Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

Pages: 234-249

Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. James 1:21

This morning, I continued with John Piper's Reading the Bible Supernaturally: Seeing and Savoring the Glory of God in Scripture, continuing with Part 3 The Natural Act of Reading the Bible Supernaturally, chapter fifteen - Humility Throws Open a Thousand Windows.  Here Piper builds on the previous chapter by exploring how we "act the miracle that God causes?" Piper provides a five step process using an acronym - APTAT (video describing this process here):

1. Admit: admit that without Christ we can do nothing (John 15:5)
   
2. Pray: pray for God's help, whatever form of help I need (Matthew 7:7, James 4:2, Psalm 50:15)
3. Trust: trust in a specific promise of God that is tailor-made to my situation or a general promise (Isaiah 55:11, 41:10, Matthew 10:20, 2 Corinthians 9:8, Philippians 4:19)
4. Act: act in obedience, expecting God to act under and in and through my acting (1 Corinthians 3:6-7, 15:10, Philippians 2:12, Romans 8:13)
5. Thank: thank God for whatever good comes - give Him the glory (Ephesians 5:20)

Piper states that it "begins with humility" - one of the most-oft discussed topics in the Bible. He writes that "[i]t begins with a real sense of how depraved and distorted our minds are, and how readily our hearts desire other things more than we desire God." Piper uses child-like humility to discuss how we should be humble: "[t]he humility of a child, rather, is his free and willing awareness that he cannot provide for his own needs and must have an adult to meet all his needs." The Holy Spirit is central here to "humble us so that we relish the glory of Christ more than we relish our self-exaltation."

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God who has blessed us with the Holy Spirit to humble us so that we may receive Your word, to see and savor Your glory so that we may be transformed day-by-day into Your image until glorification when we see You face to face.  Oh what a day that will be!  Thank You Jesus for all of this and all that You do!  Yet I know that You are not yet finished me and I am undeserving - there is more sanctification as my sin continues.  Please forgive me Jesus for my sins - worry, etc. help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Pages: 224-240

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Philippians 2:12-13

This afternoon, I continued with John Piper's Reading the Bible Supernaturally: Seeing and Savoring the Glory of God in Scripture, moving on to Part 3 The Natural Act of Reading the Bible Supernaturally, chapter fourteen - God Forbid That We Despise His Natural Gifts.  Here Piper seeks to unpack the paradox he refers to in the title of the chapter - his "aim...is to encourage a deep dependence on God and the fullest use of your natural powers in the supernatural act of reading the Bible."

Piper starts by stating that "[w]ithout God's supernatural intervention, we would have no motivation to read the Scriptures in the hope of treasuring Christ above all things (1 Kings 8:58, Psalm 119:36)." It is God who grants us the heart and eyes to see His glory. The critical point here is found in Philippians 2:12-13 as Piper writes that we "work out" or effect our salvation because God is already at work in us through a saving relationship.  He continues that this salvation is the..."specific daily deliverance from the soul-destroying works of the flesh (1 Peter 2:11)-things like anger and self-pity and greed and lust." Proverbs 2:1-7 is also used to help us better understand how God works in us. "We do the [reading and] thinking-the rigorous effort to read with understanding; God creates the miracle of supernatural light in processes of our thought."

God gives us the will to read and see His glory and we do the act of reading - and ultimately the seeing and savoring of His glory...through which we are transformed day by day.

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God and I know You are at work in me and giving me the will to read and the eyes and heart to understand Your Word - thank You Jesus!  Amazing and I am truly grateful!  Yet I am undeserving.  My sin...of many kinds...continues.  Please forgive me.  Help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

God’s word is alive and working and is sharper than a double-edged sword. It cuts all the way into us, where the soul and the spirit are joined, to the center of our joints and bones. And it judges the thoughts and feelings in our hearts. Nothing in all the world can be hidden from God. Everything is clear and lies open before him, and to him we must explain the way we have lived.

Pages: 211-221

God’s word is alive and working and is sharper than a double-edged sword. It cuts all the way into us, where the soul and the spirit are joined, to the center of our joints and bones. And it judges the thoughts and feelings in our hearts. Nothing in all the world can be hidden from God. Everything is clear and lies open before him, and to him we must explain the way we have lived. Hebrews 4:12-13

This morning, I continued with John Piper's Reading the Bible Supernaturally: Seeing and Savoring the Glory of God in Scripture, Part 2 The Super Natural Act of Reading the Bible, chapter thirteen - New Testament Pictures of Bible Reading as a Supernatural Act.  Here Piper seeks to help us understand how the "Bible describes [the] act...[of] God giving [believers] the decisive ability to see the all-surpassing worth of the glory of God" - in other words, what scripture points to how God helps us read the Bible supernaturally?

Piper starts by saying that "we must be born again-we must be given spiritual life-in order to see the things of the Spirit as they really are-more beautiful and more precious than all earthly treasures....[and this] new birth happens through the word of God."  Piper gives us several key passages that describe this - starting with James 1:18-21 and 1 Peter 1:23-2:3. Both passages point to processes where our soul is saved and Piper writes that "[n]atural processes do not save the soul[.]" Piper also uses 1 Thessalonians 2:13-14 to show that is a supernatural process - by "the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe." Piper then moves on to show God is at work in us as an ongoing process from sanctification to glorification - see Hebrews 4:12-13. Piper extends this supernatural reading process by showing how we can overcome Satan by "word of God abiding in us" - see 1 John 2:14.

Piper wraps up this chapter by encouraging us to understand that "we are to listen to Jesus as he speaks to us in the Scriptures so that his joy-the supernatural joy of the Son of God-might be our joy, and ours might be full (John 15:11)."

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God and You give me eyes to see and ears to hear Your Word - and I am grateful.  I am able to see and taste Your glory and it is amazing.  I am grateful for all that You have done and continue to do in and through my life.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of the many blessings You pour out for me.  My sin, gossip, worry, etc. continues.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior. Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

...[B]ut I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”

Pages: 197-210, John 5, 8 and Ezekiel 11, 36

...[B]ut I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?” John 5:42-47

This morning, I continued with John Piper's Reading the Bible Supernaturally: Seeing and Savoring the Glory of God in Scripture, Part 2 The Super Natural Act of Reading the Bible, chapter twelve - Why the Pharisees Couldn't Read.  Here, Piper seeks to help us understand more deeply what stops us from reading the Bible supernaturally.  He uses the Pharisees and the Sadducees as examples of those who had read the law but did not recognized or believe in Jesus and so misinterpreted both the law and who Jesus really is; Piper states that the problem was "moral and spiritual....What prevented the reading that Jesus expected was not skills they lacked, but sins they loved.  The problem was not mental deficiencies, but misplaced desires."  Piper then goes on to list those misplaced desires as desire for "human praise, money, etc."  He points to John 5:42-47 where the Jewish leaders are challenging Jesus and seeking to persecute Him.  Piper then points to John 8:42-44 where Jesus then "links this love of self-exaltation to Satan.  "[Jesus] says that [the Jewish leaders] cannot welcome the words of Jesus because their desires are in sync with the Devil[.]" 

Piper wraps up the chapter by pointing to Ezekiel 11:19 and 36:26 for how God gives us a "heart of flesh" to help us grow in our sensitivity to "God's worth and beauty[.]"

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are truly and amazing God and my Lord and Savior!  Thank You for rescuing me, adopting me into Your family, and for helping me see Your worth and beauty.  I am not deserving for all that You have done and do for me.  My sin, worry, etc. continues.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You. Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Pages: 179-196

 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. Ephesians 1:16-19

This morning, I continued with John Piper's Reading the Bible Supernaturally: Seeing and Savoring the Glory of God in Scripture, starting Part 2 The Super Natural Act of Reading the Bible, covering both the Introduction to Part 2 and chapter eleven - The Necessity and Possibility of Reading the Bible Supernaturally.  Piper starts by stating plainly, "no reading and no discovery [from reading the Bible] happen without seeing all things in relation to his worth and beauty[.]" Our dependence on God to read the Bible supernaturally stems from two key obstacles: "a blinding enemy outside [Satan] and a blinding disease inside [sin]." Therefore, according to Piper, we must approach the Bible "with a deep sense of helplessness, and hope-filled reliance on God's merciful assistance."

Piper then explores five ways how God provides divine assistance in reading the Bible: 

1. He opens our minds (Luke 24:25-26, 44-45)
2. He shines in our hearts (2 Corinthians 4:6)
3. He enlightens the eyes of our hearts (Ephesians 1:16-19, 3:14-19)
4. He gives us the secret of the kingdom of God (Matthew 13:16, Luke 10:21, Mark 4:11)
5. God reveals himself to us (Matthew 16:16-17)

As much as anything this morning, I am encouraged by Piper to use as a daily prayer the passages in Ephesians (as Paul does) to enlighten the eyes of my heart.

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and enlightens the eyes of my heart to the Bible, to Your glory and for me good - thank You Jesus for doing all of this and more!  My cup overflows.  I am undeserving.  My sin, worry, etc. continues.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You. Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.

Pages: 163-174

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. Romans 8:18-23

This morning, I continued with John Piper's Reading the Bible Supernaturally: Seeing and Savoring the Glory of God in Scripture, covering chapter ten - Reading toward the Consummation. Here, Piper seeks to unpack the final of six implications that flow from the ultimate goal of reading the Bible (as listed here); this implication is "so that more and more people would be drawn into the worshiping family of God until the bride of Christ-across all centuries and cultures-is complete in number and beauty."

Here, Piper describes the previous two chapters and how our reading of the Bible leads to seeing and savoring the glory of God and how we are then transformed by this seeing and savoring. Piper states that "[God] creates, gathers, transforms, and finally perfects a family of worshipers to fill the coming new earth with the glory of the Lord." As he starts to unpack the final and sixth implication from above, he steps back and looks at "God's roundabout way of preparing a bride" - the church.  God initially "chose a single ethnic group" - the Jews - but then due to Israel's disobedience, "God turned his direct and special focus of special revelation away from Israel and focused his saving work on the creation of a family from all the nations."  He then moves on to describe a time when the number in the family of God will be complete. Our transformation continues "until its completion at the coming of Christ. At that moment, in the coming of the Lord, the bride will be perfect in number in beauty." Piper writes that this moment will arrive with "certainty" referencing 1 Thessalonians 5:22-23, 1 Corinthians 1:7-9, and Philippians 1:6. Finally, Piper writes that this certainty is contingent on our continuing in the faith - we must have faith and continue in our transformation process through the reading of scripture - we must endure to the end.  See also Matthew 24:13, Galatians 6:9, Hebrews 3:6.

We must continue to the end so that we fill the new earth as described in Romans 8:18-23.

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who has created and saved a place for me in Heaven, the New Earth.  Thank You Jesus!  Thank You for saving me and giving me eternal life - You bless me immeasurably and I am not deserving of such blessings.  I worry and I have other sins.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me. Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to Your Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.

Pages: 151-162

And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 2 Corinthians 8:1-2

This morning, I continued with John Piper's Reading the Bible Supernaturally: Seeing and Savoring the Glory of God in Scripture, covering chapter nine - Reading to Be Transformed, Part 2. Here, Piper seeks to continue unpacking the fifth of six implications that flow from the ultimate goal of reading the Bible (as listed here); this implication is "that we should aim to be transformed by this seeing and savoring into the likeness of his beauty." Piper reminds of the last chapter where "savoring [of God's glory] pushes out the 'deceitful desires' that tricked us into thinking anything is more satisfying than God.  And that all-important seeing happens as we read the word of God." In this chapter, Piper uses 2 Corinthians 8:1-2 to provide a "snapshot of Christian transformation" that occurs when we move from seeing and savoring God's glory to be transformed by it. In these verses, including how they extend through to verse 7-8, is Paul's description of how the Macedonian churches' "abundance of joy" that resulted from love and pursuit of joy in the glory of God pushed them beyond human capacity to be generous.  Piper writes that this "pursuit of joy in the glory of God, far from making us self-absorbed, in fact, puts us on the quest of making others eternally glad in God.  Their joy in God is the expansion and completion of ours."

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Jesus, Father, You are an incredible God and I know You love me.  You saved me and You continue to work in my heart, transforming me from one degree of glory to another - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such blessing...I worry, and I have other sins.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You. Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith. Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo. Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.