Taming the Tongue (1)

Special thanks to Celeste Daily of Not Conformed for writing this first post:

“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways, and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.”  James 3: 1-2(ESV)
 
Praying about this verse has caused me to closely watch the things that I and others around me say. I have discovered that we say things that praise, mock, and hurt people every single day. When we are truly happy for someone we help build them up by rejoicing with them. When we are arguing with someone we say things we don’t really mean. The tongue is a powerful weapon and words are its ammo.
 
Preachers have a responsibility to set an example for their congregation. They are responsible to teaching the word of God in a truthful way. This verse warns of the judgment preachers shall receive because of this God ordained responsibility. Preachers have been given a “power” or influence over others. With this influence comes the great responsibility to honor God with every word they say.
 
Not only preachers but every person needs to learn to bridle his/her tongue. As James says:
 
“For we all stumble in many ways, and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.”
 
If we as Christians are working to follow Christ, the only perfect man, then we need to control the things we say. Only then can we follow the example Christ has set for us.

Taming the Tongue Intro

I’ve been rather busy lately so I haven’t posted for awhile. The next few posts will be on Taming the Tongue from James 3. I’ve asked a few fellow bloggers to help out so watch this space!

The Heart of Worship

Ever been singing a song in church and had your imagination running wild the whole time? Or singing a hymn without considering the words? Or just getting a psychadelic kick out of a song because it gives you goosebumps? I know I have.

When we sing songs of praise to God like this are they truly glorifying him? Surely not. We end up worshipping the song rather than the God of which the song speaks.

A church in the USA had a problem like this. Their worship became a way to entertain themselves week after week. Eventually they were convicted of this and stripped their orchestra to the bare minimum. They also wrote a great song that speaks to the very issue:

Verse 1:
When the music fades
All is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that’s of worth
That will bless Your heart

Bridge:
I’ll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You’re looking into my heart

Chorus:
I’m coming back to the heart of worship
And it’s all about You,
It’s all about You, Jesus
I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it
When it’s all about You,
It’s all about You, Jesus

Verse 2:
King of endless worth
No one could express
How much You deserve
Though I’m weak and poor
All I have is Yours
Every single breath

Bridge:
I’ll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You’re looking into my heart

Chorus:
I’m coming back to the heart of worship
And it’s all about You,
It’s all about You, Jesus
I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it
And it’s all about You,
It’s all about You, Jesus

Chorus:
I’m coming back to the heart of worship,
And it’s all about You,
It’s all about You, Jesus
I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it
When it’s all about You,
It’s all about You, Jesus

Amen!

 

 

Rock of Ages

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy riven side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save me from its guilt and power.

Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All could never sin erase,
Thou must save, and save by grace.

Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress,
Helpless, look to Thee for grace:
Foul, I to the fountain fly,
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,
When mine eyes shall close in death,
When I soar to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.

 

Romans 5

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

 ”You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.  

 ”Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.

 ”But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

 ”Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

 ”The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Sermon.

Prayer (2)

As never before, my will and I stood face to face. I asked my will the straight question, “Will, are you ready for an hour of prayer?” Will answered, “Here I am, and I’m quite ready, if you are.” So Will and I linked arms and turned to go for our time of prayer. At once all the emotions began pulling the other way and protesting, “We’re not coming.” I saw Will stagger just a bit, so I asked, “Can you stick it out ,Will?” and Will replied, “Yes, if you can.” So Will went, and we got down to prayer, dragging those wriggling, obstreperous emotions with us. It was a struggle all the way through. At one point, when Will and I were in the middle of an ernest intercession, I suddenly found one of those traitorous emotions had snared my imagination and had run off to the golf course; and it was all I could do to drag the wicked rascal back. A bit later I found another of the emotions had sneaked away with some off-guard thoughts and I was in the pulpit, two days ahead of schedule, preaching a sermon that I had not yet finished preparing!

At the end of that hour, if you had asked me, “Have you had a ‘good time’?” I would have had to reply, “No, it has been a wearying wrestle with contrary emotions and traunt imagination from beginning to end.” What is more, that battle with the emotions continued for between two and three weeks, and if you had asked me at the end of that period, “Have you had a ‘good time’ in your daily praying?” I would have had to confess, “No, at times it has seemed as thought the heavens were brass, and God too distant to hear, and the Lord Jesus strangely aloof, and prayer accomplished nothing.”

Yet something was happening. For one thing, Will and I really taught the emotions that we were completely independant from them. Also, one morning, about two weeks after the contest began, just when Will and I were going for another time of prayer, I overheard one of the emotions whisper to the other, “Come on, you guys, it is no use wasting any more time resisting: they’ll go just the same.” That morning, for the first time, even though the emotions were still suddenlu uncooperative, they were at least quiescent, which allowed Will and me to get on with prayer undistractedly.

Then, another couple of weeks later, what do you think happened? During one of our prayer times, when Will and I were no more thinking of the emotions than of the man on the moon, one of the most vigorous of the emotions suddenly sprang up and shouted, “Hallelujah!” at which all of the other emotions exclaimed, “Amen!” And for the first time  the whole of my being–intellect, will, and emotions–was united in one coordinated prayer-operation.” 

–Dr. J. Sidlow Baxter

God’s Grace

Over the past December holidays I was extremely glad to put school on hold. It was great at first until I realized I was also spiritually “on hold”. I stopped reading my Bible, hardly ever prayed and was just really sluggish. Even after I realized this I didn’t change anything. To be honest I had no real desire to change anything at that point. Looking back on this I believe it was one of my all time lows. Nothing I did was fun anymore and I became extremely bored and almost depressed.

Thanks to the grace of God the Holy Spirit put a desire in me to again read the Word and devote myself to Him. After just that first quiet time by myself I was feeling rejuvenated. While being on hold over the holidays I was numb, but was brought back to the reality that I need God. Without Him I am nothing and can be nothing.

It’s hard to put into words how great the grace of God is. Without it where would we be?

This all happened just before the start of the next school year. The timing was perfect. God’s grace prepared me to work hard this year for His honour and glory.

What makes this even more amazing is God’s providence in all of this. The first book I had to read for school was The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges*. In it he deals with the believer’s pursuit of holiness and God’s grace. It seemed to speak right to where I was. No doubt this is how God was using it.

I use myself as an example just to remind you all of how dependant we are on the grace of God. Often we can take it for granted or even take advantage of it. Paul’s argument against this is brilliant: 

 “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” - Romans 6:1-4

As believers God’s grace isn’t an excuse to do whatever we want. Rather it is motivation to serve God better. By God’s grace we can take all our sins to Him and as unworthy as we are they will be forgiven.

* By the way I highly recommend that you read this book. It will be of great help in your pursuit of holiness.

Praise The Lord!

 Shout To The Lord

My Jesus, My Savior
Lord there is none like You
All of my days, I want to praise
The wonders of Your mighty love
My Comfort, My Shelter
Tower of refuge and strength
Let every breath, all that I am
Never cease to worship You

Shout to the Lord, all the earth
Let us sing. Power and majesty, praise to the King.
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name
I sing for joy at the work of Your hands
Forever I’ll love you, forever I’ll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have in
you

Knowing You

All I once held dear, built my life upon
All this world reveres and wars to own
All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now compared to this

Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You
There is no greater thing
You’re my all, You’re the best
You’re my joy, my righteousness
And I love You Lord

Now my heart’s desire is to know You more
To be found in You and know as Yours
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All surpassing gift of righteousnessKnowing You, Jesus, knowing You
There is no greater thing
You’re my all, You’re the best
You’re my joy, my righteousness
And I love You Lord

Oh to know the power of Your risen life
And to know You in Your sufferings
To become like You in Your death, my Lord
So with You to live and never die

Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You
There is no greater thing
You’re my all, You’re the best
You’re my joy, my righteousness
And I love You Lord

Frail

Convinced of my deception
I’ve always been a fool
I fear this love reaction
Just like you said I would

A rose could never lie
About the love it brings
And I could never promise
To be any of those things

If I was not so weak
If I was not so cold
If I was not so scared of being broken
Growing old
I would be…
I would be…
I would be…

Blessed are the shallow
Depth they’ll never find
Seems to be some comfort
In rooms I try to hide

Exposed beyond the shadows
You take the cup from me
Your dirt removes my blindness
Your pain becomes my peace

If I was not so weak
If I was not so cold
If I was not so scared of being broken
Growing old
I would be…
I would be…
I would be…

Frail…

- Jars of Clay

Prayer

“The work of praying is prerequisite to all other work in the Kingdom of God, for the simple reason that it is by prayer that we couple the powers of heaven to our helplessness, the powers which can turn water into wine and remove mountains in our own life and in the lives of others, the powers which can awaken those who sleep in sin and raise up the dead, the powers which can capture strongholds and make the immpossible possible.” - O. Hallesby, Prayer