Dr Paul Allen

A decline in the spiritual life lies in disregarding the Word of God and a lack of attention to prayer. Christians who allow sin to linger “unlamented” are in great spiritual danger. I encourage Christians to develop a habit of dealing with sin promptly, faithfully, and biblically. It is a timely word for our day as it was during his own. I considered how the duty of prayer is attended to as one considerable reason for spiritual declension. In this, I propose considering another cause contributing to the same end: sin lying on the conscience unlamented.[1] When the apostle Paul wrote his First Epistle to the church at Corinth, they were sunk in a wretched condition. With admirable faithfulness, wisdom, patience, and tenderness, he wrote that Epistle to reclaim them. Many of them were reclaimed, but some, it seems, continued insensible, which induced him, when he wrote his Second Epistle to that church, to express himself thus: “I fear lest when I come again, my God will humble me among...

Your darkness can one day bring someone light. A person who’s been through a divorce has the compassion and words needed to help somebody going through a divorce. A person who’s been through abuse, rape, or an addiction can genuinely understand how to help someone else in a similar situation.  And because you made it, God will cause your wounds to glow in the dark of somebody else’s life. And when you begin to share your story with them, hope will get in their soul, and they will start to believe that they can make it.   Don’t waste what you’ve gone through or allow it to make you bitter. If God lets you walk through it, it’s because He’s still God and has a plan. On five different occasions, the Apostle Paul was beaten with 39 stripes. That’s 195 scars on his body. Paul said, “Three times I was beaten with rods.  One time, I was stoned and left for dead. Three times, I suffered shipwrecks. I knew what it was to be afloat in the ocean a full day and night. I thought ...

J. Gresham Machen, in his prescient and potent little book Christianity and Liberalism, argued that Christianity is “an event-centered religion.” Christianity is based on historical events. Something happened in history, and all that man is, believes, and does is based on these events—events that occurred in history.  Chief among these historical events is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As the Apostle Paul so aptly put it, if Jesus Christ was not raised from the dead, we are the world’s most pitiable fools, and rather than following Christ, we ought to “eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor. 15:32). But because Christ has been raised from the dead, Christians frame their entire lives in the light of the resurrection.  In short, we live resurrection lives that reflect our hope in the resurrected Christ. As central as the resurrection is to the Christian life, it is not the end of the work of Christ. After Christ was raised from the dead, He “ascended up into heaven,” as...

Over my years of pastoral ministry and teaching, I have begun to notice something about people who struggle with assurance of salvation: almost all of them grew up as covenant children.  They made a profession of faith at an early age. They had never gone the way of the Prodigal and come back through a “dramatic conversion.” Outwardly conscientious and faithful, they’d been regarded as the “good boys” and “good girls” in their families and friend circles. Inwardly, though, it seemed to their own eyes a different story—a story of a mind still mired in sin, shameful and unholy feelings, and a will that never seemed to close the gap between what they knew they should do and what they actually did. I enjoy these pastoral conversations because that is my story. A covenant child who made a profession of faith at age six, I never went the way of the Prodigal. But I did ask Jesus into my heart at least a hundred times because “What if . . . ?”  Each time I prayed the sinner’s prayer, ...

How would you answer if I were to ask, “Who are you?” No doubt you’d say things about where you’re from, what you enjoy, and what you do for a living. As we look to Romans 8, Paul states our identity: we’re “in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1–2). We’re justified and no longer condemned. Our assurance is a Christ-centered reality. In addition, Paul mentions the Holy Spirit nineteen times in verses 1–27. In other words, because we’re in Christ we’re also in the Spirit. Paul proclaims our assurance is a Spirit-produced reality. CONTRASTING IDENTITIES (ROM. 8:5–8) A Different Kind of People. The ESV refers to “those who live according to the flesh” and “those who live according to the Spirit.” The Greek word translated “live” (ontes), however, is better translated as “are”: He actually says “those who are according to the flesh” versus “those who are according to the Spirit.” To be “according to the flesh” is to be born dead in sin, condemned, and bonded to sin and death.  To be “according to ...

In the spring of 2023, J. T. Reeves was a senior at Wheaton College. He and his friends drove to Asbury University when they heard the reports of the spiritual awakening happening on that campus. Eight months later, TGC asked Reeves to reflect on the lasting effects of that experience in his life and the lives of his fellow students. Since last year, I’ve often been asked how all this changed my life. But God is a frustratingly elusive subject to pin down with words. So I won’t describe the Outpouring here. I only want you to imagine it with me. Secular Blitz Imagine that, like me, you grew up in a hurricane blitz of secularism that systematically dismantled your belief in the unseen. Even if a miracle should happen, you’d probably be too sensible (or cynical) to believe it. Before you hit puberty, rampant individualism forcefully placed you in a cage like a circus animal and handed you an iPhone so you could pretend you’re not lonely. You use the phone. And sometimes it works. When it...

Jonathon Cruse Talk of “inner power” sounds a bit New Agey. Google the term (or don’t, rather) and you’ll find tips on harnessing a hidden force that dwells in the recesses of your soul. Though co-opted by a humanistic religion, “inner power” is actually a biblical concept, though in the Scriptures it goes by the more vanilla name “self-control.” The word translated as self-control is egkrateia, from en for “inner” and kratos for “power” (we hear kratos in our English word democratic, which means power of the people). This inner power is something we’re called to manifest in the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23). What is it, exactly? Self-control is the power to manage our wants and desires. The self-controlled individual isn’t a glutton but can keep his appetite in check. The self-controlled individual doesn’t fly off the handle in a furious rage every time something doesn’t go her way—she has mastery over her emotions. Sometimes the things we must curb or control aren’t bad; it’s ju...

J. Cotrell Living in a physical world in material bodies, even Christians are constantly vulnerable to the error of materialism. Theoretically, we believe in spiritual realities—God, angels, demons, our souls. But on a practical level, we often live as if none of these spiritual realities are real. We limit our conscious lives to what can be perceived through our five senses—all of which are physical. Even in our relation to God, the physical often takes priority. In prayer, for example, we focus on physical blessings and needs. In group prayer sessions, when prayer requests are solicited, usually, the great majority of such requests are for some kind of physical healing of physical ailments. It is certainly not wrong to be fully aware of and thankful for this physical creation, and it is quite appropriate to petition and thank God for our physical well-being. However, we must always resist the temptation to limit our concerns to the material aspects of reality. I pray that those who h...

Holy Spirit Gifts and Power by Paul Walker Without a doubt, the Pentecostal revival of the early 1900s and the Charismatic renewal, which began in the late 1950s, constitute one of the most innovative and impactive spiritual renovations in history. But when we invest ligate this phenomenon, we must ask: 1) Why has this happened? 2) What is this doing? and 3) How can spiritual integrity be maintained?  Why Has This Happened? The first reason has been an evident need for renewal of mission and purpose throughout the church and among its individual members. Second, given this need for renewal, there has been a definite movement on the part of sincere believers to recover the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit, which transformed and empowered the early Christians. Emerging from this movement has been an inbreaking of the Holy Spirit, accompanied by speaking in tongues, among believers in every significant denomination, demonstrating that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is not a denominati...