Roots by the River

This post is an excerpt from The Loveliness of Christ by Samuel Rutherford. If your Lord call you to suffering, be not dismayed; there shall be a new allowance of the King for you when ye come to it. One of the softest pillows Christ hath is laid under His witnesses’ head, though often they must set down their bare feet among thorns. God hath called you to Christ’s side, and the wind is now in Christ’s face in this land; and seeing ye are with Him, ye cannot expect the lee-side or the sunny side of the brae. He delighteth to take up fallen bairns and to mend broken brows: binding up of wounds is His office. Wants are my best riches, for I have these supplied by Christ. I think the sense of our wants, when withal we have a restlessness and a sort of spiritual impatience under them, and can make a din, because we want Him whom our soul loveth, is that which maketh an open door to Christ: and when we think we are going backward, because we feel deadness, we are going forward; for...

Recently, I have been meditating on Colossians 2:20-3:3.                  “Therefore if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world do you subject yourselves to regulations—‘do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,’ which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religions, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against indulgence of the flesh. If then you were raised with Christ , seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” If you are dead with Christ and dead to the world, act like it. Do not conform to the world. If you are risen with Christ, act like it. Let your hearts and minds be...

This post is an excerpt from Living at the Mercy Seat  by R.C. Chapman. It is Christ’s hold upon us that enables us, by faith, to lay hold on and to keep hold of Him. “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:12). They who seem the most tried are not always those that have the sharpest warfare. Sometimes things appear to us so difficult that we are daunted; at other times so easy that we think we are equal to them; and thus in either case we fail. He that is running a race looks not at witnesses admiring, but only at the mark. We need to “discern the Lord’s body,” i.e., Christ having been crucified (1 Cor. 11:29) for steadfastness of communion with God, no less than to trust in His blood to obtain salvation from wrath to come (John 6:54, 56). The fulfilling of God’s promises depends not upon the creature’s strength, and cannot be prevented b...

Many years ago, I received the following question: “Lately, I haven’t had trouble staying away from sin, and I want it to stay that way. Usually when I hit a high point like this, I get lazy and screw up again. It often seems that sin will creep up behind me, and then there I am having to deal with it and try to get back to where I left off. Could you give me advice to avoid falling into that pattern again?” Regarding prospective sin, keep your mind and heart on Christ , not on the temptation or weakness. “ Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:14). For more advice on this topic, read my How to Be a Strong Christian: Walking in the Light blog post series.

Dear Friends, I have been carrying your letter around for a few weeks anticipating answering it concerning your friend. Whether it is demon possession or whether it is mental illness of some sort of physical variety, I think praying is more important than horizontal communication unless the horizontal communication is much love given to him. If he is a Christian, I don’t think it is possible for him to be demon-possessed. The Scripture is very clear that He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world . We have no examples in Scripture of demon possession in believers. On the other hand, if he never came to Christ, it could well be that he is demon-possessed. In any case, the power of God, the power of the name of Jesus, the power of the cross, is what will set him free. In His Love, Jim

Dear Susie, In your letter, you say you do not have peace because you want to get into a certain summer program for next year, and you need to have good grades, but you cannot get them good enough fast enough because of the way you acted in study in the early part of the semester. Now, sometimes God is gracious and allows you to have what you want anyhow; however, along with forgiveness, there are permanent consequences of sin that we have to live with. So you can have peace whether you get good grades or not. You should study hard in accordance with Colossians 3:23 and Colossians 3:17. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters” (Col. 3:23). “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col. 3:17). God will give you peace whether you get what you wish or do not get what you wish. Consider Philippians 4:4-7. “Rejoice in the Lord al...

The last aspect of walking in the light that I will mention here is being thankful . This will help with many areas of your life. Start by recognizing that God is the creator of all things. Look at all the trees, all the flowers, all the clouds, stars, sun, and moon. Thank God. Then thank God for all of your family. Thank Him for all wildlife: fish, animals, and birds. “ Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess. 5:18).   “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7). Giving thanks is God’s will for you. It results in peace that passes all comprehension. “I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers” (Eph. 1:16).   “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for al...

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer” (v. 14). Many people, even Christians, don’t particularly care what they say in public or to whom they say it. Some of us care very much. We think that if we pass the public approval on what we say, we’re ok. David wasn’t satisfied with that. He said, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O God.” When we ask the Lord to make what we think about in our hearts and say with our mouths acceptable in His sight, not just in other people’s sight, we don’t have to worry about any great transgression. We can pass this to our children as well. We are used to laying out rules for them to make their actions acceptable in our sight. Suppose we could teach our children so that the meditation of their hearts would be acceptable in the sight of God? If our children were like that, how many rules would we have to lay down? Not many...

Next, spend time in the Word . “The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.” [1] “ The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them Your servant is warned, And in keeping them there is great reward.   “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression.   “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord , my...

Another aspect of walking in the light is spending time with the Lord every single day, in the Word and in prayer . We will look at prayer first. Get into the habit of praying. I am not a very good prayer when it comes to setting aside time and praying for an hour straight. I am much better at praying all the time. If I’m walking, running, or sitting, if I’m driving, if I’m thinking, I talk to God. Mostly I talk about people. I don’t talk to God about myself much, unless I’m in trouble. Years ago, InterVarsity staff member Bill Steeper said, “It was a wonderful thing when I got myself off my own hands.” He turned himself over to God. Corrie ten Boom said the same thing to me. She was riding in the back of a car one night on a dangerous road. The driver was going way too fast, and she was terrified. She decided to spend the time interceding for other people. When she prayed for others, her fear disappeared. “ And so it was , after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lo...

“This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Even in a well-lit room, there are shadows. Outside it is brighter, but there is darkness out there, too. As I look out the window from my desk, I see an apple tree with six inches of snow on each branch. That tree is “white as snow,” but even it is in darkness because the sky is overcast. David prayed in Psalm 51:7, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;   wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all . “ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). The word purifies means “keeps on cleansing.” It is a continuous washing. Walking in the light means that as soon as you sin, you are aware of it, you confess it, and it gets cleansed. The result? We have fellowship with one another. ...

By Bessie Wilson “We have this treasure in earthen vessels,” Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:7. Looking at the passage before this, we see he has likened the light of the gospel coming into the heart to the light of creation. “For it is the God who said ‘Let light shine out of darkness’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”  It is light with a purpose. The face of Christ is illumined to us, not in visions necessarily, but in our coming to recognize that the Christ of the Gospels is indeed the Son of God, our Lord and Saviour. This then is our treasure, the personal knowledge of Jesus Christ as He comes to make His home in our hearts.  Paul says “earthen vessels,” and this represents our bodies, or more specifically our whole lives. When I was in Japan, I was amazed at the talent of the Japanese with their flower arrangements or ikebana as it is called. What I noticed was that the perfection of the flowe...

“The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him” (2 Corinthians 2:6-8). This may be the man spoken of in 1 Corinthians 5. If not, he is still a man who has been under church discipline. This discipline has worked, and the man is repentant. What is the instruction to the church? ·        Forgive him. ·        Comfort him. ·        Reaffirm your love for him. Why? So that he will not be “overwhelmed with excessive sorrow.” We do not see much church discipline today. When we do, we do not see the restoration of the repentant man as described above. Not to do this is sin on the church’s part. The church is made up of individual Christians who do the forgiving, comforting, and loving. This post coordinates with...

“I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought…. What I mean is this: One of you says, ‘I follow Paul’; another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?” (1 Corinthians 1:10, 12-13). This appeal is followed by information on the divisions in the church. These divisions were not on theology or ecclesiology. The quarrels simply were about loyalties to teachers. To our knowledge, the teachers were even in fellowship with each other. These loyalties were sins and were to be repented of and forsaken. They were the cause of the divisions, the disunity, in the church. Today, they are still one of the major causes of divisions. However, today loyalty is a good word; it is considered a virtue. When it comes to following teachers, however, ...

Dear Friends, That’s good news about your toddler learning to run. Give her lots of love. It’s impossible to love a child too much. It is possible to let her do whatever she wishes, but it is not possible to give too much love. The more love, the more response there will be to instruction. In His Love, Jim Wilson Want to know how to give lots of love to your children? Read Saturation Love by Jim Wilson here .

You may have experienced or witnessed Christians or pseudo-Christians who have divided the body of Christ. The Bible speaks to us about them in several places. “They said to you, ‘In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.’ These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit” (Jude 18-19). “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned” (Titus 3:10-11). “I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people” (Romans 16:17-18). “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one a...

A few years ago, I was talking with a young Christian woman. We were talking on the subject of sin and confession, and I mentioned that Christians do not have to sin. “ Be ye therefore perfect , even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect ” (Matthew 5:48). She brought to my attention that 1 John says that everyone sins. Yes, it does. It also says, “Do not sin.” God commands us to not sin—in other words, He has made it possible to not sin, because God does not command us to do impossible things. God will also forgive us if we sin and confess, but He has made it possible for us to obey His command: “ My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin” (1 John 2:1). How is this possible? It is very simple. Avoid temptation. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Positively obey God (by keeping His positive commands, e.g. to rejoice always, in everything give thanks, etc.). Keep your sins confessed up-to-date so that when the tempter comes, you do not have unc...

Dear Jim Wilson, in order to live in peace and harmony, it is essential for all religions to respect one another and seek common ground while reserving differences. Unfortunately, some religions claim that only their beliefs are true and others are false. As a result, there are endless and unnecessary disputes and wars. As I have been taught, there is only one God in this world, who has representatives in the diverse religions: Jesus in Christianity, Muhammad in Islam, Buddha in Buddhism… Their mission is the same: to help people improve themselves. If everyone accepted this point of view, these diverse religions would be tolerant towards one another, and the whole world would be really blessed.  I always enjoy your preaching, and I often find surprising similarities between Christianity and Buddhism in it. For example, similar to what the Bible says (everyone is a sinner), Buddhism teaches that everyone was born selfish and nobody is perfect. Therefore, everyone must look after hi...

“In the aftermath of the murderous assassination of Charlie Kirk…there are a number of things that still need to be said. “This is a sea change moment. People had already noticed a vibe shift recoil that was starting to develop, resulting in lesser things like Brexit or the reelection of Donald Trump. But all of that was chump change compared to what is quite possibly going to be happening now. We have before us the prospect of making the vibe shift permanent. I believe that history will show that Tyler Robinson, if he is convicted of firing the shot that killed Charlie Kirk, will also be revealed as the man who put a bullet in the neck of progressive leftism. “But only if . . . “One of the most important principles of war is pursuit . General Meade was the capable Union general at Gettysburg, whose leadership there secured a victory over the Confederate forces. But because he failed to pursue, the war went on for two more years. He won the battle when he could have won the war…”  ...