A blog with a difference today As we listen to Lt Col Ray Steadman Allen talks about ‘The Triumph of Peace’ written by Eric Ball for Brass Bands.
Peace in our time, O Lord,
To all the peoples – peace!
Peace surely based upon Thy will
And built in righteousness.
Thy power alone can break
The fetters that enchain
The sorely stricken soul of life
And make it live again.
Too long mistrust and fear
Have held our souls in thrall;
Sweep through the earth, keen Breath of Heav’n
And sound a nobler call!
Come, as Thou didst of old,
In love so great that men
Shall cast aside all other gods
And turn to Thee again.
Peace in our time, O Lord,
To all the peoples – peace!
Peace that shall build a glad new world,
And make for life’s increase.
O living Christ, Who still
Dost all our burdens share,
Come now and dwell within the hearts
Of all men everywhere.
13 Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.
14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.
I bring to you today what has to have been one of the first hymns I learned at Sunday School.
A simple prayerful hymn with an invitation for children even adults who don’t know Christ as their Saviour to come to him.
GENTLE Jesus, meek and mild, Look upon a little child, Pity my simplicity, Suffer me to come to thee.
2 Fain I would to thee be brought, Gracious Lord, forbid it not; In the Kingdom of thy grace Give a little child a place.
3 Loving Jesus, gentle Lamb, In thy gracious hands I am; Make me, Saviour, what thou art, Live thyself within my heart.
4 Lamb of God, I look to thee, Thou shalt my example be; Thou art gentle, meek and mild; Thou wast once a little child.
5 Now I would be as thou art; Give me an obedient heart; Thou art pitiful and kind, Let me have thy loving mind.
6 I shall then show forth thy praise, Serve thee all my happy days; Then the world shall always see Christ, the holy child, in me.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” 3 I say of the holy people who are in the land, “They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.” 4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips.
5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. 6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. 7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. 8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, 10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful[b] one see decay. 11 You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
He leadeth me, O blessed thought! O words with heav’nly comfort fraught! Whate’er I do, where’er I be Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.
Refrain: He leadeth me, He leadeth me, By His own hand He leadeth me; His faithful foll’wer I would be, For by His hand He leadeth me.
Sometimes ’mid scenes of deepest gloom, Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom, By waters still, o’er troubled sea, Still ’tis His hand that leadeth me.
Lord, I would place my hand in Thine, Nor ever murmur nor repine; Content, whatever lot I see, Since ’tis my God that leadeth me.
And when my task on earth is done, When by Thy grace the vict’ry’s won, E’en death’s cold wave I will not flee, Since God through Jordan leadeth me.
1 Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. 3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
4 For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. 5 For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. 6 Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts. 9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of his[a] holiness; tremble before him, all the earth. 10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.” The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.
11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. 12 Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. 13 Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.
Last night I heard a more up to date wording of the above Psalm which can match various hymn tunes but the tune i have picked is ‘Aurelia’. The words are as follows:
Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord ye earth Sing to the Lord his praises, proclaim it all day long, Declare his Glory worldwide, his marv’llous works for man. For great is God most worthy, we’ll praise him all we can.
All other Gods and idols, our Lord created all, Majesty is before him, his strength is like a wall. Give to the Lord ye nations all of the honour due, And bring an offering daily for all he gives to you.
Tell all the world God reigneth, the world can not be moved, But he will judge us fairly, so let the earth be loved. The fields will be rejoicing, the forest sings his praise, Because the Lord is coming we’ll praise him all our days.
At 5.15 most evenings you will find my husband and I sat watching a quiz show. One of the questions last night was about ‘Greats’ and the clue was the ruler of Judea from 37-4BCE. I was so busy puzzling what BCE meant I never got round to answering the questions. Thanks to google I found it means Before Common Era. What???? Apparently BCE has now replaced BC to avoid any reference to Christianity and, in particular, to avoid naming Christ as Lord. For me that is the last straw. We are turning into a heathen country where we cannot mention the name of Jesus, unless it is to take his name in vain. A day I fear I will never see, I fear my children and my grandchildren will never see, when…
At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, Every tongue confess him, King of glory now. ‘‘Tis the fathers pleasure we should call him Lord, Who from the beginning was the mighty word
20 When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them,because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you.2 When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army.3 He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them.4 For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”
5 The officers shall say to the army: “Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it.6 Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it.7 Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her.”8 Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.”9 When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it.
Sound the battle cry! See, the foe is nigh;
Raise the standard high for the Lord;
Gird your armour on, stand firm every one;
Rest your cause upon His holy Word.
Refrain:
Rouse, then, soldiers, rally round the banner,
Ready, steady, pass the word along;
Onward, forward, shout aloud, “Hosanna!”
Christ is Captain of the mighty throng.
Strong to meet the foe, marching on we go,
While our cause we know must prevail;
Shield and banner bright, gleaming in the light,
Battling for the right we ne’er can fail.
O Thou God of all, hear us when we call,
Help us one and all by Thy grace;
When the battle’s done, and the vict’ry’s won,
May we wear the crown before Thy face.
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.25 For whoever wants to save their life[f] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
The words and music of this song written by two former General’s of The Salvation Army mean so much to me that I find myself somehow returning to it quite a lot. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s a simple tune with such true and earnest words to it
13 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
4 Marriage should be honoured by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”[a]
6 So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”[b]
7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods,which is of no benefit to those who do so.10 We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.
11 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp.12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
17 Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.
18 Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honourably in every way.19 I particularly urge you to pray so that I may be restored to you soon.
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace
Verse 1
Christ of Glory, Prince of Peace,
Let thy life in mine increase;
Though I live may it be shown
‘Tis thy life and not my own.
Dwell within, that men may see
Christ, the living Christ, in me.
Verse 2
Answer now my soul’s desire,
Purge my heart with holy fire,
Soothe the hurt with gentle balm,
Breathe within my life thy charm,
Fill me now, so shall there be
Christ, the holy Christ, in me.
Verse 3
Gracious Lord, thy grace apply,
Both to save and sanctify;
All my life wilt thou control,
Calmly ordering the whole,
That the world may ever see
Christ, and only Christ, in me.
Christ in me is for me a wonderful musical arrangement for mixed Choirs by Yvonne Field, the music seems to fit nicely with the words above. Though I may say it myself along with Joy Webb Yvonne Field writes some good arrangements all for Gods glory.
5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
1 Hope for the world’s despair: we feel the nations’ pain; can anything repair this broken earth again? For this we pray: in every place a spark of grace to light the way.
2 Wisdom for all who bear the future in their hand, entrusted with the care of this and every land. When comes the hour, O Lord, we pray, inspire the way we spend our power.
3 Honour for all who’ve paid war’s painful, bitter price, when duty called they made the greatest sacrifice. Their memory will never cease to cry for peace and harmony.
4 Ease for the troubled mind in endless conflict caught, each soul that cannot find the peace beyond all thought. May they be blessed with healing balm for inner calm and perfect rest.
5 Love for the human heart: when hate grows from our fears and inwardly we start to turn our ploughs to spears. Help us to sow love’s precious seed in word and deed, that peace may grow.
As the situation between Russia and the Ukraine worsens let us once again offer up our prayers for The Ukraine.
Christian Devotions, Health and General issues of the day 