What is Perseverance of the Saints? - John Piper

As I embark on this next chapter of my educational journey, I've been contemplating my ability to persevere. In years past, I would often start strong, but run out of gas somewhere in the middle and give up. What I've learned in these past few years is that I can't do some of these difficult things in my own strength. I have to rely on God. I've seen how I've failed in the past and I realize that if I keep doing the same things, I'll end up with the same result. In light of all that, I found this brief message encouraging. It makes me want to "hunker down" and persevere.

Praying Through Psalm 103

I'm working my way through If God Already Knows Why Pray?. This book teaches you about prayer by examining The Lord's Prayer. In the section about "Hallowed be your name", the reader is encouraged to pray through Psalm 103. The intent is that the reader will learn more about hallowing God's name in prayer. I've decided to pray through this psalm several times a day for a week as this is a part of prayer I struggle with. I'd challenge anybody reading this to pray through Psalm 103 for a week as well and see what God will reveal to you. I look forward to what He reveals to me.

Bless the Lord, O My Soul

103 Of David. ^y

¹ Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and all that is within me,

bless his holy name!

^{2 y} Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and ^zforget not all his benefits,

³ who ^aforgives all your iniquity,

who ^bheals all your diseases,

⁴ who ^credeems your life from the pit,

who ^dcrowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

⁵ who ^esatisfies you with good

so that your youth is renewed like ^fthe eagle’s.

⁶ The Lord works ^grighteousness

and justice for all who are oppressed.

⁷ He made known his ^hways to Moses,

his ^iacts to the people of Israel.

⁸ The Lord is ^jmerciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

^{9 k} He will not always chide,

nor will he ^lkeep his anger forever.

¹⁰ He does not deal with us ^maccording to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

¹¹ For ^nas high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his ^osteadfast love toward ^pthose who fear him;

¹² as far as the east is from the west,

so far does he ^qremove our transgressions from us.

¹³ As ^ra father shows compassion to his children,

so the Lord shows compassion ^pto those who fear him.

¹⁴ For he knows our frame;¹

he ^sremembers that we are dust.

¹⁵ As for man, his days are like ^tgrass;

he flourishes like ^ua flower of the field;

¹⁶ for ^vthe wind passes over it, and

^w it is gone,

and ^xits place knows it no more.

¹⁷ But ^ythe steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on ^pthose who fear him,

and his righteousness to ^zchildren’s children,

¹⁸ to those who ^akeep his covenant

and ^bremember to do his commandments.

¹⁹ The Lord has ^cestablished his throne in the heavens,

and his ^dkingdom rules over all.

²⁰ Bless the Lord, O you ^ehis angels,

you ^fmighty ones who ^gdo his word,

obeying the voice of his word!

²¹ Bless the Lord, all his ^hhosts,

his ^iministers, who do his will!

^{22 j} Bless the Lord, all his works,

in all places of his dominion.

^k Bless the Lord, O my soul!

^y ver. 22; Ps. 104:1

^y [See ver. 1 above]

^z Deut. 6:12; 8:11

^a Ex. 34:7; Isai. 33:24; Matt. 9:2; Mark 2:5; [Luke 7:47]

^b Ps. 107:20; 147:3; Ex. 15:26; [Matt. 8:17]

^c See Ps. 56:13

^d [Ps. 5:12]

^e Ps. 107:9

^f Isai. 40:31

^g Ps. 146:7

^h Ex. 33:13; [Ps. 25:4]

^i [Ps. 78:11; Ex. 34:10]

^j See Ps. 86:15

^k Isai. 57:16

^l Ps. 30:5; Jer. 3:5, 12; Mic. 7:18

^m Ezra 9:13

^n See Ps. 36:5

^o Ps. 117:2

^p ver. 13, 17; Luke 1:50

^q [Isai. 38:17; 43:25; Mic. 7:19]

^r Mal. 3:17

^p [See ver. 11 above]

¹ Or knows how we are formed

^s Ps. 78:39

^t Ps. 90:5

^u See Job 14:2

^v Isai. 40:7

^w Ps. 37:36

^x See Job 7:10

^y Ps. 25:6

^p [See ver. 11 above]

^z Ex. 20:5, 6

^a Deut. 7:9

^b Ps. 19:8

^c Ps. 11:4; 93:2

^d Ps. 47:2; Dan. 4:17

^e Ps. 148:2; [Luke 2:13]

^f Ps. 78:25

^g Matt. 6:10

^h Gen. 32:2; Josh. 5:14; 1 Kin. 22:19

^i Ps. 104:4; Dan. 7:10; Heb. 1:14

^j Ps. 145:10

^k ver. 1, 2

The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton : Standard Bible Society, 2001, S. Ps 103:1-22

Buying books for spring semester...

Just a Guy has a great post over on Going To Seminary titled 4 ways to save money while buying books for seminary. He mentions Westminster Bookstore, which looks like it will offer some great values. Even better, they have $5 flat rate UPS ground shipping. I'll be sure to check them out next semester. Here are a few tricks I've found for saving money on books over the years.

• Be sure to examine each syllabus closely, so you’re clear on which books are required and those that are optional.
• For those optional books or books where you’re only required to read a small section or chapter, you may want to try the library.
• If the library isn’t an option, you may want to check with other students who’ve already completed the class you’re starting. Just be sure to take good care of their books.
• If you’re going to be attending one of the annual Society of Biblical Literature or Evangelical Theological Society meetings, you may want to hold off on purchasing more expensive reference works until then. The majority of the publishers exhibiting at these events sell everything at half price. The only challenge is fitting all the books in your suitcase when you go back home.

Happy studying!

ST

BHS, NA27, LXX & Vulgate available online from the German Bible Society

A special thanks to Nick Norelli at Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth for pointing me to this resource. The German Bible Society has the following available online:







Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS)
Novum Testamentum Grace (NA27)
Septuaginta (LXX)
Biblia Sacra Vulgate

You can view the text without signing in. However, there are more advanced search features available for registered users. If you're a little rusty on your german, you may want to use Google Translate to translate the web page into english. Happy studying!