, “The Lord will provide.”

When Satan assails us to stop up our path,
And courage all fails us, we triumph by faith.
He cannot take from us, though oft he has tried,
This heart cheering promise, “The Lord will provide.”

No strength of our own and no goodness we claim;
Yet, since we have known of the Savior’s great Name,
In this our strong tower for safety we hide:
The Lord is our power, “The Lord will provide.”

-John Newton(1779)

Love,

Caro :)

The Taste and Hope of Joy

When I Don't Desire God,by John Piper, has been on my reading list for a while now. I must admit that I go through his books pretty slowly; it takes me a while to really digest what it is he is saying, and I always find it very rewarding and thought-provoking.

I just have to remind myself of the benefits as I snail through!

Here are a few gems that I have found as I read the chapter on, "Fighting for Joy Like a Justified Sinner". This is a wonderful read, and I hope you enjoy the following bits as I have.

Christ himself connected joy and the cross in his own soul.

Hebrews 12:2 tells us, "For the joy set before him [he] endured the cross."

So in his own heart the unshakable hope of joy with the Father sustained him through his final suffering. He prayed the night before he died,

"Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory

that I had with you before the world existed" (John 17:5)

~John Piper, When I Don't Desire God

I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse,

for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, "The same yesterday, today, and forever." Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed. I was loosed from my afflictions and irons;

my temptations also fled away; so that from that time those dreadful scriptures of God [about the unforgivable sin] left off to trouble me;

now went I also home rejoicing for the grace and love of God.

~John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners

Quote from The Pleasures of God

I am currently reading, among four other books, The Pleasures of God by John Piper This is my first book to read by him and by the first chapter he quickly became a favorite.

I was in Austin this past weekend and it gave me a good chance to really dig into books that have been neglected, this one included.

In one of the chapters, he discusses a letter he wrote to a man who didn't believe God is fully sovereign and he has a quote from A.W. Tozer on the subject. If you haven't read anything by Tozer, you really should. Here is a small taste of his writings:

"Omnipotence is not a name given to the sum of all power but an attribute of a personal God whom we Christians believe to be the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and of all who believe on Him to life eternal. The worshipping man finds this knowledge a source of wonderful strength for his inner life. His faith rises to take the great leap upward into the fellowship of Him who can do whatever He wills to do, for whom nothing is hard or difficult because he possesses power absolute."

-A.W. Tozer

In Christ,

Micaela

A quote from a book

"To know a soul's proportions you need to know its passions. The true dimensions of a soul are seen in its delights. Not what we dutifully will but what we passionately want reveals our excellence or evil."

-John Piper, The Pleasures of God

A Quote on Fasting

Over the past few weeks I have been reading A Hunger For God along with my devotional and cup of Trader Joe's Rooibus.

Like most of the Piper books I read, it's a bit slow going because of the content-however I am always blessed and convicted by reading it and can't wait to read another :)

So, as I said in an earlier post, I highly encourage you to read this one.

I was especially blessed this mornings chapter, Finding God in the Garden of Pain; here is a quote from John Chrysostom:

Fasting is, as much as lies in us, an imitation of the angels, a contemning of things present, a school of prayer, a nourishment of the soul, a bridle of the mouth, an abatement of concuspiscence; it mollifies rage, it appeases anger, it calms the tempests of nature, it excites reason, it clears the mind, it dis-burdens the flesh, it chases away the night-pollutions, it frees from headache. By fasting, a man gets composed behavior, free utterance of his tongue, right apprehensions of his mind.

Recent blog find...

A few weeks ago I started reading the blog of Abraham and Molly Piper; it's mostly Molly who writes on the blog but it is about the entire family:)
I've said before that I really enjoy reading John Piper's books and blog; now I am also enjoying his son's family blog. Each post is interesting and I really like the way she writes.

One of the main reasons I think I enjoy it is because I am a highly emotional person.
Yes, I know it's not all about me, however, I think highly emotional people tend to fall into periods of being slightly depressed and are somewhat easily grieved over something/someone.
They also tend to write encouraging things and give good, practical advice to people who are hurting; because they know what it's like.

Molly Piper knows what it is to truly grieve, and as a result has a very realistic yet encouraging outlook on this blog.
Please don't think that every post is dripping with dramatic agony and sorrow; that would be called a depressing blog.
What each post has is honesty and the willingness to put your thoughts and ideas on a public place for everyone to see.
I hope that you will see that it has a beauty that can only come from the Lord and the courage to persevere through various trials.

Which is especially helpful for someone like me.

"Love is costly."

I have been reading a small book recently called, The Dangerous Duty of Delight by John Piper.

Cover to cover it is no more than 96 pages (and I am on page 55) but has been so convicting and encouraging. I really enjoy reading Mr. Piper's blog and the books that he has written, and this one is no exception.

This book is like a smaller, condensed version of Desiring God. Both books use Psalm 27:4 as a foundation,

One thing I have asked of the LORD,

that will I seek after;

that I may dwell in the house of the LORD

all the days of my life,

to behold the beauty of the LORD,

and to inquire in His temple.

Also, on of my favorite quotes, "Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee"

by St. Augustine. I would highly recommend it as a companion in your daily devotionals;

you could comfortably read a chapter a day and be very blessed and convicted!

There is a particular chapter in the book that has had a great impact on me, called

"Pursue Your Joy in the Joy of the Beloved"

One of the bits that stood out for me was a quote by Jonathan Edwards in regards to the proper gain a person receives from loving someone:

In some sense the most benevolent, generous person in the world

seeks his own happiness in doing good to others,

because he places his happiness in their good.

His mind is so enlarged as to take them, as it were, into himself.

Thus when they are happy, he feels it;

he partakes with them, and is happy in their happiness.

It is here that I began my mental struggle.

I go back and forth between praying for this quality in my life, desiring to be that selfless; then some experience in the past of "Love gone wrong" gets in the way.

Do you have someone like that in your life?

For example, this person in my life often brings to mind the verse in James 4:17,

"Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin."

The struggle went away as I continued reading. I realized that one of the main issues was that I was afraid to love and not be loved in return.

I had an issue with the purpose of loving someone when that love does not come easily.

However, Mr. Piper went on to clarify for me that,

"The pursuit of true gain is an essential motive for every good deed."

So what is genuine love? And how do I identify it? What is the difference between truly loving someone and simply running off an emotional high?

Well, Mr. Piper lists four characteristics of genuine love.

(I won't write the entire explanation because I want you to read the book and not just this post.)

~Genuine love is a work of divine grace.

~This experience of His grace will fill you with His joy.

~That joy in His grace will overflow in generosity to meet the needs of others.

~Will instill a desire to give beyond your own ability.

"Love is the overflow and expansion of joy in God, which gladly meets the needs of others.

Love is not merely the passive overflow, but the aggressive extension and expansion and completion of joy in God..."

I do realize the majority of this post is someone else's words and thoughts but just know it is not because I wanted to write an "easy post" filled with deep quotes and the meaningful words of great men.
Like I said in the beginning, this book has made a great impact on me and this is the sort of thing that happens after I read a book like this: I want to buy a copy for all my friends and the mailman!

I am a highly emotional, sentimental person (suprise, suprise); the sort that can't just befriend someone; I want to bring them into the depths of a friendship after the first meeting. It's not always the best thing but I am still learning :)

There is so much more I would like to say about this chapter, but I'll end with a quote

(Read above).

"If we took no pleasure in the good of others,

we would feel no pain when the good is impeded.

So make no mistake,

love is on a passionate pursuit to satisfy our deepest longings in the

God-centered good of the beloved....

Love costs you your life in this world.

But in the world to come the joys of eternal life are more than sufficient reward."

"Don't Waste Your Cancer" or your mornings for that matter.

Recently I have been thinking about the scripture passage I posted a few days ago.

It has been interesting to see how the Lord has reminded me of it.

As I began reading more in Job and Lamentations I thought of the beautiful portions that we sing in hymns and place on our walls in frames,

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see.

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

What I hadn't thought about was the "Morning by morning" that the author experienced.

Usually when I think of the "Morning by morning" I typically think of hot buttermilk pancakes and orange juice, but the author was experiencing a time of suffering.

To sing His praises while enjoying fresh strawberries and while going through a dark affliction are two very different things.

So, I was thinking about this when I read John Piper's Desiring God blog and I would highly encourage you to read it; particularly the most recent post Don't Waste Your Cancer.

It deals mainly with a man who was recently diagnosed with cancer but it can apply to a varity of situations, whether you know someone who is seriously ill or perhaps you are or have been ill yourself. It was challenging and provided complete answers to some common statements and questions.

“My joy will be in you, and your joy will be made full. Your grief will be turned to joy. No one will take your joy away from you. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy will be made full. These things I speak in the world, so that they may have my joy made full in themselves” (selection from John 15-17)