Tag: Faith

Perfect Love

1 John 4 New International Version

God’s Love and Ours

⁷Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

¹³This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. ¹⁶And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. ¹⁷This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement: In this world we are like Jesus. ¹⁸There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

¹⁹We love because he first loved us. ²⁰Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. ²¹And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

O perfect Love, all human thought transcending,
Lowly we kneel in prayer before Thy throne,
That theirs may be the love that knows no ending,
Whom Thou forevermore dost join in one.

O perfect Life, be Thou their full assurance
Of tender charity and steadfast faith,
Of patient hope, and quiet, brave endurance,
With childlike trust that fears nor pain nor death.

Grant them the joy which brightens earthly sorrow;
Grant them the peace which calms all earthly strife,
And to life’s day the glorious unknown morrow
That dawns upon eternal love and life.

Dealing with Anxiety

Matthew 6:25-34

25″Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 28″And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you-you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

I think the video (and bible reading) above sums it all up don’t you!

Why Did David Lift His Eyes to the Hills?

Why Did David Lift His Eyes to the Hills? A New Perspective on an Old Question

I was inspired by a friend who is holidaying in the area of “The Ochills” in Scotland and was reminded of the inspiration a man called Earnest Rance received from the fist two verses to write this song,

https://extranet.salvos.net/misc/auesongbook.nsf/c86531ad19e5596cca256d030017dd6b/12f5913ac1950250ca256d01001369dc?OpenDocument

Being Different

1 Corinthians 12:12-25

One Body with Many Members
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves[a] or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts,[b] yet one body. See the source image
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honourable we bestow the greater honour, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honour to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

As Christians we have chosen to live a life of Faith, holiness and victory, and in this song that I have chosen we are also inviting the holy spirit to come and cleanse our lives so that we can live like Christ and share his compassion as we serve him every day.

I dare to live the life of faith,
The life of challenge God has planned.
Of holiness and victory,
For truth and righteousness to stand.

Chorus
I dare to be different, I dare to believe;
I dare to be different, God’s Spirit receive.
I dare to be different, my life sacrificed;
I dare to be different by living like Christ.

I dare to ask the Spirit, come,
To match with pow’r my heart’s desire.
My life to cleanse and energise,
With mighty Pentecostal fire.

I dare to be different, I dare to believe;
I dare to be different, God’s Spirit receive.
I dare to be different, my life sacrificed;
I dare to be different by living like Christ.

I dare to want to live like Christ
According to his will and way;
His love to know, compassion share,
And serve him boldly ev’ry day.

Chorus:
I dare to be different, I dare to believe;
I dare to be different, God’s Spirit receive.
I dare to be different, my life sacrificed;
I dare to be different by living like Christ.
(repeat)

Like Christ!

Year in review. Hope in trial.

Though the battles, have been rough,

Our eyes they see, our eyes look up!

The glinting on horizon stands,

Our faith to see, unfolding plans.

No matter what we must endure,

Our hope in trial, is destined sure;

Amoung the crash catastrophe,

God’s Hand of work, we clearly see!

The prophet’s eye, zoom far to see,’

Cross centuries, God’s tapestry!

Each moment, details very small,

Was in His plan, was at His call.

The insignificant, was grand!

The harvest mighty in His plan!

The ordinary plain to see,

Holds wonders in eternity!

But oh! The sacrificial love!

The greatest plan, of heaven above!

With buff and heat and pain below,

So love of huge proportions grows!

The gem our God creates right here,

Exceptional in beauty dear,

Is clothed in rags, and pain, and tears,

Yet inward shines increasing clear!

So lift your eyes, above bleak doubt,

And in His mighty love, now shout!

He’ll finish what began in you,

A perfect work, of love that’s true.

By Lisa Lawlor

The Great Awakening

Deuteronomy 34:1-8 New International Version – UK

The death of Moses

34 Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, opposite Jericho. There the Lord showed him the whole land – from Gilead to Dan, ²all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea, ³the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar. ⁴Then the Lord said to him, ‘This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, “I will give it to your descendants.” I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.’

⁵And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. ⁶He buried him^[a] in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. ⁷Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. ⁸The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.

Lord, pour out Your Spirit
On all the peoples of the earth
Let Your sons and daughters
Speak Your words of prophesy
Send us dreams and visions
Reveal the secret of Your heart
Lord our faith is rising
Let all heaven sound the coming of Your day

There’s gonna be a great awakening
There’s gonna be a great revival in our
land
There’s gonna be a great awakening
And everyone who calls on Jesus
They will be saved

Lord, pour out Your Spirit
On all the nations of the world
Let them see Your glory
Let them fall in reverent awe
Show Your mighty power
Shake the heavens and the earth
Lord, the world is waiting
Let creation see the coming of Your day

There’s gonna be a great awakening
There’s gonna be a great revival in our
land
There’s gonna be a great awakening
And everyone who calls on Jesus
They will be saved

There’s gonna be a great awakening
There’s gonna be a great revival in our land
There’s gonna be a great awakening
And everyone who calls on Jesus
They will be saved

There’s gonna be a great awakening
There’s gonna be a great revival in our
land
There’s gonna be a great awakening
And everyone who calls on Jesus
They will be saved

Filling the Heart and Mind

Christ so fills my heart and mind
It’s where I want to be
To leave the hardened world behind
For Christ, His face to see!

So capture all my heart and soul
With love that fills my eyes
For when the Living Word I hold
My faith in full does rise!

And help me when I drift away
Through waves of toil and care
To hold the anchor in the sway
My hope in storm to bear!

Never let my heart grow cold
Nor hardness subtlety creep
But make my faith become more bold
My heart and mind, please keep!

Christ abounds in love and grace,
My shortfall it is lost!
He overcomes my sin, no trace!
Into deep sea, it’s tossed!

By Lisa Lawlor

Lisa is a member of my Facebook group “Christian music, devotions & poems. She has very kindly allowed me to put music to her lyric’s where or when I can. The song I found for the above lyric’s is called “O Disclose thy lovely face”.

Learning to Trust

Matthew 6:25-34 New International Version – UK (NIVUK)

Do not worry

²⁵‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?

²⁸‘And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. ²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. ³⁰If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith? ³¹So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” ³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

As the varied way of life we journey,
Come the plains and then the mountainside,
Come the days of joy when birds are singing,
And the world is fair and sweet and wide;
Then a deeper joy comes, overfilling,
From the everlasting throne of love,
And all other joy is but an echo
From the ever-blessèd heights above.

There are shadows on the earthly pathway
Where, at times uncertainly, we tread;
In perplexity we halt and linger
Till our faith again is upward led.
For the heights of truth are ever calling,
And celestial radiance from afar
On our pilgrim way is gently falling
For our comfort where the shadows are.

In the days of peace and golden sunshine,
In the days of joy, or days of woe,
There is confidence in Him who holds us;
There is light to guide us here below.
And beyond await the heights of rapture,
Where all earthly joys, transcended, fade
In the glory of the Saviour’s presence,
In the Home eternal He has made.

Listen to Jesus

Proverbs 8 New International Version

³²“Now then, my children, listen to me;
    blessed are those who keep my ways.
³³Listen to my instruction and be wise;
    do not disregard it.
³⁴Blessed are those who listen to me,
    watching daily at my doors,
    waiting at my doorway.
³⁵For those who find me find life
    and receive favour from the Lord.
³⁶But those who fail to find me harm themselves;
    all who hate me love death.”

Although this passage of scripture indicates that Jesus is talking to children, the passage really refers to us all. We must keep listening because it is only by listening we become wise and are blessed

Clean hands and a Pure Heart

Psalm 24 New International Version

Psalm 24

Of David. A psalm.

¹The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
²for he founded it on the seas
and established it on the waters.

³Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
    Who may stand in his holy place?
⁴The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
    who does not trust in an idol
    or swear by a false god.^[a]

⁵They will receive blessing from the Lord
and vindication from God their Saviour.
⁶Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, God of Jacob.^[b][c]

Photo by pixel2013 ~ Silvia & Frank on Pexels.com

⁷Lift up your heads, you gates;
    be lifted up, you ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
⁸Who is this King of glory?
    The Lord strong and mighty,
    the Lord mighty in battle.
⁹Lift up your heads, you gates;
    lift them up, you ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
¹⁰Who is he, this King of glory?
    The Lord Almighty—
    he is the King of glory.