Tim Keller, in this article, makes a case that evangelicalism has historically over-reacted to the hyper-revivalism a la Charles Finney. And so, therefore, Keller proposes that, though we must always be wary of the dangers of hyper-revivalism, there is, in fact, a warranted type of “means-of-revival” that, by God’s grace, is associated with revivals. He lists five of these “means-of-revival”:
1. Extraordinary prayer
2. Recovery of the Grace-Gospel
3. Renewed individuals
4. Use of the Gospel on the heart in counseling
5. Understanding that revivals occur mainly through the ordinary, “Instituted means of grace” – preaching, pastoring, worship, prayer
Click here to read the entire article with the a brief explanation of each point.
“Patience is the settled reality that we are not in control.“
Patience is the settled reality that we are not in control… The Spirit has been graciously calling this insight to mind frequently since then, especially in the darkest of moments. Patience is the settled reality that we are not in control.
By God’s grace, I am beginning to see – not clearly enough! - how this Scriptural insight, namely, that we are not in control, is good news. It’s good news precisely because I am, by God’s grace, beginning to see how not in control I am. And it is then that verses like Philippians 1:6 and Psalm 40:11 make sense – but not only make sense, but also begins to stir my affections for Christ.
Patience is the settled reality that we are not in control.
Tim Challies answers the following question in his blog:
“How am I to react to sexual desire? As a teenager, unmarried and with marriage in the distant future rather than the near future, … how [would God] have [me] understand sexual arousal.”
Here’s how he answers it:
1. Sexual Arousal Motivates Marriage. Arousal points you to the fact that God wants you to marry. The fact that you feel sexual desire is a good and God-given thing—he uses it to point you toward marriage. Sexual desire is a part of how God has wired men so that they will pursue a bride. So in that way, see it as something that is not inherently evil. Arousal is evil only if it is improperly acted upon or if it leads to sin.
2. Sexual Arousal Preaches Imperfection. The very fact that you feel sexual desire tells you that you are incomplete—incomplete without a wife with whom you can find satisfaction and fulfillment of that desire. And I think this kind of incompletion can point you to the wider reality that we live in an incomplete world marred by the realities of sin. There may be a deeper lesson in unfulfilled sexual desire.
3. Sexual Arousal Teaches Self-Control. Young men who continually give in to sexual desire by acting out on it through masturbation train themselves—their minds and bodies—that they need and deserve sexual release whenever they feel desire. And yet that is not how life works. Even married men with loving wives and great sex lives deal with a great deal of unfulfilled sexual desire. So this is an opportunity to train yourself, while still young, that sexual desire can and must be controlled if it is to be something that is properly stewarded to the glory of God.
In the end, if you trust the Lord, you can know that there is no temptation that must cause you to sin. The Holy Spirit gives you the ability, the power, to stand strong in the face of even the most difficult torment. So in those moments when desire is aroused and when it feels like torture, you need to plead the cross, you need to preach the gospel to yourself. In those moments you need to know that Christ died to forgive sin and he rose to overcome the power of sin and death. So you can remain unstained by sexual sin.
Seems like God is exposing some deeply-rooted idols in my life. One of many includes the fact that I want to be in control of my life.
This becomes evident in those moments when I’m confronted with a situation that I can’t do anything to fix it or make the situation better… and all I can do is pray. I get frustrated, pissed off, and the last thing I want to do is pray… like a little spoiled brat who throws a tantrum when he doesn’t get what he wants.
But, I am thankful that, in Christ, I have a loving Father that I can throw a tantrum to. And he still loves me. Someone explain this to me.
He is jealous for me. Love’s like a hurricane; I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy. And all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory. And I realize just how beautiful You are and how great Your affections are for me. Oh, how He loves us. Oh, how He loves. How he loves us, oh.
