A Meditation To Frame The Heart For Its Day

“In spiritual trials, one is to consider that they are brought about by God, that Christ our head underwent them as well, that many saints experienced them, and that impatience in such trials will not be held against those who under go them. They are to protect us against spiritual pride and help us to learn patience and hope. Bear sorrow until God takes it away. Do not listen to the judgment of the world and the Devil, but to God’s word. Think how God has helped the saints. If you suffer with Christ you will also share his glory.”

“Those who are undergoing trials should remember that these come from God, that the Devil has no power over us and that they lead not to corruption but to holiness. Such trials help to teach us to learn the power of sin, to value the redemption of Christ, to become like Christ, to learn, to taste the consolation of the divine Word, to learn to practice faith and patience, to be more strongly comforted, to be more joyous in heaven. Be satisfied that temptations are the will of God. They are the marks of the grace of God by which he makes us in body and soul like to his Son. Victory will certainly follow great struggles of soul. The evils that man must suffer against his will are not accounted to him by God. God has never left the soul alone in trial. Great trials are the special graces of God and those who undergo them are spiritual martyrs. Therefore be patient, for a light will shine fourth in the darkness.”

(John Arndt, True Christianity, Book Two)


“Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. Joshua 8. 26. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3. 8. A willing subjection to any one sin is not consistent with the grace of God, and true saving faith, Romans 6. 14; for though wicked inhabitants will abide in the heart, and sometimes prevail over the believer, they must not reign there, nor should be suffered to stir without resistance: since we may be utterly ruined by the dominion of a single sin, that is, by a single subjection to it, as by the dominion of a thousand, just as a bird is caught by a single snare; and though you are actually converted, and have gained the dominion over your sins, yet you must not draw back your hand, and lay the spear and sword of the Spirit aside. There is no truce in this war, nor any rest found, but in fighting; for if you beat not your enemies, they beat you. Therefore, the Christian soldier's watch word is, Fight on, looking to Jesus. Satan left Christ only for a time; much more will he renew his assaults upon us again and again; nay, if a man is not watchful, but presumptuous, "he takes to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself." But if the conflict lasteth long, remember that is also the case of others; and even the ancient fathers have gone under it till they were gray; at last the victory will be the more sweet and glorious. Only, above all things, take the shield of faith, for faith alone triumphs; by which we are in covenant with Christ, and he makes one cause with us.”

(Carl H. von Bogatzky, Golden Treasury, November 29)

Lord, I read such things as these to which my mind and heart without delay agree. I thank you that I am in a line of faith to receive such godly insight and counsel. I need these words, and your timing to give them to me is perfect. May I honor you this day by yielding my life to your Spirit and word, and may I move in the direction of godly faith that would manifest the type of commitment in life that looks to you and trusts you, and that looks not to the world or to flesh, thinking that they offer me life; for that they do not do, although it may look and feel like life: they yield death. You, O’Lord, give me true life and you nurture and guide it, at times through the voices of your saints, like these ones above, who I’ve read and I agree with their words. I long for the leading of faith by which I would know the reality of which they describe. Far be it from me, my Lord, that I would see myself exempt from such divine work to conform me to the image of your son, in whom alone truly I have life. I look to you and trust you my God, not only with the end of my salvation but the means. May that never diminish.

Reminders On Faith

“Against the weakness of faith, the following are useful: Faith is God’s work; Christ’s love for us is perfect even if our faith is imperfect; God looks graciously on weak faith; he is most concerned about those weak in faith; he who eagerly wishes to believe also believes; no desire will be lost; it is better to be weak in faith than to be proud of strong faith; even weak faith grasps Christ and his goodness; faith is not at all times strong; concern about weak faith is true faith; Christ is with us and in us when we think on him; Christ our high priest prays for us; God’s mercy is unspeakably great; God began his work and will bring it to fulfillment; God has given many means to strengthen faith; our faith is grounded in the eternal election of God.”

(John Arndt, True Christianity, Book Two)

Reflections from John Arndt on the Christian Life

“The following things should help us to be patient: In suffering God comes to us, we deserve far grater punishment, God does not mistreat us, God has great patience with us, Christ and all the saints were patient, God promises great goodness to us, His promises are given in truth, suffering gives honor to God and it helps us, Christ made suffering a sanctifying thing, and eternal glory follows upon suffering.”

“Where there is no love and faithfulness, corruption and death follow. For pious and troubled people, faith and hope look to God’s power and mercy and bring about patience. They know that God hears man’s prayer, that God consoles them in wrong, that God gives his light of grace in darkness, that the suffering of evil men is God’s wrath, that righteousness and truth finally come to light, that shame will come upon all those who mock God.”

“Hope is patient faith that preserves to the end. God himself is its foundation and rest. He who depends upon temporal things must always stand in dread. Hope is tested by trials; by trials, God breaks down false hope. Like faith and love, hope depends upon God alone. It is awakened by considering time and eternity. Souls that live in hope are the most beloved children of God. They learn to trust upon God alone.”

(John Arndt, True Christianity, Book Two)

An Early Morning Meditation That Helps Frame An Understanding For Making It Through The Day In Godly Fashion.

“If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.” (Heb 12:7-17)

My Lord, why have You included this text in Your holy word? Your servant, the one who originally penned it, and from whom I learn by the divinely kept record, he understood something about one’s relationship to You, and about Your relationship to those who are truly Yours. And, You, Lord, have permitted me to have this record, this revelation, this understanding regarding the quality and the character of what one particular part of our relationship is like. Your care, Lord, for me, and Your work in my life, is not defined by what seems best to You, or what another human seems is best for me, but it is defined by what You know is most profitable for me, and that, O Lord, is that I would be separated from what is unholy, so that I may become like You and participate in what is of You: holiness.

You let me know, Lord, that this likeness gives off something of a display that I did not have or give before Your corrective work upon my life. You recreate my life, such that my life presents something called “righteousness,” and this divinely crafted offering to the world (which it apparently won’t have or know apart from Your careful attention in human lives) is a manifestation of the reality of Your existence and Your involvement with humanity. Without You the world is subject to sin, lust, corruption, evil, and ungodly rule. Yet here, in this Hebrew’s passage, You tell me about Your work in my life, the end of that work, and the affect of that work. And while the writer knows Your craft will be discomforting, Your revealing to Your children the purpose and end of Your labor is itself the key which permits Your labor to be comfortable, even desired, by Your children. For You, O God, as God, do not simply show me the end and hold that out as some distant tangible reality to which I aim and hope to some day attain, but You show me Your means to that end, so that I know Your ways with me as I venture along my life path toward that end. Also, I know (informed and convinced) that You are intimately involved with me and close to me each moment of each day, so that we together travel along the way. I am never alone.

Father, You tell me to pursue peace with all people and holiness, without which no one in this fallen world will have a display of You, Your Son or Your Spirit. You have revealed to me by word and experience that I am Your child. Forgive me for my choices of selfish living where the world and its people who have traveled close to me did not see You but only a reflection of its own corruption as mirrored in my life! I am not of the world! I am from a different line, that of Christ, not Adam, and I have a different birth right, one that I dare not disregard, the loss of which I would sorrow over with tears; unless those tears be of a repentance, which can still occur because of Your love chastening me back to godliness before I fall over the cliff’s edge into the abyss of eternal doom and there realize that I have made that fatal error of choosing to be identified with the father of the sin corrupt world—the devil—over You Who are truly a loving Father over all creation.

You, Lord, in love gave Your Son to reclaim and recreate me into His image, which is a reflection and a revelation of Your interior goodness and Your displayed greatness! I must understand and see Your work in me during my days to the point of clarity whereby I grasp my weakness and at that very moment also see Your hand and I turn away from me toward You, thereby being healed. This experience of seeing what is of me and what is of You, then turning to go with You, is at times very painful—because I love myself—and this struggle can create bitterness leading to defilement, if I at that divine moment love myself so much that I prefer myself over You. Father, I pray and trust that over time, as I become more familiar and accustom to Your work and Your ways, I will await this spot where You open the eyes of my heart to what is of my flesh and what is of You—the way of holiness and godliness—and I will delight to make the turn toward You.

Gracious God, thank You for presenting to me this understanding of our relationship. Knowing that You have preserved this divine record of revelation for so many years up to this very day for my life helps me to live with You and for You as one of Your children journeying through the earth on my way to be with You forever. May I carry these thoughts into all that is my day today, and may I truly know that You are closely and carefully with me. May the world not know me as one who comes from its womb, but one with a heavenly birth. All this, my Father, is good and comforting. I am ready to venture into my day. Amen.