Stevemidkiff's Blog

The most solemn trust committed to each of us

is our personality- the self-the ego-call it what

you will.

It is the thing that makes us us,

a creation quite unique,

having no duplicate in all of God’s eternities.

And the supreme thing that we each have to do

in the theatre of life is to give that individuality

its full & natural expression ….

For that very purpose we were divinely created.

F W Boreham

from When the Swans Fly High

It is wonderful to study God’s truth,
we take that truth & dress up in it day after day:

we work in it,
we play in it,
we sleep in it,
we party in it,
we die nestled safely inside it.

Let’s be honest: if the chief work of the Holy Spirit
Is to sanctify us in God’s truth He will make it known
in us through Christ’s purity & goodness.

God knows our pain!

He knows our longings for Him

He bottles up all our tears!

God knows the tears we have shed.

Psalm 56:8

This is His Extravagant Grace

“In our dreams do we refuse a desire for God
because we so often despair the way of the cross.

Why would we choose a path we loath?

Charles Spurgeon noted:

In any pathway, in which, there isn’t fire, we should tremble,
but if our way be hard, thank God for it.

If our adversities be great, bless the Lord for it,
and if the difficulties in our path be many,

surmount them by faith,

Don’t let them cast us down.

it is better to be sick, when Christ comes to our bed-side

It is better to have Jesus draw aside the curtains & reveal Himself

And He says to us, have courage!

I am your salvation,’

We’d rather have Jesus at our side

Then to enjoy health & never to be visited by Christ

we bless the Lord in what He brings to us

Don’t develop grudges over others that aren’t sick

Don’t questioned God’s fairness

praise Him for His goodness…

His goodness leads us to worship God

But God, who is rich in mercy,
because of His great love with which He loved us,
even when we were dead in trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ
(by grace we have been saved),
He raised us up together & made us sit together
in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:4-6

“Temporal hardships, like temporal blessings,
are an opportunity to bring glory to God.
If we who have Christ as our model don’t believe that,
a lost and dying world never will.”

Accusations through emotional blackmail

Not feeling loved & not being loved are not the same

Jesus loved all people well

And most do not like the way he loves them

Was David’s zeal for the Lord imbalanced because his wife Michal despised him for it?

Was Job’s devotion to the Lord inordinate because his wife urged him to curse God & die?

Would Gomer be a reliable witness to Hosea’s passions of affection?

We have seen so much emotional blackmail

Twisted guilt trippers

Emotional blackmail happens when a person equates his or her emotional pain

with another person’s failure to love

They aren’t the same

A person may love well & the loved one still feel hurt & use the hurt to blackmail

Their definitions of love is their feelings

They constantly connive out from attempted love

Constant admissions of endless guiltIng for their raging instability

Emotional blackmail says

If I feel hurt by you, you are guilty

They teach through their odd control a no defense proposal

The hurt person has become God

Their unusual emotions has become judge & jury

Truth does not matter

All that matters is the sovereign suffering of the aggrieved

It is above question

This emotional blackmail is a great evil never to be please or satisfied

They dispose others in their constant irascible blaming

We need to defend people who are being wrongly indicted by it!!!

Adapted from Piper & others

For I am the LORD, I do not change…

Malachi 3:6

We’re like twigs caught in an ever-rolling stream of change.

Every moment is different than the previous one.

Our bodies change, our children change, our work changes,

our health & wealth change; our culture & world are constantly in flux.

But at the core of the universe is an unchanging God—

God is immutable,
God is enduring,
God is abiding,
God is changeless,

God is the same yesterday, today & forever.

In Him we have “an anchor of the soul, both sure & steadfast

Heb. 6:19

Alexander Maclaren wrote about Malachi 3:6

“This is the confidence with which we should cheer ourselves when
we look upon the past & when we anticipate the future…
We have…an unchanging love… a faithfulness that never departs from His word…
a purpose of blessing that will not be turned aside…

We Trust ourself, weak & sinful as we are, to that unchanging love.”

We can have confidence in our Lord because of His unchanging ways.
We will always experience trials in life, things that change, collapse,
unexpected disappointments of individual decline, but He will never be moved.

God’s purposes & promises change not,
therefore our faith may rest on Him…

God does not turn from His love,
nor cancel His promises,
nor alter His purposes of mercy

“When obstacles & trials seem

Like prison walls to be,

We do the little we can do

And leave the rest to Thee.

“And when there seems no chance, no change,

From grief can set us free,

Hope finds its strength in helplessness,

And calmly waits for Thee.”

Chadwick

But we were eyewitnesses of His majesty

They ‘heard’ Jesus say that he would come in His kingdom in power & great glory

They were eyewitnesses of it, as they saw in Christ
a remarkable & wonderful preview of His glory
in His transfiguration.

They heard God say

“This is my beloved Son.”

Christ’s glory is divine & admirably excellent,
Christ’s glory is bright & evident
Christ’s glory is admirable & indescribable
Christ’s glory is infinitely glorious perfection
Christ’s glory is awe-filled majesty,
Christ’s glory is His purity,
Christ’s glory is His matchless grace & love,

Jesus received from His Father honor & glory

The term is doubled & varied,
signifying His exceeding excellency of the glory

Christ’s glory is His inexpressible beauty,
Christ’s glory is His unfathomable majesty
Christ’s glory is the brightness in His countenance
Christ’s glory is the excellencies of His mind,
Christ’s glory is His transcendence of holiness
Christ’s glory is the splendidness of His meekness,

Christ’s glory is unfolded in the influence of His Spirit of God giving us
a great sense of His indescribable perfections & their immense excellency

Christ’s glory is His adorableness & sweetness.

God shines to us Jesus in the rays of His light

He shines brilliantly
Into the eyes of our heart
By His voice declaring to our ears
And through His Spirit to our souls

We beheld His glory, the glory as of the
unique one of the Father, full of grace & truth

Jesus is our visible symbol of the presence of God the Father

Jesus is the “excellent glory.” of the sun’s light,

The majesty of pure light provoke such a feeling

“It is good for us to be here” Matt. 17:4

The majesty of pure light made them visualize

of building tabernacles & thinking of spending

the rest of their days there

Such is this majestic beauty of Christ’s glory

Jesus uncovers a lively sense of the exquisite
gloriousness & pleasantness of glorious light
when He expresses Himself

The inspired writers announced Him as

“excellent glory.”

This is what they saw in Christ’s face as they
declared Him to be God’s express image

They saw visions of Jesus light & glory as an
emanation of God’s glory filling the New Jerusalem

“Having the glory of God, & her light was like unto a stone
most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.”

Rev. 21:11

Like “a stone most precious”; he knew of none more precious, or bright,
or excellent enough to the sight. “like a jasper stone,” more resembling
that than any other; but that is not sufficient & so he adds

“clear as crystal.”

It is something we can’t express, as there is nothing like Jesus

“He is like a jasper & a sardine stone.”

Rev. 4:3

A jasper & a sardine stone were of different
colors, one green & the other red

How then could the light appear like both?

It was like neither, there’s nothing to represent it by

There was all that was excellent in both

Like seeing that the street of the New Jerusalem
was like “pure gold,” & yet like transparent “glass”

Rev. 21:18

Daniel describes Him as whose garment is said to be “white as snow”

Dan. 7:9

Christ’s garments are said to be “white as the light”

His appearance changed from the inside out,
right before their eyes.
Sunlight poured from His face.
His clothes were filled with light.

Matt. 17:1

His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes.
His clothes shimmered, glistening white, whiter than any bleach
could make them.

Elijah, along with Moses, came into view,
in deep conversation with Jesus.

Mark 9:3

O, to have deep conversations with Jesus

God is echoing through all time & at every moment

“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him”

“hear him,”

This communication is visible in the glory of Christ

Are we in harmony with God?

well-pleased with Him!!!

Are we listening God’s voice?

“hear Him,”

“We have also a more sure word of prophecy;
whereunto we do well that we listen,
as to a light that shines in a dark place,
until the day dawn,
and the daystar arise in our hearts.”

Jesus is “as a light that shines in a dark place.”

He will, as the sun, arise & appear;

We are in a dark place without Christ

We are harassed by heresies, grand delusions & dreadful narrative twisters

We are in danger of stumbling, falling & getting lost

Jesus is our light to guide us
it’s necessary for us to listen to Him
to keep our eyes on Him

Jesus invites us, as He invited Thomas, to reach out & touch His wounds

To rest our faith in the comforts of all the glorious light of His grace

From the first day of belief in Jesus,
We‘ve, been taking it all in—
we heard Jesus with our own ears,
we saw Jesus with our own eyes,
we verified Jesus with our own hands.

He is our Word of Life & light
He appeared right before our eyes;
we saw Him happen!

And now in serious prose we share

Jesus is incredible,

He is the infinite Life of God Himself

We see Him,
We hear Him,
Now we’re telling you
so you can experience Him along with us,
this is the intimate communication we have with
the Father & His Son, Jesus Christ.

Our motive for writing is
We want you to enjoy Him, too.

Your joy will double our joy!

Jesus, in essence, is the message
we heard from Christ Spirit
and we are passing on to you:

God is light, pure light; there’s
not a trace of darkness in Him. …

1 John 1:1-5 paraphrased

Thomas Chalmers in his classic

“The Expulsive Power Of A New Affection.”

“What can strip the seeming beauty,

From the idols of the earth?

Not a sense of right or duty,

But the sight of peerless worth.”

It is only as we see the beauty of Jesus

that we can be set free from our love for idols.

It’s not enough to see what we are to do,

we must be captured by a greater beauty

than the false gods that

vie for our heart’s affection.

Tis that look that melted Peter,

Tis that face that Stephen saw

Tis that heart that wept with Mary

Can alone from idols draw

These are considered the terrible two’s
Now, as I round the corner to 70 what do I have?

Well, a little more hair, and bigger feet.

I’m not sure how they got me to sit so still.
I’m sure there’s some comical coaxing in play

Now those who’ve raised me have moved on to
their home in Heaven
.
Now God is my Refuge & Strength

Psalms 46:9-11

He tells me:

He makes wars to cease throughout the earth;
He breaks the bow & shatters the spear;
He burns the shields in the fire.

And the Lord is now coaxing me to:

Be still & know that I am God;

He assures us:

I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted over the earth.”

The LORD of Hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

For nothing will be impossible with God

Is any thing too hard for the LORD?
At the time appointed I will return to you,
according to the time of life & Sarah shall have a son.

Gen. 18:14

That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible
for God to lie, we might have a strong encouragement,
who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us

Heb. 6:18

So when God makes a promise He backs it to the hilt,
He puts His own reputation on the line.

He has said, “I promise that I’ll bless you with everything
“I will-bless & bless & bless!” With every spiritual blessing

We stick it out & we get everything thats been promised to us.

We pray for enlightenment
We pray for enabling
We pray for encouraging

And God endorses us with His authority & backs His promises up.
His Word is His guarantee of His promises,
His word, is a rock-solid guarantee-
God can’t break His word.
And because his word cannot change,
the promise is likewise unchangeable.

The babe leaped in her womb for joy.
And blessed is she that believed:
for there will be a performance of those things
which were told her from the Lord.
And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour.

Luke 1:44-46

As God’s Spirit forms Christ in us we leap in our hearts for joy
The blessings of belief show us a performance of God’s things
And our soul magnifies the Lord. His reality in size & strength
grow before our eyes of faith & our spirit rejoices in God our Saviour

Suffering is meant to quiet our minds & encourage our hearts:
God has a hand in our suffering. Whatever circumstances we experience
can no more arise without the hand of God than a saw can cut without
the hand of the carpenter.

Job in his suffering did not say, “The Lord gave and the devil took away,”
but, “The Lord gave & the Lord took away.”

Suffering never comes our way apart from the purpose & providence
of God & for that reason, suffering is always significant, never meaningless.

We can best see the ugly face of sin & the reality of spiritual childishness
in the mirror of suffering.

Suffering is our preacher & teacher.

Luther said that he could never properly understand some of the Psalms
until he endured suffering.

A sick bed often teaches more than a sermon & suffering first teaches us
about our sin & sinfulness.

Suffering also teaches us about ourselves, for in times of health & prosperity
all seems to be well & we are both humble & grateful, but in suffering we come
to see the ingratitude & rebellion of our hearts.

Suffering is the means of making our hearts more upright. In times of prosperity
our hearts are often divided, half pursuing God & half obsessed with the world.
Our hearts can be like a compass needle that swings wildly between two poles.

But in suffering God takes away the world so the heart will hold to Him in full sincerity.
Just as we heat a crooked rod to straighten it, God holds us over the fire of suffering
to make us more upright.

It is good that when sin has bent our souls away from God,
He will use suffering to straighten them.

If Christ’s head was crowned with thorns, why do we think ours should only ever
be crowned with roses?

Suffering conforms us to Christ.

There is meant to be symmetry & proportion between the model & the canvas,
between Christ & his people.

Suffering is like an artist’s pencil that draws Christ’s image upon us.
If we want to be parts of Christ’s body, we must want to be like Him & His
life was a series of sufferings, “a man of sorrows & acquainted with grief”

Isaiah 53:3

Suffering destroys sin.

There are loads of sin remaining in even the best heart & suffering serves to purge it,
just like fire purifies gold. The fire of suffering purges away all spiritual impurities—
pride, lust, covetousness & a million more.

It never harms the soul, but only ever leaves it more pure & more beautiful.

Suffering loosens our hearts from the world.

If we want to remove a tree from the ground, we first need to loosen the earth
from around its roots. Just like that, God digs away our earthly comforts to loosen
our hearts from the world.

It is God’s desire that our hearts hold to this world by only the smallest root & suffering
serves to shake away all attachments.

Suffering makes way for comfort.

God tempers outward pain with inward peace. “Your sorrow shall be turned to joy”
John 16:20 promises Jesus.

In suffering we see water turned into wine, bitter medicine being chased with
choice desserts.
We can testify that in suffering we have had the sweetest experiences of joy & the
closest sense of God’s nearness.

Suffering shows that God makes much of us.

Job asked, “What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your
heart on him?” Job 7:17

In suffering, God makes much of us in at least three ways.

First, he condescends so low as to take notice of us at all.
It shows our place in God’s world that he thinks us worthy to suffer.

Second, suffering is a sign of sonship. “It is for discipline that you have to endure.
God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?”
Hebrews 12:7

Third, suffering makes God’s people more renowned in the world.
Soldiers are never so admired as for their victories & saints never
more so for their sufferings. After all, isn’t Job the sufferer more
renowned than Alexander the conqueror?

When God brings a flood of suffering upon us, it is then that we fly to the ark, Christ.

Suffering is a means to joy.

Suffering brings joy by bringing us nearer to God.

The full moon is the furthest from the sun & many people in the full moon of prosperity are far from God. When God begins to remove our worldly comforts, it is then that we run to Him & make peace with Him.

It was only when the prodigal was needy that he returned home to his father Luke 15:13

It is only when the dove could not find any rest that she flew to the ark.
When God brings a flood of suffering upon us, it is then that we fly to the ark, Christ.

Suffering silences the wicked.

Rejectors love to claim that we serve God only out of self-interest.
God let’s us suffer so we will shut the mouths of those who
cast aspersions on us & our God.

It shuts the blasphemers’ mouths to see us cleave to our God in suffering, for as they do so we prove that we serve God first out of love.

Suffering makes way for glory.

As ploughing prepares the earth for a crop, so suffering prepares & makes us fit for glory.

The skilled artist knows that gold paint shows best against dark colors
God first lays the dark colors of suffering, then brushes on the golden color of glory.
Suffering does not earn us glory, but it does prepare us for it.

In all these ways we see that suffering is not harmful to us but beneficial. We should train ourselves to look less at the evil of suffering & more at the good, to look less at the dark side of the cloud & more at the light.

The worst that God ever does to us is to drive us toward heaven, toward Himself.

These points are drawn from Thomas Watson’s A Divine Cordial.

Betrayal is nothing new

It’s been around since the beginning

Satan beguiled Eve

Eve betrayed Adam

Adam blamed Eve

But God covered their nakedness

Cain didn’t like God’s grace of covering

So Cain betrayed Abel by clubbing him to death

So starts the rejection of grace through performance based religion

It’s called “their truth” in contrast to “God’s truth”

But let us run loose & free, celebrating GOD ’s great work,
Every bone in our body laughing, singing,

GOD, there’s no one like You.

You put the down-and-out on their feet
You protect the unprotected from bullies!

Hostile accusers appear out of nowhere,
they stand up & badger us.
They pay us back misery for mercy, leaving our soul empty. …

Psalm 35:9-12 MSG

But You God fill us with Yourself!

Don’t be like Cain, who joined the Evil One & then killed his brother.
And why did he kill him? Because he was deep in the practice of evil,
He was full of guilt which always boils over into blame
while the acts of his brother were righteous.

So don’t be surprised, friends, when others hate us.
This has been going on a long time.

1 John 3:10-11