Sea Harp Press

02/03/2023

At some point, every man or woman comes face-to-face with the brutal consequences of their own vanity, the crippling ridicule of their own insecurity—or both. But each are symptoms of the same cancer rooted within every human heart — pride

Like the surgeon's scalpel, this short work cuts deeply, but offers the only true cure.

Author Andrew Murray (1828-1917) was a South African pastor, exceptional Bible teacher, and prolific writer and thinker. His works have long been some of the greatest assets available to the Church, pointing generations of readers back to the Person and work of Jesus Himself.

This book does not offer trite platitudes or feel-good clichés; when the disease runs deep, the cure must go deeper. Murray offers readers true healing for their malignant pride: Humility.

28/02/2023

Our hearts long for true connection with God-to know Him, to be known by Him, and to be transformed by this knowing. Whether we recognize it or not, we are forever searching for moments of intimacy, of communion with Jesus.

In our busy, cluttered world, it's far too easy to ignore these longings, to forget that the deepest desires of our hearts are met in the person of Jesus Christ. But what if we could actually, daily, shift our attention towards him and, in doing so, find ourselves fulfilled, whole, and absolutely loved?

In Morning and Evening, Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), a 19th century theologian, preacher, and evangelical activist, will take you on a daily journey to knowing the person, perspective, and presence of Jesus Christ. Spurgeon's humility, inclusivity, and single-focused love of Jesus is inspiring and absolutely infectious.

16/12/2022

“Some may ask then, why did He not manifest Himself by means of other and nobler parts of creation, and use some nobler instrument, such as sun or moon or stars or fire or air, instead of mere man? The answer is this…

The Lord did not come to make a display. He came to heal and to teach suffering men. For one who wanted to make a display the thing would have been just to appear and dazzle the beholders.

But for Him Who came to heal and to teach the way was not merely to dwell here, but to put Himself at the disposal of those who needed Him, and to be manifested according as they could bear it, not vitiating the value of the Divine appearing by exceeding their capacity to receive it.”

- Athanasius of Alexandria, 'On the Incarnation'

06/10/2022

Get it on Amazon!

https://www.amazon.com/Christians-Secret-Happy-Life-Timeless/dp/0768464404

“In the very depths of your hearts you know that your experience is not a Scriptural experience… and you have been forced to settle down to the conviction that the best you can expect from your religion is a life of alternate failure and victory; one hour sinning, and the next repenting. … But is this all? Had the Lord Jesus only this in His mind when He laid down His precious life to deliver you from your sore and cruel bo***ge to sin? Did He propose to Himself only this partial deliverance? … No, no, a thousand times no! God is able to save unto the uttermost, and He means to do it.” - Hannah Whitall Smith, 'The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life;'

05/10/2022

The word “redemption” has become overly familiar to us. The truth this word articulates is nothing less than reality-changing. Living into the fullness of redemption ought to be the aspiration of every Christian reading this.

04/10/2022

Pause for a moment.

Have you believed the lie that a vibrant relationship with Christ was for a time down the road when your circumstances were different?

Have you believed that His ears were tuned to the spiritual, those with slow-paced lives and a churchward focus?

Jesus is asking the weary and heavy laden to come to Him because He wants to give you rest. He wants to offer you an abundant life.

He wants you to learn from Him as you are, where you are, carrying only the burdens He gives you, this gentle, lowly master.

Come.

Come to Christ.

Turn your face towards Him. Run to Him.

Cast your cares upon Him. He is gently and lowly, and you, yes, YOU, will find rest for your soul.

[read the full article: https://www.seaharp.com/blog/charity-lehman-discipleship-for-busy-moms]

14/09/2022

"It is the very highest exercise of our Christian life just to abide in the light of God, and let it fill us with the life and the brightness it brings." - Andrew Murray

Read the full article…
https://www.seaharp.com/blog/andrew-murray-drink-deep-from-the-light

12/09/2022

“The continuous and unembarrassed interchange of love and thought between God and the soul of the redeemed man is the throbbing heart of New Testament religion.” - A. W. Tozer

11/09/2022

Jesus, Lord of Heaven above,
Earth beneath is all Thy own
In the depths of Heavenly love
Let my human heart be sown.

Let my love that as a grain
None on earth might care to see,
Buried in Thy grave remain,
Be a precious seed to Thee.

Thou wilt raise it, though it die,
Thou wilt see it hidden there —
Thou wilt guard it with Thine eye
From the spirits of the air.

None shall take it thence away;
It is sown for Thy delight:
Thou wilt shine on it by day, —
Thou wilt shield it in the night.

Where the silent waters flow,
It shall multiply its root;
It shall blossom, it shall grow,
It shall bear immortal fruit.

Sown in weakness, raised in power —
Sown in suffering, raised in peace —
It shall brave the blighting hour,
In the year of drought increase.

Never hurt by sun or storm,
Blest its every stage shall be;
Dying in its mortal form —
Living evermore in Thee.

10/09/2022

"Of the two, who on that early spring afternoon left the City in company, we know that one bore the name of Cleopas. The other, unnamed, has for that very reason, and because the narrative of that work bears in its vividness the character of personal recollection, been identified with St. Luke himself. If so…"

Read the full article here: https://www.seaharp.com/blog/alfred-edersheim-emmaus-and-the-lesson-of-the-resurrection

09/09/2022

"We have learned, not only NOT to return blow for blow, nor to go to law with those who plunder and rob us, but to those who smite us on one side of the face to offer the other side also, and to those who take away our coat to give likewise our cloak."

Read the full article here: https://www.seaharp.com/blog/athenagoros-a-letter-from-176-ad

08/09/2022

“Christian society is not a merely natural organism; there is divine life and power within it, because it has the abiding presence of Christ.” - Thomas M. Lindsay

Read the full article at: https://www.seaharp.com/blog/thomas-m-lindsay-gifts-of-the-spirit-and-the-hidden-bond-of-the-early-church

07/09/2022

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me." - Revelation 3:20

Friend, Jesus wants to have dinner with you.

One of our basic needs is food. Without it, we progressively become grumpy, grow faint, and die. Yet food is not merely a basic biological need. Our physical appetite for sustenance is intertwined with a much deeper soul-hunger for fellowship, intimacy, and being known. And to satisfy this deep hunger, Jesus calls us to come and dine.

Read the full article here: https://www.seaharp.com/blog/j-delton-lehman-god-of-the-table

06/09/2022

Satan called together a council of his servants to consult how they might make a good man sin.

One evil spirit started up and said, “I will make him sin.” “How will you do it?” asked Satan. “I will set before him the pleasures of sin,” was the reply; “I will tell him of its delights and the rich rewards it brings.” “Ah,” said Satan, “that will not do; he has tried, it, and knows better than that.”

Then another spirit started up and said, “I will make him sin.” “What will you do?” asked Satan. “I will tell him of the pains and sorrows of virtue. I will show him that virtue has no delights, and brings no rewards.” “Ah, no!” exclaimed Satan, “that will not do at all; for he has tried it, and knows that ‘wisdom’s ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace.’”

“Well,” said another imp, starting up, “I will undertake to make him sin.” “And what will you do?” asked Satan, again. “I will discourage his soul,” was the short reply. “Ah, that will do,” cried Satan,—“that will do! We shall conquer him now.” And they did.

Hannah Whitall Smith offers a simple, but powerful tool for defeating temptation in your daily life.

Read the full article at: https://www.seaharp.com/blog/hannah-whitall-smith-how-to-conquer-temptation

05/09/2022

Read the full article here: https://www.seaharp.com/blog/g-k-chesterton-what-jesus-was-hiding

"Christianity satisfies suddenly and perfectly man’s ancestral instinct for being the right way up; satisfies it supremely in this; that by its creed joy becomes something gigantic and sadness something special and small." - G. K. Chesterton

02/09/2022

As evidenced in the book of Acts, the first believers lived in a daily awareness of their direct, supernatural relation to every Member of the Trinity.

"A characteristic feature of the primitive community [early church] is that every individual in it, even the very slaves, possess a living experience of God."

Read the full article here:
https://www.seaharp.com/blog/adolf-harnack-an-entirely-personal-relation-to-god

01/09/2022

This vital topic has become all-too familiar for many Christians. Though it is universally accepted, it has lost clarity and profundity.

What have we missed in our failure to grasp this core element of the gospel?

Read the full article here:

https://www.seaharp.com/blog/g-t-stokes-the-church-has-overlooked-this-vital-doctrine

31/08/2022

"It was said truly enough that human Christianity in its recurrent weakness was sometimes too much wedded to the powers of the world; but if it was wedded it has very often been widowed.

"It is a strangely immortal sort of widow. An enemy may have said at one moment that [Christianity] was but an aspect of the power of the Caesars; and it sounds as strange to-day as to call it an aspect of the Pharaohs. An enemy might say that it was the official faith of feudalism; and it sounds as convincing now as to say that it was bound to perish with the ancient Roman villa. All these things did indeed run their course to its normal end; and there seemed no course for the religion but to end with them. It ended and it began again." - G. K. Chesterton

…

Read the full article…

https://www.seaharp.com/blog/g-k-chesterton-as-the-world-crumbles

30/08/2022

"Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

30/08/2022

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

I'm not entirely convinced that what much of the American church would call "persecution" in relation to censorship, marginalization, or media critique truly fits the bill. Are we being marginalized because we look so much like Jesus that our radical humility, love, and sacrifice have become offensive? Or are we simply seeing the reality of a culture, post-Christendom?

When our everyday lives look like Jesus, true persecution will come. And may it we meet it with the inexplicable joy and love that our Savior exemplified.

29/08/2022

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."

I don't fully grasp the depths of this one. But Jesus' later words in Matt. 10:13 seem to indicate that we have the ability to release His peace upon places and individuals. What a striking thought — that we can give (or fail to give) the peace that comes with the Kingdom.

Are you bestowing peace today?

29/08/2022

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

I find Kierkegaard's words to be helpful: "purity of heart is to will one thing." Perhaps this is what Jesus meant — when our greatest desire is to follow Him, we will be blessed by having God Himself as our portion and inheritance!

Ps. 16:5,11 — "The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup… in your presence there is fullness of joy."

28/08/2022

We have all received so much mercy! To whom do you need to extend mercy today?

27/08/2022

May we hunger and thirst for the righteousness that only Christ can bring!

26/08/2022

This one is WAAYY tougher than it sounds. "Meekness" cuts to the very core of who we are as humans…

What does it actually mean to be "meek?"

The ESV translates Matt 5:5 as "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." (ESV)

The Phillips Translation puts it in a more helpful way: "Happy are those who *claim nothing,* for the whole earth will belong to them!" (PHILLIPS)

Thus, meekness = claiming nothing.

But if you're like me, "laying claim" is your default. Each day, I claim ("demand," "fight for") so many things — my voice, my rights, my agenda, my opinions, my time, my priorities, my career…

But Jesus said, "If anyone wants to follow in my footsteps he must give up *all right* to himself, take up his cross and follow me." (Matt 16:24)

Meekness = Giving up all rights.

Jesus was the perfect model of meekness. He never laid claim to anything. He consistently laid down His rights, eventually giving up his right to his very life.

As His disciple – His apprentice – I am to do the same. By calling myself a Christian, I should be laying down my claim to EVERYthing. I have no rights.

What should that mean for how I live my life? How I spend my time? How I structure my priorities? Meekness is exceedingly costly. And if I am not willing to lay it all on the line, to pay the price, can I really call myself a disciple? Am I really a Christian?

25/08/2022

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." (Matt. 5:4)

In my own life, complacency continues to be the greatest enemy of holiness. When I fail to mourning over my sin, I make peace with it. Growing numb to those areas in life where I fall short of Jesus' example, I begin to live in a state of assumed righteousness – believing that I am right before God, while living blind to my true, spiritual sickness.

To the Pharisees, Jesus said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." (Matt. 9:12) When we are aware of our sin – our sickness – the Great Physician can do His Great Work of spiritual healing and sanctification!

When we shake off complacency, bringing our sin into the light, the sharp, two-edged scalpel of the Word can perform the surgery that saves. When we mourn our failures, that is when the Great Comforter comes, bringing not only a healing balm, but also His resurrecting power!

Join me today in acknowledging and mourning over our sins before our Savior. Join me in receiving His great and mighty comfort!

24/08/2022

"Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 5:3)

These are the first words of Jesus' first sermon in the Gospel of Matthew. Everything about Jesus' teaching begins here. This is the prerequisite to understanding who Jesus is, and our relationship to Him, because this is the only right posture before God. It echos Proverbs 9:10 — "the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom."

I have become increasingly convinced of the fact that, the degree to which I humble myself as I approach Jesus and His teachings is the degree to which He will reveal Himself to me. I will only truly "get" what Jesus is about if I am humble enough to set aside my own preconceptions of who He ought to be, and instead, take Him as He actually is. He can only accomplish His work in my life if I am humble enough to allow Him to work in His way.

Jesus said as much in Mark 10:15 — "Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it."

Today, I choose to humble myself before Him afresh. Won't you join me?

22/08/2022

"O how inexpressibly great is the loss sustained by mankind from the neglect of the Interior Life! I, therefore, conjure you all, O ye who have the care of souls, to put them at once into this way, which is Jesus Christ." - Madame Jeanne Guyon

The cause of our being so unsuccessful in reforming mankind… is our beginning with external matters; all our labours in this field do but produce such fruit as endures not: but if the key of the interior be first given, the exterior would be naturally and easily reformed…

20/08/2022

"Abide with Me" by Henry Francis Lyte

Abide with me, fast falls the eventide
The darkness deepens, Lord, with me abide
When other helpers fail and comforts flee
Help of the helpless, abide with me

19/08/2022

"Hallelujah! What A Savior" by Philip P. Bliss

Man of sorrows, what a name
For the Son of God who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim
Hallelujah! What Savior