Category: Reflections

“Pastor, I don’t know how to pray for my mother since her stroke.  Do I pray for her life to continue–though I know she is suffering deeply–or that the Lord she loves will take her?”  What should be the content of your prayers?  How should a Christian pray about finding a mate?  What is the content of your prayers about your work?   How do you pray for the troubled world in which you live?

In Romans 8:26-27 Paul tells you the bad news: you don’t know Continue reading “Reflections on the Spirit’s Intercession”

Christian liberty and liberty of the conscience are rich concepts (see the Westminster Confession of Faith 20:1 and 2).  In Christ we have been set free from bondage to Satan, sin, and death.  We are no longer bound by the ceremonial law, but have direct access to God in Christ Jesus by his Spirit.  The conscience is bound, not by regulations of men, but by the Word of God.  We may not forbid what God allows nor require what God does not command.

We can also use the term “Christian liberty” to refer to how we use things which are not wrong in themselves.  John Murray in “The Weak and the Strong” (originally published in the Westminster Theological Journal, Vol. XII, 2, 1950, reprinted in Vol. 4 of his Collected Writings, pp. 142-157, and available online at: http://www.reformedliterature.com/murray-the-weak-and-the-strong.php), discusses the classic passages, Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8.  He identifies the issues involved in these Scriptures Continue reading “The fruit of the vine: Basic principles of Christian liberty”