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The Labourer’s Rest by Philpot (1802-1869)
J. C. Philpot’s spiritual treasure came from pressures within and without. From within he suffered chronic poor health and from without he suffered the consequences of choosing the heart of Christ over the religious institutions of his day. The following is a portion from one of his sermons preached in London, England, on July 27, 1845. “The Lord sees that many of His dear children are toiling and struggling to do something pleasing in His sight. And, whatever disappointments they continually meet-whatever rents are made in the web which they are weaving to clothe themselves with; however short they find the bed, and however narrow the garment-yet many go on…
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Becoming
There is a deep and glorious spiritual evolution for those who meet the demands God requires. The new life becomes a schooling and a divine process of becoming. Here we are disentangled and extricated from the old, Adamic setup. Life becomes a series of divinely planned experiences in which God is faithfully working to release us and adjust us to a life in Himself. How our hearts thrill at the thought of the ultimate victory. For this all creation is waiting and toward it all creation is moving. The heart once set on fire and illuminated in this fellowship can never, never rest in any form or pattern of earthly…
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John 15: Its All About the Roots, Part 2
Christians are very concerned with sin. We see its damaging effects and it seems only natural to assume that sin is the problem. But like the rust fungus I described in Part 1, sin is only the symptom–the expression of our root nature. This is important so I will further the metaphor of the rust fungus. When the fungus is present, the vine can’t help but expose its presence when the leaves burst forth come spring. It might try, if it could, to repress it but it’s irrepressible. It’s there–always there. In both the case of the infected vine and our sin nature, the remedy is the same: start new.…
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John 15: It’s All About the Roots, Part 1
It’s almost Olallieberry season on the central coast of California! Last year, my lovely daughter-in-law, Stacey, and I drove to a local berry farm in search of the luscious, purple jewels. We took the tractor pulled hay-ride out to the rows of vines and began the prickly business of picking. I hesitated. The leaves on every vine were covered with powdery orange rust. I knew what it was but only because I’d seen it many years ago infecting our sod lawn. Stacey and I agreed that the berries themselves appeared unaffected, so promising ourselves we’d rinse the berries before freezing them we went ahead and in a short time we…
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Bill Myers at the 2012 Orange County Christian Writers Conference
Bill Myers looked as if he’d come from a backyard gathering. Dressed in jeans and a jersey-style knit shirt, he took the platform Friday night at the Orange County Christians Writer’s Association with a mischievous grin. What the next hour held for his listeners became a humorous but life-changing message few Christians will ever embrace: in the end, it is the weak who win the race. We know that verse about weakness, right? It’s the one which says, “When we are weak, then we are strong.” Yeah, that verse. The one creatives have a hard time with. The verse we paste over with the one we’re more comfortable with–the verse…
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Doing Good Stuff for God
It’s easy. Think of a good idea, get excited enough to do it and do it! It’s all good, right? Wrong. Binsey Cote will tell you all about it. When Binsey was twenty-two she started a crisis pregnancy center, recruited an all volunteer staff, bought a 24-hour hotline service, rented office space and on and on. Four years later, she was disillusioned, exhausted and having anxiety attacks night and day. She barely got through the all day conference she planned and hosted for community healthcare services on pro-life support systems. What followed changed her life forever. The Lord she felt had let her down said, “Both the knowledge of good…
