Discipleship | A People for His Name

Bible Reading Update 7/9/11

July 9, 2011

I began this year with the intention of reading through the entire Bible in Greek this year. I had hoped also to finish reading again through the KJV this year, but it looks as if that will not happen.

Here is the progress (chapters read/total chapters) that God has allowed me to make so far after 190 days!


Section	Greek	English
OT	539/920	284/920
NT	8/269	269/269
Bible	547/1189	553/1189

With 175 days left in 2011, my goal is to finish reading the LXX by day 320 and finish reading the Greek NT in the remaining 45 days.

To do that, I will have to average reading three chapters in the LXX for the next 130 days and six chapters in the Greek NT for the final 45 days.

In Bible reading

Better Health through Progressive Relaxation Techniques

July 8, 2011

I was first exposed to techniques of progressive relaxation in a required class for my undergraduate major in Fitness Instruction. Though I tried and tried to learn how to relax my muscles thoroughly, I did not quite become proficient enough in the class to earn an A for the class (I got a B+).

In the more than two decades since I took that class, my ability to relax muscles in various places of my body has increased immensely. Through intensive study and practice, I have acquired valuable proficiency in progressive relaxation that I am confident has helped me to be healthier than I would have been otherwise.

I used to have many colds when I was younger. Many years ago, I got bronchitis, and my doctor said that it would probably take weeks for me to get over the illness. In part through the relaxation techniques that I had learned, I was able to get over that illness in a week or so!

When I took voice lessons a number of years ago, I used what I had learned about relaxing muscles (and some other techniques) to attain a fair amount of ability to relax my jaw and throat muscles. As a result, I was able to improve my singing ability noticeably, especially my range.

Through learning to identify unnecessary tension in my eye muscles, I have seen a fair amount of improvement in my vision over the past couple years. Although my unaided vision is not such that I can do without my glasses completely, I am thankful for being able to do without them for greater periods.

Many years ago, I injured my right shoulder and neck by falling asleep with my right arm extended overhead. Apparently, the injury was caused, ironically, by some muscles relaxing in that position in such a manner that it damaged my shoulder and neck. I had to keep my arm in a sling for a few days after that happened.

I have tried for years to get the muscles in my neck and shoulders to relax properly with the hope that I might yet recover fully from the damage from that injury. Recently, praise God, I have experienced vast improvement in my ability to relax my neck, head, and shoulders, and that improvement has decreased the damage from that injury in a noticeable way!

I suffered a bout of Bell’s palsy a few years ago that caused some minor but lasting damage to the left side of my face, including my left eye. I am certain that the limited lasting damage to my face that I have had resulted in part through my being able to learn to relax muscles in my face that were affected by the palsy.

I thank God that in the past year or so, He has granted me more recovery from some of the damage from the Bell’s palsy by allowing me to relax some affected areas more thoroughly than I have ever been able to before. I hope that there may yet be more healing in the future.

Although learning progressive relaxation techniques is certainly not a cure-all, I can attest to much benefit that I have received from the skills that I have acquired over the years at relaxing many of the muscles of my body. I think that many people would experience similar improvements in their health through their learning and using progressive relaxation techniques.

In Health

Bridges on Fearing God

July 6, 2011

Great thoughts about God will lead naturally to realistic thoughts about ourselves. We begin to realize how little we know, how uncertain and unpredictable life is, and consequently how little we’re actually in control of anything. We begin to see that we’re physically and spiritually frail and vulnerable, and that every second of our lives is lived at the good pleasure of God. As John Calvin wrote, “Man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God’s majesty.”
Such an awareness of ourselves is spiritually healthy. Few things block out our growth of fearing God as do feelings of self-righteousness and self-sufficiency. When we’re pleased with our goodness and confident of our abilities, we tend not to stand in awe of God. But when we’re shorn of our self-righteousness and stripped of sinful self-sufficiency, we’re in a position to fear Him.

—Jerry Bridges, The Joy of Fearing God, 131

In Quotes

Judgment in Both Baptism and the Lord's Supper

July 3, 2011

C. F. D. Moule has pointed out that both the sacraments imply a doctrine of judgment. Baptism is regarded as dying with Christ and rising with Him. It is thus ‘a willing acceptance of the verdict on sin, in union with Christ, whose perfect obedience to the sentence has been vindicated and crowned by the resurrection’. Baptism ‘is essentially pleading guilty, accepting the verdict’. It is unrepeatable, and has about it the once-for-all quality of the final judgment. Holy Communion should be preceded by self-judgment, otherwise it will be followed by divine judgment (1 Cor. xi. 28f.). ‘Emphatically, therefore the Eucharist is an occasion of judgment—either of voluntary self-judgment, in acceptance of God’s verdict on fallen man, or else of unwilling liability to God’s judgment.’

—Morris, The Biblical Doctrine of Judgment, 56-57.

In Quotes

Guitar Music for "Nothing But the Blood"

July 2, 2011

Here are the melody and the chords for Nothing But the Blood in my format for guitar.

In Guitar Music

Be Strong and Manly

July 1, 2011

Reading in Joshua 1 in the LXX today, I was reacquainted with a correlation in biblical Greek that I consider worth noting. Four times, Joshua is challenged with the same two imperatives (1:6a, 7a, 9b, 18d):

ἴσχυε καὶ ’ανδρίζου (“Be strong and quit thyself like a man”; 1:6a, 7a; “Be strong and courageous”; 1:9b, 18d; LXE)

In 1 Corinthians 16, Paul challenges believers with two imperatives (one is the same imperative used four times in Joshua 1, and the other expresses a similar idea to the other one in Joshua 1):

’ανδρίζεσθε, κραταιοῦσθε (“Quit you like men, be strong”; 16:13c, KJV)

Because Paul does not explain what he has in view with these commands, how should we understand what he intends? It would seem that the parallel nature of his statement with those in Joshua 1 indicates that we should understand 1 Corinthians 16:13c in terms of the explanation of the commands given in Joshua 1.

The Lord commanded Joshua to be strong and manly for the sake of his prospering in the vital calling of God for his life (1:6b, 7b). He also commanded him to be strong and manly because He would be with him wherever he would go (1:9d). Finally, the people of Israel whom Joshua would lead exhorted him as well to be strong and manly in view of their declaration that they would follow him as they had followed Moses (1:16-18c).

Based on the parallel between 1 Corinthians 16:13c and the statements in Joshua 1, we should understand that God commands His men to be strong and manly for the sake of our accomplishing His will for our lives, especially in our faithfully leading others (cf. Matt. 28:18-20a). Furthermore, we should be strong and manly because Jesus has promised to be with us always, even to the end of the age (cf. Matt. 28:20b).

Let us be strong and manly, as God desires us to be.

In Discipleship, Interpretation

Amazingly Quick Relief From a Bothersome Problem

June 30, 2011

Today, I had the unpleasant experience of going to the doctor to have wax buildup removed from both of my ears. The nurse had to use the cleaning device about twice as many times in my left ear as she did in my right ear.

When she was done, there was immediate relief in my right ear, but my left ear felt as if I now had an earplug in it. It actually felt worse than it did before the treatment.

For several hours, I had the same sensation. No matter how hard I tried to shake my head to force what I thought must be some left over water out of my left ear, I was not able to relieve the problem.

By late afternoon, I was quite concerned about my left ear. Providentially, I had to return to the same doctor’s office in the afternoon to take my mom for an appointment.

My nurse and doctor from the morning quickly worked me in to check out my ear. I found out that a little bit of water was right on my left eardrum. The doctor said to put 2-3 drops of a 50-50 solution of rubbing alcohol and vinegar in the ear to resolve the problem.

I did not have any vinegar at home, so I was not able to use the remedy until later in the evening when I borrowed some from a friend. Within a very brief time after putting the drops in my ear, I felt the problem dramatically resolve itself.

I am amazed at how effectively and quickly the vinegar and alcohol mixture took care of my ear problem. I think that this instance may have been one of the fastest cures that I have ever experienced for a bothersome health problem.

I thank God for a qualified physician who knew precisely what was needed to handle my problem. This experience seems to me to serve as an excellent illustration for a far more important truth in the spiritual realm: the wonderful effectiveness of our heeding the remedies for the problems of our soul that God, our great Physician, infallibly prescribes for us.

In Discipleship, Health

Absolute Certainty about One's Own Salvation

June 29, 2011

At the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15), Peter cited what God did through him in Caesarea in bringing Gentiles to salvation (15:7-11) as definitive proof that Gentiles did not need to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses to be saved (cf. 15:1, 5). In his citation, Peter made a remarkable statement:

“And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us” (Acts 15:8).

Here, Peter declared that God, who infallibly knows the hearts of all people, supernaturally testified to the saving faith of the people in Caesarea to whom Peter preached the gospel (10:31-48). God did so by giving them the Holy Spirit.

Based on this statement, Peter and the other six witnesses who were with him (11:12) had absolute certainty that Cornelius and the rest of Peter’s hearers on that occasion had been saved. Moreover, Cornelius and all who were with him themselves thus had absolute certainty about their own salvation.

God supernaturally gave these people such certainty, and they would have never needed to have any doubt about their own salvation. Although God does not do so for us today with supernatural testimony that is outwardly visible, we, too, individually can and should have the same certainty about our own salvation through the ministry of the Spirit of God in our own hearts (Rom. 8:16; Gal. 4:6).

In Discipleship

Guitar Playing and Music Ministry Update

June 28, 2011

I have been playing the guitar for more than 25 years. In the past few months, noticeable progress in my playing has been very encouraging to me.

I have been able to play the soprano and alto parts together from 4-part music fairly well for quite some time now. Now, I’m finally attaining some proficiency on my guitar in playing other combinations as well: tenor-base and soprano-tenor.

Playing these various combinations has also had a very exciting side benefit that I had not expected—my ear is getting better at hearing different parts, and I’m being able to sing the tenor part better! I also have developed a new strumming technique that has given me something that I have wanted for some time as a complement to regular strumming and fingerpicking.

This past Sunday, for the first time ever, I accompanied all the congregational singing in church services for both morning and evening services. I also played a guitar offertory for the first time using a new style that I invented for filling out measures when I play two parts together from hymns.

Counting this past Sunday, I have now ministered 10 times this year with my guitar in church services! Praise God for His goodness in allowing me to make much improvement recently in using my guitar for His service!

In Music

Words That Weary God

June 25, 2011

The prophet Malachi indicted God’s people with some amazing words: “Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, ‘Wherein have we wearied Him?’ When ye say, ‘Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delighteth in them’; or, ‘Where is the God of judgment?'” (Mal. 2:17). Craig A. Blaising comments,

The Jews in Malachi’s day had failed to learn such hope [of God’s future punishment of evil people and rewarding of the righteous when He comes] from the Scriptures. They questioned God’s justice by saying that He delights in evil people and by asking, Where is the God of justice? Yet they were the guilty ones; they were the ones who were unfaithful to Him. Here too God responded by referring to His forthcoming judgment (Mal. 3:1-5). However, unlike the answers by the righteous biblical writers mentioned earlier [Job 24, 27; Ps. 73; Eccl. 8; Jer. 12; Hab. 2-3; mentioned in the previous paragraph in the commentary], the judgment which Malachi referred to was to be against the hypocritical questioners as well.

—BKC: OT, 1583; bold and italics in the quote are from the original
When we are tempted to question God’s justice, we would do well to allow this indictment (2:17) and God’s response to the people’s questioning His justice (3:1-5) to turn us away from yielding to the temptation to do so.

In Discipleship, Quotes

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