The greatest personal question ever asked

“Justification by faith is an answer to the greatest personal question ever asked by a human soul: ‘How shall I be right with God?  How do I stand in God’s sight?  With what favor does he look upon me?’  There are those, I admit, who never raise that question.  There are those who are concerned with the question of their standing before men but never with the question of their standing before God.  There are those who are interested in what ‘people say’ but not in the question of what God says.  Such men, however, are not those who move the world.  They are apt to go with the current.  They are apt to do as others do.  They are not the heroes who change the destinies of the race.  The beginning of true nobility comes when a man ceases to be interested in the judgment of men and becomes interested in the judgment of God.”

J. Gresham Machen, in God Transcendent (Edinburgh, 1982), pages 89-90.

The greatest personal question ever asked

is a post from: Ray Ortlund

taking God at His Word

repost

"Brethren, if you are ever so much taken up by any enjoyment that it takes away your love for prayer or for your Bible, then you are abusing this world. Oh sit loose to this world's joy! The time is short."

"Living lazy but feeling diligent is a deception of the human heart."

Yes, Lord.

pride always brings me into an ugly road and an ugly destination. Jesus, bring me to You and let me taste beauty, pleasure, and joy from You, Yourself. Nobody else. Yes, Lord. Yes to You. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes.

“Master in this Quiet Place”

Here, Master, in this quiet place,
Where anyone may kneel,
I also come to ask for grace
Believing you can heal.

If pain of body, stress of mind
Destroys my inward peace
In prayer for others may I find
The secret of release.

If self upon its sickness feeds
And turns my life to gall,
Let me not brood upon my needs
But simply tell you all.

You never said “You ask too much”
To any troubled soul.
I long to feel your healing touch.
Will you not make me whole?

But if the thing I most desire
Is not your way for me,
May faith, when tested in the fire
Prove its integrity.

Of all my prayers let this be chief:
Till faith is fully grown
Lord, disbelieve my unbelief
And claim me as your own.

“Be careful how you treat God, my friends. You may say to yourself, ‘I can sin against God and then, of course, I can repent and go back and find God whenever I want him.’ You try it. And you will sometimes find that not only can you not find God but that you do not even want to. You will be aware of a terrible hardness in your heart. And you can do nothing about it. And then you suddenly realize that it is God punishing you in order to reveal your sinfulness and your vileness to you. And there is only one thing to do. You turn back to him and you say, ‘O God, do not go on dealing with me judicially, though I deserve it. Soften my heart. Melt me. I cannot do it myself.’ You cast yourself utterly upon his mercy and upon his compassion.”

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Revival (Westchester, 1987), page 300.

"When we come to the place where we realize, 'I can't do this,' that's when we find out He can."

Today you'll be frustrated because you lack the power to author your own story or you'll rest in the wisdom of the One who writes your plot.

- Paul Tripp

I Feel His Love

My faith it lifts the weight of pain
From lonely and mistaken days
Of hiding behind deep dark clouds
Of worthlessness and selfish pride


My faith is my belief in truth
That God above loves me and you
And gave us freedom, gave us life
To walk in love through Jesus Christ

I am confident that neither life nor death
Can keep me from the love of Christ
Can keep me from the love of Christ
Though I cannot see still my heart believes
And I am filled with joy inexpressible

I feel His love welling up on the inside of me
All those years bound in chain He is setting me free
His love goes deeper than the pain that I feel
His love is stronger than depression or fear