Faith 'Tis So Sweet

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take him at His word;
Just to rest upon His promise;
Just to know, thus saith the Lord.

... Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more.

After looking at my life so far, it's pretty evident that I haven't done many things out of faith. The unknown is scary, maybe that's why. I think it's about time to do so. To profess a Sovereign God is one thing, to live out that belief in your life is another. May I be granted the grace to not "take" chances, as some would say, but to trust in my Savior for all things.

Yes, that includes you too, unknown future.

I'm not strong enough, Lord. But You are.

I Remember This!

Remember when I blogged? Yes, it was a much simpler time... jk.

Man, how long has it been? Well, here is an update on life so far. Seminary has really picked up the pace, and I have much to do between now and the end of the semester. I actually took a break from my hermeneutics paper to write this blog so I hope this isn't considered being sidetracked (Yes, it is). Anyway, there is much to do, but the Lord is carrying me through by His strength. Through the overwhelming moments of my life, I can only look back and say, "My accomplishments are definitely not my own."

I think it's good to stretch yourself, especially as believers. You see Paul use athlete analogies, and you can learn so much from them. Athletes don't excel if they don't push themselves and train hard. The same is true for the Christian life. If life isn't pushing you to your limits, then you won't be able to mature spiritually. Yes, Kobe didn't become Kobe simply by watching TV. He had to be pressed.

Complacency brings death to your growth. Don't let your theological astuteness make you think you've arrived (As if you were perfect). Beloved, we will not "arrive" until Christ has purged us of all sin and perfected us in glory.

I need to remind myself of this because I'll be taking a heavier load next semester. I've been encouraged by everyone around me, and I know that only Yahweh will see me through. I'm helpless on my own.

I'll be busy, so make sure I don't neglect the ministry, okay? I hope that when the Lord stretches you, you will not sacrifice serving and loving His people for the sake of your own "convenience." May we be peopled "inconvenienced" for the Lord and for His people, so that we would put their needs above our own selfish wants.

Press on, beloved. Trust me. We can rest when we're dead. And in death we are comforted knowing that absence with the body is presence with our Lord forever. So keep running hard and giving it your all, and cease from coasting to the finish line. Stop living a mediocre Christian life. It will be so much sweeter in the end when you know that you gave it your all.

And the Lord will honor that.

Much love, homies.

-Micah

Sem Life

I guess it's about time that I posted about seminary life, huh?

Where do I begin? Seminary life is living up to the expectation. I am just overwhelmed by the vast wave of bible knowledge that is thrown at me every week. My professors are so smart and so well-equipped that it makes my puny brain look even smaller. Regardless of the level of their theological competency, they are humble men who are such an encouragement to me. I want to write down everything that they say, but my little pen can only go so fast. I'm just afraid of my retention. I've always struggled with comprehension and long term memory, so I'm praying that the Lord works a miracle in my mind so that this life changing information will manifest itself in how I conduct ministry.

The content of what is being taught spurs me to a special work ethic. For some strange reason, I look forward to doing homework. I definitely have a heavier load than undergrad, but I really don't mind sitting down and hammering out hours of reading and hours of assignments. Why? Well, I think it's the drive. Not the car drive, but the inward drive. LOL. It's obvious that motivation is needed in order to accomplish your homework. But the motivation I have is an understanding that my work is not VAIN work. My assignments are just gushing with so much life application that I can't even keep up. It makes me want to do well. It encourages me to keep going. But it also scares me. It scares me because I know that more knowledge equals more responsibility, and I will be held to everything that I learn here. May the Lord be gracious with me as I travel this journey through seminary.

I wake up at 5 AM every school day (earlier if I carpool with Mark). It seems as though I'm becoming more of a morning person. Maybe it is because I'm actually sleeping earlier. Well, regardless of the reason, I am enjoying the early mornings and even the early morning drive. I am much more efficient because of it.

We have an incoming class of about 90 students (roughly). It has been a joy and privilege to meet new people almost every single class day. I am having a blast cultivating relationships with people who have wonderful testimonies about what the Lord has done in their life. We all come from different places, cultures, and upbringings; but our goal is the same. It's difficult to stay on task and NOT talk to them about life and ministry. A good problem I suppose.

Humility is something that I understood would come with attending TMS. Yet, I did not know how the Lord would place that upon me. So far, humility has manifested itself through the surfacing of my faults and shortcomings. It's easy to think you're the stuff when nothing seemingly "bad" happens to you, but when the Lord brings the hammer, He really brings the hammer. I've been humbled (even academically) in more ways than once, and it really keeps me grounded. It's funny how you pray for the Lord to keep you humble, but sometimes you really don't like how He brings that about. Lord, just keep me low.

I think about Loris everyday, even when I'm at school. Today marks five months of us being together. I sent her a text that said, "Ebenezer, darlin. Happy five." Ebenezer means, "the Lord has taken us this far." And that just really sums it up for us. God has taken us this far, and we hope and pray that He takes us even further.

Excuse any grammatical errors. I didn't proof read. Hopefully this was an encouragement for you. Thanks for the prayers.

-Micah

Compromising for Cuteness

To my brothers,

A girl's attractiveness is not a sign of Godliness.

I beg you, please, look at her character and have sober-discernment. If she isn't ready, then wait for her to grow. If she isn't mature, then please wait for someone else. I'm not talking about perfection, by no means; but I'm encouraging you to avoid both extremes (Looking for a perfect girl or being blinded by outward beauty). So I ask you, judge rightly and biblically. But please don't compromise your biblical values for a pretty face.

Please wait. I'm praying for you.

With love,

-Micah

What Do People Think about Me??

1 Samuel 15:24 "Then Saul said to Samuel, 'I have sinned; I have indeed transgressed the command of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and listened to their voice."

Context: Saul had disobeyed the LORD by not completely destroying the Amalekites. Instead, he decided to take animals from the Amalekites even though the LORD instructed him not to do that.

How do I know if I am fearing men more than God?

Here are 2 ways to test yourself:

1) If the words of men affect you more than the words of God, then you are fearing men.

2) If the words of the men cause you to sin against God, then you are fearing men.

Fearing men may just lead you into sinning against God. God cares more about your obedience than your rep amongst people. So if you're faced with a choice, always choose the approval of the Lord and rather than the approval of man. In the end, that's all that matters.

The Fad-Driven Christian

"We must always remember that popular acclaim is not necessarily the same as spiritual effectiveness." (Chapell).

Be mindful of the popular things, loved ones! Popularity does not equal spiritually "good for you." Popular pragmatism is the highway to spiritual downfall.

Starting a Fire

An excerpt from a sermon series that has pierced my soul:

Now I want to talk about this for just a moment so you understand clearly some theological distinctions. True believers...mark this, here's the word...true believers will have a sanctified tongue. Did you get that? True believers, true Christians, totally transformed people, those who have been made new in Christ, will have a sanctified tongue. Let me add something to it. True believers must have a sanctified tongue. Did you get that? True believers will have a sanctified tongue. True believers must have a sanctified tongue.

You say, "Well, wait a minute. If we will have, then why do you tell us we must have?" Because one is a sovereign reality in the new birth and the other is a human responsibility that's really ours to fulfill. And that's the amazing tension and paradox of our Christian experience. If we're truly new in Christ, we will have a pure speech. And if we're truly new in Christ, we will take the responsibility to be sure we have a pure speech. That is a constant biblical paradox. If you understand that, and we hit that a lot of times in our Bible study, but if you understand that, you really are on the way to understanding a mystery.

You can't fully understand it but let me give it to you this way. We are saved by sovereign grace, right? Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, yet we must believe. We are kept by the security of God in His sovereign decree, yet we must persevere. We live by sovereign power, not I but Christ living in me, yet we must obey. And as James would put it, because we are new creatures, we will endure trials and we must endure them. We will receive the Word and obey it and we must receive the Word and obey it. We will be gracious to the needy without partiality, and we must be gracious to the needy without partiality. We will produce good works and we must produce good works.

In other words, you'll never really be able to resolve the fact that what God says will be true of you, must be true of you. Just because God said it doesn't mean we can lie down flat on our back and hope it happens. And that's really the mystery of the apparent paradoxes of the Christian experience. Where there is genuine living faith and true regeneration and transformation, these things will be the result and they must be the result. God will produce them in us but He produces them in us through our commitment to them. You understand that? That's the best we can get at it.

-Macarthur

Lord, help me to bridle my tongue.