Aaron Armstrong

bloggingtheologically.com

Prayer

Links I like (12/28)

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Links I like (2018 edition)

5 Books You Perhaps Haven’t Heard of That Impacted Me in 2018

I always enjoy when leaders share the books that are shaping them. Eric’s got some interesting ones here.

Is It a Sin Not to Pray?

10 Critical Religious Liberty Cases Coming in 2019

These are going to be worth paying attention to in the coming year.

4 Marks of a Potential Bible Study Leader

Keri Folmar:

In Dubai, we have a women’s Bible study leadership problem. Dubai isn’t a place where people stay. It’s a stopover—an exciting and profitable place to be for a while. We regularly have to say goodbye to leaders. To keep our program running, we need to reload each year.

Maybe you’ve had to say goodbye to your share of Barbaras too. Whether your leaders are moving away, having babies, or taking a semester off, your church—like ours—frequently needs new women’s Bible study leaders.

What is the Difference Between the Holiness of God and His Righteousness?

David McLemore shares some wisdom from Geerhardus Vos.

Deliver us from careless prayers

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are my prayers too small?

Prayer is probably the area I struggle with most on a consistent basis. Not so much in not doing it (although there have been days), but in praying carelessly. Praying as though I were on autopilot instead of communing with the Father.

That’s something I was reminded of and convicted by as I read a new book on prayer by Albert Mohler. The other day, my review of this book went live over at The Gospel Coalition:

I remember one night coming home from work, completely exhausted, and joining my family to give thanks for our dinner. As I opened my mouth, I began to pray in a way that didn’t make sense: rather than thanking God for providing for our needs, I was asking him to help us sleep well (which I clearly needed to do). I’ve had moments like this when praying with my children; I’ve realized that while I’m saying something true, it’s exactly the same as what I prayed the previous seven nights. A general blessing repeated on autopilot rather than a heartfelt desire to connect with our Father.

To help us connect with God in this deeper way, Albert Mohler—president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and TGC Council member—has written The Prayer That Turns the World Upside Down: The Lord’s Prayer as a Manifesto for Revolution. He desires that all believers be deeply engaged in prayer and recognizes that we, just like the first followers of Jesus, must turn to Jesus to discover what that means. We need to learn to pray as Jesus taught us in the Lord’s Prayer. And to do that, we must discover what the Lord’s Prayer actually means.

Keep reading at The Gospel Coalition.

Links I like (3/13)

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Links I like (2018 edition)

Podcast: On this week’s episode of The Hero of the Story, Brian and I discuss the need to hold fast to the gospel from Galatians 1:6-9. Listen in and leave a review on iTunes.

Why Controversy Is Sometimes Necessary

Albert Mohler:

What about the church? Is it ever right for Christians and churches to engage in controversy? Of course, the answer is yes—there are times when believers are divided over serious and consequential questions, and controversy is an inevitable result. The only way to avoid all controversy would be to consider nothing we believe important enough to defend and no truth too costly to compromise.

To “Grow Up” in Christ, You Must “Grow Down”

Michael Kelley:

All these things we must grow down in? Well, these are things that all of us as regular adults have come to embrace as part of our lives. Over the years, experience, pain, hardship, and sin have beaten out all the simplicity, authenticity, trust, and passion that come to us so naturally as children.

There Is Nothing Trite About It!

Tim Challies:

There is nothing trite, nothing minimal about “I’ll pray for you.” To say, “I’ll pray for you” is to say, “I will speak with the Author and Creator of all things. He’s my Father and invites me to come to him any time. I will speak to him about those things. I will plead his promises. I will speak to the one Being in all the universe who has all knowledge and all power and who is perfectly good, and I will ask him to help, to intercede, to grant joy and peace and meaning.”

How Christian Faith Led a Single Woman to Defy Chairman Mao

Amy Peterson:

Nelson Mandela. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Martin Luther King Jr. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. When we think of 20th-century political dissidents who were people of faith, these are the names that spring to mind. And for good reason: These men left an indelible mark on humanity with their resolve and fortitude, their eloquent words, and their profound wrestling with what it meant to oppose injustice. Now, thanks to the research of historian Lian Xi, we have a new name to add to the list: Lin Zhao, the only Chinese citizen known to have openly and steadfastly opposed communism under Mao Zedong.

5 Things I Want You to Know About My Next Book

Based on what I’ve seen and heard of it already, Eric Geiger’s new book has the potential to be one of the most important of the year. (And I don’t say that because I work for him.)

Internet Trolls in Church Clothes: How to Comment the Truth in Love

Greg Morse:

Whereas in olden days their warmongerings would have had to penetrate an editor and a publisher to reach the general public, they can now bludgeon their victims mercilessly at the touch of a button. And they do. They can club them from behind without the added bother of ever looking them in the eye, skulking back to binging on Netflix afterwards. They can be vulgar, they can be rude, they can be unappeasable. Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands, the internet troll his hundred thousands.

How does the gospel apply to dieting?

A favorite from the archives:

I’ve struggled with my weight for my entire life. I’ve tried different fads. I’ve tried strictly regimenting my intake. Try as I might I’ve not found anything that’s had a lasting effect.

But as we examine dieting practices, we need to ask how the gospel applies to dieting.

That might sound ridiculous, but bear with me.

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