Remedy for Wandering Thoughts in the Worship of God

After moving to Utah and starting a new job I quickly began to have terrible times of private and public worship. In private worship my mind would dart all over the place, mostly back to work. In public worship my heart would easily harden and forfeit the grace available in assembled worship.

Through a bookstore sale I picked up a copy of A Remedy for Wandering Thoughts in the Worship of God. This old puritan work lives up to its title. It's not lengthy by puritan standards but brims with remarkable analogies and pointed statements that deeply convict and then comfort.

If you struggle to keep focused during worship, seek out the remedy here.

Be moved by prayer again

Matthew Henry (1662-1714) is most famous for his commentary on the whole Bible. But his book of prayers, A Method for Prayer, has proven to me to be an equally valuable resource. If you've worn out your copy of The Valley of Vision (another much loved book of Puritan prayers) here is a fresh spring in which to refresh your soul.

I first heard of the book throuh this website which I used regularly for at least a year.


But the book has much more content and can more easily be made part of your devotion time.

She took the kingdom by storm

I like John Bunyan's take on what it means to take the kingdom by force (ref. Matthew 11:12) in Part II of Pilgrim's Progress.

The scene is Christiana has reached the Wicket Gate (which represents Christ), knocked and was ushered in with fanfare and joy. Her companion, the young maiden named Mercy, is still outside the Gate and full of doubt about her reception since, unlike Christiana, she lacks a direct invitation from the King.

_____________________________________

"Now Mercy began to be very impatient, and each minute was as long to her as an hour; wherefore she prevented Christiana from a fuller interceding for her, by knocking at the gate herself. And she knocked then so loud that she made Christiana to start. Then said the keeper of the gate, Who is there? And Christiana said, It is my friend.

So he opened the gate, and looked out, but Mercy was fallen down without in a swoon, for she fainted, and was afraid that no gate should be opened to her.

Then he took her by the hand, and said, Damsel, I bid thee arise.

Mercy: I am come for that unto which I was never invited, as my friend Christiana was. Hers was from the King, and mine was but from her. Wherefore I fear I presume.

Keep: Did she desire thee to come with her to this place?

Mercy: Yes; and, as my Lord sees, I am come. And if there is any grace and forgiveness of sins to spare, I beseech that thy poor handmaid may be a partaker thereof.

Then he took her again by the hand, and led her gently in, and said, I pray for all them that believe on me, by what means soever they come unto me.

So he left them awhile in a summer parlor below, where they entered into talk by themselves; and thus Christiana began. O how glad am I that we are got in hither.

Mercy: So you well may; but I, of all, have cause to leap for joy.

Christiana: I thought one time, as I stood at the gate, because I had knocked and none did answer, that all our labor had been lost, especially when that ugly cur made such a heavy barking against us.

Mercy: But my worst fear was after I saw that you was taken into his favor, and that I was left behind. And afraid I was to knock any more; but when I looked up to what was written over the gate, I took courage. I also thought that I must either knock again, or die; so I knocked, but I cannot tell how, for my spirit now struggled between life and death.

Christiana: Can you not tell how you knocked? I am sure your knocks were so earnest that the very sound of them made me start; I thought I never heard such knocking in all my life; I thought you would come in by a violent hand, or take the kingdom by storm. Matt. 11:12.

Gospel-Powered Parenting

This parenting book stands above the rest.

There are two things that Farley does particularly well that I'd like to draw attention to.

First, he distances himself from those that insist we must remove our children from the world (e.g. public schooling, Halloween, etc) in order to protect them from the world. He acknowledges that parenting always involves some protection, but he righly points out that an isolationist mentality often ends up with legalism. Farley recommends parents raise up their children not by changing and controlling their environment (things external to their children), but by going after their hearts.

Second, he picks up a theme from a great parenting book from the 1970s, How to Really Love Your Children, and emphasizes the importance of affection and different ways to show it to your children.

In places Farley sounds a lot like Tripp's Shephering a Child's Heart, but I think Farley is clearer in his main point of going after heart issues. Gospel-Powered Parenting may be the best parenting book I've read.

Gifts for a child's soul

Our strangest family tradition must be Epiphany. On January 6th each of the children receive a gift intended to help them grow in faith during the new year. Kristin and I also exchange gifts of the same kind.

The strange part is how the gifts are wrapped--the wackier the better. Kristin's gift-wrapping was really clever this year--her gift came to me in a Hawaiian dinner roll bag (bread for the soul looking forward to Paradise). The other gifts were similarly wrapped in odd things: a shower cap, a diaper, a briefcase, etc.

Zeke and Faith each received some God-honoring music for very young children.



Isaiah received a brand new edition of Bunyan's "other" allegory, The Holy War: The Battle for Mansoul. It looks to be very well done.


Grace receive a collection of short bios of godly women of the past. She's already finished it.


Another great children's series of Christian biographies started last year with a look at Calvin. This year the focus is on Augustine.


Kristin gave me a copy of Gospel-Powered Parenting and I gave her A Praying Life. I've heard both are excellent!

The Brothers Karamazov

"All true Russians are philosophers!" is a revealing statement from a main character in The Brothers Karamazov, a passionate philosophical novel, hailed by many as one of the world's best pieces of literature.

It is a lengthy tale of the three sons of a dirty old buffoon, Fyodor Karamazov, who represent three personalities: the reckless sensual (Dmitri), the agnostic intellectual (Ivan), and an immensely likeable, godward young man (Alyosha).

The story is set in a small Russian town around 1870 and centers on a romantic rivalry that erupted between Fyodor and his eldest son Dmitri. This rivalry figures prominently in the murder of the father and the trial of Dmitri for the crime.

Dostoevsky’s description of the tragic Karamazov brothers and the murder of their father presents the context needed to eruditely explore philosophical questions about God’s sovereignty, the place of suffering in our world, human depravity, and redemption through pain.

The Brothers Karamazov is a long book (almost 800 pages), so I opted for an abridged audio book that still ran over 19 hours. Even abridgements cannot overcome some of the slow-moving moments where the novel labors in details. At other times, its story and dialogue are captivating. This, combined with the depth of thought behind the philosophical questioning, is what makes the book stand out as a true classic.

More blessed than Mary

Kristin and I are reading through Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus* together and today's reading was especially good.

Jonathan Edwards preached a message titled, "To be more blessed than Mary" from the account in Luke 11:27-28 of a lady in the crowd calling out to Jesus about how blessed is the womb that bore him. Jesus responds with, "Blessed rather are those that hear the word of God and keep it!" Nancy Guthrie edits Edwards' sermon on this text down to a short reading, but it still punches beyond its weight. Especially good is this one-liner from Edwards, "'Tis more blessed to have Christ in the heart than in the womb."

*A collection of 22 short meditations to focus you on the wonder of the incarnation of Jesus, drawn from the works of classic theologians and writers such as Martin Luther, Augustine and Jonathan Edwards as well as contemporary theologians and Bible teachers such as John Piper, Tim Keller, J.I. Packer and Randy Alcorn. A similar volume is also available for Easter season.

Bud & Me -- Boys of Adventure

In 1909, five year old Temple and his nine year old brother, Bud, rode horseback from Oklahoma to Santa Fe, New Mexico – ALONE!

That was just the beginning. Their most famous horseback adventure was their record-breaking ride from New York to San Francisco. The two boy wonders crossed the rugged North American continent, once again without any adult presence (much less a GPS)! Despite a series of hair-raising adventures, including losing their horses and being on foot for three days in the deserts of Utah, the young adventurers galloped into San Francisco to a thunderous welcome.

Bud and Me, co-written by Temple’s wife and his daughter, is a story of bravery, perseverance and remarkable character. It is a rare tale of adventure that will be enjoyed by the entire family.

A Sane Woman’s Guide to Raising a Large Family

(briefly reviewed by Kristin)

“Mothering in general involves a certain amount of chaos.”… “The key is to find ways to deal with it…..”

This book is about organizing the chaos of life as a mother -- from toys to doing the laundry for a large family and parenting and family advice thrown in, too. I like how Mary shares openly about how they do things at their house – although some things I do not agree with her about (sleep issues for example).

Each child is a unique individual even in a large family –a gift from the Lord. Mary shares some great ideas for celebrating each child as a blessing to your family.

Think one child is troublesome and tiring? If you can’t stand your one child whining (or fill in the blank), you need to deal with the unacceptable behavior before you end up with 10 whining kids! And Mary shares some ideas for that too.

She also has advice for new moms. I recommend the Sane Woman’s Guide to you moms that are considering adding another to your family.

Portrait of Calvin

This 1950s John Calvin bio is an enjoyable, easy read. It's reasonably priced ($5) or available for free download here.

This will probably be the main source I use in presenting a simple biographical message on Calvin in adult Sunday School. There's one anecdote from the book that I'm not sure will come up then so I'll mention it here.

Calvin had lots of young children in his home for many years, meaning his greatest works, like The Institutes of the Christian Religion, were written in the midst of teething toddlers and messy diapers. That a text of this import (it's still a standard in many seminaries) was written in a context like mine is both motivating and deeply depressing. Calvin was one-of-a-kind.

The making of split-P soup

Seeking a Better Country tells the story of 300 years of American Presbyterianism. From its beginning in 1706 until the present day there has been no golden age for the Presbyterian church in this country but instead a struggle, at times acrimonious, to define a Presbyterian identity and then to hold fast to it.

Most often the denomination has been split by a large group of Presbyterians neglecting the confession of faith and adopting the methods of the broader Christian Church (e.g. Revivalism), or it has all-together abandoned the historic Christian faith (e.g. Liberalism).

Sometimes the reason for splitting and forming another Presbyterian denomination doesn't seem to rise to the level warranted for such an action. And the longest lasting split to-date began largely over slavery and its abolition. The consequences of all the divisions leaves us with the split-P soup we have today.

The book itself is not dry, even though it is a denominational history. In fact, it explains and informs the major events and personalities in American Presbyterianism in an interesting and at times startling way.

To bring this post to an end, the book closes by identifying the three types of Presbyterians today: confessionals, evangelicals, and mainliners. The first two are found mainly in the "sideline" denominations (PCA, OPC, etc) with the confessionals emphasizing theology and the evangelicals focusing on activism. The mainliners (e.g. PCUSA) have, by and large, drifted far from confessional moorings. But the history of all three camps is a mix of folly and insight, failure and accomplishment.

Young Peacemaker re-visited

We finished our second pass through The Young Peacemaker this week. We first read it together in 2007. This time we went through it during family worship and found it to be a really useful training resource for working through sibling rivalry and other forms of conflict. Many of the ideas in the book are probably too much for a child under 6 to grasp, but all of the children enjoyed the role play and stories.

This is a great resource for a family to use and re-use. We'll probably go through it every other year or so for many years to come.

9 signs of life

I've enjoyed reading a letter a day from the pen of one of the great Scottish puritan Presbyterians. The Letters of Samuel Rutherford (1660-1661) were mostly written during his imprisonment for the sake of the Gospel.

This excerpt from my reading today provides a good example of the richness of 17th-century devotional literature:

Loving Brother, Hold fast Christ without wavering, and contend for the faith. You may put a difference betwixt you and reprobates (those without Christ), if you have these marks,

1. If ye prize Christ and his truth so as ye will sell all and buy him, and suffer for it.

2. If the love of Christ keepeth you back from sinning, more than the law, or fear of Hell.

3. If ye be humble, and deny your own will, wit, credit, ease, honor, the world, and the vanity and glory of it.

4. Your profession must not be barren and void of good works.

5. Ye must in all things aim at God's honor; ye must eat, drink, sleep, buy, sell, sit, stand, speak, pray, read, and hear the word, with a heart-purpose that God may be honored.

6. Ye must show yourself an enemy to sin, and reprove the works of darkness, such as drunkenness, swearing, and lying, albeit the company should hate you for so doing.

7. Keep in mind the truth of God, that ye heard me teach, and have nothing to do with the corruptions and new guises entered into the house of God.

8. Make conscience of your calling (as a Christian), in covenants, in buying and selling.

9. Acquaint yourself with daily praying; commit all your ways and actions to God, by prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving; and count not much of being mocked; for Christ Jesus was mocked before you.

When pastors knew their office

The Gospel Ministry is remarkable in that this 18th century ordination sermon given by an obscure, young man now serves as a judgment sign upon 21st century pastorates.

Foxcroft understood faithfulness to God in a minister's character, preaching, care for a flock, the needs of souls, diligence in selflessness, and the source of strength. He served faithfully in the same church from the time of his ordination until his death.

I'm grateful that Soli Deo Gloria re-published this handsome little book; it's a needful reminder about the office of pastor.

What he must be if he wants to marry my daughter

The title of this new book intrigued me so I bumped it ahead of several others in my stack to read. Also, Kristin has been encouraging me to start talking with Grace (9) about modesty, young men, etc so this book was also timely for me.

Here's a one sentence summary: since the typical approach to dating has many serious drawbacks, fathers need to exercise their biblical responsibilities by protecting their daughters until they are ready for marriage and pro-actively help them find the right man to marry.

Baucham breaks down the picture of "the right man" into 10 godly qualities fathers should look for in a future son-in-law. Among these are

He must be a Christ follower;
He must be prepared to lead;
He must lead like Christ;
He must be committed to children (which includes a commitment to have them, invest in them, and support them).

In each category, Baucham includes arguments for these propositions and provides biblical answers to the most common objections. I found it especially helpful that he anticipates a number of concerns that young women may have. He also understands that few young men fit these criteria and addresses that with a series of recommendations.

Examples from the author's counseling experience are sprinkled throughout the chapters making this an easy read. This book is a good and practical "headship handbook" and is the first I've seen to consider the topic from this angle.

Recovering the Reformed Confession

TIME magazine recently listed "new Calvinism" in the top 10 ideas changing the world. I've meandered through Calvinism's big tent (this blog was originally intended to record that trek), benefited in many ways, and wrestled with the differences between its diverse leaders, all who are described as being "reformed".

Scott Clark (of Westminster Seminary, California) penned a lengthy book out of concern for that adjective "Reformed". He argues that it has a historic meaning that is more encompassing than the suddenly in vogue doctrines of grace.

WORLD magazine (April 11th, 2009) ran a brief review of Colin Hansen's Young, Restless, and Reformed that hints at an encouraging aspect of this growth. "Many young pastors and church members are becoming Reformed", the reviewer comments. Then he quotes Hansen, "A vision of the transcendent God takes their breath away. When they see that theology can drive a deeper and more passionate relationship with God, they tend not to worry about potential debates over doctrine."

Overall this quote is heartening--when a person better understands who God is it's a positive development and it should stir the affections. But before someone starts calling themselves "Reformed" wouldn't it be helpful to know what that term historically entails? I'm convinced that most don't, and that leads to confusion.

I was expecting Dr. Clark to address this development in his book and was hoping he would provide what is lacking today (to my knowledge)--an inviting exhortation for those among the new Calvinists to embrace the full meaning of Reformed. However, I think he wrote this book before Hansen's work and certainly before TIME ran their piece, so that was not the chief focus of this volume.

Instead, and still importantly, this book is a call for the established reformed churches to first get their house in order and to return to the confession they say they believe. Dr. Clark boldly calls out many areas where we have lost sight of our Reformed heritage in our theology, piety, and practice. Most among the Reformed have drifted into broad evangelicalism, been affected by revivalism, and we have suffered for it.

After diagnosing the problems, Clark suggests the remedies. In addition to returning to our confessional practices in such areas as the regulative principle of worship and the means of grace, he argues that the Reformed community needs to also draft new confessional statements which address the issues confronting the modern Church.

Modern evangelicalism has been a significant shaping influence in my life and one that is often at odds with the confession I say best summarizes Scripture. Dr. Clark's book reminded me that "Reformed" is a full-orbed term codified in confessional documents and he challenged me to recover the reformed confession in several areas of my life.

Wave upon wave

From where we are vacationing we have a good view of the Pacific Ocean with its waves rhythmically rolling up and down the beach below the bluff this house rests upon. As beautiful as this image is, God means it only to point to the wave upon wave of grace that flows from Calvary's cross. Again this morning, Valley of Vision has been used of God to draw out my affection to that which can truly satisfy.

O Lord God,

From Calvary's cross wave upon wave of grace reaches me,

deals with my sin,

washes me clean,

renews my heart,

strengthens my will,

draws out my affection,

kindles a flame in my soul,

rules throughout my inner man,

consecrates my every thought, word, work,

teaches me thy immeasurable love.

How great are my privileges in Christ Jesus!

Without him I dare not lift up my guilty eyes;
in him I gaze upon my Father-God and friend.

Without him is gaping hell below me, and eternal anguish;
in him its gates are barred to me by his precious blood.

Without him all things external call for my condemnation;
in him they minister to my comfort,
and are to be enjoyed with thanksgiving.

Praise be to thee for grace,
(it sustains the redeemed soul and not one link of its chain can be broken!)
and for the unspeakable gift of Jesus.

Some recent reads (by Kristin)

The Law of Kindness by Mary Beeke
“Life is full of races and discouragements. A kind word of encouragement can spur us on.” This book provides lots of practical advice for “small courtesies” that “take very little time or effort” (my kind of book) in areas of:
Parenting with Kindness
The Kind Wife
Kind Thoughts and
Kind Words
Through the book Mrs Beeke helps you examine your motives (ouch!) and encourages the dependence on Christ as you seek to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit of kindness.

Practical Theology for Women: How knowing God Makes a Difference in Our Daily Lives by Wendy Horger Alsup
Just some quotes from this one:
“ There is a lot in Christianity today that is easily defended by human logic but utterly lacking in biblical foundation”
On regarding scriptural truths:
“ Do you allow these truths to interpret your circumstances, or do you allow your circumstances to distract you from these truths?”

Great reminder:
“ As we empty ourselves in humility, God transforms us, rooting out our sin and depravity and replacing it with character that reflects his own.”

And then some good ideas because:
“Many days, it is hard to find time to get into the Word, but there are still many ways to allow the Word to get into us.”

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life

This book is an examination of spiritual disciplines - disciplines provided by God which are designed to help us grow in godliness, allowing us to become more and more conformed to the image of Christ. The disciplines Whitney writes about are:

Bible intake
Prayer
Worship
Evangelism
Serving
Stewardship
Fasting
Silence and solitude
Journalling
Learning

One of my favorite aspects about this book is that Whitney draws heavily from the Puritans and from other great Christians of the past when the spiritual disciplines were regarded more highly than they are today.

Note: This book is the free audio book for March from Christian Audio.

How to build a bridge (to an angry child)

I finished a good book today that addresses a common parenting problem. Get Outta My Face focuses on how to engage an embittered child (aimed at teenagers) in conversations that will open him up instead of shut him down. There's a ton of practical wisdom here that can repair damaged parent/child relationships.

The author, Rick Horne, has served the Lord as a Christian high school counselor for over 30 years and has raised 6 children through the teen years. It would be a shame not to learn from such a wealth of experience.

Throughout the book he explains in practical terms how to listen carefully, intentionally and affirmatively, clarifying the underlying healthy desires beneath the teenager's actions, looking for solutions that will be more effective in attaining those fundamental wants, and helping to develop small, manageable plans for reaching out to those goals.

This book offers parents like me a practical and wise way out of dead end conflicts with their children.