We can learn from Nehemiah’s example how to pray for ourselves in the pursuit of holiness. Like Nehemiah, we need to set aside time each day for planned, protracted, persevering prayer. We need to lay before the Lord any areas of persistent sin in our lives: sins such as gossip, irritability, impatience, lack of love, [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Love’
We Can Learn from Nehemiah on Prayer
Posted in Bridges, Jerry, tagged Gossip, Holiness, Holy Spirit, Impatience, Impure Thoughts, Irritability, Love, Nehemiah, Persistent Sin, Prayer on January 3, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
The Inextricable Link Between Faith and Love
Posted in Bridges, Jerry, tagged Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, Hebrews 11, Love, Pleasing God on December 15, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
There is an inextricable link between faith and love. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6), and as we have seen, without love, it is impossible to please God. But this love arises in our hearts only as we by faith lay ahold of the great truths of the gospel. To do [...]
Only Then Can We Be Free to Love
Posted in Bridges, Jerry, tagged Christ's Blood, Conscience, Gratitude, Guilt, Love, Obedience on December 14, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
When our sense of guilt is taken away because our consciences are cleansed by the blood of Christ, we are freed up to love Him with all our hearts and souls and minds. In fact, not only are we freed up, we are motivated in a positive sense to love Him in this wholehearted way. [...]
Here, Intent Is More Important than Action
Posted in Bridges, Jerry, tagged Love, Obedience, Performance, Pleasing God, Sin on December 8, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Our motive for obedience is just as important, probably more so, to God than the level of our performance. A person who struggles with some persistent sin but does so out of love for God is more pleasing to Him than the person who has no such struggle but is proud of his or her [...]
The Most Important Dimension of our Love for God
Posted in Bridges, Jerry, tagged God's Enjoyment, Love, Obedience, Worship on December 6, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
So the enjoyment of God and the desire to fellowship with Him and to worship Him are certainly important dimensions of our love to God. But the most important dimension is our wholehearted obedience: our desire to obey Him with all our heart, soul and mind. – Bridges, Jerry; The Disciplined of Grace:God’s Role and [...]
We Should Not Be Surprised By This
Posted in Bridges, Jerry, tagged God's Law, I John 5, John 14, Love, Obedience on December 1, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
It should not surprise us that obedience to God’s law is a major part of loving him. After all, Jesus said “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to [...]
Love, Obedience and Deuteronomy
Posted in Bridges, Jerry, tagged Deuteronomy 10, Deuteronomy 11, Deuteronomy 19, Deuteronomy 30, Deuteronomy 6, Love, Obedience on November 30, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
This equating of obedience to God with love to God is a prominent feature of the book of Deuteronomy. Without trying to be exhaustive, I found six other passages in the book where love and obedience are tied together (Deuteronomy 10:12-13; 11:13; 11:22; 19:9; 30:6, 8; 30:19-20). – Bridges, Jerry; The Disciplined of Grace:God’s Role [...]
Oh What a Relief It Can Be
Posted in Horton, Michael, tagged Faith, God's Grace, Gospel, Judgment, Law, Love on June 16, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
What a relief it is when we are liberated from thinking that we are called to be the gospel! Now we can simply receive it and draw upon it daily for the confidence to look up to God in faith and out to our neighbor in love. Now the law can guide and direct us, [...]
It Will Always Go Against Our Grain…
Posted in Horton, Michael, tagged Faith, God's Word, Hope, Love on June 15, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
It will always go against our grain to be driven outside ourselves by God’s Word, but it is only through this gracious intrusion of a sovereign God that we will receive and then express true faith, hope and love. – Horton, Michael; Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church; Baker Books; Grand Rapids, [...]
A Visible Manifestation of Love
Posted in Driscoll, Mark, tagged Church, Great Commission, Love, Trinity on November 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
A loving church is a visible manifestation of deep Trinitarian love where people can connect to and live out the inner life of the Father, Son and Spirit on their mission of fulfilling the great commision. – Driscoll, Mark and Gary Breshears, Vintage Church: Timeless Truths and Timely Methods, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, 2008, p. [...]
