Abraham Kuyper

"Oh, no single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'"

- Abraham Kuyper

injury

what injury has taught me

1. root out my idols

My identity is in Christ alone. Dance/travelling shouldn't define me!

2. rest in God

Only He can give me true peace; for without Him our hearts would be restless.

3.remember that God is in control

He is sovereign and all-powerful. Everything occurs according to his plans:)

the cost of discipleship

Men go to God when he is sore bested:
find him poor and scorned, without shelter and bread,
whelmed under weight of the wicked, the weak, the dead.
Christians stand by god in his hour of grieving.
-second verse of "Christian and Unbeliever" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Self-sufficiency is the most fatal sin

"Self-sufficiency...is the most fatal sin because it pulls us as if by magnet from God. The suffering and the poor have the advantage that their lack of self-sufficiency is obvious to them every day. They must turn somewhere for strength, and sometimes they turn to God. People who are rich, successful, and beautiful may go through life relying on their natural gifts. But there's a chance, just a chance, that people who lack such natural advantages may cry out to God in their time of need...suffering and oppressed people find themselves in a posture that befits the grace of God. They are needy, dependent, and dissatisfied with life; for that reason they may welcome God's free gift of love." (Yancey, Where Is God When It Hurts?, p. 148-149)

where is God when it hurts

"The book of Job should nail a coffin lid over the idea that every time we suffer it's because God is punishing us or trying to tell us something. Although the Bible supports the general principle that 'a man reaps what he sows' even in this life (see Psalms 1:3; 37:25), the book of Job proves that other people have no right to apply that general principle to a particular person. Nobody deserved suffering less than Job, and yet few have suffered more." (Yancey, Where Is God When It Hurts?, p. 81)

Cure vs healing

‎"Cure and healing are not one and the same. Cure refers to the complete physical resolution of a disease. Healing may involve physical cure, but it is vastly more encompassing. Healing refers to a psychological and spiritual regeneration after we have been wounded, whatever the nature of the wound. Those who cultivate healing might also find that they are cured, usually with the inestimable aid of modern medicine. Or they might not be cured. But regardless of the medical outcome, this broader healing is a goal worth all of our energies - and our prayers." (Chiel and Dreher, The Healing Power of Psalms, p. 19)

Prayer

"There are two broad categories (of prayer): directed prayer, in which we ask for a specific goal, image, or outcome ('make it happen'), and non directed or 'open-ended' prayer, in which no specific outcome is held in the mind ('let it be').

"...Certainly, both forms of petition have validity. But one reason to consider the non-directed approach to prayer is that it acknowledges a higher intelligence: We don't always know precisely what is best for ourselves or our loved ones." (Chiel and Dreher, The Healing Power of Psalms, p. 27)

Soul repair

"To truly surrender we must come to the end of our attempts to run our own lives. Once we are clear on the futility of our own spiritual efforts and the need for God's help and guidance, we can turn our lives over to God's care and direction. As long as some part of us is holding out and believing that we can make our lives work if we just try a little harder, we will find it difficult to fully surrender. Thus, surrendering to God's love and grace becomes a process of releasing more and more of our self-reliance as we grow in faith...God will take over when we come to the end of our futile attempts to be good enough, spiritual enough or smart enough to run our own lives." (Soul Repair, p. 141)

David Livingstone

“And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.” - Acts 5:41

“For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa […] Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.”
- David Livingstone

worship

worship—a response of gratitude due to the overflow of His grace which engages the mind, heart, body and soul.. because the beauty of the gospel compels you to—how does this arise? constant meditation and exploration of the Word, that is, pursuit for the tripartite knowledge of God (connaître, savoir, et savoir-faire)

Martin luther

"World, death, devil, hell, away and leave me in peace! You have no hold on me. If you will not let me live, then I will die. But you won't succeed in that. Chop my head off, and it won't harm me. I have a God who will give me a new one."

-- Martin Luther

Peace by Tim Keller

Peace by Tim Keller
Phillippians chap 4: 4-12
The Christian peace is not expelling negative thoughts - stop facing facts
BUT a triumphant power that transcends the facts = the peace of God (that transcends understanding)
-feel protected by God, sense of God's presence
to be completely poised under any circumstances (Paul)

discipline not talent
1. thinking - true, noble & right doctrine (putting things into perspective!)
2. thanking -dont be anxious but make requests to God with thanksgiving
3. loving
-redemption of the world (prime example of the good in the seemingly most terrible things)

loving mutable things wont bring peace
supremely loving the immutable - presence of God -where peace is not disturbed


The Confessions of Saint Augustine
But what do I love, when I love Thee? not beauty of bodies, nor the fair harmony of time, nor the brightness of the light, so gladsome to our eyes, nor sweet melodies of varied songs, nor the fragrant smell of flowers, and ointments, and spices, not manna and honey, not limbs acceptable to embracements of flesh. None of these I love, when I love my God; and yet I love a kind of light, and melody, and fragrance, and meat, and embracement when I love my God, the light, melody, fragrance, meat, embracement of my inner man: where there shineth unto my soul what space cannot contain, and there soundeth what time beareth not away, and there smelleth what breathing disperseth not, and there tasteth what eating diminisheth not, and there clingeth what satiety divorceth not. This is it which I love when I love my God.

if we love/live for anything more than God, our lives will be restless
the natural consequence of not centring one's life in God
Isaiah 57

20 aBut the wicked are like the tossing sea;

for it cannot be quiet,

and its waters toss up mire and dirt.

21 bThere is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

Jesus lost all peace so that we can have eternal peace



our identity is in God alone
not our gifts

rejection by the world & injury sldnt rip peace away from us