"When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers..."

O Lord, our Lord,

    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

    Out of the mouth of babies and infants,

you have established strength because of your foes,

    to still the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, 

the work of your fingers,

    the moon and the stars, 

which you have set in place,

what is man that you are mindful of him,

    and the son of man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him a little lower 

than the heavenly beings

    and crowned him with glory and honor.

You have given him dominion 

over the works of your hands;

    you have put all things under his feet,

all sheep and oxen,

    and also the beasts of the field,

the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,

    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord,

    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

     -Psalm 8

“Blessed are you..."

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 

-Matthew 5:11-12

I waited patiently for the Lord...

I waited patiently for the Lord;

    he inclined to me and heard my cry.

He drew me up from the pit of destruction,

    out of the miry bog,

and set my feet upon a rock,

    making my steps secure.

He put a new song in my mouth,

    a song of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear,

    and put their trust in the Lord.

Blessed is the man who makes

    the Lord his trust,

who does not turn to the proud,

    to those who go astray after a lie!

You have multiplied, O Lord my God,

    your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;

    none can compare with you!

I will proclaim and tell of them,

    yet they are more than can be told.

-Psalm 40:1-5

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus...

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  

-Romans 8:2-4

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven

    and do not return there but water the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

    it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."

-Isaiah 55:10-11

A Thousand Hallelujahs...

 

A Thousand Hallelujahs 

 Brooke Ligertwood

Who else would rocks cry out to worship

Whose glory taught the stars to shine

Perhaps creation longs to have the words to sing

But this joy is mine

 

With a thousand hallelujahs

We magnify Your Name

You alone deserve the glory

The honor and the praise

Lord Jesus this song is forever Yours

A thousand hallelujahs

And a thousand more

 

Who else would die for our redemption

Whose resurrection means I’ll rise

There isn’t time enough to sing of all You’ve done

But I have eternity to try

  

Praise to the Lord

To the Lamb

To the King of heaven

Praise for He rose

Now He reigns

We will sing forever

 

(We sing) Praise to the Lord

To the Lamb

To the King of heaven

Praise for He rose

Now He reigns

We will sing forever

Let me hear what God the Lord will speak...

Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,

    for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;

    but let them not turn back to folly.

Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,

    that glory may dwell in our land.

Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;

    righteousness and peace kiss each other.

Faithfulness springs up from the ground,

    and righteousness looks down from the sky.

Yes, the Lord will give what is good,

    and our land will yield its increase.

Righteousness will go before him

    and make his footsteps a way.

-Psalm 85:8-13 Image

Living stones...

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. -1 Peter 2:4-5 Image

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more...

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. 

-Philippians 1:9-11

There is a joy which is not given to the ungodly, but to those who love Thee for Thine own sake, whose joy Thou Thyself art. And this is the happy life, to rejoice to Thee, of Thee, for Thee; this it is, and there is no other.  -St. Augustine

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits...

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

    and in his word I hope;

my soul waits for the Lord

    more than watchmen for the morning,

    more than watchmen for the morning.

-Psalm 130:5-6 Image

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!

    The children of mankind take refuge 

in the shadow of your wings.

They feast on the abundance of your house,

    and you give them drink

 from the river of your delights.

For with you is the fountain of life;

    in your light do we see light.

   -Psalm 36:7-9

You who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ...

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.  -Ephesians 2:13-17

As Christians, we must maintain day in and day out that peace is not something to be achieved by our power. Rather peace is a gift of God that comes only by our being a community formed around a crucified savior—a savior who teaches us how to be peaceful in a world in rebellion against its true Lord.  -Stanley Hauerwas