Daily Christian thoughts music, poems based around God
Earlier today on Bellshill Salvation Army Band’s Facebook page I shared some devotions. I’d like to share those devotions with you tonight. It was Covenant Sunday at Bellshill Salvation Army on Sunday, where we considered our relationship with God, and our commitment to serving God. Since then I have found myself thinking a lot about the word […]
My consecration
The buried seed has cracked the ground,
The pilgrimage begun!
The spring ties yellow cords around
The birds bomb scatter-songs of scenes
Where other tiny shoots
Have bubbled into forests green
With waves of foaming roots.
God let me like the flower described
Intent on extra height,
Drink first born Son-shine as prescribed
Pulled up by ropes of light.
Already blood red Pimpernel
You’ve stalled the cart of death
You’ve sacked the guillotine of hell,
And kissed with second breath.
The feathered weft of angel’s wings,
Each jewelled head that turns,
The sceptred skies of planet kings,
The hottest star that burns
Are crazy love-laid paving stones
That cross the sin-stretched miles
And scarlet set cement atones
The path that reconciles.
Yet though the black revolt is quelled
And sin’s against the wall.
Fresh caravans of grace are held
As mortal home guards fall.
For ego leads guerillas still
Who plague the second start,
They sabotage and strive to kill
The re-conditioned heart.
Yet ultimately heaven’s keys
Are mine if I persist,
So purer thoughts I’ll trade for these
And pillagers resist.
Past exemplary saints have bled
With lung-stung nailed breath
And trod the lonely path that led
To empathetic death.
They helped complete in frail flesh
The meal of stale bread,
That Jesus, frightened, tasted fresh
And brought-up with the dead.
And when I’ve chewed my portioned crust
I’ll have the eyes to see,
The hope of glory’s simply just
That Jesus lives in me.
(AJB)
Reginald Heber (1783–1826) wrote Brightest and Best. Heber was Anglican bishop of Calcutta and was by all accounts a good man, standing up for Indian rights and opposing the more obvious defections of imperialism. He focuses only on the magi, poetically describing their exotic gifts in verse 3. The carol’s theme is a little like Rossetti’s Bleak Midwinter, with its final verse pondering what gifts we moderns might bring to the manger, having reflected on the humble-looking child’s cosmic pedigree. Heber uses a little less syrup than Rossetti, noting God’s acceptance of heart-felt worship and humble prayer rather than futile and unwanted physical offerings.
Brightest and Best of the sons of the morning,
Dawn on our darkness and lend us Thine aid;
Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.
Cold on His cradle the dewdrops are shining;
Low lies His head with the beasts of the stall;
Angels adore Him in slumber reclining,
Maker and Monarch and Savior of all!
Say, shall we yield Him, in costly devotion,
Fragrance of Edom and offerings divine?
Gems of the mountain and pearls of the ocean,
Myrrh from the forest, or gold from the mine?
Vainly we offer each ample oblation,
Vainly with gifts would His favor secure;
Richer by far is the heart’s adoration,
Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor.
Hail the blest morn, when the Great Mediator,
Down from the regions of glory descends;
Shepherds, go worship the babe in the manger.
Lo, for His guard, the bright angel attends.
Brightest and Best of the sons of the morning,
Dawn on our darkness and lend us Thine aid;
Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.
18 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted,10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.
11 “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways,each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ 12 But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.’”
1.
Kneeling in penitence I make my prayer,
Owning my weaknesses and my despair;
Failure I cannot hide,
Broken my selfish pride,
Pardon thou dost provide,
Pardon declare.
2.
Nothing can I achieve, nothing attain;
He that without thee builds, labours in vain;
Shatter my own design,
Shaping a plan divine,
Come to this heart of mine,
Saviour, again.
3.
Though few the gifts I have that thou canst use,
Make thy demands on me; I’ll not refuse;
Take all there is of me,
Take what I hope to be;
Thy way at last I see,
Thy way I choose.
There is an additional chorus to this song which is not in the video and the words are as follows:
Chorus
Into thy hands, Lord, take me and mould me,
E’en as the potter handles the clay;
Make me a vessel fit for thy service;
Cleanse me and fill me, and use me today.
30 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you. 3 The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity[a] and restore them to the land I gave their ancestors to possess,’ says the Lord.”
4 These are the words the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah:
And moving to verses 12 – 17
12 “This is what the Lord says:
“‘Your wound is incurable,
your injury beyond healing.
13 There is no one to plead your cause,
no remedy for your sore,
no healing for you.
14 All your allies have forgotten you;
they care nothing for you.
I have struck you as an enemy would
and punished you as would the cruel,
because your guilt is so great
and your sins so many.
15 Why do you cry out over your wound,
your pain that has no cure?
Because of your great guilt and many sins
I have done these things to you.
16 “‘But all who devour you will be devoured;
all your enemies will go into exile.
Those who plunder you will be plundered;
all who make spoil of you I will despoil.
17 But I will restore you to health
and heal your wounds,’
declares the Lord,
‘because you are called an outcast,
Zion for whom no one cares.’
I actually came across this video whilst looking for another one for today and thought it fits in perfectly with verse 17.
Happiness in our lives will come and go,
It’s not something that we can control;
It is very much dependant on our external circumstances.
However, there is joy that can be found in God that can be a constant reality in our lives.
This joy is not tossed about by the storms of life but is an anchor or harbour for us in those storms.
It doesn’t depend on external circumstances in life,
but depends upon God and upon our understanding of what he thinks of us.
This joy is worth more than gold or silver,
and yet, is a free gift available to all.
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
In The Salvation Army we have what is known as ‘Commitment Sunday’. A Sunday when we are asked to dedicate/rededicate our life’s to Christ.
Of course commitment Sunday isn’t the only time you can give your life to Christ, it can happen anytime you wish provided you let him in. The words of an old chorus come to mind:
Behold me standing at the door,
And hear me pleading evermore:
Say, weary heart, oppressed with sin,
May I come in? May I come in?
I leave you with The Chelmsford Citadel Songsters as they sing ‘I Dedicate myself to Thee’. I hope it gives you much blessing.
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
I wonder can you remember as a child when you had been naughty were you given what you asked for by your parents? Chances are you wouldn’t have. You like I would probably only get what we asked for by our parents if we were good
As humans we must remember to be Christ like to get what we ask for from our Lord.
Ever mislaid your car or house keys, mobile phone, TV control etc and can’t find them when you need them? Fortunately I’m not that type of person except for maybe the TV remote.
So that w can “seek, and you will find” We must be Committed to Jesus
We must let Jesus knock at the door of our hearts to let him in to our lives so that we may be saved
12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Frances Havergal (1836-1879) created one of the classic hymns of Christian commitment. Referred to as the “consecration poet,” Havergal strived to live a life fully dedicated to Christ and to those she saw in any physical or spiritual need.
We know that Havergal’s spiritual journey began early in her life, memorizing passages in the Bible at age 4 and writing verse by age seven. She was nurtured by her father, an Anglican clergyman, also devoted to Christian hymnody. Though Havergal’s health was frail and she lived barely 43 years, she learned several modern languages as well as Hebrew and Greek. She was also a singer of some note and known as an accomplished pianist.
This hymn of total dedication to Christ seems to cover every aspect of submission to him. Each line begins with the compulsory verb “Take,” giving the sense of a continual prayer of petition.
1 Take my life and let it be
consecrated, Lord, to thee.
Take my moments and my days;
let them flow in endless praise,
let them flow in endless praise.
2 Take my hands and let them move
at the impulse of thy love.
Take my feet and let them be
swift and beautiful for thee,
swift and beautiful for thee.
3 Take my voice and let me sing
always, only, for my King.
Take my lips and let them be
filled with messages from thee,
filled with messages from thee.
4 Take my silver and my gold;
not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use
every power as thou shalt choose,
every power as thou shalt choose.
5 Take my will and make it thine;
it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart it is thine own;
it shall be thy royal throne,
it shall be thy royal throne.
6 Take my love; my Lord, I pour
at thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be
ever, only, all for thee,
ever, only, all for thee.
