By His Spirit
Think of the one area in your life right now in which it seems that it will take everything you have to make it through. Maybe it’s a class in graduate school or seminary. Perhaps it’s a season of struggle…
Tag Spirit of God
Steadfast Under Trial
If anything gives us the opportunity to be unfaithful to God it is trials. In the midst of suffering we are often tempted to doubt God’s faithfulness and friendship, goodness and grace, and power and promises. We sometimes wonder if…
Philosophy, Marriage and the Queen
Philosophy is the love of wisdom. However, as soon as some hear the sound of the word they think of an unbearable heaviness. They immediately think thoughts that don’t often approximate what philosophy really is at its heart. What is…
The Confession & the Study of Scripture
Shepherding visits are helpful for shepherds and sheep. For the flock, the visit provides informal genuine care and guidance. Among many blessings, shepherding affords the under-shepherd an opportunity to glean information that will enable him to better care for the…
His Steadfast Love Endures Forever
I have sat before women with tears streaming down their face confessing the truth of God’s sovereignty, but questioning His love in the face of death, despair, disappointment and disillusionment. Whether it’s the loss of a baby, the end of…
Sovereignty and Salvation
Recently, while picking up my daughter from school I asked my customary question: “So, how was your day?” Normally, the response is brief, but this day was one of those exceptions. “History class was interesting. We had a discussion on…
Martin Luther and Stinkering at Satan
Legend has it that the great Reformer Martin Luther once threw an ink well at the Devil who had been incessantly accusing him.[1] Whether or not this is true, Luther certainly had remarkable fits and fights with the ancient foe…
The Gentleness of God
The much-loved hymn, ‘I greet thee who my sure Redeemer art’ – included in the Strasbourg Psalter of 1545 and attributed to John Calvin – contains the lines, Thou hast the true and perfect gentleness, No harshness hast Thou, and…
How Does God Harden Hearts?
Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens (Rom. 9:18). In the well-known story of Israel’s exodus from Egypt, God is described as hardening Pharaoh’s heart so that Pharaoh disobeys God. In point of…
What the Bible Teaches About Anxiety & Contentment
“Our life on earth is a brief pilgrimage between two moments of nakedness.” So wrote the late Rev. John Stott. He was commenting on Paul’s candid way of summoning the believer’s soul to the green pastures of contentment. Writing to…