Skip to main content

Enjoying God

I have enjoyed reading Tim Chester's Enjoying God.  It is helpful because it encourages to go beyond intellectual knowledge of God and love and enjoy Him. Tim wants us to like God. All true followers of Jesus would say they love God, but are we fond of God? Is your spiritual instinct to think well of God and His intentions for your life? Tim believes the key to enjoying God is give ourselves to dance to Him n a trinitarian fashion, Father, Son and Holy Spirit

I have read a number of Tim Chester books, so I must confess that I think what  he says in this book in individual chapters is better stated elsewhere in his other works. Also there is a part of me that feels that though most of our gifted modern writers like Tim are saying wonderful things, they are merely paraphrasing what old writers have said. It would be nice if many of us can read Owen and Bonhoeffer for ourselves. I believe that is much more beneficial in the long term than getting a few helpful quotes from Tim. Of course we often discover the existence of such older writers by reading about them in such books like Enjoying God. So I do appreciate Tim's effort in this regard. A good book, do read it if you can!

Here are some one liners that stood out for me:

"We are not only saved from sin, we are saved for God" 

"Faith looks beyond our circumstances to our relationship with God" 

"We pursue joy in God for God's sake, because He is the source of joy" 

"God is the loving Father you've always wished you had" 

"If you are in Christ, you always bring pleasure to the Father. He sees you and smiles with delight" 

"We don't need to worry because the world is full of signs of our Father's intimate involvement. We live in a fathered world" 

"Jesus asks everything of us, but he asks nothing of us that he himself has not first endured"

"The Spirit gives spiritual life in the present and physical life in the future"

"All the good we do is done in the power of the Spirit"

"If you want to to see the Spirit at work in your life, then attempt things that you feel you can't do without His help"

"For most people groaning is a backwards look....but for the Christians groaning is a forwards look"

"We go to the Bible to hear our Saviour speak to us"

"You can't enjoy God's love on your own"

"Brotherly love isn't a poor substitute for the real thing. For brotherly love is divine love. God loves us through the love of other Christians".

"You will never be happy while you are pursuing your own happiness"

"Our cities and towns are places in spiritual darkness. But every time a new church is started, it's as if God switches on a light. Light shines through Christian love".

Copyright © Chola Mukanga 2020

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I am what I am by Gloria Gaynor

Beverly Knight closed the opening ceremony of the Paralympics with what has been dubbed the signature tune of the Paralympics. I had no idea Ms Knight is still in the singing business. And clearly going by the raving reviews she will continue to be around. One media source says her performance was so electric that "there wasn’t a dry eye to be seen as she sang the lyrics to the song and people even watching at home felt the passion in her words" . The song was Gloria Gaynor's I am what I am . Clearly not written by Gloria Gaynor but certainly musically owned and popularized by her. It opens triumphantly: I am what I am / I am my own special creation / So come take a look / Give me the hook or the ovation / It's my world that I want to have a little pride in / My world and it's not a place I have to hide in / Life's not worth a damn till you can say I am what I am The words “I am what I am” echo over ten times in the song. A bold declaration that she ...

Mistakes in Ministry

This painful experience, along with my subsequent years in pastoral ministry, taught me never to assume every member of my church understands these foundational truths in the same way. A shared statement of faith, though extremely helpful, is not a guarantee that your entire congregation will always agree on doctrine, the ordinances, or church membership. Perhaps this assumption proved to be my biggest mistake. The words we use may not be received or understood as we intend them to be. Therefore, when our members ask questions, we must patiently answer them and slow down if necessary. When doctrine appears to lead to division, hold fast to the truth, but also resist the urge to see congregants as your “adversaries.” God loves them in Jesus and so must you.    JERI CHOI   (Source: 9 Marks )

A Parody of Faith

There's a fascinating scene in Man of Steel when the man who would be superman, Clark Kent, turns up at a local church seeking answers. He is sitting in alone when local pastor Father Leone asks what is troubling him. Here is where we pick up the conversation : Father Leone : What's on your mind? Clark Kent : I don't know where to start. Father Leone : Wherever you want. Clark Kent : That ship that appeared last night, I'm the one they're looking for. Father Leone : [swallows nervously] Do you know... why they want you? Clark Ken t: No, but this General Zod... even if I surrender, there's no guarantee he'll keep his word. But if there's a chance I can save Earth by turning myself in, shouldn't I take it? Father Leone : What does your gut tell you? Clark Ken t: Zod can't be trusted. The problem is, I'm not sure the people of Earth can be either. [walks away] Father Leone : Sometimes, you have to take a leap of faith fi...