Have you ever heard of the Puritans? Most of us hear them slandered at some point early in our gradeschool studies of American History. If you are a Christian, you need to know that the Puritans in actuality have a lot to teach us...even if we've sometimes gasped at the strictness of their piety.
A couple of great resources you might want to check out are:
The Valley of Vision - This resource is basically a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions. Arthur Bennet put them together after combing through the writings and journals of people like John Bunyan, Thomas Watson, Richard Baxter, Isaac Watts, Charles Spurgeon, and others.
A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life by J.I. Packer.
Also noteworthy:
Worldly Saints: The Puritans As They Really Were by Leland Ryken.
The Devoted Life: An Invitation to the Puritan Classics. This title says it all.
I'll give you an example of a Puritan prayer from Valley of Vision entitled "Spiritual Growth"
O THOU MOST HIGH,
In the way of thy appointment I am waiting for thee,
My desire is to thy name,
My mind to remembrance of thee.
I am a sinner, but not insensible of my state.
My iniquities are great and numberless,
but thou art adequate to my relief,
for thou art rich in mercy;
the blood of thy Son can cleanse from all sin;
the agency of thy Spirit can subdue
my most powerful lusts.
Give me a tender, wakeful conscience
that can smite and torment me when I sin.
May I be consistent in conversation and conduct,
the same alone as in company,
in prosperity and adversity,
accepting all thy commandments as right,
and hating every false way.
May I never be satisfied with my present spiritual progress,
but to faith add virtue, knowledge, temperance,
godliness, brotherly kindness, charity.
May I never neglect
what is necessary to constitute Christian character,
and needful to complete it.
May I cultivate the expedient,
develop the lovely, adorn the gospel,
recommend the religion of Jesus,
accomodate myself to thy providence.
Keep me from sinking or sinning in the evil day;
Help me to carry into ordinary life
portions of divine truth
and use them on suitable occasions, so that
its doctrines may inform,
its warnings caution,
its rules guide,
its promises comfort me.
The language and word choices may not be all that current for our context today; but surely the heart of the prayer is as relevant and appropriate for our context today as ever.
-RCW
You might have guessed that there would be more to come on this topic. The discussion arose over the occasional question posed in a variety of ways: Where should a new believer start? With just a twinge of sarcasm, I mentioned one thing in the first posting: Starting with the Bible may be the most novel thing to do. Ya think?! I mentioned two things in the last posting: 1) Start a journal; and 2)In that journal, record any thoughts or questions you might have or topics you'd like to study. Pray and seek answers relentlessly.
Here now comes still another bit of wisdom.
"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while,
-RCW
Here now comes still another bit of wisdom.
- Be on your guard for discouragement will most assuredly come to you sooner or later. Here are 2 possibilities that frequently cause discouragement in the early stages of our walk with Christ:
- ONE possibility is opposition from outside. One reality we often dismiss or forget is the simple fact that the enemy Satan always seems to mount a counter-attack of sorts. Sometimes it is as sure as clockwork. This is why if you were to come to me ecstatic over your friend, coworker, loved one, or whomever becoming a Christian, more and more I believe that the best thing I could do is to urge you: "Now you REALLY have to pray!" We should always pray very hard for those who have just newly become followers of Christ. For the scriptures even promise that there will be trouble awaiting them on account of their decision. If we think of this in terms of the reality of spiritual warfare, we will understand the exchange that has taken place. The enormous truth is that the new believer has become a traitor to his original army (evil) and has joined the ranks and battle lines of the opposing side (righteousness). Turning from the kingdom of darkness and joining the kingdom of Christ is a decision that those living in darkness (be they spiritual beings or human ones) will surely want to persuade you to reconsider.
- The SECOND possibility is that the discouragement comes from within. There is a marvelous book that any Christian might enjoy entitled Letters Along the Way. One of the early difficulties for the main character of the book was that once he became a Christian, he constantly felt terrible about himself. His conscience was suddenly so acutely aware of his sin and so aware of his shortcomings, so stricken by the chasm between God's perfection and his own non-perfection, that he became very discouraged indeed.
If that describes you, rest assured that the feeling of inadequacy is one that is not only normal, but to an extent encouraged. In fact, that feeling is likely the result of the Holy Spirit already working within you. Dwelling on your own shortcomings can lead to guilt. And this sort of guilt is much different than the natural feeling of conviction from the Holy Spirit. One leads us to throw up a white flag and surrender, sulking over ourselves. The other leads us to fall on our knees in repentance so that we can live in the victory that is ours thanks to the forgiveness extended to us by our Most Holy God. God wants us to redirect this new feeling to its proper result - He wants us not to wallow in self-centered grief, but to look to Him and let this feeling cause us to overflow with gratitude for His grace and mercy He has shown us by cleansing us and making us holy.
"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while,
- 'He who is coming will come and will not delay
- But my righteous one will live by faith.
- And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.'
-RCW
I already said that I occasionally have people inquire of me -- either as a new believer or for another new believer -- where they should start to begin growing. I already said in my previous post what my first bit of advice would be.
My next bit of advice would be this:
To be continued...
-RCW
My next bit of advice would be this:
- Start a journal. You can write anything in it. Prayers, goals, recording the events of your day, experiences, scriptures, quotes, poems, lists, or anything you think belongs in it that relates to your spiritual life, etc.
- Also, as you begin reading the Bible, tackle the topic(s) that you find most intriguing, most important, most urgent in your own life. As a new believer (or as an "old" one!), if you think of a question you have about the Bible or about faith, or about Christianity, write it down in your journal and record the date by it. Then, make it your resolution to hunt and pursue the answer. Become relentless in your pursuit of the truth. Chase after understanding. The book of Proverbs instructs us to do so. (See Prov. 4:7 among many others) How do you find the answer? Here are some simple suggestions:
- Pray. You just can't underestimate the power of prayer. Jesus Himself says this: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?" [I imagine this would have been humorous to those listening...and brace yourself: Jesus may have even chuckled as He said it!]. He continues, "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!" (Mt. 7:7-11 NIV). Elsewhere He tells his disciples (and by extension us as well) that the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth (John 16:13).
- Ask someone you know to be a person who studies their Bible, loves God, and loves others. Maybe that is your pastor, maybe that is a friend or Bible teacher. Maybe you need to email a Bible professor or search out a Christian book on the topic.
- Keep reading and praying. Jesus was teaching about prayer one time and used a story to communicate the importance of persistence in our prayer. Imagine that...God wants us to continually come to Him in prayer even when we don't get our answer immediately. The story by the way can be found in Luke 18:1-8 or you can just click here to read it.
- Study. This is tough to stomach in our culture. We want answers with no searching, results with no effort, secret formulas and quick fixes at no cost. Sometimes growing in our faith and pursuing Christ does not accommodate our laziness. Thankfully, there are some great Bible study aids online. You can access a few by clicking here, here, or here.
- If after all this, for some unknown reason you still can't find an answer to your question, you can email me or you can go find your answer here (though not everyone has the flexibility to do this last one).
How pleasing it must be to God when we seek to know Him and understand His ways. All human knowledge points to Him, the knowledge giver. For as Paul says, "in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3). I too am still on that journey...the journey of discovery and the pursuit of truth. After a while, we are always hit with the realization that Ultimate Truth (with a capital "T") is a person, namely Jesus Christ, the Alpha and Omega.
To be continued...
-RCW
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