mushrooms | Bonnie's Prayer Affair

KNOWING WE ARE DUST

“If we are truly [God’s] in this world, we are ready to come down and humble ourselves, to be misunderstood, to be laughed at and treated with scorn and derision, in a sense to be crucified—certainly in spirit, perhaps even in body” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#332, p523).

“[E]ven the greatest saints, though realizing that they can only be strong in the grace of God, and not in themselves, are nevertheless more sure than they ought to be of their own bravery and persistence, unless [God] leads them by the trails of life into a deeper knowledge of themselves. This proud idea induced even David to say: “As for me, I said in my prosperity, ‘I shall never be moved.’ By your favor, O LORD, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed” (Ps 30:6-7 ESV). Though in prosperity many saints have flattered themselves with perseverance and patience, yet they learned that they had deceived themselves when adversity broke down their resistance” John Calvin (ref#313, p48).

“God chooses to exercise his children with continual conflict, so that they may flee with alarm to hide themselves under his wings, where they may abide in peace” John Calvin (ref#164, March 30^th).

“It is by feeling our utter insufficiency, either to perform duty or to withstand our enemies, that the Lord takes occasion to show us the suitableness, the sufficiency, the freeness, the unchangeableness of his power and grace” John Newton (ref#322, p182).

God’s Presence Makes Glad

When I can sit at Jesus’ feet,

And he anoints my head,

Such peace ensues, so calm and sweet,

I think my foes all dead.

My simple heart then fondly dreams,

It will see war no more;

Too firm to shrink my mountain seems,

And every storm blows o’er.

Then Jesus sends a trying hour,

This lurking pride to quell;

My dead foes rise with dreadful power,

And drag me down to hell.

Now faints my heart within me quite,

My mountain disappears;

All grace is vanished from my sight,

And faith seems lost in fears.

At length my Lord, with sweet surprise,

Returns to loose my bands,

Brings kind compassion in his eyes,

And pardon in his hands.

I drop my vile head in the dust,

And at my Lord’s feet fall;

His grace is now my song and boast,

And Christ my All in All.

John Berridge (ref#224, Song #336)

Posted by bonniefaurote

COMING TO GOD AS BEGGARS

“[L]et me know how fleeting I am” (Ps 39:4 ESV)!

“To suppose mercy without supposing misery, or pity without calamity, is a contradiction. Men must be sensible that the law is against them and that the wrath of God abides. They must be sensible that they are not worthy that God should have mercy on them. They come to God as beggars” Jonathan Edwards (ref#229, p56).

“It becomes us to be humbled into the dust; yet our grief, though it cannot be too great, may be under a wrong direction; and if it leads us to impatience or distrust, it certainly is so” John Newton (ref#322, p180).

“[Oh, T]hat I may know and love thee above all things; and above all things loathe and abhor myself. Grant that I may be so ravished in the wonder and love of thee, that I may forget myself and all things, feel neither prosperity nor adversity, may not fear to suffer all the pains of this world. Oh! Let me find thee more inwardly and verily present with me than I am with myself” Herny Scougal (ref#321, p144).

“[W]e are naturally prone to attribute everything to our human flesh, unless we have, as it were, object lessons of our stupidity, we easily form an exaggerated notion of our strength, and we take for granted that, whatever hardships may happen, we will remain invincible” John Calvin (ref#313, p47).

God Our Refuge

Dear Refuge of my weary soul,

On thee, when sorrows rise,

On thee, when waves of trouble roll,

My fainting hope relies.

[To thee I tell each rising grief,

For thou alone canst heal’

Thy word can bring a sweet relief

For every pain I feel.]

But O! when gloomy doubts prevail,

I fear to call thee mine;

The springs of comfort seem to fail,

And all my hopes decline.

Yet, gracious God, where shall I flee?

Thou art my only trust;

And still my soul would cleave to thee,

Though prostrate in the dust.

[Hast thou not bid me seek thy face,

And shall I seek in vain?

And can the ear of sovereign grace

Be deaf when I complain?

No; still the ear of sovereign grace

Attends the mourner’s prayer;

O may I ever find access

To breathe my sorrows there!]

Thy mercy-seat is open still;

Here let my soul retreat;

With humble hope attend thy will,

And wait beneath thy feet.

A. Steele (ref#224, Song #136)

Posted by bonniefaurote

KILLING PRIDE

“[T]he most heavily laden branches bow the lowest down” Andrew Murray (ref#266, p132).

GOD has to continue afflicting us because every minute we are un-afflicted we head toward pride, forgetting who rules the world. When un-afflicted we revel in our accomplishments.

“When you discipline us for our sins, you consume like a moth what is precious to us” (Ps 39:11 NLT)!

“This vanity [God] cannot better repress than by proving to us from experience not only our folly, but also our extreme frailty. Therefore he afflicts us with humiliation, or poverty, or loss of relatives, or disease, or other calamities” John Calvin (ref#313, p47).

“[T]he Lord himself, as he deems fit, uses the cross to oppose, restrain, and subdue the arrogance of our flesh” John Calvin (ref#313, p53).

“[T]he Lord, by pain, sickness, and disappointments weakens our attachment to this world, and makes the thought of quitting it more familiar and more desirable” John Newton (ref#322, p173).

“Take up your own daily cross. It is the burden best suited for your shoulder, and will prove most effective in making you perfect. Down meddlesome self and proud impatience! It is not for you, but only for the Lord of Love, to choose!

Trials must and will befall—

But with humble faith to see

Love inscribed upon them all;

This is happiness to me” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, Nov 11^th PM).

Posted by bonniefaurote

REASONS FOR CONFLICT

“In every age and in every land, God’s messengers have been called upon to meet bitter opposition from those who deliberately chose to reject the light of heaven” Ellen G. White (ref#331, p179).

“So great is the insensibility of men that they cannot be aroused unless they are chastised and made to feel the blows” John Calvin (ref#164, April 9^th).

“The furnace is a necessary process of sanctification. If not, why has God ordered it? It is necessary to purify the heart, to refine the affections, to chasten the soul, to wean it from an empty world, to draw it from the creature, and to center it in God. Blessed indeed is anything that makes sin more exceedingly sinful; that weans and draws away from earth; that endears Jesus and that makes the soul a partaker of His holiness” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, Dec 7^th).

“You are not sick, lonely, or sorrowing because there is wrath in God, for all that wrath was borne by your redeeming Savior. You are in your situation because God is love. Jesus bore away the curse and the sin so that God now brims the cup He emptied with a love that passes knowledge” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, Sept 3^rd).

“He has appointed that sanctification should be effected, and sin mortified, not at once completely, but by little and little; and doubtless he has wise reasons for it. Therefore, though we are to desire a growth in grace, we should, at the same time not be discouraged or despond, because we feel that conflict” John Newton (ref#322, p181).

“[T]he Lord tries us by adversities so that our salvation may thereby gradually advance. Those evils that do in a manner promote our happiness then cannot render us miserable. [W]e are pressed and seem to be nearly consumed, we do not yet cease to feel God’s favor toward us. Grace that can teach us patience in tribulation is certainly amazing” John Calvin (ref#164, July 30^th).

Posted by bonniefaurote

UNDERSTANDING DISCIPLINE

“[Y]ou have been fully forgiven, but you have not yet been completely rebuilt into all that grace will make you. The cross of Jesus guarantees that all broken things will be fixed, but they are not fixed yet. So as I bask in the complete forgiveness that I have been given and enjoy freedom from the anxiety that I will not measure up, I cannot live unwisely. One danger (sin) still lives inside me and another (temptation) still lurks outside me, so I am still a person in daily and desperate need of grace. Forgiveness is complete. Final restoration is yet to come. Knowing you live in between the two is the key to a restful and wise Christian life” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, May 21^st).

“[God’s] discipline is never the result of his rejection, but the fruit of his acceptance” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, Nov 1^st).

“His discipline is not teaching you what to do to earn your place as one of his children; his careful, loving discipline actually proves that you are one of his children” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, March 20^th).

“[Our fathers] disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but [God] disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Heb 12:10-11 ESV).

“The Spirit does not remove our ‘infirmities,’ any more than the Lord took away Paul’s thorn in the flesh; but He enables us to bear them” A.W. Pink (ref#269, p145).

“[T]hrough many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22 ESV).

“It was never designed by God, when He chose His people, that they should be an untried people. They were never chosen for worldly peace and earthly joy” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, March 8^th AM).

“If we forget to live at the foot of the cross in deepest lowliness of spirit, God will not forget to make us suffer under His rod” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, March 6^th, PM).

Posted by bonniefaurote

SECURITY

A universal desire of GOD’s depraved creation is to be settled—to find a place we deem safe and secure and make every attempt to remain there. The draw for finding such a place is that there is no need for GOD. We are able to command ourselves and reject our Creator, GOD. This tendency is natural in us all.

“The [tower of] Babel enterprise is all about human independence and self-sufficiency apart from God, The builders believe that they have no need of God” ESV Study Bible (ref#125, p69).

And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower. And the LORD said, ‘Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them” (Gen 11:5-6 ESV).

Ever since GOD kicked Adam out of the Garden of Eden, so that he would not eat from the tree of life and live forever in his sinful state, GOD has had to direct man away from his destructive ways.

Since the beginning GOD has had to intervene into our lives to cause us to change course. GOD—the GOD of love—must move us away from pursuing our comfort. His thoughts are far better for us than our thoughts for ourselves. So thus, we come to the topic of “affliction.”

Oswald Chambers touched on this subject: “We command what we are able to explain, consequently it is natural to seek to explain” (ref#7, July 18^th).

This concept shows itself in a frightening way in our churches. Too many pew sitters are quick to study the Bible and learn church protocols—even immerse themselves in Christian service but are not inclined to pursue a relationship with JESUS, the Church’s Head.

The very base answer for GOD allowing affliction is to destroy our self-confidence while He works out a change in our nature. He continually moves us toward a new creature—one that we will eventually put our entire trust in living under His rule.

“Moab, you are like wine left to settle undisturbed, never poured from jar to jar. But now, I will send enemies to pour out the wine and smash the jars. I know about your pride, and how you strut and boast. But I also know bragging will never save you. So I will cry and mourn for Moab” (Jer 48:11-12; 29-31 CEV).

The following posts explain and encourage us as we face affliction. They will continue until November, LORD willing.

Posted by bonniefaurote

THE CONCLUSION OF IT ALL

“[J]ust as [I have] done nothing for [my] justification, so [I] need do nothing for [my] sanctification.” Watchman Nee (ref#387, p58). I need to do nothing but to live life ‘in CHRIST’—to work out what CHRIST has put in.

All my problems stem from unbelief. I choose to trust myself instead of GOD. As soon as I begin to work things out myself satan comes to help me. I get overwhelmed, discouraged, anxious, miserable, etc., because my inadequate flesh and my archenemy hands me failure. My unbelief, causing me to trust myself, brings me to a fruitless exercise of control.

In trusting myself as I walk toward complete sanctification I am preoccupied with gaining victory over my sin. But GOD’s way is to remove me, the sinner that is dealing with sin.

“God sets [me] free from the dominion of sin, not by strengthening [my] old man but by crucifying him. Such a discovery brings human striving and self-effort to an end” Watchman Nee (ref#387, p54)—if…if I believe by giving myself completely and constantly over to GOD’s rule satan will have no grounds to accuse.

Belief in JESUS means I am ‘in CHRIST.’

“Some of us have tried very hard to get rid of [the]sinful life, but we have found it most tenacious; What is the way out? It is not by trying to kill ourselves, but by recognizing that God has dealt with us in Christ” Watchman Nee (ref#387, p43).

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me”(Gal 2:20 ESV).

“A Christian is one who has been ‘crucified with Christ,’ who has died with Him, been buried with Him, risen with Him, ascended with Him, and is seated ‘in heavenly places’ with Him” Horatius Bonar (ref#326, p10).

“Christians [are] kept by being ‘in Christ,’ [by being] totally identified with him, [by] being actually his ‘spiritual body’ James Burton Coffman (ref#388).

“Chosen, called, quickened, washed, sanctified, and justified by God Himself, we are in no sense our own deliverers. The quarry out of which the marble comes is His; the marble itself is His, the digging and hewing and polishing are His; He is the sculptor and we the statue” Horatius Bonar (ref#326, p11). My sanctification is all GOD’s work; I am just the marble He digs, hews, and polishes. This represents me working out my salvation.

Posted by bonniefaurote

EVERLASTING JOY

“God richly provides us with everything to enjoy” (1 Tim 6:17 ESV).

“Happiness is every man’s desire; and none will come to Christ, unless they believe that it tends to their happiness” Richard Baxter (ref#225, Jan 18^th).

“[You] may be rich today and poor tomorrow; [you] may be sickly today and well tomorrow; [you] may be in happiness today and distressed tomorrow, but there is no change with regard to [your] relationship to God. If [GOD] loved me yesterday, He loves me today. My unmoving mansion of rest is my blessed Lord. I am a pilgrim in the world, but at home in my God. In the earth I wander, but in God I dwell in a quiet habitation” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, Feb 27^th AM).

“He is not working to give us that temporary situational emotional high; he is working to produce something much better—eternal joy” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, Sept 7^th).

“I can be calm and free from care

On any shore, since God is there.

While place we seek, or place we shun,

The soul finds happiness in none;

But with a God to guide our way,

‘Tis equal joy to go or stay.” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, Mar 16^th AM).

“What a privilege to possess God in all things while we have them, and all things in God when they are taken from us” John Newton (ref#322, p137).

“I have learned to be content (Phil 4:11). This statement implies that [the Apostle Paul] did not know how to be content at one time. Do not indulge the notion that you can be contented with learning, or learn without discipline. It is not a power that may be exercised naturally, but a science to be acquired gradually” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, Feb 16^th AM).

“O LOVE BEYOND COMPARE, Thou art good when thou givest, when thou takest away, when the sun shines upon me, when night gathers over me” The Valley of Vision (ref#76, p111).

“The Lord Jesus is a deep sea of joy: My soul shall dive in and shall be swallowed up in the delights of His company.” Charles Spurgeon

“The Holy Spirit gives us a new song of praise to the Lord” Charles F. Stanley (ref#230, p43).

“Sing aloud. Shout. Rejoice and exult with all your heart. The LORD your God is in your midst” (Zeph 3:14,17).

Posted by bonniefaurote

TRANSFORMED INTO HOLINESS

“To be holy is to be morally blameless. It is to be separated from sin and, therefore, consecrated to God. The word signifies ‘separation to God, and the conduct befitting those so separated’” Jerry Bridges (ref#244, p16).

The LORD encourages—He does not say I will not leave you but ‘I will smelt away your dross’ (Isa 1:25).

“It is the natural tendency of divine truth, when received into the heart, to produce holiness. The design of the whole plan of redemption was to secure the highest holiness and happiness of the creature; and when the gospel comes with the power of God unto the salvation of the soul, this end is preeminently secured. The renewed man is a pardoned man; the pardoned man becomes a holy man; and the holy man is a happy man. He who receives the doctrine of electing love in his heart by the power of the Spirit bears about with him the material of a holy walk; its tendency is to humble, abase, and sanctify the man. God alone has made him to differ from another. [H]e has received the free, distinguishing grace of God” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, Oct 22^nd).

“[Y]ou yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 2:5 ESV).

“[H]oliness is obedience to the will of God in whatever God directs. The holiness described in the Bible calls us to do more than separate ourselves from the moral pollution of the world around us. It calls us to obey God” Jerry Bridges (ref#244, p138). I can pretend I’m separating myself by obeying self-selected commands but that is much different than obeying GOD.

“[T]he grace of God is a seed that, however it lies hidden, will certainly in due time spring up, put forth itself, will bud and blossom and will bring forth rich fruit” Jonathan Edwards (ref#229, p115).

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2 ESV).

Posted by bonniefaurote

WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION

“’Work out your own salvation’ and ‘It is God which worketh in you’ (Phil 2:12-13)—are words which at once link human accountability and individual responsibility with divine power and accomplishment” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, Jan 19^th).

“The killing of your flesh is your duty, but his work” Kris Lundgaard (ref#383).

“I daily need God’s work of mercy in order to do his work of mercy” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, Jan 26^th).

“We are called. We are invited. But the responsibility to answer, the responsibility to follow, lies solely on us. T]he responsibility of yes—the choice of faith—lies completely in our hands. [W]e will never understand something until we live it out” Jarrad Gibler (ref#259).

“[B]ecome partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4 ESV).

“A lifelong pattern of growth in Christlike character is expected of Christians. [T]hey share in [Christ’s] nature as they become increasingly like him” The ESV Study Bible (ref#125, p2418).

“I will go before you
    and level the exalted places,
I will break in pieces the doors of bronze
    and cut through the bars of iron,
I will give you the treasures of darkness
    and the hoards in secret places,
that you may know that it is I, the LORD,
    the God of Israel, who call you by your name.
I call you by your name,
    I name you, though you do not know me.
I am the LORD, and there is no other,
    besides me there is no God;
    I equip you, though you do not know me,
that people may know, from the rising of the sun
    and from the west, that there is none besides me;
    I am the LORD, and there is no other.
I form light and create darkness;
    I make well-being and create calamity,
    I am the LORD, who does all these things” (Isa 45:2-7 ESV).