I am the good shepherd...

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.  I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. -John 10:11-15

Jesus! where’er thy people meet,

There they behold thy mercy-seat;

Where’er they seek thee, thou art found,

And every place is hallow’d ground.

 

Dear Shepherd of thy chosen few!

Thy former mercies here renew;

Here to our waiting hearts proclaim

The sweetness of thy saving name.

-William Cowper

My steadfast love shall not depart from you...

For the mountains may depart

    and the hills be removed,

but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,

    and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”

    says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

-Isaiah 54:10

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people...

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”  -Jeremiah 31:33-34

The sacred page is not meant to be the end, but only the means toward the end, which is knowing God himself.   

-A.W. Tozer

Keeping Him always before us...

But when we are faithful in keeping ourselves in his holy presence, keeping him always before us, this not only prevents our offending him or doing something displeasing in his sight (at least willfully), but it also brings to us a holy freedom, and if I may say so, a familiarity with God wherein we may ask and receive the graces we are so desperately in need of. 

-Brother Lawrence

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,  even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. -Ephesians 1:3-6

The life of holiness is the life of faith in which the believer, with a deepening knowledge of his own sin and helplessness apart from Christ, increasingly casts himself upon the Lord, and seeks the power of the Spirit and the wisdom and comfort of the Bible to battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil.

-Edmund P. Clowney

We Are Thankful

We Are Thankful 

Sovereign Grace Music

VERSE 1

For goodness and for mercy that has surely followed us

And every blessing we could never earn

For all the gifts we cherish that are pictures of Your love

What could we ever offer in return? 

CHORUS

Thank You, thank You, Father, thank You 

You are always good 

Thank You, thank You, Father, thank You

You are always faithful and we are thankful 

VERSE 2

For sorrows and for trials that You send to shape our hearts 

And pain that keeps us clinging to Your grace  

For faith within the fire or Your presence in the dark 

What can we sing no matter what we face?

VERSE 3

For pardon and forgiveness through our Savior’s sacrifice 

And death that’s swallowed up in victory

For love that’s never failed us and Your everlasting life 

What will we say for all eternity?

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly...

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. -Colossians 3:16

The music of the gospel must precede the words of the gospel and prepare the context in which there will be a hunger for those words. What is the music of the gospel? The music of the gospel is the beauty of the indwelling Christ as lived out in the everyday relationships of life. -Joseph C. Aldrich

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God...

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. -1 John 4:7-11

How can we love a holy God? The simplest answer I can give to this vital question is that we can’t. Loving a holy God is beyond our moral power. The only kind of God we can love by our sinful nature is an unholy god, an idol made by our own hands. Unless we are born of the Spirit of God, unless God sheds his holy love into our hearts, unless He stoops in His grace to change our hearts, we will not love Him. He is the One who takes the initiative to restore our souls. Without Him we can do nothing of righteousness. Without Him we would be doomed to everlasting alienation from His holiness. We can only love Him because He first loved us.   -R.C. Sproul

For I am not ashamed of the gospel...

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”  -Romans 1:16-17

Faith is a living, unshakeable confidence in God’s grace; it is so certain, that someone would die a thousand times for it. This kind of trust in and knowledge of God’s grace makes a person joyful, confident, and happy with regard to God and all creatures. This is what the Holy Spirit does by faith. Through faith, a person will do good to everyone without coercion, willingly and happily; he will serve everyone, suffer everything for the love and praise of God, who has shown him such grace. It is as impossible to separate works from faith as burning and shining from fire. -Martin Luther

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad...

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;

    the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;

 it shall blossom abundantly

    and rejoice with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,

    the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.

They shall see the glory of the Lord,

    the majesty of our God.

   -Isaiah 35:1-2

You will never find Jesus so precious as when the world is one vast howling wilderness. Then he is like a rose blooming in the midst of the desolation—a rock rising above the storm.  -Robert Murray M’Cheyne

Be Still, Be Still, My Soul...

 

Be Still, Be Still, My Soul 

Sovereign Grace Music

VERSE 1

Should mountains melt into the roaring oceans

The earth give way or heaven’s lights grow cold

O mighty God, You are my strong defender

Be still, be still, my soul

 

VERSE 2

When all I see are enemies before me

When unbelief and doubt have taken hold

O Lord of hosts, You promise to defeat them

Be still, be still, my soul

 

CHORUS 1

For You are God, I need not fear

You’re sovereign over all

For You are good and always near

I’ll rest in You alone

Be still, my soul

 

VERSE 3

Though all around the wicked seem to prosper

They mock Your name and rise against Your throne

O righteous Judge, their deeds You will remember

Be still, be still, my soul

 

CHORUS 2

For You are God, I need not fear

You’re sovereign over all

For You are good and always near

I’ll rest in You alone

For You are God, I need not fear

You’re sovereign over all

For You are good and always near

I’ll rest in You alone

Be still, my soul

 

VERSE 4

Though wars erupt, You will not leave us orphans

Though nations rage, You guard us as Your own

O, Prince of Peace, we will not be abandoned

Be still, be still, my soul

Be still, be still, my soul