I'm Back

Dear Reader,

As you may have noticed, I've been gone for awhile again. This time, it was the fault of my computer, which decided to die on me, and I've spent the last few weeks slowly rebuilding it. However, I'm now back up and running, so stay tuned for more!

Limiting God

Dear Reader,

Do you ever stop and ask yourself why it is that we, as Christians, seek to limit the ways in which God can bless us? On the one hand, we cry out to Him for protection, for prosperity, for needs to be met, and yet, at the same time, we treat Him like Santa Claus: "God, I know You want to bless me, because Your word says so, so here's what I'd like You to do for me...." God is not sitting up in heaven waiting for our list of petitions! He is the all-knowing Creator, Who knew us before we were conceived! How silly we are to think that He will only bless us in ways we ask, or even in ways we want.

This was born out to me today. For some time, I have been looking and praying for God to work mightily in one of my close friendships. I have been clinging to God's promises and looking for Him to bless this particular friendship, and I even thought I might have some suggestions for Him as to ways in which He might choose to do so. Was I wrong! God stretched out His hand and caused circumstances that I had never even thought to ask of Him! He showed me that, while it is the height of foolishness to doubt God's faithfulness, it is almost as ridiculous for us to try and "submit proposals" to God, for His review and consideration.

Dear reader, don't make the mistake of assuming that God won't act, or can't move into a situation, unless you line out for Him specifically what you want Him to accomplish and, oh by the way, here's some ways You might want to go about accomplishing it. God is a merciful Father, and like a Father, He knows what we need before we ask it. Note that the text (Matt 6:8) doesn't say "He knows what you were going to ask Him before you ask it." It says He knows what we need. There is a world of difference, sometimes, between what we need and what we were going to ask God for.

Recommendations

Dear Reader,

Let me recommend to you some things which God has used recently to impact my life. The first is the book Alone With God by John MacArthur. It's an older title, but profoundly relevant to today's environment when the church is rapidly succumbing to the world, rather than being a beacon to the world. The book itself is about prayer, and the ways in which we have lost the ability, in our current culture, to truly connect with God one-on-one. The larger picture, however, is this: As the church is made up of people, when those people lose their ability to connect with God, and so impact the culture, the church, as a whole, loses that ability. In that sense, this is a crucially important book, not just for the individual Christian, but for the community of faith as a whole.

Secondly, (and thirdly) let me recommend to your attention two of the blogs in my subscription list (they're all good, but I want to highlight these two for now). The Rebelution, as many of you know, is Alex and Brett Harris's blog. The younger brothers of I Kissed Dating Goodbye author Josh Harris, these two have an incredible ministry to teens and young adults that expanded almost overnight from a simple blog, like this one, to a book, conference tour, and Internet-wide network of fellow teens. What they have to say is, quite simply, not being said by hardly anybody else.

The other blog I would recommend is Voddie Baucham's blog. Attached to that blog is also a link to his biography, which will give you much more insight into his life and work, but for an uncompromising look at some of the ways in which the church and the biblical worldview as a whole is rapidly being surrendered to the temptations of our modern society, check his blog out.

A Rebirth

Dear Reader,

Perhaps you wonder why I've written nothing in almost three months. The answer, simply, is because I embarked on a focused program of recreation. Not in the sense that we today define the word: having fun, but rather the true meaning: to create again. I set myself goals, to read through the entire Bible in 90 days, to maintain a focused and purposeful habit of daily prayer, and generally to remove as many distractions from my life as I could, in order that God would be able to speak to me and to work in me in ways that would have been impossible if I had not silenced the distractions as much as I could.

I am here to tell you that He has moved powerfully, and in profoundly unexpected ways! He has truly recreated me, into a person that I would have doubted I could become several months ago. He has proven Himself faithful to me time and time again, and He has given me a vision of what He can do, through me, to build His kingdom.

One of the avenues of this building work is this blog. While the original purpose of this blog (reflections on Morning and Evening by Spurgeon) was a sound one, and a beneficial one, God has shown me that this tool, the Internet, can be, and should be used for so much more than that! Indeed, what would the world be like if Spurgeon had been able to use the Internet? Somehow, I suspect he would not have been content with writing a few lines every couple of weeks.

This, then, is my recreated intent: To fill this blog with a wealth of God. Not merely restricted to one book, or even to books at all, but rather to allow the depth and breadth of Christianity to come through as much as possible. There is so much out there, in print, in the spoken word, even in other regions of the Internet, that it has become imperative for me to seek this out. And, through seeking, to do what little I can to facilitate others. Whether that is through a network of other blogs, or through continuing in the same vein as I started, by reflection on good books, my intent is not so much to change the purpose of this blog, as it is to expand and enlarge its focus.

So, dear reader, tell your friends. As God has worked powerfully in my personal life, it is my earnest prayer that He will work powerfully through this blog...that He will be clearly visible between the lines of my life, and the lives of all those who come in contact with this humble little blog.