A little Martin Luther & John Calvin

“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christianity. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace to him, if he flinches at that one point.”

A follower of Martin Luther, 2 April 1526, quoted in Chronicles of the Schönberg-Cotta Family (New York, 1865), page 321.

Where the battle rages

 

is a post from: Ray Ortlund

 

. . . as the happiest thing of all

Posted: 28 Aug 2012 04:39 PM PDT

“Let us consider this settled: that no one who has made progress in the school of Christ who does not joyfully await the day of death and final resurrection. . . . Let us not hesitate to await the Lord’s coming, not only with longing, but also with groaning and sighs, as the happiest thing of all.  He will come to us as Redeemer.”

John Calvin, Institutes, 3.9.5.

. . . as the happiest thing of all

is a post from: Ray Ortlund

Perfect Grumpy Day Gift

'nuf said.

They Unlocked Their Door

“It is noteworthy [in Acts chapter 2] that the disciples, who appear to have been hiding away from their enemies in the spirit of John 20:19, immediately became different people.  They unlocked their door, and went down to the most public place they could find and there preached Jesus boldly.  This change from cringing cowards to fearless preachers was permanent.  We read of Christians making all sorts of mistakes afterwards, and they are far from being perfect.  But we do not again read of them hiding away for fear of men.  The Spirit altered all that.  From now on they became fearless vehicles of the Spirit in proclaiming to men the message of the gospel.”

Leon Morris, Spirit of the Living God (Chicago, 1960), page 53.

They unlocked their door

is a post from: Ray Ortlund

Lord, please make me a fearless vehicle of the Spirit!

A Season After Sifting

The day after you came to me the Lord said to me:

"Arise, for behold, the winter is past;

the rain is over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth,

the season of singing has come."

Hallelujah, Lord!

Though my earthly foundations quiver ever still;

the snow has melted,

ice no longer crushes me.

Flowers cover this tilled landscape,

making brighter the dwelling of broken wineskin.

Angels have come,

laying hands on weary bones,

they bear water and bread.

I can more than rest from toil,

I may, like Ruth the Moabite,

arise, behold and rejoice in this season of singing.

Spiritual Depression in the Psalms

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy68YXttAvw&feature=related

Spiritual Depression D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

My Dry and Empty Barren Soul

“I can feelingly say, he has proved himself stronger than I and his goodness superior to all my unworthiness.  He tells me (and enables me to believe it) that I am fair, and there is no spot in me.  Though an enemy, he calls me his friend; though a traitor, a child; though a beggared prodigal, he clothes me with the best robe and has put a ring of endless love and mercy on my hand.  And though I am sorely distressed by spiritual and internal foes, afflicted, tormented and bowed down almost to death with the sense of my own present barrenness, ingratitude and proneness to evil, he secretly shows me his bleeding wounds and softly and powerfully whispers to my soul, ‘I am thy great salvation.’  His free distinguishing grace is the bottom on which is fixed the rest of my poor weary tempted soul.   On this I ground my hope, often times when unsupported by any other evidence, save only the Spirit of adoption received from him.  When my dry and empty barren soul is parched with thirst, he kindly bids me come to him and drink my fill at the fountainhead.  In a word, he empowers me to say with experiential evidence, ‘Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.’ Amen and amen.”

Joseph Hart (1712-1768), quoted in Peter C. Rae, “Joseph Hart and His Hymns,” Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology 6 (1988): 22-23.

My dry and empty barren soul

is a post from: Ray Ortlund