GREEN

GROWING DEEP IN A SHALLOW

WORLD

Archbishop Harry Goodhew

GreenTree Press
Fort Lauderdale, FL

Copyright 2011 by Archbishop Harry Goodhew.

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ISBN: 978-0-9828721-4-7
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FOUNDATIONS
The Foundations of our Life in God

o building is any better than the foundations on which it

is erected. In the same way, a fruitful and joyful life in
God requires good, solid foundations. The source of our life in
God is God Himself. Spiritual life begins with birth from God,
which is birth from above (John 1:13 and 3:1-15). That is bedrock. It is the recognition that the source of our life in God is
God Himself. That should provide us with the certainty and
confidence to move forward in all the other disciplines and responsibilities of living with God and for God.
The purpose of this chapter is to consider some of the
foundations upon which all Christian living is based. We will
look at seven considerations or themes over which you can
meditate and pray. Read them and take time to turn them over
in your mind. Read them aloud to yourself. Make them the focus of your prayers and praises. Commit some sections to
memory. They will strengthen your confidence and confirm
your faith in God as the One who has called you to Himself in
mercy and grace.

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CONSIDERATION 1.
Blessings of Life

Pauls Letter to the Ephesians - vs. 1:1-2:10

Students of the New Testament suggest that the Letter to the
Ephesians was a general letter written to a number of different
churches. Each individual church had its name written into the
Introduction or Salutation of the copy sent to it. So what we are
reading is probably the copy of Pauls letter that went to the
church at Ephesus. What is the significance of that? It would
imply that we are reading the basic teaching Paul gave to all
the churches for which he felt responsible as Gods Apostle to
the Gentiles. This makes it a good place to start with building
and strengthening our foundations.

The Salutation - vs. 1:1-2

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the
saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: 2Grace and
peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1

Paul addressed his readers as the saints and the faithful

in Christ Jesus. They are Gods peoplemen and women,
Jews and Gentileswho believed in and were faithful to Gods
Messiah, Jesus. As you read this letter, know that you too are
being addressed. We share with those believers in Ephesus a
similar commitment to Jesus as our Savior and Lord and therefore a similar legacy of grace.

FOUNDATIONS

Every Spiritual Blessing vs. 3-14

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
3

Paul begins with a magnificent statement praising God for

all the blessings that He has bestowed on His people in His
Messiah. God has blessed them with every spiritual blessing in
the heavenly places. To a people concerned about heavenly
powers, Paul emphasized that He who reigns over all worlds
had blessed them in Jesus with all His heavenly blessings. All
the good associated with the age to come, Gods new creation,
and all that was stored up by God in Himself for the good of
His people were theirs in the One in whose Name they had
been baptized. Here Paul included himself and those who were
with him as well as his Ephesian readers.
We belong to Jesus through faith in Him, and we are therefore the recipients of all that final good that God has purposed
for His creation before time began. Hold this in your heart and
be thankful and confident. Remind yourself regularly that you
are blessed with all Gods blessings.
Paul continues by enumerating some of those blessings that
rest upon the believers in Ephesus. Here they are:

a. The Past Blessing of Election vs. 4-6

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be
holy and blameless in his sight. 5In love he predestined us to
be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance
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with his pleasure and will6to the praise of his glorious
grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

Christ is the Elect or Chosen One (Luke 9:35; 23:35), and

God chose Pauls readers in Christ the Elect One before the
foundation of the world. The purpose or end of that choice was
and is that they should be holy and blameless before Him. The
picture is that set-out in Revelation 21:1-5 and 22:1-5. They
had been chosen to stand in that elect company. This is the
completion, the telos or end, which marks the new beginning
of Gods renewed creation. This is where God is taking us. He
has chosen us for that destiny.
There is a mystery here which we will need to leave in the
lap of God. There is a Divine providence which lies behind all
that transpires. In some cases, you can see it very plainly. God
picks somebody up out of disinterest and rebellion and draws
him or her to Himself. Paul himself is an outstanding example
of this. Some of us whose stories are a little less dramatic may
not be as immediately conscious of the Divine operation as say
a Paul. However, if we are building a spiritual foundation into
our lives, we need to realize that we are Gods children because
God purposed that we should be His children. He has called us
to Himself according to His great, sovereign will.
Yes, there are mysteries associated with that like why He
appears to call some and not others. But we are thinking here
about this matter as a part of the spiritual foundation of our
own lives. Here is an extract from one of many expressions of
Christian teaching that were produced around the time of the
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FOUNDATIONS
Reformation in Europe. This comes from The Book of Common
Prayer of the Anglican Church. Though the language is old,
the thoughts are still pertinent.
As the godly consideration of predestination, and our election in Christ, is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable
comfort to godly personsas well because it doth greatly
establish and confirm their faith of eternal salvation to be
enjoyed through Christ, as because it doth fervently kindle
their love towards God: so, for curious and carnal persons,
lacking the Spirit of Christ, to have continually before their
eyes the sentence of God's predestination, is a most dangerous down fallfurthermore, we must receive God's promises in such wise, as they be generally set forth to us in holy
Scripture: and, in our doings, that will of God is to be followed, which we have expressly declared unto us in the
Word of God. 10

Our election in Christ is for our encouragementnot for

our speculation. When anyone deals with God, it must be on
the basis of His promises to us in Scripture and not on the secret things which He reserves to Himself. So let us use it for
that good purpose. There will be days of the week you will not
necessarily feel that it is true. Things go wrong in your life;
there may be circumstances that develop that are an outstanding challenge to you; it may be one of those spiritually dark
periods through which we sometimes pass. Yet this Word that
is spoken to us never changes, and we can go back to it. So I
10 The Book of Common Prayer. The Church Hymnal Corporation and the Seabury Press,

1977. Articles of Religion, Article 17, 871.

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encourage you in difficult days to go back and look at that unchanging statement of Gods mind and seek Him in prayer on
the basis of it. From the beginning, He has called us to be
Histo be holy and blameless before Him so that ultimately
His Name might be glorified. Use it as a prayer for your
growth in Christian character. God promises that you will be
holy and blameless before Him. Ask Him to draw you towards
that end day by day.

b. The Present Blessing of Adoption vs. 5-8

In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through
Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will6to
the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us
in the One he loves. 7In him we have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches
of God's grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and
understanding.
5

It is not certain where the words in love properly belong,

whether to the words that precede them or to those that follow.
If we take them with the words of verse 5, they express Gods
motive for what follows. In love He predestined us, Paul says,
to be adopted as his sons in Jesus the Christ. Three things are
said about our adoption to sonship, that is, our inclusion both
as men and women into His family. First, it was according to
the good pleasure of His will. Second, it was to the praise of
His grace which He freely bestowed on us in Jesus the beloved
one. Third, it was that in Christ we would experience redemption through our Lords death, which is the forgiveness of sin
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according to the riches of His grace which He lavished upon
us. These three blessings, bestowed on us by Love and out of
love when He drew us into His family, ought never to be forgotten or overlooked. We ought to follow the path of the one
whom the Psalmist says is blessed, who meditates on the law
of the Lord day and night (Psalm 1), and regularly meditate on
these blessings of Gods works and mighty deeds on our behalf
(Psalm 77:11-12).

c. The Future Blessing of Unification vs. 9-10

And he made known to us the mystery of his will according
to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put
into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillmentto bring all things in heaven and on earth together
under one head, even Christ.
9

As you read these words, recall the scope of the Bibles

story. It is the story of a creation that was made purely out of
love. God, who is love, wished to create that which could experience His love and could respond to it. So creation came into
being and human beings appeared as Gods image bearers. The
story of the Garden of Eden is the story of humanity living in a
wonderful relationship with God. However, the human creatures fell away from God by rebellion and brought a curse on
all the created order. The story of the Old Testament is the
story of God starting the work of restoration. He calls Abraham
through whom He promises to bless all nations. Abrahams descendants go into Egypt from whence He rescues them and
leads them into the Promised Land. They are to be unlike other
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nations. As Gods people, they are to be there for the blessing
and salvation of others. But they are not. They fail miserably.
They are taken off into captivity nearly 600 years before the
birth of the Lord Jesus. Later in that sixth century BC, a number of them return from their captivity in Babylon, but their
situation back in the Promised Land is nothing like that which
had been promised by the prophets. First, they were dominated
by the Persians and then the Greeks; and then after a period of
tentative independence, they finally came to be under the rule
of the Romans. It was while they were subject to Roman rule
that Jesus began to proclaim, The Kingdom of God is at
hand.11 Many thought they should take up their swords and
fight while others retreated to wait, to prepare, and to pray. But
another purpose was at work. Jesus came to establish Gods
rule. He did it through His life, death, resurrection, and ascension to glory. The ultimate end of what He did when He died
on the cross and rose again is the picture at the end of Revelationthe picture of creation restored and transformed to a degree more wonderful than we can imagine. Gods purpose is to
restore creation and all that is in it to that condition where all
evil is banished and everything is in perfect harmony with its
Creator. That is the point to which God is taking His creation.
That is where the death of Christ is taking us. That is what Paul
is saying here.
God has a purpose to fulfill in the fullness of time. It is to
draw all things together in Christ. So you and I, filling at this
11 Mark 1:15 (King James).

FOUNDATIONS
moment a tiny slot in Gods time, are part of that whole
movement that goes from Genesis on to the very end. We will
die (presumably, if the Lord does not return before then) and
go to heaven. But that is not the final end. The ultimate end is
that we will be part of Gods new heaven and earth. This expectation is the Christians hope in which we are saved (Romans 8:18-25).
This purpose and plan of God in Christ is part of the foundation for a life with God. As we go out to share the Gospel,
we may meet opposition, difficulty, and persecution. Some
reading these words will know this all too well. But the truth is
that Gods planned end will cause all the present pains and sorrows to be forgotten just as Jesus spoke of a woman forgetting
her labor pains because of the joy experienced in the presence
of a newborn child.

d. The Scope of these Blessings vs. 11-14

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12in order that we, who
were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his
glory. 13And you also were included in Christ when you
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having
believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised
Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance
until the redemption of those who are God's possessionto
the praise of his glory.
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Paul declares that he and his fellow Jewish believersthose who were the first to hope in Christhave been
claimed by God as His portion (a reference to the Old Testament idea that the Lords people are His portion). This was according to Gods purpose, he says, as the One who accomplishes all things according to His will. They were to be for the
praise of His glory. Then addressing his readers, he reminds
them that they also, having believed the Gospel message, were
sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of
their full redemption as Gods possession.
We who believe in Christ today form part of the company
addressed by Paul in this letter. We are the inheritors of all the
blessings he set before them. We have been claimed by God as
His heritage, which He has possessed for himself. Cement
these truths into your mind and heart as the foundation of your
walk with Christ and your work for Him. Go back to these
words often. Memorize them. Make them the subject of your
prayer and praises and let them be the foundation of your hope
in Christ.

e. A Prayer for Knowledge vs. 15-23

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the
Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16I have not
stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my
prayers. 17I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18I
pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in
order that you may know the hope to which he has called
15

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you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and
his incomparably great power for us who believe. That
power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20which he
exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and
seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far
above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every
title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in
the one to come. 22And God placed all things under his feet
and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,
23
which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything
in every way.

Pauls enumeration of the heavenly blessings bestowed

upon those who are Christs is followed by an expression of his
prayers on behalf of the church. It is a prayer that expresses
what he considers they need for their growth and development
as followers of Christ. As such, it is a prayer to which we
should listen for guidance and use as a model for our own
prayers for ourselves and for those to whom we have a concern
or responsibility.
He prays for the Spirit or a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God. He asks that with the eyes of
their hearts enlightened they may be able to know three things:
1. The hope to which He has called them.
2. The glorious wealth of His inheritance in the saints.
3. The greatness of His power that operates for the sake of
His people.

That latter is the power that raised Jesus from the dead and
set Him as Lord over all things for the sake of the church
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which is His body. There is a breathtaking range of matters
here which Paul wants his readers to grasp the power and
meaning of with ever deeper understanding. Each facet is worthy of thoughtful and prayerful reflection with the prayer that
we too may appreciate to an ever greater degree the meaning
and power of each. They are an exhilarating and energizing
collection of truths. I encourage you that as you live and as you
are out in the field working for Christ to be constantly praying
Pauls prayer for yourself and others, that those heavenly realities will become so powerful in your and their minds that they
will be dominant in everything you do.

f. Raised with Christ - 2:1-10

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
in which you used to live when you followed the ways of
this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the
spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All
of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and
thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
4
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in
mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead
in transgressionsit is by grace you have been saved. 6And
God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the
heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming
ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace,
expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by
grace you have been saved, through faithand this not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God9not by works, so that no
one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in
1
2

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Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The movement described in these verses is breathtaking

and uplifting. The universal and cosmic sweep of what is outlined is matched by the personal transformation described in
these ten verses. This expression of the work of God is the
spiritual legacy of all who believe in the Lord Jesus.
The movement is from spiritual death (from being dead in
transgressions and sins and the objects of Gods wrath) to being truly alive, raised up with Christ, and seated in him in the
heavenly realms. This staggering transformation was accomplished by the grace of God and experienced as a personal reality through faith in (or the faithfulness of) the Lord Jesus
Christ. This has not come from the side of the human recipients
of Gods mercy and goodness; it is His gift alone. As a totally
divine operation, it leaves absolutely no room for boasting.
Those so transformed and prepared for Gods new creation are
His workmanship. He has prepared them for those good works
which He wills for those who have been raised to life in His
Son.
What is laid out in the material we have considered in
Chapter 1:1 to Chapter 2:10 is the foundation on which we
stand and consider our life in God. We live from this foundation. By prayer and reflection on these words, secure yourself
in the grace of God.
Depression, disappointment, and even despair are not experiences totally foreign to Christian workers. When Satan
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presses, the things we have just considered are the truths to
which we need to return. Remember it is not a matter of feeling that these things are true; it is a matter of standing on what
God has said, come what may.
There is an old English spiritual classic called Pilgrims
Progress written by John Bunyan. At one stage, it was the next
most popular Christian book to the Bible itself. Bunyan relates
the story of the Christian life as the tale of the journey of Christian from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. It is the
account of the trials, temptations, and supports that he experiences in his pilgrimage. At one point, Bunyan has Christian fall
into the clutches of Giant Despair, who imprisons him and
regularly beats him mercilesslyalmost to death. Christian
finally escapes when he discovers a key labeled Promise in
his clothing. Gods promises were and are the way out of that
sort of despair. Bunyan had, at one stage of his own life, believed he had sinned so much that God would never have anything to do with him. He came on a verse from John 6:37
where Jesus says (in the old King James version of the English
Bible), All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
Bunyan said, The devil and I fought with that promise
backwards and forwards. He said, Youre not worthy to
come.
However, Bunyan replied, It doesnt say he who is worthy, it says, him that cometh, any him, I will in no wise cast
out, and I am coming to him. That verse steadied him, gave
him hope, and released him from the grip of despair. Use this
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FOUNDATIONS
section of Ephesians not only to defeat despair, but also use it
to give wings to your spiritual pilgrimage.

CONSIDERATION 2.
Entering into Life
As we saw above in Ephesians 2, those who believe in Jesus
have been raised to life in Him. We now live, whereas once we
were dead in our transgressions and sins. The sentence of death
for disobedience pronounced in the Garden has been removed.
We have passed from death to life. We have entered into a living relationship with Life Himself. As John expresses it in his
first letter, And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal
life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he
who does not have the Son of God does not have life.12 God
has granted us eternal life; that is the life of the age to come,
the life of Gods new creation, and His new heaven and earth.
We are new creation people (2 Corinthians 5:17). We live now
in God, and we will be with Him in heaven when death takes
us. On the day when all things are made new, we will share in
that new creation. We are to rejoice that our names are written
in heaven and in the Lambs Book of Life (Luke 10:20 and
Revelation 21:27).

12 1 John 5:11-12.

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John 1:10-13
He was in the world, and though the world was made
through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to
that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
12
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his
name, he gave the right to become children of God 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a
husbands will, but born of God.
10

These words from the opening section of Johns Gospel

express both sides of the divine equation of supernatural birth
and life. In the reception of Jesus as our Savior and Lord there
is also the divine action of God bringing us to birth as His children.

John 3:1-17
The conversation recorded here between Jesus and Nicodemus
focused on the idea of new birth. Nicodemus was perplexed.
Jesus expressed the absolute necessity of new birth or birth
from above if someone was to see the Kingdom of God. It is a
conversation that concludes with the words:
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son
of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in
him may have eternal life.
16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only
Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have
eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to
condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
14

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God has given lifeeternal lifeto the one who believes
in Christ. This is the firm foundation upon which ones spiritual life is to be built.

CONSIDERATION 3.
Being and Making Disciples
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain
where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they
worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to
them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has
been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you
always, to the very end of the age. 13
16

Jesus command was that His disciples should go and make

disciples. Disciples are learners; they are students of their master or teacher. As His followers had been people who sat at his
feet learning from Him by word and example, so Jesus commanded them to go and do the same for others.
At the foundation of our life in God is the life-long commitment to being a learner in Jesus school. It is learning to
think like Him, to act like Him, and to hold the values and
commitments that were and are His. This is a life calling. It is
to be the focus of our reading, praying, and living throughout

13 Matthew 28:16-20.

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our lives. We are His disciples, and we are to lead others into
that same life of trusting and obeying Jesus.
28

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,

and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and
learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and
you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy
and my burden is light.14
The invitation Christ offers to the weary and burdened is
that they come to Him and experience true rest. It is the rest of
being yoked or united to Him. As the Prince of Life and God
the Son, union with Him is life-giving and restorative. He is
gentle and humble, and His yoke is easy and His requirements
light. It is an invitation to learn from Himto be a disciple.
Here is this fundamental element of our life in God: we are disciples of Christ, constantly learning from Him.

CONSIDERATION 4.
Developing Christian Character
Discipleship, following Jesus, and being a learner in His school
involves not only a surrender of our minds to Him but also a
change in the way we live. As members of His Body and as
heirs of the new creation that God will establish, we are called
to live that new life under the conditions of this present age. As
those born from above, we are to live the life of Gods Kingdom. The Spirit of God is at work in us to produce the fruit ap14 Matthew 11:28-30.

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propriate to a life in God, but we are called to pursue actively
that new way of living.
Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:
2
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3
His divine power has given us everything we need for life
and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us
by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given
us his very great and precious promises, so that through them
you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith
goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge,
self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness;
and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these
qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is
nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been
cleansed from his past sins. 10Therefore, my brothers, be all
the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if
you do these things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ.15
1

15 2 Peter 1:1-11.

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God has called us to be His children and promises us a glorious future sharing His life and delivering us from a world
corrupted by sin. For that reason we are to apply ourselves to
the task as living as His children now. Here are listed a number
of virtues that the readers are encouraged to cultivate. This is
the path that we too are to follow.
What sort of effort is needed to cultivate these and other
habits of the heart that are pleasing to God? The answer to
that question makes up the remainder of this book. However,
we can say now in a brief, partial answer that it is the Scriptures and our engagement with them; prayer for the Spirit of
God to work in us; the fellowship of other believers; the promises conveyed to us in the Gospel sacraments of Baptism and
the Lords Supper; and temptations and the lessons of experience that all play a part. The important thing here is the recognition that we are called to develop the character assigned to us
as Gods children.
Here are two further passages from the New Testament that
make the same point: to be born of Gods Spirit is to leave behind lives that do not honor God and to adopt ways of living
that reflect our new creation.

Romans 8:9-14
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by
the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone
does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to
Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of
sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11And if
the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in
9

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you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to
your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
12
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligationbut it is not to
the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit
you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live,
14
because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of
God.

Romans 13:8-14
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt
to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not covet, and
whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up
in this one rule: Love your neighbor as yourself. 10Love
does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
11
And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has
come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our
salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12The
night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put
aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
13
Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and
drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not
in dissension and jealousy. 14Rather, clothe yourselves with
the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify
the desires of the sinful nature.
8

In the New Testament, baptism is presented as a dramatic

expression of what has taken place in the lives of those who
have embraced Christ. It is the end of the old life associated
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with Adam and the beginning of the new life which is associated with the Lord Jesus. Romans 6:1-14 and Colossians
2:20-4:1 are passages that exhort us to live up to (and into) our
baptism.

CONSIDERATION 5.
Encouragement from the Past
During the 16th Century in Europe, Christian communities were
keen to set out clearly what they believed. There were a number of Confessions or Statements of Faith produced. One
of those was called The Heidelberg Confession. It was approved for use in 1563. Its form is that of questions and answers. Here is the first question and answer:
Question 1: What is thy only comfort in life and death?
Answer: That I with body and soul, both in life and death,
am not my own, but belong to my faithful Saviour Jesus
Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for
all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil;
and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly
Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things
must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his
Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me
sincerely willing and ready, henceforth to live unto him. 16

This is a wonderful expression of what it means to belong

to the Lord Jesus. It is something to be prayerfully and thoughtfully taken to heart. It is a gift from past believers that we
16 Schaff, Philip. The Creeds of Christendom. Vol. III. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House,

1969. 307.

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should not overlook in helping ourselves to mature as Christians. You could do yourself a lot of good by committing it to
memory.

CONSIDERATION 6.
Scriptural Encouragement
There are numerous encouragements in scripture that God
gives us as we seek to grow in grace and in the knowledge of
God. Here are four that you can make the subject of your
prayers and which can act as a foundation for your confidence
in seeking to develop spiritually:

Philippians 1:3-6
I thank my God every time I remember you. 4In all my
prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5because of
your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,
6
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in
you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
3

Philippians 2:12-13
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed
not only in my presence, but now much more in my absencecontinue to work out your salvation with fear and
trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act
according to his good purpose.
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Hebrews 13:20-21
May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that
great Shepherd of the sheep, 21equip you with everything
good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever
and ever. Amen.
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Jude 1:24-25
To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present
you before his glorious presence without fault and with great
joy 25to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power
and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages,
now and forevermore! Amen.
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Each of these selections contains an implicit encouragement to pray and look for the operation of God in our lives as
we set ourselves to live with Him. They feed faith, sustain us in
times of challenge and doubt, and draw us to our heavenly Father for His support and guidance.

CONSIDERATION 7.
Living with God When I Do Not Understand His Ways
This final section is to prepare you for those times when you
cannot understand what God is doing in the circumstances of
your life. Things happen that you never expected. Cherished
hopes do not materialize. You experience loss, grief, disappointment, and frustration. You encounter sickness, physical
frailty, or mental disorder. These things happen. It is important
to hold onto God in such times. In times of spiritual darkness,
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dryness, and lethargy, it is vital that you keep following after
God albeit wearily and with great effort.
In John 13:6, Peter could not understand why Jesus, his
Master, would want to play the role of a servant and wash his
feet. There was more involved in the Lords actions than Peter
could appreciate at the time. He would learn the lesson as time
passed; but at that point, he did not understand. The Lord may
do things in your life that you do not understand at the time
they happen. Wait and see what they might mean.
Isaiah 55:8-9 is a powerful reminder that Gods thoughts
and intentions run far ahead of ours. Our task is to trust Him in
the dark and difficult moments, to hold onto His Word, and to
not capitulate the tempters suggestions that would lead us to
doubt and despair.
The story of Job is an extended account of a man thoroughly confused by what had befallen him. Conscious of his
integrity before God, he could not understand why his prosperity had turned to ruin and loss. His so called comforters,
armed with sound theological explanations, first encouraged
and then defamed him. He did not know what the readers of the
book know about the conversation between God and Satan, but
he held on none the less. In the end, God addressed him and
restored him. He did not know the reason for his testing, but he
would not give up on God. God richly blessed him in the end.
Dark days sometimes come. Build into your foundations
the resolve to trust God in every situation. Live your life with a
heart open to God. Hide nothing from Him. Let Him know
your sins, your doubts, and your struggles. Throw yourself on
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His mercy and wait. He is the God of all grace, and salvation is
all of grace. Take time to think on these words of Dr. J. I.
Packer:
What is the purpose of grace? Primarily, to restore man's
relationship with God. When God lays the foundation of this
restored relationship, by forgiving our sins as we trust His
Son, He does so in order that henceforth we and He may live
in fellowship, and what He does in renewing our nature is
intended to make us capable of, and actually to lead us into,
the exercise of love, trust, delight, hope, and obedience
Godwardthose acts which, from our side, made up the reality of fellowship with God, who is constantly making Himself known to us. This is what all the work of grace aims
atan ever deeper knowledge of God, and an ever closer
fellowship with Him. Grace is God drawing us sinners closer
and closer to Himself.
How does God in grace prosecute this purpose? Not by
shielding us from assault by the world, the flesh, and the
devil, nor by protecting us from burdensome and frustrating
circumstances, nor yet by shielding us from troubles created
by our own temperament and psychology; but rather by exposing us to all these things, so as to overwhelm us with a
sense of our own inadequacy, and to drive us to cling to Him
more closely. This is the ultimate reason, from our standpoint, why God fills our lives with troubles and perplexities
of one sort and anotherit is to ensure that we shall learn to
hold Him fast. The reason why the Bible spends so much of
its time reiterating that God is a strong rock, a firm defence,
and a sure refuge and help for the weak, is that God spends
so much of His time bringing home to us that we are weak,
both mentally and morally, and dare not trust ourselves to
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find, or to follow, the right road. When we walk along a
clear road feeling fine, and someone takes our arm to help
us, as likely as not we shall impatiently shake him off; but
when we are caught in rough country in the dark, with a
storm getting up and our strength spent, and someone takes
our arm to help us, we shall thankfully lean on him. And God
wants us to feel that our way through life is rough and perplexing so that we may learn thankfully to lean on Him.
Therefore He takes steps to drive us out of self-confidence to
trust in Himselfin the classical scriptural phrase for the
secret of the godly man's life, to wait on the Lord.17

For all of us, there come dark days of the souldoubt and
fear and all those sort of things. What a great thing it is to go
back to that passage of Scripture that says we have been chosen
before the foundation of the world. I have returned to this truth
numerous times. God is faithful, come what may.

17 Packer, J. I. Knowing God. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1973. Chapter 21, Section 4,

226. Emphasis mine.

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