You can improve your relationship with God

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I have an article which Desiring God have just published on their website entitled “You Can Improve Your  Relationship with God”.

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New song: See Jesus stripped of majesty (Amazing love)

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Here’s another new song which was sung at this year’s Keswick Convention and which people have been asking for the lead sheet. I wrote the lyrics, and Colin Webster and Phil Moore of Cornerstone Worship wrote the music. It’s a setting of Isaiah 53.

Here’s a PDF of the lead sheet.

See Jesus stripped of majesty:
he hangs disfigured on a tree,
a man of grief, by men betrayed,
like one from whom we turn away.
Led like a lamb without a sound,
in mockery with violence crowned,
a sacrificial offering,
atoning for his people’s sin.

O what amazing love.
I bow before the cross,
my pride reduced to dust.
What amazing love,
it overwhelms my soul,
my broken life made whole.

2. See Jesus cold within the grave,
cut off from life, our lives to save.
We thought that God had punished him,
but he was pierced for Adam’s sin.
Though we like sheep have often strayed,
our waywardness on Christ was laid.
To heal our wounds, he drew our pain;
to bring us peace, he bore our shame.

O what amazing love …

3. See Jesus once again draw breath
and rise to claim the spoils of death.
He sees the light of life again
and hears his ransomed people sing.

O what amazing love:
forever I will praise
the glories of your grace.
What amazing love:
I offer up my life,
a grateful sacrifice
for your amazing love,
your amazing love.

Colin Webster, Phil Moore, Tim Chester © 2018 Colin Webster Songs, Phil Moore Songs, Tim Chester Songs, admin. by Song Solutions (www songsolutions.org).

New song: When the word of God was first heard on earth

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Here’s a new song which was first sung at this year’s Keswick Convention, since when people have been asked for the lead sheet. I wrote the lyrics and Phil Moore of Cornerstone Worship wrote the music. It’s designed to be sung as we approach the reading and preaching of God’s word.

Here’s a PDF of the lead sheet.

When the word of God was first heard on earth
each hill and dale with love was drawn,
and the darkness fled, the chaos dispersed,
from the emptiness all life was born.

2. When the word of God to the prophets came
the Spirit breathed through every page,
so each word and phrase now carries Christ’s name,
and his glory shines from age to age.

Come, let us hear your precious voice
and send us our with hearts rejoicing.
All who have ears, come let us hear
how great, how great is our God.

3. When the Word of God in the cradle lay,
God’s love was clothed in human flesh.
The eternal Word through whom all was made
came into his world and took a breath.

4. When the Word of God made this world his home,
he calmed the storms and stilled the waves,
melted hearts that once had been made of stone,
spoke with words of life and emptied graves.

Come, let us hear …

5. As the word of God comes to us today,
may emptiness be turned to praise,
may our darkest fears be driven away,
as our glorious Saviour fills our gaze.

Come, let us hear …

Phil Moore & Tim Chester © 2018 Phil Moore Songs & Tim Chester Songs, admin. by Song Solutions (www songsolutions.org).

Enjoying God

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I have a new book coming out at the beginning of September entitled Enjoying God: Experience the Power and Love of God in Everyday Life. This book is really important to me. I’ve now written over 40 books, but I believe this could prove one of the most significant.

Christians rightly talk a lot of about finding joy in Christ. When we face temptation or discouragement we tell one another that our joy should be in Christ. But what does that actually look like on a day to day basis in the rough and tumble of ordinary life? That’s what this book is about. I want Christians to enjoy God, but more than that, I want them to enjoy God when they’re washing the dishes or commuting to work.

At the heart of Enjoying God is the conviction that we need to think how each person of the Trinity is relating to us and how we should respond. To think about relating to God is too abstract. After all, what can we know of the divine essence of God, the God-ness of God? But God the Father, Son and Spirit each relate to us in a personal and intimate way – just as they have related to one another throughout eternity. What I try to do in the book is highlight the key ways in which the Father, Son and Spirit are each relating to us every day. So the book shows how we can experience the presence of the Triune God in the nitty-gritty of our lives. Essentially it’s an attempt to rework John Owen’s classic work Communion with God for 21st-century readers.

Enjoying God is available here from Amazon.

Here are some commendations …

Timothy Keller, Pastor Emeritus, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City

Tim Chester’s books are always unusually accessible. He can distill great amounts of complex theological truth into short, digestible chapters. In this book, he brings this skill to bear on the subject of communion with God—perhaps the greatest privilege of a Christian. But it is one little understood, and even less is it actually enjoyed. I urge you to read this volume. It will make you hunger and thirst for fellowship with God.

Sinclair B. Ferguson, Chancellor’s Professor of Systematic Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary

From the authors of Scripture onwards, the Lord’s people have always known that the purpose of life is “to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever”. But each generation, in fact every Christian, needs to discover this anew. And the way is not an easy one. But it is the only path worth taking. In “Enjoying God”, Tim Chester shares his own experiences in walking along this gospel road and issues a warm invitation to join him. Accept it, and, with Tim Chester as your guide, you will never regret it.

D. A. Carson, Research Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and President of The Gospel Coalition

Winsome in its unpacking of theology and compelling in the sweep of its applications, “Enjoying God” is neither an essay on the Trinity nor a “how to” manual, but something close to both. It is among the best of the rising number of books that instruct Christians on how to cross the bridge from enjoying God on the Lord’s Day to enjoying God every day. Tim Chester is in no danger of making God little more than a useful utility to increase our pleasure; he is far too God-centred and gospel-centred for that. But if we desire to experience for ourselves a little more (one of Tim’s favourite words) of the truth that in God’s presence there are pleasures forever more, we shall be hard-pressed to find a better guide.

Michael Reeves, President and Professor of Theology, Union School of Theology

Rich in the gospel and superb in practical application, this touching book is straight up fuel for joy. Here is wisdom that should brighten your everyday with sheer enjoyment of God.

Andrea Trevenna, Associate Minister for Women, St Nicholas, Sevenoaks, UK; author of The Heart of Singleness

I absolutely loved this book. It has been a huge blessing, like cool refreshing water for my soul. I frequently found myself identifying with the sin, struggles and faulty thinking Tim Chester so vividly describes in various scenarios and illustrations, which also helped me see how my view of our triune God is often so flattened and limited. My heart was softened and warmed as Tim held up all that the Father, Son and Spirit have done, and continue to do, to enable us to truly experience and enjoy an intimate relationship with God and know his daily goodness, grace and love in the messy reality of our daily lives. I finished the book marvelling at our glorious God, feeling humbled, excited, encouraged and spurred on.

Agnes Brough, Associate Minister for Young People and Women, The Tron Church, Glasgow; Chair of the Scottish Women’s Bible Convention

I’m so often reassuring myself and others that feelings aren’t a good sign of my spiritual state that I forget to seek and enjoy communion with God. This book reminded me of all sorts of ways in which the Lord is offering me himself to enjoy.

Michael Horton, Westminster Seminary, California

We talk a lot about knowing and glorifying God, but what about enjoying him? And not just as an abstract Being, but as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—enjoying each Person in all of his difference as well as divine unity? And not just in happy times or at church, but in every circumstance of life? It just keeps getting better and better as you turn each page of “Enjoying God”. This book will lift you into the presence of the Source of all joy.

Jason Meyer, Pastor for Preaching and Vision, Bethlehem Baptist Church

The best books are biblical, practical, personal, pastoral, and worshipful. “Enjoying God” is one of those rare books that excels in each area. I commend it highly.

Michael Jensen, Rector, St. Mark’s Darling Point, Sydney; author of Is Forgiveness Really Free? and My God, My God
“Enjoying God” is gourmet food for the weary soul. Tim Chester shows us how we can really, expansively, and truly enjoy our communion with God—not by any weird spiritual techniques but by drilling down into our oneness with him. As we understand the three Persons of God more richly, we are invited into a more vivid and real experience of him. This is profound truth in simple and engaging writing.

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