This is the second time in two days I have read disturbing news coming out of Pakistan regarding persecution of Christians there. The first came in our local paper. And then today I received this in the weekly prayer update from Voice of the Martyrs.

On July 30, Muslim extremists attacked Christians, burning more than 50 homes and animals in Faisalabad, Pakistan, according to The Voice of the Martyrs contacts. Muslims falsely accused Christians of burning the Quran during a wedding ceremony the previous day. Muslim extremists claimed they attacked believers because police did not arrest anyone for their complaints about a burned Quran. This is the fifth incident of persecution against Christians in two months. Muslims are threatening more attacks. Pray for believers who have lost their homes and livestock. Ask God to provide for and encourage them. Pray false accusations by Muslims will draw believers closer to the Lord and for their faithfulness to draw non believers into faith with Christ.

As part of my sacred romance with Jesus in the mornings of late, I am reading The Sacred Romance.

I’m closing in on my four year anniversary since finishing treatment. Surgery to remove a tumor on my tongue and the lymph nodes on the right side of my neck. Thirty-nine radiation treatments. Four bouts with chemo. 2005 was not a fun year.

I kept a journal through the process. Today I revisited this time in ’05. Here’s how part of it reads for August 7.

We watched the celebration of Operation Mobilisation honoring 45 years of George and Drena’s ministry. (George Verwer is one of my modern day heroes of the faith.) It was exuberant, funny, touching, and inspiring all at the same time. The man has had a consitent, faithful run. I would really like to finish like that, however much time remains. Would you be gracious to me, Father, and allow that? Thank you for whatever is to come. Help me to be faithful.

Some four years later. God continues to answer that prayer. Blessed be His name.

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:1-2).

If you are looking for a review of the ESV Study Bible,
you can find it here.

John Piper has a post on the DG blog with some helpful questions for those pondering marriage. You can check it out here.

Of all the “one another” passages in the New Testament constraining the manner of our engagement within the body of Christ, none has registered more relentlessly of late on my mind and heart than the one found in James 5:16.

Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed (emphasis mine).

The pray for one another segment of that passage has dominated my thinking and pastoral practice ever since reading this in The Deliberate Church by Mark Dever and Paul Alexander (Crossway, 2005, 221 pages):

One of the most practical things you can do for you own personal prayer life, and for the prayer lives of other church members, is to assemble a church membership directory . . . so that everyone in the church can be praying through it a page a day. . . . We usually encourage people to pray through the page number that corresponds to the current day of the month.

Capitol Hill Baptist Church, where these brothers minister, has a lot more folks attending than OGC does. I have discovered that we can pray through our entire flock every week without much difficulty. Teddie, our church office manager and executive assistant, prepared a special version of the directory for me that has the days of the week in the margin. Each day has about fourteen family units contained within. This breaks down the whole church into manageable portions. It makes it easy for me to pray for all our people at least once a week. No other tool of late more dramatically influences my praying.

On Sunday in our concert of prayer during the 9:30 hour I introduced this concept related to another important section of Scripture, namely Eph. 6:18. Paul concludes his treatment related to putting on the full armor of God with this exhortation:

Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.

I take that to mean that to some extent we cannot fully dress ourselves in spiritual armor without the aid of intercession by our fellow saints. This is a sobering conclusion! Who wants to go into battle without adequate protection?

So I reiterate my exhortation of Sunday morning to all of you who attended the concert of prayer and received a copy of the latest directory divided into days of the week. PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER. Join me, the staff, and the leadership team as we press in with concerted, regular, faithful intercessory prayer that we might be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might (Eph. 6:10).

If you missed our prayer time last Sunday but would like a copy of the directory for prayer purposes, contact the office and we will be glad to see that you get a copy.

Here is a helpful post for discerning the difference between the genuine conviction of the Holy Spirit and the accusations of the devil.

I continue to read through for the second time Ed Welch’s book, Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave. It is subtitled, Finding Hope in the Power of the Gospel.

I got this from Tim Challies today.

It’s a Puritan prayer from the Valley of Vision.

O God of grace,
I bewail my cold, listless, heartless prayers;
their poverty adds sin to my sin.
If my hope were in them I should be undone,
But the worth of Jesus perfumes my feeble breathings, and wins their acceptance.
Deepen my contrition of heart,
Confirm my faith in the blood that washes from all sin.
May I walk lovingly with my great Redeemer.
Flood my soul with true repentance that my heart may be broken for sin and unto sin.
Let me be as slow to forgive myself as thou art ready to forgive me.
Gazing on the glories of thy grace may I be cast into the lowest depths of shame.
And walk with downcast head now thou art pacified towards me.
O my great High Priest,
pour down upon me streams of needful grace,
bless me in all my undertakings,
in every thought of my mind,
every word of my lips,
every step of my feet,
every deed of my hands.
Thou didst live to bless,
die to bless,
rise to bless,
ascend to bless,
take thy throne to bless,
and now thou dost reign to bless.
O give sincerity to my desires,
earnestness to my supplications,
fervour to my love.