3 Things the Holy Spirit Has Done for Every Believer

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Dana Dill

di8XpkXieIn a marvelous sermon, C.H. Spurgeon showed three necessary things for the Holy Spirit to do in the heart of a man in order to save his soul. They are listed as follows…

First, He Shows You the Evil of Your Sin. The first thing the Holy Spirit does when he comes into a man’s heart is this: he finds him with a very good opinion of himself: and there is nothing which prevents a man coming to Christ like a good opinion of himself. Why, says man, “I don’t want to come to Christ. I am a very good person! I feel I can walk into heaven on my own rights.” The Holy Spirit lays bare his heart, lets him see the loathsome cancer that is there eating away his life, uncovers to him all the blackness and defilement of that sink of hell, the human heart, and then the man stands aghast. “I never thought I was like this. Oh! those sins I thought were little, have swelled out to an immense stature. What I thought was a mole-hill has grown into a mountain; it was but the branch on the wall before, but now it has become a cedar of Lebanon!

Second, He Makes You Despair in Saving Yourself. Oh,” says the man to himself, “I will try and reform; I will do good deeds enough to wash these black deeds out.” Then comes the Holy Spirit and shows him that he cannot do this, takes away all his fancied power and strength, so that the man falls down on his knees in agony, and cries, “Oh! once I thought I could save myself by my good works, but now I find that

“If my tears could ever flow,
If my zeal no respite know,
These for sin could not atone,
You must save and you alone!'”

Third, the Holy Spirit Shows You the Cross. Then the heart sinks and the man is ready to despair. And he says, “I never can be saved. Nothing can save me.” Then, comes the Holy Spirit and shows the sinner the cross of Christ, gives him eyes anointed with heavenly eye-medicine and says, “Look to the cross, that Man died to save sinners; you feel that you are a sinner; he died to save you.” And he enables the heart to believe and to come to Christ. When his heart comes to Christ, by this sweet drawing of the Spirit, it finds “a peace with God which passes all understanding, which keeps his heart and mind through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Convicting us, despairing us, and bringing the only hope; thank God the Holy Spirit for His loving ministry.

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One Thing That Helps Reveal If You Want God or His Stuff

Posted on October 15, 2014 by Dana Dill

Thursday Night in the AmpitheaterRecently, I preached at the CVCS Middle School retreat up in Idyllwild Pines Christian Camp. The retreat’s theme was, “Walking in Truth” and all four of my sermons centered on the idea of truth and the Christian life. The second sermon (of four) I preached was on the essentiality of knowing truth about God, (i.e. having a true knowledge of Him and His works) to live the Christian life. I worked to show the students that the Christian life is built on and sustained by knowing and believing the truths of Christ.

Why did I choose to preach on the essentiality of knowing God’s truth to a bunch of middle schoolers? Is there not something more sexy and attention grabbing? Is this just another case that reveals how removed I am from the youth culture today? No, I don’t think so. I chose to preach this sermon because when it comes to God, many love to chase His gifts without wanting anything to do with God Himself. D.A. Carson explains:

When it comes to knowing God, we are a culture of the spiritually stunted. So much of our religion is packaged to address our felt needs – and these are almost uniformly anchored in our pursuit of our own happiness and fulfillment. God simply becomes the Great Being who, potentially at least, meets our needs and fulfills our aspirations. We think rather little of what He is like, what He expects of us, what He seeks in us. We are not captured by His holiness and His love; His thought and words capture too little of our imagination, to little of our discourse, too few of our priorities.

In the biblical view of things, a deeper knowledge of God brings with it massive improvements in the other areas mentioned: purity, integrity, evangelistic effectiveness, better study of Scripture, improved private and corporate worship, and much more. But if we seek these things without passionately desiring a deeper knowledge of God, we are selfishly running after God’s blessing without running after Him. We are even worse than the man who wants his wife’s service – someone to come home to, someone to cook and clean, someone to sleep with – without ever making the effort to really know and love His wife and discover what she wants and needs; we are worse than such a man, I say because God is more than any wife, more than the best of wives: He is perfect in His love, He has made us for Himself, and we are answerable to Him. (Take from A Call to Spiritual Reformation, p. 15-16).

Studying hard to know God better is one small evidence that you are more interested in Him than simply the blessing He may give you. Choosing not to grow your knowledge of God is often a sure sign that you could care less about Him and that you only want His stuff.

May we seek God for who He is and not for what He may give us. May our love for God be seen in our study of Him. Let us avoid running after His blessing and begin running only after Him.

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Three Relationships Every Christian Should Have

Posted on October 14, 2014 by Dana Dill

imagesAmong the many important relationships you do have as a Christian, I believe there are three specific relationships* you should make a priority to have.

You Need a Paul

Paul was a mentor to numerous young men, two of which are mentioned in Scripture are Timothy and Titus. Paul was an older man who sought to do whatever he could to help younger men grow into the godly men God called them to be (see 2 Timothy 2:1:3-7 for an example of this in action). Each of us need a Paul in our life. An older man or woman who we can learn from and be supported, encouraged, and equipped by.

For me, this role was (and is) filled wonderfully by Pastor Dave Keehn. Since the 8th grade, pastor Dave has taught me the Scriptures, modeled Christian life for me, encouraged me, rebuked me, corrected me, trained me, supported me, and just about every other good thing a man can do to mentor and disciple a younger man. He was there for middle school graduation, high school graduation, college graduation, my wedding (of which he officiated), and now co-labors with me in gospel ministry. I can confidently say that I would not be who I am today without my Paul, Pastor Dave Keehn. You see, for the majority of our life there will be someone a little further down the road than us with some wisdom and care to offer. Don’t neglect God’s gift of spiritual fathers and mothers. Get a Paul.

You Need a Barnabas

Barnabas is known in the Scriptures as an instrumental friend of Paul. He was the first one in the church to support Paul in his ministry and partnered with Paul in his missionary journeys. He worked tirelessly to encourage Paul and others to honor Christ with everything they had. We all need a Barnabas (or two or three) in our lives. We all need close friends who work to encourage us to serve and honor Christ with our lives. Proverbs 13:20 says, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm.” In other words, you will become who your closest friends are. Ask yourself, “Do my closest friends push me toward Christ or pull me away from him?” Think about that carefully. I encourage all to take the advice of Thomas Brooks, “Let your best friend be those who have made Christ their best friend.”

You Need a Timothy

Lastly, we all should have at least one Timothy in our life. Timothy was the young “mentee” of Paul. Timothy was encouraged, trained, supported, cared for, prayer for, taught, and loved by Paul. In fact, so close was their relationship that Paul had no problem referring to Timothy as his own “beloved child” (1 Timothy 1:2). May we all imitate Paul (1 Corinthians 11:1) and find our own Timothy to disciple. If you’re in high school, grab a middle schooler. If you are a college student, pick a high schooler at your church and start encouraging and point them toward Christ. I could go on, but you get the picture. Grab someone younger than you in age and faith and befriend their soul and fight for their joy in Christ. Let the older men teach the younger and the older women teach the younger (see Titus 2:1-8). May we pass on what Christ has given us.

So there are three key relationship I think every Christian should always have and if they don’t do whatever they can to get them. Find a Paul to grow you. Find a Barnabas to encourage you. Find a Timothy to serve. If you do, you will not regret it.

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The Saturday Post(s)

Posted on October 11, 2014 by Dana Dill

Saturday Post

How Same Sex Marriage Will Affect Friendship. It is not a slippery slope fallacy if the slope is, in fact, slippery. “Matthew Franck explains the unintended effect same-sex marriage will have on friendships in our society…”

A Brief Word About Science & the Word. Often times people think science is opposed to Christianity, however, the opposite is true. “A Christian understanding of revelation provides a basis for science and it limits science all at the same time.”

Advice to Guys Who Want to Date My Daughter (From a Father Who Has Been There). Some very good (& needed) words of wisdom for young men who want to date. I particular enjoy the first point. “First, treat my daughter as you would treat your sister—with absolute purity. David Powlison observes: ‘All women except one—your wife—are in the category of mother, grandmother, sister, daughter. Your girlfriend or fiancee is a ‘sister’ first of all and should be treated as such.’”

Getting It Right. Douglas Wilson brings an excellent parable about the nature of true, saving faith.

6 Reasons to Study Doctrine. Six reasons why studying doctrine is not something relegated to those with the spiritual gift of nerd.

Bleep! Why Christians Shouldn’t Cuss. Great stuff. I especially appreciate the last point. “In the end language is to be used for what glorifies God. A handy rule may be that if you aren’t prepared to use a particular word in your prayer to God then you shouldn’t be using it in your conversations with others.”

Pastor Saeed’s Letter to His Daughter. While being imprisoned for an 8 year sentence in Iran for preaching the gospel, “Saeed Abedini…writes an encouraging and beautiful letter to his daughter on her eighth birthday.”

Joan or John? Russell Moore envisions a situation many pastors will most likely face. “Joan tells you that when she was 20 she began the process of ‘transitioning’ from life as a man to life as a woman. She underwent extensive hormone therapy, followed by extensive plastic surgery—including so-called ‘gender reassignment surgery.’ She’s lived for the past 30 years—physically and socially—as a woman. ‘I want to do whatever it takes to follow Jesus,’ Joan tells you. “I want to repent . . . I just, I don’t know how to do it.’” What do you do?

Will Christians Be Left Behind? “Is the rapture taught in the Bible?” It may come as a shock to learn that many Bible-believing Christians today doubt the rapture, and that most Christians throughout history had never even heard of it.

Achieving Bible Fluency. Want to know the Bible fluently? Check out this very encouraging ministry.

The Best Parts of the Boring Parts of the Bible. “Let’s admit it, there are certain parts of the Bible we skim because . . . well . . . because we think they’re boring. They’re repetitive, overly detailed, full of names and places we can’t pronounce. So why bother with them? There are many reasons — not the least of which is that even the parts of the Bible we deem to be boring are significant because they are God’s word to us. Here’s my top ten list of the best things about the boring parts of the Bible.”

The Solemnization of Marriage. This is why Christians are serious about marriage staying defined as one man and one woman.

The Best Gun Ever Made.

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Gone Preaching

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Dana Dill

wesley-preaching-feature

I will be gone preaching at CVCS middle school retreat from Wednesday to Friday so the blog may be quiet until I return. Until then…

 

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Don’t Waste Your Cancer

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Dana Dill

full_1408571128Cancer.

No one wants to ever hear that word, let alone have it spoken as their own (or their loved one’s) diagnosis. But what if someone told you that cancer was not a curse, but a gift? That cancer, endured with knowledge of the truth, will bring more good than harm?

That’s exactly the intent of John Piper in his 15 page booklet titled, “Don’t Waste Your Cancer.” John Piper doesn’t want us to see our cancer as a curse, but a gift from God’s good hand. Yes, a gift. The book’s description says it this way:

On the eve of his own cancer surgery, John Piper writes about cancer as an opportunity to glorify God. With pastoral sensitivity, compassion, and strength, Piper gently but firmly acknowledges that we can indeed waste our cancer when we don’t see how it is God’s good plan for us and a hope-filled path for making much of Jesus.

Below are eleven ways John Piper says people are tempted to waste their cancer. I hope that, as you read them, you are sobered and nourished. Sobered to the reality of God’s sovereignty in our sickness and nourished by God’s intent for our sickness.

We waste our cancer if we don’t hear in our own groanings the hope-filled labor pains of a fallen world. Labor pains mean that something wonderful is coming. That’s what our cancer means. “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians
4:17).

We waste our cancer if we do not believe it is designed for us by God. If God foresees molecular developments becoming cancer, he can stop it, or not. If he does not, he has a purpose.

We waste our cancer if we believe it is a curse and not a gift. The diseases we still bear are not a curse. They have been transformed from a punitive pathway to hell into a purifying pathway to heaven. We are not cursed.

We waste our cancer if we seek comfort from our odds rather than from God. The aim of God in our cancer (among a thousand other good things) is to knock props out from under our hearts so that we rely utterly on him.

We waste our cancer if we refuse to think about death.

We waste our cancer if we think that “beating” cancer means staying alive rather than cherishing Christ. God designs to deepen our love for Christ. Cancer does not win if we die. It wins if we fail to cherish Christ.

We waste our cancer if we spend too much time reading about cancer and not enough time reading about God.  Cancer is meant to waken us to the reality of God.

We waste our cancer if we let it drive us into solitude instead of deepen our relationships with manifest affection.

We waste our cancer if we grieve as those who have no hope.

We waste our cancer if we treat sin as casually as before. Cancer is designed to destroy the appetite for sin. Pride, greed, lust, hatred, unforgiveness, impatience, laziness, procrastination—all these are the adversaries that cancer is meant to attack. Don’t just think of battling against cancer. Also think of battling with cancer.

We waste our cancer if we fail to use it as a means of witness to the truth and glory of Christ. Christians are never anywhere by divine accident. There are reasons for why we wind up where we do…So it is with cancer. This will be an opportunity to bear witness. Christ is infinitely worthy. Here is a golden opportunity to show that he is worth more than life. Don’t waste it.

Cancer is a bad thing, but God is a good and wise God. In His hands, even the most deadly poison becomes medicine. Even the most terminal sickness becomes the road to eternal health. As James said when he was talking about suffering, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above…” (James 1:17). That includes cancer.

You can download the booklet for free here.

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Are You Excited?

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Dana Dill

excited-girl-33418948439One of my favorite things to see is the excitement of new Christians. To them, everything is a blessing, a gift, and something to smile about and praise God for. Every worship service is attended with anticipation and glee. Every song is sung with gusto. Every prayer is offered with a deep and sincere understanding that God is listening intently. New Christians approach everything like they’re little children again (dare I say, born again?). The world is filled with wonder and their hearts are overflowing with joy.

Unfortunately, this excitement wears off for some. The gleam dims, the smile straightens, and the volume of their song is turned down. It isn’t that they leave Christ and forsake the faith, they just have a much less enthusiastic faith. This, however, should not be the case. Excitement should not be something reserved only for the babes in Christ or naturally excitable personalities, but excitement should truly be a mark of every Christian no matter their age. Francis Schaeffer explains:

When we understand our calling, it is not only true, but beautiful – and it should be exciting. it is hard to understand how an orthodox, evangelical, Bible-believing Christian can fail to be excited. The answers in the realm of the intellect should make us overwhelmingly excited. But more than this, we are returned to a personal relationship with the God who is there. If we are unexcited Christians, we should go back and see what is wrong. (Taken from The God Who is There, p. 190).

This isn’t to say that sorrow, grief, and sadness are inappropriate for the Christian because they are perfectly appropriate in the face of sin and its consequences. However, those who have their grip on the truths of the gospel will be gripped by the truths of the gospel and their excitement will be observable.

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Hellfire, Brimstone, Wrath, Torment, & Fury

Posted on October 6, 2014 by Dana Dill

HellI recently re-read a sermon and thought I would share with you some quotes from it. As you read the following quotes, I ask that you do it slowly and ask yourself, “Do I believe this?”

God will execute the fierceness of his anger and he will inflict wrath without any pity. When God…sees how your poor soul is crushed, and sinks down, as it were, into an infinite gloom; he will have no compassion upon you, he will not stop the executions of his wrath, or in the least lighten his hand; there shall be no moderation or mercy, nor will God then at all stop his rough wind; he will have no regard to your welfare, nor be at all careful lest you should suffer too much in any other sense, than only that you shall not suffer beyond what strict justice requires. Nothing shall be withheld.

If you cry to God to pity you, he will be so far from pitying you in your unhappy case, or showing you the least regard or favor, that instead of that, he will only tread you under foot. And though he will know that you cannot bear the weight of His Almighty Power treading upon you, he will not care about that, but he will crush you under his feet without mercy; he will crush out your blood, and make it fly, and it will be sprinkled on his garments, so as to stain all his clothes. He will not only hate you, but he will have you in the utmost contempt: no place shall be thought fit for you, but under his feet to be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

If you continue in unbelief; the infinite might, and majesty, and terribleness of the Almighty God shall be intensified upon you, in the unthinkable power of your torments. You shall be tormented in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and when you shall be in this state of suffering, the glorious inhabitants of heaven shall go forth and look on the awful spectacle, that they may see what the wrath and fierceness of the Almighty is; and when they have seen it, they will fall down and adore that great power and majesty.

When the great and angry God hath risen up and executed his awful vengeance on the poor sinner, and the wretch is actually suffering the infinite weight and power of his indignation, then will God call upon the whole universe to behold that awful majesty and mighty power that is to be seen in it.

Powerful, eh? More than powerful, this stuff is downright terrifying. The God of these paragraphs is scarier than the monsters of Hollywood’s horror movies. He is more powerful in His strength. He is uncompromising in His holiness. He is unrelenting in His punishment. He is merciless and without pity toward His enemies. I would gladly choose to take on Chucky, Jason, and the Wolfman over the God of this sermon any day. Falling into the hands of this angry God induces nothing less than soul-crushing, heart-stopping, sweat-inducing terror.

Who Is This God?

Now, I invite you to ask, “Is the God of these paragraphs the God I worship?” Does God get angry? Will your God come to a point where He will not care about the great suffering of those He is punishing? Is your God capable of staining His clothes with the blood of His enemies?

I hope you said yes.

The God of those terrifying paragraphs above describe the God of the Bible. Don’t believe me? Listen to God’s own testimony of Himself from the Bible. Each of the following passages corresponds to to the respective quotes above (the bolded lines are from the above quotes).

God will execute the fierceness of his anger, implies, that he will inflict wrath without any pity. “I will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.” Ezekiel 8:18

He will crush out your blood, and make it fly, and it shall be sprinkled on his garments, so as to stain all his clothes. “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel.” Isaiah 63:3

You shall be tormented in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. “And the peoples will be as if burned to lime, like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire. ‘Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless…'” Isaiah 33:12-14

God call upon the whole universe to behold that awful majesty and mighty power that is to be seen in it. “From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord. ‘And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.’” Isaiah 66:23-24

With these passages in mind, it is no wonder why the author of Hebrews plainly states, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).

Unfortunately, the God of many people, even church going folk, looks nothing like the Triune God of the Bible. America loves and worships a god who is all mercy and no wrath. But a God who is all mercy and no wrath is no the God of the Bible, but an idol of our own making. The God of the Bible hates sin perfectly and righteously. The God of the Bible, as seen above, will exact justice upon all who gladly and willing cling to their sin and continue in their rebellion against Him. Unfortunately, the God of the Bible is nothing like the god many worship on Sundays.

Where Do You Get Your Thoughts of God?

This post is a small effort to illustrate that too often our thoughts about God are more formed by what our culture tells us rather than what we are learning from the Bible. We live in a day where churches love to speak about the love, mercy, grace, and kindness of God but are uncomfortable with even saying the word “wrath.” Pastors love to quote Ghandi’s “God loves the sinner but hates the sin,” yet never quote Edwards’, “There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God.” Our thoughts about God are unfortunately more informed by the world than by God Himself.

So what the application from this? May we get our noses in the Bible and let God tell us who He is. May we put away the idols our minds have created and get on our faces and worship God in all His splendor. May the church get all the more serious about making sure our thoughts about God are God’s thoughts and not ones of our own making.

A Final Note of Grace

Before ending this post, I think the torments of Jonathan Edwards, the preacher of the above quoted sermon, need to be followed up with the gospel call of Jonathan Edwards.

Now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open, and stands in calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners; a day wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the kingdom of God. Many are daily coming from the east, west, north and south; many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in, are now in a happy state, with their hearts filled with love to him who has loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God.

Will you be content to be the children of the devil, when so many other children in the land are converted, and are become the holy and happy children of the King of kings?

Therefore, let every one that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come.

Is God full of furious wrath against sin and the sinners who commit them? Yes. But today, God is holding out His arms to forgive any and every sinner who takes refuge in His Son.For all of God’s great and terrible wrath has been poured out on His Willing Son Jesus that whoever believes in Jesus can be forgiven of their sin and made into the objects of God’s affection (John 3:16-17). In our sin we are by nature objects of God’s wrath (Ephesians 2:3), but through Christ we can become objects of His delight (Zephaniah 3:17). As the song sings…

Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For every sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

If you are terrified by God’s wrath displayed in the fires of hell, then run to His mercy which is displayed in the cross of His Son. Let your terror turn to peace. Let your fear turn to love.

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The Saturday Post(s)

Posted on October 4, 2014 by Dana Dill

Saturday Post

The Best Pastor-Member Meeting Ever! There is an immense lesson for all of us to learn here. “I was glad to have the young people in our church. But these pastor-member meetings were getting on my nerves. The meetings were the same. The young person told me what he or she liked about the church. Then they told me the things that needed to change if they were to be comfortable enough to stay. It felt like they viewed my congregation as a project to be solved, not a membership to join. By the time Phil requested a meeting I was fed up. But this meeting was different. In fact, it was the best pastor-member meeting I have ever had…”

The Lost Virtue of Modesty. Highly recommended for parents! Kevin DeYoung does his thing and blows minds everywhere with clarity, humor, and uncompromising biblical-ness. This line is gold: “Modesty demonstrates to others that we have more important things to offer than good looks and sex appeal.”

Women & Christianity. Far from demeaning, devaluing, or degrading women, Christianity is one of the few voices in history that elevate women to be just as valuable as men and one of the few forces that seeks to protect, think about, and care for them as such.

All Those Things I Will Leave Undone. A call to remember that we don’t have all the time in the world and to then realize that our call, “is to find the best things (we) can do with the time allotted to (us), while waiting for the great day when time will no longer be finite, when opportunities will no longer be limited.”

The 6 Ingredients of Jesus’ Bitter Cup. Six reasons why Jesus prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).

22 Problems With Multi-Site Churches. 22 reasons why this fellow thinks multi-site (with a video screen preacher) churches are a bad idea. Articles like these remind me that how we do church is very important.

You Life Was Meant to Be Ordinary, Not Radical. Looks like a great book with a great message. “Maybe if we discover the opportunities of the ordinary, a fondness for the familiar, and marvel again at the mundane, we will be radical after all.”

Just In Case You Wanted to Know What Being Attacked By a Bear Would Look Like…

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When the Head Disconnects from the Heart

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Dana Dill

opposing-arrow-sign-head-vs-heart1I am sure you can relate, but sometimes I don’t feel what I know. Sometimes, my head is disconnected with my heart. I know in my head that Jesus is supreme over all. I know in my head that everything is disgusting when compared to Christ (Philippians 3:8). But although I cognitively acknowledge these to be true and believe them with all my mind, sometimes these precious truths don’t make it all the way to my heart. I often find that the connection from my head to my heart gets short-circuited. Like my old apartment, the pipes often get clogged.

What is one supposed to do when they find their themselves seemingly unaffected and distant from the glories of Christ? How can we help our cold hearts to grow warm? Here are eight things that greatly help to bring the truth of Christ into my heart and increase my affections for Christ.

Sing Good Hymns Out Loud and Slowly. “I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me” (Psalm 13:6). Good hymns are like powerful sermons put to music. Singing them out loud and slowly has become a very helpful way to let God’s truth soak into my heart. If you don’t know many good hymns, check this page out for a very good list with lyrics and even demos to hear how they sound. Don’t let your singing be restricted to Sundays!

Pray in Response to the Scriptures. When my heart is cold my prayers are ice. I’ve said this before, but few things help me pray like God’s Word. Take on the Lord’s Prayer or the Ten Commandments or other gospel rich verses and pray that God would give you strength to obey His commandments, faith to believe His promises, conviction to repent of your sins, and a heart to delight in His Word. Let your words to God be guided by God’s Word to you.

Confession of Sin to God. Sin breeds sorrow. The more sin we hold onto and do not confess, the more sorrow we let fester in our soul. Although all our sins are forgiven completely by the cross of Christ (2 Cor. 5:21), the nausea they bring often does not leave us without repentance and confession. As Thomas Watson once noted, “Confession (is) the vomit of the soul whereby the conscience is eased of the burden that laid upon it.” Take time to think about your sins and acknowledge them to the Lord while being reminded that, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Before leaving this point, I have found that, in addition to confessing sins to God, confessing sin to others is also immensely helpful. James 5:16 commands us to, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” Yes, confess your sins to God, but don’t forget to bring them to others as well. When was the last time you confessed your sins to another Christian and received prayer?  For some more thoughts on confession & repentance, check this out.

Memorize Gospel-Rich Passages. Memorization is a powerful way of meditation. If you have a hard time getting God’s truth into your heart, try getting it into your memory. I have found that the repetition and work of memorization works like a jack hammer to break up my hard heart and renew it with gospel truth. Take verses that center on the person and work of Jesus (e.g. Colossians 1:15-22; 1 Peter 2:24-25; Hebrews 10:10-14; John 3:16-17; Romans 3:21-26) a work to commit them to memory. Here is a very helpful memorization system to help to this end.

Get Together With Godly for Fellowship. Friends who love Jesus rub off on you. I find it very difficult to stay unaffected by Christ when I am engaged in conversation with other men who love Him and want to honor Him. Hebrews says it well: “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25). We need one another and to especially be encouraged by one another. 

Meet with Faithful Pastors and Listen to Faithful Preaching. Ephesians 4:11 says that Christ has gifted His church with gifted people to bless her and make her more mature. Faithful pastors and preachers are gifts to the church and the church should receive them as such. It is not unspiritual to look to people to help your cold heart. Call your pastor and ask to meet with him. Tell him about your struggles and allow him to minister to you. Also, get yourself under faithful preaching so God’s Word may be given to you from the lips of another. Allow the Lord to minister to you through His ministers.

Read a Puritan. To say it quickly, the Puritans were masters of clearing the pipes from the head to the heart. They were men who loved God’s Word and desired it to be loved also by God’s people. Try taking up this one or this one.

This list is not exhaustive, but I hope it offers some practices that will help you warm your heart in the fires of Christ. The practices themselves are not the goal or point, but are simple roads that can be helpful to bring us to experiencing fellowship with our Lord. They have blessed me and I hope they do so for you.

What about you? What are some things that have been helpful for increasing your affections for Jesus?

 

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