God of My Soul, Lord of My Heart
Oh Lord, Jesus, my Saviour:
As you redeemed me of my soul,
I have strive to be one like You;
I have searched your presence
in every pages of my heart;
I have searched your power
in every pages of my spirit;
And all I have is You
in the deepest anchor of my own.
Oh Lord, Jesus, my Redeemer:
As you saved me from my sins,
I have strive to be one of your angels;
I have searched your voice
in every pages of my soul;
I have searched your loving heart
in every pages of my person;
And all I have is Faith
in the deepest anchor of my self.
Lord Jesus Christ:
God of my soul, Lord of my heart.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Thee , God, I come from
Thee, God, I Come from
Thee, God, I come from, to thee go,
All day long I like fountain flow
From thy hand out, swayed about
Mote-like in thy mighty glow.
What I know of thee I bless,
As acknowledging thy stress
On my being and as seeing
Something of thy holiness.
Once I turned from thee and hid,
Bound on what thou hadst forbid;
Sow the wind I would; I sinned:
I repent of what I did.
Bad I am, but yet thy child.
Father, be thou reconciled.
Spare thou me, since I see
With thy might that thou art mild.
I have life before me still
And thy purpose to fulfil;
Yea a debt to pay thee yet:
Help me, sir, and so I will.
But thou bidst, and just thou art,
Me shew mercy from my heart
Towards my brother, every other
Man my mate and counterpart.
. . . . . . . .
Thee, God, I come from, to thee go,
All day long I like fountain flow
From thy hand out, swayed about
Mote-like in thy mighty glow.
What I know of thee I bless,
As acknowledging thy stress
On my being and as seeing
Something of thy holiness.
Once I turned from thee and hid,
Bound on what thou hadst forbid;
Sow the wind I would; I sinned:
I repent of what I did.
Bad I am, but yet thy child.
Father, be thou reconciled.
Spare thou me, since I see
With thy might that thou art mild.
I have life before me still
And thy purpose to fulfil;
Yea a debt to pay thee yet:
Help me, sir, and so I will.
But thou bidst, and just thou art,
Me shew mercy from my heart
Towards my brother, every other
Man my mate and counterpart.
. . . . . . . .
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Jesus' View of Scripture
Jesus' View of Scripture
They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority…
MARK 1:22
Christ had no doubts about His message because He was the Word of God in human flesh.
The young preacher was in a quandary. While searching for direction about what shape his developing work should take, his plight was aggravated by the fact that a friend in ministry was now having serious questions about his faith, especially about the Scriptures. He had to admit to himself that he, too, was having similar questions. After all, popular writers of the day were making assertions that didn’t square with what he had been taught as a child and learned while he was in school. At the heart of his dilemma was whether the Bible could be trusted. His struggle left him feeling hypocritical. He could not go on preaching to people while, at the same time, having nagging doubts in his own mind about the Bible’s reliability. With an ever-busier schedule looming before him, something had to give. He had to resolve the issue one way or the other, once and for all.
One moonlit night he went for a walk in the woods, pondering the questions swirling in his head. As he related years later:
Dropping to my knees there in the woods, I opened the Bible at random on a tree stump in front of me. I could not read it in the shadowy moonlight, so I had no idea what text lay before me…I could only stutter into prayer. The exact wording of my prayer is beyond recall, but it must have echoed my thoughts: “O God! There are many things in this book I do not understand. There are many problems with it for which I have no solution. There are many seeming contradictions. There are some areas in it that do not seem to correlate with modern science. I can’t answer some of the philosophical and psychological questions…”
Then this young preacher made a commitment that would forever mark his life.
“Father, I am going to accept this as Thy Word - by faith! I’m going to allow faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts, and I will believe this to be your inspired Word.”
Reflecting on that moment, he said, “When I got up from my knees, I sensed the presence and power of God as I had not sensed it in months. Not all my questions were answered, but a major bridge
had been crossed. In my heart and mind, I knew a spiritual battle had been fought and won.” Throughout his subsequent ministry, people would comment on the conviction and authority with which he preached.
When Christ began teaching the crowds that thronged after Him, He spoke with unparalleled conviction and authority. He had no doubts about His message because He was the Word of God in human flesh. One of the 12 men Jesus chose to be with Him as His disciples, a fisherman named John, began his Gospel account about Jesus by saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2).
Jesus Himself told His hearers, “You search the Scriptures…it is these that testify about Me” (John 5:39). And, in the words of one of the New Testament writers, “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son…. And He is…the exact representation of His nature” (Hebrews 1:1-3).
The authority in Christ’s words was evident to those who heard Him. After being tempted
They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority…
MARK 1:22
Christ had no doubts about His message because He was the Word of God in human flesh.
The young preacher was in a quandary. While searching for direction about what shape his developing work should take, his plight was aggravated by the fact that a friend in ministry was now having serious questions about his faith, especially about the Scriptures. He had to admit to himself that he, too, was having similar questions. After all, popular writers of the day were making assertions that didn’t square with what he had been taught as a child and learned while he was in school. At the heart of his dilemma was whether the Bible could be trusted. His struggle left him feeling hypocritical. He could not go on preaching to people while, at the same time, having nagging doubts in his own mind about the Bible’s reliability. With an ever-busier schedule looming before him, something had to give. He had to resolve the issue one way or the other, once and for all.
One moonlit night he went for a walk in the woods, pondering the questions swirling in his head. As he related years later:
Dropping to my knees there in the woods, I opened the Bible at random on a tree stump in front of me. I could not read it in the shadowy moonlight, so I had no idea what text lay before me…I could only stutter into prayer. The exact wording of my prayer is beyond recall, but it must have echoed my thoughts: “O God! There are many things in this book I do not understand. There are many problems with it for which I have no solution. There are many seeming contradictions. There are some areas in it that do not seem to correlate with modern science. I can’t answer some of the philosophical and psychological questions…”
Then this young preacher made a commitment that would forever mark his life.
“Father, I am going to accept this as Thy Word - by faith! I’m going to allow faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts, and I will believe this to be your inspired Word.”
Reflecting on that moment, he said, “When I got up from my knees, I sensed the presence and power of God as I had not sensed it in months. Not all my questions were answered, but a major bridge
had been crossed. In my heart and mind, I knew a spiritual battle had been fought and won.” Throughout his subsequent ministry, people would comment on the conviction and authority with which he preached.
When Christ began teaching the crowds that thronged after Him, He spoke with unparalleled conviction and authority. He had no doubts about His message because He was the Word of God in human flesh. One of the 12 men Jesus chose to be with Him as His disciples, a fisherman named John, began his Gospel account about Jesus by saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2).
Jesus Himself told His hearers, “You search the Scriptures…it is these that testify about Me” (John 5:39). And, in the words of one of the New Testament writers, “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son…. And He is…the exact representation of His nature” (Hebrews 1:1-3).
The authority in Christ’s words was evident to those who heard Him. After being tempted
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Overcoming: Making Peace with Your Past
Overcoming: Making Peace with Your Past
In the early 1970's, the Carpenters dominated on the pop music charts. With top ten songs like We've Only Just Begun, Rainy Days and Mondays, Top of the World, and their mega-hit Close to You, Karen and her brother Richard produced an amazing fourteen Gold records. In the process they also won an Oscar and three Grammy awards. Blessed with a voice as pretty as sunshine, Karen Carpenter could have dominated the music scene for years to come.
Yet behind the bright lights of popularity, a dark enemy loomed. Karen Carpenter was starving herself to death because of the eating disorder anorexia nervosa. Later she claimed her anorexia began after a music reviewer called her "Richard's chubby little sister." Little did the reviewer know that from the time she was a young girl, Karen battled self-esteem and weight problems. Though she became a music superstar, Karen could not shake her adolescent and childhood insecurities. The coroner's report stated that Karen died of a heart attack brought on by anorexia, but Karen Carpenter died, in part, because she was unable to make peace with her past.
In the 1980's, Rosanne Barr became a household name. The star of a hit television sitcom, she also regularly appeared on the covers of the tabloids because of her outrageous antics. A television movie chronicled her life and rise to stardom. The movie portrayed a different side of Rosanne. Rather than the uncouth, rough comedian we are so familiar with, America came to know a woman trying to come to grips with her childhood memories of sexual abuse. Could it be that Rosanne's crude public outbursts are in part the result of great pain she carries from her past?
Like Karen and Rosanne, we all have a past -- a past which we can neither escape nor change. A past filled with memories so powerful that their recall often brings pain to the present. Our stomach knots up. Feelings of inferiority arise. Long forgotten fears once again grab a choke hold on our life. The entire field of psychology is based on the premise that the past affects our present life. If true, it is essential that we learn how to make peace with our past.
Joseph, son of Jacob, overcame a painful past. He was raised in what we would call a "dysfunctional family." Sibling rivalry filled Jacob's household. Favoritism abounded. Hatred was a regular dish served on the family menu. One day, Joseph's brothers caught him, threw him into a pit, and discussed killing him. One brother intervened and convinced the rest instead to sell Joseph as a slave to traders headed toward Egypt.
In Egypt, Joseph became the property of a man named Potiphar. Potiphar's wife had eyes for Joseph, though, and made continual sexual advances toward him. Frustrated by Joseph's refusal, she falsely charged him with attempted rape and he was imprisoned.
While imprisoned, Joseph made friends with a baker and a cupbearer. Each promised to pull their political strings and secure Joseph's release, if and when they were freed. In time, the baker was hanged. The cupbearer was freed, but suffered a case of amnesia when it came to Joseph. For two more years, Joseph's mailing address was an Egyptian prison.
In the early 1970's, the Carpenters dominated on the pop music charts. With top ten songs like We've Only Just Begun, Rainy Days and Mondays, Top of the World, and their mega-hit Close to You, Karen and her brother Richard produced an amazing fourteen Gold records. In the process they also won an Oscar and three Grammy awards. Blessed with a voice as pretty as sunshine, Karen Carpenter could have dominated the music scene for years to come.
Yet behind the bright lights of popularity, a dark enemy loomed. Karen Carpenter was starving herself to death because of the eating disorder anorexia nervosa. Later she claimed her anorexia began after a music reviewer called her "Richard's chubby little sister." Little did the reviewer know that from the time she was a young girl, Karen battled self-esteem and weight problems. Though she became a music superstar, Karen could not shake her adolescent and childhood insecurities. The coroner's report stated that Karen died of a heart attack brought on by anorexia, but Karen Carpenter died, in part, because she was unable to make peace with her past.
In the 1980's, Rosanne Barr became a household name. The star of a hit television sitcom, she also regularly appeared on the covers of the tabloids because of her outrageous antics. A television movie chronicled her life and rise to stardom. The movie portrayed a different side of Rosanne. Rather than the uncouth, rough comedian we are so familiar with, America came to know a woman trying to come to grips with her childhood memories of sexual abuse. Could it be that Rosanne's crude public outbursts are in part the result of great pain she carries from her past?
Like Karen and Rosanne, we all have a past -- a past which we can neither escape nor change. A past filled with memories so powerful that their recall often brings pain to the present. Our stomach knots up. Feelings of inferiority arise. Long forgotten fears once again grab a choke hold on our life. The entire field of psychology is based on the premise that the past affects our present life. If true, it is essential that we learn how to make peace with our past.
Joseph, son of Jacob, overcame a painful past. He was raised in what we would call a "dysfunctional family." Sibling rivalry filled Jacob's household. Favoritism abounded. Hatred was a regular dish served on the family menu. One day, Joseph's brothers caught him, threw him into a pit, and discussed killing him. One brother intervened and convinced the rest instead to sell Joseph as a slave to traders headed toward Egypt.
In Egypt, Joseph became the property of a man named Potiphar. Potiphar's wife had eyes for Joseph, though, and made continual sexual advances toward him. Frustrated by Joseph's refusal, she falsely charged him with attempted rape and he was imprisoned.
While imprisoned, Joseph made friends with a baker and a cupbearer. Each promised to pull their political strings and secure Joseph's release, if and when they were freed. In time, the baker was hanged. The cupbearer was freed, but suffered a case of amnesia when it came to Joseph. For two more years, Joseph's mailing address was an Egyptian prison.
Remenber God
REMEMBER GOD
Remember God in your life
He is the rock of salvation
You were born to sing
Remember God
He loves to hear you singing his gospel
Open up your eyes
And see this man standing next to you
Remember God
He given your life
And your health
He given all his love to you
Sing hallelujah sing hallelujah
To the Lord
You will need him in your life
Your life is meaningless without him
Remember God in your life
He is the rock of salvation
You were born to sing
Remember God
He loves to hear you singing his gospel
Open up your eyes
And see this man standing next to you
Remember God
He given your life
And your health
He given all his love to you
Sing hallelujah sing hallelujah
To the Lord
You will need him in your life
Your life is meaningless without him
Monday, January 14, 2008
Communicating with God
Communicating With God
Prayer, a special way of communicating with God.
Reaching out to the holy spirit, calling his name.
Awaiting an answer while worshiping with others.
You exercise patience whenever he’s called upon..
Each and everyday, one must try to kneel and pray.
Relax, this is your precious time alone with the Lord.
Prayer, a special way of communicating with God.
Reaching out to the holy spirit, calling his name.
Awaiting an answer while worshiping with others.
You exercise patience whenever he’s called upon..
Each and everyday, one must try to kneel and pray.
Relax, this is your precious time alone with the Lord.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Christain Freedom: Freedom and Fireworks
Christian Freedom: Freedom and Fireworks
Nowadays it seems freedom and fireworks always go together. In our day and age, when you talk about freedom, you can be sure fireworks will follow. Not the Fourth of July kind, mind you. Rather, the kind of fireworks that erupt when different people's "freedoms" conflict. No matter what the issue -- almost all talk of freedom, rights and power seems to lead to fireworks of conflict. Of course, Paul and his church in Galatia would sympathize.
Paul and the Galatians are up in arms about what Christian freedom is. They cannot seem to agree about the shape it should take in the Galatian church. Differing understandings of freedom lead to fireworks. For in Paul's day, just as in our own, power and conflict go hand in hand. Freedom and fireworks belong together.
Of course, it is easy to see where the conflict comes from. After all, for us, freedom means choosing for ourselves. Liberty is being in the driver's seat. For folks like you and me, freedom equals the power to choose. There is a bus in a large city that bears testimony to our perspective. In most busses, riders must push a red button on a pole to signal the driver to stop and let them off. In most cases pushing the red button causes a bell to ring and a sign to light up just over the drivels head. When the bell dings, the sign flashes: Bus Will Stop. Yet on one city bus somebody had crossed out this standard message and scribbled their own on the sign. Now for the benefit of its freedom exercising ridership the sign flashes: Ring or Ride: You Decide!
Yet this attitude is not just confined to big city busses. Just think about how we view our freedom to choose in every day terms. At least once a week we drive down to the supermarket, shopping list in hand. After wrestling with some grocery cart we start strolling down the aisle ready to exercise our freedom. Being the smart shoppers we are, we have shelf upon shelf of choices to make. Check out the potato chips. What should it be this time -- regular, nacho flavor, or how about these light ones with half the calories? Roll on into the soup aisle and the choices get only greater. What will it be for supper tonight -- chicken noodle, cajun creole, or perhaps bean with bacon? But our freedom does not stop there. We pull into the checkout lane and discover even more choices to make: whether cash or check or perhaps oven bank card!
It is clear that in our everyday lives we are free to make choices. So for us the definition is clear
ar -- freedom means choosing. Liberty puts us in the driver's seat. For us freedom means the power to choose.The problem is, freedom can turn into a tool of evil. In big and small ways evil can work through our free choices. Evil can use our freedom as a tool. Listen in on how Paul warns the Galatians: "If you bite and devour one another," he warns, "take heed that you are not consumed by one another." Then Paul goes through his litany of how evil makes use of the Galatians' freedom -- fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dis-sension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing and the like. You can almost feel the chaos that unbridled liberty unleashes. Absolute freedom can corrupt, absolutely. Remember viewing the uprising in Tienanmen Square in China a few years back on TV? We all watched breathless as students called for change in the dictatorial Chinese government. We remember Chinese students marching up and down the square. We even watched as one young man stared down a tank armed only with his convictions. Thanks to Western news agencies beaming the story by satellite across the world, we enjoyed our freedom watching them on our TVs.
Nowadays it seems freedom and fireworks always go together. In our day and age, when you talk about freedom, you can be sure fireworks will follow. Not the Fourth of July kind, mind you. Rather, the kind of fireworks that erupt when different people's "freedoms" conflict. No matter what the issue -- almost all talk of freedom, rights and power seems to lead to fireworks of conflict. Of course, Paul and his church in Galatia would sympathize.
Paul and the Galatians are up in arms about what Christian freedom is. They cannot seem to agree about the shape it should take in the Galatian church. Differing understandings of freedom lead to fireworks. For in Paul's day, just as in our own, power and conflict go hand in hand. Freedom and fireworks belong together.
Of course, it is easy to see where the conflict comes from. After all, for us, freedom means choosing for ourselves. Liberty is being in the driver's seat. For folks like you and me, freedom equals the power to choose. There is a bus in a large city that bears testimony to our perspective. In most busses, riders must push a red button on a pole to signal the driver to stop and let them off. In most cases pushing the red button causes a bell to ring and a sign to light up just over the drivels head. When the bell dings, the sign flashes: Bus Will Stop. Yet on one city bus somebody had crossed out this standard message and scribbled their own on the sign. Now for the benefit of its freedom exercising ridership the sign flashes: Ring or Ride: You Decide!
Yet this attitude is not just confined to big city busses. Just think about how we view our freedom to choose in every day terms. At least once a week we drive down to the supermarket, shopping list in hand. After wrestling with some grocery cart we start strolling down the aisle ready to exercise our freedom. Being the smart shoppers we are, we have shelf upon shelf of choices to make. Check out the potato chips. What should it be this time -- regular, nacho flavor, or how about these light ones with half the calories? Roll on into the soup aisle and the choices get only greater. What will it be for supper tonight -- chicken noodle, cajun creole, or perhaps bean with bacon? But our freedom does not stop there. We pull into the checkout lane and discover even more choices to make: whether cash or check or perhaps oven bank card!
It is clear that in our everyday lives we are free to make choices. So for us the definition is clear
ar -- freedom means choosing. Liberty puts us in the driver's seat. For us freedom means the power to choose.The problem is, freedom can turn into a tool of evil. In big and small ways evil can work through our free choices. Evil can use our freedom as a tool. Listen in on how Paul warns the Galatians: "If you bite and devour one another," he warns, "take heed that you are not consumed by one another." Then Paul goes through his litany of how evil makes use of the Galatians' freedom -- fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dis-sension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing and the like. You can almost feel the chaos that unbridled liberty unleashes. Absolute freedom can corrupt, absolutely. Remember viewing the uprising in Tienanmen Square in China a few years back on TV? We all watched breathless as students called for change in the dictatorial Chinese government. We remember Chinese students marching up and down the square. We even watched as one young man stared down a tank armed only with his convictions. Thanks to Western news agencies beaming the story by satellite across the world, we enjoyed our freedom watching them on our TVs.
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