In today’s post, we share a devotional from Jeremy Walker’s A Word in Season: 50 Days of Hope for Hard Times. He writes, “In the midst of all the sufferings, sorrows, pains, problems, weaknesses, and weariness of this world and in this body, let God’s people look forward with eagerness to the day when—though we currently bear the image of the man of dust—we shall bear the image of the heavenly Man . . .”
Read MoreIn this episode of The Whole Counsel Podcast, Dr. John Snyder explores Thomas Charles’s essay on spiritual appetite, written in 1782. Charles compares the believer’s hunger for God to physical hunger, explaining that spiritual food provides both nourishment and delight. A poor spiritual appetite is a sign of spiritual decay and must be dealt with immediately, lest we endanger ourselves and grieve our God by becoming “walking skeletons’ instead of flourishing Christians. He also challenges the idea that spiritual fervor naturally fades with age, urging believers to guard their affections and pursue a growing hunger for God throughout their lives.
Read MoreJohn Newton, the author of “Amazing Grace”, wrote over 300 hymns, including this beautiful, Christ-exalting one: “How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear. It soothes his sorrow, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear.” Read the rest in today's post!
Read MoreIn today’s episode of the Whole Counsel, Dr. John Snyder returns to the writings of Thomas Charles to explore how believers should approach life decisions. Instead of offering a formula for discovering God’s will in every decision, Charles presents a broader, more biblical vision: the Christian life is a life of following the living God.
Read MoreTo enlarge our thoughts of God’s majesty, we must look to Scripture to see what He says about Himself. If we will humbly set our hearts and minds to examine God’s self-revelation, we need not be discouraged by His incomprehensibility. In reality, incomprehensibility is one of the shining features of God’s splendor, the weight of His majesty. It is a truth that separates Him from all else.
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
—Romans 11:3
In this episode of The Whole Counsel, Dr. John Snyder continues the series on Thomas Charles’s pastoral letters, focusing on a letter he wrote to his newlywed wife, Sally. She was still struggling with doubts about her spiritual condition and assurance of salvation. Charles responds with tenderness but also with strengthening words.
Read MoreToday’s devotional is taken from an article written in 1916 by Frances Havergal titled “Why I Go to Church on Rainy Sabbaths.” In it, she lists 12 reasons that she believes church attendance is not something to be taken lightly.
Read MoreIn this week’s episode of The Whole Counsel Podcast, Dr. John Snyder discusses a letter from Thomas Charles to his future wife, Sally. It seems Sally is troubled, worried that she does not love God or does not love Him well enough. Thomas addresses this and a second matter: “Do you believe that God loves you?” as he attempts to uplift Sally’s heavy heart.
Read More“In a world where everything has gone so sadly astray, we should be standing out as people characterized by a fundamental joy and certainty in spite of conditions, in spite of adversity. Now that, I think you will agree, is the picture which is given of God's people everywhere in the Scriptures.“ What does Martyn Lloyd-Jones tell us is the foundation of this joy?
Read MoreRetirement from business, with an independence and full honors, grows burdensome, though desired and laboured for through a long life. After a degree of success, wealth, and reputation, the soldier becomes weary of his triumphs, and longs for repose. But the man who is filled with the Holy Spirit, and cultivates the habits of contemplation and action excited by grace, will find the service of Jesus more and more delightful.
Read MoreThis week on The Whole Counsel, we return to our series on great letter-writers in Christianity. In this episode, we meet Thomas Charles, a Welshman who was one of the most significant leaders of the Welsh wing of the 18th-century Evangelical Revival. His letters are full of practical, warm, experiential advice.
Read MoreIn today’s devotional, Jeremiah Burroughs explains the rare jewel of Christian contentment. A grace-filled heart finds its satisfaction in knowing and loving God and is content with whatever God sees fit to give in this temporal life. A heart capable of knowing God can be satisfied with nothing less than God himself.
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