Sunday, April 21, 2024

Learning Christ...

Teach me, my Lord,
to be sweet and gentle in all the events of life,
in disappointments, in the thoughtlessness of those I trusted,
in the unfaithfulness of those on whom I relied.

Let me put myself aside, to think of the happiness of others,
to hide my little pains and heartaches, 
so that I may be the only one to suffer from them.

Teach me to profit by the suffering that comes across my path.
Let me so use it that it may make me patient, not irritable.
That it may make me broad in my forgiveness,
not narrow, haughty and overbearing.

May no one be less good for having come within my influence.
No one less pure, less true, less kind,
less noble for having been a fellow traveler
in our journey toward Eternal Life.

As I go my rounds from one distraction to another,
let me whisper from time to time, a word of love to Thee.
May my life be lived in the supernatural, full of power for good,
and strong in its purpose of sanctity. Amen.

Saturday, April 20, 2024

My soul, hearken to the voice of your God...

My soul, hearken to the voice of your God. He is always ready to speak with you when you are prepared to hear. If there is any slowness to commune, it is not on His part but altogether on your own, for He stands at the door and knocks, and if His people will but open, He rejoices to enter.  
-CH Spurgeon

Thursday, April 18, 2024

Readiness...

God called unto him…and he said, Here am I.  -Exodus 3:4

When God speaks, many of us are like men in a fog, we give no answer. Moses’ reply revealed that he was somewhere. Readiness means a right relationship to God and a knowledge of where we are at present. We are so busy telling God where we would like to go. The man or woman who is ready for God and His work is the one who carries off the prize when the summons comes. We wait with the idea of some great opportunity, something sensational, and when it comes we are quick to cry — “Here am I.” Whenever Jesus Christ is in the ascendant, we are there; but we are not ready for an obscure duty.

Readiness for God means that we are ready to do the tiniest little thing or the great big thing, it makes no difference. We have no choice in what we want to do, whatever God’s programme may be we are there, ready. When any duty presents itself we hear God’s voice as Our Lord heard His Father’s voice, and we are ready for it with all the alertness of our love for Him. Jesus Christ expects to do with us as His Father did with Him. He can put us where He likes, in pleasant duties or in mean* duties, because the union is that of the Father and Himself. “That they may be one, even as We are one.”

Be ready for the sudden surprise visits of God. A ready person never needs to get ready. Think of the time we waste trying to get ready when God has called! The burning bush is a symbol of everything that surrounds the ready soul, it is ablaze with the presence of God. -by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, April 13, 2024

There Is Hope...

There Is Hope/CityAlight

1. There is hope in grace unceasing
You withhold your wrath from me
Poured it out upon my Saviour
On the cross of Calvary

2. There is hope now for the hopeless
There is victory all can know
For the tomb lies bare and broken
And deaths pow’r is overthrown

CHORUS
Jesus Christ my hope forever
Hope unlike the world can bring
Your steadfast love beyond all measure
There is hope in Christ my king

3. There is hope for sons and daughters
Who have wandered on their own
Hear the songs of joy from heaven
As the lost are welcomed home

BRIDGE
Hallelujah, Hope of heaven
Precious treasure of my life
All my joy is in your presence
I am yours and you are mine

4. I will wait until I see him
Though the twilight turns to night
For my hope is not defeated
It will greet His dawning light

Wednesday, April 10, 2024

“For as the earth brings forth its sprouts..."

“For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, 
 and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, 
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations." -Isaiah 62:11

Asiatic lilies

Daffodils

Periwinkle


Early spring garden blooms....

Saturday, April 6, 2024

God of Every Grace...

God of Every Grace
 Keith & Kristyn Getty, Matt Boswell, Matt Papa

O let not this world of sorrows
Steal my only hope away
For the power of Your gospel
Shines within this jar of clay
In affliction You bring wisdom
That my comforts can displace
How my true and greatest treasure
Is in You the God of grace

Now to the God of every grace
Who counts my tears, who holds my days
I sing through sorrows, sing with faith
O praise the God of every grace

Weary with the weight I carry
Give me wings of faith to rise
For You know each grief that lingers
Through the watches of the night
Surely You have borne our sufferings
At the cross took up our pain
And You lead us on to glory
As we trust You, God of grace

Now to the God of every grace
Who counts my tears, who holds my days
I sing through sorrows, sing with faith
O praise the God of every grace

There’s a dawning hope before us
That I know is soon to break
As I wait upon Your mercy
Which will swallow every ache
Cries of joy and songs of victory
When we enter heaven’s gates
All Your children home together
All with You the God of grace

Now to the God of every grace
Who counts my tears, who holds my days
I sing through sorrows, sing with faith
O praise the God of every grace
Now to the God of every grace
Who counts my tears, who holds my days
I sing through sorrows, sing with faith
O praise the God of every grace
O praise the God of every grace
O praise the God of every grace

Come People of the Risen King!

Come People of the Risen King - Keith & Kristyn Getty 

Come, people of the Risen King,
Who delight to bring Him praise;
Come all and tune your hearts to sing
To the Morning Star of grace.
From the shifting shadows of the earth
We will lift our eyes to Him,
Where steady arms of mercy reach
To gather children in.

REFRAIN
Rejoice, Rejoice! Let every tongue rejoice!
One heart, one voice; O Church of Christ, rejoice!

Come, those whose joy is morning sun,
And those weeping through the night;
Come, those who tell of battles won,
And those struggling in the fight.
For His perfect love will never change,
And His mercies never cease,
But follow us through all our days
With the certain hope of peace.

Come, young and old from every land –
Men and women of the faith;
Come, those with full or empty hands –
Find the riches of His grace.
Over all the world, His people sing –
Shore to shore we hear them call
The Truth that cries through every age:
“Our God is all in all

Sunday, March 31, 2024

He is risen, He is risen!

He is risen, He is risen!
Tell it out with joyful voice:
He has burst his three days' prison;
Let the whole wide earth rejoice:
Death is conquered, man is free,
Christ has won the victory.

Come, with high and holy hymning,
Chant our Lord's triumphant day;
Not one darksome cloud is dimming
Yonder glorious morning ray,
Breaking o’er the purple east,
Symbol of our Easter feast.

He is risen, He is risen!
He hath opened heaven's gate:
We are free from sin's dark prison,
Risen to a holier state;
And a brighter Easter beam
On our longing eyes shall stream.
-Joachim Neander

Saturday, March 30, 2024

On That Day...

On That Day/CityAlight

 I believe in Christ, risen from the dead
   He now reigns victorious, His kingdom knows no end
   Through His resurrection death has lost its hold
   I know on that final day I’ll rise as Jesus rose

CHORUS
On that day we will see you shining brighter than the sun
On that day we will know you as we lift our voice as one
Till that day we will praise you for your never ending grace
And we will keep on singing on that glorious day

2. What a blessed hope, though now tired and worn
   We will spend eternity around our Saviour’s throne
   Though we grieve our losses we grieve not in vain
   For we know our crown of glory waits beyond the grave

BRIDGE
Hallelujah what a day it will be
For at home with you my joy is complete
As I run into your arms open wide I will see
My father who is waiting for me

Holy Saturday: Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
     O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
    to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
    O Lord, who could stand?
 But with you there is forgiveness,
    that you may be feared.

 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.

 O Israel, hope in the Lord!
    For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
    and with him is plentiful redemption.
 And he will redeem Israel
    from all his iniquities.
-Psalm 130 

Friday, March 29, 2024

Jerusalem...Praise the One Who saved us!

 
Jerusalem/CityAlight

See Him in Jerusalem
Walking where the crowds are
Once these streets had sung to Him
Now they cry for murder
Such a frail and lonely Man
Holding up the heavy cross
See Him walking in Jerusalem
On the road to save us

2. See Him there upon the hill
Hear the scorn and laughter
Silent as a lamb He waits
Praying to the Father
See the King who made the sun
And the moon and shining stars
Let the soldiers hold and nail Him down
So that He could save them

3. See Him there upon the cross
Now no longer breathing
Dust that formed the watching crowds
Takes the blood of Jesus
Feel the earth is shaking now
See the veil is split in two
And He stood before the wrath of God
Shielding sinners with His blood

4. See the empty tomb today
Death could not contain Him
Once the Servant of the world
Now in vict'ry reigning
Lift your voices to the One
Who is seated on the throne
See Him in the New Jerusalem
Praise the One who saved us

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Holy Thursday: Is It So?

Then He poureth water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded. -John 13:5
 
The Lord Jesus loves his people so much, that every day he is still doing for them much that is analogous to washing their soiled feet. Their poorest actions he accepts; their deepest sorrow he feels; their slenderest wish he hears, and their every transgression he forgives. He is still their servant as well as their Friend and Master....humbly, patiently, he yet goes about among his people with the basin and the towel. He does this when he puts away from us day by day our constant infirmities and sins....It is a great act of eternal love when Christ once for all absolves the sinner, and puts him into the family of God; but what condescending patience there is when the Saviour with much long-suffering bears the oft recurring follies of his wayward disciple; day by day, and hour by hour, washing away the multiplied transgressions of his erring but yet beloved child!....While we find comfort and peace in our Lord’s daily cleansing, its legitimate influence upon us will be to increase our watchfulness, and quicken our desire for holiness. Is it so? ...CH Spurgeon Image