Marching Forth!

The C.S. Lewis classic titled The Screwtape Letters  is an insightful and thought-provoking book that features a more experienced demon named Screwtape who provides guidance for his nephew in guiding his "patient"--the person for whom he is responsible to tempt and influence for evil.  When the "patient" becomes a Christian, Screwtape expresses his displeasure and suggests means to distract and prevent him from spiritual growth and fruitfulness.  In this allegory everything is turned around, where "The Enemy" is God and the correspondence reveals pitfalls Christians have stumbled into from the beginning. One of the strengths of this book is the truth of God's word, God's goodness and the devil's tireless habit of lying and deceiving were constant long before Jesus Christ walked in Galilee.  The timeless observations remain relevant concerning Christians in society today and touches on many subtle ways Christians can be distracted or deterred fr...

" But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.  15  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation ." Galatians 6:14-15 Being a disciple of Jesus begins with personal transformation by the Holy Spirit--not behaviour modification as some people imagine.  Better behaviour is not the end God is looking for in us, though that is something that is often emphasised.  What can result is spiritual pride for the good things you do and the bad things you avoid.  This also leads to our "walk" being up and down depending on our performance rather than being compelled by God's love to walk worthy of Him. Paul wrote the letter of Galatians to Christians who has veered from salvation by grace through faith in Jesus to a return to the Law and legalism--that our good standing with God is secured by effort to keep the law.  O...

At the Friday night Bible study we spoke of the personal relationship David had with God, for he referred to the LORD in Psalm 59 as " my strength ," " my defence and refuge " and " my God of mercy ."  As enemies surrounded him like a pack of feral dogs baying for his blood, David desired they would be scattered and their alliance disbanded so they would " ...know that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the earth " ( Psalm 59:13 ).  It is remarkable that God's strength and mercy demonstrated by scattering David's enemies would be a global testimony, but here we are speaking of these qualities of God's unchanging character thousands of years later, the LORD David called "my Shepherd." David's desire was that all the world would know the God who rules in Israel and is sovereign over all.  When the children of Israel and the Philistines set themselves up on mountains opposite one another and Goliath defied the armies of the...

I came across a good warning against pride coupled with relevant questions for personal examination.  Due to our human condition, all people experience problems with sinful pride, and if we do not believe we have a problem our condition is even more dire.  Even those who acknowledge their tendency towards pride do not realise how naturally entrenched pride is in our perceptions, thinking, speech and actions.  Based on the principle held forth in Romans 2:1,  our disdainful perceptions of others as proud, boastful and arrogant reveals these are our personal practices as well. J. Oswald Sanders wrote this in Spiritual Leadership concerning pride and the danger it poses--especially for Christians in leadership: " The very fact that a man has risen to a position of leadership with it attendant prominence tends to engender a secret self congratulation and pride which, if not checked, will unfit him for further advancement in the service of the kingdom, for "everything th...