Ezra Stories Archives - Page 2 of 4

In His Time

By Andrew YoungDecember 31, 2016Miscellaneous

This past Thursday morning I woke with a single thought burning in my mind – “It is Thursday and you haven’t begun work for Sunday’s sermon yet!” It wasn’t that I had been lazy. Meetings on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights and engagements of one sort or another during the day had taken all my time. I just hadn’t found the quality time needed for the study, reflection, prayer and writing that sermon preparation demands. As I rose and met with the Lord that Thursday morning I told him of the burden I felt and asked for grace to get […]

A “Powerful Assist” of the Spirit

By Andrew YoungDecember 31, 2016Miscellaneous

It is not uncommon to hear people refer to the Holy Spirit assisting or “anointing” someone when they speak. It is much less common, however, to have that experience described. A month or two ago I came across a vivid account of such an event in the closing pages of Charles (Chuck) Colson’s book Life Sentence. It is such a striking illustration of what happens when a speaker or preacher is helped by the Spirit that I want to share it with you. Life Sentence is the story of the beginnings in 1976 and following years of the Christian ministry […]

Gripped by a Great Cause

By Andrew YoungDecember 31, 2016Miscellaneous

The beginning of a new year is typically a time of reflection and introspection – at least that’s true for me. I think on the year that has passed, ponder the present, and cast my mind forward to what might lie ahead. This year the process was enhanced by a telephone conversation I had with a colleague who was out of town on holiday. He had been reading a book that had inspired him and he couldn’t wait until his return to talk to me about it. It was the story of the “Clapham Sect”, an influential group of (largely) […]

Christ Dwelling in the Heart (3)

By Andrew YoungDecember 31, 2016Miscellaneous

Strengthened in the Inner Man The idea of a life of vivid companionship with the Lord Jesus through faith is profoundly appealing. Most of us, however, fall short of this in practice. We would like to say with the apostle Paul that we “live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20), but the truth is that other things possess our minds and hearts much more than Jesus. While he may in fact be close to us, we tend to be out of touch with him. It is this that makes […]

Christ Dwelling in the Heart (2)

By Andrew YoungDecember 31, 2016Miscellaneous

“Through Faith” In the previous Ezra Story I shared what I understood the apostle Paul to mean when he prayed that Christ might “dwell in our hearts” (Ephesians 3:17). I suggested that it was a matter of having the Lord Jesus in our thoughts and affections constantly; that just as we might carry a loved spouse or child “in our hearts” in the sense of always remembering and cherishing them, so it can be with Jesus. Pursuing that idea, the question arises, “But how can this be?” You might be able to grasp the idea of Christ as a constant […]

Christ Dwelling in the Heart (1)

By Andrew YoungDecember 31, 2016Miscellaneous

What it Means While teaching a class in Biblical Theology one Wednesday night this past month I was gripped once again by Paul’s prayer in the latter verses of Ephesians 3. In it he prays to the Father “from whom his whole family in heaven and earth derives its name”, asking that “he may strengthen you [his readers in Ephesus and elsewhere] with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.” He then goes on to explain the purpose and goal of that prayer – that being “rooted and established […]

An Uncanny Sense of God

By Andrew YoungDecember 31, 2016Miscellaneous

Three weeks ago I had an uncanny sense of meeting with God. Let me describe the experience for you. Late on a Tuesday morning I was sitting at my study desk grading Grace College student papers from a third term course in Biblical Theology. We had spent the term studying the place of Mark’s Gospel in the unfolding story of salvation – in effect we had been looking at Jesus’ place in redemptive history. We had noted that Mark, like the other Synoptic Gospels Matthew and Luke, presents Jesus as the fulfilment of the Old Testament expectation of a deliverer […]

Meeting God in the Ordinary

By Andrew YoungDecember 31, 2016Miscellaneous

Over the past week or two I have been trying to meet with God more consistently in the ordinary events of life. This experiment, if I might use the term, was sparked by correspondence with a young friend. This friend had shared with me his longing for a deeper appreciation of the glory of God. He also wanted to have a greater sense of the presence of God in his life. He was constantly frustrated with failure at these points and was eager for any help I might be able to give. In my correspondence with him I suggested that […]

Prayers Born in Heaven

By Andrew YoungDecember 31, 2016Miscellaneous

Recently I came across an intriguing description of prayer – or more accurately, a description of a certain kind of prayer. It was referred to as a “child of heaven.” I read this in Frederick Godet’s Commentary on John’s Gospel. Godet was reflecting on Jesus’ words to his disciples in John 15:7, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you.” In doing so he mentioned that prayers growing out of meditation on the words of Jesus are “the child of heaven.” What, exactly, did he mean? […]

Shopping in the Spirit

By Andrew YoungDecember 31, 2016Miscellaneous

Recently while preaching on the Christian’s new life in the Spirit the thought spontaneously came to mind that it is possible to do something as mundane as shopping “in the Spirit.” I voiced the idea at the time, and have continued to think about it since. I was speaking about life in the Spirit as a new way of existing when the thought originally came to mind. I was saying that being “in the Spirit” is part of the new order of things in Christ. If we belong to Christ, then we have his Spirit within us (Romans 8:9). He […]