Joie de Vivre A Wretched Man’s Quest To Follow Jesus Christ

When Karen and I knew that we were to trust the Lord on His purpose for giving her such a heavy heart until she wrote her testimony down, we had no idea what the purpose(s) would be, and how He would surprise us.

We just saw that Christian Research Net (CRN) highlighted her testimony… I was shivering, and we were left speechless, and in awe of how God works!

CRN is a blog that both of us respect a ton (we are not exaggerating) and it’s on our daily must-read list.

This isn’t our glory, but God’s!

We pray that those who come to read it from the link at CRN are blessed by her testimony, and that Roman Catholics shall discern and leave that evil religious system as Karen did!

Soli deo Gloria!

That line comes from a performance by one of my favorite comedians Russell Peters but, jokes aside, it gives occasion to think about what the role of men is in today’s world is, especially in the Christian context.

I have always maintained that, outside of the workplace, we continually see manhood eroded by society where men are told that in order to be acceptable they have to embrace their ‘feminine’ side, i.e. the ‘feminization’ of manhood. In response, we now see a plethora of skin-care products and even make-up for men!

Of course, there’s also the stoic approach to being a man — you shall not cry, you shall remain aloof, you shall endeavor to be Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind and mouth off “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a d**n”, or take Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry character as your role model, etc.

It is my position that both approaches are extreme and might even be wrong when seen from a Biblical perspective. What, then, does it mean to be a man?

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Foreword: I thought I’d give a little background into how this testimony came about, because it simply demonstrates how often God works wonderfully in us and there’s only goodness when we submit to His will.

For some days now, my wife has told me that she hasn’t been able to sleep well because God has prompted her time and again to write her testimony down.

She asked me why, and I told her testimonies were a good way for us to glorify God through telling others what He has made anew in us. As to why God is telling her to do so I am not sure, yet we need trust that the Lord has need for her to do something that has not been revealed, but it’s all good (Romans 8:28).

We had retired rather late to bed last night. Just 15 minutes later, she was out of bed, and the study light came on while her computer whirred to life. When I popped into the study to ask why she wasn’t in bed, she was quite in tears, telling me that God had admonished her for not submitting to His will, right after prayers.

She had been fighting the burden in her heart to write her testimony down, believing wrongly that it’s rather pointless.

It was the first time she had experienced such a prompting, so I gently told her that that’s what God does with me many, many times over — a feeling so heavy in one’s heart that you go on your knees and cry out saying, “Father, Lord, I’ll obey and do it!”

I made coffee for us and stayed up with her while she completed her testimony which we are now sharing with you. May it encourage and bless you as it has us.

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Resurrection Sunday is over; most of us have been soberly reminded of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ who came to bear upon Himself the suffering and death that we deserve for our sins so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16)!

Many Christian blogs I visit on a regular basis celebrate the Resurrection in their posts and on quite a few occasions, I have left comments in agreement.

One comment I usually left was “Hallelujah! Our LORD is risen!”, and the first time I wrote it I had a prompting that has been on my mind since then — I was asked “What do you do now, then?”

I answered, “Er, Lord, love you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength and to love my neighbor as myself?” (Matthew 22:37-40, Mark 12:30-31, Luke 10:27)

“Besides that,” the prompting came.

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Seriously, how do people fall for this!?

It just boggles my mind that there are Christians who fall for such tricks! No offense to old ladies and those who were victims of con men, but it just reminds me of those who prey on old women at Chinese temples selling them ‘miracle’ stones and crystals in exchange for their life savings. You could say, well, the old women were superstitious, which is true, but… but… Christians?!

I’m both amused and saddened.

I hope the second woman in the video is crying because she’s feeling the guilt of telling such a BIG LIE!

May the Lord expose and punish the wicked who use His name in vain!

HT: A Little Leaven.

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still.

Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, `Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.’ Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

– A. W. Tozer
The Pursuit of God.

Footnote: You can read an online edition of the book “The Pursuit of God” here.

Luke 21:1-4 is often cited from church pulpits to exhort us to give willingly and in some cases, all, to ministry, a church building fund or some other project that the church is undertaking.

Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

– Luke 21:1-4

I was listening to John MacArthur just last night give his take on this four verses and he noted that the observation of our Lord Jesus Christ about the widow seems to suggest something else other than a teaching on giving.

Below is the transcript of the sermon. You can also view the broadcast of the sermon at Oneplace.com (part 1, part 2).

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