Easter Sunday!

"He is Risen!"

          God, The Bible

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To visit The Practical Disciple, click here.

The Mind of Christ

     If a friend does something which puzzles us, we might ask what it was 

he "had in mind" in doing it.  It is in this sense that Paul uses the word 

mind in Philippians 2:5.  What was it that seemed important to Jesus?  

What principles did he cherish?  What objectives?  On what footing 

were his choices made?

     The revelation of the mind of Christ is presented here as the story of 

a great change.  It befits with one who was in the form of God (verse 6), 

that is, one who possessed inwardly and displayed outwardly the very 

nature of God himself.

     As is plain, verse 6 is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ before his 

incarnation...What a change is expressed in verse 8 when he who was in 

the form of God became obedient unto death Wesley put it justly when 

he wrote:

"Tis mystery all!  The immortal dies!"

     Mystery indeed, but at the same time the testimony of the Bible.  How 

it could happen we cannot know, that it did happen we are assured.

     There is great stress on the fact that this change came about by 

voluntary decision and in this we begin to enter into the "mind of 

Christ."  Verse 7 says he emptied himself, and verse 8, he humbled him-

self.  In each case the reflexive expression points to personal decision 

and action.

                     Alec Motyer, The Message of Philippians: Jesus Our Joy

Who is Alec Motyer?  Now retired Alec Motyer was formerly Principal 

of Trinity College, Bristol. He has extensive experience in parish 

ministry and is well known as a Bible expositor, of the Old Testament 

in particular. 

To visit the Lenten Meditations site, click here.

To visit The Practical Disciple, click here.

Committing to God in Perfect trust

     ...the way to power lies through the realization of helplessness; that 

the way to victory lies through the admission of defeat; that the way to 

goodness lies through the confession and the acknowledgement of sin.  

Herein is an essential truth which runs through all life.  If a man is ill, 

the first necessity is that he should admit and recognize that he is ill, 

and that then he should seek for a cure in the right place.  The way to 

knowledge begins with the admission of ignorance.  The one man who 

can never learn is the man who thinks that he knows everything already.

     ...the way to independence lies through dependence, and the way to 

freedom lies through surrender.  If ever a man is to be independent of 

the chances and changes of life, that independence must come from his 

complete dependence on God.  If ever a man is to know true freedom, 

that freedom must come through complete surrender to God.

     ...the way to bliss which the world can neither give nor take away lies 

through the recognition of our own need, and the conviction that the need 

can be met, when we commit to God in perfect trust.

William Barclay, The Beatitudes and the Lord's prayer for Everyman

Who is William Barclay?  Barclay, 1907 to 1978, was an author, radio 

and television presenter and a minister of the Church of Scotland.  He 

was also a Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at the University 

of Glasgow in Scotland.  Barclay is best known for his 17 commentaries 

on the New Testament.

To visit the Lenten Meditations site, click here.

To visit The Practical Disciple, click here.

God's unfailing love

     "What can  you do when you've failed and denied what you believe?"  

This question and others like it came out of the heart of a person who 

had stumbled badly.  He felt he had no right to pray, and when he tried, 

he felt self-discrimination and condemnation.  We all deny our Lord in 

so many little ways, but what do you do when the denial contradicts 

everything you've stood for and believed?  Is there a way back?  How 

does the Lord deal with failures?

     The answer is vividly portrayed in the way Jesus Christ dealt with 

Simon Peter's denial.  Peter could not handle the anguish of his cowardly 

denial.  He had to block it out, try to forget; but his efforts were futile.  

Was that why he now could not bear to look Jesus in the eye?

     What adventure Peter had known following the Master!  He remem-

bered with self-affirmation how on the road to Caesarea Philippi he felt 

the spirit rush within him.  He had blurted out the conviction, "Thou art 

the Christ!"  He would never forget the tone of the Lord's voice when he 

told him that the church would be built on the rock of his faith.  A rock?  

The recollection reverberated with shock waves within him.  "A rock that 

cracked!" he said to himself.

     But the basic message of the story is this:  the Lord's love does not 

fail however much we fail him.  Peter had built his whole relationship 

with Jesus Christ on his assumed capacity to be adequate.  That's why he 

took his denial of the Lord so hard.  His strength, loyalty, and faithfulness 

were his self-generated assets of discipleship.  The fallacy in Peter's mind 

was this: he believed his relationship was dependent on his consistency 

in producing the qualities he thought had earned him the Lord's approval.

     Many of us face the same problem.  We project onto the Lord our own 

measured standard of acceptance.  Our whole understanding of him is 

based in a quid pro quo of bartered love.  He will love us as if we are 

good, moral, and diligent.  But we have turned the tables; we try to live 

so that he will love us, rather than living because he has already loved us.

Lloyd Ogilvie, Ask Him anything: God can handle your hardest questions

Who is Lloyd Ogilvie?  Lloyd John Ogilvie, is a Presbyterian minister, 

who served as Chaplain of the U.S. Senate from 1995 to 2003.  Dr. 

Ogilvie, had a nationally syndicated weekly television show prior to 

serving the Senate called, "Let God Love You."  It aired for 17 years.   

Dr. Ogilvie felt his role as Chaplain was to act as an intercessor for 

Senators, be a trusted prayer partner and faith counselor.  He sought 

to keep the office as nonpolitical, nonsectarian, and nonpartisan.  

He provide spiritual leadership and support to the Senate through 

many significant events including the impeachment of President 

Clinton; the attacks on 911; the anthrax attack in the Senate; and 

the contested Presidential election in 2000.  Dr. Ogilvie has received 

numerous awards and authored 49 books.

To visit the Lenten Meditations site, click here.

To visit The Practical Disciple, click here.

Surrender and Trust

     A devoted Christian woman who conducted a large Bible class with zeal 

and success once came in trouble to her minister.  In her earlier years 

she had enjoyed much blessing in the inner chamber, in fellowship with 

the Lord and His Word.  But this had gradually been lost and, do what 

she would, she could not get it right.  The Lord had blessed her work, 

but the joy had gone out of her life.  The minister asked what she had 

done to regain the lost blessedness.  "I have done everything," said she, 

"that I can think of, but all in vain."

     He then questioned her about her experience in connection with her 

conversion.  She gave an immediate and clear answer: "At first I spared 

no pains in my attempt to become better, and to free myself from sin, 

but it was all useless.  At last I began to understand that I must lay aside 

all my efforts, and simply trust the Lord Jesus to bestow on me His life 

and peace, and He did it."

     "Why then," said the minister, "do you not try this again? As you go 

to your inner chamber, however cold and dark your heart may be, do not

try in your own might to force yourself into the right attitude.  Bow 

before Him and tell Him that He sees in what a sad state you are and 

that your only hope is in Him.  Trust Him with a childlike trust to have 

mercy upon you, and wait upon Him.  You have Nothing--He has 

everything.

                                                                  Andrew Murray, The Prayer Life 

Who is Andrew Murray?  Murray was a South African write, teacher 

and Christian pastor who lived from May 9, 1828 to January 18, 1917.  

Murray focused heavily on Missions and was one of the founders of 

the South African General Mission.

To visit the Lenten Meditations site, click here.

To visit The Practical Disciple, click here.

Glorifying God as our priority

Jesus in His prayers on earth, in His intercession in heaven in His 

promise of an answer to our prayers from there, makes this His first 

objective—the glory of His Father.  Is it so with us too?  Or are not, in 

large measure, self-interest and self-will the strongest motive urging 

us to pray?  Or, if we cannot see that this is the case, have we not to 

acknowledge that the distinct, conscious longing for the glory of the 

Father is not what animates our prayers?  And yet it must be so.

Not as if the believer does not at times desire it.  But he has to mourn 

that he has so little attained.  And he knows the reason of his failure too.  

It was, because the separation between the spirit of daily life and the 

spirit of the hour of prayer was too wide.  We begin to see that the 

desire for the glory of the Father is not something that we can awake and 

present to our Lord when we prepare ourselves to pray.  No!  It is only 

when the whole life, in all its parts, is given up to God's glory, that we 

can really pray to His glory too.  "Do all to the glory of God," and , "Ask 

all to the glory of God"--these twin commands are inseparable:  

obedience to the former is the secret grace for the latter.  A life to the 

glory of God is the condition of the prayers that Jesus can answer, "that 

the Father may be glorified."

                                  Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer

Who is Andrew Murray?  Murray was a South African write, teacher 

and Christian pastor who lived from May 9, 1828 to January 18, 1917.  

Murray focused heavily on Missions and was one of the founders of 

the South African General Mission.

To visit the Lenten Meditations site, click here.

To visit The Practical Disciple, click here.

Jesus' call to self-denial

     Self-denial conjures up in our minds all sorts of images of groveling and 

self-hatred.  We imagine that it most certainly means the rejection of 

our individuality and will probably  lead to various forms of 

self-mortification. 

     On the contrary, Jesus called us to self-denial without self-hatred.  

Self-denial is simply a way of coming to understand that we do not have 

to have our own way.  Our happiness is not dependent upon getting what 

we want. Self-denial does not mean the loss of our identity as some 

suppose.  Without our identity we could not even be subject to each 

other.  Did Jesus lose His identity when He set His face toward 

Golgotha?  Did Peter lose his identity when he responded to Jesus’ 

cross-bearing command, “Follow me” (John 21:19)?  Did Paul lose his 

identity when he committed himself to the One who had said, “I will 

show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” (Acts 9:16)? 

Of course not.  We know that the opposite was true.  They found their 

identity in the act of self-denial. 

     Self-denial is not the same thing as self-contempt.  Self-contempt 

claims that we have no worth, and even if we did have worth we should 

reject it.  Self-denial declares that we are of infinite worth and shows us 

how to realize it.  Self-contempt denise the goodness of the creation; 

self-denial affirms that it was indeed good.  Jesus made the ability to 

love ourselves the prerequisite for our reaching out to others 

(Matt. 22:39). 

                                               Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline

Who is Richard Foster? Foster is a Christian theologian, educator,

and author in the Quaker tradition. His best know work is the

Celebration of Discipline, which offers instruction on a variety of

inward and outward spiritual disciplines, such as, prayer, fasting,

simplicity, confession and worship. It was named by Christianity

Today as one of the top ten books of the twentieth century.

To visit the Lenten Meditations site, click here.

To visit The Practical Disciple, click here.