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A New Year Prayer

From Valley of Vision . . .

Thou art my divine treasury in whom all fullness dwells,

    my life, hope, joy, peace, glory, end;

May I be daily more and more conformed to the,

    with the meekness and calmness of the Lamb in my soul,

    and a feeling sense of the felicity of heaven,

    where I long to join angels free from imperfections,

    where in me the image of my adored Saviour

        will be completely restored,

    so that I may be fit for his enjoyments and employments.

Introducing (some of) you to CCEF

CCEF stands for Christian Counseling & Education Foundation. According to its own mission statement, it is a ministry designed to restore Christ to counseling and to restore counseling to the church. They host conferences, have classes to train people in counseling, and utilize a very good website with posts and podcasts to get the message across that God's Word and church have the wisdom we need to live God-honoring lives through difficult times. To get a flavor for this ministry, look at their Top Ten Posts of 2011. 

Topics include idolatry, pain, depression, fear, and regret. Here's a taste of one post. The author, Ed Welch, describes how he worked through a bout of anxiety:

I had an anxiety assault recently. I was facing perhaps the worst fear I could imagine, and there was nothing I could do about it. What a mercy that I was confronted with the call to be humbled before the Lord. It resulted in a simple prayer.

“Lord, you are God and King. I am your servant. I know you owe me nothing. For some reason you have given me everything in Jesus. I trust you. And please give me grace to trust you.”

A few minutes later, my prayer moved even closer to Scripture.

“Father, forgive me for always wanting things my way. By your mighty hand you have created all things. And by your mighty hand you have rescued your people. I want to live under your mighty hand. Please have mercy.”

It sounds very simple—and it is—but it changes everything. This is the secret to dealing with fears and anxiety. The words of God, and the comfort of the Spirit, become much more obvious when we are repentant and humble before him. No deals—“if you spare me from this suffering then I will . . .” Just simple trust. We trust him because he is God, not because he is going to immediately remove our anxieties or our fear-provoking situation.

Their website is a useful resource for anyone seeking to apply Scripture to the struggles we all face.

Prayers for the New Year

One of my prayers for this New Year is that more and more believers at Mount Vernon would devote some time each month to meet up with someone to talk about the Bible. In our day and age, people (especially the unchurched) are less interested in coming to the church for a special event but would be interested in spending some time with a believer talking about the Bible. 

Also, I'd love to see more and more believers meeting with other believers to talk about the Bible and go deeper in their faith. Services and classes are wonderful. We are commanded by God to meet as a church regularly. But there is also something to be said for sitting down with a brother or sister in Christ and figuring out together what the Word of God is saying and how it applies to your life.

Would you consider doing this? For a little help, read through David Helm's great book, One to One Bible Reading. A lot of the principles he brings up in this book would apply to sitting down and reading a solid Christian book with someone. 

May it become increasingly natural for us to devote an hour one morning, a lunch break, or coffee in the evening figuring out with someone else how the Bible should change our lives.

Christmas Perspective

In this month's MVBC Perspective:

• an explanation from Bryan Pillsbury on why we are switching our pew Bible to the ESV;
• a review of David Platt's Radical by his childhood friend, Scott Sullivan; and
• an essay on the incarnation of Jesus Christ by me.

From the last essay:

We learn through the incarnation that Jesus Christ is both God and man. But this is a great mystery, one that deserves thoughtful attention from anyone who would call himself a Christian. We know after all that no mere man can save us. We know as well that God can't stop being God. So what happened the day baby Jesus was born? How could a newborn turn the world upside down?

Read and enjoy!