Global Missions - David Platt, John Piper

I've been reading through John Piper's free e-book When The Darkness Will Not Lift, which I intend on writing about soon, once I've processed the information.  However, a particular passage stood out for me, and relates very well to some other things I've been thinking about lately:

"What one thing comes to your mind from sixty years of ministry as to what Christians should do to increase their joy?  Almost without hesitation he said, 'Share their faith.'  Joy in Christ thrives on being shared.  That is the essence of Christian joy; It overflows or dies".

Peter - A Further Observation

Just realised something - how two of my previous posts, which to me seemed to have very different focus's, tie together quite well.

"The Ground of our Assurance When We Cannot See Our Faith"

Another amazing quote from the book "When The Darkness Will Not Lift" by John Piper:

"It is utterly crucial that in our darkness we affirm the wise, strong hand of God to hold us, even when we have no strength to hold him.  This is the way Paul thought of his own strivings.  He said, 'Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own' (Phil. 3:12).  The key thing to see in this verse is that all of Paul's efforts to grasp the fullness of joy in Christ are secured by Christ's grasp of him.  Never forget that your security rests on Christ's faithfulness first."

So however we are, whatever we feel, Christ is faithful to us!  Amen!

"Gutsy Guilt"

Quote from John Pipers book "When the Darkness will not lift", which I've just started reading through.  10 pages in and it already offer up brilliance such as this:

"One of the most important is learning to fight for joy like a justified sinner. I call this “gutsy guilt.” Every embattled saint has learned this secret, even if they never called it by that name. Gutsy guilt means learning to live on the rock-solid truth of what happened for us when Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again from the dead. It means realizing that in this life we will always be sinful and imperfect. Therefore in ourselves we will always be guilty. This will prove emotionally devastating if we do not dis cover the reality of justification by faith, that is, the secret of gutsy guilt."