JOHN PIPER LAYS IT OUT!

S T U M B L E

I need HIS help.

Without HIM, I fall.

Lately, I've been feeling like I can do it myself. I'm a big kid now. I don't need anyone or anything. I'm in control.

But how quickly God pulls me back down and says, "NO!" The Holy Spirit is screaming in my head, yet somehow I let the desires of my flesh take over.
I know what I ought to do. But it feels so good to...not.
It's like an arm-wrestling competition. I'm fighting...I'm fighting...my arm starts shaking as the pressure builds...my opponent is strong...i'm quivering..muscle spasms...my hand hits the table..flat.
Muscle gave up.
I lost.
Guilt is taking over.

"We are no longer slaves to sin. We are no longer bound to it. Jesus Christ broke those chains with his blood.
We have entered into a saving RELATIONSHIP with Jesus Christ,
but we still have affairs with sin." — Tim Chaddick
Reality: Los Angeles

I don't want to have affairs anymore.

Dandelion.

The other day, my professor said that when we return to God, he blows our sins away like a dandelion.

I like that.

My New Favorite Quote

"Never allow somebody to be a priority, when they're only making you an option."

A Change of Season

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill and a time to heal;
a time to break down and a time to build up;
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance."

Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

A new chapter is beginning to unfold. After 5 years of turbulence, it's all coming to a close soon enough. Praise God for his mercy. Praise God for rescuing us.

Remember the Cross

In one of my Bible classes recently, the professor was talking about Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ." He brought up the point how the movie focused on Jesus' flogging so much — the blood, and flesh, and lashes, and suffering, and screaming— and then it kind of looked at the cross almost as if it were an after thought. But the Bible doesn't really go into much detail about Jesus' flogging. The main focus in the Bible is the cross and Jesus separating himself from God to take on the sins of the world. Wait a minute. Can we just stop and think about that for a second?

Jesus Christ, a simple man, like you and me
took on
EVERY
sin of the world. Past, present, and future.

You know what I have to say, flog him all you want. It is absolutely nothing compared to the cross and taking on the sins of the world. Jesus separated himself from God and said: "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" Translation: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46).

And he did it because he loves us. That's the only reason.
We are his beloved.

BEAUTY

STAND UP AND PRAISE THE LORD FOR SENDING HIS BEAUTIFULLY PERFECT SON TO WASH AWAY ALL MY SINS!!!

1 PETER 3:3-4 — "do not let your adorning be external- the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear- but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious."

FIND YOUR BEAUTY AND CONFIDENCE IN KNOWING THAT YOU ARE A BELOVED CHILD OF GOD!!!!