Fountains by Jon Thurlow (Matthew 11:28-29)

So cast all your cares on Me
Cause I care for you
I care for you

Cast Your cares on Me
For I care for you
I care for you

Cause all your fountains are in Me
I have everything you need
Just keep coming back to me


Those who call upon My name
They will not be put to shame
Just keep coming back to me

So come to Me if you're weary
And I'll give you rest,
I'll give you rest.

My yoke is so easy
And My burden is less
My burden is less

Cause all your fountains are in Me
I have everything you need
Just keep coming back to me


Those who call upon My name
They will not be put to shame
Just keep coming back to me

"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life."


1 Timothy 1:15-16

John Piper

Here is a simple exhortation that I have been trying to implement in our family:


Seek to see and feel the gospel as bigger as years go by rather than smaller.


Our temptation is to think that the gospel is for beginners and then we go on to greater things. But the real challenge is to see the gospel as the greatest thing—and getting greater all the time.


The Gospel gets bigger when, in your heart,

• grace gets bigger;
• Christ gets greater;
• his death gets more wonderful;
• his resurrection gets more astonishing;
• the work of the Spirit gets mightier;
• the power of the gospel gets more pervasive;
• its global extent gets wider;
• your own sin gets uglier;
• the devil gets more evil;
• the gospel's roots in eternity go deeper;
• its connections with everything in the Bible and in the world get stronger;
• and the magnitude of its celebration in eternity gets louder.

So keep this in mind: Never let the gospel get smaller in your heart.


Pray that it won’t. Read solid books on it. Sing about it. Tell someone about it who is ignorant or unsure about it.


Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel.... For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

I had a dream that I passed away last night. I was trying to run away because I knew that I haven't given 100% of my life to Him. Wake up call.

2 Peter 3:9
"The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."

Psalm 90:10-14

"As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow ; For soon it is gone and we fly away. Who understands the power of Your anger And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You? So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom. Do return, O LORD ; how long will it be? And be sorry for Your servants. O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days."

yearn
by shane barnard


holy design
this place in time
that i might seek and find my God
my God


Lord i want to yearn for You
i want to burn with passion
over You and only You
Lord i want to yearn


Your joy is mine
yet why am i fine
with all my singing and bringing grain
in light of Him


oh You give life and breath
through Him You give all things
in Him we live and move
that's why i sing


acts 17:25-28, hebrews 12:28-29

be near
by: shane barnard


You are all
big and small
beautiful
and wonderful
to trust in grace through faith
but i'm asking to taste...

for dark is light to You
depths are height to You
far is near
but Lord, i need to hear from You

be near, oh God
be near, oh God of us
Your nearness is to us our good
be near, oh God
be near, oh God of us
Your nearness is to us our good, our good

Your fullness is mine
revelation divine
but, o, to taste
to know much more than a page
to feel Your embrace...

for dark is light to You
the depths are height to You
far is near, but Lord
i need to hear from You


be near, oh God
be near, oh God of us
Your nearness is to us our good
be near, oh God
be near, oh God of us
Your nearness is to us our good, our good

"The distinction may seem minor but listen, it’s massive. We are not valuable; we are valued."

"Human strength is an illusion that God is committed to obliterating."

"I want to open myself up and exchange who I am for who I can become. I want to exchange my sinfulness for his righteousness. I want to exchange my fears for his confidence." 

reminder

Deuteronomy 8:17—18 says: "Beware lest you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.' You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth."

Haiti

haiti // celebrating life and hope one year later from Chris & Oliver Cinema on Vimeo.

"I could run away, but You would never leave.

You would always stay right by my side.

Everything I ever wanted, I found in You."

"It's just a little while longer and I'll see You.

It's just a little while longer and I'll know You.

It's just a little while longer and we'll be together."

Random Twitter Quote:

TozerAW A W Tozer

"Worship is no longer worship when it reflects the culture around us more than the Christ within us." AW Tozer

"I love the day of your appearing
I want to hasten your return
the Spirit and the Bride say come for your Beloved One."

Random Twitter Quote:

MattChandler74 Matt Chandler

"Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God". Luther

From Desiring God

This next post in our series of questions and answers with speakers at our 2011 Conference for Pastors features Paul Miller, author of A Praying Life.

Your father, Jack Miller, is well-known for his impact as a pastor, evangelist, missions organizer and author. What impact did he have on your life, especially as regards living a life of prayer?

I watched my dad become passionate about prayer during my teenage years. He learned it when he was a professor at Westminster Seminary from watching ministries in Europe, particularly Francis Schaeffer’sL’Abri in the late 60s. When Dad and I started World Harvest Mission in 1983 that became an important part of the DNA of our work. So the value and power of corporate prayer came from my dad.

The other thread from my dad was his emphasis on the gospel as something that Christians need to believe, that our weakness is the door to grace. I simply took that insight and applied that to my prayer life.

Your book, A Praying Life, talks about cynicism in prayer. How would you describe the problem of cynicism, and what is your advice to those who are struggling with it?

Cynicism is my biggest struggle in prayer. It is a quiet, cold rationalism that dulls the soul and just kills your walk with God. It is hard to even identify or name our cynicism because it just feels like being realistic. It says things like, “What good does it [prayer] do?” or “It [the answer to prayer] would have happened anyway.”

I think we are particularly susceptible to cynicism in the Reformed world because we are an intellectual world. We are rightly concerned about our ideas being correct, but we don’t always pay attention to our heart being correct.

I think without a doubt that the principal cure for cynicism is to become a little child and learn to cry out for help—to realize that I am a lost coin, a lost sheep, and a lost son.

One other cure for cynicism is purity of life. Any time there is a miss between how we present ourselves as Christians and what we are really like when no one is watching, that opens up a door for cynicism. So a lifestyle of repentance and confession goes a long way to cure cynicism.