Dr Paul Allen

“ Heavenly Father , please let me know your will. I really need to know what you want me to do about . . .” This is my will for you : “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” ( 1 Thessalonians 5:18). “ Thank you, Lord , for this reminder. I really do need to be more thankful — but getting back to my request, I’m not sure what you want me to do about . . .” I want you to “give thanks in all circumstances.” “I know, Lord, I know. That’s important and I can see where I have neglected that. But thankfulness is sort of a constant need, isn’t it? I mean, everyone needs be more thankful, right? Seriously, this is urgent, and I don’t have clarity from you. I need your direction. What do you want me to do?” I am being serious and specific. I want you to “give thanks in all circumstances,” and right now, in this particular circumstance. [Speechless exasperation] Until you learn to “give thanks in all circumstances,” much of m...

Our Lord Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Being “about thirty years of age. . .”—the period of maturity. Who was it reached maturity? The Son of God as Man—the maturity of all physical powers, all soul powers, all spiritual powers, and not until that point was reached did God thrust Him out into the three years of service. “I do always those things that are pleasing to [My Father] ” (rv). Where did Jesus learn that power? In those thirty silent years. Can God say of us—“That soul is learning, ‘ precept upon precept; line upon line’; it is not nearly so petulant and stupid as it used to be, it no longer sulks in corners, it no longer murmurs against discipline, it is getting slowly to the place where I shall be able to do with it what I did with My own Son”? What was that? God took His hand off, as it were, and said to the world, the flesh and the devil, "Do your worst”— “. . . greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” God shielded His Son from no ...

“For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the people are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.” ( 1 Chronicles 16:25-26 ) This testimony is in the heart of a great hymn of thanksgiving ( 1 Chronicles 16:7-36 ) composed by David when the Ark of the Lord was brought back to Jerusalem . It is a testimony of the unique greatness of the God of Israel , with recurring expressions of gratitude for His deliverances and blessings. This God of Israel was no mere tribal-god or nature-god, such as Dagon , the fish-god of the Philistines from whose hands the Ark had been delivered. All such “gods” of the peoples of the earth—whether wooden images in a shrine, astrological emblems in the heavens, or mental constructs of evolutionary humanistic philosophers—are nothing but idols (that is, literally, “good for nothing,” “vanities”). It is Jehovah God who is not only in the heavens but who made the heavens! It is their Creator ...

The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” 1 John5:14 It’s tempting for some of us to view our Lord as a heavenly “Mr. Fix‐It” or a magician—a supernatural problem solver who can be manipulated according to our whims. We might make a little wager on our favorite football team and then pray for God to intervene so our team will win. Or on the day of the church picnic, we might pray for a rainstorm so we don’t have to fix that potato salad we promised to bring. Others see prayer as a negotiating tool . They want to make a deal with God: “Lord, if You give me this promotion at work… or allow me to get pregnant this month…or let that car at the dealership still be on sale… then I promise I’ll do [fill in the blank] for You.” Of course these are foolish bargains that reveal a misunderstanding of the majesty of God. He is Lord of lords, King of kings, and Creator of all heaven and earth. He is not a dea...

Giovanni Baglione - Heavenly Love and Earthly Love - WGA1158 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Daniel 12:1 “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people” (v. 1a). Central to the biblical description of God is the doctrine of divine providence. Scripture is clear that the Lord did not make the world and then leave it alone to run its course. Rather, He continues to uphold and sustain His creation (Heb. 1:1–4). God’s continuing involvement with creation is according to His design as He works out “all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11). What is often forgotten when considering divine providence is that the angels are some of the many secondary agents through which the primary agent — God Himself — works out His plan. Angels themselves are not divine; they are creatures who, along with everything else the Almighty has made (Rev. 4:11), have an origin in space and time. That the Lord uses angels to govern His c...

The Creation stained glass window at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church in Charleston, SC. Franz Mayer & Co. of Munich, Germany represented by the studios of George L. Payne of Patterson, New Jersey 1966. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.” ( Psalm 95:6 ) Psalms 95–100 seem to form a unit with several common themes running through them, all involving praise to the Lord . One of these major themes is the recognition of the Lord as Maker of heaven and Earth. For example, consider Psalm 95:5 : “The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.” Thus, God made the earth, including both land and sea. But He also made the heavens! “For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens” ( Psalm 96:5 ). Higher and far more complex than any planet of the solar system, or any star in the heavens, are the living organisms found only on planet Earth —especially human beings —and He...

The Creation (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) ". . .in him is no darkness at all." ( 1 John 1:5 ) Some have suggested that the gospel message is the most important truth in the Bible —and, perhaps, from a temporal human standpoint it may well be. However, there is another more frequent message throughout all of Scripture here summarized by John: "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" ( 1 John 1:5 ). In the Bible, God's "light" is clearly focused on intellectual and moral holiness. That unique holy nature both drives and limits the revelation of Himself to His creation . In the intellectual sense, God is the source of all truth ( Psalm 119:130 ; Psalm 36:9 ). The holiness of God requires truth and because of His holiness, God cannot lie ( Titus 1:2 ). Whenever God reveals anything, He must reveal the truth about Himself and His nature. The opposite of truth, even though it may contain some truth, is the active agent that opposes G...

English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) While John 17:5 and other verses point to Christ ’s deity , critics often highlight John 14 :28, which reads, “The Father is greater than I.” Was Jesus a lesser God ? Was he equal to the Father , or was he some sort of junior God, possessing the attributes of deity and yet somehow failing to match the total sketch of the divine that the Old Testament provides? John 17:5 is one of the many verses that clearly indicates that Jesus fully shared the divine attributes and as such is worthy of worship. As the Creator of the world, God was the First Cause of all creation. If the statement in this verse is true, how does John 14:28 affect its meaning? Reading the context of John 14 makes a big difference in determining the correct meaning of John 14:28. In this chapter, the disciples were distressed because Jesus told them he was going away. Jesus says, “If you loved me, you would be glad that I am g...

From a painting of Immanuel Kant (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) 1 Chronicles 29:11 “Yours, O Lord , is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty…. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all” (v. 11). Theological controversy did not end at the Council of Nicea , and in the following centuries the church had to deal with errors regarding the humanity of Christ , the authority of Scripture, justification, and others. Despite the various positions taken on these issues, however, most theologians still insisted on the transcendence of God . That all changed in the nineteenth century. Our Creator ’s transcendence is affirmed throughout Scripture and is reflected in the passage of 1 Chronicles 29:11. When we say God is transcendent, we mean that He is separate from His creation and not dependent on the created order in any way.  The Almighty made the universe and He is therefore its sovereign ruler (Gen...

Rev. Jonathan Edwards, a leader of the Great Awakening, is still remembered for his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) We get a job so we can buy our kids shoes, so they can go to school, so they can get a job someday, so that they can buy their kids shoes, so that they . . . " In other words, work is meaningless.  In fact, from this perspective life itself becomes rather meaningless—simply an endless cycle. Or we work so that we can support ministries that do the real work—kingdom work. Now, I'm not opposed to giving to ministries. In fact, I think you can make a strong biblical case that we are obligated to do so. But I wonder if this fully captures the meaning of work. So again, why do you work? I find the start of the answer in Psalm 104. Psalm 104 is a reflection on creation and maybe even a further reflection on the flood of Genesis 6–8. We see the psalmist poetically describing not just God 's creation of th...