“For we call this Holy Week not just because of the holy things that happened,
or because of the Holy One they happened to -
but because this is the week that makes you holy.
Holy, because your sins are forgiven.
Holy, because you have been raised to a new life.
Holy, because the Body and Blood of the Holy One is here given to you.”
Why we call this Holy Week
March 30, 2010 By
We Never Walk Alone
March 29, 2010 By
You don’t have to be from Iowa to appreciate what Jim Gibbons, Republican Candidate for Iowa’s Third Congressional District, has reflected upon in a small piece published today on Caffeintated Thoughts. May God give us the grace to discover the glory that awaits when we take up our cross daily and follow him.
“This weekend hundreds of thousands of Christians in Iowa celebrated Palm Sunday in preparation for Good Friday and Easter Sunday. As I reflect on this time of year, Simon of Cyrene comes to mind. As you recall, Simon of Cyrene was a man who was pressed into service – burdened with carrying the cross of Christ toward Calvary. Simon may be someone we all can relate to in the crosses that we have had to carry, or are in the midst of carrying, in our own lives.”
Read the rest here.
Jesus, Messiah!
March 27, 2010 By
Today is Palm Sunday. It marks the beginning of the last week in the life of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Matthew 21:1-11 tells us that Jesus was making his way to Jerusalem with his disciples for the Passover celebration. There was nothing extravagant about the way he traveled. In fact, it was just the opposite. He rode into Jerusalem on an animal associated with lowliness and humility. Surrounded by throngs of people from all different villages, I’d venture to say that most of them didn’t understand that Jesus was their Passover lamb. As he rode in, they threw down their clothes and palm branches. It was a coronation. It was a declaration of his kingship. The people shouted out loud, “ Hosanna to the Son of David!” They cried out, “ Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!”
What an amazing sight it must have been! They praised him for being their “Deliverer.” I’m curious though, how many people quietly pondered the contradiction and secretly wondered why their mighty deliverer was coming upon the scene so gently and humbly. Shouldn’t he have made a more spectacular entrance? He was after all, going to snatch them out of the clutches of the Roman empire. Hosanna means “Save us!” As they cried out, “Save us! Deliver us!” most people believed that the Messiah would deliver them from problems here on earth. They thought he would deliver them from the oppression of Rome. In short, they wanted this Messiah but only on their terms. We see that this is so because later on, in Matthew 27, many of the same people who shouted, “Hosanna!” were now shouting, “Crucify him!” Jesus would be their Messiah but only to the extent that he was what they wanted him to be. And, when he wasn’t they would turn on him.
We can criticize these people and point out their hypocrisy but the truth is, at some level, can’t you relate? I know I can. I’m a Christian. I claim that Jesus is my Lord. I boast in his deliverance! Yet, there are areas of my life where I would rather see him crucified than submit to his Lordship. I make him out what I want him to be and then proclaim “Hosanna!”
Jesus is going to return. But, the next time around He’s coming as the reigning king. Heaven will open up and our eyes will see him. He will be on a white horse, he will be wearing a robe dipped in blood, and the armies of heaven will accompany him (Revelation 19:11-16). The lesson for us: Submit to his kingship now. Bend the knee now. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords will come and, “the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars – their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.” Today he comes as the “Suffering Servant,” rich in mercy and more ready to extend forgiveness than we are to repent. Tomorrow He comes to judge and make war.
Let’s get it right today!
You will rise up in the end
March 26, 2010 By
“Every stone that makes you stumble
and cuts you when you fall
Every serpent here that strikes your heel
to curse you when you crawl
The king of love one day will crush them all
And every sad seduction and every clever lie
Every word that woos and wounds the pilgrim children of the sky
The king of love will break them by and by
And you will rise up in the end
You will rise up in the end
I know the night is cruel
but the day is coming soon
And you will rise up in the end
If the thief had to come to plunder when the children were alone
If he ravaged every daughter and murdered every son
Would not their father see this? Would not his anger burn?
And would he not repay the tyrant in the day of his return?
Oh, wait. Oh, wait the day of his return
Cause he will rise up in the end
He will rise up in the end
I know you need a Savior
He is patient in his anger
And he will rise up in the end
And when the stars come crashing to the sea
and the high and mighty fall down on their knees
When you see the Son descending in the sky
the chains of death will fall around your feet
You will rise up in the end
you will rise up in the end”
—Ben Shive, “Rise Up”, The Ill-Tempered Klavier
Heavenbound
March 24, 2010 By
There aren’t too many farms here in Brooklyn so I always feel a little disadvantaged whenever the Bible uses a farm analogy. But, I certainly know what hope deferred feels like.
Galatians 6:9 says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Seems there are always fresh invitations to quit waiting on God! As Matthew Henry states, “We are all very apt to tire in duty, particularly in doing good. This we should carefully watch and guard against. Only to perseverance in well-doing is the reward promised.”
In Luke 9:22 Jesus said to take up your cross “daily.” I’ll be the first to admit that the cross can get heavy. However, we must remember that it is only the one who endures to the end who will be saved (Matthew 10:22).
If you are weary over your well doing today know that you are not alone. Put your hope in the Word of God. He sees the smallest expressions of faith and nothing we do for him is ever in vain (1 Cor. 15:58). Be patient. Be steadfast. Be immovable. His promise is that you will reap a beautiful harvest in due season!
“Even the tired horse, when he comes near home, mends pace: be good always, without weariness, but best at last; that the nearer thou comest to the end of thy days, the nearer thou mayest be to the end of thy hopes, the salvation of thy soul.” – Thomas Adams
Andrew Bonar on the Atoning Blood
March 24, 2010 By
This morning I took Andrew Bonar’s, Heavenly Springs (the inspiration for the name of this blog) with me on my way to work. I was moved by a tiny passage that captures how magnificent a salvation we have. Where would we be without the atoning blood of Jesus? God only knows.
“Christ needed the storm on the Lake of Galilee that He might show how His single word could quiet it. He needed a troubled conscience that He might show how His atoning blood could calm and quiet it. And He needed a great and guilty sinner in order to show the power of the atonement and the riches of His grace.”
Spiritual Hindsight
March 23, 2010 By
Hindsight is a funny thing. Whoever said, “Hindsight is always twenty-twenty” was right. It’s always easy to have clarity after the fact, isn’t it?
Exodus 15 records a powerful song of praise that the Israelites sang after God delivered them from Pharaoh, king of Egypt. I am sure the sound was deafening.
“The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation,” they shouted. “He is my God! I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”
I wonder though, how many Israelites secretly wished they had praised God before He parted the Red Sea. That is, while they were still on the other side, in a heap of trouble.
If you are a Christian, God has already done a mighty thing in your life. Colossians 1:13 says, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” But, just as the Israelites encountered a variety of problems and predicaments subsequent to their deliverance, so will we after salvation. In fact, Paul told Timothy that anyone who wants to live a godly life would have trouble! But, there is no need to despair because the Lord will rescue us from each and every trial (2 Timothy 3:11).
If you are facing an impossible situation, or even suffering persecution, read Exodus 15. Sing along with Moses and the Israelites! Do what the Israelites should have done; exalt the only One with the power to save before He rescues you!
The Grand Weapon of the Christian Soldier
March 21, 2010 By
“It is true of [many] who are engaged in the Christian warfare, that they are distrustful of their own weapons. For a soldier, there could hardly be a more unfortunate prepossession. His blows must be half-delivered, and his disposition to parley or to flee, exceedingly subversive of bold fighting. The grand weapon of the Christian soldier is…’the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.’ This is the great instrument of assault against the world…The truth of God…is the name of our whole offensive armor. This truth…is precisely what the Captain of Salvation has put into our hands, to be used against the adversary. It is a firm confidence in the temper, strength, and edge of these weapons, which makes the brave combatant.”
J. W. Alexander from his sermon, “Distrust of the Word” (page 110, The Living Pulpit, Rev Wilson Elijah)
John Newton on What God Requires of You
March 18, 2010 By
“What does the Lord require of you? Is it to make your own peace? He would as soon require you to make a new heaven and a new earth. Is it to keep your own soul? No more than he requires you to keep the sun in its course. His own arm has wrought salvation, and he will secure it. He requires none of your help here; nay, he disdains the thought: you might as well offer to help him to govern the world. But this he requires of you, ‘to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God;’ and the methods of his grace will enable you to do so.”
Are you living within the veil?
March 14, 2010 By
REPOSTED FROM AUGUST 2010:
“When present affliction strips us of all earthly comforts, so that we can adopt Habbakuk’s words; if it makes us look with in the veil and hear Christ saying, ‘Am I not better than all My gifts?’ then affliction is a blessing.
How far will the blessing go?
It worketh out for us an eternal weight of glory.
Affliction for a moment, then an eternity of glory to recompense it!
Instead of there being just a possibility that the affliction may do you good, Paul says “It is beyond measure efficacious. You could not do without it.’
To Paul the heaviest affliction seemed but a feather resting on his soul, because he lived so much within the veil.
If we cannot, like him, say ‘Our light affliction,’ let us try to say at any rate, ‘It is but for a moment.’ “
Andrew Bonar, Heavenly Springs, page 188.
God Never Places Us In A Position in Which We Cannot Grow
March 13, 2010 By
“God never places us in any position in which we cannot grow. We may imagine that He does. We may fear we are so impeded by fretting petty cares that we are gaining nothing; but when we are not sending any branches upward, we may be sending roots downward. Perhaps in the time of our humiliation, when everything seems a failure, we are making the best kind of progress. Look on and look up. Lay hold on Christ with both your poor, empty hands. Let Him do with you what seems good to Him. Though He slay you, still trust in Him, and I dare in His name to promise you a sweeter, better life than you could have ever known, had He left you to drink of the full dangerous cups of unmingled prosperity.”
- Elizabeth Prentiss
HT: Grace Gems
Bringing a Guilty Conscience in Line with the Verdict of Heaven
March 11, 2010 By
Being a Christian involves more than putting our faith in Jesus at the moment of salvation. It is about actively pursuing holiness and godliness. Yet, how do we strike the right balance between God’s role and our own part in this walk of faith? I believe that true progress in our Christian lives can only be made relative to a right understanding of the relationship between God’s grace, and our responsibility. Without it, aren’t we subject to such spiritual wanderings, and harassments? This is an excerpt from “The Discipline of Grace” in which author, Jerry Bridges, discusses the nature of the relationship between a guilty conscience and what he calls, “the verdict of heaven.” I think it strikes at the heart of the question that every Christian struggles to understand. How do we rise above a conscience that continually screams, “GUILTY!” and walk instead in the light of the truth of the Gospel?
“There are two ‘courts’ we must deal with: the court of God in Heaven and the court of conscience in our souls. When we first trust in Christ for salvation, God’s court is forever satisfied. Never again will a charge of guilt be brought against us in Heaven. Our consciences, however, are continually pronouncing us guilty. That is the function of conscience. Therefore, we must by faith bring the verdict of conscience into line with the verdict of Heaven. We do this by agreeing with our conscience about our guilt, but then reminding it that our guilt has already been borne by Christ.”
The Discipline of Grace, by Jerry Bridges, (page 54)
