A Rare Grace

from Thomas Brooks "The Legacy of a Dying Mother"

"Whoever humbles himself like this child is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 18:4

Humility is a rare grace. Whoever is little in his
own account--is always great in God's esteem.
A humble person looks upon himself . . .
as "not worthy of the least mercies," with Jacob, Gen. 32:10;
as "dust and ashes," with Abraham, Gen. 18:27; and
as "a poor worm," with David, Psalm 22:6; and
as "less than the least of all saints," with Paul, Eph. 3:8.

The more high in spiritual worth a person is--the more
humble in heart that person is. God delights to pour
grace into humble hearts. Humility makes a person . . .
peaceable among brethren,
fruitful in well-doing,
cheerful in suffering,
constant in holy walking,
precious in the eyes of God.

Be humble Christians. As ever you would be holy
--be humble. Humility is of the essence of the "new
creature." He is not a Christian--who is not humble.

The more grace--the more humble. Those who have
been most high in spiritual worth--have always been
most humble in heart. Humility does not only entitle
to happiness--but to the highest degree of happiness.
Humility is that Jacob's ladder--which reaches from
earth to heaven.

"All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward
one another, because God opposes the proud but
gives grace to the humble." 1 Peter 5:5

Don't Miss This Opportunity!

Just found that Piper has posted the full presentations of speakers from the New Attitudes Conference held in Kentucky May 2007. Piper, Mahaney, Mohler, Harris....some of my all time favorite speakers are available at this link. Wow!! Don't miss this.

http://www.newattitude.org/conference/

Ruth Bell Graham

1920-2007

Ruth Bell Graham, wife of evangelist Billy Graham, died yesterday at the age of 87. Ruth had been bedridden at home, suffering from degenerative osteoarthritis of the back and neck. Billy Graham said all that can be said of this remarkable woman:

“Ruth was my life partner, and we were called by God as a team. No one else could have borne the load that she carried. She was a vital and integral part of our ministry, and my work through the years would have been impossible without her encouragement and support. I am so grateful to the Lord that He gave me Ruth, and especially for these last few years we’ve had in the mountains together. We’ve rekindled the romance of our youth, and my love for her continued to grow deeper every day. I will miss her terribly, and look forward even more to the day I can join her in Heaven.”

The daughter of missionary doctor L. Nelson Bell, she was born in 1920 in Qingjiang, China, where her father directed the Presbyterian hospital founded by the father of author Pearl Buck. She grew up in China and at age 13 went to boarding school for three years in Pyongyang, presently North Korea.

She met Billy Graham while they were students at Wheaton College, an evangelical liberal arts school near Chicago.

Ruth initially thought she was called to become a missionary but after struggling in prayer over her future, she married Billy in Montreat Aug. 13, 1943. The couple eventually moved to Montreat, in the mountains of western North Carolina, to be near her parents while Billy spent many days on the road. She raised ftheir ive children.

On Fathers and Fidelity

It is worth your every effort to promote and preserve healthy, intact marriages and families. ~ me

Fatherhood: Facts and Fiction

“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4

Father’s Day has been observed for about 100 years, and its inspiration was Mother’s Day, which has been celebrated in one form or another since the 16th century. It has always seemed fitting to me that we honor mothers, but odd that we honor fathers, for as any devoted husband and father can attest, there is no greater responsibility or reward than the blessing of children, no greater privilege than the blessing of fatherhood.

The good news is that there is a resurgence of men who are honoring their wives and children as responsible husbands and fathers. Unfortunately, there are too many men who will never know that reward because they have abdicated their responsibility as fathers.

Marriage is the foundation for the family, which in turn, serves as the foundation for society. In 295 BC, Mencius wrote, “The root of the kingdom is in the state. The root of the state is in the family. The root of the family is in the person of its head.” Broken marriages lead to broken families, which lead to broken societies. The most successful fathering is rooted in a healthy marriage. Thus, to be good fathers, we must first be good husbands.

Dr. Jim Lee, a pastor and director of Living Free ministries writes that the Christian marriage paradigm is built on a foundation of five principles: First, God is the creator of the marriage relationship; second, heterosexuality is God’s pattern for marriage; third, monogamy is God’s design for marriage; fourth, God’s plan for marriage is for physical and spiritual unity; and fifth, marriage was designed to be permanent.

When this paradigm is broken, the exemplarity for children is broken, and the consequences are staggering. Consequently, the greatest affront to the Body of Christ is the most common injury to the family of man—marital infidelity and divorce. Divorce, which typically results in the absence of fathers from their headship role within the family, is the single most significant common denominator among all categories of social and cultural entropy.

“Maturity does not come with age, but with the accepting of responsibility for one’s actions,” writes Dr. Edwin Cole, a fatherhood advocate. “The lack of effective, functioning fathers is the root cause of America’s social, economic and spiritual crises.”

Currently, only one in three children—and only one in five inner-city children—is in a home with a mother and father. Nearly 25 million children live absent or apart from their biological fathers. “Children who grow up with their fathers do far better—emotionally, educationally, physically, every way we can measure—than children who do not,” notes family researcher David Blankenhorn. “This conclusion holds true even when differences of race, class and income are taken into account. The simple truth is that fathers are irreplaceable in shaping the competence and character of their children... The absence of fathers from family life is surely the most socially consequential family trend of our era.”

Indeed it is.

Here are some sobering statistics: According to the Center for Disease Control, Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services and the Bureau of the Census, the 30 percent of children who live apart from their fathers will account for 63 percent of teen suicides, 70 percent of juveniles in state-operated institutions, 71 percent of high-school dropouts, 75 percent of children in chemical-abuse centers, 80 percent of rapists, 85 percent of youths in prison, 85 percent of children who exhibit behavioral disorders, and 90 percent of homeless and runaway children. In fact, children born to unwed mothers are ten times more likely to live in poverty as children with fathers in the home.

The causal link between fatherless children and crime is “so strong that controlling for family configuration erases the relationship between race and crime and between low income and crime,” notes social researcher Barbara Dafoe Whitehead. More to the point is the following comment from a counselor at a juvenile-detention facility in California, which has the nation’s highest juvenile-incarceration rate: “[If] you find a gang member who comes from a complete nuclear family, I’d like to meet him... I don’t think that kid exists.”

Concerns about marital infidelity, and the consequences for children, are not new. As Founding Father John Adams wrote in his diary on 2 June 1778, “The foundation of national morality must be laid in private families... How is it possible that Children can have any just Sense of the sacred Obligations of Morality or Religion if, from their earliest Infancy, they learn their Mothers live in habitual Infidelity to their fathers, and their fathers in as constant Infidelity to their Mothers?”

On this Father’s Day, all of us who have been blessed with children should pause not only to count our blessings, but also to commit ourselves to honoring those attendant obligations every day. We should examine the job we are doing as husbands first, then fathers. As my friend, Father Ted Hesburgh, observed early in his pastorate, “The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.”

Patriot Post, Vol. 07 No. 24 Digest 15 June 2007

Ponder the Line in Your Life

I have really enjoyed becoming familiar with James MacDonald, pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel Rolling Meadows, IL. He also has a radio ministry called Walk in the Word. Gary was given a series of messages he has called Downpour based on verses in Hosea 6:1-3. It is a very powerful presentation. He describes it like this: "God longs to pour water into every dry place - refreshing, reviving, drenching you in all that He is - if only you will return to Him." If you have a chance, listen to all six messages.

Since then I have become a regular visitor to his website enjoying his daily radio messages, Sunday sermons, articles and blog. I hope you will check out www.walkintheword.com regularly.

His most recent Wisdom for Your Walk article is really good and thot I would pass on the link for your edification. Let me know what you think. Blessings as you ponder the line in your life!

http://www.walkintheword.com/WeeklyWalk.aspx

Prone to Wander...

OK, I'm going to admit that I am struggling. I have discovered that I have a very strong bent within me to become irritated. It doesn't seem to be my fault b/c people and circumstances can push my buttons while I'm simply minding my own business.

Now I can say that I have experienced some victory in holding my tongue when my buttons are pushed, and will admit that I have been somewhat proud of gaining even a bit of self control in this most transparent area. BTW, it is most certainly a work (or should I say war) of God in me, for I must admit that I have regrettably fought it oh so hard for oh so long.

But recently I have been forced to take an even closer look, by the Holy Spirits prompting, and now recognize that what my tongue has not said my heart has often harbored, I'm ashamed to say.

Does this matter? Does this count?

He who sees my heart has shown me that it does. It is sin, and that it must be dealt with. Oh, this was not a pleasant discovery...and it is not an easy admission to make.

I am now striving to line my heart up with Truth and crucify this disease that would ravage me from the inside out robbing me of the joy of a pure heart. Isn't God good to us in exposing our sin?

May I willingly and actively call sin in me sin, and walk in truth even in the hidden places of my heart.