Archives For Simple faith

Praying before the throne of grace

April 8, 2013 — 1 Comment

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Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16 ESV)

‘Seeking God’, sounds so spiritual and pious – far removed from what my life actually looks like in the real world. I want to seek God much more than I do; to live by the Spirit, walk in obedience to His direction, seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly before God.

Unfortunately I have become anxious about worldly things and my divided interests have lead me away from a strong devotion to God.1 For this I feel ashamed and am reluctant to face up to Jesus in prayer when I have been such a lousy disciple. So as an avoidance tactic which at least had an appearance of being spiritual, I picked up a book about prayer2 by John Bunyan (author of Pilgrim’s Progress).

Writing while incarcerated in the Bedford goal from 1662, Bunyan addresses this very issue:

Another encouragement for a poor trembling convicted soul is to consider the place, throne, or seat, on which the great God has placed Himself to hear the petitions and prayers of poor creatures; and that is a ‘throne of grace’, ‘the mercy-seat. (Hebrews 4:16 & Exodus 25:22) …

… Poor souls! They are very apt to entertain strange thoughts of God, and of His carriage towards them: and suddenly conclude that God will have no regard unto them, when yet He is upon the mercy-seat, and has taken His place on purpose there, to the end He may hear and regard the prayers of poor creatures.2

​This is an encouraging reminder of grace. That when it comes to praying to and communing with God, He takes pains to place Himself on a throne of grace so that our prayers may come to him unhindered by the burden of sin we may carry. As I approach God in and through Christ my own very poor track record is gloriously overlaid with the perfect record of Jesus such that I am accepted as God’s own child.

So my attempt to avoid facing my shortcomings as a follower of Christ by reading something written by a great follower of Christ was perhaps not quite so deluded after all!

Now to place myself before that throne of grace.

This is day 27 of my project, and not going so well!​

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Image: iStock

1. See 1 Corinthians 7:33-34.↩
2. Prayer by John Bunyan (Puritan Paperbacks, ISBN 0-85151-090-6) p55.↩

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Closing the gap between belief and practise

March 13, 2013

Nail_in_cross

I am on a journey. A quest to span the gap between what I believe and how I live. ​

As a Christian this should be pretty simple – just follow the teachings of Jesus and things will be fine. ​In practise I find that within days (if not hours) of resolving to be more committed in following Christ I have stumbled into the mire of selfishness and lukewarmness.

Therefore, I am going to embark on an outrageously scary project for someone like me who has long thought that spirituality should be internal and private: I am going to write as openly as I can here about my own attempts to live faithfully as a disciple of Jesus Christ while living and working in a secular society. There will be mistakes, blunders, laziness, sin, doubts and fears. As God wills there will also be worship, rejoicing, and faith. This will not be an exercise in ‘correct’ theology or preaching at you. Consider it more like a window upon a soul stumbling in the footsteps of John Bunyan’s Christian.​

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Image: iStock

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Yangon Repair shops

Posted on October 15, 2012 In Burma, Simple faith
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Easy on the eyes

August 30, 2012

Next time you are in the market for a new Bible consider getting a large print one (even if you don’t need glasses!). The larger print reduces the resistance to Bible reading when you’re tired and makes it a much more pleasant experience.

Having done this myself, I wish I’d made the change years ago!

In Simple faith
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A Sunday prayer

August 26, 2012

God,
you are love itself!

You have shown yourself to us
in so many ways,
yet all of them tell us of creative love,
that never changes.

Love which in the beginning
created the universe,
and brought mankind out of the earth
to live in glorious freedom!

Love which was crucified,
yet rises
with every generation
bringing new promises for the future!

Love which meets our needs
and gives us hope
through our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

by Alan Gaunt

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Credit: Alan Gaunt, New Prayers for Worship. 1972 John Paul the Preacher’s Press. ISBN 0-903805-04-9

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