True Joy

Are you frustrated? Utterly discouraged because of how life is going? What did you expect? Did you believe the lie that life was all about you and your desires? ?Yes nowadays we are taught to indulge, be "ourselves" 

(whatever that means) seek pleasure at all cost but is that really what life is all about? Is it really pleasurable to live in such a manner or does living this way just rob us of joy? Being sinful, indulging in what seems pleasurable to us and seeking to fulfill our own desires only leads to sin and sin to death. So how are we to live then? The Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it simply 

Q. 1. What is the chief end of man? 

A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

So What is the point of life? How are we to live you ask? Scripture tells us that we ought to live for the glory of God. "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31) Instead of seeing all things through the lenses of whether or not whatever we are thinking about doing will be pleasurable for us, we ought to ask instead whether whatever we're considering doing pleases the Lord and will bring Him the most Glory. 

Life is hard, we live in a fallen world. We are constantly met with disappointments. We cannot live for the "pleasures" in  this life. Things in this life are fleeting and passing away. We must set our gaze on Christ and the things above. When we are self absorbed not only are we in sin but we rob ourselves of joy.

R.C. Sproul wrote a book Titled Can I Have Joy in My Life? in it he writes: "The enticement of sin is that we think it will make us happy. We think it will give us joy and personal fulfillment. But it merely gives us guilt, which undermines and destroys authentic joy."

This book has really helped me in my walk. It was extremely difficult for me to transition from living for my own pleasures to living for the Lord and finding my Joy in Him. The Lord has used this book to put everything in perspective for me and teach me to imitate Christ and lay down my life for others not to mention live to do the Will of my Father in heaven rather than doing my own will and whatever I perceive will bring me joy in this life.

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Battling Unbelief by John Piper

This book is one of my favorites. It was so helpful and really helped me view things from the right perspective. It drove me to my knees and fueled my desire to commune with our Lord. A great read for everyone! You guys should totally read it! :)

WHAT IS A HEALTHY CHURCH?

If you are considering leaving the current place you worship and fellowship. I strongly encourage you to read this book first. Very good, Christ-Centered book with lots of things you want to consider and pray about.

Some amazing points from the book:

"The gospel is the heart of Christianity, and so it should be at the heart of our churches" (75).

"The Gospel is not the news that we're okay. It's not the news that God is love. It's not the news that Jesus wants to be our friend. It's not the news that He has a wonderful plan or purpose for our life. The Gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ died on the cross as a sacrificial substitute for sinners and rose again, making a way for us to be reconciled to God" (76).

"You and I cannot demonstrate love or joy or peace or patience or kindness sitting all by ourselves on an island. No, we demonstrate it when the people we have committed to loving give us good reasons not to love them, but we do anyway" (29).

"Music is a biblically required response to God's word, but the music God gave us was not given to build our churches upon. A church built on music of whatever style is a church built on shifting sands" (67).

This Momentary Marriage By John Piper

This Momentary Marriage

CLICK HERE TO GET THIS BOOK FOR FREE!

 

 I just had to share their testimony with you guys. Our God is so amazing. I am so excited to read through this book with my husband and Lord willing a couple of friends.

 

 

SIX WAYS OF MINIMIZING SIN

More notes from this amazing book!

SIX WAYS OF MINIMIZING SIN

DEFENDING

I find it difficult to receive feedback about weaknesses or sin. When confronted, my tendency is to explain things away, talk about my successes, or justify my decisions. As a result, people are hesitant to approach me and I rarely have conversations about difficult things in my life.

FAKING

I strive to keep up appearances and maintain a respectable image. My behavior, to some degree, is driven by what I think others think of me. I also do not like to think reflectively about my life. As a result, not many people know the real me. (I may not even know the real me)

HIDING

I tend to conceal as much as I can about my life, especially the "bad stuff." This is different from faking, in that faking is about impressing. Hiding is more about shame. I don't think people will accept or love the real me

EXAGGERATING

I tend to think (and talk) more highly of myself than I ought. I make things (good and bad) out to be much bigger than they are (usually to get attention). As a result, things often get more attention than they deserve and have a way of making me stressed and anxious.

BLAMING

I am quick to blame others for sin or circumstances. I have a difficult time "owning" my contributions to sin or conflict. There is an element of pride that assumes it's not my fault and/or an element of fear of rejection if it is my fault.

DOWNPLAYING

I tend to give little weight to sin or circumstances in my life, as if they are "normal" or "not that bad." As a result, things often don't get the attention  they deserve. They have a way of mounting to the point of being overwhelming.

Are You Performing Or Pretending?

Notes from Book/study "The Gospel-Centered life"

Great Book for Small groups!

Pretending minimizes sin by making ourselves out to be something we are not.
Performing minimizes God's holiness by reducing His standard to something we can meet, thereby meriting His favor.
Both are rooted in an inadequate view of God's holiness and our identity.

Because of indwelling sin, we are prone to forget the Gospel. When we are not anchored in the truth of the Gospel, our love for Jesus and our experience of His goodness become very small. We end up "shrinking the cross" by either pretending or performing.

If we are not resting in Jesus' righteousness, this growing awareness of our sin becomes a crushing weight. We buckle under it's load and compensate by pretending that we're better than we really are. Pretending can take many forms : dishonesty ("I'm not that bad"), comparison ("I'm not as bad as those people"), excuse making ("I'm not really that way"), and false righteousness ("Here are all the good things I've done"). Because we don't want to admit how sinful we really are, we spin the truth in our favor.

If we are not rooted in God's acceptance of us through Jesus, we compensate by trying to earn God's approval through our performance. We live a life on a treadmill, trying to gain God's favor by living up to his expectations (or our mistaken view of them).

To discern your subtle tendencies toward pretending, ask yourself this question: what do you count on to give you a sense of "personal credibility" (validity, acceptance, good standing)? Your answer to that question will often reveal something (besides Jesus) in which you find righteousness.

When we are not firmly rooted in the gospel, we rely on these false sources of righteousness to build our reputation and give us a sense of worth and value. (Think of anything that gives you a sense of being "good enough" or better than others.) These sources of functional righteousness disconnect us from the power of the gospel. They allow us to find righteousness in what we do instead of honestly confronting the depth of our sin and brokenness. Furthermore, each of these sources of righteousness is also a way of judging and excluding others! We use them to elevate ourselves and condemn those who aren't as "righteous" as we are. In other words, finding righteousness in these things leads us into more sin, not less.

Do you picture God as disappointed? Angry? Indifferent? Does his face say "Get your act together!" or "If only you could do a little more of me!" If you imagined God as anything but overjoyed with you, you have fallen into a performance mindset. Because the Gospel truth is that in Christ, God is deeply satisfied with you. In fact based on Jesus' work, God has adopted you as his own son or daughter (Gal 4:7)! But when we fail to root our identity in what Jesus has done for us, we slip into performance driven Christianity.

Performance-driven Christianity is actually a minimizing of God's holiness. Thinking we can impress God with our "right living" shows that we've reduced his standards far below what they actually are. Rather than being awed by the infinite measure of His holy perfection, we have convinced ourselves that if we just try hard enough, we can merit God's love and approval.

Our subtle tendencies toward pretending and performing show that failing to believe the gospel is the root of all our more observable sins. As we learn to apply the gospel to our unbelief to "preach the gospel  to ourselves" we will find ourselves freed from the false security of pretending and performing. Instead we will live in the true joy and freedom promised to us by Jesus.

HEALTH, WEALTH & HAPPINESS

 

I'm currently reading this book and it is so insightful! I'm reading and while reading the Lord is revealing to me errors and things I have believed and still believe because of my encounter with the prosperity Gospel in the beginning of my walk. 

Two quotes from the book:

"Teaching or trusting in a false gospel has eternal ramifications."

"An incorrect theology will lead to incorrect beliefs about God, His Word, and His dealings with humanity."