I love this beautiful hymn written by Charitie Bancroft. “Before the throne” was originally written in 1863 under the title, “The Advocate”. This hymn does speak of the advocate we have in Christ through trials, so and it’s one of my favorites.

I’ve been studying what it means to walk in the spirit. As I sought to have a better understanding of this concept, I looked to two great bible teachers, pastors John Mac Arthur and John Piper.

Chapter 18 of John Piper’s book, “50 Reasons Jesus Came to Die” talks about how disease entered the world when sin entered the world. Death and disease were part of God’s judgment on creation. Physical pain parallels the horror of sin. Sin eats away at us just like disease eats away at the body.

John Piper writes, “So here we are in the modern age–the age of science, internet, organ transplants, instant messaging, cell phones–and our problem is fundamentally the same as always: Our conscience condemns us. We don’t feel good enough to come to God. An no matter how distorted our consciences are, this much is true: We are not good enough to come to him.”

Chapter 17 of John Piper’s book, “Fifty Reasons Jesus Came to Die” talks about the wonderful truth that God provides everything we need. Piper is quick to point out that everything we need is not the same as having everything we want.