Month: February 2015

I am weak, and therefore I often feel that I am unfit for ministry. Is weakness a disqualifier for ministry?

You could argue that if human weakness was an automatic disqualifier from ministry, none of the disciples would have been called into ministry. The fact of the matter is that there is never a day when you don’t demonstrate somehow, someway that you are weak. There is never a day when you don‘t reveal that there are still pockets of foolishness in you. In fact, God will use the responsibilities, opportunities, burdens, and temptations of ministry to reveal to you and those who love you how weak you really are. He reveals your weakness to you so that you will continue to seek the help of His grace, and he reveals it to others so that they can be instruments of His grace in your life. Paul didn’t resign his ministry because he became convinced he was the foremost of all sinners. No, you could argue that it is your admission of weakness that protects your ministry from becoming all about human reputation and kingdom building. And it is your weakness that protects you from the dangers of self-righteousness and self-reliance.
–Paul David Tripp

Take time to thank God for your areas of weakness that remind you to rely on Him and on others.

God is not only the doctor who prescribes.
He is the nurse who lifts up our powerless head and puts the spoon in our mouth.
And He is the medicine.
–John Piper

He is ALL that we need!

In many respects I would find an unresurrected Jesus easier to accept.
Easter makes Him dangerous.
Because of Easter I have to listen to His extravagant claims and can no longer pick and choose from His sayings. Moreover, Easter means He must be loose out there somewhere.
Like the disciples, I never know where Jesus might turn up, how He might speak to me, what He might ask of me. As Frederick Buechner says, Easter means “we can never nail Him down, not even if the nails we use are real and the thing we nail Him to is a cross.”
–Philip Yancey

He is alive and loose out there somewhere. What might He say to me today?

Marriage brings the property of one person over to the other, as they both now share the resources…

…the believing soul, by the pledge of its faith in Christ, becomes free from all sin, fearless of death, safe from hell, and endowed with the eternal righteousness, life, and salvation of its husband Christ. Thus He presents to Himself a glorious bride, without spot or wrinkle…. Christ, that rich and pious husband, takes as a wife a needy and impious harlot, redeeming her from all her evils, and supplying her with all His good things. It is impossible now that her sins should destroy her, since they have been laid upon Christ and swallowed up in Him, and since she has in her husband Christ a righteousness which she may claim as her own, and which she can set up with confidence against all her sins, against death and hell, saying: “If I have sinned, my Christ, in whom I believe, has not sinned; all mine is His, and all His is mine”
–Martin Luther

I am so glad that He chose me even though I didn’t deserve it!

In many of our prayers, we speak to God, but we don’t ask Him to speak back to us. In fact, we might be afraid to hear from God, knowing that He might say something to us that we don’t want to hear. He might tell us “no” to the request we have asked, or He might ask us to do something that we don’t really want to do. Because of this, we might be like the children of Israel, who once said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.” They wanted someone to be a go-between, a mediator, for them with God. But instead of asking the request of the children of Israel, I believe we should pray this prayer from 550 years ago:

Let not God speak to us or we will die? Not so, Lord, not so do I pray. Rather with Samuel the prophet I entreat humbly and earnestly: “Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.” Do not let Moses or any of the prophets speak to me; but You speak, O Lord God, Who inspired and enlightened all the prophets; for You alone, without them, can instruct me perfectly, whereas they, without You, can do nothing. They, indeed, utter fine words, but they cannot impart the Holy Spirit. They do indeed speak beautifully, but if You remain silent they cannot inflame the heart. They deliver the message; You lay bare the sense of the message. They place before us mysteries, but You unlock their meaning. They proclaim commandments; You help us to keep them. They point out the way; You give strength for the journey. They work only outwardly; You instruct and enlighten our hearts. They water on the outside; You give the increase. They cry out words; You give understanding to the hearer.
…Speak, therefore, Lord, for Your servant listens. “Thou hast the words of eternal life.” Speak to me for the comfort of my soul and for the amendment of my life, for Your praise, Your glory, and Your everlasting honor.
–Thomas à Kempis