Romans 8:28-32 says

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
What then shall we say to these thing? What can be said? Paul is asking what the implications of calling, foreknowledge, predestination, justification, and glorification are. What do all these things mean. Paul tells us that God is for us. He ends his argument with God being for us and NO ONE being against us. If God was for Paul, it was other Christians too. It is a promise that holds for all opposed Paul. It held for the Jewish leaders of the day. It held for the Romans that opposed Paul. It applies to me. It applies to you. It applies to everyone who loves God.
So often this is the reminder that I need. So often I forget who is in charge. I forget that all things must work for my good. All things is not some things. It is ALL things. It is those things that seem great and good, it is also those trials and struggles that come into my life. God did not spare his own Son, God gave Christ over to suffer and die. If God allowed Christ to suffer I can expect all things to work for my good. Knowing this allows one to face life and the trials it brings with confidence. It allows you to approach the hardships and problems with joy knowing that it is for good.
We see Paul draw out the logic between the death of Christ and all things being given us. Paul starts with telling us that God did not even spare his own Son. God allowed his Son to die. God sacrifice Christ for the sins of the world. God did what we cannot. God offered up his own Son. This was not an easy act. While we sometimes hear of a father killing a son, it is not something that takes place often. Fathers don’t kill sons. They care for sons. They raise and love sons. Yet God sacrificed his own Son. If God can offer up his own Son, giving us all things is not a hard task. Nor is it a task that he will take lightly. He offered up Christ so that we might have all things. This is also the reason that no one can oppose us. How can they? What can they do to us? How can they stand in the way of God’s plans. Only fools oppose the almighty.
But one might ask, “What does Paul mean by ‘All Things?’” What is Paul talking about? We get clues to the all things in verses 28-30. Some of the things that we have been given are our calling and election. God has freely called us into his purpose. He has called us into his kingdom. He has predestined to be made like Christ. We are going to be made into people who act, and love, and care like Christ does. We shall be firstborn sons of God with all the rights of inheritance that comes with being a firstborn son. We have been declared right before God. He has granted us more than pardon. He has taken away the very sin that has required a pardon. He has taken away the crimes that have put us in prison. He has placed those crimes on another. We have been graciously called to be glorified. We shall be made perfect. We shall be given new bodies. We shall reign with Christ.
Yet there are other things that the “All Things” include. We have been given suffering. We suffer so that we might be molded and made into the image of Christ. We have been given sorrow. We have been given sorrow so that we might understand and know what Christ has gone through. W have been given trials so that we might know the trials of Christ. But make no mistake. This is not a case of taking the good with the bad. It is all good. All of it is grace. The guilt and the glory. The suffering and the saving. The calling and the crimes. All is good. All of it. It all works for our good. It is all grace.
Yet again we get another amazing look into the greatness and goodness of God. In his wisdom he has allowed all to work for our good. There is a great hymn called “How Firm a Foundation.” The first stanza reads
“How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?”
What more? What else can be said? Jesus. Jesus has allowed all things to work for our good. This is the solid logic of Paul that places all trials and tears into a proper frame of reference.
That is what has led Piper to to call Romans 8:32 “ the most precious verse in the most precious chapter in the Bible.” Christ is precious. Christ is to be treasured. He has secured our lives and ordered our lives so that we will given all things. Christ death is linked to everything we have, His death has given us all we need. There has never been and there will never be a time in my life when this verse does not apply.
This passage in Romans also demonstrates how Paul often orders his arguments. He starts with the hard and heads to the easy. He starts with the greats and hardest things to do. He starts with a Father killing his Son. He then moves onto the easy. Giving us all things. Keep your eyes pealed as you read the scripture. You will start to notice this type of logic is everywhere in the scripture.
While this passage offers hope and a solid promise of God the application to our, and my, hardened hearts is a much different matter. As I look back on the past few weeks and months of my life I stand with my head low as I recall how often I have doubted that God has given me all things. I think of the fights and arguments I have had with those around me. I see how I got upset because I did not get my way. I see how doubts and fears have crept in when trials have come. I think of all the temptations in my life and see just how little I actually believe that God is for me, gives me all things, and allows no one to oppose me. I see how often I fail in spite of the great and wonderful victory that Christ has obtained. I see that I stand before a holy God damned for my failure. And that leaves me in the greatest of conditions.
All things work for my good. My utter inability to perfectly obey God leaves me before him asking for mercy. It drives me back to the foot of the cross. It takes my eyes off my failure and puts them on Christ. My failing are the saviors victory. My depravity is God’s glory. Crowder puts it this way “It is the divine and the depraved interacting and it seems our feet lift from the ground for a second. We rise from our condition. When our depravity meets his divinity it is a beautiful collision.” That is “All Things” working for our good.

Future Grace by John Piper is an amazing book. Actually…anything by Piper is usually pretty amazing but Future Grace is book that give you an entirely new perspective on grace and how to kill sin in your life. I’ve been blogging my way through this great book and now find myself at Chapter 7. It’s called “Looking back for the Sake of the Future.”

In 2 Corinthians 1:16-20 Paul says he planned to pass through Corinth twice, once on his way north to Macedonia and then again upon his return south. His plans changed – and his opponents in Corinth are arguing that Paul is vacillating, changing his mind and breaking promises whenever he thinks that to do so will be to his personal advantage. At least some of the Corinthians, therefore, think that Paul does not have their good at heart.

In verse 18 we see how Paul answers this criticism. He says that as sure as God is faithful that his word to them has no been “yes and no.” He links his decision right back to God being faithful. He tells them that he is not divided. He says that he does want to see them. As sure as God is faithful he wants to see them. He then goes on to tell and remind them that all of God’s promises are Yes in Christ. But what’s the connection? Why is Paul linking the faithfulness of God to his desire to visit those in Corinth?

We see the connection between God’s faithful and Pauls desire made clear in verses 19 and 20. Paul says that he desire to see them is Yes because God has spoken a Yes for them in Christ. God’s heart towards them in not divided and Pauls heart is not divided either. That’s why he finished with “All of God’s promises being Yes in Christ Jesus.”

As I start to think on God’s promises, the one that comes to mind and I find the most hope in is Philippians 1:6 – He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ. This is one of the most wonderful promises. I so often deal with my own failures and short comings. So often I try and take the workload for living a Godly life on my shoulders. So many times I carry around the weight of trying to do what God has said to do. I start to see the failures and drift into despair. It’s in those moments of feeling lost and helpless that grace comes to me and reminds me that the battle for my soul and growth dose not rest with me and my ability. It rest in God and the work that he is doing.

Yet there is that phrase that Paul uses about the promises of God finding their yes in Christ. So how does knowing that God will be faithful to complete what he began find it’s yes in Christ? This promise finds it’s yes because God has promised to Christ a bride. God has given to Christ a people. Christ has come to redeem those that are given to him by the Father. So knowing that we see that my growth has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with Christ having saved his people. This shift the entire focus off of me and my plans and puts the focus where it belongs. It takes my struggles and roots them firmly in the plans of God and the Yes that he has said to Christ. The yes in the promises of God do not rest in me or who I am. The promises are you because of who Christ is. God has said yes to Christ and because I am in Him those promises and yes’s flow to me.

For you in might be some other promise of God. It might be that he will never leave you or forsake you. It might be that he will comfort you. It could be that he will take the shame of your sin away. The promises of God are as vast as the stars in the heavens and the all find their yes in the Savior. When we see this….When we come to know not only with our heads but with our hearts there is only one response that comes forth from us. It’s the same response that Paul gave. When we see and savior the wonders of God and the love he has for the Son and the blessing that flow from His promises to Christ we “utter our Amen to God for his glory.”

The truth of these verse should have a profound impact on the way we live. We can look back to the finished work of Christ and ground our hope in what Christ has done. This also draws the connection to future grace. Everything that Christ has done allows for all future grace. It is because God has said Yes to Christ that we can look towards the future with confidence. That means that the way to fight unbelief is to grab hold of what Christ did and look forward to God’s promises being fulfilled.

To help us understand this Piper uses the example of hiring an employee. One of the ways to try and figure out how he will behave in the future is to look at his past. We look at how this person seeking employment has worked in the past. We look at the success they have had and look at the failures they have had. While past performance is no indicator of future performance it is often a good indicator. If this new hire has been faithful in past matters, there is not much reason to doubt how they will behave in the future.

The same reasoning applies to our relationship with God. When we are struggling with some issue or overwhelming sin in our life we look to the past to recall God being faithful. We look to the past to for seeing the future. It is because God has been faithful in the past that we can trust him to be faithful in the future. If you take a look at Israel we see what happens when you fail to look back. When Israel turned to false gods after the death of Gideon the book of Judges tells us why they did this. It says they “did not remember the Lord their God who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.” It was because of a failure to look back that Israel did not grab hold of future grace.

Amen is another place that we find future grace showing up. Amen is nothing more than saying “I agree.” When we end our prayers with amen we are agreeing that all of God’s promises are rooted in Christ. Our prayer go thought Christ and God’s yes comes back to us by Christ. That’s why we pray in the name of Jesus. With Jesus in our prayer we would never hear a yes to anything we asked for. It is only because of the promises of God finding their yes in Christ that we hear yes from God. When we say amen we are agreeing that God has made all the promises to Christ. Amen is acknowledging that God’s promises find their answer in Christ. When we end our prayers with amen we say “Yes God. I will live by future grace.”

As I take time to ponder this lesson and look into my past for examples of God being faithful I start to see just how faithful he is. What a kind and loving God I serve. He has shown me grace upon grace. All my past trials were used to shape me and mold me. The were used by him to refine me. Yet when current struggles come I am like the children of Israel. I am quick to forget what God has done. I fail to look back. It’s my failure to look to the past that keeps me from steeping out in faith in current trials. The lesson that I have learned from 2 Corinthians 1:16-20 is that I need to look to my past to move forward. When I am failing and slipping in my life I need to go back and place my feet firmly on the cross and on Christ. When I can’t look forward I need to look back and see all of God’s promises find a yes in Christ. Sometimes the way forward is to look back.

As many of you know I’ve been working my way through Future Grace by John Piper. It has 31 chapters and is written as a devotional book. However I’ve decided to take a little more time with this book and work through it and try and absorb the wisdom that is in this book. The more I get into this book the more I see what Pipers focus is. Piper keeps drawing me back to trusting in God. He calls for me to trust not only what God has done, but to trust what God will do. He applies this principle as a way to fight and battle sin.

In Chapter 5 Piper starts to applies faith in future grace against pride. In Jeremiah 9:23-24 we see an interesting link between boasting and pride. In Jeremiah 9:23-24 we read.
“23 Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”
Here we see several things that pull our eyes away from God and onto ourselves. When we boast in wisdom, might, or riches our gaze is taken off of the savior and put onto ourselves. These things lure our eyes off of God and cause us to take pride in things that we thing we have achieved. Yet boasting is not always wrong. We are told to boast that we know and understand God.
In boasting about wisdom, might, and riches we are really boasting in our self-sufficiency. We are opposing ourselves to God and in essence telling him that he is not needed. We are telling God that we have all we have. If we have wisdom, might, and riches do we not have all that is needed? What need do we have for God is we are self-sufficient?
Luke 12:15-20 offers another view on this. Here we read
“15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
This passage clearly tells us that our life is more than the things we have. Our life is mush more than our wisdom, might, and riches. What good does it do then to boast in things that have nothing to do with us? What good does it do for us to boast in things that we have received as gifts from God? I think that is why 1 Corinthians 4:7 says:
“7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”
Perhaps we possess wisdom, might, and riches. What grounds do we have for boasting in these things? None. They are gifts. They are gifts of grace given to us. That is why we are to boast in the way that is not wrong. That is why we are told to “boast in the Lord.”
Yet we can fall into a trap of boasting in the knowledge of God is sinful. We can boast that we know more than others. We can boast in our theology and wisdom. This is wrong. Knowledge can become a source of pride when we think that we have gained this knowledge on our own. Proper boasting in God will kill pride. It will kill pride because we will boast in the riches of what God has given us. We will boast that it is God that has given in abundance. We will boast that it is God that has given all things.
But what is the connection with future grace? Why do we need to look toward what God will do for us to be able to fight pride? We need to look forward to all that God will keep giving. We need to know that the Lord delights in those that rely on him.
Faith and pride are opposed to each other. They cannot and do not get along. When pride is present there is no need to trust in God. When we are living by faith there is no room for pride. When we turn from God to things of this world we are proud people who turn to things of this world to satisfy our needs. This is simply unbelief in the promises of God. If we really believed God we would turn to him and not other things to have our needs met.
Pride is the root cause for our unbelief. Pride is turning from God to find satisfaction in ourselves. Every time I turn from God I am assuming that I don’t need him. When I turn from God to sin I am leaving God behind and telling him that I don’t need him to meet my needs. I am telling God that I can meet them better than he can. This is unbelief in one of its purest forms.
Self-pity is another area that has pride at its root. Self-pity is nothing more than a proud person that suffers. Self-pity comes from a wounded ego. It seems from proud person that feels they have not gotten the attention they deserve. Anxiety is the future version of pride. While self-pity looks backwards, anxiety looks forward. Anxiety is nothing more than not trusting God to provide.
In true Piper fashion we are brought to the solution of our problem of pride. We are called to find joy in God. We are called to humble ourselves before God BY casting our cares on him. We are to trust God to provide. We are to look to the future grace that God will bring to us. We are to be satisfied that we know God and then he knows us. It is only when we are satisfied in God that pride will go away. It is only when we see God as better and more fulfilling than sin will we ever make progress. The fight is once again a fight to see. It is a fight to have our eyes opened. It is fight to know and understand the greatness of God.
This is a battle that is much larger than most. This is a battle that goes to the very core of who we are. What is it that we delight in? What do we find pleasure in? What do we spend our time and talent on? Oh how humbling it is to peak into my heart and see how little I am actually satisfied with God. I see how little I actually delight in him. I see how little I treasure and cherish the God of all creation.
This is a problem that can only be fixed by grace. It can only be fixed by trusting in future grace. My heart can only be melted with the warmth of the sun that will rise in the morning. It is God and God alone that can change me. And when I am changed, there is no grounds for boasting. The only thing to boast of is grace.

Week 5: The Freest of All God’s Acts
Read Exodus 33:12-14. Given Moses’ statements and God’s response, what two requests is Moses asking from God? How are the two requests related?

Exodus 33:12-14 (English Standard Version)
12 Moses said to the LORD, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” 14 And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

In this verse we see Moses asking tow things of the Lord. He ask to know who will go with him. He wants to know who will be sent with him. He also wants to know God’s ways. He wants to know how to find favor in God’s sight.

These are questions I also face. So often I want to know how God will help me. I want to know God how I ought too. So often I feel as if I do not know God as I should. So often I feel that I do not have favor in his sight. It seems like the only thing that I do well is sin. The only thing that I find is my hard heart.
God grants one request in v14 and v17, and then Moses restates the second request in v18. Given this restatement, elaborate on what Moses asks of God in this second request.
In verse 14 God himself tells Moses that he will go with him. In v17 God tells Moses that he has found favor in his sight. Yet Moses still wants to see God’s glory. By seeing God’s glory Moses is really asking to know God. Is this not how we know God, by seeing his glory?
We get to know God by looking into scripture and seeing his greatness and his glory.
In v19, God answers Moses’ second request by a verbal proclamation of His Name. Look back at Exodus 3:13-14 for God’s first revelation of this Name to Moses. Recall that anytime in an English translation that you see the word LORD in all caps, the Hebrew word is the name of God, Yahweh, or “I AM WHO I AM”. How is this name, “I AM WHO I AM”, related to the last half of 33:19: “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy”? How is the fact that every act of God’s grace is completely free related to His character?
The first reference we see is “I AM WHO I AM.” We also see that God’s grace is given to who he will give it to. God’s name is his own, God’s grace is his own. It will be captive to no one and it will depend on God and God alone. His grace is his. It is given by him and at his will.
Now Future Grace, p. 74-83. List the four biblical arguments Piper makes to show that freedom is at the heart of grace (79-83).
We see the freeness of Grace in these four places.
1st. It is shown when God defines himself as the giver of Grace. This is shown when God says “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.” His grace is freely given to all that he wants to give it too.
2nd. We see the freeness of grace in our salvation. When we were dead God made us alive. This was a free act of grace. We did not earn it. It was given freely.
3rd. We see the freeness of grace in God’s electing work. God freely elected us for salvation. This was an act of grace. The electing was done freely. If it is by grace, then it is not of works.
4th. We see the freeness of grace rooted in who God is. We were saved so that God might show us his grace and it will take forever for him to show us that grace. God always gives. We always receive. That is how God gets the glory. He gives what we do not deserve. He gives freely based on his pleasure.
How would Piper answer question 3? Do you agree with him?
Piper would argue, and rightly so, that God’s grace is freely given to show his goodness.
Why is the freedom of God’s present and future grace an encouragement even to the worst of sinners?
God’s grace is something that should encourage and excite. It should thrill and delight. It should cause my heart to rejoice. I can trust in God to always be given me what I don’t deserve. God’s grace is free. I cannot earn it. I cannot merit it. It is not something to be worked for. It is grave that is simply to be taken.
This is how I need to fight sin. I must see that my sin can be fought because God promises to give me the grace to win over it. The sin I battle can be destroyed due to Christ. That is hope.
Do you delight in God’s freedom to dispense or withhold grace? Or does such freedom anger or confuse you? Why?

For the most part God’s freeness in grace is something that I delight in. I delight because I cannot earn it. Yet it is also something that confuses me. It confuses me cause of my sin. I see the conditions in Scripture and know that I don’t meet them so I wonder how I can ever get God’s grace. Yet I know that grace is free so I have to trust and believe that God does give this grace freely.

Yet my hear has a hard time actually trusting that God could love someone as vile as me. I am very aware of my sin. I know my shortfalls. I know my life. I know who I am and I don’t see much good in me. I feel the lack of desire for God that I have and I grow scared. I see the lack of delight I have in God’s free grace and I worry.

My life feels like a shipwreck. I feel as if I am stranded on the shore and never making progress. I feel the depression take over. I feel the sadness set in. I fell as if I will never be able to do anything that is worth something. I feel like a fraud most of the time.

Yet I need to go back and delight in the freeness of grace. That is where my hope needs to be grounded. My hope cannot be in me. It must be in God. My hope must that he gives grace to those who love him. So I need to love God. I need to hold fast to the cross. I need to cling to Christ.

Week 4: The Life that’s Left is Future Grace
Look at the beginning of each of Paul’s letters (Romans through Philemon). After he says who the letter is from and to whom the letter is addressed, what does Paul say? There are minor variants, but what is common to all the letters?
Paul starts each letter looking forward to the grace that is about to come.
Now look at the end of each of Paul’s letters. What is common to the final sentence in these letters?
He ends each letter with grace that will stay with his readers.
How is your answer to question 1 similar and yet DIFFERENT from your answer to question 2? You may have to go back and look again, but there is an important difference. Consider why one statement may be more appropriate at the beginning of an inspired letter, and the other more appropriate at the end.
Paul starts his letters by saying “Grace to You.” The reason he does so is that he expects the letters to serve as channels of God’s grace to his readers. They are to look forward to the grace that will come from reading the letters.
He ends the letters by saying “Grace with You.” Once again his readers are to look forward to the grace that God will continue to give them.
Are Paul’s references to grace here primarily to past grace or future grace?
It seems as if the reference is all to future grace.
Look at 1 Peter 5:6-10. How does Paul tell us to face anxieties and suffering in this world? What might be the reason for Paul referring to God as “the God of ALL grace” instead of simply as “the God of grace”?

1 Peter 5:6-10 (English Standard Version)
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
What a fantastic verse. Paul tells us to face our anxieties by humbling ourselves before God and casting our cares on Him. We are to face our fears by trusting in God and not ourselves. We are to face our suffering by knowing that God cares for us. We are to look forward to what God promises to do.
I think Paul uses the phrase “God of all grace” to remind us that all grace comes from God. There is no grace outside of God. The is no favor that God gives that is not of grace. Every bit of goodness that we every get is not deserved. Every bit of grace that God showers us with out of his love. We cannot and do not earn anything. We never have, and never will merit any grace.
Now read Future Grace, p. 64-72. How would Piper answer these questions?
Very much the same way.
Read the last paragraph on page 72 aloud. Meditate on it. How important is our faith in God’s future grace? How can you use these truths to fight against specific anxieties, temptations, and sufferings that have caused you to doubt God in the past?
Our lives depend on it. This is what I have the most trouble with. I don’t believe in future grace. I know about it, I can talk about it, I can tell others about it, I can find verse about it…But it’s not often that I live with an understanding and firm grip on future grace.
My life is so often full of worry. My life is so often full of sin. My life is not lived in hope of future grace. I have little glimmers of hope for future grace but it dose not overwhelm me the way it ought.
My past is riddled with times where I have failed to trust God. It seems like at every major trial I have doubted God. I have lost hope, I have grown cold, I have grown angry and depressed. I don’t trust in future grace.
Faith in God’s grace is what should drive me. It should be what gives me the hope to fight and carry on. Yet I doubt. I struggle with not believe God. I doubt Him so often. I need help. I need God to open my eyes to see him and trust him. I have all the head knowledge. My problems lies in my heart.

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Week 3: Faith in Future Grace Vs AnxietyRead Matthew 6:25-34. Jesus here tells us why we should not be anxious about food, drink, clothing, and health. He gives seven reasons. Enumerate those seven reasons, and then change each reason into the equivalent promise of God to us. How are these reasons and promises related to faith in future grace?
Jesus is the great teacher.  In this passage he is teaching me why I should not be anxious.  The reasons he gives are:
Life is more than food
The body is more than clothing
The Birds of the are are fed by the Father
I cannot add a single hour to my life from worrying
The lilies of the field are taken care of
God clothes the grass of the field
Today has enough problems

According to this passage, what is the root cause of anxiety about these matters? 
The root cause of all this anxiety is my chief problem.  It is the problem of unbelief.  Jesus says “O you of little faith.”  The problem I have in not anxiety, it is faith.  The problem I have is that I do not believe God.  If I did I would not worry, I would not sin, I would live the way I do.  Reading and understudying scripture this way is damning to the soul.  Since I have started to view my sin as unbelief I have started to see just how little I believe God.  This has caused me great fear and worry.  I look into my life and see that I live in constant unbelief.
Consider other sources of anxiety in addition to those that Jesus addresses directly here. What are the primary reasons you personally become anxious? Do these same promises from this passage apply? 
I can’t recall many times in my life when I have been anxious and worried about the future.  Perhaps there have been many.  I used to medicate myself in many ways so perhaps I have always been anxious and just have been to medicated to know it.  Right now the major source of my anxiety is passing my CFP.
I have been so worried and so stressed because of this.  I feel like the future of my career is on the line.  I feel as if the weight of all I do is on this test.  Why?  That is the question.
I don’t trust myself is why.  I don’t think I am smart enough, I don’t think I am wise enough, I don’t think I am good enough.  I have never finished anything in my life.  I’m trusting in myself to get this done.  I should be trusting in God to get me through this trial.  I need to be grabbing ahold of the promises of God and trusting in him to complete this.
I know that I cannot do this.  I know that I cannot live the Christian life.  I know that I am incapable.  Yet I must do these things.  The anxiety in my life runs deep.  The more I think on this, the more I see that anxiety runs and touches all parts of my life.
My life so often feels like a lie.  I know what is in my heart and I know what should be in my heart.  They are often very different things.  So often I am filled with lust, hate, envy, worry, slothfulness, and all sorts of other sins.  This causes me great sickness.  This causes me great worry.  I look at my life and measure it next to scripture and see that I am no were near what God requires of me.
I read the passage of Matthew and know that the promises apply.  Yet I feel like all I do is wait.  I want my deliverance.  Yet it seems so distant.  I want to be fed and clothed, yet I feel hungry and naked.
It is unbelief.  It is little faith.  I have one problem and that is my little faith.  Lord give me faith.
If you are anxious, does this imply that you are not saved?
I don’t know.  If we are saved by faith and the problem of anxiety is lack of faith where does that leave me?  That leaves me with no faith.  I can claim to have faith but if my actions do not show my faith, then my faith is dead.
I struggle with this so much.  I know that salvation is of grace.  I know that Christ is my only hope yet I long for faith.  I want faith.  I want to be able to grab hold of what God has promised and actually believe it.  Yet I do not.
So I am left depending on the mercy and grace of God.  That is all that can save me.
Now read Future Grace, pages 50-61. How does Piper address question 4 in his windshield analogy (p. 55ff)? What does the mud on the windshield represent? The windshield wipers? The washer fluid?
This is a great analogy.  I am in the race.  In fact the struggle is proof that I am in the race.  If I was on the wrong track, why would Satan even bother trying to get me to quit the race.
The mud is Satan attacking me.  The mud is him trying to get me to not see the promises of God.
The wiper are the promises of God that wipe away the mud.  The fluid is the holy spirit.  Lord help me to turn on the wipers and fight.
What specific promises from Scripture can you use to fight the fight of faith and battle your own temptations to be anxious?
I need to meditate on Matthew 6:25-34.  I need to write this on a 3×5 card and grab hold of it daily.  I need to trust in God.  I need to get my wipers going.  I need to call on the spirit of God for help with my unbelief.
I need to know that God cares for me and loves me.  I have such a hard time with this.  I have a hard time actually believe that God cares for my needs.  I have a hard time with him supplying what I need.  But I must believe this.  I must grab ahold of this.  Yet we are told to seek his kingdom first.  This is what I do see myself doing.  I don’t see much kingdom seeking, so how will anything be added to me?
Yet I must trust that God’s grace is sufficient.  It is all I need.  I must trust that I cannot destory my faith.  I cannot make shipwreck of my faith.  I cannot fall away from God.  He has promised to keep me.
Lord, help my unbelief.

Week 2: Should We Try to Pay God Back? When Gratitude Malfunctions

Read Psalm 116:7-14 (look at verse 9 in at least one version other than the NIV). What has God done for the Psalmist? How does the Psalmist react to what God has done (see verses 7, 13, and 14, and note the relationship among those verses)? Does he try to pay God back? What do you think the Psalmist means by “pay my vows to the Lord”? By “lift up my cup of salvation”?

This passage of scripture proves very helpful in thinking about God and how we should give back to him. The writer of this Psalms is engaged in several things. The first thing we see is him returning to rest. His soul enters deep rest. He knows that God has freely given to him. What better way to show thanks to someone. You eat a great meal and then rest. That is a free gift. We rest.

We also see the writer lifting up the cup of salvation and paying his vows to the LORD. Lifting up the cup of salvation is just the psalmist remembering and recalling what God has done. It is the writer of the psalms holding high the salvation that has been given.

I’m having a bit more trouble with paying my vows. I’m glad the next question address this.

Read Psalm 50:9-15. This Psalm also talks about paying or performing vows (although in some English versions the translations differ, the same Hebrew verb is used in 50:14 and 116:13). How does this Psalm help to clarify the meaning of Psalm 116? What tells us in this case that “paying vows” cannot mean paying God back for what He has done? Given this additional evidence, what do you now believe the Psalmists mean by “paying vows”? Summarize what this Psalms tells us that God requires of those who hear Him.

This verse says it all. If God wanted something he would not ask us. He has everything. He wants us to be thankful to him. The vows that we pay are that of calling on him for help. We pay God back by asking for more favor. What a strange way to pay someone back. It makes us debtors to grace. We owe everything we have to grace.
We are to call on God and let him deliver us. We are to call on his name and lean on him and thus we bring him glory.
Read Future Grace, p. 31-49. What purpose did God intend gratitude to play? How is this different from the debtor’s ethic? What is wrong with the debtor’s ethic?

The debtors ethic tries to pay God back by doing good things. We try and obey because he has done great things for us. All this dose is create a legalist attitude.
How would Piper answer questions 1 and 2? Did you agree with him when first answering those questions? Do you agree with him now?

We agree on most things.
What is the link between legalism and the debtor’s ethic? (p. 47)

When we try and pay back out of duty and not delight we are really just trying to please God with our actions. He is only pleased when we obey out of delight and not duty. He wants our hearts. If he has our hearts the actions will follow. How often I have tried to do things by my strength and my effort. I have so often fought sin to try and be more holy. I have fought sin out of wanting to earn favor with God. I have made my actions depend on God giving me goodies.
Thinking about future grace has been helpful. I am trying to shift my focus to looking forward to the promises of God and all that he promises to give me.

Week 1: Introduction
Read Proverbs 3:5-6. Note there are three commands, and then a statement. What are the three commands? What is the statement? Why is the statement important? Do the commands make sense without the statement? Explain.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Here we see 3 commands, statements, laws, or things that we must do. We are told to do things. In addition we are told that the LORD will respond to us when we do these things. We are told to TRUST in the LORD, we are told to NOT LEAN on our understanding, and we are told to ACKNOWLEDGE him. Two of the commands are given in a positive light of what we should do. We are to trust and lean on the LORD. One of the commands is given in the negative. We are to not trust in our own understanding. By trusting and leaning on the LORD we will not be trusting in ourselves. How can one trust and lean into the LORD and at the same time be trusting in their own understanding.
The verse closes with a statement about what will happen when you trust and lean on the LORD. When trust is placed in the LORD he will direct your paths. The statement is connected with the commands. If we trust in the LORD he will make our paths straight. By leaning on the LORD he will give us direction. Our paths being straight come from our trusting the LORD.
We do not gain a straight path without trusting in the LORD. If our paths were already guided there would be no need for the LORD. If we were already on solid ground what need would we have to have our paths set straight. It is because we do not trust and lean on the LORD that we have crooked paths.
However…Does this make God a dispenser of grace based on my obedience? If I trust in Him, is he now obligated to give to me straight paths? If I lean on Him, must he grant me a path that I can take hold of? I know my own heart and inability to keep the simplest of what God commands. I know how often I do not trust in him. I know how often I do not lean on him. I pray and I seek God to help me keep the simplest of his commands. It is only by divine enabling that I am able to lean and trust the Lord.
So in one sense this verse is condition. If I do something, God will respond. However my ability to act the way that he commands come as grace that I do not deserve. In that sense I can trust in a future grace where God will get rid of sinful flesh and give me a new body that can keep and obey his law perfectly. This is a great hope. Yet in another way, this verse is more conditional on God that it will ever be on me. I have the promise of the future. God has given the ability and will to trust him. He has given me the faith to lean on his strong hand. And he tells me how he will respond to this. He shows hows he will increases my faith. My faith grows from grabbing the promises of God and not letting go. My faith grows as God opens my eyes to his wonderful grace.
Consider Hebrews 12:14, Matthew 6:14, and James 4:6. In each case there is a promise, and a condition for receiving the promise. What happens if we don’t fulfill the condition? Do we receive the promise anyway? If so, why does the Scripture include the condition? If not, does God put conditions on our receipt of His blessings? That is, is God’s love conditional or unconditional?

Each verse has a condition that is called for before we get the blessing. These verses seem to stress that there are certain ways that we can get God to cast his eyes towards us. There are certain thing we can do to draw his gaze.
These verses are conditional in a sense. If we fail to forgive others we will not be forgiven. If I fail to be humble, I fail to obtain God’s grace. These verses seems to stress conditions that we have to meet to obtain blessing. His love is conditional on our obeying his commands.

Now read Future Grace pages 6-20. How would Piper answer questions 1 and 2?
I think that Piper would answer much in the same way. Piper can approach both sides so well. He draws out that anything we do is because of grace and is empowered by God. He is good at calling me to live in response to the conditional promises of God, yet also not taking any credit for being able to keep the commands.
What does Piper mean by “future”, “grace”, and “faith”? How does his usage differ from common ways those words are used? What does he mean when he says faith is the “key to holiness”?
Future: The grace that begins right now
Grace: The power of God to keep me from sinning
Faith: The confidence that God will give us all things
What did Thomas Chalmers mean by “the expulsive power of a new affection,” and why does Piper pick up on that phrase for this book?
Chalmers is talking about the ways that we can rightly set our affections on God. We will set our hearts towards him out of boredom of this world or because of His greatness. This is a recurring theme in all of Pipers work. Piper is always trying to show the greatness of God. He magnifies God like a telescope and displays his majesty. This is the affection that I pray and hope for. I hope to turn to God not out of fear of because he is the next thing to try. I want to go to God because God is my joy. I want God to be my food, my desire, my life. Yet so often this is not the case. The world still hold my heart captive. I can feel the chains of lust and want pull me to things that are forbidden and God seems so distant.
I want to know the God that I hear preached. I want to know the God that I learn about in the pages of scripture. I am in agreement with Piper and Chalmers that it is by knowing God properly that we are guarded and guided against sin and corruption. How I pray that God will open my eyes.