Nadia Cate O'Neil

Nadia Cate
July 23, 2008
8lbs, 13 oz

This week we are celebrating the birth of a beautiful new baby girl. One of my dearest friends, Natalie gave birth on Wednesday. We are so excited and thankful for God's blessing on their family and our church. I already love little Nadia so much!

“Worship - whether an inner act of the heart, or an outward act of the body, or of the congregation collectively - is a magnifying of God. That is, it is an act that shows how magnificent He is. It is an act that reveals or expresses how great and glorious He is. Worship is all about consciously reflecting the worth or value of God.”
- John Piper

I do not normally get my theology from movie characters but this one was alright! ;-) Since I wrote about suffering the other day, I thought the Anne of Green Gables movie had something good to say on this:

"These trials and tribulations that pop up in our lives...serve a very useful purpose: they build character--as long as we can hold on to the lessons we've learned from our mistakes."
-Miss Stacy, in Anne of Green Gables

Refined through Suffering

"Oh, bless our God, you peoples!
And make the voice of His praise to be heard,
Who keeps our soul among the living,
And does not allow our feet to be moved.
For You, O God, have tested us;
You have refined us as silver is refined.
You brought us into the net;
You laid affliction on our backs.
You have caused men to ride over our heads;
We went through fire and through water;
But You brought us out to rich fulfillment." -Psalm 66:8-12

"A silversmith must submit unrefined silver to intense heat in order to remove the impurities. the result is a beautiful product worth a great sum. Our heavenly Father is the silversmith in our lives, standing over the heat, carefully and watchfully holding us in the fire for just the right amount of time. He knows how to make a perfect and priceless piece of silver. His love is so great that he will not be content with ordinary metal; he is making a masterpiece out of your life! We can deduce from this image that our Lord is actively and intimately involved in the process, not far removed. He himself is holding us over the fire, feeling the heat along with us. Did you notice in the passage above that the Lord himself brought his people into prison?"
-Carolyn Leutwiler

Fasting is a periodic–and sometimes decisive–declaration that we would rather feast at God's table in the kingdom of heaven than feed on the finest delicacies of this world.

—John Piper, A Hunger for God, p. 59.

Growing Up Christian

Right now I am doing a bible study with a girl at church. We are going through the book Growing Up Christian by Karl Graustein. So far, we have only made it to chapter 4, but have learned a lot! The past three chapters have given dangers that come for kids that grow up in Christian homes. I thought they were very helpful and I know I, and probably many of you, can relate!

Danger #1: False Assurance of Salvation

2 Corinthians 13:5-6, "Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless of course, you fail the test?"

Danger #2: A Lack of Appreciation for the Saving and Forgiving Grace of God

"Grace never ignores the awful truth of our depravity. In fact, it emphasizes it. The worse we realize we are, the greater we realize God's grace is." -Randy Alcorn

When we think about all that God has protected us from in being raised in a godly home, we have extra reason to be thankful for God's grace.

Danger #3: Loving the World

1 John 2:15-17, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever."

"The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but the endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night...For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable." -John Piper


As "church kids" (people who have grown up or are growing up in a Christian home), we must recognize these dangers and be careful to watch and guard against them.
This is a great book! I recommend going through it as a personal study or with another "church kid" in your life.

We are at Daytona Beach right now!

“The greatest cause in the world is joyfully rescuing people from hell, meeting their earthly needs, making them glad in God, and doing it with a kind, serious pleasure that makes Christ look like the Treasure He is.”
-John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life

The Love of God, part 3

The copy of Knowing God that I have is an older used copy. I do not know who had the book before me, but I really benefited from their notes in the margin. At the end of this chapter on love, the previous reader wrote these words:

I don't deserve His love at all--yet I know I have it. How is it that I dare to judge others as unworthy of my love?

God used these words from someone who I know not to convict, remind, and encourage me to be thankful for God's love to me, a sinner, and to love others unconditionally. I hope and pray that, like me, you were encouraged to give love to all people.

The Love of God, part 2

Does the love of God really mean all that this one book describes and more??? If so, Packer gives us these questions that we should be asking ourself:

*Why do I EVER grumble and show discontent and resentment at the circumstances in which God has placed me?

*Why am I EVER distrustful, fearful, or depressed?

*Why do I EVER allow myself to grow cool, formal, and half-hearted in the service of the God who loves me?

*Why do I ever allow my loyalties to be divided so that God has not all my heart?

~

Let us examine ourselves.

The Love of God-part 1

I am currently reading Knowing God by J.I. Packer. For a variety of reasons, this book is taking much longer to finish than most. One reason, I am sure, is that a book on the character of God is, by nature, going to be long and intense. Many good books have been written in attempt to tell about God's nature, but none can ever completely explain Him. God is indescribable and incomprehensible! As each chapter of Knowing God carefully and biblically tells of the incredible nature of our God I am reminded of the hymn by Frederick M. Lehman.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

These words are so beautiful and so true. We could never write the totality of the character of God. So far, my favorite chapter in Knowing God is titled "The Love of God." I learned, and was reminded, of some awesome truths. Here are some points Packer made in that chapter:

1. God's love is an exercise of His goodness.

2. God's love to sinners was expressed by the gift of His son to be their Savior.

"The measure of love is how much it gives, and the measure of the love of God is the gift of His only Son to be made man, and to die for sins, and so to become the one mediator who can bring us to God."

3. God's love to sinners reaches its objective as it brings them to know and enjoy Him in a covenant relation.

~

If the love of God ended in these three points that would be enough to leave us speechless and in awe of His wonderous character. But that barely begins to explain how great He is. Looking into the nature of God must draw us to our knees in repentance and open our hearts to pour out praise and honor to His holy name.

Check back soon!

I haven't had much writing time recently, but I have some things in process. I will post them when I get back at the end of the week! Thanks for reading!

Here is an excerpt from Safely Home (one of my favorite novels). These words give a beautiful picture of what it will be like when, one day, we are safely home with our Savior.

"The multitudes innumerable began to sing the song for which they had been made, a song that echoed off a trillion planets and reverberated in a quadrillion places in every nook and cranny of the creation's expanse. Audience and orchestra and choir all blended into one great symphony, one grand cantata of rhapodic melodies and powerful sustaining harmonies. All were participants. Only one was an audience, the Audience of One. The smile of the King's approval swept through the choir like fire across dry wheat fields."
-Randy Alcorn, Safely Home

"Never fear. There are only two kinds of people in the end:

those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, 'Thy will be done.' All that are in Hell choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it.

Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened."

-C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

Amazing Grace

This past weekend we had a great time of fellowship and celebration with our church. Saturday we celebrated the high school graduation of two boys in our church. Sunday, we celebrated the birth of a new believer making His profession of faith public the act of believers baptism. One of my best friends, Philip, came to know Christ about a month ago. All day Sunday we were together with our church, enjoying fellowship and praising God for His saving grace in Philip's life.

I met Philip about a year and a half ago. Since that day, I have been praying for his salvation, as has many others in our church. Seeing the change God can do in his life reminds me to be ever thankful for my own salvation.

There are many unbelievers that I have been praying for their salvation for quite sometime. Last night, I read a quote from George Muller that was very encouraging:

“I have also prayed daily, without intermission, for the conversion of other individuals about ten years, for others six or seven years...and still the answer is not yet granted, concerning these persons whom I have prayed for nineteen years I daily continue in prayer and expecting the answer...Be encouraged dear Christian reader, with fresh earnestness to give yourself to prayer.”

It is hard, and often times discouraging to see those you love living in sin, apart from Christ. It is hard not to give up in our evangelistic efforts. There comes a point where people just refuse to listen to us when it comes to matters of our Savior. A friend sent the following quote from Spurgeon to encourage me in my witnessing:

“If they [lost sinners] will not hear you speak, they cannot prevent your praying. Do they jest at your exhortations? They cannot disturb you at your prayers. Are they far away so that you cannot reach them? Your prayers can reach them. Have they declared that they will never listen to you again, nor see your face? Never mind, God has a voice which they must hear. Speak to Him, and He will make them feel. Though they now treat you despitefully, rendering evil for your good, follow them with your prayers. Never let them perish for lack of your supplications” (Metropolitan Pulpit, vol. 18, pp. 263–264).

"Brethren, my hearts desire and prayer for Israel is that they might be saved." We do not know who God will choose to save. Therefore, we must continue to share the gospel of Christ with all the world. If they refuse to hear us, we must show His love through our example and carry the lost to Christ through our prayers. As I have so joyfully learned in my time of praying for and witnessing to Philip-there IS great power in prayer! God is faithful to forgive and has the power to change and transform lives. Glory be to Him!