News and Views from the Owner of Kingsley Press
Taken from the book, Kneeling We Triumph, Book 2
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me (Psa. 66:18).
If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight (1 John 3:20‑22).
“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” What strikes us in the condition which David describes is its deliberateness. It is not something into which a man may fall, out of weakness, and almost without knowing it. To “regard iniquity” is a voluntary act. . . . The man or woman chooses the sin, and chooses to cling to it. The deliberateness may cloak itself and try to pass for a necessity. You may lay the blame on circumstance, on temperament, on education, on almost anything; but all the time down at the bottom of your heart, in the moment when you are sincerely honest, you know which are the sins you choose, which are the sins to which you open the gate. You can tell them by a certain confidence in their step as they enter and walk through the streets of your heart. They are different from those that have climbed in over the unguarded wall.
Do you not know what I am trying to describe so feebly? Have you never felt sure that sin was harming you not merely by what it made you do, but by what it made you lose? There was a life with God, of which men told, of which something in your own heart assured you of the possibility and the beauty, from which you knew you were shut out, not because of any unwillingness of God, but simply because of the life you were living.
Years and years ago the whole story was told by Jesus in the parable of the Prodigal Son. He never was turned out of his father’s house. A thousand slips and faults of his boyhood did not separate him from his father so long as his heart was true and loyal. Only when he rebelled and went away, his father could not follow him, except with love. Only as long as he stayed away, his father, however much he loved him, could not be with him. But the moment he returned, the house was opened, the feast was spread, the communion was re‑established. “While he was yet a great way off, his father saw him.” There is no more to tell than that. A thousand sermons could tell no more. God will hear as soon as He can hear. It is man’s obstinacy, not God’s reluctance, that keeps back the mercy. —P. Brooks
Oswald Smith likewise affirms the same truth: “If we are to engage in this, the highest form of Christian service, we must be standing on praying ground. ‘If I regard iniquity in my heart,’ declares the inspired Word, ‘the Lord will not hear me.’ To be standing on praying ground is to have put away every sin, to turn from anything that grieves the Holy Spirit.”
Dr. A. B. Simpson writes: “We cannot trust God in the face of willful sin. An unsanctified state is fatal to any high degree of faith, for the carnal heart is not the soil in which it can grow. Faith is the fruit of the Spirit and is hindered by the weeds of sin and willful indulgence. The reason many Christians have so little faith is because they are living in the world and in themselves, and separated in so large a part of their life from God and holiness. Faith requires for its heavenly vision the highlands of holiness and separation, and the clear blue sky of a consecrated life. Beloved, may you not find in this the explanation of many of your doubts and fears? Your plane is too low, your heart is too mixed, and your life is too near this ‘present evil world.’”
Some weeks (or was it months?) ago we added Desiring God by John Piper to the online store. The book was first published around 20 years ago and what we’re selling is the 2003 edition, which contains two new appendixes and other new material, as well as corrections and updates.
The basic premise of the book (and of Piper’s life and ministry!) is that God is most glorified in us when we are most satsified in Him. The great business of life is to glorify God by enjoying Him. This enjoyment of God is what John Piper calls “Christian hedonism,” a philosophy of life built on the following five convictions:
1. The longing to be happy is a universal human experience, and it is good, not sinful.
2. We should never try to deny or resist our longing to be happy, as though it were a bad impulse. Instead, we should seek to intensify this longing and nourish it with whatever will provide the deepest and most enduring satisfaction.
3. The deepest and most enduring happiness is found only in God. Not from God, but in God.
4. The happiness we find in God reaches its consummation when it is shared with others in the manifold ways of love.
5. To the extent that we try to abandon the pursuit of our own pleasure, we fail to honor God and love people. Or, to put it positively: The pursuit of pleasure is a necessary part of all worship and virtue. That is: The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.
If your experience is anything like mine, once you pick up this book and start reading it, you’ll find it hard to put down.
Get your copy of Desiring God today!
If you use a handheld device that runs the Palm operating system (such as a Palm TX, Treo Smartphone, etc.), and you enjoy studying the Bible, I’d like to recommend the excellent MyBible program from Laridian.
When I first purchased my Palm TX some months ago, I knew I’d want to have at least one Bible on it, so I started researching various products and downloading demo versions to my Palm. I quickly found that Laridian’s products were superior (though not necessarily cheaper). Several months later I have on my Palm six different Bible versions (King James, New Living Translation, Amplified Bible, American Standard Version, English Standard Version, and Revised Standard Version) as well as well as five different commentaries (Bible Background Commentary, Classic Bible Commentary, Life Application Bible Notes, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary and Tyndale Concise Bible Commenary). What an amazing “Bible study library to go!”
This means that whether I’m on an airplane, sitting in a doctor’s waiting room or in my own living room, I can redeem the time by reading and studying God’s Word using a small device that fits the palm of my hand. It’s almost worth buying a handheld device or Smartphone just to study the Bible!
My most recent acquisition was a two-volume commentary called the Bible Background Commentary which looks like it’s going to be extremely helpful. Features of the Old Testament volume are:
Here is a paragraph from the Introduction:
“This book is an attempt to fill a particular niche in the vast field of one volume commentaries on the Bible. Rather than addressing all the varied elements of theology, literary structure, word meanings, history of scholarship, and so on, we have focused on the task of providing background information to the text…We are trying to shed light on the Israelite culture and worldview. Why? When we read the Bible as a community of faith, we want to draw as much theological content out of the text as possible. As a result people tend to read theological significance into the details. There is an inclination to read our own cultural biases and our own perspectives and worldview into the text as a basis for understanding theological significance if we are not alerted to the differences that existed in the Israelite way of thinking. The larger ancient Near Eastern world becomes significant in that many times it can serve as a window to the Israelite culture. In many cases, by offering insight into the Israelite or ancient Near Eastern way of thinking, this book can help the interpreter avoid erroneous conclusions. So, for instance, the theological significance of the pillar of fire, the scapegoat or the Urim and Thummim can be understood in new ways once we make connections to the general culture of the ancient Near East…”
I can’t speak for Laridian’s offerings for other devices (such as those that are PocketPC-based or the popular Blackberry) because I own a Palm OS-based device, but I guarantee they are worth at least a trial download. So what are you waiting for? Go to the Laridian website now!
The Christian’s Daily Challenge was compiled by E. F. & L. Harvey over fifty years ago and has gone through seven printings. The current edition has been re-typeset and reformatted so that every devotional reading is on a page of its own. The book contains a devotional for every day which challenges Christians to reach for higher heights in their walk with God.
Here is the reading for today, January 12:
Too big for God to use
“God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble” (James 4:6).
“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isa. 57:15).
One of the last messages of G. Fred Bergin, Director of the Ashley Downs Orphan Homes, Bristol, was: “Tell my younger brethren that they may be too big for God to use them, but they cannot be too small.”
“Too big for God to use me!”
This is the reason why
Poor longing souls are famished
Whom come, and go, and die!
O God, my Savior, help me
In deep humility
To make a full surrender
Henceforth to own but Thee.
“Too big for God to use me!”
But if I am possessed
With unction through His Spirit,
Then shall my work be blessed;
I’ll count myself as nothing,
Seek Christ to magnify,
And use my gifts in service
My Lord to glorify.
–Unknown
There is a story told of a very brilliant preacher who, wherever he went, moved crowds to enthusiasm by his splendid eloquence, culture and genius. He possessed every attractive gift of mind and body, and he was accompanied by a poor, blind brother who had no gifts at all but simply lived a holy life and knelt in prayer while the man of power and intellect preached. One day, when an assembly had been stirred and lifted up to an unusual ecstasy of fervor and devotion, the preacher had a vision. He saw Heaven opened and the glory of the great throne streamed down; but he saw, to his surprise, that it shone not upon his head, but upon the face of the lowly brother kneeling at his feet, and from that face it was reflected upon the faces of the crowd. Then he knew that the power came not through his genius and eloquence, but through the pure life and fervent prayers of the brother at his side.