Give me an open ear, O God...

Give me an open ear, O God, 

that I may hear Thy voice calling me to high endeavor.

Give me an open mind, O God, 

a mind ready to receive and to welcome 

such new light of knowledge as it is Thy will to reveal to me.

Give me open eyes, O God, 

eyes quick to discover Thine indwelling 

in the world which Thou hast made.

Give me open hands, O God,

hands ready to share with all who are in want 

the blessings with which Thou hast enriched my life.

-John Baillie

O Lord, as long as I am apart from you...

O Lord, as long as I am apart from you, I am self-satisfied, because I have no standard by which to measure my low stature. But when I come near to you, there for the first time I see myself. In your light I behold my darkness. In your purity I behold my corruption. My very confession of sin is the fruit of holiness.

Oh! Divine Man, let me gaze on you more and more until, in the vision of your brightness, I loathe the sight of my impurity; until, in the blaze of that glory which human eye has not seen, I fall prostrate, blinded, broken, to rise a new man in you. Amen.   -George Matheson

Fear not the storm...

Fear not the storm, it brings healing in its wings, and when Jesus is with you in the vessel, the tempest only hastens the ship to its desired haven.  -Charles Spurgeon Image

If you do not worship God seven days a week...

If you do not worship God seven days a week, you do not worship Him on one day a week. There is no such thing known in heaven as Sunday worship unless it is accompanied by Monday worship and Tuesday worship and so on.   -A.W. Tozer

But for the Cross of Christ...

 

But for the Cross of Christ 

-Bryan Fowler

Vs 1

What is the truth

That ever anchors me

Amidst the waves of all my guilt

That Christ has shed

His blood and pardoned me

At the cross, at the cross

Vs 2

He bore my sin

I bear His righteousness

Oh what a glorious exchange

The wrath of God

Laid on the spotless Lamb

Oh what grace, oh what grace

Chorus

Behold the cross

There is no greater love

Heaven’s Son

Laid down His life for us

Oh my soul would be lost

With no hope to find

But for the cross of Christ

Vs 3

How do I walk

With humble confidence

I look to Christ Who is my peace

He sealed my hope

And my inheritance

At the cross, at the cross

Vs 4

When I am weak

And stumble into sin

There is an ever-flowing stream

His cleansing blood revives my soul again

Oh what grace, oh what grace

Vs 5

One day I’ll stand

Before the King of Kings

One day I’ll see Him face to face

For Jesus rose

Death lost its bitter sting

Christ has won! Christ has won!

The Light and Glory of the Word...

The Spirit breathes upon the word,

And brings the truth to sight;

Precepts and promises afford

A sanctifying light.

A glory gilds the sacred page,

Majestic like the sun;

It gives a light to every age,

It gives, but borrows none.

The hand that gave it still supplies

The gracious light and heat;

His truths upon the nations rise,

They rise, but never set.

Let everlasting thanks be thine,

For such a bright display,

As makes a world of darkness shine

With beams of heavenly day.

My soul rejoices to pursue

The steps of Him I love,

Till glory break upon my view

In brighter worlds above.

-William Cowper

O Lord our God, Who has called us to serve You...

O Lord our God,

Who has called us to serve You,

In the midst of the world’s affairs,

When we stumble, hold us;

When we fall, lift us up;

When we are hard pressed with evil, deliver us;

When we turn from what is good, turn us back;

And bring us at last to Your glory.

-St. Alcuin 

True Christianity brings with it a daily cross in this life...

We must not conceal from ourselves that true Christianity brings with it a daily cross in this life, while it offers us a crown of glory in the life to come. The flesh must be daily crucified. The devil must be daily resisted. The world must be daily overcome. There is a warfare to be waged, and a battle to be fought. All this is the inseparable accompaniment of true religion. Heaven is not to be won without it. Never was there a truer word than the old saying, “No cross, no crown!” If we never found this out by experience, our souls are in a poor condition.  -J.C. Ryle

My God, how endless is Thy love!

My God, how endless is Thy love!

Thy gifts are ev’ry ev’ning new;

And morning mercies from above

Gently distill like early dew.

 

Thou spread’st the curtains of the night,

Great guardian of my sleeping hours;

Thy sov’reign word restores the light,

And quickens all my drowsy pow’rs.

 

I yield my pow’rs to Thy command,

To Thee I consecrate my days;

Perpetual blessings from Thine hand

Demand perpetual songs of praise.

-Isaac Watts

I thirst, Thou wounded Lamb of God...

I thirst, Thou wounded Lamb of God,

To wash me in Thy cleansing blood,

To dwell within Thy wounds; then pain

Is sweet, and life or death is gain.

 

Take my poor heart, and let it be

For ever closed to all but Thee!

Seal Thou my breast, and let me wear

That pledge of love for ever there.

 

How blest are they who still abide

Close shelter’d in Thy bleeding side;

Who life and strength from thence derive,

And by Thee move, and in Thee live!

 

What are our works but sin and death,

Till Thou Thy quick’ning Spirit breathe?

Thou giv’st the power Thy grace to move—

O wondrous grace! O boundless love!

 

Hence our hearts melt, our eyes o’erflow,

Our words are lost: nor will we know,

Nor will we think of aught, beside

“My Lord, my Love is crucified.”

-Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf