Easter 2013

What shall I give you, Lord,

in return for all Your kindness?

Glory to You for Your love.

Glory to You for Your mercy.

Glory to You for Your patience.

Glory to You for forgiving us all our sins.

Glory to You for coming to save our souls.

Glory to You for Your incarnation in the virgin's womb.

Glory to You for Your bonds.

Glory to You for receiving the cut of the lash.

Glory to You for accepting mockery.

Glory to You for Your crucifixion.

Glory to You for Your burial.

Glory to You for Your resurrection.

Glory to You who were preached to men and women.

Glory to You in whom they believed.

Glory to You who were taken up into heaven.

Glory to You who sit in great glory at the Father's right hand.

Glory to You whose will it is that the sinner should be saved

through Your great mercy and compassion.

...Ephraem of Syria image

Holy Saturday 2013

LORD, God of my salvation;

I cry out day and night before you.

Let my prayer come before you;

incline your ear to my cry!
 

For my soul is full of troubles,

and my life draws near to Sheol.

I am counted among those who go down to the pit;

I am a man who has no strength,

like one set loose among the dead,

like the slain that lie in the grave,

like those whom you remember no more,

for they are cut off from your hand.

You have put me in the depths of the pit,

in the regions dark and deep.

Your wrath lies heavy upon me,

and you overwhelm me with all your waves.
 

You have caused my companions to shun me;

you have made me a horror to them.

I am shut in so that I cannot escape;

my eye grows dim through sorrow.

Every day I call upon you, O LORD;

I spread out my hands to you.

Do you work wonders for the dead?

Do the departed rise up to praise you?
 

Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,

or your faithfulness in Abaddon?

Are your wonders known in the darkness,

or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
 

But I, O LORD, cry to you;

in the morning my prayer comes before you.

O LORD, why do you cast my soul away?

Why do you hide your face from me?

Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,

I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.

Your wrath has swept over me;

your dreadful assaults destroy me.

They surround me like a flood all day long;

they close in on me together.

You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;

my companions have become darkness.
-Psalm 88 image

Good Friday 2013: O sacred Head, now wounded

O sacred Head, now wounded,

with grief and shame weighed down,
now scornfully surrounded
with thorns, thine only crown:
how pale thou art with anguish,
with sore abuse and scorn!
How does that visage languish
which once was bright as morn!

What thou, my Lord, has suffered
was all for sinners' gain;
mine, mine was the transgression,
but thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
'Tis I deserve thy place;
look on me with thy favor,
vouchsafe to me thy grace.

What language shall I borrow
to thank thee, dearest friend,
for this thy dying sorrow,
thy pity without end?
O make me thine forever;
and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
outlive my love for thee.
image

Good Friday 2013

Blest Jesus, when Thy cross I view,

That mystery to th’angelic host,

I gaze with grief and rapture, too,

And all my soul’s in wonder lost.
 

What strange compassion filled Thy breast,

That brought Thee from Thy throne on high,

To woes that cannot be expressed,

To be despised, to groan and die!
 

For man didst Thou forsake the sky,

To bleed upon the accursed tree?

And didst Thou taste of death, to buy

Immortal life and bliss for me?
 

Had I a voice to praise Thy name,

Loud as the trump that wakes the dead,

Had I the raptured seraph’s flame,

My debt of love could ne’er be paid.
 

Yet Lord, a sinner’s heart receive,

This burdened, contrite heart of mine;

Thou knowest I’ve naught beside to give;

And let it be for ever Thine.

...Conrad Speece image

Holy Thursday 2013

Be known to us in breaking bread,
But do not then depart;
Savior, abide with us, and spread
Thy table in our heart.

 

There eat with us in love divine;
Thy body and Thy blood, T
That living bread, that heavenly wine,
Be our immortal food.
...James Montgomery image

Behold The Lamb

Stuart Townend

The God on whom we rely...

The God on whom we rely knows what suffering is all about, not merely in the way that God knows everything, but by experience. In the darkest night of the soul Christians have something to hold onto that Job never knew. We know Christ crucified. Christians have learned that when there seems to be no other evidence of God's love, they cannot escape the cross. "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"(Rom. 8:32) … When we suffer, there will sometimes be mystery. Will there also be faith? Yes, if our attention is focused more on the cross, and on the God of the cross, than on the suffering itself. ...DA Carson image

"My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"

Some of us think at times that we could cry, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" There are seasons when the brightness of our Father's smile is eclipsed by clouds and darkness; but let us remember that God never does really forsake us. It is only a seeming forsaking with us, but in Christ's case it was a real forsaking. We grieve at a little withdrawal of our Father's love; but the real turning away of God's face from His Son, who shall calculate how deep the agony which it caused Him? In our case, our cry is often dictated by unbelief: in His case, it was the utterance of a dreadful fact, for God had really turned away from Him for a season. O thou poor, distressed soul, who once lived in the sunshine of God's face, but art now in darkness, remember that He has not really forsaken thee. God in the clouds is as much our God as when He shines forth in all the lustre of His grace; but since even the thought that He has forsaken us gives us agony, what must the woe of the Saviour have been when He exclaimed, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" ...CH Spurgeon image

Does God really love us?

Does God really love us? I say look to the crucified Jesus. Look to the old rugged cross. By every thorn that punctured His brow. By every mark of the back lacerating scourge. By every hair of his beard plucked from his cheeks by cruel fingers. By every bruise which heavy fists made upon His head. God said, "I love you!" By all the spit that landed on his face. By every drop of sinless blood that fell to the ground. By every breath of pain which Jesus drew upon the cross. By every beat of His loving heart. God said, I love you.
...Billy Lobbs image

The image of Christ...

Doctrine is useless if it is not accompanied by a holy life. It is worse than useless; it does positive harm. Something of "The image of Christ' must be seen and observed by others in our private life, and habits, and character, and doings. ...JC Ryle image

Ride On, Ride On, In Majesty!

Ride on, ride on, in majesty!

Hark! all the tribes Hosanna cry;

O Savior meek, pursue Thy road

With palms and scattered garments strowed.
 

Ride on, ride on, in majesty!

In lowly pomp ride on to die!

O Christ! Thy triumph now begin

Over captive death and conquered sin.
 

Ride on, ride on, in majesty!

The wingèd squadrons of the sky

Look down with sad and wondering eyes

To see the approaching sacrifice.
 

Ride on, ride on, in majesty!

Thy last and fiercest strife is nigh;

The Father, on His sapphire throne,

Expects His own anointed Son.
 

Ride on, ride on, in majesty!

In lowly pomp ride on to die;

Bow Thy meek head to mortal pain,

Then take, O God, Thy power, and reign.

...Hen­ry H. Mil­man image

The religion of Christ is the religion of JOY...

The religion of Christ is the religion of JOY. Christ came to take away our sins, to roll off our curse, to unbind our chains, to open our prisonhouse, to cancel our debt; in a word, to give us the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Is not this joy? Where can we find a joy so real, so deep, so pure, so lasting? There is every element of joy - deep, ecstatic, satisfying, sanctifying joy - in the gospel of Christ. The believer in Jesus is essentially a happy man. The child of God is, from necessity, a joyful man. His sins are forgiven, his soul is justified, his person is adopted, his trials are blessings, his conflicts are victories, his death is immortality, his future is a heaven of inconceivable, unthought-of, untold, and endless blessedness. With such a God, such a Saviour, and such a hope, is he not, ought he not, to be a joyful man?
 ...Octavius Winslow image

The Story of Our Glory

by David Mathis
March 2, 2013

Spectacular glory awaits those who are joined to Jesus.

Not only will we see him in all his glory — which might be thrilling enough — but we will share in his glory as he transforms “our lowly body to be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). Rightly did C. S. Lewis observe that “the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship” (The Weight of Glory, 45).

This is the stunning doctrine of glorification. It’s almost too good to be true. Almost.

If the Bible didn’t make it plain, most of us would insist such a wonderful destiny could never be ours. But text after text tells the story of the glory that will be ours in Jesus, the supremely glorious one. It’s the story of our glory in the story of his. the rest-lovely meditation! image

For a spiritual life...

For a spiritual life is simply a life in which all that we do comes from the centre, where we are anchored in God: a life soaked through and through by a sense of His reality and claim, and self-given to the great movement of His will.

  ...Evelyn Underhill  image